Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Plugging Right Along

After our been visit by the snow fairy on Monday I was glad to see the sun today. Yay!

Sunday was spent discussing our basement electrical with a neighbor that just finished his own basement. It was nice to hear about some 'woulda', coulda', or shoulda's' from someone who just went through it. We figured out on paper our placement for our recessed lights and we figured out what we need to shop for.
We had to stop since Duner had to go to BJ's to work and I had to take Reece to soccer practice. He was supposed to have his first game on Monday, but thanks to the snow it ended up getting canceled.
I was glad to hear that since it was so chilly on Monday. Its hard to watch when your freezing.

Monday, while the kids were at school, we shopped for faucets, vanity's, cabinets, drywall, doors, and a bathroom vent.
We didn't buy anything yet, but we were just trying to figure out what we were going to buy and where. We found out that 2 of the 3 stores actually deliver the drywall AND (the best part) THEY DRAG IT INTO THE BASEMENT FOR US!!! Yaaa HOOO! We found out there is 2 different types of drywall. (??) Depending on the type of finish you are applying. We then had to call a painter/ plasterer that we know and ask if he would be available to help us and what kind we would need. (Thanks to getting out rebate check today, we can MAYBE have someone do the plaster finish for us)
Today we managed to wire most of the outlets and mark where all of the lighting will be for later in the week.

Zeb is becoming quite the character. He went to the dentist today for another filling and he kept having the Dentist count down then he would say "No, wait a second!" and "Not yet, lets count again to 4". I promised him a trip to family video if he did well. The dentist said he had to give him extra Novocaine but in the end just had to do it. The Dentist was very kind especially considering it was the end of the day and Zeb didn't want to be there. That has got to be the worst part of his job. It is so hard to talk to kids especially when they are five years old.

Reece wanted to iron tonight so I let him iron a curtain that I had washed. He did REALLY well but almost TOO WELL. I was getting worried he was going to start a fire. He kept laying the iron flat and leaving it on. He is so sensitive, it is hard to tell him to stop without him taking offense, but I just had to take over. He didn't like that at all and I had to do some damage control in the feelings department.

Brock managed to put his glasses on the floor AND step on them, all by himself! Now that is talent. Thankfully the wire that held the glass in place pulled out and they were able to fix it for "free". Brock LOVED that I didn't have to pay for it, but I had to remind him that it was not something that we needed to be doing every week. So much for him learning his lesson.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Too big Too Fast!

I come home from work Friday and I get a paper from Reece telling me that he will be having a class soon discussing Puberty. They like to call it Growth and Human development. I have to acknowledge that I received it.

It will discuss terminology, basic male and female anatomy, menstruation, personal care such as hygiene, diet, exercise , and emotional changes. Yay.

I live with all boys. I am the only girl. Even our two dogs, Thunder and Lightning are boys. I don't have all the answers for them.

Reece begins to ask me questions about what they are going to discuss. I start to read off the sheet what it says. He says "I read the sheet, but what are they going to say?" Good Question, but I don't know. They did include a sheet of new routines for puberty, but he apparently read that, I didn't know what else to say.

Then Brock chimes in....
"Mom, can I start dating?" he says.
"Ah, sure, ok." I reply.

Which prompted questions such as "Do I have to know a girl before I ask her out?" Uh, I think that is a very good idea...
or "Can you show me how to kiss a girl?" Uh, INCEST? Not my thing. I told him he was kind of on his own there. It's kind of trial and error. I was driving at the time, I can multi-task at times but with my driving record, I have been trying to keep that to a minimum. That one I was not expecting. This is a kid I have to ask to shower at least every other day. Sheesh.

"I need a job, maybe I can work at a farm or something?"he says. "So I can have money to buy her things."
"How do I get to know her?" Brock asked.
Reece chimed in "Just ask her questions about what she likes, pay attention to what she talks about." Obviously, Reece-o Sauvee here, knows a bit that may help me. I took full advantage of that. Some of the questions I just can't remember, there was so many as the night went on. I had taken the kids to a movie at the cheap seats theater. I love that place. They all loved the movie. It was Spiderwick Chronicles.

I tried to ask if Brock had anyone in mind to date, but he refused to answer. Times are changing so fast. I never know what to say these days! Where was DAD? At his part-time job of course.

Thankfully I had to work all day today, so I warned Duner that he maybe getting hit with some questions from the boys.

Time to do some internet research.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Oh, to be so rich...

I can only dream....

We recently had the actor in the area to film some scenes for an upcoming movie, filming was done in Oshkosh, but he apparently stayed in Downtown Appleton! If I had only known, I probably would have driven down the ave' to see if he was walking somewhere.

Thanks to the Post-Cresent .


Johnny Depp stayed at the Copperleaf Hotel for four nights, ate at Flanagan’s Wine Review and Black & Tan, and had a drink at the DejaVu Martini Lounge.

The night at Flanagan’s, a week ago Wednesday, started at 9 p.m. Depp and nine others had dinner ($300), wines from the reserve list at $300 to $500 per bottle ($2,350) and left a generous tip ($1,500).

Plus, said owner Pat Flanagan, a member of the Copperleaf staff came down the day before to get four bottles of vintage wine. All told, said Flanagan, “The impact here was well over $6,000. Johnny Depp is welcome here any time.”

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Done!

Today I had to work at the Y so Duner had to take Brock and Zeb to get their cavities fixed.
Zeb had never had dental work before so I was worried how he was going to do. He said that they put some 'tropical stuff' on it and then it was all good. I believe he meant 'topical'. He came out of their smiling and happy-go-lucky.

Brock on the other hand, kept trying to delay the work from proceeding. He asked the dentist how he knew that his teeth were numb. The Dentist said "I have been doing this for years and I know when it is ready."

When the dentist tried to get started Brock had to give himself a pep talk.

The dentist asked "Are you ready?"

Brock said " Yep... no wait."

And again, "Ok, I'm Ready. No wait..."

It went on about 3 or 4 times then he let them go and it was FINE! All Done.

In other news... We finally finished framing in the basement!! Yay!! Now we have electrical to install. We also have a plumber coming in before May 17th to rough in the bathroom and bar sink. Phase one, DONE!

Unfortunately Duner is still off from his job this week, but he stopped in to pay for our health insurance today and the HR girl said that there is NO voluntary unemployment sign ups for June. Double Yay! That means he will probably be back to work in June. We just have to make it through May. ALMOST DONE!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Tonight in the Land of Boys

I have been trying to get Zeb to pick up his room all weekend. Finally I have put my foot down and make him clean since 4pm. After he tried to sneak out of his room, I was summoned by the brothers that he was escaping, as I was watering some flowers outside.

I said "Zeb if you don't get back into your room and get cleaning by the count of 3, I am going to bring you outside and hose you down".

He said "What hose?"

"The one I have in my hand" I said as peeked in the house and held it up.

"I like hoses" he says.

So we begin to go get him and he begs "Just let me go get my swimsuit on before you hose me down!"

Hmmm. I don't think we are getting thru to him....

Lesson Learned.

Even as an adult it is never to late to learn.
Friday I was crabby and not really liking the fact that I was working and the rest of the family was home. I know the are not cleaning the house, or even trying to maintain a level of clean. I picked up extra hours and had some extra work time this week. I was tired. It doesn't help that it was quiet, and that makes my mind just think about what I COULD be doing if I was home.
*sigh*
So I had to run to the bank for work and Reece calls my cell phone. He tells me that he bought some things down at the rummage sale down the street. He wanted to see if he could have some more money. Thinking it was more toys, I said "Reece, We have enough junk of our own. We do not need anymore."

What I should have said was, Maybe if your brothers would help out more around the house we could do that. Reece is my cleaner. If anything gets picked up usually it is because he did it. I REALLY like that about him.

So when I am finished with work, I call home and ask if the house is picked up. Brock goes into this LOOOONNNNGGG explanation about why it is not done... reaching my boiling point I loudly explain it better be DONE by the time I get home.

It takes my 7 minutes (give or take) to get home.

It was clean. (probably in 7 minutes time)

I go in my room to change and I have this note and gift on my bed.

It says:

to mom
from Reece
yours but im not sure eneymore
it is not Junk
and you hurt
my feelings

^glup^.... opps.... sniff. sniff... (cue the sappy music now)

I went directly to the room he had locked himself into, and gave him a big hug and told him what an idiot I was and how happy he is going to make a girl some day, and I will be very mad.

I also told him NEVER stop doing things like that... It was awesome.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Just as Painful as the drill...

On Tuesday I took the kids and I to the Dentist for some check ups.

Kid #1 (Reece) was my pain in the neck as far as teeth brushing went. It was SUCH A STRUGGLE to get him to brush. I literally had to show him how bad they looked before he would react.

Kid #2 (Zeb) was following Kid #1's lead. He didn't think the rules applied to him. He liked to think he had 'it' down. He knew when to brush and DID NOT NEED TO BE TOLD WHEN IT WAS TIME TO BRUSH. Lil' Mr. Independent...

Kid #3(Brock) was very faithful on brushing. He even wanted to buy mouthwash with some of his birthday money. I ended up buying it, but still. I HARDLY had to remind him to brush. In fact, many times he would remind me about the others.

Mom (Me) I wasn't perfect, but I improved in the flossing. For the longest time I was afraid I was going to pull out a filling with it, so I DREADED it. I had been using the 'Dentist Recommended" ACT mouthwash, at times. I hated it, pulling it out... unscrewing the 'safety' top... and putting it back... I wish it just had a spout on it like the sink.

So... Who do you think had the cavities and needs 2 fillings? Who needs 4 fillings? Who needed a sealant redone (at no cost to us! Yay) and Who had the annoying broken filling that needed to be replaced?

What is that I hear? Why it is the sound of money flying out the door as I type this!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Deadlines and Activites.

This was almost the 2nd to last, full weekend (minus working at BJ's and the YMCA) that we were able to work on the basement in April. We planned out on a calendar various deadlines for specific parts in the basement.

We need to finish 2 short walls, and the front of Brock's Closet. We also need to finish the ceiling (around the air ducts) in Brock's Room. Hopefully we can accomplish that this week. Duner is going to be helping his Uncle move next weekend, so not too much will be going on in the basement.

According to the calendar we are hoping to begin the electrical at the end of April. We gave our selves 2 weekends to finish it. Then the plumbing will hopefully be done by the end of May. We are hoping to be drywalling in June.

Our June Calendar reads more like a bus schedule than a calendar. We have kids in Legos, soccer, nature nuts, woodworking, typing, kindergarten readiness, and safety town (I had forgotten that one, until I got a post card Friday). I will be spending a large part of time transporting the kids to and from their various activities.

Reece had his 2nd week of Soccer and is really beginning to like it. It was supposed to be outside this weekend, but the weather (snow and rain) made it come indoors. Hopefully it is better next week, otherwise it will be canceled, since they won't be able to use the High School Gym next week.

I like that you can tell he is thinning out again, and being active. We had to pick him up some cleats. He can't wait to use them.
SIZE 8 MENS.
I see they are following my large footprint in the size department.

Reece's coach is Harvey, but he doesn't look like a Harvey. He looks more like Duners Brother Cory. The coach has a boy named Bryce on the team.

Another boy named Bryce (yes, another one) has really taken a liking to Reece. He seems to follow him around like Mini Me.

It is really nice to see him getting out there and enjoying himself.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

A Feel Good Moveee.

Yesterday I picked up some movies for the boys. They were August Rush, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Martian Boy and Dr. Doolittle.

Last night the boys watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, while I snick off to la la land.

I woke up early and headed off to the Y to work. The kids must have liked the Chipmunk Movie, because they watched it again. They also watched Dr Doolittle. Reece said he didn't know what the other movies were so he didn't want to watch those.
August Rush needed to be returned tonight along with Alvin and the Chipmunks.

As I put the movie, August Rush, in tonight Reece asked what it was about. When I explained how it was going to be about a boy that was put up for adoption, who finds his parents through music. Reece wasn't too thrilled with my description. He asked Brock to play a board game in front of the TV. I figured it wouldn't be long before they would be watching the movie too.
It took about 30 minutes and they were both sitting on the couch watching the Movie with me. And towards the end they were so in to the movie, they were yelling at the TV!

It was a really good movie. Good for the kids to watch, these days those are a rare thing!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Counting the days...

*Sigh*
Well, we have another 'Free' week on our hands so we are beginning to get creative. Duner is going to check into getting a 'temporary' job to fill the gap. It appears that less people are signing up to take voluntary time off at his Full time job, so he was 3 people away from working next week. Thankfully Duners part time job has given him 5 days to work. Yay!
We are still plugging away on the basement remodel. We will be starting the electrical soon, and we have some estimates for the plumber.

I am looking forward to the 'stimulus' refund that we are supposed to get. That is going to help out our situation but sorry George, not the economy. Unless it goes by the name of Bill.

The Germany Trip my sister and I were planning has been put on hold since our economy is crap and the job situation is not much better. Grrrr. Bummer.

I really wanted to workout today but it was so SLOW today at work I have found myself to be tired and crabby, I will be going to bed soon. Hopefully I will wake up on the correct side tomorrow...
Good night.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Now ...Entering

...the Craziness of Summer season in the Wienandt Household....

Ok. So We have this basement project going on, and have been busy visiting the local home improvement stores to get the best deals for our supplies. Currently we are figuring out what to do with the shower and duct work. We picked up some lights and electrical. We also had an electrician install power and cable above our fireplace, and a cable jack in Reece's room. Reece doesn't know it yet. (Shhhh!)

Thursday we are finishing up the Spin classes that Reece and I are doing at the Y. He has gotten to love to run right after our spin class. We usually do about 4 laps around the track after each session. You can see his self esteem increase with each session. He hates to do and whines a little bit, but it is for sure worth it! He is beginning to slim down.


Today I signed up Zeb for Tumbling and T-ball. Duner is really excited about t ball. Zeb is pretty excited today too. He came home from school today and announced they played t ball at school. Then he asked if he was beginning T ball tomorrow. I told him he has to wait until April 26th for it to start. But at least he will begin tumbling super stars on Monday!

Reece began his soccer season on Sunday. It was good to see him get back to an active sport that he loves to do. I think he is toying with the idea of running with me sometime this summer. I only have signed up for the one triathlon, so maybe we will do a few smaller runs this summer together. I love seeing him light up when we finish our workouts. I am hoping we are just getting started.

Brock has a few summer school classes going on this summer. He has keyboarding class first in June, (not his choice) then he has the woodworking class he loves in July. He really didn't like the fact that this year it is at the high school instead of the Jr High. I like it, since he is closer to my work so I can bring him to and from that class.

We had such a BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND here in Wisconsin, I was actually able to make it outside to run! I hadn't done that since fall last year. I went 3.34 miles! In 35 minutes! I was pretty excited, that was very good without the help of a treadmill telling me how fast I am going AND without my ipod! I am not sure what happened but it bleeped out on me and now the only music I have is classical or a guy talking about Love. I think It has seen its last run... I know the shuffle ipod's have recently become less than $50 bucks. Maybe I can use my upcoming government check to 'stimulate' the economy by buying a ipod shuffle.
My bike was just dropped off at a local bike shop to get a tune up. It was snowing tonight. Not exactly road bike weather. Hopefully it warm up again this weekend so I can get out there!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Spike: Zeb's Class Build-a-Bear friend

This Weekend we welcomed a visitor from Zeb's school. It is Spike the class Build-a-Bear.

In December, Zeb and his 4k class went out to the mall to visit B-A-B Workshop to create Spike. Ever since each week one child had a chance to bring Spike home to visit and write a page for the scrapbook about there adventures. So this will be Zeb's.

It began with some melon that Grandma brought over Friday night. Zeb had fun eating it with Spike.


Then Zeb, Reece and I went to the 'cheap seats' theater to watch National Treasure. I love this theater. It has GREAT prices and is hardly ever busy! Recently they tore down the mall that surrounded it and now it looks so tiny! But they gave it a new parking lot (that's a bit difficult to access) but I still really like it.

This picture was actually taken at the end of the movie, since we arrived a bit late.
Great movie by the way! Too bad Brock didn't want to see it... It was pretty cool~ I think he would have liked it.

The next day I worked at the Y, but then we drove up to the cabin to drop off some things and grab the CORDED drill that we left up there. I do like cordless tools but when the batteries fail, ol' faithful is nice to have on hand.

They did still have quite a lot of snow, but Zeb liked 'hunting for maple syrup trees' since we saw some on the way up there!

Zeb found the BB gun, after I told him to put it away he dropped a BB and was trying to find in amid the many Asian beetles that had made there way in the cabin over the winter. He accidentally picked a live one up and FREAKed out, he had to go a different way around the couch to put the gun away.

He was the only one that went up there with me, but he was so tired from that ride he fell a sleep and didn't wake up until an hour later I dragged his HEAVY body in the house. That kid is no longer a light weight! More like a DEAD weight. But he went right back to sleep. Last time he was awake was 8pm, when he told me he was tired. He was not kidding! It is now almost 10pm and I think he is out for the night... Fresh air was very missed!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Four Eyes!

I know, It is hard to imagine. Brock, the cutie that he is, with these specs on. But it is true. Brock is now the 3rd member of our clan to have the HONOR, of being able to wear glasses.
I think he is super excited. He talked about how he wasn't going to wear them at school until next year, but I don't think that will last. He is thinking about them WAY too much. We don't even get them until next week!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Unexpected Time off this Week.

Just before we left for our trip Duner was supposed to sign up for voluntary time off at the 'old job' since he was supposed to start the new one after we got back.

He conveniently forgot. I was NOT HAPPY.

So he had to work BOTH JOBS for the first week. So this week he actually took off at the old job so he could work at BJ's and the new job.

Well, he no longer has the 'new job'. They released him yesterday. That has never happened to him before, but they said they had too many complaints about him taking long breaks and standing around. Ok, If you are training and you don't know what to do.... what are you supposed to do? I think it had to do with a comment he made to a manager that told him he is not supposed to use his cell phone on their property. Instead of saying "Oh, Ok." He had to make a not so smart comment about how "other people can smoke on the property..blah, blah, blah." (Why?I wish I knew???)

After he told me, I thought 'Oh No!' I knew it wasn't good. I think that comment put Duner on the 'Watch List". I think he was tired and crabby, and NOT THINKING.

He is now off from the 'old job' this week, but he has to work a lot at BJ's, so it is not so bad.
It just stinks, knowing how solid the NEW company was and how unstable to old one is. Yikes.

So, Grandma, No need to take care of Zeb this week.