No way could I EVER!!! (Ewwwww!)

No that is not me.
I almost had one of these beetles meet my foot today at a local store. I was shopping for plants and it walked right by me foot. If I would have not be paying attention, I would have stepped on it. YUCK!

Basement and Yummies!

I realize I haven't been taking pics of our remodel project. This was due to a lack of batteries in my camera. Not too much had been worth taking pictures of anything anyway. We did electrical and insulation. pretty much boring. But now we are getting some drywall up.

We did manage to put in some stair lights for the stairs. It is really nice to get some instant gratification from seeing the 'finished' project right away.
We have piles of drywall everywhere. It is SUCH A HUGE MESS! I am tired just be the 'go for' girl, and trying to organize the mess after they call it a day. Right now, lovely drywall dust is getting EVERYWHERE!
It is hard to see it but the floor is just covered with dust. Yuck! My allergies are acting up very well today! Yay!
Well we did manage to escape our cave to pick some strawberries today. The kids loved it! Reece doesn't like them but still came to help pick. Zeb picked about 8 berries and called it a day. But he must have known how much work they would be, 'cause while I was out on a run, he washed, cut and put his berries in the fridge. (And then he told me I wasn't cutting them right, because I wasn't cutting them up like he did.) What a BIG helper!! The radishes and green onions in the box were from our neighbor. They went on vacation for a week and came home to an over expanded garden and found huge veggies!! Really the berries are not small, they just dwarf in comparison to the onions and radishes.

Action Shot!

Oh! An Action Shot! Thanks to J! I was just heading out on my run here.
Just a quick note about my results. I did it in
Swim 00:08:54.8 (faster than 2007) by 30 seconds
T1 00:03:54.2 (slower)
Bike in 01:16:26.2 (slower)by 2 minutes
T2 00:01:21.2 (slower)
Run 00:34:10.5 (faster) almost 2 minutes faster

Final was 02:04:47.1 (overall faster)
2 hrs and 4 minutes. A little better then last year, but considering I was 10 lbs lighter kind of depressing. I wonder how much my chain falling off, wrong shifting up a hill and stopping to tie my shoe on the run cost me. Hmmm.

I am hoping to have even more photos from Fuad. The Official photo people of the triathlon. This was the first year I actually liked the pic's from the triathlon, and will be getting some to post.

High Cliff Race Report

Woke up early to race day breakfast of oatmeal. Yuck. I like oatmeal just not when I am forced to eat it when I am not hungry. We had yummy carbs from Grazies for Supper last night and I just was not hungry.
My Sis and I headed out early and let J (my sisters man) and the boys sleep in a bit. Duner was coming home at 6 am from work then they were going to head out.
Got our timing chip and body marked with our #'s (mine was 675) and headed out to the transition area.

The WORST part of triathlon is the this part. Waiting and self doubting...

My swim was more like a water walk. I was so afraid to swim because I couldn't pass the girl in front of me that didn't know if she wanted to swim or walk and I was afraid I was going to suddenly get kicked in the face.
As I was coming out of the water, I heard Tammy- a nurse from work yell my name and put out her had for a high five! Yay! I got a boost from her cheering me on helped carry me up the hill with my son Reece running up with me. At the top (or near the top) was Sharon- a co-worker of mine that was cheering me on ! Woo Hoo! Another great boost! I transtitioned rather long to my bike and as I was gettting on my bike I heard Sharon again!! That was really neat to see and hear both of those girls get out of bed early on a Sunday morning to cheer me on (and it wasn't even 8am!!)

I was doing great getting out on the bike, heading up the first hill, when I down shifted and my chain came off! Geez! I had to stop just after the trees and pop my chain back on.
The rest of my ride was pretty boring except for the HUGE turtle on the side of the rode and my wrong shift move just 2 miles before the finish of the bike. Grrr. I saw my Dad's truck but I did not see my Dad as I was coming in on my bike. My sister later told me where he was.

I felt pretty good heading out on my run, but I forgot to use my inhaler and I was feeling it. I could breath but not as deeply as I wanted to. I was tired. My legs were telling me to stop, but I just wanted to run the entire run for a change. I normally run/walk it 'cause I am so tired, but I just ran it. SLOWLY. I even ran up the hill, while the 2 girls ahead of me walked it. I think I should have walked it to conserve energy. I was dragging.

I was cheered on by Duner and the boys, J and his mom on my way to the finish. I finished before my sister and so I waited and tried to get Reece and Zeb to run the 'finish' with her but Zeb said it was 'too far' to run. (it was only the finish, not the entire run!)
After She finished I realized 2 more girls from work, Jenny and Katie, came to see me finish! Yippee! How sweet was that!

I was so happy that so many people came to cheer me on, but I was so wishing I had done better. Thanks guys! You really ARE appreciated! That really does help, more than you know!!

I wish I had some times for you but I know it was the exact time as last year. No change. Kind of a bummer, I am hoping that my swim was a bit worse and my run was a bit better... I won't know until later or tomorrow.

Better be good.

My life has been a bit too crazy lately to post much.

As it is I should be going to bed. My kids are at the races with my husband and I have to work early tomorrow, but I HAD to catch up on my reading. Email's and blogs.

So much is going on this weekend Geekgrl is doing CdA Ironman out west. Steve is doing Grandma's marathon in Minnesota (i think) and my Sis and I are doing High Cliff Sprint Triathlon.

My only goals are simple.
1. To finish
2. To be somewhat better than last year. Considering I am 10 lbs lighter than last year, I will be extremely disappointed if I am not just a touch better. I am not expecting LOADS,but some improvement would be nice.

2007 Results were...
Swim: 00:09:18 /T1: 00:03:42 /Bike: 01:15:14 /T2: 00:01:17 /Run: 00:35:54
Total: 2:04:28

2006 Stats
Swim: 00:14:04 /T1: 00.3:30/ Bike: 1:30 /T2: 00:1:46 /Run: 00:38:07
Total: 02:28:07

I will be starting around 7:15am, so if Any of you are available to come on down for this we would LOVE TO SEE YOU! I can't tell you how special it is to see someone you know waiting for you at the finish line.

Hopefully before 10am...

Um, Where did the days go already??

I have been asking myself where the days are going these days.

Time just leaps by.

For those of you that may not know Duner's old job, Hoffmaster, laid him off last Wednesday for 'improper two week notice'. Did you know that you can get fired for not giving notice? He had to work the 'NEW' job on Monday and Tuesday, so he called in (still had over 8 points to go before getting fired with 10 points). But Wednesday when he showed up to work, they 'released him' because it is immoral to work two jobs with benefits.' Um. What benefits? He worked BJ's for 7 years, without a problem.
Well, We will see what union's are good for. We have been paying over $40 bucks a month for union dues, over 6 years, so they 'may file a grievance' with the company to see if we can still get insurance for the month of June. He has a meeting tomorrow with the company and union to discuss this.
Honestly, I am relieved to not have to juggle 2 full time jobs. (even though one we were hoping to not have to work, since he actually listened to me this time and signed up for the unemployment so we can keep the insurance) If we have to go without insurance through June and July, oh well. Well just punt and say a few prayers...
Things are going well at the new job. I think he actually has to work more than at Hoffmaster, so he is going into shock a bit more than he is used to, but he really likes the fact they have A/C in the plant, unlike Hoffmaster.

This week I am off work from the clinic all week to play bus driver/taxi for my kids and their events.
The bus needs to leave promptly at 7:45am...
Zeb... Class #1 @ School #1 at 8am
Pick up at 9:45am
Class #2 @ School #2 at 1pm
Pick up at 3:15
Reece ...Class #3 @ School #3 at 8am
Pick up at 10am
Class #4 @ School #1 at 10am
Pick up at Noon
Class #5 @ YMCA at 6pm on Tuesday and Thursday
Brock ... Class #6 @ School #3 at 8am
Pick up at 9am

Rinse, Lather and Repeat.

Thankfully I found someone for the kids to carpool with for part of it. I am glad the kids are staying active this summer, so I really don't mind doing it. Reece has already improved on his Health fitness assessment at school, and he tends to be the 'leader' when it comes to his brothers.

Last week he rode his bike with Brock into town (we forced Brock to go with to get some exercise). 7+ miles. Later that day, when Reece wouldn't pick up his socks I said' Don't worry, I will do it I only ran 5 miles today, what did you do?" He said "I biked over SEVEN!" Hmm. Ok. He also had a rough soccer practice, I will give him that.
Plus Brock really made him work hard to keep up with him. I just don't understand how Brock can do so well when he does so little. Exercise seems so easy for him. Grrr. Reece must take after me. Poor kid.
The kids already spent MUCH MORE TIME outside this year than they did last year. It probably helps that we have kicked them out of the basement for our remodel.

Speaking of our remodel, we are hoping to get some work done this week with the new found free time without the 2nd full time job! Woo Hoo, here we come electrical... We are in need of some catch up time... We should have been hanging drywall this weekend.
We were going to take the kids to a local Drive In theater to see Kung Fo Panda and Ironman (double feature), but it was closed due to the storms. We rescheduled it to Tuesday night (if the rain doesn't come again).

Oh and one more quick item... We had 'Lil Anglers' this weekend. It was pouring, but they canceled the fishing part due to the lighting in the area, but they still had the food and prizes. My kids picks were: water guns for Zeb, Reece got a hula hoop and Brock picked a HUGE Styrofoam airplane that was a big hit with all three kids.

I was TOLD he was near-sighted, Really!

WARNING: NOW ENTERING THE 'TEEN' YEARS OF SLOTH...
My oldest has now begun those all to frustrating years of blindness and spurts of deafness.

Exhibit A:
I asked him to find something frozen veggies in the garage freezer, that I knew were there. Him and his brothers, had been playing with water and the floor was wet and slippery so I didn't want to go out there and fall down.

As, he is standing in front of the freezer hanging open I describe with detail how to find the bad in question.

"Ok, on the right hand side of the freezer there should be a white bag, just under the turkey your dad shot. Get me that bag."

We only had probably 8 items TOTAL IN THE FREEZER. Gee. Searching too hard.

HE WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE IT AND I HAD TO IMPROVISE.... Later that day after the floor was dry GUESS WHAT? YEP, RIGHT WHERE I KNEW IT WAS!

Exhibit B:
He had been looking for a green scrubbie thing we use to was potatoes. It is ALWAYS ON THE SINK, some where. If it is not on the top then it was thrown out or IN the sink.

There was ONE thing in the sink. (Maybe two, MAX) And it was missing... Gee, what to do....

After he HAD THROUGHLY looked in the draw for it, he came to me and asked for help looking.

I picked up the only thing in the sink and SURPRISE!

One Great Day

Saturday I was lucky enough to have gotten out of work early. It was quiet at the Y, which was completely expected, since it was a holiday weekend.

I got out 2 hrs early and headed home. Determined to make the best of our unexpected family time.

Since Duner had to work at 4, I quickly gathered the family and headed out to High Cliff with our fishing gear. We had just enough time to get our hooks wormed up and set, Reece even caught a fish while Duner was still there.

After he left we went on to lose about 6 worms in a row to the fish. In a matter of minutes, Seriously...They were hungry buggers that day! I lost track of how many we caught, but I know 2 of them were large mouth bass. One of them was 15 inches long. (Of course I forgot about capturing it on the camera phone until we got a smaller one; see photo) Otherwise we caught lots of pan fish.

Reece was a LIFE SAVER for me since he played the role of Dad, by taking off all the fish from the hooks. Thankfully we only had one bullhead. We both hate those! We managed to get it off ourselves by laying it on the ground and using a needle nose pliers to pry the hook from it's mouth.

After 3 hours I let the kids play in the park and we headed home.
On the way home we stopped at Wal-mart for some items Reece needed for an upcoming school project. While we were there we got the movie Goonies. I loved that movie when I was a kid and I just had to buy it. We quickly went home and popped it in.
Reece was going to try and watch while he worked on his project but it took so much of his attention he decided to just join us on the couch. Zeb even said " I love this movie!" as it was finishing up.

Considering how little he sits still I really liked to hear he and the other boys liked it. They especially liked the statue part and Sloth.

P.S... The kids had so much fun the begged us to go out on Sunday and fish again at high cliff!

Hot off the press.

Today Brock was in a hurry and wanted me to grab a cap for him from his room.
He wasn't sure how to describe it.

He said "Just grab me any hat in my room with a beak or a duck."

????

"You mean bill?"


"Yeah, that."

Translator... just one of my side jobs.

We want to be Losers

Today was to official start to our 'Biggest Loser Challenge' at work.

A group of us that are sick of our weight are doing something about it. We all put in money into a pot. There will be 2 winners. The one that loses the largest percentage of weight and the one that finishes a half marathon the fastest.
So, We are having weekly weigh ins, complete with "loser's of the week" and prizes for being such. I found a training schedule for the half marathon and we will begin that at the end of June. (By the way, Julie, I am still counting on you!) We are using the Marathon as a way to challenge ourselves as we progress with this challenge, so we don't get 'bored'.
I let myself go over the weekend. I ate all the wrong things at completely the wrong times and it showed on the scale. It was hard. I had to talk myself into it. I kept thinking, It may help me on the scale. (I hOped!!) Now back to the grind.
I guess only time will tell, but right now it's going to be tough! We have some GREAT competitors in our office.

The "Announcement" or not really....

To keep everyone up to speed, I thought I would post at quick note about the Job situation.

Hoffmaster, my husbands employer since 2002, announced this past week they were closing the plant my husband worked at. (Surprise!) Not really, since they had been so slow that they forced him on unemployment for 5 weeks.
Over 250 people, some of which have been there over 20 years are out of a job. They are welcome to apply at a plant in Oshkosh (20 miles away from Appleton) or Clintonville (38 miles from Appleton), but otherwise come April of 2009, they will be unemployed.

Duner started working at Coating Excellence yesterday, but was light headed all day. He has been fighting cold like symptoms all week, even after sleeping just about all day Sunday and from 5pm until 5 am, he is still light headed. It just doesn't let up. I made an appointment for him to see a dr today, hopefully it will get better soon, this is not the week to do this.

Funny things I heard this week.

"Only old people , Like LANCE ARMSTRONG, have low heart rates." as quoted by Reece.
"Are you sure you took it right?" Reece said to me after taking Duner's pulse for Reece's school project and find it was over 30 beats faster than mine.
"All the other kids parents were different than mine" Reece said about the results of that research was revealed that I was rare to have a lower heart rate than my husband.

After arguing with Brock, Reece asked me "Can a plant live without photosynthesis? I don't think it can but Brock does!". "Plants need carbon dioxide." "No they don't" and then the arguing began again... Those are REALLY large words that do not register well in my brain. Sorry kids.

"Argh! I really have to stop growing..." Brock said as he ran around on Monday morning frantically looking for pants to wear to school for that day. Apparently all of the ones in his drawers were too small.

"I was scheduled to work next week" Duner says to me after being LAID OFF from his employer for 5 weeks they finally decided they want him to work the VERY FIRST WEEK he is supposed to work at his NEW job!! OF COURSE!

"Why won't the garage door go up?" Duner says as we are pulling into the driveway on Mothers Day, only to realize that the power is out and we are unable to enter since my keys have the house key on it and they are on the kitchen counter. Thankfully after about 10 minutes it came back on. Our neighbors said it was off for over an hour. Just before noon! We live near a supper club. Can you imagine if they were also without power?? ON MOTHERS DAY? YIKES!

And Exhale...

Ok.
So after breaking down our mileage, insurance, union dues and our gut feeling... We came to a very long awaited decision. Thank God its over.

We decided to go with the closer job. Coating Excellence. Yes, at first we won't start out with a nice comfortable wage, right away, and it may even few years. We talked to someone that works there and he told us about the insurance, holiday parties, raises, and general info. This company really seems to be growing and they have the shift that Duner really likes. 12 hr rotation. He will be working 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 3 off. He will have every other weekend off. More time with the kids.

If he has to work on a holiday they will cater in food.

For a Holiday party they give away trips! Last year was a 2 wk trip to Alaska. (Duner dream vacation) And a week long trip to Vegas. Not to mention quarterly bonuses they have been getting.

When it came down to it gas prices had a huge impact on this decision. Luvata (the other job option) had 2 locations, one in Appleton and the other in Kimberly. We didn't know for sure which location it was going to be. But we did our figuring for the Appleton Location and it came out to over $900 in a years time, compared to over $400 at the closer plant.

On Sunday, When we went out for Breakfast for Mothers Day, we did agree he would probably be more happy at Coding Excellence. The other one melted copper for shipping over seas for use in other products. That made me nervous. It wasn't like he had done that before.

Coding Excellence is more like what he has done in the past. Working with paper.

When Duner went into work today (at hoffmaster) they had sign ups for June. Last month they took them down. Now they are asking for volunteers? Geez. I am so glad to get out of there!

Lets hope they have him off from Hoffmaster next week because he begins the new job on MONDAY! That was when they had an orientation starting.

Decisions, Decisions...

After 3 interviews, this week has yielded us 2 job offers, and showed us Duner can not do shorthand. (?)

Job #1.
Is 9 miles away.
Is a dirty job.
Probation period of 90 calendar days.
Pay starts less, but then more than his current job after probation.
Health ins is $103 /month for family.
Dental is paid by employer.
75% of YMCA membership is paid by employer.
Union Job. Yuck.
Southern swing 8 hr shifts.
Good Overtime potential.

Job #2.
Non-Union job.
Is more like his current job. (operating a paper machine)
Is 7 miles away.
Probation period of 35 days.
Pay is about $3 less than his current job. But they have raises every 6 months in addition to annually. I don't know how much they are but we will ask on Monday.
Paid every 2 wks.
Rotating 12 hr shifts (2 on/ 3 off/ 3 on/ 2 off) May be a problem for BJ Clancy scheduling.
Some Overtime.
Health insurance is about $150 per month for family.

Both are closer than his current job.
Duner is worried about #1 being a union job and a longer probation period, especially after what happened last time. If anything, these last few months has taught us we may be able to live on less, so maybe #2 would be nice. Only 7 miles away. Very nice, especially with gas prices. He could BIKE to work easy! : ) - I just did for the first time this week. It went well, but I froze my fingers on the way too work, but the ride home was nice. My work is about 6 miles away. I really like the insurance premiums for #1 and I LOVE THE YMCA MEMBERSHIP part. We could get reimbursed for my family membership that I currently pay for.
Both have 401k and employer contributions.

Now I am going to try and sleep on it. Argh. I do miss my sleep.

Dog Run

So I went running with Amy on Sunday and she had a dog with and a retractable leash. It really worked well and so I thought "Hmm. I wonder if that will work with our dogs?" So I picked up a leash on Monday. Today I tried it out. With Lightning. Our GOOD dog.

Reasons why not to run with unruly dogs.

1. No. No. No..... run. run. No. No. run run. run. No. No NO!! That is the sound you will be hearing constantly.
2. Leash Burn. No matter how fast it retracts, it is never fast enough.
3. MP3 and leashes do not like each other.
4. Zig Zag pattern of walking. I actually found myself yelling "Pick a lane dog!"
5. You must perfect the run and spin maneuver first. Used at least 8 times.
6. Dog waste bags. I live in the country so at least I was able to pick it up and drop it off , next to a farmers field to come back and pick up later,but only after trying to tie it to the dog and step on it first. Eww.
7. Knee pain due to the sudden jerky movements of the dog.
8. Cows. Avoid Cows. Dogs like them but I don't think Cows like dogs. Very strange area.
9. No. run. No. Run. No! What are you doing?! (Dogs don't seem to understand)
10. Cars. You have to constantly be aware of the cars and dog ratio. very distracting = crappy pace.
11. Shoe laces mysteriously come undone?? What the ??
12. Did I mention leash burn? OUch!
13. Dogs can always stop FASTER than you! ???
14. A 40 minute run turns into a hour long run/ stop/ turn maneuver exercise. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought.

Reason to walk/run with unruly dogs on a retractable leash.

1. They help you , by pulling you the first mile or so.
but then that leads to #1 of reasons NOT to run with unruly dogs.

Saturday was Healthy Kids day at the YMCA. It was in the 40's and rain threatened all day long. At the Y we had a School Bus, Fire truck, ambulance, army hummer and a Construction crane. Kids were able to operate the crane and explore the various vehicles.
In addition to the gymnastics's center and swimming pool open, we had a bicycle rodeo, music station (which was an entire half of the gymnasium) used for drums of all kinds, 3 different inflatables, crafts and freebies.
Duner spent the weekend fishing and I had to work at the Y, so Grandma came in with the boys. Zeb was supposed to have T-ball, but the rain (sprinkles) canceled it at the last minute. Brock went swimming and after Zeb got his brand new shiny red and spider bike helmet, then he went to the inflatables.
The next time I saw him he was bright red, and dripping with sweat. He had a BLAST in the inflatables. I bet he was in those a half an hour.
After grocery shopping and picking up the kids, I did bit of housework and headed to bed.

Sunday we had the plumber come over to work on the basement bathroom. We also got the faucet for the shower and bar from him. Along with a sink that we are going to use for the bar. Our plumber works for Kohler so, it was all from Kohler. He brought the PEX piping and everything he would need. The kids loved him, he even made them hula-a-hoops out of PEX piping and 'swords' from pvc.
I am so happy with have Water and drain pipe for the new bathroom and bar! Now we have to finish electrical and insulation then we are set to drywall.
We are getting the drywall delivered on Tuesday, thankfully the are dropping into our basement, so we won't have to carry it down.

After our plumber was done and I got Reece to Soccer practice, I went over to the plumber's house to go for a run with his wife, Amy. She had gotten into running but then got out of it, but now, she is signing up for a half marathon in September. I work with her at the Y, and this is totally new for her. I told her if my friend, J, didn't want to walk the half with me (which I am so glad she is!) I would run the half with her. Thankfully I will be walking it, but I told her I would run with her until J has her baby girl at the end of June. I hope Amy continues on with her training, if anything at least to walk it. We ran 3 miles tonight, I liked the pace, but she was beat. I felt bad for her. Towards the end I just wanted to go faster so we could make home quickly for her. When we got to her house, her husband said "I have got to hand it to you, that is the first time I have seen Amy come back winded."

I hope she doesn't give up. It's not always easy.

What the ???

Ok.
just had to post this. How much do you think this little medieval baby goes for at Home Depot?
$40? $80?
$500?
Thank Goodness the sink is included because it goes for 2700... Y-E-S.
Twenty seven HUNDRED DOLLARS.
Gee. Only.
Or you can try this cheaper number...
Only $1233 for this cute thing.

Not for me. Mine must be SUCH bargain, they don't even post it on their website. It is a chocolate color called 'Espresso'. I just love that name. And it doesn't really look like either.

Line 'em up!

Duner has gotten THREE, yes, three interviews in the area.
Two of which are closer (yay! save gas!) but one is not. At this time A job is better than no job.

One is tomorrow, at a company in Wrightstown, five miles away. Tuesday he has an interview with a company that is in Kimberly, about 10 miles away. Then NEXT Friday he has an interview at a place near his current Job about 17 miles away.

When he was offered the last job he also had a 2nd interview. He was offered both jobs, but we had to pick one.

I don't need or want all three of the jobs to offer, but it would be nice if one or two. Duner seems to have a gift when it comes to talking, so lets hope we get something solid.

Keep your fingers crossed!

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.

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.