5 HOUR BLACKOUT

I fed the kids early tonight. Not alot to think about when you are fighting a migraine and haven't had a lot of sleep. We only had Spaghetti-O's--but at least I fed them. It was a long day for both mom and dad. I was having a terrible day keeping my temper in control and lost it a few times. Then at 5:30 when I went to fix soup for Keith, RJ and me--the power went out.
I can generally entertain myself by reading or crocheting or the like, but with the pseudo-migraine and a not so great night's sleep, I was trying to entertain Ashlynne (4) and Andrew (16 mons). Reading just seems to be an impossiblility with these two. We played ball, we chased each other around the front room, we even went outside and played on the lawn, but the wind was horrible and I can still taste sand and dust in my mouth--it is terrible.
Later, Ashlynne decided I should play the piano--so until the light got so bad, I played some Primary Songs with them--along with the helping hands of the 16 month old--we are great as a duet!!!
I got a call from RJ at 8:30 and he wasn't going to make it to pick up Kassie at work. I put the two little ones to bed with Keith and took Austin with me.
We made a Pit Stop at Smiths for Emergency candles. What a rip off--4 candles in a package and 6 packages and a few other things and it cost me $70.00. I think I am going to have to make a trip to Big Lots or the Dollar Store for emergency candles. When we got home, I found the butane lighter and lit a few candles.

Austin thought it was the coolest thing that the wind took the electricity away--but then try and explain why you can't have toast and even worse--explain to his mother, the 23 year old, why the washing machine doesn't work without electricity. All it has to do is rotate with the water. Yeah! with the help of electricity!!! Duh!

Austin then thought it was a good time to write a letter to Grammie. So we sat down and wrote a letter and told her what was happening. He thought it was a great adventure to write a letter by candle light. Then he drew a cute 5 year old picture of her. He said he wanted to tell her just how much he misses her and that he loves her very much. So he said to me, "Nana, just tell her what I just said to you!"

The power came on 10 minutes short of 5 hours. It was quite the adventure. Now it is time to go to bed and help my psuedo-migraine from becoming full blown.

MY WEEK IN REVIEW

SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY MORNING 12:10 a.m.: Flooding of the basement number one that lead to the first ER visit with Keith's hand that included the smashing of his pinkie, ring and middle fingers of his left (and dominant hand--now we are the proud owner of a gold wedding band that has been cut in half)
MONDAY MORNING: The Sewer Cleaner Outer People (as Ashlynne called them) were here
thanks to our wonderful nephew Ben and his handy dandy knowledge of plumbing people and their equipment.
TUESDAY MID-MORNING: a nice little trip to the park to get the kids out of the house and play in the freedom and wide open spaces
That resulted in emergency room visit number #2 when Keith tripped on the cement--holding Andrew and trying to avoid Andrews head from crashing into the cement bench at the park--covered his head with his hand that he hurt yesterday morning and dislocated his index finger of the same hand--but he saved the baby--Woo hoo!!!

TUESDAY NIGHT: brings more mayhem! As Keith is preparing for bed--he goes down stairs and is shocked (electrically) because he is barefoot and the basement is flooded again!!! Great!!!.... I call my nephew at 11:00 at night. I will be on it first thing in the morning. (Let me also say that my basement isn't near as clean as the one shown in the picture I posted)
WEDNESDAY MORNING: I have an assignment at Welfare Square for the bakery and having only had a shower last night, I felt I was alright. The guy comes out to review our flooding problem and has to go down to the city for plans of the sewer lines and get Blue Stakes on the case. Have I mentioned we are in a downpour right night and they can't dig until it lets up--no water tonight!!!
THURSDAY MORNING: The Blue Stakes Guy and the Backhoe arrive at 8:00 a.m. and the Kids find that it is very great entertainment--especially when they are digging up roots that are bigger around that the hitting end of a baseball bat!! And mind you they are digging up my perfectly manicured lawn (yeah, right!!!)

THURSDAY NIGHT: I head for bed with a little nausea and stomach pain and go to bed thinking I have just had an exhaustive week--oh but wait, there is more!
FRIDAY AM: I wake up with a full, blown on case of INFULENZA--fever, N/V/D (all the unmentionable tummy stuff) and body aches that would have put any one to shame that hadn't worked out in a month of Sunday's. I was in pain and I was in bed for the duration.
SATURDAY: The fever broke early this morning but the body aches are still there--I have debated about whether to go to my friend's wedding. We'll see how I feel at noon. The wedding is at 2:00. I am glad that if I do go it is a very casual affair. Wear jeans the invitation said. I wore khaki slacks and I felt over dressed. The groom dressed in a polo shirt and levi shorts and the bride was in white capri pants,ruffled blouse, denim vest and flip flops.
My what a week I have had and I hope to never have to do this one over again--good riddance!!!!

Let me preface this by saying, I know it is only Tuesday but I have had the week from He!!...
The weekend last week began by getting to puppy sit our favorite puppy, Sophie. She is adorable and she loves kids. Andrew wasn't scared this time and he loved playing with her. Austin sometimes forgets she is a dog and thinks he can play with her the same way he plays with his dad, sister and brother.





Sunday night--early Monday morning at 12:10 a.m. I heard an interesting sound in my basement and was awakened by a crunching sound. I got up and went to find the source of the sound when I walked into puddle of water in my basement. Now this is not really unusual for us--it generally happens every 6 months or so. Well, the source of the noise was Keith trying to get the electric auger to break up those blasted roots in the sewer--I hear a scream and go traipsing through the water barefooted where I find Keith screaming in pain. The auger has flipped him with his hand in the out-take valve--he is stuck and has to reverse the auger just to get his hand loose. Just a note of interest: he didn't have his gloves on about 5 minutes before this happened. Some little prompting told him to put on his gloves. Thank goodness he listened.
The auger had crushed his hand and by all indications he had definitley broken it.
At 12:30 we are heading to the emergency room--where he is x-rayed. The circulation in his ring finger is being cut off, so they decide he needs to have his ring cut off. After the x-rays, he is cleaned up and told it is a contusion and abrasions and there is no break! Yay--I am so happy. We are in and out of the ER in 2 hours--yes T.W.O. HOURS! It was a record. But I get home and can't get back to sleep.
That morning, a little later that 3:00 a.m., I have to get someone here to go into the line and figure out why the auger won't work. The men come, dig a little hole in my front yard, becuase they don't know why the auger didn't go down and send a camera down and find loads of tree roots as big around as my thumb. Afterall we live in a wonderful neighborhood--generally peaceful and quiet, but those trees sure do a number on the sewer system.
Jumping to Tuesday. Keith decides we are going to take the kids to the park for lunch. It is a lovely day--shorts weather, a light breeze and at the park there is space to run and play.
We were down in the playground with the kids and he had picked up Andrew. He tripped on the cement and down he goes--baby and all. He curls himself around andrew and skins his knee--bashes his hand (the one he hurt yesterday morning mind you) and keeps Andrew from falling against the cement bench with his head.
He says to me that his fingers must have gotten hurt again and when he brings it up, his index finger is in the shape of a spoon--concave, not convex! So if he didn't break those puppies yesterday--he was doing his darndest to break something today.


By the end of today, his left hand (yes, he is left handed) is all bruised and bleeding. Pinky, Ring and Mid fingers from the auger. Pointer finger is dislocated and has to have a shot to put it back into place. And he has a sprained right wrist.
I would say I would be happy for this day to end, but there is still an hour and ten minutes left in this day--so, please, please, please hurry and end swiftly.

(Just a side note: Keith just came up and told me we are under water again--the day didn't listen)

NEW PICTURES, HA!

I am trying to get group picture of all of my mohter's great grandchildren and one very young grandchild so we can send her gift for Mother's Day. What a joke that was. Six children: ages 6 weeks, 16 mons, 2 yrs, 4 yrs, 4 1/2 yrs and 5 yrs was quite hilarious in itself. I had no problems with the 6 week old. Brighton was happy to just be held. Now the 16 mon. and 2 year old were a different story all together. It was complete mayhem and I just had to post the absolute best group shot I could get of all six of them.
I thought I would still send it to her so she could decide for herself what she is or isn't missing.

SPRINGTIME, FOR REAL I AM SURE!

I would like everyone to know that really I don't hate Spring. I love the colors and the smells and freshness of Spring. I cherish Easter and the significance it brings to our lives.







But for me--I guess it is time to stock up with THIS! This is what Spring is about for me. So for now--I am pretty sure it is here for real this time, even if we have a minor snowstorm here and there for the next few weeks--the pollens have begun their annual ritual on me!!!

APRIL FOOL'S DAY

Yesterday, April Fool's Day, was to say the least quite a day! This is a lovely winter's day just outside my front window. The day before, the kids were outside playing...WITHOUT THEIR COATS... riding their bikes and scooters.
Who says that Mother Nature doesn't have a sense of humor, espeically when it is Spring is Utah.