Pretty

 

Happened to catch a pretty great sunset the other night, only to happen upon an even lovelier sunrise the next morning! I caught both….one while in my pajamas.

 

 

 

 

I have been loving this time change. The kids are in the house by 5:00 for the night. I love that. They can eat, shower, play…everything moves so much slower. Before the time change they were wanting to go out and play after supper, and then I am calling them in at 7 and it’s a rush to get everything done and them in bed by 8:00. I also love that they aren’t standing at the bus stop in the dark in the morning, and I am not driving to work in the pitch blackness.  Love this time change!

 

 

Mike was in Omaha for the past 4 days. I won’t talk about it on the blog or facebook because I am scared to stay alone and I don’t like people knowing he’s gone in case some crazy person wanted to come and try to get me. Ha! But, he’s back and all went fine when he was away. It sure is lonely without him here though. The kids aren’t much “work” anymore, but just having someone to hang out with at night was what I missed most. So glad he’s back! He has tomorrow off for Veteran’s Day so since he will be home at a decent time, we may try to hit Buffalo Wild Wings for supper. YUM!

 

 

Speaking of kids, they surprised me. Both kids are pretty good eaters. They like raw vegetables better than cooked which is fine in the summer, but makes winter harder. I had bought some I can’t Believe it’s Not Butter spray the other day. I made some steamed vegetables and the kids usually have a few. Once they saw me spritz my vegetables with a little spray, they were all over it. Now, they fight to get every last vegetable out of the bowl. Tonight it was broccoli, cauliflower, water chestnuts, pea pods, and carrots. They spray 3-4 times and they gobble up every bite. I made THIS recipe which is currently my favorite one I make. We all like it. Easy and tasty!

 

 

Busy weekend ahead, we have a birthday for Mike on Friday and a family wedding. Should be a fun!

 

Peace,

LB

Mercy

It started last week. Both boys and Mike got a cold. They all coughed, poor Connor got it the worst. THIS mama stood healthy and strong next to her wimpy testosterone-filled men.

When will I learn to stop talking smack?

Once they were all well, it started to hit me. First it was a sore throat that quickly changed to a cough and stuffy nose. FINE, I can take it. No big deal.

Monday school went fine. I was excited to start a new engineering/bridge project with my students on Tuesday and came home from school feeling prepared for that. By about 4:00 I could tell something wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew what I was feeling wasn’t just going to pass. By about 5:00 I had texted Mike to pick up supper, I was miserable.

I will spare you the details, but between the 100 visits to the bathroom (for many reasons) and fainting while in the bathroom (which has never happened to me before, I have never passed out. I never want to do it again. I am STILL totally freaked out by that), sweating buckets of water only to be freezing and unable to get warm 15 minutes later……I officially took over the title of Most Sick.

Now for most people being sick is no big deal, “You better call in!” my husband says to me.

Yes….I better call in. It doesn’t exactly work for teachers like that. There is no “calling in”. Missing work for a teacher usually means at least 2 hours of prep work, creating something out of nothing (not fair to a sub to teach physics), and contacting co-workers to help me if I can’t physically get into school. Which I couldn’t.

So, there I sat…..at 4 in the morning, making sub plans while wanting to curl up and die. I stayed home the next day too, finally going back to work today. I am exhausted. I have never been so tired. That illness was hard on me. I am too old for this. My cold still hung on through all of it. I am still coughing and I am still all snuffed up. I can deal with that though. I can’t deal with passing out in the bathroom and waking up to really bright lights because my head was tilted all the way back and I was staring into the lights. And my poor husband, he had heard the bang and tried to get into the bathroom. I had locked the door! Can you believe that? It kind of cracks me up, actually. He pounded and pounded on the door and I heard nothing. I laugh, but it could have gone so many wrong ways…..that is the part that scares me a little and I don’t like to think about. I have really bad luck usually, but this time luck was on my side.

The weekend is near. Only four more sleeps until my parents are home. Not that I miss them or anything……

Do you think this means I can skip the flu shot?

 

Happy weekend everyone,

LB

Halloween 2010

 

My parents are in Spain. That made for a difficult Halloween for me. No parents over to enjoy pizza and snacks. No parents over the entertain me while I hand out candy. No parents to keep me company while Mike goes out and trick-or-treats with the kids. No parents…..it’s a sad, sad time. They don’t come back for another week. I am not sure I can make it. Might need some Prozac.

I did, however, ask Mike’s sister, mom, and Dave to come over. Little Jake wanted to go out collecting candy with his buddy Connor (which is what he calls him) and Noah. So, pizzas and snacks could still happen! Fabulous.

First, I must be a slight Debbie Downer. Pumpkin carving is quickly finding itself in the same company as gingerbread houses in the Budach home. I want to know how people get their kids to create these masterpieces? Am I just too much of a wimp? Am I not doing something correctly? Do I not have the right equipment? It is nearly impossible for my kids to help us carve pumpkins. The knives we have to use to create these carvings are so sharp. I can’t even stand to watch the kids use them, and yet I don’t want to take my eyes off them in case something happens.

Noah and Connor both picked out cool stencils that I thought would be easy to create, without too many little cut-outs. Neither one of them could work the knife. So, Mike and I end up carving and the kids sit there and watch. What fun is that? Super annoying. Finally, Noah took a smaller pumpkin, free-handed a face and was able to complete the whole thing himself….minus a tooth that got cut off but nothing a little toothpick couldn’t take care of.  He thought it was fun, so maybe the trick is doing super simple designs? I don’t know, I see pictures of kids holding up very nice pumpkins that they have carved themselves, and they are much younger than our kids. Help me! Why is everything such a challenge?!? Ha!

Noah’s Pumpkin

Connor’s Pumpkin

Noah went back and forth about going out this year. I think the fact that his cousin Jake went was the main reason he went…..I was secretly hoping he would stay back and hand out candy (this is my favorite part of Halloween, when the kids come back and can take over door duty while I go through their stash of candy. What? They don’t like Bit-O-Honeys or Almond Joys anyway.).

Connor easily picked out some horrid costume at Wal-mart, grabbed a sword from the toy room, and off they went.

Easiest picture I have ever taken.

Cousin Jake!

All-in-all, a good time was had by all. Two-hour late start tomorrow helps the wee ones be able to sleep off their sugar highs before attempting school. Good planning on someone’s part.

Did I mention my parents are in Spain. Did I mention that aren’t coming home for another week? Did I mention I don’t like it?

Okay, just checking.

 

Peace out, Ghouls.

LB

Happy Birthday Mom!

 

It’s my mom’s birthday! I thought I would highlight a few of the awesome things about my mom. These are the above-and-beyond kinds of things….

 

 

When she watches the kids, she does my laundry. All of it. I find it folded in little perfect piles on my bed. It’s a wonderful thing.

 

 

 

She used her “cash back” from her credit card to buy four tickets for her, dad, myself, and Mike to Billy Elliot in January.

 

 

 

She calls about every other week in the summer to ask if the boys can go with her to swimming after 5 at the water park. She usually can’t get the words out of her mouth before I yell, “YES!”

 

 

She always buys the kids their winter coats and she buys way nicer ones than I would.

 

 

 

Regularly she calls to invite us out for dinner or invite us over for dinner. I am not sure there is anything better than knowing I don’t have to make supper after work.

 

 

 

She’s always up for a shopping trip, lunch or movie. I always have a built in friend that doesn’t have kids, or an insecure husband. I love that.

 

 

 

I am so lucky to have her (and my dad) living so close and such a huge part of my life, of my family’s life.

 

 

Thank you mom! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you!