The (Dead?) Horse

Have you ever been unable to stop laughing about something? Sometimes it is something that is not actually funny in a hahaha funny sense. It happens to me frequently and usually at the most inappropriate time. Like in church. Once when Nathan was a baby we were sitting in church and he was gnawing on his teether - you know, those water-filled ring things? - and it sprung a leak and there was absolutely nothing that could be done to minimize the water fountain that sprung forth from that little teether! We about fell off the pew as I recall. Who knew that it was filled with about a gallon of water?? Anyways it happened again today and again in church........

But let me set the stage. This morning while driving to church we saw a very unusal sight - it was about 10 degrees outside and we passed a woman walking along the side of the highway and across the road the was something large under a tarp. As we zipped past, we noticed two feet sticking out from under the tarp. I thought it was a cow but Tom said it was definitely horse feet complete with horse shoes. Weird, huh? So we commented that it was going to be quite a feat just moving that animal off the shouder of the road and wondered how it came to be there in the first place, and what they were going to do with the body since the ground is too frozen to dig, etc.... It felt to me like we were in an episode of Northern Exposure.

So we got to church and sat down and when it was time for the sermon the pastor was giving examples of how some creatures are just programmed or wired to do certain things. And believe it or not the first example was a horse and how horses are just wired to run (and there was a photo of a race horse on the screen) and I guess that was the beginning of it for me - I could already feel the laughter welling up inside of me and the pastor went on to say that a horse who couldn't run might as well just fall down and die. At this moment I knew it was going to be one of those laughing moments......not because of a dead horse......but just the sheer absurdity of it! I didn't dare look at Tom but when I heard a little stifled whinny from him, I did look at him and from then on it was all downhill!! It was just the kind of thing that would have garned the *stink eye* and a sharp elbow to the ribs from my mom to one of us or better yet from me to one of my kids at a moment like that. And it was exactly and completely uncontrollable at the moment.

Fortunately we recovered from out fit of laughter quickly and later, on the way home we discovered that the (dead?) horse had been removed from the shoulder of the road.

Happy New Year!

You would think that now that the holidays are over I would have more time for stuff like updating this blog. I even thought I would have more time. Silly silly me. Perhaps I'm just lacking motivation?? But now that I've un-decorated and re-packed all my Christmas stuff it does finally feel like the new year. Phew! Well except for the tree. The tree will probably still be up for a while. Valentine's Day is the goal.

And what a new year it has been so far! Here are the highlights:

Our yellow Lab, Cadi, slipped on the icy driveway right before Christmas as she charged out the door pell mell. We noticed her limping and dragged her to the vet who discovered that she'd torn her anterior cruciate ligament which would have to be surgically repaired. Apparently Santa didn't get our memo and so we started off the new year with doggy orthopedic surgery. Yippee. Fortunately, even though it has only been 4 days since surgery, she is already using her leg more than before! Doesn't she look pitiful? And how about that knee....ouch!

Something else I learned was to never share any passwords with anyone! It is major creepy to be chatting online with someone who is standing right next to you! It was like a horror movie - a really bad horror movie! Thank goodness she was standing there with me because I'd have been chatting with someone that I never associate with and luckily she was able to identify that her account had been hacked into and rectify the situation before major damage had been done! Beware people, beware!

One thing I've discovered is that it is sooo much quicker to check pockets of clothes before you wash them than it is to scrub chapstick out of your clothes and re-wash them later. AUGH. It is worse than kleenex.....trust me!

And here's another dilemma. Let's say you find a restaurant or store that you really like. Do you tell everyone about it or keep it to yourself?? I ask because this is not the first time that we've *discovered* a sweet little restaurant and then we told everyone how yummy it was and now when we go there we have to wait in line for a table. It's just wrong! And so, no, I am not going to tell you where it is. But I will say that if you love bbq this place is the bomb!

Oh yeah...have a Happy New Year too!

Christmas 2009

It's been soo long since I've updated that I don't even know where to start......

Here is Selah at the Nutcracker-her sister Linnea was a Drosselmeier mouse this year and so when she had her makeup done, Selah also got a mouse face.

And this is Maggie making *snow* with a piece of styrofoam. She made lots and lots of *snow* but when the foam was all gone......

She wasn't very happy!!!

She kinda wasn't loving Santa this year either! Isn't that an awesome looking Santa? But imagine being a little kid and being expected to sit in this strange stranger's lap!?!

And here we have the whole family on Christmas Eve opening gifts!


Caleb and Alec (im)patiently waiting for their turn to open a gift. Luke was Santa this year and I had all the gift tags coded to make it more fun. I used initials or birth dates instead of names on most of the gifts. I'm such a clever, tricky grandma,,,heh heh!

This picture actually looks like it should come before the last two...oh well!

Here is Selah opening something.....

Here are Caleb, Selah and Olivia playing with some of their new toys.....Playdoh and a paint set (which is why Selah has her dress off!)


This is my mom & dad - they wanted to have a picture in front of the tree to use on their Christmas card for next year! Notice all the red tinsel on the tree??? Some one thought it would be fun to use that instead of tissue in her gifts and so the three little girls had it spread pretty much all over the house and I do mean ALL OVER! I'm not exactly sure whose idea it was to have them put it on the tree after they'd picked it all up?!? It came off the tree real easy with the shop vac just in case you wondered!

And that pretty much sums up the last few weeks at our house! I am always happy once Christmas is over and we can get back to a more normal routine here......well, normal for us!

Swedish Breakfast

Okay so if you've known me for more than five minutes, you most likely know that my family is Swedish. Came through Ellis Island. Right off the boat. My parents are first generation Americans. They were fairly fluent in the language.....enough that they and the grandparents could communicate without any of us kids having a clue!

All the grandparents are gone now and also the rest of their generation and so, unfortunately, have a lot (alright, most) of the cultural / family traditions. There is, however, one tradition that remains and that is the Swedish Lucia breakfast.
My mom & I attended it again last weekend. I really don't know what the history is for the event other than food and a girl - supposedly the oldest daughter - wearing a wreath of lit (yikes!) candles on her head and the littlest kids in costume dancing and singing and stuff. So at this particular breakfast there is all of that and a modest assortment of foods and other Swedish things for sale.
This is a photo of a Lucia celebration - not the one we went to though.

Attending any event with your 80 year old mother can be an *exciting* thing and this was no exception! She talks a little too loud. She comments on everything and everyone.....whether appropriate or not. She tells everyone at the table (all strangers) that the food is not as good as her grandmother's recipe but can't tell you what it was that made grandma's food so much better. She tells everyone, including the servers "god dog" which she thinks is Swedish for good day. I don't know...maybe it is but if someone kept saying "god dog" to you.........hey, I'm just saying......
So I got my annual cultural experience and spent a pleasant morning doing so!
"God dog", to all! Heh heh!

Thanksgiving 2009

Okay - finally a minute to post a real update.Yay!!

So a few weeks ago I went with my friend to a craft class. We made these cute craft things that you see in the photo below. They look pretty simple to make don't they? But no.....they were so not simple! In fact I learned that night what it must feel like to be mentally challenged. The instructor was speaking English and although I understood the words she was saying there was just no way that was translating into the actions needed to create the craft. My mind was a big "huh?" all night. I'll never be invited to another craft class with that friend I guess.

Back to Thanksgiving.....Here are Murphy and Cadi waiting patiently for Tom to drop some Thanksgiving treats to them. It isn't like there is a shortage of food *falling* on the floor. After all there were 7 kids under 11 here! I doubt the dogs missed much!

Here we have table number one with Great grandma & pa, Julie, Linnea, Alec & Luke.

Here in the other room is table number two with Selah, Caleb, Nathan, Steve, Eddie, Christina & Olivia

Christina and Olivia made these cute turkey cupcakes.

Alec made this centerpiece of "the First Thanksgiving" out of Legos. (I love that all the people are clone troopers! It just adds that little something special, don't you think?)

After dinner the little boys played Wii. For hours. I think they're getting their own Wii for Christmas - shhhh don't tell!

And the little girls played Barbies. What else?? Have you ever eavesdropped on the conversations of a 2 year old and a 3 year old?? Hilarious!!!

Maggie wasn't quite old enough for Barbie......maybe next year. But she loves her new princess throne.....I mean chair!

And it wouldn't be an event - any event - if Luke didn't take off with my camera taking picture after picture of noses, butts, the wall, the lights, the carpet and just plain weird stuff!! You just never know what you'll find when you get your camera back from Luke. Like this shot of Maggie's eye?!

Thank goodness it's all digital. If I paid to have a roll of film developed and found those shots I might just be a tad cranky!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I should be downstairs tidying up, preparing food for this afternoon's feast, setting tables and stuff. Instead I am updating this blog. Isn't that just like me!? Well the turkey went into the oven an hour ago and won't be ready for about 4 more hours, so what's the rush??
Later I will post pictures and a real update.

Or maybe I'll just take a tryptophan-induced nap!

The Addiction

Okay it has been quite a while since I've updated. Sorry. There really hasn't been a lot of excitement around here, which is good considering what we've been through the last couple months.....bridal shower, wedding, numerous birthday parties, and a christening. Whew! But you already knew all that. So now I will attempt to explain the reason for my long absence from this blog.

My name is Sheryl and I am an addict. Every day begins with my craving for a "fix" and I can't, in fact, even get out of bed until I satiate my habit. Once at work I have to sneek around for a quick hit and I'm driven by my habit to be home at the exact times that I need more than just a quickie and I can get my fix without rushing and hiding. My habit has become so bad that I've actually gotten up in the middle of the night and without even turning on any lights, I ever so quietly sneek to check my computer and see that my Facebook farm is running smoothly, cows and other livestock are fed and harvesting crops as necessary. Yep, this farm is serious business! I've sucked the whole family into the Farmville web now and we actually have conversations that to an outsider might actually sound as if we were really farmers who knew what we were doing! Of course they'd be wrong but we have to do something now that all the other excitement has come to an end, right?

Well gotta go - I have some tomatoes that will be ready in a minute!

This is me in a field on my farm......sorry about the blurry image, but you get the idea!