Change

I wrote this a while ago.

I write in my blog when I have something funny or exciting to write about. I don't write when I experience something sad or difficult; I'm afraid to. I like to keep my problems to myself- act like they're not there, pretending that everything is hunky-dory.

But life isn't that way is it?

We all have problems and though I write about those, you will never see them. I have read so many blogs where people tell it like it is and those are some of the blogs I like the most.
They are real. They are honest

So how brave am I and how honest or real should I make this blog? Is that even the tone I want for my blog? A sub-world that mirrors my own, but only includes those things that I want to share. How appealing! How hollow.

We have been unemployed since July and it has been, to say the least, stressful. It is hard looking for a job when you do not have one. I would much prefer looking for a new job while still working. In fact, I would highly recommend it, but this is how it is.

We knew coming to Wisconsin was the right think to do, but for a while I have been feeling the urge to "get going, it's time to move on." Clearly I now understand why.

And though things have not turned out the way we had hoped, I know the reason we were supposed to come to Wisconsin. Wisconsin is where Doctor H is. My moods were slowly getting worse and my pregnancy with Andrew made it all the harder. I needed help and I needed Doctor H. He even mentioned that I was one of his hardest patience to treat and Doctor H helps a lot of people. You wouldn't think that way out here in Wisconsin there would be a great psychiatrist, but WI has a great medical school and is only an hour away.

I wish you could meet Doctor H. He looks just the way you would think a psychiatrist should and even has the leather couch in his room like any good psychiatrist should. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate that man! I don't know what I will do when we move. But I will be OK, because I am finally stable. I can finally be myself- the real self that was being suffocated by the heavy weight of everything else.

I am ready to move on because I am able. I'm a stronger person because of this and can cope when before I could not.

Dear Doctor H, you are free to help other people become people again. Thank you.
I'm breathing. I'm happy

We are ready to leave Wisconsin and our home ( and we hope before the food and money run out) but we are alright- though we spend too much time standing around the phone as if it were the drinking fountain, waiting for the one phone call telling us we have a job.
We are eager. We are hopeful.

Black Beans

We eat a lot of black beans in our home but the man child thinks they're not cool. Ok! he says they are yucky and just smashes the miserable suckers into his plate. But I have found a way to get him to eat those, oh so nasty beans.

Normally, the only way I can get him to eat the beans (now bean pancakes dried to his plate) is to have a dessert afterwards or have some kind of motivational bread product. I am perfectly serious when I say he could live on bread alone.*

It never fails that a 1/2 hour later, after eating a beanie meal, he asks for bread or some cereal to help him survive until we have real food in the morning.

But his luck has change...or would that be mine?

I heard you can make Black Bean brownies. Brilliant right? I am a firm believer of hiding veggies and I thought this was worth a try.

Test results:

It did make awesome/can't tell there are black beans brownies. It makes the brownies heavy and fudgy-er. I used a homemade recipe and haven't tried it on a mix, but I think it would turn a mix into fudge rather then Brownies.

The man child ate it! He had no idea that black beans were in there. I even told him they were when he asked for seconds and he didn't seem to care.

He gave me that "whatever" look with his eyes and asked for more.

"More black bean Brownies please."

Ah, there is nothing like pretending a dessert is good for you.

*Isn't there a scripture about this?

Little Town Between Corn Fields and Dairy Farms

This weekend we have been living like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Of course I have to take on the roll of Ma, though it really would be much more fun to be in Farmer Boy (you can not read that book without getting hungry).


The idea was fun for the first 5 minutes and 34 second. Then reality hit me like the smell of dirty dishes. Which isn't an exaggeration because the sink was full, both sides with dirty dishes. And not the easy just rinsed off kind of dishes, but the dried on oatmeal kind.

PART ONE- Saterday

We noticed that there was a strange smell downstairs coming from our water heater. But we had to hurry out to the park for the girls soccer games.


I was so worried about our house starting on fire that on our way home, when I smelled smoke for a minute there my heart panicked and I didn't know if I should to just sit down and cry or be a heroine and run in and save the cats...and pictures, viola and movies, the newly painted furniture because hey, I have spent a lot of time on it and of course the vacuum that actually works and my red tea kettle because I like it and the gee-tar that is not mine...


but it was someone just burning something. Few! My nicely plucked eyebrows were not going to be singed off.


When we got home, the smell (from the water heater-not the dishes) was even stronger. So off went the water heater. No problem. I'm not worried or stressed. How hard can it be spending a weekend without hot water. I'm A-o-k!


Do you know how much a person uses hot water? A (insert stressed word here) TON!*


I took a shower right after the water heater was turned off so I was safe. The kids also needed baths, which we should have done right away, but we waited until later. I did some laundry (only colds) and thought that we were doing great...


PART TWO-Sunday morning.

Only the girls were left to bath but by then the water coming out of the piper was freezing cold.** It took a lot, LOT and more LOT-A-LOTS to get that water up to bathtub ready temperature.


I had all my pots and red tea kettle going. It took two loads of everything I had. *** But bathed they did!

NJ wanted to do the dishes yesterday. Like I was going to say, "No honey. Dishes are awful. You hate doing dishes, remember? Just load the dishwasher." So I boiled her some water for washing and rinsing. She loved every minute of it. ^ I guess she loves playing Little Town Between Corn Fields and Dairy Farms more then me.

It seemed like I was boiling water all weekend long!

Hopeful we will be able to do something about it soon because right now I have the whites soaking in hot water in my huge canning pot on the laundry room floor and I can only fit so many. At least after they soak for a while I don't mind washing them in cold.

Blah!




* I bet that this happened to me because just the night before I read the article about water in the National Geographic. You have been warned. I wash my hands (with handsanatizer) if you get jinked.

** Ok, maybe not freezing, but cold enough that your hand began to hurt after being in it too long. Kinda made it hard for the kids to wash their hands...not that they do a great job of it the first place.

***Just this morning I remembered I have a huge pot for canning. With my stock pot and canning pot I had enough hot water to give myself a bath.

^ I'm jumping up and down right now. I have a daughter who loves to do the dishes! Too bad loading the dishwashing isn't just as fun.

Easter Day

Easter Hunt. Grandma got buckets for all the Grandkids The kiddos waiting for the Easter Egg hunt.

We have some serious tree climbers in our family.

After the Easter Egg hunt we had a dinner together. I was in charge of cooking this meal. I wish that I had taken a picture of the ham. It came out looking beautiful and very edible.

Easter Trip Day 2

On our second day we went to the Zoo. We left early and got to the Zoo right after it opened. The day was PERFECT! Two thumbs, way up to Grandma for planning.

Look at the naughty things you can get away with at a large family outing. Yes, the Dietrichs are a rebellious group, sitting on the fence rather then behind it.

Andrew, happy to not be at home with girls. In his preschool class at Lands' End he is the only boy most of the time.

Hanging with Grandpa.

Just to show you how cool this Zoo was. How many Zoos give Easter Baskets to the animals?
Correct me if I am wrong, but I can't think of any.

This Zoo worker/trainer? played with the baby elephant. It was fun to watch.

See. Isn't this a cool Zoo!

Grandma packed a huge awesome lunch that helped us all stay cheerful.

After eating, the kids ran around the playground for some free time.

Check out the jumping competition. The poor elephant can't jump at all :(

Jordan kinda cheated...

Some of my kiddos favorite animals were those not real. I am sure it is because of my great parenting skills that help develop their highly creative and brilliant imaginations. You know that we never, cough, cough, watch anything on the square babysitter.

Usually when I go to the Zoo I feel slightly bored and exhausted. I have always loved the Zoo, but the older I get I realize that the Zoo is more for the children, but not this time. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Grandma Dietrich took took most of these pictures. She took a lot of cute/ beautiful pictures. Thank you Grandma!

I did focus more on my family but that is not because I do not love the rest of you. Hopefully you will blog about it too. Hint, hint.

Easter Trip Day 1

The first day of our Easter Trip to Pennsylvania we went to Phipps conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The plants were beautiful and it was a warm/hot sunny day. Perfect weather for soaking up the sun.Here is a picture of the younger grandkids.

NJ trying to smell the flowers.

Look how beautiful this room is. There was a lot of beautiful things to look at.The whole group (except for picture taking Grandma), resting and having a snack . Notice NJ runny across the front. I wonder where she is going?

Do you think she might be heading towards this pond?

Yes-sir-ree, she is all wet. While the rest of us were taking pictures and sitting in the shade, NJ got close and personal with pond water and slimy organisms.

On the way home she was in the back seat shivering while the rest of us were toasty warm. After her bath she was her good-old self again.

Lesson learned- when you lean too far over the pond wall and dip the ends of your hair in, you just might end up falling head first into the pond.

Ps. Despite the fact that I make cute kids, I am not in the prosess of making more.

Have you ever

Have you ever been so bored that you thought about picking your nose just so you had something to do?

Me neither, but I was this close ( ______) to doing it.

Let me first give you the excuse for my... for lack of a better word, laziness. As you know the flu has been going through my family like shared chocolate so I spend most of the day lugging around the man child. He is not the kind of child that will sit and watch a movie or lay quietly in his bed, but rather a follow Mommy and whine type.

So today not only was I feeling drained but I also felt slightly off. Oh dear! Am I hungry or is my stomach beginning to show signs of illness. I was just sick so I couldn’t be coming down with the flu again right? RIGHT??? (insert stressed face)

I decided that the best thing for me to do was to camp out on the couch and think of nothing stressful. I held still, thought happy thoughts and hummed things like, bright paper packages tied up in string and snow flakes that land on my nose and eyelashes. But I found it hard to focus and the children kept interrupting me.

Well, I got bored thinking about things not to do. I thought about not doing the laundry, or not doing the dishes, of not sending out bills. In fact, I was thinking of not doing anything productive.

It felt weird.

I just couldn't find the rhythm or the groove of boredom. I remember this feeling from my teenage years (I mean, to be honest I was never truly bored because only boring people are bored.) but I must have forgotten about the numbness it caused on my bottom right cheek or the steady ticking in my eye.

After much coaxing and 4 pick me up, pre-game coaching speeches and cheers I did something productive and useful. We all got our toes and finger nails painted. Even the man child participated.

In the wee hours of the night

The three of us spent last night in the bathroom; me, blanket and book. The only thing worse then feeling ill alone in the bathroom is having someone there when you "up". I want to be left alone when I'm sick. I even turn on the fan just to make sure no one can hear a thing and come to bother me.

I was quickly arriving to the point where I needed to set the book down, turn on the fan and open the toilet lid. I think that I might have "upped" if the man child had not cried out at that exact moment. I went into his room ( in the hunched-over-slightly- inebriated manor ready to bolt back if things turned ugly), thinking that maybe, mother and son were about to share the same upheaval fate.

Nah, he just needed a drink of water.

Seriously??

Are you SERIOUS! How hard is it to get out of your bed and get a drink of water? Isn't that the whole reason why we have YOUR very own cup WITH YOUR NAME ON IT in the bathroom? Well, at least he stopped me from decorating the toilet bowl.

It’s amazing what the mommy instinct can overcome.

Valentine's Day

Good thing that my goal this year was not to blog more. Just thought that I should mention that so that you can stop judging me. But if you are thinking how wonderful I am, and that you can't believe what a great D.G. I am, and that when you grow up you want a hair cut just like mine ,then by all means, keep judging away.
For Valentine's Day we decorated our own bags and made Valentines for each other. After that we added some chocolate and cookies. Later, while the kiddos were out with Daddy I hid the bags.They had a great time running around the house looking for their bags. The Hubby man had the hardest time finding his own. I also made a nice Valentine's Day meal and for dessert I made a chocolate swirl cake. While I was waiting for the cake to cool ,before adding the cherry jello to color it red, the cat got up on the counter. I yelled like the crazy women I am and frightened the cat so much that it stepped into the cake. OH was I angry! I then had to cut out a big section of the cake cause NASTY that paw has been in the... never mind you get the point.

Have you ever had a time when you look back and think, "WHAT the HELM was I thinking?"

While during that questionable time I got two kitties. Reuben (on left) and Ralphie. We have already spent more money on these cats (meaning Ralphie's surgery) then we wanted. But I should have known that we are sissies after not being able to take "care" of the nest of rabbits. After this, the only kind of animal that I will ever get is the kind that stays in the freezer or in a can. I'm too much of a softy.

Strawberry Shortcake

Our little Banana is FIVE! That means she starts school in the fall. Not that I'm keeping track...
She loves, LOVES Strawberry shortcake. So surprisingly enough she had a strawberry shortcake birthday cake. I have to admit that it ended up perrty cute.

Her favorite birthday gifts were an umbrella and five dollars (which she bought a bag of marshmallow's and ice cream).