A Birthday Gift

A long time ago (eleven years to be exact) God sent me a gift.

My life will never be the same.

I loved him like a son... I still do.

He taught me to be a mom. A good thing too cause 5 months later I became one.

We traveled many miles by rocker trying to soothe so many earaches.
I would sing and pray over you.

Today I sing "Happy Birthday to you" and pray that you may experience the joy that you have brought to all the people who know you.

You are a wonderful young man Marcus and I am very proud to be your NaNa.

Need a bit of Magic

The Morgans are still alive and well.

I should be busy now cleaning my house, disciplining children, folding laundry,and all other sorts of things but I don't want too.

I need to though.
I really need a fairy godmother.
I probably need a Mary Poppins more.

What I really need is motivation not magic.
I guess tonight I will wish upon a star for motivation.
I hope it works.

Mother's Day- Holy Socks

So when we get home from church Devonae informs me that her teacher said I need to add socks to my shopping list.

What? Where did that come from?

Devonae showed me one of the socks she was wearing that was missing a heel and also had a large hole in the toe area. Evidently she showed them to her teacher too.

It is not like she doesn't have socks.
We are not even close to being that poor.

I let her know that she should throw holey socks away so they don't get worn again.
I also let her know that showing off ragged clothes was slightly embarrassing to her Mom.

Meijer Trip with Husband and Kids

Not sure which is worse shopping with your husband or your kids.

So here is what I got for 110.00

10 pkg Oreo cookies (I would like to say a year supply but who are we kidding 4 months I hope)
10 pkg Oreo Cakesters (soccer snack, summer snack, slave bribe)
8 pkg Fruit by the foot (ditto)
8 cans Campbells chunky clam chowder (this travels in Danny's suitcase to Marme's so he does not starve there)
50 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese (this is a year supply)
2 boxes of Lucky Charms (insert threats to kids who eat up all the marshmallows)
10 Freschetta Pizzas (the kids favorite frozen pizza)
2 bottles Hidden Vally Ranch (cause Jesse complains about the dressing I got for .50)(not ranch though cause there is NO substitute for HVR)
1 pkg hotdog buns (to go with the pkg of turkey hotdogs I got for .25 at the Commissary)
3 pkg of frosting (I think this brings my collection to a year supply)
12 yogurt (a 2 day supply)

Oh I forgot to add the stuff that I bought because I love my Hubby
1 T-shirt (needed for sports day at work)
1 Nutty Bar pkg
1 Pkg Ding Dongs (I told him he was one, I found these out when I looked at the receipt)
8 6pack 20oz bottles of Mt. Dew (he takes these to work instead of buying them there)
4 pkgs of donuts (he blamed 2 of them on the kids)
1 pkg of gummy worms

Unfortunately the store was out of Capri Sun that I had a coupon for and said to come back with the receipt and coupon for my 10 free boxes of Capri Sun (can you say soccer mom)

I could have done better if I would have done smaller trips and planned better but I am still happy and Devonae is really happy to have her year supply of Mac and Cheese in the pantry.
I could have done better if my Husband had not put 43.00 of the 110.00 in the cart.
Yep his list was 43.00.
So that means I got my stuff for 67.00.

I love my husband very much and think more than worth the 43.00.

Dinner Deceit

Dinner is Tacos

My kid just asked me for more because "it is sooo delicious".

What she does not know is that there are vegetables in those tacos.

A lot of Vegetables.
And a bit of buffalo too.

Several months ago I added about a cup of food processed carrots to my taco meat.
I told Jesse and he was fine with it.
With the green light from the head man and a clean plate to show his money was where his mouth was I took it several steps further on recent taco nights.

So tonight's mix has:
Ground Beef
Ground Bison
Green and red peppers
onion
potatoes
carrots
and black eye peas



It is about 40% vegetables.

I am evil.

And I don't feel guilty.

More Morgan Misadventures

The creation of this post was temporarily delayed due to a mad run to the door to try and get the dog to throw up outside... did not make it by 2 feet.

This part of my life began with a promise to my kids that we would get them a pet when they all were potty trained. (I am now questioning the wisdom of this policy)
My life was finally less chaotic so why not get it back to normal. (normal is chaotic)

How did we get here?
Jesse wanted and Sheltie. Renee did not. A brief research will show they are not good dogs for households with kids. (I think we had 4 kids at last count)

Being the Mom that I am I was shooting (not with a gun) for a family breed. Golden Retriever ranks #1 so that is what I aim for.

We found a Golden- Sheltie pup from a wonderful sounding rescue that was perfect. The rescue said we seemed perfect for the pup and that was a well informed analysis based on a questionnaire that is more intrusive than the long census form. We passed.
But so did several others of the 15 applicants.
We lost.

Off to find another.
They had one in West Virginia and one in South Carlina. Yeah right, not gonna work for us.

I keep searching and find one on Craigslist in Columbus.

She the puppy formerly known as Lily came to our house yesterday.


















"Lily" pooped in the van on the way home.

Lily ripped out the support to a cup holder in the van on the way home.

Herbie, our van, is not so sure about this dog.

Here is what we ended up with:
An 8 month old puppy that has not been trained.
Has only had a rabies shot.
Not leash trained.
Doesn't appear to know her name.
She is a Golden-Sheltie it appears.
She has already peed on the floor. Add puke to that.
She had her puppy Kong torn to shreds after 2 hours.
She was too big for the kennel that the manager of Petsmart said to get. They exchanged it no problem and even said to bring back the trashed Kong for a refund when Jesse went back to get a larger adult one that we hope holds up.

BUT:
She has the temperament that we wanted.
She is not a barker.
Jesse's says she is a good puppy, just untrained.
The kids love her and she likes them too.

It is gonna take time, and a lot of work but I think we are gonna have lots of GOOD adventures with Vixey.

Name change due to Elli and Lily sounding alike.
Name formation came from Fox due to her red coloring, to Vixen because shes a girl fox, to Vixey the girl fox from The Fox and the Hound.

Cake or Death

Their is a comedy sketch that Jesse likes called "Cake or Death".

We did a rendition of that here today.

It was go outside or clean.

For some reason they all chose to go outside.

I managed to clean at record pace without 4 kids undoing the things I had done.

I am so glad Spring is here.

God Sent Me a Message

The message was "banyo"

It meant you need to learn Spanish.


We had a new young visitor in our 4 year old Sunday school class.
She seemed shy and quiet while I showed her where to hang up her coat and encouraged her to join us in the circle for our story.

After a few minutes she stood up and said "banyo".
It seemed urgent and neither I or Jesse understood.
She repeated "banyo" with a tone of concern.
So I began my guess with "brother" it starts with B and I saw one with her when she entered the class so I thought maybe she missed him. Wrong. I then remembered that I think brother is Hermano.

Jesse and I knew "banyo" seemed familiar.
Then it came to me "bathroom"
I told Jesse to open the door to the adjacent bathroom so she could see where it was and see if we had figured it out correctly.

"Banyo" is bathroom.

This is going to be an interesting class.
We colored out puppet craft and I showed her how we were putting it together.
A lot of showing and talking that I am sure the did not understand.

I complimented her coloring by saying "mucho bien" I hope I told her it was good.

After a bit one of the preschool coordinators brought us her registration and said that out new learner knew very little english.

Jesse and I chuckled and let her know that we had figured that one out.

Now I just need to figure out how to teach a lesson in Spanish.

Not being blindsided I think I will Begin next week with, "Ola, Mi amo es Senora Renee."

I think that means. "Hi, my name is Mrs. Renee".

The Empress's New Table

Once upon a time there lived an Empress.

She had traveled to many lands and lived in many castles while her husband campaigned for the Air Force.

During that time she done her duty very well and provided him with 4 heirs.

But that posed a problem...
Where to feed the residents of the Emperor's household?

The table was too small and was from back before he had conquered many dragons and obtained loot.

"This will not do", says the emperor to the fair lady who had stood by him through many campaigns, provided him with the children to carry on his name (literally), and faithfully served him.

So in honor of their eleventh year of wedded bliss he decreed that a new table be presented to the Empress.

But the day of the anniversary came and a plague was besieging the castle inhabitants so it was not to be.

But fear not, the noble grandparents Morgan enter to care for the imps, I mean prodigy, so there should be no delay in the quest to acquire the Empress's New Table.

The Emperor and Empress traveled long and far for about an hour to the land of Ikea.
Braving fierce downpours and blazing lightning they brought home treasure boxes that would lead to the fulfillment of the noble decree.

They all slept dreaming pleasant dreams knowing that soon the decree would be fulfilled.


The Next Day:


Behold the labor.



See the castle inhabitants toiling to create the Table.


All day they toiled.

When they had finished it was discovered they had looted the wrong table from the land of Ikea. It was too big.

Unfortunately the laws of the land of Ikea state that there shall be no returns of open boxes or built items.

A messenger was reached and a plea to correct the problem was made.
The return message was to return the item to the store and they would inspect it and then....
they could not say.
Really they could not say.

For all they knew they would be making a pointless journey only to have thier hopes and dreams and anniversary gift decapitated.

But the table was disassembled and the wisest members of the court were gathered to put the pieces back into the boxes. This feat was not for the weak minded or those impatient. Fortunately they packaged it neatly.

They packed the caravan and went to plead their case in the land of Ikea to the managerial leader.

The Emperor was convincing.

The work of the wise court was brilliant in their packaging and they were complimented on the excellent condition.

The Managerial leader agreed with the insight that it was better to get a smaller table rather than buy a bigger castle.
They gave us special Ikea money that is only good for trade in Ikea.

No problem.

The table to please the Empress was available for trade here so soon all would be triumphant.



The table they seek is missing from its shop.

The Empress went to the courier in Blue and Yellow and noble said, "Sir, the Bjursta table in not in its bin and the sign on it said to seek you". Well it was something like that.
"the spy system (Internet)said not more that 2 hours ago that you had 5 available
for trade".

He looks and says, "we are out of stock."
She laughs.

The empress laughs.

The poor Ikea man was probably concerned about the crazy female laughing at the bad news.
If he read my blog he would have been more frightened because he would have had confirmation that the Empress was crazy.

He took pity on her and told her that there would be 5 more for trade the next day. (He probably is calling off tomorrow just in case the crazy laughing Empress returns for the third day in a row.

So behold the Empresses New Table.

Yes it is invisible but don't tell her.

Frugal Art

I am cheap.
I like to think I am creative.
I am a nut who hangs cardboard boxes on her walls.








The one above the window is cardboard also.

Cost: .50 for a sheet of scrapbook paper.
The other supplies were leftovers from other projects.

Family Jokes

Our wedding anniversary is a running joke in our house.

Our first one occurred 2 weeks after the birth of Devonae and I was still in so much pain and having a kid who has to eat every 45 minutes around the clock was less than romance inducing. We sat on the couch and watched TV.

The following one we cleaned the house.

And the ones following have followed the pattern.
We know to expect work not romance on our "special" day.

This year we were stuck at home with 4, yep all 4, sick kids.

Good thing we know what to expect. Jesse predicted it 5 days before.

So I bought myself some flowers with coupon codes and reward points.




Happy Anniversary to Me.
Flowers I bought from Jesse for myself for .64 cents.

That made our day special.
The joke of me buying myself flowers on the cheap.
The joke of Jesse guessing right how our anniversary would turn out.
The humour of spending the night with 2 sick kids snoring between us in our bed.

The joy of knowing that we don't care that our "special" isn't special because we have fun sharing our life together all 365 days of the year. Anniversary included.

Crazy runs in the family

So last week I was having a bad, hormonal, depressing day.
I was missing Becka and while I could have medicated myself with food I decided to Do Something rather Eat Something. Besides I probably would have had to share food with the kids, and I was not in a sharing mood.

Thanks to Jesse's dad who put a floor up in our attic so that we could clear some of the stuff in the garage, the garage seemed a good place to start.I began my craziness in the garage.

I cleared everything away from the door so I could move the heirloom sectional into the family room.
Managed that just fine by myself.

I am an independent type when I get crazy.

Everything was going fine and dandy until I tried to maneuver one of the corner pieces up by the fireplace without clearing the junk out of the way first.
The chair snagged itself on the clutter and I had to lift it high and twist myself to get it in place.
I hurt my back.
I found it funny that all the crazy painting balanced on a chair 8 months pregnant, last minute nesting moving bookcases up and down staircases by myself in my ninth month of pregnancy I never hurt myself. (the craziness has been around for a while)

At this point I actually thanked God for my migraine because otherwise I would have been in a lot of pain without all the painkillers in my system. I am a bit nuts.




So here it is inside the house.
I did it all by myself and all it cost was a couple of bottles of painkillers that I already had on hand.

But craziness has no boundaries and the drugs were still working so why stop.

My lack of a backsplash irked me.
So I will paint it.
I have the paint from the mantle in the garage so its free.
I like Free.


Of course it looks all nice and clean for the photos but the before was a sight to behold.
Part of my painting reasoning was to avoid cleaning the kitchen. Not very rational, I know.
Nor practical.
I had to move everything constantly to get it out of my way and it was a big pain.
Bigger than the pain in my back and head cause the have drugs for that but not for stupid.

And look I had to clean it anyway cause who wants to show off the accomplishments with dirty dishes and food all over. I am not that crazy.

I finished the backsplash and the kids told me I needed to do the soffit too.
So I did.
They were right. It is nice to know that crazy people have smart kids.

Day 1 of crazy ends.

Day 2 arrives.
Crazy is a long term ailment and was still hanging around.
My closet doors irk me.
I should fix them, I have the paint in the garage and it is FREE.
Now I had primed the ones in the kitchen but they were off white and needed a coat of white top coat.

Below is a picture of the ugly brown cheap crap I had on the walls.
The girl is doing her best to make the doors look better but it is a lost cause.


So I painted them.
Since I had the primer and paint out and am still crazy might as well paint the laundry room doors, coat closet doors and the cabinet in the bathroom.










So day 2 since I was injured I paced myself.
I painted the furnace room doors.
Painted the pantry door.
Primed and painted the laundry room doors.
Primed and painted the coat closet door.
Primed and painted the bathroom cabinet.
Painted the cabinet hardware.

Got on my hands and knees and scrubbed my kitchen and bathroom floors.

The craziness was wearing off because I did not do the cabinets in the 2 bathrooms upstairs.

Don't Get Run Over

So it is snowing here again.

The roads are slick.

Our driveway has a bit of a slope that can give difficulty when the conditions are bad.

Today they were bad.

Kids hollered that Dad was home but could not get up the drive so I start getting ready to go out to help him. (I was planning on shoveling a path through the 1/8 inch of snow to give his tires a bit more traction)
Danny asks, "Are you going to push him"?
I inform him noway I don't want to get run over.

As I get my coat out of the closet I look out and see he made it up. I open up the door and greet him and say I was preparing to help him.

Then the car slides down our drive into the street.
Jesse runs along side his "baby" as it drives away leaving him behind.
I am yelling," Don't get run over" again and again.

She (the car) stopped partway in the street and managed not to get hit or run anyone over.

I went out and scraped the 1/8 inch of snow, sleet stuff off the drive and Jesse made it up without problems and the car has managed to stay put for a while now.

Jesse now agrees with me that our next house will have a less steep drive.
(not that this one is excessively steep)


Now if I could just stop checking the driveway to see if out car is still there.

A Partial Before and After

The top of my microwave was a clutter magnet.
The shame of my shortcomings is so great you will not see a before picture of my sins.

So I cleaned it up.
Unfortunately the pillar of plastic containers holding the honey, butter, and Cinnamon was unsightly.

I needed a box or a basket to gather they together in.

Behold the box... from the recycle bin in the garage.

Before



After

Of course this project was free with stuff I had on hand, I went digging through the trash for goodness sake. Just took a bit of elbow grease to clean up the mess and craftiness to prettify the box.

I think I have a bit of touching up to get the handles the right color but for now I am satisfied.

Pull up a chair

Grab a cup of tea, coffee, or beverage of choice and enjoy a Morgan house chat with Karist.

Some of you have heard of the "Pink House", if you haven't or want more info about it just ask Karist she will talk non stop and entertain you to your hearts content.

What exactly is the Pink House? It is a magical place in Karist's imagination (don't tell her, she thinks it is real)It is a part of her daily life.
She is always relating to things by saying "that's me" in movies she sees, games she plays, stories she hears, same thing with the house. You have a horse so she lets you know that she has a horse at her Pink House. Most likely it is a pink horse.

Here are a couple of samples of the Pink House phenomenon.

On Monday I spent the day baking.
I made: Butterhorn rolls
Bran Muffins
Pumpkin Bread and Muffins
Peanut Butter Cookies
And a 3 layer Cake with one pan...what a pain, I mean lesson in patience.

You can guess I was busy and using my mixer a lot.
As I was wrapping up I notice someone had taken the bread hook out and it was on the counter... with the enamel chipped off!!!
Tired Momma hollers across the house "Who broke my mixer"?
What kid in their right mind would confess that one.
No one did at first but I used my magical Mommy skills to discover that is was Karist.
Faced with the Magical, All-Knowing Mom she confessed and said she was sorry.
I gave her a hug and let her know that I forgave her but I was still sad that it was broken. I did not stay sad long.

She goes on after she says she is sorry to say:
" I got a mixer in my Pink House. It's a pink mixer." (that's a shock)
" My mixer is not broken"
She cracks me up.


Today I was prepping a Turkey to put in the oven for dinner. I called the kids in to show them the gizzards and talk about where meat comes from. Karist hung around after the other kids left asking "where is its leg?" for the third time. I show her again then put the turkey in the oven.
Here it comes the part you are waiting for:
Karist- "I have a pink turkey in my Pink House. I cut off its tail".

So if Karist ever acts shy around you or she is just nodding to every question you ask her on the phone just as her about her Pink House, she will talk.

Getting things done

There are not before pictures but this is what it looks like now.


I tried to find a solution to targeted mess/problem areas.
Coat closet fix: another organizer.



Living room was dark and uninviting.
Fix: a hanging lamp from Ikea for 12.00 and hanging my favorite quilt on the wall for some color.
It was free also- I stole it from my Mom,
who got it from my Aunt Brenda,
who got it from the animal shelter, who got it from a donation from someone who thought it would make good kennel bedding.

New curtains also free but I had not hung them because they need a room darkening backing, tired of waiting I put them over the old green ones with clothes pins.
It makes me feel better, and after all that is what matters most in decorating.

Devonae's desk was cluttered with school books and papers. Simple fix a magazine holder to put them in when she is not using them.

Jesse's desk was worse but a couple of magazine boxes quickly store his clutter where it is out of my sight but in his reach.

Fluffing my Nest

Since my sister is getting ready to fly away to Ecuador I figure I will be spending more time at my computer. For the next two years till she migrates back blogging and Skype are how we will be keeping in touch.

So I decided to touch up my computer area with a bit of art.

The additions are free.

The pictures were intended to be in color and may be someday soon but my printer won the battle of the ink.








I had the letter stickers and scrapbook paper in my craft closet and the painters tape in the garage.

The art is from http://indiefixx.com/Feed_your_soul/index.html

Here is a not so widely known fact: Becka collected birds when she was younger.

Dance Recital

When: last month
Theme: Who-ville
Why now? because I am a procrastinator that is why.






So why the stark background and the costume disarray?

Well did I mention a procrastinator earlier?
I put off getting new batteries in the camera until the last minute and then wardrobe malfunctions occupied me till the last minute so I had to toss the task to my sometimes reliable procrastinator-in-chief.

Batteries seemed like his kind of thing but in retrospect I should of had him braid hair on a wire while I did the batteries.

So we arrive and the recital begins, the camera turns on them shuts down. I turn to my partner and ask the obvious question with the also obvious answer.

"Did you get new batteries for the camera?"
"No"
Followed by either "I did not know it needed new batteries", or " I thought you did".

At this late date I can't remember which it was. Perhaps I should take a poll to determine the historical fact so that it can be recorded properly.

So there were no pictures or videos of the recital or the charming background.

You will have to live with the mugshot like post-recital photos in my kitchen.

Happy Birthday and other thoughts

Happy Birthday Weston.
I missed being at your entrance.
I have missed every birthday since.
But I love you and think about you on your special day even if I can't be there.

Oh by the way thanks for sharing your day with Elli.
She is 5 now. She had a birthday she says. Weston's.

5 is now her lucky number.



Now on to "what is in a name".

So I was holding it together at the commissioning service for my Sister and her family, who are leaving in a few weeks for Ecuador, just fine until a name broke down my walls of emotional restraint.

I have pretty tough walls too.

So when Dustan's Dad was laying hands on the family and talking to God he called his son "Dusty".
I have heard him called this before but the way it was said, who it was said to, and the context it was said in, that tore me up.

Who knew "Dusty" was the weak link in my wall.

So what I heard was a Daddy praying and giving his little boy into the hands of God.
Dustan was not a man in his father's eyes at that moment...
he was young...
about Weston's age...
or perhaps little Samuel in the Bible.


I guess you can say it was the picture of the immense love of a father for his child that moved me so.


So "Dusty" if you read this in a way it was you, not Becka, that broke me down to crying in public.

I am pretty sure that what I saw and heard was the way it was seen from heaven.