I married a Polack...

It's The Truth

2012-01-30T18:35:00.002-05:00

Best and Worst

2012-01-26T19:05:00.002-05:00

Seeger's worst - sharing at school, every time he did a move the students started talking
Natalie's worst - lots of class work to do this weekend
Mike's worst - stupid department head
Nick's worst - got Thomas out during knockout
Seeger's best - getting ice cream with Meesha
Natalie's best - almost the weekend and Mike is feeling better
Mike's best - that he's feeling better
Nick's best - if IU wins it will be that but if IU doesn't win than it's almost the end of the week

Random Thought Thursday

2012-01-26T13:13:00.003-05:00

1. I just received an email from Seeger's teacher. She really enjoyed his sharing presentation. He wrote about his tae kwon do moves and demonstrated them for the class. She said he had nice moves.

2. My students had to hand in a project yesterday and overall I'm impressed with their work. The assignment was less academic paperish and more real world presentationish and I can tell they semi-enjoyed the work.

3. In writing the syllabus for this course, I did my best to spread out their work throughout the 8 weeks. However I screwed myself. This weekend I have to grade all their projects, write the final assignment, and write the midterm I'm giving on Monday.

4. Last Saturday we had friends over for dinner. There was a treacherous ice storm Friday night so our driveway and street were covered in ice. Couple 1 arrived Saturday and parked with no problem in the driveway. Couple 2 turned on our street and promptly slide toward the yard, stopping a foot away from our mailbox. We had to push their car out of the way (a difficult task when your feet have no traction). We thought we were going to lose the mailbox because their car wouldn't go anywhere in reverse. Luckily we got it straightened out and Couple 2 finally got back on the road and parked for the evening. When it was time to leave, Couple 2 drove down the hill of our street and turned around in the caldesac. Then we had to push them up the hill to our cross-road. When Couple 1 tried to leave, they couldn't back up our driveway. They were able to get their car turned around but even going forward, they couldn't get up the driveway. They tried driving in the yard but we still had to push them up the hill. The Polack and I finally made it to bed around 1 am and when we woke up our mailbox was gone. It had been taken out some time between 1am and 8am.

5. In addition to needing a new mailbox, we are having trouble with our fireplace and hot water heater. Homeownership rocks. Seriously though, it's all good since everything is still under warranty. And we do love our house.

6. I am not a good plant owner. My poinsettia at work is dying and my houseplant at home is dying. The houseplant was outside all summer and it did so well. As soon as I brought it inside it lost half of it's leaves. I'm trying to salvage it but I'm really tired of picking up dead leaves every day.

7. Nicklas loves the lava lamp he received for Christmas. He likes to leave it on all the time. Seeger has been playing a lot of board games with Meesha. She's so good about hanging out with him when she's home.

8. The boys were sick last week and then they got me sick and then I got Mike sick. Yesterday was the first day I felt fully recovered and hopefully Mike can be all better by the weekend so we'll all be done with sickness for awhile.

9. My friend bought a puppy before Christmas - a Burmese Mountain - and she's now 3 months old and weighs 30 lbs. She's going to be huge and she's so gosh darn cute.

10. Things on my to-do list... Get caught up with class/teaching stuff. Take Freddy to vet and groomer. Schedule Dr. appts for the family. Schedule eye appt. for me. Call about water heater. Buy birthday present for brother-in-law. Open savings accounts for Nicklas and Seeger. I'm thinking I should take the day off to get all this accomplished. I'm pretty caught up at work so I can feel good about one part of my life.

Sorry if this is a really boring post. I'll have to come up with some entertaining stories this weekend. Happy Thursday everyone.

Best and Worst

2012-01-20T19:44:00.002-05:00

Seeger's worst - Nicklas didn't pick Jiffy Treet after getting his orange belt
Natalie 's worst - feeling sick today
Mike's worst - everybody feeling sick except him
Nick's worst - has a cold
Seeger's best - getting a new app thats really fun
Natalie's best - Friday night dinner with the family
Mike's best - Nicklas got his orange belt and good report cards from the boys
Nick's best - orange belt!

Nicklas is an Orange Belt

2012-01-20T19:33:00.002-05:00

He's more excited about it than he looks. I think he was just annoyed by my picture taking.

Speaking of...

2012-01-20T08:35:00.007-05:00

I have been terribly neglectful of my poor Polish blog lately. Partially because my computer and iPhone still hate each other and I can't edit my photos. But also because I've been busy reading and quilting and prepping for class and lots of other things. Let's see... some things going on in the Kubatski life....

Meesha officially moved in. The boys are in love with her, especially Seeger who always wants to know where she is and when she'll be home. She has two jobs on campus, she's an assistant for a class, she's taking two online classes for her MPH, she babysits two days per week, she's volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club, she's volunteering for the Red Cross and she's joined two student groups. So we don't see her much. When we do, it's nice to have a happy, cheerful person around.

Speaking of happy people... I have been in an exceptionally all around good mood lately. Despite some not so great things that have happened in my life, I've managed to stay positive and go with the flow with a smile on my face.

Maybe the all around positive feelings are a result of all the quilting I've managed to achieve lately. I spent two weekends ago hanging around the house and I finished a quilt top while watching the first half of the first season of Gilmore Girls. (Never underestimate the power a Gilmore Girls marathon.) I also spent last weekend at Quilt Camp where I managed to quilt and bind the top I completed the previous weekend, quilt another quilt that's been sitting in queue for nearly a year, and start two new projects that I'm excited about. I spent the weekend with my quilting friends and managed to relax and take it easy (a massage helped with that) and I even treated myself to a gorgeous bundle of beautiful fabric. I also got to better know a new addition to the quilting group. Her name is Betty and she's 83 and a pretty amazing person and I want to be just like her when I grow up. (Never underestimate the power of hanging out with people who share a common interest/passion.)

So the smiles and general good mood has continued - through several great IU basketball win's and now even some losses. Speaking of IU basketball, I have two tickets for the game on Sunday.

This has been a busy week for Nicklas. He spent Monday and Tuesday in Detroit with his Papa where they cheered the Redwings on to a 5-0 victory. On Wednesday, he had his first Strings Concert and we enjoyed watching him and rest of the 161 fifth graders play Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. The concert also featured the sixth graders, the middle school orchestra, and the Hoosier Youth Philharmonic (orchestras from both Bloomington high schools.) I thought the evening would be long and boring but it was really cool. I enjoyed hearing the progression of skill with each group and was amazed at how well the high school did. Despite the issues we've had with transporting the cello, I do hope Nicklas continues to want to play. (The director of the high school program also mentioned that the group goes on a tour each year during spring break. They are playing at Carnegie Hall this year and they've also gone to Hawaii and Paris and so you know, that helps entice us to keeping Nicklas with it.) He's getting better at reading music and it's so good for his fine motor skills. I asked Nicklas if he liked the cello or if he wished he played a different instrument. He said he likes the cello because it's big but he can still sit with it (unlike the bass players who have to stand).

Back to his busy week... We didn't get home until after 8 last night because the family took me out for my birthday dinner (hibatchi!). Tonight is his tae kwon do test for his orange belt promotion. Saturday, he has rehearsal because he's in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jr., then he's going over to a friends house. Despite all this, we haven't felt stretched too thin with all the running around. Hopefully he doesn't feel that either.

Seeger is a little less busy though he had a friend spend the night on Monday (the kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday), he's also going to TKD and a friends out tomorrow, and tomorrow evening, we're having our friends over who have a boy Seeger's age and I'm know they'll be excited to play together. Seeger has been drawing so much lately. He loves his art desk and he's really in to drawing robot dinosaurs. He's also been playing Life (the board game) with Meesha and his Mimi and I promised that I would play with him this weekend. Two weekends ago, it was nice enough outside that I taught him how to shoot his BB gun. He enjoyed trying to hit the soda can but now he wants to buy actual targets.

In other news... I'm teaching another class this semester. Like last semester, this is only 8 weeks and fortunately, it's the first part of the semester. I have a few more students than my last class and it's a 300 level (versus 200 level) and I'm pushing them a bit more with assignments. Their first one is due on Wednesday and I have high hopes for what they'll turn in. I may be overly optimistic.

Random thought.... I have my favorite music on my iPhone and often when I'm getting ready in the morning, I listen to it on shuffle. I'm always happy with what it plays (afterall I wouldn't have a song on my playlist that I didn't like) but it seems like the iPhone plays Gettin' Jiggy With It EVERY TIME. I don't mind some Will Smith mixed in here and there but I think I'm going to have to delete the song from my play list because I'm tired of hearing it nearly every morning.

Speaking of music, Fitz and the Tantrums are playing in Superbowl Village next week and I really want to see them but it means A) making a trip to Indy, B) fighting the traffic and crowds while actually getting to Superbowl Village, and C) it's outside and a concert in freezing temps isn't that appealing. I still may try to go through.

Product updates... The Polack bought my a Soda Stream for Christmas and I wasn't convinced I wanted to keep it. (He told me I was more than welcome to take it back to the store but I wouldn't have felt horrible about returning a gift he put so much thought in to.) Turns out that I love it. It's so easy to use, the flavors are available at several stores, and we've been able to adjust the recipe to how we like (less sweet and more carbonated). The one down side is that it's hard to be consistent with the recipes but overall it's a great product. I want to purchase a few more liter bottles for it and I want to get some of the flavored water drops so the soda consumption gets cut down a bit but I can still have a carbonated beverage.

I purchased a beauty product from Sally Hansen and it was TERRIBLE. It didn't do what it was supposed to so I sent an email to the company about my dissatisfaction. They responded right away and sent me a comparable product that's much better. Yay for great customer response.

I also sent an email to Lowe's to express my displeasure for pulling advertising from TLC's American Muslim tv show. It's been a month and I haven't received a response. Boo on Lowe's. (For the record, I'm not upset with Lowe's for choosing not to advertise; I'm upset that their decision came after receiving threats from the ultra conservative Florida Family Association.) This behavior on the part of Lowe's means the Polack and I won't be shopping there anymore. (Super bummer because it's also been our go-to home improvement store.) Our boycott business list also includes BP and Chick-fil-A. (Neither are as inconvenient, but still a bummer.)

Sometimes you gotta take a stand, yo.

Moving along... I was relishing the fact that we don't have any upcoming weekends where we're traveling anywhere which translates to weekends spent at home chilling BUT we do have friends coming over Saturday, we may go visit friends in Indy next weekend, and we have another group of friends visiting us the following weekend. So my time to chill is slowly diminishing but I'm not complaining about this, just stating a fact. I'll take my being with friends time over chill time. I just wish I could have both. Darnjobthatmakesmeactuallyhavetoworkinsteadofchill.

Last thought and then I better end this rambling post.... I've really started to enjoy reading young adult literature. Luckily, I do so under the guise that I have an 11 year old and I can read what he's interested in so we have some common things to discuss. (Since, you know, everything with him is about sports and I can't hold an intelligent sports conversation.) In reality, I've read more of his books than he has but hopefully he'll catch up soon. My current book is H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden. Nicklas is reading it for his school book club; I'm reading it for fun.

Hunger Games the movie comes out in March. HOLLA!

P.S. I changed the title of this post after reading how many times I wrote "speaking of".

Top 10 Highlights from the Holidays

2012-01-03T13:20:00.004-05:00

I would love to have photo's accompany this post but for some reason, my new iPhone camera and my work computer hate each other. Half of the photos I download are turned sideways and I can't figure out how to flip them. It's very frustrating and means I either have to post from my phone (which is easier now that I have the Blogger app but still a pain in the) or from my laptop (which I keep at home so I don't have to lug it around) or I have to post sideways photos (and no one wants that). Any words of advice for fixing this problem?

(I really don't want to save each picture to a photo editing program. Nor do I want to buy a new camera that gets a long with my phone.)

Anyway, back to the top 10 list. I might get around to posting photos some day but for now, you're stuck with just text.

1. Of course the highlight of the holidays is being with family and friends. Blah, blah, blah. You all know that in a it-goes-without-saying sorta way. I still gotta mention it though. We saw nearly all my aunts and uncles and cousins. Actually after some calculation, I can confirm that I visited with 92% of my family (including the Kubat's but not the Polack's extended family.) Not bad.

1a. I got to hold baby Quinn for like a whole hour. Maybe less but he is so sweet and cute and precious and beautiful so any amount of Quinn time is fabulous.

1b. The week after Christmas, my niece and nephew and my older brother stayed with us for a few days. Uncle Bill and Girlfriend Tracy came for dinner one night too. They brought poppycock for the kids. (I love to say Poppycock.)

1c. We spent New Year's with some of our Lafayette friends and I got to wear a costume which always means an automatic good time in my book.

2. I received a SodaStream for Christmas and it has slowly climbed to the top of the best-present-I-received-this-year list.

2a. I received a kickass winter coat and some pretty awesome sweaters and scarves that are also on my best-present-I-received-this-year list. So are the gift cards and cash. I feel like I scored this year.

2b. I also love my Gallogly calendar from Aunt Carolyn. She included a lot of photos from the past so I get all weepy, nostalgia when I look through it.

3. The Polack (with a little help from me) painted a large portion of the white walls in our house. We still have a long way to go but the hard part (the stairwell and foyer) is finished.

3b. While we had the scaffolding that we rented (that's a story in itself), we hung the two extra globes for the foyer lighting fixture. We love it even more.

4. Work was really quiet last week so I got a lot done and I only worked half days so I felt like I was on semi-vacation.

5. I read a whole book. It was the new Jennifer Weiner that was a last minute rental after I breezed past the 7 day express section of the library.

6. The Polack and I watched the Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest (the Swedish version) and the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (the American version) and we also had an impromptu date at 9Irish Brothers.

7. I felt extra special for having yesterday off work while the poor Polack had to work. I accomplished a lot in terms of cleaning and errand running and friend visiting so that was nice. The boys got much needed hair cuts. (I wish I would have taken them before Christmas but we were too busy.)

7b. Side story, Nicklas got an upgraded haircut because the establishment is new to Bloomington. So his cut included a hot towel, a shampoo with scalp massage, and a shoulder/neck massage. HE. LOVED. IT. It was the first time he'd had some pampering like that and he was so excited afterward.

8. Quilt camp is in 9 days. I have my projects planned out and I want to be organized for this camp. I have so much I want to accomplish.

(I know this wasn't a holiday happening but I'm exciting about the upcoming event so I felt compelled to include it.)

9. I signed Nicklas up to be in Thoroughly Modern Millie and I signed Seeger up for Saturday art classes at IU.

9a. I also decided to probably take my mom up on her offer to maybe go to Florida with her during the boys' spring break. Except that it coincides with the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament so Nicklas would rather stay in Indiana than go to the beach. We haven't officially decided anything yet but it's weird to think of Seeger but not Nicklas going with mom and I.

10. I spent a few hours almost catching up with Kourtney and Kim Take New York. It's not that I like the Kardashian's (actually I like Khloe) or that I believe the show falls in to reality tv. It's pretty obvious that the story lines are developed and the characters ~~sorta~~ act them out. But I'm entertained by the show and I waiting to see how they spin this whole Kris Humphries thing. (That guy didn't know what he was getting himself in to.)

10a. I also watched the entire season so far of Up All Night. I love ~~G.O.B.~~ Will Arnett so I've been wanting to see this show for a while. NBC has the whole first season online so it's well worth the investment to catch up.

Flashback video

2011-12-29T12:02:00.002-05:00

I'm working this week, though I'm one of the few in the building. It's nice to be uniterrupted and free of meetings. I'm getting a lot done but I'm also a little bored. Hence, a look back at some old posts. I found this post which included a video of Seeger and oh-my-goodness-he's-the-cutest-thing-EVER.

Grrrr...

2011-12-28T22:39:00.001-05:00

I don't understand how it can take one little dog such a long time to find a place to do his business - especially when strange noises are coming from the empty lot next door.

Roller Skating

2011-12-28T21:37:00.001-05:00

My niece and nephew are spending a few days with us and I asked them what they wanted to do. Anna immediately asked if we could go roller skating.

Santa Claus

2011-12-24T20:30:00.000-05:00

This Santa Claus freaks me out. He used to be located on a shelf in the guest bathroom at my in-laws house. I didn't appreciate him staring at me so thankfully, he was demoted to garage.

Balloonimals

2011-12-21T23:02:00.001-05:00

Seeger has been playing with my Balloonimals app.

Top 10 Things That Happened to Me This Weekend

2011-12-19T13:35:00.002-05:00

1. Spent QT with Lindsey et al. while celebrating Graves' birthday.
2. Saw two of my friends who are expecting and got to rub their beautiful bellies.
3. Hung out with some Kubat's during a car ride to Indy.
4. Attended the Nutcracker for the second time this year. This performance featured a HPER student.
5. Coveted my niece's awesome purse - purchased for her by Mia when she was visiting this summer.
6. Had long conversations with with Jess, KJ, Kim, Kirby, and Stephanie.
7. Got asked to make a quilt by a friend. I love that she loves my quilts.
8. Saw Nick's smile when hearing he could spend the week with Mimi and Papa. Saw Seeger's smile when hearing he could have a friend spend the night.
9. Reboxed the Smurf's to watch with Seeger during the car ride from Lafayette to Bloomington.
10. Came home to a mailbox full of Christmas cards.

10 Things I Love About This Week

2011-12-16T07:59:00.004-05:00

1. I made MAJOR progress with the holiday ~~obligations~~ festivities i.e. shopping, decorating, Christmas cards, etc.

2. I'm on holiday break from teaching. My class had their final on Monday and I had grades submitted by Wednesday. Overall it was a great 8 weeks of teaching.

3. I attended my first board meeting for Jill's House.

4. I saw the Nutcracker last Saturday and I get to see it again this Saturday.

5. My kids have been exceptionally well mannered lately, as in more helpful and less argumentative. They aren't usually horrible but yes, sometimes they get on my nerves. Every once in a while.... But this week has been great. I'm still relishing the fact that Nicklas folded all his own clothes the other night. (I know I've already mentioned this but seriously guys, he happily accomplished the task and never complained about the chore.)

6. This morning I showered, fed the kids, got everyone out the door, and managed to stop at the grocery store to pick up jimmies for Nick's holiday party at school. I also remembered to have them sign their Christmas cards for their teachers. And I accomplished all of this by 7:15 so we were actually EARLY for school - a rare treat.

(Side note, when I asked the parent who is organizing the holiday party what I should have Nicklas bring, she said jimmies. I told her I was happy to do that but I had to google jimmies to find out what the heck they are. We decided it must be an east coast thing.)

7. I'm exhausted but this is overshadowed by the fact that it's almost Christmas and my boys will be home for the next two and half weeks so I'll probably be getting more sleep that I'm used to.

8. I have arranged to have a friend come to our house when we're visiting family over Christmas. She is going to retrieve all the Santa presents and stocking stuffers that are hidden and put them out so the kids will see them straight away when we get home.

9. My boss just told us that she's giving us all mani-pedi's for Christmas. Super awesome!

10. Not only was my name drawn for a door prize at the HPER holiday luncheon but it was actually one of the first to be drawn. So I got my pick from the loot. I also bid on a few items for the silent auction. I did not win the basketball tickets or the sailing lessons but I did win tickets to the IU Theatre.

Random Thought Thursday

2011-12-15T10:23:00.005-05:00

1. It's 60+ degrees in Bloomington today. I'm still hoping for a white Christmas but I don't think it's going to happen.

2. Nicklas was practicing his cello last night and I actually recognized the songs he was playing.

3. Nicklas also folded all his clean clothes and put them away last night. Usually the Polack and I fold his clothes but I thought maybe I'd let him try to chore. He didn't complain once nor did he roll his eyes at me when I'm asked him to do it. Yay Nicklas!

4. Did anyone watch the series premier of the American Supernanny on Lifetime? The first episode featured a couple and their 9 year old, 7 year old, and 2 1/2 year old quadruplets. While I don't personally know the couple featured, I attended a wedding held at their house over the summer. It was fun watching the show and seeing the familiar setting but woo boy, do those parents need help with some crazy quads.

5. I've sent out most of my Christmas cards but held a few back in case we received some from folks who I didn't send to orginally. It's a good thing because I already have three more that I need to get in the mail. I hope I don't run out cards.

6. I was asked to join the board of a local not-for-profit and my first meeting is tonight.

7. With the upcoming holidays, I really need to find some kick-ass side dishes to make and bring to several gatherings. I think I need to spend some time on Pinterest today.

8. The Polack is planning to do some painting inside the house during his two week break. I'll help as much as I can in between Christmas shopping and work but I haven't quite mentally prepared myself for the project that will likely start on Monday.

9. I think my dog is having some constipation issues. He can't quite seem to finish his business so I'm going to have to figure something out to help him. I should probably google dog constipation relief and see what comes up.

10. Okay, google search is complete and there appears to be some easy remedies for my poor Freddy including feeding him canned pumpkin. I happen to have some canned pumpkin that will never be eaten by my family so we'll try that tonight and hope for the best.

The Stadium by Nicklas

2011-12-14T09:09:00.004-05:00

Nicklas had a poetry project to complete this week. I'm so proud of how well he did!

It looks like any building when you pass it on the street
Made from glass and iron, rock and concrete

But once inside you can see a football jersey

Visit the past or see a future player
Feel the ground shake.
Watch the game, tailgate

As your team wins.
Eat popcorn and a hot dog
Hear the fans yell out loud

Cheer for joy and of course try and storm the field.

Yell out loud a scream of glee
Bite off all your nails
Everything the stadium brings you can find inside those walls.
You are there for all to share
When the team calls

You cannot tell its magic by the way the fields designed
But there’s wonderment in it, the wonderment of football.

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T21:39:00.008-05:00

It seems that the facebook world is inundated with photo's of people's Christmas trees. I'll spare my facebook friends from photos of my Christmas decor but you lovely readers get to partake in my holiday spirit.

We decorated the house, inside and out.

We started with our main tree first. We all worked together to decorate and this year, it was Seeger's turn to put the star on top of the tree.

Seeger also insisted we put the Christmas train around the tree.

Once the big tree was completed, we decided to put up the sports tree. This is a tradition that the Polack's family started when he was younger. A few years ago, his mom gave us all the sports tree ornaments which includes ornaments from all the Big 10 schools (although we don't have Nebraska yet!)

Seeger put the Purdue ornament in the back of the tree.

He was happy when he found the IU ornaments.

We even have IU lights!

Nicklas found an ornament I bought him when he was 2.

The finished tree...

During the weekend, we had our photo taken for our Christmas card and then we met up with a former student of mine for hot chocolate. Meesha graduated in May and then spent several months in Sitka, Alaska with the Americorps program. She moved back to the Midwest a few weeks ago and is planning to spend January through the summer in Bloomington volunteering and getting more experience before entering the Master of Public Health program at the University of Chicago. During her time in Bloomington, we offered Meesha one of the extra rooms in our house and she accepted. Seeger is very excited!

When we returned from hot chocolate, it was awesome to see our Christmas lights lit up for the first time. The Polack and I had quite an adventure hanging them and we had hoped to put more on the second story of the house but that wasn't happening. That second story is even more steep than the first story.

One last Christmas decor item. The other night, out of the blue, Seeger suggested we make a Christmas ornament. I happened to have some clear glass ornaments so I modified a Pinterest idea and had him make some pictures that we cut up and put in the ornament. He is very proud of it.
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Best & Worst

2011-12-12T18:30:00.002-05:00

> Nick's worst - it's Monday
> Seeger's worst - Monday - you have to go through a whole week
> Mike's worst - evidently both boys left their coats at tae kwon do
> Natalie's worst - both boys have colds
> Nick's best - last school Monday of 2011
> Seeger's best - after today, mom won't have any more long days of work
> Mike's best - when it was decided that we're going to Mother Bear's for dinner
> Natalie's best - family dinner to celebrate last day of my class for the semester
>

Best & Worst

2011-12-09T18:52:00.002-05:00

Seeger's worst - didn't get a drawing a drawing from Auggie today
Nick's worst - art class
Mike's worst - getting up with the dog four times last night
Natalie's worst - ate too many sweets at work today
Seeger's best - being home with the family and family dinner at Steak N Shake
Nick's best - tonight - Straight No Chaser
Mike's best - getting a really good review from the principal
Natalie's best - family date - dinner and a show

Flashback Friday

2011-12-09T16:47:00.007-05:00

I decided to use Walgreen's for our holiday photo this year and when I logged in to my photo account, I found several albums from 2007. Apparently I'd used Walgreen's that year to print photos.

It was fun clicking through the albums, seeing photos of the boys when they were younger. I have such cute kids. Enjoy some of my favorites from that year, including a few from the holiday season.

Somebotey met a bad guy; by Seeger

2011-12-07T20:08:00.001-05:00

Best & Worst

2011-12-03T19:03:00.002-05:00

Seeger's worst - during pictures, Nicklas was messing him up
Mike's worst - the kitchen is a mess again even though it's been cleaned three times in the last day and a half
Nick's worst - having to get pictures taken and didn't really want to
Natalie's worst - didn't get as much done today as hoped
Seeger's best - we had pictures taken by Mrs. Killion and seeing Meesha
Mike's best - spending the day with everyone and getting the lights up on the house and they look good
Nick's best - getting to go on the roof
Natalie's best - getting lights hung, getting Christmas card photo taken and seeing Meesha

A Top 10 List by the Polack

2011-12-02T09:35:00.002-05:00

The Polack sent this list to me this morning. Hopefully he doesn't mind that I'm sharing it with you:

Top 10 Things I'm Looking Forward to this Weekend

10) No travel/no guests - I love guests, but I'm looking forward to a family weekend.
9) Taco night
8) Getting the outside lights up on the house
7) Getting the sports tree decorated in the loft
6) The Hoosier game on Sunday (I couldn't get tix last night because the box office was closed. I'll call after school)
5) Picking paint colors at Lowe's (oh yeah, that's happening)
4) Hearing the hum of your sewing machine (while I get all caught up on school work)
3) The Friday Song (if you and Seeger are home by then)
2) A bottle of wine (or two)
1) (Edited out of the WWW)

He's a sweetie and put a huge smile on my face by sending this to me. Happy Friday, all!

Random Thought Thursday

2011-12-01T14:06:00.004-05:00

1. I'm headed to Indianapolis tonight to meet my new cousin. Mmmmm.... babies.....

2. I love thai food.

3. The window's in my office are really dirty and they never get washed on the outside.

4. We had our first real snow on Tuesday. It had been raining for days and then for a few hours in the afternoon, the rain turned to snow. Seeger was so excited when I picked him up at school. He was packing the snow to see if it stuck together. I had to go back to work and when I returned home a few hours later, he ran to meet me at the door and said in an excited voice, "Mom, are you ready to go outside to play in the snow?" I was the one to break his heart by telling him the snow had turned back in to rain and it all disappeared. He was very sad.

5. Even though I'm bummed that the snow disappeared, it's a beautiful day on campus today. The sky is blue and it's bright outside. I passed so many happy people as I walked back to my office from Kirkwood Avenue.

6. The Polack and I are seeing Fitz and the Tantrums on Tuesday and I will be super excited once I actually find a sitter. Three have already turned me down so I'm getting a little nervous.

7. I have a really big forehead. I feel like it's getting bigger so I'm wonder if I have a receded hairline or something. It might be time to cut bangs.

8. Mia sent us some rice porridge and a marzipan pig for the holidays. I have to remember to bring it with us during our travels so we can find the almond. It's a fun tradition.

9. We're getting a family photo taken on Saturday for our holiday card. I have to figure out the color scheme which always stresses me out.

10. I only have one more week of class and then my students take their finals. I feel like this 8 week course has gone really quickly. I'll start right up again with another 8 week course for the first half of next semester. Luckily I'll have a few weeks in between to prepare.

Top 10 Things I'm Thankful For

2011-11-29T12:19:00.004-05:00

I know Thanksgiving is SOOO last week but I never posted about being thankful. And boy am I thankful for so much.

1. Family, health, career and home. Those are the easy ones but of course I had to mention them.
2. My new cousin who was born this morning. He didn't want to leave his warm mommy (Nick's words, not mine) but he's finally here and everyone is healthy. Welcome little Quinn Patrick - I can't wait to meet you.
3. The Christmas lights in downtown Bloomington. They were lit this weekend and when it came time to pick a restaurant after the football game on Saturday, Seeger insisted we eat someplace that had a window that looked out at the lights.
4. Turkey because it's oh so easy to cook. I hosted Thanksgiving and prepared the turkey, mashed potatoes, eggs, green beans, rolls, and cranberries (sorta - they were from a can) and it was all a breeze because turkey is so darn easy. And it tastes good too.
5. My sewing machine. My machine has been through a lot and 12 years later she's still kicking. She's so dependable - I've never changed her oil or had to replace a part and yet she still runs like she did when I first got her. Sometimes the Polack will ask me if I want a nice new fancy machine but I don't really see the need for one. So until the price of a machine with a stitch regulator drops below a grand, I'm good with what I have.
6. The opportunity to teach this year. It turns out that I enjoy teaching (a bit of a surprise) and I enjoy my students and I'm looking forward to next semester. (And a little extra in the paycheck is nice, too.)
7. Black Friday - I scored great deals on two big gifts this year.
8. My iPhone. Oh, how I love my iPhone. (Even though I want an iPad really, really bad, I'm still happy with my iPhone.)
9. My new black boots that I bought a few weeks ago. I still get complimented on them so I should give a big shout out to Vera Wang and her Simply Vera collection.
10. You, my blog readers - all 112 of you. I know who some of you are but many I don't. Most of you come back again and again (some multiple times in one day!) and though you don't comment often, you are loyal. Thanks for your support.

What are you thankful for?

Top 10 Things That Are Happening in the Kubatski Household

2011-11-28T11:05:00.003-05:00

This isn't the top 10 most EXCITING things happening in the Kubatski household but more of an update for you in top 10 format.

1. The Christmas tree is up and the house is decorated.
2. Seeger wore his winter coat for the first time today. Yes, it's that cold in Bloomington.
3. Now that Seeger is an orange belt, the boys are going to the advanced tae kwon do class.
4. Nicklas has a fully functioning iPhone. He's been downloading apps like crazy.
5. I have to work a whole five days in a row this week. (Compared to shortened 3 to 4 days per week for nearly all of November.)
6. Of all the food I cooked this weekend for Thanksgiving, we only have turkey left over.
7. I saw TWO movies recently - Breaking Dawn and the Muppet Movie. And I started reading the Gregor the Overlander series. It's written by Suzanne Collins (author of the Hunger Games) so I bought the series for Nicklas for his birthday. He isn't nearly as interested in them as I am.
8. I've tackled lots of present shopping but mostly for the immediate family. Now comes the hard part - present shopping for everyone else who is on my Christmas list.
9. I'm really looking forward to watching last night's Amazing Race on DVR with the family this evening. My students are giving presentations in class today so no class prep - woo hoo!
10. Next weekend is a free weekend (meaning we are staying home and not planning anything) and then we are traveling the next five out of six weekends.

Best and Worst

2011-11-27T17:48:00.002-05:00

Nick's worst - the long weekend is over
Seeger's worst - it's getting to be really short days
Mike's worst - having a headache all day long
Natalie's worst - weekend is over
Nick's best - the Christmas tree is up
Seeger's best - getting Internet today
Mike's best - spent the whole day together as a family
Natalie's best - got a lot done today and this week

Birthday celebration

2011-11-23T13:06:00.003-05:00

We had a small birthday celebration for Nicklas yesterday. I woke up late so I didn't make him breakfast BUT I give him a donut so he was happy. He took some treats to school to share with his class and his tae kwon do class sang to him. Here's a short video of that. (I have a new iPhone so I can actually take video now!)

(Ignore yellow purse lady who walked right in front of me while I was taking the video.)

After TKD, Nicklas chose dinner at Casa Brava. Mimi and Papa joined us. Then we went home to have cake. Actually we had brownies per Nick's request.

(Excuse the photos of Nicklas without a shirt on. He was ready for bed and his pajamas consist of athletic shorts and that's about it.)

Because Nicklas received my old iPhone to use as his own, he didn't get a lot of big presents this year. He got some books, some decor for his room, hockey cards, a hat, and tickets to see Straight No Chaser.

Nicklas said he had a great birthday and he's pretty sure he'll get some presents from other family members. My 11-year-old!

As my mom pointed out, he's getting so big, soon he'll be taller than her!

Top 10 Things I Love About Today (And It's Only 1pm)

2011-11-23T12:49:00.003-05:00

1. I got to sleep in until 7:15.

2. I watched Little House on the Prairie with Seeger.

3. I saw Nick's excitement in opening the hockey cards he received for his birthday.

4. My house is clean, clean, clean. I don't have to worry about housework for a few days.

5. We now have automatic garage door openers, just in time for the cold weather.

6. Seeger is spending the afternoon at a friend's house. He's so excited.

7. Even though I'm at work, no one else is so it's very quiet and I'm making good progress on a project.

8. I have four day weekend.

9. I don't have to cook dinner tonight.

10. I'm looking forward to spending the holiday's with my family.

Happy Birthday, Nicklas!

2011-11-22T08:22:00.006-05:00

Nicklas turned 11 today. I can't believe I have an 11-year-old! He was so excited when he came home from the IU basketball game last night and saw his presents sitting on the counter. He also asked if I would set his alarm for 5:36am so he could wake up the moment he turned 11.

(Click here to read his birth story.)

It is such a joy to be a mom to Nicklas. I'm so proud of him and all he accomplishes. He used to be more tentitive to try new things and hesitant to get involved but I see that less and less from him. His general nervousness is being overcome by confidence which makes me happy. Confidence in adolescence is so important! As Nicklas grows and matures, he is more excited to try new things, new experiences, and sometimes, even new foods. He actually tried pad thai a few weeks ago - and he liked it! He also likes chili, meat pizza, tacos, and brownies. For his birthday dinner, he picked Casa Brava so we will be eating there this evening.

Nicklas continues to love sports. He watches ESPN SportsCenter every morning and the Polack always has to search the house for the sports section of the newspaper. He looks forward to college football on Saturday's and NFL on Sunday. He keeps his sports jersey's in a special section of his closet because they mean so much to him. He's doing well in tae kwon do and wants to continue with basketball and baseball. I'm encouraging him to also look at other activities and he recently started playing cello. I would also like to sign him up for theater/drama classes. I've been wanting to do that for some time - he loves acting and he has such an expressive face - and his music teacher recently reinforced this by also suggesting we look into signing him for Stages Bloomington. It would be a great experience for him.

In continuing with our tradition of having birthday parties every other year, this was a non party year for Nicklas. Instead he invited two friends to spend the night last Friday. I picked them up from school and we went to the store so they could pick out some snacks to eat for the evening. They spent most of the time playing Wii but also talking sports and wrestling. They were so loud and I LOVED every minute of hearing the boys talk and laugh and celebrate Wii game victories. Seeger and the Polack were gone most of the evening for Seeger's orange belt testing but when they got home, the boys were so good to Seeger. Before bed, they all watched Mystery Men together and in the morning, I made them chocolate chip pancakes. The entire time, I think I had a smile on my face because I really enjoyed seeing and hearing the boys play together and taking care of them while staying out of their way. I was able to play my favorite role - mom to Nicklas and Seeger. I'm so blessed to have so great kids. Even when they drive me crazy, I would never want to change our relationship.

I know that things will get tough as Nicklas (and Seeger) go through their teenage years. It's never easy for any kid or their parents. I hope I'll remember the be sensitive to his needs and respectful of his emotions. Regardless, I will remind myself that I've done the best I could with providing Nicklas all the tools needed to survive in this world we live. I always enjoy going back and reading previous birthday blog posts I've written about Nicklas. Hopefully, I'll continue to practice in years to come to remind myself how lucky I am.

Happy birthday, Nicklas. Thank you for always making me smile.

Random Thought Thursday

2011-11-17T15:26:00.004-05:00

1. Lately Seeger has been telling us that he wants to go to Hawaii. We always agree with him on that. Last night he said he wanted to go to Hawaii. Or Illinois. He said that both are good places to go hiking.

2. The quilting weekend with the group went well. I didn't get a lot sewn but I had fun catching up with folks. I especially enjoyed playing Right, Left, Center with fabric. Best idea ever.

3. I've cleared the house of all the desserts that were left over from the weekend. I don't know if my co-workers were happy or sad when I brought a plate of treats in each day.

4. My mom went back to work on Tuesday after being off several weeks for her knee cap surgery. I haven't called her yet to see how she's doing so I feel really guilty. I know she'll read this so I want her to know that I've been thinking about her EVEN though I haven't called.

5. I'm ready to get my Christmas decorations out -- I'm really looking forward to the holiday season this year. The Polack has a strict no-decorations-or-music-until-after-Thanksgiving policy and I've always agreed with it. But for some reason, this year I want to break the rule.

6. I finished a meeting early yesterday and had some time before my class started so I went shopping for Nicklas (he's outgrown all his pants and I'm tired of the ankle waders) and ended up buying garage door openers. I was really worried about the Polack being upset about not including him in the garage door opener decision but he was cool with it. Now we just need to clean out our garage.

7. It really sucks not having curbside recycling. We try to be a good recycling family and we do pretty good but it's such an annoyance find the time to take our recycling to the disposal center. They make you separate EVERYTHING. I shouldn't complain because I've never actually had to go - the Polack always does it - but we both deal with the overflow of recycling that takes over our garage.

8. This morning when I let Freddie out to do his business, there was a strong smell of skunk at the front porch. I was afraid the culprit would come charging at me but luckily he didn't. I am definitely more fearful of critters now that I live out in the country.

9. I get to see the Nutcracker two times this year. Yay! This makes up for not seeing at all last year. One performance is in Indianapolis and the other is in Fort Wayne - back to back weekends. I also want to take the family to see the local production of Annie. One of Nick's classmates has the lead and I think it would be fun to support her.

10. I've offered to throw a double couple's bridal shower for my brother and cousin who are getting married within a month of each other. I'm excited but nervous about the situation. I'm worried that it will be hard to please everyone. At least I have several months to plan and I'm hoping my cousins will get involved with planning.

Top 10 International Places I'd Like To Visit

2011-11-15T20:35:00.000-05:00

This list includes places I've never been to before. They are in no particular order because it would be too difficult for me to prioritize them. (Heck, it's going to be hard enough to list only 10.)

1. Bali
2. Scandinavia (Including a stop at Kristiansand, Mia's home town and Malmo)
3. United Kingdom (London and Cardiff, Wales, where my cousin Molly lives)
4. Rome (And southern Italy, including Sicily)
5. New Zealand/Australia (Especially Perth)
6. Vancouver
7. Ireland
8. Brazil
9. Hong Kong
10. Bora Bora or Tahiti or Somoa or Fiji

Top 10 list

2011-11-15T08:20:00.005-05:00

I've been thinking about a new meme for my blog, especially because I seem to be a bit burnt out on Random Thought Thursday. (No worries, I still do RTT but maybe not every Thursday. What, you say? I already don't do every Thursday?) I'm calling this one my top 10 list and it's inspired by Sarah at Overlap. Sarah makes a lot of top 10 lists. A LOT. And she spends a lot of time with her friends making top 10 lists. She's inspired me to make my own lists and I thought I'd share with all of you.

Top 10 Things I Loved About Yesterday

1. Hearing Nicklas talk about his progress in school during our parent/teacher/student conference.
2. Hearing Nicklas' teacher praise him and then empower him to continue to strive to improve and work hard.
3. One-on-one time with Nicklas and the Polack at Jiffy Treet to celebrate an awesome conference.
4. Having my students incorporate an in-class exercise during their group presentation.
5. Looking - and admiring - the quilt blocks I put together over the weekend.
6. Staying awake longer than the Polack. (I'm ALWAYS the one who falls asleep first.)
7. Sharing yummy desserts with my co-workers that were left over from the weekend.
8. Thanking my co-worker for the IU basketball tickets she gave me on Sunday. I was so appreciative and she was so happy they were used.
9. Eating a chicken salad sandwich (or two) for lunch while watching America's Next Top Model.
10. Visiting with a former student who stopped by while she was visiting Btown. She spent the last four months in Sitka, Alaska and told me all about her great (and not so great) experiences.

Hoosier Basketball

2011-11-14T21:02:00.000-05:00

Even though the team is young and the Big 10 season will be tough for them, I'm still excited about the IU Basketball this season. A co-worker gave me two tickets to the game last night so I took Nicklas and we had a great time. I was excited to see Cody Zeller play and the game was especially fun because my man, Victor Oladipo, had career high scoring and a few of his awesome slam dunks.

When we got there, we realized that Nick's friend, Nik was sitting a few seats away with his mom who I've gotten to know this year. What a pleasant surprise!

Random Thoughts Thursday

2011-11-10T16:48:00.004-05:00

1. I only have about 10 minutes before I need to leave to pick up Nicklas and Seeger from tae kwon do so we'll see how many thoughts I can write down in my limited time.

2. Seeger finally lost his tooth!!!! He's one happy boy. I know tooth sharing photos are gross but I wanted everyone to see how much his adult tooth has grown in before his baby tooth came out. Unbelievable.

3. This weekend I'm hosting a group of quilting friends for a Bloomington quilt camp. I'll have a full house and I haven't done anything to prepare for it so I decided to take the day off tomorrow so I can change sheets, make beds, and grocery shop. We'll see if I can fit in actual house cleaning. (Well, I definitely do the toilets but other than that, I'm not so sure.) It will be fun to see everyone.

4. I'm enjoying my teaching experience this semester but the late nights two times per week are getting to me. I'm so thankful this is an eight week course. I didn't get home until 10pm last night. Freddy was the only one who greeted me at the door because all the boys were asleep.

5. So apparently now when you're a student and you want to add a class, you just fill out an e-doc and the request goes to the course instructor. Every other day it seems like I have students adding my class. After we started the third week of the eight week class, I finally stopped approving the requests.

6. I ordered a new iPhone. I'm looking forward to a phone with more memory since I have to continuously delete pictures because my phone is full. That's pretty annoying.

7. Since I'm getting a new phone, Nicklas gets my old one. He's super excited to have an actual iPhone and I'm sure he'll feel like the cool kid for a while.

8. Just two more minutes and I need to come up with three more random thoughts. Yikes, some over perfumed person just walked in my office and now I'm trying not to gag. Blech, I taste perfume in my mouth.

9. The Polack and I are going to see my new favorite band, Fitz and the Tantrums, who are playing at the Bluebird in a few weeks. I can't wait!

10. Speaking of, I might as well direct you a link of them playing. Here's a clip of their recent performance of Don't Gotta Work It Out on Jay Leno. Enjoy!

The 9/11 Memorial

2011-11-09T16:14:00.005-05:00

I was in NYC last week for week and I decided to check out the 9/11 Memorial. Reservations were required but entry was free. Two square pool/fountains sit atop the location of the former two towers. The fountains were much bigger than I expected.

They are lined with the names of those that lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks.

The Memorial is surrounded by construction as new buildings are erected in the area.

This was in the visitor center. My brother-in-law is a firefighter so it really touched me.

A visit to the Memorial is a must-see for anyone visiting NYC.

Seeger's Tooth

2011-11-01T10:43:00.002-04:00

Seeger is the only one in his class that hasn't lost a tooth yet. We
were excited when he realized one was loose - until we saw what's
behind it. I'm hoping it comes out soon so that we don't have to get
it pulled.

It's Homecoming...

2011-10-29T14:09:00.002-04:00

And all I got is this keychain....

It's Sink the Biz time...

2011-10-28T20:42:00.003-04:00

Random Thoughts

2011-10-27T15:26:00.004-04:00

Hmmmm... I'm not really sure what to write about today. I don't have many random thoughts swirling in my head but it's Thursday and I've missed several RTT's in a row so I feel like I should probably write something. Let's see....

1. *chirping crickets* Oh wait, I forgot to mention that we're now proud owners of a cello. Nicklas joined the Strings program at his school and he picked the cello to play. I called around about rentals and everyplace was out of 3/4 size except one place but it was really expensive. Like $150 for three months. That seems like a lot, no? So I decided to buy one on eBay since it was only $175. I figured it wouldn't matter as much if it got beat up. Except that when the cello actually arrived, it wasn't completely put together. The bridge had to be added and the strings needed spaced. (I didn't even know what a bridge was until this damn thing arrived in the mail.) So I had to take it to get serviced and I ended up at the expensive rental place where the owner looked down his nose at the cheap eBay cello and rolled his eyes. I think he was scared to touch it for fear that it would fall apart in his hands. He let me know that we needed new rosin and new strings. I told him we had extra strings and showed them to him - See lookie here, Mister String Snob. He rolled his eyes again and said "what are those?" I guess the eBay strings are just as bad as the eBay cello. He knew I wasn't going to fall for spending $150 on new strings so he decided that the current strings might be okay.

In all, I spent $39 to have him move the bridge, space the strings, and sell me new rosin. I really hope Nicklas enjoys playing the cello.

2. The Polack and I went to a Halloween party last weekend. I took some pictures with his phone so I need to transfer them to mine so I can do a post about all the cool costumes. We went as characters from Dexter. He was Dexter and I was wrapped in saran wrap. It was fun and I really enjoyed seeing so many of our Lafayette friends. The boys (as in the boys at the party, not my children) won the game of Flippy Cup but I don't think the girls feel like they can claim victory because two of our better players abstained due to pregnancy. And I stopped playing after the smoke break. (And I do want to point out that when I was playing, we were WINNING.) So some newbies played this year and they just didn't make the cut.

3. We took the kids to buy pumpkins on Tuesday. All the pumpkin farms in this area are closed during the week (what's up with that?) so we took them to the co-op grocery. (The Polack has a thing about buying Halloween pumpkins locally.) Nicklas picked a tall skinny pumpkin and Seeger picked the biggest pumpkin he could find. He is so excited about this pumpkin. He went on and on to the checkout lady about how that pumpkin is his and he picked it out and he's going to make a cool face to carve on it.

4. The deal between the Polack and I is that I clean out the guts of the pumpkin and he'll carve them. It works for both of us and is another example of our compatibility. (He likes chicken wings, I like chicken drums. He likes pepper, I like salt. He prefers folding the laundry, I prefer putting it away. It's a match made in heaven, I tell ya.) Seeger had the Polack put eyebrows on his pumpkin. He's very excited about the eyebrows and keeps asking me if I've ever seen eyebrows on a pumpkin before.

5. I just went back to reread some previous posts and I came across Lucy the Dog from May 5, 2009. I rarely go back and read old posts but it was very entertaining so I think I might feature one every so often from now on. It's just a small glimpse of the past.

6. Seeger apparently hasn't changed much from that post because yesterday he told me that he's going to draw a bunch of pictures of an ankylosaurus and then walk around Mimi's neighborhood and sell them for $10 each so he can make some money.

7. I can't remember if I mentioned this on my blog or not but a few weeks ago, Nicklas and the rest of the fifth graders went to Bradford Woods for three days of outdoor education. He was so looking forward to the trip - he's a camp kid after all - and I think he really enjoyed the experience (even though it rained for most of the time) but one thing he didn't like were the crazy boys in his cabin. There were 18 fifth graders and 2 high school senior boys to supervise. Apparently there wasn't much supervision because they didn't get to sleep until 2:30am both nights. And Nicklas heard from his friends that another cabin of boys never slept at all the first night. He said the boys were crazy and would do things like turn off the lights, strip naked and turn on the lights to reak the others out. Or they'd open shower curtains when other boys were trying to shower. Poor Nicklas didn't shower the entire time he was there. Overall though, he did enjoy the experience. He can't wait to sign up for Camp Tecumseh for summer 2012.

8. We have several visitor's coming to spend the weekend with us for the IU football game on Saturday and my house is definitely not company ready. It's not really dirty but it definitely needs picked up. I've been gone every night for the last several days and we weren't home last weekend so we haven't kept up things. It's probably the messiest it's been since we moved in. Hopefully I can get a bit of pick up time in tonight.

9. I didn't even make the bed this morning. I just threw the covers over the bed which is unusual because I almost always make the bed. But the late nights with teaching the class and the early mornings this week are taking their toll. I got up extra early yesterday, today, and I'm going to have to get up early tomorrow. Blech.

10. I just made a Domino's date that I'm very excited for. The Polack and I will go to a friends house for an evening of game playing. Yay!

11. I get to see the Nutcracker once, maybe two times this year. Double Yay!

Toodle-loo.

Back Blogged

2011-10-26T16:57:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, the Polack's brother et familia came to visit us. We decided to check out the rock outcropping located in the woods behind our house.

It's really tough to get a good shot of the rock outcropping, especially one that shows the enormity of it. (We guestimate that it's at least 40 feet wide and deep. Here's a photo of Matt and Seeger looking out over it and down the ravine.

We've been wondering if there's cave underneath so we decided to investigate. The outcropping is too steep so we walked beyond it, looking for a way to head down in to the ravine. Here are the kids, just as we find a spot and begin our backtrack to the bottom of the outcropping.

It was a very narrow path!

We made it. It was spectacular to see from below.

There's no cave but we still had fun exploring.

After the hike, we headed downtown to eat some lunch at Dagwood's. Anna and Melissa had to stop for the obligatory shot in front of Sample Gates.

Here's one last picture from the weekend. My dad and his wife came to see our house and watch a football game. Of course, the Hoosiers didn't win but at least they gave Penn State a good run.

We were lucky to have such a beautiful weekend for outdoor activities!

Best & Worst

2011-10-18T19:12:00.002-04:00

Seeger's worst - didn't get to do training because of the rain
Mike's worst - homework time at Barnes and Noble
Nick's worst - raining all day and went to Barnes and Noble but didn't
get to read any books
Natalie's worst - forgot to take lunch to work so had to order delivery
Seeger's best - it's probably going to be playing UNO
Mike's best - today was half hump day/half Friday in his world
Nick's best - that it's a short week
Natalie's best - family dinner

Life updates

2011-10-14T10:18:00.011-04:00

I've missed the last few Thursday's so my apologies for the lack of random thoughts. It's been a busy few weeks. Actually, it's been a busy fall. We've had several football games and the football free weekends have consisted of other planned activities. We're currently booked through December. Tonight, I'm going on the Turner girls not-so-annual trek to Kentucky for Glendale Crossing Days. I won't go in to the specifics of what this means because it's been 9 years since our last trip and I'm not sure how much the event has changed or stayed the same. That's for another blog post. Anyway, while I'm gone, the Polack will have the boys and nephew Ben for a weekend which will likely consist of fart talk and burping and possibly poop on a stick. (These aren't common activities in the Kubatski household - until Ben comes to visit.)

(Although Seeger misspelled farther on his spelling test and wrote farter instead and he and I got a good laugh from that.)

In a few hours, I'm going to pick up Nicklas who has been gone since Wednesday. His class had a group trip to Bradford Woods where he learned all sorts of outdoor educational, uh things, (I'm guessing). Bradford Woods is similar to Camp Tecumseh and though it's actually run out of the school/department I work for, I still have my heart at Camp Tecumseh. Anyway, Nicklas was so excited about the trip and he heard that food was really good and that he should bring lots of socks. I did end up packing 7 pairs for three days and I'm glad because it rained at least half of the time they were there. I commented to Seeger that I felt bad for Nicklas being out in the rain so much and Seeger let me know that Nicklas likes getting rained, a fact I'll have to verify when I pick up Nicklas.

I've gotten to do a lot of quilting lately (the Polack is all baseball all the time lately) which is good because we're going to a baby shower next weekend and I had a project to finish up. I also finished another baby quilt that is ready to go in the mail, as soon as I take photos of it. It's gorgeous and everyone in the office loved it and one colleague even said she was going to steal it. (It's nice to good comments about that quilt because I spent forever on it.) My third project has been a Christmas stocking to match one that I made for a friends first born. Now that she had two kiddo's she requested another one and of course, I had to oblige. (Though it's really hard for me to think Christmas when Halloween hasn't happened yet.)

While Nicklas was at Bradford Woods, the Polack when to see game 4 of Tigers playoffs. I'm glad he got to go and he was there with a college buddy; it's just too bad the game was a bust. The Tigers are 2-3 in the series so hopefully they'll pull it all out.

Here's Seeger saying, Go Tigers: (And look, we actually have GRASS!)

So while Nicklas and the Polack were gone, Seeger and I had a nice evening alone. I picked him up from school and we went home where he made me do part 2 of my ninja training. I'm now a master at nun chucks and sais but I still have to train for the sword and staff. Luckily, I passed the sais so now I'm a master over Nicklas who has only completed his nun chuck training. (Nicklas doesn't know this makes me a master over him and I'm keeping it on the down-low so he doesn't give up on his training. Master Seeger wouldn't like that.) After our training and dinner, I took Seeger to pick out his Halloween costume. I tried to talk him into letting me make him something (Halloween costumes are expensive but fall apart easily so it's super annoying) but then I decided I didn't really want to make anything and we found a pretty good costume that didn't seem like it was going to fall apart and it was only $13. So we bought it and Seeger is really happy about it. It was a nice evening with just me and Seeger. I always enjoy that one-on-one time with my kids - they don't happen often.

Here's my happy Seeger:

Last weekend was our fourth tailgate of the year. The Hoosiers have been terrible this year. People were hopeful because of our new coach but I guess when you're so used to being bad, it doesn't hurt as much. You grow a bit more numb each game. I think we'll be lucky if we finish 2-10. Any that's why tailgates are so important. They give us Hoosier fans something to look forward to. I've had a lot of fun tailgating this year and I've enjoyed all the people who've come to hang out with us. I keep meaning to take photos but I always forget. I did get one photo from last week but it doesn't have everyone in it. So here's the semi group shot:

During the tailgate, we stopped at Assembly Hall to use the facilities (it's so nice being close to Assembly Hall so that we don't have to use the port-o-pots in the grass lots) and to shop for our friend, one-armed-Ben. The boys had fun checking out all the IU stuff:

Also last week, I got to go back to Leonard Springs Nature Park. It was as beautiful as my first visit, maybe even more so since the sky was so blue. I took some better pictures to share with you:

The boys school had their Open House. I volunteered to sell apparel/directories while the family ate. Then we checked out their classrooms. I love how excited both were to show us everything they do at school. It's great to have kids who love to learn. This was posted outside Seeger's room:

It says, "Lern about me! My hair is blond. I like apples. My I can do a summersalt. My muscles are huge! These are the anamils I like: snake, frogs, and cows. These are the toys and games I like: Legos, Ninga, Uno and Rich." How cute is that??

Here is a photo of Nicklas after the event. He's growing so much - he's up to my nose. Yikes.

Okay, that's enough of an update for now, right? We're going to be super busy the next several weeks but luckily work has slowed down a bit for me. Although I keep forgetting that I'm actually teaching a class this semester. It's a 2 credit, 8 week fundraising course and it starts in 10 days. The syllabus is finished and I'm trying to line up a few guest speakers. I'm a little nervous and I hope it won't be a disaster.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm trying to figure out

2011-10-12T16:34:00.001-04:00

How did I get on the My Twinn, The Just-Like-Me Doll mailing list?

Random Thoughts

2011-09-29T14:55:00.004-04:00

1. I am obsessed with Pinterest. OBSESSED. I've been wanting to join for awhile and finally bit the bullet. Now I can't stop thinking about things I want to pin. I definitely feel the creative juices flowing. I should send a quick thank you to Emily-my-cousin-who-is-getting-married for introducing me to this fabulous site.

2. My other obsession lately centers around the Fortress. It's a book written by Gabrielle Lord that features a teacher and her students of a one room school house who are kidnapped and taken to the Australian Outback. I read the book when I was in elementary school and loved it. Then I happened to come across VHS (my granddad used to tape HBO movies and give us copies) and I remember seeing the title and wondering if it based on the movie. So I popped it in and it sure was!It was a low budget HBO movie and is scared the bejeezus out of me. But I was very excited the I was watching a movie made from a book. (I was 8 so it was probably the first time that happened.) ANYWAY, since then, I've asked people throughout my life if they've seen or read the Fortress and NO ONE ever says yes. (Even my friend Amy who gave me the book doesn't remember reading it.) Then, a few weeks ago when the Polack and I were in Louisville, I was reading the Courier-Journal and someone wrote in to a tv/movie column and asked about a movie he saw growing up where Father Christmas kidnaps a school teacher. And I was like, I totally know they're talking about the Fortress. And luckily the columnist knew that too. So then it brought up all these memories and I spent the rest of the weekend go on and on about the Fortress to the Polack so much that I'm sure he'll be fine if he never hears that word again. And I've been on the hunt for the book AND the movie. I bought both and read the book in a few hours. Over the weekend, I finally got to watch the movie and it was just like what I remembered, especially the scene where the class has to swim under a rock to get to the other side of the cave. I think I have a fear of drowning because of that movie.

3. I feel like I've already written about my Fortress obsession but I don't see any record of it on my blog. So if you have already heard the story than I'm sorry for repeating myself. And if you haven't heard the story, then YOU'RE WELCOME. (Because it's nice memory of my childhood!) And I'm offering my copies up if anyone wants to borrow them. Just keep in mind that the dubbing of the movie is really bad and I've written to the Amazon seller who will hopefully replace it. I only paid $4 for the movie so I'm not that invested in getting it fixed.

4. And now I totally want Nicklas to read the book. He just finished The Hobbit which he was reluctant to read but we made him because he paid a whopping $7 for the book and I'm NOT GOING TO WASTE MONEY LIKE THAT. He ended up loving it so much that he's moving on to Lord of the Rings. Sometimes you have to push your kids, yo, especially when one forgets to bring his homework folder home all the time and you make him write a letter to his teacher explaining all the ways he can help himself remember. And he gets upset because he's embarassed and he he doesn't want to draw attention about the situation to his teacher. But too bad dude, I don't care that you think second graders shouldn't have to write reports. And then you take away his DS for a week. I'm talking about Seeger now, not Nicklas, though Nicklas just lost his jump drive at school and hasn't found it.

So both my boys are working on being more responsible.

5. I'm going to see Jon Stewart this week and the Polack is hopefully going to see a Tigers playoff game so that has led us both in to conversations about cutting back in other ways so that we can do the fun stuff that keeps us happy. For kicks and grins, we've vowed to not eat out for the whole month of October and to also try to keep our grocery bill down to $100/week. That will be the tough one which is really sad that our grocery bill for a family of 4 hovers around $700/month.

6. I read an article in the local paper about a guy that is vegetarian and grows half of the food he consumes and I definitely wish I was that green thumby although I don't eat nearly enough vegetables, nor do my kids,nor do we want to. But if we had fresh grown veggies, I'm guessing we'd eat more of them so I really, really want to start a garden next year. Except the deer are pretty plentiful around the homestead so now I have to figure out a way to protect the garden from the deer. No one seems to have some tried and true method. Also, I almost hit a turkey crossing the road the other morning when I was taking Seeger to school. I realize that has nothing to do with vegetables but it does have something to do with all the nature I'm experiencing now that I live out in the county.

7. At my age, when many of my friends are going on or have surpassed the ten year marriage mark, it means that friends are also going through divorces. I just learned of two in the last month and I tell you, it doesn't get easier to hear. Every time I find out someone is getting a divorce, I'm always shocked and I always want to know WHY and it's so unimaginable to me. Which is good - being unimaginable - but it always causes me to go through a grieving period because gosh, it must be so hard , especially for the kids. I'm not against divorce, I'm just so surprised by it and it makes me realize you really don't know people like you thought.

8. My parents divorce was THE BEST THING that happened to my family. My parents were miserable and that filtered down to me and my siblings so I'm glad it happened and now that my own friends are shocking me with their divorces, I wonder if my parents' friends and family members were shocked by their divorce. I can't imagine they were but then again, I was in the thick of things. It's been 20 years and I'm sure mom and dad look back amazed at how long they lasted together.

9. Wow, this post really has been pretty random. And long-winded. Hopefully you didn't have too much difficulty in understanding my train of though. To keep things even more random, I'm ending on thought 9, NOT though 10. I'm crazy like that.

Best and Worst

2011-09-26T19:01:00.002-04:00

Seeger's worst - when playing Road Blocks, he couldn't build anything
and he doesn't know why
Nicklas' worst - Monday
Mike's work - 11 steps to building a grill
Natalie's worst - so much to do at work
Seeger's best - being hone with everybody and family dinner
Nicklas' best - got a lot of homework done
Mike's best - watching how far Nicklas got on his homework
Natalie's best - finished some big projects which created some relief

Leonard Springs Nature Park

2011-09-22T16:24:00.006-04:00

No Random Thought Thursday today because I have an even better post for you. Over the weekend, I saw a blurb in the Bloomington Herald-Times about an upcoming environmental education class called Caves Among Us at Leonard Springs Nature Park. It was listed as a free event for families, sponsored by Bloomington Parks and Recreation.

What? A free class? A family event? One that involves caves? Hells yeah, sign us up!

The Polack and I haven't done a lot of exploring of Bloomington parks. I keep saying we need to make the rounds of each one to see what it has to offer and then we can rate it for my fellow blog readers. (The two of you who live in Bloomington would appreciate it, right?) We've lived here a year and have only been to Bryan Park, Griffy Lake, and Cascades. How very bad of us. (Hanging head in shame.) So this opportunity was the perfect event for us. I knew there was a park off Leonard Springs road but I had NO IDEA HOW COOL IT IS. Let me just tell you IT. IS. AWESOME.

So last night, the educational specialist and group of about 10 of us started a one mile trek around the park. Here's a before shot.

This is the first of two caves at the park. Unfortuantely, due to White Nose Syndrome, we weren't able to go in to the cave.

We were shown a topography map of it though. I was really surprised at how big it is, compared to the small entrance.

After the first cave, we made our way down a very steep set of stairs to the second cave.

This is Shelter Cave. Nicklas doesn't look nearly as excited as he was because we actually got to go in this cave. Normally, people aren't supposed to go in but because we were with a parks and rec employee, we were granted access.

Seeger's not sure about going in!

He was quick to grab the Polack's hand and he wouldn't go to far in. It was too dark for him. Nicklas on the other hand, well he went as far as he could.
Here's a picture looking out from inside the cave.

After we left the cave, we went down a lot more steps. We could hear running water and as we rounded a corner, we saw a cool waterfall. Here is a photo of the boys at the bottom of it. It's much bigger than this and it was very beautiful. I will get an awesome photo of it the next time I'm at the park.

About a quarter of a mile into the hike, we come upon the wetland area. In the early 1900's, this used to be a reservoir for Bloomington. Unfortunately, it was built on top of a heavy limestone area. Limestone is soft and it causes water to leak through (which is how caves are formed) so the City couldn't keep up with demand. IU was not happy about the lack of water and threatened to move the University to Indianapolis. Of course Bloomington didn't want this to happen so they created another reservoir, north of town, and this one became abandoned.
Bloomington City Utilities owned the property until is was turned over to Parks and Recreation in 1998. Here's a view from the top; we're standing on top of the dam.

After another half mile (and a stop at the toilet pit for Seeger), we made it back to the park entrance. It was an awesome evening and the four of us had so much fun. We will definitely be bringing family and friends to Leonard Springs Nature Park so that we can share the beauty of southern Indiana with everyone who will let us.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted; Vacation, Had To Get Away

2011-09-20T17:17:00.001-04:00

How about a little bit of Go-Go's to start this overdue post? I've been meaning to blog about our recent family vacation but I never feel like I have enough time to sit and dedicate myself to a super long post. I finally decided to do a bit at a time and even if it takes me a week to get through writing this, at least I'll finally finish it.

At the beginning of August, after moving into our new house and emptying our savings, we went on a family cruise to the Bahamas. Cuz, that's how we roll. It actually involved more than the cruise. Melissa, my sis-in-law, and I have been trying for two summers to find a weekend when our two families could spend a weekend at Lake George. The calendar Gods finally aligned and it ended up being the weekend before our family cruise. And just to make things more chaotic, we threw in a side trip to see a Tigers game in Detroit. We all met up Friday evening before the game to have dinner at the Elwood Bar and Grill just outside Comerica Park. We had heard family stories about $2 beers and wanted to check out the place. I'm not sure the rumor is true - my beer was $4 - but the food was good and view was awesome and the company was spectacular. Here's a semi group shot.

I'm bad about paying attention to baseball games. So when Seeger wasn't hanging out with cousin Ben, he and I ate popcorn together.

Nicklas DOES pay attention to baseball games. He stopped long enough to sorta smile at the camera. He loves going to Tigers games.

After the game Friday night, the group made the two drive to the Lake. We arrived pretty late that night but I think everyone enjoyed waking up and putting on their bathing suits right away on Saturday. The kids spent the entire day in the water. They stopped long enough to eat and take a pontoon ride. Matt and Melissa were excited to go on their first booze cruise. The kids liked driving the boat with Uncle John.

Here's my brother with his dog, Spots.

Aunt Kathy and Seeger.

The kids even went swimming AFTER their pontoon ride. My boys have never spent so much time in the Lake. Luckily it's more fun to swim with cousins. It's a proven fact, one I've verified with my own cousins.

We had a wonderful time together and decided that the cousins needs to spend more time together at Lake George. Afterall, it's one of the happiest places in the world.

Matt and his family left the Lake Sunday afternoon. Matt and Melissa were working part of the week before driving to Florida for the cruise. The Polack and I were planning on spending Sunday night at the Lake and leaving for Florida early Monday morning but when we realized we had left one of our suitcases in Bloomington, we made the trip back and slept in our own beds that night. We got up really early Monday morning to start our drive. We weren't out of Indiana yet before Nicklas started to feel car sick so just outside Louisville, we found a Huddle House that was open for breakfast at 5am.

We made it to Bob and Patty's, cousins of the Polack, late Monday night. Tom and Bobbie were already there and so was Aunt Judy. On Tuesday, we slept in, went shopping, went swimming, and ate an awesome meal of BBQ ribs. I thought I had a picture of the family dinner but I can't find it. Boo. It was a nice relaxing day. I didn't get to play Blokus but Seeger made me take a photo of the design he made with the game pieces.

Since the very beginning of the trip planning for the family cruise, I told the Polack that I wanted to take the boys to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's the reason we drove to Florida a few days early. We were able to spend two days at Universal Orlando. Here are the boys, entering the City Walk.

We got to the park pretty early because I knew the Harry Potter lines are really long. Really, really long. I thought it would be best to get there as soon as possible, hoping to avoid some of the people traffic. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea. We had to wait for about 50 minutes to ride the Forbidden Journey (the ride inside the castle). Luckily, that was our longest wait. After the castle, we rode Flight of the Hippogriff, the smaller Happy Potter roller coaster. Here's a photo of the boys waiting for the ride.

It was pretty crowded in the Harry Potter land so we opted to skip the 30 minute line for butterbeers and we headed to the rest of the park. On the way out, I took some photos of Hogsmeade. Universal did an amazing job in creating the Wizarding World. I definitely understand why this is such a popular attraction.

Here are some more photos of our day at Universal's Islands of Adventure. The boys at Jurrasic Park.

Here we are in Dr. Suessland. I love this park of the park. It's very Suessical and fun for younger kids. I still made the boys visit, even if they don't appreciate it.

Outside the Marvel Comic area.

Nicklas loves roller coasters so he was excited about riding the Hulk. By late afternoon, the line was only 5-10 minutes long so he rode it about 10 times. Here he is after conquering the coaster.

Later that day, we decided to head back to Hogsmeade to see if it had calmed down some. The butterbeer line was short so we got one to share. The Polack and Nicklas thought it was too sweet but Seeger and I loved it.

Our last ride of the night was the big Harry Potter coaster, Dragon Challenge. Nicklas rode it three or four times. It was a great coaster. We also did some shopping in Honeyduke's and Ollivander's. I had told the boys they could pick out one souvenier. Nicklas chose to buy a wand from Ollivander's. Even though it's Narcissa Malfoy's wand, it's still really, really cool. Seeger chose to buy some dinosaur's figurines from Jurrasic Park. It was a great day!

The next day, we decided to check out the other park, Universal Studio's. The park was a lot less crowded and we easily did everything it had to offer. Seeger doesn't like big rides but he definitely enjoyed the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster. He rode it at least 15 times. We would talk him in to riding other rides by rewarding him with the Woody coaster.

Mike was cast in the Disaster! ride.

I didn't take nearly as many photos at Universal Studio's. We really enjoyed the ET ride and Men in Black. The boys loved the Simpson's and laughed several times. I liked the Mummy coaster. Seeger was a little freaked out by Twister. We had to keep reassuring him that it was all special effects. It sure brought up a lot of weather related questions.

We had been to Universal Studio's before so we were familiar with most of the rides. However, we hadn't ridden the new coaster, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. The Polack went to ride it with Nicklas while Seeger and I waited.

Here's a photo I took of the coaster. I definitely didn't feel like I needed to ride it. But as usual, the Polack talked me in to it so Nicklas got to ride it again, this time with me, while the Polack stayed with Seeger. It was super awesome. You get to choose which music you want to hear as your riding the coaster. They film you the whole time so you can buy a video of yourself on the ride. I'm sure my video was pretty entertaining as I was jamming to No Doubt the whole time.
By the time we returned to Bob and Patty's that night, the cousins had arrived. The kids where so excited to be together again. The next day, we headed to Cocoa Beach to watch a NASA rocket launch before boarding the cruise ship. We went to the beach but unfortunately, we didn't let the kids go swimming. They really wanted to get in the water but we only had a little bit of time and we didn't want them sandy and wet before boarding the cruise.

We let them put their feet in the water. It was torture not letting them get completely wet. I felt awful about it.

We waited and waited for the launch but it kept getting delayed. Finally, we left for Port Canaveral. On the way, we saw the rocket so everyone pulled off to the side of the road to watch. Mike took this photo from the car.

Finally it was cruise time! Here's a photo as we're arriving to our rooms.

Our first meal on the ship was lunch. We were hungry!

Nicklas said those french fries were the best he ever had.

Here are the cousins with Patty, checking out the ship.

Nicklas loved being in the top bunk.

Here's the Polack in our tiny room!

The cabin is great for family time, but not so much for couple time. At least I got some kisses from the boys.

The second day of the cruise, we were headed to Nassau. Tropical Storm Emily messed with some of our plans so we didn't get there as soon as we were supposed to. The ship did a pretty good job of entertaining us. So did Ben! Here's a photo from Bingo time.

We finally made it to Nassau. I loved walking arond and seeing the old Bahaman architecture. It was overcast most of the day and it rained some but luckily, we never got wet.

Here's the straw market. A little too close crowded for my comfort.

Here are the kids as we are heading back to the ship. Our ship is the first one in the photo. We chose Royal Caribbean and we have a rock climbing wall. The other ship is Carnival and they had a water slide.

In front of the straw market.

Some random shots...

Here is a photo of the kids, hanging out in Bob and Patty's room.

Nicklas and Anna did an awesome job on the rock climbing wall. Anna made it all the way to the top to ring the bell.

Goofy cousins.

Swimming at one of the pools. I have another photo of the boys posing in front of the pool but I like this one better.

Here is a photo of Nassau as we are departing from port.

The obligatory towel animal. The boys loved this. We were hoping for more but only received one during the cruise.

We were supposed to go to Coco Cay on our third day of the cruise but unfortunately, the storm prevented that from happening. We were very disappointed about not getting to spend time at the beach. We still had fun on the ship, especially at dinner. The kids loved being able to order anything and everything off the menu. I loved multiple desserts!

I tried escargots for the first time. I enjoyed it but I think I'd love anything with that much butter on it.

More photo's from dinner...

That's it for my photos. Whew, this WAS a long post. I still don't have a camera so all photos were taken with my iPhone. I definitely didn't take as many photos as I would have with a camera. I also didn't get any group shots with the rest of the family. We didn't all do everything together all of the time - which is the nice thing about a cruise - but we definitely did lots of things together. I wish I would have captured more of those moments. There were 14 of us on the cruise and it was great to spend so much time together. It was a wonderful vacation and we're looking forward to the next time we can spend time with the Turner family.

Random Thought Thursday

2011-09-15T14:48:00.003-04:00

Whew, it's been a crazy week so far. I spent the last few days in Fort Wayne with my mom who had surgery to fix her out of whack kneecaps. We were in the hospital for three days and now she's with me, safe and sound in Bloomington. And me? Well, I'm trying to catch up on work and home life.

And blogging.

So let's get to it.

1. Speaking of my mom, have I ever told you her first name? It's Cherryl. But drop the L and she's Cherry. As in Sherri, not cherry the fruit. All her life, she's had to tell people her name is not pronounced like the fruit.

2. The first concert I ever went to was R.E.M. I was in 9th grade and my best friend was Melissa. Her brother took us and his friend to Indianapolis and we spent the night at the Hyatt. The brother's friend wore this cheap silver necklace that turned his neck green. I remember being really grossed out by the green ring around his neck. But it was like a car wreck... I couldn't look away.

3. This morning, I went to open a box of cereal and it was full of ants. Ewww, right? They were big black ants which is even more gross. Now I have to clean out my pantry.

4. My mom is currently taking percoset for her pain. Side effects are drowsiness and confusion and boy is she experiencing both.

5. A local high school is offering to strings lessons to the fifth and sixth graders at Nick's school. He doesn't really want to participate but the Polack and I have encouraged him to try it out. I think he's worried that it will be hard so we told him if he doesn't like it he can stop after a few weeks. He can choose to play the violin, viola, cello, or upright bass.

6. Landscaping is expensive. Really, really expensive. I wish my house would landscape itself, already.

7. On the route between Bloomington and Fort Wayne, off of Exit 78 of I69, there is a giant chicken that sits beside a gas station. I've always wanted to stop and get a picture of me with that chicken.

8. Last weekend was the first tailgate of the year. It was a really fun day with friends and family, despite advancing the Hoosiers to 0-2. Unfortunately, the bottom of our grill completely rusted out. When unpacking after the game, it fell apart and we won't be able to buy a new grill in time for Saturday's game. I told the Polack we should skip tailgating and eat at Mother Bear's. His mom suggested we just get a bunch of food from KFC. I don't think he liked either suggestion because he just asked me if we should go to the store tonight to get food for the tailgate on Saturday. I guess we're going to have to think of what to prepare that doesn't need cooked.

9. It's a bit chilly out today but the sky is blue and beautiful. I love campus during the fall - the mums, the changing colors, the students in their sweatshirts. Actually, I love campus in the winter, spring, and summer too.

10. I was asked to join a board for a local nonprofit. I want to accept but I also want to join the CASA program so I'm a little torn. The class I'm teaching starts in a few weeks and I don't know if I can do everything. The Polack already complains about being too busy as a family. We'll see how I work things out.

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day. It's spaghetti night and I'm also going to make chili for tomorrow since I have an evening event to attend. I can't let my momma and the rest of family starve.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Texts from Nicklas

2011-09-14T21:09:00.002-04:00

Now that Nicklas has a phone, he's started texting. So far, most of
his texts are coming to me and I love it! All too soon, he'll be
texting friends and other people. Who are not me.

In the meantime, I can enjoy sweet texts from him, like these.

Best and Worst

2011-09-14T18:39:00.002-04:00

Seeger's worst - his sign in card at Boys and Girls Club didn't work
Nick's worst - probably that Dad was worried about if he got on the
bus this morning
Mike's worst - walking in to after-care and them telling him that
Seeger wasn't there after they originally said he was there
Natalie's worst - Mike driving all over trying to find Seeger
Cherry's worst - losing Seeger
Seeger's best - mom is finally home
Nick's best - mom and Grammy home and Survivor is on tonight
Mike's best - when he left the house the Tigers were down by three
runs in the 9th inning and by the time he got to the Boys and Girls
Club for the first time, they had won the game
Natalie's best - Seeger was found safe and sound
Grammy's best - coming to Bloomington to rehab

Thoughtful Thursday

2011-09-08T15:28:00.005-04:00

Oh hello. Thanks for stopping by. I'm here to share some not-so-random-thoughts on a rainy Thursday.

1. Both my boys know how to ride a bike. For reals, you guys. Nicklas is 10 so I never thought the day would come. I had just about given up. It started with a Monday where we helped both practice and practice and practice. Seeger took off right away but Nicklas - my cautious, nervous, psych himself out, Nicklas - started slowly. On his bike with training wheels. I would get him started in the grass going down hill. The training wheels didn't last long. He'd be headed down the hill and one tiny wheel would go rolling the other way. I'm proud of Nicklas though because when we took off the training wheels, he kept trying. Sure, he couldn't pedal and steer at the same time and maybe he would use his feet to stop the bike because he couldn't get the hang of braking and yes, he did run into my car and fall off, but he kept trying. YAY NICKLAS! We worked every day after school and by Thursday, they both were riding up and down the street. We took their bikes to the lake this weekend and Nicklas and I took a 3 mile ride. How awesome is that?!

2. We've been wanting the boys to learn to ride their bikes for awhile now. We resorted to bribing them. We told Nickas we would buy him a phone and Seeger a DS. Both were pretty quick to remind us of this when they mastered the bike riding. Nicklas is pretty proud of his phone - I think he'll start texting people soon. He keeps wondering why he can't play games though. Since we are so proud of his determination and desire to keep trying, we told him that if he proves he's responsible enough for a phone (re: not losing it!) we would let him have an iPhone. He's thrilled. It's fun to be a cool parent (for awhile anyway.)

3. My mom is having knee surgery on Monday so I'll be making a trip up north to stay with her. She'll be in the hospital for a few days and then she's coming to stay with me until she starts physical therapy.

4. The other night when the Polack and Nicklas went out to do their fantasy football draft, Seeger and I decided to have a fun night with just the two of us. After he did his homework, we rode bikes together (which means I had to ride Nick's bike because my bike is still in Lafayette), took a long walk, and went on tractor rides. It's fun having the riding mower. I even let Seeger drive a little bit. He wanted to go faster but I was too nervous. Maybe when he's older. It was a really fun evening.

5. The Polack has perfected making a dessert he calls Brownie Surprise. It's SO awesome and I love it when he makes it. It's in my top 3 dessert options. (If you know me well, then you know red velvet cake is on the list too.)

6. When I was in elementary school, I read this book call Fortress. I loved the book and was shocked to find out there was movie made based on the book. I discovered this because back in the early-80's when my family owned our first VCR, my granddad used to tape movies from HBO and give them to us. I saw one labeled Fortress and popped it in to watch. By myself. It was a low budget HBO produced movie that SCARED ME TO NEAR DEATH! Yes, it was based on the book but it was way creepier. I loved it though and in the last few years I've asked people if they remember the book or movie. The Polack hadn't heard of it, my brother didn't remember it, my friends looked at me like I'm crazy, even the friend who GAVE ME the book to read. She has no memory of it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. The Polack and I are in Louisville for the weekend and I'm reading a newspaper column where a writer asks about movie he remembers watching as a kid that's set in Australian outback and features a man in Father Christmas mask kidnapping a group of school children and their teacher and what was the name of that movie? Of course I was super excited about the mention of Fortress and haven't stopped thinking about this blast from my past. I've now purchased the book (found on some second hand used book website because it's no longer in print) and the DVD I bought from Amazon (which was released by HBO in 2006) is being shipped to me soon. I can't wait to watch it.

If you have read the book or seen the movie, please leave me comment and let me know your thoughts on either.

7. I got to buy a lot of fabric yesterday and I had a gift card so it didn't cost me anything. I'm looking forward to start a new project which will be a baby quilt for my cousin.

8. I volunteered to type up the directory for the boys' school. Let me type that again. I VOLUNTEERED TO TYPE THE SCHOOL DIRECTORY. What was I thinking?? I have to create a list and add every student, with parent names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails. EVERY STUDENT. With 500 students at the school, it's quite the project. It's really cut in to my sewing/reading/tv watching time.

9. Oh that tv watching... now that we have satellite tv, I find myself drawn to the couch more than I care to think about. And of course, even though I have 300 channels I seem to end up watching Friends reruns. Or Keeping Up With the Kardashian's. It's not healthy.

10. IU's first home football game is this weekend. We're tailgating with some friends and I'm looking forward to the season. Sure, we lost to Ball State last weekend, but I'm oh so hopeful for our next game. If we lose again, it will be hard to stay so positive so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! We've opened our home to those who want to come to Bloomington for a game. It's Hotel Casa de Kubatski and we're open for business. We're now taking reservations if you need a weekend getaway. We'd love to have you! We have some weekends already reserved by hey, the more, the merrier, right?

Random Thought Thursday

2011-09-01T15:28:00.003-04:00

1. I'm not sure why I call this Random Thought Thursday. It's not like what I'm typing is very random. If I typed my real random thoughts, it would look something like this: love mexican so glad i had some oh chips and salsa salt makes me thirsty tony was helpful casa brava tired and should go to bed early won't though its mid afternoon i need chocolate but i never have chocolate around should i get a snack stupid vending machine 90 cents grrr peanut m&m's yum wait no pretzel totally want both.

2. I went to the movie's with a friend last night and someone in the group behind me took off his shoes. With stadium seating, his feet were pretty close to my head so I got a whiff of smelly feet for two hours. I finally got a piece of gum from my friend so that the mint would over power the smell. What's the proper etiquette for that situation?

3. And I totally don't know if it was a guy or girl but I judged the smell and assumed guy.

4. Eating chips and salsa for lunch always makes me thirsty all afternoon - no matter how much water I drink.

5. "These pretzels are MAKING me thirsty! These PRETZELS are making me thirsty! THESE pretzels are making me THIRSTY!" There's a little Seinfeld humor for you.

6. I would really like some chocolate right now. I sometimes visit the vending machine when I'm craving chocolate but they raised their prices and peanut M&M's are 90 cents now. I try to tell myself that I should pretend they're a dollar and it's buy 9 get the 10th free.

7. My senior year of high school, I had a class called Current Social Problems. It pretty much consisted of all the stupid conservative Republican boys beating up on my and my small group of social Democratic friends. We were definitely the minority. Now one of those boys is running for city council in my hometown and I'm doing everything I can to hold back on refuting all of his campaign promises via facebook.

8. The great thing about living in Bloomington is that I'm no longer the minority or seen as the extreme leftist. If anything, I border on moderate/almost conservative.

9. Seeger has started to going to the Boys and Girls Club after school. The bus takes him from school to the club. I'm a little worried - having worked for an after school drop in program, I've seen the clients who come from families where foul language and violence is common. I'm told this is unusual behavior for the Bloomington B&GC. I hope so but I will definitely be monitoring the situation.

10. Nicklas woke me up today at 5:45am. He was dressed and ready for breakfast. I asked him why he was up so early (his alarm usually goes off at 5:40) and he told me that he woke up and showered and got dressed and looked at his clock and realized it was only 2am. He laid down and went back to sleep - thank goodness! It reminded me of this incident.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'll be at Lake George - the second happiest place on earth.

Seeger at Camp Tecumseh

2011-08-29T13:30:00.008-04:00

I've had these photos saved on my computer but didn't realize I hadn't posted about Seeger's week at Camp Tecumseh. To recap, Nicklas did one week of resident camp at Camp Tecumseh in early June. Seeger isn't old enough for resident camp so he spent the week with his cousins Ben and Anna and they all went to day camp in July. He had a great time - not only at camp but also with his favorite family members. (He told me he wants to live with Ben all the time and I can come visit him when I miss him.) When his grandma picked him up on Friday to drive him back home to Bloomington, he was crying because he didn't want to leave. It's good to know he had such a great time!

So the great thing about Camp Tecumseh is that they post photos of the campers every day. I love clicking on the folders and checking out what the campers are up to. It's great. Really it is. EXCEPT when you see pictures of everyone except your child. Then it's frustrating. I stalked the website every few hours and nothing. I saw lots of pictures of Ben and Anna but none of Seeger. Until Wednesday. I finally had plenty of proof that he actually was at camp that week.

Here he is, on the left with the blue freezer pop.

In this photo, he's right in front.

Ben is in the middle, drinking water. Seeger is on the right.

He's third from the left here, and to the right is Ben who is drinking again. Ben must have been a thirsty boy that day.

I'm not sure what game they're playing here - I'll have to ask Seeger about it.

There are a few photo's from Thursday. In this one, he's left of the boy in orange trunks.

He's in the middle with the grey IU shirt.

On Friday, their last day, they had a lot of fun.

Making friendship bracelets. Can you see the bug bite on his face? It swelled up pretty big.

He's the one with towel over his shoulder. I'm not sure what's going on this picture but I think it has something to do with the counselors dressing up as super heros and saving the camp from an evil guy.

Here's another shot from Thursday. I love the group shot. Seeger is in the middle, just right of the counselor.

Camp Tecumseh is a truly special place. I love spending weekends there for quilt camp and I know Nicklas and Seeger feel lucky to go to camp there once a week every summer.

Thursday Thoughts

2011-08-25T14:10:00.003-04:00

1. It was move-in day on campus yesterday. Woo boy, did I have a hard time finding a parking spot after lunch. The building's parking lot was full and so were two parking garages. I've never seen a full parking garage on campus. I felt really bad for all the parents who received tickets for parking illegally.

2. My favorite words are noggin and paprika.

3. I bought a pair of earrings when we were on our cruise. I haven't worn earrings for years so it was an adjustment wearing them. Things were going good until I lost a back for one of them and now I'm back to not wearing earrings. No one noticed the addition to my wardrobe though so I guess it doesn't matter.

4. I watched an episode of the UK Office. I was surprised at the similar story lines. I didn't realize the American version outright stole from the original series.

5. Speaking of television, we now have satellite TV. I had hoped to just have cable but apparently we live in the middle of nowhere. So we now have a two year contract with Dish. I'm not convinced it's worth the money and I'm very worried about time and brain suckage. Especially for the little ones. Plus I'm already tired of the stupid commercials.

6. A friend recommended I try Bosnian food. She had some in Seattle and said it was delicious. I wonder how close I am to a Bosnian restaurant? Btown has Thai, Mediterranean, Indian, Pakistani, Tibetan, Ethiopian, Japanese, Burmese and many more. But no Bosnian.

7. I used to watch all my tv on Hulu.com. But you can only go a few episodes back before they want to charge for their plus service. And some series have no free episodes. It's super annoying and now Hulu wants you to connect with them on Facebook so your friends can see what you're watching. Uh, no thank you. I'm not going to help you advertise a service you CHARGE for, Hulu.

8. It's a beautiful day today! The sky is blue and gorgeous. I wish I was home planting flowers in my imaginary flower bed. Hopefully I'll be able to do some landscaping soon.

9. My professional and personal lives are getting in the way of my hobbies. I'm slowly getting behind on my One Flower Wednesday flowers, I never have time to read, and I haven't done any quilting lately. Not mention I still owe y'all some blog posts (vacation and Seeger at camp). This working and house organizing (which I really don't enjoy) is too distracting.

10. I'm all for regifting but only if it's not so obvious. Just sayin'.

11. The boys aren't doing cup scouts this year. It's getting to be too much work for the parents (does any boy really do all those requirements on their own?) and our lives are busy enough. If I'm paying $45 a week for the boys to take tae kwon do, you can bet I want them to go to as many classes as possible. Nicklas is also doing basketball and I've love for them to be in drama or music lessons.

12. This weekend, the Polack and I are going on our anniversary trip. It's his year to plan so I don't know where we're headed. It will be a quick but much needed trip.

13. The tractor my dad gave us is awesome. I remember when my parents bought it back in 1985. I loved driving that thing. I'm actually looking forward to cutting the grass. It's a John Deere and it's a little rusty but my dad put a new yellow seat on it. It's pretty spiffy. (I can't believe I said spiffy but that's the most accurate description of the seat, I promise!)

14. Do you ever hear of a colleague's job promotion and you think, wow, I wonder how that guy got that job? And then you realize you're selling yourself short.

15. Tonight will be busy - tae kwon do, Nicklas has to finish a project, we have his back to school meeting with the teacher, and we need to pack for the weekend. I'm just hoping to watch Project Runway. It would be great to watch it on tv, instead of my computer screen.

16. I asked Seeger if he thought I was the most awesome mom in the world. He said he'd have to think about it. He couldn't name another mom more awesome than me but he also wouldn't commit to giving me the number one spot.

17. I went out to lunch with a friend the other day and the restaurant was a converted from a single family home. We're sitting there talking when my friend looks up, above my head, speechless (which is a rarity). I look up and behind me, a few feet above my head, is a praying mantis. It was just hanging out at the window, probably sleeping. I think praying mantis's (manti?) are pretty cool so I tell my friend to chill out. (She couldn't though because she grew up in Samoa where she was surrounded by big furry spiders. So now she hates all kinds of bugs.) She tried but after several minutes, the praying mantis started watching us and paying more attention to what we were doing and all of a sudden I panicked because it looked like it was going to jump on my head and I even made a comment about it and my friend was like, dude, he's totally going to jump on your head. (We guessed it was he because he was green and brown and not completely green.) So we had to call our server over and he very politely and gentally rescued the praying mantis.

18. I just looked up the different between a male and female praying mantis. It has nothing to do with color. Males have 6 segments on its abdomen and females have 8. There you have it.

19. And the plural of praying mantis is praying manti.

First Day of School

2011-08-19T11:14:00.000-04:00

The boys started school on Tuesday. Nicklas insisted on wearing his hockey jersey. I always worry about food or grass stains. But it was important to him so I agreed.

Seeger had a hard time waking up. As he was walking downstairs, he could see his shadow on the wall and he said, "Woah, I have crazy hair!!" Don't you agree?

Nicklas looks so grown up waiting for the bus!

He made fun of me for taking a picture of the bus coming.

Seeger wanted to wear his Mario shirt because it matches his Mario back pack. His hair a little more tame here.

I had to go to the school office so I went ahead and walked Seeger to his desk when he realized that his teacher has a gerbil. He's very excited about earning time to spend with the furball.

Here's my post from last year's first day of school.

And my post from 2009.

Here is Nick's first day of school from 2008.

Here is Seeger's first day of preschool in 2008.

I can't believe how much they've grown in three years.

Random Thought Thursday

2011-08-18T15:38:00.005-04:00

1. How many, a-hem, weeks has it been since my last RTT? Too many.

2. Here's a story to make up for it... I was a coffeehouse today with a colleague (working of course!) when this guy comes up to our table. We were sitting outside so we didn't think much about it. He says "oh, hi" to us so we each think he knows the other person when suddenly the owner busts through the door toward us, yelling at the guy to leave. The guy says okay and walks back to his car. The owner stares him down for awhile and man finally gets in his car and drives off. Then the owner tells us that he's pretty tolerant and accepts most patrons, even if they're weird, but that guy is banned for life. Apparently, he likes to carry a hatchet and go up to the female customers and ask them if they know about the ax murderer that's haunting Bloomington. The owner assured us he was perfectly harmless, but he can't let the guy scare off his customers. It was a bizarre, yet entertaining experience.

3. I still have boxes to unpack in the house. I wonder if we'll ever be fully unpacked. I would have made more progress this week but we've played family Uno almost every night. It's the one game I can beat the Polack.

4. The boys started school two days ago. I think they're excited about it and especially to see their friends. I'm looking forward to the routine however keeping track of timing for everything has been challenging:
6:48 - the time Nick's bus driver says she'll be there to pick him up
7:04 - the time the transportation department says the bus will pick him up
7:28 - the time Nick's bus driver says she'll be picking him up on Wednesday's (the school day is shorter on Wednesday's)
7:40 - Nick's start time for school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
8:25 - Nick's start time on Wednesday
8:35 - Seeger's start time on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
9:35 - Seeger's start time on Wednesday
2:55 - the time Nick's school day ends
3:36 - the time Nick's bus drops him off at home
3:50 - the time Seeger's school day ends

See what I mean? I'll have to refer to this blog post every day to make sure I know what starts and ends at what time.

5. My office is organizing the welcome back luncheon for faculty/staff and we're having a dunk tank. I'm all for fun but I think it's a bad idea. (It's not quite the image we want to portray, you know?) Two of the dunkees are notorious pains in the you-know-what so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

6. When we discussed the dunk tank at yesterday's staff meeting, it was confirmed that Mr. Cox's hose is long enough to fill the tank. No one kept a straight face for the rest of the meeting. (And yes, that's typical for our staff meetings where half are spent doing business and half are spent doing things like watching a Tosh.0 episode.)

7. We're headed up north this weekend. We're spending some time at the Lake because I'm going to a birthday party for my mom, plus we are picking up a tractor that my dad is giving us. Our grass mostly looks like this:

But is also looks like this:

8. I want to plant more grass but someone told me that you're only supposed to plant grass in months that have an R in them. I guess I'm supposed to wait until September? Does anyone know if this is true?

9. When Mia was here last weekend, we spent several hours on Kirkwood, looking through the clothing and vintage stores. The Polack found some kickass doc martins and I found a Mrs. Roper dress. I seriously thought about buying it for Halloween but I didn't and now I regret it. I might have to see if they still have it because it would be the perfect costume.

10. I'll leave you with this image:

Nick's Yellow Belt

2011-08-17T10:15:00.004-04:00

Nicklas tested for his yellow belt on Friday. Of course easily passed.

It's fun to watch to the testing. Because it was he was the only white belt, he only had to do a small portion of the testing. As they progress, more kids sit out until finally it was just the brown belts who were testing. I always enjoy seeing the forms of the higher level belts.

Here is the group as they are getting to move up. Mia was with us during the test and she asked what happens if someone doesn't get to move up. I couldn't answer because it hasn't happened during Nick's or Seeger's test. The school does a good job of making sure the kids are prepared. (Though I do know it's happened before.)

Yay for the yellow belt! Now Nicklas doesn't have to call Seeger "Sir" anymore.

Mia Was Here

2011-08-16T14:24:00.009-04:00

For just four short days....

We all ate and shopped and played games and watched movies and she played lots of Wii with the boys. We miss her already.

Here we are our goodbye photos. Some good, some not so good. They include her friend Katie who came and picked her up from our house and took her to Lafayette for a few days before Mia's return to Norway.

UNO

2011-08-14T17:54:00.001-04:00

Seeger just schooled me in Uno. He won 7 of 9 rounds.

School Goals

2011-08-11T11:04:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, I owe a big long post of our vacation and Bahaman cruise. It's coming some day. Maybe.

We'll see.

This will be a short post but I wanted to let you all know how super proud I am of Nicklas. Out of the blue the other day, he announced to the family that when school starts, his two goals are to 1) keep his desk clean and 2) write down every assignment in his notebook. I swooned with joy that he came up with these goals without any prompting or discussion. He actually thought of them on his own. (And they're the two I would have picked for him!) They are lofty but the fact that he identified them is good enough regardless of the outcome.

Side note, Mia arrived to Indiana yesterday. She's with us through the weekend and then she's headed to Lafayette. The boys start school on Tuesday and also, I have a job interview. Eeks, I'm not sure what I think about that. To be continued...

Best and Worst

2011-08-10T18:14:00.001-04:00

Seeger's worst - leaving vacation
Mike's worst - ear infection
Natalie's worst - all the stuff she has to do to catch up at work and
at home
Mia's worst - having to get up at 5am to catch her flight and the
couple on the plane wouldn't let her sleep because they were talking
to her about a Norwegian ancestor
Nick's worst - the day is almost over
Seeger's best - back home + Mia
Mike's best - Mia's here
Natalie's best - Mia!
Mia's best - being back and feeling like she never left
Nick's best - movie day with Mia at home

Movie Time

2011-08-01T11:56:00.002-04:00

The boys planned out which movies they wanted to watch and in what
order. When it was time for Wall-E, I traded places with Nicklas so
that I could watch it with Seeger.

Side note - We're driving through Tennessee right now and I'm trying
really, really, really hard not to scratch any of the 30 mosquito
bites I have on my ankles and feet. Apparently I missed that portion
of my body when I used bug spray while making Smores at the Lake on
Saturday.

At Huddle House

2011-08-01T07:06:00.002-04:00

Seeger is very excited - and proud! - of his Golden Waffle Platter.

Still in Indiana

2011-08-01T07:04:00.002-04:00

We left for Florida around 4:45 this morning but had to stop 30 miles
outside of Kentucky. Nicklas gets car sick and he wasn't feeling well.
Luckily Huddle House was open at 5:45. Nicklas had eggs and toast.
Hopefully this will help the sickness subside for a while.

Tooth Brushing Party

2011-07-30T22:11:00.002-04:00

Night Swimming

2011-07-30T20:52:00.002-04:00

The cousins at Lake George...

(I really meant to write an RTT this week. But Thursday was the last
day I worked until vacation so I was busy getting ready to take time
off. Maybe I'll get to it in the next few days.)

That'll Do Pig

2011-07-26T10:48:00.002-04:00

Seeger's piggy bank didn't make it past the move. Poor piggy.

Seeger's devastated. I see a trip to Michael's in our future.

Three Days

2011-07-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

I have three days to complete list before going in vacation. Yikes.

Best & Worst

2011-07-22T19:54:00.002-04:00

Seeger's worst - having to eat all his pasta before getting a brownie
Jake's worst - when the wine spilled because he was worried about his
sister's carpet
Kathryn's worst -not seeing Jake all day
Cherry's worst - her legs and feet hurting
Mike's worst - making an extra trip to town because he didn't have a
key but e drove all the way to the storage unit before finding it
Natalie's worst - was super tired this morning
Nick's worst - the thing that happened at basketball camp
Seeger's best - brownie!!
Jake's best - moving everything wasn't as hard as he thought it would be
Kathryn's best - brownies
Cherry's best - sleeping in
Mike's best - finally having a dryer and winning Matt Kearney tickets
Natalie's best - Friday and yummy dinner with the family
Nick's best - getting two tootsie rolls

Best and Worst

2011-07-21T19:06:00.001-04:00

Nick's worst - tomorrow is the last day of basketball camp
Seeger's worst - Folds was trying to get him so he pushed him off and
then Folds tried to get him again
Jake's worst - the heat
Kathryn's worst - eating a Burger King Whopper
Cherry's worst - had to drive all the way to Bloomington
Mike's worst - the dryer isn't working and it's going to cost to
switch to LP
Natalie's worst - stupid people at work
Nick's best - making it to the quarterfinals in Hot Shot
Seeger's best - found his Bakugan
Jake's best - seeing the new house
Kathryn's best - drinking an iced coffee that was home made
Cherry's best - spending the morning with her sisters at Lake Hamilton
and then coming to spend time with her family in Bloomington
Mike's best - breaking in the new dining room
Natalie's best - family dinner with lots of family

Random Thoughts

2011-07-21T14:19:00.002-04:00

Yay - after three weeks, I'm back for RTT. Woo hoo!

1. Nicklas spent a few hours with me at work this afternoon. His basketball camp ended at noon and he had tae kwon do at 3:30 so rather than have the Polack come in to town to pick him him at noon and bring him back in to town three hours later, I thought it would be easier to keep him with me.

2. That's right, we have to think about trips "in to town" from now on. It's about a 20 minute drive from our house to anywhere in Bloomington and with construction on nearly every major thoroughfare, we have to add another 10-15 minutes. I will miss the convenience of making a three minute drive to the grocery store but I definitely love the beautiful three acres of land that we have so it's all alright, already.

3. Anyway.... when Nicklas was with me this afternoon, he started a blog. It's something he'd been thinking about for a few weeks so he took the plunge. He says it will be about sports (no surprise) with a little of his life mixed in. I cautioned him about the importance of keeping it updated. He promises he will.

The address is http://nicklask.blogspot.com/. I really enjoyed reading his first post (except for those grammatical errors! I can't stand those!) and I never really knew "the moment" he fell in love with sports. Go Nicklas, go!

4. It's been a rough week at work. I really want to be caught up on everything by the time we leave for vacation on the 29th but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

What, you say? We just came back from vacation?

I hear ya but my last week off of work didn't feel fun and vacationy. This next one involves a trip to Florida and a Caribbean cruise. That should do the trick.

5. If you're not my facebook friend then you probably don't know that the crazy cardinal that keeps banging his head on our windows is DRIVING ME CRAZY. People have offered several suggestions for handling him but I'm not shooting a BB gun at him. Come one, I can't risk hurting my precious windows (windows are expensive!) plus I'd probably miss anyway.

Not that I would try. Probably not anyway.

6. My older brother got a BB gun one year for Christmas and I was looking at it the day after present opening (when it was inside and still under the tree). I accidentally shot it and a BB hit our brick fireplace and ricocheted off and ended up somewhere I never found. Luckily no one was around to witness (or get hurt) but it sure scared the bejeezus out of me.

Also, one time my brother was shot in the arm by gun. Accidentally of course. GUNS = BAD.

7. I had this feeling that I already blogged about ricocheting BB once but I just checked and I guess not. My mom is probably shaking her head at me right now because I don't think she's ever heard that story.

8. I think when you've been blogging as long as I have - I'm coming up on three years - then you forget what stories you've shared and not shared. Good thing there is the search option for my blog. I find myself using it more and more.

9. Tonight I'm preparing Chinese for dinner and tomorrow is Italian. Jake, Kathryn, and my mom are visiting so I'm excited to cook in my own kitchen.

10. Things about the house that I'm not excited about... the ice machine on the refridgerator works WAAA-AAY too well. The ice comes pouring out and before you have a chance to stop it, it's all over the beautiful wood floor. Also, the standing shower door is on backwards. When you're showing, everyone on the outside is fuzzy but when you're on the outside looking in, the showeree is pretty visible, naked and all. Good thing it's just the Polack and I using that shower.

10.5 Don't think I'm complaining about those two things. They aren't complaints - I promise! I LOVE my new house. Let's call them observations, shall we?

Roger that.

Best & Worst

2011-07-20T19:04:00.001-04:00

Seeger's worst - having to move all the boxes in the basement because
his feet were cold
Mike's worst - not getting as much done today as he hoped
Natalie's worst - having a big work project that she doesn't want to
start
Nick's worst - Noah's 3-on-3 team beat his at basketball camp
Seeger's best - butt kicking
Mike's best - family lunch AND dinner
Nick's best - scoring three out of four of the points for his
basketball team
Natalie's best - only two more days of work before the weekend plus
family lunch date at the library

Best & Worst from yesterday...
Natalie's worst - dealing with stupid stuff at work
Mike's worst - all the snags that happened when hooking up the range
and microwave
Seeger's worst - got bored riding the scooter
Nick's worst - waiting until 9:00 for dinner
Uncle Bill's worst - having to drill that second set of holes for the
microwave
Natalie's best - finally having a range and microwave
Mike's best - having Bill help with installation and having family
dinner
Nick's best - having Uncle Bill over for dinner AND basketball camp
Seeger's best - having Squerkle's in DK Jungle
Uncle Bill's best - coming over to have dinner with his favorite
family member's

I ran the mini marathon once

2011-07-20T01:19:00.000-04:00

I'm Back!

2011-07-18T16:18:00.012-04:00

So sorry to be MIA for so long. I know you expected it, right? But you probably really, really missed me. I'm sure that's the case.

Anyway, it's been a crazy, fun filled, patriotic, emotional, awesome, frustrating, exciting, sweaty few weeks. Let's recap, shall we?

CRAZY....
So we all knew the craziness was going to happen. The Polack and I had to move all of our stuff out of our apartment by June 30. We ended up renting a second storage unit because our first one was too full. The second one was the next county over because it saved me $100. I'm a girl who likes a deal, yo. Luckily, a few friends came to help. One helper was Chad, a friend who grew up with the Polack. He brought two of his four kids. Seeger and Joy loved walking Freddy.

I think Freddy liked the walking but I'm not so sure he enjoyed getting picked up so much.

Alex and Nicklas played some ball and wrestled in the house. Nicklas is awesome with little kids!

FUN-FILLED and PATRIOTIC...
After we had everything packed up and moved out, we headed to the Lake for the Fourth of July weekend. Our plan was to stay there until we received word that the house was ready. More on that later. We arrived at the Lake on Thursday evening, about the same time as my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John. They grabbed some wings on the way to their cottage and shared some with us. They're the best! I had some mixed emotions about the weekend. Of course, I was excited to see so many family members, my brothers, my dad and Laurie, Kathy, John, their daughter Emily, my Uncle Jim and Aunt Lorna, my cousins Ryan, Bri, Aaron, and his fiance, my cousin Andy. I knew it was going to be a nice weekend but it's weird being at the house without my grandma or most those family members who stay in other places on the Lake. I don't really like not seeing everyone all the time. That's my issue though and I know things change so I guess a better learn to deal with it better. Despite my downer feelings, I really did enjoy seeing everyone. Doesn't this pontoon just look like it needs to be uncovered?

We took it to the Retreat Friday night for dinner.

I also did some sailing. The Polack and I went out on it and I took both the boys. I'm slowly gaining confidence in sailing it though the light winds made it pretty easy. One time, we even got stuck just as we were coming to shore. There was NO WIND and I couldn't get the boat to shore. We were pretty close so we had to have Nicklas swim out to get us. (No judging! He was already in the water.)

On Saturday, we went to my Uncle Jim's house. This is a different Uncle Jim, one from the North side, not the Gallogly side of the family. He lives about 45 minutes away from the Lake and he was having family over for a pool party. It's always nice going there because there because the pool is awesome and there's always lots of yummy food. It was great seeing my other cousins. The bonus of the North family is that my cousins have kids so Nicklas and Seeger have other kids to play with. (I have a really big family!)

We headed back to the Lake in time for the Lake George boat parade. Remember that from last year? Anyway, we got there in time but the weather didn't cooperate so it never happened. A storm just missed us though so the fireworks still happened. Jake and Kathryn came for the weekend and my dad and Laurie and their granddaughter and her boyfriend came too. After the fireworks, we used the fire pit and made Smores. Yummo.

It was a pretty hot weekend, especially Sunday. We spent a lot of time in the water. Here are the boys with Bri who is expecting. YAY! Baby RyBri will be arriving in December.

Here are Kathryn, Jake, and Daddy-Ryan.

After dinner on Sunday, we took a ride on the pontoon. Evening pontoon rides are usually called booze cruises. My brother Michael was able to join us. We had lots of wine which is much nicer than the rides where everyone except me drinks Scotch. Here is Seeger driving the boat with Uncle John.

Here are pretty ladies Kathy and Emily.

After the booze cruise, we parked but stayed on the boat and hung out. My cousin Andy brought us chocolate and peanut butter ice cream and we all talked for a few hours. (If you have a Meijer, you have to get some of their chocolate peanut butter ice cream. It's AWESOME and the go-to treat at the Lake. Oh, except I was talking to Uncle Bill last week and he told me that sometimes he gets TOO MUCH peanut butter in his chocolate ice cream spoonfuls and I was like, due, there's no such thing as TOO MUCH peanut butter in my chocolate ice cream.) Anywho, it was a great evening.

Isn't Lake George beautiful in the evening?

On Monday, we hung out and felt the dread of the end to the holiday weekend. People were preparing to pack up and leave. My family was planning to stay another night but once everyone left, it felt a bit depressing. Is this what my grandma felt after everyone left her to go back to their regular lives?

We decided to leave for the evening and go see a movie. The Polack had promised me that if I read Water for Elephants, he would take me to see the movie. Luckily it was playing at the second run theater in Fort Wayne so we planned to go. We let the boys see Diary of Wimpy Kid. It was the first time we watched one movie and had them watch another at the same time. I was a little nervous but they did well. Except when the movie was over, Nicklas came out of the theater and complained that his ear was hurting. Because he had awoken a few nights prior with the same complaint, I thought it was best to go to Urgent Care to check it out. Urgent Care at 9:30 at night on the Fourth of July. Woo hoo was that fun. We hung out waiting. And waiting. And waiting. We watched part of the Fort Wayne fireworks from the window. And we waited and waited. Finally at midnight, with Seeger asleep on a bench, a doctor looked in both of Nick's ears and declared that he had a double ear infection. Three presciptions, a trip to the all night Walgreen's, and the drive back to the Lake and we finally made it to bed around 1:45.

EMOTIONAL...
We got up early on Tuesday to pack up all our belongings that weren't in storage. We met my dad and Laurie for breakfast and then headed to Bloomington. We were scheduled to do our final walk through on the house. We though this meant that we could move in once we went through everything. Sure, there were a few things they needed to fix but others had told us they would come back and do them once we were moved in. Silly us for thinking that way. One the way back to Bloomington, I got a text that there was a fire at work. The HPER building had flames shooting up from the fieldhouse. The Polack and I had a moment of panic. We had stored some recently purchased art work in my office because we didn't want it to go in our storage unit. Luckily, my half of the building was okay. Here's a picture that a friend sent me.

We arrive in Bloomington and do a walk through. It went pretty well - just a few things here and there that we asked them to take care of. Apparently though, we still needed the county to do their walk through. That was scheduled for Thursday. Gee great. Then the builder would ask for the final draw of payment. We couldn't move in until the payment was received. Gee, that's wonderful. So we're in Bloomington, it's Tuesday, and I have the rest of the week off. We weren't sure what to do, where to go. We had planned on moving in the house but we realized that wasn't going to happen this week. We decided to head to Lafayette and after a quick call to the Polack's parents, we had a place to stay for the rest of the week. We tried to make things fun for the kids though the stress of being homeless and dependant on family for places to live was a little bit of bummer. I thought about a hotel but we really didn't want to spend the money. (I like a good deal can also mean that I'm cheap.)

Wednesday evening, we went to dinner with our friends Marty and Lindsey. We enjoyed playing games with them. On Thursday, we took Nicklas and Seeger to Tropicanoe Cove. Nicklas also invited his friend, Jack. Those two had a lot of fun catching up. Nicklas hasn't found someone equal to Jack in Bloomington yet so I'm glad they got to spend the day together. Here's Seeger at the Cove. He's tall enough to do the adult rides. Too bad he's too scared for them.

AWESOME...
That evening, I went to see my friend Christy. She actually beat me in Quirkle and Blokus. I'm not sure what's up with that. On Friday, we packed everything up and headed to the Polack's brothers house. Matt and his wife, Melissa, were having a cousin's get together which included family from Michigan. We always have fun when the cousins get together. Here's a photo of Nicklas from that day. He is wearing his new IU shirt from Aunt Kathy and Uncle John. It's an awesome shirt, I wish it fit me!

The cousin's get together was fun. We did a lot of catching up, a lot of eating, some drinking, some flippy cup (not to be confused with tippy cup), we hung out by the river, the kids got to swim, there were rides in the Ranger and somehow we ended up doing some food challenges Saturday evening. It started with Emily doing the cinnamon dragon and digressed from there - six saltines in sixty second (Sarah won), a piece of bread in 45 seconds (Sarah again!), more cinnamon (Tony was the closest), and chubby bunny (Matt made it to 11!). On Sunday, we packed up and everyone headed in to Lafayette to check out Jethro's BBQ. (It wasn't as good as South Street.) We visited with the aunts and uncles from the Turner side who were staying at the in-laws for their own family weekend get together.

Here are the little cousins, toward the end of the weekend. They all look exhausted to me.

FRUSTRATING...
So it's Sunday night and we know that the county inspection has happened. Two things needed to be fixed, plus the things that we found in our final walk through. It's all supposed to happen on Tuesday. Once it does, our builder says they will request the final draw. I have to go back to work on Monday so we head to Spencer, to stay with my Uncle Bill, while leaving Seeger with his cousins. He is going to spend the week with them, going to Day Camp at camp Tecumseh, while the rest of us hope that we can move in to the new house SOON, ALREADY!

We stay at Uncle Bill's Sunday night, Monday night, and on Tuesday at noon, we're told the house has the final approval. Yay! The builder contacts the the bank. They banks says they need a certificate of occupancy. Boo! The builder works to contact the County to get the correct paperwork. On Wednesday, we still haven't heard anything. I contact the bank. I call the builder. Get your act together, people! I find out that the bank is waiting on proof that we paid property taxes in May. Of course I don't find this out until after 4pm which means I have to wait until the next day to go to the Courthouse to get proof of payment. On Thursday morning, exactly two weeks of being homeless, I get up early and head to the Courthouse. I knew they opened at 7:30, except the doors are locked. I wait and wait for them to open the doors and finally at 8:00 they do and they tell me that all the county offices have moved. Spectacular. I head over to the the Showers building and ask someone at an information desk where I go to get proof I've paid my property taxes. He directs me to the Auditor's Office, who directs me to the Recorder's Office, who directs me to the Treasurer's Office. Finally with proof that I need, I head to work to email everything to the bank. I wait for two hours and no word. I call the builder and have them get on the bank. Turns out they're waiting for something from the title company. If they don't get by noon, they'll call. I offer to call them myself. Hell, I'll drive whatever it is from the title company to Warren, Ohio where the bank headquarters are. No, no, it will come by email, that's not necessary, they say. (I think they begin to fear that a crazy lady is going to come knocking on their door.) We go to lunch with Marty and Lindsey who are passing through Lafayette on their way from playing games down South. It was a nice distraction from watching the clock. Finally at 2:28pm we get the word. The house is ready! We can move in! We now own 100% of the mortgage!

EXCITING...
It was quite a relief for us. The Polack and my brother Jon spend the next three days moving. I help when I'm not working. My mom came and brought food and organized things a bit. We spent all weekend working with a quick break for a friend's wedding. Our garage is full of all our belongings and we're slowly making progress. On Sunday, I got the kitchen orgainzed and everything put away. Nicklas and I worked on his room. Last night, Seeger and I worked on his room. Both boys have lots of books and toys that they no longer want so it took a while to go through everything. Correction. Seeger didn't really want to give up any of his toys. We went through boxes and boxes of toys. Of those 9 or 10 boxes, he got rid of one box full of things. It's okay though because he's been without most for over a year so I'll let him keep everything. He deserves it. Both boys' rooms look really good right now but I still have some more of their stuff to go through. My plan is to do that tonight. Hopefully most will be put in the charity pile (which is getting pretty big). I also want to get the dining room and family room in order. The Polack is working hard to get the garage cleared out of the bigger items and putting the boxes in the correct rooms. He's been taking pictures of the garage each day and posting them on facebook so that everyone can see the slow progression of emptying the garage. We are thrilled with the house and getting more and more anxious to get settled in. Jake and Kathryn and probably my mom are coming on Thursday and I want to get most rooms in order so we can relax a little.

SWEATY...
Would we do it again? Absolutely! I will post pictures when things are in better order than now. Until then, here are photos of the boys from the wedding on Saturday. It was outdoors so we were sweaty and hot but so was everyone else so it was okay. The wedding was very kid friendly. There was playground equipment and a hide out with a fireman's pole. They had a sno cone machine and cotten candy, plus a chocolate fountain. Both my boys danced the night away, especially Nicklas. We got to hang out with our Lafayette Jeff friends, always a good time.

Life is good!

Feels Like 102

2011-07-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

Yowzaa it's hot outside. We're in Fort Wayne for a pool party with the
North family and we're getting ready to head back to the Lake for the
annual boat parade and fireworks. Rumor has it that we're doing a
final walk-thru on the house Tuesday. It's not scheduled yet though so
I'm not holding my breath.

Moving Day

2011-06-29T19:21:00.001-04:00

A shout out to Ralphie's dad... "It must be Italian!"

Random Thought Thursday

2011-06-23T15:25:00.004-04:00

1. So the good news... we have carpet!! At lunch time, the family took a field trip to the house and the carpet that was being installed yesterday was complete today. All flooring in the house is finished. The trim guy was there cutting and installing the quarter-round. He also put some door knobs and door stops on about half the doors.

You guys, I have door knobs!

2. The not so good news... We don't have a driveway. Or gutters. Or the rest of our lights. Or mirrors. Or a second coat of paint in the toilet room. (They must have missed that room because the rest of the house has a second coat. Oh, and I really hate the phrase toilet room. I must come up with something else to call it.) Or a kitchen sink. (We need all that and the kitchen sink. Ha, I couldn't resist!) OR WATER! Water is very important and apparently the usual "water guy" isn't returning phone calls so now our builder as to find a new "water guy". Oh and our propane tank still hasn't arrived. Nor been buried. So that gas fireplace is just a decoration at this point.

3. The really, bad news... We won't be in the house by June 30. Our builder hasn't confirmed this but it's a pretty strong hunch on our part. I'm not a contractor but I really don't see how all that can happen plus get the house cleaned and appliances delivered and inspected by the county - all in a week. So yeah, just a hunch there.

4. So our lease is up June 30 and we have no place to go. Actually we have lots of places to ho (Tahiti, Vegas, Ireland, anyone?) but we have to figure out what to do with all the stuff in our apartment. I've looked into renting a truck for a week. Or one of those portable storage pods. Because really, who wants to move all their stuff and turn around a week later and move it all again? But it's inevitable so I called around a scored a sweet deal on a second storage unit. (Our first one is packed to the gills, so no, we can't store our stuff there.) It only cost me $46 (note to self, never rent in the college town you live in, instead rent the next county over) so I had to take advantage.

5. I think one small teeny, tiny part of me hopes that being proactive and renting something means the house will miraculously be finished before actually needing the rental. You know, like carrying an umbrella when it doesn't end up raining. Or NOT carrying an umbrella and getting caught in a downpour.

A girl can hope.

6. I'm a bit sad that my house building has taken up five, oh wait, make that six RTT's. It is such a reflection of my life right now.

7. On a happy note, I finally read The Hunger Games. Sure, I had to pry it out of Nick's hands and sit on him so he wouldn't steal it back, but darn it, it's my book! I'm kidding, he was finished with the first one. He moved on to Catching Fire and of course, I finished The Hunger Games before he was finished with Catching Fire. Luckily, he has to sleep sometime so I snuck it away from him and finished that pretty quickly too, just a day or two after him. He's still early in Mockingjay - and I'm really, really trying to hold off from stealing that one too - but then I went home for lunch and he was on the computer INSTEAD OF READING THAT DARN BOOK so all bets are off now.

8. Speaking of birds,(Mockingjay's are birds in case you didn't know) have I mentioned the crazy cardinal that lives out at the house? Every time we're there (okay, not EVERY time, but often), we see this cardinal who starts banging his head on our windows. Not just the same window every time but different windows throughout the house. It always freaks me out; I feel pretty bad for the poor fellow. Our electrician asked about it too so it happens when we're not there too. I think we must of built our house on top of his nest. Or maybe we're on some sort of spooky bird graveyard or something.

9. A few days ago, we did a family photo shoot on campus. Seeger's teacher happens to be budding photographer and she offered her services as something people could bid on at the school's silent auction fundraiser. I bid $25 early on and didn't think much about it. Apparently no one else bid on it so we scored the photography package. She's posted some of the pictures and they're fabulous! I LOVE them so much and I'm super impressed with her talent. The pictures are great, stupendous, awesome, wonderful, impressive, and all that. I'll post some once we have the disc she is preparing for us.

10. The same night of the photo shoot happened to be the final dress rehearsal for the Madison Scouts. They had a competition they were leaving for the next day. After the photo shoot, I raced the family over the Memorial Stadium and everyone was just leaving. We missed it. Boo. BUT it looks like they're having another dress rehearsal tonight so I'm super pumped. (They're in between competitions.) Nicklas has a baseball game but hopefully I can do both.

Of course as I type this, I can see a big black cloud rolling through. IF outdoor things are cancelled tonight, I have one saving grace and that's a Mockingjay book that's calling my name.

That's the end of this week's RTT everyone. I'm not sure how much I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. I have one post almost ready but other than that, it will be sparse around here with all the moving and what not. Wish us luck.

Camp Tecumseh

2011-06-20T15:17:00.007-04:00

We picked up Nicklas from Camp Tecumseh on Saturday. I was so anxious to hear about his week. The photos posted by Camp that featured Nick were sparse and didn't give a hint as to what clinics he chose. I tried to get some clinic choices commited by him before we dropped him off but he was tight lipped. He told me he would sign up for the two he didn't get to do last year - archery and drama. But he wouldn't decide on the other three he would list when asked by his counselors. He ended up picking basketball, water polo, and swimming. In the end, his clinics were basketball, archery, and water polo. No drama again, even when he put it as his number one choice. Water polo ended up being his favorite, especially because several cabin mates chose it too so they got to hang out together. (I think archery was his least favorite. He only hit the target once the entire week.)

We dropped him off at camp as soon as allowed because he wanted to be one of the first in the cabin. Last year, he was one of the last and was stuck with a bed right next to the bathroom. He said it smelled disgusting! Parents aren't supposed to drop off the campers until 2pm on Sunday, but when we got there right at 2, there were already a few dozen cars parked. Oh well! We went through the check-in process and 45 minutes later, we were at his cabin. Four other boys were already there and Nicklas found a top bunk - away from the bathroom. Here he is on his bed. The bottom bunk was never used so I guess he ended up moving his stuff down.

Seeger wanted to check out the top bunk too...

Seeger is also going to Camp Tecumseh this year. He's not old enough for resident camp so he's going to spend the week with Uncle Matt, Aunt Melissa, and go to day camp each day with cousins Ben and Anna. When we were dropping off Nicklas, Seeger asked when he would be allowed to do sleep away camp. I told him that campers have to be 8 so he will be old enough next year. He's excited about this idea and really wants to do it. But he also really wants to spend a week with his cousins at day camp. Decisions, decision! Luckily he doesn't have to decide which option to do until next year.

Saying goodbye...

Here is Nick's cabin. Ten boys and two counselors - it's so small! It was pretty chaotic when we left. The boys were very excited to be at camp. As I walked out of the cabin, one of the counselors was telling two boys that they couldn't lock themselves in the bathroom and that they better come out.

The next several photos were posted on the Camp's website. I love that they post pictures throughout the week! Here is the Ottawa Week 1 cabin picture. Nicklas is standing, in the center of the group. He's got some crazy hair!

Here he is with a group of campers, in the Ga-Ga pit. He loves to play Ga-Ga!

Nicklas is in the background of this photo.

Another Ga-Ga shot, this one with his cabin mates.

Here he is at Morning Flagpole. You can see Nick's back, as he's facing the flag. He still has crazy hair.

Okay, now we're back to my pictures. This was taken on the day we went to pick him up. We arrived at the cabin just before campers returned from chapel. He was in Ottawa R-14. The R stands for River Village. It's the area for the younger campers. The older campers stay up the hill at Lake Village.

Here is Nick's "after" picture, taken as we're packing him up.

I love this next picture! Nicklas isn't the most outgoing kid. He can be a bit closed sometimes - even when other kids (and adults) say hi to him, he often doesn't look them in eye or talk loud enough for them to hear. It takes a few back and forth interactions to really engage him. (Then he doesn't STOP talking!) As we were leaving, I made him take a picture with his counselors and I asked if he wanted to say goodbye to his cabin friends. He shook his head no, which didn't surprise me. But as we headed to the car, one of the boys came up and said, "Nicklas! Goodbye! Give him a hug." Some other boys gathered around for hugs too and then I asked if I could take their picture. I'm sad that I won't get to know these boys.

And here we are, just after check out from camp. We bought Nicklas the DVD of the week and he watched it on our way home. I loved hearing him sing the camp songs that played in the background music and hearing him laugh at some of the skits that made it on to the video.

Camp is such a wonderful and very special experience for Nicklas. It's an opportunity for him to socialize with other kids, while showing some independance. A week of Camp is very expensive - more than what the Polack and I can pay. Fortunately, my mom provides this experience for Nicklas. She loves Camp Tecumseh as much as I do and she wants Nicklas to have these incredible experiences and wonderful memories. I'd like to give a big, special thank you to her for making this opportunity a reality for Nicklas.

Thanks, Mom. We love you!

Best and Worst

2011-06-19T17:46:00.001-04:00

Nick's worst - driving so much today
Seeger's worst - driving away from Mimi's
Mike's worst - running out the door and finding out the game was
cancelled
Natalie's worst - too quick of a morning
Nick's best - first full day from camp
Seeger's best - dinner
Mike's best - spending Father's Day with family and seeing friends he
hasn't seen in awhile
Natalie's best - finally getting to read The Hunger Games

The Polack's birthday at Zydeco's

2011-06-17T10:35:00.003-04:00

We celebrated the Polack's birthday a few weeks ago. We always let the birthday person pick a place to eat out for dinner. I never know what to pick but usually Polack has his decision made a few weeks before his birthday. This year, he wanted to try a cajun restaraunt called Zydeco's that's in Mooresville, just a southwest of Indainapolis. It was a 45 minute drive from Bloomington but well worth it. The food was delicious!

The boys wanted him to open his presents right away. Seeger made him this awesome picture. (I love that the picture matches the guys shirt at the table behind ours!)

Nicklas wanted to give him an episode of ESPN's 30 for 30. He couldn't decided which one the Polack would like the most, so he have him a coupon for his choice.

Seeger loved the gumbo. I had a Poboy and it was awesome! I love chrinkle cut fries - my favorite! Nicklas had fried shrimp. I forget what the Polack had, something with crawfish I think. Maybe \etoufee? I don't really know because he ate it all before I had a chance to ask for bite. I'm glad he liked it!

My happy boys! The owner of the place came over several times to check on us and our service was outstanding. The atmosphere is great. When they heard we had a birthday, they made sure to bring us dessert.

Here's their spice garden, right outside the front door. What a nice treat to give out spices to passerby's. Or is it passersby? Either way, be sure to grab some spices when we walk by.

If you're in Indianapolis, you must make a stop at Zydeco's. It's great!

Random Thought Thursday

2011-06-16T09:34:00.005-04:00

1. Nicklas is at Camp Tecumseh so I've been checking their website every few hours for a glimpse of him in the photos they post. The first day I saw half of his face behind someone else. I could only see his ear and his face but I recognized the hat he was wearing. I've since seen some better shots, including one of him in the gaga pit. He loves playing gaga so I'm sure he was excited. I've been saving the photos so I'll post them all once the week is over.

2. The Polack and I and Seeger went to the house yesterday. They were finally installing the cabinets and sinks. We walked in and took one look at what was hung and we said, "Uh, those aren't our cabinets - they're too light!" We had purposely chosen the darkest shade available. So the guy calls someone and tells us that those ARE the darkest ones they have. Boy they sure do look different than the 4X5 inch sample we saw. We still love the wood flooring though!

3. Our electrician informed us that the foyer and dining room fixtures that he's putting up will take much longer to install than the half hour he's usually allotted. So he's going to have to charge us $75/hour to get them up. Joy.

4. I feel like we're going to be broke before we even get in the house and have to buy all the stuff we need to make it home. I think those peanut butter and jelly sandwich dinners will be continuing for a few more weeks.

5. Last weekend, we dropped Nicklas off to camp and spent the weekend painting a room in Polack's parents house. The painting wasn't that fun but his mom made several home cooked meals which were super yummy. It's nice to be fed every once in awhile.

6. So Seeger is 7 and you may or may not know that he still has to wear pull-ups at night. They are rarely dry when he wakes up in the morning so they're definitely needed. He's such a sound sleeper so we just let him have the pull up and we haven't really worried about it. His pediatrician in Lafayette told us it isn't a big deal and each year, we would ask if we need to do anything and she would always so, don't worry, let's talk about it next year. Well here it is, seven years later, and we're thinking it's time to do something about it. So this week, we've started waking him up every night at midnight and 3 am and taking him to the bathroom. It's going well, he'll get up and do his business, and go back to bed. And each time, the next morning, he's been dry. Hopefully this will help him and he'll get the hang of things because it's not fun having to wake up in the middle of the night to wake HIM up in the middle of the night.

7. They are doing construction right outside my window at work so each afternoon I get to hear the beep, beep, beep of the machines backing up.

8. Our apartment lease is up in two weeks and I really don't think we're going to be able to move in to the house. I told the Polack that we need to decide what to do with all our stuff for the one or two weeks between residences. I am so ready to start packing things.

9. The Polack, Nicklas, and I went to see the Black Keys in concert last week. We met up with a high school friend and her husband. Amy mentioned that she reads my blog. I didn't realize this but now that I know, I have to give a shout out to her. Hi Amy!

10. Memories of my friend Amy..... hanging out in the rv that her parents bought. We were in elementary school and I think we watched some movies, one being a John Cusack flick. In fifth grade, Amy, me, and our friend Heather, did a lip syncing routine to the Pointer Sisters for our music class. Amy was in color guard one year and I remember during a competition, her flags were laid wrong so she went to get one for a song and it was the wrong one. Instead of using it, she dropped it and didn't use any flag at all. I remember thinking that was smart of her because a wrong colored flag would be way more noticeable than no flag at all. I also remember going to on the French club trip to France with Amy. She was so in love. This was just before senior year in high school and Amy had started dating a guy she'd had a crush on for a long time. The guy was Nick and they've been married now for 15 years. Congrats to them both! They have three boys, one was born just before my wedding, the other two are the same ages as Nicklas and Seeger. It's too bad their three hours away from me and we hardly get to see each other. We definitely need to plan a visit soon.

P.S. After seeing the house last night, we stopped by to watch the Madison Scouts practice. Isn't it so cool of the Polack to hang out with me while I watched their color guard do the same 20 counts of music, over and over?

Random Thought Thursday

2011-06-09T15:53:00.003-04:00

1. Thanks for all the comments about my update post last week. I'm glad to know people actually read this blog. Not that readership is that important to me... I mostly want to document things that happen so when the boys are older, they have a glimpse into their childhood.

2. The blog is especially important because the tech people at work DELETED ALL MY PHOTOS FROM THE PAST YEAR! This was a mistake, one that they've apologize profusely for but it doesn't change the fact that I'm out several hundred pictures. There is a long explanation about what happened and why they weren't backed up but I'll save you the boring details. The incident has made me appreciate my somewhat regular blogging.

3. When I was in kindergarten - waaa-aaaay back in 1980 - my mom and I drove to Florida with my aunt, her boyfriend, and my cousins. The kids all sat in the back of a red kidnapper van where we played cards and colored and had a really good time. This was before the day of cassette tape decks in cars so we listened to the radio. It seemed like the same 5 or so songs played during the trip and anytime I hear those songs in present times, I'm reminded of that trip. The songs you ask? Celebration by Kool and the Gang, Kiss on Your List by Daryl Hall and John Oats, and Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield are the ones I remember.

4. The #1 song of 1981 was Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes who my dad always called the original Blondie. We went to local IGA once and they were giving out Kim Carnes posters for some reason so I had that hanging in my bedroom until it was replaced by Michael Jackson's Thriller.

5. One last thing about 1981.... remember the glass Coca Cola and Pepsi bottles that people used to recycle? We'd take them to the grocery store and get credit for bringing them in that we would have deducted from our grocery bill. My mom used to stick those glass Diet Pepsi bottles in the freezer. Drinking out of an almost frozen pop bottle (that's right, I sad POP BOTTLE) was the best thing ever.

I miss glass bottles.

6. Today the Polack and I bought all the light fixtures we need for the house. Our checking account is down to $304. Ouch.

7. We stopped by the house yesterday and we have wood flooring. Yay! It looks great but now we're regretting now putting wood down in the dining room. The entry way and kitchen have it so the dining room will look a little strange, being carpeted and surrounded by wood floor.

8. There is a missing 20-year-old student in Bloomington right now and the community has been so awesome at rallying around to look for her. The story has made national news so I'm guessing most of you have heard about it. Anyway, there is a scary/gross apartment complex that our apartment backs up against. Yeah, it's even way worse than where we live. Anyway, one building is on a hill so there is this small storage room under the bottom floor apartment. We can see it from our bedroom and last night, I noticed light glowing from the inside of that room. I've never seen the room open and I've never seen a light shining out from it it so I told the Polack that I'm convinced that's where the missing girl is. It's freaking me out.

I've posted a tip so we'll see if the light is still on tonight.

9. Did I mentioned that Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps are doing their spring training right down the road from my house? Oh, I did... Well anyway, yesterday when we drove by the house to see the flooring (yay!) the flag corps was practicing right by the road. I tried to get the Polack to slow down so I could watch him but he wouldn't. How rude! After we left the house (with the wood flooring - yay!) I asked if I could drive because I wanted to see the practice. The Polack said yes, but only if I didn't slow down a stare like a creepy, old lady. What?! I'm not creepy or old.

I decided to let him drive.

10. I wish we were already living in my house. And I wish my mom or Christy was with me. Both would be my partner in crime for stalking the Madison Scouts.

Zydeco's

2011-06-08T18:52:00.001-04:00

We're at a Cajun restaurant in Mooresville for the Polack's birthday.
This place is pretty cool. Hopefully the food will be awesome too.

Last Assignment

2011-06-08T15:50:00.002-04:00

Nicklas completed his last assignment of fourth grade. I can't believe I have a fifth grader now! Luckily, in Bloomington the elementary schools go up to sixth grade.

Anyway.

His assignment was to write a letter to his teacher with a reading recommendation:

Dear Mrs. Darby,

It was a privilege to be your student this year. You were a very nice teacher. I enjoyed you very much.

One of my favorite subjects was social studies. Also, because I am interested in geography, when we did each region I also knew a lot about each location. The third thing I liked is the government unit because listening to what other people had to say and voting on the bills was fun (and my bill passed).

Summer books to read
Last Shot: by John Feinstein
Steve Thomas has won a writing contest and gets to go to New Orleans and write about the Final Four for The Washington Post along with his co-winner Susan Carol Anderson. However, when watching the Minnesota State team get off the bus they see star player, Chip Gabber get pulled over. After overhearing the conversation, they hear he is being blackmailed, and the young teens have 48 hours to find out if its true. Uncover the truth in this book mixed with sports and mystery.

Sincerely,
Nicklas

Random Updates & Thoughts

2011-06-03T09:26:00.008-04:00

1. A lot has happened. Remember that thunderstorm I posted about last week? Two days later, we had seven, yes SEVEN, tornado warnings. It was much worse than the previous storm - three times as many trees were down around my building and several fell on cars and homes throughout the city. Two tornadoes were confirmed and there were several injuries. The family and I spent most of the evening at a friends house, doing laundry while she was on vacation.

It text message and email warnings got to be comical, especially since the weather outside her house was still very nice. It was pretty late so we decided to go home to the apartment. I was driving and everything was fine until we were about a half mile away. As I was driving past the mall, all the lights flickered everywhere and then went off. The wind picked up and we could feel the car start shaking in the wind. The rain was pounding side ways and I couldn't see where I was driving. We crept slowly along with other cars, my hands gripped tightly to the steering wheel. Nicklas was freaking out in the back seat and I was calmly telling him that everything was just fine. Ha! Good thing he believed me. We finally made it home, falling into the apartment with our soaked clothes. I was still shaking. We had no electricity so we decided to have a sleepover downstairs in the living room. I figured if a tornado came, I could quickly get the boys into the bathroom. I HATE NOT HAVING A BASEMENT! We ended up being about a mile away from where one of the tornados hit. Storms don't usually make me nervous, bring it on, I say, but I FREAKED out with this one. It was too close to home. Here are some photos of the damage at the building I work in on campus.

2. We had a great time at the lake last weekend although another thunderstorm hit while we were there. Nine of us had taken the pontoon across the late to visit with my aunt and uncle who made us dinner. As we were eating outside, the sky was getting darker and darker. We covered the pontoon just as the thunderstorm hit. Everyone hung out inside and it passed quickly and without any damage, or so we though. When we returned to the other side of the lake (the Indiana side, we had been visiting the Michigan side) we discovered we had no power. The power stayed out for 18 hours. Luckily we didn't see any other damage, although Battle Creek, a city about an hour away, was hit with a devastating straight line winds.

3. The lack of electricity didn't damper weekend through. The Polack and I went wine tasting one day, we had some yummy food (Uncle John's ribs were awesome!), and we had multiple rides on the sea doo (another shoutout to Uncle John who very graciously lets us use the sea doo as much as we want.) Earlier this year, I talked my dad in to letting me help him clean up his sail boat with the hope of getting it in the water. It's an Inland Cat that he bought in 1984. It's been parked on a trailer behind the back garage for about 15 years. Inland Cats aren't the best sailboats - they tip over easily - but they are popular on Lake George, home of the Inland Cat Class Sailing Association. On Saturday, my dad brought over his power washer and the Polack and I took turns over the weekend cleaning first the underside, then the inside. After it was power washed, I went in a scooped out all the excess water that was filled with broken down styrofoam (which was falling out of the top of the boat from years of chipmunks making their home in the boat) and pine needles. It was a nasty job but the result was nice clean boat. On our last day at the lake, my dad came over again and while the boat was still in the back yard, we put it together. First the mast, then the boom, then the sail. We were left trying to figure out the mainsheet/job sheet (rope and pully). We finally went to the neighbor, Stan, and asked him. He had an Inland Cat at one time so we hoped he could help us. It took several suggestions and tries and we finally figured it out. The sailboat was all put together!

While talking wtih Stan, I found out that there were only about 300 and some Inland Cats and most were made in the 1950's. Each boat is numbered in order of creation. Our boat is 208. Stan had one that was number 7. My dad bought the boat from a work colleague in 1984. The friend lived on Clear Lake which is about 10 miles award from Lake George.

Here is a picture of my dad. Look out how long his hair is!

It's still set up in the back yard and we're hoping to put it in the lake when we're there on Sunday. I feel like putting it together was the easy part. Now I actually have to learn to sail it. I've asked my dad several times about what to do if it tips over. He has experience - he's tipped it a few times!

4. After several delays in the house, I contacted our contractor to ask if he's still confident we'll be able to move in by June 30. He didn't sound as sure but went over the timeline with me:

June 1 – drywall
June 2 – prime the walls
June 3-6 – fit the trim for walls
June 7 paint
June 8-10 – do hard flooring like wood, tile, etc.
June 13 – plumbing, heating and air
June 14 – cleaning
June 14-15 drywall touch up
June 16-17 – second coat of paint
June 20-21 – carpet
June 22 – trim guy will do door knobs and other stuff
June 23 – hang mirrors and shelving
June 24 – clean windows

There are several things not in here, like finishing the deck and putting in the sinks and toilets. And this timeline works for us IF everything goes like it's supposed to. BUT everything always seems to get pushed back a day or two and that throws the whole schedule off so we are't holding our breaths about the move in date. We are SO ready to be out of that apartment. But you knew that, didn't you?

5. The boys have three days of school next week and then they're on summer vacation. They are both looking forward to it. I let the school know that we'd be submitting a transfer request since our new house will be out of their current school district. Nicklas will still go to his current school but Seeger is technically supposed to go another school within the corporation. We'd like them to both be at the same school, especially since it's such a great school. Anyway, I received a voice mail from the Principal who let me know that they will not be approving a transfer for Seeger, just because we want Seeger at the same school that Nicklas goes to. I called her back and kindly left a message that there are multiple reasons why we are requesting a transfer and I was still planning on filling out the form.

Thankyouverymuch.

I have let the PTO community know that if the transfer isn't approved, I will be taking my volunteering hours to the school Seeger will be forced to go to. I'm supposed to chair three committees next year and they'd hate to see me decline so we'll see what happens - I'm playing hardball and I don't think I'll win but I'll try everything I can think to do.

6. I really love that both boys are having a good time in Tae Kwon Do. It's great for them too. They get exercise, the class times work well for us, and they're in the same class so we don't have to do too much driving around for them. Of course, when they move to the advanced class, they'll be going from 6-6:45 every day which is the worst time ever. When are we supposed to eat dinner?

7. Baseball isn't going as well this year. Both have lost most of their games. Nicklas is having an okay time but Seeger doesn't really like playing. He's a good hitter but he has no clue what to do when he's playing defense. The other day, he told us that he doesn't like playing baseball because he doesn't like getting yelled at all the time. Awwwww....

8. My cousin is getting married tomorrow and the Polack and I are looking forward to the wedding. It will be nice to see my mom's side of the family. It's adult only so the boys are going to spend the night with my dad. They've never done that before. They're looking forward to it. My mom and I made a beautiful quilt for my cousin. She requested a lot of white with a little bit of purple. I thought it would be boring but it turned out really, really well. She LOVED it. You can see a picture of it on my quilting blog.

9. My friend Christy suggested I read the Hunger Games. I ordered the trilogy off of half.com and I'm super excited about it. Sure it's young adult but I've heard really good things about it. Plus they're making it in to a movie so I always like watching movies adapted from books.

10. Speaking of, Something Borrowed is finally out in the theaters only it's getting really bad reviews. This makes me very sad because I really liked the book.

My brother will be happy

2011-06-02T18:56:00.001-04:00

I finally bought new tires for my car.

Life Lesson

2011-05-31T11:38:00.003-04:00

I received this email over the weekend. It's from the librarian at the boys school.

Hi Natalie -

I just wanted to thank you again for your help at our recent Book Fair. It's nice that you came back to use for another round!

We truly could not do this without the help of our volunteers.

This weekend, I'm at school putting together a big book order with so many wonderful and useful titles... the kids will love them! And all of it is purchased with Book Fair proceeds.

Your help truly made a difference!
BTW, your boys are awesome.

In gratitude,
-Mary

In my profession, demonstrating thanks and gratitude is essential for success. Of course that's the case in most areas of life but especially fundraising. I've sent thousands of thank you notes and cards and receiving this email is a nice reminder of the impact stewardship can have.

Inland Cat

2011-05-29T13:49:00.002-04:00

We're working on a sailboat.

Update... more information can be found at this post.

Thunderstorm

2011-05-24T09:40:00.005-04:00

Bloomington experienced a pretty hefty thunderstorm yesterday evening. Nicklas had a baseball game scheduled for 5:30 and when I checked the radar at 4:30, there was a large red blob moving toward the city. I met the family at the ball park at 5:15 where everyone was standing around, waiting for the Parks Dept. to call off the games. That never happened so by 5:20 people were packing up their families and heading home. The recent tornados in Joplin have made people extra cautious. One father commented to me that he was leaving and heading for his basement. I thought that was a good idea until I realized we live in an apartment and we don't have a basement. It's been a long time since I've lived somewhere without a basement!

The parking lot was crazy; everyone was trying to leave at the same time. Cars creeped along and then the storm hit. Winds of 80 mph. The Polack had Seeger and they were one of the first to leave parking lot. They were driving when the wind hit. Nicklas and I were still waiting in line to leave. We watched a few trees that were once upright suddenly bend over by 45 degrees. A few deer ran through the parking lot, between cars, obviously panicked about the weather. The wind was shaking my car and I was worred about the convertable in front of me, with it's soft roof. The teenage parks and rec staff where trying to get the ball park and batting cages closed up. After several minutes, the cars began creeping forward again. When we finally got to the exit, I realized we weren't able to turn right because trees had fallen on the road. A utility pole across from the exit of the ball field was snappled in half, the electrical wire flying around the road. As we slowly made our way through town, trees were down in several places. Most homes didn't have electricity. We drove past the mall, several restaurants and places of business. No electricity. None of the stoplights were working, including the one to turn on to our street. As I drove to the apartment, I could see that everything on the left side of the street was dark. Everything on the right side - including our apartment - was lit up. More than 12,000 homes were without electricity last night night. We never lost ours though.

Thankfully the storm passed quickly and no injuries have been reported. Several cars were totaled and my friend had a tree fall onto her son's playset and through a window to her new home. Trees also fell on several homes and apartmets. Luckily, most students have left campus for the summer so many places were vacant. There are a few trees down around the building I work in. I took some pictures to share.

I haven't heard anything about our construction. Hopefully the house is okay and no trees fell around the property.

Random Thoughts

2011-05-23T18:51:00.001-04:00

1. The summer before my senior year in high school, my mom let me host an exchange student for a few weeks. Her name was Elodie Dufour and she was from an area close to Lyon, France. We grew very close to each other those three weeks, going on double dates and singing Chickenman by the Indigo Girls at the top of our lungs and driving around Auburn in my beat up baby blue rusty Mustang. We bawled our eyes and clung to each, sobbing when it was time for her to go home. We lost contact with each other after about year. It’s too bad we didn’t have Facebook or Linked In back then.

2. Saturday evening, the family was debating what to do after dinner. It was between watching a movie, playing a board game, going on a walk, or doing a puzzle. We had a rock/paper/scissors tournament and ended up with walk. To make it interesting, we went out the house to walk on the land. Boy am I glad we did that because as we followed the small creek down through the woods, we came across a super awesome waterfall. It’s so cool! I definitely need to get some good pictures. As we came up to it, we could hear the water falling over the edge. We maneuvered over to the side of it and realized it dropped at least 30 feet. We weren’t able to see the bottom so we’ll have to go back and check it out sometime. The ravine to the bottom is very steep and heavily wooded so I don’t know if we’ll be able to go to the bottom.

3. All of this reminds me of when I was in high school and some guy friends of mine would play Army in my backyard that was wooded and had a creek through it. They would dress up in fatigues and stealthily move through the woods to see if they could find each other. I would sit on a stump and try to find one but never had much luck. They would later tell me they saw me.

4. I’m looking forward to going to the Lake this weekend but I know it’s going to be sad too. It will be our first visit since Grandma passed and unfortunately, many of my cousins won’t be there to distract me. I know we’ll have fun and it will be a nice time to just relax and chill. I just hope it isn’t too emotional.

5. Every other Monday, I volunteer to do paired reading with the kids in Seeger’s class. I went today it was especially cool because this week, Seeger’s class is leading the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Seeger was one of the kids who did it today so I got to watch him. He was very proud of himself.

6. I think it’s interesting that they do the Pledge every day in school. The Polack’s school does too. We did it every day in elementary school but by middle school, it was only once a week. I really don’t remember doing it in high school. I’m going to have to put a call out on Facebook to see if my memory is correct.

7. Someone in the office made popcorn a few hours ago. I can still smell it.

8. The Polack likes thin pillows to sleep on. I like thick pillows. This means we never fight over which pillows to use. The sheets on the other hand…

9. I really wanted Mucho Macho Man to win the Preakness. But not because of Macho Man Randy Savage but because that name for a horse is just so awesome.

10. This past Sunday was the Broad Ripple Art Fair. I’ve never gone but have wanted to for several years. I wasn’t planning to go this year but when I heard that Steve Cambronne was going to be there, I decided I was making the trip. I discovered Steve about two years ago and fell in love with his Atomic sculpting. He’s based out of Georgia and I’ve been wanting to order something from his website for a while. I even contacted him to get pricing, hoping we could purchase something for the new house. The opportunity to see him in person was too hard to pass up. So we packed a cooler for lunch and some movies for the kids and we drove to Indy for the fair. We definitely weren’t disappointed. We ended up buying two pieces, a welcome sign and a mirror. We shouldn’t have – money is REALLY tight right now – but he offered us a great deal. I told the Polack we’d be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of the month and he was okay with that so we made the purchase. We’re glad we did it before choosing paint colors because now we can match the colors in the pieces (which we both really, really like). Of course, we won’t be able to afford paint for a while but when we do, it will be awesome.

It's Madness I Tell Ya!

2011-05-19T19:10:00.001-04:00

Seeger's Yellow Belt

2011-05-16T08:43:00.004-04:00

Seeger has been in tae kwon do since January. He didn't really about belt advancement and the differences of each colored belt. In the beginning, he was just participating in class. But as he learned steps of the tae kwon do form, he quickly realized that he wanted to move up. He practiced and practiced his form and on Friday, he finally tested and earned his yellow belt.

After attending several of Seeger's classes, Nicklas decided he wanted to start tae kwon do too. His goal is to catch up to Seeger and to see how far he can go. He told me he knows 18 of the 20 movements of the yellow belt form. Once he's been in classes for two months, he'll be able to test too.

Best and Worst

2011-05-13T17:56:00.002-04:00

Seeger's worst - didn't do much for Friday Funday
Nick's worst - didn't get to stay at the book fair for very long
Mike's worst - only getting three half hours of sleep after watching
his team lose
Natalie's worst - hearing the kids fight over a stupid ball
Seeger's best - earning his yellow belt
Nick's best - it's Friday
Mike's best - wife brought his lunch, watching Seeger get his yellow
belt and seeing how proud he was and family fire pit tonight
Natalie's best - vacation day plus yellow belt = Jiffy Treet

A Sleeping Seeger

2011-05-12T09:18:00.001-04:00

Seeger has always been a heavy sleeper. He never wakes up at night and
he struggles to wake up in the morning. It doesn't matter how early he
goes to bed, he still doesn't get up on his own until at least 8:00.
This is how I found him this morning. I woke him up at 7:30 and had to
dress him to get him to wake up.

Best & Worst

2011-05-10T19:06:00.002-04:00

Mike's worst - having to stay for the bathroom meeting and finding out
that he'd have to spend part of his prep making sure kids don't write
on the bathroom walls
Nick's worst - even though it's not Monday, it's Tuesday which is the
second worst thing
Seeger's worst - having to do jobs
Natalie's worst - having to write ANOTHER check for the house
Mike's best - going on a walk with his wife and showing up at TKD just
in time to see both boys practice their form
Nick's best - getting a new book at the book fair
Seeger's best - got a little extra long recess today
Natalie's best - volunteering at the book fair and getting to see both
boys

Thoughts

2011-05-06T09:58:00.003-04:00

1. Usually my lack of blogging means I'm too busy or too lazy. But my recent lack of blogging is due to not having a lot of material. Our family has been pretty boring lately. (But this a good thing.)

2. Yesterday at work we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. It was mucho funno. That's all I'll say about that.

3. It has rained way more days than not in the past month. I was about ready to build my ark for fear of floating away. The last two days have been super nice but the rain will be starting again soon.

4. I hope all this rain now means the summer will be awesome. I can't wait to spend some weekends at the Lake!

5. Tomorrow is campus commencement and once again, I have to read names at our School's luncheon. Bleh.

6. Things on my bucket list: attending the Kentucky Oaks (I'm way too cool for the Derby); a trip to Ireland; uhhhh... that's all I got for now.

7. Meg Ryan has been spotted in Bloomington. Ugh. I wish she was the cute girl from French Kiss and not the scary plastic surgery husband stealer.

8. French Kiss is my second favorite movie of all time and I don't know anyone else who likes it.

9. Just heard from our contractor and it looks like we'll be able to make the change we wanted to our stairwell. Of course, there's a $350 change charge (on top of the other charges included in the project). But at least we'll get the feature instead of always wishing to have it. I say this after paying $1300 to add lighting (and I still have to pay for the fixtures which I estimate to be at least $750) and $1250 for new appliances.

10. The house is still on track to be finished by June 30. Can't wait!

I really really feel like this is one of the most boring RTT's ever. What's up with that?

Frandom Frought Friday

2011-04-29T15:37:00.003-04:00

1. Have you ever seen the Disney commercial where the parent is video taping the other parent telling the kids that they're leaving for Disney World RIGHT NOW and the kids are jumping up and down all excited? Those always make me tear up and think, damn, I wanna surprise my kids with a trip to Disney. I always think it but never say it and then the other day, the commercial came on Hulu and the Polack was all like, That'd be awesome to do sometime.

2. Seeger was not happy the other day when I brought my grapefruit to the table for breakfast. He doesn't like the smell of anything citrus. He held his nose for a while and then announced, "Well at least I know what the saw spoon is for."

3. I'm pretty bummed about the Cowboys losing in the Amazing Race. I'm rooting for Zev and Justin now.

4. My mother in law's lease is up on her car and I'd really like to buy it from her because the price is pretty good and it's been well cared for but I don't have a need for a new car and I sure don't want a car payment. But the Polack's car is 10 years old and I just have this feeling that it isn't going to last very much longer. I hope I'm wrong.

5. Speaking of cars, my male family members have been commenting on the fact that I need new tires for my car. I know I do but I'm not ready to shell out the money.

6. I miss the Swing movement a la Swingers. What fun music and the Polack and I love to dance like that. We only know three different spins but we still have fun dancing.

7. It is GORGEOUS outside today. After a week of steady rain, it's definitely needed. The boys have only had 2 baseball practices in the last 4 weeks.

8. We signed Nicklas up for Tae Kwon Do and I told the Polack to go ahead and pay for 6 weeks worth but he paid for 6 months worth. I don't know if I told him wrong or he didn't hear correctly but I sure do hope that Nicklas likes it.

9. I really wasn't that impressed with Kate's dress. I think I would have liked it without the lace sleeves but overall it was pretty blah. I LOVED the hats thought, especially the ones worn by Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

10. When I saw a photo of the royal couple driving away in Astin-Martin convertible, I was like, Wow, Kate is driving? That's weird.

It took me about a while to realize that in England, the driver is on the right side of the car.

The Lorax

2011-04-27T14:07:00.008-04:00

Last week, the fourth graders put on a production of The Lorax. With three classes at the school, everyone took turns with different parts. Nicklas was one of three Lorax's. We all told him he was the best one because he was loud and you could hear what he was saying.

It was a great performance! The set was really cool and we were impressed with the band, also made up of fourth graders. Please enjoy these photos of Nicklas.

Here he is in the yellow, with the rest of his class.

Treats for Seeger

2011-04-25T12:15:00.005-04:00

As Mystery Reader for Seeger's birthday, I read the class The Lorax. They had just watched the fourth grade production so I thought it would be a nice tie in to the theme. I also brought in treats to match the colors of the truffela trees (and comply with the no junk food rule).

After snack, I brought Seeger to work with me until the Polack could pick him up. He shared his leftover treats and my co-workers wishes him a happy birthday.

I will post pictures from The Lorax play soon. Nicklas was awesome!