It Runs!

Well, we made it safely home from Milkwaukee. The trip was really great; there were really only a few times I feared for my life. :-0 We took I35 from K.C. up to Des Moines and then got on I80. We drove through torrential downpours from about 15 miles inside Iowa until we reached the Minnesota border! No kidding! It was at least 5 straight hours of rain so hard that we could barely see the lights on the car in front of us. Praise be to God that Michael is such a good driver! I would have had to pull over many times, but he just kept on trekking! At one point in time we were listening to the local radio and heard that there was a tornado just 8 miles south of where we were driving, and if we would have stopped when I wanted to pull over, we would have been right in the middle of it! On Saturday morning we heard on the local news channel in our hotel room that there some of the places we drove through had recorded SEVEN INCHES of rain during the rain storm! We picked up the boat on Saturday morning, and took it straight to Pewaukee Lake to see if if it ran the way the dealership said it did. Michael took it out first, while we waited for him at the boat launch. It took him about 30 minutes to get it going (something was going on with the motor), but once he did, boy wasn't it great! He brought it back to the dock, and Pierce and I got in to go for a spin! It was awesome! We had a boat! We went to the Milkwaukee County Zoo after that, which was great! Michael then made a last minute decision to drive all the way home that evening. We drove from 6:00 on Saturday night until 6:00 Sunday morning (with a few stops here and there). There's so much more to tell, but right now my eyes are closing on their own, so I'm going to have to do a little sleeping. Here's to Road Trips!

Spontaneity

My husband is the most spontaneous person I know. If I had a dollar for every "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" thing he did, I would be rich! Well, probably not...for every dollar I got he'd go buy something else spontaneously! But it isn't only spending money, it's everything from eating out, to camping trips, to big road trips! Today is a prime example! I left my last day of summer school at 1:30 this afternoon and called Michael as I was pulling out of the parking lot to see if he had eaten lunch yet. He proceeds to say those legendary words, "Honey, I did something today. It's kind of good, but it's kind of bad." That's when you automatically know that he's bought something. Sometimes it's tools, sometimes something for the yard or house, but not today... today he bought a boat! NO JOKE! And not just any boat, a boat in MILWAUKEE! That's at least nine hours from here! Now, we've made plenty of big eBay purchases as The Branson Bean, but I must say that this is the LARGEST purchase so far (as far as size is concerned). It's not a new boat, but it's a working boat, which is more than we have now. And he did get a really good deal on it, seeing how we paid less than a third of the bank loan value on the boat. It's a cute boat, a Bayliner. It's a little worn, but a little TLC sure will help! So, summer vacation has officially begun. We'll be off tomorrow morning for Milwaukee to pick up our new boat! We'll probably take a pit stop at the zoo with the kids. We hear it's a 'gotta see' adventure! Then come Monday, you'll find me out on the lake! WOO HOO! Maybe I WILL actually get a tan this summer!

P.S. My parents are riding with us, so pray for our sanity!

Terrible Two's

I'm just not sure what it is about the age of two, but God truly was showing that he had a sense of humor when he decided that all two year-olds should act the way they do. I have felt that I was being tested many different times in my life: college, the first year of marriage, Zoey's life. But I really think that Kenzi is the most challenging test of my life! She is more adorable than I could have ever prayed my daughter would be, and way smarter than I think she should be, but more so than any of those things, she has more attitude than fifteen twelve year-old girls put together! She already knows how to roll her eyes, cry on cue, say 'no', squeal like a pig, throw herself in the floor, glare, and tell you off! But she also sings the cutest darned songs! Like she doesn't know the difference between the ABC Song, Jingle Bells, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So you'll hear her walking around the house singing, "Now I know my ABC's jingle all the way how I wonder what you are!" Most people would think it was just really corny, but of course the one who carried her for nine months thinks it's absolutely precious! She actually got along with her brother all night long tonight (knock on wood, they aren't quite in bed yet)! They played with their hoppy balls, chasing each other around the house on them. But by the time she had eaten all of her dinner tonight she was tired of being nice. She spilled a cup of red kool-aid on our carpet, got in trouble by Daddy, and then cried the whole way to get Cold Stone! And when you tried to cheer her up by saying, "Little girls who act nice might get some ice cream," she would just scream, "NNNNOOO!!" Oh man.... If I make it sanely through the next eight months until the big THREE, then I can handle anything!

crazy cat chapter one

New animals always provide for experiences that are unforgettable. As a child, I never lived in a home without at least one animal. In most cases, there were more than one! I didn't live without an animal from the minute I came home from the hospital until the day I left for college. Michael and I have been a little more leary about animals. We've tried a few dogs in our five years, but they never seem to work out. We just aren't too into dog poop.... and it seems that we aren't really too into potty training puppies either. And those who don't like poop and aren't very good potty trainers usually don't have a chance when it comes to dogs. So this time we're trying a cat. She came to us already litter box trained, a true blessing! I don't think I've ever trained anything in my whole life: husband, kids, students... it's a problem I'm working on fixing. Anyway, her name is Mocha, the cat that is. She looks just like a mocha: dark espresso, with milky swirls and the perfect amount of chocolate! We're at the point right now where we're just trying to figure out if she's just being a kitten or if she's psychotic! The cat can jump straight up in the air at least 3 feet! Is that normal? She arches her back like the black cats you see in Halloween cartoons, but I didn't think real cats could ever really arch that high! And when she pounces, she literally grabs ahold of your body like she's hugging you. And let me tell you my leg has been hugged one too many times by that silly cat! Kenzi... now she just treats her like her newest baby doll! She carries Mocha around by whatever body part is easiest to grab: neck, hind legs, you name it! I'm surprised Mocha hasn't puked all over Kenzi! But she doesn't just sit there and take it yet. That's the difference between Mocha and my prize cat from childhood. Gizmo would take just about anything! Mocha fights back though! Kenzi's knees, ankles, calves, elbows, forearms, and hands are so scratched up she looks like she got in a fight with a weed-eater! Poor girl! At night Mocha sleeps with us, which actually means shares a bed with us at night. I think she spends about two hours sleeping and about 5 hours pouncing! It's like she sees our legs through the blankets and automatically thinks it's feeding time! Unfortunately, that's where I'm headed now, but I'm going to get an extra blanket for protection tonight! Wish me luck!

The Beginning of the End

I'm just not sure that I'm making the right choice by creating this blog. You see, I fear that I try to spread myself too thinly many times. My husband is the cause of that really. He's the world's worst over-booker, and his bad habits transfer into my life all too often! Spending time on the computer is a real temptation of mine, even when I know that I have many more important things to take care of. So in a way, I feel almost like I'm sinning by creating a personal blog. Taking time out of my day to write about my life, when I'm not sure that anyone cares? Now although I would like to think that I have a very exciting life, or maybe that someone would learn something or become a better person by reading my daily trials and successes, I know that I really have so much more that I am avoiding when I am sitting in front of this box of technology. My children probably need me right now for some reason: either the ones at my home or the ones in my class. My husband, I'm sure, would greatly benefit from my help at this moment. My home! Oh how badly my home needs my attention right now. But perhaps there is a purpose in my failure to overcome temptation. Perhaps one of you WILL learn from my writing. Perhaps.