Merry Christmas!

Chelsea, Eline, and I are enjoying a very white Christmas in N. Idaho! We have had a great visit with all our family. Eline has fit right in with the rest of our family. She and my dad have enjoyed sharing their jar of pickled herring. (YUK!!!) We all gathered here at Mom and Dad's house on Christmas eve, as we do every year. We had a great meal and then opened presents. Everyone was very spoiled by my parents, and we all had a wonderful time. We went to my sister's church for the candlelight service which was beautiful as usual. Later everyone went to their own homes, and Chelsea, Eline and I went back to Mom and Dad's. The girls watched National Treasure and the rest of us went to bed.

On Christmas morning the living room was filled once again with presents. These were mostly my presents to the girls and to my parents. Mike arrived around 9:30 and we had to wake the girls up in order to open presents. For all of those anxiously awaiting: Mike gave me beautiful diamonds for Christmas, a necklace and earrings. I was thrilled and relieved, because I am not ready for anything else right now. He got along well with all of my family, but had to head back to Montana today because we got about 8 inches of snow last night with more coming. Chelsea was thrilled with her presents also. She got a laptop, which wasn't a surprise since she paid for half of it, plus many other gifts. Eline was thrilled because I spent the same on her as I did on Chelsea, with the exception of the laptop. That was fair because she got about the same amount in $$ from her father for Christmas. I really don't think Eline expected anything so it was fun to see her face when she saw the pile of gifts for her.

The girls are now at the movies with all my teenage neices. They went to see National Treasure 2 and then they are going to the Resort for "gooies" which are some sort of huge ice cream dessert.

I am just chilling and enjoying the quiet.

Mom is doing much better, but is dreading her second surgery on Jan. 10th. I wish I could be here to help out, but unfortunately the girls and I all need to return to school.

Eline goes back to Utah tomorrow to spend some time with her best friend, and Chelsea and I will return on Sunday.

We hope all of you had as wonderful a Christmas as we have had. You can't ask for anything better than spending the holidays with family and those you love.

Crazy!

Life has been crazy busy around here! Finals took up much of my energy but they are over. I got sick with a cold last weekend and am just now starting to feel better. I think I'm done with all my shopping and am pretty much packed for our trip tomorrow.

My mom ended up back in the hospital for a day and a half because she still couldn't keep any food down. She's back home now and doing better. Scared me though when my dad called to tell me. He rarely calls so I instantly got scared when I heard his voice. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and all is well now. I'll be home tomorrow afternoon so I can help dad take care of her. I told the girls that our job isn't to relax and be lazy, but to do all the cooking, cleaning and waiting on Grandma. They both agreed that that is what we need to be doing.

Mike and I are going to a party tonight so I'll take some time to relax. I baked and delivered goodies to my neighbors, volunteered at the local domestic violence shelter, made a few gifts, cleaned the house, ran the girls around, shoveled snow and now I think its time to chill for a few hours.

I'm sure I forgot something but that's okay. I'll probably take a little time at Mom's to blog about how Mike's visit with my family goes. He's pretty nervous, although I've told him my family is very laid back and easy-going. I think he's more nervous about my dad, who has informed me he has some questions for Mike. :) We are flying home this year, because after totaling my Highlander on last year's trip home, I've been forbidden to drive home in the winter. Wonder why? That's okay, besides the expense, I actually prefer driving. But I bought the tickets in July so they've been paid for for a long time, so all is good.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Well the weather outside is frightful....

Unfortunately I don't have a fireplace to make it delightful, but I do have a nice furnace which is keeping my house warm while it continues to snow. I woke up to about 2.5 inches of snow and there is now about 3 inches on the ground and it is steadily snowing. We definitely need this moisture so I'm not complaining.

My mom had surgery on her cervical spine a few days ago and thankfully it seems to have turned out well, although she is still having issues with nausea caused by the pain medication. She and I share that problem, which pretty much means we don't take prescription pain medication unless we are really in a lot of pain. We both have real tolerance for pain so this only comes into play when we have surgery, and unfortunately that is all too often for both of us.

I was talking to my dad while Mom was in surgery and he asked me how things were going with Mike. I told him everything was going well, and for the first time in my life Dad gave me relationship advice. He and Mom have been married for almost 50 years (Aug. 2 will be 50!) so I think he knows what he's talking about. He asked me if I loved Mike, I said yes, then he said then you need to make it work, because you can overcome anything if you really love the other person. He said not to expect anyone to be perfect, and sometimes its just easier to keep your mouth shut when you are angry and just go out into the garage for a few hours (at least that's what he does) and usually things can be worked out when you are calm. He also said that he and Mom had had their tough times but their love had pulled them through. Now my dad isn't one to go around talking about love, but he even got a little choked up when he was talking about how much he loves my mom. The fact that she was in surgery at the time probably is what brought that on but it was obviously heartfelt. That conversation means a lot to me and one I'll always remember, especially when things aren't going perfectly with Mike, as I'm sure sometimes they won't.

Okay, now a little funny: The other day I told Eline that I was going to the store and if she wanted anything to text me. So I'm shopping and I get a text from her and it says "I need chopsticks and maybe some cookies for after school." I'm wondering about the chopsticks, but she is in an art class and a pottery class (she has 30 more credits than she needs to graduate so she gets to take mostly electives) so I thought she might need chopsticks for that. As for the cookies, that girl can put down some Oreos! I have never seen anyone who could eat a whole pack in a day and not gain an ounce! That is one thing I will be mailing to her when she goes back to the Netherlands in June! So, I get home and give her the cookies and the chopsticks and ask what she needed the chopsticks for. She looks at them with a blank look on her face, the I see the "clue light" coming on and she starts laughing. She meant Chapstick! But when she says it she does pronounce it like chopstick and the text program on her phone automatically put an "s" on the end. :) So now we have a pack of chopsticks for the next time I get Chinese food, and Eline still needs Chapstick.




The other day we started decorating for Christmas. As you can see Chelsea the Clown is responsible for putting the beaded garland on the tree. That is one silly girl!












Eline was surprised to see that we had an ornament from The Netherlands, from out trip to Europe in 2000. I let her put that on the tree. I am giving her an ornament from Utah to take home with her, for her tree.










We celebrated St. Nicholas Day the other day. Since we don't have a fireplace the girls put their shoes in front of the tree. They put carrots in them for St. Nicholas' horse. Unfortunately Scruffy (our cute, veggie loving dog) ate the carrots so the horse went hungry.







St. Nicholas did manage to find our house and left the girls some small gifts and some treats.










On Thursday the girls made a Gingerbread house. It was Eline's first time doing this. I think they both had lots of fun.












Here's the final product. Looks great don't you think? As you can see we are all doing well and are getting along great. Life is so good!

End of the semester

I hate this time of the school year! I just finished a research project which ended up being almost 30 pages. YUCK! But at least its done! Now to finish several other projects/papers I need to get done! By Friday they will all be turned in and I will have two finals to take next week, then it's vacation time for me!

This week has been good. Things seem to have calmed down a lot with Eline. We are all getting along really well. The girls went snowboarding today and it was much better than last time, since we got some new snow the past few days.

Mike and I are dating again, for those who don't know. A few weeks ago he took me to dinner, apologized, explained himself, declared his undying love for me and begged forgiveness. My mom says everyone deserves a second chance so I gave him one, with the understanding that there are no 3rd chances with me. It is so nice to be in love again. Of course, I never fell out of love with him, just accepted that he was gone forever, so I thought.

He is treating me like a queen and I really could probably ask him for anything right now, but I'm not taking advantage. I am enjoying the attention and his declarations of love. So we'll see how it goes and I'll keep you updated. So far so good, but it's only been two weeks, so we'll have to take it a day at a time.

Lots to be thankful for

Okay, don't worry, I'm not going to post a list of everything I'm thankful for. I usually feel like I am the most blessed person I know and it is probably true.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Dale, Candy and their kids. I don't think Eline really liked most of the food, especially the stuffing and the green bean cassarole, but lots of American kids don't like them either!

There was no snow so the kids didn't get to go snowboarding as planned. They played the new updated version of the Game of Life and played soccer on the X-Box. It was a nice, quiet day.

On Friday I had to work at Old Navy, which was my first exposure to Black Friday shopping. It was crazy! People actually stood in line, in the cold, for up to 4 hours to get a cheap little mp3 player loaded with Old Navy music! It might have been worth $20 at most! We did have some good deals on clothes, though. When I got off I even took advantage and did a lot of Christmas shopping. With the deals and my discount I did pretty well.

We had a house load of girls over on Friday, and that went well. I think we'll do that once a month. But I need some ideas for games or activities the girls can do because movies get boring after awhile. So post a comment if you have any suggestions.

Eline is doing well, except she just found out that the Exchange program is probably not going to allow her father to come here to visit in February. This has nothing to do with the recent issues, because her father has known this for about a month and didn't tell her. They told him they think she'll want to go home with him if he comes. I don't know if that's true or not, but in reality he doesn't need their permission to come to the US, so we'll see if he comes anyway.

It is the last two weeks of the semester so I have tons of papers to write and finals to prep for so I'd better get off the computer and head to school. Mary

Good Day

Today was a good day! Eline's parents and AYUSA have completely supported me so I think things are looking up in that area. She will be getting a warning letter from AYUSA so she will know just what she needs to do to be able to stay here.

I am accepting some responsibility (not all, by a long shot) and we have both agreed to work harder to make this situation work. On Friday I am having "Girls night" at my house. Both Eline and Chelsea can invite 3 girl friends to come over and watch "Chick Flicks". We will have pizza, sodas, snacks and movies.

I am also going to work to get to know Eline's best friend better, so Becca will be eating dinner with us at least once a week.

Eline is currently grounded for missing her curfew, but I will make an exception for "Girls night".

I did tell her, however, that if she misses her curfew again she will have no TV, computer, telephone (except with her parents) and I will notify AYUSA who will probably put her on probation, which is one step away from sending her home. AYUSA did say that sending Eline to another family is not an option at this point. They reviewed my rules and chores and have determined that Eline will not have an easier time with another family.

So, I am hoping things will get better after this. If it doesn't I know that I've done everything I can to make it work. Mary

I'm about fed up!

With Eline! She complained to the exchange program rep that I am too hard on her when it comes to chores. She told me a few days ago that she had cleaned the downstairs bathroom which she shares with Chelsea. I went in to do some laundry (it's also a laundry room) and saw there was still toothpaste in the sink and a big wad of hair on the floor. I told her she had to go back in and take care of those two things, and she got really upset and told Chelsea I expect too much from them.

As for her chores, she and Chelsea rotate chores, which are really pretty easy. One week Chelsea cleans the bathroom downstairs and dusts and vacuums the family room. The next week she takes out the trash, and on trash day takes the can to the street (its on wheels so it's easy to move), and dusts and vacuums the living room. They alternate these chores each week. I think you can see that each girl really spends only about 20-30 minutes each week on chores.

I had told Eline and Chelsea I arranged for tickets to The Nutcracker Ballet so Eline could see it. So the other day she comes home and telles me she went to the ballet with a friend so won't be going with us. She spent the weekend in SLC with her friend, and came home last night and said she wanted to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving with her friend, even though I had told her we had made arrangements to have Thanksgiving dinner with another family. Heck, I practically invited us over so Eline could see a big Thanksgiving dinner, and now she wants to ditch us. Well, honestly, at this point I don't care. Unfortunately for her AYUSA requires 10 days notice and a written request for exchange students to travel with someone other than their host family, so she's probably stuck with us.

I did a survey from AYUSA last week which asked: Does your student regularly shown their gratitued for being hosted by your family? I had to honestly say that besides the first day when she thanked us for having her she has not thanked either of us in any way. I finally decided it was because she probably feels shortchanged. All the other AYUSA host families in our area are wealthy. And I don't just mean they have a bigger house (which isn't too difficult). All of them (5) are very wealthy families and two of the students live in houses with housekeepers, and have no chores at all. Two of the families are taking big trips (one to Disneyland and one to Hawaii) and paying all their student's expenses.

Eline wants to be part of the flag team at school and asked me to pay the $250 fee. I told her she needed to ask her parents and her mother actually told her to ask me for the money. This is not what I signed up for. The program requirements are for me to provide food, shelter, an American family experience (I am supposed to treat her like a member of the family and not as a guest) and to reasonably accomodate for school activities (like driving her to practices, etc.) In return I receive no money. The only thing host families get is the experience of having someone from another country in their home and giving them the opportunity to experience American High School.

Eline makes it difficult to fulfill my commitment to make her part of the family. She is gone much of the time and if I tell her she needs to stay home complains to the program rep or she stays in her room, or goes to a different room to use the computer or watch TV. Even if Chelsea and I are watching the same program on TV that she is, she still prefers to be in a different room.

I guess it's time for ME to call the AYUSA rep and maybe consider a new placement for Eline. This is putting a lot of stress on me that I don't need and I don't think Chelsea and I are getting anything good out of this. Okay I'm done for today.

Lots happening here!

I couldn't believe that its been since Oct. 23rd that I blogged last! I really am a slacker!

On the 27th Chelsea and I went to see the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert in SLC. It was a sold out concert, but we were lucky enough to get floor seating which put us about 20 feet from the front of the stage catwalk. We saw everything really well and Chelsea had a great time. Because they taped a segment of the Hannah Montana show the night before, the whole cast was at our concert and they were about 10 feet from us. Miley's sisters were with sound booth guys so they were only about 2 feet from us. So I guess it was worth the $56 per ticket it cost. There were people in our section who paid $800 a ticket! Now I love my daughter, but I would never pay that much for a concert, for her or anyone else!

My mom and dad came to visit the same day and we had a great time visiting. Dad put up a rack for Chelsea's snowboard for her and mom cooked dinner most nights, including her world famous meatloaf! I didn't get much homework done while they were here but that's okay, I just have to work a little bit harder. :)

On Halloween Chelsea and her friends went trick or treating. I told her this was the last year, she is definitely too old for this. Eline went also with one of her friends. Lots of people told her she was too old, but when she explained that she was from the Netherlands and this was her only opportunity to trick or treat they gave her loads of candy!

I went for an ultrasound on the 22nd, I think and they didn't find the spots on my liver, so I am having a colonoscopy tomorrow to see if they can determine the cause of my abdominal pain. What fun!

School is going well. It's getting close to the end of the semester so I have lots of papers and projects coming up. I hope I can get some of it done tomorrow after my procedure. Hope I'm not too drugged up! :)

Work is good. I just got trained to be a cashier at Old Navy. It's amazing how these new computers/cash registers work now. There is very little for the cashier to do, as long as you push the right button! I think I actually prefer working the floor, folding, straightening and helping customers. At least you get to move around. Standing in the same spot for hours really hurts my back. But it's a job and it's paying for Chelsea's trip to Disneyland, so that's okay. I really like the managers and the other employees, so it is a fun place to work.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to be a better blogger in the future! Mary

I'm a Blog Slacker

I just noticed it's been about two weeks since I have written anything on this blog. I am in a hurry to get off to school so I won't be able to update right now, but for you faithful readers here is another blog for you to read. If you aren't laughing so hard you are crying, in about 30 seconds after starting to read this entry I think you might be dead. Just a parental warning: The "A" word is used several times and the "F" word is used once, so I guess I'd give this a PG-13 rating, although any respectable 3rd grader has heard worse! Enjoy and let me know if you thought this blog was funny. To get to the blog I'm talking about, just click on the title above: "I'm a Blog Slacker". There's a link to the other blog there. Mary

Great Weekend

My weekend started off with Wine Tasting which was fun. It was nice to visit with friends from church and enjoy small tastes of many different types of wine. The hostess liked my Merlot so much I think she actually drank about 3/4 of the bottle! Good thing she wasn't driving! :)

On Saturday we went to a party for foreign exchange students. We had lots of fun and Eline met a few new friends, a girl and a guy from Germany and another girl from the Ukraine (who is originally from Russia). We had a chance to taste food from all the countries represented and Eline and I made Speculaas, which are Dutch Spice Cookies, which are traditionally made for Dec. 6th (St. Nicholas Day). Later we went to a Social Work Club social, which was held at one of the member's barn. It was snowing and cold, so we enjoyed some chili (Eline's first opportunity to taste chili, which she really liked), and headed home. We rented a couple of movies, put on our pajamas and the three of us just chilled and watched a movie, before turning in for the night.

The other exciting thing happened was that Chelsea had to bring home a baby doll on Thursday that actually cries and that you actually have to feed and change diapers. It was fun until Saturday night when Chelsea came to my room crying because the baby kept waking up. That baby woke up every 45-60 minutes that night to eat. Now, I'm no expert but I haven't met a baby that could eat that much! Then on Sunday night the baby couldn't be soothed, no matter what she did. Chelsea came crying again around 2:30 in the morning, but I sent her away because there was nothing I could do. On Saturday night I did feed the baby four times, but I wasn't about to sit up all night Sunday rocking a doll, especially since it was her project, not mine. Needless to say, both of us where happy to see Sheldon (Chelsea's name choice for the doll) go back to school! Chelsea told me yesterday that she gets the goal of the project and she definitely doesn't want to have kids. I just told her to hold that thought for about 10 more years!

Last night we went to Chili's for dinner to celebrate Chelsea's 15th birthday which is actually today. Unfortunately Chili's is about the only chain restaurant that doesn't sing and make fools of people. They just give you a free dessert. So that's a heads up for those of you who want to go out for your b-day but don't want to be embarrassed!

Around 8:30 we went to "flock" my friend Michelle's house. It is her birthday this week, and she has been cancer free for a year, so pink was our theme. We went with another friend, Teri, and put flamingos and pink balloons in her yard, and then we used pink streamers to "TP" her trees. Chelsea rang the doorbell and then we all took off running. Later we realized that was pretty silly because we left a sign near her front door which had our names on it! I did discover, however, that Chelsea is very knowledgeable about how to "TP" trees. Hmm, I might need to ask her where she learned that skill! :) By the way, Michelle, if you are reading this, the whole thing was Teri's idea!!!

Thanks for the well wishes for my health issues. I went to have my ultrasound today, and after two techs tried to find the spots on my liver they finally gave up. I was happy to think that maybe they'd just disappeared until they told me that sometimes things don't show up on ultrasound that do show up on CT scans. This probably means I'll have to have another CT scan, which sucks because I hate that barium liquid I have to drink. It makes me sick just to think about it. I'll call the Dr. on Thursday to get the results of my ultrasound (which I already know) and see where we go from there.

Tonight is Chelsea's Soccer Banquet for High School soccer so that should be fun. She just started indoor soccer again, which is nice to watch in the winter because there is no rain or snow (like there was this past Saturday for her outdoor game!). Unfortunately her games are Monday afternoons and I work so won't be able to attend any of them. Oh well, she doesn't seem to care, she just wants to play!

Well, I need to head off to class. Bye for now! Mary

Starbucks!

They opened a new Starbucks across from my school, so since I was going in early today I thought I'd stop by. Well I went through the drive thru and ordered my coffee. There were two vehicles ahead of me. Finally, after 10 minutes, I got up to the window. The girl at the window said "I'm sorry for the short wait." As she handed me my coffee I told her the wait was actually 10 minutes. She then yelled at me and said "I'm the only one working the drive thru today!" She then proceeded to slam the window closed. Hmm. Someone's having a bad day! Needless to say, I'll be saving myself some money by not bothering to go back there! This is only the second time I've had poor service from a Starbucks. The previous time worked out well for me though so I wasn't upset. About two years ago Chelsea and I were heading to visit family and we always stop at the Starbucks in Missoula, MT. It took about 5 minutes to get our order, and the girl in the window offered us pastries, as well as certificates for free drinks on our next visit. Now that is customer service!

Medical Stuff

Saturday was an interesting day. I went to Eline's soccer game and she tripped and then was kicked in the head. When she finally got up, with help from the coach and another player she was obviously dizzy and out of it. Needless to say I needed to rush her to the emergency room. After a CT scan the Dr. determined she didn't have a concussion which was great, but I think Eline was a little disappointed because telling your friends you have a concussion is more exciting than just telling them you have a bump on your head and the doctor just gave you Tylenol for the pain! :)

Well, today I finally had a follow-up with my gastroenterologist. This was to check up on the spot on my liver and also to look at the pain I've been having in my side for over a year. I thought the pain would be taken care of by the surgery I had in August to remove scar tissue. Although plenty of scar tissue was removed I still have the pain. So, I go to see the Dr. today and he tells me that I have not just one, but two spots on my liver. The one on the left is about 2 inches in diameter and the one on the right is about 1 inch in diameter. I am going Friday for an ultrasound to see if they've changed since the last CT in June. As for the pain, if the liver isn't the cause then I will have to have a colonoscopy. I really have no idea what the plan is for my liver. The good news was that my blood pressure was lower even than normal and my resting heart rate was 52. So at least my circulatory system is working well!

Oh well, guess we'll see sometime next week what they are going to do. As long as I don't miss any school I'm okay with whatever needs to be done.

Good Day

Today I found out I got an "A" on two tests. Yay for me! And then I came home and both my girls had cleaned their rooms (which I asked them to do) and Chelsea had cleaned the girls' bathroom and Eline had dusted and vacuumed the living room (which I didn't ask them to do). What a nice surprise to end a very long day! So I have a very tough test tomorrow and need to get busy studying, after Boston Legal, of course!

Teenagers!

AARRGGHH! So Eline's curfew is 9:30 on school nights. She was late about a month ago and I had a talk with her. She was late again last night. She called at 9:35 to tell me she was going to be late, although by then I'd already figured that out. She got home around 9:50. She does depend on rides from friends but I've told her several times to call me if she needs a ride, but she needs to call by 9:15 if she is going to be late. Basically it takes around 15 minutes to get here from her most of her friend's houses so by 9:15, if she isn't already on her way home, she is going to be late.

So this morning I explained again what I expected and then told her that her curfew is now 9:00. I'll still go and pick her up if she can't find a ride, or if I know I won't be able to pick her up she'll just have to stay home. Needless to say she thinks I'm being unfair and went to her room crying. My biggest problem is that if I let her get away with coming in at 9:50, how long will it be before she starts coming in at 10:00 or later? Plus I have another teenager in the house who is watching all of this very closely.

I also announced that the girls would have to start doing their own laundry because I just don't have time to do it. Yes, I know, they probably should be doing it themselves anyway, but laundry is one chore, along with dishes, that I don't mind doing. In fact, I actually prefer them over any other type of household chore. I just don't have enough time to do the laundry for both of them, especially Chelsea, who sees to go through clothes like crazy! So needless to say, that didn't make either one of them happy. I suggested that they take turns, one do both girls clothes one week, and the other do it the next week, and that didn't go over too well either. Oh well, it's up to them to work out.

So enough of being the mean, evil mom today. Now I need to get a paper finished.

Sunday again

Looks like my weeks fly by! Well, soccer is finally over, at least for high school. Chelsea is in the process of making some hard choices about soccer which will affect her future. One of her HS coaches plans on starting a competition team and many of the girls on her HS team will be playing, and Chelsea's been invited to play also. She is already on an AYSO All-Star team (basically a comp team that plays by AYSO rules). Since this team follows many rules that regular competition teams don't the level of play is a little below that of comp teams. However, her AYSO team has been selected to play in the National Games in Hawaii in July 2008. Although she wants to do both, I don't have the time or money to pay for it all, so I've told her she needs to choose. Personally I'd like to see her stay with her All-Star team because she's played with them for 2 years, the coaches are great, the parents of the girls are great, and I love the AYSO philosophy which emphasizes fair play, positive coaching, letting everyone play equally, etc. Of course, the philosophy of a comp team is to win, win, win.

If I wanted Chelsea to get a soccer scholarship the choice would be easy because recruiters attend competition tournaments regularly. Personally I'd rather her not play on a college team. I know some college athletes and sports really takes a lot of their time and affects their academics. Plus, other than the Olympics, there is really nowhere to go with women's soccer after college, so concentrating on academics is more important. She can always play on a recreation league if she really wants to.

But, I am letting her choose and then she has to live with her decision. There will be no turning back once the choice is made.

Now for Eline's news. She has had her cell phone taken away for the second time. If it happens again she will be suspended from school and will most likely not be allowed to return. Since she is a foreign exchange student the school doesn't get any money for her, so they have no reason to deal with discipline issues with her. I told her I'd prefer she leave her cell phone at home, but she has decided to to leave it in her locker. I told her she could make that decision, but we talked long and hard about the consequences of getting in trouble again. I am also going to let her parents know. She takes it out to look at the time, so I am going to have her get a cheap watch so she will know the time. She is a good kid but she really doesn't comprehend how we can have such a "stupid" rule. I've explained that the teacher has no way of knowing if she is looking at the time or at a text message, either one being distracting to the teaching environment. She still thinks its stupid, but there you have it.

We went to SLC yesterday and found a Dutch store which sells all kinds of Dutch food and other products. The owner is, of course, Dutch so Eline enjoyed talking to him for a little. She especially enjoyed being able to buy things that reminded her of home. I bought some frozen sausages and some mix to make crepes because she was really trying to decide how to spend her money and even though she wanted them she decided not to get them. She was really happy and appreciative when we got home and she saw what I'd purchased.

We also went clothes shopping. Eline needed some warm clothes and has recently discovered the American art of sitting around in sweats. I personally rarely wear sweats, but I know lots of people do wear them, and I am trying to discourage her from wearing them to the store or to school. I did tell her I won't take her to the store with me if she's wearing sweat pants or pajama pants. Chelsea doesn't wear them out of the house either. I guess it's really not so bad if you take some time to do your hair and clean up, but I just see too many women and teenagers who literally look like they just got out of bed, didn't bother to comb their hair or brush their teeth, and decide to go shopping. Not in my house! LOL! Chelsea bought herself a new hoodie and some new shoes so she was happy also.

Chelsea is looking to earn some money for her trip to California with her HS band. She is going to Disneyland and Sea World. I am making her earn some of the money to pay for the trip. And I won't let her sell overpriced cookie dough or wrapping paper. She has created a flyer offering to babysit, do yard work, pet sit, bake (she's a good baker) or other odd jobs. She also collects aluminum cans. If you or anyone you know needs some work done, let me know.

Well, it's time to get the girls up for church so I'd better go. It takes a while to get these two moving in the mornings!

Sunday

It's been a busy week with work and school. I am an expert folder at Old Navy. So far I haven't used my employee discount but that will probably change this week.

I have several tests this week in school so I'll spend loads of time studying. This is the last week of High School soccer for Chelsea so we should have a little more time together which will be nice.

This time of year is Stewardship season at our church, and many other churches as well. As I pray about how much I will be giving this year I decided to look at other options. I already give 10% of my retirement and disability to my church, and now that I have a job I will have some of that money to give as well. So I am giving via a website called www.kiva.org. It is a micro-loan site. It is designed to provide small loans to people in third world countries to start or expand a business. The smallest loan amount is $25. If you think about it, that isn't much money, but combined with loans from other people throughout the world it can add up quickly. The recipients pay back the loan, usually in 12 months. Then you get your $25 back so you can help someone else. You can loan to just one person, or to as many as you want at a minimum of $25 each. So I've decided that I will take one day's pay each month to help out people via Kiva, and then I will take one day's pay and help out a local organization. October will be for the Christmas Box house. My friend, Kelly, shared this quote in church this morning: Don't count your blessings, share them. So that's what I am going to do.

Yes, I am working at a low paying job, but it's to send my kid to Disneyland, not to pay the rent or put food on the table. My family is truly blessed with so many good things and great people. If I spend a few hours folding t-shirts or jeans in order to share my blessings with others, then I will do it with a joyful heart! I feel great already! And isn't that the funny thing about giving? Who actually feels better about it, the person who receives, or is it really the person who gives? Try it and see for yourself!

I have a job!

I just got hired to work at Old Navy. I will work 10-15 hours a week, probably Mon, Wed. and Friday afternoons. That works out perfect for me and will give me some extra $ to pay for the extra expenses of having another teenager in the house and to pay for Chelsea's band trip to Disneyland and soccer trip to Hawaii. Plus I get a discount and they have some cute clothes right now.




This is me coming in for the finish at the Standard Examiner 10K. I am smiling but that is just because I knew my friend was taking the photo!









This is Eline with her date for the Homecoming dance. She got ready at a friends house and they came by just so I could take photos.

I wanted to upload some photos of Chelsea but for some reason this site won't let me right now, so I'll try to do that this evening or tomorrow. Now I'm off to school!

My 10K race!

I am so proud of myself for running my 10K race today! I exceeded all my expectations! I wanted to run an average 11 min/mile and actually ran 10:04 min/mile!! I also didn't want to finish last. I not only did not finish last, I wasn't even last in my age group! Today I am officially a runner, and NOT a jogger! I am just so happy it's hard to explain. I guess when you exceed one of your life goals it's a big day!

I'll upload a photo of the big finish when my friends email it to me. And speaking of my friends, I want to thank Bob and Carol for encouraging me, especially Carol. She told me over and over I could do it, said it like she meant it and kept on saying it until I believed it. She even told me I'd run faster than 11:00 min/mile and predicted I'd run at least 10:20. So thanks, Carol, for all your encouragement.

Another thing that was encouraging to me this week was yesterday when I saw my shit-head ex-boyfriend (I tried to think of a family friendly term for him but was unsuccessful) at a friend's retirement ceremony. He came up and said "Man you look good!" (I've lost about 12 lbs since he dumped me and my hair is longer, and I do look good! LOL!) Anyway, I said "thanks" and walked away with a smile on my face. I just ignored him the rest of the time. It was especially rewarding since he's been starting to email me again, which might mean he wants to get back together. Now that is not going to happen unless I suffer from a major brain injury, so it was all the more satisfying that I look so much better than I used to and that I could just give him a small taste of what he did to me. :) Okay, enough of that, I have lots to do today (2 papers to write) and a party to go to this evening, so I'd better get into the shower!

Busy, busy, busy

Oh, life has been so busy. We've been going through some growing pains with Eline. She has tried to push the rules somewhat and is now very unhappy because I won't let her do whatever she wants. To be fair, I think she could do whatever she wanted at home, but I've been very clear on the rules so she shouldn't be surprised.

Last Saturday she spent the night at a friends house and then on Sunday afternoon I couldn't get a hold of her. She wouldn't answer her cell phone, which was the only phone number I had (I've since remedied that situation). I went over to her friend's house around 4:00 and told her she had to come home. She wanted to go to the church youth group and hadn't done some of her chores, which were supposed to be done on Saturday. So I brought her home and she did her chores and then I talked her again about my expectations.

Then again last night she went to a Powder Puff football game. Before I dropped her off I asked if she had a ride home and she assured me she did. She is supposed to be home by 9:30 on school nights. Well 9:30 came and went and she didn't come home. At 9:40 she calls and says she needs a ride home, but she can't tell me where she is at. She was at a friends house but couldn't give me directions, and said she would walk to another friends house. I found her and picked her up and needless to say I wasn't too happy. I told her that she should called before 9:30 to tell me she didn't have a ride. Her explanation was that she thought she would have a ride at 9:40 but that fell through. I told her that even if she'd have gotten a ride at 9:40 she would still be late coming home and she didn't call to let me know. I told her that from now on, if she doesn't have a ride home at least 20 minutes prior to her curfew she needs to call me so I can pick her up. I don't mind giving her a ride, but part of the reason for the curfew is so I can go to sleep without worrying where my girls are. When we got home she went to her room, slammed the door and wouldn't come out. So we'll talk after school today.

Am I being too tough? Feel free to comment, since this is my first try at parenting a 17 year old. So far I haven't punished her or restricted her because I think she's still learning but I do think I will have to do something if she doesn't start following the rules more closely. Her curfew on the weekends is 12:00 which is the curfew for Roy City. For special events, such as prom I'll probably go with 1:00. So tell me what you think?

Okay, now for the rest of the news: I have applied for several jobs because I want to earn an extra $300 per month to pay for Chelsea's band trip to Disneyland and our trip to Hawaii this summer for the AYSO National Soccer Championships. I do save money each month, but the recent renovations on my basement took up a big chunk of my savings account and I don't want to have to dip into my investments (for my real retirement and Chelsea's college) if I don't have to. So a little part time job seems like the answer. The good thing for me is that there are tons of job openings and just not enough people to fill them. Of course they are all part-time, $10 an hour jobs, not enough to support a family, and of course no benefits. Lucky for me I don't need any of that. So wish me luck today.

Chelsea is doing well in school except for one subject, surprising it's not math this time! We are working on that, though so hopefully it will be better soon. She made a goal at Thursday's JV game and of course I was at school so I didn't get to see it. :( Isn't that the way it always goes? Well, speaking of school, I need to get there!

Soccer and Softball

This morning we got up early and went to watch Eline play soccer. She got the first goal of the game, but her team eventually lost 4-2, I believe. Oh well, at least the weather was nice and she had fun. Then Chelsea and I went to play softball with a group from church. It was so much fun! My team got creamed! I think the score was 12-3! But everyone seemed to have fun and that's what counts.

Now I need to get busy and get some homework done, so off I go!

Another week gone by!

I have been meaning to blog more often, but school and two teenagers are kicking my butt! But I love it all! School is going well, but I have tons of homework to do this weekend. Eline played her first soccer game last Saturday and made two goals! Yay! It was so fun to watch her reaction, and the reaction of her teammates!

Saturday night some of my friends helped celebrate Eline's birthday. She had fun and was surprised to receive gifts! Thanks so much to those of you who were able to come and help make her American birthday something to remember!

I'm back taking guitar lessons again. This time they are free and my pastor is teaching. We are learning simple cords and have already been given our first 3 songs to learn! Hopefully I'll actually learn some of them!

Chelsea is still busy with high school soccer. Sad to say her team isn't doing too well. But as long as she's having fun, that's what counts.

Eline has a best friend now, Melissa. She seems to be a really nice girl. She was actually born in the Netherlands, about 5 miles from Eline's home town. Her parents were in the military at the time. Melissa doesn't know much about the Netherlands but I won't be surprised if she goes over to visit Eline some day!

I know there is tons more to report but it's Friday, so I'm going to try to give my brain a break for a little while and even cook some dinner.

Oh, tomorrow I am playing softball (or maybe it's baseball) with a bunch of 30-40 year olds. Just a game for fun, not for any particular reason, except Carol wants to play once in her life so she organized this "play date". And I have been training to run the Standard-Examiner 10K and have actually run the 6.2 miles twice already. In fact, today was the 2nd time. The third, and probably last time will be next Saturday for the race! I am hoping to run at least an average 11 minute mile. Now don't all you runners start laughing. I'm short so my legs don't carry me as fast as your long legs. Actually I just don't want to be last, but if I run my best race and I'm still last, that's okay. I'll have accomplished a major goal!

Okay, now to do some cleaning of the kitchen and get dinner started.

I'm back!

It has come to my attention that I've been neglecting my blog! :) To say I've been a little busy is an understatement!

So, since I blogged last I've turned 46. Not a bad age really. I am living a life I could never have imagined and it is wonderful. I'm healthy, financially secure, getting a great education, have a healthy, wonderful child and a great foreign exchange student. Who could ask for more??!!

Okay, let's see, what to talk about first? How about Eline? She just turned 17 yesterday. She got a great big package from her mother and a few days ago she got one from her father. Her room is filled with wrapping paper and boxes! Chelsea and I got her some clothes and will be having a party for her on Saturday. Some of our friends will be there and hopefully some of Eline's friends will also come as well. She has made several new friends in the past week, which is nice. One of them asked if Eline wants to go to the football game tonight so hopefully that works out. Eline has her first soccer game tomorrow morning, so that should be fun.

Speaking of soccer, Chelsea has been busy on the Roy High team. Unfortunately they haven't won any games and have only tied once. But she loves being on the team and playing so that's what is most important. Today Chelsea is going to get 4 fillings. AARRGGHH! This doesn't make me happy. She was told at her last check up that she had a pin head cavity and she needed to pay special attention to flossing. Obviously that didn't happen. But I think after today she'll learn her lesson!

The Roy High band is going to Disneyland in March. I've told Chelsea that she has to raise at least $100 on her own in order for me to come up with the other $400. She hates fund raising and doesn't get enough babysitting jobs to earn any real money, but I think it's completely fair to ask her to contribute. Some of the kids in the band have already raised all of the $500 it is going to cost, just by selling cookie dough.

School is going well for all of us I think. I am way busy with my 6 classes. (What was I thinking!) I took my first test yesterday and got a 90% and my second today and got an 85%. That's not going to help me keep my 4.0! I guess it takes at least one test to see how the professor is going to do his/her tests. So now I know for these two classes. So far Chelsea is enjoying all of her classes. For biology she has had to collect bugs. She has to get 5 more, I think to finish. I can't wait for her to take them out of our house! Eline seems to enjoy school as well, now that she has people to eat lunch with. She especially enjoys her American sign language and peer tutoring classes. Peer tutoring is working with students with disabilities. In Holland they have separate schools for disabled students so this is her first exposure to these kids. She wants to change her schedule for next semester so she can continue working with them. Who knows, maybe she will work with handicapped people when she returns home.

Well, I need to head off to class so better go for now.

I ran 6.21 miles today!

I am very proud of myself for running 6.21 miles today! I am running a 10K race (I'm not actually racing, just want to finish) on Sept. 22nd and I have been running pretty faithfully since May.

Chelsea and Eline, along with some of Chelsea's friends, went to the Roy vs. Weber football game. It's a rivalry game and Roy beat the pants off of Weber, so to speak. Chelsea had a blast, but Eline didn't really enjoy herself. In fact, she really wanted to stay home and watch MTV but I strongly encouraged her to go. If she sits at home she'll not only miss the whole American high school experience, she'll have a tough time making friends. Chelsea is babysitting tonight, so Eline is upstairs right now watching MTV!

We didn't really plan anything for this weekend because Chelsea was supposed to have a soccer tournament. That didn't happen so we are left without anything in particular to do. Oh well, I have loads of homework anyway!

My first day of school

Yesterday was my first day of school, and I have to say it felt good to be back! I have two classes that should be fun and interesting on MWF and only go from 10:00-12:00. On Tuesdays I go from 10:00-7:30 with a break from 2:30-4:30 and on Thursdays I go from 10:00-2:30. Of course I already have homework (reading) and I'm sure it will pile up pretty fast. But that's okay. I did take a very heavy load this semester, 16 credit hours, but since I am not (currently) working I should be okay.

Eline went to a friend's house yesterday evening and had a great time. Her friend's grandparents are actually from Holland and speak Dutch. They are also Catholic, as Eline is. She had a good time but came home very concerned about LDS men having more than 1 wife. I had to assure her that it's no longer acceptable and that it hasn't been for at least 100 years! Seems the old guy is very anti-LDS and felt the need to fill Eline with all kinds of misleading information about the LDS religion. I told her I have a book that has lots of information about the LDS church and their beliefs that I would let her read.

I am glad that she has friends and is keeping busy. Her friend, Christine, even came and picked the girls up for school today so they didn't have to ride the bus.

Well, I'd better get my lazy butt in gear and start getting ready for school. It's actually only 7:30 but I want to get at least some of my reading done before school today, and get some laundry started as well.

My scrap room!

First let me say that if you haven't read my blog in a while you need to check out the previous post which is full of photos. This will just be photos of my scrap room, so if you aren't interested in that sort of thing, just skip this one!

My friend, Michelle, came over and we reorganized my scrap room. I had my basement painted, along with a bathroom renovation, a couple of weeks ago so my scrapping stuff had been out in the garage for quite a while. I finally have most things sorted and it's crazy how much stuff I need to get rid of! Anyway, here are the photos with commentary:




Here is my computer desk and you can see my new Silhouette on the right, sitting on the iris cart.













This is the right side of my room. I have loads of photos, memorabilia, themed paper and embellishments, foam stamps, sewing machine, albums, etc. stored here. You can also see my pen storage on the left side of this photo. It's actually a wine rack with plastic glasses in it, filled with my pens. The thing on the wall is an Indonesian puppet cut from chipboard and intricately painted. I got this when I was overseas several years ago.









This is the left side of my room. I have a great poster from a Wash. winery, my Air Force teddy bear, Xyron, magazines, adhesives, embellishments, photo storage, cardstock and pattern paper, cards and envelopes, etc.









This is my work table. You can see my new rail system from IKEA. I love it. It holds my rub ons, stickers, and loads of other stuff.










Here's a closer look at my long rail. Yes, I did drill a hole through my paper cutter.










This is my shorter rail, which holds my tool like scissors, reading glasses and smaller embellishments. The whole system, including both rails and all the baskets cost less than $25!







Here are my purchases yesterday. I didn't spend much, thank goodness, and the IKEA catalog was free!










Here is the first thing I cut with my new Silhouette! Pretty, huh?

Loads of photos

I am going to over load you with photos today! So here goes!





This is Eline's room. Turned out pretty nicely, I think.
















Chelsea making a sign for Eline's arrival.














At the airport.














Eline at "home" for the next 10 months.














This is Chelsea playing on her high
school soccer team.
Unfortunately they didn't win.














Eline mowing a lawn for the first time in her life! Chelsea is really happy to have someone to share her least favorite chore with!









Chelsea on her first day of high school. That's her truck "Maria" in the back.
















Eline on her first day of American High School.










My two high school girls. They are both so beautiful! I am going to have to watch out for boys this year for sure!










And lastly, this is the sky a few evenings ago. As you can see the clouds show the potential for a tornado. Fortunately it cleared up soon after.

First day of school over and second day has just begun!

Well, we had mixed reviews of the first day of school. Chelsea had fun seeing old friends and new ones. No complaints about her classes, yet. She already has projects to work on. My least favorite: collecting bugs for biology class!

Eline likes her sports class but isn't that excited about Sign Language and wants to drop her English class. She says the boys in that class are too big and talk tough. I think dropping it is a good idea, for a different reason. They will be studying Shakespeare and reading classic novels and I'm not sure her English (although very good) is good enough for her to be able to read, interpret, and write reports without a lot of extra tutoring. She is going to see her counselor today to see if she can get that changed to something else.

Eline is also unhappy with her lunch time with starts at 10:45 and runs for about 45 minutes. She says it's too early and she isn't hungry. Yesterday the girl who agreed to have lunch with her walked her around rather than eating. I talked to her about not expecting people to give up eating lunch because she doesn't want to eat. When she got home from school she made herself a big snack and then didn't eat dinner. Of course she was hungry around 9:00. So I had to be the mean "mom" and tell her she could have a small snack after school but if she doesn't eat dinner then she cannot have another meal later in the evening. I don't let Chelsea do this so can't have exceptions for Eline. My neighbor found another girl to eat with Eline today, and I told her she had to eat something. The high school has lots of choices so even if she has a small salad or fruit that's better than nothing. So we'll see. I think this could all be nerves which is completely understandable.

My friend Michelle came over yesterday and helped me organize my scrap area. It looks so much better! I am going to take photos later so will upload them. She gave me some homework to do, sorting through embellishments, memorabilia and photos, so I need to get that done later today. This morning I am scrubbing my tile floors and cleaning the grout. I usually us a Swiffer mop to clean my floors but about once every 3 months I get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floors. The Swiffer is quick, but doesn't get the floors as clean as I'd like.

School starts tomorrow!

I am glad school starts tomorrow. My girls will have something besides the computer and TV to keep them busy. The girls went to Lagoon on Sunday and I enjoyed a nice day alone. Haven't had much alone time lately!

Yesterday we went up to the school and went through each girls schedule twice, so they know where there classes are tomorrow. We met a girl who is a Senior to eat lunch with Eline tomorrow, so hopefully that will work out. Several of Chelsea's friends also offered to sit by her, so at least she won't be alone, but I'm hoping Eline makes friends with some Seniors soon. I think she is tired of hanging out with 14 year olds, and I know Chelsea wants to spend some time alone with her friends also. So far they've gotten along. Let's hope it stays that way.

Chelsea has a soccer game this afternoon, so we are getting ready to go watch. It is only supposed to get up to 89 degrees today, which will be much nicer than the 97 degree days of last week. This will most likely be the last Tues. game I'll get to see because next week I start school and have class from 10-7:30 on Tuesdays. That makes me sad because I've never missed on of Chelsea's games before, unless I was out of town. Not much I can do about it now though, and soccer will be over in a month, so no use trying to rework my schedule at this late date or drop the class. It's a film class so on days when we are just watching movies, I'll see if I can rent it to watch later.

Well, I'm off to sit in the heat to watch a great soccer game.

TGIF

Yesterday we went to Spanish Fork for Chelsea's soccer game. What a long drive, at least 1.5 hours. The varsity team won but the JV team lost. Chelsea shot 4 times but didn't make any goals. She was nervous, I think, to be playing on a high school team. Eline thought they played very well for Americans. :)

Eline has been surprised by lots of things here. She thought all Americans ate huge breakfasts, with eggs, sausage, hash browns, etc. She was happy to find out we didn't eat like that, except on rare occasions, and even then it was more likely we were eating that way for dinner rather than breakfast.

She loves the sunsets. She says they are much more beautiful here than in Holland.

We stopped at IKEA on the way home and she showed me her bedroom furniture, which her parents bought for her from IKEA in the Netherlands. She bought some Swedish chocolate and I bought some long, wavy mirrors for the girls' rooms. I'd love to be able to afford to empty out my house and start over will IKEA furniture and accessories! I took her to eat at Sonic for dinner. She asked why they make everything so big in America. She ordered a Sonic Cheeseburger-the regular size one- and thought it was huge! She also tried tator tots. She said, "I think I do like these!"

We went to the commissary (grocery store) on base today and she saw several items that looked familiar. We bought a few items and will buy more when we go back in a week or two. On our way home this afternoon it poured down rain. In fact it pelted rain so hard it hurt when we got out of the car. I still have loads of stuff in my garage so couldn't park in there. I did pull the back of the car up to the garage door so we could get the groceries out without getting too wet, but when I went to move the car so we could close the garage I got soaked! It was nice to have some rain, can't remember the last time it rained here. It also cooled things off which was nice. Unfortunately it didn't last long and the sun is out once again! I can't wait until the high temperature is 80 degrees, and it is crisp and cool in the mornings!

Chelsea and Eline are going to one of Chelsea's friends house to watch movies and hang out. There will be 10-14 kids there and Eline is nervous about meeting them. I am sure she will do just fine. I'll report more on that later.

Fun day yesterday!

We had a fun day yesterday. We picked up my friend Wendy's son, Tyler, who is 7 and took him with us to SLC. Wendy is looking for a job here and it looks like she found the perfect match, so she took the day to look for a private school for Tyler.

Chelsea, Eline, Tyler and I went first to Summerhays Music to pick up Chelsea's clarinet. It cost almost $100 to get it repaired. Wooden clarinets are a real pain! The repair tech said it seems that the wood is finished shrinking and it shouldn't need repair again for cracks. Good thing because that expensive clarinet just keeps getting more expensive!

After that we went to the Gateway mall. Both girls did some school clothes shopping and Chelsea just dreamed about the day when she has a job and can buy anything she wants. I'll let her dream about that a little while longer. Little does she know it doesn't really work like that. Eline had never been to a Taco Bell, but wanted to go so that's where we ate lunch. She seemed to like it well enough. She worries about getting fat, though so doesn't eat a lot. After that we came home because Chelsea had soccer practice. Oh, almost forgot, we also signed Eline up for AYSO soccer for the fall and spring. This is another way she can get to know kids around here, plus get some exercise so she doesn't gain too much weight. I guess the Exchange program people told her that most kids gain around 20 lbs. in the year they are in America.

Last night Wendy took us all to dinner and we had a fun time. When they lived here several years ago Chelsea always called Tyler her little brother, because they spent a lot of time together. So last night Chelsea said, "Now I have a brother and a sister!" which seemed to make both Tyler and Eline happy.

Today we are going to watch Chelsea's first high school soccer team. She is on the Jr. Varsity team and is happy because she gets to play forward, which is her favorite position. Hopefully she'll get to play today, since she's missed the whole first week of games.

Eline is here!

We picked up Eline on Saturday. We love her! She is such a nice young woman. She is homesick, which is to be expected, but she is starting to adjust. She is outgoing and friendly and her English is very good. Since she has already graduated from High School in the Netherlands she gets to take a bunch of fun classes here. She is taking Sports, food and nutrition, photography, psychology, travel and tourism and a bunch of other elective courses.

I am also signing her up for a COED soccer team which should keep her busy. She hopes to join some clubs at school also. Guess I'll be busy driving, although I am sure she'll make friends with other Seniors and most of them will be able to drive.

It is too hot here for her so we are hoping it will start to cool down soon. I hope so too, as my electric bill is very high this year.

Chelsea is busy with her high school soccer team and I will be seeing her first game on Thursday. Hopefully she'll get to play because she was gone all of last week so she missed 3 games.

Chelsea absolutely loved her mission trip to Seattle. She said it was one of the best weeks of her life. She's learned a lot about the homeless and now looks at them very differently. She would like to go again next year.

Chelsea and Eline get along very well and enjoy watching TV and listening to music together. I hope that continues. The more we get to know each other the better it gets. I know there will probably be some problems but I do think this is going to be a great year for all of us!

Chelsea's Home!

Chelsea came home last night. It sure was good to have her back! She said her mission trip was the best time of her life! We were up until 2:30 talking. I can't wait to hear more of the details. She said she is going to camp again next year even if she has to pay for it herself!

Eline comes "home" today. There is still much to do and the house is still in disarray, although it looks like the basement will be finished today. That is, everything except putting the family room together, which will mostly happen tomorrow evening when friends are available to help with the heavy work.

Well, much to do and only a short time to get it done! Later, Mary

Busy!

The guy who is working on my basement fixed my lawn mower and I learned how to mulch the grass! Can't believe I've had that mower and never knew how to mulch. The front lawn is looking shaggy so I may need to mow that this evening or tomorrow.

Last night I went to get some vinyl for my new bathroom and Chelsea's truck broke down. Fortunately my neighbor, Earl, came to my rescue. He took me to Home Depot to get the vinyl while I contacted my insurance and arranged a tow truck. Fortunately I got the towing protection when I insured the truck. Looks like it needs either a fuel filter or a fuel pump. It will be awhile before that gets fixed though because I need to pay for this basement first!

I have about a half hours worth of work in the basement before I can put down the plastic and cover the windows for painting. It probably won't get painted until tomorrow, so hopefully it will still be done by tomorrow night so I can get most of the big furniture back in. My scrapbooking stuff will have to wait a little longer so I can sort through it all. I have way too much stuff!

I am moving a book case from my room to Eline's room today and then getting a small table so that I can set up the computer in my room. I really don't want it there but the only other option is the dining area, and I definitely don't want it there. There will also be another computer in the family room. With 3 users in the house we need at least 2 computers. On my wish list is a laptop, but that will have to wait.

Eline left the Netherlands today and will spend a couple of days in NYC getting an orientation from our host company, AYUSA. Her mother sent me a sad email. I dread when Chelsea goes off to college, so I can't even imagine what it would be like to send her to another country for 9 months.

Well, I have plenty to do today so I'd better get started.

Home alone!

Chelsea left for camp. I took her to the church for a "lock in" Saturday evening and they left around 4 am Sunday morning. She started getting cold feet about going on Saturday, but she decided to go, and late Saturday night she called and said she was glad she decided to go. She just made the HS soccer team and will miss the first 3 games. This is also her first year not going to "traditional" camp. She is going on a mission trip to Seattle to work in a homeless shelter, rather than spending time at the camp, swimming, singing, and hiking. She decided to do this trip in order to help others. I think the unknown about what she'd be seeing and doing on the mission trip scared her a little. I'm proud that she decided to go, though.

Eline's room is pretty much done, with the exception of decorations. It looks pretty bare right now, but I want to give her the opportunity to decorate it how she wants. She'll be here Saturday afternoon, so I need to make sure everything is ready for her.

Several friends came over last night and emptied my basement in a matter of 20 minutes. I can't believe how quick it went. Putting it all back in won't go so quickly because I'm rearranging everything and it will all have to be cleaned as well. Can't wait for the new bathroom to be done. All is supposed to be complete before Saturday!

I was mowing the lawn this morning and my stupid lawnmower quit! The rope won't pull at all. So tonight I'll be trying to figure out what is wrong with it. I hate when stuff like this happens.

I went to a promotion ceremony for a friend of mine. I had a great time there because another friend was introducing me to a guy and his wife and he asked if I was her sister! I just laughed because I am 15 years older than her. When I said I wasn't and that I used to be her first sergeant in the Air Force he said, "I could've sworn you were her younger sister!" His wife nodded in agreement. I told them they were my new best friends!

When I got home my house was hot, which scared me because I was afraid my A/C wasn't workig. Thankfully the problem was that the power had gone out for awhile so I'm sure the house heated up quickly from that. The power just went back on about 10 minutes before I got home so it will most likely be a warm evening. Hopefully it will cool down outside tonight so I can sleep with the windows over again!

Well, enough for today. I'm off to help myself to some sushi and white wine for dinner, then to tackle my lawn mower!

The Dr. Called

After getting mad, I finally got my Dr. to call me. It seems there was lots of scar tissue and my bowel was twisted almost to the point of obstruction. The spot on my liver looks like a hemangioma to her, but since that's not her specialty she took a photo for the gastroenterologist to look at. So today is a good day. I am feeling lots better, but am still too bloated to wear my regular clothes.

Chelsea and I are minutes away from completing the extensive paint job on Eline's room. We will both be glad to finish that. I did all the trim work and Chelsea is doing the rolling. It looks really nice and I just hope Eline likes it.

This weekend Chelsea leaves for camp and I need to empty out my family room to get it painted, along with the new bathroom. If anyone wants to help just give me a call! I know I sure could use it. Everything is covered with dust from concrete work, sanding and sheetrock, so it all would have to be moved to get cleaned anyway. This way the basement will be all white, look much better and I'll just move things back in as I get them cleaned.

We are going to be busy today getting stuff for Chelsea's new soccer team and cleaning Eline's room once all the paint is dry. Then I think I am going to take it easy for awhile! Yeah, right!

By the way, today is my parents 49th wedding anniversary. Wouldn't you know it but I forgot to mail them a card. Well, they can join my two sisters-in-law and my niece who also didn't get a card from me this month. Sorry! I have been thinking of you all! I promise!

So Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Happy belated Birthday, Tammy, Dianne, and Samantha! Love you all!

Chelsea is a Lady Royal!

Chelsea made her high school soccer team after three grueling days of tryouts! I am so proud of her! She was sure she wasn't going to make it so it was wonderful when she came home tonight and said "I'm officially a member of the Roy High soccer team!"

Surgery

Had my surgery this morning. Now I'm home just trying to relax. I'm not in any real pain, but am puking my guts out due to the pain meds they gave me at the surgical center. No word on what they found because the Doc got called into another surgery before I woke up. So hopefully she'll call tonight. Can't be too bad though because I'm home, with a follow up in 3 weeks.

Chelsea is at her second day of tryouts for the high school soccer team, so any prayers/good thoughts/good vibes would be appreciated.

Expensive few days

I went to Home Depot yesterday to buy all the rest of the stuff needed to finish the basement. When I got home we discovered there was quite a few things that I wasn't charged for. A part of me wanted to just say "oh, well, not my problem" and just enjoy the savings. But the other part of me won out and I went today and paid for those things. It added up to almost $400! My wallet is much lighter and so is my heart. Chelsea said "God is looking down on you right now and he thinks you rock!" I have such a good kid!

On top of that we bought paint for the new bathroom, a bright yellow. Not what I'd pick but I did tell Chelsea she could paint it any color she wanted. My mistake! :)

We also bought primer and paint for Eline's room. The bottom half of the room is currently painted a dark, flat blue. We will be painting two walls firecracker red (yes, I let Eline chose the color!) and two walls white. So that was another $120!

Actually Chelsea will be doing the painting. She asked to have this as her project, so I'll help out where needed and otherwise stay out of the way. I hate painting anyway so this works out well for both of us.

Oh well, I think most of the really expensive stuff is out of the way now. And it sure will be nice to have everything done before school starts!

Update

I've been pretty neglectful of my blog lately. Guess I've been preoccupied with other things.

We had our ice cream party last week and it went great. We met several neighbors we hadn't known before and had some other friends come by too. In the end we only had about 1 container of ice cream left. Not too bad.

The basement bathroom is coming along. I went today and bought pretty much all the odds and ends to finish it up. The guys say they'll be done by next weekend. I sure hope so. My basement is filthy and I want to do a deep cleaning before our exchange student comes. She should be here in two weeks.

I'm so proud of Chelsea. She's taken on the redecorating of the spare room all her own. She has stripped wall paper, sanded and will be painting as soon as Eline lets us know what color she wants. She called this morning but I wasn't home (I was out running) so hope she calls back again soon.

Last night we went to dinner at a friends house. They adopted a little boy two years ago and I am his Godmother. Some other friends from church were there also. We had a nice time, I just love that boy!

Chelsea has a party to go to this evening so I think I'll relax and do some scrapbooking. Next week Chelsea has soccer tryouts for High School. I sure hope she makes it. She is a great player and has really put a lot of work into this sport so hopefully it will pay off.

I am having my surgery sometime on Tuesday and then plan on taking it easy for the next few days. Then Chelsea is off to camp for a week, so I'll have a little "me" time again before school starts.

Praise God! Jon Francis' remains found!

I know many of you followed the story of our missing youth director, Jon Francis. He went missing in the Sawtooth Mountains in July of 2006. His remains were found yesterday. This finally brings peace to his family, friends and the kids he touched every day.

Our local CBS station came out to the church this evening and did an interview with some of the kids and one of the searchers. Chelsea was among those interviewed and I was so proud of how she handled herself. This is a tough day for her.

Thanks for all the prayers. Mary

I finally did some scrapbooking!

I had a great time last night scrapbooking with old and new friends! And I even got two 2-page layouts done! Right now my whole scrapbooking area is covered with sheets which are covered with concrete dust and soon to be covered with sheetrock dust and sawdust!

My friend, Michelle, who has recently started Weight Watchers, asked me to post this recipe. It's a favorite and I've served this many times for company. Chelsea loves it! So here it is:


Spaghetti with Parmesan and Bacon

The eggs and milk create a rich, creamy sauce that coats the pasta. The key to the creaminess is tempering the eggs - heating them gently so they don't cook too fast and curdle. Do this by slowly whisking in the hot water in which the pasta cooked.

1 pound uncooked spaghetti
12 bacon slices, chopped (I use Oscar Meyer Center cut bacon which is only 25 calories a slice)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk (I use 1% milk)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 large eggs
1 cup frozen petite green peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup hot cooking liquid.

While pasta cooks, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan. Discard remaining drippings; set bacon aside. Add garlic to drippings in pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Combine milk, salt, pepper, and eggs, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add reserved hot cooking liquid to milk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add pasta, milk mixture, and peas to skillet; cook over low heat 3 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add bacon and cheese; stir to combine.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

CALORIES 359(28% from fat); FAT 11.2g (sat 5.6g,mono 3.6g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 18.9g; CHOLESTEROL 99mg; CALCIUM 315mg; SODIUM 721mg; FIBER 3.3g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.6g
Cooking Light, APRIL 2003

Since I use center cut bacon and 1% milk the actual calorie and fat counts are lower. I also use Barilla PLUS pasta, but you can use whole wheat also. I love this stuff. Enjoy and let me know how you like it.

Mary

Thursday

I got up this morning and ran my own private 5K race. I wanted to see how fast I could run it in preparation for my 10K in September. I did pretty well (for me) and averaged 11:05 min. per mile.

I came home, showered and then relaxed on my deck. I read the lessons from the Bible for this coming Sunday, then I finished a novel I've been reading "Predator" by Patricia Cornwell. A little freaky (its a crime novel). I was notified that my Harry Potter book has shipped and I expect it here on Saturday.

I received the cooler with 12 cartons of Dreyers Ice Cream for the block party I won for my neighborhood. It's packed in dry ice and is supposed to stay cool for two more days. I will keep an eye on it so I don't have a bunch of melted ice cream! :)

I got an email from the mother of our foreign exchange student. It is really coming true. Her name is Eline (not sure how to pronounce it) and she is 16. I pretty much have the spare room cleared out and now need to take down the shelves, remove the wall paper border and then I'll have to prime the dark blue paint. I am waiting for an email from Eline to tell me what color she wants it painted. I'm pretty much open to anything except black.

The guys are working on my bathroom again. I think they pretty much have the plumbing done, which is the hard part. Shouldn't be too long before they get busy with framing and drywalling.

Chelsea is having loads of fun in TX and I'm enjoying my break, although I do miss her. She's my baby, after all.