Choices

There are too many choices in America!  I've been struck by this fact over and over again since returning from Singapore.  I have been trying for several months now to buy a new phone for our house and each time return home empty handed because there are just too many options and I get overwhelmed trying to compare each brand and model.  This afternoon I headed to Target to look at potential lamps for the office and living room (neither room has any lighting) and once again...returned home empty handed.  Too many choices and that was just at one store!  It's interesting that in Singapore one of the things I missed most about America was the option of many choices.  I didn't realize until we moved back that I had adjusted to not having many choices and it in fact made shopping SO much easier.  Take lamps for instance...the only lamps that were even close to our price range were at Ikea.  They only offer a handful of choices making it much easier to choose one.  I learned to live with things that weren't exactly my style and became more practical about the things we "needed."   Food was another example...if I wanted ground sausage for a breakfast casserole there was only one place in Singapore that carried it - so I learned to live with that even if it wasn't exactly what I had in mind (because of different spices added to the sausage.)  Or I learned how to substitute and make do with a different ingredient instead.  Here you have the choice of mild, country, or spicy and in 4 different brands.  It can also be purchased frozen or refrigerated.  Some stores even grind their own version fresh daily.  AHHHHHH!!!

Here's to simplifying life!!

This morning we were driving to preschool and were at the corner of Big Timber Road and Rt 72 when Ethan told me that a house was on fire.  When we turned the corner onto Big Timber we could see the flames and smoke coming out of the garage side of the house.  By the time we went back by there on the way home the house was just a shell and there were more firetrucks than I've ever seen in one place before.  I found a link to an article that's been posted about it...click Here to see it.

I am DONE with winter!  I keep thinking that in Kansas my tulips would be coming up in a few weeks and the weather would start warming up a little.  Instead I googled the average temp in Chicago for March and found out it's....45 degrees!!  BRRRR!  :(  It does help that there is more daylight in the morning and at night and that the sun has been shining most of this week:)  Maybe some day my blood will thicken more and this cold weather won't bother me but for now I'm looking forward to feeling some warm sunshine!

The Facebook Dilemma

Three or four years ago a friend of mine requested that I join Facebook so that I could view photos of her kids.  I set up an account, looked at her pictures, made a comment and walked away for about two years.  A year and a half ago while we were in Singapore I started using my Facebook account a little more frequently to keep up with my friends back home.  I added a profile picture and started accumulating "friends".  As time went on more and more people from my grade school and high school years "found" me and requested to be added as friends.  Some people are good at ignoring those "friend" requests.  I'm too nice and didn't want to hurt feelings (plus I was a little curious about what they looked like now and what they were up to) that fast forward 18 months and I was up to 260 "friends".  I realized that it had ceased being something that was just for "fun" and was turning into yet one more thing that I had to do to keep up with everyone.  It was the hardest and yet the most freeing thing I've done in awhile when I hit the "delete" button!  I LOVE keeping up with my friends (especially my Singapore friends) and yet there were also so many people on there that I really don't need to keep up with or hear about their latest drama...don't I have enough of my own??   After a two week hiatus where I didn't post a status update and only checked what my friends were up to occasionally I decided that I could indeed live without Facebook.  After 15 minutes of trying to figure out how to do it (FB doesn't make it easy!) I permanently deleted my account.  I may sign up again in the future and keep my "friend" list to the ones that are truly my friends and that I want to keep up with but until then I'm back to the "old fashioned" way of e-mailing and calling:)  It's a much more personal way to keep in touch with friends anyway and you get much deeper into what's going on in their lives than reading a status update.

PS:

According to Facebook they claim to have 400 million active users and the average user spends 55 minutes a day on FB...As of yesterday they have 399,999,999 million users and there is one ex-user who has 55 minutes more a day to concentrate on things that will last longer than FB anyway:) 

EarthShaking Week

Warning:  This post is rambling and long!

It's been another crazy week here in Northern Illinois!  I had Lauren and Brett from Sunday night through yesterday afternoon.  I met Ben and Melissa on Sunday evening in Yorkville for supper at Pizza Hut to pick the kids up.  We pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves which was nice...yea for the Super Bowl:)

Monday after the twins left for school I packed up the other three and ventured out to the grocery store...they did amazing but I am glad I don't have to do that very often:)  BTW:  while we were there Ethan says to a man stocking shelves,  "Nice boxes!"  :P  After dropping off the groceries at home we headed to pick up Taydon before heading out to Jamie's for a few hours.  Than it was a quick run home for naps before packing up ALL 5 KIDS and heading to a foreign country otherwise known as Spring Hill Mall (Elginites will know what I mean by that!)  We needed to order new lenses for Kaitlyn's glasses at LensCrafters so we picked out frames, got them ordered, and headed to the food court for supper and the play area to kill time before the glasses were ready to be picked up.  I have a NEW RESPECT for my friends who have more than 4 children!  I was EXHAUSTED by the time we got back home!!!

You may be wondering why I made that trip by myself...Ryan left Monday morning for NYC and was supposed to return Tuesday evening.  Because of the snowstorm here Midway airport was completely shut down for 24 hours starting Tuesday morning and ending Tuesday night.  He's still not home because of the backlog of flights which was made worse when the storm hit the East coast yesterday!

Tuesday we headed to preschool for my second week of teaching and the Valentine's party.  Lauren got to join us at preschool and LOVED every minute of it!  Ethan, on the other hand started screaming and temper tantruming about 1/2 way through and didn't quit for the rest of the day.  Good thing I had a helper to take over the V party!  After preschool we headed to Anne M's to pick up Brett and drop off her daughter and than home for naps.  At 3:00 I packed up my three while Alison babysat for L & B and we headed out into the snowstorm for our eye dr. appts.    

Tuesday night turned out to be a not so good night.  Brett didn't sleep good and than at 4:00am I was jolted awake by an earthquake.  I woke up to a rumbling sound and shaking but it was so brief that I didn't think it could be an EQ.  I thought maybe it was the wind, or a plane flying low, or a snowplow but when I looked outside everything looked calm.  We were supposed to be having blizzard conditions so I was surprised by how calm it was outside.  I went back to bed until 6:00 when Brett seemed to be awake for the day and that's when I got the text from Ryan asking if I had felt the EQ (click on blog title to go to article).  I have wanted to feel an EQ since I was little so initially I thought it was pretty cool.  When I went to lay down last night to sleep though I realized I was more creeped out by it than I thought.  I don't think it was by the EQ itself but from the thought that something could happen in the middle of the night that I have no control over when I'm responsible for kids by myself.  Does that make sense?

Wednesday I ran E, L, & B out to Jamie's before coming back to Huntley for a dentist appt.  It was the first of two - the second being today - that I will be REALLY glad when they are over!  After the appt I ran BACK to Jamie's to pick up the kids and head to Morris to meet Dad and Mom so they could return L & B to their rightful owners:)  Than a quick trip to pick up the twins before heading to Pump It Up for a school fundraiser night.  I couldn't find the place so we were a half hour late meaning the kids could only jump for a half hour before having pizza.  I felt bad but I think that they were tired because over all they handled it well!

I'm heading out for dentist appt # 2 and than it's home to clean and get ready for company this weekend! I'll be glad when Saturday hits and we can all relax a little.

It's been a busy last few weeks!  And a quick look at my calendar says it's not going to slow down until....April!!!  Mostly I don't mind but I am starting to get tired and am ready to quit sprinting and start walking:)  BUT, it sure made January go quickly which I'm not complaining about AT ALL!!

Today is a day at home...I wish I could say a slow day at home but there is too much to do before I go and pick up Lauren and Brett next Monday.  Both of the twins need to get Valentine boxes made + all their Valentines and I need to get Preschool planned for next Tuesday along with Ethan's Valentines made.  Add in all the laundry that piled up this past week because I wasn't home to do it and a van that is in DESPERATE need of a good cleaning and I have my next few days cut out for me!

Ethan started the church preschool in January so I am taking my turn this month teaching.  This week was my first week and I was so nervous I didn't sleep the night before!  These kids shouldn't be that intimidating, right???  It went good and I'm thankful that I can say, "1 down, only 3 to go:)"  Next week is the Valentine's party so it has been a little more fun to plan for that one.  I'm just not much of a teacher or public speaker.

Kenton has been checking joke books out of the library recently and telling them to anyone who will listen.  His little brother hears him and tries to tell jokes too...only here's how they go...


E:  "Why did the chicken cross the playground?"

Me:  "I don't know...why?"

E:  "Because!"  (followed by laughter from him)

Me:  "Ummm - how about you say, 'to get to the other SLIDE?'"

E:  "Good joke, Mom!"

Hmmmm - I think he needs to work on the punch line a little!




Glad it's Friday, Friends!!

It's A Boy!

Luke Robert was born to Katie and Matthew around 8:00 this morning.  He weighed in at 7lbs 1 oz and is 18.5 inches long.  He's big for a Schneider baby:)