Robin's Nest

 Yesterday I revisited the crime scene, nothing in plain sight to cause the fall. There was a piece of cardboard sticking out from under some other things but not in the walkway where I fell. The mystery lives on. The more I reflect on it and try to process what happened, the more mysterious it becomes to me. What I have gained from this experience doesn't stop at "don't fall anymore". That is just the beginning. I jokingly told a friend that I was down to falling about every 2 weeks until last month. That when I picked up the slack and got back to my weekly routine!  I still have a ton of stuff to do around the house, it just takes much more time to do. Last night the older child asked if she could help with dinner. I said absolutely! The plan was chicken fried steak. I talked her through each dish, and she did great! It took a bit longer to prepare, but I think it would have any way. She may actually have speeded things up a bit. we were out of corn so green bean ca

The day started like most days, updating a post, checking emails and general catch up. I had my coffee made Malt-O-Meal. Found things for others and started thinking I really needed to keep taking stuff to the attic. So, I did. I took what was already on the steps to the top and opened the door. I carried things safely in. I then started moving something away from the staircase toward the south end of the house. It happened so fast and was so surreal. I fell about 10 minutes before 9am. Walking forward but I landed on my left side, I can still see my arm caught on the package, but my body had hit the floor. I do not think I blacked out, but I couldn't move my left arm. The youngest kiddo heard me fall and yelled are you okay? I replied, no I don't think so, please go find daddy. She did. He came right away, but he didn't understand what had happened, well surprise neither did I. I had to hold my left arm with my right so he could not pull me up that way. It came to me that

 For the past month we have been very lax with schoolwork. With the youngest grandchild here for babysitting purposes it was darn near impossible to get the big kids focused. Not to blame the kids totally, I was pulled from every task by the tiniest of voices, "Gamma pay wit me peas" was repeated over and over. Today we just have an extra dog not an extra kid. That should be easier to manage. I still plan to take time to declutter and get some hours in at work. Most importantly I intend to be purposeful with learning. There may not be much time for the blog. My plan was to go to once a week with it, sometimes there is more to tell. With that said this blog post may become more like a diary post before the end of the week. too cute to ignore  Dog yard is raked and mostly cleaned up. It got too windy, and the poo needed to be bagged and taken out. I did that task, the wind got to be too strong for me to take the cardboard out to the garden, so I will hold off on that till later

 And a new closet to clean for the end of the current month. We are still ISO a missing pink piggie. I took on the closet this afternoon, I was sure we would find it in there. We found mommy pig, but not THE pig. Oh well the closet needed to be cleaned regardless. I know there are many things that need my attention regardless, but the pig is missing! I am glad we found mommy pig as the littlest grand, asks every time she comes over, "find mommy pig?" I can finally answer yes! Although I am not sure where Peppa and Daddy pig went in the meantime. I know George pig is gone, victim of some couch eating dogs. As an amputee I think I tossed him.  I knew she would put stuff back in there  At least some of made it into a bin Good news and sad news. Beside finding mommy pig, we also found two more Peppas and two of the friends. Sad news is we still have not found THE pig. Two large trash bags of broken toys are now in the trash and there are only three more containers of stuff to sor

 For two days this week we did not have mail. I received a postage due envelope last week and finally remembered to put it back into the mailbox with the required funds. This was how I discovered we did not have mail for a few days. There were no tire tracks in the snow. Not in the fresh snow and not in the crunchy snow. Yesterday we hit the motherload for mail!  Today I received a box of candy from a friend in Japan. That was the postage due notice and the envelope with the funds that I gave to the postman was taped to it. Stating no postage due. They tasted so good I would have paid twice the postage had I known and sooner!  Today my youngest asked if I would call the neighbor and see if she could come and play with her grandkids. I didn't want to call because the grandkid that is her age doesn't like her and has stated as much. But she was persistent, so I texted. No reply for quite some time. That is typical between her and I as we are both quite busy with the people that r

 It is the next day after the encounter with the "hole" and I feel it. I am not sure what the hole was as it was covered in snow when I "discovered" it. I did not go out today and look for the hole. I did go to the mailbox and put in an envelope to pay the postage due on a package that was sent to me. Not sure where the package is from but there is postage due.  snow in the door jamb  As cold as today was, it was better than yesterday as there was no wind, well none to speak of. I should have made bread earlier in the day, but I put it off because we have so many store-bought bread products still on the counter that need to be eaten. I am still contemplating not making it tonight. I do not like to freeze bread if I can avoid it. So, I rather bake it when it doesn't have a lot of competition. Good morning, the grandkids are here, and the house is filled with the noise of kids having fun. Okay maybe it is the noise of fussing, they sound very similar at times. I a

 They had been forecasting this storm since the weekend, at first it seemed like another wasted snow day. As the day carried on the snow continued to fall but blowing sideways preventing much accumulation at our house. The youngest was determined we needed to go for a walk. She was barefoot, wearing thin spandex leggings, and a cotton t-shirt. I looked at her as she complained that I wasn't dressed for the weather. Up for the challenge I went and dressed for the weather and prompted her to do the same. I came back to a child still wearing the exact same thing and still thinking it would be fine. It was all of 13 degrees outside and the snow was blowing parallel to the ground.   lots of wind, little snow Little dogs playing snowplow  After forcing her to change pants, put on a winter coat, gloves, a beanie hat and zip her parka, we headed out into the wind with all four dogs. By the time we got to the north side of the house the two big dogs had run off to play in the snow. We heade

 Yesterday was particularly hard on the oldest kiddo. She watches too many romances movies, but don't say that she very defensive of this. For days leading up to the "worst holiday ever" and yes that was a quote, she bemoaned the holiday, never complained about any particular boy or anything like that. I could tell she was really hoping for a phone call or text from any one of the boys she talks to regularly. No contact was made.  DH was out at the gym, so I sent him a list of things to pick up, the list included something for Valentine's Day for each girl. I explained where to find the items and in which store. Not all Walmart's are set up the same. Nonetheless he found something appropriate and returned with the treasures. That seemed to lighten her heart a bit. We were two pony races in, and it was time to go take the little one and her trusty steed home. Both horses were made of the same fabric except for the bridle and reins, I was out of white ribbon. that c

 Sometimes being a little creative can lift my spirits up and encourage me. Today the mess in the house was pretty overwhelming. It seemed that everyone had taken something out of its' and not returned it, me included. That doesn't make for a nice feeling. The youngest kiddo is the second biggest offender in this department. Today I could not find the energy to clean the way it should have been cleaned. This is the last week with the littlest granddaughter coming for babysitting, so I have been lax about cleaning in general. The bathrooms have been cleaned and that is about it.  Last night she decided that she wanted a hobby horse, stick horse or pony on a stick, whatever you choose to call it, she was really excited about having one of these. She had found where there is actually a competition for kids who ride these trusty steeds. Now her excitement turned to an obsession of sorts. She had to have one. now. not. later. I assured her I could make her one tomorrow, meaning late