On My Phone

We have no land line. My cell phone is our everything phone. So if someone calls my kids, it goes through me. Please let me share with you a recent voicemail. It was for Carver. From a girl.

Hey, Carver, this is Katrina. I was just wondering if you were into hunting because for my birthday I'm going to be doing a pheasant hunting expedition where you get to work with dogs and actually shoot the pheasants and learn how to get them. I get to bring one friend, so if you're available on September 18th from 10 to 3, I'd love it if you'd come. Thanks. Bye.


Where, exactly, do I begin?

Things
Things are looking up around here. Antibiotics are working. New school year jitters are subsiding. Irene has (mostly) passed. This weekend was spent doing a lot of catch up--bills, paperwork, groceries, family time, and a birthday party. Plus loving on our new neighbor, a female Dachshund puppy. She is the tiniest, sweetest little thing and yes, it makes me want one. For now, we're content to send our kids to our next door neighbor's house to play with her, though. They can get their puppy fix that way. I'd post a picture, but Blogger is being picky right now and not letting me. Maybe soon. I hope you are doing well and looking forward to Monday. Just a few more days left in the month of August for me to finish all my anti-procrastination projects. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Sharing

David has strep throat. I believe this proves we have a strong marriage. I also want to make sure he is never left out, so he gets antibiotics as well. We are strep buddies, through and through.

Unfortunately, I still had a fever on Monday morning and when I tried to check in for my surgery they turned me down. I was extremely bummed. Actually, I pretty much lost it. I was nervous about the procedure to begin with, and I'd bottled up all the stress. On top of that I'd been really sick and a mess for several days prior, so I was not in a "happy place" when the nurse sent me home.

Fortunately, Carver's room looked like a bomb had gone off. Fortunate for me because all I need is a good cleaning spree to get my brain centered again. After that I felt better. I'll have to reschedule my knee surgery (maybe September?), but I can't say I'm eager.

Sickedy Sick Sick Sick
What would be the best thing to do right before knee surgery? Get strep throat, of course. I have impeccable timing. I began feeling not so hot on Wednesday night, and on Thursday morning I was praying for death. My mom gets one million gold medals for taking over and carpooling and feeding and soothing and keeping things going. By Friday afternoon, when I realized I was not getting better and my nausea was bad enough I needed help, my doctor was booked and I had to go to Urgent Care. So David, who had all of three hours of free time on Friday because he had to chaperon a dance at his school that night, spent his evening with me at Urgent Care. I sat in a chair, holding my vomit bowl, looking like death, and he sweetly filled out paperwork. He also gets a million gold medals. The doctor said now that school is back in session, strep is rampant. But I am not in school, I told her. She didn't care. It's still rampant. It took another 24 hours for the antibiotics and anti-nausea meds to kick in, but now that they have I feel like a completely new person. In the past three days I have only eaten 2 popsicles. I'm looking forward to moving up to toast later tonight. If I can get some good square meals in me and have no fever tomorrow, then I can still have my surgery. I guess that's progress, right?

And yet the entire time I was kneeling at the porcelain bowl, I was very aware that I have good access to healthcare and medicine. My few days of horror came to an end. Over and done with. But right now, in famine stricken Africa, there is no escape. There's no hope for tomorrow that they will feel better. No light at the end of the tunnel. Unless...

Unless we help. Can you spare five dollars? That's less than the cost of my antibiotics. Less than lunch at Subway. Less than a package of tube socks, for goodness sake! Go to my previous post where my sweet friend Sarah has set up the easiest peasiest way for you to give. Please give. Please. Not for me, but for Zinabu's family. Please.

5 for 5 Thursday. Guest Post from Sarah.

guest blogger: Sarah Lenssen from Ask5for5
photos courtesy of Cate Turton / Dept. for International Development


First, thanks to Cathy for allowing me to post on her blog today! Today, more than 25 bloggers, including this one, are standing with me to Ask 5 for 5 for Africa. Here's why....

I began pursuing a BIG dream two weeks ago. After deciding I could no longer avoid the news about the famine in the horn of Africa, I had that gut feeling that I couldn't sit this one out. I HAD to do something because I could. Something bigger than I could do alone. That's when #Ask5for5 was born.



Two of my children, Ashen and Bereket, were adopted and are from the region affected by the drought in Ethiopia. They would be two of the statistics if they still lived there. I see my son’s and daughter’s faces in the photos of those suffering in the refugee camps. It could have been him. It could have been her. The thought haunts me.

And moms just like us are watching their children go hungry day after day. I can't imagine what it's like, but I have to –I have to be there to help them, because it could have been my children. These families have lost their livestock, their crops, food prices are inflated at the market if there any food there, and don’t have any more lifelines to tap into. Many are traveling hundreds of miles through parched land in hope of finding help. Many are dying along the way. It is estimated that 29,000 children have died in the last 90 days in the famine in Somalia alone.

But I KNOW we can do something about it. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed, we can rally ourselves and our friends to respond! I set up a fundraiser through See Your Impact. 100% of your gift will go to the relief and development organization World Vision, where it will be combined with government grants to multiply up to 5 times in impact!

You’ll receive updates on just how your funding is being used to help save lives affected by famine in East Africa. I'm amazed at how much we've raised already -- over $7,000 in just four days! We blew through our first 3 goals in just 3 days and are well on our way to $10,000 and beyond!

I need you to help me save lives. It's so so simple; here's what you need to do:

1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
3. Share Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter, and join our page to stay updated too!

I'm also looking for 100 bloggers to stand with Ask5for5 to spread the word during Social Media week, September 19th - 23rd. If you're interested, email me, ask5for5@gmail.com.

Thanks! Please donate and email your friends right now--don't wait for a calmer moment, because if you're like me, other demands inevitably crop up and you won't get to it. A child's life hangs in the balance, but you can help save her!

Wordless Wednesday (First Day of School!)

Hooray For Me! (And You!)
All the items I have been procrastinating over for so long are falling by the wayside. I am seriously impressed with myself, and with you. Lots of you are tackling your own lists and it is so cool. I should have added more items to my original list, but I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew so I kept it simple. But if September rolls around and I still have a fire under my bum, I'll make a new list and keep going. However, let's stay in the moment, shall we? Want to see my progress?

• Apply for Zinabu's Certificate of Citizenship.  (You cannot possibly imagine the joy I feel at this one. It has been plaguing me for 3+ years. It was not easy, and I fully expect the Dept. of Homeland Security to reject our application because of paperwork being wrong. I did the best I could, but the instructions are somewhat vague. But at least I've started.)
• Update our will and trust. 
• Fix the broken window in our basement.
• Install some kind of filter on our computer to keep the porn away. 
• Finish organizing our digital photos on our computer. I started but have a bit more to do.
• Create memory boxes of my kids' elementary school years. I have the piles. I just need to put them in something in a year-by-year format.
• Craigslist the kid stuff we no longer need but could get some money from. Like our B.O.B jogging stroller and North Face sleeping bags. 
• Go to the new IKEA that just opened. {OK, kidding.}
• Update my address book. You know, all the torn out return address labels from holiday cards that are held together by a rubber band and stuck haphazardly in my desk. I need to clean that up.

All that's left is the will and trust, the jogging stroller (which needs to have the brake fixed), and the address book. I'll get to the will and trust this week, and I hope to get to the jogging stroller after that. The sleeping bags I put on Craigslist sold in an hour, by the way. The most painless transaction ever. I hope your lists are disappearing just as quickly!

A Recap
Yesterday we drove to Denver and met Deirdre and kids at the Museum of Science and Nature. We try to get there at least once a year, but we'd let our membership lapse. Superwoman Deirdre got us all in on her membership, so other than gas the day was completely free. Two moms and 6 kids (one in utero) and a lot of energy. It was so fun to see Deirdre and just pick up where we'd left off in July.

Carver making a weird face while pushing Nora through the museum. That's Deirdre
in the background. Looking beautiful!

Z in front of the T Rex jaws. He still loves him some dinosaurs.

I have to switch gears today and hunker down in my office and attempt the Certificate of Citizenship for Zinabu. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing, but this is what I need to do. Thanks to Deirdre for a little escapism yesterday so I can work today.

Anti-Procrastination
We are one and a half weeks into August and I am rockin' my list. Look how much I've been able to cross off so far!

• Apply for Zinabu's Certificate of Citizenship. For my ramblings on this, go here. And I said no judging.
• Update our will and trust. 
• Fix the broken window in our basement. Long story, but it's a double-paned window and only the inner pane is broken so it's been easy to put off.
• Install some kind of filter on our computer to keep the porn away. We supervise computer use, but you never know what will creep in. Did I ever tell you about the time I was looking up a recipe and wound up at a "Girls, Girls, Girls" site? Yeah. A recipe, for Pete's sake. It grosses me out.
• Finish organizing our digital photos on our computer. I started but have a bit more to do.
• Create memory boxes of my kids' elementary school years. I have the piles. I just need to put them in something in a year-by-year format.
• Craigslist the kid stuff we no longer need but could get some money from. Like our B.O.B jogging stroller and North Face sleeping bags. 
• Go to the new IKEA that just opened. {OK, kidding.}
• Update my address book. You know, all the torn out return address labels from holiday cards that are held together by a rubber band and stuck haphazardly in my desk. I need to clean that up.
• Schedule my knee surgery.

Let's pause for a moment to make the occasion:

Yes, I added that last item to my list because I could have put it off. I mean, who wants surgery? But I bit the bullet and got it on the calendar. I'm flying through this list!

Faith in our Future

I took this picture for 2 reasons:
1. I am wearing a dress. It happens about once a year, so it's important to document the event.
2. I have my hair pulled up in a chignon. You can't really see it, but it's there. The agony of growing out my hair is beginning to pay off.

Last night David and I went to Denver to attend a very formal award ceremony. Every year, forty students from across the state of Colorado win the most prestigious scholarship award offered, and this year David had 2 students from his school win. It. Was. Awesome. The ceremony was actually to honor a favorite teacher of each scholarship recipient. There was a beautiful dinner, followed by the students getting up on stage and explaining why their particular teacher (that they chose) was an influence in their lives. I lost count at how many times I cried after 15. Seriously. It was so inspiring. So moving. So beautiful to see these high achieving kids honor the teachers in their lives. From the extra geeky science teacher who looked incredibly uncomfortable to the sweet little Spanish teacher who welled up the moment she got on stage, it was non-stop In.Cred.I.Ble.

I have faith in our future. Faith in future generations. Faith in this generation who are pouring into the next generation. I get to see it. And it does not disappoint.

The Perfect Day
I almost took my kids to the art museum today, but after thinking about it I decided they needed to be outside, having good, old-fashioned fun. The weather was just right: partly sunny and balmy. We found a phenomenal trail, and had--quite possibly--the perfect day.

At the trail head. The three musketeers.

The hike followed a creek bed straight up a canyon.

Lots of bridges.

Onward.

At the top of the trail at the waterfall.

The water was so shallow but actually full of fish. My kids more or less terrified them
for the better part of two hours. No casualties, though.

They look so cute!!! And yes, those are the nets from the infamous yard sale.

Z played on the rocks the entire time.

I did not feel one bit guilty that I had a tomato and homemade pesto sandwich while the
kids had peanut butter and jelly.

What makes me a mom.

Flying leap.

A total miracle: no one's shoes got wet.

Please stop growing, Lily. Just stop!

Progress
It's the first day of August and I'm already crossing items off my to-do list. Not bad. Granted, they were the two easiest. I could just sit here at my computer and do them, but still. They're done. And how interesting to install a computer filter and then spend the last hour trying to access porn. Good to know I couldn't get anything and the filter is doing its job. I feel much better about my kids' screen time now. Honestly, I should have done this years ago. Here's the list.

• Apply for Zinabu's Certificate of Citizenship. For my ramblings on this, go here. And I said no judging.
• Update our will and trust. 
• Fix the broken window in our basement. Long story, but it's a double-paned window and only the inner pane is broken so it's been easy to put off.
• Install some kind of filter on our computer to keep the porn away. We supervise computer use, but you never know what will creep in. Did I ever tell you about the time I was looking up a recipe and wound up at a "Girls, Girls, Girls" site? Yeah. A recipe, for Pete's sake. It grosses me out.
• Finish organizing our digital photos on our computer. I started but have a bit more to do.
• Create memory boxes of my kids' elementary school years. I have the piles. I just need to put them in something in a year-by-year format.
• Craigslist the kid stuff we no longer need but could get some money from. Like our B.O.B jogging stroller and North Face sleeping bags. 
• Go to the new IKEA that just opened. {OK, kidding.}
• Update my address book. You know, all the torn out return address labels from holiday cards that are held together by a rubber band and stuck haphazardly in my desk. I need to clean that up.

We've been reading some great biographies around here. 

There are a lot of wonderful books about Anne Frank, and of course her diary, but we started with a very simplistic overview of her life. Carver is fascinated with World War 2 (because he is 12 and he is a boy) so he knew a lot of the war details, but it was great to introduce the kids to such a remarkable young girl--who was not so different from them--and the details of what happened to her and her family. We also read a great little biography of Jesse Owens, whose story at the Olympics in Germany piggy-backed the Anne Frank story. Great books. Up next we have Benjamin Franklin and African American Inventors.