Just Simply Holly

The old adage about time going faster the older you get hasn’t been more true that it is as this moment! Exactly 24 hours from right now my youngest child will turn 13! Although I always knew this day would come, I honestly never thought it would arrive as fast as it did!

Where did the past 13 years go? I look back and think about where my life was then and where it is now and it’s honestly not that much different. It’s not that I feel my life is bad, because I don’t! If anything I feel eternally grateful for what I have been given.

Years ago I was told by a very prominent doctor that I would never carry a child full term, let alone give birth. And look at me now, I’m a mom of two wonderful children, well, they’re wonderful sometimes…..LOL But seriously! I truly feel blessed for what I have been given! There are so many out there that go through so many more struggles than I do, but I draw my strength from their stories!

Be forewarned, I’m going to have one of those “Mushy Mom” posts tomorrow…LOL! But I think that you will enjoy it!

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Fortunately, it was a good crazy, but let me tell you, this was will be one for the record books! It started out as a quiet, easy going morning. I was able to enjoy my coffee and wake up well before the kids woke up!

My family TOTALLY respected my wishes and did not buy me a gift or a card. I asked them not to spend any money of me for Mother’s Day in lieu of my upcoming trip to California, so instead they each sent me a wonderful e-card and the kids “promised” they’d be on their best behavior all day. I’m happy to say that other than one or two minor attitudes, the kids behaved themselves wonderfully today, so that made this a wonderful Mother’s Day in my book!

I had told my sister that I would bring a cake to her house as part of the dinner and had found a recipe a few weeks ago for a chocolate cake that I had really been dying to try. So, for the first time ever, I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting 100% from scratch. I was a bit nervous, even with all of the baking that I’ve done over the years, I had never attempted a cake and frosting completely from scratch. My worries proved completely unfounded as everyone agreed it was one of the best chocolate cakes they had ever eaten! I was quite impressed myself and plan on tackling other types of cakes from scratch as soon as I can!

We had an AWESOME time at my sisters house! Of course, by the time we got there she and our mother had already drank two glasses of Sangria, so they had a head start on me…LOL! But I didn’t even try to catch up with them! My sister made an AWESOME lasagna and besides my chocolate cake, we also had strawberry shortcake for dessert!

The trip home, however, became an adventure! We pulled out of my sisters driveway and I happened to look at the dashboard of the car (my hubby was driving). I looked at him and said “You need to stop for gas because we will NOT make it home”, but he assured me that we had more than enough gas in the car to make it home. I told him that I had driven that car for more than 5 years and I was certain that there was no way we would make it home, but he had it in his head that we would make it home just fine. Can you guess who was right? That’s right, I WAS! LOL We were about 2/3 of the way home with about 15 miles to go and the car started that running out of gas “chug-a-lug”. I looked at him and he had this look of complete disbelief on his face, to which I said “I TOLD YOU SO”.

See, we don’t drive the Honda that much anymore, so we hadn’t put any gas in it. He drove it up to my sisters house yesterday morning and had used my brother in law’s truck to drive back and forth with the loads of firewood from the trees that they had cut down. So today we drove the truck back up to them and brought the Honda back home.

So here we were, basically in the middle of no where, with no gas and no gas can to put gas in. My husband walked to one of two houses that were nearby to see if he could buy some gas from them, but they said they didn’t have any. The did, however, offer to call the Sheriff’s department stating that they thought the sheriff always carried a gallon of gas with them. So, we waited for the Sheriff to show up, and when he did, he had no gas. He stated that they stopped carrying gas with them quite a while ago. My husband then walked to the other house that was nearby and was able to get a gallon of gas, which was more than enough to get us home. He brought the can out to the car and put it in and as he was taking the can back I decided to start the car. Only thing was, when we ran out, we coasted off to the edge of the road and the car was on a slant, a bad enough slant that the car just would not start. Thankfully the Sheriff’s deputy stuck around to make sure we stayed safe. Between him, my husband and our son, they were able to push the car up onto a flatter area of the road side and after a few more minutes of cranking the ignition and pumping the gas pedal, the car finally started.

I tell you though, laughed my butt off the ENTIRE time we sat there on empty! I don’t know if it was the 2 glasses of Sangria, or just the fact that it had been such an enjoyable day, but I just found the entire situation hilarious!

We got home and had to clean up after puppies, the only damage they had caused was a chewed up tube of lip gloss that brat gurl had left laying on her desk, so that tuned out better than it could have! I made a pot of coffee and got the kids started on their showers, made a few phone calls to let everyone know that we made it home safely and poured myself a cup of coffee.

Just as I sat down with my coffee, the phone rang. I seen that it was my step daughter, so I let my husband answer the phone, thinking she was calling to talk to him, but I was wrong. She was calling for me to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day, which meant a lot to me! For a few years of her life, she lived with my husband and I full time. Although she was a wonderful child, I easily qualified as one of those typical wicked step mothers! I won’t go into the details, it serves no purpose anymore. I will say that it was better than 10 years before the two of us sat down and talked to each other and the only thing that I could offer her was my heartfelt apology. I knew that my mistakes had damaged her relationship with her father, and I offered to remain in the background so that the two of them could mend their relationship. It was a step in the right direction and over the past 2 years all four of us have developed a wonderful relationship with this very amazing young woman!

As a matter of fact, the relationship the the kids have developed with their older sister has grown so well that they are actually flying out and spending some time with her this summer, all on their own. Which leads to the final “WOW” of my Mother’s Day! I’ve known for a while now that the kids were going to go spend time with their older sister this summer, it’s about all they talk about any more and all three kids are really looking forward to it. I had initially thought they’d go for a week, maybe 10 days, but almost choked tonight when their sister asked if she could have them for a full MONTH! While I’m not even remotely against them spending a month with their sister, I’m a bit worried because the last time they spent any time with her was when she came to stay with us for a week, over 8 years ago. I trust her to take care of them, even though they’ll be in a major city over 500 miles from home. But the kids and I have never been away from each other that long!

So I’m torn, yes, they’ll be 15 and 13 by then and their sister is 25 and VERY responsible. I’m just torn you know! What would you do?

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This is going to be another post on the joys of owning dogs as well as one about children who refuse to pick up after themselves. This is something that has been an almost constant battle in my home, as well as one that I’m sure will never be won, at least until the kids move out ;o)

My son is, for the most part, a pretty good kid. But I have had a constant struggle with him about putting his shoes up when he takes them off. You see, our dogs are your typical dogs, and if something is just lying around, they very well may chew on it. Normally this really isn’t that big of a deal, we usually catch the dogs as they first start chewing on something so there ends up being little to no damage done.

This morning, however, we weren’t so fortunate. When my son took his shoes off last night he did “kind of” put them up. But the puppy found their hiding place, drug one under his desk and proceeded to chew on it as if it were her most treasured chew toys. The worst part about it is that my son is very picky about what type of shoes he wears and right now he will only wear skate shoes, and only in a style that we have a VERY difficult time finding around here. Fortunately for us, he still had his old pair, and they’re not in “that bad” of shape, but unfortunately for him, they’re a bit tight. But he’s going to have to make due with them this week because I’m not going to be able to replace them until the end of the week. Maybe this time he’ll learn to pick them up when he takes them off and put them in a place where the dogs can’t get to them? One can hope, but I’m sure not going to hold my breath…LOL!

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My daughter was so bummed out when she didn’t make the basketball team this year, but she didn’t totally give up on sports completely. She decided she’d try out for the track team, which I think was a good idea seeing how she’s always loved to run. To say it’s been a challenge for her is an understatement though. I get to school early to pick her up from practice so that I can watch her and offer tips. She cruises around the track like it’s nothing more than a brisk walk in the park. But she puts so much into it that when practice is over, she has nothing left.

By the time we get home she’s ready to take a shower and eat dinner and anything after that is pretty much a moot point. Trying to get homework finished or get her to bring her dirty clothes and/or dishes out of her room often turns into an argument. Thankfully she gets most of her homework done during her study hall period at the end of the school day and we’ve found that it’s easier to just let her fall asleep after dinner then get her up early in the morning to finish up her homework from the day before.

Yesterday was supposed to be their first track meet and she was a big old bucket of nerves yesterday morning. But the weather turned ugly in the early afternoon and the rain and winds came in, so they postponed the track meet until Saturday. After watching the news this morning I’m thinking they didn’t look at the weather forecast very well because they’re calling for colder temps and heavier rain for Saturday. Not my idea of a fun time at all! I’m hoping they postpone again because I really don’t want to sit outdoors in the cold and rain all day!

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Yes, the weekend is over, and we’re starting a whole new week. As I said yesterday, I cannot believe how quickly this past weekend went by! The weather here in NW Ohio was wonderful over the weekend and is going tobe even nicer today as they are calling for a high temperature this afternoon of 70 degrees! According to the news this morning, the last time we hit 70 or above here in my area was in October. I’m definitely ready for weather like this!

My daughter was a riot this morning. When I woke up around 5:00 AM, she was already up and going. I stopped and talked with her for a little while before she finished getting things around for school and asked her what she was doing up so early. She said that she kept having dreams all night that her room kept filling up with HDMI switches and cords….LOL! When I asked her how she even know what those were, she said that she had heard her grandparents talking about needing them for their new TV.

Poor kid, she’s just like me with having strange dreams. She wakes me up in the middle of the night at least a couple of times a week because she’s had bad or strange dreams that have woken her up. I think it’s because she always eats before she goes to bed, so I’m trying to work with her at to what are good things to eat before going to bed in the hopes of stopping her strange dreams!

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Yes, I do realize that my youngest is a couple of months from actually being a teen, but she’s close enough in my book…LOL! I had some time to talk to my husband over the weekend and we got to reminiscing about the silly things that the kids would do when they were little and how much we miss those days. They used to giggle and laugh over the silliest of things and their favorite activities were things like playing follow the leader, riding bike and just running around being goofy.

Now that they are teens, their favorite activities are arguing and more arguing! And rather than have a bathroom filled with bath tub toys and pull ups, I instead have a bathroom that is filled with make up, hair gel and acne treatment solutions. I know that I can’t make them be little forever, but it sure would be nice if I could have a little bit of their childhood personalities left over in their teens!

I have no doubt the next few years will go quickly though. It doesn’t seem like it’s been 15 and almost 13 years since they were born! I before I know it, they’ll both be graduating from High School, hopefully anyway! I don’t want the time to go by fast, I want them to do their best to enjoy what childhood years they have left! So, I’ll just deal with the arguing and hair gel and acne treatment solutions, because there are much worse things I could be dealing with!

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Modern technology is great and has some awesome benefits! But imagine my surprise when a message popped up that I had an email from my daughters cell phone knowing that my daughter is home. And imagine even how much more surprised I was when I read this:

Sorry bout this but baby fell asleep on me and i dont want 2 wake her. Can u bring me a glass of white milk please?

She sent me a message from her room because she didn’t want to wake the puppy up LMAO! I think that tops the cake of the most lazy things I’ve heard of…LOL!

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After you read this, you will realize that I am a VERY boring person…LOL! Today was the kids’ last day of school until March 31, they officially started spring break. Well, techincally my daughter started it yesterday because she was off school sick today. And before you ask, I forgot to call the doctor today, but tonight she doesn’t have a sore throat, so I’m pretty sure it’s just a bad cold and nothing more. We’ll see how she’s doing in the morning though, if the sore throat has returned, then I will call her doctor.

So, back to my spring break plans. Since we have so many pets, going away just is not going to happen, period. It would cost too much to kennel the dogs, even if it were only for a couple of days, and hiring someone to come into the house to check on them, let them out and feed them isn’t a possibility because of the fact that at least one of the older dogs likes to chew up things that shouldn’t be allowed. So since I know that getting out of Dodge isn’t an option, I’ve decided maybe the kids and I could do some around the house projects and get a few things taken care of that I’ve been on my husband to do for a while now. The kids aren’t the best at helping with housework, but the love to help me with projects. I don’t know what the difference is, but I’m not going to complain!

One of the smaller projects I have in mind is painting the back bathroom and getting the opaque tiles for the ceiling that will allow the light to come through from the light fixtures that are already up there. Replacing those isn’t something that I care to take on by myself, I’m not good with wiring things most of the time…LOL! But if I can get those tiles, we’ll be good to go without having to spend money replacing the actual fixtures!

Since we’re finally at the stage where using the wood burner daily is necessary, I’m going to move the desks and furniture around out here in the family room so that we have better access to the sliding glass door. That’s the main door that I take Sage outside through and right now my desk is in front of it, and it’s not the easiest thing to try and hold her and open the door, then squeeze through behind my desk….LOL! But since we don’t have to worry about the wood burner running 24/7, I now can put one of the desks over by it without having to worry that it’s too warm and/or too dry for a computer to be near. I also think that I’m going to take the one recliner back out to the living room and bring the small couch/loveseat back out here. I wish this room were just a little larger or that I hadn’t of agreed to take the GINORMOUS corner entertainment center from my sister. With having no choice but putting the TV in a corner, I only have 2 options of where I can put it since the other two corners are taken up by the wood burner and the sliding glass door.

So, there are just a few of my boring Spring Break plans. I know the kids were looking forward to the Florida trip that we had been planning, but that simply wasn’t in the cards. But I’m also not planning on the whole week being work filled, I’d like to take the kids to the zoo one day and I HAVE to take my daughter to the mall as well, she’s got some Build a Bear cash that’s been burning a hole in her pocket since Christmas…LOL! And since neither my son or husband like going to the mall, it’s a girls day out kind of thing for she and I to enjoy!

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Good morning and happy first day of spring! Spring has arrived on this chilly, frost covered morning in NW Ohio and although today is supposed to be a decent day (sunny and in the low 40’s), it’s not going to last. In true NW Ohio fashion, we are expecting a fairly significant snowfall over the kids spring break from school, which starts this afternoon.

As you’ll see from the image below, our weather over the next 10 days really isn’t going to be that bad. But the two days that are in the red box (Friday and Saturday) they are calling for snow, not just a little bit, but anywhere from 6 to 9 inches of SNOW!

I’m just so over this winter, and ready just to pack up and move somewhere that it doesn’t snow! This image shows the top 10 snow records for the Toledo area, with this year coming in at #10 with 50.4 inches of snow BEFORE the snow that is expected tomorrow.

Now, if my math is correct, if we get 6 inches of snow with this storm, that will tie us with the #7 record, if we get 6.5 inches of snow, we’ll tie with #6 and if we end up getting even more, well, you can figure the rest out yourself because I know you’re smart!!

So, I guess today and tomorrow I’ll spend my time making sure I’m stocked up on the essentials so that we’re prepared for any of those “just in case” situations that come with bad weather scenarios. At least I won’t have to worry about getting grumpy boy and brat gurl up and moving in the mornings after today! They both start their spring break at the end of the school day today. Well, grumpy boy does, brat gurl is home sick today with a lowgrade fever and a VERY sore throat. I’m just watching the time so that when her doctors office opens I can call and get her in today and make sure she doesn’t have strep throat.

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Good grief, mornings like this morning annoy the heck out of me! As you know, I’m a parent of one teenager and another that is just a couple months away from being a teenager. Neither one of them have ever been morning people, but as they get older, getting them up and ready for school on time is getting more and more difficult! First they just won’t wake up, then when they do finally wake up and get moving, they’re grumpy and mouthy! And then, when they’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off at the last minute trying to get ready so that they don’t miss the bus, they’re yelling at me like it’s my fault.

It’s mornings like this that make me wish I had a few of the funny t-shirts that I’ve seen at RoadKillTshirts.com! For instance, I would love to have this one when the kids are being grumpy and mouthy!

Rather than arguing with them I’d simply point to my shirt, smile and walk away…LOL! And I found this T-Shirt that has a saying that my husband says often…LOL

I can’t tell you how many times over the years he’s looked at me and said that, it was really cool finding it on a T-Shirt, I’m considering purchasing it for him for Fathers Day LOL!

Thankfully, they’re up and gone to school, so I have a little time to myself! I’m going to do some more baking today. I made a batch of peanut butter cookies last night and plan on making a few more kinds of cookies over the next day or two! But that’s a completely different post…LOL! Have a great day, hope you’re not hung over this morning from drinking too much green beer yesterday!

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