Tuesday, July 28, 2009

3 years in Progress

updating my personal thread. ;) the harder I try to eat less, the more my blood sugar is fighting me on it. but I am determined to win.

Last night the family teased me about that 1/4 cup of ice cream (homemade) before bed. I told them that I was tired during dinner, they kept at me until I got to bed at 10 pm. I woke up on my own before the sun came up.

Today I had a juicy steak for breakfast. about 2 ounces and a huge mug of coffee. I am serious about going back to the basics. I am serious about telling my family that they are being PITA's and that it is not all about them. ;)

Today is a New day. Instead of beating my self up about what I didnt accomplish yesterday, I want to congratulate my self on what I have accomplished in my lifetime.

Health
I am 100 times better today than I was 36 months ago, I am completely off of all RA medication and have recieved more respect now that I am healthier.
Education
I am a college graduate with a Bachelor degree and two minor degrees. and I am sharing that love of knowledge with my own homeschooled child.
I am a Cub Scout leader, instilling values and morals that contribute to our society in not just my own children, but 8 other boys.
Career
I am a pretty good photographer that helps people preserve their family history. I do not make a lot of money, but I help people.
Family
I am a fantastic mother of 5 really kind and caring kids. People that contribute to society rather than leach off of it. I am a proud mother in law of two Marines serving in Iraq. (I keep the wives safe and supported while the boys serve our country). I am a firm but kind grandma of a terrific toddler.
I am a really really good family historian for my own clan. My genealogy and photo files are Library of Congress in porportions. I will never be rich, but I am blessed.

Friday, July 17, 2009

update on the family:

Jasmine is having a rough time of it finding herself. she is in California but out of her element. she wants to go to Montana but when she is there, she is unhappy and self medicates with way too much alcohol, so we are working with her for a good old fashion intervention. we acquired her a good little truck that needed some repairs, we made those repairs, but now she is overwhelmed with the idea of a car note for 3 years and 13% interest. she needs to get a better job and she is reluctant to change. ;-) she has to go down to marine corps legal tomorrow and file for divorce, Christopher comes back to the states the end of this month. she has custody of her pit bull dog and so that makes finding roommates and a house in southern California difficult. She is making $8.50 / hour and 40 hours a week as a cashier at the USMC Pendleton PX. (shaking my head)

Krystal is completely bugging about Jason coming home next month. she has plane tickets to fly to Seattle to help another wife in Jason's unit get the new born baby home to san clemente on the 3rd of august. she will be leaving minime with the grandma's in taxes for 2 weeks while she runs down the west coast visiting her 'other' sister in portland, and getting home to deal with her primary sister in California. she wants a week honeymoon with Jason before I drive the grandbaby out to see everyone. she has really been good about mother henning the wives in Jason's platoon... Sienna and Julie and Naomi and Desiree as well as Sammy from a different unit. so add in jasmine and she has her tribe established. :-) she is making $11.50 / hr as a security guard at the local college.

Naomi is wanting me to come up, we had planned for her to come down in our household, but that didnt materialize so I am following through with natural consequences and Naomi doesnt get a visit. it is not naomi's fault and naomi is the one that will suffer, but they said in march that they wanted her to come down and then they didnt bring her down so that is the deal. I can not drop everything for everyone else all the time. sometimes I have to put others first. this summer it is krys and jordan, erik and magnus. she will be back in high school for year 12 this fall, she goes until she is 21.

Erik is busting out all the stops on his scouting requirements. we are in a 4 day outdoor program with the nature center this week learning about trees and forest plants, wildlife and birds, water ecology & recycling. last month we had an intensive 4 days at scout camp and covered engineering, readyman (first aid), scientist, naturalist, and sportsman (football) as well as BB's and Archery. this was in addition to his completing swim team (in the pool 6 days a week) and running a triathlon (swim:100M, Bike:5K, Run:1K), he completed another one this month which makes his 5th Triathlon in 13 months. He went with me to Kansas along with Jordan, Magnus and Jasmine on a 7 day camping trip in May, that rocked the house. He went with me, Jordan, Magnus, and Krys to the Children's Museum and learned about science, banking and civics, math, motion, water, and energy last Sunday. Currently he is working on figuring out SimCity with a lot more challenges of industry, retail, budgets, and residential. I dread sending him back to school, they do not reason well with him, whereas I can give him a consequence and redirect him before he has a thermal nuclear meltdown, they do not seem either aware of the situation until it is too late or do not know what to do once it has escalated. he will be in the 4th grade this fall.

Magnus is such a complicated child. he is very gloomy but affectionate. It takes him 45 minutes to transition from my lap to a group setting of strangers. he is getting better at church, but overall he is just so socially phobic, I wonder what in the world happened that I would have this particular child. His dad is anti-social and his aunt on his dad's side is clinically socially phobic, but this just blows me away and is a challenge to even identify with. It will be a huge challenge tomorrow since I have to work in the morning and can not sit and nurture him while he get's comfortable. I really do not want to send either boy to school this fall, it is SUCH A Drain dealing with Magnus's social phobias. He gets physically ill by 10:30 am and had a migraine every day at school. he has quit cub scouts, has taken 4 sets of swimming lessons and can at least get around safely. Still gets nervous in the pool and nearly throws up in anything over 6 feet of water. He will be 3rd grade and will be in Chess club in the fall. oh. so the truck, we take it in for a brake job and a transmission rebuilt. the bill is $3200.00 and I take the boys to the grocery store after wards. they head down the toy isle, hoping to score a $5 bokagon. I said we came for milk and only milk. that I just paid this and showed them the receipt for the truck. and Magnus immediately says "toys are a want, milk is a need" and immediately headed for the dairy case, Erik came along, but not nearly as industriously. granted, Magnus LIVES off of diary. he is a little baby cow when it comes to milk 3 times a day, yogurt once or twice a day, and cheese once or twice a day. his priorities are: Dairy, cold pizza, bananas, Ninetendo DS, Razor scooter, and sleep.

Jordan is growing into an AMAZING little boy. his language skills are very much improved. I am trying to get his mom to do better on the baby talk, it is not that she uses baby talk, it is that she insists on using nicknames that are so stupid. jaja for jasmine, mimi for grandma, ama for grandma, it is like, enough already. ;) he has a blast hanging out with his uncles and thinks that the world rises and sets on them. Erik tends to be too rough and Magnus jealous and so is antisocial with him. he is very rough with Magnus, constantly making Magnus cry when he body slams him. it is a mess. I am nudging his mom to take him to home depot and Lowe's for the craft stuff on Saturdays, we had fun at Micheal's last weekend doing that as well. he needs lots of activities to keep him busy and engaged. he did a really really nice painting on Saturday. black and blue and white fishes.

As for me, myself and I, well my tummy and my body are going completely insane. last night i tried a new vegetable as part of the nutritional study that Erik is enrolled in at Baylor University. we had baby cucumbers with yogurt. BAD CHOICE. I nearly had my whole hand down the back of my throat trying to get all the foamies out of my tummy before I lost my mind. It took almost 2 hours of vomiting to clean out my pouch. but that is not the worst of it. I have gained 20 lbs in less than a year, part of it is from stress eating, part of it is from carb eating and part of it is from dehydration. Some of the choices that were not abundantly obvious was getting a slushy from sonic, who would have thought something that is primarily based on ICE WATER would have 650 calories. CRAP. so I am back to Coffee and protein in the mornings (today it was cheese sticks) and occasionally lunch, but not as often and healthy, and then for dinner, whatever is put on the table, but generally that is carb-based. last night was rice and Sunday was pizza, Thursday will be spaghetti. I am too lazy to fix something else. although the last two days I have been nibbling on a t-bone steak, so it is getting better. I am eating my weight in mints to keep my stomach calm and it is working. Erik has been experimenting with frozen fruit smoothies and yesterday he added some sugar to one and sent my blood sugar through the roof, that was not pleasant. the hypoglycemia is much worse and I am sure that it is all the carb's fault. I am not a hungry all day and then I am STARVING at night, it is as if the last 3 years never occurred. I have learned but I have retained very letting common sense. notice even in this list, I am dead last. a priority scheme that is no healthy but predominate in being a SUPER MOM.
I have secured Jasmine a truck, I plan to drive it out to California next month, taking one grand baby and one son, should be interesting. the other grandmother is not comfortable with me traveling alone that far, but my daughter who knows me laughed because traveling with kids is like breathing for me and she knows it. I feel guilty that I am not taking Erik, but he 'said' he didn't want to go, and I know that he will change his mind when I am in the driveway. such a mess. I am on facebook a lot now, not as interested in my photography as I should be to make any money. I did spend a week de-cluttering my storage in my office. I have yet to tackle the garage that is a SERIOUS HEALTH HAZARD, but it is all the recycling fault. heehee. sounds convincing but i am lying. giggle. I do have boxes of clear glass and boxes of #3-7 plastics, but the bulk of it is props for my business. I can't have a garage sale, I need the stuff too much. ;-)

Sverre.. sverre is complicated. he at HP in the cubicals, but at least he has a job with money coming in. I really need krys at work with me since it is a complicated (male nude) session tomorrow. she has to take the boys to the park, and sverre sit at home with me. augh.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

blood sucking mosquitoes

Children's Museum
learned about water power, banking, voting, city management, puzzles,
air rockets, physical exercise

Day camp at Jesse Jones Nature Park
ate alive by mosquitoes the size of humming birds
leaf rubbings and walk through the woods. picnic lunch outside.

lots of crafts

got a tv and can now watch pbs kids

Erik ran a triathlon, swam 100 meters, pedal'd 5 K, ran 1 K, finished in 21.5 minutes in Cypress Texas

tic tac toe wooden project at Lowes, another wooden project at Lowes (golf toy)

fabric and paint tote bag art activity at Michaels Craft Store

At beach

We wish u were here - Jazz & Atlas

Saturday, July 04, 2009

more crazy schedule

Home Depot Wooden tool box project

Magnus Birthday party with cake and ice cream, he is now 8 years old and loves Bokegon

Erik attends swimming team awards ceremony. He wins a trophy for doing his best.

Mormon Pancake feed for the Fourth of July breakfast

fourth of july at Faithbridge Methodist church in the evening

concert, food, drinks & Fireworks

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Cub Scout Camp

cub scout camp, 5 classes a day, 4 days and learned:
science experiments
snakes and plants and seeds
amphibians and reptiles
leather billfold craft, leather wrapped handle walking stick
wooden catapult and bridge construction
first aid triage
flag football & home made ice cream making
geology & owl vomit
leave no trace
bb guns & archery
police and finger printing

Erik ran a triathlon, swam 100 meters, pedal'd 5 K, ran 1 K, finished in 23 minutes in Pearland Texas

we went to Splashtown USA and played in the water

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Pearland Triathlon

Erik started exhausted but finished without throwing up, more than can be said for some other participants.

He swam a 100 M 8:34 - 8:37 = 3 minutes
He Pedaled a 2.5 Mile 8:38 - 8:52 = 14 minutes
He ran a 1/2 Mile 8:53 - 9:03 = 10 minutes

He finished in 29:18:00
placing 14 out of 17 in his division

the run is what did him in, he was just EXHAUSTED at that point.

We finished up with 6 hours at Splashtown USA

Monday, June 22, 2009

Camp Wannahawkaloogie

Sat Jun 6 7am – 12pm #5 Swim Meet @ SCF
4:30pm – 6:30pm Triathlon Bike for Erik
Sun Jun 7 2pm – 4pm Birthday party at Jenna's and Pool Party - Jenna's and Pool Party
4:30pm – 9:30pm Chris Lada Graduation & Pool Party
Mon Jun 8 9am – 9:45am Swim Practice
10am – 1:45pm Scouts - Erik & Magnus go to Jesse Jones
Tue Jun 9 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
Wed Jun 10 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
Thu Jun 11 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
3pm – 4pm Mad Scientist Bush Library
9pm – 10:30pm Night swim
Fri Jun 12 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
Sat Jun 13 7am – 1pm #6 Swim Meet @ Raveneaux - at pool at 7 am!
Sun Jun 14 9 - 11 am church

Mon Jun 15 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
12:30pm – 1:30pm Swim - Magnus - Philip
Tue Jun 16 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
12:30pm – 1pm Swim - Magnus - Philip
1pm – 1:30pm Swim - Erik
5pm – 9pm moorhead blueberries

Wed Jun 17 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
12:30pm – 1pm Swim - Magnus - Philip
1pm – 1:30pm Swim - Erik
Thu Jun 18 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
12:30pm – 1pm Swim - Magnus - Philip
1pm – 1:30pm Swim - Erik
3pm – 4pm Fathers Day Gift Bush Library
Fri Jun 19 9am – 9:45am SCF Swim Practice
9am – 10:30am Staff meeting
12:30pm – 1pm Swim - Magnus - Philip
Sat Jun 20 7am – 3pm Divisional Swim Tournament @ Tomball

Sun Jun 21 7:30am – 2:30pm Cub World

Mon Jun 22 10am – 1:45pm Scouts - Erik and Magnus go to Jesse Jones
2pm – 4pm Movie Monday - Bush Library
4pm – 7:30pm Moorehead blueberry Picking

Saturday, June 20, 2009

fathers day project

Swimming lessons, Magnus can swim face down in the pool

Divisional Swim meet in Tomball, Texas

Fathers Day craft project at Library

(NWAL) Divisionals Swim Meet Tomball Texas

Event 21 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Freestyle
56/56 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:27:12
.............Current time: 00:32:47 Wardrobe Malfunction

Event 51 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Backstroke
41/43 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:33:91
.............Current time: 00:30:84

Event 61 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Butterfly
30/35 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:37:25
.............Current time: 00:36:21 (DQ)

Monday, June 15, 2009

Spring Creek Forest Sharks vs Raveneaux Racers Swimmeet

Spring Creek Forest Sharks vs Raveneaux Racers Swimmeet
13 June 2009

Event 21 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Freestyle
23/26 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:29:94
.............Current best time: 00:27:12

Event 51 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Backstroke
17/21 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:34:07
.............Current best time: 00:33:91

Event 61 Boys 9-10 25 Meter Butterfly
15/16 Amundsen, Erik
............previous best time: 00:46:48
.............Current best time: 00:37:25

Saturday, June 13, 2009

mad scientist

Birthday Pool party in Klein, Texas

and then Graduation Pool Party in Cypress Texas

swim practice every single morning

Mad Scientist at Library, dry ice experiments

Swim Meet at Raveneaux Country Club

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Development

It is so easy to post when things are getting us down, so little to post when things are smooth sailing.

Update on the critters:

From the top:
Jasmine. wow. this sweet girl has been through the ringer, hubby insisted that she blow off her job in Montana and 'be with him' until his deployment. Then refused to help her pay those bills that rack up when she is not working. Insisted that she be at his beck and call while on deployment, but come to find out he has another 'honey' in Iowa, I swear, him and that other one deserve each other. Jasmine is just too sweet and special for all that drama. His family were beyond spiteful during Christmas because they really didn't approve of him marrying outside of the Jasper county gene pool. OMG. that is worse than some of those from the Ozarks. now to extract my girl as quickly and painlessly as possible. Currently she is living in California with Atlas and working at the PX on base. She accompanied our family to the Graduations in Kansas and was a real trooper in our primitive camping for 7 days including a tornado / flash flood situation one night. She is stronger than she realizes.

Krystal. awe. this strong girl has gone through some growth and development during this deployment. Jason calls infrequently, and that just destroys her peace of mind. she worries and is so disparately attached to him that I feel her agonizing over this separation. We flew her and mini-me home in May and the grandma's have been smothering them both with love, chores, work, and life to keep her mind healthy and his body active. So far it has all been a win/win situation and Krys is doing well. She is growing into a really sweet lady.

Naomi, *sigh* we thought she would be joining us this summer, but that was not the case after all. but we do the best we can with what we have. I am sure that she is doing well. I miss her terribly.

Erik! augh. Scouts are a transition. He is leaving Pack 1550 and Joining Pack 334
He is finishing up Swim Team and progressing in Triathlon season. We just completed 7 day primitive camping trip. 6 months before I will be ready to do that again. ;-) we are working seriously on behavior management. Today was Mad Scientist at the Forum. Tonight is his third swim work out today. Hopefully, dad will pedal with him over and back, he needs more saddle time.

Magnus, Painfully shy as always, will start swimming lessons on Monday, again. I swear, this kid needs to learn. other than that, he has mastered the Nintendo DS and is totally engrossed.

Good Morning

Saturday, June 06, 2009

new bike

Last Week of School, cup cakes

swim practice every after noon

Swim Meet at Spring Creek Forest Club

Erik gets a new bike, he is now too big for 20” and gets a 24” bike. It is Blue.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Quoteable Quotes this Morning

some trash talk on facebook got me to thinking. do not trash someone's momma. even if she is wrong and setting someone up to fail, she is doing it out of love for that person.

"For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death"

I think that goes for talking smack about other people's parent's too. So I will counsel my daughter to maintain a sweet spirit about her Mother in Law, even as I would hope that She would not talk smack about my sweet daughter. A Daughter whom I love above all reason, just as she would love her son above all rational thought. I pray that God would speak the whole family's heart and that they would have a better Christian testimony.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

why don't you control your kid?

In Response to Behaviour issues:
[QUOTE] say something about it to him-maybe he would get the picture and act sooner instead of letting Tweedle Dee run rampant.[/QUOTE]

here is the comment from the parent that child is a little terror:

A) If I were to 'mess them up' for being a snot, CPS would be on my case faster than you can say child abuse, we live in a society that has gone completely off the deep end. while currently spanking is legal in all 50 states, it is severely frowned on by most liberals, even in Texas.

B) Hitting does tend to beget hitting, so starting it, does suggest that we go down a path that may or may not be healthy.

C) If a child is craving attention, even negative attention, they will act up in public to get that attention, some child psychologist would suggest that if you give in to a child demanding negative attention, you will be guaranteeing that they will be doomed to repeat the offense. so while it appears that the parent is not 'paying attention' and that the child is 'getting away' you may not realize that the parent has just texted the other parent and now someone is grounded for the next week and they are choosing not to include every other person in the 50 yard vicinity in a public scene of chastisement and thus public humiliation. A humiliation that some (mostly those that also enjoy a good public hanging and think that the public stocks should be brought back) would feel better if they saw the punishment fit the crime (in their opinion) and totally miss the point of discretion being the better part of valor and that public humiliation is detrimental to a child's self esteem.

I have often felt that each parent has the right and privilege to screw up their child as they see fit and they do not need any help from a 20 second child psychologist bystander who thinks that they know all and can solve this problem in 10 seconds or less. How about applauding the parent that child is running rampant in Kinkos instead of being left in the car to die of heat exhaustion or worse at home at risk of dying of a house fire because there were just not enough support to help. How about just a tad bit more tolerance that not everyone has all the answers and they do the very best they can with what they have and some days it is not all about the rest of the people that think that they are entitled to a perfect world with robo-tron children that are controlled with large doses of corporal punishment or medicated beyond sensible levels. What is so terribly wrong with everyone being uniquely different and possibly a bit irreverent?

Monday, June 01, 2009

Possibilities


Sam Houston Council - Phoenix district
Pack 332 LDS - Klinewood Ward - Klein Stake