I need an obsession . . .

You know how you go through seasons of interests? Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. When I first got married I was interested in finding great recipes. When we bought our first house, I poured over decorating magazines, sketched ideas and painted walls. When I was pregnant with Grant I subscribed to all the free pregnancy or baby magazines I could get my hands on. After he was born, I was OBSESSED with all things baby. I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for him. (I admit now that it was a little unhealthy.) Then, we started building a home and again the decorating bug hit me. After we moved in, I just wanted to get curtains up and try to inject my personality in this new home (this has not been accomplished, yet!).

I'll admit that when I became pregnant with Cole, I wasn't nearly as obsessed. In the beginning I counted the days until we were out of the danger zone, then I relaxed a lot more and just enjoyed being pregnant. That is a good thing because I had a cute little 2 year old to look after. I didn't have time for obsession. Well, okay, I guess I became obsessed with scrapbooking. I sell Close To My Heart scrapbooking and stamping supplies, so I was always thinking about how to earn enough money at a party or workshop to get free stuff. This is still a lot of fun for me.

I guess my current interest is learning about all of the crazy chemicals found in household cleaning products and personal care items. If the American public only knew . . . freaky stuff. Do some research. It is interesting!

Other than that, I think it is time for another obsession to kick in. I think I am going through a "stage" (as moms like to call it). Stuff doesn't interest me right now. I am just trying to keep my head above water. I'm sure there are other moms out there who feel the same way. (Can I get an "amen"?) Yeah, I'm being pretty vulnerable here, but I have no idea how many people are reading this blog anyway, so ignorance is bliss. I have a counter at the bottom of my page, but I'm sure most of the hits are from me!! Anyway, I wonder if I am developing SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I told my doctor that I've been feeling kind of down lately and she said I need to get some sun. Oh, if only the sun would come out! I live in Oregon, lady. Everything is gray right now. I've already thought about all kinds of solutions (lights, tanning beds, vacation to Australia) and just decided that I need to get over it. Will power. I'll let you know if it works. (But I also decided to take Luminex which contains St. Johns Wort . . . since I am not above self-medication.)

Maybe what I need to do is decorate my house. I admit, though, that I don't really care what it looks like right now. I just want it to stay clean! Yeah, right. Everywhere I go there are toys and books. Maybe if all of the toys and books were set against a vibrant red wall they wouldn't look as bad. Or, maybe what I need is a change in throw pillows.

Well, I'll try something this weekend and let you know how it goes.

A Reminder . . . to me

My beautiful boys! They are wonderful and delightful. I am so thankful that I get to be their mom!

I'm about to explode!

My boys are freaking me out. Cole NEEDS to sleep, yet Grant woke him up with his screaming, "No Mommy, I don't want a swat!" about 1/2 an our into his morning nap. Cole is trying to recover from a cold and would sleep 2 hours if his brother would STOP waking him up!! Cole is now crying because he thinks it is time to wake up and his mommy just left his room.

Grant is driving me NUTS!! Between the Cars monologues, insane sound effects (revving engines and who knows what), "Look mom . . . ", "Hey, mom . . . .", the sound of dropped cars on the hard wood, etc. I think I am going to go insane. And, to top it off, my coffee is cold.

Oh, no, it gets better. It is snowing again, which means that we had to cancel our MOPS steering team meeting this morning because the Dallas schools decided to cancel school. People in Minnesota would laugh at us Oregonians. Our schools have closed 3 times in recent weeks. Why???? Seriously!!!! When the schools close, do you know what I do? I take the boys on a field trip! We go to Wal-Mart and walk the isles. We visit Daddy. We deposit a check. We get a Dutch Bros. coffee. We go grocery shopping. A little bit of snow is not going to stop the Ratzlaffs from going outside. Our lives do not shut down just because school is closed!! FREAK!!!

I am NOT going to cancel our scrapbooking group tonight unless the weather is so bad that Mitch can't get home from work. Oh, yeah. Mitch went to WORK today. Imagine him actually continuing with his life while the rest of Dallas is afraid to go out in about 1/2 inch of snow . . . and a tiny bit of ice. By the way, for those of you who live in Dallas, people are driving up and down my street at a normal clip without chains right now! I live on a smooth road with about a 30 degree incline and people are NOT sliding around.

Yes, one day when my kids are in school and I am sitting at home, bored (yeah, right), I will long for these cold, wintry days when we were cooped up inside our homes with opportunities to cuddle, play games and wipe noses. But, since that has been my existence for the past 3 1/2 years, I just need something to look forward to in the EVERY DAY. If they cancel Bible Study for the 3rd time on Thursday, I think I will flip out.

[sigh] I apologize for the rant. Yeah, I need to throw my coffee in the microwave and just chill out. If only "the wipers on the bus [didn't] go swish, swish, swish . . . all through the town" quite so often. Grant found an old toy. Argh.

My Future Tow Truck Driver

Grant informed me this morning that when he gets bigger, he wants to be a tow truck driver. "And, Daddy, you can be a race car driver!" (Of course, Grant was driving Mater around with Lightning attached to his "ta". - If you don't know what any of that means, you need to see "Cars" the movie.) This is the first time Grant has shown interest in his future career. :o)

The Ham

I know I am writing about the mundane here, but at least I am sparing Mitch having to listen to my boring stories, so bear with me.

A couple of weeks ago we had a huge wind storm that knocked over a bunch of trees. Many of them landed on houses and barns. The waters rose and lots of people found water under their houses. My super-hero insurance agent husband came to the rescue. He wore jeans and a fleece to work that day because he had a feeling that he would be climbing under houses and helping to pull trees out of bedrooms.

Sure enough, he helped many people that day and got pretty dirty, wet and tired. One thankful client was so happy with the service he received that he gave us a HUGE ham. I really wish I had taken a picture of the ham. It was about the size of a 6 month old baby boy curled up with his buns in the air. Maybe bigger.

The ham had been sitting in our refrigerator for about a week when I finally decided to attempt baking it. The directions said to put it in a brown paper bag at 200* for 9 hours or until the internal temp is 160*. So, I put it in at 9:45 am and set the temperature to 210* (I'm a little impatient). Around 7:00 pm, I checked the ham. Not done. We ate leftovers for dinner.

At 8:30, I checked it. Not done. 9:30, not done. Finally at about 11:30 pm we checked the ham and it JUST registered 160* and not a degree more. It was done! Now what? We cut some of it for our midnight snack, but it was too hot to put into the refrigerator. We had to leave it out.

Thankfully one of the boys woke up at 12:30 am and while I pretended to be dead asleep, Mitch got up to take care of the boy and put the ham in the refrigerator.

We gave about 1/2 of it to Mitch's friend and former employee and I just finished cutting up the other half to put into the freezer. The ham bone is boiling on the stove.

Okay, seriously. Why did I just waste a ton of time writing about our ham? Imagine being married to me . . . Mitch is so thankful I have this blog!

My Surprise

For the past year or so, Mitch has been the one to put Grant to bed. They hop in Grant's bed and read books and tell stories. I love that Mitch likes to do that because I have always been the "drop and run" type. I know you are supposed to read and tell stories, but COME ON!! I do that ALL day. With Mitch taking over, I get to go take a bath or check my email or fix some tea in PEACE!!

Well, earlier this week, after kissing Grant and praying with him, I was kicked out of his room. They had to work on their surprise for Mommy. How fun!!!

Last night, I found out what their surprise was. I was putting Grant's PJs on him and he starts in with, "... L, M, N, O, P. Q, R, S . . T, U, V. W, X, Y and Z. Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me." WHAT!!?? Mitch had been teaching him the ABC song. I don't know how long they had been working on that, but it was SO cool to hear him sing it to me. I asked him to sing it again and he did it from the beginning. We went out to sing it to Daddy. He did great! He even enunciates his "LMNOP!" My 3 1/2 year old knows his ABC's!

(Since I am bragging, I might as well tell you that he also knows about 10 Bible verses. He goes to Awana and has a great memory. Hee hee!)

Playing in the snow . . . in November

We didn't go out in the snow yesterday because it all melted before we could get to it. Shucks.

Here are some pictures of us playing in the snow in November!

Snow Day!

I used to just love snow days. No school. Get to stay home with mom and make snow cones and hot chocolate. I have some great memories from childhood playing in the front yard at our 2nd Partlow Road house.

Well, times have changed. Snow is pretty, but it is cold. Grant keeps saying, "That makes me want to go out in the snow . . . get some snow clothes!" (Those of you who know how he talks can "hear" it.) The last time we went out in the snow (Nov.) he lasted about 10 minutes. He refused to put on his gloves and his hands froze to the point that he was crying. All of this after taking 15 minutes to make sure we were all bundled up.

I can hear you now, "Aw, let him go play in the snow." No. It is wet and cold and too early. My coffee hasn't kicked in. In the meantime, I'm sitting in the office, enjoying the view out the windows, trying to think and type at the same time, listening to Grant's "Cars" monologue. The kid is entertained enough without having to go out in the snow.

I'll post pictures of us playing in the snow later today . . .

I'm starting a blog!

So, for a while now I have been talking about starting a blog. I am constantly writing little messages to the ladies (mom, mother-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law) sharing the joys of my life. I often send little stories and cute pictures and they are always saying, "You need to keep that one!"

I put together a cute little journal the other day (altered notebook for you crafty types) to record all of the funny little things my kids (um . . . just Grant for now) say. Let's face it, though. I am much more likely to jump on the computer and start typing than write something down on paper and have to look at my messy handwriting. Yes, I will make an effort to write in the notebook, but this blog is just in case I don't get around to it. (Those of you who are still in the pen and paper stage might wonder why jumping on the computer is easier for me. It just is.)

So, here I go! I'm a blogger!

Christmas Pictures

Here are some fun pictures from Christmas morning!