cRaZY

I was just looking back at my HUGE amount of blog posts last year... wow -- slow. me. down. on the writing thing :) and realized that I had a "word" last year -- BREATHE.  Boy - did that come in handy!!  It kind of cracks me up - but so do most things.  Because really, if I don't laugh, odds are I will cry, and if I cry, odds are I won't stop!

Sticking with the word thing - I have decided that to sum up the happenings lately in the world of all things Mona, CRAZY it is!  Here's why......

 * fire caused by a fireplace in the month of JULY.....

CRAZY (even if we do live in Wisconsin!)

 * cleaning bill for said fire ~ $31,873.82.....

CRAZY (oh yah - don't get me started on ServiceMaster!)

 *Absolutely no a problem in the world with our insurance company picking up the bill for cleaning.....

CRAZY with a huge sigh of RELIEF on the side!

*Going to Milwaukee to scatter Dad's ashes in Lake Michigan.....

CRAZY sad, CRAZY beautiful, CRAZY peaceful,  CRAZY surreal.... I LOVE YOU DAD!

*Continuing on from Milwaukee to go around Lake Michigan in our camper 

with Mom, Bobby, Me, Bode, Avery and Laney

CRAZY fun!

*Dalaney starting Northwoods Preschool last fall

CRAZY that my baby I mean big girl is old enough to go to school (even if it is Preschool!)

*Bode in 3rd grade and Avery in 2nd grade

CRAZY -- who allowed them to get so big so fast?  Who?

*Volunteering to be on the Preschool board and  be a Leader for Girl Scouts

while Bobby is a leader for Boy Scouts and helps out with Nordic Kids

not to mention helping/leading with any other thing that comes our way.....

CRAZY fun, rewarding and exhausing all at once!

*sewing Halloween costumes by candlelight because we didn't have POWER for 3 days

CRAZY even if they did turn out to be AMAZING, I wouldn't recommend it!

*surviving Terrible Tuesdays each week due to the fact that we have ballet, piano and tap all on the same evening with bearly enough time to go back and forth to Hayward to squeeze it all in

CRAZY.... just plain CRAZY!

*finding out Mom has ovarian cancer less than a year after Dad died from Esophogeal Cancer

CRAZY... I mean seriously, I have no words!

*watching Mom go through one hell of a surgery to remove most of the HUGE tumor

CRAZY

*being able to stay with her for the month long hospital stay while Bobby handled everything else flawlessly

CRAZY thankful

*watching Mom get a blood clot and go through complication after complication

CRAZY awe inspiring that she did it!  She survived!! go Mom!!

*watching Mom overcome every obsticle with such strength

CRAZY proud

*Trying to help Mom with the CRAZY amount of Life Changing decisions

CRAZILY overwhelming

 

*Realizing that I can handle all of this or at least keep putting one foot infront of the other

CRAZY

*Knowing that I have THE BEST FAMILY and FRIENDS on the planet

CRAZY lucky, humbled and thankful

*spending Christmas in a hotel in Rochester with Doug and his family to be closer to Mom

CRAZY ~ it was actually REALLY FUN!  Santa even found us!

*taking on the task of Girl Scout Cookie Coordinator for the 4 troops in Drummond

CRAZY x 10

*planning Bode's CRAZY Science Lab 9th Birthday Party

CRAZY amounts of time, CRAZY amount of 9 year old boys running around, but Oh SO MUCH FUN!!  Happy Birthday Mister Bode! Muah!

*Bobby and I getting together with some new friends for a couples night once a month

CRAZY fun, fun, FUN!

*Cleaning - I mean SERIOUSLY cleaning the basement (so Mom could move in for a while)

CRAZY -- I really NEVER thought it would actually happen -- I have a CLEAN basement!

*deciding that THIS IS THE YEAR to actually get serious and start my little business(es)

CRAZY!

 I even signed up for an online class (Indie Biz 3.0) to get me going (seeing that all the cool kids signed up also was quite a motivator ~ cause that's how I roll ~ hee hee)

so get ready for Pete + Vi

(a place for me to sell my party goods, paper ideas and anything else the tickles my fancy!)

and Studio M

(a place for me to design advertising materials)

We'll see how it goes!

So, so many more happenings, but really - how long should one post be.... really....

I guess you could say, "we are all stocked up on CRAZY here"!  And I wouldn't have it any other way!

love.....Mona

Good News.....Bad News.....

Let's start with the BAD news.....

Last night after eating dinner the kids we BEGGING to go swimming -- they were SOOOO HOT.  Bobby & I on the other hand seemed to be more tired from a fun filled weekend than we were hot, so despite all the whinning & pleading we settled in and decided to watch the Bachelorette (Bobby's FAVORITE show, hee hee hee).  Bobby was so into the show that he fell asleep on the couch.  All of a sudden, our smoke detector started going off.  Puzzled, I woke Bobby up (or they did) and told him to investigate, we were done with dinner and I thought that the alarms were just being weird.  Bobby unplugged the alarm on the main level and we still heard the alarm going off downstairs.  He went downstairs and I heard him say something to the effect of "Oh my God".  YIKES!!  I quickly told the kids to go outside just in case...(they were STELLAR and went directly to the garage and stayed there).  As I was getting the dogs out, Bobby yelled to me to get the other fire extinguisher.  I ran inside, grabbed the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, ran downstairs with it and gave it to Bobby.  He ran in again.  The basement was full of smoke.  I was so scared, but I kept telling the kids everything was ok and they were doing good.  I think I was trying to convince myself that everything was ok.  Bobby came out a few minutes later and the basement was so full of smoke I couldn't see him until he was at the door.  He said the fire was out and threw some baskets on the ground.  He doused his shirt with water and ran back in to open the windows.  I really, REALLY didn't want him to go inside with all that smoke, but he said it was ok, put the wet shirt over his mouth and ran back in.  I ran and got the phone to call the fire department during some point in this blur and must have done something to the phone, because it wouldn't work.  Bobby said the fire was out, but we wanted to make sure that nothing else was smoldering and thought we should call the fire department.  I put the dogs in my car in the garage (so they were safe), grabbed the kids and headed to the Arthurs next door.  We barged in their house and I asked to use their phone.  I called 911 and told them we thought the fire was out, but asked if they could still send someone to check it out.  I went back home and the fire department came.  Now, let me tell you.. the Namakagon Volunteer Fire Department is Amazing!!! They came right away and were so, so nice.  I kept thanking them for coming and apologizing for interupting their holidays.  They were all so gracious and said we definately did the right thing.  I was also MORTIFIED that my basement is such a mess.  I have really really been trying to clean down there and get rid of all the junk, but of couse, there was barely a path for them to get in.  How embarassing!!!

Here's the deal....  in my cleaning mode, I put baskets of all sizes on the hearth, to put things in as I cleaned.  I didn't thing anything of it and REALLY didn't think it was a danger.  We never use that fireplace (a gas one), so I decided to use the hearth as a place to put things. stupid, Stupid, STUPID!!! Well, the kids were downstairs playing yesterday afternoon and must have turned on the fireplace switch instead of the light switch (they are right next to each other). So, the fireplace was going all afternoon and the wicker baskets and the cloth baskets must have gotten so hot that they caught on fire.  I'm sure they were smoldering for a while and then caught fire soon before Bobby arrived in the basement, because they were the only thing that burned.  Bobby said that when he got to the door, that he saw 2 - 3 foot flames.  THANK Goodness that he reacted the way he did and knew where the fire extinguisher was.  He stayed so calm during the whole thing.  He really is our HERO!!!

If only we would have gone swimming (we were so close to going), our house would be gone!  If he didn't react so quickly, it would have been sooo much worse!  We definately were being watched over last night.  Thanks Dad! and Thanks God for keeping us all safe.

So.....

THE BAD NEWS

The Good News

We had these ready to go and knew were they were!

Our smoke detectors worked and are hooked together throughout the house and were working.

Bobby reacted quickly, safely and didn't panic.

The kids were amazing and went directly to the meeting place, stayed calm and didn't fight once!

The dogs stayed right next to the kids and weren't crazy.

Lisa watched the kids for us while we made sure the house was safe.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

We caught the fire before it was out of control.

The only damage we have is to the fireplace (which is washable!) and mantle.

The SMOKE DAMAGE which is pretty bad, but hopefully fixable.

My basement will DEFINATELY be cleaned soon.  (whether by me or the smoke cleaning people)

I swear I will definately be keeping things more organized!

(I REALLY don't want people to see things that way again!)  

We learned a HUGE lesson without losing our house!

The Namakagon Fire Department has AMAZING People!!

Again -- I am SO Sorry for bringing you out, but THANK YOU for keeping us safe!!

You are all definately HEROES and we are eternally THANKFUL!!

and most importantly.....

We are all safe and sound!

love.....Mona

Morning Coffee

The worst part about not doing the dishes before going to bed.......

.....not having THIS cup to use for my coffee in the morning!

Good thing I have a second favorite!

Ah....energy to do those dishes!!!

love.....Mona

Playdate???

Did I hear that there is a Pladate at the Pixie Palace???

 Oh Yeh! I LOVE Playdates!!!

Oh look at all the FUN things in there -- Ooh - I can't wait!!!

 Hello -- anyone home???  I wonder where everyone is????

 Did I hear someone coming???

Oh -- maybe they are over here.....

Oh -- were playing UNDER the playhouse???  Ok....

It sure is dark under here...

Thanks for the fun game of Hide and Seek! 

See you NEXT time!!

So, squirrels aren't necessarily my favorite animals, but I really don't mind the 4 or 5 grey squirrels that we have hanging out at our house. They run around and play -- eat the bird seed - and drive the dogs WILD -- but they are pretty fun to watch!  As I was stalking my favorite blogs this morning, I happened to look out at the playhouse and saw this squirrel just sitting there looking in.  He/she sat there for a long time, just looking -- I though for sure that it was going to go inside.  It never did, but it sure looked curious.  I thought it was the cutest thing!  I'm actually REALLY glad that it didn't go inside.  Like I said -- I think that they are fun to watch, but they really are dirty little things and I really don't want them to think the Pixie Palace is their home and settle in!

We had a very productive weekend....  Bobby worked more on his shed turned sauna -- it's coming along great -- there is even a place to sit now.  One more seat to go, a little trim and then the entry area and we will have a sauna...Yey -- then he can concentrate on Bode's tree house -- he is SOOO EXCITED! (Me too!)  He also got the dock in yesterday.  It's been so nice here (an ACTUAL SPRING -- I am over the moon!) we are excited to get on the lake!  My goal is to finish the boat house this summer.  I wonder if THIS is the year?????  I sure hope so!  We'll see how it goes!  Bobby even got to take the kids fishing on the dock yesterday -- they picked worms and headed down there --but according to Bode "we got skunked!"  Oh well - there will be plenty more opportunities.  Watch out fish!!  I worked on the basement most of the weekend.  I am so excited to have my craft room finished!  I am getting closer every day.  Most of the basement looks trashed -- but I am getting there -- I have about 9 big bags to go to Goodwill so far and I have tons to go.  It feels soooo good to declutter!  AND...I can't wait to walk into by nice clean, organized craft room -- ooh -- I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

Well - I'm off to finish some laundry and spiff up our abode.

love.....Mona

Chillin'

Happy Friday!!!

We'll just be Chillin' this weekend......

Just what weekends are for!

Love.....Mona

good morning stories and a brave adventure

tonce tupon ta time (said really REALLY fast)

there was a girl named Avery

this is too hot

this is too hairy

and this is too gassy

the end

Original poem by the talented, newly awakened Dalaney this morning while snuggling in bed with her favorite sister and mommy.

We are off to the basement of dispair today to free the soon to be extremely organized, most lovely craft room from the most horrific mess one could ever imagine!  Wish us luck!

Happy Weekend.....

love.....Mona