Beef. It's what we had for dinner.........

I was busy washing and washing the pile of dishes that had congregated on the counter by the sink. They were there because my son has a lazy streak and I couldn't stand seeing dirty muffin pans waiting to be cleaned before they rusted away. Besides, I paid good money for them and want them to last until the children move away and then I'll get a REALLY good set for myself. (Wait, did I just say that?) Anywho, I HAD to get my kitchen cleaned for my own sanity.
So tonight was Taco Night and we had the usual taco meat with homemade seasoning, refried beans, Spanish rice, tomatoes, chopped spinach,avocado, cheese and salsa.
Since I was a-cleaning, I had the teenagers making the taco seasoning mix. Well, they aren't the greatest of cabinet searchers and kept asking for the Chili powder. THREE of them looked for it and wait, can you hear the answer? Neither of them found it. From a dark corner of the kitchen I hear,"Hey! Can I use Cayenne pepper instead of Chili powder?
"Are you trying to HURT us?" I blurt out.
I stroll over to the cabinet, move a few jars around and ta-da, here comes the Chili powder.
A while later, dinner is done and we enjoy a lovely meal. Easy, peasy, tacos and all.
Dessert for tonight. Nothing. We were filled charm of a plump and lovely baby playing on the floor.


Here is a picture of the after party.

Monday, Monday. La, la, la, la, la, la.

Ahhh, the end of a looong weekend and I am toast. Yep. Can you feel it? So much to do and so little of tired old me to do it. I thinketh that I am gonnaeth getteth a cupeth of teaeth. Okay, I must be talking like Winnie the Pooh (someone in my house calls him Winnie the Poop!), so confusing that there is no sanity.
Anyway, in my kitchen there is a floor heater. Why? Well, there is NO HEAT whatsoever in my kitchen so they lovingly installed a floor heater so our little toes wouldn't freeze off. On Saturday, we started to notice that there were wet spots on the grout between the tiles. We'd mop and it would soon appear again and we would blame Wyndon for spilling something and not cleaning it up. Well, it kept happening and we started to blame Elise for the wet socks that began to plague the laundry that day. Then it was wet again and we wondered if the dishwasher had gone leaky. So we mopped up the water one more time and went on with life.
SUNDAY- The floor was wet again. We got onto Wyndon and told him to QUIT IT with the spilling of water and not cleaning it up. He pleaded with us that it wasn't his fault and he was sick in bed- sick, throat hurting, feverishly ill, sick. I said SURE! You could have snuck down for a drink and spilled it, Dude. I have no compassion for fakers and stop eating that Tylenol like candy. You are not THAT sick!
Needless to say, he stayed home from church, still sick in bed. I stayed with him since the baby was congested and breathing like Darth Vader all night.
Sunday afternoon, Mr and the girls came home from church to a wet kitchen floor AGAIN.
We mopped and wiped and examined the dishwasher again for any signs of cracked pipes or something. Nope-it was clean and clear for the dishwasher. So Mr was lying on the floor looking around and under whatever he could see,(but you can't see anything because the floorboards are sealed at the bottom with silicone). I suggested that he dismantle the floor heater and see if it was coming out from there. So he did. I also suggested that he cut on the heater and maybe it would dry up the wet mess that kept oozing from underneath (Can you see the movie title??-"IT CAME FROM UNDERNEATH") He gently stated that someone could be electrocuted or I could possibly throw out the breaker and I'd be the one going out in the pouring rain to cut it back on. "UMMM, I guess not", I say and then go on to say, "Well it was a good idea." Mr cleared his throat as if he were saying "You really want to get rid of me, don't you?"
The dismantling begins and a yucky old water smell radiates from underneath and we were all wondering if the fridge had died and had spilled it's contents underneath the cabinets too.
Conclusion- For some reason, there is some kind of hose connected to the heater(??what in the world??)and it is leaking. PROFUSELY. The kitchen floor is really slick and wet. I have mopped till the cows have come home and slipped on that floor. Now it's time for THEM to fix it. I can see it now. "Ms Harris, could you empty all of those cabinets so we can tear them out and fix this pipe that is embedded underneath them???"
WHAT???????????????????????

I QUIT!

No-not blogging, I mean. Trying to get some rest at night. You know that "S" word. Sleeping. It's approximately 4:17am and I am awake. I tried so hard to go back to sleep several times but there was no hope for me. Too much action in my room.(And no-not THAT kind! This is a clean blog if I can say so myself!)

It all started with a reeally sleepy baby who didn't want to stay asleep for long. I put her to bed in my bed, surrounded by a barrier of pillows for her "not rolling around yet" safety. She is a very "scentsitive" baby, meaning she really likes the smell of mommy right next to her. So my mistake was........ drum roll please.........that I put a DADDY pillow in front of her!! Well that was the unjust punishment for an innocent child. You know, to wake up and smell, gasp, A-MAN! And not just any man, I say. That MAN who lets me cry when I want my mommy, MAN. OH NO! So, after I made this grave mistake, I moseyed downstairs to partake of the bowl of spaghetti that was waiting for me which I was so looking forward to enjoying. Five bites into this perfectly wonderful bowl of pasta, I heard the call. "WAAAAAAHHHHHHH, WAHHHHHHH, WAHHHHHHHHHHH!" She was cranking up the Gatling gun of a cry because she was missing the love of he life and smelled, "The Man" instead of me. Okay then- give up the food mama and go save your child!
I hesitantly bounded up the stairs to a face full of tears and some red, juicy eyes looking around for her mama. At this point, I pat her bunny,(her bottom) and whisper "Hush, hush, shhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhhhhh, calm down sweetie", while going through what I call "The Mental Checklist for Mothers"(that's another subject all together).
It was about this time that I realized she wasn't going back to sleep without a sip, so I began to nurse her and "The Man" appears offering to bring up my dinner so I can finish it while it's warm. "Of course", I answer and he whisks away to bring up my beloved late dinner accompanied by a precious glass of Ginger Ale. I quickly finish my din, lay down the dinner offender and run to get in the shower while I still have a chance. I'm just a-showering away when I hear it. No- I'm not hearing this. Oh yes I AM! She is at it again. WHAAAAAAA! Alrighty then. Now I am losing patience and do you know what I did???? I kept on showering and finished my relaxing moment because I knew that she was safe in bed. I'm not sure what the neighbors thought, or if they even heard her, but I didn't care because I was having "A Zen Moment". (Alright, I did feel guilty, but I had to take a shower before I got in the bed.) By the time I got out and dressed, "HE" was there. She still wasn't Kosher with him, so I grabbed her up and lay down with her to see what her need was. Okay then- fresh diaper you need? You got it! She was freshly changed and lying on the bed with those big, red eyes that make you want to bawl with her. Mr was giggling and sitting on the recliner across the room when I decided to ask him, "What is so funny?" He says, "I gave her a new nickname-Baldylocks!" I give him a mean frown, all while laughing at the same time. Hey, shhhhhhh! She's falling asleep! Oh my goodness! Her eyes are closed! It's a miracle that I didn't even have to pray about!

Fast forward to an hour ago. I'm asleep and dreaming about my friend Charmaine owning an international grocery store where each aisle contains food from a different country and each day they have different bakery items from all over the world. I was just about to lay down on some "Senorita Bread" from this Filipino bakery called "Starbread", when I hear laughter. Then I hear laughter again and the bed starts to move in unison with this laughter. When I begin to open my eyes from my fantasy of Senorita bread, I feel the squirming of baby, indicating that her tummy was empty and needed to be filled again. So on my left is contender #1- "Mr. Laughing In My Sleep while shaking the bed." In corner #2- is the, "I Need A Drink Or I WILL Wake Up And Let The Whole House Know That YOU Didn't Feed Me!", person.

I quickly laid my hand down in the vicinity of his head to rub it and am prickled by his freshly barbered locks or scalp or whatever you want to call it.
Ouch! He mumbles something about being funny and "I'm sorry", then quickly dozes off again. I roll over to feed wiggly and she dozes off also. I begin to float again into La La land when I hear the roaring sound of a Harley engine in my bedroom. It's HIM again! Blah, blah, blah! Good grief! Well, I'll be! I get up and go to the bathroom where I step on something oily on the floor. HE must have dripped some muscle rub and didn't wipe it up! Grumpily, I lay a bathroom rug down over the spot because someone could possibly slip on it and fall and hit their head on the toilet bowl. (Safety first!) Wiping off my feet with a washcloth, and climbing back into bed for another try, I wiggle in between the two offenders. Ahhh, this isn't too bad and it's still warm right here. La La land, here I come! Three minutes later, that Harley was back again with a vengeance. It was coming after me with all of the glory of a man on a safari hunting for lions! I poked the offender and he mumbled something again. Oh silence, you are my friend! Ahhhhhhhhh. Sweet rest, come quickly.(Can you hear the harp playing in the background?) I did, but only for a split second and then that darn blasted Harley came back and I jumped out of bed and stared at them. The Wiggler and the Harley. Both sleeping peacefully and looking so comfortable together.
And then I said, "I QUIT!"

Bath pictures

Here are a few more pictures to enjoy!



We drove up this road to find ourselves pulling over and looking at this next view....



The beautiful city of Bath!






An ice cream boat! Can you believe it? I want some!!!





A picture of the lovely countryside. Look at how they sectioned the fields!






Our last view of the outlying fields. Oh, what a gorgeous sky!

Bath,The Final Frontier!

Okay, this mess about Bath is really dragging on.
Let me just tell you that we had a great time at camp. The food was regional,(hmmm, that's a new word for me- where else would you have mackerel for BREAKFAST?????), the people were all so diverse, the surroundings were spectacular and the children really had a good time in nature. Even though one of them is allergic to the outdoors!
I'll just post some pictures to end this all.

I have my blanket now mom, so let's ride!






One of many houseboats on the river nearby.







The gorgeous green tennis courts bordering the cricket field.








A tree lined road on the way to the river.











A beautiful view below!

Camp Bath- Part 2

Okay, where were we?? Hmmm, I lost my train of thought.
Oh, okay. So we get to Bath and hit this horrendous stop and go traffic. So we text our pastor who encouraged us to come and tell him that we are in town. He texts back and says he will be waiting outside near the chapel and help us with our luggage and parking when we pull up. "See you in a few minutes-he texts!" 20 minutes later, we had only driven a mile farther than where we were in the first place, we receive a text from the pastor saying "How far now? I'm getting sunburn!" Oh, we had a good laugh at that and texted back telling him we were still 4 miles away and creeping at a turtles pace. We'd call him when we got closer. 20 minutes later, we finally break free of the holiday traffic and are cruising away on a beautiful road on the side of a mountain overlooking a winding tree lined river on the left and expensive cliff hanging houses on the right. The sun was out, cool wind blowing through the windows of the van and oomph!, I take the wrong turn and here we go, barrelling downhill, over the river and dow a narrow lane, looking for somewhere to turn around. I had to do one of my world famous U-turns, but we did it, drove back uphill in 3rd gear (that's for you-hubby), and took a left turn down a brick walled lane into a wider lane and there he was! Our red-glowing pastor and his beautiful, welcoming smile!
We made it, squeezed our big American van in a parking place and had a tour of this remarkable school campus. There were people here and there, enjoying the weather and each others company. And so here we were, finally at church camp.

http://www.monktoncombeschool.com/
Check out the pictures at the school website!

Now off to the dentist with my son!
I PROMISE to finish this today.

Off to camp Bath!

Whew! It's been a while since I've sat down and had two hands to type. I kept thinking that I REALLY needed to blog and since my memory isn't as good as it used to be, I kept forgettin'. Hmm, so for the last day or two, I got smart and decided to jot down what I was supposed to blog about and now I'm finally getting to it.
So-oooo let me tell you about camp. (I only have 15 minutes to do this before I have to wake up the masses to get them to VBS on time.)

We have been attending a sweet little church in Ely for over a year now and they are just like family to us. I had heard of their family camp back then, but not knowing any of the other members from the other churches, I was hesitant to go. besides, we were going to California and Texas and the thought of paying out anymore money made me feel nauseas. Ha! So we decided to go this year since we couldn't make our yearly pilgrimage to Texas in the scorching summer to melt and burn. Mr couldn't come because he works for dictators. (I know that dosen't sound nice, but it's the truth! I pray for them because they have nothing but work to live for and use their rank to make others do the same. Did I tell you about when I had Joy? Mr had to go back to work after only 10 days! I had a c-section and couldn't even drive yet, but that's another story.............)
Ahem, cough, now back to camp. So, I made arrangements for us to go to camp sans Mr. I really wanted him to go because I had two little ones, but so be it. There was one problem with it all. I had to do all the driving-across country. As you might know, we live on the East side of England, just less than an hour away from the North Sea and to get to Bath, we had to go to the other side. Through and around London. LONDON, ENGLAND. Major city of nightmarish traffic.
Hmmm, is there any other way around? NO, MAAM, unless you want to add another hour to the trip. So, off we went! It should have taken us 4 hours to get there and I tried to feed everyone before we left and make make them go water to avoid any disgusting toilet stops. Praise God, we got there in 3 hours, only slowed down a little bit in traffic and made it there in 3 hours. Yes, you heard it right. 3 hours. The only traffic we hit was in Bath. We were
less than 5 miles from our destination and we hit jaw dropping, stop and go traffic.

To be continued- after VBS!