ONE MOMS CRAZY RIDE!!

We are at the end of our first year, in this strange new land where water falls from the sky! Here is a bit of our story...

Followers

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Duffy still a lap puppy!

Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The show must go on




Is it them? I see the pink, in the wings..wiggling and squiggling about. The sound system is bad, and there is some confusion. Oh..are they afraid? Do they need me back there? I just dropped them off, in the back, gave them a kiss and Larry and I walked out and around to find our seats. All my backstage memories come pouring back. Grumbling stomachs, racing heartbeat, and I begin to relive them all. What have I done? Are they alone in the back with their fears? I should go to them. I hold my breath...

Meanwhile the girls sit backstage coloring, snacking on cliff bars, waiting to go out and dance. What would they think, if they knew their mother was having such separation anxiety? Would they come and save me? Instead, they march out on stage, dance and sing their hearts out, while tears run down my face. (Wasn't I just telling them if they cried they would have big black stains down their faces) No, I didn't need to tell them that. They are fearless. No tears, no flinch, no twitch...While I completely melt down out in the audience. I am glad my girls still are under the impression that they need me. I will keep up the show as long as possible...after all..

the show must go on!



Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 15, 2008

the new read of the day.

I just ordered this from Amazon! There was a new word used in the review, at least new to me, Locovore. Interesting. It is an interesting concept, one in which I am trying to embrace. I noticed, while eating my warm soybeans, that they came from China, while my house was covered with soy beatles, due to the recent harvest. All of the soy grown was for cattle feed..now I am on a quest to find local farmers to buy from!! I will do this!! As I throw wilted, wrinkled turnips into the garden for mulch..apples I didn't get to, concord grapes that made my basement smell like that of a wino! I do have apple cider fermenting however..(oh, thats the wino smell) waiting to turn to vinegar-half a freezer of frozen tomatos, and grapes, and zucchini~ all in all not to bad for a first year, and I hadn't even planned on having a garden!! Oh, and pickles, I have green tomato pickles!
Today I heard of jalapeno and eggplant pickles..sounds interesting to me! Anyone know? Alright, I am off to read the book. It should have loaded on my kindle by now. I look forward to a review...has anyone else read it?

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Watching Kiersten play..

Click on the title, and watch the WII video! I hope it gives you a good chuckle...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Homeschooling!


What else is there to say?
Posted by Picasa

Inspired by Lylah


Alright, I guess I have been reading too many "make your house a cozy, comfy, yadda yadda..." and, quite frankly, they are all right. So this table, is inspired by my two favorite designers, Miss Lylah, and Miss DeAnna! This is nothing like their beauty, but its cozy, and comfy. Now, would you both please come over, and have coffee at my kitchen table??? hmmmmm????
Posted by Picasa

Monday, September 01, 2008

An idea to help you all get a jump on Christmas!!

Hi Everyone!
I know I am usually talking about silly things going on here, but this time I would like to extend some help to all you busy moms out there. I know Christmas is beginning to creep into everyones mind, and if your like me, that sets off an entire list of bells and whistles!!
I found sendoutcards about a year ago, and it has made keeping in touch with those i love much nicer. You KNOW how easy it is to send an e-card, yes? Well, Send out cards is just as easy, except someone else prints the card, addresses the card, and mails it for you!! (p.s. did i tell you could do it now and set the mail date for, oh say closer to Christmas? one thing down..check)
It cannot be any easier than this!! So, in the spirit of an early Christmas, I am gifting everyone that clicks a trial card, on me. This way you can see how EASY it is...not only can you send a card in 30 seconds, but if you choose you can have a font made out of your writing, and you can add photos, or create your own photo card in another program and then upload it!! Thats if your wanting too..if not, choose a card, sign it, send it...all with a click of the mouse. go here...you will see...pass it on to others that you think might be interested.

As a matter of fact...send an unexpected card to your husband..tell him how awesome he is and how much you appreciate him.
Just SEE what happens...then call and let me know. I love a great story...

Happy Holidays...
Valorie

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Anyone up for Hawaii? in...Minnisota???

This is what happens when Raymonds get invited to a Hawaiian wedding!! See Shannon in the one picture? She was asking for a drink with a little umbrella...anybody know where she learned that?

Posted by Picasa

Monday, July 21, 2008

The Many faces of Shannon!

Oh dear, dear, dear.....
as Piglet would say.


I am just not sure what to do with this...
I am sure I was just carrying her around in a little baby bucket!!

Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Looking for Grandmas...

Its an odd thing to hear stories all of ones life, and then to find oneself in the midst of that story. That is what has happened, after moving to Wisconsin. I moved back to my husbands birthplace, or almost anyway. About 30 miles away, and across the Mississippi River, is the town of Potosi. Not quite Dubuque Iowa. Apparantly, if they had dredged the other side of the River, Potosi would be the "city" and Dubuque the almost ghost town.
While on our own cross country adventure, had I looked up, I would have noticed I was moving amazingly close to where the first women in our line, landed and called home, after taking the long boat ride from Norway. And that is how I landed in the middle of the story..
Mom comes out to visit..and we drive to Minnesota for a cousins wedding. Mom brings the necklace that Christine wore at her wedding.(150 years ago) Now, in the line of moms, it goes like this..Me, Gail, (my mom) Marion, (Gails mom), Mathilda, (Marions mom), Christine, (Mathildas mom), and Martha, Christines mom. Martha came from Norway..
So, every since I was a little girl, I have wondered what all these places looked like. Always the adventurer, I have always wanted to see...well, they happened to be on the way to Minnesota. We stopped at the oldest graves on the way up, and stopped at my moms grandmothers grave on the way back. You see her cleaning off her grandmothers stone. She has great memories, and lovely stories..and I could tell you all of them.
When i looked up, and say my mom standing with her hand over her mouth, and a tear in her eye, I realized what immortal was. My mom was missing her grandma...and I miss mine...I didnt know she had never been to her grave. Her grandmother lived with her in Scottsdale, when Scottsdale was about as big as Potosi. Sometime after she broke her hip, she went into a nursing home back in LaCrosse. (2 hours north of me) My mom couldn't make her funeral, as she had young children, and this was the first time she has been to the cemetary since Tillie had been buried there. The house on the bottom right..was where Tillie sat, exactly 100 years ago, pregnant with twins. Thats the house, where all the stories that my grandmother shared with me..took place. And does anyone know why I walked right up to that 1902 grave? Anyway, thanks for going back to the 1800's with me...

Posted by Picasa

Friday, June 27, 2008

Pajamagram

WE got home last night, and my sister had sent us a pajamagram...and the girls and matched for their last night of four...(sniff sniff) and awoke big 5 year olds in new jammies!!
hmmm..they say they feel the same as yesterday. I don't believe it for a minute..

Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 23, 2008

Have you seen my camera?

I am going nuts here without my camera!! I can't find it anywhere..Mom and Nick have come and gone..(I did get lots of pictures on my blackberry, but can't take the time to get them off of there) What have we been doing the last month? Anybody seen the weather? Well...it seems that most of the bad weather goes right above us, or right below..until the day we decide to take Grandma and Pappa to Dubuque to the museum. A storm hit here that condemned two homes, slide trees and muck down onto the road to get to our house, and filled a lot of basements with water. Our property was safe and sound, thanks to God...watching over our place. We then set out to Minnesota for a wedding..had a great time, came back...no one had gotten their hay done yet, with all the rain..(it should have been done june 1) so we bustled and hustled to get someone to do that. OH did I tell you we woke up one morning with no water? Yup, a hole in the well pipe, 400 ft down...fixed the same day though...
all while the folks were visiting. I am sure they had a blast, but I am sure they were ready to get home too. LOL
The campground closed the day after my folks got here, and opened the day after they left, so both of us got to be home for the visit the entire 2 weeks. Just let someone try and tell me there is no God...
I also found a litter of kittens in the Hostas while checking on the horses in the storms...anyone for a yellow and white tabby? Gosh they are sooooooooooo cute...
now, where is that camera....

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Our new ASS....


His name is "a boy named Sue" so, meet Sue Raymond, our newest baby. Spirit should be arriving from AZ tomorrow, his limo driver broke down in Texas and had to get a new truck. *sheeesh*
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Do you ever?

Just look at your child, and say..."oh my gosh, that is not the same child, something is really different" I have mornings like that, or evenings..when all of a sudden one or the other of them look so....OLD~
Not the normal things, Like a chub up or slim down...or too short of pants...or a tummy showing in between the shirt and shorts...

I mean something different. A look in their eyes that says..."oh i get it now mom" ...or a nod...or something like...."you have me so disorganized i cant do my homework..." (yes that came out of Shannons 4 year old mouth today, talking to her sister)

or like this picture..when her teeth look really tiny...and I know what that means...soon they will be gone...with big gaping holes..and teeth too big for their mouths..

its the passage of time, and I can't seem to stop it...no matter how hard I try. (but then the daffodils would never bloom)
This time I REALLY know how fast they get big. This time, it really scares me...
Thank G_d for faith, because without I wouldn't make it...thanks God, for all of it, and for letting me see if before it passes me by.
Posted by Picasa

How to get GREAT salsa in Wisconsin!!

Wish me luck folks...
salsa should be ready....oh i dunno...90 days or so?

Anyone got chips??

How about tortillas? Anybody know how to make them, so you can teach me?
Can't get good ones here, thats for sure, haven't found em yet anyway.

found cheese...

oh and i want to bury a pig and cook it for the halloween party..anybody know how to do that? I have an idea, but not exactly...

HELP???!!!!

Posted by Picasa

Thursday, April 24, 2008

The same, but NOT!!

Could two people be more identically different? Holy smokes...Hollywood and Barnum and Bailey...

What an amazing thing these girls are to watch...so close, so loving, so the same...and so...


DIFFERENT!!!!!

Posted by Picasa

Spring has arrived!!

The snow is gone...the flowers are blooming. It is amazingly mild, humid and beautiful outside!! We have 6 acres of green grass, and haven't turned the sprinklers on once...
Everything is beginning to burst with color. Exactly what I always thought spring would look like..
more photos to follow...
Oh, this is my FIRST daffodil...we planted 200 bulbs before we even closed on this house, one because I was going nuts in the motorhome waiting for them to move out, and two...
I had a feeling the snow would melt, and I would be looking forward to the sun!!

Posted by Picasa

Sunday, April 06, 2008

AFTER the Party....

cool room eh?

Posted by Picasa

First spring picnic

Posted by Picasa

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Hanging baskets...

Ok folks..wish me luck...As soon as it warms up a little more...I am going to try and grow a few of these, and hang them around the property...

They don't do great in AZ...

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Many generations of Chipmunks...RULE!!!!!!

Ok, so you may wonder why I have this post on the Raymond page, instead of the giggling twins page. This is why...the Chipmunks span three generation..now. Even though two of the generations are my kids, (thats just how it goes) its three generations non-the-less.
Now...Alvin was ALWAYS my favorite, as he had a harmonica and wanted a hoola hoop...(what could be cooler) and I must say, he reminded me a bit of myself. Seems Alvin was always getting yelled at...(no..not ME????)

So here we are ...i have three days till I turn 47, and I am outta my skin because the Chipmunk movie is out on DVD, and I HAVE GOT TO GET TO SAMS CLUB....NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

I have to tell you...they have not lost there allure, at least in my house. The girls got to stay up until late to watch it...(because I WAS NOT waiting until today..)
and, they were on the ends of their seats..cracking up...leaning into the T.V. and wondering why I was so lost trying to sing the Witch Doctor...does anyone but me remember the old one? It was NOT hip/hop...although the new one is cool. I am telling you, in 1963 who knew hip/hop?

Some things just will always make you feel warm and fuzzy. As for the middle generation, I think she liked Thundercats and She-Ra lots more than the chipmunks....but I have made sure the little ones are socked in!!!!

MUNKS ROCK!!!

Posted by Picasa

it sunk in the ground....too wet yet...what a ride...it spins 360!!! waaahoooo!

Posted by Picasa

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Not quite 4 months old yet!!

The Many Faces of Duffy!!
Posted by Picasa

Posted by Picasa

Making Eggs...

Here are the girls with their newly found friends, coloring eggs! We had a nice day, the day before Easter, eating Pizza, making eggs, and watching Labrynth...Anyone remember that movie? The next day we went to church, then Aunt Frans and Uncle Toms, for an egg hunt with the cousins, and Easter dinner. In the snow no less..can you just imagine?
Posted by Picasa

Monday, March 24, 2008

Updates on the house...

Things are coming along...bit by bit. We had the wrong paint, and have had to start over...here is Larry putting our awesome new table together..the blue carpet is REALLY gonna stand out until we get the floor in.
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Die, Blue, Die!!!!

So, those of you who have known me for some time, know I have been plagued by powder blue for oh, some twenty-five years...
The first apartment I had with Morgan, on 68th St. by circle K, had a powder blue counter, toilet and bathtub. It didn't bother me too much then, as I was happy to have a roof over my head, and the bathroom was big..
then zip forward 19 years, and Larrys house had powder blue kitchen counters, and we FINALLY put marble in there...and promptly moved.
STINK!!!!
To a house I love, but not only are the counters powder blue in the kitchen..but the walls, and the carpet ......

Larry is working on the BIG walls, while I tackle the kitchen. My little sister wrinkled her nose up...and wondered why i wanted to paint my house barn red. Its not barn red....exactly
I really do have a vision here..honestly...
find before photos here...

Although her furniture is lovely here, white and blue just aren't my thing, particularly when thats the color of the outside..for many months. As you can see too, looking at the photos, she didn't use two of the doors in the living room..
and its my goal to have a very kid friendly, farm friendly..oh heck..just friendly house.
Comments definatly welcome..no worries I am strong enough to withstand criticism too..
I miss my friends...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Posted by Picasa