Thursday Thirteen #4 Long Time Comin'!

13 Things About Fair Week

1) Trash pick-up at 6AM every morning.

2) The sweaty hands INSIDE the latex gloves at trash pick-up leading to a pool of sweat that falls out when you take them off...yes...absolutely grody, discusting and absurd for me to put that on here, but oh so true.

3) The totally awesome breakfast that gets served after we've worked so hard picking up trash. THANK YOU LADIES!!! (Yes, ALWAYS make sure you wash your hands and arms thoroughly before touching anything at this wonderful breakfast!)

4) Thank God for Wednesday and Friday mornings because it was only harness racing the previous night and that really doesn't pull that big of a crowd and that crowd isn't near as rude in ignoring the trashcans. So, we get done picking up trash early those mornings! Woo-Hoo!

5) The "Dear Heavenly Father" look on everyone's faces on Thursday morning when we see what a crowd of PIGS are drawn to Tuff Truck on Wednesday night. To quote Jaquie this morning "It looked like someone just vomited all over the track, you couldn't even see it!"

6) It ALWAYS rains during fair week at some point in time. At the beginning of this week, the weatherguy was calling for NO rain ALL week long...and somehow, miraculously...it's raining!!!

7) After it starts raining during fair week, parking cars is always so much more fun *SARCASM!*

8) After it starts raining, the mud runnin' that goes on during parking. Especially by those testosterone-filled overgrown BOYS that swear up and down that they have a real truck when it's just a 2-wheel drive TOY!

9) The laughter (by us) when the TOYS can't get up the hill and they are sliding everywhere!

10) The crashes and dents and dings that happen when a TOY slides down the hill into another unsuspecting customer.

11) The screaming and hollering that goes on when the unsuspecting customer comes back to the crash, dent or ding and it hasn't been reported because there are so many that we don't see happen.

12) The dreams that you have every night and you wake up quite often feeling like your arms are still waving the cars on down the aisle. Sometimes you find one arm straight out poking your husband/wife in the face and the other rotating at the elbow in a circular fashion, waving the darn car on...

13) The way your body feels at the end of each day and you don't know if you can go on. But somehow, God gives you energy and strength the next day to keep you going so you can do the work of the Kingdom...again.

Thursday Thirteen #3

13 Reasons Why I LOVE having the kids around...

1. The way Middlechild strokes my back or arm when he's sitting beside me. Even though he hasn't said "I love you" much, he says it every time he does this.

2. The way Oldest has attached to Superhubbie so much that while we're watching a movie on a Sunday afternoon, she climbs up on his lap and they both fall asleep sitting in the recliner before the movie is half way over.

3. The way Youngest is so smart! He usually learns his lesson the first time he goofs up.

4. The way Middlechild is just like Superhubbie so many ways.

5. The way the dogs (mostly Woody) plays with them - it's a sight to behold!

6. The way they lit up when I cleaned up and decorated the guest bathroom, put a dresser in there, put their clothes in it and told them that it was theirs. It gave them even more of a sense of belonging.

7. The way they keep me on my toes! I can't be a couch potato like I enjoyed in summers past. I like this!

8. The way I don't eat as much when they're around. I've lost 4 lbs. in the last 2 weeks!

9. The way Youngest goes to comb his hair and only combs over the front 2 inches because that's all he sees in the mirror.

10. The way Middlechild woke up from his nap and pulled a tooth all by himself.

11. The he woke up the next morning and I saw such a smile on his face when he found a dollar under his pillow from the Tooth Fairy.

12. The way they love coming out here and never complain, wanting to go home.

13. The way they know in their hearts that we belong together without anyone saying anything to them about what we want to do.

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen things the kids did yesterday on our "first day" alone w/Missy (no Joe!):

1)Walked in the door and ran like wild children with the dogs for quite sometime.

2) Ate lunch (ravioli...mmm, yummy!)

3) Got into Joe & Missy's cowboy boots and wanted to take pictures!

4) Played with playdough! Every kid's favorite!

4) Played with the dogs...

5) Watched Nemo (to give Missy some time off!)

6) Loved on dogs while watching Nemo...

7) Played with the dogs...more...

8) Ate milk & choco chip cookies that Missy made fresh for us.

9) Played on the broken down John Deere that is sitting in the back yard because it's cool to play on a tractor! 10) Colored and cut construction paper into BEAUTIFUL things that were unidentifiable once we got done with the scissors! 11) Played with....well...you know... 12) Crashed for 45 minutes until Joe got home (the dogs did too!!!)

13) Ate supper (grilled cheese & tomato soup)

Then we got ready and went to church.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #1 (sorry so late)

I know, I know...It's FRIDAY MISSY...NOT THURSDAY!!! I just decided that I'm going to take a shot at this fun little doodad I've seen on others' sites. I didn't realize it was such a big thing until I saw on Theresa's site the official Thursday Thirteen site. So...here goes...

Thirteen things I need to do before August begins:

1. Finish foster care paperwork (Yes, foster care...kinda gives you a look into the stay-at-home mom thing...)


2. Clean my house...entirely. (Big job for me!)


3. Paint the guest bathroom in blues and purples. (It'll be the kids' bathroom...yes, I said kids.)


4. Finish painting my bedroom in greens and browns (It's 75% complete at the moment)


5. Finish paining the livingroom in browns and tans. (It's half way done now.)


6. Take Patches in for her rabies shot. (That's one of the cats you haven't met yet.)


7. When I take Patches in, I must get the vet records for the foster thing.


8. Help Superhubbie get the gutters back up after we finish fixing the roof.


9. When the guys finish builing the wall between the kids' rooms, I need to paint them. (colors?)


10. Help Superhubbie take care of electrical stuff around the house.


11. Help Superhubbie finish tiling the kids' bathroom floor.


12. Help Superhubbie trim around doors and windows that aren't trimmed.


13. I'm sure there's more...but #13 is: Take all the "junk" to Goodwill so I don't have to trip over it all anymore.