Showing posts with label His Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label His Family. Show all posts

Sunday, October 14, 2012

August's trip to Minnesota

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

 I know, I know - awful blogger, never updating, guilty am I. BUT skipping merrily over that, let me bribe you with PICTURES! Since I got my new laptop, it took us a while to figure out how to download our camera onto it, but now that it works, hooray! Let me share with you some pictures from our trip to Minnesota in August, featuring Pumpkin's 8th birthday, a trip to the MN Zoo and their featured Dinosaurs! exhibit, and, as the main reason for our trip, a wedding in the family.

The birthday girl with one of her two cakes that weekend thanks to the grandmas!

Us four with Grandpa Pet & Grandpa Pharaoh and a zoo statue of lions
Oh  no! It's a big ol' T. Rex!
We better run!!!!

I love Pumpkin's imitative face on this one!  Also, FYI, they're wearing  their Dino Girl dresses/tunics from Jusami 'cuz their mommy planned ahead.

I love that they had this at the end so you could see how the dino models worked... and control them yourself.


One of their favorite parts was touching the sharks & manta rays & trying to reach in to touch the anemones.  And yes, we DID see a child (not ours!) stretch and reach so far she fell in! The zoo volunteers keep towels at their station. :)

Hello, monkey!

We are fierce girls who ride on wolves!

The wedding

With this ring....

Mr. Kluges's side in a rare group photo - y'all look so NICE!

Us with the bride - doesn't she look gorgeous?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

WW - Us with One of '09's Newest Graduates

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Ah, time for another round of open letters!

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


Dear Rabbits,

We've got a ton of hostas. Why'd you have to go and mow down one of the only ones I've transplanted to a new spot? Now it looks all off-balance and funny in that area.

More importantly, STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY GARDEN! I'm pretty sure you've been at the beans & I'm telling you now that better be the end of it!

Sincerely,
The One Doing The Weeding, So Don't Think I Won't Notice


Dear Squirrels,

Yes, I know we've got a cool house. With recessed mortar between the bricks. Which apparently makes for excellent toe/claw holds. But I'm afraid my husband is going to have a conniption fit if he keeps seeing you scampering about on the side of his house. And if you keep it up, he's going to start trying to chuck rocks at you again, which is totally going to result in the breakage of at least one probably-from-1921 window glass. So knock it off.

Sincerely,
The One Who Climbed Out of the Bathroom Window Yesterday and Scared the Bejeesus Out of One of You, Resulting in an Impressive-Looking Two Story Leap on Your Part

P.S. I do think it's hilarious that one of you squirrels peeked in at him through the bathroom window when he was brushing his teeth this morning though...


Dear Our Municipality,

What exactly are the regulations in regards to slingshots and attempted use upon annoying varmints?

Sincerely,
A Law-abiding Citizen


Dear FLYlady,

I love how my house is tidier and cleaner since I started following your program. You're right - you can get a lot done in 15 minutes, routines help, watch out for Hot Spots, etc.

But all this cleaning is cutting into my blogging/posting/surfing time! :)

Sincerely,
A Flybaby


Dear Twitter,

I love how I can just pop on and share my 140 character thoughts with the world. However, it has cut down on my expanding those thoughts into, say, an actual post.

Sincerely,
How Many Characters Do I Have Left?


Dear Papa Jem and Damma Yori,

Thanks for hosting us this weekend, and especially for sharing your coats and such with us when the weather was 20 degrees colder than was forecast when I checked it for packing. As always, we very much appreciate the extra work & patience on your part & all the yummy food.

Sincerely,
Your DIL


Dear Weather,

What was up with you this past weekend? Seriously, I checked the forecast, with the right zip code and everything, for packing & it said 68F and partly sunny (as of Tues). You gave us 48F (brrr!), all-day rain/drizzle, and wind gusts for Saturday's 4 hour graduation party at a park. As Penguin said (repeatedly), "Playground wet!"

Sincerely,
Guess All That Time I Spent Choosing the Perfect Short-sleeve Shirt & Capri Outfit was Unnecessary


Dear Musings & Mutterings Readers,

Sorry I've been so absent lately. Between the end of the school year for Pumpkin, trying to keep up/get ahead with the Flylady stuff (love the results!), and a back-in-MN graduation this past (extended) weekend, I just haven't been posting. Apologies, & I'll try to start doing better.

Sincerely,
The Author

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

WW - Guess Who's Not a Heathen Anymore? (with bonus new cousin photo)

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com






(And here's a bonus "Kisses for the New Baby Cousin" photo!)


Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Not so wordless this Wednesday

(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


Sorry, folks, no Wordless Wednesday today. Mr. Kluges's folks were here from Friday afternoon until this morning. Much work was done up in the attic & in the office. The office is still in a state of craziness - with everything from it in the sun room, the living room (Hello, toys everywhere!), or stacked on the buffet or side table in the dining room. The real computer is one of those things stacked up out of the way, so I don't have the ability to download the new pix I've taken or to access any old ones. (I'm borrowing Mr. Kluges's work laptop to post here and at Recipeeps today since he's home to continue working on house stuff.)

So you'll just have to imagine for now Grampa Jem scrunched down in the attic, trying to work in about one foot of space way out under the eaves, or Gramma Yori, painting the ceiling above the stairs with her paint roller on a superlong extended pole, or Mr. Kluges sitting on top of a ladder, plastering the ceiling overhead.

Hopefully I can post pictures later this week, especially since I tried this tie-dyeing with old silk ties trick and it worked ok! Fun, but it seemed like it took forever to wait for the eggs to be done so I could see them!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

Girls' Adventure Weekend by the Numbers

(c) 2008 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Thursday
forever: the time our drive seemed to take
20 minutes, max: the amount of time we were at Grampa Jem & Gramma Yori's house before Penguin managed to pee on the carpet
10 under 10: the children of Mr. Kluges, his 3 high school friends, and us spouses who all got together for the first time in years, thanks to Nectarine aka Noodle aka Turtle.


Friday
50%: the percentage of us women at Girls' Adventure Weekend, who managed to get up on water skis
100%: the percentage who tried
about 4: average number of tries per person
12: ounces of Brie drizzled with brandy, wrapped in foil, melted at the edge of the fire, and consumed with crackers. Yum!
50-75 :approximate number of fireworks lit by Mr. Kluges and/or Grampa Jem and/or Uncle T.


Saturday
5: number of spectacular falls I took while waterskiing, either because the water was rough outside of the wake or when I tried to kick off one ski and keep going.
1: number of spectacular bruises I still have after apparently landing on a ski during a fall.
12:21 am: when I called Mr. Kluges to come pick me up from hanging out at the campsite with the other 3 Adventurous Women - Allknowingjen, Pusher & Suzuri. It was fabulous.


Sunday
about an hour: amount of time we got to visit with my brothers, SIL, and parents while admiring the new kitchen at my youngest brother's house
less than one: months of age of Sam Brody, new baby of The Sexy Blonde & Jaysan, for whom Puck and Pusher hosted a shower that afternoon
1: number of times I rolled doubles while playing the dice game there
6: songs I played or sang with Rock Band at Puck & Pusher's
1: how many it took to get me addicted


Monday
1: number of super cool necklaces Suzuri MADE over the weekend, and gave to me, that I forgot safely in a glass tray at my parents' house. *sigh* I'd wanted to post a picture, but I guess it'll have to wait.
2: girls napping at the same time for about an hour of the 6 hour drive.
70%: approximate percentage of the drive in which songs from Rock Band were running through my head.


Overall
6:30 - 7:00am: when Penguin woke up every single day, no matter how late she went to bed.
6: meals cooked on a grill consumed throughout the weekend - chicken, burgers, brats, pizza buns, steak, chicken-spinach brats.
878 = 353 + (30x2) + (10x2) + 67 + 17 + 61 + 300: miles from home to the in-laws to the high school friends' gathering and back to the in-laws to the campsite and back to the in-laws to my youngest brother's to Puck & Pusher's to my parents to home.
1413: the same number converted to kilometers.
only 1: surprisingly, the number of days it took me to catch up on the laundry from the trip.
4 and counting: days until the rest of the travel gear is all put away. I suppose I'd better get back to it!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Catch-up

(c) 2008 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Sorry for the week of no posts. I didn't have anything worthy of being turned into a Friday Funny, and then Mr. Kluges's parents came for a long weekend, so I didn't have much computer time. However, we had lots of fun visiting a local festival and a very productive time as well, with many projects getting done around the House of 42 Doors.

I can now use the built-in ironing board, for example. Before I was (legitimately!) afraid it would fall on my head when I opened the door. Of course, this built-in, wooden ironing board wouldn't fit a standard ironing board cover, because why would anything in this house be standard? But thanks to Grampa Jem, it's been made functional, both in terms of not falling on my head and being slightly shape-altered closer to the norm. Now I'm in business, once I find the iron...

And thanks to Gramma Yori, our back hallway is now painted - ceiling white and the walls the same yellow (Sherwin-Williams Hubbard Squash) as the living room (LR photos here). That's partly because I wanted it cheery with a bit of warmth, especially in the winter, when we can see our breath in that unheated space when we're on our way down to the basement, and partly because the living room took slightly less than one gallon when we'd purchased two. *grin* So yellow it became. Much better than the old manilla paper color it was top to bottom and ceiling as well when she started.


Before I go, I just want to give a special shout-out to Jaysan and The Sexy Blonde AND THEIR NEW BABY! Welcome to the world, little one!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Some Open Letters

(c) 2008 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


To my in-laws, Grampa Jem and Gramma Yori,

Thank you so much for all your hard work this weekend. You and Mr. Kluges got a TON done. Gramma Yori, the newly painted kitchen and living room look great! And I know it was slow going in the LR since the varnish was too old and delicate to mask it with blue tape. Plus painting behind the radiator makes you a champ. Grampa Jem, it was due to your help and know-how that the LR floor got jacked up and the framing for the new support wall was built. Also, good eye on finding the floor jacks on sale in the paper! Also, it's so nice to have the storm windows off and the (few) screens up and the doorbell fixed.

On a side note, it turns out we cut down a few of the neighbors' buckthorns as the line isn't quite where we thought it was. Oops. Oh well.

Thanks again!
The Owners of the House of 42 Doors



Dear Penguin,

Please stop finding stuff on the floor and eating it.

Thanks,
Your Mom



To My Parents, who will be coming to visit fairly soon,

It's ok with us if take it a little easier when you're visiting. Because I think I'm still exhausted from trying to keep up with the in-laws!

Love,
Your Best Daughter



Dear Penguin,

Just because it's on the floor does NOT mean it is edible.

Sincerely,
Your Mom


To The Father of My Children, who are too young to cook on their own,

*cough* Ahem, Mother's Day is this weekend and I like hash browns and coffee and bacon &/or sausage with my breakfast in bed. ;)

Love,
The woman who went through labor twice without any epidurals to birth those very children


Dear Penguin,

I know you don't know math yet, but here you go anyway...

Stuff on floor <> Food

Ok?

Your Mom, who really does sweep the floor sometimes, even if it's apparently not often enough



Dear Cold,

Please go away. I am quite tired of your company.

And take your friends Cough and Sneeze with you, 'k?

Very sincerely,
Me

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thankful

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans out there! Here's an incomplete list of things for which I'm thankful:
  • my wonderful husband Mr. Kluges, who makes my life a grand adventure
  • my darling firstborn child Pumpkin, who makes me laugh daily
  • my precious secondborn child Penguin, for her smiles like the sun rising
  • my mother for her quirky, just-so ways, yummy chocolate chip cookies, dedicated nursing skills, and willingness to be silly with us and the girls
  • my father for balancing out my mom, his we-can-do-it attitude, his help with our house to-do lists and his wisdom
  • both my parents, for their boundless love and support throughout the years
  • my brother Uncle Drew for his humor, intelligence, and love of games
  • my brother Uncle TP for his drive and ambition
  • my sister-in-law Auntie Kay for her graciousness and for bringing out the best in Uncle TP
  • my in-laws for their many visits and much help (especially recently), and for making me so welcome in their family
  • my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their two girls for how fun and lively things are when they're around
  • my TNGreatAunt, for her fun attitude, her own quirkiness, and her extreme generosity
  • all of my relatives for being family, with all that entails
  • my college friends for how tight we've stayed over the years, and how much we care about and help each other. You guys rock! I could say individual things about you all, because you're all fabulous in your own different ways, but I've only got until Penguin decides to wake up...
  • my wonderful friends I made in Ireland. They are what I miss the most from our time there
  • the internet, which helps me keep in contact with all of those listed above and has let me make new friends as well
  • YOU (yes, you) for reading this blog and making me feel my thoughts are heard and validated
  • the delicious food we'll be enjoying today and Saturday surrounded by family
  • being able to see grandparents more often now that we're back in the US
  • having had the opportunity to live over in Ireland for those two years, and all of the adventures we had there
  • our it'll-be-gorgeous-someday House of 42 Doors. Did I mention that my life is more adventurous thanks to Mr. Kluges? *grin*
  • the huge grocery stores stocked with such a variety and sufficiency of food here in the US, and also that they have fun shopping carts with cars on the front for Pumpkin to ride in
  • my college experience. Meeting new people, studying challenging and/or fun subjects, and really connecting with others - I felt like I really became myself in those years.
  • the changing of the seasons. I know winter will seem extra cold to us this year, but the changing seasons have always helped me mark and celebrate time
  • libraries, books, and reading. They have enriched and entertained my life.
  • hot baths
  • a bed that's cozy and warm
  • beer
  • chocolate
  • for Pumpkin and Penguin sleeping in long enough for me to do this post
  • and so many, many more things with which I've been blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Weekend Report

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


Busy weekend! Gramma Yori hung up her paintbrush and called it quits after a very productive week and a half stay with us. I'm sure Grampa Jem was glad to see her back home on Saturday, but we were sad to see her go. Man, did she get a TON done while she was here! We even had overlap of guests when Jaysan and The Sexy Blonde came out on Friday to visit us. We took it a little slower over the weekend when they were here, but still were rather distracted with house and children. Had a good time anyway.

I've uploaded and organized a new set of photos on Flikr to show some of our work in progress. I haven't remembered to take pictures of everything (like the messy, messy basement ceiling removal), but you can see a bit of it anyway. Click on the picture in the sidebar to the right to see the rest of the pictures. If you want to read about the whole calcimine-paint-removal process, Mr. Kluges just wrote about it on House of 42 Doors.

But the big news from the weekend is that Penguin said "Mama"!!!!! Well, it was really more like a very sad "mamamamamamama," but still! Yay! That's my girl!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Pretty, pretty walls

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Gramma Yori has been here, working her butt off, since last Wednesday. (I hope this doesn't jinx it...but,) After hours and hours and hours of peeling and scraping off paint, spreading walls with flour paste (works much better than just washing off the calcimine), scraping off the dried flour paste along with a lot of the chalky calcimine that sticks to it, washing the walls, washing the walls again, taping trim and spreading dropcloths, painting the trim in Pumpkin and Penguin's rooms, sanding Mr. Kluges's patches in the walls and one spot on the ceiling, priming the girls' rooms, and painting practically the entire upstairs... she will probably get done with painting the girls' rooms today.

"Wow!" is what I've got to say about what she's gotten done. That and "Thank you!" For merely room and board (and I've been trying to cook yummy stuff!), she's worked her tushie off over at our brick house. (She keeps joking that we haven't seen her bill yet...and we keep offering to double her wages...) And gotten SO MUCH accomplished that I'd only hoped would get done before we moved in. I really wanted to paint the girls' rooms and their trim before we got in, but that was all before the discovery of the calcimine paint underneath their walls and the HUGE job it is to take care of that. Once we saw that, we figured we might have to move Penguin in to the guest room while we finished her room, but no, thanks to help from all of the grandparents (but especially the retired Gramma Yori), we're so much farther along than that! Our room, the entire hallway, the "sewing room," and now the girls' room (plus all the ceilings and 2 of the closets) will be painted. Hooray!!!

So, hooray for painted walls and parents who help out their (possibly crazy, what-are-they-getting-themselves-into) kids!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Our Favorite Helpers!

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

We love our parents for many, many reasons...

...but right now, we're really appreciating how much they're helping us out!


<--Gramma Yori


Gramma Pet-->









<--Grampa Jem


Grampa Pharaoh-->




THANK YOU!

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Weekend Report

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Sorry about not posting much lately. Grampa Jem & Gramma Yori were here Friday afternoon to Monday morning and we were busy! Got lots done, but still lots to do! (So, Grampa Pharaoh and Gramma Pet, there's still plenty to do when you come this upcoming weekend!)

I mostly took care of the kids as usual, but the rest of the crew managed to empty out the crap in the basement (someday soon I hope to post pix of the mountains of STUFF that was left behind at this place), finish scraping the paint off the walls in Penguin's room, paint the ceiling and trim in Pumpkin's room, fix and sharpen the lawnmower that was left behind and our own (now we've got one at each place and don't have to haul one back and forth anymore!), and peel all the paint off in Pumpkin's room.

We'd hoped to finish Pumpkin's room all the way, but discovered the paint was starting to peel in there, so it's now getting the full paint-removal, calcimine-wash-off, repaint deal like Penguin's. To let you know how time intensive this is, it takes 8-10 hours to just peel off the old paint in these tiny rooms. Then the walls will have to be scrubbed 2-4 times with soapy water, washed again 1-2 times with clean water, and then primed, before they can be painted. Yeah, and here we were thinking we could just, you know, PAINT THE WALLS like a normal house! HA!

(In good news though, the paint store was having a sale of 25% off most of their paint, so we stocked up for both girls' room, the ceilings, the hallway, and primer!)

Eventually we'll be able to move in...


P.S. Much better post about our weekend just put up by Mr. Kluges over on House of 42 Doors. You'd think he wasn't repeatedly interrupted by two small children while trying to write...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

No, the spiders didn't get me

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


No, the spiders neither ate me nor held me for ransom. It's been a busy few days, so sorry about the lack of posting. I'll make up for it now with a nice, long post to help you avoid doing some work on a Friday. :)

Gramma Yori headed home today after cleaning the vast majority of our house. She cleaned all 4 bedrooms including closets, the bathroom, the linen and cedar closets, the sewing room and the hallway upstairs. That would be the entire upstairs, for those of you keeping score at home. She also cleaned the dining room, kitchen, living room, office, entryway, and back hallway downstairs. (That's everything except the sun room.) I don't remember how many bottles of Mr. Clean she told me she emptied, but I think it was around 6... plus some Spic-n-Span, Pinesol, and others. Amazing. It's so much more pleasant to walk through the house now! It smells so nice, and you don't have to look at dead bugs along the walls, or cobwebs on the ceiling, and I know it's all clean now. It's so nice! Thank you again, Gramma Yori!

She also was remarking on the large number of doors our house has (and that she cleaned)... so she counted them up. Hmmm... I could just tell you, but let's make it a guessing game. How many doors do YOU think she cleaned on the two main floors? We'll use her counting, which counted sets of French doors as one. Leave your answer in the comments, ok?

Mr. Kluges (with some help) cleaned out all the "treasures" that were in the attic. They are plentiful, varied, and unusual enough to warrant their own post with pictures someday... once I remember to take pictures of some of the best ones. He also did some shop-vac-ing of the attic stairs and attic itself. That means all we have left to clean are the sunroom with its many, many-paned windows and possibly hornet-filled woodstove and the basement.

The basement is where the really big spiders are.

With all their relatives.

Including shirt-tail relations and hangers on.

...

...

I don't especially like spiders.

...



In more exciting, less cobwebby news, September brings the start of community education classes, too. Between us all, we're enrolled in three. I've managed to find a belly dance class here, which started last Wednesday. Looks like it'll be a good one, even though none of the other students has ever done belly dance before. Based on two classes, the instructor does a good job of explaining the moves we're trying to do like my first instructor in GV, while keeping it all very aerobic and great exercise like my instructor in Cork.

I've signed up Pumpkin for a class called "Teacher & Me" for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year olds. It's meant to be sort of their first independent class. It's only a half hour, with stories and coloring and activities and songs and such. She did fine and seemed to enjoy it. It happens to be in the same dance studio that my belly dance class is, so I found that rather amusing. I stood around and peeked in through the big windows with a bunch of other parents. Didn't think to bring my camera though to immortalize her first without-me-along class, unlike some.

I DID remember to bring it along this evening though for the Parent-Child swimming class. She was a little reluctant to get in, but that's because the water was rather chilly. She loved getting to play with a bunch of water toys, and was grinning ear to ear during some of the songs and games at the end of the half hour.

Here, you can see for yourself...

(What? You maybe thought I was doing the class with her?
Nope - I get to spend all day with my girls.
I signed up Daddy to get to do the fun
class with her. It's good for both of 'em.)


And just because she's so dang cute, here's a picture of my other girl.

I swear, she's growing so quickly, I can hardly believe it.


(Ha ha! I am zee cute French bah-bee with zee pink beret! Adorable, no? Oui, oui!)


Ok, that's (more than) long enough. Have a great weekend!

P.S. Don't forget to guess how many doors we have on the two main floors that Gramma Yori cleaned!

Monday, September 10, 2007

The spiders tremble at her wrath

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com


My mother-in-law, Gramma Yori, is here to visit and help. And, lo, the woman is a cleaning fiend.

She arrived Friday late afternoon, and by the end of the evening, she had one of the bedrooms cleaned from top to bottom. That's no mean feat, because I swear there were 200 spiders in there, plus current webs, plus old webs, plus the dead bug husks... (Well, I could keep going, but then I think Kittenpie, who doesn't care for spiders, might just take my blog off her reading list! *grin* *wave*)

Since then, she and Mr. Kluges ('cuz I've been primarily kid-wrangling) have cleaned the dining room top to bottom (including the built-in buffet), hauled out the rugs and runners that were left and vacuumed and carpet-cleaned them twice, finished hauling all the considerable amount of junk/treasures left in the attic out to the garage, vacuumed the cobweb-filled attic stairs and the main stairs, thoroughly cleaned the "sewing room" and another bedroom and the large linen closet and the cedar closet (we have a cedar closet!) and about half of the hallway, plus they almost have Pumpkin's room cleaned... Whew, I'm getting tired just writing about it. Mr. Kluges has also finished cleaning out the gutter, which desperate needed it, and has done some yardwork, which has consisted mainly of pulling out, hacking down, or hacking back vegetation.

(I passed off kid-watching for long enough one day to do the big, really dirty one from the living room three times, just to feel like I'd contributed, you know?)

And where is she now? Back at the house for another day of Mr. Clean, Spic-n-Span, and Old English Wood Soap. We'll be joining her a bit later, once Mr. Kluges drops off the car, but I think she's declared war on the spiders and the mess.

God bless her for it!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

We're still here & fine

****************
copyright 2007 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************
Just wanted to do a brief post to let y'all know we're still here & still fine. I REALLY think Baby will be here in less than a week though... time will tell if I'm right. Thankfully, we've done ok so far this weekend with Mr. Kluges far away in the TC. He should be heading for home pretty soon, so that'll be good.

(Big THANKS to those who showed up to help with the yardwork at our house. I know Mr. Kluges said both sets of grandparents were wonderful help and that NoNickTodd was a masterful shoveller as well. Thanks, too, to anybody else who showed up to help yesterday or today that I don't know about - we appreciate it!)

Ok, Pumpkin's napping, so I'm going to go have a lie-down myself. Gotta store up some sleep, you know?!?

Sunday, February 11, 2007

My Baby's Got Ink!

****************
copyright 2007 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************

Something tells me Pumpkin's going to want to get a tattoo when she gets older...

And she'll probably design it herself.


P.S. Thanks, Youngest Bro & Sis-in-Law (who need better nicknames, I know) for the washable markers... and Grampa Jem for showing her they could be used on skin...

Thursday, December 28, 2006

A quick catch-up post

****************
copyright 2006 by Ms. Huis Herself
Please read this at www.musenmutter.blogspot.com
because that is the REAL site. Thank you!
****************
Sorry for the lack of postings lately. We've been busy with the holidays & with my in-laws here. Just sent them off EARLY this morning when Mr. Kluges brought them to the airport. And by early I mean they left the house at 4:30 in the a of m. And no, we didn't wake up Pumpkin to see them off; in fact, she very kindly slept until close to 8:30 this morning!

Today I have been running the washer and dryer constantly. I actually stripped the sheets off the guest bed and threw them in before re-retiring at 4:35 myself just 'cuz it takes so long and I knew I had plenty o' washing to do between sheets, towels, clothes & such. Pumpkin and I tidied, tried to find homes for all the new toys, and put together her new little kitchen today. I LOVE having visitors, but it always takes a couple of days to catch up after they leave, you know?

Poor Pumpkin came down with a cold the day before the inlaws arrived and snuffled and coughed her way through the whole week. Today was the first day I didn't have to dose her up with kids' cough meds, poor thing. She was up 10 times or so the first night of her cold before we got medicine 'cuz she was too stuffy to breathe, but after that it got better. She wasn't big on eating either, and between that and the medicine, she wasn't as... regular... as normal.

I only mention this (and I'm sure Mr. Kluges is shaking his head in disbelief that I did) because this is the only photo we have of her in her Christmas finery. You see, we drove down to Cobh and went to St. Colman's Cathedral for Christmas mass. And while we were there, at services... well, the imbalance corrected itself. And Pumpkin got to ride home swaddled in a blanket and her fortunately unsullied dress while the underlayers of clothing had to go in the trunk in a plastic bag. Yuck! (I'm sure you're all so VERY glad that I'm sharing this, I know.) So, the moral of the story is ALWAYS bring a change of clothes along even if you're only going to be away from home for a couple of hours!

Anyway, I'll try to do some posting about the fun stuff we did with Grampa Jem and Gramma Yori were here over the next few days. Also, I've started my post about 10 things I like that start with the letter E... but that make take a little longer!