Tuesday things on Wednesday

 

This is my mom’s brother, Marc with his kids.  He passed away Monday.  My cousin Shannon (the tall one) passed away several years ago.  Marc passed away 5 months to the day from Eric.  It’s too much loss. Rest in peace Uncle Marc, I will miss having political conversations with you. 

My little buddy has been a bit under the weather.  He is currently in the hospital, awaiting surgery for pyloric stenosis.  I’m sorry little buddy. We hope you get to feeling better soon!  Even when he’s not feeling good, he is still a cutie pie.  Love you Easton.  We are praying for you and hoping you are fixed up and all better soon!

Side note - this boy is 6 weeks old - he has been in the ER 2 times.  At this rate, he will outpace his dad's childhood.  I better tell him he is grounded.  

Yesterday, I attended the State Association of Kansas Watersheds annual meeting.  Part of the day was spent at the Capitol, where we had some displays for Kansas watershed day, and a lunch with legislators.  I can honestly say I’d rather take a stick to the eye.  I’d rather eat a pan of hot rotten dog poop.  I can think of 8 million things I would rather do.   Why?  Because for every 5 minutes of good or helpful information, you must sit there for 2 hours. Seriously, that conference could have been an email.  And the lunch with legislators?  Yes, they showed up, of course they did - free lunch.  But seriously, we are just asking for funding - like everyone else.  They don't care about watershed issues.  They don't necessarily want to hear my problems or how I think they could be fixed.  It is like having a baby with a dead beat dad - you better be prepared to figure out how to pay for it and take care of it on your own.  They aren't even showing up with a birthday gift for the kid.  Now, do I think watershed issues are important?  Sure.  It is what I do at work, and I work hard to make sure that our things are as safe as they can be and that we are protecting both the safety and the dollars of the district.  But let's face it, unless something breaks, nobody wants to think about infrastructure.  This country is famous for building things without any thought into the long term maintenance and upkeep, and if you think there is a plan for the aging facilities, you would be highly mistaken.  I know this and live it on a daily basis.  So when I have to go sit in a long meeting where they keep asking over and over how we can expand and asking why we aren't building new structures, I have to say "because the maintenance and forced rehabilitation jobs are consuming our entire budget" that is NOT what they want to hear.  And when you sit in a luncheon begging people to fund things, what I want to see funded is not what we are supposed to be asking for.  Generally, as with the rest of my life, I am the person who is asking all the questions and they are the people who hate seeing me coming because they don't have any answers.  Can I just sit quietly and eat my little bbq lunch?  Negative - It just isn't in my nature.  As I said, I would literally rather do anything else.  

So I did.  Do anything else.  I quietly stood behind a group of school children and listened to their guided tour.  The man was very knowledgeable and interesting.  Way more interesting than Watershed displays.  And I did walk around the basement and read the little displays that they have set up down there.  And I did go into the Capitol gift shop, although I did not buy anything.  And I did ride a tour bus over there, although I am used to driving the bus, and I gotta tell you that I feel strongly that the driver was very inexperienced.  I also ate my bbq lunch, and had a nice conversation with the new kid at the Division of Conservation (and I do mean kid - I think he might be 22) and then I went back to the conference on the fancy bus where I 

Happened to notice that one of my cousins is on a task force, so I had to text her to tell her she is famous.  

Here is hoping I can skip this event next year!  :) 

I will leave hobknobbing with the hoity toities up to Jim- he likes that stuff!

The way life goes...

 

Last weekend, as you may recall me whining about, we had to cancel our plans to snuggle a sweet grandson, and visit with his parents.  And I did whine about it.  Because sometimes, some things are worth whining about.  Stupid winter weather.  So this weekend, when we were talking about what things we were doing, I said we need to go to Wichita!  So we did!  We loaded up the car with a couple of aunts, grabbed Quincy's old car that Colin's friend is interested in, and headed south.  It really isn't a bad trip, an easy drive for sure.  Unless it is blowing snow!  We even stopped off at the new bakery in town and brought the baby some cinnamon rolls!

And I was pretty well in grammy heaven snuggling this sweet boy.  Happy as can be.  We were laughing and talking about life, and hanging out together.  We went to lunch (lil Dale's first trip to Texas Roadhouse). 

And I literally have to peel myself away, because how could you ever get enough of this sweet face?  I love them all so much.  

But while we were there, we knew that my mom was visiting her brother in the hospital, the same hospital that my brother was in a few short months ago.  Her brother's outlook is not good, as there is nothing much that can be done.  And it struck me again, how weird life is.  How you can mix joy and happiness and excitement over a new little one added to the family, and at the same time, profound sadness and loss and devastation.  And they come in at intervals that are just mind blowing.  My mind can't wrap around it.  The emotional swing is just too vast.  I honestly haven't spent much time with my Uncle Marc in my adult life.  Yes, we exchanged political ideas on fb, and once in a while we might have seen him (usually at funerals), exchanged a Christmas card or sold him and Anne some fundraiser item my kids were peddling.  But they were not a part of our day to day lives.  But I still find my self feeling sad over the knowledge that my cousins will suffer this loss, his wife will suffer this loss, and my mother will suffer yet another loss.  It sucks.  Maybe there will be answers someday.  Maybe.

In an attempt to stop my brain from wandering down into the abyss, I am distracting it with photos of my baby girl and my baby grandson.  Maude was very happy that we came back from Wichita (Saige stayed home with her, so she wasn't alone all day, but she was still acting like we left her for days without food or companionship).  

Harper's final fundraiser for her band trip was bingo day at the school.  I drug Evie and Cameron to play bingo with me!  It was actually really fun.  I won!  I also gave my winning card to Evie so she could get the skin care basket that she wanted so much!  Evie and Cameron did not win, but they did have fun I think.  Cameron was thinking this was a gateway to getting Evie to become a high stakes gambler.  

I don't think his high stakes gambling career is going very good though.....

Of course, if you win a skin care basket, you must come home and do a new skin care routine!  Thank God for Aunt Bubba!

I bought Skelly a pair of sunglasses for Valentines day.  In an effort to get the girls to leave them on the skeleton, I also got them a pair!  CUTENESS!  

And we celebrated Andrew's 30th birthday (a week later than we meant to - stupid weather!).  

Also, Jim found 2 of his old bats - both Easton brand, so he had to take a group photo with the bats to send to Easton.  Since we like weirdness, we indulged him!  

And like always, that is a wrap on the weekend... back after it.

Some stuffs

You might remember that the girls found a kitten at church last summer.  They named him Father Jo, and since orange cats are generally male, I never checked, just assumed it was a boy.  Until today. We realized that Father Jo was acting like “he” was in heat.  Ummmm yea- father Jo is a girl. What other Jo goes to our church and happens to be celebrating her 80th birthday this week?  Joellen!  Problem solved - Father Jo is now JoEllen. And a trip to the vet will be scheduled.  Again.  No kittens necessary in this house with 4 house cats already!  

Saige tried out for, and made the 8th grade quiz bowl team.  Tonight she had her first meet.  She correctly answered 14 questions- which was the most on her team and elevated her to team captain.  She came home excited, happy and looking forward to the next meet.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know she was going until last minute, and so it was too late for me to drive.  Meaning we didn’t get to go watch her.  Maybe next week!  Good job Saige! We are super proud of you!  

This one always on the lookout for snacks.  

Which she can not have because this is Harper’s contribution to the bingo prizes for this weekend’s band fundraiser.  I love putting stuff like this together. I had so much fun.  

And that’s about enough for this day.  On to bed so we can dive into the weekend.