If you are a Facebook user then you have probably seen the application called 'My Year In Status'. It's a cute app that makes a collage of your statuses through the year. Several of my Facebook Friends have done theirs. I've found them fun to read and reminisce. I've done mine. I've actually done it several times. I click the application link, I allow 'My Year In Status', I wait for my collage to be generated, and then...I read it. Disappointed with the collage, I edit my applications, remove 'My Year In Status', and start again. Over and over, day after day, I go through the same process.
Every time it starts out just fine. "is gonna woop up on K with her Yu-Gi-Oh deck...go zombies!" It then has a blip in there about when I stuck a fork through my thumb, that was a classic this year. I'm quoted as having "the best husband ever." Then, the reality of this roller-coaster year sets in. You see the next status is about Nathan having an allergic reaction to exercising and I'm wondering if I should rush him to the ER. I'm also sending out prayers to The Goddess of Good Runs. I ran more last year then I have since I was eight months pregnant and in a life changing car accident. Let's not forget about the time when The Olson Family of 5 was almost not a family of 5...actually that is where I always stop. It's hard to read much further. Sure it gets funnier. It talks about my love of White Castle, what a great sissy I have, Bailey the Bendy Dog is mentioned, and there's a quote about friendship.
BUT....I can not get past the quote "hence I am no longer a family of five...weird...but true". It brings tears to my eyes and a stabbing pain in my chest. It's hard to imagine that some time this past year I was gone from my family. It's painful to remember being separated from my husband and not a daily part of my kids' lives. I want that part of my life erased. In fact, I was so adamant about erasing it I went to my profile page thinking if I could just keep clicking 'older posts' I could get back to that part of my life and delete it. I spent hours clicking and deleting, but Facebook only lets you go back so far....and for me, it wasn't far enough.
So here I am. The facts are that I was painfully separated from my husband and my family this last year. The facts are that Nathan and I have each worked hard to become better people individually to make a better couple together. The facts are that even though those few months of my life were horribly painful, they are a part of my life...
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Sorry
I love games. One of my all time favorites is Sorry and this is why: Even if it looks like you are destined to lose, you might end up the winner.
For example, today I was playing Sorry and eating sugar cookies with my oldest (The Social Guy) and my youngest (The Brainiac). They each had three of their pawns at home with only one more pawn to go. I, on the other hand, had three pawns at start and only one home. Guess who won? ME!
Because Sorry is just like 'life'....sometimes it might look and feel like you're losing, but you just can't tell how, when, or where you'll end the game.
For example, today I was playing Sorry and eating sugar cookies with my oldest (The Social Guy) and my youngest (The Brainiac). They each had three of their pawns at home with only one more pawn to go. I, on the other hand, had three pawns at start and only one home. Guess who won? ME!
Because Sorry is just like 'life'....sometimes it might look and feel like you're losing, but you just can't tell how, when, or where you'll end the game.
Family Business
We opened a family business a couple weeks ago. We did it without a business plan or start up capital, in fact it happened by accident. I hadn't even realized what I was doing as I was setting it up. You see, our family now owns and operates 'The MFP Eatery' in Cafe World on Facebook. We all take turns making food, waiting tables, and decorating the cafe. It's been fun and cute watching the kids decide what to cook and how to lay out the tables, chairs, kitchen, and waiting station so that we get the quickest service and highest buzz rating.
We've cooked too many dishes and we've had to toss some out. We've gone from a buzz rating of over 100, all the way down to about 30. Our daily conversation has been spiced up with questions like:
"How much longer on that roast?" "How many more servings of fruit salad are there?" "Should we get more Christmas decorations?" "Hey, what's the current buzz rating?" "Did you get something on the stove?" "What are you cooking?"
Have you ever started something little and silly for yourself and have it turn into a fun, family event?
***We're still working a bit on the new layout. If you are having trouble commenting on the blog, try hitting the 'tab' key for the verification word to show up correctly. Thanks for your patience.***
We've cooked too many dishes and we've had to toss some out. We've gone from a buzz rating of over 100, all the way down to about 30. Our daily conversation has been spiced up with questions like:
"How much longer on that roast?" "How many more servings of fruit salad are there?" "Should we get more Christmas decorations?" "Hey, what's the current buzz rating?" "Did you get something on the stove?" "What are you cooking?"
Have you ever started something little and silly for yourself and have it turn into a fun, family event?
***We're still working a bit on the new layout. If you are having trouble commenting on the blog, try hitting the 'tab' key for the verification word to show up correctly. Thanks for your patience.***
Thanksgiving
Thank you for:
being my friend.
all the times you have been there for me.
loving me, even in my darkest hours.
caring about me and supporting me, even through things you had not experienced with me.
helping me with my kids.
reminding me to slow down when I am physically pushing my body too far.
encouraging me to get off my arse during the times I have been too lazy.
wiping away my tears.
allowing me to cry.
making me laugh.
your compliments and your smiles.
stopping by my house and letting my dogs out.
making me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
your soft kisses.
all your hugs and back rubs.
painting my finger and toe nails.
dying my hair.
encouraging me to grow.
helping me clean my house.
getting me a re-fill.
not judging me for the things I do not have or where I have come from.
letting me be honest with myself.
working hard so I can stay home and raise our kids.
taking me out to lunch.
telling me that you like how I sing.
taking me out to dinner when I just can-not-cook-another-meal.
being the mother I never had.
being the grandparents my children deserve.
understanding when I have to cancel plans.
loving me even when I pull back.
chatting with me online during my bouts of insomnia.
laughing at my jokes.
coming to my house for party after party.
introducing me to fantastic food.
eating my cooking.
understanding "Kimberly Time".
sharing your lip-stuff.
providing me with cheese and Flackers.
telling me my *art* looks good.
wishing me a good "Thanksgiving?"
Thank you for being my husband, my sister, my children, my family, and my friends. I love you all and I am blessed that you are in my life.
being my friend.
all the times you have been there for me.
loving me, even in my darkest hours.
caring about me and supporting me, even through things you had not experienced with me.
helping me with my kids.
reminding me to slow down when I am physically pushing my body too far.
encouraging me to get off my arse during the times I have been too lazy.
wiping away my tears.
allowing me to cry.
making me laugh.
your compliments and your smiles.
stopping by my house and letting my dogs out.
making me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
your soft kisses.
all your hugs and back rubs.
painting my finger and toe nails.
dying my hair.
encouraging me to grow.
helping me clean my house.
getting me a re-fill.
not judging me for the things I do not have or where I have come from.
letting me be honest with myself.
working hard so I can stay home and raise our kids.
taking me out to lunch.
telling me that you like how I sing.
taking me out to dinner when I just can-not-cook-another-meal.
being the mother I never had.
being the grandparents my children deserve.
understanding when I have to cancel plans.
loving me even when I pull back.
chatting with me online during my bouts of insomnia.
laughing at my jokes.
coming to my house for party after party.
introducing me to fantastic food.
eating my cooking.
understanding "Kimberly Time".
sharing your lip-stuff.
providing me with cheese and Flackers.
telling me my *art* looks good.
wishing me a good "Thanksgiving?"
Thank you for being my husband, my sister, my children, my family, and my friends. I love you all and I am blessed that you are in my life.
Green Onions
My older two kids (aka Social Guy and The Artist) are growing up fast. This summer they have started getting more and more freedom and of course more responsibilities too. One of the best examples of a growing experience happened just last week. It was a few days before our family camping trip and we had just returned from an amazing long weekend at a friend's cottage. We had a lot to clean up and a lot to get ready for. Our errands list looked something like:
Get Social Guy a hair cut
Go to Cub Foods and pick up green onions
stop at body shop for estimate
go to the bank
go to Target (just because I like to browse and Target is one of my favorite stores...Did you know they have *everything* at Target?)
stop at the library to pick up a book on hold
pick up flea and tick junk for the dogs at Chuck'N Dons
plan the upcoming menu
double check to see that we have all school materials
dishes
laundry
blah blah blah
So I drove up to Great Clips and asked Social Guy if he needed me to come in or if I could just hand him $20 and he could get his hair cut on his own. He agreed that he could get his haircut on his own, so I dropped him off and told him I would be back.
I pulled into the auto body shop. Walked in and talked to the receptionist. She told me to hang out for a bit and one of the estimators would be with me in a couple minutes. After a few moments the estimator, The Artist, and I walked out to the car where he looked it over and took notes. The estimator told me to wait there and he would have my estimate ready in just a few minutes. The Artist noticed I kept looking over at Cub Foods, which was right next to the auto body store.
The Artist, "Do you need something from Cub?"
Me, "Yeah." *at that moment wishing The Artist was more like Social Guy and would be able to run over there and get those green onions for me.*
The Artist, "I could go over there and get what ever you need?" (Yes, she said that as a question.)
Me, "wow! That would be cool. I need green onions. Do you know what green onions are?"
The Artist, "No, but you could describe them to me."
I went ahead and tried my best to describe to her what they looked like and where they would be in the produce department. I handed her $20 and said, "Thanks!" A few minutes later she comes back. She's looking pretty proud of herself and hands me the bag.
The Artist, *in a beautiful, happy, sing-song voice* "These are the green onions, right?"
I look inside the bag....nope. I smile at her and say, "No, these are collard greens."
She was disappointed and mad, more at Cub Foods lousy produce labeling then at herself. I didn't show her the ribbon on the collard greens that said 'collard greens'. I did look at her with a huge smile and said, "Hey, I've never cooked these before. What an adventure! We'll go home, look up a recipe, and try them out. How cool!"
So that night we added a couple things to the list:
look up collard green recipe
make collard greens
The Artist grew a lot that day due to a mild mistake and our whole family tried something new AND loved it! Collard greens will become a new family favorite food and story to remember :)
Tiaras and Tutus~
The MFP
Get Social Guy a hair cut
Go to Cub Foods and pick up green onions
stop at body shop for estimate
go to the bank
go to Target (just because I like to browse and Target is one of my favorite stores...Did you know they have *everything* at Target?)
stop at the library to pick up a book on hold
pick up flea and tick junk for the dogs at Chuck'N Dons
plan the upcoming menu
double check to see that we have all school materials
dishes
laundry
blah blah blah
So I drove up to Great Clips and asked Social Guy if he needed me to come in or if I could just hand him $20 and he could get his hair cut on his own. He agreed that he could get his haircut on his own, so I dropped him off and told him I would be back.
I pulled into the auto body shop. Walked in and talked to the receptionist. She told me to hang out for a bit and one of the estimators would be with me in a couple minutes. After a few moments the estimator, The Artist, and I walked out to the car where he looked it over and took notes. The estimator told me to wait there and he would have my estimate ready in just a few minutes. The Artist noticed I kept looking over at Cub Foods, which was right next to the auto body store.
The Artist, "Do you need something from Cub?"
Me, "Yeah." *at that moment wishing The Artist was more like Social Guy and would be able to run over there and get those green onions for me.*
The Artist, "I could go over there and get what ever you need?" (Yes, she said that as a question.)
Me, "wow! That would be cool. I need green onions. Do you know what green onions are?"
The Artist, "No, but you could describe them to me."
I went ahead and tried my best to describe to her what they looked like and where they would be in the produce department. I handed her $20 and said, "Thanks!" A few minutes later she comes back. She's looking pretty proud of herself and hands me the bag.
The Artist, *in a beautiful, happy, sing-song voice* "These are the green onions, right?"
I look inside the bag....nope. I smile at her and say, "No, these are collard greens."
She was disappointed and mad, more at Cub Foods lousy produce labeling then at herself. I didn't show her the ribbon on the collard greens that said 'collard greens'. I did look at her with a huge smile and said, "Hey, I've never cooked these before. What an adventure! We'll go home, look up a recipe, and try them out. How cool!"
So that night we added a couple things to the list:
look up collard green recipe
make collard greens
The Artist grew a lot that day due to a mild mistake and our whole family tried something new AND loved it! Collard greens will become a new family favorite food and story to remember :)
Tiaras and Tutus~
The MFP
The Third Child...
We have three beautiful children together:
Mine: The Social Guy [The Oldest] - He can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere (and I am NOT kidding). He remembers faces and names, unlike his mother. He will make friends no matter where he goes. He loves, loves, loves people.
His: The Artist [The Middle Child]- She has the most amazing stories in her head. She can take you on the adventure of a life time without you ever leaving the living room or backyard. She can write them or help you act them out, even at the grocery store.
Ours: The Brainiac [The Baby] - He can figure out how anything works and will tell you how he could make it better. He is happiest in the garage or working with Legos thinking up his next greatest invention. Oh, and he has a really weird East Coast accent.
The three of them are a great mix and most of the time they make a beautiful blend of oil, herbs, and vinegar (in no particular order). But sometimes they separate and it makes parenting their different styles difficult. So one of my favorite things to do is to take them camping. It's a few days when the "Olson Family of Five" is nothing but a perfect blend.
Some of our frequent places to visit are the MN State Parks. The State Parks are usually very clean and quiet, enough privacy and enough running water. We like to hike and "rough it" (rough it = double decker air-mattress for me and hubby, nice sheets, three room tent, mini tents for the teens, organizers, flat top gas griddle, gas grill, gas burner , adapter for the car battery to run plugged in appliances (yes I 'could' bring and run my microwave), reclining chairs, mp3 player and little baby speakers....I think you get the picture.) for as many weekends as we can each summer. Unfortunately we were only able to go family camping once this summer. But, there are so many blog-able events that happened over the weekend you can expect a few blogs this week :)
Seeing that the kids are older (15, 14, 8), they got a lot more freedom this year. The teens went to the showers by themselves. All three kids took the dogs for short, but adventurous walks throughout the park. Our requirements were simple: stay together and bring a walkie talkie.
Then there is the Third Child...
Considering his age, he was probably allowed the most freedom of them all...
Eight Year Old, "Hey dad, I wanna make a fire."
Dad, "ah...no? I paid $4 per tiny bundle of wood and you are not making a fire at 3:00 in the afternoon."
Eight Year Old, "but dad, I really, really want to make a fire. You always make log cabin fires and I wanna build a tee-pee fire."
Dad, "You can make a fire closer to dinner time."
Eight Year Old, "but-sep-for [except for] I wanna make one now."
Dad, "Fine. Go get your own wood and you can make a fire."
Eight Year Old, "All the wood is too big for me to carry."
Dad :::hands Eight Year Old a saw::: "Okay, go saw it into smaller pieces."
Fifteen Year Old tunes into what is going on, "WHAT!?!?! Did you just give the Eight Year Old a saw? AND tell him to go cut his own wood?"
Dad, "Yeah...so?"
Fifteen Year Old :::silently thinking::: "what the FUCK are you thinking?"
Fifteen Year Old, "You never gave me a saw at eight!"
Mom, "oh, you don't even remember being eight."
Fifteen Year Old, "wow"
***Hours later Eight Year Old starts fire with Dad's $4 per "small" bundle of wood***
And of course we didn't give The Oldest Child, aka The Social Butterfly a saw at eight! He would have sawed his finger off while talking to the people at the next camp site...
Tiaras and Tutus~
The MFP
Mine: The Social Guy [The Oldest] - He can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere (and I am NOT kidding). He remembers faces and names, unlike his mother. He will make friends no matter where he goes. He loves, loves, loves people.
His: The Artist [The Middle Child]- She has the most amazing stories in her head. She can take you on the adventure of a life time without you ever leaving the living room or backyard. She can write them or help you act them out, even at the grocery store.
Ours: The Brainiac [The Baby] - He can figure out how anything works and will tell you how he could make it better. He is happiest in the garage or working with Legos thinking up his next greatest invention. Oh, and he has a really weird East Coast accent.
The three of them are a great mix and most of the time they make a beautiful blend of oil, herbs, and vinegar (in no particular order). But sometimes they separate and it makes parenting their different styles difficult. So one of my favorite things to do is to take them camping. It's a few days when the "Olson Family of Five" is nothing but a perfect blend.
Some of our frequent places to visit are the MN State Parks. The State Parks are usually very clean and quiet, enough privacy and enough running water. We like to hike and "rough it" (rough it = double decker air-mattress for me and hubby, nice sheets, three room tent, mini tents for the teens, organizers, flat top gas griddle, gas grill, gas burner , adapter for the car battery to run plugged in appliances (yes I 'could' bring and run my microwave), reclining chairs, mp3 player and little baby speakers....I think you get the picture.) for as many weekends as we can each summer. Unfortunately we were only able to go family camping once this summer. But, there are so many blog-able events that happened over the weekend you can expect a few blogs this week :)
Seeing that the kids are older (15, 14, 8), they got a lot more freedom this year. The teens went to the showers by themselves. All three kids took the dogs for short, but adventurous walks throughout the park. Our requirements were simple: stay together and bring a walkie talkie.
Then there is the Third Child...
Considering his age, he was probably allowed the most freedom of them all...
Eight Year Old, "Hey dad, I wanna make a fire."
Dad, "ah...no? I paid $4 per tiny bundle of wood and you are not making a fire at 3:00 in the afternoon."
Eight Year Old, "but dad, I really, really want to make a fire. You always make log cabin fires and I wanna build a tee-pee fire."
Dad, "You can make a fire closer to dinner time."
Eight Year Old, "but-sep-for [except for] I wanna make one now."
Dad, "Fine. Go get your own wood and you can make a fire."
Eight Year Old, "All the wood is too big for me to carry."
Dad :::hands Eight Year Old a saw::: "Okay, go saw it into smaller pieces."
Fifteen Year Old tunes into what is going on, "WHAT!?!?! Did you just give the Eight Year Old a saw? AND tell him to go cut his own wood?"
Dad, "Yeah...so?"
Fifteen Year Old :::silently thinking::: "what the FUCK are you thinking?"
Fifteen Year Old, "You never gave me a saw at eight!"
Mom, "oh, you don't even remember being eight."
Fifteen Year Old, "wow"
***Hours later Eight Year Old starts fire with Dad's $4 per "small" bundle of wood***
And of course we didn't give The Oldest Child, aka The Social Butterfly a saw at eight! He would have sawed his finger off while talking to the people at the next camp site...
Tiaras and Tutus~
The MFP
