Category Archives: Family Talk

I can’t get enough of him.

Everything but the kitchen sink….or shall I say faucet. Man I tell ya, I believe we have one problem after another ALL the time. Whether it’s family, friends, job, finances, or home projects, something is always changing. Last night it was our faucet. I was baking pretty much most the day and literally as my husband was walking in the door the hot water pressure dropped significantly. It was almost as if every sink, hose, washing machine, dishwasher, bathtub or toilet had all flushed simultaneously. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

The best thing I could dream up was I had drained all the hot water as it instantaneously happened. I called my dad as he has many rental houses and must of them must run into random problems at some point or another and he informed me that something must be stuck in the hot water pipe; a rock or sediment of some sort had to of missed the filter. He was right! As my husband was taking apart the sink to quickly fix the issue, he accomplished this task quite quickly but the problem lied in the “reassembling phase.” I must say he was in the kitchen for quite some time and was really silent and downcast about this procedure; actually hostile would be more accurate. Playing doctor on the sink became very frustrating as one problem after another took place and the surgery was not getting better, only worse. He kept preforming surgery while each limb in the neck of the faucet kept getting unscrewed rather than being made whole again. Finally, I look up and the entire faucet is taken from the sink leaving me with no water for 24 hours. Mind you, Thanksgiving was two days away.

I put a smile on my face as I could see the frustration running rampantly through his body. “That’s fine hun,” I murmur as I try and change the tone for the evening (luckily this did work). He apologizes as one of the pieces that needed to be screwed into another was completely missing. Somehow this piece was hiding in the neck of the pipe; completely stuck. It wouldn’t budge no matter what we tried. I’m telling you he tried everything including a wire closet hanger. No luck.

My boys assessing the task ahead….

Today I was realizing the thousand times I truly turn on a faucet throughout one solid day beginning the first moments I woke up. “Coffee anyone?” Wait, no water to rinse out the pot, the grind basket or how to fill the pot for a fresh cup o’ joe. We do have a Sierra Springs water jug that was helpful, but definitely not helpful for the rinsing or washing aspect.  I must say between feeding myself, my son, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as simple kitchen clean up, it became extremely challenging to accomplish much of anything. Thankfully I had taken advantage of the baking and cooking the previous day that today I could take it somewhat easy. Though the choice wasn’t up to me I had to respect the circumstance.

In the midst of the chaos I even attempted to file the sink with boiling water from the bathroom to have soapy water to rinse my hands throughout the day, but this task became more time consuming than it was worth and the water would quickly get dirty defeating my purpose. As dinner approached I allowed the dishes to pile up knowing I had a new faucet heading my way.

As my husband came home he was able to fix this dilemma quite promptly and left me with a new sparkling faucet. I cleaned my dishes with the most thankful attitude in awhile I presume. The little things as clean running water help remind me how much I take them for granted.

So remember when the dishes pile up and you are dreading to clean them or simply rinse your hands because you have peanut butter and jelly on them, you can quickly and easily rinse them in your sink without the horror of Thanksgiving approaching and all the dishes that are to be prepared with no water. :)

My husband and I have Comcast with OnDemand and watch the “free movies” all the time. Last night we started watching Back to the Future as we both loved that movie but probably haven’t seen it in ten years or so. We went to bed around 7:30 as our house is full of “sickies” or shall I say a really bad cold and complete exhaustion and enjoyed our ‘flick.’

We watched the first one and were so excited about it we decided we were going to make a marathon out of it. So tonight we decided to turn on the second movie. The second one goes to the future of 2015, but was made in 1985. Their futuristic assumptions of 2015 was quite a bit off. I was really excited to know that the predictions of our electronics was very farfetched. For some reason this got me so excited that they over predicted the future 30 years later, although we have advanced significantly, it was comforting to know we aren’t that advanced.

Some of the many ideas for 2015 included: TV’s and robots to provide customer service which eliminated jobs for all mankind. Food and drinks at a restaurant being teleported in from who knows where, rather than being prepared in the kitchen. “Big buck hunter” for all of you who enjoy this game as much as me, was frowned upon by the kids in the movie because you had to use your hands to play the game. (Apparently their games were much more technologically advanced) Cars would turn invisible and fly through the sky and a “hover board” which was a flying skateboard was the new mode of transportation. Although I think we are on the path for some of these things, we don’t have robots taking over our careers yet. And….I must say, a hover board would be pretty cool.

It was fun to watch and definitely captured my thoughts of our societal advancement and although 30 years is far off, the predictions were even farther off in light of the movie. Now I know it is a movie, but the fact that we are only two years away from that 1985 assumption for 2015, it was very enjoyable to watch and see where we have come and where we are headed.

For all of you who enjoy the original “Back To The Future”, you should have a marathon as we did and be excited that the 30 year prediction will probably take place when our kids are our age rather than today. :)

***Note: I looked up what the year 2030 will look like and sometimes things are better left unknown…

This car is pretty close to the cars in Back To The Future

“…but I see a world with less forests, less wildlife, more roads, and more buildings in the next 20 years. I see busier streets and fewer 90-year-olds in our homes by the year 2030. The Arctic and Atlantic poles will probably have fewer Eskimos and polar bears to shelter. Streets will have fewer children and hopscotch, hide-and-seek, and dodge ball will be games of the past. Families of seven to ten, will probably be a normal thing by then. Kids won’t probably know what a dolphin, tiger, or what a whale shark will look like. The rich will be richer and the poor, poorer. There will be a lot of people who will hit the gym. There will be more people who won’t hit the gym. Will robots be part of the household? Maybe. Will war end? Hopefully.” –Click-here for more.

We have the power to teach our kids what they should know, and not let these things be lost. It’s up to us. Fascinating that these people make a living on predicting the future….

Today was Cooper and I all day long. Husband was going to be home late as he is attending a Men’s Bible Study at our church. 4:30 rolls around and Cooper is starting to get a little stir crazy as well as bored of all his toys (he is in need of some new gadgets). I bundled us up, got the stroller out and off we go….well for a little bit… we got a quarter of a mile in or so and it started to sprinkle some rain drops. I made sure Coopers blanket was wrapped tight around him, pulled my hood up and started walking a bit faster. At this point the drops were very large and the rain was really come down at this point, so much so, I began to run, we were getting soaked and there was no “quick” way back. Our afternoon stroll turned into a quick run for me and a quick stroller jaunt for Cooper. As we returned home we had to quickly get his jammies on and change my clothes as it was pretty cold and his little fingers were quite “fridged,” so to speak. My hair was soaked, as well as the entire stroller, I think the sun visor helped prevent his head from getting wet while the remainder of his body was left out in the rain to get drenched. Poor boy. We definitely were not prepared for a downpour but such is life.

Before this catastrophe hit, the first part of the stroll was nice and leisurely, though it didn’t last long. As it begins to get dark early these Fall days, I noticed all the homes with their porch lights on, sounds of music playing in the background, families sitting around the dinner table all cozied in their homes. Okay the music wasn’t playing but it was in my head as each house I passed had the same scene playing: Lights on, dinner table set and kids running around as they await their dinner to be served.

As each home I passed had the same scene, I was very happy to see this, as most homes don’t partake in family dinners these days. (Our family was actually one of those families tonight) Most are running to and from sporting events, picking kids up from school, ballet, piano lessons and so forth. The after school “activities” are endless these days. I have a girlfriend who was telling me recently about her sons Hockey practices and they run til 10pm on a school night. I was shocked, utterly shocked! When is homework getting done, where is the family time, kids being kids and playing rather than be coached in the high pressure sports?

All of this to say, I was really taken aback when I saw the glorious family scene as I walked passed each home this evening. They may still have the sporting events, homework and so forth, but they took the time to sit down as a family which in turn made my heart happy. Even though we had dinner without the hubby, Cooper and I sat down together and enjoyed our carrot-soup, pasta and bread. :)

Halloween is such a weird holiday, why is it socially acceptable to go to strangers house and ask for CANDY?! When you really think of the concept of trick-or-treating, its odd. Anyway, of all days in the year this is actually the day I gave my life to Christ and decided I needed God in my life. When you think about what Halloween actually is, basically I did the exact opposite of what the “world” expects.

Anyway, I became a “believer, Christian, follower of Christ” depending on the terminology that suites you, I decided two years ago on Halloween that I couldn’t make it through this life on my own, I needed the strength of God. It’s been two years since I truly made the commitment even though I had grown up in a Christian home, I never made the step for myself until recently. I have been beyond thankful for the life I have been given and the life I have choose to live through Christ my savior.

Today I took little Cooper man to see daddy at work while dressed up in his little Monkey costume. He gets shown off to everyone as they all get so excited to see him when we visit. We also went to our old neighbors house that evening and stopped by so the kids could play together. It was fun! Our new house gets ALOT of trick-or-treaters which was a huge surprise. It was crazy how many people came by, we actually ran out of candy by 7:30.

Needless to say, Halloween has a whole new meaning to me and I enjoy celebrating for a different reason. :)

We went to our first pumpkin patch this past weekend with our son. It was so exciting to watch his big blue eyes light up. His eyes were so big as we pulled him closer in the wagon and he could see yellow, white, orange, and Cinderella pumpkins. All different shapes, sizes and colors. This was his dreamland. If you’ve heard me share previously about his deep obsession with balls, you would know he relates pumpkins to this obsession; they are round and that’s all that matters in his little mind. If they are round than they must be thrown.

His first awakening to pumpkins was at the store one afternoon and as we were walking in, they have the big tubs full of pumpkins. He pointed to it and I realized he’s never known what a pumpkin is. I handed him a small one and to my dismay the pumpkin went rolling through the entrance of the store. I quickly chase after it thankful it was still in one piece. Ever since that moment he has been longing to hold a pumpkin in his tiny little hands, arch way over his head and toss it with all his might. Well his dream came true when we went to visit my parents a couple weeks ago. My dad has his own, unintentional pumpkin patch. For some reason it grows like wildfire for him and all the grandkids love to go pick their pumpkins. He would find all the little ones around the house that my mom had for decorations and he would play with them forever simply rolling them around and tossing them. When I realized he was cracking them in half, I put an immediate end to this playful event. We took a couple small ones home with us and this boy can’t help but throw them. They did not make it more than a day. He didn’t understand once it cracked and there were seeds and goop all over that he ruined it. This little man is too cute, he blows my mind everyday with his cuteness.

Due to his cuteness, both my husband and I knew he would love going to the pumpkin patch and being able to see and touch as many pumpkins til his hearts content. We went and had an awesome time. He loved it! They had a haystack for kids to climb on, mazes and cute little photo-ops all catered to kids. It was fun and we let him get as dirty as he wanted. He even “picked” his own little pumpkin that we carved last night. :)

Here’s a few fun photos…

It was a great day for pumpkin patchin’

I LOVE Autumn. The cool, crisp air on a clear day while the leaves fall down around us, the crunch of the leaves beneath our feet as we bundle up for a walk with cocoa or coffee in hand. This is what makes me smile. I love summer but fall is a close next.

Soup simmering on the stove allowing the house to smell delightfully tasty with the warmth of blankets on our laps while the windows produce a slight chill allowing you to sink deeper into the couch with a good book in hand.

We headed outside today and you can see how my son enjoys the outside no matter what the weather holds. :) This little man melts my heart and can ALWAYS put a smile on my face. Oooo how I want to go kiss his chubby little cheeks while he’s sleeping right now, sweet baby. :)

Knows I’m trying to take a picture and refuses to look.

Our front yard

My view driving on our street. Mt Hood in the background.

I LOVE the BEAUTIFUL Autumn colors and playing in the crisp leaves with my little man.