A wild and crazy week!

I wish I had taken pictures of last Saturday's Grand Prix but I was just too busy to get anything snapped. It went off without a hitch but it was probably the scariest Grand Prix to date for the Browning family. I think I had mentioned earlier that we bought a new timing system and new software. I LOVE that the stupid thing came with no actual manual. Lots of "You'll figure it out". Does that surprise me considering most Pinewood Derbies and Grand Prixs are ran by men?? Hello? Whatever.....when it came time for the rubber to meet the road, it all turned out. We ran the actual clubbers race with a point system.  Whoever had the least amount of points at the end won, it was basically averaging the times. Then, I ran the tiebreaker and the adults race strictly on best time of the day. We will run the actual clubbers race next year on this. It will mean whoever had the fastest race of the day wins. I really wish we would have ran it this way this year but all turned out well and everyone was happy. Which meant all three of us came home and slept!  I don't think I had a good night's sleep for a week and so that nap was wonderful! Robert actually ended up sleeping until the next morning. Andrew got up and ate and went back to bed. Stress.....the ultimate sleep depriver around here.

I wish I was one of those people who didn't eat when I was stressed. I would definitely not have a weight problem! But I am not, and so last week wasn't good on the Weight Watchers. I went Monday night but didn't weigh. You can do that like twice a year. So this week I've hit the exercising hard and I am STILL up on lbs!!  GRRRR......it seems the harder I try, the worse it gets right now. I am counting points but I think the soreness of my muscles is playing tricks with my weight. Common sense says just keep going and it will come off. The "right now reality" says forget it. Trying to stick with long term.

My mom has had some adventures this week. I really thought she would wind up in the hospital. She has polymalgia  rhuematica and it was flaring badly Monday. A trip to the doctor of a Z pack of prednisone and she is doing better than she has for months!

Then on to the Robert story of the week. Of course, he and his Nana have 35 acres where his house sits. Of that, about 7 of it COULD be mowed. My uncle was a very "backwoods" kind of guy and mowed his yard the last several years with a Bush Hog. There are two tractors at the farm as well as that bush hog. Robert's first thought was to buy a newer tractor with a mower. One big enough to also be able to handle his and Nana's gardening ventures. We started looking at used newer tractors last week and realized it was not an expense he wanted while still working on the house. I told him to fix the C and the Ford--which one of my cousins has volunteered to help him with, and buy himself a lawn mower. Well, he decided that as much as he wanted to mow, he was going to need a good mower, and wanted a zero turn. I told him to keep an eye on craigslist and he would find one. Well, in true typical Robert fashion, he found one, less than half price of a new one, that night. It truly looks BRAND new!

So now the fun begins.....Monday, he went to LOOK at the mower. He realized the ball on the Ford wouldn't fit our trailer so he made another trip to Charleston, by this time it was late. On his way home, his truck had problems. Please understand that last November, he lost the transfer case out of the Jeep. Time has kept him from getting that fixed so he has been driving the Ford from the farm; technically Nana's unless you ask her, she will tell you it's his. Anyway.....OUR jeep, the Wrangler, has been sitting at the farm all winter, the kicker on that? The guys had misplaced ALL the keys to it. Robert found a set of keys just last week. So, he knew what was wrong with the truck but was going to need to order parts from work. I went and picked him up and Tuesday morning, we went to the farm and he got the wrangler and drove it to work. Monday night ended up being a late night. Tuesday was an early morning as well. Tuesday evening, Robert met his dad at the farm and they went and got his mower. Then Andrew took Robert to his truck and they fixed it. Robert was going back to the farm for something or other. Andrew came home and came to bed. We had been in bed 10 minutes when the phone rang. Robert had the truck stuck at the farm....so away went Andrew. Night number TWO of being a late night. Everything is fine though and things happened in such a way that nobody was late to or missed work, so we just call it an adventure and move on.

The first day of Spring, Robert mowed his yard though. LOL.

Thursday evening, Mom and I went to see 9 to 5 at the High School. It was great!  Those kids are incredible. It still feels really sad not being one of the moms but I am so very thankful for those years we had. I never felt that way about not being in them myself but man, the mom thing is bad. Anyway, if you are in the area and haven't seen it, you will be missing out if you don't go!  Tonight at 7 and tomorrow at 2 and then it will be in the books.

That pretty well brings us up to date. It's Saturday, Andrew left for the farm almost 2 hours ago and Robert left for work. I'm cleaning house and then Mom and I are going to Effingham garden and grocery shopping. Hoping for a calm day as well as a calm weekend!

Happy Saturday and Happy SPRING!!!

Good Sunday Morning!

So this morning, I finally find myself with time to update the blog. I just finished getting ready for church so that Andrew could get in the bathroom and he announces that he is still not feeling well and is not going. Robert started throwing up in the night Wednesday, went to work Thursday only to be sent home and stayed home on Friday. Friday evening, Andrew told me he thought he was getting it. He hasn't been throwing up, but I think it is just shear willpower. I am still good, I have to stay good too. As always, too many irons in the fire to be sick. I actually woke up in the middle of the night last Saturday night with a slight sore throat. I popped some zinc and an extra vitamin C. We didn't have church so I didn't do much other than fix lunch and then worked with the software for the Grand Prix track. Monday we didn't go to work because of the weather, so I pretty well vegged. Laundry and straightening the house was all I did besides lay on the couch. The guys were both at work and went to the farm that night so it was a good day to get some rest.  By Tuesday, I was all better. Now if we can get Andrew through this, we can get it all out of our systems again.

It seems like so much is happening around us that I really have to praise God for. One of my friend's and coworkers has had her daughter in the hospital since Thanksgiving, she was supposed to get to come home yesterday. I haven't heard if she did but I am assuming she did-- 101 days in the hospital.... I know it was hard on that whole family. I am so thankful she is home, they are finally going to get to celebrate Christmas.

One of my three "little brothers" growing up just got back from China bringing home his baby girl. She is so amazing, and I am so happy for all of them. I praise God for people who feel led to adopt and for their safe travels to China and back.

My friend Patty, who I am sure I have spoke of before is getting a big break from cancer treatments. I wish I could say she was cancer-free, she's not, but the cancer isn't doing anything right now, so she gets to have a pretty normal life right now. Her and her husband just got back from visiting her stepson in the Bahamas. She texted me on Lincoln's birthday, that she was "stuck" there because of the storm rolling into Atlanta. It was 9° here, and of course there was snow on the ground. I found it very hard to feel sorry for her.

That seems like just the tip of the iceburg; the bigger things to be thankful for. Then there are the little things; more floors in Robert's house, oh and I got a STEAL this week for him. One of his things was the two main things he wanted for his living room was a big screen tv and a La-Z-Boy recliner. He has the tv already and I just happened to be on facebook at the right time for a friend of mine to list a recliner for $50. It looked brand new in the picture and somebody asked if she would take $25 for it, she said no because it was too nice. I didn't even ask what brand, just said I wanted it. It was nice enough he wouldn't care what brand and he was wanting brown and it was brown. We went and got it yesterday, it's a La-Z-Boy. Am I really surprised? No, because that's how things work in Robert's world most of the time. He mentioned at work last week that he and I were going to Terre Haute so he could buy new boots. Lo and behold, his boss reimburses him $100 a year on boots......once again, leave it to Robert.

Yesterday I got everyone's taxes finished. I have a friend that is job hunting right now and she talks about not knowing if a job is a "me" job. Taxes are definitely NOT a ME job. My very first job was in a tax office at Casey, doing taxes. I thought I just didn't like the person I worked for, I think I didn't like the job. 3 sets of taxes in one day had my head spinning, and of course, as always, Robert was the big winner and we were the big losers! Grr.....one thing I am really praying for this year, a year where Andrew and I both only have one W-2 each and no moving retirement plans or cashing out stocks. I thought I was going to be sick when I saw our federal tax bill. At least I was able to claim all the improvements on the house, as my turbo tax popped up "Congratulations! You can take the extra $500 deduction!" Meanwhile, Robert spent $462 on books last spring for school and got every stinkin' penny of it back. Oh well, I guess I am thankful that we have the money to pay it and we aren't going to jail. And even prouder of the fact that we raised this kid that made it out of school and made too much money in his first year out of school to be counted on our taxes, not bragging. He worked really hard. At times last spring, he was working two jobs, plus being a full time student. There is an article floating around facebook about 10 mistakes parents make with their children. As much as I hated to see him grow up so fast, I am thrilled that we accomplished getting another productive member of society out there. It wasn't always easy and yeah, there were some of those mistakes I was guilty of. The fact is though, he learned a work ethic from our actions, he learned a strong sense of right and wrong through God and I do believe he did learn a lot of character. I think the thing that amazes me the most though is he had a dream and he followed through. He wanted to work on cars, and he does, and he does it well and he loves it. I love that.

So, it's Sunday morning, getting time to go to church. A roast is in the crockpot and I am hoping for a relatively easy day today. My van needs cleaned out, hopefully the track comes out of the living room, Robert's recliner will find a temporary home in there next. Church this morning, church tonight and then the beginning of a whole new week.

I didn't go to Weight Watchers last week because of the snow, but yesterday marked about 5 lbs off of the prednisone weight, wish it came off as easy as it comes on, but no such luck. So, tomorrow, I will check in there. Tuesday is a trip to Springfield, Wednesday I get to help with AWANA and Thursday may be a night at home. Friday evening we will get the track reset and work the final bugs out with it where it is supposed to be and Saturday is the race. This is always the week I am both excited and nervous. I want it to happen but at the same time I want it over and everyone happy. I know, I want a lot!

Till next time, Happy Sunday!