Like Apples and Oranges

Ok, so my two child week is set to begin!
Mike is on his way south with two kids in tow, one of mine and one of his.
Wyatt and Maddy are the same age and get along great, the only difference is one is an over communicator and one is the shy quiet type.

I have a hard time relating to the shy quiet type.
I have never had one of those, nor have I spent much time around any of them.
All of the kids in our family are budding used car salesmen or politicians, very wordy and gregarious.
So given a shy quiet type is like spending time in a foreign country where I don't speak the language.

Example.
When Mike tangled with the 2x6 last week Wyatt spent the night at a friends house.
He was served white beans and rice (?) for dinner.
We are without a doubt Wonder Bread and Hamburger Helper folk so the idea of beans as a main course struck my Wyatt as not only unappetizing but extremely odd.
When I asked him how he handled the situation without coming across as rude he told me the following.
" I simply told "Mem" (the other Mother) how delicious the meal looked but that I was just to full to really enjoy it, but I would love it if she would copy the recipe for you to make at home some time."

You make the call, politician or car salesman?

That's just how Wyatt rolls, very wordy and bordering on Eddie Haskell.
"My Mrs Cleaver, your hair looks lovely today and I must say those are striking pearls your wearing."



So you can see what a dramatic change it is for me to only get "uh huh" and "I don't know" in reply to my inquiries.

Maybe Maddy is just a bit overwhelmed by our wordiness and tendency to break into song.

Anywho, it should be a fun week even it poor Maddy will have to follow it up with some intense therapy upon her arrival home!

Friday Update

Well, Mike is up and moving around again, yesterday he mudded the bathroom and mowed the lawn.

For him, that's taking it easy.

I have been busy making rugs out of sheet and have another in the works for today.

I am selling the rugs on Etsy so I check out the other crocheted rag rugs daily and there is one for sale there that looks like it was done as a first grade class project and the price is 3,700.00.

Can you believe that!

I think mine are priced pretty fair at around 20.00.

Wyatt has been home on break this week and you know how I love a kid at home.

I really wish I could home school, but as I've said before, I think we would major in Sponge Bob and minor in movies.

My iSpouse and nephew are coming tomorrow and I am so excited to see them!

iSpouse sold a self loader and is delivering it somewhere south of here so they will spend the night Saturday and then Mike will drive them back north to catch the ferry home on Sunday.

While Mike is up there, he will pick up his Daughter and bring her down for her spring break.

Wyatt has said she can go to school with him a few days but that she will need to do all the work to really get the full "experience" of attending a new school.

I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

Then, next weekend iSpouse's wife and my niece will be here looking at schools here in Portland!

They will stay over night on Saturday and then Take Maddy (Mike's daughter) home on Sunday.

I love it when a plan comes together :)

I'm Baaaaaack

Well kids it's been an eventful few days here around the TrailerParks farm.

When we left off I had just had my hair cut by local resident expert Mik'el.

He did a bang up job and I love it.

Thank you for all your kind comments.

I wish he would have stuck with cutting hair though as on Sunday he found himself in quite a dangerous predicament with a table saw.

As you know he is remodeling our little bathroom (due to the great toilet flood of 09) and things were going along just swimmingly until he went to cut some shims for the drop ceiling over the new shower.

That's when I heard it.

A very loud "ugh" followed very quickly by a muffled "frumph."

I shouted out to the garage to see if he was ok.

He said no.

I couldn't go to him though because we have an understanding that I don't "do" blood, so if there was an appendage on the floor, the rules clearly state I will not engage.

The last thing I clearly heard was Mike mumbling, "no blood."

By the time I got to the door, he had made it in the house and passed out on the floor so I had to wait until he came to to find out what had happened.

He told me the table saw bucked a 2x6 back at him and it hit him straight center in the gut.

I didn't know what to do so I called my sister Julie in Friday Harbor.

She said without looking at it she couldn't really advise me what to do but I should call 911.

Mike didn't want me to call 911 so I helped him to a chair and snapped off a quick picture to show my Sister via iChat so she could better advise.

That's when Mike passed out again.

My sister said to CALL 911.

I did.

911 took him to the hospital and then that hospital transferred him to the Trauma unit at the BIG hospital in Portland.

Scary.

Internal bleeding kinda stuff.

So, two days in the hospital and now he's home and I think he's going to live!

I guess bad things happen in three's because while Mike was recovering in the hospital we lost our little dog Gizmo.

He has been very "not" Gizmo for the last few days so my Mom offered to take him to the Vet.

His veins were badly compromised and he wasn't getting the oxygen or blood supply he needed.

My Mom held him in her arms while he closed his eyes and went to live with doggy Jesus.

We will miss him so much.

Gizmo was a used dog who came to live with us three years ago.

We knew he was an old dog but we also knew that he would enjoy living out his golden years

here on the farm.

We will miss you Gizmo, may the streets in Heaven be paved with treats.

I don't know what number three is yet.

With any luck the bad things will stop at two.

OH!

Wendy came over yesterday and we had a fantastic visit.

I guess I'm just mad at her and that I really do still love her ;)

Just for the record though, I still think her boyfriend is a blood sucking psychopath.

After

Ok, so here's a picture of the new do.

Mind you it's housekeeping hair because I wasn't going to get all dolled up and give you any false impression.

Please note the glasses as they are the same ones featured in the header.

Just so you know the lady in the header isn't really me.

I looked and can't find a before picture and I figure that's because I am the one always taking the pictures.

Picture this picture plus ten".

News!

Ok, first, yesterday I found out from kristina that I WON a prize from her blog stimulus giveaway!!

I received a 20.00 gift card for Messes and Mudpies! Can you believe it!!!

I am SO excited and I will be sure to share my spoils with you.

I love handmade soaps :)

Then.... Wyatt comes in the door after school yesterday lugging a box almost as big as him.

It's from my BBF Mammahut, and it's FULL of sheet!

I knew she was sending some bear sheet (or antelope or moose) but imagine my surprise at a whole big box of sheet :)

I cant wait to get started!

Then... the pizza resistance!

I cut ALL my hair off last night!

Well, really Mike did, but still.

We found the orange handled scissors and headed for the kitchen.

In the trailer park we call that kitchen cosmetology :)

TEN inches off with just a few whacks and it looks great!

I feel ten years younger and three pounds thinner.

So as you can see it was an exciting day here yesterday.

Today my niece comes home from India where she has been for the last month or so on a school trip.

Even though I don't get to see her very often, I missed her while she was gone.

Maybe she'll have some good Indian stories to tell me :)

Welcome home Ingrid!!!

XooX, YFAM

Ok, I'm done.

Following Up the Follow Up

Ok so where was I...

Friday the pipes broke and Mike and Wyatt got the jackhammer, the lawn mower and the baby ducks.

They fixed the pipes, turned the lawnmower into a WT quad and the ducks took up housekeeping in the tractor trailer in the garage where the Cadillac used to be.

Saturday night the toilet in the little bathroom gave up the fight and leaked water from it's tank all night as we slept and I awoke to the river Kwai running from the bathroom down the hall into the utility room and forming lakes under the washer and dryer!

Good times :)

So the first part of the morning was spent cleaning up the mess and the second part of the day Mike spent demolishing the entire bathroom.

You see the little bathroom has had "issues" for many years.

We just had no idea the size of those issues.

HUGE issues.

Not just the floor, but as Mike got farther into it he discovered that the shower had "issues" too.

This is our little bathroom today...

That used to be a tiled in shower.

Now we need to go to town to find a new shower insert and some flooring so Mike can put it all back together again :)

So, to sum things up.

The pump and pipes are fixed.

The white trash quad has a new battery and is up and running.

The little bathroom is in transition (the DIY shows make it look easy)

The baby ducks ~Indian Runners~ are very cute, here's a picture of what they look like now and what they will look like when they're grown...

Now...


Later...
That's it for now, we have to go see a man about a toilet.

Have a great day!

Follow Up

Ok, so they went to town and got the jackhammer (and ducks) and then jackhammered up all the concrete in the pumphouse until they got to where the line was bad.

Then they went back to town to return the jackhammer and get the parts needed to repair the line.

Then on the way home from town they stopped to get the white trash quad from the neighbors, but it had a dead battery so they had to hook up a chain and tow it home through the pasture!

I swear I was laughing so hard I could hardly take the pictures :)

Just another day here on the TrailerParks Farm!

***UPDATE***

They came back from town with a jackhammer and these...

Uh Oh H20

This morning when everything was quiet I was in the little bathroom and I heard water running.

Then I remembered that yesterday morning when the house was quiet and I was in the little bathroom I heard water running and I even went upstairs to investigate but found nothing and then forgot to tell Lucky #6 about the noise.

So this morning when Lucky woke from his slumber I remembered to mention the tranquil sounds of running water.

Hmmm....

The peaceful sound was not coming from inside the house.

The tranquil noise was not coming from any outside faucets.

The hideous sound was coming from the pump house where the M'r F'n pipe had burst in the concrete.

So, Lucky and Wyatt just set off for town to rent a jack hammer and buy new pipe.

And don't think for one minute that this is a burden that Mike will bear alone.

Oh no my friend, I will share in the suffrage by not being able to wash the dishes or do the laundry today.

The sacrifices one must make..

The timing of the busted water line could not have been better though considering Mike is almost finished with the deck project.

The only other project we have in the works is turning the old riding lawn mower into a white trash quad for Wyatt.

Mike is going to take off the mower deck and throw an old orange bicycle flag on it and call er' good.

Wyatt is excited beyond words.

He really thinks he's the luckiest boy in the world :)

Boy, I'm glad the water pipe sprung a leak, this blog has been pretty "dry" lately.

Get it?

Dry?

Still Nothin...

So here's todays Pooter and Pearl : )

Barely Worth A Click

I know, this is SO lame.
I have NOT been in the mood for blogging.
I'm still not.
Trust me though, your not missing out on anything.
If anything exciting happens, you'll be the first to know.

Heres a picture of Pooter before his haircut.

Friends

Wyatt and Pearl sharing a moment

For Fahren

The rain was falling as I made my way through the darkened streets.

The night was quiet and the only sound I could hear were the raindrops hitting the pavement and the humming of my heart as it raced like a hamster in a wheel.

I knew I had been to this place before, but when? Maybe as a child, or maybe in another lifetime, it was hard to say.

If only I could see a familiar face, a familiar sign so I could stop running.

I needed to find a safe place to rest and make a plan. Ahead in the distance I could see what appeared to be a welcoming beacon.

A neon sign flashing "24 Hours."

As I made my way inside the building, I saw the children, there were many of them all standing together, but the look on their faces was the same as that of their parents, cold and dissaproving

Hollowed eyes that bore into me so deeply I could feel the void that was left in my soul as they stared.

The smell in the air lingered like drugstore perfume.

It didn't matter which way I turned, I couldn't escape the cheap smell of my own Grandmother.

The more I began to panic, the more of that familiar smell I inhaled deep into my lungs, and it burned.

I began to call out to them. I called out to anyone who would answer my plea for help and direction.

Which way should I go and who would help me.

As it turned out, it was security who helped me.

They were also very quick to point out that I shouldn't be shopping at Walgreens after Happy Hour.

The End

Dinner Time!

Twilight Pearl