Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

You guys. I've been drunk since my last post.

Not really, but wouldn't that have made an interesting new post. Really though, things are slowly looking better.

Remember how the washing machine repairman was due to be here on July 31st? Well it was still July so of course I got a phone call a little after lunch saying that he had left his route early due to sickness and wouldn't be arriving that day. The soonest she could reschedule him was August 17th. AUGUST 17TH! A full month after his first visit and almost a month and a half after the washer broke down. I grudgingly agreed because what else was I supposed to do. It wasn't the fault of the lady on the other end of the phone. It was just still July.

The more I thought about it and the closer the first day of school got (August 6th here), I decided I'd had enough. I wasn't waiting another almost 2 weeks for him to come. I had already had the thing taken apart before so I did it again. It took my husband and myself less than 20 minutes to fix the damn thing. Works like it's brand new. I've been washing clothes like a MAD WOMAN. I know this is a "first world problem", but I am so happy to have my washing machine back. Yesterday I finally called the A & E Factory Service number and told them I just wanted to cancel the upcoming appointment. When he asked me why, I told him I didn't want to wait a month to get my washer repaired. We paid for the 3 year warranty, but having to wait for a month and a half to get repairs done is ridiculous. The repairman is coming all the way from Nashville so no wonder he only gets "in the area" once a month.

And let's see... I made some stuff.

Kaia needed a backpack/bag and I just couldn't go out and pay $50 for a good one so I made one. This one has love in the stitches bitches. Plus it's mostly black and has skulls, but the skulls are colored so it's the perfect compromise. I'm working on making several shirts, dresses, and pants/shorts/skirts for Rowan to wear. I have all this fabric so I feel like there is no sense in buying new clothes when I can just make them.

P.S. My baby is starting preschool next week. Boo. So I'll leave you with a photo of the oldest two who started yesterday.

Bless It

When you are from the South, you will use the phrase "bless your heart" more times than you realize. Occasionally, we say this and actually mean that we understand, we feel your pain, and/or we just get it. However the majority of the time, we are really saying,  "That fool is so screwed.", or "Yes, screw you very much too."

This is me and July. We have a complicated relationship. If you are in any kind of proximity to me in the month of July, I apologize. More often than not, I do a little happy dance when August 1st rolls around.

July has its fair share of good. We've got births. Both of my daughters were born in July. My friend, Cam, gave birth to a little girl in July. Another old friend had a son in July. Hell, the birth of our nation took place in July.

But we also have deaths.

Remember my friend, Cam? Her daughter, Brooklyn, also passed in July, the 23rd, her birthday. My grandmother passed on July 6th, 2007. One day (and a few years) away from my youngest's birthday of July 7th, 2011. My grandmother loved to go to the casino riverboats so when she passed on 7/6/07, we kind of joked that she almost got that jackpot. Then my youngest was born on 7/7/11 at 11:17am. I knew my grandmother was there. Both of my husband's grandmother's passed in July. One on the 10th, one on the 25th, which happens to be my oldest daughter's birthday too. Most recently, my niece, Kiana, took her own life. On July 23rd. The day my best friend gave birth to and lost her first daughter. Two days later, on my oldest daughter's birthday, my brother lost his childhood best friend to liver cancer.

My niece, Kiana.

I swear I can't make this shit up. And it doesn't get better...

This one time, my friend and her husband and son decided to pack up and move to the peachy state of Georgia. They were back in less than 24 hours because when they arrived at the new rental home, it was falling apart. To the point that there was no way they could stay even one night.

We went camping last year and squirrels ate a hole through our tent to get hot cocoa mix. There was squirrel shit everywhere. Not to mention, it was also 100F in the shade the entire week and we had severe storms. Every day!

Last week, my dad packed up a small bag and headed to Florida. It's about a 15 hour drive from our place to where my brothers live. He originally thought he would leave around 3 or 4 o'clock because it's easier to drive straight through at night. He was ready to go by 11am though so he left out around 11:30am. At almost 4pm, my phone rang. He was stuck. In Chattanooga. Still 10+ hours from his destination. So after my husband had been at work for 10 hours, he got home, did a quick clothing change, and we headed back out. We borrowed a trailer big enough to load up my dad's vehicle, but realized after looking for 30+ minutes and several phone calls, that the ramps my husband just made specifically for the work trailer last week... had been sold by the office manager. So we had to track down ramps before we could leave. We get to Chattanooga and the truck is running fine. He thinks getting caught in a many miles long traffic jam must have messed up some sensor... yada, yada. He follows us home because we failed to realize this trailer HAS NO LIGHTS.

Eight-ish hours later we roll back into Bowling Green. It's 2am. My dad is about to pass out. So we stop at Waffle House, Chris goes home. My dad and I have breakfast and coffee at 2am at a Waffle House that is surprisingly hoppin' for the hour. There were even a couple of guys playing guitars and banjos singing Johnny Cash songs.

Are you still here? Still following along? Bless you. No, seriously.

I hate to even talk about this because it may be embarrassing for her later, but... I had to take my youngest to the pediatrician on Monday because she had what is called a labial adhesion. I'm not going to explain it, but you can gather that the procedure was painful. Moments after leaving the doctor's office with a little girl that just want to go home, Mother Nature let loose a deluge of rain. Flash flooding amounts of rain. I had to stop several times on the way back home because I couldn't see even a foot in front of me. Now she is holding her pee in because it hurts to go to the bathroom and she cries in pain every time. *sigh*

Monsoon season...

My sister-in-law calls on Monday evening and tells my dad he's coming to Florida. She books him a round trip plane ticket. Outbound flight is on Wednesday. Now my two oldest kids are still doing band camp, 8am to 4pm everyday and my son is also doing soccer practices from 7pm to 9pm every night. Rowan has her 4 year vaccines scheduled for Wednesday morning so I call and reschedule those, which works out fine because the new appointment is in AUGUST. Now my friend Pam has an entrance interview type dealio at the school she is starting classes at soon at 8am on Wednesday morning so I tell her it's fine that her daughter stays with us Tuesday. This is ok too because Chris just goes to work an hour later than normal and drops all three kids at band camp. *shoo*

Meanwhile, my dad's flight is scheduled for 9:24am out of Evansville, IN. We get up at 5am. I get myself ready, coax the youngest to please use the bathroom before we leave, fix a cup of coffee, and we are on the road before 6am. Granted it was 5:59am. Still counts as before 6am.

We don't take the shortest route because Google says the road is closed in one section. Google was wrong, but I'll get to that in a minute. Dad is nervous because he hasn't flown in a great many years. He's not sure what to expect anymore. I'm nervous because I don't normally do this kind of driving. The husband usually does all that. We arrived at the airport without incident an hour and a half before scheduled departure. A miracle all by itself. We say our goodbyes and I head back home.

Dad calls about 30 minutes later to let me know they have delayed the flight by an hour. I GOT UP AT 5AM, BUSTED ASS TO GET THERE EARLY AND THEY DELAYED THE FLIGHT. *breathe* I decided I wasn't going to take the long way home and got off the parkway at the next exit. Driving down a skinny, country road in Henderson County, Kentucky between two parkways, I get stopped at some construction where the backhoe is half on my side of the road. The workers help me slowly move between the ditch on one side and the backhoe on the other. Not 10 miles down the road, I run into a farming incident. The entire road is blocked by a "hi-boy" (vehicle with very tall, skinny tires, able to drive through crops without damaging them) that has accidentally fallen off the side of the road and can't get up. So another farm equipment vehicle is there trying to pull it out.

I just want to go home. And drink. At 10am.

Finally get through all of this, make my way to Owensboro, the parkway is not closed (just under constuction), and get myself home. I call my dad to let him know that I've made it safely. His flight doesn't take off until almost 11:30am, two hours after it was scheduled to take off, which means he will miss his connecting flight in Atlanta. They get him on another flight, on a bigger plane, and he is happy.

The roofers finally came, but did not repair the roof correctly (used the brown shingles instead of black ones and only patched areas) and they were supposed to return this week to redo it properly. Haven't seen them. My washing machine stopped working, had to wait a week for the repairman to come, who had to order parts and couldn't return to install them for two weeks. Due to be here tomorrow. Oh and one of our cats got run over.

July. Bless it. One more day.

Pretty Dresses

My brother, Jim, came to pick up our mom this weekend. She is going down to stay with him in Florida for a few weeks. A much needed vacation for her. Plus she'll get to spend time with that side of the family as well. It has been a few years since we'd seen each other. It was a quick trip, he was really only here on Saturday, but he and our mom came over to the house for most of the day.

Mom had a whole chicken that she didn't want to go bad while she was gone so I stuck that in the slow cooker. I used a recipe I will definitely be sharing on here soon, but of course I forgot to photograph the finished chicken. We were all so hungry that we dug right in and ate it all. Nothing but bones left. Poor chicken. Bonus, we got to eat tomatoes and corn straight from our garden.

You know what else I forgot to photograph? Me and my brother. They'll be back in a few weeks. Hopefully with a few more days to hang out and go exploring.

The older kids have started band camp this week. Soccer conditioning has also begun. I'm officially a soccer mom again. (Kaia used to play.) With Mom gone and lounging on a beach somewhere, I haven't a sitter for Rowan so I'm not able to volunteer as I'd like to do for camp. So I've donated bags of tomatoes instead.

Someone hasn't been taking her older siblings being gone very well. Last night it rained quite a bit and filled up her little pool. Today she just would not stay out of it. I kept telling her she would get her pretty dress all dirty.

I turned to see her like this. She said, "Look Mama! I can sit in my chair and play in the water without getting my pretty dress dirty!" I'm not sure if she is a genius or an expert smartass.

Flashback Friday

Originally posted | July 9th, 2012 | My Time with Abraham Lincoln
     It was a nice little trip. My kids seem so small for this to have only been three years ago.

Last week was a blur.  The husband was on vacation from work all week and we were busily doing things around the house.  I had a "Honey-Do" list a mile long.  With it being the week of July 4th and the holiday falling right smack in the middle of the week, we decided to kind of just hang around the house.  Of course the price of gas and the oppressive heat played a large role in that decision as well.  (It finally rained here last night and as I'm typing this... it's overcast without even the hint of a ray of sunshine!)

We woke up on Thursday and decided we'd had enough housework.  A mini road trip was planned.  A picnic lunch was packed.  A gas tank was filled.  Off we went!

There are a few things people from Kentucky are really proud of:

• University of Kentucky basketball (EIGHT National Championships y'all!!),
• bourbon,
• horses,
• and Abraham Lincoln.

Since it's not basketball season, we don't have any horses (or even know how to ride one), and this was a family road trip so no drinking, we opted for a trip to learn more about our 16th President in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Did you know that Lincoln was born in Kentucky?  He lived at Sinking Spring Farm until he was two when his family moved about 10 miles East to Knob Creek where he lived until he was seven.  

Our first stop was at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace.

Not really thrilled to have to sit in the hot Sun for a photo op.

The actual Lincoln family bible.  It was huge.

An old cabin typical of the area serves as a symbolic cabin of the Lincoln's in the spot where their cabin stood.  Did you know... Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, purchased 300 acres that was known as Sinking Spring Farm for $200 in 1808?

The marble and granite memorial building surrounds the old cabin.  The cornerstone was laid in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt.  It was dedicated in 1911 by President William Howard Taft.

The Sinking Spring.  It was at least 20 degrees cooler near the spring.  Abraham Lincoln drank from this spring y'all!

We traveled about 10 miles down the road to his boyhood home at Knob Creek

This cabin looks just like the first.  This cabin was constructed by the Howard family in 1931 using logs from a cabin that once belonged to the Gollaher family, friends and fellow farmers of the Lincoln's.

It's hard to imagine a family of four living in this small cabin.

There are hiking trails located at both places, but the temperature alone was over 100F.  The oldest daughter and I did venture just down one path to see Knob Creek (above).  We've gone so long with so little rain and too hot temperatures that the creek is dry.  I asked the Park Ranger how long the creek had been that way.  He told me that until two weeks ago there were a few places further down the hiking trail that still contained small pools of water, but that those too were now dry.

Next and last stop was back in Hodgenville at the Lincoln Museum.

For the most part it was a great way to spend time with the kids and just get out of the house.  We had a picnic lunch and a scenic drive.  I look forward to returning, possibly in the Fall, when the temps are cooler and we can check out the hiking trails.

Twenty Four Miles an Hour

I took my son driving yesterday evening. Actually he came in the living room with the car keys and said,

"Who's going with me driving?"

A video posted by Christine Bewley ✌ (@christinebewley) on Jul 9, 2015 at 6:19pm PDT

He turns sixteen in October. I can not fathom how he could possibly be this old already.

We live on a road that actually goes nowhere. It used to have a ferry, but something happened long before we became residents of this little rural community and it is no more. Now it is just a few miles of a snaking gravel road located in what everyone around here calls "The Bottoms". As in, the river bottoms. We are surrounded by the Green River here. It's wonderfully fertile farmland, but it does tend to flood often.

We've had quite a bit of rain lately so there were portions of the gravel road that were partially covered in water. I was less worried about the puddles and more worried about the river that was too close for this mama's comfort. He did pretty good though for someone who hasn't really done any driving. Other than a few rounds around the yard.

When we got back to the actual road, he stopped to let me drive. I let him continue because we live about 2 miles from where the gravel begins, but cautioned him to not drive faster than 30 mph.

He drove 28 mph all the way home.

Blue Bow Tie Baby

Saturday evening Neil comes in the living room.

Neil:  "Mom, I need black dress pants, a white button up shirt, and a tie."

Me:  "Err, ok.  When do you need these by?"

Neil:  "Tueday."

Gee, son.  Thanks so much for the short notice.  You're swell.

Sunday, my husband takes him when he goes to buy a few groceries.  Comes home with a nice pair of black dress pants that they found at St. Vincent de Paul for only $3 (!!!) and a nice, white button up shirt with ugly brown tortoise shell buttons. No tie.  Husband says that the ties were just too expensive.  Seriously?!?  Blarg.

I did the only thing I could think of to do.  I made one instead.

I used the pattern and instructions found here, pulled out some satin-y, silky, royal blue fabric, and started sewing!

I was really surprised how easy it was to make one after I got into it.

Just cut out the pattern pieces (fabric and interfacing).

Sew them together and cut off the excess fabric around the edges so they are all nice and pretty.

Turn those suckers inside out with a nifty little knitting needle!  Press 'em flat.

Fold the ends inside 1/4 of an inch and place one inside the other.  Sew the seam.  Mine was a little wonky, but no one is going to see it so SHHHH!  Don't tell.

Press it nice and flat.  Behold the awesomeness that is your first bow tie.  Patiently wait for your son to get home from school.  

*insert Jeopardy music*

Get bored and decide to remove the ghastly brown buttons and replace them with white ones.  Smile.  Realize you have no idea how to tie a bow tie.  Panic.  Watch this video by Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Laugh and learn how to tie a bow tie!

BAM!  Bow tie!!

Then...  I'm told it's supposed to be black.  *facepalm*  Well it's blue damn it so deal with it.

Remixed

It's almost Friday!!!  Three day school week as my kids were out on both Monday (professional development) and Tuesday (Election day).  Bless it.  We won't even start in on the politics, but let's just say I am disappointed in my state.

Monday I drove my son to Elizabethtown for his orthodontist appointment.  He wasn't looking forward to it because this visit meant they were putting on his bottom brackets and a pretty strong upper wire.  One that was bad enough that the doc called it "The Monster".  And it is.  He hasn't been able to eat anything that requires chewing since then.  Brings him to tears.  He and Aleve have become BFF's.

I made it one slipper into Kaia's Leethal Mary Janes.  I DO NOT like this yarn.  Maybe it's the particular pattern that I am trying to use it with, but it's hard for me to work with.  So I moved on to doing Rowan's Be Loving, Remixed hat.  Easy, quick knit.  I could have finished it in one day, but I stretched it out over two.  It turned out awesome and she loves it.

I thought it was going to be too big as I was knitting it, but nope, it's a perfect fit.  This was supposed to be a Christmas stocking stuffer, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of the pom-pom, she was all *grabby hands*.  Definitely could make many more of these!

On to the next project!

*crickets*

Yes, yes... I know.  I am the single WORST blogger in the history of bloggers.  It's been almost a month since I even logged on to my dashboard.  Blogging is serious business apparently and I am much too scatterbrained and busy to remember to post daily.  I am envious of the ladies who find the time to post on the regular.  I always have the best intentions, but life ALWAYS comes first.

As you know, lately we've been dealing with a whole Mack truckload of life.  Every weekend it's been a football game and/or a marching band competition.  Last weekend saw us getting up at 1:45am to have our son to the high school by 2:45am for dress and head out for state semifinals and finals.

Getting up at 1:45am wasn't even the worst of what we had to go through.  We were the first band to perform.  It was 32F degrees (wind chill of 22F degrees), snowing, the field was slippery and wet, and the wind was blowing about 20mph for the entire day.  Some students instruments had to be unfrozen from their hands.  Skin was lost.  The poor color guard girls were wearing what amounted to tissue paper.  It was the most ridiculous conditions I have ever seen and I am still dumbfounded that the officials of the KMEA allowed the contest to continue.

I've been reading trying to make sure I hit my goal of 25 books for the year.  I attempted a book that I read some great reviews about, but seriously....  all the nopes.  I only managed to get about 100 pages in.  It was just a difficult read and couldn't hold my interest.

When I wasn't reading, I was (and still am) working on a Margot & Iris Tunic for Ro.  It is almost complete.  I only have 4 rows on one arm and the other arm to finish.  I'll need to get on this quick as I have some yarn coming in the mail for six projects I want to get done for Christmas.  Yes, I know this is rather ambitious.  Do not rain on my parade.

Did I also mention that we ripped up all the carpet from our living room?  Yes, we did that.  No, it doesn't look good.  The beautiful hardwood is under there, but the previous carpet before the one we ripped up ...  *sigh* ... well, it was GLUED DOWN.  So we have a bunch of funky old glue and glued down padding just chillin'.

Oh and also... my son was baptized yesterday.  So there was that.