Potty Blog

I have to say that I am not above potty talk...that may put my ranking with you down a few pegs or so...

But for some reason I had the urge to share a tidbit that I found very helpful. if you are like me you run out of toilet paper constantly and have to buy it constantly. I HATE THAT! In my family of 4 with 3 of us being girls - I was changing the TP role every other day...no joke!

My sister told me about Scotts TP. So I tried it. It is 2 ply but thinner than what you will be used to - NOTHING like 1 ply I promise but you will have to use more than you would normally...butt (he,he) that doesn't matter!!! You adapt quickly!! I went from changing roles every other day to every other week. From 4-6 roles a week (we have 2 bathrooms) to 4 a month.

It's at least worth a try right? Go buy a 4 pack and see how it will change your life...ok, well the TP changing sanity at least!! ;)

Bed vs. Tent...hmmm

The Great Idea!!

My cute little girls had this great idea to go camp in the back yard...it started with them innocently packing a bag and some toys and with their hats on they ventured on in the back yard littering their belongings across the grass and enjoying their afternoon. They asked if I could set up the tent but I was just starting dinner so it was impossible for me to help. So once daddy got home, their charming selves got daddy quickly to set it up and they had their home away from home.

Everything was fine until they asked, just before bedtime, to sleep in there. Dad had said no because he had to work and I BRILLIANTLY thought, "Well, if they are gonna do it tonight's the night - we gotta start them on their school schedule - no biggie I will sleep with them."

So I get them all set up, I lay several blankets down as a cushion and got the girls tucked in with lots of layers...it was getting chilly and was going to rain...still I thought this was a good idea.

So a couple hours later I crawled in the tent and layed between them to share a great peaceful moment with my girls. I envisioned waking up with them in the tent, cuddling and creating a memory that will last forever...well it certainly will.

I knew fairly quickly that tonight was not gonna be a fun night...it felt like laying on cement. I realize 34 is not old...but Oh my GOODNESS...I woke up an hour later with my body SCREAMING in pain!!! I tried many different positions - I would doze off a minute here and a minute there only to wake up with a DIFFERENT part of my body screaming.

Then is started raining...usually the tranquil raindrops on a tent is soothing...well not this time. I am not sure if the rain was unusually large or if the fact that my body felt like I had red hot needles all over it affected my hearing...but tranquil it was not.

So FINALLY at 3am with my back, hips, shoulders and arms in an immeasurable amount of pain I wake up both my girls and BEG, yes I said BEG, to come inside to sleep and that daddy would do the tent thing with them this weekend which THANK YOU GOD - he had already promised. So after a lot of begging they agree and we get to bed.

My bed -- AHHH...however my body hurt so much that I could not sleep. I felt tortured. But finally just as I started to succumb to sleep I hear and feel little hands on my feet. Lindsey was crying. She had a bad dream...I am not sure how you can have a bad dream in what felt only like 15.4 seconds but none the less she crawled into bed. And of course she could not sleep. So that means she keeps mommy up. I doze here in there between the the little moves and hands holding my face and then I hear another sound. Emily...came into our bed. So now there are 4 of us in a queen size bed. NOT comfortable. But we are trying to make it work and Lindsey still being scared wants to sleep on my stomach. So I let her. Makes more room in the bed.

By now I am so tired and so sore that I could not stay still long enough to doze. I was twitching and moving every minute or so. But I could hear finally after 2 hours that Lindsey was falling into a deep sleep. So at 5 am I slowly roll her off me and she WOKE up..I gave her a body pillow to snuggle with and I went into her room to sleep on her bed. Finally SLEEP. 15 minutes later she comes in crying...so she crawls in bed with me again in HER room and we sleep immediately. Suddenly the phone yanks me away...I fall out of bed...LITERALLY and in a disoriented state find the phone.

It is 8am. So I got a few hours of sleep. I decide to go back to sleep and sleep as long as the girls will sleep. I look into my room and no Lindsey, I look in her bed, no Lindsey. I then look all over the house and no Lindsey. I go back to her room and turn on the light and finally I see her in Emily's bed....I realized I had no memory of her sleeping with me - I was so sleep deprived that it took several minutes to piece the night back together. I went and caught a few more ZZZ's in the recliner only to be woken up 20 minutes later by...yup you guessed it LINDSEY!!! I love that girl!

So unless you are under 25...do not sleep in a tent without a mattress. And if you already know that daddy is gonna do it this weekend...DON'T OFFER TO DO IT! Make a SPECIAL memory some way else. But that's just me.

-- Laura ;0)

Cuteness in a Sassy Package

I am Lindsey! I am 5. Cute you say? Of course I am!!

And really how could you argue with this. My Lindsey girl cracks me up. This sweet little thing will be the first one to hug you tight and say I love you. She will snuggle up and say I am the best mommy in the world...well, yesterday was one of the days. I got a lot of lovin' from my Lindsey girl... AND THEN

I started asking her to pick up her things on the living room floor. She moaned a little but did it.
then a minute later I asked her to pick up something else she left on the floor and she groaned a lot louder and said "I don't have to do EVERYthing!" "I'm NOT your prisoner!!"

I couldn't help but laugh...

BUSY End of Summer Days

The Cushman Girls!!

I just came back from my Girls camp out! I look forward to this time of year all year long. Where I get away with just some friends and go to my families property on the Olympic Pennisula - not too far from Twilight land!! We come here to relax, and do whatever we want. Each year the mix of people is usually a little different - most of these friends are the usuals with me but there is one or two more that come and go but can't always make it every year!


What I like most about this weekend - without a doubt is the laughter that always ripes thru the weekend. We spend hours telling stories, and just laughing. Laughing until we are crying. Laughing until our stomachs ache and then at that point everything is funny and we just laugh more. And it is a time of great sharing - usually at some point most of us will have a time of crying. Sharing the weight that we all carry on our shouldiers or sharing the hurts of our lives.


It is a safe time and we have a motto - "What happens at Cushman, stays at Cushman!" Until next year!!


My Emily - 6 year old! decides finally to concur the bike without taining wheels. And I am amazed at how quickly she picked it up. She loves it. She is still wobbely and in fact I am waiting for her to crash and break her leg..the way she puts her legs down to stop when she is nearly out of control makes my skin crawl..but she catches herself every time and has only fallen once - barely tipping the bike over. You can see as she rides that she is experienceing a new taste of freedom! The wind blowing across her eyes thru the motorcycle helmet, the sense of the air rushing past her skin and the crazy wobble back and forth - SHE IS IN HEAVEN!




Loungin' on summer evenings! I love this pic. Emily actually has a piece of long grass in her mouth and no this picture was not Staged! She was just enjoying herself and taking a breather after working so hard to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. She layed here about 5 minutes and then jumped back on her bike!!

Isn't this picture a hoot! I hade my niece and nephew - Alex and Hailey here for about 4 days this past week. We had days full of running around! Swimming and painting and swimming and more swimming. There are actually 5 people in this car. My husband took our girls and Alex and Hailey to the lake last week. There is actually a LITTLE motor that he can put on this and it could barely tow the tube - and the canoe with 5 people in it - had to of been a SITE! but fun I am sure.

Well, as you can see - we have been busy. On top of all the above - I have been painting my garage, cleaning other peoples houses and working at a friends house doing yard work. Once I finish my garage - I will need to seriously get on with the homeschool prep! Yikes -I can't believe I have not started yet. It may be awhile before you hear from me!!

The Story of Tinkerbell and her Mama

This is Lindsey and in her cute little hand is Tinkerbell. We recently went on a camping trip with my sister and her family. It was awesome! Could not have wanted a better place. There was a full kitchen and fire pit area that overlooked a mountain and surrounded by a creek that feed into a larger river. It was beautiful! Well, the first morning we were there my husband and all the kids were walking along the river...and there on the rocks near the river was a pathetic, half dead looking little bird. So what did they do...RESCUE it!!!

Well after about the first half hour most of the other kids got bored with her and started doing other things but my Lindsey Girl had found her baby... she all on her own, took care of this baby bird for the next 2 days, feeding her wet dog food every 30 minutes. She quickly named her Tinkerbell or "Tink". After the first 24 hours the bird looked amazingly well. Was hungry all the time and satisfied when Lindsey fed her. She started jumping out of the box we had her in and had to change out the transportation box - a large dog kennel was all we could find. Yup you heard me, a LARGE dog kennel for a 2 inch bird. She had a castle!!

So upon bringing her home, we had to have a better bird cage - mom (me) scoured Burlington for an inexpensive bird cage. I found one...and Tink had her new home.
We were able to keep Tink "alive" for nearly a week and then one morning she never woke up.

And I actually think it was my fault...but we won't go there.

My Lindsey girl was SO upset. She cried for a half hour straight and we had an opportunity to talk about death one more time this year. The awesome thing was Lindsey asked to read the bible to find comfort. We came across John 16:20, "...you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy...Now is your time for grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy"

It was so fitting and she quickly started to recover mentioning Tink every once in awhile.
The next day we made a special burial box and buried Tink in the back yard.

Notice the princess tiara...only for Tink!

What is it about men?

MEN

...just the word makes me sigh and think uh, hmmmm.

(I know this pic doesn't quit show what I wanted.)

"they" have written all kinds of books like "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" - which I have not read. I have heard the phrase "Men are like spaghetti and women are like waffles"...that too may be a book.

They, men, truly are a conundrums!! I had the odd experience of seeing, mostly hearing, 2 men in their "guy" time. I am almost having troubles articulating what I think and feel after having seen that.

1) Of course they talk about the things that are of interest to them -I assume. Many topics included beer, motorcycles, food, women (we won't go there), "different" friends etc. But the biggest thing I noticed is that when they were working on and talking about their specific motorcycle. They could not talk about another topic at the same time. Every time they talked about something other than the one motorcycle they had to stop, stand, talk and only after their story could they resume work on the motorcycle. The only thing that they seemed to be able to do while talking was drink beer. Finally, 4 hours later they finished what they were doing with their bike.

2) The other thing that I observed was that men can and will scratch WHATever and WHENever they please. They will burp, fart and pee outside in front of WHOMEVER they want. As though walking the 30 feet inside to use the bathroom was too hard. And this seems to be a multi-aged thing. My husband once told me a long time ago of his friend whom is in his 70's that on a visit here at MY house peed in MY back yard...when the bathroom was literally a stone throw away... And my husband...get this...felt honored!!! HONORED! As though it is a right of passage of some kind. You have finally reached manhood or considered to have a place of manhood if you have friends PEE in your yard.

You never see girls doing that unless they are in the woods and have no alternative. Best friends will rarely pass gas ... notice that - PASS GAS -in front of each other...and you know we all gotta do it! I have heard stories of men who have just started working together and will fart any time the urge strikes. Anytime...I'm not kidding. Makes me wonder what actually will embarrass a man.

3) I have observed on numerous occasions a man will take something apart, put it back together and almost always have parts left over and sometimes a handful, A HANDful of parts left over. What is that? To me that is concerning...I guess not so much if it is something little and it works fine afterwards...but lets say ... a car. Uh, shouldn't those parts be put back...and if one man does it do ALL men do that? Are there garages with barrels full of left over parts that never find their rightful place or owner? And then what happens to these parts?

But what AMAZES me most is that these same men as far off as mars as they can be are the same men that can sweep us off our feet and cause us to devote our lives to. They are the same men that dance with their daughters and hold you tight at night. The same men that pick up their sons with full pride. They are the same men that with strong hands build our homes and a soft touch that melt our hearts.

See...a conundrum!

Laura ;)