Thursday, January 31, 2008

Who's 'Enza???

Influenza...My poor, monkey Katie has the real flu bug.
She is feeling rather yucky right now.
I picked her up from school yesterday and she was feeling tired and achy, with a sore throat. Not a good sign.

She got a fever...102 this morning.

To the dr we went.

I thought that it might be strep, but....that was negative.

Influenza was the diagnosis (thanks to a nasal swab).

So...we are at home, keeping warm, medicating fevers and aches and pains.

My poor girl.

On a lighter note, Emily is feeling better. Just about back to normal. Normal enough to want to bug her sick big sister. Yup, just about back to normal. :)

Allison? Well...we have her in a bubble, trying to keep her away from all germs. But she insists on breathing in the air inside the house and touching things that her sisters have touched. The soap and water is flowing here.


And we are expecting 6-9 inches of snow tonight. Hmph.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Cowgirl v.2008



I had to share.
Grandma Brooks will especially like this one!!!

These are for you, mom!!

A blog give-away!!!




Catherine Matthews-Scanlon is giving away a copy of her new book on her blog!!
Art from the Heart looks beautiful and I cannot wait to see a copy of it!


Click here to check out her blog and her book!!!

http://cmscanlon.blogspot.com/2008/01/giving-away-two-copies.html

You will have to copy and paste the link. I cannot get the click and link thing to work...

I actually just bought one of those little sewing machines to try a little sewing on my paper!!! (Thanks for the GC, Erin!!!)

Have a great day!

btw...Emily is doing much better. She is off of school til Monday, to try and catch up with her rest and get back some of that famous ENERGY of hers!!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

New-monia.....

Emily is sick. She is a sick little girl.
She was fine on Friday, after school. But on Friday evening, she just started feeling yucky. Our weekend was spent battling between feeling better and "worser".

By Monday morning, she had had enough. We went to the dr. Her temp was 103.8. She was feeling plain yucky (and quite a bit dehydrated). She had to get a breathing treatment at the dr's office. The diagnosis - pneumonia. My poor girl.

She is so active and full of energy ALL OF THE TIME...it is awful to see her lethargic and down.

We had to go for xrays. And the diagnosis stuck.

Now we are home - with antibiotics and an inhaler.

24hrs later...we are thankful for antibiotics (even the YUCKY tasting ones). she is on the path to recovery. But no school for a few days. Today is the 100th day of school and she is devastated that she cannot go. But, I think that she understands that she needs to get better.

Sweet Emily...get better SOON!!!!!!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Method Playground Entry - Bling in a shape...








Here you go.
This is a layout of the girls, playing in the backyard.

The bling is in curly shapes, but connect the girls to eachother - just a bit of symbolism!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Rock the Vote!

http://glassbooth.org

This is a link for those who ned a little help deciding who is the best candidate for you.
If you are like me, you really want to be up on the issues, but your brain freezes when you try to decipher it all.

Apparently, I am a Mitt or Mike gal. I thought I might be.

Check it out.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Happy Birthday to me!!!!


not really my cake...

Happy Birthday to me.
I won't tell you how old I am. well...ok.
I am 38. I can't believe it.
I remember when 38 was so old. And I really don't feel my age.

Here's to a great day.
Eric and the girls are making me a cake.
I got breakfast made for me - a bowl of rice krispies, a waffle sandwich with jelly and a glass of milk - thanks Katie and Emily.
We shall see what the rest of the day holds.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Just for fun....

53%

53%

Free Vermont Dating




go figure.....

The Invisible Woman


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.


Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’Obviously not; no one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping thefloor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me atall. I’m invisible.

The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:Can you fix this?

Can you tie this?

Can you open this?

Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being.

I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’

I’m a satellite guide to answer, ‘What number is the Disney Channel?’

I’m a car to order, ‘Right around5:30, please.’

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude – but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She’s going,she’s going, she’s gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package,and said, ‘I brought you this.’ It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.

I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription:‘To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are buildingwhen no one sees.’

In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals – we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a workthey would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, ‘Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.’And the workman replied, ‘Because God sees.’

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, ‘I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.’

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction . But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong,stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a greatbuilder.

As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime, because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, ‘My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes home made pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.’ That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself.

I just want him to want to come home.

And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, ‘You’re gonna love it there.’


As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women."


-anonymous (from a widely circulated e-mail)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Lifehouse's Everything Skit

A friend shared this with me. I wanted to share it, too.

Moving is what it is.

It is about 5 minutes long. Please take the time. You won't be sorry.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Method Playground entry.....BLING!!!!!

This is my entry for the Method Playground "Bling" challenge.
I am not very good at photographing layouts, but I figured that this would do.
The photos are of Christmas Eve 2007. We were able to get the whole Diekemper family together, in one room....on one couch. Ralph, Lee and Danielle were able to come in from Pennsylvania. It was wonderfully crowded and chaotic.
I added a little bling on the red cutout paper. And I placed the "bling" heart over both of the pictures. The "you are here" symbolizes that you are in the heart of your family, wherever you go.
Have a great week!!!!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!

I have a Christmas post that I still have to add photos to. I need to find a free half hour or so.


For now, I will post this cool photo.


It is of the Diekemper's. All of us. Paul and Laverne Diekemper and the crew.

Front row...Joe, Emily, Katie, Ashtin, Jon
Couch...Andrew, Paul, LaVerne, Anna, Sean
Standing...Jean, Ralph, Lee, Danielle, Eric, Martha, me, Allison, Matt, Ellen, Howard, Ryan, Sarah

All of us together, for Christmas Eve. It was great...and thanks to Sean having a timer on his camera...we got a photo that me may not be able to get for a while.