No means...maybe later?

There are some very persuasive ladies in the Ruchus home. I seemed to have a knack for persuasion and it has served me well in life honestly. The trouble with this trait is I have passed it on to my precious one. Oooooh have I passed it on. Let me elaborate. For weeks, I have wanted this new kitty. My daughter's friend needed to find a home for their kitty and he is 7, so this wasn't really the easiest task. Except that he's a Bengal...which means he is beautiful with a capital B. The minute I heard he was up for grabs I wanted him. Even though we already have two old cantankerous cats here, I knew a third one would be just, well, fabulous. Unfortunately, the man of the place didn't see it that way. I pleaded and prodded, set up a time for him to meet the cat (which he declined by the way) and generally used all of my best persuasive skills...to which came the resounding "no, we don't need another cat" First of all, it's not about neeeeeeeding a cat, it's about wanting a cat. Does anybody need a cat? I don't think so. These conversations mostly transpired while the precious one was in Arizona. When she got home, I told her that we (using that term very loosely) had decided against the cat. Her persuasive skills immediately kicked into high gear. By the end of the evening no had changed into "we'll see". Yesterday we'll see...turned into yes...I was in disbelief. After the precious one told me her dad had said yes, I sent my sonshine to double check...yep he said...Dad said yes. Wow! I stand in awe of your persuasive powers precious one...

And today...we welcomed the newest member of the Ruchus....Julio

Does he really pay attention? I don't think so...

This funny recollection crept back in my brain today and I don't believe I have shared it with you yet...

A few weeks ago the hasbeen and I were out shopping with the girls. As we walked into The Pottery Barn (one of my utmost favorite stores of all time), my husband said wow...this is quite a bit nicer than our pottery barn...imagine this readers... stylish, beautiful, modern, tastefully decorated...to which I replied..."Honey, we don't have a Pottery Barn." "Yes we do...on E. State St." I had to think..."Tell me you do not mean Old Time Pottery!" He did...imagine this... crowded, big yellow signs, cement floors. Clearly, no comparison. After I had quite a hardy laugh at his expense I realized...he doesn't really pay attention...but he sure provides a good dose of humor!

Can it be true?

Just a quick post to let you all know I passed my licensing exam...so I am officially an LSW...pardon the break in blogging lately, but sometimes this life gets in the way...here is a quick recap...

The big girl got a job...she's officially a taco bell girl now and my budget is on the way to improving

The precious one got a paper route...another great gain for my budget :)

The sonshine's driving is improving...my panics are becoming more rare

The honey do list is getting done...he even bought and put in a light bulb for the fixture over my sink that he installed two years ago...go honey!

I got my license AND my diploma on the same day

We've had one day of 90 degrees all summer-- so much for the water park season passes

I'm still waiting on the laundry fairy.

Have a great day!

Perhaps I have over indulged...

I think today I'm having a life hangover. Ponder that thought for a moment. What exactly is a life hangover you ask? Let me explain...When I was little my mom would always say..."You want to do too much...you have to focus on one thing." Well here's the thing...focusing on one thing just isn't me. Call it ADD, call it scatter brained, call it what you like, but I seem to be one of those folks that has to have a lot and I mean A LOT going at all times. I don't really appreciate a lot of down time, unless it's napping, but I digress. Lately, I have umpteen projects going. None finished, some started, some hoped for...just too darn much. Add that to my three jobs, and my back to school in a month and I just feel as if I m-a-y have over extended myself. Again. I'm finding myself a bit stalled, which is totally unlike me, because I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I believe I'll take a nap, make a list, and hope that tomorrow it'll be all better, and what seems overwhelming today, will once again seem manageable tomorrow.

Random acts of kindness warm my heart

I almost forgot this little piece of blog fodder with all of my other McDonald's posts last week. As I was begrudgingly driving to Chicago last week for training, I treated myself to McDonald's breakfast. On Thursday, I pulled forward to pay for my food and the McDonald's lady said to me...the lady in front of you paid for your food and said to have a nice day..."Really? Well, have a nice day I shall" said I. Isn't that just the best?!? I've heard of such random acts, but I have never been fortunate enough to be the recipient of the McD's random act. It made my day. Thanks random lady that bought my McDonald's.

Now onto a few tasks being completed around the Ruchus house...This bush has been annoying my Mr. Ruchus for about the past 10 years. It has only recently begun annoying me, because it's filling the gutters up with gunk, subsequently adding more to the honey do list that never gets done. So...my brother is helping us out around the house, so we bumped this task to the top of the list...

Can you even believe how crazy big that bush was?!?

Of course, once we got the bush down we discovered that it has also nearly destroyed a piece of our siding. More for the honey do list...and more on that later :)

I just had to share this funny story compliments of my great nephew. When we got out of the van at church on Sunday...the bells were playing a hymn. My great niece and nephew promptly started dancing... My great nephew said, "I hewd this song at my Ganny's at Cwistmas time!" I love him...I loved that they went to church with me and I got to see them dancing their hearts out without reservation. I need to change my title...random acts AND kids warm my heart :)

Shenanigans can often be overheard when a new driver drives a strange car

For your reading pleasure...let me share with you a snippet of a conversation I had with my precious one today. She was calling from Arizona...

Precious one: OUCH!!!

Mrs. Ruchus: What happened precious one?!?

PO: A Raindrop just hit me in the eye!

MR: Oh? It's raining there?

PO: Yes, we're (using that term loosely) driving papa's car and we don't know how to use the air conditioning or the window wipers so we're driving with the window's down and a raindrop just hit me in the eye.

MR: (sighs and says Good Lord under her breath) Precious one, tell your sister to pull over and look for the window wipers on the turn signal.

PO: She found them, but now they only turn on every once in a while

MR: Yes Precious One, that is the delay, tell her to turn it farther and they'll turn on.

PO: Ok Mom, but we're home now....bye.

And so it goes...another gray hair was added today.

McDonald's blog fodder...

I guess I am just a suggestible person. I have to face it. This week, once again I am in training in Chicago while my real work gets further and further behind. I have no one to blame for this except me, since I'm the one that signed myself up for this training, I wanted to take the training, and I'm glad my work is paying for the training, I just wish I didn't have to miss work to take the training...Good Lord, enough about the training. As I was saying...I'm driving to and from Chicago this week everyday. Yesterday as I was movin along I-290 I saw this little beauty...

You ever have that experience when you're pretty sure that is THE most delicious thing you have seen in a month of Sunday's and you just can't get it off your mind? Yeah, me too! So...I head home, thinking, of course, of a Big Mac. I rush inside get ready for my school board meeting, and throughout the meeting as I'm eating some really healthy fruit, I'm thinking of the impending Big Mac. Immediately following the meeting, I rush to McD's to purchase the longed for sandwich.. I pull in the driveway, just enjoying the heck out of that Big Mac, where my husband and son are waiting. "You bring us McD's?" "Uh, no. You haven't eaten?" "Uh, no." So, here's the lesson in that story...I am suggestible. I think I read that somewhere before. Hopefully, you're not waiting at home for dinner, because it's very possible I may have been side tracked along the way, and that there is no dinner for you! Gratefully, the hubby and my sonshine fended for themselves for dinner. No harm done.

Now, let's discuss today. I love McDonald's breakfast. I do. Way too much. AND today, July 14th was 50 cent hotcakes day. How could a person go wrong with three steaming hot delicious McD's flapjacks for 50 pennies? I woke up this morning to my husband saying 50 cent hotcakes today. Whew that's my kind of day! So...I get all in my car on my way to Chicago and I stop at the McD's drivethrough where I proudly say...I'll have me some hot cakes please. Pause...Ma'am you know the 50 cent special isn't available through the drive through right? pause....longer pause...you're kidding right? No Ma'am I'm not kidding. (I hate to be called Ma'am by the way)...so I ordered a breakfast burrito...and I was a mite bit miffed I might add...but not to be outdone...the gal I was riding with ran inside and got me some 50 cent hotcakes...all is well with the world...

On a totally unrelated note...I have figured out how to use my camera...only on auto setting and how to download pics. Here's some samples for your viewing pleasure...

Let's just say the pets will be glad when the camera newness wears off :)

Oh yes it is!

My. New. SLR. Is. Here! As in, here, in my house, picked up from the walmart site to store, put together, battery charging, memory card installed, just waiting for that little red light to quit flashing...Here! Stayed tuned for some hopefully awesome photos, or at least some blurry, too dark, too light crazy looking photos while I figure out my new camera. Insert a really loud scream here on my part, because...let me just tell you, my husband isn't nearly as excited about that new camera. While I was trying to show it to him, while he was watching some show on TV, he even acted a little annoyed that I was talking when it wasn't a commercial. Go figure. You think he'll be annoyed while I take pictures of him watching TV?

Facebook....a sure sign of memory loss...

I facebook. A lot. Too much. I quite enjoy it actually. Especially the part where half the 'kids' I went to school with are on there and it's just like we're hanging out again in 1984. It's a bit of living the high school years vicariously through a social network I believe, but here's the thing...there seem to be all kinds of people who 'claim' they went to school with me and want to be my friend. We affectionately call them 1984 wanna be's. Because we must have been the most popular class of all time, hence the reason so many people would want to fake their attendance at my ever so humble school. As these unknown people continue to try to befriend me I thought to myself...self, it is time to get out the yearbooks.

Last night I ventured into the deep caverns of the back of my basement and in a box labeled yearbooks...located the long lost photo memoirs. I opened the front cover of my senior yearbook and the first alarming realization was that I could not recall some of the people that had actually signed my yearbook. Now, certainly I didn't have strangers sign my yearbook right? I proceeded to look through page after page of my 500 classmates at which point I had another revelation...my memory sucks! These '1984 wanna be's' are indeed there on the printed pages of my dusty yearbook. So future facebook friends, let me apologize for doubting you...I will continue to comb through the pages, to recall lost memories...and accept your friendship to form new ones :) Happy Friday.

You gotta try this place!

If you are looking for a terrific summer getaway, might I suggest Kenosha, Wisconsin? I am fortunate to have a brother who lives there, whose birthday happens to be July 4th, who happened to invite us up for the weekend. Here's the thing... Kenosha has so much to offer, at such a relaxed pace. I thought I'd share just a few of the more than 300 photos I took over the last 4 days, to share with you the splendor that is Kenosha...First, the lake front, is beautiful...with parks, gardens... and of course fabulous beaches... The downtown area near the waterfront is filled with quaint shops and restaurants...where you can dine outside and enjoy the fresh air...

In Kenosha, they still have Mr. Softee trucks! AND they still serve the best rainbow sprinkle cone :)

You can take a trolley ride for free on the 4th, other days it's 50 cents...

You can enjoy the view of the yachts in the marina...

and visit several museums, most of which are free...

This is the view from the Kenosha Public Museum...

, and the Anderson Arts Museum...where the architecture is as lovely as the art...

There is an endless array of things to do there. I mostly enjoy biking, the beach, riding the trolley and of course the rainbow sprinkle cones! What a wonderful weekend...

Hijink may ensue...

I have had a few, let's just say issues...on the 4th. I love this Holiday...because of what it represents...our brave men and women who have fought and are fighting for our freedom. I also love this holiday because it's my brother's birthday. This year he is 48. (Don't tell anyone I told you ok?)

The 4th of July hold's quite a history for me, as I'm sure it does for you...today I thought I'd share a bit of my firecracking history...

My earliest memory of the 4th is when my mom, my brother and I went to watch fireworks at the speedway and a shell landed at our feet....we had to run like he** to not lose any parts! I think I was 3.

As a youngster Mrs. Ruchus and her brothers would go watch the fireworks at a local middle school. At that young age, I still got very nervous at the loud booms you could feel in your chest.

As a teenager, I attended with friends to a variety of locations and was once hit in the eye with a piece of a shell when the wind changed directions midway through the show. A quick trip to the medic hut, an eye flush, and I was back on my way.

In my twenties, when sleep wasn't an option, I enjoyed watching our fireworks from a friend's boat on the river. The glitch here was that it always took at least 3 hours to get off the river and so...I may have looked just a bit tired at work the next day.

Once we had children, we had to be a bit more creative in our location. Being FULLY aware of the dangers of fireworks, I surely didn't want to expose my children and with my son's sensory disorder, finding just the right spot was very important. Usually we would drive around in our van and when we found a good view, pull to the side of the road and watch where our kids could enjoy the show from the safety and quietness of our van.

My favorite fireworks perch was from this little spot...

The Rock River Towers...we had a friend with a condo on the 13th floor. From there we could sit in the air conditioning on his sofa and watch the fireworks. It was by far....THE best firework viewing location. Sadly, he moved and so this location is no longer a choice. Since then we've been on the banks of the river, the top of a parking garage, sitting on a bridge...let's just say I never miss the fireworks...until now.

Recently my brother moved to Kenosha...right on lake Michigan...one block from where they shoot off the fireworks...this is my new favorite spot! Today, we took a trolley ride, we watched the boats come in off Lake Michigan, we went to the farmers market, AND we had one of these... As a small girl...Mrs. Ruchus would run out to the street with her 15 cents in had to get a rainbow sprinkle cone, the likes of which have been without compare in all her years... Guess what I had today? You guessed it!! A rainbow sprinkle cone, from the Mr. Softee man. It is now $3 I might ad, but hasn't lost one bit of the wonderful memories it had when I was little :)

The boys are outside (by boys I mean my brother and my husband) playing remote control cars...and it's time for me to get the burgers made...Have a safe 4th everybody... AND Happy Birthday Tim!

Don't forget to take a moment to thank a veteran today...my dad, my step dad, Poppy, and my 4 brothers, all served their country in the armed forces. Thanks! And thank you to all the families that are away from their loved ones today as they continue to fight for our freedom.

My new little friend

Have you had something you have wished for, budgeted for, waxed and wained for but never quite got...yet you didn't give up...you kept reading, researching, hoping, thinking one day, there won't be bills and I can splurge and one day the kids won't have a wish list twice as long as mine and one day there will be time to learn how to use the sought after object, and someday I'll be able to preserve memories with clarity and talent. Any guesses? Does this help? That readers is my new little friend...coming to a store near me soon! It is a gift I got for my graduation...one that I have dreamed of for a long time...my first SLR (insert smiles here, in fact, my daughter just asked why I was smiling while typing!) I have researched some local classes I can take to introduce myself to my new friend....prepare for many many more photos on the ole blog! It should arrive in a week or so....pure bliss!

Have I overprotected them?

I have often prided myself on the fact that my kids see the cup as half full. I never really thought they had to be aware of all the bad things in the world, because I was here to protect them right? But what about when they're teenagers? What about when they are venturing out into the real world, on their cell phones, on the internet, with friends, etc...I wonder if I've told them enough about the scary things, about boys and girls that do not have their best interests' at heart, about child predators and abductors, STD's, people that want to take advantage of them, etc. etc. etc., and a myriad of other things that are out there. I had a little scare this week with my daughter and our internet rules and I had to cross the line of showing her the scary...the pictures of the sex offenders that live near our house, the ages of their victims, pictures of kids that have been abducted. How does a parent get across that I don't just make these rules to be mean, I make them to perhaps save my child's life? AND how does a parent do that without invoking so much anxiety for the child that the child can no longer live the carefree child life she used to live? Those are the questions I ponder this evening as the parent of not one, not two, but three overprotected teens.