Jillfr’s Blog

I am super excited because our kitchen countertops are being put in this week. We just remodeled our kitchen in our old house about a year ago. So when we bought this house and the kitchen needed to be redone, since I love how my old one turned out, we are basically doing most things the same. Not sure if I can find the backsplash I bought on sale for my old house, but I am still looking.  Next week during spring break the flooring guy is coming to put in the floors and the duct cleaners and the furnace guy!!  I am so glad things are moving in the right direction and I hope the kids and I get a lot packed during break. Brian working 10 hour days 7 days a week with an hour drive each way has made moving along in the house a little tricky since he is the one who knows how to do most of the things.

Candles- I think candles are pretty while they are burning, but I am allergic to several of the scents. This was discovered at my sister’s wedding shower. In our small town you get a community shower usually done at your church. Some people look at what you register for while others do not. I was my sister’s maid of honor so I was writing down the gazillion gifts she was getting. She was getting several scented candles and potpourri. My sister and I both started sneezing and our eyes started watering. We really figured it out on the way home when everything got worse with all the gifts so close together in the car. Once we got home we had to leave all the gifts in my parents garage so that my dad could go through and get rid of all the smelly ones. We had some really excited neighbors.  

My mom tried to have people spread the word for my shower, but I still got some. Now being a teacher every once in a while I get that famous candle. I am always glad when they have a lid. My daughters are also  very into candles and love how nice they smell. They get them from friends and just have to try them. They have learned to do it while mom isn’t home and won’t be for awhile and in the bathroom with the fan running.  Luckily, Brian isn’t allergic to them but he can’t stand most of them!!  Please don’t get me a scented candle.

Dear Grandma,

You have been gone for so long now and missed so many big events in my life. I still think about you often and tell my children and Kimber all about you. They think their grandma, my mom/your daughter was the best Grandma in the world and she comes in as a close second in my mind. Okay maybe a tie when I totally think about it, but she learned from the best so she had to be really good.

I remember going to your house often after we moved to be closer to you. I always remember the amazing smells that were coming from your kitchen. Everyone still talks about all your baking. The biggest compliment I ever got was from grandpa when he said that everyone else in the family should just give up because I was the closest to you. Funny thing is, you never had given him Denny Moore Stew!  Hey I was just in high school and needed something quick from your cabinets. At Dana and Ron’s wedding the pastor talked about your angel food cake in the sermon and how many times people ran to it at church functions. Why wouldn’t they no one else made one from scratch? I still can’t make the frosting like you made for that or the chocolate cake and I really wish I could!  

As you know I had a lot of stomach aches growing up. Spending the day with you was always the best medicine while mom was at work. The few cookies I ate and m&m’s you said wouldn’t really hurt my tummy were always the best medicine. When you passed away I told mom I would clear out the cookie cabinet. I know they were super old because you had been so sick for a long time, but before I threw them out like mom had said I ate a bite or two of every single kind. I guess that makes me the last one to have eaten your cookies. I should have offered Grandpa, but I am sure everyone would have thought it was disgusting.

Some of my favorite times with you besides holidays were shopping with you. While other kids were watching cartoons on a Saturday you, mom, Dana and I were shopping. We were always looking for bargains, having speed walk races or just talking and looking at things. It was so much fun.

I have forgiven you for not including me in on the planning for mom and dad’s 25th wedding anniversary.  I was way too young to plan that big of a party which is why I wrote down every address in mom’s book in a notebook and gave it to you to “help” me. Since that was all I had to offer- no money, no way to make anything or any idea how to plan a party it was going to be all up to you. So glad my aunts and uncles helped you and made it so nice for mom as she was recovering from chemo. 

You would love all your great grandchildren and I am sure you have already forgiven John for joining all of you so soon. I hope he has given you all the details of things you have missed. I know you all are watching us from up there, but Dana really needs you or mom. I am sure one of you would have been able to bring back the old Dana that was so sweet and caring. Her children deserve to know that mom. 

Anyway, I started to write about you for this slice of life challenge and now I can hardly see through all my tears. I love and miss you. Thanks for not letting anyone touch mom’s wedding dress. IT still looked beautiful when I needed it. I love and miss you.

What does Scout think?……

Our dog is 10 years old. He is ¾ great dane and ¼ mastiff.  Scout is the best dog I have ever had and the only. He is a really good dog though and always draws attention wherever we go. He only really barks when someone is at our door or walking across the street behind our house. Other dogs on walks or at campgrounds will see Scout and start barking like crazy. He just looks at them. This made me think about what Scout is thinking all these different times.  When people ask to take his picture or pet him or recognize us only because he is with us. What does he really think? After reading another slice about what their dog is saying when he barks a while ago I started to think about writing this one.

Well we are looking at a beautiful waterfall in Yellowstone and two entire tour buses full of tourists from a different country would rather take a picture of him then of the waterfall.  Scout just stands there and lets them take his picture even when Brian lets a little 4 year old hold his leash so that Brian doesn’t have to be in their family picture with him. Scout is thinking…. Really, I just came to see the scenery. Do you all not see the rainbow going through the waterfall?

When we have taken him to 1000 soccer games and everyone has to come pet him and little kids have pulled his ears.  Scout is thinking….I am just trying to watch one of my kids play soccer and not go after the ball myself. Can’t you just leave me alone. 

When I pick up my van keys.  Scout is thinking…. Yes here we go for another ride!  Why are the kids always happy when she drops them off and leaves?  Why does she pick them back up? I love it when I have mom all to myself. SOMETIMES HOWEVER he is thinking….. Why didn’t she take me? Why did she say I can’t go? How come she is taking all the other people? 

When other dogs bark like crazy while we are on walks at the campground. 

Scout is thinking… That’s right, I am the best dog here. Yep, I am getting to go for a walk and you are not.  What in the world is your problem? I am sorry you don’t want to be with your family.   I have been to over 30 states and seen it all you don’t scare me. Little dog get over it. You are small and annoying that is why everyone here notices me and not you.   If you try to bite my ankles I will respond.

When we are taking yet another picture of him.  Scout is thinking…  Why did the photographer tell them I should be a dog model? How many pictures of this amazing dog do they need? I am not going anywhere mom doesn’t.

Scout is getting old and gray, but he is still a mild mannered dog that deals with so much. I sure he doesn’t like all the attention and hugs and people annoying him all the time but he deals with it all well. Unless you happen to be an old lady who is walking behind his mom at a soccer game.  Then he just might go from letting the little kids pull his tail and ears to all Cujo and pulling his mom backwards out of the lawn chair.   Not sure what he was thinking about that poor Grandma but, it was not good!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Green is the color of the day. Shamrock’s are everywhere. The Chicago RIver has been dyed green and the parades have already happened. We are not Irish, but everyone is today!!  

Haley has always loved St. Patrick’s Day because it is so close to her birthday. When she was born my mom and dad gave her a little St. Patrick’s Day outfit and a little doll all dressed in shamrocks. It was like my mom just knew that this would be one of Haley’s favorite holidays even if she wasn’t Irish. On Haley’s third birthday we even had it as the St. Patrick’s Day theme. That was the last birthday my mom celebrated with any of her grandchildren, she would pass away from a heart attack a few days before Dustin’s birthday. 

We will have corned beef and cabbage today. I had honestly never even tried it until I was married to Brian. It’s still not my favorite, but I guess I do okay cooking it because my children devour it. Brian also likes the Irish soda bread and so do the kids. I really only eat it because it is there.   My favorite bread is my grandma’s homemade Swedish rye bread.  Not sure why I just told you that since it has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s day, but I really miss that bread. I haven’t had it since Christmas before my mom passed away. I was going to make it myself this year, but then we bought a new house and I was too busy over winter break. Anyway now that St. Patrick’s Day is here to bring on the green everywhere especially in the grass and the trees!!

Yet another frustration with the new house. So I had talked a few months ago to some different companies about doing our basement floor in the new house. There was one guy who came first actually and Brian was not there to talk to him. I told Brian after we talked to several that he was not actually the cheapest, but he seemed to really know his stuff. He also was willing to come back and talk to Brian to explain how the process worked. Brian agreed with me. This guy seemed to know what he was doing and his reviews all were pretty good. 

Rewind a little so I can tell you why we needed someone to work on our basement floor. The people who owned the house before us had glued down the foam backed carpet onto the concrete. This made a huge mess when we pulled it up and the foam would not scrape off, wash off or stop tracking the foam pieces all over the house when someone walked on it. That is why we decided since the concrete needed to be ground anyway it wasn’t a ton more to get epoxy put on it. 

Fast forward a few weeks. Brian had agreed with me about him and we gave him the downpayment to get us on his books to get the basement done. We picked out a flecked marble. He was going to start Wednesday, then called and said Thursday. Well that then changed to Saturday and not super early. I was getting worried that I am just a bad judge and should never hire anyone. He did come back though and worked and it is really looking nice. However, while talking to both my husband and myself  he had neglected to tell us that they grind and put on a coating that then takes a couple or more hours to dry then they go somewhere else and come back. When they come back they add the fleck that then needs to dry so they leave again.  This would not have been a problem on a Saturday. I also said had I known and taken a day off to let them in and out I would have been mad since he delayed the start so many times. He told me that he does it so much and they work at so many construction sites that they never have a problem getting into a place. I said, well we both work and just changed all our locks after having given the old keys to the drywall messy crew. Also, that what seems like “common sense” to him is not when you really haven’t done this type of floor before. 

Thank goodness it all seemed to have worked out. Our floor looks nice and now we can finally start to move boxes into the basement and out of our old house. 

My niece that moved in with us last year is now 22. She still works at a daycare near us and enjoys telling me all about the little kids. Kimber is still taking classes at COD. She tries to help more around the house and I think when I look back has grown. Family members and friends see it more than I do sometimes, but looking back now I see it.

She really has tried hard to make friends here. She has made some at school and has had me drive her to a club that she likes to be a part of at COD. She has become brave enough to introduce herself to people, tried a few new foods, unloaded the dishwasher without me asking. 

I am going to hopefully help her get the social security benefits she should be getting. It is not easy to do some of these things. I really don’t know how people who have special needs get help without someone who can help them. I would think that this would be something our country would be able to make easier. Doctor has proven you have special needs, here is what we can do to help you.   DiGeorge disease isn’t as well known as other issues so she doesn’t have a super support group.  

I am glad we are able to help her, but I just wish I had more time to help her. 

Dustin, my one and only son.  What in the world would we do without him? Although he became an Eagle Scout he still helps out and does things with his troop. Last summer he went to Sea Base again as one of the “adults” and enjoyed scuba diving. The other adult’s said he was such a great help. This year he signed up to go with them to a new high adventure camp for his troop. 

Dustin decided to go to COD and wanted to be an engineer. He really wasn’t sure what kind however. After one full semester of COD he wasn’t sure he wants to be an engineer. He said this is why I stayed here. They had a group come in and all the engineers had desk jobs. Dustin loves to work with his hands and does not want to sit at a desk all day so this semester he is taking all different types of classes.

Dustin works at Oberweis and they love him there because he actually is willing to work. He is a shift manager and enjoys going because he has several friends that work there too. He also is a huge fan of chocolate milk and ice cream and Oberweis’s chocolate milk tastes like a chocolate candy bar. 

Dustin is also Brian’s go to for help with the new house. Dustin has worked with tools more than the girls and I so that makes sense. He is also the one the girls and I go to if Brian has asked for a tool or something we aren’t sure of. Why because Dustin might roll his eyes, but he also has my patience.  I am so blessed to have gotten three great kids!

Today is Haley’s birthday! I can’t believe she is 14 today. What a confident young lady she has grown up to be. She is our baby, our dancer and the one who won’t take anyone putting her down or her friends. We laugh at her that she can act like a ditzy blonde, but she gets straight A’s in school. She loves to annoy her dad, brother and sister. When she was born Dustin told me, “I won’t get mad at this one.”  Well 14 years later that is not a true statement. Somehow though she does get by with a lot more than Chloe could think of with him.

Haley not only dances, but she plays volleyball, soccer, is in the band and choir at her school. She loves to be busy and is my social butterfly who seems to treat everyone with respect and can get along with everyone. Even though I had thought I only would want 2 children when Brian had wanted four, I can’t imagine life without this special girl. 

Tomorrow is my youngest birthday so even though I talked about them all last year I should give each of my kids a day as an update.

Chloe is my middle child, She is a very sweet, loveable girl. She does not have the confidence I would love her to have. She is super smart and I have to convince her of that all the time. She is a great artist and this year in high school is taking a pottery class. I can’t wait to see what she has made. My son took the class last year and did some really cool stuff and he is not my artist. Chloe still takes a painting class every week. She makes beautiful pictures that everyone loves to hang up. 

This year she has done a lot with the student council at school and joined the robotics club. She is also now a member of the badminton team which she enjoys being a part of. 

In the new house Chloe has found a love of demolishing walls and closets that we decided to get rid of. She has also become an expert at drilling screws into the old floor so that we hopefully will not have a squeak while people walk.

I am super lucky to have a daughter like Chloe who is always worried about everyone and tries to become my mom when I am injured! Brian even was telling Scout to follow her around when I was at Haley’s dance convention because she was the mini mom!

Chloe’s biggest wish is that people would learn how to spell her name!