Coal Creek Farm

Looky! It’s ME!

April — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:09:32 +0000

Helllllooooooo. I sort of feel like I could strip naked and walk around in this blog without disturbing a sole, because I’m pretty sure the place has been vacated.

I’m still without a computer. It’s sucks and at the same time, I don’t really have time to be indignant about it. However, it is putting some major stress on my camera. That poor thing needs to unload its contents….or I could get another memory card, but that would mean going to the store and buying one and that’s just not gonna happen.

I’m neck-deep in planning graduation stuff for Ellen. It’s not overwhelming it’s just that I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m making her announcements and the wording seems all funky. I’ve looked up examples and I still think they all sound weird. Then there’s the baccalaureate stuff and the open house that the senior parents are hosting and the photos that I need to get together for her slide show, I seem to be missing photos of her from 6th grade through 9th grade and I don’t have many from her toddler years. I also have to make a memory board and a hurkin’ lot of food and plan a party at our house. Oh, and Seth is in a play the same week that I’m supposed to be doing something for, but I’m not sure what. Did I mention we’re trying to talk to a college coach about high jumping in the off-chance that Ellen might be able to join the team? So, Clay and I are coaching her as best we can, with Clay going to practice and me attending most of the meets. Clay and I have been calling Ellen’s senior year The Giant Time Suck. And just in case you forgot, because sometimes I do, there are two small boys in the house that just started boy scouting. Lord, help the parent that signed them up for that……because he’s exhausted and his wife refuses to hep with the whole scouting business with the exception of hosting a pack meeting and making two cakes, but that’s it, no more help, I mean it, my answer is……maybe I can help you, but it doesn’t mean I’ll be happy about it, but really I mean NO when I say yes.

I would love to brag about all the kids’ accomplishments this year, but ya know…without photos, meh.

In fact here is a photo I found on Clay’s computer, you know, the only computer I can use to blog on these days? He’s on the roof of a building probably taking measurements for something that needs to be torn down and redesigned or something very architectury….architechtey…archy techy, whatever, he’s doing something on top of a building and he has about 50 more photos of this roof.

How exciting is that?!

Okay, what else?

Maybe I should list things real quick, because who knows when I’ll post again? And we all know how much I love a list.

1. Seth turned 16. He’s now a wee bit over 6’3 and he can’t drive without an adult in the car until he’s 17. I love Kansas, but these new restrictions on ages are killing my boys’ chances of getting a job that doesn’t rely on his mother’s schedule.

2. I did a huglekulture in our back yard. Google it. It’s cool. Except I haven’t planted anything on it yet. So, basically I just have two mounds of dirt and sticks in my back yard.

3. I cried my eyeballs out at Ellen’s last basketball game and it wasn’t because they lost. It was because it was her last basketball game…ever.

4. Also, KU lost. And my town wept, but only after it partied its way to the Final Four and the Championship Game.

5. I think we’re going to foster train some Dexter calves. More on that if it happens. And by that I mean, a fence has to happen.

6. Our mower died, which is why we might foster train some cows.

7. Getting a new mower would probably be easier than cows.

8. We never do things the easy way.

9. Speaking of easy, Clay tried to install can lights in our dining room.

10. I say try because now there are two holes in Ellen’s floor and only one of the three lights he installed works.

11. What we thought would be an easy project has, of course, turned into a bit of a nightmare.

12. We now have to repair the ceiling in the dining room and the holes in Ellen’s floor.

13. I probably won’t get around to doing either of those things until I’m done painting the bathroom.

14. I ripped out all the wallpaper from our bathroom over Christmas.

15. I started painting the bathroom over Spring Break.

16. Maybe over July 4th I’ll get it finished.

17. Did I mention we’re having a big party here for Ellen’s graduation?

18. Did I say I wasn’t overwhelmed by the whole graduation thing?

19 That was a stupid thing to say.

20. A very stupid thing indeed.

10,000 Photos

April — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:47:17 +0000

My computer died.

I took it to the doctor.

The doctor said, “Just think of this as an opportunity to upgrade.”

I asked the doctor if he could save the photos.

The doctor said, “Sure, how many photos?”

“Four children, three years.”

He assured me a little flash drive would be enough.

Today the doctor called me, “Uh, Mrs Phillips? You’re going to need to bring in a big hard drive. You have over 10,000 photos on that computer.”

I guess the doctor didn’t understand what I meant when I said, “Four children, three years.”

I’m using Clay’s computer tonight.

I opened up his photo files.

So many memories.

I chose a recent photo that makes me smile.

Ellen and her very patient date getting ready to go to the winter formal.

I feel a bit weird not having a computer in my life.

It will be a while before I can replace it.

I wish I could access those photos.

Those 10,000 photos.

My First Little Boy

April — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:40:52 +0000

Look! I have decent photos of Seth. Of course you know I didn’t take these and as always I have my friend Mrs. Mama to thank for documenting my kids’ lives in good photos for me.

Seth is in the midst of a massive growth spurt. When I look at photos of him that were taken just a few months ago, he looks so different from these photos. It’s weird how fast a boy can change into a young man. Seth has always been a big kid, but he definitely had a slow growth period through junior high where other boys in his class were taller than him. He spent most of his freshman year bulking up and eating constantly. Now all that bulk is stretching and stretching and stretching….and he still eats constantly. My once pudgalicious boy is turning into a huge skinny man-creature.

He still has a bit of a baby face on top of that massive body which is why I can get away with calling him Sethy in front of his friends, and the fact that he has never asked any of us to stop calling him Sethy. He has always turned bright red whenever he exercises, just one of the many benefits of being related to his father. Within a few short minutes Seth’s cheeks will be glowing and then his arms and legs and pretty soon he’s just a giant, red, sweaty thing running up and down the court. One of his team mates said, “You can’t tell how hard we’ve worked at practice by how red Seth’s cheeks are, but you can tell how hard we’ve worked by how LONG they stay red.”

At the beginning of the season there were a couple of boys that were the same height as him. As you can see he’s shot past his teammates. He’s such a large presence in the house now that I think he’s Clay when he walks into the room.

Last week I had to work at school and he had to stay after school with me.

When I was ready to go, I walked through the gym and saw he was shooting baskets. It’s so rare that I get one on one time with him, so I decided to play with him for a bit.

“I’ll guard you, okay?” I said to him as I took off my jewelry.

“Mom….I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Oh, please. You can’t hurt me! But, I get to foul you as much as I want.” said Raggedy Anne to Andre the Giant.

I spent the next thirty minutes getting bounced and jostled off my son as I tried to guard him and running into what I swear was a brick wall that looked like my son’s chest. What the heck happened to my squishy-puppy-dog of a little boy? At one point he shot over me as I tried to block his shot he ran into my arm hyper-extending it a bit. I spent the next few days with all the muscles from my cuticle to my ear throbbing.

My little boy isn’t a little boy anymore, but that doesn’t stop him from asking me to give him a hug when he’s cold, which is a bit like hugging a refrigerator…but still.

He’s going to change so much more in the next year. I’m going to have to pay more attention to him so I won’t turn around one day and see a grown man with a beard asking me if we have anything to eat in the house.

The End….with the obligatory butt smack.