Oh my Blerch

This is a running post. So if that doesn't interest you, feel free to leave knowing you won't miss a kid story. ;-)
I told you last week about my cold that took me out of commission for awhile. While no one sent flowers, I do know that you were all very sad for me. A side effect of feeling yucky and not being able to breath was running sounded about as fun as mosquito bites on your bra line. Trust me dudes, those suck.
So my weekly running totals went down, way down.
Oct. Week 1- 21.10 miles
        Week 2- 10.40 miles
        Week 3- 3.55 miles (This one run was pure he** and only done b/c I didn't want a goose egg week.)
         Week 4- 5.35 miles
         Week 5- TBD, but I'm feeling good about it.
Now I wasn't feeling terrible in Week 4. Something else was keeping me in bed, the Blerch. If you don't know about him you can read about him here. The Blerch is a creation of the adult cartoonist The Oatmeal. He is that little voice in your head that tells you to sleep in and have more cake.
I was blerching hard last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week. Mostly, I've been telling myself it is too cold. But that was a lie because I did run this morning and I was WAY overdressed in my tights, long sleeve shirt and hat. I got up, had a nice morning run, and have felt great today! I need to sign up for a new race so I can start another race plan. Those keep me motivated. What keeps you motivated?
Another thing I like to do is set a yearly mileage goal. My goal for this year was 720 miles. I've already run 775.6 miles in 2015! I need to set my goal higher for next year. :-)

Pumpkin LOVE

Sorry for the lack of blog. I'm not a very good nurse and I'm also not a good sick person. I had a cold starting Sunday the 11th and have been out of commission until the middle of this week. I can breathe again so I guess I can blog again!

On the 11th we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends the Grays. It has been too long since we have all hung out! Their girls are ADORABLE, and they are fun play mates for the boys and I get to enjoy some pink and purple for a change!

So we went to the patch and started looking for the perfect pumpkins, it was really windy and dusty so I was happy when Alex found his pumpkin right away. It was probably the first one he could pick up and he wouldn't put it down.

Alex and the Perfect Pumpkin

Daryl took longer because he wanted a "weird" one. We finally found a weird one that wasn't leaking anything and we were set to go. We did the hay bale maze, drank some apple cider slushies and played on the playground equipment. It was a fun afternoon and everyone, except Kelly, slept the whole way home.

Soooooooo we haven't got to put Alex's pumpkin on the porch yet. This is because he insists on SLEEPING with it! He loves his little pumpkin so much it doesn't get to leave his room. Kelly makes him put it at the foot of the bed, but it has to be in his bed. He LOVES his pumpkin. This was a picture I took this morning before I woke him up. And yes it does look like he has taken a bite out of it, I will research that further tonight.

I hope we can convince him to move it outside before it starts to rot! Hope everyone has a happy Halloween, I hope to get a post up of the boys costumes. They are already purchased and ready to go. God Bless Amazon!

A Note From School

How could this boy cause any trouble? (sarcasm)

In the era that we live in my communication with Daryl's teacher happens in the form of notes in his planner. I say era because I imagine the 1950's when you picked your kids up from school and could talk to your child's teacher everyday. Teachers might actually be happy that they don't have to deal with 21 parents everyday at quitting time! 

So let me tell you how this works. If Daryl has no note he had a good day if he has a note that means he had several warnings about a behavior and his teacher needs to let me know what went down that day. 

On Monday, Daryl had the dreaded note! He was talking and being silly in class when he was supposed to be getting his work done. Daryl told Kelly about it and he was really sad but he was even sadder when we told him another note this week would mean no allowance. I don't have the follow through to ground anyone but taking away a kid's five bucks on Friday is effective punishment around here. 

When we told Daryl the consequence of another note he got really sad, there was pouting and tears. That's good because that means he shouldn't get another note. But, I know my son and I needed to warn the teacher. Thank God for e-mail. 

My first e-mail to teacher:

I got your note about Daryl talking in class yesterday. We talked to him about it and told him if he got a note again this week there would be a consequence. I'm only telling you this because if he is acting up and you write the note he will probably cry. Please don't let that stop you from telling us if he is misbehaving.
He is sensitive but I think school is helping him work on being able to take some criticism without it devastating him.
Anyway, long story to say if he is being a pain in class we want to know about it at home. Thanks!

E-Mail back from Teacher Today:
Ugh, I had warned him a couple of times today to stop talking/acting silly.  I always give several warnings before writing a note.  Today we played Math games. I knew there wouldn't be enough time to play all of the games, but he and his partner had only done one side of the very first game (5 addition problems each).  He was so upset and I told him I needed to see his planner (and his partner's).  He started crying and BEGGED me not to write in it.  Then he told me he was getting a spanking and no allowance.  "Please don't write in it!  Please don't write in it!"  Normally I can deal with tears, but after your email, that. was. hard.  We talked about it and I told him, "You're a good boy, Daryl.  You just made a bad choice.  Everyone does, and we learn from them.  Tomorrow is a new day!  I still love you both and know you can do better!"    I wanted to say, "Hey...I get one from my son's teacher 1-2 times a week, this is nothin'!"  But I refrained... ;)

Oh lord, why my child! E-Mail back to teacher today:You did good! PS-He was telling the truth on the allowance (he gets part of it for good behavior) but we don't spank him for notes from school. He was pulling your leg on that one.
I'm glad you stuck to your guns, I know he really is sad, but he can't use crying to get out of trouble.
I look forward to our conference.

I'm not really sure if I am looking forward to our parent teacher conference. That is set for next week! 

Upgrade!

It has been a long time since I've posted about budgeting and being cheap. In February, after we paid off all of our debt, except the mortgage, we started saving for our 3-6 month emergency fund. Once we had that we have just been saving, not too exciting. Yesterday, we spent some of our money and got Kelly a new car.

New to him! He has been driving his 2003 Nissan truck since I was pregnant with Daryl. When we started our journey to be debt free the truck was our nice car for a long time. The truck was not so nice anymore and Kelly was ready to upgrade. His new car is a 2008 Expedition, it is the third car we have bought with cash and it is undoubtedly the nicest! It was the only one of the three cash cars that was over one thousand dollars. :-)

Buying a car with cash is a much more pleasant experience than having to talk to the, "financing" person. We had been looking online for a couple of months so we knew how much we could trade the truck for and what a really good deal would be on the new car. I got the deal so it was fun! We also had a woman sales lady for the first time and she wasn't pushy or "salesy" at all. That was nice too!

Kelly drove his car to tailgating this morning and he really likes it. He was looking for a new truck at first but then decided he would rather have the extra room to drive the family around. I guess we are getting old! He did make sure it had a hitch to tow so the next thing we will be on the lookout for is a small trailer. For a good deal of course!

A Weekend Spin

Because of some unexpected rain The Manor got to host Grandma Rosie! She had a golf tournament on Friday and because it rained in Southwest Kansas she got to stay until Sunday. It is always fun to have her around. Kelly likes it because they like the same restaurants. :-|
Sunday evening I finally got around to plying my "Is this a weed?" fiber. It was my last fiber from Tour De Fleece. The tour ended months ago but I'm glad to finally have my pile of fiber done. Now I need to spin the last of my "Bristling" fiber because I was knitting my sweater and ran out of yarn with one sleeve left to go. Boo! I hope 3.2 ounces is enough to get a whole sleeve worth of yarn. We shall see!

Pile o Fiber in June

Is it a Weed? Colorway in 3 ply

Pile o Yarn in October!

PS-The boys' birthday/Christmas hand-knit sweaters are also looking like the maybe next year/never sweaters. My sons are going to be so disappointed!

PPS- I got Halloween decorations up tonight! We totally missed last year so I'm pretty darn proud of myself!