Reunions, Ghana, and goings on

Thank goodness it is finally summer!  Obviously, I'm still doing a lousy job of keeping up with the blog, but this is never much of a good season for that.  The kids have started summer camp and we've been to the pools and parks and the farmer's markets, though much else is on hold until we get word on Ghana.  DH is going for work for ten days and we've been waiting for several weeks now on the final go. 

My college reunions were the last two weekends outside Boston.  Unfortunately, not the same weekend like the last time I went a decade ago (five yrs ago we were in Bermuda after my first TTC surgery).  Last weekend, my Wellesley friends who made it were listening to Cokie Roberts ('64) interview Madeleine Albright ('59) on campus and Hillary Clinton ('69) stalking, as she not so much blends in as kicks off her book tour (and some say '16 campaign).  I'm sure next year Julia Collins ('05), of recent Jeopardy winning fame will be the big draw.  A bit of trivia for you... The Secretary of State between Madeleine and Hillary, Condi Rice, was a student of Madeleine's father.

Anyway, no travel for now.  I was going to go to NYC to visit my sister, but instead she is coming for a long weekend (yay!).

We usually spend Father's Day picking strawberries, but this year we are going to Ravinia and then Jen and I are heading into the city for a little girl's weekend away.  We're staying at The Public, which I remember reading about the grand opening while in bed w/the twins.  Should be fun!  Happy weekend!

Cleaning House

We've just moved big kid/twin beds into the kids' rooms (more on this later), and since I have hopes of someday moving from this house, we are purging (again).  Since some of you (or someone you know may) live close by, I thought I'd list some of the many items I am unloading to some lucky folks in hopes of reclaiming my house from all the baby stuff.  Everything is in excellent condition, details below.  We have purged much already, which has been cathartic and a little sad at the same time.  I sometimes wonder if people keep having children (besides the obvious reasons) to avoid dealing with getting rid of/because they already have all of this stuff...

Two Graco Lauren convertible cribs in natural (no teeth marks, like new)
Two L.A. Baby two sided soy foam crib mattresses (super clean, no stains used w/protectors)
Two sets of white Breathable Bumpers
Two Dexbaby crib rails in white (fits all convertible cribs)
Custom adjustable crib skirts in Uzbek Jewel fabric (four sides, one crib or two in corners)
Four Boppy organic crib sheets (two in pinstripe tan and two in star dot white) (clean, no stains)
Pump in Style Advanced breast pump w/bag and lots of accessories (used briefly)
Two Graco Pack and Plays (one with changer and mobile, both with bassinet level)
Three pack and play sheets (two fuzzy, one plain)
Eames Rocker in white
Serena & Lily baby sling, size M (washed, not used)
Baby K'tan black baby sling, size S (washed, not used)
Williams Sonoma Home recycled yarn mint striped rug (4x6)
Three Land of Nod 84" Pinstripe mint window panels
JJ Cole Technique diaper bag in black damask (never used)
Two JJ Cole toddler sized urban bundle mes in stealth (black w/grey interior)
Two infant pool floats w/inflatable canopies (6-18 mos) (red and green)
Snoogle pregnancy pillow (clean w/removable cover)
Trumpette 12 days of Christmas socks (0-12 mos., clean and repackaged)
Summer Infant Tiny Diner trays (blue and pink)
Bottle drying rack
Ikea play circus tent
Anthropologie bunny knobs (2)
Pottery Barn Kids whale knobs (4)
Pottery Barn Kids diaper tote
Aden & Anais four pack of swaddling blankets (blue)

Please contact me at kthappy76@gmail.com if you have questions, want to see pictures, etc.  Some items can be shipped.

My motivation... (which has now been pulled off the market :( )

 

Memorial Day weekend

For a few years now, we've been making the trip up north to visit my family for Memorial Day weekend.  We all get together to celebrate my grandmother, who is turning 92 this week, and with no fewer than four other May birthdays, it has become one of our semiannual visits (besides the holidays).

We stopped in the Wisconsin Dells and Buffalo Phil's train table service was a big hit...

Having fun at great grandma's birthday party

Somehow our first Popsicles (watermelon and blueberries)

A trip to grandpa's farm...

Chickens!

Eggs!

Broken eggs...

Another highlight was my mom and my sister each just got new puppies...

Last Day of School

Happy Weekend!

Madeline turns 75

Hope you are having a delightful Spring! Easter and Mother's Day has just rolled into the Memorial Day weekend, so summer is finally upon us!  The kids are finishing up school and getting geared up for camp and pool season.

We are serious book (and Maddie) lovers over here, so I was so excited to hear that Madeline is turning 75. And of course there is a commemorative edition of the first book released to mark the occasion, along with the New York Historical Society displaying more than 90 original works by Ludwig Bemelmans from July-Oct..  Enjoy!

 

 

Important Lessons

I read things all the time that I think about sharing, I really should just start of runner of article links in my sidebar (which I now have).  But this was too good (and hit way too close to home) not to share (original source).  It wasn't until I dealt with infertility (and loss) that I realized how my life up to that point had prepared me for the strength that I needed to get through it, and I wish there was a way for everyone to have the strength and wisdom that comes from a life of struggles, you know without all the struggles, but that is not how life works. 

Embrace the hard stuff that finds you, it is what makes you stronger and better than you were before.

#6: Everything is a MIRACLE

When a Dream becomes a Nightmare

Will you be my neighbor?

My older sister Emily and her husband Joe are currently battling frac(k) sand mining companies from turning their dream house into a nightmare, by becoming a neighbor and beginning to mine, process and haul the sand used for natural gas fracturing.  When they first moved back to Wisconsin 14 years ago after three years together in central Illinois, they moved in with my parents, found and bought their 40 acres in the country, and started building their "forever house".

This began a very long journey, since they did much of the work themselves.  My sister had helped work her way through grad school in IL, where she'd followed husband #1, by designing kitchens at a big box store.  She designed the entire house herself, w/no professional plans, her blueprints were reviewed by an architect who apparently had no changes.  In the early years, when I'd visit from Chicago, I'd do fun things like stain miles of woodwork.  It's an open-floor plan green and ADA walk-out ranch with clever features like radiant heating in their hardwood floors and a playhouse connecting their kids' Jack and Jill bedrooms.

It was six whole years after they started, after I got engaged, that they would finally decide they were done enough to get pregnant.  The fact that their marriage has survived is some kind of miracle, though her relationship with my dad, who helped them on the house in the early days, unfortunately did not.  She's been estranged from him for a dozen years now.  Ironically, her plans were/are to live like him, off the land (w/an enormous garden, chickens, etc.), and to some extent off the grid.  This part of the state actually looks like Kentucky (since it was missed by the glaciers), lots of rolling hills (great for sledding) and lovely curving country roads.

We have a bit of an odd relationship Emily and me.  We are very different, I can't even list all the ways.  We really have little in common other than that we are family.  She was particularly awful to me when we were trying to have our family, and not because she was building hers, it was just a continuation of much of my interactions w/her, and all I can do is shrug at her intentionally getting pregnant with her #4 the week immediately following my news that our twins had stuck, and that she chose the day my grandma died (when we all returned home from the hospital) the next month to announce that she was expecting again.  For someone surrounded by people who avoid the spotlight, she sure does fight (god knows who) for it. 

So when she called me recently and we got to talking, it was actually the first time she'd told me herself about what was happening to her life as she knew it.  DH had heard about the mines via family at Christmas, but only through the grapevine and we didn't know the status of what was happening.

Coincidentally, what they needed in their fight to keep the mines and the sand processing from filling their (and their children's) air with carcinogens, their dark country sky with 24 hour lights and noise, and narrow roads with sand trucks was my dear husband.  They had been unable to secure a transportation engineer anywhere in the state (or even nearby MN) to analyze the situation and testify to the impact the mines and the transport would have on their little rural Amish buggy community because the industry had tied them all up (w/retainers and conflicts), so that they would not have any opposition to their plans.  The proposed mines, processing, and conveyors are directly next to and across from their home, land owned by people who obviously don't live on the land.

Tonight they and DH are all up in the north woods fighting "big oil" (her words, so who knows she may someday go back to progressive from ultra-conservative...), and their bid for a permit to proceed with the mines.  My mother not so secretly hopes they end up just cutting their losses, as they would have/choose to if the mines break ground, and move to the city.  With frac sand mining in full force, the sandy soil in that area of the state now makes any undeveloped area at very high risk to being converted to a mine.  Crazy stuff, stay tuned...

 

Update:  Well, the news is good!  They are another one of those very rare red dots above.  Hopefully the county will stick to their guns... :)