Livin' the...

High Life.

Well, it's been a long 3 weeks folks, I won't mess with you...it's been R.O.U.G.H!! I have worked my self silly trying to keep up with all that needs to be done!

L was gone one whole week to camp. Thank You Jesus...that was one less person to fix food for, clean up after and get after...I packed her up, shipped her off and sent her a sweet email mid week to let her know that, yes, I was still aware that she was my daughter...and I loved her, kinda missed her and was looking forward to hearing all about her week at camp.

Then we had our "vacation" week...yeah, right! I turned 43, had a 10th anniversary party, took the girls to Bible School each evening for 2 1/2 hours (well, traded some nights with my mom so the Man of the Frumpy House could have his surgery and stuff like that).

Now this week Li is gone from 8 am to 6 pm for day camp...did I mention that it's a good 40 minute drive each way! Yeah, I know, I'm glutton for punishment. The digger is, I was planning on TMotFH and myself doing all the shuttling. But, since he is planted firmly on his keister with elevated foot, my mother has been doing all the running (whew, thanks mom!) since I'm working!

So, as you can see (read) life doesn't always get lived the way you want to live it...ask my bestie and her hubby in WI, who were anticipating sharing a few drinks on the patio with us last week when we were vacationing!

But, I'm a bit of a realist, I realize that life will go on even when there is sadness and disappointment. We will not die because we are bored or upset about circumstances (I'm speaking directly to you Greg). We don't know what life is going to bring us, but we can be assured that we will have trials, tribulations, joy, celebrations, sadness and happiness...how we choose to live in these situations is what our life is made of!

Count the blessings, instead of listing in the humdrum....

This is work...seriously. Taking Mr. P to the pool for exercise is good for him, and good for the view!

These little beauties are going to be lovely berries, juicy, ripe and in our own back yard!

Enjoying the little things in life, taking a breather to watch the littles blow some bubbles!

It's good for the momma's soul when you see, albeit short, love between sisters.

So we didn't get to go "out" for our anniversary. No vacation trip, not even a restaurant. This wife worked her magic with the food. Marinated tuna steaks, broiled shrimp and fried rice with veggies.

Watching the girlies enjoy a little carnival ride after the small town parade in our, well...small town!

Who, among us, can really live in complaining and the down-in-the-mouth pessimism when you see skies like this...had to pull over to take this beautiful picture!

The bad stuff comes and goes...we continue to press on in the Frumpy House.  We are learning more about each other and ourselves every day. The one who is the most active and on the go, is now forced to be still and learn patience. The homebody who loves nothing better than to piddle around the house (does anyone else use the word piddle as in "do little things of this and that"? or are you all thinking I have a bladder problem now?) making food, rearranging furniture or art, gardening, watching the chickens, is now having to work 45-50 hours a week to keep the bills paid and the household afloat financially!

IT'S AN ALL NEW JOURNEY...AND FRUSTRATINGLY ENOUGH IT'S GOING TO LAST THE WHOLE SUMMER LOOOONG!!! (The prognosis for G's Achilles Tendon is 12 weeks recovery and then starting physical therapy. Since the job has some physical work with exercising and stretching Mr. P, it looks like this momma will be working all summer!)

The Verdict...

is in! Well, sorta, kinda....

The man of the Frumpy house, hauled his cute tush to the Doctor's office today to see the orthopedic specialist (for the Achilles tendon, if you haven't read previous post).
The news is...he can't tell exactly where or how badly the tendon is ruptured. He can definitely tell it is...somewhere...ummm yeah we kinda already knew that!

So, he has called for an MRI. He says since it's already 9 days out from the time of the injury he wants this to go quickly. So we are now waiting for them to call tomorrow and tell us when and where the MRI will be. Then after that has been done and they can see the damage...they will make a scheduled day and time for the surgery.

Yep, surgery...the dreaded "s" word...which in reality will make another dreaded "s" word...summer!

You know, it takes a lot of hutzpah to have to set yourself on your butt for the summer. The summer when you had; plans for a trip to Ohio to spend time with brother and dad, catching a Tigers/Reds game, an anniversary trip to see friends...the summer when you had plans to go to the sand dunes and the lake with your kids for the first time...not to mention swimming, hiking, biking, ball (uh, no...no more ball)...you know SUMMER!! Vacation time (even tho' you're working).

So, now as it stands, Greg will have the MRI, we will more than likely be looking at another surgery within the Frumpy House (I'm doing great, thanks) this year & we are hoping that our girls have a great summer anyway. With dad laid up and mom working up to 50 hours a week to cover dad's work hours and put food on the table!

You know what tho'!?  I'm at peace...I have a peace that this is going to be for a reason. That we as a family will learn something from this....something that we wouldn't be able to learn any other way. Something that Greg may only be able to learn by being still, as he is NOT a stay home and hang out kinda person!! (Sheesh, if you only knew!)

A way to count the many blessings that we have, instead of looking at all the things that are going wrong. Like the fact that Lauryn is at camp right now having a blast. That Liyah is going to day camp for the first time in two weeks! That they are going to be in our local small town's Summerfest Parade riding the Library float. That they have 2 cousins up from Florida for the month!

That we are blessed with family and friends close by, to help us out and love on us.

Soooo many blessings...I don't ever want to let the disappointments in life take over and steal my joy!!

Hey, thanks for the thoughts and prayers y'all!! I'm going to continue living vicariously through other's blog posts, Pinterest links, Facebook status' and Instagram photos. Some of y'all are having a blast on your summer vacays....and I'm stinkin' jealous happy for ya!!

Famous Last Words...

Outta my mouth last night, "Have fun don't get hurt!" were said as the Man of the Frumpy House was walking out the door to go shoot some hoops @ the church gym with some other guys....

Yep, then 1/2 hour later I hear the car pull in the driveway (disrupting some quiet moments I was enjoying, as the girls were off playing w/ their cousins) & soon see the Man hopping up the sidewalk to the back door...

"You're teasing me right?!" were my exact words...no compassion, nuttin'..."Are you KIDding me?!?" came out next....

I met him at the back door thinking, née praying it was a sprain & some ice & ibuprofen would fix things up..."I heard a pop & then couldn't move my foot" he grimaced.
"Oh, shoot!" I thought, that doesn't sound at all "sprainy"...

Well, after googling Achilles tendon injuries we concluded there was nothing to do (literally there is nothing listed to do for Achilles injuries) but go visit the ER....5 hours later (1 a.m. To be exact) he was home crawling in bed with a half cast, Vicodin, & instructions to stay off the foot & follow up w/ an orthopedic specialist!






Yikes!! Guess what that means...momma Frump works her tail off at the workplace & at the Frumpy House...yep! Nothing like having a broken husband, 2 kids, a dog, a cat, 15 chickens & myself to take care of!! This should be VERY interesting--if you know what I mean...






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Fresh from the...

Frumpy Farm!! HA! I should be changing the name of this blog...if my youngest girly is correct. Since we got the chickens she says, "We are farmers now!!"  If momma has her way we will be considered a small self sustainable family farm in the next 5 years!!

The first step in this direction was chickens!! Encouraged by many other blog, instagram, twitter & Facebook mommas I decided early this year that I wanted to get some chickens/chicks.  Well, with one thing or another (surgery), it didn't happen.

I thought I would just postpone the 5 year plan for another year...no biggie. I would focus on a bigger garden and learning how to can and preserve throughout the summer.

Well, the end of the school year found Mrs. Estes (Liyah's Kinder teacher) asking me if I'd like some chickens...insert "yes" answer here...as she was wanting to downsize her flock.  The only thing between me and some free chickens...no coop...no fence....no home for the little cluckers....!!

Enter my Dad....He looks like this....

From here

So the work fun begins....

 Mom was in on the building, as well as the Terribly Handsome Man of the Frumpy House....as this momma wasn't yet allowed to pick up much weight (due to surgery). I am an awfully good supervisor gopher tho'.

 The only wood that had to be bought was the treated plywood for the floor...all the rest was rough cut boards that my dad had the Amish cut him from his own timber.

 I always have this picture in my head of how easy it must be to put together a little coop...yeah, right! I learned a lot about building from my dad this past week. It all comes out of his head...no plans!

 Frame and rafters up the first day....

 Ready for the door and nesting boxes the next....

 The door? Oh, just something my dad picked up at the dump....yeah, he's that kinda hoarder!!

 Around the corner from our big door is this teeny-tiny door with a ramp for the ladies...oh, yes!!

 The nesting boxes are accessible from the outside! That way my child labor littlest chicken lovers can get the eggs!! Whoot-Whoot!!

 After the coop was safe enough for inhabitants we he got busy on the fenced yard. These poles, yep, a 30+' old telephone line pole became three 10' posts for the corners of the fence. Don't ask me exactly where he got it...let's just say mom's glad to get it out of the side yard after a decade (or possibly 2). The metal posts in between were free, my dad helped the township sexton pull an old fence out of the cemetery across the road from us and got to keep all the posts he wanted (did I say for FREE)!

 Chicken wire was one of the few expenses we had...$50 for a roll of 4'x 150'. I decided @ that price if I had to do some wing clipping to keep them from flying I would!

 Here's one of our new neighbor ladies!! She's lovingly named "Chip-Chip" by Littlest Liyah!! Lauryn has named a beautiful girl "Peck" & I have picked out a few with easily to spot differences names like Cleo, Nekkid, Ginger and Gladys...the others I really can't tell apart so they are just lovingly cooed to and called "Pretty Ladies" or "Lovely Girls" (my husband thinks I'm insane).

 The first few days we had to keep an eye on the girls...literally! No one wanted to walk away and let them be! We enjoyed seeing them walk through the grass and under the trees, scratching and pecking!!

 The best....watching them eat!! They got to get the fridge cleanings (don't worry I googled everything before feeding it to them, I'm a little paranoid about it) this week instead of it going in the trash!! Cooked brown rice and mashed sweet potatoes seemed to be the faves!  They would peck at the potatoes and then wipe each side of their beaks on the grass... too fun!

 See the jungle life!! They are doing well at making little paths and nesting under the bushes on a hot afternoon. I have to keep looking under the bushes and make sure they don't leave my presents there!!

Presents?!?!? Yep, wonderful, lovely, glorious (okay enough already) eggs!!! The first day, even with the move....4 eggs! How wondrous!  Littlest Liyah and I had the first four eggs scrambled with toast and butter on the side....she said, "These are the best mom!!" (oh, these are the first 2 radishes out of my mom's and my garden)

So, the farming life has begun...in the near future, goats (2 for milking), pigs (for butchering), maybe a milk cow (not sure yet about that) and maybe some honey bees on the back 40....
Yes, this is the life!!!


Do any of you have wishes or dreams that you are seeing become reality? Do you have a crazy 5, 10 or 20 year plan like me?  Let me know...I love reading about other's adventures!

In Regards....

to the gall bladder surgery...I'm well, recuperating just fine. I had 3 super-sized stones (according to the surgeon he'd never seen any so large) & the gall bladder itself was inflamed and starting to imbed itself on the liver and small intestine. So, thank the Lord that that is done...hopefully I will be staying healthy for many, many, many years to come!!


With surgery comes recuperating...and with that comes some slight boredom and craziness!  I had been out thrifting before surgery and found a few items that I thought would make some great little DIY projects.  Planters, wooden shelves...etc.

This last week, my second week of recovery, I actually felt up to doing something besides moaning sleeping.  So here's what I got myself up to....

found this rack...$1.99 as is (it was missing a jar)

this shelf for $2.99

A little sanding on both of the shelves will help the paint to stick

thought about doing the chalkboard decals, went with writing on the jars with dry erase markers

3 coats of paint for both! such a nice sunny day it didn't take long to dry

I poured vitamins from large bottles into these, freeing up a lot of counter space (we leave our vitamins out just so we will remember to take them...outta sight, outta mind)

I think it worked out well, the orange brightens the wall space & the bottles are prettier than regular vitamin bottles

This shelf is holding a few odds & ends in my vintage kitchen collection . I love the pop of yellow!!!!

my mom said she has some vintage napkins, or tea towels that I can hang on the dowel!

All, in all I'm super delighted to see these thrift store finds finding a new life...

What little (or big) DIY's have you tackled lately? Leave me a comment and a link, I'd love to see!!!!

Mother's Awesomeness

Should be celebrated everyday...but of course, no one could keep up w/ that!!

So we dedicate one day a year (what's up with that, once a month would be doable, don'cha think?!?) to celebrating mom's, grandmom's, great-grandmom's...etc.

Yesterday, amidst all the arguing...it started with who was going to be making me toast (I quickly requested more for breakfast to even the serving field)...my little Frumpy House Family treated me w/ special treats & some quality quiet time!!

Went to church where the girl's were involved in a little Mother's day program & handed out carnations...sweetness!!

After church, I was dispatched to home, the girls & Greg headed into town to pick up ingredients for a Mother's day dinner!

I was instructed to "STAY IN YOUR ROOM, DON'T COME OUT" (sometimes my kids have a yelling problem)!!
Gladly I lolled around in bed w/ a good book & a nice restful nap!!

At 4:30 I couldn't wait anymore...it's a good thing the Frumpy Restaurant and Jazz Cafe opened @ 5 pm!!

Greg & the girls had gone all out; inviting grandma & grandpa, an auntie, as well as mom. After a couple more quick phone calls they procured 2 more guests for dinner...our Pastor & his wife (whose sons live with their families down in IN).

Here's how it all went down...



Grandparents have arrived!! The barefooted hostess leads them to their seats...



Dinner: starts with salad course, then spaghetti & garlic bread as the main course, choice of 4 deserts to satisfy your sweet tooth!!



Lauryn was a busy server...she made sure to ask each person what they would like to have for drinks, or if they were ready for their next course!!



Busted!! This hostess with the mostest, finished seating people & promptly pulled up a chair & enjoyed her dinner while big sister continued trucking food out of the house to the "cafe"!!



Ah!! My man...the father of my children, without him I wouldn't be a mom!! He shopped, baked, cooked, manned the iPod for the best jazz music @ the cafe!! He found out a bit of what it's like to be a mom, eh?!? The man of the Frumpy House came out when all were done & enjoyed his meal while visiting with us!!



L baked a cake with dad's help. Li made "cookies"....toasted "Slimwich" with pretty frosting & sprinkles...not too bad!
I don't know what the amount of money was spent on groceries for this wonderful Mother's day meal. Not sure I really want to know what it was!!

When all is said & done, I know my family loves me! They will go too extreme measure (if you knew my husband as well as I do you would know shopping & cooking is extreme)to show me that they love & appreciate me!!!
I'm very, very grateful for my Frumpy Family...I just need to remember that on those crazy momma day's when nothing I do seems as greatly appreciated!!!




Ze Menu!!

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There's always something...

going on in The Frumpy House...

Not all is great enough to write a post about! But, this past weekend...well let's just say...

Ziggy! The Goldendoodle....

Three hours after getting him home...uh yeah! Matted hair is gone....

He's looking super duper skinny now...but he's still smiling!

He is absolutely loving the walks in the woods!! Greg & I are too!! Even the girls....

When he's not snuggling you on the couch...he's watching the birds out the window!

He's a blessing...he's a blast... and he is such a good dog! He will look much better once his coat has grown back, and we will keep it brushed thoroughly!!

We already love him, the girls are even fighting over who he sleeps with....they don't believe me when I tell them that he will choose!

What about you? Do you have a pet that you are crazy about?