I am not going to lie, I've had a rough three weeks. First, Asa got sick, and we had to quarantine off my room and bathroom. I spent 12 days sharing the boys bathroom and sleeping on the couch, while trying to keep everything running smoothly, keeping the house clean, and managing in the doggies. Then, just as Asa was getting better, Peyton and I were off to help my mom with my grandma's house once again in Toledo (sadly, before I got to get back into my room or bathroom- he felt better that last day- but precautions had to be taken).
I didn't mind helping my mom and her sisters in Toledo, and I would totally do it again, and of course I'm going to do whatever I can for Asa while he's deathly ill, because you know, that whole 'in sickness and health' bit, but I'd be lying if I said I kept it together 100 percent of the time. And while I am super excited Asa got a job (where he gets to work from home, no less!), I did miss the last three weeks of him being off of work, due to the trip and his sickness. His job is also Monday thru Friday, so while I know I'll have to adjust back to going out on the weekends, this weekend I was just not ready to deal with the crowds. I need some social decompression. Also, I'm a bit bummed about what that means for our Disney passes, but you know, you do what you have to do.
A week ago Thursday, Peyton and I headed out for another trip up north. All of my mom's siblings being in one place at the same time is pretty rare. But, they were all going to be there, so I thought I'd offer up my services once again. To my surprise, Peyton volunteered to go again. Last time, I pretty much didn't give him a choice. This time he said he really felt like he should go do his part. Calib would have gone too, but with Asa starting his new job, I needed Calib on dog and house duty. Hayden, at 12, lacks the stamina to work that much, so I didn't even give him the option.
Anyway, we flew Southwest so we'd be able to bring back any fun items we found, but generally if you're flying Tampa to Detroit on Southwest, you end up with layover. On the way there we stopped in Atlanta, and Peyton was less than thrilled when we got to our next gate, and the flight before ours was headed to Tampa.
We did notice when we were flying over Cedar Point though.
When we landed in Detroit we were less than thrilled with the temperature. It's freaking the end of April, why is it still so cold?!!? We weren't thrilled with that.
We headed straight to Fremont that night, and mom treated us to some Chud Spuds. I don't think we made it back to Fremont in time for dinner any of the rest of the time, so it's good we fit it in when we could.
The next morning we were headed up to Toledo, and did some quick grocery shopping at Costco and Kroger so grandma's house would be stocked with food when everyone arrived. Fun fact: Toledo's Costco has gigantic kind crab legs.
Peyton liked to have a job where he could just hang out in one place, and work on something. And while for most part, this trip he was my runner and carrier, he did get to be the shredder at one point.
Our goal the first day we were there, before everyone else arrived, was to pull out all the family treasures for the five siblings to divide, which meant I got to nose around some really cool items. There was the Iranian rugs my Uncle Eddie had gotten on a visit to the Middle East.
The star that my grandma displayed in her window when my grandpa was overseas serving in WWII.
Plus, we gathered up all my grandpa's military stuff, including his hat, his dog tags, his patches and his pins.
We also found his old gym shorts. Turns out grandpa was a skinny, skinny guy back in the day. I tried hard to get Peyton to try them on (I'm SURE they would have fit), but he said there wasn't enough money in the world to get him to put them on. Bummer.
We also found my great-grandpa's naturalization papers. My grandpa was just a couple years old when he moved here from England.
That night mom treated us to Blaze pizza for all of our efforts.
And on the way home we stopped for some McDonald's hot fudge sundaes. It's kind of funny, we've been at the house so much and working so hard to get it all cleaned out, there's not a lot that makes me a little weepy. You know, my grandma lived 96 years, she had a full life. But, my mom and her used to always go out for McDonald's hot fudge sundaes. It was like their thing, and my mom has only done it twice since grandma passed away. So we cheers-ed our sundaes to grandma.
The other thing we've emptied out of the house is a ton of change. Like, a ton of change. Including full rolls of presidents. Peyton was super excited about the 'William Henry Harrison Bucks' as he called them.
The next day up in Toledo, we worked on cleaning out more dressers and cedar chests, while we were still the only ones around. We opened one of the chests, and there were the items I was waiting for: my great-grandma's bells. My great-grandma Ainsworth (my maternal grandfather's mother) died when I was about Hayden's age, I think. But I do remember her pretty well. The last few years of her life, she lived in a nursing home after having a stroke, but before then she lived on her own, and she collected bells. I remember going to her house and ringing them all while we visited. I really, really wanted a bell- and I got to pick my own, which I was pretty happy about. All the siblings got enough bells for their kids too, so to my cousins- you'll have one coming too!
Also, they were sitting on this box, and I don't know what that's all about- but it was funny to find.
We grabbed a pizza for lunch that day.
After lunch we found a box of hats, but mostly worked on moving things around so we were ready for everyone the next day.
I have been posting things for my cousins on a closed Facebook group to see if they want anything. Asa and Ray (I think) came up with the group name of Doling out the Doilies, and we did find actual doilies to post (later we had a whole pile!)
When we were back in Fremont at the end of the night, I'd try and be as helpful to my mom as I could be. All the change in the house had been gathered up, and before we took it to the bank to dump it, my mom had me looking for coins to round out my dads coin collections. It sure was an undertaking!
The next day my Uncle Emmett and Aunt Patti had flown in from Seattle to help. We worked on cleaning out the den so when my Aunt Judy and Uncle Warren arrived they'd have a place to put all their stuff.
Once they arrived, we headed upstairs to empty out some more cupboards and dressers and closets (I'm pretty sure they're all empty now!) We found some cool old cameras. Peyton took one because of the carrying case, and we left this one- but it turns out Calib wants it. So, mom added it to the pile of stuff she'll have to bring to me next time she drives down.
So that evening all of my mom's siblings were going out to a nice, fancier restaurant. Peyton and I were not into it at all. We'd been working all day (and were on our third day or working all day), and not only were we not in the mood for a fancy place, I just need to decompress a bit. My social anxiety makes it hard to be around people all the time. So after bugging my mom all morning to get out of it, everyone agreed it was no big deal if we skipped out. If that was going to be the only time I was going to see everyone, I totally would have gone- but I'd be seeing them all several times, so I didn't feel bad passing.
I did suggest Peyton and I could run some errands while they were out to dinner. We grabbed all the recyclables that had been loaded into Uncle Emmett's van and headed off to get a copy of a picture made. Peyton and I were dumping all the recyclables when we came across a box with a bunch of old newspapers in it. I was like, 'I think I am going to keep this box to look through it', and I rescued it just before Peyton dumped it all.
(We also got treated to dinner for just the two of us, even though we bailed- so that was awesome).
Back in Fremont later that night, Peyton and I unloaded the car and unpacked all of mom's treasures. Then we decided to look through the box of old newspapers we had rescued. As it turns out, it was a pretty important box.
As soon as I realized what they were, this history loving girl was totally giddy about them. I called Peyton over, and he was equally excited. He squealed like a little girl, and immediately started taking pictures and texting his friends.
But, it got even better than papers from the war. I am going to find some really cool way to display these in my hall of presidents, because this is up there with my campaign buttons with my favorite things.
The next day, on Monday, we headed up to Toledo to start having the siblings sort through things. Everyone took their spot around the table, and had little dishpans next to them. I stationed boxes in the living room so when there was a lull, Peyton and I could take the dishpans to pack those items up. We would bring things to the table, lay them all out, and they would divie them up. I also kept them on a strict time schedule to get them through everything. (Sometimes I would even count down for five- and they'd always make a decision before I got to zero, which I found amusing, since it's not like there was an actual consequence to not picking in time!)
I'd also put Peyton on other tasks, like checking and making sure he looked through any other papers before they went to the recyclables. (I figured we wouldn't find anything else good though, we had already found the gold mine).
That first day of dividing stuff up was a bit crazy, but we were on a time crunch. Mom needed mulch laid out in her yard, and Peyton and I had committed to doing it, which meant we had to get back to Fremont in time to stop by Lowes to get the mulch. But first, we needed to have a quick dinner- enter Tony Packos! It had been such a long day, it really gave us a pick-me-up.
We made it back in time to get the mulch, although nobody was out to help us load it that late, and it was all still shrink wrapped, so Peyton and I had to get creative to get it off the pallet and into the car. We planned on laying it all Tuesday morning, but they still had so much to get through at grandmas, they were starting back up at 9 AM then next morning (meaning we had to leave Fremont by 8 AM), so Peyton and I decided to spread it Monday night when we got back to my moms.
It was 9pm, nearly dark, and sprinkling a very cold rain, but Peyton and I unloaded all the mulch and laid it down. I just have to say- Peyton never once complained about it. For real, people complain about teenagers, and I'm not saying my kids never ever get sassy with me, but I have two (almost three!) considerate, hard-working, awesome teenagers.
Between dealing with the decapitated squirrel while Asa was sick, and laying mulch at 9pm, I was doing all kinds of things I don't normally do (and would usually have Asa handle). Add to that list putting a vacuum together. Mom wanted something lightweight for going up and down the stairs, so I ordered her one on my amazon prime account so it would get there while I was still there, and put it together for her. She was really excited about it!
We were up super early the next day to head back to Toledo, and my mom was kind enough to stop for some coffee for me. Tuesday was our last full day there, and I was really feeling the fatigue of not only this trip- but of the 12 days before hand. Honestly, the fact I was headed home the next day is what kept me going. It was more of setting things out on the table, packing them up, keeping everyone moving along, and posting things on Facebook for my cousins. I have like a million pictures of random things.
Everything from doilies to Christmas decorations to my grandpas ties to even some of my Great-Grandma Linenkugals stuff!
My Aunt Dawn was headed to the airport, so I gave her a sneak peek on the stuff we still had to sort through, so we could keep going without her. But, before she left, I asked if everyone wanted me to take a picture of the five of them out by the tree, in case it was the last time they were all five at the house at the same time. (It's the picture tree- you have to take a picture there!)
And then we got Peyton, Uncle Emmett and Uncle Warren in there too.
(Also my mom is in charge of the estate. She had sticker shock when Uncle Emmett showed her his bill for his services).
After Aunt Dawn left, we kept on sorting- everything from linens to pictures.
We all sat around the table for dinner- and to my surprise, Peyton volunteered to help with the dishes. (See, I told you my kids are pretty awesome).
We were still sorting at 8:30 that night, and Allison had been texting me to see about getting together, but it just hadn't worked out. I told her she should stop by for a quick visit and a hug! I kind of pooped out at the end of the sorting, and left Uncle Emmett in charge so I could visit with her. But, Uncle Emmett needed the training for when I left anyway!
It was nearing 11 by the time we got back to Fremont on Tuesday night, and Peyton and I unloaded mom's car and then sneakily unpacked all her stuff for her while she worked on school work (hey, how awesome is my mom to do all of this AND still be teaching her classes? My gosh, she's superwoman!) But then we were beat. I decided to just get up at 7 AM to pack up all my stuff. I hadn't realized how much stuff I had amassed. I was looking at it all like 'oh, no, I've made a huge tactical error'. But, I did get it all to fit in our allotted free bags.
Peyton and I got to the Detroit airport with some time to spare (it was like a ghost town at the airport that day- we walked right up to the security checkpoint- no waiting at all!), so I treated him to some McDonalds- and he was excited to see they had the szechuan sauce.
We had a layover in Baltimore on the way home- and then got delayed 65 minutes. So, that part wasn't awesome (look how thrilled Peyton looks about the delay).
But we arrived back in Tampa safe and sound, and not too late.
Just, as a comparison, the bottom picture is what it looked like in Fremont when we were leaving town on Wednesday morning, and the top picture is what it looked like when we arrived home on Wednesday evening.
Peyton did earn some money for his trouble, and he ordered a fightstick on Amazon that would be waiting for him when we got home. Let me tell you, it was well deserved.
The next morning, I unpacked all my goodies- and everything made it back home safe and sound!
Asa is enjoying his new job, and Hayden did a great job on Porkchop duty, even though they are now connected at the hip. You know how they say if you hold a baby too much, you'll never be able to put them down? Well, we've gotten into that dilemma with Porkchop. But, Hayden as become very adept to doing things even while holding Porkchop. Making food, changing laundry- this kid can do it all.
Originally, mom had asked if I wanted to stay in Ohio through this weekend. My nephew was having his First Communion, and it would have been a chance for my mom to have all her kids together. But, when I talked about it Calib was all like 'what? NO! It's draft weekend mom! You can't be gone!' I think it was less about missing the draft and more about making the pizzas we do for Championship Sunday and for the first 5-6 picks in the draft (depending on how we do it).
One night on the way back to Fremont we called Cort on speaker phone and he said 'since you picked the NFL draft over your nephews First Communion' and I heard Garrett in the background go 'SHE DID?!?!'
Anyway, so the pizzas. For years the Boboli website has had an 'NFL Football' section with a pizza recipe inspired by each city that has an NFL team. Calib has bugged me for probably the last year to print off all the recipes in case they change them. I never did. So of course, when I went to look at them for the draft, they were all gone and the website was totally re-done. Luckily, most of the recipes were still there, just renamed. I knew this, because over the years we had looked at them enough- and made a good number of them. There were a couple teams I wasn't sure of, so I did improvise a bit. But, I took to Shutterfly and made us a recipe book so we wouldn't have this problem again. With all the talk of who gets what when I die (it's apparently a thing now), Calib was like 'the cookbook is mine!'
We decided we would do the first six picks, but divide them up into two nights. On Thursday night we had the first three pizzas: Cleveland, and both New Yorks...
Since I don't have a recipe to link to anymore, I'll give you a brief overview. Cleveland has the bacon cheeseburger pizza with regular pizza sauce, ground beef, bacon bits, red onion and cheddar cheese. Out of the oven it is topped with diced tomato.
The Giants had the second pick and the coney island hot dog pizza. We used some Tony Packo's chili sauce (I brought back 12 cans of the stuff!) for the base, followed by a grill hot dog cut up and cheddar cheese. I put diced onion on the side, since some of us don't particularly care for it.
The Jets had the third pick and an Italian sub pizza. So basically the recipe just wanted an Italian seasoning packet with deli meat (we used turkey and salami) and provolone cheese. I thought that seemed dry though, so instead of the seasoning packet, I dressed the crust with Italian dressing.
Then when it came out of the oven I topped with lettuce shreds and diced tomatoes.
Our favorite here was the Jets Italian sub pizza, but they are all good. You can't go wrong with cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Also, we did decide three pizzas is like the perfect amount for us.
I also had to get the draft board all printed out and ready. Between unpacking and getting these all printed out, and grocery shopping, and the pizzas- my first day home was a pretty busy one. Anyway, Calib really loves the draft, and he likes to print out all the mock drafts to highlight when his favorite sports casters get picks right.
Asa and him also make their own mock drafts.
This year Calib got three right (bettering his one correct from last year) and Asa got two right.
The next night we had picks 4, 5, and 6. The Houston Texans had traded away their #4 pick to the Browns, but I was not going to have the same pizza two nights in a row, so we made the Texans pizza. The recipe called for a homemade barbecue sauce as the base. I found a 'made in Texas' sauce at Publix though, so I just went with that. It's topped with ground beef, grilled pappers and onions and cheddar jack cheese.
The fifth pick went to the Denver Broncos. They have a pesto sauce, with grilled steak, and topped with mozzarella. This one is a family favorite. Peyton even asks for it on his birthday sometimes.
The Indianapolis Colts have a grilled pork tenderloin pizza. There's nothing on the pizza but a breaded pork tenderloin and some cheddar jack cheese.
When it comes out of the oven it is topped with lettuce shreds and diced tomatoes, and then you can squeeze a little mayo or mustard on top if you so desire.
The Indianapolis pizza was gone in an instant. Everyone loves that one. The Broncos pizza is also universally loved, and the Texans pizza was a nice surprise. I wasn't sure how I'd like the ground beef with the barbecue sauce (even though I have that on a hamburger occasionally), but it was really pretty good.
Day three of the draft is ALLLLLLL day, so we got out a trusty taco bar and just hung out. Usually I get super bored with the third day, but like I said, I wasn't ready to face the weekend crowds left, and I was fine with just sitting around at home.
And look! We have all four dogs laying in the same room together. That's super exciting.
I did also tend to my pond and my plants. I even have the beginnings of my sunflowers!
Saturday we really tried to soak in the nice weather. I'm pretty sure it's the last time until October we could leave the French doors open all day. We still have some nice nights, though.
That's it from here. We've got a normal week upon us for the first time in forever. Asa is working, we're all here- the boys are working away on school work, and signed up for library events, and then maybe I'll brave the crowds to go out this weekend like a normal person.
Next Up: Normalcy!
