Smells ~ WTF !!!!!

Ok, so I have a super strong sense of smell - I mean incredibly strong, most things humans can't smell I can (sometimes it drives me nuts, sometimes I think it is a blessing) I love it when I am the first to pick up the smell of rain, or just the awesome smell that comes with summer evenings. I hate it when I can pick up on some awful smell that no one else senses. I think I drive Jim nuts when I try to track down the source of said smell. Pregnancy was one of those awful times for me - there were so many things that were not allowed to be within 100 yards of me! I am currently feeling like I am back to those pregnancy times, cursed with a super heightened sense of smell that is driving me nuts. On Friday night we came home from our connections progressive dinner, my house was the child care house. I open the door and got hit in the face with what smelled like someone ate eggs for 10 days straight and then decided to come to my house to release their gases. "What the heck is that smell ? " I figured it was just sweaty boys who probably did pass a little gas while we were gone. But no, I woke to the pleasant smell greeting me in the morning !! Yuck, what is that ? Well on Sunday, I uncovered a hidden bag of rotten potatoes in the pantry. Now, if you have been in a hometown house, I use the term pantry lightly, how could I have missed this ? So, I have scrubbed and mopped and bleached just about every surface in my house and I still can smell this awful aroma !! My husband can not smell it and neither can Aodhan, but Mackenzie is right there with me (Jim insists it is because she hears me talk about how bad it is.) Has she been cursed too? Jim is instant that the smell is gone that I just am still smelling it because I knew it was here and am paranoid. Am I paranoid ? Maybe a little - right now I am taking a break from bleaching down every hard surface in my house (AGAIN) and finding any candle that I can to take away the odor ! I just don't want to be the smelly house !!! Anyone have any advice ?

FAMILY FUN DAY !!!!!!

So this is what we now are calling Tuesdays around the Bard/DiCharia household. Let me first give you a little background info - since starting his new job Jim is usually working on Saturdays, and because of this he is off on Tuesdays !!!! Well, the new schedule kind of stinks in my opinion, but we are trying to make the best of it ! So begins FAMILY FUN DAY !!! I think if Jim wakes up to the statement "wake up, it's family fun day !!" (said by me with much enthusiasm) one more time he is going to reach up and punch me ! So let me explain what has to happen for Family Fun Day, first of all no one is allowed to be crabby, pout, or complain, Jim and I must turn off our phones (we allow ourselves to turn them back on while in the car to check any messages), and we must all be together doing something, well obviously, FUN !!!!

So what have we been doing for FAMILY FUN DAY ? Well it is summer and it is hot so we have been spending much time in the water ! Our first family fun day we were a little strapped for cash so we put out the slip and slide, had a water balloon fight and cooked out. We have hit Phillips Water Park a few times, we have gone to Jim's moms house to swim and hang with her while BBQing dinner, and yesterday the girls returned from being with my aunt so we drove to Chicago to pick them up and hit a park district pool and had a McDonalds picnic in the park. So I guess it is pretty obvious that we like the water - my kids love the pool !!! You would swear that we were mermen and mermaids - not true though, I have checked and no one seems to have flippers.

This coming Tuesday we will be gearing up for the 5 day trip Jim and are taking to StuCo Junior High Camp (which I'm sure will lead to several interesting blog posts) so there will be no Family Fun Day on Tuesday, but wait don't feel sad for us, we will be moving Family Fun Day up to Sunday!!! Any suggestions ? I was thinking maybe a pool or water park of some sort !

Family and Friends

Today I had the interesting experience of attending 2 parties in one day! Wow, you say ! How could you handle it - 2 whole parties, what a jammed packed social calendar! But really it was not the quantity of parties but it was the actual quality of the parties. This afternoon I got to attend a family party - now you must understand that my family is different (to put it nicely) and we have gone through our share of ups and downs. Recently (as in since I moved from Chicago) there was quite a bit of drama and family functions tended to be more stressful than ever. My family is super close and no one ever moves away, so when I packed up my kids and moved it caused quite a stir! Now I know this may seem really strange, most people I know have family members all over the country and see each other once maybe twice a year. Not my family, we all grew up together in the same neighborhood in Chicago and we did EVERYTHING together. So when I moved out here, Jim and I made great friends and pulled away from the family a little (OK a lot.) We started doing stuff on our own and skipped out on several family functions, to say the least, it did not go over well. But over the last few months I feel like I have really reconnected with my family and things have been going well. The party today was all that I could have hoped for. The kids had a great time; there was a giant inflatable water slide, face painting and a bounce house (what more could a kid ask for?) There was incredible food (one of my cousins wants to open his own restaurant) and great company. I got to spend some quality time with my family and catch up on all of their summer happenings. All in all it was a great afternoon. The kids (well the girls ) packed up and went home with one of my Aunts to see her new puppy; while Jim and I (along with Aodhan who backed out of going overnight to my aunts) headed back to the burbs for Tim Raad's birthday party. Also, another great party! I had some really great conversations with the girls , the boys played the wii and of course, Jim wrestled with all the kids. There were a couple moments where I just sat back and observed, I really enjoy the awesome dynamic that is our group. I've never experienced these types of friendships before. Maybe it is because I am getting older and I really am understanding the importance of maintaining friendships, maybe it is because I'm older and there is no longer so much pettiness, or maybe it is just that my friends really are that awesome !!! But I really am aware of the fact that what we have is rare, I have never met a group of men and women who get along so well, all of our husband are great friends and us girls are so close it is amazing. I guess what I am really becoming aware of as I mature (yes that is just another way to say getting older) is that people really do make or break things ! It is the people you spend your time with that make events fun - it is the people that make the memories, give me a great group of people and I could have fun in a cardboard box!! I have come to realize that family is important and so are friends ( after all friends are just the family you choose for yourself) I really do love my family and friends, I couldn't ask for any better !!!!!!

OUR NEW VAN !!!!

Well, not really new, but new to us!! We are the proud owners of a 1999 silverNissan Quest (yes we match the Moss Family) ! While this may seem like boring news to most people - it is a very exciting day in the Bard/DiCharia household - we have been without a car for what seems like forever !! Really, it has been since May and with 3 kids and a husband living in the burbs where public transportation is non existent it may as well be forever ! We have been fortunate enough to have great friends who have been more than willing to allow us to use their cars/vans whenever we needed ! I am so grateful for all of the help we received (we really do have some awesome friends !) I am super excited about our "new" van, not only do we now have our own transportation but we also own our van! I am very proud of us - the old me (and Jim) would have run out and financed a new car probably one that was more expensive than we could afford. This time we did some heavy debating, considering and praying, and decided that rather than sink ourselves further into debt we would take our time and find a van that was a little older that we could buy outright and not have a car payment to worry about. We figured that if we could avoid a car payment for a few years we would be able to get back on track faster from the last couple years of periodic unemployment. Yeah, we are trying to be a little more financially responsible !! I think we may be starting to grow up ! Now we just have to pray that our "new" van lasts for the 2 years that we want it to !

To Blog or Not To Blog - That is the Question

I have wrestled with this question for sometime now and have finally decided to give in ! It has really helped that I have several friends that have recently begun blogging. I will be very up front with the fact that I may not be the best blogger, I will more than likely fall behind on my posts. This is the main reason for my hesitation in beginning my blog. Will this be another thing I have to get done? Will this be another cause of anxiety and stress? We will soon see, but I am thinking it may be a release - a place where I can put all of the randomness that swirls through my brain on a daily basis. So please forgive me if I space out on my posts, but please enjoy, please comment, and most of all please read!