The Crafts

Instead of using words to update you on our latest happenings I will instead use pictures. I think they speak for themselves.

So I have good news and bad news. Bad news: We won't save $743 on our heating bill this season. Good news: We won't have to pay for new insulation. Going on the recommendation from our energy audit last week, an insulation contractor came to the house today. He informed me that to insulate the house they will drill a hole every 16" on the outside. Eek! I wondered what this hole would look like so he said he would try one out for me to see. And guess what, he drilled the hole, peeked inside and found that our house is already insulated. Apparently our insulation is dark enough that when the energy company was here they couldn't see the insulation inside the wall when peering into the electrical socket. So a mix of emotions here. I am happy we will no longer have to front a huge insulation bill but I'm disappointed to learn our heating bill fate. We need to become more creative in our methods of energy reduction. Maybe we could drape the outside of the house in bubbl

Kate has been practicing her dance moves...well when she isn't sick. A couple of weeks ago she gave a full dance session to Grandma Craft and Great Grandma Bogan. Oh yeah, and I'm a student too. Kate will start up some music and then she points to the person she wants to dance. Dance lessons often take place in either the living room or dining room, but most often in the kitchen while watching her reflection in the oven.

I love chicken and dumplings. I always have loved it. It was my favorite growing up and the few times I've tried to make it on my own just didn't turn out the same. I found a slow cooker chicken and dumplings recipe online that received rave reviews so I am going to try it out tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to say the same after dinner. My sister, Lindsay, came down with the stomach flu Sunday night. The same day she left our house after spending the weekend. Her illness was a bit different than what we suffered through last week. I pray we don't get sick again. Keep your fingers crossed for us and for Lindsay to feel better soon. The flu season is off to a rough start for this family. Blah.

Kate is 99% better than the last time I blogged. We are grateful for her recovery from what we thought was going to last a day or two and turned into a week. We are now retraining her how to function on her own. No, this isn't a medical side affect, it is a spoiled side affect. For an entire week Kate was treated like a newborn. We carried her everywhere and if I was sitting then she was in my lap. So now that she is healthy again Kate believes she can't walk on her own or speak without whining. I pray that I will somehow wake up Monday morning with renewed energy to manage the crying. Some days I cannot wait for Kate to start talking so I can better understand her needs but I try to remind myself to enjoy the stage she is in now because I'll never get it back. By the way, big changes are on the way in the Craft house. Next week Matt and I are tearing out carpet and painting the ceilings because our new non-pea green shag carpet will be installed November 13th, two days

After thinking Kate was getting better she took another turn for the worst Wednesday night. I won't go into detail because my stomach has a hard time reliving it but the poor little girl went back to the doctor today. We are trying so hard to get her hydrated and over her vomiting and diarrhea . Matt and I are shocked that we are almost to day seven of our little girl suffering from a supposed minor stomach illness. The doctor doesn't think it is anything serious and we agree. Keep Kate in your prayers that she'll get her little body back to normal soon. While I feel great compassion for Kate it is still difficult to deal with the crying for six days now. Each night I am impatient waiting for Matt to get home from work to take over for a bit. This has truly been the longest week of our life. Let's hope tomorrow is a better day.

Kate is doing better today! Thank goodness!!!!!!!!!!! She still has a small case of the grouchies but she is otherwise doing pretty darn well. We had an energy audit on our house today. I learned that by insulating the walls of our house we will save $160 A MONTH on our heating bills! Plus, if we remove items currently sitting atop insulation in the attic we will save $46 a heating season. That is a total savings of $743 a year!! Shocking! AND, our gas company will give us $500 to cover the cost of insulating the walls. Can you believe it? Matt and I are going to look for a contractor to insulate the walls immediately. Oh, and while we are talking home projects...I ordered our new carpet today. It will be installed sometime mid to late November. Yipppeee. Goodbye pea green carpet...we've known you too long.

Nope. Day four and counting. Blah................

It appears Matt is doing much better today. Could it be that Kate will also feel okay when she gets up? Keep your fingers crossed!!!

CAUTION: Strong stomachs are a requirement to read this post. So Saturday early morning both Kate and I came down with the stomach flu. Poor Matt had to take care of Kate all day Saturday dealing with things unmentionable. Even a strong stomach couldn't get you through reading that much detail. So things were looking up come Sunday morning. Ah yes, Kate and I were on the mend and Matt had zero signs of illness...until late Sunday night. Matt awoke sick, sick, sick. From 1:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. he didn't sleep a wink. He sat up as sick as a dog watching old ISU basketball and football tapes. (That alone would have put me to sleep! Sorry Matt.) The light of Monday dawn woke Kate and me. I felt great. Matt felt gross. Kate felt horrible. Matt went to bed at 8:00 a.m. and he is still in bed at 10:03 p.m. He was up for two short half hour segments and then went right back to sleep. That puts him asleep for the last 13 hours and counting. Meanwhile Kate did unspeakabl

Matt threw the 2nd Annual Sarah Surprise Birthday Party this past Saturday. What? It was your birthday? Nope, so the party was definitely a shocker. My actual birthday isn't until late November but since we will be gone for a large portion of that month and the fact that I've been itching to have a party in our new house, Matt organized a big surprise. The day started off with a 10 mile bike ride to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. The ride was in honor of my friend's mom who lost her battle to breast cancer last year. I rode with my friend, Heather, and afterwards Jen Smith and her mom, Sue, distracted me for the entire afternoon with lunch and a shopping trip. Jen and I were finally on our way to La Porte when I noticed a large number of cars parked around the corner from my house. I thought, "weird." Then as I was walking up to the house I noticed some missing furniture and in its place were card tables. "Hmm...something is up," I t

In today's modern world the topic of spanking your child is a difficult one to discuss openly. There seems to be few people who are on the fence on the issue. Either they are vehemently for or against the idea of spanking. If you are willing to share, please tell me your thoughts. Kate is at the age where she seems to know with 100% certainty whether she is doing something she shouldn't. Whether she intentionally takes off running with a fork in hand while you tell her not to, or she runs into the street, etc. Is it best to put her in a time out, assign her to her bedroom, spank her or something else? If you aren't willing to put your thoughts out on my public blog then please email me. I'd like to hear your feelings on the issue. craft@netins.net

This past weekend was the Fall Festival in La Porte City put on by the Ag Museum (a truly super cool place to visit...honest). The Craft family attended and we had a blast. Kate thoroughly enjoyed petting (read hitting) the goats, feeding the sheep and grabbing unsuspecting chickens by the neck. The Craft fam also enjoyed some good ol' fashion hool-a-hooping and tractor riding. Actually the tractor was about a foot and a half tall and only Kate rode it, but we had a great time anyhow. With Matt's help chasing Kate, I was able to participate in the chili cook-off. After hours of slaving over a hot roaster and enduring smack talk from one of the contestants I somehow managed to win both judge's choice and people's choice. Afterwards we all stumbled home and took a nice long nap. Who knew cooking chicken and unintentionally strangling chickens would wear you down. Below are some pics...

Kate believes the best way to enjoy your dinner is to get a rise out of your dinner guests. Here are some Kate suggested, fool proof methods of attracting attention at the dinner table. Smear your dinner on your face and hands BEFORE you compliment the chef. This ensures the chef believes your praises and pays attention to your kind words. If a dinner host serves either pasta sauce or chocolate, remove your shirt before indulging. Again, Kate highly recommends smearing food before applauding the chef's cuisine. However, if you dine without a shirt, it is best to also smear your dinner on your tummy. And if at all possible, put as much as possible into your belly button. Oh, Kate also likes to remove her pants if dinner is promised to be extra tasty. Note: Kate's mom and dad recommend keeping a close eye on your dinner guest so that she or he doesn't dive into a living room chair after taking her or his picture. :) Finally, if all else fails and you have not yet attracted

In the world of a stay-at-home mom Kate did the absolute unthinkable today. She didn't take a nap. For a working person, naptime sounds like an opportunity to watch tv, read a book or fall asleep on the couch. While this may be true sometimes, naptime also means the chance to sit still for longer than 30 seconds, take a bit of food without fetching, cutting and ducking pieces of Kate's lunch, and naptime is the one moment of day you can visit the restroom without someone prying open the door while crying mamamamama like she hasn't seen you in three months. Naptime is a chance to hear nothing but your own thoughts, to listen to grown-up music and maybe even call a friend to hear an adult voice. BUT, despite the above I have to say my day ended up pretty great. In large part due to Mom's Morning Out and to our lunchtime visit to my friend, Heather's, house. Without those two moments of adulthood this morning I may have never survived the afternoon and evening. Of cour