My Home Security Service

So this afternoon I answer the phone thinking it's Michaela or Stephanie wanting to talk more politics... but it was..well....I'll just replay for you:

caller.."Hi, Mrs. Strang I'm with ADT Home Security and I have a great offer for you. It's.."

me: "Hey, sorry...I'm not interested in learning more about your products until after the election."

caller: "Excuse me?"

me: "Well, if Obama wins, I won't be able to buy anything from you because he's going to take all my money for his government programs. He's going to be taxing all of us..."

caller:.."(laughing)..oh, I understand but what I was going to tell you is that hook-up and installation are free and..."

me.. : "OK, but I'm still going to have to pay a monthly fee for your service and I just don't know if I'll have 'extra' money left over to invest in your company."

caller: (laughing again) OK but having a home protection service is very valuable..."

me.. : "Well, if Obama wins...I'll have to stick with using my husband's hunting rifle as our home protection service."

caller: (laughing) OK maam I get it. Thank you.

New Dietrich Baby

We welcomed a new addition to the family on Monday, October 20th. Lydia Lee was born weighing 7lbs 8 oz. Madeline is so excited and has been a great help being a little mommy. It has taken Toby a few days to warm up to her though. He is not really interested in her and would rather "roar" at her than hold her. Although yesterday when no one was looking I saw him try to read his Dinosaur book to her, which was very cute....

I thought this being my third baby I knew what to expect from labor. But delivering at a military hospital was a bit different than my experience at Mercy in Iowa City.When I got to the hospital I was obviously in labor so you would think I would get to see a doctor right away, right? Nope they were full - no room for me. I thought I was having a baby not trying to check into a hotel. Well they told me I could wait until they had room but not sure how long it would take. Umm o-kay. Well this waiting went on a tad longer than I thought neccessary, so I stood in front of the nurses station. I thought maybe they didn't believe that I was actually in pain or thought I could deliver this baby myself. So after standing in front of the nurses station having contractions and not getting anyone to notice, I took it upon myself to make it crystal clear to the male nurse that the big bump in front of me was really a baby and it was going to drop out soon. Well wouldn't you know it a bed was cleared. Great! I get hooked up to the monitor and everything looks good. Until Matt says, "Uh Michaela, your contractions on the screen don't look that bad, I hope you are at least dilated because I have "surgeries" tomorrow and need some sleep" Oh Matt you never cease to amaze me. I laugh at him and say "surgeries" Matt, really. What, do you have to fill a cavity or something"? Matt, "No Michaela I'm serious I have to take out wisdom teeth". Oh, Okay Matt - as I'm lying on the bed I'm thinking, too bad I can't hook Matt up to a machine.....

Well lucky for Matt they did admit me after some time and everything went fine. Although I did get kicked out of the hospital the day after I had Lydia because they were out of beds and had too many pregnant ladies needing a room........ But all is well and I was happy to get back home. Matt was great about making supper and taking care of the kids. I only had to remind him once that I had given birth the day before. It was the kids' bedtime and I asked Matt if he could put them to bed. "Can you Michaela? My foot really hurts from playing basketball on Friday"? Laughing I say "Really Matt? Are you sure you want to say that to me"?? Needless to say he put the kids to bed that night with a really "sore" ankle. I'm looking into getting that machine permanently installed in our house......

Shoot The Deer!

So, last Saturday evening...we are driving back from Cascade to the farm and Lee & I are saying to each other how great it is that our van is still running so well. Has close to 130,000 miles and yet no problems. It has been paid off for 4 years and our insurance on it was a meager $25/month. We were boastfully saying how lucky we were that we've never gotten into an accident, especially a deer since Mom had just run into a deer the day before on her way to Anamosa. But, not us.

Lee reminded me how his expert driving skills & near-perfect driving record were, for the most part, the main reasons why the van had survived this long! Plus, while I may have asked several times if we could get a new fancier model...like say the Dietrich's and their foreign luxury van. Lee always politely reminded me that none of his hard-working money would ever go to some foreign, sissy country. Plus, the van worked fine and was paid off. We would keep it until it died.

Well, on Sunday morning..Oct. 19th around 8:30am just west of Wyoming, Iowa....Lee was driving--thank goodness, or this whole mess may have been a bit blamed on my driving skills?!?!--anyway, a big Buck deer jumped out of the ditch on the left-side of the road and ran right into our van! Stupid animal! We were all fine. But the van is a mess.

After getting out and surveying the damage...Lee gets back in and says..."Darn it. We were just saying last night how great it is that our van still works!" I said, "Yeah, too bad. Can we get a Suburban?" He said Yes!!!! Soooo, the entire ride home I'm super excited about getting a big SUV and pissing some liberals off! I want to get an awesome bumper sticker like...."My SUV & I Love Warm Temps!" Do you get it? Help me here..I need something funny about global warming. This is actually just as important as finding the right SUV!?!

So, we get about 2 miles from our house and Lee says...."You know. The van is still drivable. Don't roll down the driver window, and don't drive in the rain because there are wires showing, and don't open the driver door too much. But, we could just drive it around like this until next summer and look for a SUV then." What did this remind me of??? How about every Saturday morning when Mom promised to take me shopping, but at the last minute said she had book work to do. Or we would go to CR and she'd drive to the fabric store saying she could sew me an outfit cheaper than buying one at the mall.

So, I told him I felt like trailer trash driving it around and I wanted a new SUV. He's in no hurry to go car shopping, but does agree that the end of the year is always a good time to buy a vehicle. It will be used, of course, but I'm excited to go looking!! The 2nd photo is off the deer Poop on the door! Notice how we can't wash off all the dirt from the gravel roads in Iowa! I don't even care--the dirt kind of hides the smashed in areas! God Bless & Safe Driving!!

Catholic Pumpkin Farm

A few weeks ago we went to an awesome Pumpkin Farm. It is run by a Catholic Deacon and his family. We went on a hay ride, picked pumpkins, went through a hay maze, corn maze, pumpkin train, ate pumpkin doughnuts, drank cider and went to Sunday evening mass there! At mass there were 3 priests and the deacon. There is an outdoor alter with huge statues of Jesus & Mary and a Grotto area. After mass, we had a picnic of hotdogs, chips, brownies! The farm is close by, so we plan on going again!

Sarah Palin

I had to write a quick blurb about how excited Elizabeth and I are about McCain's VP choice. The Friday of her announcement I was working out at the gym and watching Fox news when the anchor said there was talk about Gov. Palin being named the VP. I was excited, but didn't want to get my hopes up knowing McCain's reputation. I knew about Gov. Palin through listening to talk radio, specifically Glenn Beck who has had her on his show on several occasions. I also remember getting an email from the Catholic New Service back in May after she gave birth to Trig about how extraordinary this Governor is.

Therefore, I was very excited to hear she was a possibility. When it was confirmed Elizabeth called and said she could cry she was so happy. I was nervous for her speech after the media assault on her. The pressure on this woman to perform succesfully was enormous. But she came out punching and with a smile. She was wonderful and such an inspiration! I felt proud to be a wife, mother, and woman while listening to this American woman speak. Her speech was brillant and I have a feeling will be remembered for a long time. She is definately a formidable candidate and I am very excited to watch her debate Joe Biden.

We will now be sporting a McCain/Palin bumper sticker and yard sign proudly!!! One of many good articles about Gov. Palin http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTExYmYyYmQwMjFhNzU1YTE1MmQ3N2E1MmQ1OTI2OTI=

Texas

Well the Dietrich family have been official Texas residents for over three weeks now. We have already seen the nice benefit of getting to keep more of our own money. There is no state income tax here, which is something unusual for us since we have been Iowa residents our whole lives. The kids love the new house and more space. They also enjoy having cows, or more specifically longhorn cattle, almost in our backyard. The town we live in was once only about 3,000 people or so. But has grown significantly, due to housing developments sprouting up all over the place. I think the official population is something like 15 or 20 thousand now. But it is all housing developments sprinkled throughout cattle pastures. So we feel like we live in the country.

We've noticed a few things unique to Texas so far. It is very true that Texans love being Texans. They definitely take pride in their state, which is evident wherever you go. I can't go to the bathroom in a gas station without being reminded that I'm in Texas. They have pictures of their state everywhere down here. Along with sayings like "God Bless Texas", "Don't Mess with Texas", "Never Surrender", and "Freedom Don't Come Free".

We have also noticed almost every other car on the road is a truck, SUV, or Hummer. I didn't think people still bought Hummers, but apparently there are thriving Hummer dealerships down here. Cowboy hats are everywhere as well as signs for rodeos, bull riding, and BBQ's. The Texas twang is rich here and people are almost as friendly as Iowans! We have also noticed a growing dislike for Obama down here. We have a NOOBAMA bumper sticker on our van and have gotten honks with thumbs up from people passing us by. A few days ago after exiting the interstate a guy honked at me and signed to roll down my window. I was a little taken aback, but I smiled and rolled down my window. He smiled at me and said "I got to get one of those No Obama bumper stickers. Where can I find one?" Hopefully this is happening in more states than Texas, but I have definitely seen a lot of Stop Obama bumper stickers down here.

We are headed for a dude ranch and the cowboy capital of the world this weekend. I'm really excited for this even though I won't be able to ride a horse, but the bed and breakfast type ranch we are staying at is promising a huge cowboy breakfast in the morning.

The pictures above are of Dad and Madeline at the Enchanted Springs Ranch near San Antonio. George Strait films a lot of music videos there. A great movie was even shot there that Dad and Mom love! The other photo is of Madeline in her gymnastics outfit as today was her first day of gymnastics class. She had a lot of fun, but got two stamps on her hand instead of one (one stamp is good, two not good) because she wanted to jump off the vault too many times. Got to work on the listening concept a little more with her.

That's all for now!

1st Day of School at St. Joe's

Getting dressed in the morning is great!! Lee also started his 1st day as a professor at U of Toledo law school.

Justin's Birthday & Camping

Camping in backyard!

So, Lee and the kids went camping for the first time..in our backyard last weekend! The kids had a blast, but Lee got no sleep. It also rained and the kids thought a tornado was coming!

Then on Tuesday, Justin's 8th birthday, we had friends from Ann Arbor over for a barbeque, firepit fun, fireworks etc. It was a great evening for us all...

Romantic Night of Painting. Not.

So, I told Lee I wanted to paint the kitchen a nice light blue and he said it would fun if we put the kids to bed, played our "Christ the King" music CD, had some nice adult conversations, and drank some good wine while painting. So that seemed like a romantic way to spend a Friday night and we were looking forward to it. We had the image from the Lowe's commercial in our minds. You know the one....husband and wife move into new home and decide to paint. They are happy, laughing, sipping on wine, goofing around putting paint on each other's cheeks!

Well......we succeeded in putting 4 of our 5 children to bed by 8pm. Greta, on the other hand, would not fall asleep. So, she sat in her chair and watched us...whinned a little.....started crying a lot. I tried putting her to sleep again and it failed. It's now 9:30pm and though Lee has been painting since 8pm, he has no desire to open the wine he bought for us. I let Greta sit in her chair again as I went back to painting, but she just whinned. So, we were both frustrated and were in no mood to even talk! I finally got Greta to sleep around 10:30pm--after deciding to give her some baby Tylenol. So, I go to the kitchen and Lee had opened the wine and drank most of it already without me!

By now, it is way past Lee's bedtime and he is in no mood for conversation. So, we quickly finish up applying the primer and call it quits. Lee says, "That was no fun at all. It was suppose to be a romantic night." Maybe when the kids are all grown up we can re-paint!

Iowa Floods '08

Limbaugh on the Floods

Limbaugh: 'I want to know. I look at Iowa , I look at Illinois -I want to seethe murders. I want to see the looting. I want to see all the stuff thathappened in New Orleans . I see devastation in Iowa and Illinois thatdwarfs what happened in New Orleans .

I see people working together.I see people trying to save their property...I don't see a bunch of people running around waving guns at helicopters, I don't see a bunch of people running shooting cops. I don't see a bunch of people raping people on the street. I don't see a bunch of people ...whining and moaning-where's FEMA, where's BUSH. I see the heartland of America . When I look at Iowa and when I look atIllinois , I see the backbone of America .'

Alex Talks Politics

Alex with his baby cow at Poppy & Nana's farm.

So, I guess the kids are listening when I talk about Obama! I often talk about how he just wants to take mommy & daddy's money away from us, so we want McCain to be the next President. Well, yesterday out of the blue....Alex asks, "Mom, if Obama takes your money away... can you tell the policeman?"

I just laughed and told him I wished it was that easy! (I'm happy to hear we're raising politically in-correct children though! We're all about using the word MAN at our house!)

Glasses!

Well, Felicity just got "reading glasses", but wishes she had to wear them all the time!

New Home

Here are photos of our new home:

Felicity/Lucy's Rm & Justin/Alex Rm

Basement playroom

Music Rm/Library!

Dinning Rm--we need to find a new color for the walls!

View out front door of the cul-de-sac area.

Alex in backyard

Entrace Hall

Living Room

Kitchen Nook w/comfy bench & white table & chairs I just found at a garage sale for $50!!

Kitchen. We added the island last week and are waiting for new countertops to arrive! Then, we will paint the kitchen light blue--kind of a seaside cottage feeling!

The Pattons

Thanks to our good friends, the Patton's, for welcoming us--once again--into their DC home for the weekend! Mark & Lee were at Harvard Law together and Amy was the only "conservative/Catholic" friend I had while in Cambridge! They have five boys--all the same age as our kids--and Amy is expecting Baby #6, yeah!!! They've asked us to be godparents for this new baby--THANKS!!

Thanks also to Mark for the wonderful dinner! Lee admitted to being overwhelmed while grocery shopping with you at the Asian market, though! So many people & so much food! He is used to shopping at bargain Kroger & he comes from a small town in Iowa that doesn't even have a grocery store anymore..so it was like a strange, foreign land to him!

We always joke that..so far..we can provide 3 great wives for their boys! Amy & I have them matched up, of course, they may decide to become priests but if not....

Dumped by my Dentist

We really enjoyed having the Strang family visit us last week. We did a lot of driving and sightseeing around Virginia. The kids had a lot of fun together-even though Justin couldn't believe how small my house is! After that comment I made Justin sleep in the closet, but he had to clear out all the toys first. But it was a great week together and we are getting excited to fly to Michigan soon and head out to the farm with the Strangs in a few weeks.

While the Strangs were here last week I was supposed to have a regular dentist appointment on Tuesday. Well I tried canceling my appt the prior Friday but the office was closed. So forgot to call on Monday, so I called first thing Tuesday morning to cancel. Apparently the receptionist was not pleased and said "canceling appointments past 24 hours requires you to pay us $50". Are you kidding me $50, I've never heard of such a thing. Good thing Elizabeth was in the van at the time telling me to tell the receptionist that I was going to turn them in to the Better Business Bureau and call my lawyer. The receptionist said "good I hope you do because I can provide forms you signed verifying you understand our rule". Well she failed to mention I had also signed 10 other forms the day I became a new patient and I am not one to read everything I sign-who does anyways? So a little more bickering between us pursues and she tells me her office manager will be calling me. Great, but I will not be paying you $50 I said as I hung up. Well apparently Lee had this same thing happen to him and Lee also refused to pay the dentist. Well that dentist must have been bored drilling teeth or wanted to show Lee you don't disrespect dentists b/c he went after Lee. Got the collection agency after him and upped the amount to $100. Lee gave in and paid-wimp. Scared of a little bad credit or something. Well I was not going to pay this tooth driller $50 for nothing. So I spoke with the manager and was sweet as can be to her and explained the situation. She said Dr. Martin was not going to charge me $50 but I could still expect in the mail my signature on a form that states their 24 hour policy. Fine send it my way. Well today I get a letter from the doc stating he was not going to charge my account $50, but I need to find a new dentist who has more flexible hours than he does. He actually photocopied the dentist yellow pages and sent them to me! Talk about service!

Many of you may remember I am married to a dentist and wonder what his opinion was of this situation. Or you may have already guessed what his opinion was. His exact words "Well Michaela you were in the wrong. I wouldn't want you as one of my patients." Great maybe this means I don't have to go to anymore dentist appointments. Never did like going to the dentist anyways.

Trip to the Dietrich House!

We took a family trip out to Virginia last week and visited our friends, The Pattons in DC for the weekend and on to Michaela & Matt's house near VA Beach for the rest of the week. We had fun at museums, Williamsburg, a day on the beach in North Carolina's Outer Banks and a day at old battlefields and drove down a beautiful road called, "Plantations on the James". Here, gorgeous old planations are lined up & down the James River and you can take tours of them all. We picked the "Shirley Plantation" to explore which was the oldest farm in America. Started in the 1600's..the same family has always lived on the property and even today a family member lives in the upper levels.

Lots of history to enjoy in Virginia, but I think the kids loved our day at the beach in NC the best!

Baseball

OK so everyone knows that Lee & I are not sports fan, but we agreed to let the kids be in sports if they have an interest. Justin loves baseball and even though his friends decided they wanted to be on a swim team, he said right away.."I do not want to do swimming...I want to play baseball." So, he's on the Team! He really loves it and is very serious on the field.

So, this past Saturday was opening day in Milan and was team picture day. (fyi--Lee had been the one to take Justin to all his practices this month and get all the relevant info about the team.) We show up at the field for the photo and the coach says to Lee.."Why is Justin wearing 'black' baseball pants and not white? Our team is suppose to be wearing white!" Lee says, "Oh, sorry....I didn't get that memo!" So, you'll see from the photo that Justin stands out (front-right) because Lee didn't get the memo! Justin could care less, he just wants to play ball. I'm annoyed and want to say..who cares? They are SEVEN years old! So, another mom says she can bring us an extra pair of white pants before the afternoon game. Fine.

So, later in the afternoon, we get to the game and go sit on some bleachers. A dad walks by and says to Lee..."Oh, our team is suppose to sit at those bleacher over there. Just in case you didn't get that memo!" The dad chuckled and Lee said, "Great, thanks..we didn't know there was a certain place we were suppose to sit!"

The game was suppose to start at 3:30pm. But, we get there and the other team was just finishing up......so......30 minutes later our game finally starts. So, of course, I'm complaining about the other team running so long over and Lee tells me if I'm going to keep complaining I can go to the van! Fine. So, the game finally gets going and Justin is having fun..but it just kept going and going...... Finally around 5:30pm I asked a bit loudly.."Does anyone know how long these games are suppose to last?" A dad looks at me and says, "They play 6 innings." I say, "Oh, what are we on?" He says, "Top of the 4th" I say, "Oh, geez!" Lee gives me a rude look! So, long story short...it ended at 6:30 PM!!! That seems a bit long to me for 7-year old boys, or is it just me?

Anyway, Justin gets done and says how much fun it was and if we saw him hit the ball and run home? So, I'm slowly beginning to get the hang of watching sports and seeing how much Justin enjoys it will make me appreciate it more!!

Piano Recital

Justin & Felicity had their piano recital on Tuesday evening and they both did very well. Sister Pat loves the kids and has asked us to please stay with her as their teacher even after we move! So, it's a 30min. drive, but Sister is cheap and the kids love her so we'll stick with her as long as we can!

Felicity and Ghosts

Angela, Felicity & Olivia

Felicity spent the night at her friend --our neighbor's-- house last month. Her friend's name is Angela and she has been asking if she can now come to a slept-over at Felicity's house. We set it up for this weekend and Felicity has been saying that she wants to sleep at Angela's house instead. I explained to her that it's our turn to host and next time will be her turn to stay over there again. Well, yesterday DeGie--Angela's mom--calls me and says that she was telling Felicity how excited Angela was about the sleep-over and Felicity said, "Well, I'd rather come to your house but if you're Ok with the sheets on my bed moving by themselves, that's fine you can come over." !!! DeGie asked Felicity what she was talking about?? She said Felicity told her that it's scary in her room at night because the fan is on and the covers move on her bed. DeGie told her that was wind from the fan. But said Felicity insisted that the covers move on their own and that it's scary! So, Angela said Oh, well you can sleep here then!

So, I ask Felicity if she said that and she said "Yeah." Why would you say that, Felicity? "Because I really want to have the sleep-over at Angela's house." Felicity, it's wrong to lie and scare your friends. Now, Angela is scared and thinks there are ghosts in your room. "Fine. Sorry." Now, you get to walk over to Angela's house and apologize to her and tell her the truth!!

No more Monster's Inc. or Scooby Doo in our house for awhile now!!

Love,

Elizabeth

Justin & the Cops!!!

OK---so every Wenesday I host a mom's rosary group at our house and the kids play while we mom's pray a rosary for world peace! Well, our intentions are more like.....end to abortion, more patience, good health, that Stephanie and Ben would find good Catholic spouses and more patience! ha-ha.


Anyway, since global warming has finally hit us here in Michigan we have Justin and his friends play outside during our prayer time. (There is big open field behind our house and the kids love to go 'hunting' for treasures. There is a paved road because there was suppose to be a huge surge in home buying, but that didn't happen--it's all vacant.) So, Justin and two other 7-year old boys put on their backpacks and headed out back to the field area this past Wenesday. About 10 minutes later us mom's were chatting and I look out the back window and see this police car going down that road in the grass area towards the boys. My friend, Jane, immediately goes out the deck door and heads over to where the boys are.

It takes awhile to walk to the boys and the rest of us--in the house--can see the policeman get out of his car and start talking to the boys. We, of course, think we might be getting in trouble for letting the kids run around back there; or maybe he's wondering why they are not in school! Finally, after about 10 more minutes the cop leaves. When Jane gets back in the house she said that the police showed up because they received a phone call from one of my neighbors saying.."There are 3 little boys with back-packs wandering around in this big open field area and I'm not sure if they are trying to run away or what is going on." !!!!!

Now, let's all remember that it really does take a village to raise a child! So, the boys come back and I asked Justin what the policeman was asking them...He says, "He asked us what we were doing." Well, what did you say? "We told him we were looking for crystals & fossils." Uh, the joy of homeschooling....going on a treasure hunt on Wenesday morning at 10am to look for crystals and fossils!! "Then he asked us where we go to school and Dominic told him that we are homeschooled." What did the policeman say about that? "Nothing. He just said OK." So, Justin had his first, and hopefully last, encounter with the police at age seven!