She'll be coming around the Mountain When She Comes

I never did quite understand the meaning of that song title, but it came to mind as some one who arrives (or blogs) when it suits her, which of course, once a year posting just doesn't quite cut it now does it?

As far as business and speaking, I have been happily busy. Doing some evening training and many weekend trainings at conferences as well.

The kids are all well. Serenity is in Minneapolis at the U of M. Doing really well in the School of Design. Benjamin gets his drivers license this summer. yikes... Mary Helen is busier than ever. She was in Volley Ball, Basket Ball and now track. She wants to go to 2 summer camps plus have cousins over for a week, plus maybe a community play... Jonathan just turned 11. Has anyone ever said that having 8 boys sleep over is not a good idea? Well, it is not. Like they say... "don't try this at home".

Why Yes, It Has Been A While!

Well, for the most part the weight loss has been going well the last 2 months. I have taken off about 18-20 lbs since the first of the year. I am struggling a bit this week, but I am in sweats ready to jump on the treadmill for a 30 minute walk. I caught a cold about 17 days ago and it turned into a sinus thing. I am having a tough time shaking it so that has put a damper on the exercise and without the exercise, I tend to think it is okay to eat junk. Argg...

Serenity has decided to wait until summer of 2009 to get married. No decisions about school yet for her.

Benjamin broke his arm while snowmobiling about 10 days ago. He only has to have the cast on for 4 weeks and already he is pretty ready to be done with the whole thing.

Mary Helen and Jonathan have been in basketball and it has been so fun to watch them play.

We are working on finishing the basement bathroom and family room. We have talked about it for years so it is great to finally get going on it. My sister's husband is doing the work for us since he is a carpenter etc.

My Dad is doing well. He and mom went to Mayo and got checked out and they did not find the cancer any where else. I am not clear on when he starts chemo, but I thought for sure he had to have it.

Starting a New Year

Well, I am a little late in the whole "New Years Resolutions" writing, but still wanted to catch up a little. Serenity announced at Christmas that she and Steve are engaged. Possibly getting married July 12, 2008. They may wait a year to get the finances together, but we will see how that all plays out. She is trying to figure out where to go to school next year. She is going into interior design and there are not very many schools that offer that as a degree. She is thinking about Fargo or Minneapolis right now. I went to see her in Duluth last weekend and we had such a great time. She tried on wedding dresses (she will be a beautiful bride), we ate at Olive Garden and Sara's Table, the restaurant where she works, we went to the movie "The Bucket List", and then on Saturday went to the Duluth Bridal Show. Very fun.

So with Serenity getting married this summer, I am desperate to lose weight. I have done pretty well so far in the first 2 weeks of the new year, taking off about 5 lbs of the weight I put on since last fall. Argg... Never ending struggle that this is. Up 10, down 2, up 3, down 5. On and on.

The business has been quiet for a little bit, but I will start traveling this weekend, to Grand Forks, ND. Then traveling most weekends through April (I have a few weekends off).

I won a Brita filter and bottle from another blogger. Lora from Less of Me. Thanks Lora.

Why I would Pull Out all My Hair, If I Could Just Get One Hand Free

I picked up my husbands Uncle David yesterday from the hospital. He was actually scheduled for release on Thursday, but when the social worker from the hospital called on Tuesday, I asked if there was any reason that I couldn't pick him up on Wednesday afternoon. (I have a bible study at the church in Bemidji on Wednesday morning and then the kids have church on Wednesday night, so if I had to go on Thursday, it would be 3 trips to Bemidji in 2 days... whew). She had to check but was fine with me picking David up on Wednesday. I picked him up at about 1 pm so he would have just finished lunch. Several of the gals at the hospital made nice comments about David. One of them is actually a former Childcare provider and a past customer of mine. She said "David is such a nice guy". I did ask them to measure inseam and waist for picking out pants for him, as they had not done so yet. It apears that his waist is 42 and inseam is 30. (I think 42 is a bit big, but I did see her measure, so I guess so). After we got in the car, I asked David if he would like me to take him Christmas shopping and he was quite agreeable to that and we decided together to go to Wal-mart. I dropped him off at the door while I parked as I didn't know if the parking lot would be slippery and he was waiting for me when I got in there. Together we picked out toys for the kids, an inexpensive coffee maker for Ron (and me), and gift cards for Serenity and Mitch. When I asked him if he had anything in mind for the kids he said with a little laugh "No, I will just go by what you say". He wanted gloves or choppers/mittens for himself so we found him some fantastically warm leather and lined choppers. As we were leaving wal-mart 2 of the greeters told David they had missed him last week and were so glad to see him this week. David seemed to really get a smile out of that. I asked if I should go get the car, but he seemed very happy to walk out to the car and get some exercise. It was a beautiful day here with the sun shining and melting the snow.

On the way home David seemed like his normal self. He will quite often say something out of the blue that he has likely been thinking about for a while but that does not come with any of the normal conversational clues. However, because I have known David for close to 17 years now, I pretty much always knew what he was talking about, or could ask questions to clarify. I then asked David if we could stop by his bank and add Ron to the account so when Mitch is out of town or not available then Ron can take care of paying rent, etc. Ron will also be able to access that account online and keep tabs on the amount of money in there. Ron and Mitch had taken David shopping before they brought him to the hospital and helped him buy a new shaver. Even with the $80 shaver, he still had cash that the guys had to take for him as he was not supposed to have money in the hospital. When I picked David up, the staff told me there was a manilla envelope with money in there. (There was almost $80 in there. Who knows where that was stashed).

When we got to the assissted living apartment I dropped David off and parked and brought in his suitcase. As we got to his door David said "I don't know where those keys have gotten to". Fortunatly I remembered the manilla envelope and found the keys in there. I got David unpacked and all papers to the front desk. David had had a bar and coffee at the bank so he didn't have to go out to snack with the residents yet. The director said they would bring him supper in his apartment.

All in all, I felt that David is doing very well.

My husband Ron and brother-in-law Mitch are cooking Christmas eve dinner this year. I told Ron it was too much for me to do 2 big meals back to back like that (I have everyone here for Christmas day) and he said he would make the Christmas eve meal. He is going to keep everything exactly as Helen (my mother-in-law who passed away in April) did it for the last 55 years, down to the green jello and corn. (Except no lutefisk and Mitch is making Telopia instead). It has been a hard Christmas. Helen always did such great things for the kids, including wonderful stockings. I could not bear to use the stockings that she used to use, but I went out and bought Santa hats for everyone (Including Serenity's boyfriend Steven) and will fill those with candy, toys, etc. Then after Christmas, I will buy stockings at 1/2 off for next year. Life has a way of going on, but it is never really the same. We saw that after Terry (my brother-in-law) died 5 years ago. He used to come over at Christmas and make rosettes. We couldn't make them the first year for sure and I think actually not the second year either, but we did finally bring ourselves to make them. It was good to do that, but was not the same, and it is a tradition that has dropped by the wayside.

Then on Wednesday evening I brought the boys back to Bemidji for church and I went grocery shopping for Christmas groceries. I bought a $32 ham. I was going to make a turkey (that someone had given us), but Ron reminded me that I would have to make stuffing too and that just seemed like too much work. After shopping I went to Penneys and got a haircut. Very short. I am getting used to it. It was time to do something, I was starting to dread the days I washed my hair and had to get through the tangled mess. Also, I am going to be getting on my treadmill alot in the next 180 days and I get so sweaty and short hair is easy to wash and take care of in those situations. I am not sure what I think, but I know I will get used to it. It does look a little like she put a bowl on my head and proceeded to cut and with my currently quite rotund face it is not the best effect but it is new etc and like I said, I will get used to it. I went in to church to get Jonathan and before I found him, I went over to my 2 closest friends there. Neither of them mentioned my haircut, even though it is quite a dramatic change. Hmm.. Then Jonathan greeted me quite loudly in front of about 50 people "What did you do to your hair? It looks terrible, UGG..." I just laughed and went to get Benjamin from the teen area of the church. As we walked out to the car, 14 year old Benjamin said "I hate your haircut". Needless to say the ride home was less than companable. Jonathan sat in the back singing a little song "My mom is so ugly, ugly, ugly..."

Long Time No See

Yup, it has been about 4 months since I blogged. Not to worry though, as I am pretty sure no one reads this.

Still gaining. Ugg...

My dad has colon cancer. He had surgery on Monday of this week and they removed 1 foot of colon. He will likely have to have some chemo, but not for a couple of weeks.

It is almost Christmas. My daugher will be home for 5 days!! Yeah. Her boyfriend will be coming with her and I think we will all have fun.

I presented my last workshop of the year this Tuesday in Brainerd, MN. Only 3 people in attendance but I still enjoyed presenting.

Not Dead, Not Even Close

So again with the tough month. I guess more than a month has gone by, but I am still just hanging on by my very stubby, partly painted finger nails. We are in full on harvest mode here at the Berntson farm. It is exciting to see the fields getting cut with the swather, then the combine comes through and gobbles up the grain, leaving behind a smooth yellow trail of straw. The next step is that we have been square baling the straw. The square baler has been having fits and not working as well as it needs to. This adds a considerable amount of time and stress to getting the straw baled. Farming is not for the faint of heart. I could not be prouder of my 14 year old son, who can work a 10-12 hour day and not complain. He hasn't had time to go in and participate in the weight training program, but he is buffer than any of the other guys his age. I am so proud of my 9 year old son who is driving a tractor, pulling a gravity box full of grain and emptying it into a grain bin. I am proud of my 11 year old daughter because she can throw straw bales and keeps at it for quite a while. I am amazed also at how my husband can keep going. I have learned a lot about tenacity and hard work from him. For all of how hard this life is, I need to focus on the positives. We live in the country and have fresh air to breath, green grass for the kids to run and play on. It is a good life. But it is also a hard life.

Tough Month

It feels like it has been a tough month. Summer's are hard for me. I have so much pressure from family responsibilities, the farm and summer ordering. Ugg.. I have been working hard, but it doesn't always feel like enough. I am so tired right now too. I may take a few days and go visit Serenity in Duluth. I am still struggling with weight issues. Sometimes the option of having gastric bypass sounds like a good idea.

I have taken the kids to the lake quite a few nights lately. Sometimes I work on business stuff, but last night I just read a mindless novel. Escape... I wish that contentment were easier for me to achieve. I am really never content with what I achieve, or have or am. The rest that I seek seems to always be just around the corner.