Taulman Times

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

A Year

It has been exactly one year since my last post. I popped on here today to search for my stuffed mushrooms recipe for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and noticed that my last post was on November 22, 2021, the day before my dad was admitted into the hospital for severe Covid pneumonia. The whirlwind of that experience shut down my decision to start blogging again as I was, instead, posting daily on CaringBridge with updates about my dad. Little did we know that my mom actually had Covid when we took that photo in the previous post. She had mild symptoms. Both my mom and dad were fully vaccinated, in case you were wondering.

The good news is that my dad survived Covid after 11 long weeks in the ICU and then a long-term acute care facility. He was on a ventilator for two weeks in a medically-induced coma and then was put on a trach, woken up, and started on his road to healing. It was brutal on our whole family. Today, however, he is back to living his life, although at a bit of a slower pace.

The bad news is that the whole Covid experience outside of the actual illness was a real bitch, huh? And let's not get into politics and woke culture and all that.

Brighter things also happened in our world. Eli graduated from high school and Dawson and Heather welcomed their baby, Parker Lincoln. We traveled to the west coast and back this summer. Bennett and Bowen started school and played all the sports while Kyndal started her own business and Collin was promoted to a foreman position. Brynne started her senior year of high school.

There is so much for which I am thankful.

Maybe, this year, I will actually start blogging again.

By, the way, here is that Stuffed Mushrooms recipe, in case you are interested.

Monday, November 22, 2021

Weekend Wrap-up

This was a great weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm so that I could get outside and rake some leaves and continue to winterize the chicken coop and run. I had time to do some dinner planning and grocery shopping. I ended the weekend watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with the kids and this week's episode of Yellowstone.

On Friday night, I treated my mom and Kyndal to a night out. We went to dinner in Downtown Lee's Summit and then went painting at A|R Workshop. It was a lot fun, and we came home with some goodies!

I bribed Eli with pizza at Primitive Old Crowe on Saturday night if he would go with me to pick up groceries. Brynne was at the high school quarterfinal football game.

It didn't happen this weekend, but at the end of last week Brynne had her Fall FFA banquet. She is the acting Vice President this year and was awarded for her participation in the fall public speaking competition.

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Hello! Cough Cough.

Almost two years ago I made a Let's Try This Again post. And didn't. This morning, while searching for my crockpot dressing recipe, I started down a rabbit hold of looking at old posts. What memories! It is just time to get back to blogging. I have such a beautiful family and future ahead that it seems like a shame not to post about it. So, here we go ... again.

Hi! I am Nicole Taulman. I am now 50 years old and live in my childhood hometown in Missouri, although not for much longer. Rick and I officially divorced this past summer after many years of separation. However, we are still great friends co-parenting Eli and Brynne. He still comes here to our home for visits, celebrates holidays with us, and vacations with us when he can get away. I am the Director at a company out of New York called Brooklyn Letters and have been working remotely for three years. I worked remote before it was cool to do so because of the pandemic. This past spring we decided to take advantage of the crazy real estate market and sell our house, after just completing a major renovation. The house sold quick and we bought my grandmother's 700 square foot house and remodeled it. That turned out to be a pretty wise decision. As Dawson and Heather live in Charleston, South Carolina, and Brynne plans to go to college there in the fall of 2023, I decided that I want to spend a good portion of the second half of my life there, so I bought a condo. I close on it next week. My life pretty much consists of working, trying to keep up with two teenagers, and enjoying our backyard chickens with a glass of wine.

Kyndal and Collin now have two amazing little boys, my grandsons Bennett and Bowen. Bennett is 5 and in pre-k. Bowen is 2.5. They couldn't be any different, in looks and personality, but they are the absolute best and perfect combination of their mommy and daddy. Kyndal is a stay at home mom, just spending her days loving on her boys. Collin is an iron worker making us all proud with his work ethic. They are a great team taking care of their family.

Dawson and Heather are still in Charleston. Dawson is in the process of a Med Board to separate from the Air Force with a medical discharge, and is planning on going back to college when that is complete. Heather still works at her vet hospital as a customer care supervisor. They still have their crazy 4 dogs. They have been working through infertility issues for the past couple of years and are hoping that they are one step closer to getting some help.

Eli is a senior in high school and will be 18 next month. Unbelievable. He decided to go to high school part-time last year while taking Dual Credit college courses at home and then entered his senior year as a full-time public school student. Public school has been tough for him. He is so ready to get out and is so close. After graduation, he plans to go to a state college that is about 30 minutes from us to live in the dorms. When I move to Charleston in a couple of years, he plans (at least for right now) to move with me and transfer to college there. He still wants to pursue a degree in anthropology, history, and writing.

Brynne is a junior in high school and turned 16 in August. Also, unbelievable. She is still extremely active in FFA and basketball at school. She also started taking Dual Credit college classes regularly this year. Her plans include moving to Charleston to live with Dawson and Heather as soon as she graduates and attend College of Charleston. She is undecided as to her future plans. She has lost her desire to work in theatre, and would really like to do some coaching, but doesn't want to teach. We have talked a bit about exercise science, but who knows. That's the beauty of being 16.

We still have our old puppies, Quincy and Buck, who will be 12 years old next month. Along the way we have picked up two cats, Jedi and Rebel, a lizard named Mr. Heckles, and 7 chickens named Angelica, Eliza, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Beth, and Ursula.

We like our life. We are excited about our future. Will you join along on our continued journey? (If I ever come back here.)

Friday, December 27, 2019

Let's Try This Again

Two years. It's been almost two years since I last blogged. Do people still do this? I want to blog again .. for me. I want to be able to say all those things I want to say, even if there is no one to hear them.

Things have certainly changed in our family. Rick and I have been separated for about two and half years now. Although we are not together, we remain married. We work together to provide for the kids. He is always welcome in our home, comes for weekend visits and celebrates holidays with us. We even go on vacation together. We have found a way to make it work for everyone involved.

Kyndal and Collin added another sweet boy to our family this year. Bowen Trey was born last March. He is 9 months old and big brother Bennett is now 3. Time sure does go by fast. They are so much fun! Collin is a foreman iron worker, and Kyndal is a stay-at-home mama. They moved back to Concordia about a year and half ago.

Dawson joined the Air Force in 2018 and married Heather this past March. They live in Charleston, South Carolina, with their four dogs and have just put a contract on their first home. Dawson is an armorer with security forces and Heather is a supervisor at a prestigious vet clinic in Charleston.

Eli is a sophomore in high school and just turned 16 years old. He is still homeschooling and attends a classical private schooling group one day per week for some of his classes. He works at our local bowling alley and still spends much of his free time playing video games. As of right now, he plans to take an extra year to finish school to graduate in 2023 and then wants to move to Colorado to go to college to major in anthropology.

Brynne is a freshman in high school and is 14 years old. She went back to public school in 7th grade and is doing really well. She plays basketball and runs track. She is also very active in the FFA and theatre. She caught the musical theatre bug this past year, so plans to go to theatre school at the College of Charleston and live with Dawson when she graduates, if he is still living in Charleston.

Last year, I started working remotely for a company out of New York called Brooklyn Letters. We provide at-home speech language therapy and literacy tutoring to children and adolescents. I am now the Director. I get to work from home with great people. I love what I do for a living! In my spare time I still read and hang out with my kids and grandkids. I do not have much time for anything else.

This has really been kind of a year of ups and downs for me, and I find myself dealing emotionally with a lot of stuff. I have a pile of resentment and anger that needs to be properly dealt with, and it is possible I may do some of that on this blog in the upcoming months. For now, I sit and reflect on those things I would like to change and consider the direction I would like to move in the future. I am trying to stay as much in the moment as I can, whether it be a positive or negative moment. We will see where it takes me. But, I do want to get back to documenting more of my daily life as a journal to look back on. I can't say I am sorry to see this decade come to an end. I feel the need for a fresh start, and I am hopeful for all that the '20s will bring.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's that time of year again ... time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or general uselessness) in 2018. This year's vote getters are -- unpack, dish (as in 'dish out the latest rumor'), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingsburger, let that sink in, let me as you this, impactful, cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated), and gig economy. Which one of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?

Shut the Front Door. I cannot stand it when someone says that. It makes them sound so stupid.

What's something you need to get rid of in the new year?

Lack of Gratitude

Where do you feel stuck?

It's a new year! I don't feel stuck. Now, ask me again in a couple of months and I might have a different answer. But today? Anything is possible.

January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter's day?

I made homemade chicken and noodles two nights ago, but I didn't eat any. The last soup I had would have probably been broccoli cheddar from Panera. Yum! I love that soup! My favorite canned soup is good ol' Campbell's bean with bacon. And I like to make my deceased mother-in-law's "homemade" American Stew if I am going to make something from "scratch" (it's many cans of things, so I am not sure how much it qualifies as from scratch).

Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in 2018.

I am looking forward to doing little bits of traveling in the states. I will be going to San Antonio (which is always fun) a couple of times when Dawson graduates from USAF Basic Training and AIT. Then I will definitely go visit him wherever he gets stationed. We also have a trip planned to Chicago over 4th of July for National Stuttering Conference. I have been to both of these cities, but am looking forward to experiencing them with Eli and Brynne.

Insert your own random thought here.

This weekend I get to go car shopping! I have had my 2003 Chevy Suburban (The "Burb") since two months after Brynne was born. I have owned it as long as I have owned her! It has taken us on 200,000+ miles of family trips and everyday errands. And I am going to miss her. We aren't getting rid of her, though, because she really still is such a solid car (and when washed, is still pretty good looking!) But it is time. It is time for something smaller, more economical, and shinier! I am looking at Subaru Outbacks for dependability, gas mileage, and overall best value in a small SUV. Obviously, I am not someone who needs a new car very often since I have had my current one for 12 years, but I am so excited to get a new one!!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Books Read in 2017

I wouldn't say that 2017 was my best reading year. I was 2 books shy of my 50 book goal, which is actually pretty good considering the chaos that ensued in my life this past year. I am, actually, kind of surprised I read as many books as I did.

In addition to not reading my numbers goal, I read a lot of bad books this year. I think I have learned that I just like different things than the general population and if a book is highly recommended, chances are I am not going to like it.

I have reset my 2018 reading goal to 50 books. I am hoping for a great year of reading!

(The following graphic shows all the books I read in 2017. It's formatting is weird, but it's better than adding photos of all of these books one-by-one and listing them all out by hand.)

This is my journey in books for 2017!

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