Playing Catch Up....Again!

Since it's been awhile, I thought I would take a minute to catch up where blogging is concerned. Things seem crazy busy right now although I realize it's really not as bad as I think it is. That's called stress :-) For me, school is going well. I finished my first math course in May with an A. Then I decided to fill my summer up with classes. I just finished up a three week psychology course and walked away with an A in it. That was a trip. Because it was an intersession class, it flew by. We had sixteen class days and covered fifteen chapters worth of material. Talk about my head spinning! It was fun but I was happy to get it out of the way.

Monday I started my online anatomy class. So far, it's going well. It's just really hard. There is a ton of material to learn and many, many details. I haven't let myself get stressed out about it yet and I hope I don't. I also started a statistics class this week. It is an on campus class and I have it four days a week for five weeks. My first class went pretty well. It's a large class and there is plenty of material to cover so I'm trying to stay focused and keep my head above water. I'm enjoying the challenge of school and I feel like my time management skills are getting better. Now if I can just figure out how to manage the stress, I'll be ok.

The girls are doing well. They are enjoying a more relaxed homeschooling schedule this summer. Caroline has found a new neighborhood friend and spends most of the day playing. It's been good for her. She's my social butterfly and has really needed someone her age to spend time with. This is really a win-win situation since it frees Logan up to do things she enjoys. They have both been wonderful to help around the house since I've been in school. I don't know what I'd do without them.

Jeff's doing good too. He's still working from home although he doesn't have a full-time position yet. That really stinks because it leaves us without health insurance and we hate to do without it. The economy is just so horrible right now that there isn't much we can do about it. We're trying to wait it out until this company can afford to bring him aboard full-time. Initially they promised him full-time status after three months of work but that three months has come and gone. I won't complain too much because the situation could definitely be worse. He could be out of a job all together.

No big plans for the summer here. We decided not to vacation this year since we are hoping to save some money and work toward paying our house off. We have a long way to go but we're always trying to find ways to put our family in a better situation financially in the event that Jeff is out of a job. Who wants to pay all of that interest in a home loan anyway? Not us, that's for sure!!

That's about all that's going on around here. Boring, I know. I'm hoping to get outside and take some pictures soon. That always makes me forget about all the other things I need to be doing! Our neighbor is going out of town next week and always allows us to use her pool while she's gone so we are looking forward to that. Hopefully I can snap a few photos of the girls then....when they aren't looking :-)

Missing Mike

Yesterday was Mother's Day and we enjoyed the company of my in-laws for several hours after church. Since it was so beautiful, we decided to cook out. It has been a long time since we've done this.....maybe since before my BIL passed away last year. I'm not really sure why we stopped. Personally, things are not as much fun without him. He was always the life of the party. He had such a great attitude and was such a likeable man. Anyway, while we were eating yesterday, we all talked a lot about him. We were sitting out on the deck....the deck that he built for us almost two summers ago.....the deck he never got to enjoy much....and his last building project before he died. In a way, it made me sad to be out there enjoying ourselves without him. It seems that every time we go out there for any length of time, our conversation always ends up being about him. The last year of his life, he was here so much helping us with so many household projects. It's nice to be able to look around and remember that "hey, Mike helped us do that."

Yesterday was hard for me though. We used to all get together for Mother's Day and cook out and I really missed him not being here. I started thinking about all of the things I missed about him......they are too many to number but here are a few things I loved most about him:

• He was the easiest person in the world to get along with. He loved people.
• He would volunteer to do anything...no matter how dirty the job, you could always count on him.
• He was very funny. He was so much fun.
• He loved classic rock and we used to spend Friday nights at our house playing board games and listening to WQUT.
• He loved his kids....to a fault sometimes. He hardly ever told them no and was always, always with them.
• He was an excellent carpenter. He worked with his hands and was very good at it.
• He didn't have an enemy. Seriously, we've tried to sit down and think of one person he didn't like or vice versa and have never been able to come up with one.
• He loved the Lord.
• He loved children. He worked with many different local groups to help troubled teens. He was always great with our girls and they adored him.

There are so many other great things about him and if I tried to name them all, I would be sitting here the rest of my life. Oh, I have to add that he was THE BIGGEST UT fan ever! I am fully convinced of that! He was a very strong man and we miss him very much.

As I was looking through old photos this week, I found one that I fell in love with. Mike loved all things Harley Davidson. It was his dream to own one. About a year before he died, he bought one. He loved it and was so proud of it. Shortly after getting it, he went on dialysis and became very weak. He still rode the bike but it was hard for him to hold it up. Then he had his kidney/pancreas transplant and died five weeks later. We are so thankful for his life and for the time we had with him. He was only 47 when he passed away and I'm happy that for 11 of those years, I was able to call him my brother-in-law. In many ways, I was closer to him than I am to my own brother. I miss him. I can't wait to see him again one day.

Love Your Veggies

When it comes to my ten year old and food, we have issues. She loves her dairy but is very picky about anything else she eats. Veggies are no exception. If they are green, you can pretty much give up on getting her to try them. I continue to encourage her and many times that helps. However, she is still apprehensive about trying new things. I find that if I can get her excited about veggies, she is more apt to try them. I usually do this by allowing her to help me prepare the food or by reading something neat about it. Last year she helped plant and maintain our garden and that was a great way to expose her to several different kinds of vegetables.

These days, kids are all about computers. They love to scour the internet for information and games. The brilliant makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings had an excellent idea. They recently introduced a new website geared toward children, to help expose them even more to the wonderful world of vegetable eating! Love Your Veggies is filled with information and games that your child is sure to love. From the website:

As part of their continued effort to help parents and educators overcome the challenges of getting children to eat their vegetables, the makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings have created Veggie Adventures, a free online game that can be played now at LoveYourVeggies.com. Keeping in mind a recent study that indicated that 60 percent of parents play computer games with their kids, the makers of Hidden Valley Dressings hope Veggie Adventures will be yet another tool for moms to utilize to expand their young children's appreciation for vegetables.

Veggie Adventures engages families in a three-part vegetable adventure that begins with growing vegetables on the farm and ends with serving and sharing vegetables with friends. Along with fun and easy game-play, Veggie Adventures provides players with great tips and vegetable facts meant to be transplanted outside of the gaming experience. At the end of each stage, players receive a printable certificate to commemorate their success.

My daughter loves playing Veggie Adventures and I am thrilled that she is learning lots of neat things about vegetables. I can already see excitement in her eyes when we talk of planting our garden this year. I look forward to making many yummy vegetable dishes this summer!

As always, thanks to Mom Central for alerting families to such useful and helpful products and websites!

Man of Many Hats

My hubby is a funny man. There isn't a day that passes without me doubled over, laughing at something he has said or done. He's also a good sport and goes along with most silly things I come up with. Oh the things he allows me to talk him in to doing!

We happened by a huge bin of foam hats for kids at Michael's. Of course, he let me talk him in to modeling several of them while I took pictures. Other customers got a kick out of it too because I heard many of them snickering as they passed.

The pink cowgirl hat was my favorite because, well, it's pink!

Jeff the Tiger

Elephant Man

Oh Bunny

By this time, I was laughing so hard that I couldn't get a clear picture. I'm blessed to live with a man who loves me more than I can imagine and that has a great sense of humor!

 

 

My Birthday Fun

Last week for my birthday, hubby gave me the night off. Since I didn't have to cook and the girls were planning on a night on the town with daddy, I took off and drove an hour to my hometown. It just so happened that my old high school was hosting a basketball tournament and our high school boys were playing in the championship game that night. I was excited about seeing the game and was hoping to catch up with an old friend beforehand.

The drive seemed really short and I arrived well before game time. I decided to drop in on my old friend while she was at work. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see me and we spent a few hours catching up. It had been at least fifteen years since I had seen her. She told me all about her life; her job, her children, and her recent engagement. Then I noticed that she had on one of the biggest honkin' engagement rings I'd ever seen! I was, and still am, very excited for her. I hung around until she got off and then we jumped in my car and drove to her sister's house to surprise her. Again, it was a nice reunion with another old friend. The time seemed to fly by and it was time for me to head to the ball game. We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch. I hope we make good on our promise.

The game was great and we won! What a perfect birthday present! As an added bonus, I saw several more old friends at the game and was able to have more than a few conversations. I even had time to chat with my old basketball/cross-country/track coach. Since he was like a father to me growing up, it was nice to catch up with what was going on in his life. I can't wait to go back and do it all again.

One thing that did make me very sad was the decline of the town. It looks so run down and lifeless. I also found out that my high school will most likely be consolidated in a couple of years. I hate that I waited so long to go back and hope that I can go back and visit on many more occasions before the consolidation. It should be interesting to see the transition, since our school will be consolidated with our rival school.

It was a wonderful birthday and I'm thankful that I was able to spend half the day with my family and the other half with old friends. Maybe I'll make it a birthday tradition.

Birthday Fun

What a fun day we had with Caroline on her birthday. Here are various photos of the day.

Caroline got this cute mouse Webkinz from her big sister

Next, we all got to put on these beautiful shoes. The girls got the prettiest ones.

Caroline was a little embarrassed at first. This was her first time bowling.

She got over it and quickly got to work.

Caroline & I took a break, since I was winning :-0

You know your baby is growing up when she starts complaining that you are taking too many pictures of her.

What a blessing this little girl is to her family. She and her big sister bring so much joy into my life. My life would not have been half as fulfilling without them in my life. I am truly blessed that they call me mom.

 

Happy 10th Birthday

Ten years ago today, at 10:55a.m., the sweetest little red-head in the world was born. She wasn't red-headed at first. That beautiful surprise came later. She was cute and tiny. Her head was cone shaped for a little while. She looked like a baby doll. She decided that she wanted to make her entrance into the world the night before....while we had friends over and were playing Tri Bond. It was quite the exciting evening. You see, my water broke while we were playing the game and I wasn't sure what was happening. With my first pregnancy, I was induced so my water had never broken. Anyway, I got up without telling anyone what had happened and went to the bathroom. Of course, I was too embarrassed to come back out and called to hubby to call the doctor. Our friends had recently had a baby and were in no real hurry to leave. In fact, I think they hung around for at least 45 minutes while I stayed holed up in the bathroom :-) They all reassured me that this was normal but I was convinced that if I didn't get to the hospital, the baby was going to be born on the bathroom floor. It seems kind of funny to think about it now because I wasn't even having contractions. Hubby ended up talking to the doctor, who told us to go on to the hospital to get checked out. We arrived there shortly after and found that we were in for a long night. Looking back, I wish I could have just been patient and spent that last night in my own bed.

But this post is not about me. It's about my sweet baby. Caroline was a sweet baby and her big sister was lots of help during the early years. At first Caroline had her days and nights mixed up and it was hard for me to sleep. Couple that with the fact that hubby had the flu the whole week after she was born and couldn't be of much help at all. I was a basket case. Caroline didn't cry much....except when I put her down. I didn't spoil her by holding her. She just liked to scream her head off whenever I laid her down. That lasted for about three months and somehow I managed to survive. As each year passes now, I am reminded of just how precious time is. Babies don't stay little for very long. In fact, these ten years have flown by. I am thankful for my children. I am thankful for the wonderful craziness Caroline brings to my life. She is one of a kind.

In honor of her birthday today, here are ten things about her. There are so many things I could list but these are the ten things that come to mind right away.

1. What they say about red heads is soooo true! Caroline has a fiery personality and I have confidence that NO ONE will ever walk on her.
2. She is turning into a wonderful piano player.
3. She is obsessed with making videos on a digital camera. She does this every single day. She never seems to tire of it.
4. She loves to write letters to friends or to write journal entries.
5. Her favorite thing to eat is macaroni and cheese. Not just any mac 'n' cheese....my MIL's is her fav. She's always quick to tell me that my mac is good....but not as good as her granny's.
6. She is NOT a morning person. Let her sleep until at least 10 each morning and she's good. Otherwise, it takes her a long time to get going.
7. She has an infectious laugh.
8. She loves to eat sour cream by itself. She will dip a spoonful out and go to town. She also really likes cottage cheese (ACK!).
9. She always, always, always says goodnight before she goes to bed. She still gives us hugs and kisses and says the same thing every night before going to bed. It's become a routine of sorts and I love it!
10. She is one of the funniest people I know. She could keep a crowd entertained for hours.

Happy Birthday baby. Mommy loves you.

Christmas Eve 2008

This was our first Christmas without my brother-in-law. I have to admit that I was a little worried about how everyone would handle it. Turns out, I had no need to worry. Everyone did great and while we did miss Mike, we were able to celebrate and miss him in a healthy way. Mike was a very unique person. He had a huge heart and loved people. He knew everybody and I never heard anyone say a bad word about him. He was very charismatic and took everything in stride. He could eat more than anyone I know and never gain an ounce. He loved to play cards or board games. Probably something that everyone knew about him was that he loved the Vols.

We thought about him a lot this Christmas Eve. We celebrated much the same way that we did when he was with us. Here are some of my favorite photos from Christmas Eve:

Caroline and my niece Hannah. They took this one themselves.

Caroline, just before she started to hand out gifts.

My nephew Caleb and his girlfriend Chrystal

Logan trying her best to avoid the camera

Bobo, Mike's dog (my in-laws inherited this dog after Mike's death)

Playing Partini

 

Thankful for the Little Things

Back in 1999, when the idea of homeschooling first became a reality for our family, I really felt like there was no way it would last. I didn't feel competent to teach my then first grader. Plus, I had a baby under 1 and, for the first time in a long time, felt lost in my life. I had worked for so many years. Now, suddenly I had two children to care for and a husband who wanted me to be at home....not somewhere else working eight hours a day. It felt like a curse at the time. I had the same attitude that sadly, many mothers have toward their children. "How in the world can I deal with these kids all day long, much less be responsible for their education?" That was the daily burning question in my mind.

Nine years later, I cannot imagine life being any different than it is now. I can't imagine putting my children on a bus and sending them off to public school for most of the day. Sure, there are days when I want to pull my hair out. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that. There are days when we get nothing done besides cleaning up messes (and there are lots of those). There are days when the girls want to sleep late. We have days when they don't want to school at all. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Mom, can't we take the day off from school?" There are many days when we run into problems with math concepts and I think that we will never get through them. There are days when I want to quit. There are days when I wonder why God entrusted me with these two souls to care for. There are days that I am ungrateful because He hasn't given me more.

It never fails though. Days like today come.... days when I look around and see the mess and think, "what's the big deal?" When a friend emails to say that she sure is glad I want to take the rest of the month off from our joint Latin class because we both have lots of holiday obligations to deal with. Days when another friend emails me to tell me that it is complete bedlam at her home and we have ourselves a good laugh. And days when black hand prints all over the wall brings a smile to my face. In comparison to what God sacrificed for me, my problems and complaints are nothing. Less than nothing even.

I am thankful for children. I am especially thankful for my own children. I cherish the privilege of spending every waking hour with them. I am thankful for the wonderful journey of educating them at home. I am thankful for one's ability to read a 900 page book in a day and for her continual complaints of how she will never use Algebra or Biology in her future. I am thankful for the other's musical and creative ability and for going at her own pace when it comes to math. Maybe most importantly, I am thankful that I have black hand prints to wash off of my walls.

Tree Time 2008

Well, we finally got our tree up and decorated last night. We weren't able to get the tree right after Thanksgiving like we normally do because of the stomach bug I had. The girls were finally relieved when I was well enough to go out with them and pick it out. My niece, Hannah, and my in-laws came over to help the girls last night and they did a pretty good job. I didn't even reposition any of their work! In fact, I sat on the couch and drank hot chocolate while they did all the work. My MIL was doing a great job telling them what they needed to fix so I let her do the dirty work!

The tree never seems to look as pretty with the lights on but they did a great job. We tried to do mostly orange and white ornaments this year but Logan couldn't resist putting her favorite ornament in the front so everyone would be sure to see it. Can you guess which one it is? Look for the blue ornament in the front....it's a TN Titans ornament. Her favorite!

The girls had a great time together and enjoyed spending time with their favorite cousin.

After my niece and in-laws left and my girls were in bed, I couldn't help but take a picture of the tree all lit up. It looked so pretty.

In the coming days, I hope to try and share some of our special ornaments. Do you have special ornaments? I'd love to see them! From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Lots Going On

It's been a busy week around our place. Lots of little things have been going on and of course I'm going to use that as an excuse for my lack of posts :-) Seriously, after mom went home last week, it seems like tons of things started to happen. The weather turned pretty chilly here in TN and when that happens, there's always plenty to do outdoors in preparation for winter.

I had a huge task in pulling down all of the lovely morning glory that had taken over our deck railing. They just weren't dying quickly enough and our deck looked more like a botanical garden that an actual deck. It was pretty but very irritating to try and navigate. I didn't tell Jeff how many morning glory seeds fell to the ground as I pulled it all up. Should be fun to watch it next spring. He only thought it came in thick this year!

I'm also trying to organize my photos so that I can start scrapbooking them. I'm terrible at buying supplies but then never doing anything with them. I decided that was crazy and that I need to stop being so lazy. I had forgotten about all the digital photos I have to sift through so I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I even had some photos on my cell phone that I had forgotten about. I had Jeff remove the micro sd card from my phone and download them so now I'm all set. I've even got supplies pulled out and an album for each of the girls. Now I just need to make time to sit down and work on them.

We're finally almost finished with our tile flooring in the bathroom. I've finished sealing it and now I just need to get the room painted so that we can finally put the toilet and sink back in. It'll be so nice to have my bathroom back!

We have a Reformation Day celebration going on this weekend at church and the girls are really excited about that. I'm hoping it's not too cold on Saturday so that we can all enjoy ourselves. This is always a fun time of year for me. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday and this weekend officially kicks off the countdown to then! I can't wait to roast a big ole turkey!

That's about it for now. What have you guys been into?

Granny and Me Craft Day

A few weeks ago, my mom came down for a visit and brought lots of projects for the girls to do with her. The house was upside down for a few days but they had a blast. I've determined that we need to do lots more of this. I don't think I cleaned anything for at least three days, which was quite liberating for me!

Mom made sure to carefully instruct Caroline

The result were these cute little Christmas trees

They made the trees with felt and buttons. They attached a twig to the bottom to make the tree trunk.

Later on, they worked on making scarecrow pillows. Logan runs when I get the camera out so I only got a picture of her pillow.

Logan's handiwork

Mom also helped Logan and I make costumes for a party we attended this past weekend. I guess I should say that mom pretty much made the costumes herself. She worked really hard and they turned out well. Logan did sit still long enough for me to get a picture of her at the party.

The force was with her......

Thanks mom! We appreciate all of your hard work and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Time Keeps Slipping.......

My mom is visiting from West Virginia for a few days and has roped the kids into several different craft projects. I hope to share plenty of photos in the coming days. In the meantime, my kitchen looks like a war zone. The kitchen table is covered with buttons, sewing needles, glue, scissors, craft paint and paint brushes, two sewing machines, and plenty of fabric and felt. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to cook in there again (that's a good excuse, isn't it?).

Our garden is dying out but the tomatoes are still hanging on. Every morning when I peek out the window, I see another ripe one hanging there waiting for me to come get it. The leaves are falling off the trees and the yard is scattered with them. My deck is covered with morning glories that just refuse to die out. I really need patio furniture covers for all the stuff out there.

It seems like just yesterday that we were getting everything ready for summer and now it's time to winterize everything. Honestly, where does the time go? It seems like I blink and a year passes. For the next few days, we're gonna kick back and enjoy all the crafty goodness going on over here. All of that other stuff can and will have to wait. I'm trying to remind myself to take time to enjoy life because in an instant, it passes and you can never get that moment back.

Do Unto Others

About a month ago, our neighbor came over to recruit Logan to stain the wood fencing around her pool. We assessed that this would be a pretty simple job and well worth what the neighbor was offering to pay her. I pitched in and helped her a little but for the most part, Logan did the job in just a few days. I was pretty amazed because there was quite a bit of fencing to do. She was tickled pink to make some money to take on vacation with her and as an added perk, the neighbor told her she could jump in the pool anytime she wanted. This particular neighbor is a very nice single lady in her early 40s. We're always dog sitting for her or cutting some of her grass. We even like to bring her garbage can up for her after the trash truck is through with it. We really enjoy being a blessing to her and are always looking for more ways to be a blessing to those around us.

The neighbor on the other side of us just completed a new fence installation. She came over and assured us that she was not putting it up because she wanted privacy from us but rather she wanted to keep her outdoor dogs from invading our yard. I thought that was very sweet of her. She's a young single gal and we are trying to find more ways to be a blessing to her.

All of this got me thinking.....what could we do to be more of a blessing in our neighborhood? What do you do? Do you have good relationships with your neighbors? Got any creative ideas for us?

Where Has My Mind Gone?

You know you're loosing it when:

~ You go out to pick up pizza and when you get home you realize you have your pants on inside out.

That's exactly what I did tonight! Can you believe it? We ran out and got the pizza so that we could watch some football. As I sat on the couch, I happened to look down and realized something looked strange about my pants. Upon further investigation, I did have them turned inside out. And I wore them into the pizza joint that way! And there were people sitting inside eating!

I think I'm loosing it!

Monday Medley

Last week was a hodgepodge of activity. It seems that we have several things going on and several more things that need to happen. Hopefully I can keep a pretty detailed to do list this week and get a lot of little things done.

We are finally busy putting our master bathroom back together. After many months of fixing broken plumbing, the drywall has been patched and we've started on the floor. We decided to lay porcelain tile, which is great, but we've never done anything like this before. Jeff worked on it half the day on Saturday and when he came up for air, he had the adhesive down and most of the tile put down. Since the adhesive had to dry for 24 hours, we left it and will go back this week to lay the tile around the baseboards and cut what needs to be cut. I will be so excited to get it finished.

Our garden is still producing tomatoes and jalapenos. We've made salsa all summer and really enjoyed it. I'm glad we'll have a few more batches to make before our tomato plants expire. Next year we plan to revise our current square foot garden in order to make some improvements. I've had to deal with more weeds than I care to mention this year.

I'm happy to say that I haven't decided to turn to weight loss pills yet! Jeff and I have both been sticking loosely to our diet and have maintained very well. I need to giddy up and get this last five or six pounds off but Jeff is having no problem keeping his off. It's pretty amazing how much our eating habits have changed. We're on a salad kick right now. If you are fortunate enough to have an O'Charleys around, you must try their California Chicken Salad. It is probably one of the yummiest salads I've ever eaten. In fact, we love it so much that we've learned to duplicate it at home. We made it last night and I candied some pecans to go in it. If you've never had this salad at O'Charleys, I'll tell you that the candied pecans are the secret to making it so yummy. Very, very good.

We're enjoying lots of college and NFL football. Our UT Vols are having one of their worst seasons right now so we're a bit disappointed. However, there are plenty of other college teams we love and are pulling for. My Dallas Cowboys lost last night but I have high hopes for them still. My Colts are doing pretty well so I'm a happy gal! I'm looking forward to another upcoming weekend of games.

What have you been into?

Catching Up

Jeff & I (Summer 2008)

After having my quiet morning alone on Monday, things are getting back to normal around here. Having half the day to myself was very nice and refreshing. I had hoped to sleep in but my biological clock just will not let me sleep much later than 7:30 on most mornings. I did get several things done around the house and I finally have a handle on our homeschool schedule. Logan is enjoying her co-op classes and is balancing those pretty well with her additional studies at home. One of her friends told me that all she did while at co-op was study. That's my girl! I've been able to help with Spanish a lot and that's been really fun for me. I love languages so being able to help her study is icing on the cake.

I've loaded Caroline down with language arts material this year. She loves to write and is constantly asking me if she can get a new notebook for her "stories." It's quiet amusing and I want to encourage her to develop her writing skills. Now, if I could just get her to work on her organizational skills! We are constantly having to search high and low for her pencil or her pencil sharpener. And shoes.....the child can rarely ever find her shoes! It's good to have a child who is nothing like me as far as organization goes. I'm not the neatest person in the world but I have ordered chaos. I put things in piles and usually know where everything is. I'll find Caroline's stuff under beds, couches, outside, or somewhere that you'd never think to look.

She's very eager for me to teach her to cook certain things. The problem is, she's so scared of the stove. She's afraid of being burned and because of that, it makes it hard to really teach her to make things. I'm going to try a few easy recipes next week and see how she does. I'm not sure why she's so scared of being burned. Maybe it's because we taught her that it was hot when she was small. I hope she'll overcome that quickly though because I would love to have more help preparing meals. Ok, I'll just fess up. I'd love to have someone else cooking the meals a few nights a week!

Not much else going on around here. Last weekend a girlfriend and I did get a night out. We went to Red Lobster and ate the most wonderful shrimp! We were kind of celebrating the weight we had lost since February. After supper we went to see The Women. The movie kept us laughing although it did have more language than I would have liked. The movie theater was packed and there were only seven men in the show. Yep, I counted. I wondered how many dedicated hubbies would accompany their wives to see this one. It's an all gal movie and it was fun.

I'm hoping that my blogging slump is over and that I'll start to write more each day. It seems like this happens to everyone at some point in their blogging life. I'm reading a good book right now and I've seen several pretty good movies lately so I'll be back with reviews real soon!

Until next time......

 

Who Needs Alone Time

I have the morning to myself. Logan is off at co-op classes and Caroline stayed all night with my MIL last night. The house is extremely quiet and I'm not really sure what to do with myself. Isn't that funny? You'd think I would be off playing the Wii or researching the PS3 but I find that when the kids are gone, I'm at a loss. I'm sure glad they aren't gone very much! The silence would kill me!

No, I think this morning I'll relax a bit, finish up my laundry, and clip some coupons. I'll pass the time until this afternoon. Then the fun begins. I'll pick Logan up from co-op and take Caroline to piano lessons. We'll rush home and try to get supper on the table by the time the hubster gets home. We'll have a nice family meal, do some reading, and then pile up on the couch for Monday Night Football.

Ah, life is good!

A Funeral and Old Shirts

Holy smokes, have things been nuts around here lately! Since March, we've had 4 deaths on my hubby's side of the family; an aunt, his brother, a distant relative, and on Friday, his uncle. Our heads are still spinning from all of it. Just when things seem to settle down, something else pops up. This is one of the tougher seasons of our lives thus far. We are thankful that each of these relatives claimed Christ as King. To some degree, that eases our sorrow.

While attending funerals have been a big part of my absence, we've also had many things to catch up on around our house. Our garden is keeping me very busy. We're having a wonderful harvest and are very excited to improve our planting next year. Another thing I'm working on is cleaning out hubby's closet. He's lost about 35 pounds since February and has outgrown many of his old clothes. One thing I need to make use of are several of his company logo shirts. He doesn't need these anymore since the company changed names several months ago and the shirts are really too large for him now. They are good quality shirts and I'm wondering if I can somehow recycle them. They are short-sleeved, polo type shirts with the company emblem on one side. He also has a few good quality long sleeved shirts with the emblem on the side. He always pushes them to the back of his closet so I don't see him ever wearing them again. All of the shirts are made of good quality cotton that is kind of thick. It's not practical to keep them for "around the house" shirts because they are just too hot due to the thickness.

This is where each of you come in. I need some good ideas for recycling these shirts. I thought of cutting them up for cleaning rags but I'm just not sure I could do that. I know I could always donate them but I'd really like to recycle them for our use. I'm thinking that the material is strong enough to use for making a few small tote bags or something like that. If you have ideas or simple patterns to suggest, please do so. I'm trying hard to be more deliberate about the things I throw out. I need to think outside the box more often so that I don't get rid of things that could really be useful!

Trying To Catch Up

The past couple of weeks have been extremely busy in our house and I feel like we need a little vacation. This morning, I was browsing some Orlando vacations since I know many people who've traveled there and loved it. I've always wanted to go to Sea World. That would be a real treat. I love animals and would love to be in the water with dolphins. I'd be scared to death for a little bit but once we warmed up to each other, I'd be fine.

Gas is just so outrageous now that it will be a while before we can actually take a vacation. It seems that every time we get in the car, we are trying to figure out how many things we can combine into one trip. I think we've finally decided to trade our Toyota 4-Runner and get a new small car that's good on gas. Our Echo is great. It's just that it has a lot of miles and needs to be our secondary car. We're trying to save toward the new car for a few months and once we get enough saved, we'll start looking. I think we can work a pretty good deal with a trade in and a substantial amount paid toward the new car. It's been 8 years since we bought a new car so it should be interesting.

Our garden is doing extremely well this year and I'll be sharing pictures in the coming days. I've got squash, zucchini, green beans, okra, jalapenos, cucumbers, and tomatoes to use up this week. I can't wait for our roma tomatoes ripen so that we can start making salsa!

Hope things are going well for you. What have you been up to?