Well, this past week the kids have been playing outside in just jeans and t-shirts!  And you know what that means??  Spring fever has hit, and hit hard!  I am dreaming about my garden....that will be summer school for us!  I can't wait!!  I'll get to plant corn this year (first time we've had a garden big enough), and do another sweet potato experiment, and plant carrots and parsnips (yep, why not!), and lettuce, and tomatoes, and....and....oh I just can't wait!!  I'm hoping to get an herb garden going as well!!  Yikes!!  I'm telling you, I got the fever bad!!!  Then it rained all day today and everything is VERY soggy, and literally puts a bit of a damper on things. :)  But that's okay, it's a great day for curling up and reading seed and bulb catalogs!  Did I mention I want a lilac bush, and lavendar, and.....well, you get the picture!  

Be careful, I hear spring fever is VERY contagious!!

I'm back!!

Did'ja miss me??  I have so missed being on the computer and in touch with all my internet friends!!!  We finally have a wonderful house and we're just loving Utah (though it's hotter than I expected).  I'm still trying to get everything set up, so I will have to keep this brief and catch up as I can.

Blessings!

Finally I'm able to get back on here.  Life has been SO busy and then I wasn't keeping up and then I had password issues (thank you for the help, Jodi!)......ANYWAY, here I am!

Let's see....quick update

• our house sold pretty much right away (to the first people that looked at it....God thing!)
• we got our asking price for the house (and made a nice "chunk-a-change" on it)
• we're almost finished with all the work on it
• we're closing on it in just 8 days!
• we're departing Louisiana (sorry all my LA friends!  I do love you all dearly!) in about 3 weeks (on June 15th)
• between June 1-15 we will be staying in TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base

Homeschooling.....well there's not a whole lot to report there.  We've been doing a lot of reading and Miss Alycia is doing GREAT with her reading.  We had a homeschool talent show last Saturday and Daniel did his monologue from the Christmas play (a spoof about coffee in the style of Andy Rooney....very funny and perfect for him) and then Alycia read a little book about Cinderella.  I was so proud of both of them.

We do have an incredible new homeschool project.......I will take pictures ASAP....in the meantime, I think I'll leave y'all hangin'.....HEE HEE HEE!!!

Okay, it is getting really hard to hold back the excitement about our move when we're telling people.  I know I should be sad because they are sad, but inside I'm fairly dancing!! I've joined a couple of Utah homeschool egroups this week, and that did not help to tame my excitement, but rather it seriously fanned the flames!!  They're talking about field trips to gardens and Red Butte and going to see speed skaters and....and....oh my!!  I can't wait!  I do love the many blessings lavished on us while we were here in Louisiana, good friends, a great church family, a cozy little house of our own (that we can now sell for a lot more than we bought it for, thanks to my great big loveable handyman!), but I'm ready to get this show on the road and see what the next chapter in our life story is about!! 

 I talked to my sister Becky (who has a blog here too, see her at RobbinsNest) and she and my other sister Marion have decided to converge on us in Utah (Beck's in CA and Marion's in ID).  Wow!!  Gotta love that!!  I'll get to meet my two nieces that I've never met (Alycia can't wait to play Barbies and dress up with them!)  Daniel can't wait to go to Idaho to see the awesome treehouse that the Make A Wish foundation built for his cousin Zeke and his family.  Woohoo!!  The adventure!!

In the meantime, Glenn is LOVING his new job as Chaplain's Assistant.  He has a nice office and we can stop by and visit him, he comes home happy, he goes in early so he can help out, it's just so neat!!  I love seeing him so excited!  God is good all the time!!

So anyway, I just had to let loose some of that excitement before I burst, I figured this was a safe place to do it (even though my pastor's wife & good friend Georgia will probably read this).....Hi Georgia!! 

Well!  Finally!  Life is slowing down!  Glenn came home last Friday (Feb. 17th) the same day that my Mom and Aunt flew down for a visit.  Here's what I got accomplished before that huge (fun) influx:

• repair leaky shower faucet
• install new lighting in dining room
• buy a coffee table
• buy baskets to put under the coffee table
• put up pictures in the living room
• Buy or make a new tablecloth
• buy some kind of decorations to put on my sewing table in the living room (something easy to move around!)
• make bed daily
• clean off my dresser and nightstand
• clean off Glenn's dresser
• clean out the bottom of Alycia's closet
• clean off the patio
• get rid of truck
• get rid of fireplace and pipes
• make new drapes for Daniel's room
• clean off Alycia's dresser
• mop floors (to be done the Thursday before he gets home)

I did not get the floors mopped, but they were all pretty clean.  My Mom and Aunt had not seen the remodel (well, Mom saw it right after deconstruction~~scary!~~ and Auntie Chris hadn't seen anything new done to the house at all when she visited 6 years ago) so they were VERY impressed.  Mom kept saying it looked like Better Homes and Gardens.  Woohooo!!! 

Glenn liked all the stuff I did too.  He said he was especially impressed that my friend and I had installed the dining room chandalier.  Yes!!

So, now, the visitors have gone home and things are settling down.  Glenn is now working at the chapel on base (has his own office and computer) and Friday WE GOT ORDERS!!  (which means we're finally moving!!)  We'll be heading off to Hill AFB in Ogden, UT in June.  It is a bittersweet thing.  We've been here 8 years and I am just not a Southern Gal, but we've found an awesome church and have had time to develop some pretty great friendships here.  I'm especially concerned about our neighbor, Miss Marlene.  She's 74 and we have gotten REALLY close in the last couple of years.  I know she will be heartbroken when we leave.  I help her out a lot as her sons are all far away and her sisters are elderly as well.  I haven't told her yet as she's not been feeling well for the last few days (like not feeling well to the point of needing to make out her will and such!).  So I'd appreciate prayers on her behalf!  But other than that, I am so excited!!!!  I'll be 5 hours from my youngest sister in Idaho and 7 hours from my other sister in California.  There will be snow too, we're right near The Great Salt Lake and an awesome mountain range.  Yes, I know it will be very cold and we'll have to acclimate, but.....THERE'S SNOW!!!!!!!

Anyway, guess that's about all the excitement one entry can hold!!!  :)

• repair leaky shower faucet
• install new lighting in dining room
• buy a coffee table
• buy baskets to put under the coffee table
• put up pictures in the living room
• Buy or make a new tablecloth
• buy some kind of decorations to put on my sewing table in the living room (something easy to move around!)
• make bed daily
• clean off my dresser and nightstand
• clean off Glenn's dresser
• clean out the bottom of Alycia's closet
• clean off the patio
• get rid of truck
• get rid of fireplace and pipes
• make new drapes for Daniel's room
• clean off Alycia's dresser
• mop floors (to be done the Thursday before he gets home)

Well, we've made it through week 2 with Daddy gone for training.  It's starting to get a little rougher, noticing attitudes popping up here and there, but I'm trying to keep on top of them. 

     Little David is almost completely potty trained.....he's got the first part down great and stays dry all day.....we still have other issues to work on though.

     I have gotten SO much done around here this week!  Some Glenn knows about and some will be a surprise.....I don't think he'll look here so I'll tell you all:

• plumbing.....fixed a leaky faucet in the shower!  Lesson learned....Glenn makes it look a whole lot easier than it actually is!  I did get it fixed though....just had to get help with a couple things.
• electrical.....a friend and I installed a new chandelier in the dining room.  This also involved picking one out at Home Depot.  Lesson learned.....FOLLOW the directions even if you think you know a better way (we had to take it down and redo it because we didn't precisely follow directions).  Nice to finally have light in the dining room though! <---Glenn doesn't know!
• furniture shopping.....okay, actually it wasn't like actual shopping.  I bought a used coffee table from some lady so that we'd have more storage space for games so that I can get our room finished (just have the tops of dressers to clean).  <---Glenn doesn't know!
• tending to business....guess under this category is two things: money management (going well) AND arranged for the beater truck (otherwise known as Frankenstein) to be removed from our carport!  Lesson learned <----it is so nice to park the 'burban in the carport when it's raining!  Woohoo!
• Seamstress....I bought material to make a new tablecloth for the table, one that actually matches the kitchen/dining/living room.  I haven't done it yet, but it will also happen before Glenn gets home. <---Glenn doesn't know about this either.

Hmmm!  What else....Oh!  Girl's night out this past Friday!  I've only been out for mom's/girls's night out to eat like 2 or 3 other times, but this was dinner and a movie.  I've NEVER gone to a "chick flick" with girls.  THAT WAS SO FUN!!!!  Oh my goodness!!  It was me and 4 other ladies from our church and we just had the best time!  We went to see Last Holiday (the one with Queen Lahtifah).  It was a GREAT movie, made even better with the "girls"  Woohoo, haven't laughed that hard in a long time!  :)

Well, 4 more weeks until my honey comes home (and my Mom and Aunt/godmother are also coming to visit for a week right around that time.)  I am so excited!!  Woohoo!

Huge praise too....Glenn is thoroughly enjoying school (though he misses home) and is very excited about his new job.  That is such a praise!  God is SO good!!!!

Okay, guess that's all for now.

Well, we've survived our first week with Glenn being gone.  He's gone to Alabama (Maxwell AFB) for 6 weeks for training.  He will be a chaplain's assistant.  I am so looking forward to that!  He's been a diesel mechanic (AGE-->Aerospace Ground Equipment) for 12 years now but suffers from migraines triggered by....noise!  So they're cross training him to a new job.

We've never had him go anywhere like that, though many families in the military experience this often, even for up to a year or more.  Actually, that's what I keep in mind when I get overwhelmed with it all....it's only 6 weeks. 

The kids are doing much better than I expected they would.  Daniel's a little more "take charge" than I like and David a little more clingy, but it's manageable.  We're working on lots of changes while Daddy's away (good things) to surprise Daddy when he comes home.

I'm really working on keeping up with school as well.  We had a two week break for Christmas and New Years (so the kids got extra time with their Daddy) and now we're back to the books!

Well, that's the excitement here.....just thought I'd get y'all caught up with life at the Jajliardo ranch.

Feel like I'm ridin' a whirlwind!!  Glenn (dh) left this morning to begin his cross-training as a Chaplain's Assistant (in the AF).  It's exciting because it begins a new adventure in our life, however, this is the first time he has left us.  Thankfully it IS only for 6 weeks, so we can do this!!  Actually it's good timing, I sometimes start having pity parties for myself thinking I have to do everything around here!  So now I'll have a chance to really do it all on my own and hopefully I'll realize just how much Glenn does around here. I hope that doesn't sound snotty.....I am praying that God will richly bless this time apart for us.

We took the last two weeks off from school as Glenn was off work and we wanted to spend as much time as we could with him.  We got lots of stuff done around the house which is SO nice!  Woohoo!  Lots of decluttering!!  I cannot believe how much stuff I was hording!  So I am getting rid of lots of stuff so that I can rely on God rather than what's in my storage!

I'm rambling, can you tell??  Not much else happening right now.  Gearing up for school again.....gotta do my lesson plans tonight!

Well, as usual, I have lots of catching up to do!!  (which means it's not just in one category!)  Let's see.....oh!  Well I think the tummy bug has left the building!  Yes!  Thank You Lord!  I had to go to the doctor on Friday because I was just miserable with gas, bloating and ....other stuff.....I saw a new doctor on base (a civilian doctor, but she works on base)  Yeah, can you picture an Asian Barbie doll?  That would be this doctor....Doctor M.  And do you think an overweight, 39yo mama with curly hair that has a mind of it's own wants to be talking about bodily emissions with Barbie??  Does Barbie even burp?  I don't think so!!  Well, somehow I made it through that appointment only to be prescribed Immodium (which Glenn had already recommended to me SEVERAL times).  Well, at least I'm feeling better!!

Just in time for this weekend!  Saturday the big kids had play practice from 10-2 and in that time I also got to attend a very belated highschool graduation party for a good friend (okay, it was for her GED, but a 20-something year old Mom of 4 kids under the age of  7?  That's cause for celebration!  I am so proud of her!  Fran, you've come a long way baby!!  Love ya!)  Then the kids and I braved the crowds to search for that elusive gift that's just perfect for Glenn (and just to be on the safe side, I have about 7 gifts for him, so something's bound to work out nicely!)

Sunday arrived!  And I got to pull dresses out of my closet that I haven't fit into for a long time.  THAT was pretty cool!  Church was awesome!  Pastor Lowell finished a series on grace and here's that "lightening bolt phrase" for me...."In order for grace to happen, a death is required."  Think about that!  Wow!!  That hit me so hard!  In order for me to extend grace, some part of me must die...my pride, my expectations, my right to be right, etc.  Pretty powerful stuff!

Yeah, then after a great church service I came home, made a menu and grocery list and was off to shopping.  I managed to finish up Christmas shopping AND purchase all the groceries.  Glenn asked me how much I spent at the BX.....my response?  "The lady in front of me had to write a check for $748.36!"  Yeah, so I think anything less than that is great!  Hah!  Seriously though....$748.36 at the BX?  Yikes!  And most of the stuff looked like....well.....fluff!  Gifts, yeah, it was gifts I'm sure but.....wow!  I did spend a bit (let's just say under $100) and it was gifts, but it was also several things the kids needed anyway (shoes, gloves, socks) and this was just a good excuse to get them.  Sorry, ranting there.

After that fun, we were blessed to enjoy our two oldest children in a production called Mayhem in Bethlehem.  Good stuff!!  It was kind of a spoof on 60 minutes, with them doing a special report on all the "commotion" in Bethlehem.  Alycia was just part of the choir (and did great with singing AND hand motions).  Daniel had a speaking part....he was "Randy Looney" (ring a bell?) and gave a monologue about coffee!  TOO FUNNY considering the seriousness of coffee in the Jajliardo clan!  I even crocheted Daniel some FunFur gray fuzzy eyebrows to really get into his part (though he forgot to twitch them....hee hee!)  They both did great and we were very proud of them!!  Hopefully I can beg pictures off of somebody to post them here for you.

And now, well it's 4am, I've been up 2 hours because I can't sleep.  So here I am, finally caught up!  Hope you enjoyed that little peek into our home!!

We've been hit with the tummy bug!  It started with David last Tuesday, moved to Alycia for Wednesday, Daniel got it Wednesday evening and then I got slammed with it Saturday.  Now Glenn is down with it!!  NO FUN!!  And I did a good job tending the kids and getting them back to full health, but I didn't do the same for myself (taking it easy the day after) and so I am not feeling so great today!  NO FUN!!  (in case you missed that the first time)  I cannot wait to be done with this!!!

I just can't think of anything to say!  I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but I, yes, me.....I am at a loss for something to write about.  I'm only writing this because they say that you need to get something on the "paper" to get your creative juices flowing......well, I'm waiting, and nothing's flowing.....ummmmmm.......

WEATHER:  Been kinda chilly (relatively speaking).  We've had to dig out the long pants and long sleeves and yes, jackets too.  Some mornings the kids are scrambling around for gloves.  The temperature??  Well, maybe in the 50's by the time they get out there and it "only" gets up to about 68 degrees in the afternoon.  My kids keep telling me it's going to snow!  Ha!  Yep, that's what they tell me......some days I think I have raised "weather wimps".....see what this Louisiana climate does to normal, sane northerners??  We keep reminding Daniel that he's an "eskimo" (well, he was born in Alaska anyway), but that doesn't seem to help.

SCHOOL:  Ummmm, perhaps we're on a winter break; I don't know.  Well, we have been doing *some* school, but not as much as I'd like to be doing.  The frigid temps (ha!) seem to have frozen some of their brain cells so that they are unable to connect my directions with their actions.  Ugh!!  Maybe we all just need a cuppa hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows to get us all back on track.

FAMILY:  Well, this is the season when everyone except Daniel gets to add another year!  We've made it through Daddy's, Alycia's and David's birthdays.  Mine is next! (Nov. 19)  I also have the distinction of claiming the most number of years for our family.....I won't tell you though, so then you won't feel so bad if I outnumber you too!  Hee hee!!

Little punchy am I?  Why yes!  That's because it's 12:35 am and I am NOT sleepy and everyone else is happily snoring away!  Where's the sense in that??  So me and the worldwideweb, here we are!  Ack!!  Though this is the time I sign up for all those cool freebies!  Yes!

'Kay, that's ramblin's enough!  Y'all know we're still alive now, right?? 

Today is Glenn's 32 birthday...or as he and Daniel were jokingly calling it, the 30-second birthday (kinda short, but fun!)  I made him a 2 layer carrot cake (new recipe that had coconut and mandarin oranges in it...very yummy!)  Earlier in the day the kids and I went to the Base Exchange and bought him some jeans, an insulated-cooler-cup-thingy and a bag of the white chocolate Reese's cups....okay, not much for excitement, but he was happy and he's usually tired by the end of the day anyway!  So for school today we also made big birthday "posters" for Daddy.

I came up with a yummy new recipe for dinner too....I had a ham slice that I cut into cubes, I slightly baked 2 sweet potatoes (to almost soft stage) and cubed them, then I put the ham and the potatoes on skewers and brushed them with a mix of 1 cup orange marmalade (heated) and 1/3 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce.  Threw those puppies on the grill for a few minutes and WOW were they good!!  Nice when something works well.....especially when it's dinner on your true love's birthday!  Hee hee!!

We were supposed to participate in an egg drop tomorrow.  Yep, what fun, dropping eggs off the brand new, much taller, flight tower on base.  This is the third year doing it and we were successful in safely landing our egg the last two years.  Okay, it was my design, but the kids did help and it was a family project.  This year we're trying two totally different designs...nothing we've seen used yet.....bubble wrap!!  We'll do one egg with the tiny bubble bubble wrap and one egg we'll tape to one of those big plastic pillow for shipping things and then wrap more "pillows" around it.  The only rule is that the egg has to be able to be checked after it drops.  One year these two brothers came up with really ingenious ideas....one kid put his egg in a plastic bag full of blue jello inside a cardboard box....it survived.  His brother put his egg in a plastic bag full of......yellow mustard!  inside a little cardboard box.  And yes, his egg did survive; however the people closest to "ground zero" ended up with mustard stained shirts.  You had to be there....it was pretty funny.  As my Mom would say...."Who-da thunk it?"  Yellow mustard!  Amazing!  Crazy!  Wow!!  Certain made our wire-hanger-and-pantyhose-sphere-of-safety look a little less wild!

Well, 'nuff of my ramblings.  Not sure it's even getting read, but that's okay, I simply need to ramble!  Ha!!

It's actually been 9 days since I last blogged!  Wow!!  Wish I was doing something exciting like taking a trip to the beach, or to Alaska, or to Australia....but no, I was here, just doin'...and doin'....and doin'!  But I'm thinking we're slowing down again....that sure would be nice.

There was a nasty incident with one of the homeschool groups I belong to....I won't go into detail, as it's pointless.....but WHY do we (yes, me too) feel the need to point out the flaws in others?  Life goes so much smoother for everybody when we keep our noses at home rather than in other people's lives, and when we can just let things roll off of us instead of letting the sting settle in and cause pain?  Sometimes I just want to live out in the middle of nowhere with just open fields for the kids to run and play freely, where I don't feel like I'm being watched and pointed at.  I actually only belong to 2 homeschool groups.  One is rather small, is part of our church body, and I just love it!  I am free with them.  They see our flaws and just smile and love us anyway.  The other is large and very diverse....the only things drawing us together is that we're homeschooling military families.  There I am not free, I feel like I have to be on guard or something.  That is so frustrating!  I'm trying to stick with it because there are some awesome programs that we do and there are some great people that I really want to get to know, but I'm being careful....can't jump in with both feet....too much at stake or something.

Anyway, sorry for the ranting.  God's been doing some awesome things in my life lately too, so I've got lots to rejoice about!  This week a friend and I started an "Apples of Gold" mentoring group at our church.  Then Glenn and I also started a "Dinners for 8" group at church too....just people getting together for food and fellowship....and God's already blessing it after only the first meeting!!  Woo hoo!!

Yesterday at church was awesome too.  We just moved to a new building because in the last 3 years our church has grown 400%!  We ran out of room even after they started having two services every Sunday!  And now, the second service in this new building is already again at "standing room only".  They're trying to make this building last for a while (renting until we can build), so this week they actually started "bribing" people to come to first service!  Yes, I did say bribing!!  The 9am church goers, arriving a little early, were treated to a FULL breakfast....eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits, muffins, cereal, and fruit, not to mention coffee, milk and juice!!  It was SO nice!!!  They ordered really nice furniture to set up a sort of living room.  Mostly it's nice tables and chairs, but there's also two corners with living room furniture that is SO inviting.  We are really loving this church, not because of all the cool "things" but because they're heart is so big and fresh and excited for the Lord!  It's awesome!

Well, see what happens when I miss blogging.....I start blabbing on and on and on......  I better stop before my fingers cramp!  Hee hee!!

The other day I decided that rather than save all that "stuff" in my room for a garage sale (or selling it online) that I could just donate it all somewhere that was handling needs for the thousands of refugees that have made their way to our city.  I even went through our dressers and closets and decided that I would even get rid of those clothes I've been saving for "the next baby" (yeah, I'm saving all the things that people have passed down to me, why am I thinking the buck should stop here??  Pass it on!)  Anyway, I had the great idea to call my neighbor/friend who is 74 and been widowed over a year now.  Her house is FULL of STUFF.  So she said that she could clean out her closets but wasn't sure she could do it on her own, so there I went to help her.  WHEW!!  3 closets JAMMED full of stuff!  It literally filled the entire back of my suburban (with the 3rd row seat folded up too!!).  I mean, there were clothes like you wouldn't believe!!  Jumpsuits....Mr. Bill LOVED jumpsuits.....ya know those old-man type zoot suit kind of things?  He had at least one of every color, and two of most of the colors!!  Yikes!!  And they really aren't wealthy at all, but these clothes! 

Anyway, I threw in my stuff into the middle seat (2 big trash bags full plus a comforter) and away I went.....okay, I do need to confess that later, when I got home, I discovered a huge pile of stuff on my bed that I had forgotten to take, so I did have a fair amount too......Anyway!  I got to go by myself to the Shreveport Rescue Mission Thrift Store as they said that they were donating anything the refugees could use now.  So I started out with my radio blaring Christian music and I felt this niggling in my mind.....so I shut off the radio and said, "What?  What do I need to see in all this?"  I was quite amazed that there was barely space to see out my back window.  How could a person let so much stuff pile up?  There was stuff she didn't even remember, stuff that hadn't fit in a very long time, and yet there it was.  And she has so little space left unoccupied in her house that she has her old entertainment center in the hallway to store more STUFF.  And then I saw it!  I hold onto STUFF too, stuff I think I can't live without; it's mine!  And when I do that....I miss blessing others, I miss being blessed, I miss being free!  Ouch!!  Got it!  So now, as I hunt for things to donate, I'm hunting my heart as well for things that really don't need to be there and are just in the way of more important things, the things God has waiting for me when I'm willing to let go and let God. 

There's so much happening I'm feeling a little overwhelmed!  We were very blessed to not be in Katrina's path.  We did get a heavy wind and rain storm Saturday that knocked our power out for about18 hours. Thankfully that storm also brought cooler weather (cooler being in the 80's for us in Louisiana)  Church was interesting with limited power, to say the least!

My 2 boys started out the weeking not feeling well, not sure if it's colds or allergies, so we ended up at the doctor's both Monday and Tuesday for that. 

This week I started a new business venture....well, kind of new.....the Farmer's Market is over for the year, so I've adverstised on a local sell it today list that I make baked goods from scratch.  My first customer came to pick up her order today (loaf of bread, mini banana bread, and a French silk pie).  I have an order for Friday of cookies, muffins and challah, and she wants the challah to be a standing order for Fridays.  I've never made challah but it looks fairly simple.  I'd love any recipes for really good challah (email me at jjlrdomom@cox.net ).  I did find a couple of recipes on the internet and a friend sent me one as well.  The lady said that she does not use lard (I think that includes margarine) so I need recipes with butter.  That same lady also put in a rather large order (2 3-layer cakes, 4 pies, dozen each of scones and muffins) for the middle of September.  Woohoo!!

On the sad side, though the storm missed us, many evacuees have made their way here.  Our area is now filled and they are having to head further north.  Last I heard, of the people they're removing from New Orleans now, they'll have to send them to Missouri!!  It's so heartbreaking.  I know several people personally, which makes it even tougher (though it really shouldn't, huh?)

So, in between all that, we have been getting SOME school done.  Staying VERY busy though!!  Whew!

TTFN (tah-tah for now)

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