Okay girls, I have hesitated posting this because of the subject, but I figure that if some of you can post your birthing stories, I can post my undergarment story.  (Princess would be so embarrassed if she knew ).  But I'm not gonna tell her, so here goes...

A few weeks ago, Shane's mom had the older 3 children and I met Shane in town for dinner and after some discussion, we ended up at Victoria's Secret.  So Shane and Sweet Cheeks took a walk while I got sized and tried on.   I am probably like many of you.  I usually buy inexpensive Walmart bras.  And I was well overdue,.  But like many of you I put that off for things for the hubby or the children. 

It has been several years and a few pounds since I've been sized, and what I had been wearing was way off...I have to tell you it took all that is in me to spend $40 on a new bra, but I have to tell ya'll I LOVE it!  I know it's silly that a bra could do so much for a woman, but it has.  At 43 years old, it is nice to have a bra that gives me a little lift, and excellent support.  And it just feels good to have a bra that fits.  What was recommended to me is "Body by Victoria" it is lightly lined and shaped.  After I bought one,  we went across to Macy's and I bought 2 traditional type bras, and I wish I would have went ahead and bought a 2nd from VS and bypassed what I got a Macy's.  I did buy a 2nd one on ebay, but it's not the same style, so it fits a little differently. 

Now I don't want to wear anything else but my VS.  In a couple of weeks I'll have enough extra money to buy another. 

So that's it! My undergarment story

Today I am starting a Anti-Procrastination Meme.  I really didn't expect to have 3 meme's  but sense I had sooooooo much fun with my friend Shani and our anti-procrastination challenge that I HAD to share the fun with YOU.

This is where you pick something you have been procrastinating on and need a extra nudge and encourgement on.  Sooo, you share it on your blog with us and a time frame you woud "like" to get it done. ( doesn't mean you can't get that time frame extended if you need it)  Then come here and sign Mister Linky so we can visit you and encourage you in your Anti-Procrastination Project.

Okay another discription is ( from my friend Shani)

"To participate, choose a project that you have been avoiding like the plague, snap a before picture, write a little bit about it, post your photo, set a time limit, then head over to Mary's to be held accountable.  Yes, posting a photo of it is absolutely necessary.  Otherwise, that mortification that is 90% of your motivation is absent.  Trust me, you are not alone. " 

Hee he...I thought this a PERFECT definition and HAD to include it for you.

Okay...here is my Anti-Procrastination Challenge.

We have been in the "House That God Built" for a year and a half now.  I have a "temperary" storage space aka future upstairs bathroom.  I REALLY want to get it all cleaned out because my Handsome said if I did.  I would get my bathroom that will have my claw foot tub !  I LOVE to soak in the bathtub for my sanity time and theraphy and I am determined to get this done!  I haven't had a good tub time sense we moved out of the rental.  Time frame ???? I really want it done in 1 to 2 weeks.

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Here is the before pic

Please scroll down and see todays Tightwad Tuesday Post too.

Blessings and ((HUGS))

I am hoping to change over to more Electric Skillet Cooking soon.  It is a lot cheaper than cooking in the oven.  Plus it doesn't heat the house up as much.  It is even better (less heating of your house)  if you put it outside on your deck  if you have a electrical outlet out there. 

For recipes please go HERE.

"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are a lot of small ways....that all adds up."

 Please go visit these lovely ladies and glean some good tightwad tips from them.  

Remember:  The best way to get a comment is to give a comment

Today is a usual busy day on Larid Creek Farm during harvest time.  This morning started off nice with a walk with Handsome.   

Then picking and sausing transparent apples.  I also picked almost the last of the raspberries with the boys.  I am very happy with how much raspberries we picked.  I will be able to jam a lot for the winter. ((happy dance))

We are also trying to squeeze in a couple more swims before summer ends. 

Blessings and ((HUGS)) in Him<><

It was while we were watching our umpteenth hour of Olympics coverage on NBC that I came up with an explanation on why guys generally have a hard time articulating their feelings about matters of the heart. I tried explaining this to my wife in the middle of her work and didn't quite make it through, so I'm going to try it here and see if I get better in explaining it.

Guys don't like to show their emotions or reveal their feelings about something dear to them because it leaves them vulnerable. This is not just "Me Tarzan not like feeling vulnerable. Rather hunt bear with pointy stick!" It's something I think we've forgotten in our relative prosperity and "lack of vital needs," like when there was only so much medicine available or there was only so much food to go around. In competition, weaknesses are exploited and it's imbued on men that weaknesses can cause you to fail and lose. To allow others to know what is in his heart is to invite disaster. So men have instinctively clammed up and only allowed their feelings out when they knew it was safe, confidential and controlled. To protect himself and the ones he loves, a man will not betray the contents of his heart for the instinctual fear that the sentiments of his heart could be used to hamstring him and expose his beloved to possible harm.

It's not an apologetic that I'm making for men, saying this is the way we are and so don't go asking us how we feel. Instead, understand that men need to know that when the environment and time is right, it is okay to actually open up a little. They won't do it if they feel threatened. Using his feelings in a later argument to hurt or hamper him is an immediate and profound reinforcement of the instinct to clam up and protect his heart. Good luck getting him to open up after that.

On that note, I'm glad that we are homeschooling my son. Keeping him out of the dog-eat-dog competition and ruthlessness of the schools, public and private, is probably going to spare his heart and protect him from the pathological side of this instinct.

No, my wife and I aren't fighting. It's just that seeing the competitive nature of the events and it's impact on so many of the olympians and their families. It really has helped me understand the human heart to watch the games. I just better come up with some more observations that are a little more profound in order to keep this from being a total loss.

Oh, and NBC, ease up on the ads for sex-and-violence shows. My kids are watching, and it's only reinforcing our desire to turn off the TV after the closing ceremonies. Maybe that wouldn't be a such a bad thing for us.

 Hi all ,

I had to let you know about a NEAT contest my friend Rosina is having ! 

she has  a copy of Pirateology ~ A Pirate Hunter's Companion by Candlewick Press.   It's written from a pirate hunter's point of view and is packed with all sorts of little tuck ins. There are ships logs, navigation, written letters, all sorts of pockets to open and find treasures, knot tying lessons with leather ropes to practice on and so much more. It will keep them reading for hours if not months! It's also perfect for reluctant readers as they make it so much fun to explore the life of a pirate that they just have to read it *grin*.

Now for all of you mama's out there!   She's  got a fun 8" x 8" scrapbook kit for you :) It includes a 4 ring chipboard binder that is a completely blank canvas so you can decorate it to fit any type of photos you want to put in it, acid free page protectors, double sided patterned paper, textured card stock, alphabet and number stickers, 2 sheets of die cut chipboard and ribbon. This would be perfect as a school album for all of those great photos and artwork I just know you are going to collect this coming school year!!

Contest closes at 11:59pm PST, Friday August 22nd.

As usual, I am behind a day or two in matters of extreme importance....

Yesterday Shane and I celebrated 14 years of marital bliss.  I truly cannot believe that it has been this long, it seems like just yesterday we were sitting on "our" swing at college talking about our future together, and now here we are, in the future.  And having a wonderful time of it. 

When I think of my past, my parents 3 divorces each, and what the world says should have happened to me, I sit with tears in my eyes.  

 I think about how wonderful my dearest is.  The chance he took on me, being a fairly new believer, (I think I was about 3 when we married) with the track record I held.  With my past life in the world.  And yet he accepted me for who I was and has helped me grow into the person I am today.

He is  an incredible husband and father.  I do not even come close to deserving him and was given abundant grace by the Heavenly Father when he so chose to bless me with such a man. 

Sweetheart, you are the LOVE of my life!  And I thank God for the blessing you are to me!

Now, I can tell you how we celebrated.  We went to World of Fun.  (We will get a night to ourselves next weekend when Shane's parents will have the children). 

Every year this time, Shane takes a  vacation day off work for a family day.  In years past, we've gone to the state fair, and have actually been there at least once on our anniversary.  Honestly, I have been a bit disappointed that we were going to miss the state fair and have been complaining a bit about it a bit.  But a great time was had by all at WOF and I was even the one encouraging Shane to stay until closing... esp. since who knows when we'll go back again. ( We were there before the gates opened, so we had a full day of it).

 I can't find my card reader right now, so pictures will have to be forthcoming...

 Yesterday morning was a bit rainy, but it slowed down and the temperature was perfect.  Didn't even have to wear the clear zinc oxide.  And didn't have to wait to long in any line either.  We ordered tickets online-- they have an  deal where you get your entry and an all you can eat meal for less than a regular admission ticket.  The food was good, and we were starving by the time 3:00 rolled around.  Fried Chicken, BBQ, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, chips and chocolate chip cookies.  Drink included. 

Bubba and Shane even rode the Mamba, one of the tallest roller coasters in the world (I think it's highest drop is 256 ft.)  You can see it for miles before you actually get to the exit for the park.   He was 1" to short for a few of the rides and was disappointed to not be able to ride the Patriot.  He rode every other roller coaster, including the kiddie one.  For now,  I'll just have to tell you about the huge, goofy grin on his face the entire day. Imagine teeth-- everywhere.  Even when they were pulling the cars up to the top of the boomerang to come down and twist around.  Even as the boomerang was coming down at an alarminly fast rate of speed... probably even when he was on the Mamba, but I wasn't there, so I don't know!   

I am not real crazy about the roller coasters.  It's not the upside down, or even backwards that bothers me.  It's climbing upwards slowly, slowly and then the DROP! and down, down, down.  Yikes!  I did ride the Timberwolf and one of my favorites was the Zulu.  I even liked the Spinning Dragons.  And I told Shane that if he wanted to, I would ride the Patriot with him.  (Bubba was too short, by that measly old inch and Princess had no desire to ride it) But he chickened out hehehe!!!

 Sweetcheeks enjoyed everything she was big enough to ride including the Scrambler, the Octopus, and the kiddy roller coaster.  I have a feeling that her and Bubba will be riding budies in the future   She was hollering and waving at Princess and LB as we were riding the Octopus and she was beside herself when she didn't think she was going to get to ride the Ford Fairlane again.  "Agin Daddy" "ride, Daddy" "Agin, agin" was most of her vocabulary yesterday. 

Princess enjoyed the "danger" rides to a degree, but once was enough for her on most of them.  She rode the Zulu with me, and the Detonator with Bubba and Shane.  But says her favorite was the Scrambler.  That's always been one of my favorites too.  An oldy but goody I call it. 

Little Bit had a great time, he rode the big rides, but was perfectly content riding the airplanes in the kiddie area.  The excitement of the day came when everyone but me and SC, she was too small and I was fairly dry and wanted to stay that way, rode the  Fury of the Nile for the 2nd time. 

We were waiting at the observation area and saw them go by having a great time.  When they got off, here comes LB with only one shoe.  The Nile ate it!!!  It fell off as he was getting out of the raft.   He was not very happy, but he accepted it and went on.  No big fits, no lashing out.  I am so very proud of him and the improvments he's made.  Later, we found an employee and asked him how often someone looses something in there and he said "daily"  I think that eased his mind and he went on to enjoy the rest of the day.   Unfortunately, it was the new pair of Nikes that I had just bought him, but thank goodness it was a pair I had picked up at the thrift store for a couple of bucks.  But he really did like them!  (do any of you really think I'd spend a bucketload of money for a brand new pair of Nikes?) Thankfully it wasn't Bubba's glasses or Shane's or a watch, wedding band, or anything else more valuable. 

As we were getting ready for bed, Shane commented to me that celebrating our anniversary with our family was a great way to remember our 14 years together, and I agree. 

KEEPING BABY BEAR OUT OF THE TOP BUNK –

In my sons’ bedroom we have an IKEA loft bed that we recently borrowed. I LOVE it! When we have the financial resources, I want to buy one for the boys room and one for the girls’ bedroom. The bed is well made of solid pine.

Anyway, my oldest boy is 7 and my youngest is 18 months. We didn’t want the littlest one to be climbing up to the top bunk on the ladder. It was definitely a matter of concern because two different times I found him on the top rung and that was when he was only 15 months old.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to keep him off of the ladder and finally asked my husband what to do. He said, “I’ll just take out the bottom rung.” I was struck by the brilliance of his suggestion. The next rung up was not up so high that my 7 year old couldn’t climb up, but it was out of the little one's reach. My husband removed it and it worked like a charm. I probably would have never thought of that solution. He’s amazing!

TOO HOT TO COOK INSIDE –

The last few days here in the Central Valley of California have been HOT! The thought of heating up our house by turning on the stove or the oven has just seemed insane. So we didn’t.

One night this week I did a salad bar and a potato bar. Okay, not original, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do and just never get around to because of the amount of chopping, grating, and slicing. But this time I went all out and put out all my faves – chopped red bell pepper, frozen peas (thawed), pickled beets, as well as olives, green onions, broccoli (barely cooked it and used it on top of my potato too with cheese), cauliflower, cheddar cheese, and a bunch of other stuff. I rarely buy ranch dressing anymore, but this time I bought it because I love salad bars at restaurants and usually choose ranch or blue cheese dressing. I cooked the potatoes in the microwave so I never turned on the oven. The meal was well worth the chopping!

Another night my 7 and 4 year old asked for homemade pizza. I knew it would be too hot inside to make it so we decided to cook it outside. Our friends, the Davises, have used their outside grill to make the Take-n-Bake pizzas from Costco, but we don’t have one of those and don’t expect to anytime soon. Recently, though, my mom had purchased a George Foreman outdoor grill (don’t laugh!) at Costco. It kind of looks like a traditional BBQ, but it plugs in so no charcoal or fuel is needed. The downside is you don’t get the BBQ flavor, but the upside is you aren’t heating up your house. We put a pizza stone on the grill thingy and let it heat up and then cooked breadsticks first and then the pizzas. It was a little difficult sliding the raw pizza onto the hot pizza stone, but I learned quickly to sprinkle the cutting board surface with cornmeal, then place the already formed pizza dough on top then put on the toppings. It still was a little challenging sliding it off of the board with out losing the toppings, but we managed.

Typically it takes 15-18 minutes in a 425 oven to bake one pizza. Outdoors on the grill it took almost 25, but I didn’t have to make as many because two of my kids are gone this week to spend time with Grammy and Grampy. It also didn’t brown up the way I like it, but it was still good.

One night we just had a huge salad with chicken and cheese and other goodies mixed in and then I made berry smoothies for dessert. My kids love smoothies and would drink them everyday if I made them.

Last night we grilled hamburgers outside and, yes you guessed it, had more salad and smoothies.

Tonight I’m working on lesson plans for three of my children. We’re starting school this Monday so I need to get it done. I wanted to have dinner already prepared so I’m doing a crock-pot meal. I usually don’t use a crock-pot in the hot months because it heats up the house and makes it humid (or more humid if you live in the Midwest), but I was inspired. I got smart and plugged it in to an outlet outside on my back porch.

My mother-in-law makes cowboy casserole and bakes it in the oven. Years ago I got the recipe from her (it’s really easy), but I’ve never made it. So today I tweaked it a bit and stuck it in the crock-pot. She layers carrots, potatoes, (maybe celery), sliced onion and raw hamburger in a casserole dish, covers it in foil and sticks it in the oven for a couple of hours (I think). I think she just uses salt and pepper to season it.

I put baby carrots, a stalk of celery, sliced potatoes, frozen peas, and cooked hamburger mixed with fresh garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and seasoned salt. Then I sliced some onion and put it on the top (hoping that as it cooks it will permeate the meat, as well as the other veggies). I’m going to try cooking it on high for an hour or so and then turn it down to low. I think it will take 5 or 6 hours, but who knows.

So tonight we get a heartier meal, and still won’t heat up the kitchen. Hopefully, the cats will leave it alone!

It's that time again...

I wanted to share what I have been up to this week.

I make zucchinni pickles b/c we don't seem to grow enough cucumbers to pickle them.  Plus zucchinnies produce a lot sooner and more too. 

I think they are soooooo pretty !

Plus, I was having a hard day the other day.  And while I was on the phone with my Handsome I said.  I NEED some flowers to pick me up. ((sniff, sniff)) 

 Guess What !?!

He brought me some home.  ((heart melting and surprised.)

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Thank you Lord for my Handsome.

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Also.... On Tuesday along with Tightwad Tuesday I will be starting a

 Challenge ! 

Please understand that this doesn't take the place of Tightwad Tuesday.  I will be doing both meme's on Tuesdays.

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 If you need encouragment like me this might be for you.  I wil make it so Mister Linky will make it so we can hear what anti-procrastination project you need encouragment with and your desired time frame.  This will start Tuesday August the 19th. 

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Join Us and have fun getting rid of those pesky jobs !!

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Now....

*** Remember in Show and Tell Friday ...the best way to get a comment is to give a comment. ***

If you want to join us

just...

~Make a Show and Tell Post and make sure it is wholesome.   It can be pretty much what ever you want to share.  It could be about you ...or your family ....or what is going on in your homeschooling.

~Some how link me ( Canadagirl ) so others will know where to go to join S&T.

~Come back to me and  let me know you posted your S&T by using Mr. Linky. ( I need you  to tell me each week that you want to participate  , okay ? )

~If you want the S&T button to put on your blog go HERE

~Then , please go visit other gals wonderful Show and Tells !