Have you ever had a list of things to do so long you don't want to write them down, because you don't want to see how much stuff you should be doing? Well, that is where I am at. I have quite a few things/ideas floating around in my head that I know need to be done and if I don't write them down I know I'll forget them. But do I really want to see that list? Hmmm what should I do? I think I'll blog instead.
I will make the list soon, probably after I'm done blogging. Some of the things I need to do are for school, some are for the household. I think I've put off thinking about school long enough. We'll be starting back up in about a month, and though I already have all the curriculum, there are still some things I need to get ready before we start. But to think about starting school is to think about fall/winter coming, and truly it's too nice out to think about that. But I need to quit associating school with fall/winter, since we do some school during the summer too. But I guess all those years in public school I just have that school/fall thing going on.
I always feel like I have so much going on, but then when I come to blog about it, it all seems so boring. Just normal day to day stuff that no one probably wants to hear about. So though I don't have a lot to blog about, I am keeping pretty busy. I did make my muffins today and some bread plus I'm doing laundry, I guess that's a good list. I also keep thinking that I want to start practicing the keyboards again. Though the days go by without me ever sitting at the keyboards. Sometimes I feel silly to practice, thinking it will never amount to anything anyway, so why bother. But I know I shouldn't think that way, though I do.
You'll be happy to know I've been slowly making my list while typing out this entry. I think it helps me to not overload. I'm typing this entry, think of a few things and write them down, then type again. Nothing too stressful. And so far the list isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
I guess I'll finish my totally scattered ramblings. My mind still feels full of 'stuff' I want to say, but truly I don't want to bore you or sound like I'm complaining, so I'll end here. I hope you all are having a blessed day. Thanks for listening.
We had a real good weekend. Lots of family time and relaxing together. Today was cleaning and laundry day, and that went well.
This week is going to be a busy week for us, and truly I'm not sure how often I'll be on to blog. We are leaving Thursday late afternoon/early evening to go to my parents house for the weekend. So this week we need to get to the library, bake some cookies, make a dirt cake, finish up laundry and of course go to church on Wednesday night. We are also celebrating my nieces' highschool graduation so the kids have been busy making a gift for her, Nana, Aunt Carrie, and for Paul and I. It is so sweet to watch them make gifts and cards. But it got me thinking, and I decided I want to make bookmarks for my neice, sister and mom (I've already made bookmarks for my hubby and the kids ). So that is another thing that will keep me busy this week.
I started on of the bookmarks yesterday, worked all day on one, and after I ended it and cut the floss, I realized I forgot three rows. Since I already ended it and cut the floss there was no way to fix it. so I gave it to Sarah and started another one. And though my whole list of things I need to do this week is fun, it will keep me away from blogland sometimes. So we'll see how often I can pop on and say hi to everyone. I plan on taking lots of pictures to share of our mini-vacation. I'm off to do some work on the bookmarks. I hope you are all having a great start to your week.
Paulie and I are fine from our stomach pains. Thank you Lord. I think it was just tiredness and the heat. I'm just thankful it didn't lead to anything.
We had a good day yesterday and I had a great time at the woman's bible study. We started a new book, Contagious Joy, and it was great. The fellowship was extra special, no particular reason why, we just had a nice time chatting. We won't be having a study next week because too many of us will be gone. Since I'm one of the ones that will be gone, I'm glad we are taking a week off.
Today we did our grocery shopping and then went to a friend's house for a few hours so the kids could play and me and the mom chat. It was a good visit, and the kids had a great time. The mom and I talked about finances, how the cost of things is rising and especially the cost of electricity. Everything in our house runs on electric, except the heater we use. As we talked, I realized how much more our bill was than theirs, and we were talking about different ways to cut down on how much electricity we use. We talked about the normal things like lights turned off when no ones in the room, keeping the house cool so you don't need to turn the air on, things like that. And this leads to my question.
I'm trying to cut down on the use of our dryer. Our electric company does have off peak hours, but it really isn't easy to do laundry at 2:00am. So I'm thinking of hanging our laundry. We don't have an outside line to do that on, and truly with the wind and dirt around here, I don't think it would be good anyway. If we had a basement, I would make laundry lines down there to hang the clothes on, but obviously with no basement, that doesn't work. So we're thinking of getting those folding dry racks, having one in each room, and the 'hanging' the clothes to dry all day, putting them away either before bed or in the morning. I guess my question is, does anyone have any other ideas beside that one? Do any of you hang dry your clothes inside, and if so, how? I'm not real big on hang drying, but we really need to cut down on our electric bill, and that is a thought. I did re-read the tightwad tips on Mary's blog, and I will have to try the two dry hand towel idea. There will be some things I'll still use the dryer for, sheets, jeans and some towels. Just looking for some dryer tips that you might want to share. Thanks.
Well, that's about it. We don't have to much planned tomorrow. My nephew should be coming over in the morning for a bit, and then of course church in the evening. I should start looking at some school things, but truly, I don't even want to think about it until after the 4th, so I won't. I hope you are all have a great start to your weekend.
It's been a good, but busy week. We had a great day at play group on Tuesday. The kids always enjoy running around together, and I so enjoy the fellowship with other moms. They are always so encouraging, and it's nice just to talk about things that we are dealing with. Tuesday night was boys hair cut night. That's always a fun time. I think I'm getting better at buzzing their hair.
Today was a busy day. I baked cookies, muffins, and wheat bread and I made some salsa. I was a bit bummed though. My wheat bread never fully rises like it should. I just use the recipe that came with my bread maker, and I just bought the flour and I know the yeast was fresh, because it worked with the last loaf I made. I think maybe I put a bit too much flour in, or maybe the water wasn't the right temperature. The bread tasted o.k. just very dense. I guess I should look for a new recipe. If you have a good wheat bread recipe that I can use in my bread maker and I don't have to grind my own flour, could you share it? I always like trying new bread recipes.
I did some photo assignment work today, and posted some new pictures. Plus I tried to do some computer work today, though I don't feel like I got a lot accomplished. I'm going to get together with the woman who runs our homeschool group and talk to her about the website I'm suppose to work on. Plus there is some other computer work that I need to do. Towards the evening, my stomach started feeling upset, and I didn't think I would make it to church, but we did. Paulie was so sweet, when we said we might not go he says, "But I like going to church, I learn about the bible there." I thought that was so sweet. Usually he just wants to go because of friends, it's nice to know he's listening during the teachings. So we went, and I was so blessed that we did. The worship and teaching was just what I needed to hear. My stomach did start hurting a bit during the service, but I lasted just fine. Then I asked Paul to give me just a 'minute' I wanted to talk to a friend real quick. OK, so they were waiting for me by the time my minute was done. Of course, right before Paulie went to bed, he said his stomach felt upset. Hmmm, I thought it was my monthly time that was causing my stomach pains. Maybe we have something going around here. I'm up a bit late typing this entry, making sure he falls asleep o.k., and that his room is cooled off. I'm sure he'll be fine, at least I know I am now. Oh, and Sarah fell off her bike waving at Paul when he came home. She slammed her foot down on the ground real hard and has been limping for the rest of the night. We gave her some pain medication and now she's sleeping. She said she was feeling better before she feel asleep, so I think she'll be o.k. too.
I'm getting a bit of a headache so I should get going. Oh, some good news, we are going to be spending two nights with my family for 4th of July! We are excited about that. We'll be leaving Thursday night and spending Thursday and Friday night out there. We are going to have a mini-vacation, how fun. Though the one bummer of it all, is a friend of mine had free tickets to the local baseball game we've been trying to save up our money for. FREE, but it was for 4th of July. We had to turned them down. But she said they get free tickets a lot and maybe she'll have some in the future for us. It's just a blessing to know she offered. Thank you Lord for that.
Tiany has announced such a cool thing, a homeschool toolbar. I saw it over at Lynn's, and me being the computer geek that I am, immediately went and downloaded it. I'm already having fun with it. She's also having a gift certificate giveaway too. Oh, who wouldn't want a $25 gift certificate? I know I would like it. So go check out her site as soon as you can.
We had a nice weekend and a good Father's day Sunday. We were very relaxed and lazy on Father's day. Paul got to relax, play his games and eat some fast food, which is exactly what he wanted to do. He said it was a great Father's day and that was the best thing to hear.
Sunday night, my cold had me coughing most of the night, so I kept waking up. Then Paulie got to hot while he was sleeping and around 11:00pm he threw up. I was thankful that it was just from the heat and it was nothing else. We cleaned it up, cooled him and the room down and then he was fine. Though I kept waking up off and on all night between my coughing, Sarah's coughing and wondering about Paulie. Needless to say, I didn't get a good night's sleep.
Monday started out normal, with cleaning and laundry. It felt good to be back on our routine again, and though I was tired, it wasn't too bad. Then I found out there was a mother/daughter dinner at a friends house. We had talked Wednesday night about it, and I thought it was 'possible' and she would call and let me know for sure. But VBS week being so crazy, I guess she told me it was definite. So I confirmed at 4:00pm that the party was at 6:30pm. Sarah and I picked up some soda, and headed to the party. I was tired, but I really wanted a nice relaxing time with friends, so we went. I'm glad we did. It was a fun time. I got to know some new ladies from church and Sarah got to know a new friend of hers better. And I guess I wasn't that tired, since we didn't head home until 10:00pm.
Today was good. It is getting hot here, which is nice. Homeschool playgroup is now at 10:30am, to beat the heat. I got to chat with my friends and the kids got to play, we had a good time. As I was coming home the dentist office called. Remember I said I had to have my tooth pulled the end of the month? Well, they had a cancellation tomorrow, so I get to get my tooth pulled at 8:00am tomorrow morning. I want it done, but I'm not looking forward to it. Paul is going to go to work late tomorrow morning so he can go with, make sure I get through it o.k. and the kids and I get home o.k. I don't know if you'll hear from me tomorrow, we'll just wait and see. Because of tomorrow, I ran some errands this afternoon, that I was going to do tomorrow. Plus we went to the library and we all have stacks of books. I'm not sure what I'll feel like doing tomorrow, but I wanted to have some things around to keep me occupied.
So that's about it. If you think of me around 8:00am tomorrow morning, my time, please keep me in your prayers. No school has been done this week, but we'll try to do some soon. OK, well maybe next week.
It's been quite a busy week so far. And to show how crazy it is, I started this blog entry by writing that one sentence at 4:59pm and it's now 7:10pm. Yep, crazy.
First my tooth. Thank you all for asking about it. I went to the dentist Monday afternoon and after they took x-rays, poked around and we talked, he wasn't sure what was wrong. The fact that every where he poked didn't hurt was the main problem. So as we were talking about what it could be, I was trying to remember where and what made it hurt. See, cold and hot didn't bother it at all. It was more of a throbbing, pressure type pain. And it only hurt when I was eating because my bottom tooth would hit my top tooth and that would hurt. So I realized it was between my upper back tooth and my gum. So I told him that, he started poking around, and yes, it truly started hurting. We found the spot. It turns out I have a gap between my last tooth and gum, making my tooth move, and probably an infection starting up there. He wants to pull the tooth. For now I'm on an antibiotic and a prescription mouth wash. I also have an appointment set up for two weeks from now to pull the tooth. It's a back molar, so it shouldn't be an issue. There might be a problem with the lower wisdom tooth on that side that might need to be pulled too, but right now I just want the main one pulled and the pain to stop. Truthfully, I'm doing much better today. I have more no pain time than painful times, I count that as good. I'm hoping by tomorrow, after being on the antibiotic for over 24 hours, I'll feel better. And the mouthwash seems to be helping too. I'm blessed by that.
VBS is going good, crazy but good. We've had close to 300 kids both days so far. I know for some that's not a lot, but for us, it's a lot. Monday was just a crazy day. Though my main job is photographer, I have turned into a runner more than anything. So yesterday I was walking so much, with shoes that don't fit perfectly, I got a blister on one of my toes. The day ended yesterday, and I actually came home and slept. I don't normally nap in the afternoon all that often. Today was much smoother at VBS. We got into a flow, and though I didn't take too many pictures today, I did a lot of other work. But not even 5 minutes after I got there this morning, the blister on my toe started hurting, bad. I found a band-aid, and that helped, thankfully. Sarah went to a friends house after VBS so it was really quiet when Paulie and I got home. After lunch, I let him play some Wii and I slept, again. Seriously, I'm not use to napping so much. Of course my body is also not use to getting out of the house so early every morning, and then 'working' for 4 hours. But through all the craziness, busyness and such, it's been a great VBS. It's a blessing to see all these kids there, and for me a true blessing seeing how some of the women work with these kids. They are so good with them.
The kids glasses have come in and we'll be picking them up tomorrow. Like I've said, we'll wait and see if they do help the kids see better and then go from there. We also had to run to the library tonight to return books that we couldn't renew online. Ugh. I didn't realize they would be due during VBS week, and planned on just renewing them online. But two of the books couldn't be renewed online, a hold was on them, so we had to hop in the car and get them all returned. I'm tired now. You ladies that have worked with VBS before, please tell me that me being tired like this is normal. I feel so not normal right now and don't like being this physically tired. I just need to know if anyone else has dealt with this.
That's about it so far this week. I need to go update the VBS newsletter for tomorrow, make a worksheet for VBS and work with the pictures a bit. I hope to update again soon. I hope everyone is having a blessed week.
Thank you all for the sweet and encouraging comments on my last entry. I personally am doing better. We are still praying and thinking about getting a second opinion. We'll wait for the glasses to come in and see if they help. I just wasn't really impressed with how the doctor checked their eyes, and I was quite surprised Paulie is o.k. with close up work. But like I said, we'll wait to see how the glasses are, plus I have to check with the kids insurance to see what it will cover. Either way, thank you so much for your encouragement, I feel much better.
The weather out here is so not summer, we are so bummed. We haven't worn shorts in weeks, we are only in the 50's and 60's and that's going to continue for the next week or so. At least today its sunny, we've had lots of clouds and rain with this cold weather too. By the time our summer starts, it will be over. So please, send some of your heat this way, then you can hear me complain about how hot it is.
Church was great last night. The message and worship were really good. Plus I saw an old friend from the other church we were going to when we first moved. It was so great to see her. I found out that the woman who leads our woman's bible study is going to have a party for us ladies next week. Then we'll start the bible study again in two weeks. I'm quite excited about that.
We are all getting ready for our church's VBS next week. Sarah is helping out in different areas, as am I. This is Paulie's last year to be able to go, and Paul helps out Friday night with the family time after the week is over. It sounds like its going to be so much fun, and we are all looking forward to it. But it does make for a busy time. We have a few 'off' days for the next couple of days, so that's nice.
So that has been about it around here. Busy, yet I don't think I could make a 'list', just busy. I'm off to try and get caught up with your blogs. I hope you have a great rest of the day.
We are at home today, not going anywhere. I am happy about that. I realized today how tired I was getting because of the running around. I do have bible study tonight, but that's always fun. Tomorrow will be a busy day. We have a VBS potluck dinner we are going to in the evening. So in the morning I have to go grocery shopping, make potato salad and a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Then the potluck in the evening. Saturday is VBS help day in the morning, so Sarah and I will probably go and help make decorations a such. Of course there is church in the evening. Sunday evening we have our homeschool groups graduation and potluck dinner with swimming afterward. So with all of those busy days coming up, we are sitting here at home, doing some fun things and relaxing.
The neighborhood kids finished up school today. They had half a day, and now school is done for the summer. I'm waiting to see how early this neighborhood wakes up this summer. I know on the weekend we can get knocks on our door for the kids to play as early as 9:00am. For us, on a weekend, that is early. We'll see what happens during the week.
I have finally made eye doctor appointments for the kids. I guess a part of me wasn't as aggressive in making appointments as I should have been, plus insurance issues, but now the appointments are made. We're pretty sure Sarah's eyes are o.k., but we are just not sure about Paulie. He says he sees everything clearly, and maybe he does. But half way through reading things, he gets tired. He blinks his eye, while reading, a lot. And at times is always rubbing his eyes. Those actions aren't always consistent though. There are times he reads and those things never happen. So we haven't felt a need to rush and get his eyes checked. But lately, I guess maybe with the more reading he's doing, it just seems to be happening a bit more. Both sides of the family wears glasses, Paul wears contacts and I wear reading/computer glasses. So if he needs some sort of aid with reading it wouldn't be totally unexpected. I really pray they give good and thorough exams. I've read before where kids had their regular eye exams, and yet they still had eye issues and needed vision therapy. So I'm going to try and read up on it more before our appointments Tuesday afternoon so I have some good questions to ask. If any of you know of good questions to ask the doctor, beyond the normal eye exam, would you please share them with me. I would love to hear them.
We picked this eye doctor because a friend suggested them, and they accepted the kids insurance, but other than that I don't know a lot about them. I guess we'll just go and see how it all goes. I had been waiting and waiting, trying to find a main doctor because their insurance requires a main doctor for any referrals. Then after all the searching for a main doctor, it turns out for vision no referral is needed. Well, I guess the best way to look at it is now we have a doctor set up for the future.
I am a little nervous as to what the doctor will find. Sometimes I feel like I waited too long to get the exam, and that if something is found to be wrong with his eyes, it will be my fault because I should have gotten them checked years ago. But I need to try and not go there in my mind. Regardless of 'would of', 'could of', 'should of', they are getting done now and I need to be content with that. If you think about it, and I'm sure I'll mention it again, if you could say a prayer for Tuesday. If there are any issues at all, even ones that a 'normal' exam doesn't usually find, I pray that they are all found and addressed. Thank you.
I actually started working on the kids school portfolio's today. I've gathered all the papers I want to keep and threw out all the other papers, workbooks etc... Oh my, me being such a pack rat, you have to know it was so hard for me to do. But Sarah just encouraged me on saying, "Mom throwing things out is what you always tell us to do." I gave her a smile. Of course I wanted to respond, "Sweet daughter, don't you know that just because I tell you to do it, doesn't me I can do it." But I did do it, and they are gone. Now I just have to do some typing and printing of things to add and then put it all together. I want to make a reading list of all the books they've read. And get the beginning and graduation school pictures printed out and put on cardstock. Plus, I'm going to make a title cover sticker saying their names, school year and approximate grade. But to me those things are easy and fun. It was going through their papers and actually throwing out the rest that was hard. About the only thing I didn't get rid of was my Saxon 2 teaching book. It's in great condition and I hate to throw it out. If you need one or know of anyone who needs one, let me know.
I don't think I've said it, but my back is doing much better. I am actually going walking in the morning like I try to do with the nice weather. If the weather isn't nice, I try riding my stationary bike. But I so prefer walking. I rode my bike for an extra day or so to rest my back and because of the rain. But the past couple of mornings it's been clear, so I've walked. I think it really helped my back out, it feels so much better. It would be so great to get a treadmill. Then I could walk even when it's bad weather out. But they are too expensive, and we don't have any room for one in the house. I am thankful I at least have the stationary bike when its bad weather.
Well, I should get going. I just promised Sarah I would make some summer graphics for her blog so I'm going to do that. She is like her mom, and when she wants to change her blog, she wants to start as soon as possible.
I had just finished an entry and my laptop locked up and I lost it. Not sure if I'll get all the same information out there but I'll try.
We've had a good couple of days. Tuesday our homeschool playgroup was canceled because of weather so Sarah got asked to go to a friends house and play. It was a big step for all of us since it was the first time she was allowed to go to a friends house by herself. It turned out great and she had such a nice time.
Then today we were invited to a friends house for lunch and playtime. It was the same friends house that we went to on Monday. The kids had such a fun time playing with her kids, and we had such a nice conversation. It was refreshing and encouraging.
Tonight we have church and I found out a missionary will be speaking tonight, that will be nice. I should be doing some things around the house, but truly I have no desire to. I should be working on the kids school portfolio's and I have some organizing of the house to do, but I'm sitting trying to type this blog again.
Our summer is starting out busier than I originally thought it would. But the busyness has been good, new friendships started and friendships deepened. Plus we are all involved with the upcoming VBS at our church and we have our homeschool group's graduation party this Sunday night. It will be fun, they are having it at a pool and athletic center. We have the whole center to ourselves and we are doing a potluck before the passing out of graduation certificates. I will get a picture from there that I'll use in the kids portfolios.
We have been keeping up with our lighter lesson schedule and I'm going to try something I saw on another blog I came across. I'll tweak it a bit and see how it works for the summer. I think having the kids do some more constructive busyness might be nice. I still want to talk it over with Paul first, but I think the idea will be fun.
Well, the dryer just sounded so I need to go change laundry and fold some clothes before getting dinner started. Even though I don't feel like getting up at all.
This blog is so I can share my journey with the Lord, my journey as a wife and mother, and my journey as a homeschool mom. I pray that you will see the Lord in my life through happy and sad times, and that this blog glorifies the Lord.
This is an award and tag free zone, thank you.
Well, that is where I am at. I have quite a few things/ideas floating around in my head that I know need to be done and if I don't write them down I know I'll forget them. But do I really want to see that list? Hmmm what should I do? I think I'll blog instead. 
We'll be starting back up in about a month, and though I already have all the curriculum, there are still some things I need to get ready before we start. But to think about starting school is to think about fall/winter coming, and truly it's too nice out to think about that. But I need to quit associating school with fall/winter, since we do some school during the summer too. But I guess all those years in public school I just have that school/fall thing going on.
Sometimes I feel silly to practice, thinking it will never amount to anything anyway, so why bother. But I know I shouldn't think that way, though I do.
I think it helps me to not overload. I'm typing this entry, think of a few things and write them down, then type again. Nothing too stressful. And so far the list isn't as bad as I thought it would be. 
It is so sweet to watch them make gifts and cards. But it got me thinking, and I decided I want to make bookmarks for my neice, sister and mom (I've already made bookmarks for my hubby and the kids 
Since I already ended it and cut the floss there was no way to fix it. so I gave it to Sarah and started another one. And though my whole list of things I need to do this week is fun, it will keep me away from blogland sometimes. So we'll see how often I can pop on and say hi to everyone. I plan on taking lots of pictures to share of our mini-vacation. I'm off to do some work on the bookmarks. I hope you are all having a great start to your week.
Of course, right before Paulie went to bed, he said his stomach felt upset. Hmmm, I thought it was my monthly time that was causing my stomach pains. Maybe we have something going around here. I'm up a bit late typing this entry, making sure he falls asleep o.k., and that his room is cooled off. I'm sure he'll be fine, at least I know I am now. Oh, and Sarah fell off her bike waving at Paul when he came home. She slammed her foot down on the ground real hard and has been limping for the rest of the night. We gave her some pain medication and now she's sleeping. She said she was feeling better before she feel asleep, so I think she'll be o.k. too.
So I confirmed at 4:00pm that the party was at 6:30pm. Sarah and I picked up some soda, and headed to the party. I was tired, but I really wanted a nice relaxing time with friends, so we went. I'm glad we did. It was a fun time. I got to know some new ladies from church and Sarah got to know a new friend of hers better. And I guess I wasn't that tired, since we didn't head home until 10:00pm. 
