Ha, that's about what it is!  Anything that I don't love is considered clutter and it's going in a garage sale this weekend!  I think just out of our home and garage, I'm going to have a garage full of stuff to sell!  I'm borrowing a table from Jo and a rack for hanging clothes on from my cousin.  I have two tables and I rigged another one up on my quilt frame.  Plus I have a card table.  I really cannot believe how much clutter one family accumilates over the years!  There's probably still stuff I should get rid of, I need to go over everything again before Friday gets here.  There's a few things that we have to keep because of sentiment, but if I don't love it or use it all the time, it's going!  Hopfully I'll have a good turn out.  It's been so long since I had a garage sale, it's a little bit hard to know how to price stuff. But guess if it's too high I can always go down a little and if it's not enough, well somebody get a deal!  And I get rid of the stuff! 

Next week Jo and I are taking the boys to the Lake Cottage again.  Don't think Todo is going to make it this time, but Great Aunt might go too.  She want's me to paint her deck for her.  We'll be there Tues. Wed. and Thurs.  Friday I'll have to do laundry and clean and Saturday morning I'm having a PartyLite party!  A friend of mine that I haven't seen in 8 years, is becoming a consultant and I went to her starter show last Saturday evening.  And like I almost always do at parties, I booked!  I love having parties, just don't like people to feel obligated to buy!  Candles is one of my favorites.  I use to sell PartyLite so I have a lot of stuff, but candles run out and I need more now!  Plus there's tons of new stuff in the catalog that is beautiful!  A few beautiful pieces can go a long way in making a home homey! 

We are also just steps away from finding out if we got a loan for a home too!  That is so exciting!  Our Loan officer is the one we worked with a year and a half ago and we really liked him and he's very possitive!  Back then, he wanted to see Todo be at his job for at least a year. And he's been there almost 2 years now!  Hardly seems possible! 

So that's the life in the Shire these days!  August is so full, I probably won't be doing much blogging.  But I think of all my blog friends almost daily! 

You are not going to believe this, but we decided not to go through with the house!  And when I tell you what the straw that broke the camels back was, you'll think I'm a spoiled brat and just too picky!  But that's too bad, I have what I think is a good enough reason. 

First of all we did have a few misgivings about it that we were just going to live with and secondly we should have never made a decision based on the pool!  How foolish is that! But we see now where we  made an error in that way.  So here's the story,  one of our stipulations as to weather we took the house or not, was that the Landlords allow us to pick out wallpaper and paint that we liked and verify it with them.  If it didn't suit them I would have been glad to work with them to find something that we both liked.  That was okayed so on Tuesday, Jo and I went to an outlet wallpaper store and spent 2 1/2 hours picking out beautiful wallpapers.  I emailed them to the Landlords thinking that if they weren't acceptable I could use other choices.  Anyway yesterday she ordered wallpaper and has it on it's way to our house,  instead of asking me if I liked it and working with me, she chose something that had colors that she thought would go with what I had and that I would like.  She emailed me pictures of it after  she ordered it and I was really dissapointed!  I hated it.  I was shocked as before she had made the comment that it was going to be my home and so I thought we'd be working on agreeing on something instead of putting in my home what she has in her home.  We all have different tastes and what one person likes the next might not.  What she thinks is classy, to me looks very plain and not unique at all.  Here's why I didn't like it so much.  When I was growing up, the only prints I wore on my dresses were so tiny you could't see them and they were drab colors.  The only wallpapers that were on the walls in our new house were tiny prints as well.  I was not allowed to express my own tasts, styles and opinions on anything.  Not untill I was in my late teens and rebelled and said, "I'm sorry, this is what I'm doing and I don't care what you think."  So now again, I think I'm going to have a choice and not being given one was a confirmation that we probably weren't suppose to have that house anyway. 

Now you all think I'm an idiot.......Don't get me wrong, the landlady was a super nice lady and very sweet, and they were doing a lot to make us happy already, we couldn't believe that they were willing to do so much for us, but there just wasn't good communication and somewhere along the line we both missunderstood each other.  Now when we think about it, we are relieved because there was starting to be a lot of stress with cleaning here and there, packing and having a garage sale here, painting and wallpapering there and moving and trying to have it all done in the next 4 weeks so we could go spend the weekend with Todo's family at their campout. 

Last evening, she gave us the oppertunity to purchase the home and after thinking about that, we decided not to, it would take so much work, it would need new windows, new cabinets throughout the house, and some other major remodel jobs.  So now we're back to thinking about buying something again, and this time, we're going to stay closer to Brian's job and not make a decision based on an inground swimming pool. 
So anyway, that's what came down just yesterday.  I think we both learned a lot from this experience.  That "Things" will not make you happy, we already knew that, but we all need reminded once in a while.  And not to make hasty decisions when there's less pro's than con's!

So instead of cleaning to move, I decided to start fall cleaning!  Last night I pulled out the stove and refrigerator and cleaned the sides, walls and floor.  And I cleaned the whole kitchen floor on my hands and knees with a rag this time.  Today I want to go through and wash the rest of the walls, pull out the bakers rack and clean under that and declutter it.  And get my kitchen shining again!  That's another thing, we have been so spoiled, and I'm really trying to humble myself, it's hard!  When I was 9 my family moved into a brand new house that we built, nice cabinest, nice floors, even though the walls weren't my taste, it was new.  From there, when I was 21 I moved in with friends that lived in a new house, a year and a half later I moved into brand new apartments, from there we moved to CA and lived in an old double wide which we did a ton of work to that.  From there, we moved back to the same apartments I'd moved into new and it had only been 3 years so they were still really new!  Then up here to a Duplex that is only about 2 years old.....And our only complaints about where we are now is there is NO parking and there's no place for a garden.  We love our landlords here and they were glad to hear we're staying.  But fixing up an older home has always been a dream of mine and this experience really got me excited about doing that again!  So we'll see what happens when we talk to the Loan officer.  We talked to one 1 1/2 yrs ago who was going to give us 90% and he told us if we wanted 0% down, to come back after Todo had been at his job for a year or more. Well November will be 2 years, so we need to set down with him again and see what we can do.  The intrest rate he gave us even then was a pretty good one. 

So we may be back to house hunting with the intentions of purchase.....

PRAY FOR US!

So here's a picture of the house, these are the upper and lower sunrooms from the outside! 

I just love all those windows, but man, what a job to clean them all!  YIKES!

We did go look at the house yesterday, our decision is pending, we will let you know as soon as we know what's been decided!

Berylac is finally over his Hand Foot & Mouth, I haven't checked his throat lately, but he feels fine, is eating normal food again and the blisters on his body are going away!  So far Olo hasn't picked it up....knock on wood. 

Todo has the day off today so we're trying to think of something fun to do.  We need to go to town first thing and then we should go down to his cousins and get our stuff that we have stored there.  Not sure what we're going to do yet.

I need to mow the lawn, it's been rainy enough I haven't had a chance to get out there and do it.  I'm thinking I should go do it now, while everyone is still sleeping.....okay, I'm going......

Last Friday Berylac started complaining of a sore throat, I figured it was just a cold and didn't think much about it.  Sunday he started having a fever, we gave him tylanol and it came down, but Monday and Tuesday continued having fever and developed a rash on his hands, feet, knees and lips.  So today we went to see our Dr.  They found puss pockets on his tonsils and did a strep test, which came out negative!  So concluded that he has Hand Foot & Mouth disease.  He won't eat anything but fruit smoothies and drinks fruit juice and water.  He tried to eat a hamburger for lunch and just cried, he said it hurt his throat too bad, so he went back to eating his smoothie again.  The bad thing is he's contagious to Olo, so Olo may be coming down with it any day.  I have no clue where he could have contracted it, but guess that's all part of having kids. 

This morning I picked my green beans and Horticulture beans, I got 2 qt of green beans and 7 pt of hort beans!  So now I have a total of 12 qt of green beans and 11 pt of hort beans.  I was going to go pick more blueberries this morning, but didn't since Berylac is sick and he was up early this morning so I let Todo sleep in and stayed here with Berylac.  Todo had today off, which was nice, since I had to take Berylac to the Dr., Olo stayed here to nap with "Daddy".

We're hoping to look at the house in the next few days!  Then we'll be making a decision and if we are moving I want to have a garage sale and sell everything that I don't "LOVE".  We just have way too much clutter and there's so much stuff we can do without.  Maybe we can sell enough stuff to get some new furnature!  We need bedroom furnature in a bad way!  All we have is a hollywood bedframe with a foundation and a matress on it!  Which we have been getting by with for several years, but it would sure be nice to have drawers to keep undies and socks in!  And if we can sell some of our furnature then we can get a couple recliners and a couch.  Our furnature is really getting in bad shape!  I definatly don't need the nicest of everything, but a rocker that tips over backwards when you rock is not practical! LOL 

So Todo has a week paid vacation coming this year so he's planning to take it for moving if we move!  That will be nice!  The last two times we moved I had to do most of the packing myself!  What a big job!

If you're just now coming on and haven't read about the house, read the previous post.....

I have been checking our classifieds off and on for a rental that is in the country or has more lawn space for a garden.  Sunday I ran accross one that sounded too good to be true!  Here's what the add said: Rental, 3 Bdrms, Lots of Extras!!  Great Price.  Quiet town & good schools.  3 baths, all appliances w/ dishwasher and tsh compactor ++. wood flrs, cer tile, cent air, Main lev master w/connected full bath, ample prkg, 1.5 acre yard. Extras incld upper & lower finished sunrooms, fenced pool & hot tub, lrg screen tv, skylites, pict window, atrium doors, garden, 2 much 2 mention.  The add said $160/mth, but I'm thinking, this is a misprint, it's got to mean $1160/mth.  But we called about it and it's actually $160/wk.  It comes out to about $700/month, $100 less than what we're paying now. 
We are happy here, except that we have no parking.  we had been parking in our cul de sac till a city cop stopped and told us we can't park out there anymore.  All our neighbors were parking out there too!  But some lady down the street complained.  So then we parked in front of our mail box after the mail had gone and a Cop came by and said if we park there again we'll get towed because there's a fire hidrant there, so now we have our driveway!  What a pain!  Whenever I want to go somewhere we have to move Todo's car so I can get out.....

So the thought of having more parking, a garden, more lawn for the boys to play in, a Pool for Todo to get exersize in, (that's about the only exersize he can do right now because of his meds)  Lord, not my will, but Thine! 

On the down side, it would be 35 minutes from Todo's job, but it would be closer to Great Aunt's home in the City and her Lake cottage!  It would be closer to some other family members, but farther from my cousin up here.  Here is another situation, where the Pro's and Con's are tough to decide and we're just going to let the Lord make this decision. 

Pray with us that we can be thankful and happy with whatever He wants for us!

Here's a new picture of my front flower bed!  I can't believe how big and pretty these things got!

I'm back on Sunday evening.  Berylac has been fighting an aweful sore throat.  I've been giving him some Throat Coat tea with honey, compliments of CS (not CS Lewis, but I'm going to start calling her that! Tee Hee)  Anyway, she gave me some once when I had a horrible cold and I really love it!  Poor little guy though, he looks like he just feels aweful.  I'm letting him eat icecream, which I know you're not suppose to eat when you have a sore throat, but I know what it's like to feel the smooth coldness run down your throat.  I've always eaten ice cream with a sore throat, Mom gave it to us when we were little and it really does help temperarily and if he won't eat anything else.  I could puree some veggie soup, he may eat that but doubt it. He didn't eat but one bite of lunch, his throat just couldn't swallow it.  I asked him if he was going to feel like picking blueberries tomorrow and he said no, so guess we'll see.  Maybe I'll make a trip down to our previous home town and get the rest of our stuff we have stored at Todo's cousin's place.  Todo is suppose to be home by 10:00 am so he can watch the boys.  It would  be a nice little trip for me. 

Wednesday evening we're suppose to be back at the Lake again!  But before that I desperatly need to mow the lawn, can you tell in the picture how tall it is!  Groan!

So Dawns another week at the Shire!

We just got home from the lake this evening.  We had a good 2 days and 2 nights.  It was Hot though and when Great Aunt is there she doesn't run the air much.  She's colder than we younguns are!  But especially us with all the extra insulation on our bones!  But we were outside a lot.  Setting on the deck, playing games, quilting, chatting, driving each other nuts......you know, the stuff families do!

Next week we plan to go again, and I need to at least get the deck ready to paint, if not painted too.  And spray the weeds in the driveway.  Not only weeds, but Columbines are coming up all over the drive way!  And yes, they are one of my favorite flowers, but they need to stay where they belong! 

We got there Wednesday evening, Todo came the next morning and it was raining, so we all went to Wally World.....Hate that store!  It's just a bunch of cheep junk, but you know what?  when you're poor like us you can't afford to shop at Neiman Marcus! It is aggravating to get a skirt that only lasts a couple months and has holes in it already because the fabric is rotting!   

I did most of the cooking and dishes, that didn't bother me as I love to cook, but doing the dishes, I poured sweat!  The water was hot and it was hot anyway and I was just dripping!  But we had a good time.  The boys love going and think  Grandma Aunt is the greatest!  That's what they call her!

We didn't go out on the lake this time, but we did go for a  walk and it made me realize how much I need to be walking every day!  And working out!  I've got to get busy!  I have a wedding to attend in Dec.  And I would like to look better than I do now!  Maybe I should go on the raw foods diet I did when we lived out west!  I felt so good  and lost a lot of weight!  Fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds.  Nothing cooked, no meat, dairy, sweets!  Boy is it hard to do though!

I picked horticulture beans this evening!  I got 4 pt!  There's still a lot of beans on the plants yet.  I need to pick green beans again tomorrow.  And I'm hoping to go pick more blueberries the first part of next week!  Berylac will go with me, he loves it! 

Todo had to go to work tonight and he's delivering to Cleveland Ohio tomorrow!  So he won't be home till afternoon.  But has the rest of the weekend off then. 

Such is the life of a Hobbit in the Shire this time of year!

Berylac and I picked 22# of blueberries this morning! Berylac had a ball and wanted to stay and pick more, we would have if Olo wouldn't have started crying on the way up to the shed, he was so tired and ready to go home, so we just quit for today.  It was so fun, the bushes were loaded and they were big berries in big clusters!  Olo ate about all he picked, and he got tired of picking pretty quickly and started playing with sticks and bark!

I have 3 cookie sheets full in the freezer getting hard so I can freeze them in quart bags, and 8c. ready for jam and syrup.  And I'm only 1/2 way done cleaning them!  I'm going to be at it for a while! 

Now the boys are ready to swim in our 10'x6' pool Todo just bought....so I better go watch them.

Later:

I got  a total of 6 cookie sheets of frozen berries, 3 sheets make about 6 qt bags.  5 pt of blueberry syrup and 3 pt of blueberry jam!  Berylac want's to go again and I would like to do some more syrup and maybe another batch of jam or a batch of jelly.  And you  can't have too many frozen whole for muffins, pancakes, smoothies, oatmeal and a mixed fruit bowl! 

On to other things, the Pool Todo got is a hit and it's been well worth it the last few days!  It's been sooooo hot!  We just sat in the pool most of the weekend!   It's 22" deep and big enough for all 4 of us with plenty of room to spare!  However it's a pain to empty and move and we have to do that every other day or so or the grass will die.  So it's emptying right now and I'll refill it after I move it tomorrow. 

Wednesday I'm suppose to go to the Lake house again, I'd like to move it up to Thursday, there's so much to do here!  My green beans are ready to pick and I plan to pick them early in the morning or tomorrow evening.  And I need to check my horticulture beans, they might be ready to pick too!  Do I really have time to go to the Lake house!?!?!?  I will go though, Great Aunt want's to go and doesn't go by herself and I really want to help her out as much as possible.  How thin can I spread myself? 

So it's bedtime and I still have a few things I need to get done, so better get at it.

Oh, I didn't want to come home!  I could go back over there and stay there all Summer!  It was so relaxing and so much fun!  Tuesday, we got to the lake cottage about Noon and couldn't get the door unlocked.  What to do?  Great Aunt had the wrong key hidden up there!  We're an hour from home, she's 40 minutes away and has a full day......I tried getting in the window, locked, tried picking the lock, don't know how, finally I called her and asked her what to do.  She didn't know, but said if we needed help to go accross the chanel to her neighbors house, so we went over there and she had the answer!  Call the handyman!  He just lived about 2 doors down from her so she called him and he came over and unlocked the door for us!  So we got in.  Oh, I forgot, it was raining, so by the time we finally did get in, we were drenched!  We dried off pretty fast though.  So after we ate lunch we got busy and started cleaning!  I vacummed the whole cottage, swept down some cobwebs and several spiders and Jo helped me clean all the nick nacks on top of the windows and the shelf above the kitchen sink...I took them down, she washed them while I cleaned the shelf then I dried them and put them back up.  We got them all done, got the bathroom and the kitchen cleaned and the floor mopped, all that afternoon.  So after supper we set up our scrapbooking stuff, but were too tired to do anything, so we went to bed.  And it felt so good to sleep in!  We did get up about 8:00 though.....with two little boys you can't sleep much past that!  It thundered, lighteninged and poured all night, the lake was up a foot and back home Jo's home town had flash floods!  Some people got 12 inches!   Back at the lake, Wednesday is still cloudy but didn't rain, late afternoon it started to clear off, but the sun still didn't break through.  I wased some windows, we scrapbooked almost all day!  And put that stuff away after supper.  Thursday the sun came out.  Todo came first thing in the morning and we all went out on the paddle boat!  Todo and the boys and I went swimming then back at the cottage for lunch and while the boys and Todo slept Jo and I went back out!  I didn't put sun screen on, big mistake!  I fried my legs and knees so bad I can't hardly walk today!  Now I gotta go pick green beans!

We came back in off the lake around 3:00 and packed up, vacummed the whole house again and I swept the cob webs and spiders out of Great Aunt's bedroom.  Touched up the bathroom, washed a few more windows, cleaned the kitchen again and got left by about 5:30.  We got home about 6:30 and I haven't done much since! 

Today I have an eye check up and I have to pick those beans and do laundry.  Thankfully, the boys are going to their cousins house today! 

So it was a fun few days and I can't wait to go back next week!

I see I'm falling behind in my updates again....to be honest, I had a busy week and haven't had a chance to set down and do it. 

Friday Todo had the day off, so we took a drive an hour north of us to get Sour Cherries and Red Raspberries!  We got 45 # of sour Cherries.  30# for us, 10# for my Great Aunt and 5# for our Landlords.  We didn't pick those, but we did pick red raspberries.  We started out being really discouraged about it, there just wasn't very many and the ones that were there weren't ripe yet.  But we decided to press deeper into the patch and we ended up finding some good bushes with big clusters down in the center.  We got 9 qt till all was said and done!  The boys helped pick too, but we had to keep a close eye on them as I saw a couple patches of poison ivy growing in the bushes and Lord knows I don't want to go through that again!  I took care to wash their faces and hands and arms and they had long pants and shoes on.  So far they haven't broke out! 

After we picked the raspberries, we went and got the cherries and took them to the pitter and washed and pitted them!  They do that free!  It's so nice not  to have to set and pit all those cherries!  We use to do that when I was a little girl, but we picked them too!  It was so much fun!  Friday evening after we got home, I froze the raspberries, made a batch of jam and 2 batches of cherry jam and canned 12 qts of cherries for Pie!  Woah, but that's not all, after my mini vacation with Jo this week, I'm wanting to go back up to another farm and pick more raspberries on Friday and on Saturday, my cousin and I are going to pick blueberries!  And I want to do a lot of those!  I'd like to do 30 or 40# of those, but we'll see how the picking is!  But I want to freeze a lot whole and make a couple batches of jam! 

So to start this week off, tomorrow, I'm cleaning house and making food to take to the Cottage.  And tomorrow evening, I have an Usborne show to do.  Tuesday morning finish packing and we're hoping to leave by 11:00.  Hopfully Todo doesn't forget to water the flowers!  However, since most of them are mulched, they aren't taking as much water now!  So if I water them good Tuesday morning they may not need it again till we get home on Thursday.  Anyway, my thoughts are wandering again.....   I am so looking forward to a vacation!  Even if we're cleaning the cottage, I think it will be fun to be there and not be at home!  But I won't have internet  so I won't be posting here again till next weekend probably. 

So to all who cross my footbridge to the Shire, I wish you a good week!

Blessings.....

Berylla Boggy-Hillocks of Dawling

.Sunday morning I got up with a migrane!  I don't get them very often, but I had one.  So we didn't go to church.  I spent 1/2 of the day with a pillow over my ears and sunglasses on.  I took Excedrin Migrain right away, but it didn't seem to work as fast as the commercial claims. 

By noon it was gone and I was able to fix lunch.  We grilled steaks and had corn on the cob.  I'm not suppose to be eating corn, but who can resist just one ear! 

Sunday evening the boys and I watched fireworks from our kitchen window!  It was nice, we had a desent view and we didn't have to deal with mosquitos!  And it was nice and cool!

We spent the 4th together as a family, just us four little hobbits.  We went for a drive in the morning, drove by Todo's accident site, I hadn't been by it and the trees were starting to heal up, but there was some dead grass right where the milk would have spilt.  It's been 8 1/2 months so there's not much to see anymore.  Then we stopped back at home for a little bit and went out to eat.  Todo got a gift card for his birthday so we used that.  Then we came home and took naps.  It was good to have a day with nothing pressing that we could just spend together.  We had a good time! 

My flowers are so pretty!  I need to take some more pictures!  I fertilized them again this morning.  I need to mow the lawn again and get the rest of them mulched. 

Jo and I are going to spend a couple days at my Great Aunt's Lake cottage next week and I'm going to spend a couple days there again with my Great Aunt the next week!  So it would be really nice to have them mulched good, so if Todo forgets to water them once they'll be okay.

We just made these plans today and I sat down and planned 3 meals.  Breakfast, lunch and Dinner.  Jo's doing one of each too.  We're going to take our scrapbooking stuff along and try to get the cottage cleaned during the day and scrapbook in the evening!   I'm so excited!  The 14th, I'm going to Michigan to get cherries and raspberries, if the raspberries are still pickin'!  And the 15th, I think we're picking blueberries!  It will be nice to have all those done! 

Monday evening, I have my first Usborne show in 6 weeks!  It was nice to have a little break, but I'm really looking forward to doing another one again!  Plus we have brand new catalogs out!  That's exciting!  My first shippment of catalogs are coming Friday. 

I can't wait to set down and go through one!

Tomorrow is our last swim lesson!  Todo went with us today and the boys just loved it that he was there to watch them!  The had a ball!  I finally remembered to take my camera this time! 

Berylac's rash is nearly gone on his face, he still has red patches, but I haven't seen him itching it.  He is still itching his legs and arms though.  The worst is over and I'm so glad!  Maybe being in the pool will help clear it up faster too!  I've heard that it can be good for stuff like that!

Well here they are! 

Tomorrow is such a busy day, I almost dread it coming!  I'm dropping the boys off at their cousin's house and then I have to drive 1/2 hour to our old bank and close that out and then back up here in time for an Eye Dr appoinment, Todo is picking the boys up when he gets off work and when I get home, it's lunch, naps and back to the pool!  After that I have plenty of other stuff I need to do around here to prepare for the weekend. 
I bought another flat of strawberries today and chopped some and left some whole and froze them all.  I'd still like to do one more flat and then Sour Cherries are going to be ready next week and I really want to go up and pick some of those to can or freeze for pies.  They pit them at the orchard or I would not be doing them!  Then the next week my cousin in law and I are going to pick blueberries to freeze.....Lord Willing.  We just got a 9 cf chest freezer and I'd like to fill it with frozen fruit in the bottom and save the baskets for meat!  We're planning to get another freezer eventually, but for now it's going to hold a lot of fruit!  Till I'm done I'd like to have Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Cherries and Peaches all in there! 

Our land lord came this evening and sprayed the Poison Ivy and the Virginia Kreeper, I did find out today that the Virginia Kreeper can cause skin irritations too!  So just as well be rid of it too! 

Well it's nearly bedtime, I probably won't be posting again till next week, but will check in a couple times.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

After just two doses of the syrups that Dr. gave Berylac yesterday, his swelling is almost gone and he's looking and feeling much better!  I'm so glad we ended up taking him!

He still has the rashes but they don't look as angry!  I think I'll go ahead and take him to swimming lessons, Dr. didn't seem to think there was a reason why I shouldn't take him if he was looking better.  He's not contagious so he won't be passing it to the other kids.  Dr. did say that sometimes chlorine in a pool can be cleansing, so we'll see how he does. 

I took Berylac to the Dr. this afternoon.  I was very impressed with him, he gave us two different medicines to take for the rash and also Calamine lotion.  I've never used Calamine lotion in my life!  But here's what Berylac look like right now with it all over his face!  His legs and arms aren't as coated, but they don't have as much rash on them either.  He's laughed at his face ever since he got this stuff....at least he's not crying and scared to look at himself!  I do think the swelling has gone down a little bit from this morning, his eye isn't quite as swollen as it was this am.

He also gave me a note for his swim teacher, hopfully she's be able to work him into another class or can give us a partial refund! 

Berylac is not contagious, the only way any of us could get it is if we touched the oil on his clothes or anything he touched before he bathed.  So now I have to make sure all the laundry is done, I don't remember what he was wearing the day he was picking those pretty leaves!  But I do remember him picking a whole handfull.  At that point I had no idea what the stuff was but suspected it might be the reason I broke out on my arms last summer after mowing next to it.  So I told him to stop picking and get rid of them, and then it didn't cross my mind again till he broke out!  Well I'm here to tell you, I'm not going to be so laid back about this stuff anymore!  But then I know what it is now.  I searched websites to find pictures that match this plant......Bush Poison Ivy....have you ever heard of it!  It's like a bush!  And Virginia Kreeper often grows next to it, well guess what!  There's a nice healthy Virginia Kreeper vine right beside it!  I called our Land Lady today and she's going to tell her hubby and they're going to work on getting it out of there!  So here's the pictures....Bush Poison Ivy.....

...and Virginia Kreeper

I know I already posted today, but Berylac went with Todo last night and was  fine and when they got home this morning, Berylac's face was all swollen with red patches all over it and he keeps scratching it.  The only thing I can come up with is he's got hives, but what from?  This morning it was only on his face, but it's spreading to his legs and back.  So far I don't see any on his arms. 
He's soaking in a Tea Tree Oil bath and I'm giving him a couple homeopathic things.  I also gave him honey/cinnamon water and vitamins and vitamin C drink.  Any more ideas of something I can do for him?  He doesn't look normal and I'm trying not to let it show on my face when I look at him, but it's hard to see my beautiful baby all puffy and red!  He didn't go to swimming lessons today, I was afraid the chlorine would irritate him further.....could that be the culprit?  that's the only thing different that we've done.....

Without Rash

With Rash..........I'm thinking Poison Ivy or Oak 

Later this evening, I rubbed banana peal on his face and arms and legs, gave him honey water, put tea tree ointment on his face, he didn't like that much, but he loved the honey water, I had to stop him.   I read on a website about poison ivy and oak, one man got poison oak every summer till he got bees and started eating a lot of honey, now he never gets it anymore!.....I've heard some wonderful things about that sticky bee spit!    Olo and I are drinking honey water too, to try and prevent us getting it.  I already have a small patch on my arm!  I rubbed banana peal on my arm too and the itch is gone! 
The worst thing with Berylac is he's got it inside his ears too!  Poor little guy, I feel so sorry for him, but he's a real trooper!  I'm not sure but what I need your prayers more than he does!

Tuesday Morning.....we're not feeling much like dancing banana's today!  He's getting worse!  What to do?  Todo's Aunt suggested maybe it's in his bloodstream?  Should we take him to see a DR?  Will it run it's course?  Home remedy that works?  Today he can't stand to have oinment put on, he says it hurts, but he tries really hard to endure it....

Here he is today:

Good morning.......

It's a new week, full of new mornings and new beginnings, new experiences with each new day!  How will each experience weither it be triumph or trial, effect our spiritual life?  Our walk with the Lord?  Will we be like Job through our trials and remain faithful or become discouraged and turn our face away from God?  Will we Praise Him in our trials like we Praise Him in our Triumphs?  Will we remember to Praise Him in our Triumphs or will we be so boastful in the flesh that we forget that it's God who walks with us through every step of everyday and that He was there with us through that Triumph, He allowed it to happen, just as he allows our trials.  Give Him Glory!  His plan is magnificent and is laid out with our best interest in mind! 

"Praise You In This Storm"

I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth
--Casting Crowns

I know, strange title, but oh well.  I know I haven't updated for 9 days, so guess it's about time to put something on here. 

My flowers are flourishing!  I weeded them all yesterday, mulched one bed and finished mowing the lawn.  My impatients have grown so much, I can't believe how pretty they are!  They weren't near this pretty last year!  My Lily that Olo trimmed 2 stocks off, still has 3 stocks and they have huge buds on them!  I can't wait till they pop open!  They are pink so they'll go along well with the impatiants.  The rabbits ate my parsly off, but so far haven't bothered my cucumbers or basil.  The parsley was dying anyway and I have no idea why. 

So here's current pictures of some of my blooms!  The tiny white ones are Allysum, I love them!  They make a carpet of white blooms and smell like honey!

I made some playdough for the boys the other day and here's some of Berylac's creations, the first one is a Rat head and the other one is a dragon fly. 

The boys started swimming lessons this week.  Today was their second day and they both loved it!  They both jumped off the edge and didn't seem to mind it too much!  Todo is going to try to go with us tomorrow so he can watch them swim!  It's so great to see them beaming after a job well done!

I had a wonderful day today!  Guess I deserve a good day after 3 months of PMS! LOL

I pickes about 12-15# of strawberrries this morning!  I came home and put 8 qt of whole berries in the freezer and 2 1/2 pts of crushed berries and made 2 batches of jam!  I of course used the no sugar Sure-gel and used 1 1/2 c. Fructose in each batch.  It's pretty tart, but that's the way we like it!  It set up really nice too!  It's almost like All Fruit spread!  Anyway I got 12-1/2 pt jars and a 1# jar full and 2/3 of a 18 oz jar .  I had some this evening on a slice of homemade bread and it's really good!  Todo's going to love it.  He really likes tart things! 

As for the Flowers out there.....they are just looking better and better!  Here's a current picture of my impatience.  I know, the grass needs trimmed, but we don't have a weed eater yet.  So I just have to get as close as I can with the mower.

And here's a picture of my Vanilla Daisy!  Isn't it beautiful!

So tomorrow, Jo is coming and we're going to scrapbook all day again!  I need to keep at it to get it caught up!  I'm still far far behind! 

Todo's going to be home tomorrow too, so the boys will get lots of Daddy time!

My left contact lens has been bugging me the last few days, so I took it out today and took a close look at it.  It had a rough edge with a chunck out of it!  No wonder it was irritating!  So I swapped it with an old back up.  Now I need to get an appointment and get some new ones.  These are plenty old enough to retire!  I wear the Daily soft ones.  They last 6 mo to 1 yr.  I usually wear one pair 1 1/2 yrs at least!  And they don't bother me, but then when I get my new ones, I can really tell!

I still have clothes to fold and put away and dishes to finish before bedtime, so I better hit it.

I feel like we may have solved one problem with Berylac and Olo today.  This morning, the boys and I went over to our garden at my cousins house and watered the tomatoes and the flowers and fed the cats while they were gone.  The boys ran and played in the yard while I was working, we got home and they ran around outside for a while and I watered our flowers, Berylac had to help of course and then they played in the sprinkler and came in the house and we read some books, then they ran around in the house for a while, ate lunch and at naptime, there wasn't a huge fuss and they went right to sleep without getting out of bed 15 times!  This afternoon they played outside some more and I let them blow off some steam in the house again, after supper and 3 stories, they went to bed without a  huge battle!  So maybe it's paying off!  They are having a lot less sugar, in fact they didn't have any today that I know of, other than 1 serving of icecream with strawberries on them, but I can tell, they're not as wired and high strung as they were when they were eating so much candy and cookies.  In fact, they won't eat my monster cookies anymore!  But when I made HEALTHY pumpkin cookies this evening, they both ate one and said they liked them, but Berylac thought they could be a little sweeter, so maybe I should add a little bit of brown sugar next time.  We'll see.   Maybe he'll get use to them and learn to like them the way they are.  Perhaps this life style change is what we all needed! 

Berylac's nickles worth for the day:  "Mama, do you know what Trees have that Elephants have?"   Me not thinking: "What?"  Berylac: "Trunks.....giggle giggle"  When asked where he heard that, he replied: "Saboomafoo"   LOL, where do these kids get this stuff?