A special thanks to The Simple Woman for hosting this meme.

FOR TODAY Monday, July 14, 2008...

 Outside My Window... It is very calm and the sun is shining brightly. It is supposed to be 74 degrees today. Perfect! My garden is flourishing and I find such pride and joy in its growth, although the Lord is of course my provider and the one who has provided the sun & rain to nourish it.

 I am thinking... I am thankful it is a new week. I have new chances to reclaim my home this morning and take it back from the dirt monsters. :) I was a bit overwhelmed last week. I love fresh starts!

 I am thankful for... Music. Music has always been such a huge part of my life. I think I was singing in front of church by age 5. My two best-friends and I used to fight over the microphone while we tried to stand there and sing together. Then I played the piano, flute, alto sax, clarinet, and keyboard at various times throughout schooling. I ended up choosing my voice over all of those and how I regret giving up those instruments! But at least I still have my voice with me :)

 From the kitchen... What else but clean dishes to put away :) Actually, my dishwasher has been making dishes look almost worse when they come out than when I put them in. So, my clean dishes are on my counter today. I washed them by hand, which gives me much more satisfaction, even though the dishwasher is so much easier.

 I am wearing... My nightgown and my robe still! The girls slept horrible last night and I was up often. Abigail was up a few times and Emma had a really restless night waking up and whining. I was very sleepy this morning!

 I am creating... I actually started sewing an Edwardian Apron a while back and got stuck on a certain stitch that needed done and I quit the project. I need to reclaim that work and figure it out! I always feel like doing more when I have an apron on!

 I am going... To order Bailey's kindergarten curriculum this Friday. I am so excited to embark upon this adventure! We are going to start with My Father's World Curriculum.

I am reading... "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God", my Bible, and "Get Out of That Pit"

I am hoping... Gas prices go back down. My husband drives a minimum of 384 miles a week to work and back. Sometimes he drives up to 640 miles a week. That all works out to about $500 a month just on gas...not to mention the upkeep, oil changes, etc. We just had to get his transmission rebuilt, which cost over $1600. Praise the Lord we had the emergency fund set up...thanks to Dave Ramsey!

 I am hearing... My children playing with play dough behind me. They each have little people they are using with their play dough and are in their own little worlds. I savor these moments!

Around the house... Is clean carpets. I borrowed my friend's steam cleaner and cleaned my dining room, hallway, and large living room last week. The cleaning was the easy part, but cleaning the steam cleaner out has proved to be very stressful. I feel so pressed to get the thing as cleaned out as possible since it's not mine and I don't know how. EEKS!

One of my favorite things... Is camping. We haven't gone in years...since we had the girls. We only have a tent, which is big enough for us all; I'm just not ready to take a toddler camping in a tent. But, I hope we get to take out girls camping soon. I know how special those times were to me growing up. I really don't remember a time we didn't camp or boat! Thank you mom and dad for those special special special memories! All it takes is the aroma of a campfire for my mind to go back to some of those special times!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Friday I will take Lucy (our 6 month old daschund) to the vet for her spaying. Then I will get our groceries and probably stop at some garage sales!

Here is picture thought I am sharing... These are my two older girls a few years back. I think those were a cheap pair of sunglasses that they popped the lenses out of. They looked so studios and cute. These are among my favorite photos of them so far!