Thursday, January 31, 2008

D, D, D, D, D, D, and D

Doctor: That's where I went this morning. Seems as though my migraines are acting up. Nothing too serious, but if you've ever had migraines you know what an, ahem...pain they are. I'll try out Topamax and see if it helps.

Diet: That's what I have to go on...seriously. I know, I know, I've been on one my whole life...or so it seems, but I have to get serious again. It really makes me sick when I think of where I was 2 years ago weight-wise, and where I am today. The doctor told me not to be too hard on myself, but I can't help it. It's SO aggravating!!!

Deli: Otherwise known as Subway. That's where I took the kids for lunch today. We had an hour to kill in between the doctor and piano lessons, so I got a 6 inch chicken/bacon ranch...left off the ranch and got mustard. See, that was pretty good, wasn't it? Afterward though I realized I should have left off the bacon too, but one step at a time. I also got baked Lays and a diet coke.

Dollar Theater: I took the kids to the movies after piano. It was a spur of the moment decision. I was driving by the exit to the theater and my steering wheel started turning on its own...seriously! Well, maybe not, but it seemed like it. Next thing I know I'm standing in line saying "three tickets for The Bee Movie, please." How can the Queen Bee not go see the Bee Movie! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It was very cute! My kids rolled their eyes at the millions of years parts, but other than that it was super! I loved the colors and the animation. Lots of recognizable voices, too. Maybe I could count it as a field trip since it taught about pollination. Whatcha think?

Dog and Diarrhea: I know...YUCK! But first I have to say what a good dog we have! Bless her heart, she was inside the house for about 5 1/2 hours. Ben walked her as soon as he got home, and said she went "P" and "Poop." Not ten minutes later she's begging me to go back out. I told Ben to walk her again and he comes in and says "she's got diarrhea...bad!" She went again 30 minutes later. Poor lady! She must have been in misery waiting for us to get home!

Done! I'm done with this post, and I'm going to make me some popcorn for supper. Does that sound dietish? Maybe I'll throw in a salad, too. ;o)

Monday, January 28, 2008

Wii Update

For those of you wondering, wii are enjoying our Wii! :o) Thursday night we had a sports competition. Neal and I would play each other in a sport, and then Ben and Beth would play each other. Then the winner in each group would play each other. I did good in boxing, bowling, and baseball. Neal did good in tennis and golf.

Grandma and Grandpa came over on Saturday afternoon and played with the kids. Then we had them and Aunt Janet over for lunch on Sunday. After lunch, Janet had her turn to play the Wii. I think the kids beat her, but she seemed to have a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa played a little on Sunday as well. I'm really glad we found it while it's still cold outside. Come summer we won't have as much time to play on it.

One thing I didn't fully realize is that not all Wii games are interactive. The Mario game we have is just like any other video game...you just sit and play. So today I put a limit on how long they can play the Mario game. But we told them that when they finish school and chores, they can play the Wii Sports together without a limit. At least they're playing together and they're moving!

Ladies Night

Friday night I hosted a ladies night out for our Adult Bible Fellowship class. We had a "Spa Night" and I think around 20 or so ladies came out. We broke up into three groups and started our room rotation. The group I was in started in the kitchen. We did manicures there. One of the ladies makes a really good sugar scrub that we used on our hands. Ooooohhh, my hands felt so smooth after that! I painted my nails a pretty copper color. They looked really nice for about 24 hours and then started chipping off. That's why I don't paint my nails very often. What's the use when you all you have to do is wash dishes and it starts coming off?

In the second rotation, we moved to the study (our homeschool room). In that room I had a table set up and that's where we relaxed, talked, and ate a snack. We had grapes, pineapple, mango, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas, etc. We also had several different flavors of tea and bottled water.

The third, and final rotation, for our group was the facial room. We used my bathroom to do the facials and then relaxed in the living room with our warm washcloths and cool cumcumbers (for the eyes). Soft music was playing and we had good conversation going all the time.

After all the rotations were completed, most of us gathered in the living room and some in the kitchen and talked and ate cheesecake bites, cream puffs, and chocolate. You didn't think we'd get together without chocolate did you??? LOL

The ladies arrived around 6:30 and started leaving around 9:30. Neal and the kids came home around 9:30ish. The kids had a fun night with Daddy, and Mommy had a fun night with her girlfriends!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Wii are Happii

I went to Walmart this morning for a bit of shopping. As is my habit since November, I slipped by the electronics department to find out if they have any Wii's. "Nope." I asked when they thought they would get some in? "We don't know until we get them." The same question I always ask...the same answer I always get. :o) So I finished my shopping and went home.

When I got home I tried on the snow boots I bought myself and found out they were way too big. Yes I bought a size 11 even though I should have bought a 9, but when I held them up to my tennis shoes it looked like they would fit. I was too lazy to untie my shoes and try them on. Mom came up and saw my boots and decided she wanted a pair. I told her they were almost gone, so we decided to run right back out and purchase her a pair. I decided to take mine back and try on the size 9.

As we were walking to the shoe department we had to walk by electronics. When I passed their cash register I glanced down at the floor and guess what I saw? Yep...a Wii! At least I saw a Wii box....sitting right under the register. Mom saw it too, and later told me she thought I was going to go right in there and get it. :o)

I found the guy working there (same guy I'd talked to an hour earlier). I said "Is that an empty Wii box up there?" "Nope." (with a grin) I said "Really??? Can I buy it???" He said "yep!" WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He told me they'd just come in and they had three of them. I couldn't believe it. I knew how excited my kids were going to be and my hands were shaking!

Here's the bummer...I couldn't tell the kids when I got home! I called Neal and, of course, he wanted to see their reaction. So I had to hold in my excitement all day! He did come home about an hour early though, so I didn't have to wait as long as I thought I would.

They flipped when we showed them! Now they're happily playing together...and Wii're one big happy family!

PS -- the size 9 boots fit and Mom bought the last size 7! WooHoo!!!

Wii are Happii!!!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Pomegranites

Can anyone tell me if they eat and/or drink pomegranite's? I bought one because I'd never had it before, and was quite surprised when I saw the insides:

I looked up pomegranites on the web and found a sight that said to section them and put them in water for five minutes. Then the seeds will fall right out and they are edible. Okay...they were okay for seeds, but I really don't see the need to go to all that work to eat seeds. Anybody do anything else with them?

Basketball

Ben had his third ball game of the season yesterday. I didn't get any great pictures this time, but you get the idea. His team's in red. And no, he's not sticking his tongue out at the other guy. He must be concentrating!

Look at the scoreboard. We're the guests! Guess what? We ended up losing 12 to 11! That's okay though, because this was the best game they'd played so far, and we were all SO proud of them! Way to go, guys!

Flannel and Frappuccino

Friday night was our youth group's 2nd annual Flannel and Frappuccino night! This is a night where you go to church in your flannel pj's, bring your homemade cardboard car (or pay $2 admission) and watch a movie "drive-in" style. What a blast! My dear friend, Jackie, makes the frappuccino's and I had the distinct honor of being her helper this year! Just call me Whip Cream Girl! ;o)

Along with your admission you get two free items at the snack bar, and anything over that you can buy with real money. I'm sure all the kids had a hard time going to sleep that night with their caffeine buzzes!

The movie this year was "Night at the Museum." I'd never seen it before (and I still haven't seen all of it) but it's a pretty good movie. Very funny! It's really hard to find a movie these days that you can show to a group of teenagers at church! Even this one had a couple of questionable parts, but it would be hard to find a cleaner movie out there. Last year they watched "Facing the Giants" which if you haven't seen it, is an excellent, totally decent movie!

Here's our youth pastor introducing the movie:

Here's Beth and her best friend Erin sitting in Beth's car. Beth spent most of her free time for the past week and a half working on her car. She had so much fun! Notice the headlights on the car!

Here are Beth and Ben taking a "ride" in the basement. See the fish symbols? My idea! ;o)

Here are some of the other kids cars. They had a contest, and all of the teens were able to vote on their favorite cars in differing categories. There were some pretty creative cars there! One was shaped like a banana and another like a crib. Too cute!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Joy!

The temperatures warmed up a bit and our snow is quickly melting away! :o( or :o) depending on how you look at it.

For Ben it's :o( But we are supposed to get another snow tomorrow afternoon. He just told me that he hopes we get a good snow so that I can go sledding with him again. He said "I don't know how to say it, but when I saw you sledding with your hands in the air and yelling 'WooHooooooo' it just gave me joy inside!" Now that's high praise for this Mama!

I loved what Perri said in her comment to me yesterday:

"All the cool moms sled. You are such a cool mom.

Cool moms sometimes pay a price for their coolness."


I told Ben what she said and he said "Yep, your the coolest! You're the best Mom I could have ever asked for!"

Didn't I tell you he makes my day?!!!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Little Fun...A Little Pain!

Late this afternoon, I went out and went sledding with the kids. We had a great time until I got to the "jump." Ben told me how cool it would be and the sled would fly into the air a bit. Cool! Well, my 41 year old body says "not so cool!" My sled turned me around backwards and I hit the "jump" (which by the way was the cinderblock around our campsite) with my back! Ouch! I didn't cry, thank you very much, but I sure did laugh loudly. Kind of like "ha ha, haa, haa, HAAAA, HAAAA, AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Beth told me later she could hear me from inside the house and couldn't tell if it was a laugh or a cry. I said "definitely a laugh." Well, I'm not laughing now. I'm in pain! But, it was SO worth it! ;o) We had a great time. I think my rear was frozen and I couldn't feel pain for a while until I thawed out. We sledded for about an hour and then I decided I needed to get a picture of our house in the snow. It's after 5:00 pm when this picture was taken...thus the darkness. It was pretty cloudy all day anyway, so it wouldn't have looked much different at noon.

When I came up on the porch the picture below is what I saw. You can't see it, but Suzi is whining. She wanted to be out there where all the fun and pain laughter was going on!

Ooops!

When I received my award from Theresa I kept feeling like there was something I'd forgotten. Then I remembered...a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, well, actually in September, my friend Perri gave me an award also.



I thought this was really nice and I kept thinking "I need to post about this award" and I never did. I'm sorry, Perri! I did appreciate it and it meant a lot to me! Thank you!!!

You Make My Day!



Thank you so much to Theresa who gave me this award! Theresa and I "met" through a mutual blogger friend, Amy. Theresa and I seem to have a lot in common...and not just our names! We both love the Lord, are into making bread with fresh ground wheat, and homeschooling...just to name a few. We are even the same age...exactly one month apart! (Since I was born a month early, I guess we are truly the same age. :o) Although we may never meet in person, it's fun "meeting" and getting to know each other.

So, here's what you do with this award:

“Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

This is difficult because I know lots of people...bloggers and non-bloggers...who bring happiness into my life. So I may cheat a bit and name a few non-bloggers, as well! And if you are reading this and I didn't name you, it's not because you don't make my day!

First, I'll name:

Alberta: This is one of my non-blogging readers. Alberta is my aunt and is very special to me. Lots of times when I don't feel like blogging, I remember that she enjoys reading my blog and it encourages me to blog about something! If she were to blog, I know it would make my day! I love you, Aunt Alberta!

Amy: Amy's blog is where I found Theresa...so that made my day last week! Amy is so open and honest in her blogging. She's dealt with a lot of grief in the last few years and although I've never met her in real life, I feel her pain. She also has a good sense of humor and is very creative. I just never know what I'll find on her blog!

Marsha: Marsha makes me laugh and smile a lot! She's witty and has a way of making the simplest post into something hilarious. She has such cute kids too! :o)

Linda: This is a new blog for me. Linda has lots of readers at her blog and I can see why. Her posts are funny and inspirational. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face and for giving me food for thought!

Big Mama: Okay, I don't even know her real name, but I love her blog. I've only been visiting it for a few weeks, but she cracks me up. Sometimes I just need comic relief, and her blog is a great place to get it! Thanks Big Mama!

Perri: What can I say about Perri? Perri is the one who got me started blogging. She is one of the few internet friends I've met in real life and can now claim as an IRL friend! She's funny and very real. Love you Perri!

Beth: My Precious Daughter! She doesn't blog very often, but she makes my day...every day! I love you!!!

The Mrs: Now I do know her name, but since she doesn't put her name on her blog, I won't put her name on here! I enjoy seeing updates on her precious family in Britain (formerly of Canada). I've known her for many years via the internet, and love her sweet personality!

Gwen: This is another internet friend that I've met in real life. I met Gwen about a year and a half ago. She, her husband, and her kids were very sweet, and we had an enjoyable visit with them. Gwen always has sweet posts about her kids and it's fun to see what their homeschooling family is up to!

Ben: My son does not have a blog, but he enjoys posing for mine. So I'll add him to my list for making my day! I love you, Ben!

The White Death

I spoke to my brother Bob this morning. He's a truck driver and lives in Indiana (about an hour from Cincinnati). He said on the news last night he heard the weatherman say something like "you'd better get to the store and get your milk...the White Death is on its way!" Well, we didn't quite have enough snow to count as "the white death" but my kids were happy! I'd say we got at least two inches when all was said and done. The kids have had a blast today. I had planned on doing school with them, but we haven't gotten any done yet! There's always tomorrow (and maybe tonight!).

Here's some pictures from our day today:

This picture was taken at 7:55 am.

This picture was taken at 9:40 am ... almost 2 hours later.

Rocking chairs on my porch.

The other end of my porch.

The woods in front of our house by the driveway -- which you can't see right now.

This is Beth and the "oldest living snowball ever." Apparently Sponge Bob has the "oldest living bubble ever."

Birdfeeder on our back deck.

Beth and Symon. He was okay if she held him, but didn't like it when she tried to set him down in the snow!

Suzi insisted on being outside on her zipline today!


After playing in the snow for about 4 hours, the kids came in for lunch. I made them a hot blackberry cobbler for dessert from frozen blackberries that Ben had picked last summer. When Ben was done he came in and told me how good it was and then gave me a big smile:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Hellfire and Brimstone






Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Jonathan Edwards

You're the original hellfire-and brimstone preacher and you take God's justice very seriously. You are passionate about preaching and an accomplished theologian.


Jonathan Edwards


80%

Friedrich Schleiermacher


73%

Karl Barth


73%

Martin Luther


73%

Charles Finney


67%

Anselm


53%

John Calvin


53%

Jürgen Moltmann


47%

Augustine


33%

Paul Tillich


20%




I would definitely not call myself an accomplished theologian. Far from it! But I found this quiz interesting. I found it over at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

Work and Snow

Yesterday I had a busy day at work. It was the last day for people to register to vote before the primary in February. I was pretty surprised at how many people waited until the last minute to register. On the flip side of the coin however, is that they did register! Way to go!

I have today off from work. (Monday/Wednesdays only)

Went to bed with a headache...woke up with a headache. :o( I'm feeling somewhat better now, but it's still lingering.

School today...Basketball practice this afternoon....4-H tonight.

It's snowing!

Maybe bb practice and 4-H will be cancelled and we'll have a night at home! Don't get me wrong though...we really do enjoy basketball and 4-H. Sometimes it's just nice to have a snow day!

Beth and I are in the study. Her desk is next to mine. Ben was in the kitchen and we heard him say "Bird!" Beth and I look at each other and immediately think of the animated movie "Bambi." "Bu-rrrrd, Bu-rrrrd." "Mama, the little prince said "bird!" We start quoting from the movie and start cracking up. We thought it was funny...Ben not so much. LOL

Happy Tuesday!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Healthy Voyage

I'm really, really trying to lead a more healthy lifestyle! It's so difficult sometimes though, isn't it? I mean you have fast food on every corner (who really wants to cook a "made from scratch" meal every day? It's terribly tempting to run into KFC and pick up a bucket of chicken (or even get some at the grocery store for that matter). I do enjoy cooking, but on days when I'm really busy or running lots of errands those Golden Arches big buckets of chicken call my name!

This week I sat down and wrote out my menu for the rest of the month. It's very daunting at the time ... even the grocery trip is daunting ... but the ease of mind it brings the rest of the month is priceless! I just look at my menu in the morning and see if I need to pull anything out of the freezer and then plan my day around what time I need to prepare the meal. If it's a day I'm working, or we have basketball practice, or 4-H, I try to make a crock pot meal or a casserole that I've prepared ahead of time. It's all in the planning, which is sometimes easier said than done!

The bread baking is still going really well. My family truly does enjoy it, and so do I. I've got the sandwich rolls down pretty well now, so it doesn't take me long to fix them. I made some brownies tonight using freshly ground soft white wheat. I tasted them a little while ago and they tasted pretty good. Hopefully the kids will think so. Ben's having a friend over tomorrow and I like to have a special dessert prepared when we have company. I also made pizza crusts today for lunch tomorrow, and while they were baking I prepared the toppings and stuck them in the fridge. When we get home from church tomorrow I'll just have to throw the pizzas together and put them in the oven.

Neal and I have gotten back into exercising again. We actually worked out six days this past week! I got up to 2 miles on the elliptical, so I was pretty pleased with that. I'm at a 10 minute mile. I'm so thankful for a disciplined husband! Other than Monday morning, I would have slept in every morning this past week! Neal had to resort to tickling to get me out of bed one morning. I'm pretty bad!

Anyway, that's part of my healthy voyage plan. Eat healthier and exercise regularly. I'm bound to lose weight...right???

Politics

It's all we're hearing about lately. Still confused about what the candidates stand for? Here's a website that breaks down what each candidate supports or opposes:

http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=16245

Friday, January 11, 2008

President Who??

Okay, here's one more quiz to take to see who would be a good match for you for President. I actually liked this one better than the one I did the other day. Both times though, my best match was Huckabee. I guess it's a good thing I like him! :o)

www.vajoe.com

Speaking of Huckabee, I am very impressed with the way he handles criticism. It seems all of the candidates are into bashing another candidate, but that's not his way. He says the candidates should be telling what they can do for America. I agree! It gets very tiresome hearing all the candidate bashing!

If you live in Virginia, make sure you are registered to vote! Monday, January 14th is the last day to register to vote in the primary.

What's for Breakfast?


Last night I made a batch of blueberry muffins. Instead of putting the frozen blueberries in whole, I chopped them up in my mini-food processor. I liked them a lot better this way with little bits of blueberries spread through the muffin. Yum!

One of the gifts I got for Christmas was this new muffin pan. It's a really nice, heavy duty pan, and I had no idea how much better my muffins would do in it. Every time I've made them, they've risen up nice and high.
It's the little things in life that make me happy!

Here was Ben's breakfast this morning (actually this is what we all had). Vanilla Yogurt with Grape Nuts and a few mini-chocolate chips sprinkled on top, sausage links, and a muffin.

I am always on the lookout for easy, healthy breakfasts to serve my kids. What do your kids eat for breakfast? I'm trying to stay away from sugar cereals, but we do eat a few cereals...Special K, Cheerios, Kix, and Rice Krispies are okay here. There are other good ones, but these are the ones my kids will eat. I also make homemade pancakes and waffles and freeze them. Oatmeal is another favorite (at least for Ben and I) in our house. Neal would eat scrambled eggs every day. :o)

Here's a good yogurt I found. It has a six live active cultures in it, and as I understand it, that is a good thing. :o)

Best Friends


This is Shadow the "fat, black cat" and Suzi the "phobia dog." (Suzi is afraid of shadows (the real thing, not the cat), men in hats, and crossing bridges.) They were playing with each other and having such a good time. So I got out my camera and was going to video tape them. So, what did they do? Lay down, of course!

My Fireplace

Finally...here's a picture of my new fireplace mantel. As you can see, it's just a shell, but hopefully by February there will be logs in there!



See our old tv up there? That was a wedding gift from my Aunt Sally and Uncle Darrell almost 17 years ago! It has been the best TV, and we still get a good picture on it. Yes, we'd like to get a flat planel tv someday, but it's difficult to go and spend seven or eight hundred dollars on a tv when you have one that works just fine!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Hello Operator?

As I mentioned before, I'm working a temporary, part-time job. I answer the phones, I enter data and print out reports, etc, etc.

But today I felt like saying "Do I look like a phone book?" Why would anyone call up an office to ask for the telephone number of a completely different workplace? Since I've been working there I've had this happen at least 5 times! Helloooo??? I don't know enough about the office I'm in, let alone the phone number of every other office in our town!

Not Too Bad...

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?



I found this on Amy's blog...she's more addicted than I am! I'm curious to what Perri's answer would be!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

President ???

For those of you who are just totally confused by the presidential candidates and what they stand for, check out this site. It asks you about 15 questions and then tries to match you with the presidential candidate that most closely agrees with your positions.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Lesson Learned

For the last several months I had begun to have the desire to go back to work part time. It wasn't so much that I felt like we needed the money...although that wouldn't hurt...it was more of a desire to work outside the home. Well, an opportunity presented itself in December. My FIL had a part time secretary that needed to go on a leave of absence for a few months. She only works on Mondays and Wednesdays and the pay is pretty good. I talked to Neal about it and we thought we could make it work since it is temporary. I started the week before Christmas and it's going pretty well. It's an easy job...doing a bit of computer work and answering telephones. If I need to take the kids with me I can (I did take Ben last Wednesday). I really do enjoy it...BUT I'm ready for it to end already. Even though it's only two days a week, I miss my kids! I'll gladly finish out the time, but I won't be sad when his real secretary says she's ready to come back!

So, what am I doing with my extra $$$? I'm buying a gas log fireplace! I've already purchased the mantel and it's in place in our living room. I'll have to post some pictures of it. Next I'll save up for the firebox and logs. Then I'll have to save up for the propane tank. I'm about halfway there for the box and logs, but I don't foresee us warming our toes by the fire this winter!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Happy New Year!

2008...not 2009! LOL I still can't believe that I had to really think hard about what year it was!

We rang in the New Year with two other families. Some of our camping buddies. :o) We had a Mexican feast along with some yummy desserts. Then we spent the majority of the night talking and making each other laugh. We also played Speed Scramble (crazy bunch, huh?!!) LOL

We had a brunch and supper with my Mom on New Year's. We also played some games up here with her. Beth had to pack for her little excursion to Tennessee. She will be coming home today. Yaah!

I worked on Wednesday and I took Ben with me. We had fun. It was a slow day so we played some games on the computer and talked. During our lunch break we took a walk and went to a nearby antique shop. That was fun. I've been really tired lately so we spent Wednesday night at home where I promptly fell asleep on the couch. WooHoo! LOL

Since Beth's out of town, I invited one of Ben's friends over yesterday and he spent the night. They've been having lots of fun. It's supposed to warm up a bit today, so I'm sure they'll go play outside. Right now they're watching the Garfield movie.

I'm gonna work on lesson plans today and finish up the laundry. Now do you understand why I haven't blogged lately?!!! Oh, I did go visit a friend yesterday. I had to drop off something and pick up some things, so she invited me in for tea. We spent about an hour together chatting. It was very nice! (phew...I feel better. I was beginning to sound like a complete bore. Now I'm just a semi-complete bore!)

Happy 2008!
Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."