Kids are funny!

There must be something in the air lately! The kids have been good, but they have been WILD!! At least they are in good moods!! Mr. Tater has a new job around the house...he has figured out which button to push to turn the cordless phone on and whenever it rings he goes running yelling " Phone!! I get it!!"
Another kid funny....I just sang If You're Happy and You Know it with Miss A....well according to her the words are If You're Happy in Your Nose and Your Face and Your Shoulders! She keeps singing it over and over, I LOVE it!
I ran into a bit of a snag with C's newest scarf. I didn't realize it while I was knitting, but towards the end of the skein of the white fun fur the yarn was cut into two seperate pieces. I noticed after it had been knit into the scarf that there was a small knotted looking area and as I picked at it a bit thinking I just had to separate some of the "fur" and sort of fluff it a bit the yarn came apart into two pieces! I unknit about two rows and just threw the second pieces away as it really wasn't that much and wasn't worth knitting such a small section only to have to start the other skein a row or so later. Well, as I was reknitting one row I noticed that I had dropped one stitch in the white fun fur. With all these issues I am afraid that something will catch just right and the scarf will start to unravel! I have enough yarn to make two of these scarves, so I think I am just going to keep the first one for myself and knit the second, and hopefully problem free, scarf for C!
I did buy a little more yarn when we went to Wal Mart the other day...but I have a special project for it in mind....after that no more yarn until I get what I have knitted up!!! Oh, I almost forgot too! B gave me two skeins of pink camo yarn for my birthday as well as a basket of sewing/quilting supplies! She sewed up the neatest little sewing caddy type thing so I can sit and do my cross stitch and put it over the arm of the chair or couch and have a place to put my scissors and put my needle when I am switching floss colors! I promise pictures very soon! I have just promised myself that I will get PM's PowerPoint and my Sunday School done and put the three baskets of clean laundry away before I take pictures and post them!

Wow, this got really long!!

Wow! I really should not write when I am tired!! When I was finally able to post last night I had just gotten home from my Zone Therapy treatment...those always relax me so much and I sleep so well for the next three nights after I get a treatment! My bed was definately calling when I posted last night too! The last post made sense, but I added a sentence in later and I added it in the wrong spot!!! Ha!

I was so excited to be able to get my treatment! I have needed to get in and get one since Christmas, but with conflicting schedules and all it just didn't work out. The bones in the arch in my right foot are collapsing and it is quite painful at times. My right hip goes out and causes flare ups with the swelling and pain in my foot too. A friend of ours has started doing Zone Therapy out of an office in her home and it has done wonders for my pain and swelling as well as alot of other things like my sinuses in the winter, and those "lovely" cramps that come around once a month!

I've finally finished a big project for some friends of ours. I enjoyed working on it for the most part, and learned a few things from the experience too, so that's always a good thing! These friends of ours, and two of their kids, went to Florida for their family Christmas to their other daughter's house and took lots of pictures, of course, but with a new baby and another two or three year old running around there were lots of special pictures taken and some that they were planning on using for their family update letters that they planned on sending out. Well, when they got home their son was transferring the pictures from the memory card in the camera to the computer and he ended up deleting all of the pictures off the memory card and they did not transfer to the computer!! We found recovery software and bought it on ebay and I was able to pull the pictures off the memory card and onto my computer. Then I had to convert them from RAW files into JPEGs. Both of those were things that I had never done before and I learned alot through those processes! Then after some further discussions I ended up fixing them up a little with my Photoshop program. I took some red eyes out, fixed the color and got rid of some shadows, took the glare off of glasses a bit, and in one picture took the baby's head from another picture and put it over on the picture that was better of everyone else. And I did a couple extras in playing a little and made a cut out of a heart of their son with his two little nieces and took one picture of the two or three year old and cropped it and made it all black and white except for her bright blue eyes! Some of those things I had never done either and I really enjoyed learning new things with my program!!

I think K is thinking that I am really starting to get serious about my photography too, because he told me that he is buying me some lenses and filters on ebay for my birthday!! I was so excited! I have been wanting a couple of the ones that he is buying me for a while now! He said he would buy me a macro lense and a star filter, so that if I take a picture of like Christmas lights or something it will make a beautiful star type of pattern. There are a few others we are researching and deciding what exactly to buy too.

And of course there is basketball! I'm a bit sad, as there is only one game today and that is a 7th grade game that is away and I won't be able to make it. Maybe we will try to make it over to Wal Mart or something tonight instead. There are a few things that I have been waiting to get there that we just can't get here in town....our dog food and dog treats being a couple of them and we are getting a bit low on those things.
I tore out what I had knitted on C's new scarf. The more I looked at it the more I thought it was too wide and I would run out of the white fun fur before it was long enough. I have it back on the needles, but I have quite a bit to knit yet before I get back to where I was. I hope to work on it and get caught up again tonight. Maybe I can even sneak in a little more yarn shopping ;) haha! And of course that is dependant on how much more Wal Mart has decided to clear out of their craft section this week!

Back again

Finally, I found my way back! I say that alot don't I?! I'll post for a few days in a row and then I go missing and I find my way back and then I go missing.....really need to work on that pattern!
And again, Jen, thank you so much for the new look! It's perfect! I LOVE it! The hubby teases that I have a bit of ADD and have to change things up every so often...thanks for putting up with me!
Let's see....what's new....I started another scarf. This one is the opposite of the one that I did first for C. It is the regular blue yarn and white fun fur. I am making this one for C so she can trade them out and then I will make one for myself. If I have enough of the blue yarn left I may even try to combine the blue and white regular yarns to see how that looks. A girl can't have too many school color scarves right?! Which reminds me too....Jen, I may have asked you this before, but what are your school colors??
That reminds me, Jen, how is your knitting coming?? I hope it's going well! And I can't wait to see some pics of what you are working on! I wish that we were a bit closer so I could help you out in person! It is so much easier to show than to just tell someone!

New Look!!!

Jen has been hard at work again and put together a new look for me!! I LOVE it!! Jen you do such great work and I really appreciate you doing this, besides work and all the other things you have to do!! I can not say enough about how much I love this look and how much I appreciate you doing this for me!! It is beautiful!!!

Basketball!

Still not alot happening around here. We went to a couple of the boys basketball games last night. M played with the A and B teams. The A team lost by one in overtime and we didn't stay to see all of the B team's game because M only played the first half or so and we had to leave to make it to J's game about a half hour away. J's team was undefeated and they were playing a team that was also undefeated! It was a good game, and two tv stations from the area were there! It was close, but in the end J's team won and they are still undefeated!

Quiet

I don't have a whole lot to say today. It's pretty quiet around here, one kiddo today! I'm working on catching up on laundry (exciting huh?!) and hopefully at naptime I can get some reading done. I have been keeping up with my New Year's Resolution or goal or whatever you want to call it and I have been reading the devotional from the Daily Bread every day and I am now one day ahead in my reading the Bible in a year. I was farther ahead, but Sunday and yesterday I didn't do any more reading on that. Sunday we spent the afternoon with my parents (we hadn't seen them since Christmas) and when we got home from the evening service I was so tired that I crashed and yesterday I had kids in and out during the day and got a phone call in the afternoon that J was going to be in the area's Honor Choir and they had a concert last night. PM wasn't going and he wondered if I wanted to go along with C (the concert was about an hour away). I agreed to go and had 15 minutes to get ready after the last of the kiddos left! It was a great concert, they had three groups performing; honor band (orchestra), honor choir, and honor band. They did a wonderful job!
Nothing too terrible is going on, just a few things happening and a few discussions making me think about myself and drawing closer to God. Just feeling sort of quiet...and trying to sort things out. Pride has become a focus for me lately.

Helping Hand

Wow! I really don't know what to say. Last week was kind of a rough week for me in general and I have been just sitting here trying to sort through some things in my head and this morning I wake up and find a message from Jen. If you don't know, Jen's blog is Following the Footsteps. I have really enjoyed getting to know Jen, and she has been a great encouragement to me! When I wasn't writing she kept commenting and encouraging me to write, she always has something good to say, she's such a happy person! I love checking in on her everyday! And this morning I found out that she has given me an award! And she wrote some very sweet things...Jen, you almost made me cry

Select 10 bloggers: 5 you consider your blogging Helping Hand, then "Pay it Forward" by extending your "Helping Hand" to 5 additional bloggers, in support and encouragement for their efforts.

In passing on the Emblem, each recipient must provide the name of blog, or blog author with a link for others to visit. Each recipient must show the Emblem, and put the name and link to the blog that has given it to her or him. Link the Emblem to this post: Helping Hand: Much Obliged and Paying it Forward so that others will know it origin and impetus.

If you have not already done so, show your recipients some love by adding them to your blog roll, Technorati Favorite list, or in any other way to further let them know that their blog voice is important to you and being heard.

Add your name to The Helping Hand meme on the blog entitled The Emblem of the Helping Hand and don't forget to leave a comment as a permanent record of all Helping Hand recipients.


I am passing this award on to....
My Helping Hands
Holli at Baby-Faith Holli is one of the people who convinced me to start blogging in the first place! I love catching up with her and Faith and even when things are not easy she keeps tries to keep a positive attitude about it all and when Faith gets older she will read this blog and see what a strong, loving, positive Mom as a role model and just how much she is loved!

Callie and Avery's Mommy over at callie and avery. She also is such a positive and loving role model and I love the pictures she takes! She inspires me to get out there and take more pictures!

Erin at Tale of a Baby Human I love the pictures she takes and how they capture her kids' personalities and how she encourages her kids to grow and learn!

Organized Chaos She has three girls and is expecting another baby and they are remodeling her house and even through the difficult times with the kids and the house she keeps a positive attude and keeps praising God!

Dani at Dani...Black Belt Stitching Wizard I love to catch up with her every day and she encourages me to keep stitching (and knitting) and she is doing such a great job with Weight Watchers and loosing weight!

And those that I would like to extend a Helping Hand to:

Well, I can only think of one....I know it's really not according to the rules, but the blogs that I read inspire me so much more than I can describe and they all encourage me and there is no way that I could ever lend a helping hand to them...and the only reason that I want to extend the helping hand to this person is because they need all the prayers that they can get, they are in the process of adopting a son. And that is Never too Many They are a wonderful family and this little guy is blessed to be coming home to such terriffic people!

Rough weekend.

Ick, more snow today! They were going to let the kids out at noon and soon after that decision went out they changed their minds and let them out at ten fifteen! Supposed to be blizzard like conditions tonight! K is working at a friend's place doing some electrical work for them, it's out in the country a bit, but we have four wheel drive so he should be ok to get out there and back.
The big decision will be to see if we go out tonight. We are supposed to help do some computer work for some friends who live about a half hour away. K said the winds are supposed to pick up soon, and with the fresh light snow it may cause problems. It doesn't look too bad now, but in the dark and in open fields on the highway may be different.
I survived special music yesterday. It was so hard. Practice on Saturday night did not go well at all. We ended up using plan C a song that I had sung before...it had been a long time since I had sung it and PM played for me instead of B as she had the last time I sang it. It went ok...I missed coming in when I was supposed to and I missed a word in one of the verses. I was just so upset yet. I'll admit it, there were a few tears Saturday night. I was frustrated with myself and feeling like I was letting PM down. He and I did talk a bit and I felt a little better after that...but the feelings were still there you know? I gave him a thank you card last night at church, telling him that I appreciated him playing, the work and time he put into it, and all his help and advice.
J came up to me after church in the morning and told me that I had the deer in the headlights look while I was singing and I should loosen up! PM walked by and J asked me if PM was scaring me (jokingly...J is a huge joker!) I told him no he wasn't scaring me, and PM said no that he was trying to encourage me...and J looks at him and says "Quit scaring her!" His joking around made me feel a bit better.
Another cool thing happened Sunday morning too! Our church has recently started a love shawl ministry and they have been giving them to those who are going through a difficult time or in the hospital or something like that. Well, they have gotten going and have decided to give some to some people "just because", because we can all use prayer and to feel loved! Well, Sunday was my turn! C called my name as I was walking through the entry way and she handed me a beautiful black, white, and burgundy shawl. I almost started crying all over again and told her that she had such perfect timing, that the weekend had been a rough one and it meant so much to get the shawl, especially that day! I spent most of the afternoon wrapped up in it as I was reading my devotional and my chapters in the Bible to keep up with my goal of reading through the Bible in a year (once I get today's done I am completely up to day too!) and praying for another situation that is going on right now...if you think of it please say a prayer for PM and C and the funeral service they will have tomorrow. I will try to remember to get a picture of the shawl to show you all. I love it! There is a beautiful hand stamped tag and a handmade bow to go along with it too! The front of the tag says Draw near to God and He will draw near to you James 4:8 and on the back it says The Love shawl ministry has prayerfully made this shawl for you Feel the love and prayers of your Chapel family as you wrap this shawl around you.
Stitched by the CCC Love shawl ministry. So far I have left the tag and the bow on, I have debated taking it off and hanging it up on either the shelf or the bulletin board near my computer so I can look at it often but I just don't know if I should take it off.

Where has the time gone?!

Where has the time gone?? The last few days have just flown by! I have found a new obsession and that hasn't helped! My brother in law got me started with friendstock on facebook and it is sooo addicting! In four days I am up to about thirty million! It's crazy!

I ended up with Friday off too. Little I got strep after his brother, now Mom says they are going to treat the whole family so they can get back on track! It worked out well though because I wasn't feeling so great on Friday either. I started with a headache on Thursday and figured it was just because my hip was out and it was bad enough that I was going out in my shoulder too and have had headaches start like that before so I wasn't too worried. But Friday it was still there and getting a bit worse and I was so tired and blah feeling! I took some sinus meds and just hung out and did laundry. We went to the ballgames last night and in the second half of the varsity it was terrible! When we got home I took some ibuprofen and drank a Mt Dew to help it kick in faster with the caffiene and within a half an hour it was gone! I have felt a little icky sinus wise yet today, but the sluggishness and the headache are gone so I am happy!

Jen, I haven't forgotten you, I haven't had a chance to look over those kits again yet, I will do that soon! I really appreciate all the hard work you put into the blog designs and am thankful that you are willing to do the work for me!!

Well, I need to get going and get my things together for our meeting with PM to go over PowerPoint and my possible song for special music tomorrow! I will leave you with a picture of the picture that I was telling you about ! Sounds strange, I know, but that's me!

Playing catch up!

Today has been a busy and productive day! It was supposed to be my busiest day with the kids, but C has strep so Mom kept all the kids home with her and I was supposed to have L, T, and Tater while their Mom got her hair done, but she called and said that Grandpa wanted to take them, so it's a day off for me!
I have gotten caught up with my cards, gotten almost all of my laundry done, cleaned up a few other things that needed to be organized and put away, and after I write this I am going to do my Bible reading.
Tonight is our first night back to Awana after Christmas break. It is pajama night! We all love pajama night! I got a phone call this morning and it sounds like I will be doing music for the T&T group too. I think it will only be one song that our regular music leader has chosen, so it's nothing too hard.
The hard part is picking out the song to sing for special music on Sunday! I just found out that I have to sing and haven't been working on anything! I found one song that I had bought before that I liked but never worked up and bought a second one as plan B yesterday. At the basketball game PM asked if I had chosen a song yet, when I told him that I was just starting to work up a couple songs he asked if I wanted to do something with piano. He says that he just wants me to pick something in my range, that I have chosen some that aren't quite right and he could tell I was struggling with them. I had chosen to use a cd because I knew that BT's schedule would not allow for us to get together and practice, and I knew what PM's schedule looked like for the week, very busy with four nursing home services, prayer meeting, and basketball games. He said that he would look today and see what he could find for me. I am still working on the other songs, so hopefully I will find one that will work out of everything!
Well, I think I heard the timer, so back to folding laundry I go!

Busy busy busy!

No school for the kids again today. All of the ice that we got because of the rain on Saturday night has not really melted and everything is pretty slick. L was not happy when he got here and found out that there was no school, he was prepared for a two hour late star but not no school. At four thirty this afternoon they called a two hour late start for tomorrow too. I really hope that they do have school or I will have an even more upset little guy on my hands! A, the boys Dad said that he fell twice today, he works for the cable company, and the main roads weren't bad, but the side roads were looking pretty slick.
We finally put the tree away this afternoon and I have been busy cleaning the house and finishing the laundry after the inlaws visit. And it only took me a week to do it! Well, a few extra days of vacation after they left for K and I to relax and run errands and do a few things we can't normally get done with kids around like repainting doorways and things didn't help me catch up at all.....
I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions really, but this year I have decided to work on two things. One is to read my Bible and Daily Bread devotional every day, and also to try to read through my Bible in a year. My main focus is the devotional reading and I will read ahead and catch up as I need to for the reading through the Bible in a year...anyone confused yet haha?! My second goal is to get and stay more organized. Feel free to ask me how I'm doing anytime during the year!
Now I'm watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and afterwards we will have the Butterscotch Brickle cheese ball that I finally made from my order from the Tastefully Simple party I went to before Christmas. K has been asking me to make it for a while now and we decided tonight was the night!
I did get an ok picture of my Faith picture and I will post that soon.
Well, off to do my reading while the laundry is going....

Lazy Sunday

Nothing too exciting going on today. We got rain last night making things very icy. We still had church, not alot of people came, but it was still nice to be there all the same. PM had a very good message and I learned a few things from a familiar idea and passage.
This afternoon we cleaned up things that we just didn't worry about cleaning up since the kids weren't coming. We had the card table out for games and the miscellaneous things that pile up on tables and things after you think "I'll just put it here and deal with it later when I have time." After that we have just hung out, K working on the laptop looking for a new computer for church, and me here on the desktop catching up on blogs, printing cards, and doing my Bible reading. I did win the Precious Moments figurine that I was bidding on! Finally after being outbid on four or so!

Crazy basketball schedule starts again!

We were off to another basketball game this morning. The girls lost but the boys won. They played really well today! After the game we went out to eat at a little restaurant that was always closed when we went through the town before. It was good! The only problem was that the town had a broken water main so they had no water! We could relate, it happened in our town in the fall. Hopefully they will have it fixed for them soon!
We did a little shopping and I picked up a picture that was on sale. It spells out FAITH and it is made up of individual pictures of letters from different places....confusing huh?! It's black and white: the F is from garage doors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the A is from a downtown storefront sign in Chicago, Illinois, the I is from a downtown building in New York City, New York, the T is from a campus building at the Ohio State University, and the H is from a steel structure in New York City, New York. I'll see if I can get a picture of it. It's given me another direction thkat I want to try with my pictures too. I know that you can buy the divided frames and I could take pictures of letters on signs and things around here and make them say whatever I want. Hmmm maybe even Christmas gifts for next year! Now if I can remember it for that long!

Happy New Year and Pictures

Happy New Year!!!
I feel so distant not blogging and reading all of your blogs!! These last two weeks have been a whirlwind! K's family was up for a visit. It was a short visit and we had alot of fun! They left Tuesday morning and we have been cleaning up, doing laundry, and catching up on some other projects since they left.
We didn't do anything exciting New Years Eve, I had chills all day and I crashed on the couch, waking up just in time to see the New Year in. New Years Day we went and played some games with some friends. They got Rock Band for the Wii and we took Apples to Apples along and played Liverpool Rummy before heading home around 10:30.

I've spent the day today getting my daycare forms organized for the new year and closing things out for 2008. One more check and I can formally finish things up.

I've taken alot of pictures, so I will stop rambling and post them for you

Casey (white Shih tzu) and Teddy (brown miniature poodle) outside on the front sidewalk

A picture I like of the trees next door.
A look down the block
K out shoveling

Our Christmas tree-a blue and white theme with some silver in for good measure

Looking down the front walk
Christmas tree snack-they loved them!

Miss A running down the path to the backyard
The swingset
Rosettes
K's Christmas gift from me

The Precious Moments that I got from PM and C. This year they gave me the one playing the triangle and the little boy with the bear
following the snowplow on the way to K's family Christmas
My sister in law S and I on the way to the family Christmas
My brother in law K, sister in law D, and brother in law B
K with the shot gun lighter he got from his brother B1 and sister in law D1
More yarn I bought with Christmas money. I'm making this one into a scarf for myself. It's nice and soft.
More yarn that I bought. Michaels had a sale!
The last of the yarn that I bought

This is where they put some of the snow that they clear from the streets and things in town
another shot

Driving down the road
K standing beside a snow pile at church

and climbing to the top
The lake just outside of town
Driving away from the lake
the Turkey river outside of town

Driving down another road
Icy road
Another spot where they pile the snow from the town roads and things