Blankets and Plays

Baby blanket number one
Baby blanket number two

There are the pictures I promised of the blankets that I finished on Saturday. I finished them just before we left to go to the play.

The play was ok that night. A few of the kids messed up their songs, a few had random, awkward pauses, and a few made up their own lines as they went along when they couldn't remember what to say. They all did very well considering they didn't have alot of time in practice and it was Shakespere. We went out to Pizza Hut with our friends afterwards and J was pretty upset that he had messed up his lines. I told him he did very well, at least he said something rather than standing there staring at the others on stage. The whole cast and J and his female lead in the play!

Sunday went very quickly! We had alot of fun in Sunday School, I only had two boys. I didn't end up going to the homeschool concert with K, C called and asked if I wanted to go to the musical with her again. K said I should go, so he dropped me off as he was headed out to church for the music program. They did ALOT better that time! I can really only remember a few mistakes. They all seemed alot happier afterwards too!

I've been trying to catch up today with the things I didn't get done Saturday. I'm working on laundry and I plan on printing cards tonight. Maybe I'll get some knitting done during Jon & Kate plus 8. Their wedding in Hawaii is showing tonight, I can't wait to see it! I know I'm additcted to that show! That's really all the tv I watch, other than a bit with the daycare kids.
I've made a little progress with the current scarf I am knitting. It is a thinner yarn, and the little "poofs" are making it a bit more difficult to work with, but I knit every chance I get on it, even if it is just one row. I can't wait to finish it! I will have a difficult time deciding which scarf to knit next!

Sunday craziness!

I got most of my projects done yesterday, not quite all of them, but I didn't do too badly. Today looks like it will be a busy day again too. I forgot that we have choir practice after church this morning, and with the homeschool music program that K is doing sound for at 2 we will probably run out and grab some lunch, change, and head right back to the church. After the program we will have to clean up a bit and then be ready for our evening service. I plan on taking my camera with me, so maybe I will have some more pictures to share. I did get pictures of the fleece blankets that I made yesterday and I will post them tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great day and you are able to relax and you are warmer than our 29 degrees this morning!

Procrastination, my best friend!

I have a list of things to get done today, but here I am again, procrastinating!
I have gotten the house cleaned and the laundry started, but I still have Sunday School to do, PowerPoint for the evening service, fleece tie blankets to make, cards to print, a few songs to transfer over to the church's laptop so they can be used for Awana and Sunday School. And we are going to the play tonight. I would love to have some time to knit today yet too, but we'll see!
K just came and asked me if I want to run up town with him too, and of course I said yes! It's just running a few errands, we won't be gone long, but just one more thing to add to the day:)!

You Are 70% Hyper

You have a high amount of energy, but you're not manic about it. You live a busy, full, and productive life. You enjoy all sorts of activities, and you approach most tasks with enthusiasm. You are also naturally social. You have plenty of time and resources to devote to friends. While you are quite hyper, you do understand the importance of rest. It's difficult to get yourself to slow down, but when you do, you enjoy it.

How Hyper Are You?

You Are a Tree

You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

Day off slacking and new babies!!

I didn't do much of anything today. I ended up with the day off and the most that I accomplished was PowerPoint for Sunday morning and putting some new Christmasy and a couple other fun ringtones on my phone. I hope to get Sunday School done, but that is going to depend on whether or not we go over PowerPoint with PM tonight. Otherwise we will have to go over it tomorrow night after the play. PM and C's son is in the high school play again. He has a leading part from what I understand too! It is tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. We decided to go tomorrow night, Sunday afternoon K is doing sound for the homsechool group's music concert so that wouldn't work, and we were figuring that tomorrow they would have all of the "opening night jitters" and "bugs" worked out.
We also got news that a friend of ours had her baby this morning! I've seen some pictures on Facebook and he is adorable! And his cheeks! I love those chubby baby cheeks, just have to kiss them! Can't wait to see them! Which also means that I have another project, actually two because another family from our church recently had a baby..., I am making them those fleece tie, no sew blankets. Hopefully I can get both of them done while K is at work tomorrow!

Yarn, it's everywhere, it's everywhere!

It looks like an ordinary, every day, plain sort of tote doesn't it?

But take the lid off and you can see my many treasures waiting to be knitted up!

Two skeins Earth and Sky Red Heart Super Saver... I really like these colors together!

Three skeins Cher 4 No Boundaries Yarn...love this one! My Mother in Law crocheted me a scarf out of this one, I can't wait to knit with it!

Partial skein of White Red Heart Super Saver, used for C's scarf

Two skeins Lime Blue Lion Brand Lion Boulce

Two skeins Boogie Blue Bernat Disco

Two skeins Bluesy Red Heart Foxy

Two skeins Fiji Lion Brand Fun Fur

Two skeins Indigo Lion Brand Fun Fur

Two skeins of Mexicana Lion Brand Fun Fur...another one that will match my good winter coat

Two skeins of Mango Lion Brand Fun Fur....this will go very well with my good winter coat

Two skeins of Hawaii Lion Brand Fun Fur...Think tropical haha, this will pick up the orange in my good winter coat too

Two skeins of Nancy 3 No Boundaries Yarn, nice and soft and fluffy! I may switch this out with a pink Baby Lash down further for a scarf yet, just not sure....

Two skeins Confetti Lion Brand Fun Fur

Two skeins Tropical Turquoise Lion Brand Fancy Fur

Two skeins Circus Bernat Softee Chunky for a nice warm scarf

Two skeins Rainbow Lion Brand Fun Fur

Two skeins Stella 29 No Boundaries yarn for a fun scarf

Two skeins of Bright Yellow Lion Brand Fun Fur hmmm maybe I'll put this with some black to make an Iowa Hawkeye scarf for me

Bikini Red Heart Super Saver for a bright scarf

Two skeins each of Precious Pink Bernat Baby Lash and Black Caron Simply Soft to knit together for a nice scarf

?, Gumdrop, Sea Mist, and Faded Denim Peaches & Creme 100% Cotton yarn for dishcloths

Mango Caron Simply Soft was supposed to be a scarf for a friend but not so sure that will happen now...long story

Two skeins of Blueberry Pie Red Heart Super Saver was supposed to be something for my Mom, what exactly I couldn't tell you now...

Buff Red Heart Fiesta started out as something, what I don't remember, but I'm sure it will be used for something...I do like the color

Spring Green Lion Brand Homespun, will make a nice scarf

Delft Blue Red Heart Super Saver I think this will be used with a white fun fur to make another school color scarf.

Red, White, and Sapphire Lion Brand Fun Fur. I was thinking of doing a red, white, and blue scarf with these.

Bright Blue Lion Brand Fun Fur...seems to be an extra. I'll probably do something school colors with this one, but I'll need to buy more to do anything with it!:)

So we learn two things from this little experience...we can definately tell what my favorite color is (blue if you really couldn't guess!) and that I really have lost my mind! I bought most of my yarn on sale, so I haven't spent a ton on it. I will definately have enough to keep me busy this winter without buying any more yarn! And of course we haven't even discussed the cross stitch projects yet! I really am crazy!

Knitting!

I really need to blog first thing in the morning or else I forget! And I have been very bad and still haven't gotten the pictures of my knitting! I gave the scarf that I knitted for C to her last night at Awana, but I have one I made for myself out of the same yarn combinations, so I will post a picture of that one. I even started another one for myself after I finished C's yesterday! This yarn is a bit more difficult to work with, but I am loving the end result. I have two skeins of it, I just hope that they are enough to make a good sized scarf! I misjudged once before and ended up with a rather short scarf, but I do use because I love the yarn and it matches my every day winter jacket!
I earned my award for completing my first Discovery in my book in Awana last night. I got to go up with one of my girls who completed her eigth Discovery, she thought that was pretty cool! I also passed three more sections, and next week I should finish the rest of the sections in the second Discovery and receive my award in two weeks. The girls think it's quite funny to have me say sections to them and they get to sign my book!
Well, in closing here are the pictures I promised....

This is my scarf, like the one I knitted for C. Hers is a bit more narrow than mine is. I used a bright blue fun fur and a "regular" white yarn. These are our school colors.

This is another one done in our school colors that I knitted for myself. This one is made of blue and white fun fur.

This scarf I knitted using a fun fur type of yarn. It was black fun fur with a bit of extra blueish "fun" to it.

This is the short scarf that goes with my every day winter coat. I love all the different colors in the yarn and the different texture that it has!


This is the scarf I knitted for K and finished on Saturday. He requested the Iowa Hawkeye colors and wanted something nice and wide so he could cover his face when he was out using the snowblower. It has a couple of issues, but he was happy with it, so that's all that matters.
And last but not least, the new scarf I started. You can't really tell in this picture, but this yarn has a bit of a shimmeryness to it. It also has extra little "tufts" every so often along the yarn too. I can't wait to finish this one!
I'm pretty sure I have some pictures of other scarves that I have knitted for others for gifts, I will see if I can look them up for another post, and I will have to take a picture of all the yarn that I have just waiting to be knitted up into scarves. I also have some yarn waiting to be knitted into dishcloths and some waiting to be knitted into a poncho.


Edited to add: Click on the pictures to make them bigger

Forgetful!

Ahhh I almost forgot to write today!!! For some reason I kept thinking that I had already stopped in and wrote a post for today. I think I'm loosing my mind! I spent last night cleaning the house and doing the last of the laundry. I ended up pulling out the little bit of the scarf for C that I had started and decresed it by five stitches. It just looked too wide. I haven't gotten any pictures yet, schedules got a bit crazy with kids yesterday in the afternoon and this morning as well, but I will get them later tonight or tomorrow.
Now I'm waiting for little A to leave so we can run to church and drop off some papers for PM and then get to the Dollar Store (another thing that didn't get accomplished yesterday!) K's meeting for tonight was cancelled so we're trying to decide what to do with the rest of our evening; if we should work on a couple projects we have for other people, or if we should just hide!

Ok I blew it already...I forgot to add the rules that go along with my award and to nominate others so here it goes!
Here are the Rules:1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.2. Link the person from whom you received your award.3. Nominate at least seven other blogs4. Put links of those blogs on yours, and5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated

I nominate Holli at Baby-Faith, Angie at Bring the Rain, Erin at callie and avery, Nate at Confessions Of A CF Husband, pandks mommy at girls 2 boys 0, Organized Chaos, and Steffie B. at ~Never Too Many~

I got an award!

I got an award! Patty, whose blog is Little Miss Sunshine gave me the "I love your blog" award! I've never gotten an award for my blog! Thank you Patty!!!

Today is a catch up day. I have lots of laundry to do, cards to make, the house to clean, all sorts of fun things! I have gotten a bit of laundry done, but it's more fun to sit here and get caught up on everyones blogs!

I only have one kiddo today, and I will be done about 4! I need to go and get some things for my Awana girls at the Dollar Store after that and then I'm going to crash on the couch and watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight! I love that show! K just laughs at me and says "You watch kids all day and then you sit and watch them on tv!"

Well, I suppose, the laundry isn't putting itself away. I will try to get some pictures of the scarf that I knitted for K and the small amount of progress I've made on the new scarf and post them later today or tomorrow.

Crazy cold weekend!

Today was another crazy day! We had choir practice after church, our choir leader picked a hard song this time...and with the two practices we get before we sing this is going to be a very difficult thing! We went to dinner at my Mom and Dad's and then it was off again shortly after lunch to get PowerPoint from PM and get that done, and we had an Awana Leaders' Meeting that ended just before the evening church service started! We need to call K's parents and then I can go to bed!
I haven't kept up on blogs or comments this weekend, tomorrow is a slow day and I will catch up. I feel like I am missing so much!
I hope that you all had a great weekend and you are warmer than I am! Right now it's a whole 25 degrees!

Ladies Day Away!

Today was Ladies Day Away at church from 9-4. We had fresh baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast and soups and salads for lunch. I got most of the scarf done that I am knitting for K. It was wonderful to sit and visit with the other ladies while they were working, and to see what they are working on. We had a great day!
I hope to finish knitting the scarf for K tonight and start on one for C, possibly for Christmas. I haven't decided if I should save it for Christmas or just give it to her. I am going to make one for her with a white "regular" yarn and a blue fun fur. (Our school's colors) for her to wear to the boys' ballgames. We'll see how long it takes me to knit up!
I have a counted cross stitch project to work on too, but knitting is going much faster and it's alot more fun when the product is wearable! I have a few scarves that I plan to make for myself too (I have a whole tote of yarn just waiting to be used!).
Now I just have to tear myself away from the knitting to get my Sunday School done!!!

More pictures!

MeMore pictures today. Here are a couple of me that K took last night. I wrote earlier that I would post some of the new haircut, and I finally got him to take some for me. If I take the pictures myself I always end up with some strange look on my face, and I figured you all think I'm strange enough after yesterday's pictures of weird hair you probably think I'm strange enough!

And here is what I woke up to this morning!

It has started to melt off a bit now, but this is what we are going to be sitting in to watch the football game tonight! I think we're crazy! But they are trying to make it to the state finals, so it is definately a game we don't want to miss!

Awana!!

It's not the greatest picture, but here are K and I at weird hair night at Awana last night. CB was taking the picture and he was having trouble with my camera, so this is the best we got. The biggest deal for the kids on Weird Hair night is to beat K! He is a big kid and really gets into these nights! And by the time I had gotten my wig on and made it to church almost all of the blue had come out of the wig! There was a little bit left in, but not a whole lot.
Some of us (leaders) have started memorizing the verses and saying sections right along with the clubbers. I am one who has started to do this, when it is possible I say the sections to my girls, but when it isn't I have said them to a couple of other leaders. I passed my Start Zone on October 15 and last night I passed my first Discovery and next week I will go up front with one of my girls to get our awards. It's been alot of fun and it has motivated a couple of the girls to get going in their sections. It's been funny to hear them saying to each other, things like Oh, she's catching up with you, you had better get working!
I have also had a couple experiences with the girls this year that have given me goosebumps! One was a few weeks ago when one of the new girls had finished her Start Zone and in the last section the kids are asked to explain to their leader in their own words what it means to accept Christ as their Savior. This girl honestly and truly had no idea! I felt so honored to be able to sit with her and to tell her how much God loves her! She was listening intently and has continued to work hard and keep memorizing Scripture and passing her sections! I am praying that through this she would come to have a personal knowledge of Him and come to know Him as her personal Lord and Savior!
The other was last night. We have one girl who has some disabilities. I have found that if I read what she is to memorize with her a few times she picks it up very quickly, and last night she was able to pass two sections! She has never passed more than one a night that I know of, and usually it still takes her a couple weeks to pass that one, especially if it is a long one like memorizing the books of the Old Testament. After she passed the two sections last night I told her how proud I was of her and she looks at me with this smile and told me a couple times that she was proud of herself too, and she brought tears to my eyes as she looked at me and told me that she felt "powerful"!
It is so wonderful to see the Lord working in these girls' lives!

Tired

Not a whole lot to say today. Just hanging out with the kids and getting ready for weird hair night at Awana tonight. We went to Wal Mart last night and I found a long gray wig that I am going to wear, and we bought some of that spray in hair color to use on it. We picked blue(for our school colors of course!) I wish we would have gotten two cans, it looks slightly blue now, just not as bright as I would have liked it to be.
Looks like it is going to be a rainy day today. It would be nice if it rained today and then was nice for the game on Friday....I've heard that we may be in for that four letter s type of precipitation word on Friday too. I can't believe that we are talking about that already. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to June!

Of football and voting!

The boys won the football game last night! It was 21-10!! They had a great game! The only not so great thing was the guy sitting behind me, who I strongly suspect was a bit tipsy. He yelled in my ear for the whole game. Couple that with the drums right in front of us and that equals one big headache at the end of the game for me! It was well worth it though, to see those boys play like they did and win the game! The team we played is known for playing "dirty" so we weren't quite sure how the game would turn out.
Now we go to another game on Friday night. They beat us badly the last time we played them, we didn't even make it on the score board, so we are a bit nervous, and they have home field advantage. I've also heard that it is supposed to be pretty cold on Friday night, I'm really not looking forward to freezing either!
I don't know if I will have piano lessons tonight, I haven't gotten the music that I am supposed to be practicing yet. Already planning Christmas music, it just doesn't seem like it should be that time yet!
We are going to vote after the kiddos leave around 5 tonight. It's my one late night this week. I'm not going to tell you who I think you should vote for, or start a big debate, or anything like that, all I am going to ask is that you please go vote!

Here I am again!

So here I am posting for the third time in three days for the NaBloPoMo challenge...so far so good. I think this was a very good thing to get me back into posting more often....

Anywho.....looking forward to the football game tonight. Our boys are in the post season now, trying to make it to the state championships. Don't know how well we will do tonight, I don't know how good of a team we are playing, I'm just excited to go! And even more thankful to have that new family end up not starting with daycare after all. I was talking to PM last night and we started talking about basketball season coming up soon, and with three of their boys playing basketball I know it will be very nice to get off earlier! I know I had a whole post about it yesterday, but it is a huge weight off my shoulders! I am enjoying this schedule and the kids I have now!
Tomorrow we go to vote, Wednesday is Awana (weird hair night), Thursday is Bible Study, and who knows what the weekend will bring. The social committee at church is hosting a Ladies Day Away on Saturday where they will have fresh cinnamon rolls for breakfast, salads for lunch, and a full day of crafting and socializing. Not sure if I will go yet or not, it depends on how much I can get done this week and how I feel. K has to work until 11, so maybe I will go for part of the day or something like that. The sign up sheet that they had out is full, it looks like it will be alot of fun.
Well, off to put some laundry away and do some other fun house cleaning and organizing. Have a great day all!

Thankful!

I got news today that the family I thought would be starting daycare tomorrow went with another provider, a friend of mine. I actually used to work for her before and just after I was married. I feel bad in a way because the extra money would have been nice with Christmas coming especially, but K is picking up some overtime and any chance I get I take the kids or keep them longer if the families I have now need it. I feel pretty relieved in a way though, I wasn't looking forward to the 5:30 pick up time, and especially with winter coming it could get later and later. Basketball season is coming and with the schedule we have now it will be very easy for me to get the kids out the door and head to the ballgame. I'm quite excited about that! If a family with a workable schedule came I think I would take them in, but no more 5:30s for me, K agreed after this fell through that he wasn't looking forward to that either. Yay! God is so good, He works in all the little details! In calling to try to find a ride for her older daughter to get here after school she found that one of the girls' former providers had two openings and her husband would pick the older daughter up after school. Less hassle for me and I get to keep my early off time! Yay! Can you tell I'm excited ha!

Frustrated.

So here it is the first of November and the beginning of NaBloPoMo...I still am not sure what I will find to talk about for the entire month, but I do have something to, I guess the right word would be vent, about today.
Last night we had practice for the Worship Team and then a group of us went bowling, we really don't "do" Halloween, but that's a whole other story.....
So, this week I wasn't singing with the Worship Team, we are trying to rotate some and get some new people involved. Great idea, no big deal to me, I enjoy alot of my typing and more "secretarial" stuff just as much or more, I'm just happy to be involved. The problem came when the two ladies who were singing started quietly discussing something between themselves and then started making a few comments to me....I have no problem running up the few stairs to the fellowship hall to the copier to make a few copies, or to run back to the computer at the back of the auditorium to make a change in what will be shown on the screen, or answer the phone, talk to someone who has just come in the door, etc, etc, etc, but these ladies were discussing all this that I was doing. It started out just between them, but then they started asking me how many trips I made back and forth, or there she goes again, look at her go, and discussing between themselves how "strange" it was that I was so submissive, I guess is the word for it, and how whatever PM asked I would just run and take care of. I think one of them may have even used the word obedient or something like that. They made it seem like I was doing something wrong.
Now PM is not the only person I do this for, I do the same for my husband, for CB in Awana, for anyone who needs the help really. I've volunteered to burn pictures that I have taken onto a cd for a friend who would like to make a scrapbook for her kids for Christmas, I've volunteered to help our Awana storekeeper with the graphics for the bags she is having made for the clubbers Christmas gifts, if there is a way I can help, I am glad to do it! I have even burned copies of choir music to cds for choir members for one of these ladies multiple times!
These two ladies made me feel like there was something wrong with what I was doing. They made me feel uncomfortable to know that they were just standing there talking about me quietly right in front of me, and including me in with these little comments occasionally. It bothered me to be made to feel like I was being looked down upon. Honestly, this is why I have a difficult time getting along with other women; this is why two of my three best friends are men. (Ok, so one is my husband, but he still counts, right;))
Aren't we called to be servants as Christians? Is it because I am a woman with this attitude? Why is it so strange to other Christians for me to serve in this way? I'm not being forced to do this, honestly I enjoy it! I like being involved, I like helping/serving, I can't get out alot and go to lunch with people like I would like to, or go to visit, or do nursing home services as much as I would like, I feel that this is one way that I am able to serve God, to use my skills for Him.
Don't get me wrong, I am not treated like a doormat, in fact quite the opposite. In most cases I am told how much my work is appreciated (nice to hear even though it's not needed) and in most cases I am asked if I am able/willing to do whatever it is, not just expected. We all have different skills and abilities and we should all be working together, putting them all to use, for the furtherance of the Gospel, shouldn't we???
I have been reading a book lately and my experience last night and conversations with K about it this morning have gotten me to want to read more now, the book is Men And Women Equal Yet Different A Brief Study of the Biblical Passages on Gender by Alexander Strauch. PM has been teaching from the book of I Timothy lately and the subject of gender differences, feminism, etc has come up and this is one of the books that he recommended, and he let me borrow his copy. I haven't gotten too far yet, but especially now, am ready to really get into it.
I don't know, maybe I just have to develop a "thicker skin", but with what has been discussed Sunday mornings and having similar things brought up to me at one other point this really just hit a nerve. Maybe I'm just too sensitive.

Trying again.

I know I haven't posted alot lately. I feel like I'm boring and all I post is the same thing over and over again. Jen's push to post with NaBloPoMo is a very good thing to get me back into writing.
So what's new around here? Well, I cut my hair. The girl that has done my hair for a long time is no longer there so I had to find someone else. I have been trying out different places and I think I have finally found the place to stick with. I went in having no idea what to do with my hair and I came out with a cute style, if it cooperates hahaha! I have natural curl and it some times has a mind of its own and does not do what I want it to. This morning was one of those mornings, so I just pulled it back into a headband. But, I found out that I have the day off today so I am going to head upstairs and see if I rewash it if I can't get it to do what I want it to. If it works, I'll get a picture.
Sooo....I'm off for now, if everything goes well, I will post again in a bit.
Laters.

Ok, so Jen over at Following the Footsteps twisted my arm to get me to participate, so here it is. I'll give it a good try. I really have no idea what I will talk about, but I'll give it a good try.

New schedule, exciting week!

I am really enjoying this new school schedule. Right now I have one child, and I will have one child tomorrow with Friday off. Next week will be pretty slow as one Mom and Dad are off to Florida and Grandpas and Grandmas are trading off watching the kids. I am here as needed, but the one Grandma wants to spend the time with them and so I may not see much of them at all.
The first football game of the season is Friday night. I am excited! Two of M and C's boys will be playing and we plan to pick up our activity tickets this year since we go to so many games. C will have his first 9th grade game and J will have his first Varsity game. I'm not sure, but he may be starting. I will definately have my camera and take LOTS of pictures!
Tonight is our first Awana night. We are having our picnic in the park. Maybe. It has been sprinkling off and on all day. I plan to have my camera ready and take LOTS of pictures there too. I have become the Awana paparazzi. I take tons of pictures and K puts them in a slide show at the end of the year so the parents can see what we have done and the kids get to see themselves on the "big screen".
I am in the middle of touching up the pictures I took of the outdoor service/baptism/back to school picnic I took with Photoshop. I still have pictures of the youth group's drama to download and touch up, and get the prints of the outdoor service to make up my poster for church. I am going to need this extra free time!
I'm also hoping to get some more reading done, and som knitting and cross stitch. Things that I have not been able to keep up with much with the crazy schedule that I have had for the last year! I am definately going to enjoy not being so stressed when it comes time to leave for away games and things like that. The family that left was constantly running late so I could never count on them being gone when I needed them to be to leave making life pretty stressful there for a while. Even if I gave them an earlier time giving them a bit of a cushioin thinking then I could be on time they would be late and we would just make it or be a bit late for things. With the days off I am getting these next couple of weeks I plan to go and visit some family that live about an hour away, but I don't get to see unless they come up here with my schedule and tomorrow C and I are trying to find a time to get together and do highlights in my hair (I work 10-2). Monday night B came and cut my hair, she went a bit shorter than I would have liked, but it will grow.....so if it doesn't look too bad I will try to post some pictures.

Another song from Bart Millard from his new Hymned Again album! I LOVE this album!

Just for fun

My creation
Originally uploaded by H3IdI

I found this when I was checking out a new blog and I thought it was fun. Here are the instructions if you would like to try it too.

1. type your answer to each of the questions below into flickr search.2. using only the first page of results, pick one image.3. copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into big huge lab’s mosaic maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.the questions:1. what is your first name?2. what is your favorite food? right now?3. what high school did you go to?4. what is your favorite color?5. who is your celebrity crush?6. what is your favorite drink?7. what is your dream vacation?8. what is your favorite dessert?9. what do you want to be when you grow up?10. what do you love most in life?11. what is one word that describes you?12. what is your flickr name?

School year excitement!

I have definately come out of my funk haha! The last couple of days have been really productive days! I am loving having fewer kids and the time to relax and have fun with them! Yesterday I had two typing jobs to do for PM and an email to send out. I got the typing jobs drafted up and over to PM for him to check out and back home to make the changes he wanted. I just have to take them tonight to make copies for the meeting tonight that he needed them for.
Today I have taken down the alphabet wall that we did last school year with the kids. I also took down the little shelf with beanie babies and teddy bears that I had on that wall and got the pocket chart ready with a small border sheet of colors and one that has ABC and 123. I took some of the lined sheets that I got to put in the pocket chart and wrote my name and K's name and all the kids names and got them ready to put in too. I'll wait a week or so to put them in since I didn't write the names of the two that are leaving and don't want any hurt feelings.....
I also decided that I am going to start the kids with learning colors this fall. Then we can move on to numbers and letters if there is time. It will be a good start for the little ones who aren't preschool age and a good place to just get the preschoolers into sitting and doing worksheets and things at our house. I'm so excited! Almost like having my own little school!

Victory

I LOVE this! I preordered and just got my copy of Hymned Again in the mail today!! I haven't listened to the whole cd yet, but that is my plan tonight while I get my zone therapy treatment done on my feet!

Feeling better

Well, I have found my way out of my funk. Actually this weekend went very well. I got to spend some time with some friends and things are more comfortable in some cases and I was able to talk about one situation with another friend and now I feel better about some decisions that I made. I believed that I had made the right decisions, but it always helps to have someone back you up, you know?
Today is my last summer day with the kids, it's back to school tomorrow. My numbers will be alot smaller, I lose one family and in the other two families one or two of the kids go to school so I drop quite a bit. I am not ready to go looking for other families though, on no school days I could still end up with quite a few kids. If the right family came to me, I might take them though,and a couple of people know that and are keeping their eyes and ears open for me.
K just went out golfing with one of our friends and his son, and for me I have two hours of kids left and then it is off to fold and put away laundry and print some cards up, and maybe if I feel really productive tonight work on the pictures for the poster/slideshow of our outdoor service/baptism/back to school picnic.
Thanks Jen for the comment you left, it was nice to know that someone was reading and cared and understood! Hope you are feeling much better too!

Just me venting

I don't really know why but I am in a bit of a funk today. I'm tired, which doesn't help, but it is not the sole cause if it. I can't really pinpoint anything that I could say triggered it, but it started late last night and has continued into the morning today. I really hope that it gets better as the day goes on.
It also doesn't help that my ear hurts. It's an odd feeling, not a throbbing necessarily, but not a constant pain either. Every once in a while I feel a pain like someone is stabbing something into my ear. Yesterday it was the right ear and today it is the left. Ibuprofen seemed to help yesterday, I'll have to find some again this morning.
It's rainy looking outside today too. Not terribly dark, just cloudy and rainy looking, fits my mood I guess.
I know it sounds corny at 30 to be saying this, but I am sorting/finding things out about friends lately. True friends vs people who are just there to use you and/or move on when something better comes along. I did have a very good talk with one friend who was supposed to be like a sister and then took off and changed her personality quite drastically when a new girl moved into town, but things still just aren't the same between us. Things are strained between my bf and I, I just don't know where I stand, if they think the same of me or if something has changed, I know they have family issues so it could be more of that but just with my funk things are more magnified you know?
The kids are playing nicely, I ended up with a group of older kiddies today too, so they are pretty self sufficient, so I think I am going to try to go and spend some time reading my Bible and some time in prayer during naptime and hopefully I can bring myself out of this funk.
I appreciate it if you spent the time reading all of my blabbering and hope that you all are having a much happier and wonderful day!

I know I haven't written again for a while, not alot goes on here really and who wants to come and read the same thing over and over again. I did get to go on a little road trip last night. It was the perfect day for it because I had a houseful of kids who were grumpy and I was starting to get grumpy! I went with a friend to drop off her son at another friend's house so he could get in a weeks worth of detasseling work. It was an hour drive one way and we just generally chit chatted on the way there, but on the way home we had some really good talks. I am ever so thankful for these sweet friends. They have taught me so much and I can never thank them enough for all that they have done for me.
We had VBS last week. Nine kids made decisons for Christ. It was a great week! We had great helpers and a great group of kids! One night we had 85 kids! And 24 of them were preschool/kindergarten age! Our missions project for the week was to use our offering to help the school in Parkersburg after it was destroyed in the tornado. We sent them over three thousand dollars! It was wonderful! They kid really focused on that and they were excited to win the individual prizes but they were most excited to hear the grand total that they were able to send to help other kids!

You are gentle, caring, quiet, dutiful, neat, dependable, modest, unassuming, and humble. You can be counted on to make sure everything is in its place, that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and all the supplies have been secured.
You prefer to work behind the scenes, driven by a sense of obligation, often overworked for the benefit of others. You prefer tasks that are highly outlined, organized and practical. You fill your life with meaningful activities and schedule any down time. You enjoy helping any friend in need. You have a strong work ethic and can be critical of sloth, laziness and people who have possessions only through extreme indebtedness. All you’d like in return for all of your hard work is recognition and gratitude, neither of which you receive nearly in proportion to the effort and time you exert.
One of your greatest strengths is supporting family or group activities. Your contribution of cooking, cleaning, fixing or constructing is an expression of your love and loyalty to everyone present, and such labor is truly a pleasure for you to fulfill.


You were a model child. Relatively neat, sweet and conscientious, you were the child that every parent thinks they’re going to have. You may have openly disagreed or rebelled but if so it was short-lived and harmless and you were quick to accept the judgment of your parents along with any punishment they deemed reasonable.

Parenting, for you, is a lifetime commitment. You are protective, supportive and patient, often putting your children’s needs before your own.
You prefer not to make waves or attract too much individual attention. You go by the book and are suspicious of anyone suggesting that tried and true established methods should be revised or ignored.
You have a strong appreciation for antiques, traditions and heirlooms. You have a natural appreciation for and connection with your past and the people in your family tree. You find special joy in guarding old family artifacts regardless of their monetary value.
You put a lot of energy into maintaining your home. You keep things tidy, visually appealing and in working condition. You make sure your home is always well stocked with food and supplies. You take better care of your possessions than most types, cleaning, oiling, maintaining things so that they will always be nice, maintain their value, and function when needed. You want things to be sturdy and may replace something which isn’t broken if, after acquiring it, you realize that it’s of the new, shabbier quality.
You may or may not be a pessimist, but your speech is laced with reminders to realistically expect problems to arise. You are aware of the general dangers of living and are conscious of the fact that other people don’t heed your warnings as often as they should. You are also the first to point out to someone who seems surprised that they should’ve known that setbacks would occur.
In a marriage you are helpful and supportive of your spouse. You enjoy working on tasks together, or working on your specialties at the same time (one cooks while the other fixes the plumbing). As a parent you do all you can to ensure that your children are well behaved and hard working.

http://www.perex.com/index.php

Take the Quiz here!

I survived the inlaws visit. Things were a bit tense at times, but I had some good friends and my wonderful hubby to help me out! Saturday he left me with the house to myself! His parents went out to the fair to see his oldest brothers kiddos in the kiddie tractor pull and he took his youngest brother out shooting. I got quite a bit done, and just enjoyed the quiet! It was wonderful!
Yesterday was sort of a slow, blah day. I had seven kids to start with and then one of the Moms was sent home early so by naptime I was down to four. I put some laundry away and got caught up on some more. After the kids left we went out for a little drive and a little bike ride. After that we just crashed on the couch and watched tv. Exciting times lol!
Today has started out well, one of the Moms was told that she didn't have to come in, at least for the first four hours, she may have to go in later, or she may not have to go in at all. I got some more laundry done and I am getting ready to do some painting on the shelf for the kids artwork that I have been working on. I'll post some pictures when it's finished. I really need to post some pictures, I've said I would in other posts just haven't gotten around to it.

Places I've been

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

A little vent....

Well, I haven't gotten to post as much as I would have liked lately, but my days have been filled with chasing kids and getting ready for the inlaws to descend on the house. Yeah. For most people that is no problem, but for me it will be loads of "fun". I was very thankful when K told me that he took tomorrow off. Once upon a time my mil and I got along, now it's another story. I really don't even know why things changed for sure, my guess is that it's because we stayed here when our plan was to move with them....until the candidating for churches was taking six to eight months and we still had no answers as to when or where we would be moving. We prayed about it, and talked about it, and as soon as we had an offer accepted on this house the inlaws got their church. K and I see it as a sign from God, that we were not supposed to move, that we were supposed to stay here. And I am VERY thankful that we did, I now have some WONDERFUL friends and have had some TREMENDOUS blessings and can not imagine my life without them!!!! I just wish that she could see it that way. Ever since she has been very vocal about just what I am doing wrong in my job and my marriage, how I should be cooking this or that from scratch, how I should be able to give my husband his haircuts like she does, how I should be sewing these curtains, like she is so disappointed that I am not the ultimate home maker like she is. And when K is proud of something that I have accomplished and tells her about it she always runs right into, well your sister did this one better, or one of your brothers has done that even better, I don't know if she means to or not, but it really hurts my feelings. I am getting better, with the help of my two best friends, to just let those things roll off my back and move on, and K has gotten a better understanding of just exactly how I feel so he has been my rock and given me alot of support too so I do really feel blessed, I just wish that things were better between my mil and I.

Heartbroken

Having a hard time getting through the day today. One of our Awana clubbers, eight years old, was killed in a tractor accident last night. It sounds like the kids (there are three in the family)were playing hide and seek and the little guy hid in the machine shed and Dad ran over him with the tractor. Please pray for this family during this difficult time.

Water, water, everywhere!

In my last post I wrote about how we had done a project for our good friend and Pastor with his wife. Well yesterday we got to do a project with him while his wife is away. Although, the project that I wrote about in my last post was much more fun....
The weekend started out quite normally, we were up late Friday night so we slept in and we decided that we were going to go and have lunch with my Mom for her birthday and spend the afternoon with them and go to a neighbor's graduation open house together. We had gotten some rain off and on throughout the day, just before the open house it had rained quite hard for a while but let up in time to go and visit for a bit. It was in the back of all of our minds, how high the water must be getting in the rivers, K and I had just been out to the local lake and seen how high the water was getting there and we both wondered how high it was after the last week, but we still weren't prepared for Sunday.
It started to rain hard Sunday evening. B and I even ventured out in the rain to pick up another friend for music practice at church since she and her hubby weren't too thrilled at the thought of her out driving in the rain. We were surprised at how it was puddeling along the sides of the road, and how it seemed to be just pouring out of the sky.
There was a break in the storm and we looked out the church windows and saw a beautiful sunset. The sun was peeking under the storm clouds and in a hole in the clouds it there was a beautiful golden glow. We were all in awe of this spectacular show the Lord was giving us!
We awoke to more rain and storms during the night, again surprised at how strong this rain was and the claps of thunder. Our shih tzu woke me up a few times because he was afraid of the storm and the power went out at least once, maybe twice. We woke up late and had to hurry to get to church on time for Sunday School, and when we got there we met PM pulling a shop vac out of his van. Not a good sign. We had some issues with water in the basement at church before, but PM said that this was the worst ever. We planned to come back after church and work on clean up but we quickly found that it was more of a job than we were expecting. Water just came pouring back in as soon as we could get it cleaned up. We have gotten so much rain the water table is extremely high and water is coming in wherever it can. We have never had water in our basement and we had eight to ten inches Sunday afternoon. K and my Dad got a pump and emptied the basment out three or four times. They ran uptown to get a new pump (at first we were borrowing one from my Dad's work place) and in the half hour they were gone it filled up again. The lake in town was terribly flooded.
While we were cleaning up at church we got a call that PM's house now had water in the basement. They have a finished basement where the tv and the computer are so we hurried over there and spent hours trying to get ahead of the water with no end in sight. Finally about ten or so we quit for the night and have plans to go back and clean up the at least three inches that are standing on the floor now. There are stories from all over the area of water in basements that have never had water before, flooding, no power, and in some areas not being able to use the bathroom or drink the water. Thankfully the rain has stopped for now, but it sounds like we are in for more later in the week. Fun.

Well, here I am again. I really don't know where to start again, so I guess I will tell you about the big project that we had going on last week....
We have gotten to be good friends with our Pastor and his family, so much so, in fact, that we think of them more as family than friends. With K's family living nine hours away and my family living close in distance but not being that close bond wise it has been such a blessing to have them in our lives!
Well, our Pastor was going to be away for a week at a conference and then visiting some family and friends in that area, so his wife decided that it was the perfect time to remodel his office! K and I were all for it! Pastor has been working out of the living room of the old parsonage that sits beside the house and it was supposed to be cleaned and painted before he moved his office over there (it was in a small room behind the old kitchen in the church, but when they remodeled that he was moved over to the old parsonage). That cleaning and painting never got done, so we decided to do it now. We had a great time! The three of us got the painting and carpeting done as well as new outlet covers and K did some work with grounding the outlets, spray painted the furnace vents and hung pictures even with Pastor deciding to come home a day early! He was shocked when he saw what we had done, he just kept saying "Wow!" and just looked around in shock. I got his reaction on video too! It was great!
Now the unfortunate part is that he can't find some things, which has caused a bit of a wrinkle in planning for the wedding coming up this weekend, but he isn't too upset or worried about it, we just go to plan B.
If I can get everything to cooperate I will try to remember to post some pictures when I get them downloaded from my camera!

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I have written! Alot has gone one, real life caught up with me and last week I had a big project I was in on that was alot of fun. I have still been reading others blogs, just not posting on mine, and I saw that Jennifer from 2 Bee's Hive had started a new blog and was offering to "remodel" other people's blogs, so I left her a comment on her design blog, Jenieshell's Design Challenge~click on the button over to the right and it will take you to her blog~and after several emails this is what she came up with! I LOVE it! She has done quite a few blogs now and does a great job using your input and putting something together that suits you and the look you want for your blog. Go and check her out! Thank you so much for all of your hard work Jennifer! I really appreciate it!

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Literature Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Drama Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

This week has been one of those weeks that I really dislike doing childcare. The kids are crabby because they aren't able to play outside and their regular schedule is disrupted with all the late starts, early dismissals, and cancellations in school with the winter weather, I am cranky because I am cooped up with cranky kids all day and I can't get out of the house for the activities I would like to do and need so I can destress after my day, and I have a family who promised to catch up on their daycare bill this week who has not even mentioned payment to me, so I am forced to send a notice home that unless I receive a payment (not asking for the whole amount mind you, just a payment on the account)by drop off Monday morning that I will suspend childcare. I have NEVER had to do this before in all my years of childcare, but they are so far behind and after weeks, and actually months of empty promises to pay I can't take it any longer. I am just afraid that if/when I suspend childcare they are going to find someone else and I am going to have to eat a large loss. Calgon take me away!!!!!!!!

Holli stopped over and asked how I was doing with my goals and I realized how long it really had been since I had come in to post a blog entry! I have kept up pretty well with my goals. I wish I had done better with pictures, but I have still taken more than I have in a long time, which is keeping my goal, but there are still blocks of days where I don't take any pictures at all. Winter is not my friend. I just feel so uninspired. I'm working on it though.
As for my daily Bible reading I am doing wonderfully! I have read every day in January and so far every day for the month of February. At least one chapter,and some days two or more. I have also started reading a book that I started last year and never got very far in. It is Jesus Freaks by dc Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs. I am only in the introductions but quite a few things they have said have hit home.
The daycare kids have caused alot of fun and craziness around here....I'm just glad that all days are not like Monday was! The day started out pretty well, things just piled up to make it one long day. A couple of the families had Super Bowl parties so the kids were crankier than normal because they were up later than normal and one of my mild mannered boys threw temper tantrum after temper tantrum and was just unhappy in general. The baby was clingy and trying to get anything else done was not happening. I tried to empty the dishwasher one of my serving bowls was in the top shelf and when I opened the door and pulled the shelf out and it shattered into a million pieces. A couple of large pieces fell into the motor of the dishwasher and I had to wait for K to come home and get the pieces out so I could run it again leaving me with a sink full of dirty dishes from lunch. The kids got out of school early and I got two extra school agers and found out that they had not eaten lunch at school like they should have and scrambled to find them lunch, which they only picked at anyway. We had spaghetti for lunch and I just had the baby wearing his diaper because I knew he would be a mess and after getting the big kids cleaned up and watching a cartoon I took him upstairs to give him a bath quickly. The bath went well and he was quite happy splashing in the water and didn't fuss when I took him out of the tub. I wrapped him up in a towel and tucked him in my right arm to bring him back downstairs to dry him off and get him dressed and I pushed off of the toilet as I was getting up because my back has been bothering me a bit and when I did the toilet seat slid sideways breaking the hinge off and cutting my pinky finger in the process. I finally get a bit of a break during naptime and when the kids wake up the fusiness begins all over again with Miss A and when her Dad comes to get her and her brothers he picks her up and asks her what the problem is she proceeds to puke all over him three times! We get that cleaned up and the boys Dad comes to get them and tells me that there is a schedule change and I may have the boys the next day causing a conflit with the plan to drive to the basketball game in Waukon so we would have four wheel drive since the weather would be questionable but we could deal. Everyone leaves and Casey (the shih tzu) decides to puke up the entire contents of his stomach right behind my chair at the computer! I told K that I didn't care where we went but I was LEAVING THIS HOUSE BEFORE I GO COMPLETELY CRAZY! Things finally settled down and I ended up having no kids on Tuesday and got some more cleaning and sanitizing done and only working for a couple hours yesterday getting caught up on laundry and a few other projects that needed to be done. We had a make up basketball game last night so we delayed prayer meeting for a half an hour so we could watch one of the boys play. We have another game tonight. Saturday brings the tearing down of the old shed at church, Awana quizzing practice for a couple hours in the afternoon, meeting with PM to go over powerpoint sometime, and getting Sunday School done. Sunday we have church and then leaving quickly after that to go to another basketball tournament and we will miss the evening service. Basketball season is almost over but then something else will take the place of those games that we have been going to, guess I stay out of trouble that way!
Well, the animals at the zoo are calling so guess that's it for now. Hugs!