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!

I have decided not to make New Year's Resolutions per se, but to just set goals for 2008. I want to stay organized, to read at least one chapter of the Bible a day, and to take more pictures! If anyone is reading, feel free to leave a comment and ask me how I am doing with those goals to keep me accountable!

Forgive the date on that last post...I had started it on the 27th and finished it today and so it posted with the date of the 27th. That's what I get for procrastinating in my writing!

This Christmas was a different one for us. We spent the normal Christmas Eve with my family but that was about the only "normal" thing we did. Usually K's family comes up and stays with us and his oldest brother's house for a couple of weeks, but this year his Mom got a new job and couldn't get that much time off work. They were not able to be here for Christmas Day, so when we heard of the community dinner that a couple from church was putting on we decided that we would volunteer there. It was great! We had a large group of volunteers (most of them coming from our church!) and we had the kids sing Christmas carols, one of the boys played his guitar, a few played piano, and a few of us sang. I sang the song that I had sung at our Christmas Eve Service at church. PM picked it out, and I loved it. It was called The Christmas Star and was by the Winans, I believe.
Before the community dinner we had gone out with a couple friends to the Mission in town for breakfast. They had a HUGE breakfast! You could have omlettes, scrambled eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, lots and lots of choices. After the dinner we came home to rest a bit and went over to A&A's for dinner. They had a semi traditional Italian Christmas dinner. It was delicious! We had an Olive Garden recipe soup, antipasta, stuffed shells and chicken parmesan, and lots of cookies and candies. I ate way too much! We played some games after wards and talked alot. C's sister and brother in law came in as a surprise from Pennsylvania and they taught us a new domino game, Chickenfoot. We played that for hours! I bought a set of dominos for us on ebay and I got them today and was a bit disappointed. I knew they were used, but the seller put one domino from a non matching set in there to make it a whole set and the tin that they were in was really beat up. Ahh well, guess I just have to go to Wally.
K's parents made it up at about 2:45 on the 28th, and the 29th we had the H family Christmas. It was alot of fun, one of his brothers brought his Wii and we played games almost all afternoon. And of course I took plenty of pictures!
I did ok in the Wii bowling, I took first one game and second in another, but the most fun was one that I am sure not alot of people can say that they had the joy of during their Christmas celebrations.....I got to box my mother in law! Ok so she knocked me out, but I did put up a fight dropping her to the ground first! Gotta love those Wii games!
I found out that my niece and nephew know me well...they got me a digital picture frame for Christmas! We put a 2G card in it and have loved choosing the pictures to go in it and watching them as they change in the frame!
New Years was also different. I didn't have to work New Year's Eve day so I stayed home and did laundry and cleaned up the house a bit. We were just about to head out to take some pictures and check out a couple things at the church when PM called and invited us to their place for food and fun, as well as inviting K to ride along on a trip to Wal Mart. We accepted on both and ate too much that night as well! C had fixed breaded mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, a bunch of dips for chips, and shrimp. Yum! We sat around and talked for awhile. J left early and we tried to get the boys down (PM and C were babysitting their grandsons too) so we could watch a movie. That didn't go as well as we had hoped, so C took the boys back to A&A's and the rest of us headed downstairs to watch some tv. We ended up watching a guy jump the length of a football field on a motorcycle and set a world record. C came home after one and we sat and talked a bit and finally K and I headed home to get some sleep.
New Year's Day I woke up around 8:30 and just could not go back to sleep! I grabbed a shower and headed downstairs to do some ebay shopping and soon after K came down and took me out to get a cappucino. At one we were back at PM and C's for meatball sandwiches. Delicious! We sat around the table and talked some more until L had enough and wanted a story read to him (PM and C had the oldest of the gradsons again, A&A went shopping and he didn't want to go!) so the rest of us went downstairs to watch some football. PM fell asleep, K fell asleep and J headed home for his nap so C and I watched football and talked until the guys woke up. We snacked a bit more and watched the movie "Amazing Grace". I loved it!!! We talked for a bit longer after that and headed home around 9:30 since all four of us had to work in the morning, but C and I first made plans for Thursday as it looks like we both may have the day off.
This year has also brought me a new hobby/collection. PM and Collen have given me a small Precious Moments figurine for the past couple of years and I decided that I loved them and with the money that my Grandparents and my Parents have given me for Christmas I would shop ebay and buy some more. I'm having alot of fun, and it has made for alot of interesting conversations with PM and C!
Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day! Wishing you all a blessed 2008!

You Are Thanksgiving

You are a bit of a homebody who enjoys being in the company of people you love. It doesn't take a lot to make you happy. You're enjoying life as it is. You have many blessings in your life, and you are grateful for each one. You believe that life is about what you *do* have. You feel like you have enough of the good stuff. What makes you celebrate: Family, friends, and the changing of the seasons. At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The host of the party On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Spend so much energy preparing that it's a full time job

What Holiday Are You?

You Are 44% Shy

Although you live a pretty normal life, you tend to be a fairly shy person. Many situations make you feel uncomfortable, and you sometimes find your shyness hindering your life.

How Shy Are You?

You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament

Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace. You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions. You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected. It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional. You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others. While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well. At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything. You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams. You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.

What Temperment Are You?

You Have Low Self Esteem 64% of the Time

You tend to blame yourself when things go wrong, regardless of whether it's your fault or not. You're anxious to please others and rely too much on their opinions. Learn to please yourself first, and your confidence will soar.

How is Your Self Esteem?

You Are Blonde Highlights

Men see you as flexible and versatile - you fit in to every situation You've got the inner glow of a blonde, the intensity of a redhead... And the wisdom of a brunette.

How Blonde Are You?

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are very passionate and quite temperamental. While you can be moody, you always crave comfort. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is in a very different place (both physically and mentally) from where you are right now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

We must be in for a snowstorm or something. The three boys who are normally my sweethearts and so good for me are just ORNERY today! I can't wait for 5:30!

Your Old Fashioned Name Is...

Cecily Raudell

What's Your Old Fashioned Name?

You Are 76% Happy

You are a very happy person. Generally, you feel content and that all is right with the world. Occasionally, you have a down day - but you have the ability to pick yourself right back up.

How Happy Are You?

You Are 24% Weirdo

You're a little weird, but you'd be even weirder if you didn't have a few quirks. You are just strange enough to know it, but nobody else seems to notice your weirdness. That's because, deep down, everyone is a little freaky!

Are You A Weirdo?

You Belong in Greenwich Village

Avant garde and bohemian, you're quick to adopt new ideas and lifestyles. And while you're a bit less weird these days, you still have a "live and let live" philosophy.

Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?

You Scored an A

You got 9/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

So.very. tired. must. get. caffiene. We had the funfair for Awana last night, we didn't have as many kids as normal, but it was Halloween night, what do we expect. Afterwards we had to put the auditorium back together (we had moved all the chairs out to set up the "booths" for the funfair) and then we had music practice. Actually two music practices. A small group from our group practiced for a song that they are going to do for a Veteran's Banquet coming up on Saturday evening. Then we got to practice. We went through the songs a few times, talked and laughed, and even did a few extra songs just for the fun of it. It was about 11 when we left and 11:30 before I got to bed and I had to get up before 6 for kids to come at 6:30. Naptime can't come soon enough!!

Things I never thought I would say until I started dealing with kiddos....A, get that pig out of your nose!

Ugh crabby kids making me crabby! I can not tell you how many times I have heard the word MINE screamed at the top of someone's lungs!
On the plus side I have finished two big projects. I have at least two more to do yet, but it is sure nice to have two done!

I have gotten back into my goal of Bible reading. My goal is to read at least on chapter a day. I have now read for 31 days in a row, 32 after today. And I have finished the book of Matthew. I am still reading in Psalms and have now started Mark.
We went to an Awana leaders conference near Des Moines on Saturday. We had to get up at 4:15!!! I was so excited (I knew what to expect, I had gone last year) that I could not sleep on the way down and we were all talking and supercharged from the conference that I could not sleep on the way back either! We got home around 8pm and then I got a call to go work on a printer so one of the kids could print something for school and that went quickly, but then I still had Sunday School to work on! I was so tired on Sunday!!!
I have a subject that I want to do a Counsel time on from the conference too, I think it may end up being a two part deal. And we are working on trying to get some of the devotional books that they had at the conference to hand out to the kids when I do my Counsel time.
It was great! Twelve of us went and we all came away from it so excited and pumped and ready for Awana!
It's a busy week with kids...I have the baby four days this week. I am trying to get as much done today as I can. More laundry and some work here on the computer. I just hope the kids don't stage a revolt!

Well, we survived the weekend last weekend and our friend's wedding was beautiful. The only glitch that I know of was my fight with the second video camera....I found out about an hour before the wedding that I was to tape from the back....I think the video camera won. :( Oh well, they had the first, and most important one up front with another friend taping so I don't feel so bad, but still feel bad all the same.
It's been a long week with kids, I'm glad it's almost over! I can't wait for this weekend to be over though. That will have to wait for explanation later.
I am so behind in laundry and house cleaning....that will occupy part of the weekend...and then Tuesday my inlaws are coming up for a working visit. I just hope that mil settles down and is less detail and every second planning oriented than she has been on the phone with us for the last week or I may just be asking to move in with someone else for a while!

Another rainy night last night. Joy. And we lost power for a bit again. I'm really getting tired of all this rain! Awana starts this week too, and we have our big pizza picnic out at the park....hopefully we can still do that.
K is going in for another dr appointment this afternoon with his asthma. He really hasn't had much of a voice for a week now and he is still using the inhaler every four hours so he is going to have things checked out. Part of his problem is that he expected to feel better instantly...well he didn't go in to the dr until he was pretty sick, so I told him it is going to take him a while to feel better too....men.
It's a slow day today daycare wise...just me and little A. The rest of the week picks up a bit. I have the new family the rest of the week, I am just praying that it goes well.

Another post for k8's scrapmonkey contest...if you haven't checked it out yet go over and take a look...it's pretty cool!

I am so SICK of rain! It has been raining for almost a week straight now. The other night we ended up with three inches of water in our basement too. Not a huge deal as there is nothing really stored down there, and what is is on palates, shelves, pegboards, and what not and the room where all my Christmas things are stored didn't even come near getting wet. The floors are cement and we have a floor drain too. This is the first year we have ever had water in the basement and it really was due to the storm drain out in the front getting clogged. It also sent the kids play tent that I had in the front yard way into the back and wrapped it around K's car, the Little Tykes playhouse for the babies and the small merry go round were pushed into the swing set, one of the big rocks from my lily bed as well as some of the smaller rocks I have in it were pushed into the lawn, the basketball was out by the cars, the garage was full of water, and alot of the gravel from the driveway was pushed out toward the alley. You can definately see the path the water took in the grass too, the sticks and leaves debris and the grass is really laying flat in that direction.
No major damage, the thing that was frustrating was K's work. I called him because I wasn't sure what I should do, turn on the dehumidifier that sits down there, does the whole house dehumidifier work and would that be better, do I need to worry about anything that he has plugged in in his workshop down there?...so I called during his break just to check in with him and the RUDE man in the guard shack told me NO if he does not have a phone or any thing like that I CAN NOT transfer you onto the floor any longer. And then silence. I curtly said thank you and hung up and did my best with the daycare kiddos here. I think K is going to put a complaint in with HR today, I mean what are they running over there, a prison?? It's not like I'm calling him 152 times a day telling him that the baby just pooed or this kid or that one said something funny and I just had to tell him, or just talk about nothing...and I called during break time! What if I had been in the er or something....this new company is getting terribly rediculous!

And since I am here posting, why not add another entry for k8's contest over at Three Wild Monkeys?! So here it goes!

I saw this over at Mix'd Equally where she had taken their names and played with them. Now since the hubby prefers that I refer to him by his first initial here I really couldn't play with his name much so here are a few of my favorites of mine! Here is the link so you can go and play too!http://metaatem.net/words/

Have I mentioned how much I would LOVE to win this contest??? I'm posting this as another entry for the contest. Go check out k8 and her blog at Three Wild Monkeys to check out the details and enter yourself.

Congratulations to Marc and Krystyna from One Snarky Mommy on the birth of little Anastasia!
Also congratulations go out to Aunt Erin, Uncle Tom, and cousins Ben and Simon from Tale of Two Baby Humans!
She is adorable!

Well, here I am again. We had a good Family Camp/ Outdoor Service/ Baptism/ Back to School Picnic two weeks ago. We camped Friday night and spent most of the day Saturday as well as Sunday out at the campground and Nature Center Pavilion. K ended up having a bad time with his allergies and asthma and went in to the dr that Monday. They put him on Prednesone and he was HYPER! He started his meds Monday afternoon and was up until three am talking and then Tuesday he got up at 5:30 and went to work, came home and mowed the lawn~complete with wheelies on the riding lawnmower to impress the kiddos, did the paper route, locked his keys in my car and had to walk two blocks back home to get them, walked the two blocks back to unlock the car, went and picked up his truck that was sitting at church, went to an Elders and Deacons Meeting, came home and midnight and still talked until
3 and then got up at 5:30 the next morning to go to work! I was seriously starting to feel sleep deprived! And of course that was the busiest week all summer with the daycare!
This week is slower. Monster has gone to the daycare center full time as she is going to preschool and I don't do the drive anymore. The big kids started school today and preschool starts on Wednesday at the Catholic school and Thursday at the public school. The Catholic school is three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the public school is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I will also have one in playgroup on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 12:30 to 2:30. And one in the Early Childhood program that meets Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm getting confused just thinking about it! Add to the fact that our school system decided not to do in town bussing so that complicates things a bit more. I am glad that they are back in school though. They were ready to go back too.
Not much more to tell, Awana starts soon, I'm ready for that too. Also the wedding of a good friend in September. I have been trying to sneak some stitching time in here and there. I bought a couple new patterns with the promise that I would finish the wedding sampler for my brother in law and his wife who just celebrated their one year anniversary in July.
I hope that you all are doing well, and I will update more often, the school schedule should allow me a bit more time, but please forgive me if I have a lapse again......it may just be that the kids have finally driven me over the edge lol!

Yay for the first day of school! Going to love this schedule....will write more about that later. Probably tonight. In the meantime check out this cool contest that I would absolutely LOVE to win !

Daycare kiddos threatening to drive me insane!!! Kids schedules slow down starting tomorrow. Will post more soon!

I know I have been a terrible blogger and a terrible friend. I am so so so sorry! I promised Holli that I would come and update on Monday at the latest and here it is Thursday and I am just getting to it. Holli, please forgive me!
I am trying to order materials for our Sunday School classes, the operative word being trying. We have promotion Sunday for the kids to move up to their new classes for those who are old enough and trying to get the class lists figured out so I can order the correct amount of materials has been, well.......interesting. I am on my third, and hopefully final, draft of the class lists. I hope to call and order the material this morning and have it done and over with!
We are preparing for our Camping/Outdoor Service/Baptism/Back to School Picnic weekend and there have been some interesting complications along with that too. The Social Committee is supposed to be in charge of getting tables set up out at the park and now we find out last night that the head of this committee might not even be there! We have no idea if she has planned for someone to set tables and things up and with all the sound equipment that we have to load, haul out to the park, set up, and then do sound check before the service....not to mention PM having to be in town to pick up the meat that the church is providing.....we really don't have time to do it. It will get done somehow, but we just hope to avoid the last minute chaos that we have had in the past.
And to top it all off, K came home on Tuesday with his thumb all wrapped up and told me that he got to go and meet the new Dr. in town. I'm not exactly sure how he did it, but he was trying to get a slide out floor or something to work on one of the trailers and got his thumb and ended up with six stitches! My Mom and I did the paper route they normally do and I am going to be there to help load things into the trucks to take out to the park this weekend, but he is supposed to play in a golf tournament this weekend to benefit the mission in town on Saturday! I think he is still going to go, it's a best shot, so even if he just taps the ball around a bit he will get to keep up with the guys and have a good time. It's for a good cause too.
My problem child's last day is Friday, the 17th. Then after one of the Mothers finishes her training (6 weeks) I will start to have some Fridays off. It will be nice, I can make Dr appointments, dentist appointments ( I may still have to have some work done on the tooth next to the one that was pulled), hair appointments, visit some friends that I don't normally get to visit, and be on time for some ballgames! I'm excited!
The neighbors wanted me to take their little guy too, but I don't think it's going to work out with the number of kids I have already, and if I did take him I wouldn't have my Fridays off. The parents work at the same place K does, and if they were on overtime I could have to take the little guy around 4:30 in the morning! Besides that, he is their only child, and it took them a while to conceive him and they are a tad overprotective (not saying it's not justified), but they live RIGHT beside us, I mean their driveway is only about six inches from my computer room window.....we would rather keep them as good friends and neighbors than have something happen and there be hurt feelings or something.
Well, I guess that's all that's new around here.....I must get going and finish the bulletin insert of songs for the service on Sunday so we can make copies, get some laundry done, and try to decide what I am going to take for the picnic.
Hugs!

Why do all the wierdos come out of the woodwork in my area? Not only am I pretty much guaranteed to get a visit from any door to door salesmen that come to town, but now I am starting to get odd phone calls. The phone rang yesterday and it was a collect call company asking if I would accept charges from (insert deep manly voice here) DAVE. I said no, because I didn't recognize the voice so I knew it wasn't the Dave that I know best, and the other Dave I know would have given his last name as well....so I hung up thinking wrong number and no problem whatever....but almost as soon as I had hung up and put the phone down it rings again and it's another company asking if I will accept charges from Dave. UM NO! Now leave me alone lol! Thankfully he didn't call back, but it made me wonder.
With all the warm and humid weather we have been having it crashed the wireless keyboard at church. We got an old corded one from home to put on there for the time being. We may run to Wally to get a new one, Radio Shack here in town really doesn't have much....but we are waiting to hear from C first as she said they may have one to give away from her office.
We have a Missions Conference this weekend at church. I am singing What if Someone Had Not Shared by Bill Butterworth on Saturday night. It's amazing that I am not nervous at all. I am just trying to memorize the spoken part, I have to sing, speak, and then sing again with a key change....and it went pretty well in practice last night, but I think we are going to try to practice one more time before the meeting.
I need to make bars for Saturday night, get my Sunday School lesson done, clean the house, and put some laundry away yet too. One of the boys has a ball game tonight that we would like to go to and K's parents will be in on Monday....starting to feel a bit overwhelmed there, but I am just deciding that they are going to have to be happy with what they get as I am still working and with everything going on (VBS starts the 22 too) I can't be a perfectionist...some things may just not get done. Not that they would have a problem with it, but I hate that feeling you know?! Anyway, kids will be waking up soon so that's all for now.....Big hugs!

Not much exciting going on around here this weekend. Mostly just catching up on things that I had gotten behind on with not feeling well and then having that tooth pulled. Lots of laundry and cleaning with a haircut thrown in for good measure. It was a little interesting when the girl who cut my hair offered to straighten it...I agreed to let her do it but was ready to rush home and wash it when I saw what it looked like when it was finished....it looked like a bad mullet helmet gone wrong! I bought a headband and put that in until I could get home. Thankfully the cut is better than her style! The girl that normally cuts my hair doesn't work there anymore, so I guess now I have to find a new hair stylist too. When it rains it pours huh?!

I know I went and disappeared again. This time I have a good reason, I promise! On Wednesday or Thursday of last week my mouth began to hurt again and I passed it off as another bout with tmj. It hurt all weekend and I was pretty miserable on Saturday at the wedding that was held at our church and at the reception afterwards all I was able to eat were mashed potatoes and gravy. Saturday night I could only sleep for 20 minutes at a time and was awake for long periods between in terrible pain. When I woke up on Sunday I had a large blister on the side of my gum where the tooth was that hurt. I talked to a friend at church on Sunday and got the name and number of her dentist (we were no longer able to go to the dentist we had been because he changed his policy to you pay now and have insurance reimburse you.....well that is why we have insurance because we just can't afford to pay one big lump sum like that...and after the last round of dental work that I had I was a bit traumatized, nothing he had done wrong, but it was just a bad situation; just before we got married I had a cavity filled. It was a bad cavity and he essentially gave it a root canal and then didn't tell me that it should have a crown. Well the tooth breaks after we are married dentist number two has to cut the gum line down in two places to give the crown something to attatch to and then go through the whole crown process. Dentist number two is a bit, well, gruff, and I do NOT handle pain well and I have a pretty rough time with it all. After all this I am left with almost a phobia of going back to the dentist even for a check up.
Well, I can not carry on like I have been all weekend so K stays home from work on Monday to take me to the dentist. Just before I am to leave we still have not gotten ahold of the three boys' grandmother so instead of him going with me he stays home to watch the boys so I can go. I was having a MAJOR panic attack I tell you! I made it (it was about a 40 min drive) ten minutes late, but I had called from the cell to tell them I was coming, I had just gotten a little lost. They got me right in and decided that I had an abcessed tooth that had to come out. Dentist number 3 said that she could put a crown on it, but it was expensive and with as much infection as I had, where the tooth was (very last tooth on left side bottom jaw) and the fact that it was broken and gum tissue had grown up through where it had broken, she could not promise that it was going to work and she would hate to see me put money into it and then have to pull it anyway. I was all for pulling it, I just wanted relief!
They were so nice! I had my own private tv to watch, they were fitting me in in between patients since I was an emergency appointment and I ended up watching quite a bit of tv! It did help to take my mind off of it all though! They gave me a topical anticeptic, extra shots of novicaine, and gas so I wouldn't feel alot of pain. Dentist number 3 was afraid with the amount of infection that I had that it would work against the numbing agents and I would feel more pain than she and I would like. The assistant asked me to open wide so she could give me the shots and I thought I was doing pretty good until she asked me if that was all the farther I could open and when I said yes, she said "You poor thing!" It must have been pretty bad in there because I heard that a few times as well as "You really did have a bad weekend, didn't you?!" After I was all numbed they came back in to pull the tooth and she pulled three times, the last time it started to hurt and I was getting a bit uncomfortable and then she looked at me and said it was out! I felt a relief of pressure immediately, even under all that numbing! They called perscriptions in to our pharmacy in town and K picked them up so I could start them as soon as I got home. They have me on 800 mg of ibuprofen and 500 mg of amoxicillin 3 times a day. I feel SO much better! They warned me of pain afterwards, but I have had very little. The relief from having that tooth out has been wonderful!!!!! They even sent me home with a bottle of water and a can coozy. And, the dentist called me the next morning to see how I was doing! I had to call K as I started back home again (he was worried and had called to check up on me :) ) and I told him that this was my new dentist and I was no longer afraid to go back! He was pretty happy to hear that too!
Well, baby is getting fussy so I need to go and rock him, will write more about the last couple days and what we did over the 4th later.
Big hugs!

Wow, I have been terrible at updating my blog! It seems like since summer has gotten here I have not had a moment to myself!
K's sister graduated from high school this year and over Memorial Day we made the big nine hour drive to go to his parents' house for her open house. We left the Friday before and came home the Tuesday after. I have slowly been posting pics from that trip onto my Flickr page....I was hoping to do some more uploading this weekend, but I don't know if I will get to that yet or not. We had a good trip. We met his Mom, Dad, sister S, her boyfriend J, his Aunt D, and Uncle R in St Louis at the airport. Well, we tried to anyway. We ended up on the backside of the airport and with four people trying to give us directions over the phone and K trying to drive and get out of there we were all turned around so when we finally found a gas station we stopped and they came to us. We weren't all that far off but poor K had just had enough. We stopped at a Cracker Barrell to eat lunch and then headed back to his parents' house. We had supper and K's middle brother and his wife came and we all caught up and decorated the house. Later we looked at pictures that K's Mom had from way back, pictures that I had brought along, and the scrapbook that K's middle brother's wife had made for S.
Saturday we finished the decorating and hung out together for a while and talked. K's Uncle V and Aunt S came in late the night before and we got to see them in the morning as well as K's oldest brother and his family coming in that morning. The only hitch in the plan was S and J having car trouble with her car while they were picking up the cake. They ended up leaving her car in the Wal Mart parking lot and having J's Mom drive them to the house. S's open house was in the afternoon and she had quite a few people come. It was a good time. We all laughed as she was opening her cards after everyone left that someone had given her a Christmas card with a gift of money and didn't sign it. We joked that they didn't want to be known as the person who gave the Christmas card at a graduation! Everyone sort of scattered after that, a bunch of us went down to the lake and some fished while I took pictures. K's middle brother came down later and took some pics too. The guys grilled out for supper and we ate in the basement of the church. We took some cute family pics and at the end of those I started to not feel so well. I made it through a couple of retakes but ended up making a run for the bathroom quickly afterwards. I went back to the bedroom we were staying in and pretty much just crashed on the bed for the rest of the night.
I woke up feeling better on Sunday and we went to St Louis to take in a few of the sights and take his Uncle R and Aunt D back to the airport. We went to the Arch and looked around a bit. We didn't make it up in the arch as it was Memorial Day weekend and the lines were HUGE. Not to mention the fact that you pretty much have to go through airport security to get in there! We were on a bit of a time crunch with having to get his Aunt and Uncle to the airport too. I had never been there before, we had been by it as we drove to his parents' house before but we never stopped. It was pretty cool. Not what I expected at all. I didn't realize that it was made out of metal and shiney...for some reasin I thought it was made of stone or something. There were some neat sights around it as well. It had a bit of New Orleans flavor along the river with the music playing and the river boats along the shore. There were horse drawn coaches and bikes set up for four people with steering wheels and pedals for all.
After the Arch we took his Aunt and Uncle to the airport and headed for the St Louis Zoo. We got to see quite a few of the animals and then it started to pour! We hid out under some trees for a while and then when it let up a bit we ran to the gift shop. I had to buy a few souvenirs for some back here at home, Mom and Dad kept the dogs so we bought a little Thank You for them and a little something for a few of my kiddos. We went out to Fazoli's for supper and Uncle V, Aunt S, K and I headed to a local Wal Mart to get some pictures made up at one of those instant photo machines, but they had closed it down at like 6pm! Craziness! So no pictures for us, but I did find a really cute top to go with my new pair of khaki capris so all was not lost. We stayed up talking that night after we got home for a while and just hung out.
Monday Uncle V and Aunt S headed out early for the airport and we all slept in since they were driving themselves back with their rent a car. We got up in the morning and K and his Dad went to check out S's car and drove it home. It ended up being the brakes, which were supposed to have been fixed the week before. Ugh! The rest of us didn't do a whole lot, just got dressed and hung around. The area where his parents live had a picnic that afternoon so we all went out for that and then the residents had a meeting while we all went back to the house. K and S's boyfriend went out fishing in the afternoon and S, K's middle brother and his wife and his youngest brother and I went into the next town to do some shopping. I found a purse I had been wanting for cheaper than I had seen it before so I grabbed that as well as a cheap pair of sun glasses, a movie, and some snacks for the ride home.
We ordered pizza for supper that night and then S, J, K's middle brother and his wife, his youngest brother and a few friends went out to the drive in movie theater. We were planning on leaving early the next day so we stuck around his parents' house and went for a walk, checked out S's new laptop, and went to bed early.
We were off and running at about qarter to five Tuesday morning and managed to hit the bypass for St Louis around the time everyone was heading in to work. We would go 80-85 and then stop and go 80-85 and stop. I was SO carsick after that! And after an uneventful nine hour drive North we made it back home again! We were so thankful to sleep in our own bed and be back to our own schedule again!
Wow, I think I will wait for the rest of my update for later....this has gotten really long! Thanks to those who have made it all the way through!