Category Archive

Jeremy’s 15 seconds of fame was pulled by the user on YouTube.

He’s enjoying working for Google… see how they spend their days…

He’s the guy who shoots the Spam!

They are done! My girls are all happy to know that they have their dresses ready for Easter. I bought material for my skirt and after we pick up James from Grandma’s house on Saturday, I plan on getting the material for his vest. This week, I’m working on my skirt and then next week is the vest. The week after that is a baby gift for a friend’s baby shower at the end of the month. I know, I’m going to be cutting the baby gift close. I may have some time to work on it this week or next week too, so we’ll see. After that, I’m taking a break for just a little while. My sewing machine is earning it’s keep.

The fellowship meeting that Jeremy and I have been working on starting for a while is having a session tonight. It is a time of dinner and discussion of the Bible with a small praise and worship song time afterwards. If anyone is near Calumet City, we are holding it in the First Baptist Church of Calumet City, IL at 6:30 pm tonight.

May I say that is seems a bit unreal to me at this time. We are hosting this and it is what we have felt is our mission for the last year and a half if not a bit longer. Sometimes it felt as if it would never come to be, but we kept praying about it and now it is. God’s timing is always best. It was hard waiting and with it taking such a long time, I sometimes questioned whether it would ever be. (Human nature) This is a place that people can come and relax and ask questions they might have about the Bible or discuss something they have read. We want to make this a weekly thing and sometime when we have a big enough place of our own, we’d like to hold it in our home, which would be a more relaxed atmosphere. Any prayers you offer for this mission of ours is appreciated. I’ll update you all later.

Amie’s penpal had a friend who made this meme and she tagged her mom, Crystal, and so I’m doing it now.

RULES:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Try not to tag a person someone has already tagged.
3. Tag at least 5 people (if you know that many people).
4. Tell who did it and their URL

1.What do you like about best of Spring? The end of snow for a while

2.What is your favorite season? Late Summer/Early Fall

3. What is a random thing about your house? (the one we own) needs the under house plumbing all replaced

4. What do you like best about blogging? Making friends and being able to write things down to remember them, being able to get things out

5. How old are you? 32 on the outside, forever 20 inside

6. How many rooms are in your house? (the one we rent) 3 bed, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, laundry room… that’s all

7. How many people are in your family (including you)? 7

8. Do you play any instruments? If you do name them? Ooooo, you hit a big one… I play a few instruments. I will list instruments and put either o(wned) or p(layed) after them, some may have both. Flute (o, p), Piano (p), recorder (p), dulcimer (o, p), violin (p), autoharp (o, p), ocarina (o), guitar (o, p), clarinet (p)

I am hoping to find a piano somehow that I can get sometime soon, but I’m not holding out hope, also I’m planning on getting myself, Amie, James, and Christine nice recorders and teaching them how to play them. Someday I’d like to get my own violin and clarinet, but that is in the future. I learned clarinet by using my sister’s high school one some and later I owned one, but lost it in a move. I learned a little violin from some friends when I was pregnant with AnnaBeth and have been wanting one of them ever since.

9. What is your favorite subject in school? when I was in school, it was reading/english, now I’m fascinated by geography and history

10. What is your favorite book of the Bible? Genesis, second to that is Ruth and then Esther

Who to tag? Who to tag? Well, if you do this meme, let me know and I’ll read it and link you here.

I can’t sleep because of an awful headache, a nose that is too full to allow air passage, and ears with water slushing around in them. I figured I’d regale you all with some memories that have come to my mind lately.

I was such a giggler when I was in high school. I giggled back then because I was always nervous. My first day of band with the high school band, when I met Mr. Geros for the first time, was really bad. I couldn’t stop giggling except while we were practicing. He thought it was funny and gave me the nickname of “Gigglebox” which stuck with me (more about the nickname’s usage at a later post.) He called me that the whole time I was under him, through my freshman and sophomore years and later when I visited him during my freshman year in college. He took up where my middle school band teacher had left off with the same enthusiasm for music. After my parents, I credit both of them for my love of music and how it’s developed. We had practice all summer long and a week in August for band camp where we were on the marching field from 8 am to 5 pm with a break for drinks every hour and a half hour for lunch. He was very serious about our music and our marching. He made us a great band with his diligence for details, both in music and how we were doing our marching formations. We won 1st in many of the competitions we were in because of him. He was fun to be around too. He didn’t make it always work, work, work, but tried to make it fun as well. I think that is how we came to be on top. We wanted to do our best for him. He inspired us to strive for the best. He encouraged us so much.

To watch our marching formations, he had to climb up a scrub covered hill with just a small path on it to get to a short tower. He was extremely afraid of snakes and the first time out, he had some of the seniors climb up there beforehand and throw mothballs around the path. When the wind was in the right direction, you could smell them all over the marching field. One time, a group of kids bought one of those rubber snakes and laid it so it looked like it was just crossing the path. This was during my sophomore year on the first day of band camp. He started up that hill and let out this scream, then ran back down and grabbed a box of mothballs that he always kept there and threw the whole box up there. He asked for someone who wasn’t afraid to get up there and see if it was gone. One of the guys climbed up and picked it up and threw it away. Mr. Geros was pretty mad that day, but he had a quick temper and after he yelled about a bit, he was done and we got on with our practice.

He had a bit of a sense of humor too. One day, a girl came in with some pamphlets that she’d been given in health class. She was laughing over them because it was telling some myths of how to not get pregnant. She shared them with a few of us other girls and we were all giggling about them when he came in to start band. This was during concert band practice, the second half of the year. We all sat down and started warming up, but we couldn’t stop little giggles coming here and there. After a few minutes, he looks at me (because I was the big giggler), and asks me what is going on. I started laughing so much, I couldn’t talk. One of the other girls scoops up the pamphlets and hands them to him which sets us all to laughing even more as his face contorted into a slightly embarrassed look. He read a bit, laughed, tore the pamphlet in half and put it in the trash. Then he said to us, (and I quote since I remember this one so well) “The only way to not get pregnant is to keep your mouth shut and your knees together.” All of us girls got quiet for about 5 or so seconds and then ruptured into hard laughter. It was the last thing we expected from him.

Anyway, he really helped me learn more about playing my flute, about how the different instruments tuned to different notes and how they blended together. He gave me my first glimpse into music theory, more than just regular playing would. He must have known how much I was interested in this because when he saw me looking at his score of music with all the parts on it, he took a bit of time to tell me how to read it and how it all worked. I remember going home and putting together a duet (Pachabel’s Canon) for flute and clarinet, so my sister and I could play together and finding that it actually worked. He made sure we went to every football game and that we were second to the cheerleaders in leading the crowd to root for our team. I already watched football with my dad, but didn’t really understand it until this time. It was always a fun experience, even in the rain and cold. It is something I will never forget.

Thank you, Mr. Geros, for those memories.

We went down and got some things from our old house and talked to the people who are moving in. The wife is a friend of mine and her two older children are friends of my kids. We still own the house, but we are doing a contract with them. We won’t have all our things (that we’re taking) out of the house for another two weeks, but they are okay with that. They have all our stuff put into the dining room for now as they are moving some of their stuff in. We are leaving a few things, like our queen bed frame and box springs. We already bought a new mattress and have a new bed frame that doesn’t need springs picked out to get sometime soon, so we didn’t want to have to move that one. A few of the dressers are staying there as well. They needed them, so they are excited about not having to buy them. We got our floor lamp up here. That makes it so much better in our living room up here… or maybe not, since I can see the dirt so much easier. LoL Just kidding. I also grabbed a small reading lamp because I needed it for our bedroom. I’m not exactly sure what else Jeremy grabbed, but I know he got enough to load up the van (which couldn’t be a lot since we already have it mostly loaded with 5 kids.) I enjoyed talking with my friend and holding her 2 mo old baby and the kids had so much fun playing with their friends and showing them the “clubhouse” they had set up when we had lived there. It is in a small shed-like building in the backyard. We never stored anything in it because the kids liked playing in it. It doesn’t have a door on it, so I could watch them playing in it from the kitchen window. I guess it will stay a clubhouse for now. My kids are happy since they painted the bench that is sitting in there.

Anyway, just pray for this situation.

We’ve had some obstacles come up in this move thing. We need lots of prayers. This is really hard.

Well, to the home we have for the next however many days.

Jeremy and I went house-hunting this weekend. Silly me didn’t think to pack a jacket. Most of the places I’ve lived, it is usually warm enough by this time to not need one except in early morning or late evening. I’ve only lived up in northern US for 6 months the year I turned 16 and I didn’t really think of the difference in the weather. He had to work on Friday and we left the children with his parents after he got off of work and headed up north. I talked to the Realtor up there while we were driving to get some of our mental bearings oiled and working together. We got to Lansing, IL kind of late on Friday. It was the closest hotel to Hammond, IN and I was so cold that I turned on the heater in our hotel room.

On Saturday, we were up bright and early for an over the phone meeting and to get a fax with all the houses she’d pulled up with the criteria we asked for. After breakfast, we went around to different houses and looked at the outsides of them, taking notes to see which ones we actually wanted to see inside of. I called her back at different intervals during that time so she could call and make appointments for us to see the houses. It was chilly out, but I was able to endure it because we were in the van the whole time. We were done by lunch time, so we took a break and waited for her to call us back about any appointments later that day. We had time to go to one of the libraries and browse their selection. They still didn’t have the Terry Brooks one that I am wanting to read. Anyway, after a while, she called us back and said that she couldn’t get any appointments for that afternoon, but was able to get all but one of the houses for Sunday after church. That one house was a back-up, only if we couldn’t find another house we liked. It didn’t fit all our requirements exactly, so it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. We went back to the hotel and took a nap. Ah! That hardly ever happens for us. We checked out a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was yummy! It might be a good date restaurant for later… if we can find anyone who is willing to babysit 5 children and not make us pay a ton to do it.

On Sunday, we visited a possible church for us. We like small churches. This one was really small. It was very, very friendly. I think almost everyone in the congregation came up to greet us and they prayed for us and our housing situation. I thought it was very sweet. After church, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed for the first house, than #2, #3, #4, and #5. We didn’t get to see inside #4. The lock box wasn’t working. We looked in the windows and saw that most of the rooms were just too small and there wasn’t nearly enough cabinet room in the kitchen for all our big family groceries, so it was struck off the list. The ones we liked best were #1 and #3. We started driving back just before 3:00 pm. A cold front had come in and I was very cold. I don’t like much under 70* and it was only about 50* there. As we were driving home, we discussed the pros and cons of both and decided that #1 is probably the best choice for our family. We got back just in time for evening church at our own church. I loved getting out of the van down here. Wonderful, wonderful warmer air. It was great.

We’ll be talking to the Realtor tomorrow about our decision. Keep praying. Pray for wisdom in this choice, pray that the house here sells easily, and pray for all the packing and cleaning we’ll be doing in the next few days.

I hope all you mothers out there are enjoying a nice relaxing day.

Check out this e-card I got! It so fits!

One of the young men who fought in Iraq and died on April 28th was from around here. On Saturday, his body was brought down from the nearby base to the funeral home here in town. It had to pass through about 4 different little towns. The streets all the way had people standing out to pay tribute to him.

Today, the streets were cleared by public consent between the funeral home and the graveyard since 3:30. They weren’t cordoned off, everybody just stopped and waited. The funeral procession just went by at 3:45 and the streets were lined with so many people, like for a parade except that it was hushed and the mood was subdued. Even the children were quiet. Those who had been in the service of our country were all out in their outfits, saluting as the procession passed. I didn’t know the young man, but I’d heard a lot about him and it brought tears to my eyes to see so many people showing respect and honor to him. A few of them I talked to afterwards and most didn’t know him, but they wanted to show his family that they are proud of him and teach their children about a hero.

May God bless this little town for their respect for one who sacrificed himself for us. May God be with the family and fiance of this young man.

Anybody have any? I have about 3 or 4 boxes packed that are sitting open and some more boxes that will be packed up soon. I’ve also packed a few plastic totes up. Our living room is slowly looking more and more empty. The movies and books in that room are all packed away and the toy box container is shut and taped. It sure does help keep the house a bit cleaner.

I’ll be a St. Louis Cardinals fan in Cubs territory. Shhh, don’t tell them. I don’t want them knowing who I like to see win.

I just thought I’d let you all know how things are going so far.

They were impressed with Jeremy at the interview. They told him that he was better than average* as a perl programmer. He had another interview by phone yesterday, the last one. He told them the minimum pay he’ll need to support a 7 person family in the Chicago area. Now, the waiting game continues.

Pray for us during this time. I’ve been trying to stay calm and I pray about it, but when I think of all the changes that will be made than I get stressed and usually so bad that I end up with a headache. I’m sure Melody remembers how bad my stress headaches can be. She was my college roommate and had to live with me when they were at their worst. I don’t have to worry about school systems and I know that in a place as populated as that, there will be homeschool support groups. What I worry about is a good dance program for Amie and if I’ll be able to find a drama program for James. Are the baseball programs for James’ age going to be so focused on win, win, win or just having fun? Will I be able to find something to put any of the others in? Will we be able to even afford any of this? Amie is on a ballet scholarship here. Her leg muscles are doing wonderful and keep her feet turned out properly now while she walks most of the time. If she relaxes, I still see some pull inward, but not near as bad. I want her to be able to continue her “therapy” which she enjoys so much, plus she is doing so well in it.

Anyway, those are just some of the things I think about. I know God will work things out for us one way or another, but I can’t stop thinking of everything.

* Better than average??? That’s all?? I know he’s a genius, but I guess they couldn’t see it because he was so nervous.

This cold snap that came around two weeks ago destroyed all my early spring flowers. Thankfully, I happened to get pictures the day before the storm hit that brought the cold. I also took a few pictures during the day of the storm.

On Good Friday, we went to a goat farm. The kids had a lot of fun despite the cold. They also got to have their Easter egg hunt then. The chickens “hid” and “colored” the eggs for us. They enjoyed finding the eggs in the chicken coop and later eating them.

I have a few other pictures up as well. Enjoy! I sure love my new camera. I still have the ones from Alabama and Chicago to upload sometime from my camera.

Yesterday’s rain brought in a cold front. It got down to below freezing last night. I hadn’t paid enough attention to know I should have turned the heat on last night. This morning, all five kids were complaining about the cold. Noelle was huddled under my blanket so only her face was showing. It was only 57 in our house, so the heat was turned on. From the forecast, the heat will have to stay on for the rest of this week. This isn’t good. All the new Easter dresses are either short sleeved or no sleeved. I was also hoping to have a warm day for an outside egg hunt on Saturday. Oh well, I guess jackets will be worn over the dresses and pictures will have to be taken indoors.

Looking to the good part of this… this late freezing time will help keep the insect population down a bit this summer.

Hmmm, I’ve talked about the weather a lot more this year. Just something I noticed.

Nice light spring rains are very pretty. They smell so good and the temperature is still nice. We’re having one here right now and I am waiting for it to be done because I found a beautiful tree in bloom in the yard next door and I want some pictures with the rain drops still lingering on the petals.

Speaking of pictures, I have put a few new ones on Flickr, but I haven’t gotten the ones off my new digi yet. I’m half tempted to go up to the picture place up the road to put them on a CD if Jeremy doesn’t do something with them soon.

I don’t know how to upload the photos, so I’m waiting on Jeremy to do it. For some reason, this camera won’t let us just plug it into a USB port and upload. That is somewhat annoying. Jeremy can do it on his laptop by just plugging in the little photo disk, but our Linux run desktop isn’t able to. He is hoping he will be able to find a Linux friendly program that will work with the camera so I can upload them from here easily.

This is what Jeremy and I come up with when we’re not thinking clearly. Feel free to add anymore verses.

Old Mother Hubbard
went to her cupboard
to get some curds and whey.

The shelving was bare.
It just was not fair.
It was a worse than bad day.

Along came a spider
and sat down beside her
and said, “We’ll just waste away.”

I will have computer time everyday again! Yay! Jeremy got a laptop for his work, so he can take it with him whenever we go somewhere. That means I have the desktop when I have the time to check everything.

My little laptop is okay, but it has some touchpad problems still even though I don’t use the touchpad anymore. I do happen to love the little mouse that we got for it. It’s cute. Once Jeremy disconnects the touchpad, I think it will be a good computer for the children. It is old and doesn’t have much on it.

Jeremy turned our laptop into a Linux instead of Windows. Yay! Now it always boots up in a timely fashion and doesn’t get messed up so easily.

I love Linux. I’m a Tux fan!

It is 45* out there. First time over 30* in a month. I walked out on my front porch in my bare feet and no jacket to check the mail. I promptly put socks on when I came back inside to warm them up. Still too cold for my feet.

Edited to add: It’s President’s Day. The post offices are closed. I didn’t have to go outside, but I’m glad I did. It felt good to get some fresh air.

I told you about the snow we got. Lots of people around here have been complaining quite a bit about it. I’ve done okay, but it is cold and I’m not used to this much snow. Starting last night, more snow. So far, it’s dropped another 5 inches on us. One of the youth came in last night at our Parent’s Night Out laughing. He said, it’s snowing again, but no big deal. I asked him about his attitude and he said a sign changed it. The sign says, “Be grateful! You could be in New York!”

Speaking of New York, I only got about a third of the amount of snow they got last night. My friend in Syracuse has been keeping us somewhat updated. She said she is tired of shoveling twice a day and that her husband has to shovel snow off the roof today. Yikes. I wonder how my aunt and her family up there is doing?

It was hard to tell exactly how much snow had fallen because of drifting and I just guess-timated before going outside to take pictures. It was at least a foot of snow, maybe more. The official weather people all said they weren’t sure exactly, but they did know that at least a foot had fallen. Different measurements went from about 10 inches to 2 feet, so taking an average would actually have put it over a foot of snow. I do know that most of it was iced over, so I was able to walk on top of lots of it. One of my feet did break through once and it went in up to most of the way to my knee and it didn’t get all the way to the ground. I helped a lady get her van out of her driveway. Our van was stuck until today because the plows put at least three feet of snow around it and then there was another icing after the plows had gone, so it was hard to shovel away.

To all my readers… I love all of you.

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

Back down to below 20*. On Monday night, around 6:00 pm while we were eating dinner, it hit. We could hear the ice hitting the windows. Around 7:30 pm, we were in our living room watching Monk and saw the snow starting. It didn’t stop all day yesterday. We have ice with about 9 inches of snow over it. It is still flurrying, but that is all. Noelle woke me up around 1:30 am this morning and I could hear the growling and scraping of many plows outside. The ice is still on the roads though. Jeremy is very happy that he has a home business and is able to work from home right now.

Why would you want to clean when it’s nice outside? Cabin fever cleaning beats it hands down! I got so much done on Saturday.

Oh, it finally got above 20* yesterday. It actually got all the way up to 30*. Woah! I still thought it was too cold, but Jeremy said it felt good after the frigid temps of the last three weeks. He didn’t wear his coat yesterday. I think there was something affecting his brain. Brrr.

As a Christian, modesty is important. I don’t think many Christians understand what true modesty is.

I looked it up on dictionary.com and came up with this:

Modesty:
1. the quality of being modest; freedom from vanity, boastfulness, etc.
2. regard for decency of behavior, speech, dress, etc.
3. simplicity; moderation.

Whenever I speak of modesty to somebody, I immediately hear from the other person about clothes. Depending on the person, I get some good responses and some bad. Most of the time, when I’m talking to one of the youth girls I work with at church, I get a roll of the eyes and a deep sigh. I overheard two of them talking about it and saying, “Yeah, that’s just Julie. She doesn’t know what it’s like out in the real world.” That hurt, but I know that some of them listen to me. I’ve seen a t-shirt or tank put on underneath a stylish low cut shirt and smiled to know that that girl is trying to do what is right in God’s eyes.

The thing is though that modesty isn’t just about the way we dress. Notice the second definition up there. It is the one we are using and concerned with at this time. Dress is the last thing mentioned before the etc. Behavior and speech are mentioned as well. If a girl talks in a sultry voice or walks with her hips visibly and purposely swaying, it won’t matter what she is wearing, the guy will change the way he sees her. The first impression of how she looks is destroyed by the way she is acting. He may meet her at church or a youth event, but he isn’t thinking of how Godly she is.

The same applies to men and not only to women. Men should dress modestly. Please, don’t take your shirts off in public. I kind of like chests and I’d rather not see it because I wish to remain pure to my husband. Tight pants and muscle shirt tanks apply here as well. Though I think tight pants are disgusting, I know that some girls will swoon after watching a guy in some go by. There are some things guys do that can make a girl think the wrong way. A back or neck rub can be more than just relaxing. Leaning on the wall nearby may be fine, but towering over a girl while leaning can be a bit intimidating to some and enjoyable to others, depending on the attention the girl wants.

Also, modesty is not just about keeping the opposite gender from lusting. Let’s look at the definition again. “Regard for decency” can mean making sure our clothes are clean as well as our language and behavior. Being vulgar, whether it is through cussing or making bad jokes, is not being modest. It may not make someone lust after you, in fact, it may do quite the opposite, but as a Christian, it is like taking a chisel to our testimony of how Jesus has changed us through salvation.

One last thing, it isn’t part of the definition, but how modest are your thoughts? Much of the world around us does not understand how Christians should think. There is a lot out there that contradicts what we are taught in the Bible. Do you try and keep your thoughts pure? In other words, do you let hate, lust, envy, or covetousness in? Those thoughts are against what is in God’s word. We must remember Philippeans 4:8. It is our guide to modest thoughts.

So, how modest is your lifestyle? I know that mine is not modest enough. I try very hard to dress, speak, and act modestly, but I don’t always succeed. I want people to look past the clothes and flesh, right to the heart of me where Jesus is in control. I know that they don’t always see that and it grieves me.

and more cold temps.

Snow, snow, go away, come again when you can be rain in 80* weather and I’ll dance in you. LOL

Edited to add: Ok, first the salt truck went by, then the snow plow about 10 minutes later. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? That way the salt melts the bit of snow that the plow leaves instead of being wasted by being plowed to the side of the road.

But I doubt the groundhogs will come anywhere near the surface around here with the high being around 20*. Brrrrr!!

I want warm weather!!!

Jeremy’s been updating our computer. So far, I’m having a tough time navigating around and it doesn’t have as many fun games on it yet. I’m not sure why, but all the web pages look different now and I don’t really like it. It’s annoying me a bit.

Anyway, this update should help it so my website (and others on our server) will not be down much.

We headed to Home Depot last night to look around. We need a new door with frame for our bedroom and same for the regular bathroom, so we took a look around at prices. We also looked at prices for insulation and water heaters. We want to get one of those new tankless water heaters. It will save money in the long run. Our water heater is okay for now, but we’ve had some trouble with it and know it will need replacing after a while.

We did buy a few things. Toilet repairs: new flush handle, flapper, and bouyancy thingy. We also got some caulking to put around the bottom of our shower and a water filter. Our water wasn’t too bad until recently and suddenly our coffee pot has calcium deposits everytime we use it and stuff is starting to taste different, so we picked one of those up. When we get our taxes taken care of, we plan on using some of it to get our living room painted and looking nice.

Wives can answer as to what their husbands prefer if you like.

A friend and I were discussing what we’d like to do with our hair and I’m not exactly sure how it came about but we were wondering what guys like best… long hair or short hair. She thinks most guys like long hair, but I wasn’t sure. I decided I wanted to poll you all and find out for myself.

If any of you want a letter to make your own list like my “W” list below, just drop me a comment. I’m not into tagging people.

TMX Elmo can be amusing to some people.

Milad Majid

圣诞快乐

Ruumsaid juulup|hi

Joyeux Noel

Hyvaa joulua

Maligayan Pasko!

Nollaig chridheil huibh

Merry Christmas

Wow!  Even Tiger Lily likes Veggie Tales!

By the way, that’s “Sumo of the Opera” if you were wondering.  My kids think it’s hilarious.

Just a pop in to say hi!

I hope you all are having a good day and enjoying the blessings that God has granted to you.

Hope your Thanksgiving isn’t “fowl”!  (Thanks to Ash for the picture title.)

I’ve been enjoying learning how to modify pictures. Jeremy taught me a new thing with our Gimp image editor this week. This is one of the pictures I played with:

I wanted to isolate one color on Noelle and make the rest black and white. This was my first attempt at it and I’m pleased with the results.

I also posted another picture I did on my Vox site.

Click on pictures to see larger.

I had a friend come over yesterday.  She helped fold some laundry and watched the kids while I ran out for a few groceries.  She helped Amie with science too.  It was so nice to have her here and I did better work while talking with her.

I haven’t been writing upbeat posts lately. I hope to have a good post to write soon. This will not be one of them.

No Water In The Kitchen

There is a water leak in our kitchen faucet and I’ve had to turn off the water to it. I turned the hot water on just long enough to pre-rinse the dishes and fill up my sinks (one soapy water, one rinse water) to wash the dishes and it seemed to leak quite a bit in that little time, but I have to get those dishes done. Jeremy gets paid on Friday and we can’t do anything about it until then. I’ll be happy when It’s done because it’s hard without water to the kitchen. Any suggestions of anything else I could try so we don’t have a mess under the sink everytime I have to do dishes?

My backyard turned from a light brown (dead grass) to a bright yellow (fallen maple leaves) overnight.  It looked really pretty this morning.

I had a friend who asked me how we were settling into our house.  I said something about having a good amount of sitting space in our living room now because we have 2 couches and 2 chairs.  She then asked me what kind of decor I had in there.  I kind of laughed and said, “shabby”.  She thought about it a little and assumed it was a certain style of decorating.  I laughed again.  That’s when I told her that my furniture was all stuff handed off to us by other people who don’t want it.  I think all of it is from the 70’s.  We have a couch with bed, burnt orange plaid color, we have two chairs, avocado green, and we have a three piece corner couch, kind of a tan with burgandy undertones (hard to explain.)  We are getting rid of the corner couch though.  It just isn’t very comfortable and the kittens thought part of it was a good litter box when they were just learning all that stuff.  Instead, we’ll be getting another plaid couch. There you go.  Shabby decor.

WOOHOOO!!!!! Way to go, Cards!!!!!

I’m used to these temps later when it’s really winter, not mid-October.  It was around 40* and I was happy to have the local coffee shop to go into while Noelle was having dance class.  A bunch of the mothers went there and we were able to talk without disturbing the class.  It was nice and warm and fun.  I think I’m going to make a few new friends.

Here is the story to go with the first three pictures. If you haven’t seen the pictures yet, I have them here so you can see what I’m talking about.

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Decided to congregate in the tree outside my bedroom window at 6:30am.  It was extremely noisy.

I’m cold!  It went from 81* yesterday to 60* today.

We have an assortment of vehicles going past our house everyday, especially in the warmer weather. Some of the vehicles won’t be used once it cools down around here. Many of the people in town work at the factories here. Both my neighbor and the woman behind us ride their bikes to work. I’ve seen many people riding bikes around here. I’d love to get one for me. I think it would come in very handy. Some of the teenage boys and a few girls ride their skateboards to school. Another summer vehicle I’ve seen frequently is a riding lawn mower or a small tractor. It seems that many people will drive one of these around to go to a friend’s house nearby. Also, they drive them from their house to the gas station to fill up and get a soda since it isn’t all that far. A vehicle that goes by my house at least 4 times a day is a horse and buggy from the nearby Amish community. They come into town for the grocery store, feed store, and the Dollar General and sometimes McDs. (Off Topic: We’ve been to McDs at the same time as one Amish family a few times and we’ve become friends. I enjoy talking about my homeschooling with the mother while the kids talk about pets.) Then there are the usual vehicles seen in all towns: cars, pickup trucks, minivans, motorcycles, and UPS and fedex trucks. Quite a few people ride mopeds to get around town. Since it is a farming community, I’ve noticed that there are a greater ratio of pickups to other regular vehicles here than in a city. Now that the crops are being harvested, we’ve had a new vehicle going by. The big trucks filled with corn kernels or soy beans have been going to the grain elevators down the street. The person who lives across the street drives an ambulance. If he’s not out of town during dinner or lunch time, he comes home and parks the ambulance on the side of the street while he takes his break. The police station is nearby, so we see their vehicles often passing as well.

And now that you’re thoroughly bored, you know what vehicles go by my little house on a major street in a small town in mid-Illinois.

My*keyboard*is*no+*working.

Spacebar*and*one*le++er*are*ou+.

Can*you*guess*which*le++er?

Edit: I love having a hubby who works at a computer place.  Old keyboard, still works fine, but no longer being used.  I knew he wouldn’t put up with the other keyboard.  He can’t do his work here at home with no space or “t”.  He found some others that I didn’t find that were messed up.  He said the old keyboard had somehow re-programmed some of it’s curcuits.  The spacebar was doing what the “home” button does.  The “t” was being backspace.  The “end” button was a “g”.  The “5″ made a drop down menu.  It was kind of funny, but annoying.

I need to tweak my story a bit. I need to add forgiveness. I need to add something about how it isn’t always easy for her even after she chooses to follow.

It is a story in the works. You all have the third draft in the previous post. I don’t plan to change a lot, but I’ve thought of a few things. I haven’t changed it any yet. I will.

Edit: I put some additions in.  The ones I mentioned above.

Note to Readers: This, of course, is a fictional piece of work. It just came to me a few nights ago. It is kind of long. Please excuse any problems with it.

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I finally saw the movie.  Oh wow!  I wish Jeremy and I had been able to go when it was in the theater.  That would have been awesome.  The actresses for Christine and Madame were cast very well.  I still like Micheal Crawford’s voice best for the Phantom, but this guy did a very good job with the part.  Now, I want to buy it.  Can’t afford it right now, but sometime in the future I would love to have it.

Amie was watching with me and when Christine hit that high note, she turned to me and said, “I’ve never heard you hit a note THAT high.”  I told her that she made me lose my highest notes.  After being pregnant with her, I’ve never been able to sing the highest notes I used to be able to reach.  She was sitting very high and pressed on my lungs so I couldn’t breath very well near the end of that pregnancy.  I couldn’t sing hardly at all the last two months.  I can still hit high notes (when tested on a good day, I got up to a high C), but the note she hits in there is a high D and I just can’t hit it anymore.

Took the cats for their well-kitten check and shots.  Tiger Lily is 3.75 lbs and Mittens is 4.05 lbs.  They did really well for the dr.  Tiger Lily just looked annoyed when she got her shot and Mittens let her displeasure be known loudly, but neither of them fought us.  One of my last cats didn’t like his shots at all and fought with all he had.  The vet for him had to get stitches in his thumb after I took him in the first time.  After that, the vet had an assistant come help us restrain him everytime I took him in.

and very tired.  I’ll type out a post later to tell day-by-day what all went on.

Pour most of a 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl.  Leave about an inch or so in the bottom of the bag.  Take two chips out and eat them.  Mix up in a seperate bowl 12 oz of softened cream cheese, a full stick of softened butter, half a cup of sugar, and 2 tsp of vanilla.  Eat two chips.  Melt chocolate chips in bowl, stirring often.  Eat two chips.  Pour melted chocolate into cream cheese mixture.  Lick spoon used to stir while microwaving.  Thoroughly stir in chocolate, when resting hands grab a chip or two to help with your energy.  Mix 8 oz of whipped cream into the bowl.  Thoroughly mix in cream, doing as before when hands are sore.  Pour into two 8 in circular graham cracker crusts in pie pans.  Lick bowl.  Put cheesecakes in refridgerator to chill.  Check chocolate chip bag.  Pull out last little chip in bottom corner.  Throw bag away.  Wait three hours.  Eat one full cheesecake.  Wait a day.  Eat the other.

Today is just too hot and humid. Our living room is large and only has one vent (as do all the rooms). It really needs another one. The air conditioning can’t keep up. Also, I think there is a problem with the venting between the unit and the living room vent. It doesn’t blow as hard in here as in the other rooms.

Anyway, I’ve been cleaning and it’s been too hot and now I’m just worn out, plus the dryer is making it even warmer in here even with the door to the laundry room closed.

Amie is on her way home from North Carolina!!  They left this morning and will be here this afternoon.  Yay!!  I can’t wait for the hugs from her.

Our church service today was a little different than our norm. Pastor put on a robe and sleeveless outer cover and played out Onesimus from the book of Philemon. (Oh, if you’re wondering where that is, it is the itty bitty book right before Hebrews.) He talked about how he was a slave and took some money from Philemon, but while he was out and about in Rome, he met Paul and became a Christian and now he is on his way back with a letter from Paul to Philemon to ask forgiveness. It was his sermon. He did a good job. I played my dulcimer for special music as well, which strays from our norm in that usually we have someone singing. Just before I started, the music director caught me and asked me to tell a little about my instrument and stall a bit so Pastor could finish getting his costume on. We had a new member give a testimony after Pastor was done and then the invitation.

After church, we had a pot luck. I was good and didn’t stuff myself this time. I’m trying to watch how much I eat at things like this.

Lastly, we had a Christian bluegrass concert at the church. The groups name was Muddy Creek.  AnnaBeth loved it. We sat near the back, so the kids could get up a little. It’s hard on them during days like this because there isn’t much time to get energy out. AnnaBeth and Christine danced in the back of the sancuary (Oh my, dancing in a Baptist Church!) and Noelle ran between Grandma and me. James just sat and enjoyed the music. I was proud of how well he stayed in his seat.

Anyway, that was our day today.

ONE DAY UNTIL AMIE COMES HOME!

Kittens, that is. We only have the girls, Tiger Lily and Mittens. The boys were taken to a no-kill animal shelter after waiting three weeks for a responce to the posters I put up. These are the two we are keeping. They keep looking for their brothers and when I fed them, they started eating fast like when there were five of them and they all fought over the food, but realized that they didn’t need to after a while and settled down to eat at a decent rate.

Off topic - the letters to my children are in progress. It is taking a little longer than I realized.

My brother-in-law, Andrew Read, has his blog back up and running.

It is as if a blanket has been put over our town. The sun is no longer there. Suddenly winds come and then the rain is poring down. The cool air from our kitchen window feels so wonderful. The wind is blowing the other way, but it is pulling the warmer air from our house out. Ah! I like a nice summer storm.

That is the name I use for the cat which the children have dubbed Jon, without the poor at the beginning anyway.  Jon Cat.  As my brother is Jon, I felt kind of funny calling him just that, so I added the Cat part onto it.  Okay, on to the point of this post.

Jon Cat climbed up the stairs yesterday.  All the kittens have been doing that.  From there, they climb onto a dresser we have up against the stairs at the moment.  Then, they either go back over to the stairs or the more daring ones try jumping to the rocking chair that’s nearby.  Well, to make a long story short, Jon Cat didn’t make the jump to the rocking chair.  He broke his back right leg.  I called up my Aunt who worked in a cat hospital and she said that if there were no bones sticking out that would need setting that all the vet would do is to splint it.  Both Jeremy and I checked and it feels like a fracture, but not like it needed setting.  He was also kind of moving it, so that was a sign that it wasn’t apart as well.  She told me how to splint it here at home and so I did, using a popsicle stick, a strip of newspaper, and tape.  He seems to be getting along with it pretty good as long as the other kittens don’t jump on him.  He’ll need to keep it like that for about 2 or 3 weeks, but he’s still a baby, so it will heal very quickly.

I have two climbing rose bushes and one regular bush, but I think the regular one died in all the crazy storms this spring. One of the climbing rose bushes was put in the middle of the yard. Jeremy and I are going to move it over next to the house near the other one and make a trellis for them to climb. Anyway, I thought I’d let you all see my pretty flowers.  These are the climbing roses.  Click to see a bigger picture.

We’re about ready to name this house that.  First, about 2 weeks ago or so, a half grown bird fell down through the vents from our attic and got stuck just above the heater.  We opened up a spot and it flew out into our laundry room where we captured it in a towel and put it outside.  Next it was the cat and her five kittens which I’ve already written about.  Last night, a bat got into the master bathroom and then into our bedroom.  It isn’t fun turning on the light and finding a bat flying around your room.  It’s gone, but we’ve got to figure out where it came in from.

The town my in-laws live in had their annual community garage sale weekend.  Everyone who wants to can have a garage sale and you just walk or drive around the town and see what you can buy.

We’ve been looking for a way to get two twin beds and a toddler bed in the girls room.  We decided we wanted to try having a bed that is a little higher off the ground and then the second twin be a trundle.  Today I found an almost new roll-away bed.  It will be a good trundle.  Until we get the higher bed, which we may make, we are going to fold the bed up during the day.

We also were looking for bookshelves so we can unpack a bunch of our boxes.  I happened to find that at the same place as the bed.  We do happen to have one thing of bookshelves, which we just bought brackets for, so I’ll be happy to have those boxes out of the way soon.

Remember the cat who adopted us?  She’s been coming off and on since then.  The last few days, she’d been trying to come in.  She found a way into our house and brought her kittens along.  Five adorable little balls of fur, still wobbley on their legs and fully dependent on their mother.  I got them in the kitchen right now with the baby gate up.  I guess I’ll be making a trip to the humane society.  I really hate to do that.  I do so love cats and I want them to have good homes.  I know the kittens will most likely be adopted if I take them in, but I’m afraid for Beauty.  She’s a wonderful family cat and would be a great addition to have, but most people don’t want already grown cats, especially since she’ll need to be spade.  She’s such a sweetheart and already trained.  She deserves a good home as well.

It’s been a stormy season with a lot of rain and wind. There was one 60 mile-per-hour wind storm on Wednesday night that did havoc to my yard. A big branch fell in the middle of the irises. The climbing roses were blown all about and many are missing petals. (My side yard was kind of pretty though on Thursday before the petals all wilted.) Another kind of flower, not sure what, is looking kind of sad from too much water.

Today, I went around and cut a bunch of flowers off and put them in my vase. I got two irises off their broken stems, some slightly ruffled up roses, and a few of the sodden flowers. They make a pretty bouquet in my kitchen. I doubt any of them will last long with all they’ve gone through, but I’ll enjoy them while they are around.

I was asked to become an author at A Blog Apart. I’m not sure if I have the right material for it though. I feel like all I ever talk about is the kids and that wouldn’t work over there. What do you all think? Do I come up with enough other stuff to do that? Feedback would be welcome for this. Thank you.

Oh, and before I go… Noelle is so funny. We played Hide and Seek and then Sardines today. For the first Hide and Seek, she helped me find everyone and then on the second game, she hid with me. She was very good at being quiet, but I couldn’t close the door with her in there with me. Anyway, after that, she was running around trying to hide as well. When we played Sardines (one person hides, then each of the other people go at intervals to find that person and hide with them, in the end, we’re usually packed all together like a package of sardines) she was having fun hiding with whoever was the first person out, but she would get all excited whenever another person found them and squeal, so it wasn’t hard to find the hiding place. It was really fun. We also had a tickle-fest and Kung Fu sparring tonight, so all in all, I got a good amount of exercise.

I have a friend, Kim, who is having her third daughter today. Please pray for her and the baby. She is being induced because her blood pressure went up way too high yesterday. I can’t wait to see the pictures. Her other two daughters are so beautiful and I know this one will be as well.

Edit:  Oh wow!  She has some birth story if you are interested in it.  Baby Tori came with no problems at all.  I can’t tell it like her, so if you want, just go on over and read it yourself and offer congratulations.

James picked up a paper from the library yesterday that says, “Harriet Honeybee’s Insect Quiz.” I decided to take it.

1. Name the three parts of an insect.  The front, middle, and end
2. Are bees cold-blooded animals? I guess they are since they don’t care WHO they sting
3. Bees make honey from ______ . Shhhh… we’re not supposed to talk about the birds and the bees.
4. What is the hard outer covering of a bee called? The outside, as opposed to the inside which we find on our windshields.
5. Who is the leader of a bee colony and lays the eggs? It depends. Is it a democracy, dictatorship, or a monarchy?
6. How many legs does a bee have? As many as they need
7. A bee smells with a pair of long feelers called _______ . those pointy head things.
8. What happens when an older hive gets too large? It falls out of the tree.
9. Where do mining bees dig their tunnels? Wherever they feel like it.
10. How do bees communicate with each other? Using Bee slang
11. What color is it impossible for bees to see? The one they run into
12. Bees have baskets on their back legs to hold _______ . Their groceries.

This is actually the third coffee we’ve tried, but Jeremy is working on the review for that one for me.  I decided to do this one myself.  You will be able to tell it has a different author as the tone of the post will be different.

Blogger’s Beach Blast

The description says, “This luscious flavored coffee will make your blog!  Featuring a tantalizing combination of chocolate kiss and caramel.”

The aroma is nice and mild.  You get a hint of caramel wafting in the midst of the coffee.  I usually end up taking at least one big sniff while it’s brewing.

The taste is slightly above mild, but with a “kiss” of chocolate and the caramel, it smooths out very nicely, especially with some cream in it.  If you prefer, as I do, you might like to add a small amount of sugar, but not much is needed.

I think this is a good after dinner coffee.  It is a good prelude to or as dessert.  It is nice and relaxing.

One thing I have done every once in a while is add 1 teaspoon of hot chocolate to it to boost the chocolate taste.  It tastes very delicious, almost like a mocha caramel latte.

You can get this coffee or any of the other new Blogger’s Fuel flavors from Boca Java.  Stay tuned, more reviews will be coming.

Our church is having a Ladies Hat Party.  Everyone is supposed to wear a hat.  For the occasion, the kids and I raided an older woman’s house yesterday and came away with a bunch of hats.  Some of them are old.  So much fun.  We are bringing them to church for those women who don’t have hats.  I’m taking Amie and Christine along with me.  They’ve already picked out their hats.  I think I need to take pictures.

Here is the first review of the six coffees we received from Blogger’s Fuel.

Late Night Log In

Aroma: The aroma is light and not overwhelming or burnt like many canned store blends tend to be.

Taste: Mild with very little aftertaste. It tastes great black. Or if you prefer, cream and a little sugar is an excellent accompaniment to this simple blend.

This coffee is nice and relaxing. It’s a good social coffee for having friends over or sunday school at your church.

Jesus was dead and buried in a tomb. They made sure the tomb was sealed tight.

On this day, so many, many years ago, the tomb was open and He was gone! Where was He? He had come to life again. Alleluia! If WE believe and ask Jesus to be OUR Saviour, WE will live again just as He does.

Acts 16:30 b and 31 - “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and YOU shalt be saved, and YOUR house.”

AMEN!

What happened many years ago? Jesus was crucified on the cross. He took all OUR sins (past, present, and future) onto Him and died for US. Wow! He loved US so much He did this.

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the WORLD (all people) that He gave His only begotten Son that WHOSOEVER (anyone) believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

To Be Continued…

Here is a picture taken in the dining room looking into the kitchen.

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It took about 8 loads to catch up from having no washer and dryer. Now I’ve started on bags of clothes from our storage unit. Some of the clothes have been in there for a little over 2 years. I know there will be stuff that doesn’t even fit Noelle now. I only have 4 bags of clothes right now and they were close to the front, so they haven’t been in there that long, but I’ve already found some 6 mo and 12 mo clothes that I’ll be sending to the Crises Pregnancy Center. When Jeremy gets to the storage unit again, he’ll be bringing more back. I’ll be going through clothes for weeks! Phew! Just the thought makes me tired.

Ok, enough break, back to folding.

clothes washer and dryer and dressers! Yay! With the crazy weather and things going wrong with different trailers, we finally got those from our storage unit yesterday. We also got our kitchen table, chairs, and the computer table. That makes our house a little more livable. James doesn’t have his dresser yet. It is at Jeremy’s parents’ house, but we have two dressers in the room for Amie, Christine, and AnnaBeth and two dressers in the master bedroom. We can get the girls’ clothes and our clothes out of boxes. We can wash the dirty clothes. Laundry’s been going non-stop while we are awake and home. It had a break overnight and while we were at church. So far, I’ve folded five loads of laundry. I haven’t tried matching up the socks from those loads yet, but will do that later today.

Anyway, I apoligize for posting so much. I guess I’m feeling behind because of the week I was gone. LOL

My kids were just asking to see the latest Wallace and Grommit movie today. Unfortunately, our TV and DVD player are not hooked up and may not be for a few more days since it isn’t high priority… for the adults anyway. Then, this news article hit my eye. I couldn’t help laughing.

I think this will be my last post today.

At the moment, I hear Noelle saying, “It’s coming down, down, down. Rain, rain, lots of rain.” She’s been starting to say interesting things like that. I think she’s going to be a poet or songwriter. LOL

She is right though. It is really pouring out there. You know what that means, right? No painting because I can’t open the windows to let out the fumes. Oh well, I’ll concentrate on cleaning up the dining room a bit and making room for the boxes we’ll be bringing in there when we’re a