The Quiet Day That Wasn't

This morning I wanted to go out and go strawberry picking, but when I mentioned it the children begged me to stay home today. We've been going a lot lately so they really wanted a day at home and I agreed.

At 9 I got a phone call from the realtor saying someone wanted to see the house at 10!!! Oh my... I asked it to be 10:30 instead to buy myself an extra 1/2 hr, which was a good thing. We went into super speed and cleaned like crazy. Vacuum, dusting, dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing.... oh boy! I was thankful that the house is decluttered so it looks good once we did all of that. We grabbed the dog and got out the door at 10:24. WHEW! We went to the playground and then came home and hour later.

Then I got a phone call from my Mom... my step-dad is planning to come over to recarpet the living room this afternoon... which means that we're going to have to be gone again! Yikes! Poor kiddos... they really wanted to stay home today (and so did I, really.)

The One with Me... Without Mud!

My 7 y/o took these photos of me yesterday & I thought I'd share. Me without dirt all over me! LOL!

The One About the Porch Garden

Since our house is on the market and our soil doesn't grow veggies very well (or perhaps I don't tend garden well enough??) I decided to plant some tomatoes and herbs on the porch. I had planned to do lettuce too, but after I was given some extra tomato plants I decided to plant those instead of the lettuce. I didn't have enough boxes for both. Here are some pictures... as you can see mybasil looks very sad, tho 1/2 of it rallied w/ good sunshine yesterday!

And Beth wanted me to take a picture of the flowers as well:

The One About 10%

So I've been doing WW for a while now... and they say slow & steady wins the race, but I'd like to see faster results. But today is a reason to celebrate. I hit 10%!! In WW world that is a big deal! I've lost 22 lbs since January. I didn't start WW until April and have lost 11 lbs since then. I'm pretty pleased, tho I wish it were faster... I still have 21.5 lbs to go tho... So I guess I've also hit my 1/2 way mark. Also... I've lost all my last pregnancy weight + 1 lb... So that's another reason to celebrate.

Another One About the Well... and extra stuff too.

We received the bill for the well this morning. I have to admit I was a bundle of nerves opening it up... half of me didn't want to know & half of me just wanted it over with. Praise the Lord it didn't go over $4000!!! It was still more than *I* wanted it to be at the beginning, but it was only $10 more than I figured it out once the man who drilled the well gave me the figures. And thanks to Dave Ramsey's program and the Lord's leading we can actually pay cash for it. It will completely wipe us out... but we can pay it. Yay!

Other Random Topics:

• My basil is so sad looking. I can't figure out what to do with it... so I moved it into full sun in hopes that will help. I read up on it a bit more last night and found it likes well drained soil... I don't think the box it's in has well drained soil, so I need to figure out what to do about that.
• We got all summery yesterday and set up the kiddie pool. The kids had a blast in it and I actually took a few minutes to relax and read while they were playing in it.
• I'm reading Clara's War right now. It's the true story of a young girl/teen who survived the German Occupation in Poland. I'm only in chapter 3 and I have to admit I'm highly disturbed by the evil that is present in the Russians and the Nazis. It's hard for me to believe that anyone can be as evil as they were ... and sad to think that this was only 70 or so years ago. I know people say that the wars today are just as bad... and they probably are, but the seeming disregard for human life to the point that is described in this book it horrific. I cannot even bring myself to type them.... yet people lived through this. It's no wonder that the men who fought over there and the people who lived through it rarely talked about it. It'd be easier to just try to put it from your mind, yet I don't think they ever could.

The Grumpy One... for June

I was so grumpy today. It didn't help that Alyssa is super fussy today as well, but *I* was most likely the grumpiest of us all. I don't even really know why.... and I hate it when that happens. I needed to change it, so I brought everyone outside and started to plant a flowerbed out in the back yard. It's pretty... it's looking good... unfortunately Alyssa started screaming about 10 mins before I finished. Yes, I'll admit... I finished and sang to her over her crying, hoping to calm her down.

It didn't help much. I was hoping it does. Gardening usually lifts my spirits a bit.... but I think w/ Alyssa crying and me feeling rushed and harried at the end it just didn't do the trick.

Maybe a large bowl of ice cream will tonight.... (And yes... I do have the points, Rachael!! lol! )

The "slept through the night" one!

Alyssa slept through the night last night. I'm pretty sure it was a fluke, though. We were at my Moms until very late and she was so exhausted. She slept from about 10:30 until around 5 am! That's 7.5 hrs and the very first time she's done that. Needless to say I was shocked. I woke up around 2:30... her usual waking time... and then dozed off until 3:15. And then I was worried... I worried that she was ok (cause she was verrry fussy going down which isn't like her either) So I tossed and turned and worried... then scrouged around for the monitor and listened to her breathing and realized she was just fine. LOL! Funny how we mamas can't wait for them to sleep through and then spend all that time worrying when they do!

In other news:

• The well is complete and most of the mess cleaned up. Yay!
• Matt was offered an evening job by one place and a weekend job by another and decided to take both on top of his current job. They are only temporary, but will help rebuild our 'emergency fund' that the well just wiped out. *sigh* I'm going to be "single mom" for a while... but I feel worse for Matt because that's a whole lot of working for one guy.
• No one has come to see the house yet. I'm a little torn on that... part of me is relieved and part of me is disappointed, but all of me is trusting God that it's in HIS timing.

The One With the Picture...

Here's me... digging a hole for my husband. He just HAD to take a picture. LOL!! (It was to attach the new well to the house, btw... not to put him in! lol!! ) In the end it was between 5'6" and 6' deep (it went downhill) as wide as you see there and about 6' long :) Needless to say I am SORE today...

The One About Baby Noises

I never really believed parents who said their babies talked at 7-8 months or younger. I thought they were just being 'proud parents" & hearing what they wanted to hear. That is until Alyssa started "talking". She says the normal "mama" and "dada" at the appropriate times. But she also says "Yaaa" when clapping her hands & "Uh-oh" when something drops or when prompted. And tonight our dog, Shelby, barked & immediately after Alyssa made the same noises! She's such a mimic lately! So cute!!

The One With a Well & New Concotion

My head is ringing... it's so noisy in here right now. We're getting a new well drilled today and the truck is SO noisy as it's drilling right outside my kitchen window. I want to know how it's going... how much it's going to cost, really. ;) I don't want to interrupt them tho... *sigh*

Dinner is a semi-experiment. Sauteed mixed veggies (asparagus, carrots, onions, peppers) w/ brown rice & chicken "fried" w/ it. Then I wanted to make a sweet and sour sauce, but couldn't find all the ingredients, so I whipped up my own something. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, white vinegar, white sugar (cause I ran out of brown! *doh* ) and some water. Mised it to good consistency and then threw it in while the rice and veggies were "frying". (I say "fried" because there's no oil at all... I had no olive oil and vegetable oil would just ruin it, so I'm frying in my electric skillet)

We'll see how it tastes...

The One with Hives and More Cleaning

I borrowed my "little" brother for today so I'd have some help in the basement and/or with the children. "little" brother is 17... but isn't so little anymore. We're getting a lot done, actually. It's a great feeling.

I'm going a bit slower than usual tho. I woke up covered in itchy hives. I have no idea why... but they are so miserable that I took benadryl, which has been exhausted. I am almost falling asleep writing this. So need to get back to work so I can wake up, hopefully.

*yawn*

Side Note: Potatoe salad was very yummy last night. :)

The Accomplished & Experimental One

I feel so accomplished today. I got so many of the 'little' things done: dusting fans, washing walls, getting stickers off the floor and chairs, etc. As well as laundry and dishes and mopping and sweeping.

I also researched a few days ago and found I was waaayyy over watering my herbs, so I haven't watered them since and they are springing back to life. Yay!

I've also been super experimental with my cooking lately. I did that pasta sauce w/ tomatoes and cucumbers the other night, tho some people thought it would be gross. It was yummy!! Then I did a pasta salad w/ vingrette dressing instead of mayo and put broccoli and apples in it and it was good. Tonight's experiment is roasted red potatoe cold salad. I'll let you know how it goes. :) I am roasting the red potatoes now w/ a bit of olive oil, fresh basil, fresh parsley, fresh chives and pepper. Then I'll let them cool and mix it w/ red wine vinegrette, peppers, broccoli and maybe hard boiled eggs. I can't decide on that yet.

The One About Worship

"Here I am to Worship, Here I am to Sing Loud, Here I am to talk w/ all my friends.... You're all together useful, all together helpful..."

This was running through my head yesterday after worship service at church. A friend sang it at chapel to point out that so many times we (she was mostly speaking to the students) go to church to socialize and forget about the true meaning of worshipping the Lord. Yesterday at church the teens were leading worship and it was SO SHOWY. It was obviously very much "look at me up here singing", which I know is part of being a teen... trying to put on a good show and look impressive, even trying to look spiritual. But I had such a sadness overwhelm me and this thought running through my head "this is not what worship is about." I was brought to tears even, which I'm not usually an emotional person like that... but it was so sad to me that this is how people are "worshipping" the Lord.

The One About the Breads that Never Stop

Amish Frienship Bread and Sourdough Bread never stop... you take some from it, add some to it and it keeps going and going. I've had Amish Friendship Bread starter for 20 days now and have made a whopping 12 loaves so far. Sheesh! That's a lot of bread. I've found that it does freeze... and I also made some of the loaves into muffins, bundt cake and such. I don't have enough friends to keep giving the starter to, so I devised a new plan that I'm trying this week. Today I only added 1/2 the ingredients you're supposed to and only scooped 2 cups of the started into ziplocs so I only have 2 bags of starter this week instead of 4. I did end up tossing one bag. Eek. I felt guilty, but I didn't have enough ingredients for it. It sure is yummy once it's cooked and I enjoy experimenting with it. This week I have a vanilla bundt cake that I'm going to serve w/ strawberries, 2 loaves of butterscotch, 2 doz mini muffins and 1 loaf that are french vanilla w/ craisins and white choco chips. We'll see how these turn out once they are done baking... right now it sure smells good in here!

And the sourdough bread... I started my starter about 2 weeks ago. I made a loaf the other night and Matt is raving about it. He loves it. So I'm going to keep it up as long as I remember to feed and care for the starter. We'll see how long it lasts!!

The One With the "Guy Factor"

Levi is 8 and I often just view him as one of my children, not his own person and certainly not that he's a 'guy' (i.e. male). So when he seems to ignore my request I get frustrated. This evening I had something dawn on me. Here's how it played out.

Levi sitting on couch reading a new book.
James eating but not involved in anything.

Me: "Boys. I need you to put your shoes by the front door."
James hops up and does it immediately.
Levi continues reading.
I do nothing... just continue my cleaning.
James: "Levi, Mom said to put your shoes by the front door." (he got right in Levi's space so interrupted his reading.)
Levi: "No. Mom said to take them off by the back door."

Interesting. I DID say to take them off when he first came in from outside.... so he completely didn't even hear me when I said to put them by the front door. Sounds just like what his dad does when he's involved in something... he seemingly ignores what I say... but in all reality never hears me!

I guess it's a "guy thing".

The One With the Grins

There's nothing more precious than opening your sleepy eyes in the morning to find your baby's big eyes fixated on your face and see a grin spread over her face as she sees you wake up. Yup. That's how I woke up this morning. I love those precious baby grins.

She's so fun lately! She's interacting more and more. She loves to copy what we are "saying". She growls when we growl and giggles when we giggle. She claps her hands when she's excited. She's just such a joy. Last night Matt was eating ice cream and she sat there saying "Dadadada numnumnumnum" It was so cute!

The One With the Sauce

I had some 'need to use now' tomatoes and cucumbers, so I decided to make a pasta sauce tonight. I threw those w/ some chopped onions and garlic into a pot and started to simmer them. Then I remembered that I have fresh herbs on the porch, so I put in some fresh basil and parsley. YUMMMYYY!!! I served it over whole wheat spaghetti w/ a side of sourdough bread (home made too. ) YUMMYYY!. Did I mention that yet? It was really good.

The One About a Well

Wow... so... no bites on the house yet. HA ha! Actually we have found that we apparently have no rights to the well. Or at least no deeded rights. This is insane, really. We were told one thing and now find out we were flat out lied to when we bought this house. Thanks Michele Tahy and Whitbeck Associates. Blech!

We got an estimate and will be putting a well in next week. Craziness... but it'll be good...

Just waiting on God's timing in all this and doing what we need to do to make it happen. :) That peace that surpasses all understanding is pretty amazing stuff. ;)

The One With All the Craziness

As of today our house is on the market. The ONLY issue may be that we have a shared well & can't find the deeded rights to it????? Scary business... but otherwise it's on the market and we'll see what happens from here. Good thing it's not in our hands! ;)

The realtor gave me a huge list of things to do to help enhance our selling prospects. So I've started that today... and it's a lot of work. Doesn't help that I have a teething baby... or at least I hope it's just teething & nothing else. And a toddler who is going through a crisis every 1/2 hr or so. *sigh* Right now he's trying to climb on my lap... eek.

I'm taking a quick break from cleaning... I just finished the front closet and that was a lot of work.

This is good tho. I needed to declutter and get rid of things.

The One With Direction

Forget it. I'm not posting any more pictures from our trip! I keep meaning to, but then I don't... and by now they are irrelevant, right?

So... life is fun. Getting more fun by the month! We're in limbo stage at the moment. We have a direction and a path and a plan.... it's just going to take patience & God's timing. It's all job/move related. Should be a fun next 6 months!!

I am taking a parenting class at church. It's by Kevin Lehman. Matt went last night in my place. He liked it... and we're learning a bit. We did realize that we're probably the only positive parents there. Lots of jokes about 'swatting' or 'whooping' flying around. I dunno... sometimes that just makes me uncomfortable.