You Don't See That Every Day

My husband and I have just finished a financial class offered through our church. And am I glad we did! We went through something called Financial Peace University, by Dave Ramsey. I'm sure some of you have heard of it. Let me tell you, it is awesome. If you have debt of any kind, I highly encourage to read his book, take his class, listen to his audio. I think the key for us was that we did it *together*. It wasn't me trying to get G to change his spending habits, or the other way around. It was both of us, working together, to manage the money. We've been married for almost 16 years, and this is the first time we have actually stuck to a budget. I learned about money somewhere along the road of life, but never really about what a budget IS and what it DOES. So basically now we pay with cash. And when the cash is gone - as in the amount we set aside for that area of our life - then we are done spending. Novel concept, eh? Yeah, it actually was for me! I used to use my deb

We're entering day three of our break here. Although with all the time off we had last week because of health issues, I can't really call this day three of a break. More like day 45. The first day was spent shopping. Now that might sound like a good time for some people. But it was a chore I put off until we had lots of free time. I have a couple of very picky children. Those who have to have just the right feel to their jeans or they won't wear them. They will let them sit in their drawers and languish, never to see the light of day, unless I pull them out and ask, "What do you mean you don't have any pants?! What about these?!" And I'll get the standard reply, "They don't fit right." Meaning, I can't stand them and there is no way I am going to put those on. Yes, my mother's dream came true. I am re-living my childhood through my own children. I was one who didn't want certain clothing items my mom got (or made) me. And I wou

Tuesday morning, I woke up with a day of plans to check off my list. I needed to buy diapers (we were down to two left!) I needed to get wood for heat. We were on the last few logs. No biggie, I knew we could get these errands taken care of. Until I got The Phone Call. Oh yeah. That change-in-schedule-drop-everything-kind of phone call. My husband went back to Washington for business on the day before. And he had a terrible deja vu, waking in the middle of the night again with intense pain in his gut. And the medicine his doctor had given had not worked at all. So he was on his way home. In Pain. I set down the vacuum and got the troops in order. I made my phone calls and headed out to meet G. My mom took the girls, my aunt volunteered her help, and we met the patient halfway, or more, on his drive. I took it from there so he could just writhe in the passenger seat. Off to the hospital we sped , fled. 12 hours after it started, he finally had pain relief. After a whole lot of ot

My life is never dull. Oh, sure I have days where not too much happens. But it's never dull. If it isn't my 5 kids and my awesome husband,  then it's the world just outside my doorstep that keeps life interesting. Today I went on my long run. Of course it began to rain as soon as I pulled myself off the couch and put my running shoes on. But I still went. And I made my Boy come along on his bicycle. Because running 9 miles in the rain isn't any fun alone. We had a good time, commenting on the sights as we went along. And then a couple of miles from home, we witnessed an Event. We had just crested a hill, and were coming down the other side when I noticed a man out of his car, with the engine smoking. I saw something underneath it, and it hit my brain that the car was on fire. And we were about 1/2 mile away, so I couldn't yell out to him. So I yelled it to my son. As we watched the young man lift the hood, and we watched the flames leap up, and then he slammed

It's a rainy Saturday in Oregon. I have a child who is still sick. So she and I and Little K. stayed home this morning while the other 3 kids and G. went to the Awana Games. Our sick girl was quite disappointed she was not able to go! It was her last year of competing and she was a key player. Unfortunately, her body didn't cooperate with her plans. So we stayed in and watched TV. Well, they watched while I cleaned and baked. We like to watch the Food channel; Chopped is one of our favorites. The only problem with that is ... I then go in the kitchen and crank out some kind of goodie, but tweak the recipe a little. (I guess that isn't really any different from any other time I cook.) This time I took my oatmeal muffin recipe*, the one from my awesome friend Debbie, and I added jam to the center. Wow! Such a little change, but so yummy! I've got the chili in the crockpot going, and I'm working on cinnamon roll from PW 's cookbook . Here's the thing ab

I never imagined I would be here yesterday:  But I was, flying! Up over the mountains and into the neighboring state. love how the prop is shown; not what I could see with my eye  My awesome father in-law offered to take me to my husband so I could 'rescue' him. My poor guy - he had been sick all night in the hotel room, with a very painful stomach. Almost a repeat of what had happened last month. He made it to the hospital, and with that my planning went into action. I found a ride to the airport to meet my f.i.l. I found relatives to stay with my kids (who are all sick) and someone to pick up the Boy from school. Anything else I didn't deal with - so if you sent me an email or phone call about something else, I will eventually get to it... just not yet. I had to take the photos with my phone. I kicked myself (mentally kick kick kick) for not taking my camera. Seeing Mt Hood up close and personal from a little airplane was so amazing! I loved flying! We had a fe

the Swimmer Girl's art pictures by M and M I saw a picture of this art project on my facebook the other day, and I thought it looked like a fun and simple project to try. So we got out the pop bottles and markers and paint and went to work. I guess we don't have the right size pop bottles - because the 2 liter kind are just too large. So we used a small round brush instead. Miss K and mine And this is what my girls came up with. I think it's quite apropos especially with the cherry trees blossoming around our town.

We're at it once again. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, they can't breathe One of the girls had a fever Saturday afternoon, which I discovered when I came home from my carnival work. Bright red cheeks were the giveaway clue there. And the coughing! The poor girl can't stop coughing, even with cough drops. Last night another girl, another fever and more coughing. And Little K has the goopiest nose. Ick. So G and I left the 14 year old in charge yesterday and went to church. It was like a date. Can we have a date at church!?! I had to teach and he had to be at a class, but we reconnected for the service, and -- don't tell the kids -- kind of enjoyed just being the two of us in a crowd of hundreds of friends. I am so thankful we don't have a lot going on this week. And I am so thankful I can still have them do schoolwork as they sit on the couch and cough at each other!

In my corner of the world this week ... I have been running. Many different ways. I've found some new routes, and that has helped any monotony I had been feeling. I made it up to a six mile run this past week. I am hoping to get a 7 or 8 miler in the next couple of days. The sunshine has been out, and I've been itching to get back out on the road. Other commitments have zapped my time though. The family helped set up for a basketball celebration yesterday. And then we celebrated. And the Boy and I helped set up, work at, and tear down, at the school's carnival. I am tired. The weekend isn't over, and we've got more to do. But it's fun! I made a chocolate cake roll tonight for my father-in-law's birthday. Lots of fun! I watched my son dance to 80s music. Even more fun. Lately he has been listening to radio that plays the songs I heard in high school, or earlier. I guess I am officially old now. I helped the Girl apply for school, go through an inte

I took my 12 year old to high school today. She's growing up so fast. Thankfully, it wasn't for class. And she was only there for an hour or so. With me. My 6th grader has asked to go "to" school next year, so we are looking into the options we have for her; specifically the same school her brother is attending. There is a long list of  to-do's that we have to do to apply for admission and acceptance. One of them is a personal interview. So that's what we did at the high school today, since the office is over there. She'll be going to 7th grade. I'm going to miss her. She's getting to the age where we can have more grown-up conversations. She is starting to get the jokes I make. I know, few people get those, but it's nice to have a kid who can at least smile at my attempts. But she has been asking for quite awhile to go 'to' school, so, thus, we are investigating. Homeschool has been a long but fun road we've gone down. It&#

It is with some sadness that we say goodbye. Goodbye to star ceremonies and late practices. Goodbye to the basketball season 3 of the 5 of our children played basketball this season, and now, finally, we are done with that. Well, mostly. There is one more huge award ceremony, but practices and games and days of spectating are done for one more year. And it was a *good* season. I love basketball,but even I was ready to have a weekend off. Although I seriously told my husband I am thinking of coaching one of my girls next year. The Boy ended his season with a fun little party. The coach put together a dunk contest, along with a skills and shooting contest amongst the 7th and 8th graders. It was a lot of fun to watch them have fun. And, yes, my Boy won one of the contests. Although he is just a little taller than I am now, and nowhere near his dad's height ... the boy can jump! He won the dunk contest. It was pretty cool (she said modestly). Of course there are/were pizza par