You Don't See That Every Day

It's done! Our shed in the setting sun We have moved! 20 years in our first house and now we are in a new chapter. And wow is it different! We went from 7 of us in the home to 5 of us (two went to college). We moved from a suburb neighborhood to out in the country (and we love it). We moved from 5 bedrooms to 3 (but we'll be adding some more on in the future). We increased our square footage - and the hardwood floors are so fun to slip and slide on! I find myself taking a lot of pictures of the sky, clouds, sunrise or sunset, and the neighboring farms. We've been in the new house for 3 weeks now. I am slowly figuring out our new schedule and slowly coming to call this place 'home' and having it feel like it.

Hello old friend,  I came across this post I forgot to publish way back in July. I decided to go ahead and publish it now and then come back and update ... How have you been? I've been gone awhile. Sorry about that. I think this spring and summer have been the busiest, most stressful time of my life. Ever. So many things have fallen off my To-Do lists and down into the cracks of the abyss, you being one of them. Not because of anything you have done. No, it's all me this time. My mind has been traveling too fast, for too long. over too many roads. Our daughter graduated from high school this past June. We've been through the process once before, so you would think I would be prepared for it. And I was! I had the announcements ordered in time, and her grad party planned out ahead of time. Of course, I put it on a weekend when a lot of people were not in town - Memorial Weekend. Not a smart move there, but we got it done. It still amazes me how much is involved in gradu...

A friend and I were talking about a spouse's birthday and the conversation slowly evolved into talking about date nights. There are a gazillion ideas on where to spend your date night. (Just google those two words and you'll get some amazing ideas.) But actually putting them into practice isn't so easy. Two Christmas's ago I was trying to come up with a creative gift idea for my husband. I didn't want to just buy him another shirt, or box of chocolate covered cherries. A lady in a study group suggested an idea, which I think she used one year herself.  So I took 12 pieces of paper and on each one I wrote a day from each month. For example, I looked at my January calendar, and knowing there would be swim meets and basketball games, I found a day that was open and so I wrote that on slip of paper: Jan 12. Then I did that for the rest of the months, checking my calendar, mentally reviewing what goes on in each month, or certain birthdays/holidays/school events, and th...

Spring is coming! I know its only January but I can see the daylight growing earlier and longer each day, offering hope of time outside not shivering. Our holiday break is over and we are back to the routine. Which is a good thing! The first day back to school was a lot easier for us than the second. We were up and going on time, with the only fussiness when it came time to do math. One child has a little problem with wanting to DO math. She's very good at it, and when she is in the right attitude, she can fly through it. The second day ... well, at 9am and I was just starting to eat breakfast, instead of starting school. And now that we are in week 2, well, I'm dreaming again about break time But about our break .. We packed it in this time. It felt like it to me even if the kids might not agree. The week before Christmas we took off from homeschool, although the older kids still had class at away-school. Choir concerts, singing at the Capitol, dentist and ortho appo...

Sometimes something amazing happens once in a great while. Like Halley's Comet. I still remember my 7th grade teacher's excitement over this flying ball of gaseous rocks. The work in progress This past weekend I had amazing idea come to life. That is something that rarely happens. So, it wasn't quite as ethereal as Halley's Comet, or any comet really. But it was cool enough for the Mr and I to look at each other and go, Oh yeah. I'm glad we made this happen.  Back in November I began to anticipate the Christmas break. Two weeks to sleep in a little, and not run around so much. I know my kids like the break from school, but not necessarily the break from friends. As my mind was whirling with to-do lists, I came across a Facebook post from a relative who has a tradition of decorating graham cracker "gingerbread" houses each Thanksgiving break. A lightbulb began to glow in my mind. Why not get my kids and their friends together to do this?!...

I'm getting a crown this month. Unfortunately it isn't gold, it doesn't have diamonds, and there is no title associated with it. No, I got to wade into the swamp of dental work this week. Not something many people look forward to, except for maybe the dentist. My back tooth needs a crown, so earlier this week my first appointment included a number of drills and numbing material and 2 hours in the dentist's chair. And then a week (or maybe more, who knows?) of not being able to chew on one side of my mouth. And not eat hard, crunchy food. (So long beloved cashews.) But there is a positive side to this! I've been much more aware of what I'm eating. I haven't been prone to mindless snacking, -- which has played right into the journey I have been on since summer ... Back in August I went clothes shopping with my teen girls. It was depressing. Nothing fit right, everything looked dumpy on me. And I was not used to this! I was the kid who could eat anything an...

There was a time when having something going on every night of the week made me so excited, and by the weekend I was ready for more fun. That time has passed. We have had something going on every night for the past 11 days straight, along with the daily events and fun things thrown in there to keep my homeschool kids from rising up and firing me. Last weekend we went to Seattle for the day to see my niece married to a great guy. It was fun to show the two younger girls who went with us, the sites of Seattle, even though those sights were found due to a couple of missed turns. Earlier in the week my sisters and I took the two youngsters to a Nativity 'festival'. We visited a place that had a large room/gym (?) full of Nativity scenes. It was like they could read my mind. I love Nativities, and am slowly gathering my own collection of them. But this collection from all over the world was just ... well it made me happy! These pictures are just a few of what we saw. The du...