You Don't See That Every Day

Something unusual happened to me today. Since the kids are at VBS all week, either helping or attending, Little K and I have been having some fun. Ok, not really 'fun' to a 3 year old, but we are getting things done! Today we hauled some more stuff out of the house and dropped it at a relative's garage sale. Then we hauled some cans and bottles to be recycled - gotta love the Oregon .05 back deal!! I had a big bag that another relative had given me because they didn't want to be bothered with returning the cans. Free money - I don't mind! So far, nothing out of the ordinary. So here I am in my running clothes, hat in my hair, I didnt' think I looked too bad for 11 in the morning, since I had not even run yet! And K was dressed and happy sitting in the grocery cart handing my cans to recycle. Along comes this older man and he sticks out his hand and says, "You dropped this." Um, what? He is handing me a $20! I told him oh no, it wasn't me. He in...

Happy Anniversary to a few special people - my brother and his wife, yesterday; my other brother and wife today, my in-laws tomorrow. Wow! June is a month for weddings! I know there were a number of my friends who married in June too. G and I chose the end of May, just because we're rebels. And because it was a holiday weekend and family could have time to travel there. And because we didn't want to wait until Labor Day weekend. We are heading out for camping next month. Which means I am starting my lists. Yay! Lists make me happy because they keep me focused and organized. But here's a question for you - what to make for supper(s)? Breakfast and lunches are easy for me to come up with for camping. But supper is always a dilemma. So far, I've got chili and rice - one of our favs. But I need to come up with one or two more easy ones. Open to suggestions. Have you heard of Oswald Chambers? He has this great little book called My Utmost For His Highest. Way back in 199...

Cleaning up the 'spare' room and I have some school books to sell. Many of them are A Beka, and some of those are brand new. Mostly 5th grade items, but there are a few 6th grade, or 3rd grade, or other things in there. If you are interested leave a comment and I will find a way to get these to you. Abeka Arithmetic 5 Curriculum/lesson plans, grade 5, $5.00 Abeka Enjoying good health answer key to text questions, grade 5, $1.00 Abeka Enjoying good health test, quiz, worksheet key, grade 5, $2.00 Abeka God’s gift of language B quiz, test key, grade 5, $2.00 Abeka God’s Gift of Language B, Writing and Grammar Work Text, Grade 5 $5.00 Abeka Health, safety, and manners 2 nd edition, grade 3, $ 5.00 Abeka Investigating God’s World answer key to text questions, grade 5, $1.00 Abeka Investigating God’s world quiz key, grade 5, $2.00 Abeka Investigating God’s World test key, grade 5, $3.00 Abeka Investigating God’s World Textbook, grade 5, $5.00 Abeka Math...

In my corner of the world this week.... I made pillows. I had two leftover fleece, king sized pillow cases. Instead of spending mucho bucks for pillows, I bought some forms at the fabric store, made a casing with leftover fabric I have had for years, and now the kids have some big pillows to use for reading or watching TV. Feeling crafty and frugal. The girls held a lemonade stand fundraiser for two days this week. They are raising funds to help our friends get to Uganda on a missionary trip. They spent the past couple of days or weeks (?) making little crafty things - jewelry, cards, knitting items; then they set up a lemonade and cookie stand, along with their crafts, to sell to anyone who came by. They even put signs up around the neighborhood to advertise. I love their ingenuity and the fact that they didn't just ask me for money. They thought of this all on their own. I ran for the first time in over a week. Mornings have been just too busy! What!? This is summer, crazy ...

Back in June of 2007 I broke out in hives for the first time; it was the beginning of my hive saga. I'm thankful that today, 6 years later, the hives are not much of a daily issue for me. I take an antihistamine each day and usually have no problem. That is until I eat something I shouldn't. Although, for me, I don't usually know I shouldn't until after the fact. I am slowly accruing a list of foods my 40 year old body doesn't like. I found out Monday night that cherries are now on the list. And what a bummer! I sure like fresh cherries straight from the farm. Or I did, until I woke up Monday night with a swollen face and mouth and hives all over. I had the same reaction to plums earlier in the year. Which was another bummer, because I sure liked plums too! Teriyaki is another no-no for some reason. Back in the beginning of this saga I went to an allergist, among many other specialists, trying to figure out why I have chronic hives. He was highly recommended and ...

Let me just start out with, this past Sunday was tons better than last Sunday! Here we have a photo of the precious week's after effects. Thankfully, there are no such photos for this week.  On Saturday we had the first swim meet in the morning and more house work in the afternoon. My oldest girl made a PR in her swims. She won most of her heats too, which is such a nice payoff for a year of practicing. But on to our adventure. We've learned a few things in the past 2 weeks. 1. Plan Ahead; which we did sort of. G perused all the books and maps on Saturday night. He knew the area we were going, and knew the weather. 2. Be prepared. We brought a lot more food and water, along with sweatshirts and maps and other items. 3. Bring TP. Of course, this was one item we didn't bring, and could have used. Although the girls made it to the restaurant after the hike in time. For Father's Day G got to choose whatever he wanted to do, so instead of a family pi...

Sunday morning began so peacefully. We slept in. I ran down to the local grocery store and got the paper, then ran home. The kids read books. So peaceful.  (We went to church Saturday night, just in case you were wondering!) The first hint at calamity came before we left on our hike. The Boy was suppose to take the dog(s) for a run. He thought it was a brilliant idea to get on his bike and run them while he rode. Until the big dog saw a squirrel and decided to lunge. The Boy followed, but the bike did not. There was blood. And abrasions and open wounds. But we patched him up and moved onward. We drove quite a ways up into the coast range to a place called Valley of the Giants. Except we couldn't find it. There were so many 'roads' and the map and book we had was about 9 years old. We were finally frustrated enough that we stopped at 2 pm to just eat lunch. We enjoyed the scenery and the river. Throwing rocks was one event. And then another car c...

Our son has completed the first half of his academic education. 8 years of school - most at home, 1/4 of it at a school. The Boy's graduation ceremony was last night; what a fun night that turned out to be!  Traffic was a bear, but we made it just in time - (which meant our little wiggly3 year old didn't have to sit quite as long in a seat and behave).  The grandparents came along to cheer, which always makes it special.  There was some great music provided by the middle school.  And yes, I had to use a tissue to wipe away some tears. When they announced the winner of the special scholarship - my heart started pounding, my vision got a little blurry - that was our son's name being called!!  As I told him later, it wasn't just his awesome grades that won this scholarship. It was the person he is, the servant of Christ that he is, that won this scholarship. I After the ceremony, the rest of us headed home while the students went to a specia...

The Princess can see! She got her glasses earlier this week, and the first thing she said, "I can see!" And then she went on to point out all the words and objects she could see that had looked like big blobs of color before. A whole new world opened up to her. We've been spending a lot of time on the farm. At least it feels like it. My son has taken to cutting the sleeves of his (old) shirts to wear to the farm. He gets on the bike and takes off down the dirt road. The one time I did NOT have my camera, he was wearing the same outfit, but with tall black rubber boots. Perhaps we're making a farm boy out of him after all. The girls like to go out and shoot their guns there, but I've been getting some resistance to weeding lately. I smile inwardly and force the minions onward. School is winding down. The girls are trudging on to the end here. We'll have most everything wrapped up this week, with just a couple of loose ends (certain subjects like math!) to...