7 Quick Takes (Not Quite) Friday

1)
Eight people,
Four dogs,
Three pies,
Fourteen pounds of turkey,
Twelve hours...

One tired, insomniac mom who is hoping that the almost two inches of snow on the ground right now doesn't turn into more and rain on my Black Friday shopping parade...
Not that I really go shopping on Black Friday for the stellar deals (who really wants to buy a $2000 flat screen TV for only $999 anyway?) Mostly, it's just something that has become a tradition with my MIL and me and any other females around for the holiday (so this year, MIL, me and the girls).

2)
Dinner went well...I managed to cook the turkey long enough that it didn't need to be carved (again...this is kinda a trend with me!) I figured out how to make sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and frog eye salad (all firsts for me!), and everything came together really well by the time our guests arrived.

3)
Apparently there was a really terrible semi accident on the highway down to our town from hubby's hometown (where our four people guests and three doggie guests came from), and everyone was pretty sure no one could have survived it, but Charlotte's godfather stopped and talked to the wrecker crew on his way home and found out that the truck driver's only injury was a broken jaw...what a huge blessing to be thankful for!

4)
Hubby and I were discussing the cost of our Thanksgiving dinner (because his grandpa tried to PAY me to help out with dinner...it didn't work...I'm more stubborn than him) and so since I can't sleep and am a numbers dork, I got my receipts out of my wallet and added it up. This does not include staples from my pantry and fridge (butter, milk, cornstarch, sugar, pudding mix, marshmallows, spices, coconut), but my total before tax and coupons (and I would bet I had close to $5 worth of coupons) was $23.93...that fed 8 of us exceedingly well for lunch (dinner), 6 of us as much as we could handle for dinner (supper), a homemade TV dinner for hubby for tomorrow's lunch, about 2/3 of a batch of frog eye salad (the recipe said that it served 11...apparently that means 11 people eating a dinner plate full of it) and probably a good 4-5 lbs of turkey meat that I need to do something with!

5)
I have to rave about my great new addition to my spice cupboard...for the entire time we have lived in this house (honestly, I don't really even remember my spice space in our old house, other than it is better that what I've had here) I've been struggling with my spices...I never could find them, I'd have to empty out the whole cabinet to find something, or I'd give up and use something that was kinda-sorta somewhat like what the recipe called for...so, hubby and I have been trying to find some pull out shelves that will fit in our extremely narrow cupboard. Finally, I was at wits end over the weekend (about the time we decided that we would be hosting Thanksgiving) and googled "pull out shelves for a spice cupboard", and found this blog post that has CHANGED MY LIFE (okay, maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic...) Such a simple idea, but so amazing...it was even within hubby's home improvement capabilities (although apparently reaching the random bunch of 2x4s in our garage was a little dangerous...)

6)
We are currently reading a book that I am really enjoying, but am a little reluctant to suggest to people: "The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map To True Riches" by Jeff Yeager. Now, I'm not reluctant to suggest the book because of the advice in it...but because it is pretty crude and crass...Hubby grew up in a family with that kind of a sense of humor...I grew up in a family with no sense of humor...So, if you are not from a family with a slightly vulgar sense of humor, you may have to wait until you have been married into one for close to a decade...In particular, I really enjoy his concept "skip the money step"...basically, what you do is to not buy something that you will have to work to pay for...the best (simple) example is the car...You want a car as a teen, so you get a job to pay for the car and the insurance and the gas, but the job takes up all your time so you can't enjoy your car, but now you need your car to get you back and forth to work...it's a very interesting book.

7)
Last weekend we ended up staying the night up at my MILs house (well, my FIL does live there, too...but let's face it...houses tend to belong to women) and the girls didn't get even close to enough sleep...so after a whole bunch of drama queen moments by one girl or the other, I reached my limit, packed up and we headed home early (about 4 pm, we usually don't get out of there until close to 9). The final drama was that hubby's grandpa's dog snapped at Eva and it scared her...Not only was hubby's grandpa's dog there, but also my FILs dog, our dog, and my SILs three cats (not my SIL, though...she is visiting a convent in Nebraska this week). Somehow in all the hustle and bustle of trying to get all our stuff together, I managed to leave a bag behind...inside the bag were several books, a set of coupon inserts, a couple of movies, and my purse (with my keys, wallet, cellphone, etc in it!) We were too far away to go back and get it by the time I realized my purse was in there, too...so from Sunday until today I had no car keys, no wallet, no license, no debit card...nothing! Yesterday, hubby forgot to take several things that I really wanted to get in the mail before Thanksgiving, and I originally thought "no problem". I figured I could drive to the bank, get some cash, mail the things and stop by the grocery store on the way home for a few items....then I realized that we don't have a spare car key for our new car...so I thought since it was nice, I would get the stroller, walk to the bank, then walk to the post office, then steal hubby's car keys and car and make him walk home from work...then I realized that he had the car with no car seats...and I realized that Eva wouldn't do well with walking to the bank, post office, grocery store and then home...so I left hubby a message on his cell phone, and he felt guilty enough to take a break, drive home, mail my letters, AND stop by the grocery store after work the day before Thanksgiving...he really is a great guy!

And those are my takes...in the morning I'm sure there will be more over at Jen's blog!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, the turkey is in the oven, cranberry relish and frog eye salad are in the fridge, sweet potato casserole is assembled and waiting on the counter, the potatoes are cut and in water waiting to be boiled and mashed, the green beans are defrosting on the counter with the ingredients for green bean casserole, and the stuffing is Stove Top in the box.

MIL is bringing dinner rolls and pecan pie. Mrs. Smith made the pumpkin pie and it is still in the freezer (our tiny oven can only do one thing at a time!)

I still need to get out the china, but hubby's been running around cleaning while the girls watch a little TV.

All is well in our house and we are looking forward to a day of family, food and fun! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday as well!

Why hubby shouldn't stay home alone #6217

Well, I went to a very nice prayer meeting for my bible study...it's actually the first prayer meeting we've done, but it looks like we will do it again. Nothing quite worked out the way we had hoped...we never could get Father to even let us ask him if we could have exposition of the Eucharist, and in the end there were two different music practices going on tonight in the sanctuary anyway (neither were in the bulletin, but then again, neither were we!)

So, hubby was at home for a little over an hour with the girls. Now, this isn't that unusual...he stays home with the girls a lot, but usually I provide frozen pizza or something like that for them to eat. Today, I made lentil-rice casserole in the crock pot (and Eva and Charlotte ate better than they have all week...who knew that they'd dig lentils so much today?) and fed the girls early. Of course, that meant that they were hungry and wanted a snack.

We've been out of microwave popcorn for a while...I haven't found a good sale recently...and I gave away our air popper in a fit of decluttering a few months ago, figuring that a pot could be used to cook dinner AND pop popcorn! Hubby made popcorn on the stove once since that time, with supervision from me. He doesn't seem to have been listening.

Here's what I came home to:

When I asked what he did, he said "I don't know!" So, I asked if he had tried to cook the popcorn on high, he said yes, then added "I'm not sure I added enough fat." So, naturally I asked how much oil he had put in the pan...and he told me none...but that he had put a little butter in!

So, the blackened mess of virtually unpopped popcorn was awaiting me...but here's one more fun fact before I go...he told me that he had to wet the popcorn down to get it to stop burning...it really is amazing that he's never burnt down a house accidentally!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
Could my computer be any slower??? Honestly, what's so hard about loading blogger in less than 5 minutes??? I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that I have two open windows of Internet Explorer (one with 3 tabs, one with 2) Spider Solitaire and Outlook all open right now. I am looking forward to the day when dial up Internet no longer exists so that we can upgrade (yes, I am too cheap to consider high speed!)

2-
We still don't know what we are doing for Thanksgiving. Not really that unusual for hubby's family but exacerbated this year by the fact that harvest is STILL going on. Also, since hubby's cousin is still in a hospital (but was recently moved to the best brain rehab hospital around) we don't know if we will be going up to the city to spend Thanksgiving with them. Of course, I don't know how a normal person would respond to not knowing...but my method is to buy EVERYTHING needed for a Thanksgiving feast JUST IN CASE. I have a 14 lb turkey, 10 lbs potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, stuff to make frog eye salad, and a pumpkin pie in my freezer and pantry...I need help (it was all on sale, though!)

3-
Speaking of sales...I'm starting to need therapy! I swore I wouldn't turn into my hubby's grandma. When we cleaned out her house years ago (which is strangely on the same block we currently live) We found two large chest freezers full of turkeys, etc. She had at least a years supply of TP, and so much dishwasher detergent that we still had a bunch left over (I think we took half the stash) when we moved out of our apartment with a dishwasher and into a smaller one without a dishwasher. So far I only have about a 1-2 month reserve of toilet paper, only one turkey, but I DO have about a years supply of shampoo and conditioner...I have a really hard time saying no to free...

4-
My parents recently gave me a box with a bunch of sheet music, etc in it that has been sitting at their house since I went off to college. Inside was an Irish tin whistle, which was one of the few things that didn't get thrown out...it was up on the counter for a couple of weeks where Eva kept asking about it, and I told her that I needed to wash it (it was pretty gross after that many years in my parent's garage!) I finally sent it through the dishwasher (I'm pretty sure that's not in the care instructions...) and put it in the toy box last night. Naturally the girls are fighting over it and making an awful lot of noise...I am currently rethinking my decision to keep it...

5-
I'm loving our Thanksgiving break. I decided to take a two week break because we a) home school year round- 4 days a week, b) have completed 10 weeks of school, and c) have run out of curriculum for the first quarter...since we are TRYING to stretch out Kindergarten for two years (so we don't have a 5 year old first grader) I need to come up with a bunch of review stuff for a few more weeks, and then find a way to slow her down for the next three quarters.

6-
We started rehearsals for Christmas choir at church...I love singing, and I love the fact that our parish has a choir...I just really wish they didn't love Marty Haugen so much because he makes me want to puke...We are singing this nauseating piece for Christmas:
"Child of our Dreams By Marty Haugen A Christmas Anthem for Choir, Keyboard, Guitar and Optional C Instrument" (If you want to purchase it, it is available from GIA Publications)

Vs 1: "Holy Child of poverty, so lowly is your birth; sharing our humanity, embracing all the earth; Ev'ry nation, ev'ry race, ev'ry person wears your face: Come anew, O Child of our dreams."
Vs 2: "Joyful child of mystery, come warm our winter night; fire our dull complacency, and fill us with your light; Speak the Word that makes us whole, lead each lost and hungry soul; Come anew, O Child of our dreams."
Musical interlude added by our choir just because they love this song so much
Vs 3: "Sacred Child of ecstasy, creation sings your love; light gives back your radiancy and fills the skies above; Gentle glow from candlelight, splendor of the stars of night: Come anew, O Child of our dreams."
and just because 3 versus of this isn't enough
Vs 4: "Child of all eternity, our justice and our peace, born into our history that hatreds all may cease; Bring us all to life from death, be our hope, our joy, our breath; Come anew, O Child of our dreams (echo Come anew, O child of our dreams) Come anew, O Child of our dreams"
YUCK! And the worst part is that after we finished rehearsing this crap, the choir leader (who is a wonderful person that we all love) sighs happily and says "Don't you just love that song?"...I was polite and didn't respond...

7-
FACEBOOK...I hear talking about Facebook is mandatory on these lists (at least it seemed to be last week!) I am on facebook, and it can be fun...but I mostly just like entertaining myself on facebook...You can put your current status on there like "your name is contemplating doing horrible things to Marty Haugen" (not that my status would EVER say anything like that!) Since I am in the "don't particularly want to be found by my high school classmates because it would just take too much explaining" crowd. The whole loudmouth ambitious atheist future business person I was back then versus the Catholic homeschooling homemaker/mom I am now...I just don't want to have to go into it. I am in touch with 1 high school classmate on Facebook. I did put my HS on my profile, so I do show up when you search through my class...but I didn't put my maiden name on there, and I used a picture of my kids on there instead of me...and no one has tried to find me yet. Mostly, I am in touch with hubby's family, my mom's group here in town, and a few Catholic moms I know from the on-line world.

Okay, that was long winded, but fun! I'm looking forward to reading through more of them over at Jen's blog.

One Home Many Hopes

I just found out about this Race to 20K...I guess I must be a bit behind, because they are almost to the end of their 30 day limit. Currently, they have around 500 donors, they need 1000 to meet their challenge. If 1000 people give at least $10, then they will get a matching donor for a total of $20,000 to expand their facilities. Here's some info from One Home Many Hopes website:

"The Past: In the early 1990s, Anthony Mulongo...befriended a group of street children [as a journalist] living and eating from the rubbish dumps. There he met Gift Hawa.
Gift was a six-year-old girl who lost her mother to AIDS, and whose 10-month-old brother had died on her back while she carried him through the streets in search of food. Anthony moved Gift into his house, enrolled her in school and raised her as his daughter. Today Gift is 13 and among the oldest of 35 girls in Mudzini Kwetu.

The Present: Mudzini Kwetu is currently home to over thirty girls, a handful of hens, three cows, a vegetable patch, a few fruit trees and a donkey named George - all living together on a single acre of land...The girls wake up at 6 a.m. and do chores together around the home under the supervision of house mothers Saida and Grace...By 7:30, the girls are in school. Mudzini Kwetu believes that education is the best way to escape cyclical poverty. The girls at Mudzini Kwetu attend classes at a private English-speaking school for up to 12 hours each day...The girls own a couple of board games, a few hula hoops, a rusty bicycle, some bricks and a soccer ball.

The Future: Our vision is:• A new three-story building with each floor serving as a distinct family unit headed by a "house mother."• A university education for the girls so they will be able to support themselves and be agents for ending poverty in their town, region, country and continent.• An on-site kindergarten and school, free of the prohibitive private education fees that are common in Kenya."

Go over to the website yourself and check it out...I was very touched and became one of the 1000 needed donors. Please consider adding your support. Thanks to Karen Edmisten for posting this on her blog for me to find!

One down, one to go!

Well, since hubby was home for a chunk of nap time today, I took the opportunity to finish Charlotte's painting smock. Why does he need to be home if it is nap time anyway? Because I am genetically incapable of ironing (I know I've blogged about this before!) Last night at Mass, Father asked if someone could wash and iron the altar cloths before the Archbishop comes on Saturday...the church secretary kept gesturing to me trying to get me to volunteer...but I burn, not iron...and really I'm not so great at the laundry anyway! However, hubby is very good at ironing (I don't know where he gets it...his mom is better than I am, but not much). Of course, years ago I was commenting on how much I don't like to iron and how hubby doesn't mind, so he does the ironing in front of hubby's grandma (yes, Whimsy...the same one who can't stand dirty glasses...) Well, for Christmas that year hubby's grandma got him a no iron shirt because I don't iron for him so he doesn't have to do it.

So, I sew...and he irons as needed. Here are the results. First, of course, the wonderfully crafty smock made for me more than 25 years ago by my (single and childless) great aunt. Then, of course is my cheap imitation which looks like it was made by two drunk baboons (which is what most craft and home improvement projects look like around here!) My stitches are wildly erratic, my cuts are not so fabulous...but it is done...and it's a painting smock, so I guess I really should be glad that it is not my Mona Lisa...

Two years ago this minute...

I was lying sliced open on an operating table (mostly thankfully, conscious!) making bets for the time of birth of a baby...well, I still was sticking to boy...but hubby, my doula and my OB were all betting girl. I DID get the time right by choosing 7:45!

Happy Birthday Charlotte Merici!

Not depressed...just busy!

Well, Katie...you get your wish...an update!

I've been slaving over/cursing at my sewing machine because I decided (unwisely) to make a present for each girl for Christmas.

My great aunt made me a painting smock when I was little (that my mom confessed today that I never got to use when making a mess because it was too nice) and my mom gave it to Eva for her birthday. Well, the girls naturally fight over it. Hubby suggested that we could probably BUY a painting smock (or use an old t-shirt over their clothes or something), but I thought that it would make Charlotte feel sad for Eva to have a nice painting smock and for her not to have one...

I'm about half way done with that one, and I'll post some pictures of the two smocks (hopefully soon!)

I've wanted some bean bags for Eva for her P.E. class, but when I priced them on Amazon, they seemed like a lot of money for what they were (well, the fact that I couldn't find any bean bags that qualified for Super Saver Shipping was the nail in the coffin!), so I will be making those when I have finished the smock.

Also, Charlotte got moved to her big girl bed this week. It's been out in the garage for months, and the past month or so hubby was working on sanding/priming/painting it (all the mismatched hand me down furniture in their room is the same shade of white with some of it having red accents). So, we took out the crib, and she's been there since. It's gone pretty well since she is no longer confined. I'm still having some trouble at nap time.

Tomorrow is Charlotte's 2nd birthday! So, we'll have a little family celebration tomorrow night, and then have the family party on Sunday. If the roads are okay, it will be at my MILs house, if not, it will be here and I'll need to get busy with cleaning and cooking.

We also have confirmation at our parish this weekend, so I get to go sing with the choir and hear what the readings and homily are for a change. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is almost here, and then Advent will be starting...I'm feeling worn out already!

Denial and Detachment...

Well, obviously we are a little sad about the elections yesterday. In the words of my MIL "I wouldn't feel quite so bad if SOMETHING I voted for passed!"

In this house we seem to be having two approaches to dealing with the unhappy political news. I am trying to practice detachment, and hubby is very much working on denial. I can't seem to convince him or his mom that denial isn't so great...

Since we all already know the bad news about the current state of affairs, I'm going to focus on the good news in our household:

All four of us are healthy
We have plenty of food
Our house is relatively warm
We can pay all our bills
Our transportation is reliable (if not stylish!)
Hubby is employed, and in a government-esqe job
If Obama does his whole redistribution of wealth thing, we will be on the receiving end

Okay, that's all I can come up with right now...it's a cold and dreary day around here, and that's not brightening anybody's mood.

My trick or treaters!

Well, my sweet little trick or treaters and I are just hanging out today while hubby is at work. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend at home for a change. Bad news is that Charlotte has developed a hacking cough since last night, so I may have a quiet weekend at home with a sick toddler!

Here's a great picture of the girls (taken this morning, they are loving their costumes)

Beyond a little trick or treating and keeping up with school work, I've mostly sat around the computer this week entering bloggy giveaways (I did win one over at Voice of Truth - a Creative Memories paper album...and it looks like she is in need of some prayers at the moment)

While I've been doing a whole lot of nothing, hubby's been very busy around the house! On Tuesday he installed our new to us dryer (my MIL got a new set, so we mooched her old dryer since it was still working fine) with minimal cursing (neither one of us is what anyone would call handy). On Wednesday, he worked on priming Charlotte's big girl bed (my childhood bed) and mowed the lawn before we went up to visit his family and carve pumpkins with the girls. While we were up at his parents house, I helped my MIL work on cleaning out her basement, and while I was down there besides finding lots of books she has read and no longer wants to swap at Paperback Swap, I also found some pull out shelves for kitchen cabinets (when she remodeled a few years ago, she didn't need them anymore, as her new cabinets have built in pull outs) and some cork tiles. So, on Thursday hubby installed the pull out shelves in two cabinets, and created a cork bulletin board for me to hang my calendar on...the greatest part about that is now all the random holes from different sizes and styles of calendars are now hidden under to cork tiles!

I really should be cleaning the kitchen or organizing stuff or planning school for next week, but at the moment, I am very content to have a little computer time while my little Nemo and Bruce the shark watch Finding Nemo...

Slime Laboratory Winner

Congratulations to commenter number 34, Lisa who is the winner of my bloggy giveaway! Lisa mentioned that she has 3 boys, so I am hoping that making slime turns out to be very popular with her.

Of course, Slime Laboratory and lots of other great games and toys are available through my Learning is an Art page. Including my girls absolute favorite (which was only mentioned by one commenter) Pet Detectives, which is a fun combination of a go fish sort of game with some money counting skills and lots of fun animals...including two blank sets where you can make your own pet cards using pictures of your own pets! There are also a bunch of exclusive items, including IQ Blaster, which was a popular pick during this giveaway!

So, I hope everyone has as much fun entering giveaways as I did...hopefully we can all rest up before this all happens again! Check out the other winners at the Bloggy Giveaways!

I interrupt my random Googling for the Sweetheart Meme

Okay, if the government ever wants to investigate me, they will probably be bored and confused...Over the past few days, here are several of my Google searches:

What is the difference between purple and violet? (After an argument with hubby as to whether moreno or violeta were a better word to teach for Spanish class)
Homemade disinfectant with dish soap and tea tree oil (after I lost the scrap of paper I scrawled the formula on out of a book a read a while back)
and today's entry is:
Homemade laundry detergent with Ivory soap (after having to buy a six bar pack of Ivory for a science experiment and upon realizing that I am running low on detergent)

Okay, on t0 the meme (how is meme pronounced, anyway? Hubby and I had a fight about that several months ago, too!)

SWEETHEART TAG

The rules are posted at the beginning. Each person answers questions about their sweethearts. At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? il postino

How long have you guys been married? 9 1/2 years in December (or 9 years in December if you don't count the half a year we were married before we were married in the church)

How long did you date? Well, when we took our FOCUS inventory non-test (that really is a test) I was hoping that we would put down the same amount of time. We did, and I think at that time we said 11 months. Of course, we didn't really have a clean start to dating at all...we met my first day of college (hubby was helping with orientation) and we kinda had a love/hate relationship from that point on...however, we didn't start sorta dating until around his 21st birthday.

How old is he? Just turned 31, so he's in his mid 30s, and I am still in the under 30 crowd (yes, I'm mean to him about his age!)

Who is taller? He is, by just a tiny bit that would probably be negated if I ever bothered to wear heels.

Who can sing best? I can! Well, I tend to be more musical, and I actually can 1) read music, and 2) remember the words to songs. Hubby probably sings more often, because it annoys his coworkers (thankfully they deal with the worst of it at 7 am!)

Who is smarter? Well, he got better GPAs generally speaking, but I never really applied myself...When we went to grad school (he was going to the law school, and I was in a straight to PhD Sociology program) at the law school introduction it was suggested that the spouse of the law student should get wireless headphones so that they could do things like watch TV while their spouse studied for hours on end...we didn't figure it would be a problem for us, since I was doing grad school, too...in the end, we got the wireless headphones so that HUBBY could watch TV without disturbing me with my studying/writing/grading, etc. Of course, we discovered that law wasn't right for hubby and teaching wasn't right for me...so we have no need for the headphones anymore!

Who does laundry? I grew up in a family where my dad did the laundry...in fact, right up until we eloped, I'd walk my laundry bag over to my dad's office on campus for him to take home and wash for me (he worked at the college we attended) and he'd bring them back on Monday...sadly, I had to learn how to do laundry after marriage, and I do most of it now...being a homemaker and all...

Who pays the bills? I pay the bills, hubby drops them off (if they are local) or mails them (if need be)...one time he dropped our mortgage payment on the ground on his way to work...it was winter and very snowy...I got a notification that we hadn't paid our mortgage...I blamed the post office and set up an auto pay on our mortgage...when spring arrived, we found the mortgage payment under the snow...too bad we already paid the $20 for a stop payment!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on the side furthest away from the door, and always have...so if the bed moves or if we are vacationing, our sides of the bed change!

Who mows the lawn? I have never touched a lawn mower in my life. I hope never to learn. Most people I know find this very strange...

Who cooks dinner? Me. The first time hubby made me supper, he took a box of Spanish rice, a can of black beans and mixed it together with salsa, Tabasco sauce, chili powder and any other spice he could find...I could not eat it...it made me cry...hubby cooks sometimes, but he's pretty gentle with the spices now...

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Neither of us! Hubby's favorite thing to say is "Do what you want, but I know I'm right!" and of course, Eva has started to say it, too...I don't like being wrong anymore than he does, so we just don't dwell on being wrong very much.

Who kissed who first? I think it was me, but 10 bucks says that hubby thinks it was him...

Who wears the pants? Well, most of the time we both wear pants...and so do the girls! Really, I don't know...I try not to be pushy, but I probably fail a lot, particularly since hubby thinks "I don't know" is a fine option for decision making!

I tag:
Let's face the facts, I don't have 6 people to tag...So, if you read this, consider yourself tagged...and if you don't have a blog, feel free to post in the comments!

Bloggy Giveaway - Slime Laboratory!

I was just checking my blogs this morning before getting ready to start school with Eva (I'm running late AGAIN!) and noticed that the Bloggy Giveaways have started again!

This time, I thought I'd give away a product that I sell.

I've been with a great company called "Learning is an Art" since last summer, when I ran into their products at our local homeschool conference. We have education games and toys for kids, teens and adults. We have several favorites around here.

But for today, you are entering to win "Slime Laboratory" a great kit for kids ages 10 and up. Since my oldest is 4, and I have two girls, I figure slime is never going to be that popular around here...but maybe you have kids just the right age!

To enter, please pop over to my LiA website and let me know what product you like best. The great thing about the company is that 100% of the corporate profits are donated to top rated charities. Make sure to leave an e-mail or blog so I can contact you if you are the winner! I will draw using a random number generator on November 1st.

If you see anything you'd like to order or would just like more info about the company, please drop me a line, or you can just order straight from the site. Check out tons of other Bloggy Giveaways, too!

Hello Olds!

Okay, since Katie was curious...our new-to-us car is an Oldsmobile Eighty-eight.

It is slightly smaller than the other car (mostly we lost a little bit of trunk space) and is blue.

It appears that this car is ALMOST as popular out here as the other one was. 95% of the...(I can't say the name at the moment...I'm still having some problems!) like our old car were white and looked just like it. Blue appears to be the most popular color for big Olds around here.

We visited Britt at the hospital yesterday, and she is looking much better. Still in a coma, but making little bits of progress each day. Eva sang her "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", but wouldn't do an encore. Her parents and sister are holding up as well as can be expected. I know they all have good days and bad days, but I think having company helps.

We met my in laws at a McDonald's on our way home because they were heading up to visit Britt, and needed to give us our dog. We had stopped to do a little grocery shopping, so we saw them pulling into the McDonald's while we were waiting for the stoplight to change. They parked next to a (drum roll, please) blue Olds 88, and did a double take when we pulled in the parking spot across from them a minute later. They had thought we were already inside (it belonged to an older gentleman, and I'm sure had they looked more closely they would have noticed a lack of kids car seats!)

As the Olds and I are still getting acquainted, here are some of my likes and dislikes about it:

Likes:
Working cup holders (the old car's cup holder broke about 2 years ago)
Working door handle (they also seem sturdier than the old one)
Color (blue is much nicer than white)
Glove box (when you open it up, it serves as a tray to hold my coupons as I sort them while we travel...weird, I know, but what can I say?)

Dislikes:
Trunk (not because it is smaller, but because it and I have issues with closing)
Floor mats (they just get bunched up under my feet)
Backseat seat belts (the buckles are loose rather than rigid, which made for easier buckling of the booster seat)
Side mirrors (smaller than the old car)

So, the good seems to overall outweigh the bad.

Bye Bye Buick...

...well, today was the day. We no longer own our Buick.

It's amazing how much a car can mean and represent in your life...and generally speaking, I am not very attached to possessions. But the Buick was more than a possession to me...it was a constant...a constant full of memories.

Hubby's parent's gave him the Buick as a present for his college graduation in 2000. We had been married less than a year. It was hubby's third car (farm kid, lived WAY out in the country), but it was my first car. Sure, my parents had an extra car for my brother and me to drive, but I didn't have my own car. When we got married, hubby's car was definitely still his car (I hated it...the cup holders were these little dents in the glove box...the car made no sense...but I guess now I kinda understand why hubby loved that dumb car!)

We hoped we would start a family soon after we both graduated, so the big old boat was the perfect car, in my opinion. Well, we didn't have kids right away, but it has been with us ever since.

It has lived at 8 different addresses with us, and traveled all over Colorado, and through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, and Idaho. We've taken trips planned far in advance in it, and also last minute mini vacations where we slept on the road (not while driving, of course!)

The gas gauge broke in 2000...I also pulled down the oh s*** bar that year. The bar we were able to fix, but the gas gauge only worked for about a day after the repair. We drove it down the canyon everyday to catch the bus to grad school until we got into family housing. We drove it every weekend to church, and probably THOUSANDS of times to my in laws house. It only lived in a garage for a few years of it's life with us...for 6 months at our first rental house and for 2 1/2 years at our first purchased home. This house has a small one car garage that generally doesn't hold any cars (only when we know it's going to snow).

We broke the driver's side door handle somewhere along the way, and had that repaired, but when the same thing happened to the passenger's side over a year ago, we never got it fixed. About two years ago, the tape player stopped working halfway through a tape with the divine mercy chaplet on it, and we never got the tape out (just a homemade recording, though).

It's the car that took me to the hospital to have Eva, and the car that brought us home again. It's also the car that we brought Charlotte home from the hospital in.

It was our only car for 5 years.

It had so many cosmetic defects (and strange problems with accessories) but always ran well. We were never stranded in it.

I do remember changing one flat tire in my parent's driveway...

I also remember the day that the back windshield shattered on my way home...I still am not sure what caused it...maybe a BB Gun...

I know that many of my friends think of the Buick when they think of me...it just has been a part of my life for a very long time.

But, now sadly, it is gone. We ended up selling it to a salvage yard...in part because I probably couldn't have handled watching it get rejected if we tried to sell it. Maybe we should have donated it to a charity, but honestly, there were so many things that really needed to be fixed that I don't know if we would have been doing the charity a favor.

I think that we probably will give the proceeds from the Buick to a charity of some type. What, I am not sure yet.

I do know that all four of us (okay, maybe just 3, I don't know that Charlotte really noticed what was happening) were pretty sad to see them dismantling the car as we signed over the title and were paid for it based on its weight.

But at least it was quick, and mostly painless.

It's probably not normal to have so much emotion about a bunch of metal...it's not like it was a collector's car...or even really a nice car...but it was our car.

We bought a new-to-us car last week (sadly, it is an older model year than the Buick, but with 95,000 fewer miles on it) and I'm still adjusting. But I'm hoping that I am just as sad for all the happy memories we have in it when it comes time to move on to another car...

We've got singing! We've got dancing!

Obviously, Brittney's accident is still very near the forefront of our minds around here, but I thought I'd describe something that happened last night at my folks' house because it was just...too....cute! I'll provide a quick update on Britt at the end, too, if you're interested; thank you for all the well-wishes and, especially, prayers!

So, MM's Aunt Paula gave her family a game callled Songburst (70's and 80's Edition) a long, long time ago and it didn't get played much, despite being generally right up MM's alley, just because the music was a little too old for her and a little too new for her parents. The game turned up recently as MM's parents were cleaning out their basement, and it was still in good shape. MM thought my mom would enjoy it, so she gave it to her as a thank you for watching the girls this past weekend while we were up visiting Brittney, etc.

Well, last night Eva, Charlotte, and my mom tried playing the game on their own, and hilarity ensued! Eva would make up lyrics completely from scratch for any title Mom read, and Charlotte would dance around the room to her sister's singing. My dad and I just cracked up!

Anyway, just a quick update on Britt: she's opened her good eye a couple more times and seems to be responding to stimuli somewhat, but she's still technically comatose. The trauma ward she was in has done about all they can for now, but she's not quite far enough along to really go into any rehab center, so she's been moved into a long-term care facility until the time she's ready for rehab (which we are praying is not too far off). Her friends and family have set up a fund to help with medical expenses; if anyone is interested in more info on that, let us know and we can privately e-mail you the details. Thank you all again for all your prayers and support, and please keep "storming Heaven" for Brittney!

A little bit of hope...

Well, we spent all weekend with the in-laws...MIL and I took the girls for pictures (we did both girls birthday pictures and Christmas pictures all at the same time...first time I've done wardrobe changes at the photo place!) and did some shopping (including buying a new washer and dryer for MIL, but the good news on that one is that we will probably get their old one (to replace the one that is the squeaky background of our lives!)

Then, we met hubby and FIL for a Cajun broil fundraiser for the hospital there...the girls LOVED the crab legs and shrimp (although MIL had quite a time trying to keep up the cracking and shelling with their appetites, since they both wanted to sit with grandma!) and I even tried a crawdad. We spent the night and went to their church in the morning, spent the afternoon visiting at their house, and the evening at a Rosary/prayer service for Brittney, then a community gospel concert/fundraiser for her. Finally, we had a late supper and drove home (we also picked up hubby's grandma's old car, which we are considering buying).

Right before we left for the rosary, etc. MIL was on the phone with about nine different people (no idea who all she was talking to, but every time she said goodbye to someone, the call waiting would ring again!) when her cell phone started ringing...I went to pick it up off the floor (and found Charlotte playing with a steak knife...I think we may need to have a discussion about trying to keep the house a little more baby proof again...) When I answered, it was Britt's sister, calling to let us all know that Britt opened her eye for about 5 seconds, and then batted the nurse away with her right hand (she's used her left hand to do so before, this was the first time she used her right hand, though).

Of course, we don't know what this means, but it was such a glimmer of hope to hear that she opened her eye up, even if just for a minute...and I am sure that it was exactly what her parents and sister needed to see!

Brittney and the Parable of the Two Sons

We're visiting my cousin Brittney in the hospital yesterday and today before we need to head back home in a couple of hours so I can be at work at 7 tomorrow morning (it's about a 3 hour drive). The girls have been behaving remarkably well and seemed to have learned a major lesson about wearing seatbelts. Now that Britt is pretty well cleaned up and looking more like herself (and not as sensitive to noise in the room), we let the girls come in and see her and join us in praying for her.

In the middle of all this, we did manage to make it to Mass this morning. I'm really glad we did: it always seems like, at times like this, the readings speak to exactly the situation we're in. Today the first reading, from Ezekiel, and the Gospel from the 21st chapter of Matthew both spoke about how we are given free will to choose to follow God's command and live or to turn away from God and face the just consequences; not only that, though, they both tell us that we are not stuck with bad choices we make at first, but can repent and choose God later, and still be just as saved. This message was of some consolation to me thinking about not only Brittney, but her whole family as well. When Britt was just a little girl, her parents--for reasons I'm still not sure I really understand--stopped going to Mass. This became a fairly big source of tension in the family because my mom is Brittney's godmother and, rightly, saw it as her duty to try to make sure the Britt and her sister were receiving an education in their faith. This, if anything, wound up pushing the girls further from the Church (obviously through no fault of their own) because my aunt and uncle felt pressured by my mom and seemed to get defensive about it.

A few years ago, though, when Britt was probably about midway through high school, her grandfather on the other side of her family died. The really amazing way our parish priest at the time handled these issues and interacted with Britt's family went a long way toward bringing the family back to the Church; not too long after, Brittney and her sister received the sacraments of communion and confirmation and fully entered the Church. From that point on, with a few glitches here and there, they've generally been very active in youth group and other activities in the parish, and have often acted as St. Paul reminds the Philipians to do: "humbly regard[ing] others as more important than [them]selves."

Brittney's a sophomore in college and, as so often goes (including with myself), has sometimes acted out more of the "fool" part of the "wise fool" year. But I feel pretty confident in the state of her soul and, regardless of how her medical condition goes from here, comforted knowing that she, eventually, did "go out and work in the vineyard."

Prayer request!

Sorry I've been MIA...but I am resurfacing today to ask for prayers.


Hubby's cousin, Britt, was in a very serious car accident Thursday night. She was not wearing her seatbelt (she was a passenger), somehow went through the back windshield AND had to be extracted from the vehicle.


We are still not sure if she will pull through, but things are looking much more hopeful.


She fractured her skull, lost an eye, and broke a leg in several places. To the best of my knowledge, they have not done anything with the leg yet. She is in a medically induced coma, and had surgery yesterday to remove a blood clot and place a drain. She also had to have some brain tissue removed. Unfortunately, the tissue is saturated with blood, so the drain isn't helping as much as it would otherwise.

No one is allowed to speak to her or touch her, as the doctors don't want her brain stimulated.

Hubby and I are heading up to the hospital after he gets off work to be with the family. We aren't going to let the girls see her, but I think that hubby's aunt and uncle, cousin (and his parents who have been at the hospital with them) will be happy for a little distraction from them.

So, please pray for Britt, her parents, her sister (who is having a really hard time with the whole situation) and also for Britt's friends who were also in the car, but all sustained fewer injuries.

Uncle!!!

Okay, it's over...I didn't make it 30 days...

I'm currently working on listing 16 books to paperback swap, and I am no longer on vacation from it...

Yesterday we went to the K of C meeting, and I had 3 hours with the girls. We went to Walgreens, used up that last register reward and got out of there with only $7 out of pocket. Then there was a little street fair thing going on, and we went over to check it out for a while. Well, I gave in and told Eva she could do one of the inflatable things (can you believe $3 per thing? She chose a little maze type thing, and got to go through it twice...so $3 for about 3 minutes of entertainment for one kid!) but she had to trade me a WalMart gift card for it (she still had 5 $5 cards...don't worry, I used it to buy her some school supplies!)

Then we headed over to WalMart, and I still did okay, less that $60, and that included a month's worth of yogurt, lots of food items (good coupons for things that aren't carried locally, like name brand pasta, etc) school supplies, vitamins, new dress shoes for Eva, and from the clearance aisle (paid for with gift cards) a Disney Princess dance a long thing (I've been singing "Bella, Bella, Bella dancerella" ever since hubby put the DVD in before 7 am!)

We ate at the pot luck, and went out to visit grandma and grandpa on the way home (their town has the cheapest gas pumps in the region...) Overall, it was a really good day, but I did break my no debit card rule...and didn't do too well with the 30 days of nothing!

Today, I ended up ordering catalogs and one new sample for the games that I sell, because the catalogs I have will no longer be valid starting October 1st, and I talked my MIL into doing a party for me in just over a week.

So, I had a good run with my 30 days, but I didn't make it this time. Maybe if I try again in the future, I'll make up my mind BEFORE the month begins!