Quick Takes Friday

1-
We are settling into the new house and farm life a little bit more now. I have to admit that the transition to being an actual farm wife has been pretty difficult for me. It wasn't quite the same amount of pressure while living with the in-laws, so it was a bit of a shock when I had to do everything on my own. Particularly with the unpacking.

2-
My Bible Study group is currently going through the second in a series on Proverbs 31 by Kimberly Hahn called "Graced and Gifted". We were supposed to meet last night, but the woman who was hosting is 8 months pregnant and overdid it dealing with her 2 year old who has been throwing up for two days straight. In the end, we cancelled...but I did finally get around to reading what we were supposed to discuss last night (we'll discuss it in two weeks at my house) and I found a section that made me feel a little better about our current situation. Kimberly Hahn talks about a move right after her husband started his first job as a college professor. He was not able to really help with the unpacking process because he was so overwhelmed with work, and she had a 4 year old, 3 year old and 5 week old. She unpacked one room (in which she liked the previous owner's decorating) and would shield her eyes and just look at the room as a mental boost. I still haven't found that room (the girl's room is getting closer!) Anyway, she said it took about 6 weeks, unpacking at least one box a night to get unpacked and get the house livable. And I realized that although I don't have as young or as many children, I do have to make our house a home on my own (and I want to do a whole bunch of redecorating!) So, I can't expect our house to be perfect any time soon.

3-
Eva really wants to start school again, so my priority today will be to get the school stuff under control so that we can start again on Monday. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to work in painting the kitchen while doing school...maybe school in the morning, and then paint as much as I can during naptime?

4-
This weekend I get a little break from reality. Hubby was listening to the radio in his feed truck last week when the radio show was doing a movie review thing, where if you call in and review a movie, they will give you free tickets. I guess it is usually tickets to one of two movie theatres in the Denver area, but on this particular day they were giving away tickets to the Symphony. So, because we have free tickets (assuming there are still some available when we get to the box office...I don't think the symphony sells out that often...I really hope it doesn't tomorrow!) I got a hotel room on Priceline. Grandma gets the girls, and we'll get to leave at lunch time tomorrow, and then not come back to the farm until lunch time on Sunday. (Hey, it's away from the farm and to something cultural!)

5-
I got my hair cut this week...and I am resolving to put more effort into my appearance (given that my general amount of time is zero, it shouldn't be too hard to increase my amount of effort!) Both girls also got haircuts, and they look adorable...but older. What is it about haircuts that make your kids grow up overnight??? Serendipitiously, our haircuts (which I scheduled two weeks ago) fell on the same day as our family portrait for MIL's church photo directory. We really don't attend the church that often, other than special days (we did Ash Wednesday there, and will do Holy week there, too, probably.) I tried to avoid being in the directory (our parish just did one two years ago) but got suckered in...then we got suckered out of $125 for two 8x10s with one frame (and one 8x10 was allegedly free...) Oh well, the girls look cute in the picture!

6-
We are in desperate need of some tables for our living room. Our old house was so tiny, that when we wanted something to put a cup of coffee on (okay, today it is my morning tea) we would just drag over the kids little table. Well, their table isn't within dragging distance in our new living room...and we have no end or coffee tables. Currently, I have a two tiered step stool postioned between the couch and the recliner to function as a table. I looked at four thrift stores this week, and will probably drag hubby to more this weekend...I also think that we may go shopping at hubby's great-uncle's house to see if he has some spare furniture (okay we know he has plenty of spare stuff, as an antique junkie) that we could buy from him. He's been a little strapped for cash recently, so it would help us and help him if we can find some stuff there...now I just have to get that all set up!

7-
Hubby's little brother and his wife got moved into their farm house this week. The move did not go particularly well...it's kinda fun to watch newlyweds fight while moving! While they were loading up the rental house in town, a pig wandered through their yard, causing a minor distraction. Hubby posted pictures on facebook of the pig, SIL petting the pig, and then the police getting the pig back home. BIL did not find any of this amusing, and complained to his mom (and anyone else that would listen) that the pig made it so that loading up took an extra hour. Hubby reports it was more like a 20 minute distraction/delay. I don't know how the unpacking is going, but they have a lot of stuff for newlyweds!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary! (and I hope Jen's family feels better soon!)

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We have a house! We moved in partially on Sunday night, and then actually were able to sleep there on Monday night. We still have no Internet access (it'll be set up on Monday) so I'll have to keep this short...(well, short for me, anyway!)

2-
I have saved about $2000 since we moved in. The girl's bedroom was not big enough for both beds, and the third bedroom upstairs isn't really a bedroom because it has no window. So, hubby told me I could spend up to $1000 on bunk beds. I mentioned the idea of bunk beds to Eva, and she almost burst into tears...so instead, the girls agreed to share a bed (which they have been doing for almost 2 months, anyway...) Then, we figured out that our dishwasher is really tiny, and we have a bunch of things that won't fit in it. So hubby gave me permission to buy a dishwasher if it could be installed at the the same time our other appliances were coming. Turns out Sears can't have their delivery and installation people install dishwashers. So, saved another $500 there...then, when Sears finally delivered my appliances yesterday, the installer came in the door and said they could not install my stove because they can't convert natural gas to propane because their insurance won't let them...of course, the sales person told me it was no problem and that the delivery guys would do everything. So, rather than take the stove (it turns out the one left there was in better shape than I was led to believe) and have to find someone to install it, I just returned it. I'm figuring that it was the Holy Spirit giving me a lesson in contentment.

3-
We now have possibly the world's ugliest bathroom. I am really hoping that in a year we'll be able to save up enough to remodel it. We have a peachy pink tub (no shower), toilet (peachy pink with white seat), and a fabulous peachy pink sink with built in hair sprayer (so you can warsh your hair in the sink)...then it has the same peachy pink color and white sponge painting treatment all over the walls and ceiling, brown carpeting, and to top it off this really funky light fixture that is similar to one that a friend and her husband took out of their house a few years ago...her hubby called them testicle lights...I think that's a pretty good description, to be honest.

4-
I have all the paint for my living room, and I think some of the family will be coming over tomorrow to help me paint it. Of course, before we paint, I need to spackle all of the nail holes.

5-
Speaking of nail holes...I have taken a minimum of a dozen nails out of every room upstairs (over 30 in the living room...just over a dozen in the dining nook) I bought a huge can of spackle at the general store, and the woman there laughed at me.

6-
I also have hubby building me a pantry. Because of some weird remodeling, the coat closet is located in the kitchen. We are putting some adjustable shelving in there and making it a pantry. Eventually, I would like to put a coat closet in a little alcove next to the garage (it used to fit an upright freezer...our chest freezer is in the garage.) that way coats would be near the car or the mudroom.

7-
Hubby has the whole day off on Sunday (yeah!) to go to a Knights of Columbus meeting (note the romantic valentine's day we'll be having...) so while we are gone, I am hoping to get stuff to redo the girl's room. I have officially given in, and the room will be painted pink. We found a bedspread the girls will like, so I think I'll go get that, then go get paint for the room, maybe a few accessories, and turn their room into a super girly pink extravaganza.

That's all I have time for today, more quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
The countdown has officially begun. Hubby's aunt and uncle are moving out of the house on Saturday, and although I promised hubby not to make him do major moving on Superbowl Sunday, I do plan on going in and measuring, then mapping out where the furniture will be going in between the Superbowl commercials (I mean, who actually wants to watch the game?)

2-
I finished our Federal taxes last night...we had to go over to the house to get last year's taxes in order to e-file. Turns out that I finished up my taxes on February 3rd last year. I started our state taxes, but since we actually owe taxes to the state, I figured I'd wait a while to file. Have I mentioned recently how much I love turbo tax? I used the free edition again this year, but I fear that it is probably the last year I'll be able to use turbo tax, with the slightly more complicated tax situation we might be in next year.

3-
Today the bookkeeper will be by MILs house to do data entry stuff, so I need to go put up the girl's air mattress. MIL has to work at the bookstore in town this afternoon, so instead of just hanging out and making noise, the girls and I are going to go shopping. I don't have a huge list (yet...I'm sure I will once we actually move in!) but it should be fun to go look around. I'm not getting too ambitious...just heading up to the small city with WalMart and Home Depot in it...I had thought about REALLY going shopping, but as it will be the three of us, I think we'll stay a little closer to home.

4-
I'm pretty sure that lunch today will be at McDonald's...gotta buy off the girls somehow so they behave while I browse!

5-
I wonder how many of those little paint chips I can pick up at the store before I start getting harassed by the employees...I want to find just the right colors, but it's a little hard to judge what will work with my couches, the drapes and the carpet in the living room, then of course, I need to find a coordinating color for the kitchen that will go with the curtains I am planning on buying.

6-
Speaking of the kitchen curtains...in my normal fashion, I fell in love with a particular set of valances that are only available at Lowes...of course there isn't a Lowes for well over 100 miles...I couldn't fall in love with something available at Home Depot, of course. And, to top things off, the valances are not available online. So, I'll have to wait until MILs next infusion (2 1/2 more weeks) to buy them, of course, that assumes they are still available then...

7-
My new appliances will be delivered on the 11th, so even after we have the house, we'll have to spend much of the day at MIL's house anyway...or we can wear disposable clothes and eat only items that can be prepared in the microwave. We'll have to see what sounds better next week!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Well, the pantry challenge pretty much died this week. On Sunday MIL called when she was done taking communion to the sick to see if we needed anything, and I listed off several items (almost all dairy, but fresh fruits and veggies, too) and she came back with at least a dozen canned goods...so we've still been trying to use up some pantry stuff, but I gave up on the hard core pantry challenge.

2-
It has been a busy week! Monday Eva had her piano lesson, Tuesday we went to the city with MIL so that she could get her infusion for her MS, Wednesday hubby and I went into town for the blood drive and then Eva and MIL had religious ed classes, Thursday MIL went to the city with her dad to get her car fixed and he had an eye appointment and then I had bible study in the evening. Today FIL is going to be watching a video auction in just a couple of hours, so the girls and I (and maybe MIL) are going to head into town to run errands, then stop by and visit hubby's cousin Brittney, who turned 21 this week. We are so lucky to still have Brittney with us.

3-
Among the reasons this week was crazy, my little BIL (okay, well little is relative, I guess I should stop referring to him that way now that he's in his 20s and married...I still sometimes think of him as the dorky twelve year old in our wedding!) was the first to go to the ER since the new business began (this all happened on Tuesday). Hubby and BIL were riding in the bucket of the loader to take tires off the silage pile, and FIL was running the loader. When they came down, BIL got his finger caught between two of the moving parts. He was very lucky. When hubby was driving him into the hospital, he was pretty worried that BIL would lose his finger. It was cut very deeply on both sides through insulated gloves, and everyone thought it was broken. Good news is that no broken bones or tendon damage...just muscle and skin damage. So, he has stitches in his finger, and has been taping sandwich bags over his fingers to keep them clean(er) since they have been spreading manure on fields recently.

4-
I finally got around to updating the blogs on my sidebar. I came across a new one this morning that I wanted to add, so I changed names where necessary, and deleted a couple of blogs that don't post very often anymore.

5-
We are still really looking forward to moving into our own space. To the best of my knowledge, the plan is still for the aunt and uncle in the house to do their major move on February 6th. I've been looking through design books, and picking out curtains. I had a great time at a home improvement store looking at all the fun home improvement and decorating items. I just really need more info before I can buy anything.

6-
Hubby got his first farm paycheck yesterday, so I get to take it into the bank today. It was .40 more than anticipated, so he's only been farming for a month and already got a raise. I think that works out to one one-hundredth of a cent per hour, or something like that.

7-
I am so ready to get our taxes done, but I am STILL waiting on hubby's W-2 form from his old job...I am hoping it will be in our PO Box today, but the whole forwarding mail thing isn't working out too well yet...and to think, we'll get to forward it all again in the next couple of months. Maybe I'll just try to change our address on everything while we have the PO Box paid up (5 more months) to avoid some of the forwarding headache.

More quick takes over at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
I've been so wanting to tell this story, but it embarrasses hubby, so he told me not to post it to facebook (which I wanted to do from the car...) but consented to let me blog about it (although I guess I shouldn't put on facebook that I have a blog update...) Last night hubby and I went out on a date. We didn't really have anything in particular to do, so I was okay with no plan (and hubby wanted a plan...a total role reversal for us!) So, we decided while barreling down the gravel road to head towards a Nebraska town with a movie theatre, rather than to the Colorado town with a movie theatre (that shows movies on the Thursday night...the more local theatres do Friday/Saturday/Sunday movies for the most part). The Nebraska theatre had two options, one of which would be mildly entertaining. The Colorado theatre had several, none of which appealed to me. So, hubby decided to take a dirt road shortcut, but ended up on the wrong road. When we finally found a highway and turned onto it, it turns out that we ended up coming in south to the next town over to the east, when we were TRYING to get to the town to the North instead. We didn't make it to the movie, but we got plenty of time to talk while driving.

2-
Update on our eventual house...it looks like the aunt and uncle living there should be able to move out Feburary 6th, but only half of their house in town will be ready, so we have to decide if we want to move in with their son-in-law/contractor living in the basement, or if we can find somewhere else for him to stay until he finishes the house...I also have to call and put off our appliance delivery, which I had scheduled for the 4th, (since the last estimate was that their house should be DONE by the end of January and ready to move in)...so I guess I'll hope that the following Thursday will be late enough.

3-
Charlotte has been going through a naughty phase. I think part of it is all the upheaval in her life...but I think a big part of it is being 3...I sincerely had forgotten how much I struggled with Eva at 3, but I have memories coming back of very similar behavior from her...

4-
Eva read a book to Grandma last night while we were gone. MIL said that she could sound out every word in the book (just an easy reader I found at a thrift store about Nemo and Dory, so nothing major, but she doesn't like to read to me yet.) I knew she probably could, but with the no school thing for such a long period of time (we did the first week or two of December, then took off because of Hawaii and then moving, and now living with the in-laws...I am REALLY looking forward to getting back to our normal life schedule!) has made us not really practice much with reading or other subjects.

5-
Hubby is really enjoying his new job, which I am very happy about. It is a little hard for me to be as excited about it as I should, though...because it is so stressful living in someone else's home with very different household philosophies (for instance, I never would have considered myself a little bit of a neat freak until now...) I have had friends ask me how I am enjoying being a farm wife, and I have to say that I don't know yet. I just feel like we are having an extended not particularly fun visit to hubby's family. I'm sure I'll feel more farm wife-like when we have our own space.

6-
As for the own space thing, I'm contemplating going over there while no one is home and measuring all the rooms to start planning where things will go. Trying to decide if that would be appropriate or inappropriate...or honestly, whether I care whether it's appropriate or inappropriate!

7-
One thing that I am starting to get concerned about is where the girls are going to go. Our original plan was to put them in the larger of the two bedrooms on the main floor (not counting the master, of course...we get that room!) but I am not sure that the bigger room will have room for two twin beds. So the question is, do we put them together, but in the basement if they don't fit in the room together? (Hubby and I both think they are a little young to be on a different floor than us) or do we give them each one of the small upstairs bedrooms? I think that's the way we are leaning right now, but what do we do if someday they need to share a room again? I don't want them to get the idea that they are each owed their own room...and I think they might miss each other...they've shared a room since Charlotte was 9 months old.

As usual, more quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Pantry Challenge Update

Well, last week was a really tough week for us. Monday we moved out of our old house. Tuesday we closed on it...and adjusting to the idea that there is no where for us to go until we can move into the new house has been challenging. I've even had a few run ins with my MIL, with whom I normally get along fine.

We are still doing pretty well on the pantry challenge. We've made a few exceptions (basically we've bought a few items we were entirely out of...) but we've even planned another week's worth of menus.

We've made several desserts with the extensive supply of dessert materials, including German Chocolate Upsidedown Cake for my bible study meeting last Thursday, and some cookies that included oatmeal, peanut butter, raisins, coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips for a Knights of Columbus first degree ceremony on Saturday.

Yesterday:
Lunch - lunch meat sandwiches, 5 cup fruit salad (pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, mini marshmallows, coconut and sour cream...a cup of everything except the fruit...one can each, with 1 T. reserved pineapple juice.)
Dinner - shepherd's pie (made with leftover stew, and topped with some leftover mashed potatoes and some mashed potatoes made with flakes from the pantry) sliced cheese

Today:
Lunch - Cranberry Pot Roast (used 1 can of cranberry sauce...still 1 to go!) with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes (last box)
Dinner - BBQ Pie (hamburger and onion mixed with a large can of baked beans, some BBQ sauce, a topping made with bisquick and cheddar cheese) served with carrots, canned peaches and cheese flavored chips (this meal was brought to you by the color orange!)
Snack - We made this really yummy recipe for an afternoon before piano lessons snack. (used up two cans of pears, I think we only have 1 to go!)

Wednesday:
Lunch - Coconut Chicken Curry (made with the can of coconut milk) and rice (still have a ton of rice to use up!)
Dinner - hamburgers, french fries and tossed salad (no pantry items here...just trying to do something easy while MIL and Eva are at CCD classes!)

Thursday:
Lunch - Szechuan Beef (using up the can of water chestnuts and some peanuts out of the pantry) with rice (we will be eating a lot of rice by the end of the month.)
Dinner - Bahama Mama Pork Chops (using up some pineapple and raisins) baked potatoes and a frozen veggie

Friday:
Lunch - Runza in a Skillet (using up the last can of tomato soup) with cottage cheese and probably something else on the side...
Dinner - Chili (using some of our dried pinto beans, and probably a can of salsa, since we are low on tomato products.)

Saturday:
Lunch - Sausage Pasta (using some of our spaghetti and a jar of kalamata olives in place of the black olives) with a tossed salad.
Dinner - We will be attending a fundraiser for a local crisis pregnancy center, so no cooking (yeah!)

Sunday:
Lunch - Sloppy Joes (using a bunch of different pantry items) and pretzel salad with whatever else I can find, or that MIL brings home after church from the store.
Dinner - Garlic Chicken with Orzo (using up hopefully the whole box of orzo in the pantry)

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Hubby has been farming officially for a full week now (yeah!) which means that we've been living with his parents for over a week (and still doing okay so far) and that he has been FREEZING, I think. It got down to 8 below last night, and that doesn't count windchill. I'm glad that I get to stay inside.

2-
We have a closing date on our old house. Tuesday at 4 PM. We also have a moving date for the last of our stuff...Monday morning. MIL, I and the girls went down yesterday afternoon to pack up stuff. Then after it got dark and the men were done working, hubby and his dad came down to help. We cleared out the attic (I can't believe how much baby stuff we had stored up there!), almost finished packing boxes, and moved the freezer and the kitchen table and chairs.

3-
Sometime this afternoon we will be leaving to go the a Knights of Columbus meeting down in Colorado Springs. I'm excited about hanging out with the girls, going to the pool, and going to the mass and banquet as a family. I am not excited about doing laundry and packing this morning.

4-
On Wednesday, I taught Charlotte's preschool coop class for the last time. Since most of our stuff was packed and moved, I had some last minute changes to plans, but we somehow managed to get through 4 projects...A paper bag cow puppet, a number 6 activity, a rectangle shape person, and a new years shaker (made with dried beans in a coke can.) While I was getting the snack together (juice pouches and goldfish crackers) all the kids started screaming at each other, so I put them all in corners for a time out while I finished getting ready. One little boy muttered something about never wanting to come to this house again...which I thought was funny, since it was the last time he'd come to it while we own it, anyway!

5-
I've been Internet shopping for appliances, and I think I have my plan laid out for when we get in our next house. We will definitely need a range, microwave, washer and dryer (we are bringing our fridge) and we may need a dishwasher...I know there is one in the house, but I am not sure if it works or not. It looks like I should be able to get pretty nice appliances for around $2000...which is a lot, of course, but I know it could be a lot worse. I guess we'll have to see if the prices go up by the time we are in there...

6-
Another task that needs to be done before we leave today is fixing Eva's Christmas dress (we bought it for pictures the day we had the girl's pictures taken, but found out that we needed to wrap a hair tie in the back of it to keep the neckline high enough...) so that she can wear it to the banquet tomorrow night without the hair tie. Unfortunately, I bought MIL needles to do the job last week, and we have spent much of the morning looking for those needles!

7-
I am really looking forward to having our own space. It hasn't been too bad living all together, but having the girls on an air mattress in the office space has made it difficult to get girls to sleep well AND made it difficult to get things faxed and copied, etc. It will be nice to come over and be visitors again.


More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Menu Plan -Eat From The Pantry Challenge

Today MIL and I sat down to plan meals and write out a grocery list. We now have meals planned until Friday night when hubby and I heading out of town. We spent about $80 at the store, and didn't buy anything to restock the pantry. I did buy goldfish crackers and juice boxes for the preschool coop class I am teaching tomorrow morning. Here's the menu for the week:

Tuesday:
Lunch (Dinner to MIL): Meatballs with cranberry/chili sauce, Mac and Cheese, Green beans
Dinner (Supper to MIL...we're always confused about meals): Chicken noodle soup, garlic bread

Wednesday:
Lunch: Leftovers for the guys, I'll be having lunch with some friends in our old town. Not sure what MIL is planning yet.
Dinner: Tacos, fruit salad

Thursday:
Lunch: Chicken Divan casserole, baby carrots
Dinner: Sausage and Spinach Manicotti, tossed salad

Friday: Sloppy Joes, tossed salad

Pantry Inventory - Eat From The Pantry Challenge

Well, today I finally got around to cleaning out MILs pantry, and combining my pantry items with hers. I didn't manage to fit in everything, but took out quite a few of MILs pans...so she needs to find a new home for them. Today for lunch we made a tuna casserole, and for dinner tonight we are making a taco casserole. I have a feeling there will be many more casseroles this month.

I didn't inventory everything, because between all the jello (MIL) and baking supplies (both of us) and the 13 or so packages of marshmallows (sadly, I'm not joking, and I threw out about 5 petrified open packages). But here is the incomplete list:

Canned Pumpkin 2
Cranberry Sauce 2
Crushed Pineapple 4
Pineapple Tidbits 2
Canned Pears 2
Mandarin Oranges 2
Italian Style Tomatoes 1
Vegetable Soup 2
Tomato Soup 2
Chicken Noodle 1
Cream of Mushroom 1
Chili Sauce 1
Bisquick 2
Fish n Chips Batter 1
Fryin' Magic 1
Creamy Peanut Butter 4
Graham Cracker Crumbs 1 (+ 2 boxes actual graham crackers)
Fiber Crackers 2
Salsa Jar 1
Spaghetti 3
Lasagna 1
Penne 1
Manacotti 2
Instant Rice 1
White Rice 1
Brown Rice 2
Saffron Rice 1
Stuffing 1
Croutons 2
Orzo 2
Mashed Potato Flakes 1
Scalloped Potatoes 1
Mac and Cheese 2
Macaroni Shells 1
Evaporated Milk 6
Sweetened Condensed Milk 1
Coconut Milk 1
Water Chestnuts 1
Refried Beans 1
Baked Beans 1
Pasta Sauce 1
Canned Chicken 2
Canned Salmon 1
Canned Tuna 3
Canned Spinach 2
Sauerkraut 1
Canned Corn 1
Canned Black Olives 1
Jars Kalamata Olives 2
Banana Peppers 1

So far so good, no grocery shopping at all, but since we are out of milk and bread, I think a trip to the store tomorrow would be in order.

2/3rds Moved and Eat From The Pantry Challenge

Today we moved more stuff out of our house, but this time it is being stored at the correct house (yeah!) so we still have more packing and all of our large furniture and garage stuff to move, but things are going along okay with the contract on our old house. Hopefully we will close on it by the 12th of January.

We also have officially moved into my MILs house, bringing suitcases with clothing and most of the contents of my pantry (which are now combined with her overflowing pantry). I just saw that Money Saving Mom is doing an "Eat From The Pantry Challenge", so I mentioned it to MIL, and she said that it looked like we had plenty of stuff in the pantry. So, I figure that since I am here for a while (I wish I had a move in date for the new house...but I am hoping we will move in before the end of January.) the two of us will try to make meals from the pantry...our rules will necessarily be slightly flexible (since we do want both of us to survive the combined living arrangements) but here's my thoughts:

No purchasing pantry items.

Dairy products will be purchased, as will produce.

Eating out will be allowed (if only to make sure that the six of us keep our sanity).

I'm not going to put a dollar amount on the groceries, since I have no idea how our different methods of shopping (me with my couponing and generic brands, my MIL buying name brands that she and FIL prefer).

The "Eat From The Pantry Challenge" will end when we move out of MILs house, since most of my pantry items will probably stay here at MILs house, and I'll have to restock at the new house.

I'll try to remember to blog occasionally about how things are going, both with the living all together, and with the pantry challenge.

Quick Takes Friday - Leaving on a Jet Plane

1-
We've had a lot of lasts in the past week. Eva's last ballet lesson, Eva's last story time at the library...it's been a little tough, and maybe not just on Eva. Hubby and I are pretty nervous about the impending move.

2-
Things appear to be going okay for the sale. Two days ago we had the appraisers show up. We don't know what their verdict is yet, but since one of them told me that she liked our house, I'm taking that as a good sign!

3-
I'm not sure if I mentioned the not so good news portion of the sale. We had to amend the contract because the lender said that we forgot to put in the $2700 of seller concessions. It wasn't forgotten, it was the first we or our realtor had heard of it, but we figured that a buyer where we have some expenses is better than no buyer.

4-
We found Eva a piano teacher in our new town, and the teacher is willing to give it a try with Eva, even though she is pretty young. I know that my childhood piano teacher normally didn't take kids until they were 7, but I started around 6 (when I inherited the piano that hubby is dreading moving again!) She'll start lessons on January 5th.

5-
Bags are packed, we are at the in-laws to leave off the dog, and after lunch we will be heading off to my parents house to have a Christmas celebration with my brother, then stay the night. In the morning my brother will drive us all to the airport and take possession of our car for a week (I'm only a little bit nervous about that!). Then it is a 12 hour travel day. We fly to Portland, then have a 4 hour layover, then we are on the plane to Hawaii (we will get in late at night, then drive across the island to our resort.)

6-
It is kinda funny that my non-religious parents managed to take us for a week long vacation during which we will need to attend Mass three times. We'll see if my mom and dad come to any of the services...my mom might come to Christmas, but I'm having a hard time imagining my dad there.

7-
So, here comes a week with basically no naps and too much to do, I think. We'll see how Charlotte holds up with all of the activity. She's cranky this morning because she missed her nap yesterday. I'm really hoping that both girls end up sleeping on (at least some of) the planes.

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Checking in...

Well, it's been a little while since I blogged at all...not even quick takes recently. We have been busy.

Hubby is done with work, and has started to learn his new job.

We are splitting time between our house and the farm, staying at MIL's house, which required some cleaning out of junk to fit the four of us at night. We have the new office pretty close to set up now!

Our house is under contract and if everything goes as planned (*fingers crossed*), we will close by January 12th! Not sure if we will be able to move directly into our next house, but at least we have enough space to sleep here at MILs.

Details are finally being hammered out about the new business (not sure I want to ask how things are going with the split of the old business!) Yesterday, we had a meeting about health insurance, so it looks like we mostly know what we will have coverage for.

We have a bunch of snow today, so I am not really sure if my plan for the week will work out. We are supposed to go home tonight so that Charlotte can go to preschool and Eva to ballet tomorrow. Then, Thursday I have Bible study, and Friday we are doing a family Christmas with MIL, FIL, hubby's brother and his wife.

We are less than two weeks from our Hawaii trip...getting a little nervous about packing for all four of us from two different houses when most of our summer weight clothes are in boxes somewhere in MILs basement.

That's about it for now, I guess. I'm not sure if I'll be blogging much for the next couple of weeks, but maybe I'll get back into the swing of things (if only for Quick Takes!)

New Moon lunacy

I don't mean to offend anyone who might be reading this (too much), but I have become absolutely sick of hearing female thirty-something friends and acquaintances rhapsodize about the New Moon movie. Apparently it's not just the women I know, either: CBS News reported a couple of days ago that, although "the movie is about teenagers and aimed at teenagers," half the audience is over the age of 21. CNN ran a story on November 16th entitled "Older women crave 'New Moon' vampires" that explored the phenomenon of "Twilight Moms" (more on that later).

It's not that I find this kind of obsessive fandom annoying in itself - after all, I got hooked on "Lost" when we actually had no TV, just by reading the transcripts online. What irritates me and, frankly, gives me a little bit of the heeby-jeebies is that New Moon appears to me to be a convergence of two really disturbing trends in our society: the sexualization of children and the infantilization of young adults.

Diane Levin, co-author of So Sexy So Soon: Protecting Children in a Sexualized Society says

she hears from worried parents about how pop culture and the bombardment of product advertising are making their young daughters focused on their appearance and being sexy, starting with girls as young as 5, and how that sets them up to believe it is fine for boys to see them as objects. ...[T]he sexualization of young girls disrupts their ability to develop meaningful relationships with peers, disrupts their ability to be empathetic to others and from developing normal sexual relationships later in life.

The Twilight series, of which New Moon is the second part, has been defended in many circles as a "love story that promote[s] chastity, among other virtues." But NPR reports that "if Twilight is trying to send a new message about teen abstinence, it might not be getting through," quoting one 17-year-old as saying, "That [Twilight] is completely selling sex to kids."

It's hard to argue that New Moon isn't selling sex to somebody, anyway, when the media blitz for the movie includes Ashley Greene, the female lead, posing suggestively on and in the most recent issue of Maxim magazine. And male lead Robert Pattinson tells Rolling Stone that "it's really strange" for girls as young as eight years old to have an "incredibly sexualized thing around [him]," considering the books are said to promote chastity. "I think it [the series] has the opposite effect on its readers though," he says.

Twilight has that effect on more than just its young fans (i.e., its "target demographic"), though, and that's where the intersection of social phenomena really seems to happen. Pattinson in particular seems to be of special interest to "cougar" Twilight fans, according to the CNN story cited above. A 32-year-old woman named Jenny tells the reporter, "We love to talk about how sexy Rob Pattinson is and what we would do if we got close... No one's being judged for being married and saying, 'I'm 54 and I think this 23-year-old is absolutely delicious.' " Another woman says she knows people who justify their attraction to Edward (Pattinson's character) by telling themselves, "Edward is just in a 17-year-old body, but he's actually 108."

What I think is at the root of this is not only that these women are not "acting their age," but that many of them never really learned what it means to do so. Many people in their 20s and 30s today were raised in an environment in which parents often tried to be more "buddies" with their kids than authority figures. The extreme example of this is the infamous "Cool Mom" of Arvada, Colorado who told police she had sex with some of the friends of her teenage children and "also provided marijuana, methamphetamine, and alcohol to the teens because she wanted to be a 'cool mom' and it made her feel like she was 'one of the group.'"

I believe this style of parenting is one of the factors that has brought us to a point at which, according to Robert Epstein - who is a psychologist and the author of The Case Against Adolescence - "most Americans now believe a person isn't an adult until age 26." This artificial extension of childhood, or "infantilization," has numerous negative effects on both young adults and society, according to Epstein. "Imagine what it would feel like," he says, "when your body and mind are telling you you're an adult while the adults around you keep insisting you're a child. This infantilization makes many young people angry or depressed, with their distress carrying over into their families" and causing tension and conflict with those around them.

So, we now have pre-teens who think they are adults and thirty-somethings who think they are teenagers, and they all come together to lust after the sexy 17-year-old vampire. But besides provoking something of an "Ew!" reaction, is there anything really wrong or harmful with a 15-30 year span of people essentially viewing themselves as peers? I think the answer is clearly yes.

To cite just one area in which these trends are problematic, think about the seemingly dramatic increase in inappropriate student-teacher relationships in schools. Charol Shakeshaft, an expert in teacher sexual misconduct, says young teachers are "certainly more at risk" of engaging in problematic relationships with their students for a number or reasons, including "[p]roximity in age to their students, immaturity and a classic novice-teacher mistake of wanting students to like them." These "inappropriate relationships" can range from the dramatically ill-advised, such as telling a class of eighth-graders about how you were unexpectedly impregnated by your boyfriend of just a couple of months (as recently happened in our little town), to the criminally sexual (as has been alleged to have happened in our little town during the past year).

The common thread is that these teachers are not the stereotypical "dirty, old men" many people envision. They may not be "dirty" or even necessarily predatory. It's just that both the students and the teachers are under the illusion that, rather than being an authority figure, Mr. X is the "big man on campus" or, rather than being the tough grader everybody struggles to satisfy, Ms. Y is the cool older sister in whom you can confide. I think this is symptomatic of a much broader breakdown in appropriate generational boundaries and our understanding of authority... and so is the New Moon phenomenon.

Quick Takes Friday - the countdown begins!

1-
It's a really good thing hubby isn't the one who usually does quick takes. He came home last night (he and the girls got kicked out of the house for my bible study group) and told me that he only had to work for a couple of hours today, and asked if there was anywhere I wanted to go, or anything I wanted to do. Well, he left for work this morning, got there, realized it was Friday (he had been thinking it was Saturday) and thought that since he really hasn't worked the window in the morning in months, he would just change during his lunch break into his uniform. Well, about 20 minutes after he was supposed to be at work, he came crashing back into the house to change into his uniform, because his boss wanted him to work the window...go figure!

2-
The countdown - 7 more days of work (8 if you count today) then hubby will be done!

3-
Eva rode in a tractor with grandma last night...something that she has wholeheartedly refused to do up until now (I think she only agreed because it was with grandma instead of grandpa...but she says she'll even ride with grandpa sometime now!) and she had a great time. Once we can convince that chicken of a kid to do something, she usually ends up having a great time. Like when the last day of swim lessons they were allowed to go down the water slides...Eva would NOT do it, until I threatened and bribed and her favorite swim teacher said he would take her down...then she wanted to go again and again.

4-
Charlotte goes to a coop preschool once a week, and this week when I went to pick her up, the mom in charge told me that there had been a bit of a catastrophe. So, I'm having visions of Charlotte smashing something really expensive (since I could see her happily playing when I was told this...) Turns out the little stinker gave herself a haircut while my friend was working with one of the other kids. Sadly, I didn't think that warranted the word "catastrophe" since it wasn't her first time cutting her own hair, and I doubt very highly it will be her last. Fortunately, it isn't very obvious where she cut it, so I didn't even have to give her a cut to repair it.

5-
I'm getting quite a stash to wrap for Christmas! Unfortunately, I moved my wrapping paper organizer to my MIL's basement...so I'll have to brave it down there next time we visit and bring my big canvas bags of gifts along. I'm trying to decide whether I am done shopping for the girls or not. I always swore I would never go overboard like my mom always did at Christmas...well, let's just say I never will be able to go that overboard while we live on one income, but there is a joy in buying gifts for your kids that I didn't particularly anticipate.

6-
Okay...speaking of that not going overboard item above...I have to admit, I was looking around online for something for the family that I wanted to get, but didn't really know if it was a good idea (a little bit pricey...) and I just took the plunge, and so an excessive Christmas will now officially happen (not that the whole Hawaiian vacation from my parents didn't already make it an excessive Christmas, or anything...)

7-
Here's hoping to a lack of buyer's remorse...

More quick takes at Jen's blog.

House showing today...

We are having a house showing today, and I am so nervous I feel like I am going to throw up. I think I'll probably feel this stressed out every time someone looks at the house until it sells.

There are many advantages to living in a rural area, but selling real estate is not one of them...my mom really doesn't seem to understand this. She keeps telling me that she always knew someone was very interested when she kept seeing the same card from a realtor on her countertop after a showing. Of course, when you live in a town with two (maybe 3) realty businesses, they don't do silly things like leave business cards...besides, I think my mom keeps thinking that our house should be having showings all the time...but when the whole town is about 2000 people, that's not a lot of population to come see the house.

So, please pray for us today (and whenever you think of us!) that we get a reasonable offer on the house soon!

Semantics

Before I get to the meat of this post, I just want to share a little aside: when somebody at work recently said, "It's all about semantics," one of his co-workers replied (jokingly, mercifully): "What do you have against Jewish people?!" But I digress.

MM and I had a good conversation recently. I know - husbands and wives aren't supposed to do that - but it occasionally happens around here. I told her that I've really struggled with wrapping my mind around this, and I certainly don't agree with how this idea has translated into legislation in Washington, but I do agree with the basic premise that (as our own Archbishop Chaput phrased it), "The Church regards access to basic health-care services as a right, not a privilege."

I said that I knew everyone already had the right to emergency medical care, but that I knew of a person in our town who had tried to kill himself because he was diagnosed with cancer and couldn't pay for chemo treatments, and it made me think of loved ones who have gone through that struggle or similar ones. Emergency rooms don't offer treatments for leukemia or multiple sclerosis, after all.

MM responded that, for all intents and purposes, government-run health care wouldn't either. Especially in the case of someone whose "best days are behind him or her," the treatment for MS would probably amount to pain meds and a wheelchair. And if you were lucky enough to get chemo or other more aggressive treatments for cancer, the delay in treatment would probably render them meaningless.

Then she said something that I thought was fairly profound. "Maybe," she said, "we can agree that everyone ought to have health care when they need it, but I'd rather not call it a right. If we think of it as a right or 'an entitlement,' we expect it to come from somewhere else - such as the government. If we think of it as an obligation that we have to those who can't afford it, then maybe we end up in the same place, but we get there in a whole different way."

We have something of a model for this way of thinking in our town. There is a fairly small Hispanic community here, and they do a very admirable job of looking out for one another. There are frequently Mexican food buffets to raise money to help with a family whose father needs dialysis treatments, or another who has a young child with cancer. I don't know what kind of dent these make in medical bills, but they serve as a great example for the rest of the community - and provide some hope and reassurance that someone cares whether you live or die, which the person I told MM about apparently did not have.

The whole system of Knights of Columbus life insurance actually started in pretty much the same way. Catholic immigrants to America in the 19th Century frequently held dangerous and poorly-paying jobs, and this often left widows and orphans who today would probably become essentially "wards of the state." But back then, a group of visionary men led by Fr. Michael McGivney decided that it was their obligation to provide a way for Catholic men to give their wives and children some level of support in the event of a death in the family. This did not presume that the government would "take care of them," it was a solution that they could implement on the local level through cooperation.

This is the essence of another principle cited by at least some of the Catholic bishops in regards to the healthcare debate: namely, "subsidiarity." Our Sunday Visitor recently ran an article weighing the two, possibly competing, ideas that people have a right to health care, yet we should strive to "respect the inherent dignity and freedom of the individual by never doing for others what they can do for themselves and thus enabling individuals to have the most possible discretion in the affairs of their lives," in the words of the bishops of KC, K and KC, MO.

So, this might be a good starting point. I think MM and I are both right to some degree on this: however you want to say it, people do have a right to medical treatment (as far as I'm concerned); at the same time, we would be foolish to expect this right to be fulfilled by the government. I don't think bake sales and buffets are ultimately going to make a huge impact (at least financially) on people's health expenses, and I do think there are places where government could improve the insurance system (such as limiting tort awards and allowing nationwide competition between companies), but MM's point is essential: we need to start with the assumption that we are responsible for meeting the needs of one another in our community.

From there, we "just" need to find the Fr. McGivneys of our time: people who will develop creative ways of addressing an identified problem, without expecting the nanny state to do it for us. Again, quoting Archbishop Chaput (as cited in the OSV article mentioned above), "Real healthcare reform need not automatically translate into federal programming."

Quick Takes Friday

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Well, our house is officially in the local paper and on our realtor's website. We still haven't had any showings since we officially listed it. I am getting pretty tired of having the house super clean at all times. Having to be so neat all the time makes cooking meals and homeschooling more difficult.

2-
Hubby has no more than 12 more days of work left. Only 16 days total until he is done there, and then we'll start a strange month of traveling back and forth to the farm while still living here.

3-
We had the girl's portraits taken on Wednesday, which being a federal holiday we deemed "home school picture day." So today's pictures come from that (we bought the CD so that we could share them so, we own the copyright to all of these.)

4-
My bible study group met last night, we had a very good discussion about improving our spiritual lives, and one of the ladies told us that one thing that she has started doing is reading the daily readings on her computer before getting on Facebook in the morning. I thought that was a great idea, so we set our homepage to EWTN, and this morning (in my normal morning stupor) I remembered to read the daily readings, plus at EWTN, they have a Saint's quote for each day as well.

5-
Charlotte turns 3 tomorrow! I can't believe she is getting so big. I've been trying to get a bunch of pictures ordered for printing, and it's been a while since my last batch, so I have two years worth of pictures of the girls...it's amazing to see how much they've grown from last Halloween to this Halloween, or from last year's portraits to this year's portraits.

6-
We are all recovering from being sick...finally! This weekend Charlotte spiked a fever (103) and so I took her into the doctor on Monday. I decided to make sure to see our normal doctor, since we'd already taken Charlotte in twice to one of the other doctors. Turns out that she had a double ear infection. So, in the past few weeks, I've had antibiotics for a sinus infection, Eva for pneumonia, and Charlotte for ear infections. I am looking forward to us all being done with medicine and better overall.

7-
Speaking of the weekend...we managed to pull off that 50th birthday party for MIL. She even enjoyed the party...we had a great turnout, particularly considering that we started inviting people Friday morning, and the party was Saturday evening. After the big cake and ice cream reception, we got Chinese food and did a smaller family thing (of course, the smaller family thing still involved 13 people...but really, that's pretty small for hubby's family!) Really, it was a great party...everything went smoothly, and there wasn't a lot of pressure on us to make it great because it was so last minute. Hubby's sister ordered a cake at Walmart, bought a table cloth, Premium M & Ms, nuts, candles, plates, cups, napkins, and a pop up decorative card. Hubby's aunt booked the room, ordered the gift (at least a month ago), wrapped it, got a card for us all to sign. SIL brought over serving utensils and serving bowls, then hosted Chinese food at their house. We made a batch of iced tea, bought a gallon of ice cream, and brought plastic utensils. That was it...I'd definitely plan a party that way again.

More quick takes at Conversion Dairy!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Well, our house is now officially listed. We had our first showing yesterday, and I guess the guy thought the house was nice, but didn't like it being so close to the railroad tracks. Now, our town is pretty dinky, and I don't really think there is ANY place IN TOWN where you will not at least hear the trains as they go through...we at least get to see them. We've been praying to St. Joseph to intercede for us for a quick and relatively painless sale of our house. The good news is that our agent thought it could sell for more than we paid for it four years ago (of course, we bought it unfinished, and put quite a bit of money into finishing the house), the bad news is that we're listing it at $14,000 less than it appraised for four years ago. Bummer.

2-
We've finished with most of the little projects around the house. Hubby still is cleaning out the crawl space a little bit, and wants to put up a few pieces of trim in the kitchen. But we are now at the hard part...living in, staying home all day in, and homeschooling in a house that is within a couple of minutes of clean every day.

3-
Hubby has no more than 19 more days of work. His last day will be the 30th of this month, so 24 days total.

4-
The girls had a fun time trick or treating on Halloween...we started at Grandma's house, and went around to most of hubby's aunts and uncles out in the country. We even trick or treated at the house we will be living in next year, and got a tour. So, now I actually know the layout of the whole house (I had only ever been in the living room, kitchen and mudroom of the house before). The aunt and uncle living in the house now are going to be moving into town, but are waiting on their son-in-law to come do some tile work (he's a contractor) and he keeps delaying when he will be able to do it...so who knows if they will be out by the time hubby has to start work up there on January 1st!

5-
Eva is still coughing a lot, even after a full run of antibiotics, so we probably need to take her back to the doctor...we just aren't sure when to do it! Honestly, I am so sick of being at the clinic now that it's not even funny. We were just there with Charlotte, because we thought she might have a urinary tract infection...turns out she is fine physically, but the doc thinks that the stress of our upcoming move might be the problem causing her to have accidents frequently, so besides more laundry and the use of pull ups sometimes, there's not much we can do.

6-
I taught Charlotte's coop preschool class this week, which was exhausting. Note to self...I do not EVER want to be a preschool teacher or daycare provider. We made pumpkin bread, did a porcupine glue craft, learned about the number 2, read a story about a raccoon, and made raccoon masks. I think the kids all had fun, but it was just draining...probably in part because while the preschoolers were working on their crafts, I was working with Eva on some of her school stuff, so she did her handwriting, part of religion, phonics and part of her math during the coop preschool time. She got to help make pumpkin bread, listen to the story and do free play with the other kids.

7-
MIL's birthday is next week, and it looks like she'll be in the tractor driving grain cart for dry corn harvest on her birthday, so the other night while she was at church, my FIL called me TWICE to make sure we were planning something for MILs birthday. We all went in on a gift for her (which I can't state here, in case she reads this before we celebrate!) and he wanted to make sure she had something since it is her 50th birthday. So, we've been going back and forth plotting on facebook, but we have about four indecisive people trying to make last minute plans, so it's a little bit slow going. I have a feeling that hubby and I will be making a bunch of phone calls tonight...that is, once we have a confirmed place for the shindig...we will have a cake, that much I know already. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get this all pulled together by tomorrow!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes

1-
Happy (almost) Halloween! Our town had it's trick or treat street last night because the school has some sort of day off today. I normally find the fact that everything has to revolve around the school in all these little towns annoying, but since we basically have a blizzard today, I guess it was probably a good thing that the girls got out (in the snow) to trick or treat! This picture is of them before going to the library for story time, Eva is dressed as Mulan and Charlotte is (clearly) Snow White. You can't really tell in the picture, but we sprayed both girl's hair black with temporary hair dye. NOT a plan I'm going to do again, as it took about 4 hair washings to get it out and it got all over their clothes and faces because of the snow while trick or treating.

2-
Hubby just left for work. He wasn't sure if he would be going in at all today, because the roads are closed. The truck never made it to Denver last night, and even if it had, the roads out here are closed, so they'll get a double dose of mail tomorrow (just the thing everyone wants on a Saturday!) On the plus side, the last time the mail couldn't get out here was a couple of years ago, right before Christmas. Hubby ended up volunteering to deliver packages on Christmas Eve that year.

3-
My parents had come up with the idea that we should go on a trip as a family for Christmas, since this is the first time hubby won't be working at Christmas (the p.o. doesn't like to give people time off between Thanksgiving and Christmas, for some reason!) Originally, the plan was going to be driving somewhere. We suggested Santa Fe, NM or Branson, MO (both under 12 hours of driving...about all I think I could handle!) somehow, by the end of it, my parents booked airfare to Hawaii for a week. We will be staying at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu. I'm excited about the trip, but also a little stressed out with all the little stuff I need to deal with. Eva is very excited about her first plane trip, and her first trip to a beach. Charlotte doesn't really get it yet, I don't think.

4-
Speaking of my parents...my dad just had his 61st (I think) birthday this week. His school also had a snow day on his birthday, and I am pretty sure they are still having a snow day today. So, he's having a good time not going to work. My mom is still on fall break from her school. Personally, I am about ready for them to go back to school, because they are having WAY too much time available for worrying about trip details, and I don't have the time right now to deal with their worries. Like yesterday, I am running out the door to get the girls to story time, and my dad calls to tell me he is e-mailing me an article (he needed our e-mail address again) and he's still talking to me as I am driving away from the house, telling me that my mom suggested that we get state IDs for the girls. Personally, I think it would be a waste of my time (and money) to get IDs for the girls, but my parents are worried that we might be delayed in security if our girls names match the name of someone on the terrorist watch list. I think that is very, very, VERY unlikely! So, anyone fly with kids frequently (or ever)? Anyone ever been delayed because TSA kept their kids back to check on them?

5-
Our goal to have the house ready to list by November 1st seems to be right on target. Other than A LOT of cleaning that I need to do (I have a ton of black hair dyed clothes to wash, and have a lot of floors to clean, not to mention some clutter and half a dozen cold medicines to put away) hubby has come pretty close to finishing the repairs. We have a new kitchen faucet, the wall is built in our basement/crawlspace, and he has the primer and paint in the house for touching up the wall where we had patch some cracks. We still had hoped to paint the doors (not happening in the blizzard), replace some weather stripping, and hubby wants to put a sweep on an interior door (which could probably get done tonight.) The hard part once the house is listed will be keeping everything clean and tidy all the time...it's just not in my nature!

6-
I'm pretty sure I've whined on the blog about us all being sick...but this week I finally sucked it up, and took myself and the girls to the clinic. Well, it turns out that Charlotte just had a cold, Eva had a slight case on pneumonia, and I had a sinus infection. Eva's on day 4 of Zythromax (my favorite antibiotic...gotta love the five day total thing!) and seems to be doing better, I guess. She never really slowed down, but her appetite is back up to normal. I'm doing better, too...still on antibiotics for a while, but I was also given a sinus rinse thing to use...I guess it's kinda like a neti pot. Basically, you squirt water up one nostril while bent over with your head tilted, and it rinses gunk out of your sinuses, I guess. It's pretty gross, but works pretty well. I'm thinking I might get one for hubby, as he ALWAYS has sinus problems.

7-
Well, I fully intend to enjoy my blizzard today by staying in my PJs and sipping hot tea all day long. Of course, I still have to carve pumpkins with the girls (I meant to get it done yesterday, but with all the running around a black spray on hair color, it just didn't happen!) and do a bunch of laundry, but there's something so satisfying about spending a cold day at home in jammies with a warm beverage, isn't there?

More quick takes at Conversion Dairy!

No, I haven't completely given up blogging...

I have just been extremely busy! I've been contemplating several ideas for future posts, though. Just to let you know that I'm still alive, here are some possible coming attractions. Please let me know what you think of any one(s) of them, or feel free to suggest anything else! "Discuss amongst yourselves." Hope to get back at it soon.
Post ideas:
1. "Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future."
2. State Department report on religious freedom around the world
3. Has the Republican Party lost its collective mind??
4. Upcoming Hawaii trip
5. Getting the house ready to list for sale (which is why I haven't had time to blog)
6. your brilliant suggestion!