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Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas

Well, Christmas has been here and gone. We had a nice Christmas. A lot of driving, but nice. We had Christmas Eve with Colin's family at his brother's house and Christmas Day at his parent's house. Ian got Legos so he was extremely happy. He was really cute on Christmas Eve. My mother-in-law bought the new Hallmark singing snowman for me and Ian was very excited for me. I opened it and he said" yeah! You got what you wanted!" Of course, we had to make it play music right then. Ian started laughing and dancing to the music. It was too cute! Colin got a chainsaw so he's ready to chop up everything tree related. I'll have to guard the Christmas tree, even though it's fake! I am getting a kitchen stool/chair for the kitchen similar to what my mom had in the kitchen when I was growing up. No more hollering for Colin to get something down for me, I'll be able to reach on my own.
I did a little after Christmas shopping yesterday and today, but overall, I'm not too impressed with the sales. I found better deals last year. I did find a gift for my niece and my nephew and a little something for Colin, but I had hoped to find more gifts for next year. I love having a head start. I'll keep looking.
Colin had a cold over Christmas and he's still fighting it. He went in to work today (Thursday), but only stayed a few hours. He wasn't the only one sick. His boss was at home sick as were several other coworkers. I think he will stay home on Friday, he needs a lot of rest to kick this thing.
I must say that in spite of my good intentions, I only got a few Christmas cards mailed out. I did find some on the after Christmas sale at Wal-mart and I'm thinking of addressing them now and putting them in the Christmas storage boxes. Then, I'd be halfway done when I get them out next year. Maybe you'll get a card from me next year!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Christmas is Coming Blues

What is it about this time of year that can get to me? I suppose it's getting to me a little more this year. I told my friend, Dottie that I have the "my dog died, my hair is falling out, haven't been home for Christmas in nine years blues". I try not to dwell on it. I wish my test results would match my symptoms soon, it's a big bummer.
I talked to my mom today and she had a little touch of the blues, too. She found out today in a Christmas card that one of her friends from Michigan died in August. That made her sad and then later, she was going through things and found the little log house that her mother had made and that made her sad (her mom died when she was 18 or 19).
I guess Christmas just makes us want to be with the people we love. ALL the people we love, which isn't always possible. I sure hope we celebrate Christmas in Heaven, there will be room enough for everyone and everyone who has trusted Jesus for their Savior will be there, no one will get left out.

Well, enough of the blues. On to the topic of Christmas lights. Boy, have our lights been a challenge this year. I started putting the lights on our tree before we went to Hawaii, but didn't finish until probably a week after we got back. I got all the lights on there, plugged it in and smiled. Then, all but one strand went out. I did some checking and found that a couple of older strands felt warm, so I took them off and threw them away. I repositioned the rest of the lights and everything went fine, until today. Ian and I were sitting in the living room when the lights on the tree went out. Colin checked and the bottom strand had blown a fuse, so he replaced it and all was well....for an hour or two, then it went out again. Colin fixed it again and everything was great for an hour or two. I told Colin to forget it, unplug that strand and after Christmas I will take it off and throw it away.
Here's something that should cheer all of us up for a little bit: we're going to dog sit a miniature schnauzer for a week. A family from our homeschool group has to go out of town for a funeral (at Christmas...sad.) and we are going to look after their dog, Pepper for them. It will be nice to have a dog in the house again, even if it's just for a week. Maybe those blues will just run off. I wish they would!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Christmas Program

The Children's Christmas Program for our church was last night. It went really well. I was able to go even though I've been sick all week. I'm on an antibiotic and I prayed that I wouldn't be coughing the whole time like I have been at home and I didn't! I just coughed a little bit a few times, so I was able to enjoy the program and so did everyone else.
Ian looked very spiffy in his Christmas outfit and he did a great job on his lines. He was pretty nervous about saying his lines, so Colin sat on the steps in front of him to prompt Ian if he needed it. He needed help a few times. He really did have it memorized, but I think being nervous interfered. Here's what he said in the program: Bells. "Who likes to hear bells ring? Aren't bells fun? For centuries church bells in every land have pealed out the glad news of Jesus’ birth. Traditionally, church bells ring for an hour before midnight on Christmas Eve. Bells ring before midnight as if to warn the powers of darkness of the approaching birth of the Lord Jesus. Then, right at midnight, they change to a joyous tune, ringing out the good news that Christ, the Savior, is born!"
Pretty big lines for a six-year-old! Ian's grandma and grandpa O came to the program, too. I know Ian loved having them there! We all had cookies after the program. Then they gave Ian a Christmas train to go around the Christmas tree. Since my tree isn't finished (despite my early beginning) we set up the train in the garage for now. That's all Ian wants to do. Make the train go. Hopefully, I can tear him away soon.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Home Again

Wow! I can't believe the week went by so fast! We had a great time in Hawaii. I'll give you a little run down of our days there.
Tuesday: We flew to Hawaii, arriving at our hotel in the late afternoon. It had been raining so we just got a little something to eat in our room.
Wednesday: After a very stormy night, we had a rainy morning and stayed in mostly. In the afternoon, Sean and Marisa got married at Magic Island. I took 520 pictures!
Thursday: Another rainy morning. We took Ian to the mall so he could make a Hawaiian bear at Build-a-Bear. I'll post a picture of the bear soon. He is too cute. Together we named him Kona Bear. He has swim trunks, a Hawaiian shirt, sandals, sunglasses and a kukui nut lei.
Friday: We had breakfast at the Shore Bird with Colin's parents. In the evening, we went to the changing of the guard at King's Plaza. After, Colin and I went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
Saturday: We took a tour of the island with the whole family. We went to the Dole Plantation and rode the pineapple train (a thrill for Ian, who still was talking about the last time he went when he was four). Then we went to a waterfall. We "hiked" up to it. It was a paved path, but it was pretty long and it was really humid! After that we headed to Poli lookout, but ended up stopping at a beach on the way. All the kids except Ian played in the waves. Ian built a sand volcano and had a blast. He still doesn't really like the ocean. Must be something about how big it is. Ian started getting a rash on Saturday. I suspected the new sunscreen I had purchased and put on him.
Sunday: Ian and I stayed in our hotel room all day. He had a bad rash and later developed a fever. I gave him a Benedryl and he rested. By evening, I was the one feeling lousy and running a fever.
Monday: I still didn't feel well, but I forced myself to go do something as it was our last full day in Hawaii. Colin, his mom and I took all the kids to the Honolulu Zoo. We took a limo there, which was fun and helpful since I was not feeling so great. The zoo was really nice and the kids had a great time. I took lots of pictures. We walked to McDonald's for lunch and then very slowly walked back. I was very hot when we got back and decided to go swimming in the pool on the roof of the timeshare. I probably should have checked my temperature first, but didn't. The pool was freezing! Ian went in with me and we played in there for a while. We took Ian to the Japanese steakhouse for dinner. What a blast! Ian loved watching our chef cook the food and he loved the food. This was his first time at a place like this and he thought it was really cool! After dinner we went to the marketplace to exchange a shirt I had purchased. By the time we were heading back I was feeling very lousy. I packed a little for our return trip, but didn't get too far.
Tuesday: I woke up very congested (which I still am). I worked on finishing getting packed and then we went to the Shore Bird for breakfast with everyone to celebrate Marisa's twin boys' tenth birthday. They finally got to try poi, but they weren't too impressed with it! After breakfast, we did some last minute shopping, finished packing and headed to the airport in a limo (in case you are overly impressed with this limo business, they cost about the same as a van shuttle there in Hawaii and it's a lot more comfortable!) and went through the baggage checks. We started going through security when I noticed that I didn't have my camera bag. This led to a track down mission. Colin was pretty sure it was in the limo. Mom and dad called the limo service and they checked and said they didn't have it. Colin told them to check again and then he told them exactly where he thought they should check. It was there. We didn't have time to get it, so it will come back with mom and dad on Thursday. I guess if the trip out had to be eventful, so did the trip back!
I had a great time in Hawaii, but I'm glad to be home, mostly because I don't feel very well and who wants to be away from home when you feel lousy? Not me! Ian was so tired when we got home that he went to bed in the clothes he had been wearing and was out in about 2 seconds! Well that's it for me for right now. Aloha!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Getting Out

I may not live in Kansas anymore, but I know when to get out of Dodge! We had a very, very bad storm last night. The rain started yesterday morning and the wind just kept increasing until we were having gusts between 50-70 miles per hour. Our power went out at a quarter till midnight. Of course, I was still up trying to get my packing done. Colin set the alarm on his cellphone so he could wake up to go to work.
Colin's alarm went off at 5 am and we started checking to see how we had done during the night. We couldn't see much, so we tried to go back to sleep. Ian woke up shortly later afraid because his night light was off and the wind was howling. We comforted him and gave him a flashlight which seemed to reassure him. We tried sleeping, but that didn't work too well. I called and talked to my mom to let her know how we were doing.
Eventually we decided that Colin should not go to work and that we needed to gather our things up and get going. We had a couple of trees that border our property that fell that Colin will need to deal with when we get home. Our whole county was out of power. Bay City had winds up to 129 miles an hour! As we were preparing to go we got a couple phones calls. One from Colin old boss telling us about a mudslide on Hwy 8 and Hwy 101, and then a phone call from Colin's dad telling us another highway was closed. It looked like all the roads we needed to take north might be closed. We went one way and it was closed, then we tried another way and even though it looked like we were going to be blocked, it turned out that it was being rerouted around flooding. So we made it out of our county and got to Tacoma super early for my Dr. appointment. We were able to go get lunch and even visit a really cool toy store.
I got to the Dr.'s appointment early and was ready to settle in for a little rest, but they called me back 25 minutes before my appointment was scheduled. I got to talk to the Dr. about what has been going on with my body and he had a couple of ideas of what it might be, so I had a couple of tests done. We'll see what they say. After the appointment we headed straight to the motel that we're staying at. I am so glad that we are staying over in Seattle and don't have to fight to get here at 3 in the morning tomorrow. I don't know if we would make it if it came to that. It still sounds windy outside. We are definitely having some wild and wooly weather!
Colin and I were talking after we got to the motel and we just marvelled at God's provision and His timing. We were able to get out at the exact right moment. We were able to make it to my Dr. appointment. We don't have to stay in our house which might not have power for a week. Even the timing with Lucy was perfect. It wasn't what we wanted, but she would be cold and miserable and sick in the dark with our neighbor watching her, that would have been awful. So now we are trusting God's provision for the rest of our trip. May the storm clouds disapate. I'm ready for balmy breezes, not wild wind!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Aloha

Tomorrow I head to Tacoma for a Dr. appointment, Seattle to stay overnight and then on Tuesday, we head to Hawaii for a week. I'm looking forward to the nice warm breezes. I'm sure it will be an eventful trip as we will be traveling in a large family group. There are 11 of us going. The children are outnumbered by one adult. Six adults, five children.
While we are there, Colin's brother Sean will be getting married. I hope we have nice weather for the wedding and that no one gets sick. Ian was sick last time and it was such a bummer. He took a nap today, just to help boost his immune system! I've been taking Zinc and am hoping for a good energy level while we are there.
I promise to take LOTS of pictures!! I'll share some when I get back. Aloha!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

December Snow

We got up this morning and headed out to Ian's Christmas program practice. We about halfway there when I noticed some very tiny snowflakes. By the time we got to church, it was snowing steadily and there was a little sticking to the ground.
Practice took about an hour and when we came out there was at least an inch of snow on the ground. We headed home and were almost home when I decided that Ian needed a sled, so we turned around and went to our local hardware store. Hooray! They had sleds and they had just the kind I wanted for Ian, a round disc shaped sled, perfect for sledding down our big ditch.
After we got home I helped Ian get all bundled up and we headed out to the ditch. I explained how he should sit and gave a few pointers. I helped him the first time, then I explained how he could scooch the sled forward until it was ready to go down the hill.
He went down the hill over and over, laughing all the way down each time. He had a blast!
Right now the snow has stopped, I don't know if we'll have more snow or if it will melt, but watching Ian go sledding was so much fun!

Friday, November 30, 2007

A Helping Hand

Ian and I went to a craft day with our homeschool group today. It was good to get out of the house and have our minds on something other than missing Lucy. Ian made some Christmas ornaments with some help. One of them I had to make because it was all glued together with a glue gun!
When we got home I saw in my email that someone on freecycle had posted that they needed help to get presents for their children for Christmas. So I decided that I must have things around this house that would make good gifts. I had Ian look through his toys for things that were still nice that he could give to the little boy and I hunted for things for the little girl. We're getting a nice stack of things. Nothing like helping someone else to make you feel better. We'll probably take the things to them tomorrow or Sunday. I'm glad God sent this my way, I needed a little project to think about others rather than feeling sorry for myself.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Saying Goodbye

I didn't want to get up this morning. I had a hard time going to sleep last night and this morning I just wanted to hide under the covers. I think I just didn't want to face the day and taking Lucy to the vet. I did get up and we took Lucy to the vet. Colin had to carry her to the van and out of the van at the vet's office. The vet looked at her and told us what we already knew, she wasn't doing any better. In fact, she was worse, she was weaker than she had been on Monday and still very congested. He told us that since her congestion hadn't responded to antibiotics or steroids it was most likely a tumor.
The vet asked us what we wanted to do and we make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep. We cried and petted her and said goodbye. We didn't stay in the room while she got the shot, that was just too much for us to handle. Ian petted Lucy and told her he loved her. He still hasn't cried. I'm not sure he completely understands. We told him that she died and he has told us that he's going to miss her. I told him it's okay to cry if he's sad. I think Colin and I have shed enough tears for all of us.
Colin was going to ride the bus to work, but I asked him to drive us home. I was crying too much to drive and I didn't want to face our empty house all by myself. I was right, it was hard to be in the house and know she wasn't going to greet us. All her things were right where we left them.
Silly, goofy dog. We only had her for about a year, but she sure stole our hearts. I think it was love at first sight. I still remember going to see her at the animal shelter. I had Ian with me and I took her outside in their get acquainted area. She climbed up on the bench with me and snuggled up close. She wanted to be loved. I'm pretty sure that if someone had told me that she was old and dying that I wouldn't have wanted to take her home with me, but I wouldn't trade this past year with her for anything. We've learned a lot. I know more about dog food than I ever thought possible thanks to Lucy's allergies and picky eating. I learned it takes about two seconds to fall in love with a dog and a lot longer to heal after they're gone. I learned that my house is big enough for a big dog, if it's the right big dog. I hope this past year was the happiest one she ever had. We're going to miss Lucy.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Rough Day

Today has been a rough day. We woke up with high hopes for Lucy, only to have them dashed late in the morning when she collapsed outside in the yard. I had talked to the vet clinic a couple of times this morning. Once because her breathing was so labored and once because she had started throwing up, which isn't good at all because she's hardly eaten a thing since Saturday.
I did get her a little more prednisone which seems to ease her breathing a little bit. The vet was out of town, so I couldn't get much help.
I had some errands I had to run in Olympia, so I left Lucy in the kitchen not knowing how she would be when we got home. I ran my errands, got Colin and we had a little dinner. We took Ian to Awana and found a very nice someone to listen to his verses so that we could head home to see how Lucy was doing and if she was still with us. She was. This dog is a fighter. She is frail and weak, but she's hanging on. Tomorrow we go see the vet in the morning and I'm afraid we might have to make a very tough decision. Do we keep treating her or is it time to say good-bye?
On a much lighter note, I have to share a little funny from the mouth of Ian. He has been learning Psalm 23:1-6. There's one part that he has been mispronouncing and it is such a cute little mispronunciation! Instead of saying "you annoint my head with oil." He's been saying "you annoy my head with oil." Ah, to be six again!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Sick Doggie

Lucy has been sick lately. She hadn't been eating very well, which isn't that unusual for her. She developed a stuffed up nose. Then she stopped eating and drinking. We decided it was time for her to go see the vet.
This meant we had to find a new vet as I vowed never to go back to the one that tried to send us to the doggie cardiologist last year. I made some phone calls and found a vet that could see her right away in Elma.
I had to help Lucy in and out of the van as her back legs are pretty weak. I took her into the clinic and they looked at her right away. She most certainly has a sinus infection so they prescribed an antibiotic. The vet thought she looked closer to 12 or 15 rather than the 5-8 the animal shelter and other places had told us. He also couldn't hear any heart murmur! How crazy is that? I still think it might have been her dog food. If the dog food could make her incontinent why couldn't it mess with her heart?
Anyway, she's had two doses of antibiotic and she has started drinking water again and she's nibbled at some turkey. She needs to start eating better. Poor thing, she's a skinny dog to begin with, this doesn't help that at all.
Hopefully, she will start doing better soon. We're leaving for Hawaii in a week and our neighbor is going to watch her. I don't want her to be sick while our neighbor watches her.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. I know we did. For Thanksgiving I made cranberry relish, four pumpkin pies, green bean casserole and baked stuffing. We took all this plus some cool whip and apple punch to Colin's parents' home. There were 38 of us there. We had 3 turkeys and 1 ham, four varieties of stuffing, a host of salad choices. There was a lot of food! I took lots of pictures and I think everyone had a very good time.
We brought one of Ian's cousin home for a sleepover. When we got home we had a lot to unload and we had the boys help us. Ian's cousin carried in our leftover cool whip. I asked him to set it on the counter and I would put it in the fridge. Ian decided that he would jump in and open the fridge. When he opened it he yanked on it and out flew the extra pumpkin pie I had kept for the weekend. A little less than half of it slid out of the pan onto the floor and had to be thrown away. Ian got a talking to about doing what he is asked to do, not what he wants to do.
My very sweet husband battled the cold and the darkness this morning and faced the after Thanksgiving sale at JCPenney to get a Christmas present for me. He got me an under the counter cd player and radio. It will be nice to have some counter space back.
Today we have to clean up the garage and the house and I have to get back to decorating the Christmas tree.
Today is my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! He's in Branson, MO having fun at Silver Dollar City and going to some shows. They had Thanksgiving at a restaurant down there. Dad told me it was very good and I'm sure my mom enjoyed having some turkey she didn't have to do any work to get. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Good Gifts

Today I signed Ian up for a craft day through our homeschool group. He'll get to make about5 or so crafts that are supposed to be suitable for giving as gifts. I'm really excited. This is the first year that Ian has decided that crafts are fun. This is good news for me because I love crafts!
Thinking of Ian making gifts for Christmas reminded me of when I was a little girl.
When I was in grade school I was in Brownies and then Girl Scouts. We would meet after school and honestly I only have a few memories from that time, but this one is very clear. I must have been in 3rd or 4th grade and we were making gifts to give to our family. We made two things, a recipe card holder and a braided rope wreath. The recipe card holder was very simple to make, it took a block of wood, some fabric, a clothespin and some glue. The wreath was trickier, you had to braid three pieces of rope together. I didn't know how to braid so an older girl helped me and taught me how to braid. It was hard work for me. I finished braiding and we looped the rope (sort of in a clover shape or a pretzel with tails) and added some pretty holiday ribbon. I was very excited about my gifts. I knew just who should get which gift. One would be for my grandma and one was for my mom. I gave the recipe card holder to my grandma and the braided wreath to my mom.
Just a few years ago my mom was getting ready to throw out that little wreath, but I rescued it. We got to talking about that Christmas and my mom admitted that her feelings had been hurt that I gave the recipe card holder to my grandma and the wreath to her. I asked her why that would hurt her feelings. I guess it was because my mom likes to cook and she probably thought that I would have given her something for when she was cooking. Looking at the two gifts, I probably did pick the opposite person of who most people would have chosen to give the gift to. My grandma did use the recipe card holder, but probably not as long as my mom would have. She probably would have liked the wreath better.
I realized that my mom didn't truly know what my gift had meant. I explained to her that while both gifts were nice, I had saved the one that was difficult, the one that took true effort on my part, to give to her. I saved my good gift for her.
I think we can be like that with the gifts God gives us. We ask 'why did you give me this? I wanted something better than this.' We don't recognize the gift as being good. Honestly, sometimes the gifts are difficult to deal with, having cancer, being unemployed, losing someone we love, they aren't what we would call gifts. Later we recognize them as gifts. We see where the path of our life changed. We see the people who need our experience to get through one of their own trials.
Learn to recognize the true gifts in life, if we can see them for what they are, what a blessing.

Monday, November 19, 2007

It's Beginning to Look like Christmas

I know it isn't quite Thanksgiving yet, but around my house, it's beginning to look like Christmas. The sounds are there. I've started playing my vast collection of Christmas Cd's. The sights are there. Colin got our artificial tree down and set it up and I have started putting lights on it. We also have watched two Christmas movies with Ian. We watched Elf and then we watched Muppets' Christmas Carol. I've already wrapped presents to start getting ready to ship to Kansas. Ian has already seen most of his gifts (I believe I blogged about his sneakiness earlier).
Why am I getting ready so early? We are going to Hawaii for a week in December. We did that two years ago and I remember coming back and feeling like I had lost a week and didn't have enough time to get ready for Christmas. It felt very rushed and it wasn't how I wanted to feel at Christmas. So this time, I am starting early. I want to enjoy my beautiful tree more than a week and a half or two weeks. I want to watch my favorite old Christmas movies (we didn't get to them last year and we were at home the whole month!). I want to read Christmas stories to Ian while he snuggles next to me. I want to actually complete my Christmas cards this year and get them mailed. So this year I am having a very Merry Thanksgiving as well as a Merry Christmas!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Mixed-Up Field Trip

For the past month and a half I had been planning a field trip for our home schooling group. Keep in mind that I've belonged to our home schooling group all of two months. So did I plan a simple field trip?? Oh no, not me, I got ambitious. I coordinated a field trip where we rode on an Amtrak train to Seattle, went to the Seattle Aquarium and rode the train home. Fifty-three people signed up, including my family of three.
Finally, the day had arrived for the field trip. We were so excited. Ian had been asking for weeks if it was time for the train field trip yet and here it was! Our train was scheduled to leave at 10:30 am, so we planned to be at the train station by 9:45. We made it perfectly on time and people from our group were already starting to arrive. I checked people off on my passenger list and happily waited for the train. We had asked the volunteers at the station a few questions (it's an unmanned station except for volunteers). They were friendly and answered our questions. They told us the train would be there at 10:37.
At 10:15 one of the volunteers found me and told me that the train had experienced some mechanical difficulties and that it had not left Vancouver, WA yet. The trip between Vancouver and Olympia would take the train an hour and a half and we didn't know when it would leave.
I made a general announcement to the crowd of our less than wonderful news. We had several options. We could wait, drive to Seattle, ask for a refund or try to reschedule. The time frame would now also affect our reservation with the aquarium. I decided to call Amtrak and talk to the Schools on Trains person who had helped me schedule our trip and see what they had to say. That took a while and while I waited on the phone we came to a general consensus. We would wait for the train. Rescheduling just wasn't feasible because of the time of year, Thanksgiving, Christmas and my trip to Hawaii. One gentleman offered to trade me places for my trip to Hawaii! Ha!ha! Thankfully, the volunteer confirmed that the train had left the station in Vancouver at 10:30 and it should arrive in Olympia around noon.
So we all left the station to grab something for lunch as a lunch in Seattle was out of the question now. One family did decide to drive to Seattle so they could enjoy a lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
Our train arrived around 12:15, which is when we would have originally arrived in Seattle. We had contacted the aquarium and they told us it wouldn't be a problem. Finally, we were on our way. The trip to Seattle went quickly, there was so much to see out our window. We saw a lot of Puget Sound and all the water. Ian got to see several different kinds of trains, freight trains. He even told us he saw some piggyback cars. Smart boy!
Before we knew it we were in Seattle. Colin got directions to the free shuttle that would take us to the aquarium. By now it was raining, but we walked the couple of blocks to the stop and saw that the next shuttle wasn't due for 20 min. Colin called the bus company to see how many people could fit on the bus (after all, we had 49 people going to the aquarium). They advised Colin that we would have to break into three groups to be able to go on the shuttle, but they said we were only five blocks away from the aquarium. We had one set of grandparents that couldn't walk the distance and decided to wait for the shuttle, but the rest of us decided five blocks wasn't that far, so off we headed for the aquarium. Five blocks sounded easy. In reality, it was more like 10 blocks. 10 very long blocks in the rain, but we made it. Of course, by the time we got there, the shuttle was just arriving and the grandparents told us that including them, there were only 5 people on the shuttle. Oh well, we got our exercise!
We paid our admission to the aquarium and headed inside. We took a group photo and headed off our separate ways to explore. One of the first exhibits we saw was a tidal pool where you could touch the sea creatures. Ian touched a starfish a couple of times and so did I! Ian decided he was very brave to do something that daring! He talked about it almost non stop in the van on the way home.
We had a great time at the aquarium. We saw clown fish, a huge oyster, sea horses, seals and sea otters and a whole bunch of tropical fish. We had to stop in the gift shop and there Ian got a book (Curious George visits the aquarium) and a sea horse thing that will expand in water.
We rode the shuttle back to the train station and this time our train pulled in early and we were able to board ahead of time.
We had such a great time even though almost nothing went according to our plan. Still, no one got angry or upset. We just took things in stride and ended up having a fantastic time!
I can't wait for the next train trip!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Bunco

I see I haven't shared how Bunco went last Friday. Let me tell you, I had so much fun! First of all, I didn't get lost! That might not sound like a big deal to you, but it was dark and rainy and I was going to someone's house that I had never been to. Those all add up to a situation where it's easy to get lost, but I didn't! I arrived a few minutes early.
We had lasagna for dinner and some yummy snacks. The crab dip was my favorite. Then we played Bunco. There were 11 of us and I just barely knew one person there, but it didn't matter. We all played the game and talked and got to know each other. I ended up having the most wins! We all brought prizes so after the games were over, we got to choose which prize we wanted to take home. I chose a bath set that was Pomegranate and Pear. It smells yummy!
I have my prizes pretty much set thanks to my At Home America stuff that I got for bazaars and then changed my mind. I am already looking forward to the next Bunco night in December!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Thursday Morning

It feels like I have been away forever. The fact is, I was only gone a few days. I spent the last three days at my friend's house watching her three children so she could be at the hospital with her husband. He had hip replacement surgery. I am happy to say that he's doing pretty well. He got to go home yesterday afternoon.
I am tired!!!! The kids did a pretty good job of behaving, only a few disciplinary actions needed. Three days with four children and dog (who isn't exactly thrilled to be in the garage all day) is tiring. Of course, I'm already tired most the time anyway. I think a lot of people were praying for me while I was watching the kids because I felt a little better, but last night weariness set in.
This morning Colin found a message from Group Health telling me I had new lab results. I finally have the results from my second batch of thyroid tests. My T4 is fine and my T3 is high. I'm not sure what that means. I'm sure I will have to pursue the answer. I would really like it if I could find a doctor that actually contacted ME when I had abnormal test results!
I guess that's about all I know right now. Tomorrow night I am playing Bunco! I can't wait. It's going to be fun!!!

Friday, November 2, 2007

The Ongoing Saga of Feeling Crummy

Well, I know I haven't said much more about feeling crummy. I had my thyroid test and that came back normal. I saw my doctor and talked to him about it and he ran a bunch of tests. So now I know that I don't have Lupus or Rheumatoid arthritis. My blood counts are good and none of my tests showed anything.
My symptoms are like a checklist for thyroid problems. Seriously. I looked online and did a little research and I matched almost every symptom. Pair that with the fact that I've been dealing with this thyroid thing for 10 years and I'm still thinking it's my thyroid.
So I did a little more research and found some interesting information on a more comprehensive blood test to check my thyroid. So I emailed my doctor to ask about that and he emailed me back that same afternoon and told me that he had ordered that test for me and all I have to do is give another blood sample. So that's what I'm going to do next week. We'll see if it shows anything or not. Either way, I'll know for certain if this problem is my thyroid or if it isn't.
I really hope they find something because then, they could fix it. I am really tired of being so worn out from nothing. It's a big bummer!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Happy Anniversary!

Eight years ago, I was busy getting ready for my wedding. I can't believe it's been eight years! Time flies.
We have mostly celebrated our anniversary. We spent the weekend together, just the two of us (well the dog was here, but she didn't interrupt much). Ian spent the weekend with his grandparents and had a great time. Today he was telling me that he missed them. He'll see grandma on Wed. I'm sure that will help.
We had planned to spend the weekend in Westport, but decided it cost too much. I'm really glad we stayed home. I have been so tired lately, I'm afraid it would not have been the best weekend to go away.
Colin surprised me with roses and a balloon (which Ian wanted of course) and a card. Ian started telling me "Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary!" I told him our anniversary is tomorrow. He said, " Happy Anniversary! Does that mean no school tomorrow?" Nice try, but we have school tomorrow. Silly boy.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

His Loving kindness

Last night I went to my Bible study, even though I was tired and I hadn't gotten my homework done. I really wanted to skip, but I didn't. I'm so glad I didn't. First, I was able to ask them to pray for me and whatever this weirdness is that's going on with me right now.
Second, while we were going over the Bible study lesson there were two great questions. The first one was what has happened in your life that if someone had told you would happen, you wouldn't have believed them. I have several of those. Surviving cancer, meeting my husband on the internet (ha! even the internet would have been unbelievable several years ago), moving away from Kansas and now owning a house. All those things seemed impossible, but God made them happen.
The second question was about where do you see God's loving kindness in your life directing you or leading you? Sort of God's hand in your life. That one I can look back at my family and marvel that I am here. On my dad's side there are three soldiers in three generations. My dad's grandpa was in WWI. My dad's dad (my grandfather) was a marine in WWII, he was a flamethrower (they didn't have a high life expectancy during that job) and my dad was a marine in Vietnam ( a machine gunner, they also had a very poor life expectancy during that job). So just on my dad's side three soldiers had to survive terrible wars for me to be here. That's pretty amazing.
I was thinking about the same thing for Ian's life and it's even more amazing. He has the same soldiers as me plus both Colin's grandfathers were in WWII and one was also in Korea. Then you have to add that I had to survive cancer and not go into menopause from the chemotherapy. Plus meeting his daddy over an internet connection.
I marvel that people can believe that life is random and just happens. I look at my life and my family history and I can see God guiding. Do you see His guidance over the steps of your life, too?

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Bummer

I haven't written much lately. I've been sort of bummed, I guess. Recently I have started shedding, a lot. It's probably my thyroid, which I'm having checked today. Anytime I start shedding hair in small handfuls, it worries me. That was one of the very few symptoms I had before I found out that I had Hodgkin's.
I'm trusting God, but I'm just a bit nervous. I don't suppose that it really helped that on Monday Ian's devotion was about dying and then I watched Oprah, which I almost never do. Can you guess the topic? Death and dying. It was a good episode, but perhaps not the best choice to watch when I'm feeling uneasy about my health.
I am glad that I am getting my thyroid checked out today. The last time I shed like this, my thyroid was way out of whack. I think it might be again. I know I'm really tired and somewhat moody and I was then, too.
Please pray for me that I find out what is making me shed and feel weird and that it's something easily remedied.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Scrapbooking Crop

Saturday I went to a scrapbooking crop. It was at a local high school (a fundraiser for its FBLA club). It started at 1 and got over at 9. I had so much fun. I didn't accomplish a whole lot, I never do at crops, I talk too much! I did do a layout of Ian's soccer pictures and started on his t-ball pictures. I got the story of Colin's 30th birthday party written down and added to that layout. I also got to do a couple of cards that were "make and takes" from a couple of scrapbook companies.
Mostly, I got to talk and talk. Uninterrupted thoughts. Nobody wanting me to 'do this or do that' for them. No crisis. Just pure fun. I haven't gone to a crop in probably three years. I didn't realize just how much I missed it. I can't wait until they have the next one. Sign me up now!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Our First Field Trip

We went on our first field trip with our homeschool group yesterday. We went to Lattin's Cider Mill. We had apple cider and apple cider donuts. There were 40 kids and their parents, so it was a good sized group. The lady from the cider mill was trying to tell us stuff through a bullhorn while they were passing out cider and donuts. Everyone was reasonably quiet, but she still ended sounding like Charlie Brown teacher half the time. Do you remember what his teacher sounded like to him? Wah wah wa wa wah.
After the yummies we got to feed the animals and then we rode on a hayride to the pumpkins. Ian picked out a very nice pumpkin. After the pumpkin patch we went into their little store and bought some very delicious apple cider.
I took some pictures. If I have some good ones, I'll try to post them soon!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Not So Scary Boys

Tonight was friend night at Awana for Ian. We have a hard time finding friends for Ian to invite. Every time we invite a new friend, they end up joining Awana, meaning we have lost them as a guest forever! I'm happy that they like Awana and that they want to go, but it can make life challenging on the friend seeking department.
Part of the problem is that we live so far away from where we go to Awana, about 45- 50 min. I don't really feel comfortable inviting kids in our little town that we have just met to go that far away from their parents. Plus, I'm sure their parents would be a little leery about that, too.
So I racked my brain trying to think who we could invite to Awana. I came up with a slightly unusual choice. My friend Kim's two boys. The reason I say unusual is that the last few times we were at their house, Ian had a definite thing about those boys. He wouldn't play with them, he wouldn't listen to them if they wanted to play and he hid from them. I asked him if they had been mean to him, but they hadn't, he just didn't know them well enough to feel comfortable around them. This afternoon he thought that he might have felt uncomfortable because they had grown so much since he last remembered playing with them.
Ian was at least comfortable with inviting them (after a little coaxing), and so this evening we went to their house and picked them up to go to Awana. We took them to Pizza Hut for dinner, which all three boys loved, and then we took them to Awana.
Silly Ian. He has gotten over his thing about those boys. On the way home he told me he missed them! I guess they weren't so scary after all.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Last Order

Well, I have submitted my last order to At Home America. I haven't told them yet, but I am ready to be done. I love their products, but not their quality control. I only had about 5 or 6 parties, but I've probably done close to 20 exchanges. Too frustrating. Plus, I just don't have the time needed to do the parties and shows.
I think God must agree with me, because He really convinced me with this last party. It had problems with closing it. I just closed it today, 10 days after the party!
So, farewell At Home America. Hello to staying at my home!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Paperweight Roars To Life

We have had a rather large paperweight sitting outside our home for the past ten months. It has sat there as a testament to my husband's procrastination. If you saw our paperweight you might have called it a van. I called it a paperweight because it would not move.
It all started last December. Colin's 1989 van decided to stop running. He figured it was the starter. I figured he would fix it. We were both right, only it took ten months for him to get to it. I asked him why it took so long. He told me he was waiting for a sunny day. Now I know it's cloudy and rainy out here quite a bit, but rest assured, yesterday was not the first sunny day that we've had since December. It was at least the third or fourth sunny day since December. Just kidding!! You mid-westerners will just have to trust me on that one!
Well, to fix the van, Colin had borrowed some ramps to get the van up on. He asked me to help push the van up there. That didn't work, so he found a neighbor to help. That didn't work and then a neighbor was driving by and offered to help. That worked too well. Colin thought that the van would "settle in" once it got up to the top and just stop on its own. Wrong. He also didn't think to say put on the brake (I was steering the van). The van finally made it to the top of the ramp and went right over making the van high center on the ramps. Then Colin did what I had suggested might be easier about 45 minutes before the ramp episode, he went and got a jack and some blocks or something like that. He put in a new starter and the paperweight roared to life. Hooray!
You know, Nick at Nite has recently started airing reruns of Home Improvement. The ramp fiasco sure looks like it could have come straight from that show. I think Colin has been watching it too much and it rubbed off!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

The Field Trip

As if I wasn't busy enough, I decided to coordinate a field trip for our homeschool group. We are going to ride on a train to Seattle, find a place to have lunch and get to the Seattle Aquarium. Sounds like fun, huh? I have to keep reminding myself that it will be fun, there is so much to coordinate!!
First of all, it's a lot of people to coordinate. 70 people can go. Then there are the people who sign up and then change their mind after you've locked in with Amtrak. Amtrak picked our back-up date so that means coordinating again with the aquarium, who is hard to get hold of. I know in the end it will be worth it, we will have a field trip to remember, but right now it is a lot of WORK!!!!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Be Still

Be still and know that I am God.
Have you heard that verse? I know I've heard it many times. I've heard sermons on it. Be still. I have a problem with that. Being still. I try, I really do, but I am a 'sign me up, that sounds like fun' kind of girl. So what do I do? Instead of being still, I send myself in a million different directions thinking it will be wonderful. It is wonderful as I start in one direction, but then I add in all the other and suddenly I am reminded that I can't do everything. Honestly, that should be my motto when I'm thinking about signing up for something new...I can't do everything, I can't do everything, I can't do everything. When I try to do everything, I get lost. My mind can't hold all the details because there are so many. I get bogged down in the process of being that I forget to be still and to really listen to God.
There's a good reason the verse doesn't say 'hurry up and know I am God' or 'pause for a minute or two and know I am God'. You can't get to know someone that way. Maybe you've tried. Have you met someone before and thought 'I'd like to know them better' ?
Did you spend a minute every other week or two getting to know them or did it take time together to really get to know them?? I know for me, it takes time to get to know someone.
So while I am busy with all these great things that I signed up to do (mostly for Ian), I am losing precious time. Time to be still. Right now, I thirst for that. Thankfully, it isn't too far away. The overscheduled schedule is starting to clear. It won't be long until it's easier to breathe, to think, to be still.
How about you? Have you ever been still enough for God to reach you? For you to know He is God? The Bible says we have no excuse not to know Him, His handiwork is everywhere around us. Be still and know that He is God.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Christian Ways to Reduce Stress

I got this in an email and I thought it was great, so rather than forwarding it and annoying someone, I thought I'd post it here.

CHRISTIAN WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS


Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.

1. Pray

2. Go to bed on time.

3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.

4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.

5. Delegate tasks to capable others.

6. Simplify and unclutter your life.

7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)

8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.

9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the hard things all together.

10. Take one day at a time.

11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety. If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it.

12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.

13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.

14 K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.

15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.

16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.

17. Get enough rest.

18. Eat right.

19. Get organized so everything has its place.

20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life.

21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.

22. Every day, find time to be alone.

23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.

24. Make friends with Godly people.

25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.

26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good "Thank you Jesus."

27. Laugh.

28. Laugh some more!

29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.

30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).

31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).

32. Sit on your ego.

33. Talk less; listen more.

34 Slow down.

35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.

36 . Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before. GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

Ten Years

Tonight I was thinking about what people ask you when you are planning for the future. Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?? Then I thought, what was I doing ten years ago?? What changes have happened in ten years?? Here's some of the stuff I remember from 1997.
Ten years ago I was a student (again). I was working toward my Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. I lived in Coffeyville, Kansas and commuted to Bartlesville, OK to attend Bartlesville Wesleyan College (they've changed in 10 years, too. Now they're Oklahoma Wesleyan University). I lived with my parents and my miniature schnauzer, Heidi. My nephew, the first grand baby in my family was born. I bought him lots of cute baby clothes at Kmart where I was working part-time in the apparel department. I had check-ups every 3-6 months to make sure I didn't have any recurrence of my cancer. My brother and his family lived in Indiana. I didn't know anyone in Washington state and had never considered living anywhere that was very far from Kansas.
Ten years later, I am a teacher, not exactly the way I planned to teach. I did get my degree and my teaching certificate. At one point I was certified to teach in three different states! I'm homeschooling my son. I did teach preschool when I was pregnant with my son. I taught summer school for the Olympia School district (the only job I've ever gotten without even interviewing. I didn't even know I had the job until a teacher of an autistic child called to talk to me about having him in one of my classes. I had pneumonia at the time and pretty much told her she didn't know what she was talking about. She was right, I had been hired, they just forgot to tell ME). I also substitute taught in a vast array of classroom for a few years.
I now live in Washington state with my husband and my son and an Airedale named Lucy. Well, to be honest, I'm pretty sure her full name now is Lucy Goose and sometimes I refer to her as 'The Goose'.
My brother lives in Kansas again and his family consists of himself, his wife, his son, two daughters and two doggies. He was recently diagnosed with Meniere's disease, which can effect your hearing and equilibrium. Hopefully, his low-sodium diet will help get it under control.
So much has changed in the past 10 years that I don't think the 26 yr. old me would have ever believed it if someone had told her what the future would hold. I have met so many new people in ten years, it's incredible. I've said good-bye to a couple that I wished I could have kept around longer, Colin's grandma and mine. I'm just so happy that they both were able to meet my child. I've wept with friends over lost babies and rejoiced over the ones who arrived here safely. Babies are such a miracle. I know it's a cliche, but it's true. This amazing little person with tiny hands and feet, so helpless. I remember when Ian was born, I was so sick from that pregnancy. Colin's mom helped me quite a bit the first week. Then came the day she had to go to work. I remember thinking, what are people doing, leaving me alone with this baby?? What if I do something wrong? Shouldn't someone be here just in case? I think that was my mommy awakening, that moment when you realize, you're in charge of what is going to happen with this tiny person. God blessed you with this baby, now what am I going to do with this blessing??? Yeah, I'm not sure 26 yr. old me would recognize 36 yr. old me. How about you? Where were you ten years ago?? Have things changed for you? Have you laughed, grown, changed and lived life to it's fullest? I hope so.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Good News

I feel like a little bee, always saying the same thing...busy busy, busy, buzz. It has been a busy week again! Tuesday we had a soccer game, Wednesday we had errands and Awana, Thursday, homeschool sports and swimming lessons and today I watched my friend's three children for about 6 hrs. All this in addition to homeschool. Busy!
Colin had an interview on Wednesday morning and Thursday we found out he got the job. Hooray! He's still in the financial division at the LCB but he will now be a budget analyst. Today he found out that he will also still be the tax revenue specialist. Looks like he's gonna wear a couple of hats for his new job. He'll start on Oct. 16. I know he's excited. Congratulations, Colin!!!
Tomorrow we have another soccer game. Only two left. Ian sure has been having fun playing soccer. We'll be sure to sign him up again in the spring. I'll try to post some soccer pictures soon. I am hopeful that blogger has fixed the photo trouble. Keep looking and see if I get them posted.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Christmas Present Flashback

Recently, Ian has been getting into a bit of trouble around the house. It all started with a gift that I bought on an after Christmas sale last December. I found three Hot Wheels toys that looked like either a van or a special vehicle that opened up and there was a place for a little car and a small track inside. I bought one for Ian and one for each of his cousins who are close in to Ian. Ian had seen them when I bought them and he begged me for the orange one, the one that was different from the rest. When his birthday rolled around, he was given the orange one and all was well in the world until his cousin's birthday rolled around in June and he was given one of the silver "vans". My once content child was struck by the wants. He wanted the silver van, no longer was the orange van worthy of his attention. It might have ended there except for the fact that the third cousin's birthday isn't until December. Which means his gift is in my closet. Ian decided that he needed to get in my closet and get down the silver van.
Ian has been repeatedly told to stay out of my closet. It happens to be where I usually keep Christmas presents. Thankfully, this year, not all his presents have been stored in my closet. Last Thursday, Ian had been in my closet and had gotten in trouble for his naughty visit to forage in gifts. What I did not realize was, he had also been getting into some of his Christmas gifts which were in bags on high shelves in my closet. I soon realized this last Thursday evening when Ian, being in a particularly ungrateful mood, dragged out one of his gifts, walked over and shoved it in my face and told me 'this isn't as nice as I thought it would be!' Needless to say, I'm not so sure he will be getting that toy this Christmas, it might be off to Toys for Tots! I must admit this does remind me of something I did when I was probably eight, although, I was much sneakier than Ian!
*******WARNING!!!!FLASHBACK IN PROGRESS*******************************
It was getting close to Christmas, only a few weeks away. We lived on a little farm and my parents had to take care of our animals. It was cold and dark so my little brother and I were left inside the warm house with the strictest of commands. Under no circumstances were we to go into my parents bedroom. Naturally, this made my desire to go into their bedroom unquenchable. So I did what curious, naughty little eight year old girls do, I snuck into their bedroom. It looked the same as always, except there was a great big box near their closet. I crept nearer and then I committed the ultimate naughtiness...I looked inside. Wow! A Barbie Doll! The one I wanted, too! All kinds of neat stuff. Stuff for my little brother, too. I called him in so he could see all this stuff. We pulled it out and later I put it back and we left the room and acted like we had never been in there. It worked perfectly all evening. No one suspected a thing. My brother and I went to bed. I was just dozing off when I heard a very unhappy voice say 'DeAnn Michelle Adamson!!!!!" Uh-oh. The full name, that means BIG trouble. I came out of my room and faced the inquisition. I listened to their questioning. Had I been in the box in the bedroom??? I did what any parent-fearing, punishment-hating child would do, I lied. Of course I hadn't been in any box. What box?? Of course, it probably didn't help my case any that just that evening I had suggested that I would love to have the same exact Barbie that was in the box. The truth came out and I was given a spanking, which I so rightfully deserved.
*************************************************************************************
According to my mother, Santa didn't pay a visit to us that year. We only had presents from Mommy and Daddy and nothing under the tree Christmas morning, but I don't remember that part of it.
Back to Ian. He obviously saw more things than I realized. On Monday, I asked him if he would like to watch a Magic School Bus show for part of science. I told him I'd have to check and see if there were any on ON Demand, if there weren't, we'd have to look for something else. He piped up and said 'Or we could watch the DVD's you have in your, er, uh, never mind.' The missing word would be: closet. What a little stinker! Time for Mommy to get more devious with gifts. Maybe I should just wrap them when I get them, although, that never stopped me!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Colin Can Talk To Anyone

I'm sure I've said this before but, Colin can talk to anyone. People also remember him, even when he can't remember them. We had the perfect example for both those topics today.
First to illustrate that Colin can and will talk to anyone. We went to the Territorial Stage Coach today. It was on a three day journey retracing the path that the pioneers took. Colin had been saying something about the Governor or the Gregoire's doing something with it, but I didn't pay much attention. Once we were there we roamed around and looked at the stagecoach and the few displays that were there. There really wasn't a whole lot going on when we were there. I figured more of the festivities happened Friday and Saturday. So we milled about and Colin talked to some different history buffs about his family history and the Yantis property, which is right near or was exactly where we were (depending on which historian you believe). Then Colin moved on to talk to another couple of guys. One was trying to sell some "Territorial Stagecoach wine" to the other guy. Colin stood around and talked to both of them for a bit and then spoke to the "wine seller" for a few minutes. Then it was time for us to head out. When we got back to the van I asked Colin if he knew who he had been talking to. He said 'no'. I told him, based on all the conversation (some of it Colin probably could not hear) I believed he had been talking to the husband of our Governor. I checked online when we got home and I was right. I knew Colin could talk to anyone!
The second illustration is for: people remember Colin even when he doesn't remember them. We went to Costco after our outing and while we were there, I took Ian around for a couple of samples while Colin paid for our shelves that we bought. Unfortunately, I found something else to buy so we had to go through the line twice. When we were walking out Colin asked me "Where do I know a Michael Smith from? He was in line with me and he knew me,but I don't remember him."
I knew that it was a MOPS connection so I told him that he met him at a MOPS event. That's my Colin, he's memorable!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Homeschool Sports

Ian started his home school sports class Thursday. He had a great time. During free time he played a little basketball and then the whole group played two or three versions of tag. There were probably 25 or more kids ranging from K-6 grades. Ian can't wait to go back again!

Men's Bible Study

Colin started a men's Bible study this week. I am so excited. I have wanted him to have fellowship with other guys, but he just hasn't had the opportunity. He had such a good time last night getting acquainted with the guys that were there. The class was across the hall from my Bible study and I could hear Colin chatter and laugh. What a nice sound to hear, a happy husband.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Reprieve

I just found out this morning that Ian's tumbling class will be on Tuesday afternoons. Hooray! That means we won't kill him with exercise on Thursdays. Ian heard the message from his tumbling teacher before I did. He was ready to go today (it starts in two weeks). At least that's a good sign that he's ready to go back!
Today we're going to run to the produce stand and pick up the things I need to make green tomato relish. Tonight, Ian has a soccer game in Elma. What a busy boy!

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Sleepover

We had one of Ian's cousins over for the weekend. The boys had a blast! They watched The Indian in the Cupboard, played with Legos, played with every toy Ian owns (I think they were all on my living room floor). Saturday morning we took them both to Ian's soccer game, but Ian's cousin only stayed awake for part of the game, he slept most of the game in Ian's grandma's van a few feet away from the game. They came home and played more. Ian got so tired he couldn't stand himself and I had to put Ian down for a nap, much to his displeasure.
Sunday we took both the boys to church and then they came back to play some more. They got to play until about 4:45 when Colin took Ian and his cousin back to the cousin's home.
So they played Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and Ian complained that it wasn't long enough and that he missed his cousin. He got up last night after we put him to bed and was so sad. He told me he couldn't go to sleep because his cousin wasn't there to talk to. I ended up giving him some warm milk and honey with a touch of vanilla and after that, he slept like a baby!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Just Call Him "The Exercise Kid"

Ian has a busy schedule this fall (so do I, taking him to these fun things we've signed up to do). Right now he's in soccer, swimming lessons and AWANA. Starting next week we're going to add a home school sports class on Thursdays afternoon. Which means I will drive to the Y in Hoquiam twice on Thursdays for a while.
I signed Ian up for the home school sports class tonight after his swimming lesson at the Y. His swimming lessons are supposed to be T/TH but right now Tuesdays are a little iffy because it's the same night he has his soccer games. As long as he learns something at swimming lessons (even if it's only one night for a few weeks), I'm happy to take him.
On the way home from the swimming lesson I had a realization. What I realized is that I forgot to consider that tumbling should be starting again in a few weeks. Can you guess what day tumbling is on? Thursday. So potentially for a few weeks my son could be at home school sports from 1:30-2:30, tumbling from 4-5 and swimming lessons from 6:50-7:25. I think he will sleep like a baby on Thursday nights!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The First Soccer Game

Well we had the first soccer game last night. I think the other team would have won if they kept score. Thankfully, they don't keep score. It's more about learning how to play the game this year.
Colin tried to yell "helpful" advice from the sidelines. It really isn't helpful because it can distract Ian from what he's doing.
Ian has to work on keeping his eye on the ball. A couple of times he was running after the ball and then he stopped watching the ball and kept running. He was doing a great job running but the ball was nowhere near where he was running.
Ian scored a goal for the other team. He wasn't trying to, he was trying to kick the ball away, but it went in the goal instead. He was pretty excited about it anyway, because he made a goal. Silly boy, he even gave his coach a high five after he scored the wrong goal!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

The Yard Sale

Well, we finally had a long awaited yard sale. I say long awaited because it's really kind of our "moving " sale, but we've been here almost a year now.
We had the sale both Friday and Saturday and my friend, Dottie brought her stuff and joined us. The weather turned out to be just perfect for a yard sale and we didn't have much competition, due to planning on my part. Past experience has taught me a thing or two about yard sales. I have learned that people love yard sales, but most people have a yard sale in the late spring or summer. If you wait until after school starts or a bit later, most your competition has already had their yard sale, but people still want to yard sale. That means they flock to yours. That means money for you.
We had a lot of people in our garage this weekend. Which reminds me of the other thing I have learned from experience with yard sales. People WANT to spend money at your yard sale, so make sure you have something for them to buy. I usually have hot dogs and homemade cookies, pop and chips for sale. You'd be surprised how many people can't find any of my stuff they want to buy, but they'll buy a snack from me!
Ian did his usual job of trying to sell to everyone who came to the sale on Friday. Saturday, Dottie brought two of her children, so he was busy.
I think Colin spent half of our profit on stuff the neighbor brought over to sell at our sale. He bought a weed eater and a horrible orange recliner, which he is in trouble for buying. If I had wanted a horrible orange recliner, we could have had one for free from his parents. I suppose now I must hunt for a not so horrible recliner to replace the horrible one. Ugh! A new quest.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Zucchini

Today I am making zucchini bread. It's in the oven right now. Two loaves. The trouble is, I think I have enough zucchini for 10 loaves. People are compelled to give me zucchini. Last week Colin's grandma and his mom gave me zucchini. The zucchini his mom gave me could give a watermelon a run for its money in size! This week some very kind neighbors gave me a couple more zucchini. Wow! I've only grated the watermelon sized zucchini so far. I'm afraid of just how much zucchini I am going to have once I grate the rest!I know I can freeze it, but sometimes I don't like the results and I don't have much room in my freezer. Maybe I'll just start adding it to everything I make. Zucchini chocolate chip cookies, zucchini hamburgers, zucchini pizza (actually, I do have a recipe for that, maybe now is the time to try it). I guess I'll just have to be creative!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

God is So Cool

God is always cool, but today He did something to demonstrate His coolness to Ian and me.
Ian and I have been reading a devotion book that I bought at Family Christian bookstore. We read a devotion at bedtime every night, even if we read another story. We're getting close to the end of the book and I was wondering what I was going to read to Ian next. I hadn't found another devotional that I wanted to use yet.
Last night we read a devotion about God giving us what we desire as long as it is in line with His will.
Today I was on my computer and I looked at the toolbar of bookmarked sites and saw Our Daily Bread, a devotional for adults that I bookmarked for myself. Suddenly, I wondered if they had online devotions for kids on the internet and then I wondered, how would I know if they were appropriate and followed our beliefs? Well, I typed it in and it pulled up quite a few options. Among the options I saw Keys for Kids. I remembered my parents talking about those and using them for some kids classes they taught. So I looked there and guess what?! Not only can I read them online or Ian can listen to an audio version of them, they will mail me a bimonthly printed version for free!!
How exciting! I was able to tell Ian that God had given me a desire of my heart because it was in line with what is pleasing to God.

Soccer Mom

It's official. I am a soccer mom. That's right, a soccer mom driving a minivan. I am a stereotype right now. I can't believe it has happened to me. One day I was a normal mom doing normal things and then, bam! I'm a soccer mom. Ian loves it! We have our last practice tonight, games start on Saturday (which I will miss as we are having a yard sale that morning, Colin will take Ian to the game).
I think September is going to prove to be a very busy month. Everything is starting back up. Tonight we're signing Ian up for Awana, next week he starts swimming lessons and sometime soon, tumbling will start again, too. I am so glad that soccer games end the first Tuesday in October. Maybe life will be normal after that. Who am I kidding? Life can never be normal again once you've become a SOCCER MOM!!!!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Canning

Well, I made corn relish today. It's very yummy. If you've never had corn relish or even heard of it, you are missing out. It's really good on hot dogs. Just ask Ian. He had a whole bunch of it with his hot dogs for dinner tonight. I think I should have let mine boil longer or something, it's a little runny, but I'll just strain it when I use it.
I think I've only had corn relish two or three times in my life. It was always homemade, but for sale somewhere. It's my mom's fault that I like it. She's the one that bought some at a little street farmer's market in Emporia, where I grew up. That was some tasty stuff (and I think it wasn't as runny as mine, oh well, live and learn!)

Monday, September 3, 2007

Childhood Differences

The other day I was thinking about the things I did as a child and it struck me just how different some of Ian's childhood experiences are compared to mine.
For example, when I was a little girl, I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, all the typical make-believe holiday and non holiday characters of childhood. With Ian, we decided that the truth was better and so as a result, he has known since he was old enough to know that mommy and daddy pretend to be these make-believe characters. In fact, I know of one instance where the "tooth fairy" just gave Ian the money and took the tooth, because he wouldn't go to sleep or stay in bed, he was too excited.
The truth approach has worked well for us except when we have cousins who staunchly believe the make-believe and Ian tries to enlighten them on the subject.
Ian has also never truly gone trick or treating. He's gone to his great grandparents house, but mostly he's gone to our church's alternative harvest party. Both Colin and I went trick or treating every year (well I went every year, I think Colin did). So we've never had the need to check Ian's candy for anything scary. And unlike me, he's only allowed some candy. My Halloween candy was always gone within the first day or two. With Ian, we end up throwing some of it out because it gets old (think: still having Halloween candy around at Easter).
Ian has never gone to public school. We home school him. I was in public school my entire school life K-12. Colin spend part of his school life in public school. Ian may some day attend public school, I don't know the future, but at this point, he's not.
Ian is growing up as an only child. Both Colin and I grew up with a younger brother. I don't know what kind of difference this makes, but I know it makes some difference. He's never had to wait for our attention or go to a sibling's activity. At least he has lots of cousins around. I had a brother, but I never had lots of cousins around to play with.
Ian goes to Awana. Colin went to Awana, but I never did. By the time we started attending a church that had Awana, I was too old for the programs they had. I'm really glad for this difference between my childhood and Ian's. I love that he works at memorizing God's word. He's been going since he was three and I hope to keep him in Awana for a long time. It's good for his mind, his soul and his social skills.
Obviously, Ian will never be a Brownie or a Girl Scout like I was. I don't know if he'll be in 4-H, he might. I was in 4-H for a few years and so was my brother, we learned new skills through 4-H.
Of course, Ian isn't growing up in Kansas like I did. He doesn't get to experience the amazingly hot summers and go swimming in the city pool (very few cities out here have a city pool). He doesn't get to go for drives out in the flint hills with his parents. He isn't growing up on a farm. He doesn't ride a school bus. He does live near the ocean. He does play sports and take swimming lessons. He goes to Sunday School and church. He has two parents who love him very much, just like Colin and I had growing up. Hopefully, when he looks back on his childhood, it will be as wonderful to him as my childhood was to me.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

This week and Football Surprises

Perhaps you've noticed that I haven't blogged this week, perhaps you haven't. Either way, I haven't blogged since last weekend. I think it was a slight depression caused by the fact that any photo I tried to upload onto my blog makes everyone look short and fat, including my ultra slim son. Hopefully, blogger will get it fixed soon.
I was busy this week. I had my last official day of "nannying" on Monday. We officially started school on Tuesday. Wednesday we went into town. I had my allergy shot and then met with a couple of ladies who had catalog parties for me. Then we had lunch and ran some errands.
Ian and I went to Target to get a new printer for $27. Great deal, right?? Yessiree bob, a great deal that did not include the black ink cartridge. Whoops. I missed that detail. We also bought a couple canned goods that somehow managed to disappear. I have no idea where they are. I can't even find the receipt to check if I paid for the items or if they got mixed into the items belonging to the person behind me in line.
After our errands we headed down to visit some cousins and grandma and go swimming.
We never did go swimming. Ian was too busy playing Rescue Heroes to go swimming.
Thursday I worked on submitting the orders I had picked up the day before and Ian worked on school. He did a great job with phonics, but math was like pulling teeth.
Friday we took Ian to his first football game. It was at the high school here in town. Our team did lousy the whole game. By the 4th quarter our team had 6 points and the other team had 20. It was down to 5 min. left when Colin asked if we wanted to go and avoid traffic. We all agreed. It was time to get Ian home and put him to bed. Keep in mind our team had been very uncoordinated. Fumbling the ball, false starts, etc.
Colin checked the score later after we were home, maybe 11:30 at night. Our team won! They went into overtime. The final score was 28-20. I told Colin you'd have to be psychic to predict that outcome. It sure didn't seem possible!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Lighthouse

Ian loves lighthouses. He's fascinated with them and has asked us many times if we could visit a real lighthouse. We always promised that someday we would, thinking they would involve a long trip. Just this week I realized that there is a lighthouse only 45 minutes away from our house. Today we made the short trek to Westport to visit the lighthouse. Ian was so excited. He got out the dollars from his piggy bank so he could buy a souvenir and packed his camera so he could take pictures.
It was cool and misty when we arrived, but we took pictures from the road and then walked to the lighthouse. We walked the five flights of spiral staircase to the top. Ian was very nervous about the stairs, but he did a pretty good job. I went in front of him and Colin went behind. At the top we saw the lens and were able to look outside and see the ocean. The lighthouse isn't right on the ocean any more. The ocean has brought sand to the shore and now it's about a 1/2 of a mile from the water. They no longer use the lens, but the coast guard still uses the lighthouse. They have a beacon light set up on the outside upper railing.
Coming down the stairs was even scarier for Ian, but he did a great job! After we left the lighthouse, I wanted to go down to the beach. Colin wasn't really wanting to go, but we went and after we got almost to the beach, it started pouring down rain and we had to make a dash back to the van. Well, Colin and dashed and I walked, I figured I was pretty wet already so it really didn't matter. By the time I got closer to the van it was only sprinkling, so Ian and I stopped for a minute to take his picture by a big driftwood log.
After our beach misadventure we headed to the Maritime Museum in Westport and saw lots of old boating equipment and cranberry harvesting equipment (that's right, cranberries grow in Washington) and then we got to see a huge lens from a lighthouse located on Destruction Island. I took pictures, I'll try to post some. The lens are amazing. They are made with prisms to use the light to their best advantage. In the Grays Harbor lighthouse we learned that they keep curtains up during the day because the sun shining through the prisms could cause a serious fire.
We had a great day making one of Ian's wishes come true and we learned some new things!

Do you know what's in your food?

Last night our family helped serve dinner to the missionary builders who have been helping build the new church for the church we're attending. While we were there one of the ladies who has been a children's church teacher shared a story with me about Ian and some of the other children.
It seems it was time for their snack. They got out the snack and immediately one of the little girls wanted to know if there were any trans fats in the snack. Well, of course if she wanted to know that, then Ian certainly wanted to know if there was any corn syrup in the snack. Then he decided to share a little bit of information about Tootsie Rolls with one of the other little boys. "Do you know what's in Tootsie Rolls?" He asked. I think he asked a couple of times before the other little boy answered him. "I like Tootsie Rolls. I eat my vegetables. I don't want to know what's in Tootsie Rolls. Leave my Tootsie Rolls alone!"

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The Tooth Fairy Should get Paid Overtime

The tooth fairy is going to be busy at my house tonight! This morning Ian was having one of his creative breakfasts (read: he was up before mommy and decided he was hungry and would take care of it himself). He was eating baby carrots (a healthy, yet odd choice at 7:30 in the morning) and when he bit down one of his loose teeth came out. He came and told me. "Hey, mom! I lost a tooth, but it's okay, I put it in a bag." That was pretty low maintenance for me, he did it all himself.
So far, Ian has had an interesting experience when it comes to losing teeth. He's now lost one to an apple, a slice of pizza and a baby carrot. Daddy has helped pull a couple and I myself have "pulled" one out. I'm not really sure pulled is the right term to use. I was checking his tooth to see how lose it was and I wiggled it toward me and it fell out. That was this winter, I think.
Well, we were ready for the tooth fairy to visit. It was just about time for Ian to go to bed. We sent him to brush his teeth. He returned shortly to tell us that he just lost the other loose tooth while he was brushing his teeth. So now he's lost one to a toothbrush. Just in case you're worried, he didn't swallow it. Both teeth are in a Ziploc bag under his pillow waiting for the tooth fairy to pay him!
By the way, he knows who the tooth fairy is. After he lost his first tooth today he told me that daddy was going to have to cash out at the bank today so the tooth fairy could pay him!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Colin's Birthday

I know I mentioned Colin's birthday in my last blog, but I wanted to share a little more about his birthday.
We planned your typical backyard BBQ party for his birthday, only it was raining so that meant that I BBQ'd in the rain and Colin and his parents worked on Ian's clubhouse in the rain. It did seem appropriate as it had been pouring down rain when they set it up.
We had purchased Colin's birthday cake earlier that morning. I know, I know, not homemade birthday cake??? Let's just say there wasn't enough time in our busy schedule to make a homemade cake. I know Colin would have liked one.
Shortly before everyone arrived I realized that I didn't know where any birthday candles were. I went into deep search mode, but the only candle I discovered was the number 6 candle from Ian's birthday party in April. I am of the mind that you must have a candle to blow out on your birthday cake. How could you make a wish otherwise?? So when it came time for my 34 yr.old husband to blow out his candles, he blew out a number 6! I do have the pictures to prove it!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Busy Weekend

We have had a lot of fun this weekend, but we have been SO busy! I think it started on Thursday. Ian and I to town to pick up supplies and take him to see Ratatouille. I'm mostly sure that it's a great movie. I'm going to say that I'd recommend seeing it, even if I did miss at least three parts of for little boy potty breaks. That's the last time I take him to the movie by myself and not monitor his beverage consumption by the teaspoonful! At one point in the movie (don't read this if you don't want to spoil it, although I don't think I have enough details to spoil it) the rat was caught in a trap by the bad guy and by the time I returned from the potty break, the rat was cooking in the kitchen! AAAhhh! How did he escape??? I really wanted to ask the lady in the seat next to mine, but I thought that would be rude. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, why didn't she ask him to hold it a bit longer??? I tried that. I'm sure the other movie patrons enjoyed the loud whining that followed that request! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the DVD release so I can watch the movie and pause it when Ian needs a potty break!
Friday night we had two couples (who are part of the missionary builders that are helping build a new church building for the church we've started attending) over for dinner. We had a good time. I made Mexican food so they could assemble their own taco salad or nachos, whichever they preferred. It was a good time. Ian tried to sell them At Home Products during dinner! What a salesman!
Saturday was Colin's birthday so we had a party with his family. His parents came a little early and helped work on Ian's clubhouse. Ian was very grateful. Nothing had been added to his clubhouse since grandma and grandpa had helped get it started in April!
Today we went to church and then we had a picnic in Lacey at a park near where we used to live. It was for my At Home America team that I'm on. It was fun. Ian got to play (he loves that park) and I got to talk to grown-ups and Marsha, my team leader/mentor/executive gave us some cool gifts. Fun!
I'll try to post some pictures from the weekend!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

New Boots

Ian has new rain boots. I ordered them from Amazon.com. They look like cowboy boots. Ian absolutely loves them! He wore them all day long, even though it didn't look like it was going to rain today. It did rain a little this afternoon. I teased Ian and told him he must have made it rain since he wore those boots all day long. He was showing people everywhere we went the new boots. Of course, they all ooo'ed and ah'ed over the very cute boots and the equally cute boy wearing them!

Pork Chops

Ian and I had a busy day running some errands in preparation for our very full weekend. We ended our day by watching Ratatouille, but before that we shared lunch at Panda Express. We sat down at a little table and Ian started looking at all the things on the walls. At one point he told me, 'look, mom, I see pork chops!' I couldn't look because it was behind me and it was sunny. I told him I would look when we were leaving. Right before we left he reminded me to look at the pork chops. I looked on the wall behind me, but I didn't see anything that looked like pork chops(I had wondered why a fast food Chinese restaurant would have pork chop decorations, but, hey, you never know). I started telling Ian that I didn't see any pork chops on the wall when it dawned on me what Ian was talking about. I started laughing. "Oh, Ian! Those aren't pork chops! Those are chopsticks!"
"Oh, that's what I meant." Ian told me. What a cute mix-up!

Baptism

On Tuesday, after Ian had asked Jesus to be his Savior, I was explaining about baptism to him. I explained it was the next step after salvation, to proclaim that you belong to Jesus and that you want other people to know that you belong to him.
I explained that he would be dunked in water in front of the church. It wouldn't take long, I assured him.
He wasn't so sure he would like to have a part in this baptism thing. I explained it just showed people that he loved Jesus.
He thought about and then told me, "I guess it might be okay, as long as they don't open the curtain!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Angels in Heaven Are Rejoicing!

We had a really rough day yesterday. In fact, the past few days have been very rough with Ian. He had entered into a phase that I found extremely disagreeable. He was sassy and disrespectful and very much into telling everyone that they were wrong and he was right, parents included. He also was trying to hit me. He ended up with several consequences. Early bedtime for three nights. No t.v. Actually, I think the no t.v. is a good idea in general. He behaves much better when he has no t.v. or only 30 -60 min. a day. Sometimes, he gets too much t.v. even though we try to limit it a lot.
Today was the day of no t.v. Ian has been playing with his toys and being creative and he has a much better attitude. I'm cleaning for company that's coming this weekend. Dinner Friday night and Colin's b-day party on Sat. Ian and I started talking about his behavior yesterday and what God thought about that behavior and then we started talking about salvation. I asked Ian what it meant to be saved. Did he know what sin was? Who are sinners? Things like that. We kept talking and I asked Ian if he had ever asked Jesus into his heart. He told me, 'I think so, but I'm not really sure." I told him that if he had asked Jesus into his heart, he would remember (or I would remember for him) and I asked him if he wanted to pray and ask Jesus into his heart to be his Savior and he said 'yes'. So Ian prayed with me and asked Jesus into his heart. I double checked to make sure that he didn't say the prayer just to please me. He told me 'no. I did it because I need Him.' Hooray! I am rejoicing and I know the angels in Heaven are rejoicing, too! Happy Birthday, Ian!!!!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Savory Faire

I took my friend Dottie out to lunch for her birthday today. Her birthday was Sunday, but we celebrated today at Savory Faire. I love the place! They make all their own bread and desserts and everything is so delicious and incredibly filling. I learned after my first trip there to only order half a sandwich because their bread slices are very big. Today Ian had half of a grilled ham and cheese, I had half of a roast beef saute and Dottie had a Reuben on their homemade Swedish orange rye bread.
We ate outside in their patio garden area. What a treat. For dessert we all shared a cinnamon roll, a pecan bar and a Savory Faire bar. The place is simple, yet elegant and gourmet in a relaxed sort of way. The kind of place that looks like it stepped out of the pages of a book.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Dressed in Our Finest Attire

Sunday morning Ian woke us up around 5 am. Too early to be up, so we went back to sleep only to awaken at 8:15 in a panic to get ready for church. We all hustled to get dressed quickly. We gave Ian some nice clothes to put on to go with his nice new shoes for church. Colin's parents were coming for lunch so I quickly put the food in the crockpot and we dashed out the door to get to Sunday School.
We were fifteen minutes late. We dropped Ian off for his class and headed to our class. After our class Colin picked up Ian so he could be with us in the sanctuary until it was time for Children's church. We sang songs and listened to the announcements and then we were listening to a presentation by a member of the Gideons. Ian was, of course wiggly during the presentation. He had finally settled down so I could listen to the man speaking. I happened to glance down at Ian at just the right moment and I noticed a button on his pants. I thought it seemed strange to see a button on the front of his pants. Then I realized (in the middle of the nice man's presentation) Ian had his pants on backwards! I had a silent giggle fit. He had gone to Sunday School with his pants on backwards and as far as I knew, no one had noticed! I pointed this out to Colin who joined me in a silent chuckle. He decided to take Ian out of the service and to the bathroom for a quick wardrobe adjustment. I giggled silently a little more when Ian stood up and turned around. Poor boy. Not only were his pants on backwards, the zipper was unzipped, too. They were buttoned at the waist which tells me that he left them buttoned when he put them on because I know he didn't reach to the back and button his pants!
In our defense I can only say that we were rushed, the boy dressed himself and he had a baggy shirt that was not tucked in. I don't think anyone else noticed!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

New Toy

Wow! I am typing this using a wireless connection on my new laptop. We got it so I have a reliable computer of my own when I'm processing orders and things. Colin got tired of me taking over his office while I was doing my work. My old computer has been making some odd noises and freezing up some, so I don't trust it while I'm placing my orders for At Home America.
So I am enjoying learning this new computer and the freedom of movement! Really, it's my new toy. I plan to have fun with this!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I Met My First Goal With My New Business

As you can guess from the title of this blog, it's hooray time around my house. I wasn't sure I'd be able to meet my first goal with my AtHome America business. My first goal was to have sales total $1000 in my first 35 days. Today was the last day of the 35 and I submitted two orders and passed my goal and a little bit more!!! Yeah!
Last night was my first "real" party and it went really well. I played a game so it wasn't just me talking and talking and I think everyone really liked it. I hope so, I plan to use that game and other games again. I think parties where someone stands in front of everyone and goes on and on are BORING, so I definitely don't want to be boring.
I have at least two parties in Aug. and the potential for maybe two more. So far, so good! Hopefully, it will keep going well.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Park

Yesterday, I took Ian and his cousins to a park. We had a lot of fun. They played on the playground equipment. I got to visit with Ian's former childcare provider. She's such a nice lady. She lost her husband last year to cancer. I was so happy for her when she told me her first grandbaby was born this year and is 4 months old. It was nice to get caught up on how she's doing.
Going to the park reminded me of when I was a little girl and got to go to the park. I wonder if Ian feels the same way I did about the park. We had two main parks in the town I grew up in. There were several smaller parks but the main parks were Jones Park and Peter Pan Park. To give you an idea of just how much I loved going to the park, I'll let you in on a little secret. Going to the park was even a part of how I was potty trained. My dad used it as a reward and it worked. That was Jones Park, by the way. That one was fairly close to where my grandma lived and had a fun merry-go-round. Big kids could help pump it so it would go around so fast. It also had a big slide and on a hill by itself was a huge cement dinosaur that you could climb in and over. What fun!
Peter Pan Park, however always seemed rather magical to me as a child. I don't know if it was the name, or that it had lots of trees so it seemed liked it had stepped out of a storybook. It had some ponds where you could feed the ducks. It even had an outdoor stage where they sometimes had plays. I remember seeing Alice in Wonderland there. The toys to play on there seemed to go along with the storybook idea. Little picnic tables that looked like fantasy mushrooms and mushroom seats. A slide that reminded me of Cinderella's coach. A merry-go-round. What park didn't have a merry-go-round back then? It had a couple of really big slipper slides that I was always too afraid to go down. They were REALLY high and one of them had a wave in it. The park also had an arbor picnic area and a wading pool. It was a huge park. I loved it when we went there.
I wonder if my son has the same experience when we go to a park? Is it wonderful and magical to him? Something he treasures? I hope so, but even if he doesn't, I do know that when I take him to a park, we have FUN!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Happy Anniversary (not!)

I am not happy about the anniversary in my life at the moment. Every year for at least the past 4 yrs (this year is #4) I have been hit with a sinusitis attack. Usually the second or third week of July. I tried really hard this year, but I did not escape. I spent most of the week sleeping, blowing my nose and taking antibiotics. I did wake up feeling a little better this morning, so I'm hoping that I'm on the way to being well again.
Today I took over some At Home America catalogs to my friend Dottie so she can do a catalog party. Hopefully, it will go well for her! I finally convinced her to go camping at Friend's Landing (about 5 min. from our house) and now she loves it! It's a really small camping park, but it's super nice. It was made so it would be handicap accessible so the trails are paved and so are the RV pads. Plus it's in between a river and a man made lake....beautiful!
I am trying to keep busy even though I haven't been feeling well. I've mostly been working on getting things going with my new business. I placed my first party order on Thursday and only needed a little bit of help. Now all I need is to get some more people lined up to host some parties....wanna throw a party for me??? :)

Sunday, July 15, 2007

The Power of Fantasia

You might be wondering what in the world do I mean by the "power of Fantasia". Let me explain. I'm sure most of you have heard of the movie Fantasia from Walt Disney. Not really one of their best sellers. When Fantasia came out on video (that's right, the thing before DVDs), I bought it, not really knowing what it was. I was not overly excited by it, but then I discovered it's secret power. The power to make any child nap.
Now, this power is not to be used lightly and you can probably only harness this power once or twice before the child catches on. I haven't had it fail yet. The child sees Mickey Mouse on the front of the video and is sucked in to the idea of watching Mickey Mouse. Only they don't realize that Fantasia is really just cartoons set to classical music.
The first child that fell under the sleeping power of Fantasia was a little girl that I babysat. She had been at a sleepover and was determined to stay up all day and not go to sleep. I had Fantasia with me (newly purchased, so I didn't know about its secret power yet) and she decided she wanted to watch it. I think she lasted 5 minutes and then she was sound asleep on her couch. There's also been a little boy that I watched, at least one niece, maybe two and a few other assorted kiddos. Finally, last week, my son noticed Fantasia on the video shelf and wondered about it. It was afternoon and he had had a long week and since I knew the secret power of the video, I encouraged him to watch it. I wondered if it would work on my very energetic son. Well, he lasted longer than five minutes, but soon he was sound asleep. That movie works every time. I wonder if anyone has ever seen the end of it??

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Crazy Busy

As the title suggests, it has been a crazy, busy week! Both Ian and I were at Summer Hummer Monday through Friday from a little before 8 to around 5:30 (we had to wait for Colin). Every day was so busy that the time flew! I was so tired yesterday that we didn't even stay for family night.
This morning I hosted my grand opening for my new At Home America business. I invited loads of people, but it's summertime. Most people wished me well, but were somewhere on vacation this weekend or packing to go on vacation. Hopefully, I can get a couple of parties going this next week or so.
Tomorrow we have a BBQ/picnic at the church we've started visiting. I'm excited! Hopefully, we'll meet people that live closer to us.
I hope this made sense tonight, I'm so tired that my thoughts are a bit jumbled.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Hot and Tired

Wow! This is a busy week. It's Summer Hummer at church and I'm helping with Preschool craft in the morning and the bead room in the afternoon. Ian is an all day "camper" for the first time this year. He's having a lot of fun.
It's been really hot the last two days. Yesterday it was around 98 degrees and today it hit 101! Yuck! Thankfully, all the kids are getting plenty of water and everyone seemed to do okay. If you want to see pictures from Summer Hummer to see how crazy it is look under the links, I'll put one there so you can see.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

A Sad Happening

I haven't blogged much this week. I've been busy and I've been sad some this week. We all had so much fun on the 4th of July, but not everyone was having a great day. On our street a couple of young guys hurt themselves with fireworks and then I heard that an 8 yr. old had been hurt in Tumwater (that's pretty much Olympia, if you don't already know that). Thursday I found out that the 8 yr. old didn't make it. Then I saw his name. He belonged to one of the moms from my MOPS group. I only know her just a little bit, but I am still so sad for her and the whole family.
The family had been celebrating the 4th at the boy's grandparents house and the grandfather (I think) had a small (18 inches long) cannon. It exploded, sending the pieces flying and even though the boy was 100 ft. away he was hit by a piece. The memorial service is at 7 pm on Tuesday night at Westwood Baptist.
I am praying daily for this family and I hope you will add them to your prayers as well. I cannot begin to imagine everything they are going through right now.