Some tragic news

Last Wednesday night some of us headed over to our favorite little doughnut shop after church. The doughnuts were as yummy as normal, but the man was even more friendly than he usually is. He started saying how nice it has been to have known us, ect. Come to find out, he is closing up shop and moving to Washington DC. Friday was his last day, so I am very sorry to those of you who were not able to go have doughnuts with us. We are all very sad. It is one more reminder to us about a slow economy.

In other news we have closed on our house and have started right in getting some work done. I will post more when I have more time.

Our House

Up to now, I have neglected to put pictures of our house on here, but it seems like things are getting very close, so I will take a chance. It's just a little, (1300 finished square feet) bungalow style home built in the 1940's. You can't see from here, but the house number is 229, the same address I had growing up, only a different street, town and state:)


At one time someone put a lot of thought and money into this yard. It has landscape rock, bark, mini shrubs, and little yard lights. It doesn't have grass here in the front though, just in the back and on the side yard. We want to re-pave the driveway and get rid of the rectangular bark area, to have a little more parking.

As you can see in the picture, the garage is short. That is because there is a bedroom above it that was added on later. Dale's little ranger will still fit in the garage though, just BARELY!

The window beside the door is the living room. It has 3 big windows on the back side of the house, so it is nicely lit. It also has wood floors.

The window on the right is to the master bedroom. It has wood floors too, but they need refinished, while the living room floors are still in good shape. The master is kinda small too, but anything would seem small after our last master bedroom!!

The window at the bottom of the picture next to the garage is Andy's room. His room is bigger than ours, but it is awkward and far from the bathroom, so he can have it!






This is the backside of the house. Window on the left is where the kitchen is. It was an addition, and it has 2 other windows and a back door with a window too.

You can see the 3 living room windows up on the back patio.

The little dormer with the window above is the guest room above the garage. It has all wood slat walls. It is very charming.

The patio is nice and big, about 12x20. We plan to take down the lattice and just have a regular hand rail and balusters. I think that will open it up a lot, because the right side is totally covered in lattice.





The back yard. This was beautiful when we first looked at the house. The bush on the right side is lavender and it's blooms were gorgeous. There is a nice big garden area in the little picket fence. It looks like they did square foot gardening because there are landscape dividers inside making square and rectangular sections. Back in the far right corner, you can just barely see the top of our storage shed beyond the brown, wood fence. All of the wood fence on the right is getting taken out. There is a white pretty fence about 6 feet on the other side of it, but the last owners had a dog run there that we don't need. We want the side of our yard to grow 6 feet all the way down one side instead! Again, someone at sometime, put a lot of effort into this yard. There is a meandering stone path, bark, pretty trees and bushes. It has just been let go. I am excited for spring, so we can see what we can do out there.

So there it is. We have some work to do, but it is cute and move in ready! They even had a cleaning service go in and spruce it up even more. It's just killing me that it is sitting there totally clean and ready and we are sitting here REALLY ready for our own house, but I guess things must be done properly. I have probably just jinxed us by giving you this info before we close. Please just pray that God will give us patience and help us accept His will!

Another Weekend

It was very nice to sleep in until 9 this morning and then we laid around and dreamed about our future home. Yesterday was a stressful day and now closing has been delayed somewhat until the 10th of November. So, again it was nice to take it easy and just do a little dreaming this morning. Then we got busy and cleaned off the porch, raked the yard, went to the grocery store for their screaming weekend deals, took a load of things to storage, did laundry, caulked sis Sharon's bathroom, and met the engineer at our future home. This last one was the highlight of our day, truly. He took away all our stress from the day before, and signed a paper saying the house is "structurally sound." Yippee!! I know we can make it another week. I am so thankful for today, I feel that God totally showed us his power. There was a huge foundation issue with the house and God allowed the engineer to sign off. I never dreamed that would happen. I am so sorry this process is taking so long and so I have to give you all the boring details. Hopefully someday soon I will FINALLY be in my new house and then maybe it won't be so consuming!

Tomorrow the church is having its Thanksgiving Dinner. I am making rolls, ham, and an eclair dessert. Dale hasn't been able to get exited about the dinner. He says it doesn't seem like Thanksgiving, so I didn't make him a pie. Most of you know how important pie is on Thanksgiving, but he didn't want to decide which kind, so he isn't getting any from me yet. It is too much work not to be appreciated.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

More Fun Pumpkin Pics

Tyler are you enjoying your carmel apple?








Ashley loves her pumpkin!




















From left to right: Trista, Ashley, Brandon, Merissa, Andy



















Trista is having fun!














Guess Who??

Pumpkin Pics

Having fun with pumpkins!




















Andy wanted to free hand his pumpkin instead of using the kit. He ended up putting 3 faces on it.





Malea is enjoying herself.

Ooh, a new post!!

We have been gone from Oregon 2 months now. When we moved, I threw away all of my sudoku books because they only had a few puzzles left in each one. I use to work on sudoku everyday, and have missed it sadly. Today I broke down and bought a new book from the dollar store. I am a happier girl now. Not near as happy as I will be when we finally get to close on our house (next week sometime:) but maybe as happy as all of you are who wanted a new post, so I hope you've enjoyed it and it was worth your wait.

A Nice Weekend

This past weekend was so nice. On Saturday Dale, Andy and I went shopping. We had several items on our list, mostly just window shopping, not buying. We looked all through the kitchen, bathroom, lighting, and decor section in several stores. (Andy wasn't as nice as Dale, he escaped to the electronic section a few times) One of my favorite stops was Pier One. They have a lot of clearance, I was pleasantly surprised. Dale and I Meandered through the whole store. It was a blast! We were dreaming of our future house and the things we would like to have for it.

For lunch we sent Andy in to a Chinese restaurant for their lunch buffet to-go for one. He came out with a dish heaped with lomein, fried rice, teryake chicken, egg rolls, and still more beef and chicken, all for $6.45. What a deal! We didn't get to stuff ourselves, but it was quite satisfying.

After shopping all day, we arrived home famished and tired. We ate some leftover hearty chicken soup. Yum! Then proceeded to watch Happy Feet. Dale and I had never seen it and it was a great end to a nice day.

Sunday we went to Brandon and Merissa's and carved pumpkins. I made carmel apples and Dale roasted pumpkin seeds while everyone else did their pumpkins. It was a fun time all in all. I took pictures and will try to post some later.

Amazing New Developements

I have felt lately that I am just sitting here biding my time, wondering what God's plan is. Why is this house not working out? I have been trying to have an open mind and pray for God's will in it, but honestly as of late I have gotten a bit discouraged with it all. Then yesterday came. We have had an offer in at Countrywide Bank (they own the house) for a week with no word from them. Here's the gist of the situation:

• Asking price for the house $84,000
• 2 weeks ago we offered $70,000 plus they pay our closing(4,600)
• 3 days later they lowered the price of the house to $80,000 and offered us that as a counter, so basically a full price offer as a counter and no closing costs included
• 1 week ago we offered $73,000 plus they pay our closing again, so we were about $10,000 apart on the numbers total
• No word from Countrywide, anger, anxiety and prayer all going on in this house
• Yesterday, the deadline day, Countrywide accepted our offer!!!!

I was in complete shock. When my Realtor called and told me, I didn't believe her, then I started jumping up and down all over the kitchen in excitement.

In the days before that, I was getting very angry because I thought the bank was being arrogant and letting us just sit the week out with no answer when they were not going to accept anything less than full price. I had so many conversations with them, in my head of coarse, about how they were acting sure of themselves in these economic times, and that house had been on the market for 8 months and the price had only come down the 4,000 in that time. At night we would watch the news and see the stock market dropping and hear about the mortgage crisis and wonder why the bank wasn't jumping to sell when they had the chance. We had made plans to go look at more houses and basically move on. I thought that's what my realtor was calling about. I had totally given up. But I can see now they had to wait and see if they got a better offer before accepting ours at the last minute. I am so thankful. Some other amazing things played out yesterday too that has allowed me to see that God has perfect timing and he was in control all the time. The bank accepted our deal on Wednesday, Oct. 8 2008 because that's when it was God's will. No doubt about it.

Hopefully all goes well from here, I feel drained at this point and all we have accomplished is getting an accepted offer. We still have inspections, appraisals, and closing to get through. I know that God is in control and will accomplish his will.

*In other totally unrelated news, Andy has made a huge turn around in algebra. He is putting a lot of time and effort into it and while it's not coming easy, it is coming and he is thinking about taking trig next year! Thanks for your prayers!

Just a few tidbits about life in general

1. We are in the middle of our house deal. We offered, they countered, and now we've countered. This has all happened since Friday the 26th. The house is bank owned, so we are impressed with their speed.

2. I went to my first big quilt fair last Friday. It was huge! Similar in size to some of the larger homeschool fairs. They had some very awesome quilts and projects. I just finished my own quilt project. It was my first rag quilt. It was basic, but very cute. I thought it would be bigger when I was done. Next time I'll remember that. My precious new nephew, Gabriel, is the recipient.

3. Church has been very good lately. It seems that God has been speaking directly to me, it's amazing. I was praying about testifying last night when a brother got up and read 150th psalms. It is all about praising God. The brother talked about how he sometimes made the faith more complicated than it was. God wants us to praise him. We ended up having several testimonies.

4. Doughnuts. When we lived here before, we started inviting the brethern over after church on Wed. nights for doughnuts from this wonderful little doughnut shop with fresh, hot doughnuts. About 3 years ago we came through on a Wed night for church, then after church we got everyone to go to the doughnut shop. Since that time the brethern here have been going every Wed night. It is awesome! You walk in the back where they have racks and racks of fresh doughnuts and make your pick from bavarian cream, old fashion, long johns, glazed and twists, huge chocolate topped pretzels, raspberry filled.......mmm..... When we first started going years ago, the owner loved Andy and would always give him free doughnuts, which is comical since as most of you know Andy didn't like doughnuts or sweets when he was little, but we definitely took the doughnuts with a smile. We didn't want to hurt Mr. doughnuts feelings and the doughnuts were enjoyed, not to worry. In any case, 3 years ago when we came through, Mr. doughnut recognized Andy when he walked in the door. I was amazed. It had been over 6 years since he had seen him. Last month when we went in on our first Wed night here, Dale and I went in the back room to choose our doughnuts and owner was friendly but didn't recognize us. A few minutes later Andy joined us and the guy looked at him and instantly asked, "What's your name?" Andy told him and he got so excited. "I knew it, I knew it, how are you Andy, it's been a long time..." Imagine all of this coming from a short, little, asian man with a thick accent. Come and see us and we will take you to the doughnut man. mmm... Whew, this tidbit could have been its own post!

5. The terrible, awful, stupid, pointless, dreaded ...ALGEBRA 2... I have never taken algebra 2 but Andy assures me that these are all words that describe it completely. Last night in church one of the testimonies was from a brother who talked about being in college and feeling totally overwhelmed by his studies. He said he would often ask his mother and the brethern to pray for him. He said high school had always been easy for him, but when he took his first college chemistry test that he had never studied so hard for something and done so poorly. He was devastated. Dale, Andy and I talked a lot about it last night and part of the time Andy was very upset and wanted out of the class no matter what the cost. Later when he was talking more rationally, he realized he needed the class to be able to take the science classes that he is VERY interested in. Dale offered to help at night and we will all be praying him through.

6. Dale's job is going good. We feel that God blessed us with it.

News

Dale got a job! Yippee!! That is a huge load off our minds. We are looking at a house to buy and plan to make an offer on Monday. Buying a house here is so much cheaper than rent, it would be crazy not to try to own. In the past we have tried to buy a house from time to time, but it wasn't in God's plan so we'll see what his will is this time.

In other news, we are planning a surprise 16th b-day party here at sis Sharon's tomorrow for one of the girls at the church. On Sunday we are planning a day at Eliches (Six Flags) because it is a free day. Some of the sisters have been getting together every Thursday for lunch and sewing. It has been nice. There is so much going on here, I love it!

New song

I know, two posts in one day is completely unheard of from me, but after my last post I decided I was tired of the song I had had on for months now. I just picked one out of the blue to put on the top. Then I came back to my blog to listen to it, amazed that the words in the song is EXACTLY how I feel. Just thought I would share those thoughts.

Growing up??

Andy assures us that he is liking school and doesn't want to homeschool any longer. I understand his reasons and think that so far the experience is going well. He is a lot more motivated than he used to be. We used to homeschool from 8:30am-2:00pm (he was up at 7:30) with an hour break for lunch. Most days Andy would ask to be able to skip this or that to get done earlier. He didn't have a terrible attitude about school, but he definitely didn't do it until he was told. I want to share with you Andy's day yesterday:

6:30 am Andy got up and got ready for school
7:30 am left for school
1:15 home from school
1:30 left for college classes
4:45 home from school, free time
5:30 went to get hair cut
6:15 back home, clean room
6:30 ate dinner
7:15-9:30 homework
10:00 bed

I realize that Andy has a great opportunity in taking these college classes, I just think it is funny that he doesn't complain about his homework or schoolwork now even though there is a lot more of it. Last night we didn't even know he had homework, he just mentioned it after dinner and went off to get it done. That made a total of 10 1/2 hours of school work vs. 4 1/2 when homeschooling. I am very pleased with the change in him so far, I know that school is always new and exciting at first we'll see how it lasts. I am very much enjoying my role of mother without nag, nag, nagging about school work all the time. To all of you homeschoolers out there, I loved our homeschool life and wouldn't change it if I could go back, but I know life is full of change and we need to find contentment where ever we are.

Update

Here are a few updates on our ever changing life.

1. Andy is going to public school, after 6 years of home schooling. He is also taking some classes at the community college. He is loving it all. Looks like the school is going to accept all of our previoius credits, but it's nots official yet. We'll see.

2. Dale has a job interview tomorrow! Again, we'll see. Looks like it is insurance work.

3. We don't have a house yet. Basicly, no job means no house. We are staying with sis Sharon. She is a jewel!

4. The brethern here have been awesome! They are always giving hugs and telling us how glad they are we came. It makes me feel a little guilty that I feel homesick. Church has been great and we have had several visitors. We have had ministry on being ready and bearing fruit. I have had a soar throat most of the time we've been here, so I haven't been able to sing much, but it's getting better so I am looking forward to being able to sing along soon.

A change in the plans

We are moving sooner than we first planned. We will not be making the camp out:( Today was our official move out day. It was crazy and hectic. First our land lord informed us that he would be charging us to repaint the house! We have lived in about 20 different homes and I have never had a land lord that was so picky or charged us to repaint. Before we left Bend, I found out we were driving our moving truck without insurance. Last year when we moved, our agent went over all of our coverages and told us we didn't have to purchase the extra insurance offered by the truck company. This move, I tried to contact my Oregon agent, but because our moving date was changed with such short notice, I wasn't able to reach them until today. They informed us as we were driving down the road that now that our policy is in Oregon, we are not covered for a moving truck. No insurance on a 26 ft. nice, new, huge truck. No stress there. I got in touch with Penske and they said we had to go into a dealer so they could inspect the truck before they would let us purchase insurance. The closest dealer along our way is in Boise, unless we wanted to go back to Salem where we picked up the truck. Thankfully we have made it safely this far. Early tomorrow morning we will go get the insurance, what a relief that will be. We came upon a terrible wreck about 10 miles back, I am thankful that God has protected us.

Just checking in

Sean and Marisela made it in last Wed. night. He called meeting on Thurs and Fri, then a singing on Sat. It was all very good and uplifting, including Sunday. We heard about doing for others and counting our blessings, just to name a few. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. Today I need to get back onto the job of packing, so I thought I would make a quick little post as it may be a while before I return to the blogging world. I will miss you all. Please leave me lots of wonderful comments to come back to.

Busy Days

I have started packing. What a chore! I have almost all of our books packed, all 12 boxes of them! Amazingly we have really down sized these last 2 moves and have gotten rid of a lot of books.

Today I am working on cleaning up the packing mess and getting some groceries because we have company coming. Safeway has a $10 off coupon in the Tuesday paper this week, so I am heading there to take advantage of their other good deals too. $1.89 lb boneless skinless chicken. Not as cheap as I paid last time ($1.49) but still a great deal, especially with $10 off.

Sean and Marisela should be in for dinner tonight and are staying through Friday. I am really looking forward to it. We see each other in passing at weddings, ect., but it's been a while since we really got to spend some quality time with them. She hasn't seen my house yet, so I didn't start packing any decor (normally my first boxes to pack). I still have 2 weeks until I need to be packed, I'm sure I have plenty of time.

Movin' on up

As many of you know, we have been praying about moving for a few months now. At first we had no idea where the Lord would send us, only that we were going to move. Just over a month ago Dale started thinking about a place, but we didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure. We have now given our months notice and rented our Penske truck, so I would say it is official. We are moving to Denver, Co.

I have some mixed feelings about the move. I love the brethern there dearly and I am excited to get re-aquainted with them. We have lived there 3 1/2 years total through out our marriage. On the other hand, I feel that my heart is in the Northwest and that it is definately my home. I know God knows best and I can't wait to see what his will is for us there. Knowing the way we move around, we will probably be back in the Northwest someday. Until then, I will miss you all. I feel that we are such a close family out here. We are intending to go to the Oregon campout so I hope to see many of you there for a last goodbye. Just know now, I will be shedding some tears.

A tightwad fashion show

I recently got to do some shopping for some needed items. Here are some of the deals I got.

These Levis jeans are $44.00 reg price. I paid $22.00. This is the best deal I have ever gotten on new Levis brand jeans. I can normally find them for about $10.00 - $12.00 off.

I love my new purple shirt, too.

It was reg $28.00. I paid $12.00. It is very feminine with special detail around the neck and elastic at the arms. I made the fred meyer clerk take this one off the manikin. It's the last one they had! Again, I love it. The picture doesn't do it justice. I also have a new white tank on under the shirt. I bought it a few months ago for $9.00 reg $18.00. It has crocheted lace at the neck. I was going to take it back because I didn't have anything to wear it with, but I lost the receipt and was afraid they wouldn't give me all my money. Now I'm glad I kept it!

This green T-shirt is very basic, but comfortable and casual. This one was $28.00 reg and $12.00 on sale also.

I have been eyeing this little white skirt for a while. It is very wrinkled here because it sat in my floor all night. I don't remember the reg. price on this one, but it was on clearance for $25.00 and I paid $15.00. It is lined and just adorable in person, especially with my new purple shirt.

So far, my clothing deals have been good, but not spectacular. Here are the deals the "Tightwad Gazette Lady" would be proud of:


I thought this black and white top was darling and knowing how much I paid for my other clothes, you know I would have gladly paid the $1.00 asking price, but at yard sales the rules are different and I was happy when the lady took my $0.50 offer.

These are some freebie shoes from shopaholic sis cherrie. I will take her discards anyday! She gave me these shoes last oct and I have wore them a few times but I didn't have THE thing to go with. They are a hit with my new black and white, $.50 shirt!

Here's another yard sale find. I agonized whether or not to get this with the move coming but I just love it. $5.00 She was asking $7.00.

Here it is with some of my other decorations. I love my little metal wall hanging. My Dad bought it for me as a surprise.




This is a picture of my mantle and the family ties sign I bought a few months ago. It was 14.99 at TJ Max.

And the winner IS...

Thanks to all of you who participated in my contest in my last post. I would have to say that Marisela won. I am starving right now and it's been a loooooong time since I've had a grilled cheese sandwich! Marisela knows my issues with dairy, and knowing her devious nature, I would say she decided to stop at nothing to win this contest. I'm sure she felt that the satisfaction of winning would out way her guilt over tempting me with the sandwich. Thanks Marisela, that's what friends are for! I give a close second place to Kali. Great effort and interesting comment. If I wasn't hungry right now, you might have won!

Help, I have the Blah's

I can't seem to come up with any great topic for a new post. I feel I have been retrospective lately and not very talkative. This now carrying over to my blog because every story I think of has more details than I am willing to sit here and write about. Sorry. Maybe you guys could give some really great comments and that would spark a new post. In fact, lets have a little contest on who can leave the most interesting comment. I know there are some of you out there who are competitive by nature, so here's a chance for you to shine. I will be the judge of coarse, and again I said, the most interesting comment, not the longest (Sabriena:)

I am finally posting some pictures!!

These are all from Aug of last year to current. They did not stay in the order they were supposed to, so they are all mixed up.

Roman is sad, he doesn't want River to move away.

My cousin Tara and her daughter Lanie from our trip in april. I left my camera at her house and wasn't able to get it back until on our way home, so I didn't get any photos of the trip accept the ones of Tara's family which I am glad to have.

Michelle, melissa, Dale, and I

Brewster Campout: Isaiah, Andy, and Levi. The boys had a good time.

Myla and Sally at Brewster campout. They liked the hats they won in the little kid games.

Shelby, JilleeAnna, Andy, and Reuben at Thanksgiving.

Drewsie

Mellonie

Amanda and Heidi

Roman last year.

Abram, the tough guy

Samuel, the silly boy

Levi and Stormie both look a little disturbed!

Way Too Cool

My thoughts today

1. Andy got a job. He is a gas station attendant. He really worked hard to get this job. It is amazing how it has changed his attitude overnight. It is obvious that he feels more grown up.

2. Where is summer? We had one week of nice weather weeks ago, and now this. I live in the desert and today's afternoon temperature is 56. The wind is bone chilling. It's nearly mid-June, what's going on? Global cooling?? Who knows, I just want some warmer temps. I am SICK of my winter clothes.

3. Thank you, Cherrie, for a good laugh. Yes, I choked on my drink because I was laughing so hard, but it was worth it.

4. Sis Jewel makes an awesome applesauce cake. I have been enjoying it to much, which leads me to my next thought...

5. Count down to Ashley's wedding; only 11 days left. Yikes! I sooo wanted to lose a few pounds. There's always tomorrow. Maybe all the applesauce cake will be gone by then. Since I'm the only one eating it, I'm not sure how that will happen.

6. I love Redbox. For those of you who might not know, Redbox is where you rent movies for $1.00 a night. They have new releases too. It is a vending machine, they are in McDonald's, Walmart, Albertson's and various other retail stores. You may return your rental to ANY Redbox. This would work great for traveling. Redbox is ideal for tightwad entertainment.

7. I am sleepy today. The combo of Redbox last night and getting up before 5am to take Andy to work has made me one tired lady.

8. Please comment. It makes me very happy to read all your little comments, but I know, you know what I mean:)

Dinner Delima

I have been having a tough time with dinner lately. 4 o'clock rolls around and I have no idea what I am fixing for dinner. It is rather frustrating at times. I used to make a monthly menu with about 20 meals on it and try to stick to that, however I find that I make pretty much the same meals so now I can go to my old menus for ideas. 4 o'clock is not a good time to find that I need to go to the store before dinner though, even with my handy list of meals to fix. Then I came across a great suggestion in my reliable Tightwad Gazette. She said that while she is doing the dinner dishes, she checks out her pantry and plans the next evenings meal. This sounds like it will work great. The theory is that you will use up what you have instead of running to the store for last minute purchases.

Today is my first time to try it. I am making Minestrone for dinner. We wanted this last night, but because I didn't have any canned beans, I couldn't make it at the last minute without a trip to the store, which I wasn't willing to make. I also didn't want to purchase canned beans when I have a surplus of dried ones. This morning I took just a few minutes to get some beans on for the soup tonight. About 4 o'clock I will take a few more minutes to get a fresh loaf of herb bread going in the bread maker.(it takes the bread maker under an hour from start to finish!!) As I am running errands today, I will pick up a few carrots to put in the soup. Everything will be in place to easily and calmly prepare a nice dinner, and while I wash dishes, repeat the cycle so that tomorrow nights dinner is also a calm affair, and so on....

A New Look

I have been doing some thinking since reading Marisela's blog last week on attitudes. I decided today that I was going to make a huge change. Here are some of the ways I have worked on my attitude today.

First thing this morning I was on the phone when Andy got up, which usually gets our day off to a bad start. When I got off the phone, I offered to make him egg and toast for breakfast. He was a little surprised, but quickly accepted with thanks.

While making his breakfast, I tried to be extra cheerful and singing. He decided to chat a little, so when the 8:30 school time came, I said nothing and we continued to visit. We then played a game of Foosball, during which I gently reminded him of the time and suggested he start school when the game was done. I am such an exacting person, it was tough for me to let 8:30 go by without saying anything but the 45 minutes of talking and joking together were so worth it. It was also great fun that I totally creamed him in the game.

Our plan was to go to the library at 12:00, after Andy got some school work in. I had some errands to run, so I headed to Fred Meyer. I simply had to exchange some capri's. HaHa. Easier said than done. 1 hour and 45 minutes later I still couldn't find any that I liked. I had been in and out of the fitting room several times trying on numerous items. Then, I realized it was 12:45. Oops. I also realized I had forgotten my phone. Double Oops!

All the way home, I played out the scene that would take place. I knew Andy would have quit school at noon, expecting me home any minute so we could take off because he is supposed to be back on school at 1:00. I got myself all fired up ready to tell my all to often grouchy teenager that I can do what I want, I don't have to answer to him and too bad if he was inconvenienced. Then I remembered how I was going to change today. I immediately decided I would grovel meekly and let him have an extended lunch.

He met me in the yard when I pulled up, and I opened the door, smiled sheepishly and said I'm sorry. He just smiled and said no big deal. We joked and laughed while I ate a quick lunch and while we were on our way to the library.

The change is amazing. It is contagious. I can't believe how it has worked. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Good Ole Sunshine!!

Isn't this sun we are getting here in the northwest wonderful!! We normally get a lot of sun here, but now it's warm too. Pull out those sandals and capris, in fact I think I might go purchase some new summer clothes today! We are supposed to hit 90 today and 95 tomorrow. Yikes! That is plenty hot enough for me. I'm actually great with moderate temperatures of 75-80. I'm not complaining mind you, I do have air conditioning!

Home Sweet Home

We are home!! It feels great. I have been enjoying being back in my house. Not sure what the future holds for us, but aren't we supposed to live one day at a time anyway?? I have been a hermit the last few days, just resting up from the trip I guess. Finally, today I feel like getting out and about. I am running errands and heading to Bend to do some shopping. It feels good to be back to normal.

Going Private

I have made the decision to make my blog private. Those of you who are interested in continuing to read my blog please email me from my profile page so I can invite you. I will wait a few weeks to make sure everyone has an opportunity to read this post.

Laryngitis

The Isaacs were wonderful!! I enjoyed the concert a lot. At 10 o'clock they had intermission and when they still weren't back at 10:20, we left. We had an hours drive ahead of us and by this time I wasn't feeling well. I had finally caught Dale's cold.

We had plans for the weekend, and we had already postponed them for a week because Dale was sick. I got to feeling better the next morning, so we continued with our plans. By Friday night however, I had totally lost my voice. Here I was with dear brethren that I hadn't got to visit with in well over a year, and I couldn't visit! Laryngitis had hit me once again. I have always been very susceptible and when I get a cold, my voice is normally the first thing to go.

I was sitting there speechless (truly) and remembering one time in particular that I had laryngitis. It was 17 years ago this past December 8, at my bridal shower. I would unwrap a gift, ooh and awe over it silently, but with much expression to make up for my silence. I would mouth a huge thank you, then my good friend and spokes woman Trina would calmly say, "She says thanks." We all got some good laughs.

Trina, you would have had a great time translating this past weekend. There were times I had all eyes on me, trying to read lips so that I might be able to be a part of the conversation. On Sunday, I was tempted to stay home (at Lee and Cherries) but in the end I said a prayer and went to church. I'm glad I did. Ron and sherry were there and most of the brethren hung out after dinner and visited. As the day wore on, my voice began to materialize. I was so excited! You don't know how hard it is to sit silently by while Ron goes on and on in his normal harassing fashion. By the end of the evening, I was able to hold my own against him. Yeah!

All in all, we ended up having a wonderful weekend. Today I am resting and recuperating. ahhh...

Stormie, I really enjoyed our girl time. Snacks and Little House on the Prarie, you can't beat that. Sorry you had to go to bed before it ended:( We'll have to watch part 2 sometime.

Going to see The Isaac's!!

On Thursday night I will be going to see The Isaac's and a few other groups in concert. I am very excited. The Isaac's, Pieces of Our Past is my very favorite cd. I put a few of their songs on here for you to enjoy (yes Trina, I know you are shocked that I figured out how to put something on here by myself!!). These are not my favorite songs of theirs, but they are still good. I have been to a few gospel concerts and it is so awesome to be able to hear the live professional singers. I have never heard The Isaac's live, so I can't wait!! The Bishop's and The Perry's are some of the other groups, I haven't heard them but I've heard that they are good too. My mom and I and a few other ladies are going to make an evening of it. Again, I am sooo excited!

A day in our life

5:15 am
Get up with Dale. Make his breakfast and lunch. He has had a pretty bad cough. Someone prayed for him last night at church, I think he is some better.

5:45
Go back to bed.

6:15
finally drift off to sleep.

7:30
Andy wakes me up to see if he can sleep in. --He cut his thumb on a table saw the day before at work. Yes, I said TABLE SAW! When he had come in from work, he casually told me he had cut his thumb. I was busy making dinner and he didn't seem to be in any pain, so I didn't pay to much attention until Dale got home a few minutes later. Andy started going into some details about a table saw. Dale immediately got agitated and wanted to see the cut. Andy is very blessed that it is only a cut, the thumb could easily have been taken off. Anyway, he didn't sleep much because his thumb was throbbing all night.

7:31
I finally fall back to sleep again!

9:50
I bolt up in bed realizing the time on this very overcast day.

10:00
Oatmeal for breakfast. Yummy!

10:30
After getting around for the day we all (Dad, Mom, Andy and I) head out to an elderly couples house. The couple both have bad health and the night before they had asked for prayer. The brother entertains us with war stories. He was in world war 2, in the battle of the bulge. He also has some harsh things to say about President Roosevelt. I am surprised at this because we did a detailed study on Roosevelt a few years ago and for the most part we only found good. Maybe we didn't look in the right places. I respected the things the brother had to say. The couple had a picture of their Wedding day. He was 21 and she was 17. He is now 83 and she is 79. They are quite unlike the young couple in the photo, but they talk of their meeting and courtship as if it were yesterday. It was a reminder of how quickly time flies. I know people say that all the time, but it is unreal at times.

12:00pm
We stop in for lunch at "Steak and Eggs." I order a grilled chicken sandwich and a bowl of chicken veg soup, the only things on the menu that are on my diet. The food is very good, in fact this is the best restaurant I've been to on the trip. That is really saying something, because we eat out almost daily. This meal is monumental in another way, my parents finally let me pay for my meal. They always buy, and won't hear of anything else. I have tried and tried, but this time is different. Was I firmer in my insistence? Did they finally just cave in? I don't know the secret to my success, I just know I was successful. Well, sort of, they only let me buy mine not Andy's or theirs. They are very sweet and giving, and always feel as if they need to help their kids, even if their kids are nearing 40.

1:30
Our next stop is "Bob's Clothiers." This is the one clothing store in town, besides Walmart, and it has only men's clothes. "Bob's" and a few of the other downtown shops are having their yearly blowout sales today. Andy is in need of a pair of jeans and even though this tiny store is where grandpa buys his clothes he is willing to give it a look. The blowout prices are as such: $36 for a pair of Levis
$43 for a pair of blah jeans
Grandpa ends up getting a much needed smaller pair of dockers. He had the flu this winter, which started a weight loss that is still continuing. His other dockers have a pleat in the back when he cinches up his belt because they are to big.

2:00
We stop in at Niney's house. She has been sick most of the time I've been here. She had her 80th birthday in September, so I don't like to see her be down sick like this. We normally go to see her everyday. Aunt V. is there and another sister comes while we are there.

3:30
Sonic Happy Hour! Half price drinks. Large lemon slush for me! HeHe!

3:45
Get back to the house and decide to order pizza for dinner. Clean kitchen, call Cherrie, watch weather channel- we keep a close eye on the weather channel around here! Whew, no storms even on the extended forecast, but the meteorologist warns that this will probably change before it's all said and done. For today though, things look good, so I start eyeing the hot tub. I have yet to get in because we are either gone or it's storming. I have no desire to be in the hot tub in a lightning storm, call me crazy.

4:40
I talk to Dale. He is still at work which means he won't be getting here until after 6. :(

5:20
The pizza man arrives. He says with awe,"You probably get this a lot, but first of all you have a beautiful house and second you look just like Jodie Foster." I graciously thanked him for both complements, not interrupting him to say this wasn't MY house, that would have been rude, don't you think? Jodie Foster is pretty, so I was feeling good about myself, until I remembered that she is 9 years OLDER than I am! Oh well, she's in the movies where they keep them looking young, and I am getting older. I think it's kind of a reach to say I look like her anyway.

5:30
After inspecting all the pizzas for accuracy, I take some of the chicken, olive, onion, mushroom, no cheese pizza and enjoy. It is surprisingly delicious. No cheese pizzas have a tendency to be dry and flavorless, but "Mazzios" has loaded it with extra sauce and toppings. It is very tasty.

5:40
After inhaling his pizza, Andy has decided it is time to change the bandage on his thumb. This hasn't been done since the night before and all day we had been discussing how we would do it. Andy had whined and whined about not wanting us to mess with it, and since we ended up being gone most of the day, he got his way. Now that the rest of us are eating dinner, Andy has deciced that NOW is the time. Sometimes when I look at my dad, I see expressions that I am also capable of making, so when dad and I simultaneously gave Andy the same "You've got to be kidding me look," he settled down on the couch and resorted to staring at our plates.

5:50
We start the grueling process. I won't give any of the gory details, but I will say when we eventually got the bandage loose, the cut had healed much better than we had hoped.

6:30
Dale gets home in the middle of the process and is able to see the cut.

7:00
Andy and I get in the hot tub. It is wonderfully relaxing, it probably would have been more so for Andy if he hadn't had to hang his arm out the side to avoid getting his thumb wet.

7:10
Showers

7:30
TV watching

9:30
blogging!!!

10:00
Bed. I'm having a hard time falling asleep. Do you think 10am wake up had anything to do with it? Nooo, I'm sure that's not it. Dale is still coughing some and keeping me awake. zzz...

Internet Dangers

I have truly enjoyed having my blog and being able to keep in touch with so many loved ones. But, it is easy to forget that the things we write are here for all to see. I sometimes get caught up in someones blog and I'm not as careful as I should be about the information I give in my comment. This is an innocent mistake and we all make it from time to time. But, I've heard so many stories about strangers being able to track people down by the information they find on the Internet that I just wanted to remind us how careful we should be.

Here are a few things to think about:

• Be as vague as possible about where people live. I live in Oregon.
• I think we should follow suit with whoever's blog we are on. For instance, if the blogger hasn't mentioned their children's names we shouldn't either in our comments.
• We are a tight knit group and sometimes we know when people will be on a trip. I think we should be careful not to mention when someone will be away from home, unless they mention it first.
• We should also be careful about naming and giving out information about people who are not blogging.
• I think we should leave last names off of comments and posts.

I am going to try to be more careful in the future. I am also going to go back through my blog and delete some old comments and posts that give a little more info than I want out here for all to see. I truly love getting comments, so please keep commenting, let's just all be a little more careful.

Tis the season for tax returns. This is the first year we will be getting a refund in many years, plus this year we will all be getting a little kicker in May. The point of the "kicker" is to boost the economy. The government wants us to spend our tax money to get the economy back on track.

I have read conflicting information on this theory. Some say that saving more money is the way to a better economy because we will be more finacially secure if we save the money or use it to pay off debt. Others say if everyone saves their money and no one spends, or buys anything then we will be in trouble. I am curious as to what your opinions are and what you plan to do with your tax money.

Here's our list of priorities:

1-new tires for both vehicles
2-pay off truck
3-new or used lawnmower
4-new livingroom furniture (ours is 14 years old and falling apart!)

The furniture may not happen, but hopefully we can at least save some towards it.

Tightwad tip of the day: Drink more water, it's CHEAP!

The joys in the life of a listmaker

Howdy ladies! Today I want to share with you a few of the tips I have gleaned from my wonderful new tightwad gazette.

1. Make a home made cream soup instead of buying cream of chicken, mushroom, ect.:
2 Tbs butter or oil
2 Tbs vegetable (celery, mushroom, onion, ect)
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk (she uses dry milk, I use soy)
1/2 tsp chick bouillon

saute veg. in butter or oil. Add flour. Mix well. Add milk and bouillon. Let thicken then salt and pepper to taste. This is very quick and easy, not to mention tasty. I just add it to chicken and steamed rice. Yum!

2. To keep your sos pad from rusting, put it in a baggie in the freezer. It is usable for weeks like this, instead of just a day or two before your sink has a nasty rust stain!

3.-This one cracks me up, but I have done it!- Smash your toilet paper roll before you put it on the holder. It spins around easily a few times then stops. This is supposed to keep kids from having to much fun unrolling the toilet paper!

Okay these are some of my favorites so far, but I will keep you updated when I come across more good stuff!

Some of the goals when I started this blog was to be able to share recipes and helpful hints, I have gotten sidetrack from time to time (hopefully it's been entertaining!) but I want to keep my focus on these "little things" that bring me joy. I must make a confession though, today I was headed for the grocery store when I suddenly remembered, I hadn't made a list! Panic!!! I breathed in and out slowly. I stopped the car right where I was (my driveway), I had to make a list before I got to the store, I mean, I might forget something!! Amazingly, I didn't have to go back inside to scan cabinets, I was able to recall the 6 items I needed. Maybe I could be done with list making all together! No, no. Then I would have to change my blog name. Who wants to go to all that work. Besides lists are some of those"little things" that bring me joy.

Catching Up

Wow! It has been so long since my last blog! I thought I would update all of you on the goings on at our place.

We had flu in the house last week. That is some terrible stuff going around. I have managed to elude it so far. I have become very aquainted with the lysol spray and disinfectant wipes. Everyone is doing better, so I hope it's gone for good.

I have been getting the quilting bug. I put my Olympia border quilt back in the frames and I have a great place to keep it set up, but it is not in the way. I can just go over and quilt on it anytime I have a few spare minutes.

I am also piecing a baby quilt. It is spread all over the diningroom table and floor. I worked on it exclusively all day yesterday, and was amazed how the house stayed clean. Today I haven't had any motivation for it. I just left everything laying right where it was and complained loudly if it looked like someone had stepped on it or moved anything. There are some small joys to living in a house with no little ones to get into things.

Dale has been doing some wood working projects with the few days off he had this week. He is building a bench to put at the foot of our bed. I am excited for him to get it done. It's going to be so cute. He is also building bookshelves and 2 night stand/shelves I saw in better home and garden. I feel very blessed not only to have a trim carpenter for a husband, but one who is willing and eager to please me. I love him!

This week, so far,we (Andy) have finally been able to hit the books and make up for lost time. There hasn't been much time for school since before christmas. I have set up a "schedule" but I have to really work to keep him on it. I have been sticking to my guns though, I want this school stuff done! Andy does too, he just doesn't want to do it. He is much more interested in finding a job. We have been out the last 2 afternoons. He has turned in several applications, hopefully something will pan out. After a job comes his license, so this makes finding work that much more important.

And my final thought for todays blog...

For about 3 years I have been asking for the tightwad gazette for christmas. This year in our family everyone picked out their own christmas gifts, so guess what I got!? I have been reading it almost everyday. I found an interesting recipe in it for home made hot chocolate. Here it is:

Hot Chocolate
8 oz hot milk
1 tsp baking cocoa
1 tsp sugar

The recipe actually calls for dry milk, but I used soy milk and 1/2 tsp more sugar (I love it sweeet!) I was amazed at how good this hot cocoa was. It is easy and cheap. Why buy hot chocolate mix??