Our BIG Project for the Day

This was our big project for the day: getting Tapestry of Grace manuals into page protectors. I thought we may get all 4 years into protectors…but decided to leave year 1 in 5 2” notebooks for the time being and to leave Year 2 still tightly shrink wrapped in it’s SMALL box. Here you see the kids as they started the project, shortly before noon. Bre helped out of the goodness of her heart. She worked on year 4. She got the intro, unit one and unit two into protectors. Arielle completed unit 2. Nolan did about ½ of unit 3. Jared helped him finish. Jared slit all the protectors to allow the tabbed pages to fit inside. He did this for year 3 and 4. It took over 4 ½ hours. We decided to work on the rest later. This was much quicker than me trying to do both years alone. I paid the three children. They earned a penny a page and .15 for each tabbed page.

To think I thought I could fit it all in 2 3 inch notebooks. Here is all of year 3 in protected binders. Bre was impressed to see that each year plan has 12 years of school included in it. Maybe she was thinking I’ll pass it down to grandkids when I’m done…..

I’ve been trying to post this all day. Some days things simply don’t go as planned.

I awoke to discover that a cookie bandit had struck. You can’t really see the cookies well but this WAS full last night when I went to bed. This a.m. it was opened, ½ full, and there were two little cars parked next to cookie and brownie crumbs.

Nope – they don’t seem to feel to deprived with the rapadura and honey baking…..not if they still raid the cookie jar.

Krista, Mike and I went to the traditional service this a.m.

Krista and I zipped home right after service. Mike stayed to visit with a few folks who needed to talk to him.

I got many comments on my new dress – I’m starting to look the part I suppose. ::snort::: I still prefer the jeans and tanks that I wore to the contemporary service tonight! BTW I figured out that if I wear the tanks that are to low BACKWARDS they are classy and modest. LOL

When we got home I was totally impressed at what the other kids had accomplished in the hour we were gone. Salads were made, living room was picked up….I made hamburger patties, roasted some veggies and made a sauce for fruit salad…..

Steve and Debby and their two boys (Steven and Michael) came over for the afternoon. The adults had a good time “fellowshipping” while the boys and our older ones Bre – Jared played monopoly. The storm began during the afternoon and Jared and Krista ran out to play in the rain! LOL

Service was great tonight. Things are really, really gelling in the service and it is awesome. Now here’s a funny…..Mike has been wondering who to assign to the service for the time he is deployed. They had requested a man be sent here who could do the student service....and got a wonderful new chaplain. The thing that made assigning services so challenging, however, is that the new chaplain is an Episcopalian priest. I told Mike that we’d prayed and to wait and see. Would you believe that the new chaplain was formerly Church of God before becoming Episcopalian and is comfortable in contemporary? He is going to be just fine in the service for 6 months…God has such a sense of humor because Mike was raised Episcopalian and is now Pentecostal. :::snort:::

Background: We’ve had no rain in the month of August. We’ve had very little rain in July. Mike loves big thunder storms. He has been asking God to let him see rain before he deploys to the desert.

Today it rained. It poured all afternoon. The streets flooded. There was lightening and big gray clouds all around. There was rolling thunder. And God reminded Mike that He has Mike is His sight and that He has his back…He cares even for the little things….

Here Zander watches the rain storm from the porch.

SHOPPING SPREE

I finally got Stacia back to bed at about 5:30 this morning. I slept in until 8:30. When I got up Mike said, grab a shower and let’s go to J. C. Penney. Folks who know me, know that I HATE hanging out at the mall. I don’t shop at the mall. BUT there was a sale on luggage and running shoes and he wanted to check it out. We headed to the mall, and I must admit I was NOT happy at the prices of luggage – even on SALE. I was bored sitting around and watching Mike check the things out. I half-heartedly began to check out the other sales. I found a couple of shirts for the boys….but I was still bored….UNTIL….I noted the women’s department had some clearance racks. ::::snort:::

I have 3 denim jumpers. I have them because they are GREAT after you have a baby…..but the thing is that by this time I should be back into the right side of my closet…and I’m not. I really like vivid, rich colors…and the jumper thing is getting old. I tried to find a nice dress before we went to WA for the girl’s graduation; but I couldn’t find any that were bright and cheerful….and anything I found was more $ than I wanted to spend. It was with interest that I glimpsed a second sign that said “take an additional 50% off clearance…75% off”. This held promise. I told Mike I was going to check out the ladies department. I found 4 dresses that fit, that I like, that were $17 each…down from $80 each. HOOT HOOT! I also found a pant suit…that I may wear to something sort of “official” or not…..I really haven’t had to make any command performances at the spouses club on base….but if necessary; I’m set. {bg}

Mike came back from checking the entire mall for luggage and noted my good finds. He then suggested that we zip over to Sam’s to see what sort of luggage they had. I called the girls and told them to get over to Penneys and that we’d be back from Sam’s to pay for whatever they found. Bre needed more time to gussy up. Krista hopped in the car. We found nothing that would work for luggage at Sam’s. I did buy groceries for dinner tomorrow. We are having some friends over after chapel. Anyway, back at Penneys: Mike continued to check out the luggage at Penneys while Krista and I checked out the Jr dept this time. She found some really cute things…skirts, dresses, jeans, shirts…all on sale. She’s set for under $80. Mike surfaced with two 30” samsonites. He was a bit taken aback that we had another huge bag and were ready to move on.

After our mad shopping spree Mike wanted to take me to lunch. Krista took the van home and we took her car out for lunch. Eating out is always nice. Then we stopped at Office Depot so that Mike could buy a jump drive for the trip. I was very frustrated when the salesmen told me that I CANNOT buy the HP battery I need for my IPAQ. Less than a year ago THEY were the ones that told me if I had an IPAQ I could buy the battery right off the shelf. Not so – now they carry PALM! Which is what I had and the battery went out - I didn’t want to mess with sending it away for a new battery. ARGH. I’m not happy about this.

Steve and Debby dropped by. Steve fixed Krista’s laptop. Somehow her password got changed and she couldn’t get into it – but we all attended hacker 101 and learned how to get around such things. Steve also tried to figure out what is wrong with our network. He is doing some more studying on that and may try to fix it tomorrow at lunch.

I made brownies and home made ice cream for tomorrow. As soon as the ice cream started churning I headed BACK to the mall with Bre. Bre found some capris, jeans, skirts, tops and such…..also for about $80. All in all we saved :::drum roll please:::: $875 today at the mall (Mike’s suitcases were $129 off - each). I doubt that Mike will suggest taking me to the mall again anytime soon…but now the MONSTER has been reawakened. Last time I was a mall rat was when Karen and I would hang out there during the time we lived in San Antonio. She always said to wait for the sales and then the mall was just as cheap or cheaper than Wal-Mart…today proved that…so I’ll begin to pay more attention to the sales flyers…but really I need to probably stay out of the mall….unless…like today, I have specific things I’m looking for. I know I need to find some pants for the boys that have the adjustable waists…..

A girl on a mission - Mike let Stacia get into the ice cream container when it was done churning. My favorite photo!

FRIDAY

We planned Friday to be a stay home and get things done day...though it didn't really work out that way.

It is Mike's day off - but he went in to the office.

Josiah worked an a.m. shift. He has been hoping for a shift change so he could be home for Friday Family night.

Krista and I went to pick up her bike and the stopped by Baker's Street to chat and such. I'm totally enjoying catching up with the girls and exploring all the new aspects of their character.

Arielle went to play with a friend most the afternoon.

Jamin made pizza for dinner.

Bre, Krista and I went on a PWOC outing. We ate at a restaurant that we'd heard a lot about - Peasant Village. It was good. Turn out was, as always, less than I'd like to see....but I'm realizing that this is the way things will be on this base - due to lack of base housing, make up of the base population etc. We'll have fun with the few who do participate.

The family that was "left behind" watched *Shaggy Dog*. We came home just as Hogan's Heroes began. I went to bed before midnight - which was good as Stacia has been up since 3 a.m.