MIA

I've been missing the past few days. In the past I had killer migraines. I've only had two or three in the two years that we've eaten "clean and crunchy". However, they're baaaaaccck!

I've begun a headache diary and can see that I've been living on OTC pain meds and dealing with nearly constant headaches for the past month. I have to find a solution. I'm making sure I'm eating clean again. I'm trying my best to remain consistent with working out - those endorphins are really needed now. I'm taking the OTC meds when I feel pain. I actually took Maxalt on Saturday and it took the edge off....and then I realized that it isn't a safe med if you may be or may become pregnant and well...you know how we are.... so there you have it....

My last headache dulled enough by 2:30 a.m. that I could sleep a few hours. I woke up feeling pretty good. I now have a dull headache but compared to the really bad ones - it's doable.

All that to say that I've not been on the computer. I also value your prayers for the solution to these things. Always before I had have the aura and know they were coming.....lately I can just BAM get pain and blurry vision.

And yet, I'm

Journal Jar

Over at Organized Christmas, they have both adult and kids journal jars. These are under Christmas ideas, but I think they would be great fun for school.

I have the children journal daily - this would give the young ones some easy prompts. There are lots of pages of journal promts that you can print, as well as the labels.

The children simply pull a prompt out of the jar, paste it to the top of a page and answer the question.

The Potluck Club: Trouble's Brewing by Linda Shepherd & Eva Marie Everson

This is book 2 in The Potluck Club series. I find the series to be growing on me. I've already begun book 3. The 4th book - tentatively titled "The Potluck Club Caters Secrets" is in the process of being written. ::snort:: It's a nice break from mystery.

The characters are "fleshing out" a bit more. This series is sort of like the Nursery Crime series in that I'm not sure I really like the characters, but I like it enough to keep reading. ::snort::

In this book more trouble follows the members of the Potluck Club. They manage to eventually resolve a lot of the trouble. Book three begins the week that book two ends....

They are quick reads. This is another book on my fall reading list. You can find more about The Potluck Club here An interesting tidbit about this book is that Linda and Eva each write about 3 of the characters. There are six main characters in the series. They don't tell the other what is happening and one will write a chapter and then the other will react. The book is set up in a way so that each chapter is told through the eyes of a different character. I am enjoying the 3rd book much better than I did the 1st book. ::snort:: The authors insist these characters are REAL but frankly, I've had lots of women friends and we've NEVER had this man life shaking secrets and troubles....LOL

TGIF

I had great plans for Friday. Unfortunately, a killer migraine had plans for me.

I survived produce co-op and spent the rest of the day resting in my recliner. I'd really like to figure out WHY I've gotten so many migraines all of a sudden. I used to get 1 - 2 a month. They've become very rare.....then I had one a few weekends ago that lasted 3 - 4 days.....and then another one that week. Thursday night I was driving up to CAP when it got so bad I really couldn't see any longer and I was disoriented. Jared made me pull over and called Mike - and I went to bed. I woke up this a.m. and it's still here - but a dull roar. I took meds and am praying - as today promises to be a busy day and there are scheduled events I cannot get out of. Some say it's the constant weather change of this season (but I didn't get them like this the last two years), others say ragweed etc are high, I wonder if it's my diet....I just don't know.

Thursday, Jared was bit by a dog while volunteering at the Backyard Bible Club hosted by a local ministry. The dog owner was NOT at fault. The dog was IN his fence. The owner was trying to get a ball the kids had sent over the fence. Jared was getting kids away from the fence (they like to harass the dog)...the dog reached through the fence and got him. No one realized it was serious at the time.....it did rip his jeans, break the skin and bleed. Jared's tough. He didn't want to get the dog owner or the ministry in trouble. He said he was fine...or so the story goes...and they left it at that. The problem is that in this state if the skin is broke at all!, it is to be treated and reported. Mike and I talked with the ministry. They went and talked to the owner and the dog's shots are current etc. We took Jared to the clinic. They said that rabies are rampant down here. That it had to be reported and gave him another tetanus shot. The State health department called. She said that even if the shots are current, they HAVE to check because of the big problem down here. She said they were calling the owner and the dog had to be quarantined. I told them that the owner was very responsible and that we'd like to help with the cost involved. Mike is thinking the ministry should cover the other cost since the kids do harass the dog weekly, since the owner WAS trying to get the ball, and to maintain relations in the hood.....we shall see. It is very obvious that the owner was trying to avoid trouble and that he doesn't have a lot of spare money for things as this. That was the excitement for Friday.

We watched the Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis Colgate hour last night. The kids weren't impressed. In fact, Mike found a lot of new movies to put in our netflix queue. ::snort::

*Invisible by Lorena McCourtney*

This book caught my eye at the library a few weeks ago. THEN I saw the book reviewed on Debbie's blog. I knew this would be a book that I would READ and not simply take back to the library.

Ivy Malone is a LOL (Little Old Lady) - she's whimsical, quirky, and hilarious. She manages to solve mysteries and adjust to her changing life in this first book of the series. I especially laughed about Ivy's thoughts on being "invisible" - I've SEEN this. I think she may have a point.

I found myself crying, laughing, thinking.....I really did enjoy this book. It is DEFINITELY a cozy mystery - but it's a series I plan to continue.

This is another fiction book on my fall reading list. I know I need to finish up some non-fiction, but at this season in our family life - I'm reading to RELAX and fiction fits the bill.

Candy Christmas Wreaths

For a family that doesn't "do" Halloween we always look forward to Halloween. Why? In future years I'm sure it will be more about the opportunity to pass out our tracts and goodies....but typically it's because of 50% off candy and 75% off costumes. We have QUITE a collection of costumes.

We've not taken advantage of the 50% off candy for a few years - but I 'm thinking these little treats are perfect to make for hostess gifts, office gifts etc...Check em out...

I stumbled on this youtube video this a.m. - still looking for a suitable Holiday sound...::snort::

Making Candy Christmas Wreaths - be aware that I have no clue what youtube will list as follow on videos - so be careful what you click.

Thanksgiving Tablecloth

Are you up for another family tradition? We started a few new ones this year but this is an old tradition. I wish we'd begun this one YEARS and YEARS ago, but we started it in 2000. We've been doing it long enough now that our tablecloth is starting to look respectable.

Very simply, I bought the cheapest plain colored cloth I could fine. It WAS cheap - I probably should have bought better quality and splurged for a color....but then again it speaks of where we were when the tradition began. ::snort:: We have all our guests for Thanksgiving Dinner sign the tablecloth. BreAnne and Krista embroidered the names after the dinner for years. This worked well when they were still at home. Arielle pulled it out last night and we realized that she's not finished more than 2 names from 2006's celebration. She took this chore over. She wanted to do it because it had been the girls' job. Her stitching is MUCH nicer than mine, in fact I have no clue how to embroider or cross stitch...but I'm learning this year. ::snort:: We have 3 weeks to get all the names from last year done.
Oh yes, an important point to consider is how you will classify your names/years. The girls and I decided to pick one COLOR each year. We stitch the year and our location in the color and then stitch all names of visitors that year in that color. This works. Mike mentioned he'd like it better if we had areas sectioned off and had ALL the names from that year in that one box. Can you tell that he's more sequentially/organizationally gifted than I?

This is a fun tradition. We can watch the children's writing from year to year. We can track when a new family member entered our family. We can remember various friends fondly each year as we spread the cloth. I WISH we'd begun this when the kids were little...and Grams, Uncle Bill, and Mike's folks shared those holidays with us.....BUT I'm glad we began when we did.

It HAS become apparent that I have some children that will want this cloth when I'm finished setting Holiday tables. Because there are 9 children and I have one cloth, I've begun to think of other Holidays that need a special tablecloth. I have purchased a light gold cloth and will start a Christmas Cloth this year. I have NO IDEA how we'll get all the names stitched as well as a Thanksgiving cloth....makes me cringe to think of it....but we're going to give it a shot. 9 Holidays - Hmmmm.....
Jared and Arielle display our cloth - which needs laundering badly. The names will wash off, so we can't wash it until we are done stitching....oh the pressure!

Here's a shot of Arielle's signature in 2002 when she was 5 years old - it's HER first signature as the girls had signed for in earlier years.

Here's Arielle's signature from 2005 when she was 8 years old.

For the next few weeks Arielle and I will be sitting in the recliner and stitching names in all our spare moments.