Jamin loses wisdom today - in about an hour he goes for oral surgery - finally. Please pray that all goes well with the surgery and the recuperation time.

Thanks....

"Family" Fun Night

We live in an amazing W TX town that LOVES and SUPPORTS their military. Many businesses put their $ on the line to support their advertising claims with reduced prices for services and fun activities. Last year, I had talked to a business about having a giant welcome home party for Mike. We never worked out a DATE as Mike wanted to GET OUT OF TOWN and INTO THE WOODS with us more than he wanted a big party....so we went. The owners, however, said at that time that they loved the military, wanted to support the miliary, and liked my idea. I like to think that those discussions played a small part in the big extravaganza they planned for the military community last night.

For three weeks my children have been counting down to Military Appreciation Night at The Rink. Entrance and skating were to be free for ALL military families. Food, Go-carts, laser tag were also free to all who have a spouse deployed or who have had a spouse deployed in the past year. That would be us. Jamin had to work. I ended up in BED by 2 p.m. with too much pain to lift my head. It made me very sad for Zander to say, "Mom, I sure miss you" as they left the house without me. BUT I AM CHOOSING JOY! It's joy that Mike was home and could take them. It's joy that Josiah had the night off work. It's joy that Mike took some photos. Here you go in no order....

*The Potluck Club Takes the Cake* by Shepherd and Everson

This series has won me over. I find myself waiting for the next one to be released. ::snort:: I still don't enjoy it as much as the Yada Yada girls....but I feel like the characters are becoming more real as the series goes along. I wish they could do that in the FIRST book. LOL

In this book we are treated to shocking rumors, family secrets, a mountain avalance and more hijinks from Lisa Leanne and Evie. Yes....Evie finally weds.

*In Plain Sight by Lorena McCourtney*

This is my favorite new mystery series. Our heroine is a "scrawney LOL (little old lady) who has reached the generation of invisibility". Ivy Malone: a spunky widow with an unquenchable curiosity.

In this adventure Ivy is hiding out in the Ozarks with her neice. Her three month stay in a small Arkansas town turns to be full of adventure and intersting new characters. Many of the characters from the first book manage to find Ivy's hide out and make cameo appearances in this book.

These are both part of my fall reading list.

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::