Zander's Advice

Zander's lover called to talk to him. He gave her some helpful advice for any woman out on her own. I thought I'd share it here.

"If your car is out of gas, go to the gas station and fill it."

"If your car gets a flat tire, put the spare on and then call me."

The Last Two Days

I didn't blog yesterday.

I haven't been to the gym the past two days - but I did swim yesterday. If you know me that tells you that the past two days have not gone according to schedule and yet I'm still making time to play with the littles. ::snort:: That says it all. I honestly can't remember what I did yesterday.

We are learning lots of great things about the Romans and will shortly study their fall: the last topic of our year. Have I mentioned lately what a good fit TOG has been for us?

Highlights of today:

Chad and Sherri offered Josiah a good deal on a couple of items and a free deal on others. I've been texting Cy and he now owns a bed, some pans, a fan, a bookshelf and some sheets. The kids and I drove across town to pick up.

Krista has called a few times with organizations she wants our opinion on. Exciting days for her. If you've heard of Sons of Salvation, Operation Mobilisation (their ships specifically), or Mercy Ships feel free to email or leave a comment. If you have FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE we'd really love to hear from you. We ARE aware of Mercy Ship's ministry from our time in the Philippines. They are doing all sorts of things in Monrovia, Liberia. Mom & Dad, go check out their blog here and see clips of Liberia. Krista's plan is to resign her staff position with Master's Commission in August and find a job to work and earn her mission's support. She really HATES to ask for money...but it sure appears to me that she's going to have to raise funds if she plans to go overseas for a year or two....God will supply. It's a huge step of faith for her without a "home church" behind her....I mean WE are behind her but she's not lived at the same church forever and ever......and the chapel doesn't seem to really support missions near as I can remember....seriously WHOSE mission flavor would you support I guess.

My digital prints from Costco arrived. I can see a few things I'll change but I really like the way they look. *I* like the colors and frills. I called a local store. She STILL doesn't have her printer ready but promises she will by Monday. ::snort:: She thinks her price will be $3.49....Costco is $1.67 (3 prints from a 12x36 print) but no shipping locally and instant gratification. She told me that emailing my prints to Cindy lessens the print quality.... I still won't have photos for an "accurate" comparison as the ones here won't be emailed. ::snort:: I thought it was nice of her to point that out. I LOVE the way these prints are nice and big....and if at some later time in my life....say when Stacia is in Jr high or high school.....I have lots of time to do more scrapping and don't like my naked albums or my digital albums....I can cut the photos out of these digital layouts and scrap them manually. ::snort:: At least they are OFF MY COMPUTER and in an albums for the family to enjoy. Thanks again all who nudged me to try digiscrapping.

I do NOT know what we've been doing but we have been exhaustingly busy. ::snort:: Mike is working late tonight so I'll get the kids in bed shortly and try to read or something relaxing. LOL

This was sent to Mike. I checked it out on Snopes. They say it's true.

I think God loves to show off His creativity....but for the Sceintific explaination, read below.

This is a fire rainbow - rarest of all naturally occuring atmospheric phenomena.

The picture was captured on the ID/WA border. The event lasted about 1 hour.

Clouds have to be cirrus, at least 20K Feet in the air, with just the right amount of ice crystals and the sun has to hit the clouds at precisily 58 degrees.

Text found in email and snopes.

I've posted an interview with Karen Woodward over at Homeschool Blog Awards today. Karen was 2005's winner of the Best International Blog Award. She shares advice for those considering missions, encourages those who are homeschooling in "less than ideal" situations, and proves it is possible to blog AND maintain a clean desk at the same time. Check it out.

Blur of a Day!

Jared and I went to the gym. That was on schedule. ::snort::

I took Jared to get gas so he can begin drumming up summer yard business.

I diligently tried to find a fridge to buy. It appears that 3 of the businesses with fridges in their ads don't really HAVE fridges in town, but within 7 - 10 days they could get me a fridge. I ended up back at Sears. Friends told me every 3rd move you'd have to replace everything. Sears loves me. I've purchased a washer, dryer, freezer and now a fridge from them in our 3 years here. They had some special thing going on where I end up getting a fridge with an ice maker cheaper than the ones in the ads and they'll deliver today. I talked to a local friend (hey Julie) and she shared that her family recently bought an industrial, commerical, laundromat washer....now THAT is something to keep in mind.

I bought sandals because mine have been missing for over a week. I've been wearing flourescent yellow crocs.

We did school.

I made invoices for United.

United called and the driver was having troubles. To make a long story shorter....he arrived 2 1/2 hours late and his freezer had gone out in the truck. This meant that we were late getting home, late sorting, late picking up, late getting to bed. LOL Everyone was a huge help. Stephanie - I didn't see your comment until too late to take you up on your offer. ::snort::

Sometime during delivering food, Arielle found my sandals....I now have 3 pairs of sandals.

It was 10 p.m. when we turned the porch light off for the night. I still have two boxes of food in my living room waiting for homes. LOL

I can't sleep so got up and got started on the to do list for the day.

Weekly Fitness Goals (click button for more info)

Weekly Goal - 300 Minutes (60 minutes most days)
Total Weekly Minutes - 260 minutes
Annual Goal - 11,700 minutes
Minutes to Date - 5,882 minutes


Monday - 65 Minutes (40 min ARC, 20 min bike - I did NOT want to go but am glad I did. I burned 585 cal this morning.)

Tuesday - 60 Minutes (30 min ARC, 30 min bike burned 520 cal)

Wednesday - 75 Minutes (60 min bike - 300 cal, 15 min pool)

Thursday - 60 minutes (40 min ARC - 490 cal, 20 min bike - 100 cal= 590 cal)

Not such a great week....but this is about lifestyle change not one week.

To read accounts from more participants - click here. To join us, click the icon above.....

The Day

~Mike took Josiah to the airport at 6 a.m.

~Mike went back to bed and then fielded phone calls for a couple of hours. ::snort:: We realized today that when ALL the kids are out of our home we will be on the phone all day on Mother's Day and Father's Day. He heard for children in Boston, NYC, and WA.

~We went to lunch - Mike's choice.

~Mike cut Nolan's hair (he won't let me near him after my last episode)

~I cut Zander and Stacia's hair.

~Military Mohawk ::snort::


~The kids played Settlers of Catan and watched Ben Hur.

~We went to church.

~We talked with Mom and Dad....and then Jamin slipped us a note that said the fridge and freezer weren't working.

When I was pregnant with Jared our fridge died. We did NOT have the $ to replace it. I made lots of jokes about being an MK and knowing how to live without a fridge. We were assistant pastors at a little church in Hardin, MT. The church got together and bought us an 18 cubic feet fridge. THAT is the fridge that gave up; after 14 years.

We cleaned the fridge. Mike began looking at ads. TOMORROW our monthly United order comes in. I'll have two cases of yogurt, a case of raw cheese, freezer items.....ugh. We located all the coolers and began to make plans.

As we cleaned Jamin teased me about the possibility of pregnancy as these sorts of calamities seem to happen when I'm pregnant.

I was washing a glass shelf and it EXPLODED.....I mean SHATTERED. I had glass in my hair, I was covered. We thought about it and the only way anyone could come up with to free me of glass was for me to take a shower - clothed. That's the first time I've done that since we used to bathe at the town pump in the Philippines. ::snort:: In the shower, I realized I was covered with little knicks.

Mike vacuumed and cleaned the glass in the kitchen. I now had glass all over the bathroom to clean.

The boys took wilted veggies to the compost. Which was full because of yard work yesterday. As Jared was loading stuff into the composter a cauliflower fell out of the tree and landed on his foot. ::snort:: He looked around and thought, "that's wierd". He kept working and then was beaned with a flying head of Romaine. BOYS! ::snort:: He finally figured it out. Jamin said it was "hippie warfar" - veggie weapons.

Jared is happy to have discovered a new reading niche - the old fridge? It's clean.


Tomorrow I need to find a new fridge, meet a United truck, do school, write an article for HSBA....

Jamin just found glass in the window sill....