friday stuff...

Appetizer
Say there’s a book written about your life. Who would you want to narrate the audio version?

Me. Hopefully I will be the author, so I would be the obvious choice to narrate.

Soup
Take the letters from your favorite kind of nut and write a sentence. (Example: Perhaps every avenue needs understanding today.)

Can Annie share happy exciting words?

Salad
If you could go back in time and spend one week in another decade, which decade would you choose?

Probably the 80's. My new big hair would fit in great!

Main Course
Name a song that brings back memories for you.

"Slip slide and away" used to play when the news rolled the school closings. I loved that song! Especially when my school rolled by!

Dessert
Do you prefer to wash your hands in cold water or warm water?

Warm. Any added germ killer is welcome!!!

Emelia started playing softball last night. The coach called and asked if she could play on their team (the sooners) and I took her to practice to see if she liked it, she has never played softball... only basketball. Anyway, she was a natural. She batted really well from the beginning and could throw the ball very far. They are talking about using her at first base when she gets the feel for the game. I have to spend the weekend finding specific shoes, glove, bat, balls, helmet with face mask etc.

Haley is having a contest over at her blog and I keep forgetting to link to it! So, visit haley and sign up to win some really cool avon products! Well, I just popped over to check my link and Haley has had her baby early! Five weeks early! That's exciting huh?

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments about my hair. I hate it now by the way, but it's okay... it's only hair and it will work out. I think when Matt compared my hair to Harpo Marx, whoever that is, I knew it wasn't good...

meditate on these things~

It's Wednesday. Izzy has school this afternoon which is just therapy for Summer... Gives me two hours of sheer freedom! :o)...
I made a new schedule yesterday. This was prompted by a phone call from my IRL friend Julie. Julie is queen of charts, schedules, and planning. She is an all or nothing kind of girl and with 7 children now, it's usually all. We were talking about just keeping things done so we exchanged schedules for our weekly things. She's a bit more 'gung ho' than I am, but at least I have a plan, or a method to my madness. I just looked at my 'schedule' and today is dusting and vacuuming. Yesterday was kitchen day which includes cleaning out fridge and extra cooking... (I made matt's taquitos, beans and then chili later for another day and prepared the meatloaf for today ... my menu is all scatterwonked). Monday was bedding day... check!
I'm also spending more time in Bible study, and reading different devotionals etc. I'm trying to fill my mind and heart with good things. I was convicted this weekend to stop tivo-ing a show that I have watched since junior high. This show was m-f everyday, it was a silly show, but one that I just always watched... if only for a few minutes while ff the annoying stuff. Well, those days are over. I realized how much was unholy in that show, everyone was married to each other's spouses and having other people's babies and other things that are just not part of my life. I was talking to Matt yesterday. He was talking about feeling so pumped up after leaving Dallas and how an email from a friend had messed with him a bit. Not really reduced his faith, just messed with him. I said, "It's like we come home as a big tall glass of pure clear water and all the bits of the world are like tiny droplets of blue dye, changing the water from it's clear pure state, little by little." Well, he appreciated my analogy and ask that I write it down for posterity... so I have. I refuse to allow my water to darken. I want to walk pure and holy before the Lord. I cannot expect Him to move and work in my life if I do not seek Him with my whole heart. Kat wrote a post yesterday about the worldliness of certain things and I applaud her post. It is so true and we (as a society) are so numb to sin that we don't think it matters or hurts anything to repeatedly see it. Even those shows that bleep out the bad words, tell me your mind doesn't know and speak what those bleeps don't. You hear over the bleeps just like you can read a word with only the first and last letters and the middle scrambled and your mind knows the word. Our hearts take in all of that negative sinful material and I just don't have any interest in polluting my mind or my heart.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

I'm packed! Are we going????

Another busy day around here! Everyone is packed. I think Amanda has taken enough clothes for everyone going on her trip. Amazing. I didn't even know she had that many clothes :o). I taught her that by rolling the clothes up tightly more fits in the bag. So, she has the biggest suitcase that I've ever seen completely packed full. Good thing it has wheels or I don't think she could handle it. I have Bailey & Emelia all packed for camp too. I keep thinking of one more thing they need. I hope I have remembered everything. I packed a snack bag for the drive to Texas... (beef jerky, pistachios, choc chip cookies, pringles. etc.) because Matt and I don't agree on making stops along the way. I like to get there asap. So, he suggested that I pack some drinks and snacks as a compromise. I did. I took mom to lunch at Panera bread today. She had a salad with chicken on it, it had strawberries, pineapple, mandarin oranges, blueberries and pecans. If you know me well, you know I hate fruit so in my opinion it looked pretty icky. I had soup and half a sandwich, it was delish. Ran in Target and got my target fix. I love that place. SOOOOO.... GUESS WHAT???????????????

Matt just called and said he is stuck at work, he may be there until Midnight. Something critical came up and the trip to Dallas may be cancelled. So... I am packed, the kids bags are packed, the snacks are packed, EVERYTHING IS PACKED... and we may not be going.

So, guess what I'm going to do (besides blogging for a minute)... I'm running to get a well deserved, much needed pedicure while he figures it all out because I can't just be here with everything packed for goodness sakes, right?

fast forward...

Well, Amanda has yet to recieve her passport in the mail... and it just occurred to me yesterday that she will have to take her birth certificate with her should the passport not arrive. Guess where the birth certificate is? Nope, not in that blue file folder with the others. It's with the passport. They keep your original birth certificate to be returned with your passport! So, I am going to have to make a trip to the birth certificate place in the city just in case...
So Bay and Em are going to camp next week, they are leaving from church on Sunday morning for a week of fun about two hours away. I actually called the camp to ask if I could send a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. Bailey doesn't eat meat. He wanted to go to camp so bad he said he would eat whatever but I know him, he will just not eat. He is already pretty thin so I didn't think that was a good idea. Anyway, the lady I spoke with was apparently one of the cooks and she said that I didn't need to send those things because she kept them for just that purpose and that she had gone through three loaves of bread in two days. I let out a sigh of relief. Emelia will have a ball. She is such a socialite. But, this means we are leaving Friday for Dallas, they are leaving Sunday for camp, Amanda leaves Monday for Canada. I have a lot of packing to do. I spent all of yesterday just cleaning and doing laundry so today I will try to get them mostly packed.
I went walking with my mom last night at the park! Her 65 birthday is Friday, the day I'll be leaving for Dallas. She jokingly gave me a guilt trip so I suggested we do something Thursday night. I'm taking her to lunch Friday... Matt's birthday is Sunday and all the things I ordered have not arrived and I ordered them May 23. Looks like they won't be here in time.
Letting the kids pick the meals this week has worked out well. Amanda loved her gyro night and they were better than usual! Matt's meatloaf night went well and there is leftovers this time because there were not a bunch of extra kids around. Tonight is Bailey, so I'm off to get stuff to make his cheesecake... along with disposable cameras for the two and conditioner for Em, because I just got shampoo for her camp bag. I know, what was I thinking... she said, "mom, you know my hair gets really tangly and I have to have conditioner." to which I replied, "sorry! I'll get it!"
Izzy spent her three hours (in three sessions) in the stander again yesterday and we did her therapy. She had a good day! She is so cute by the way. She has school today. She will have pt ot and st. She will be there for two hours each Wednesday... I called the tefra people again yesterday and they still don't have things fixed. Apparently there are two new issues. First, they had to verify her ssn because someone had used it & they did change her pcp but put the start and end date at 6/1/07. So, the new stroller was ordered on Monday. Hopefully by the time they are billed this will all be worked out. These issues all just require hours on the phone trying to find the right person to fix the problem.
I am not sure why I'm typing all this out, maybe to just get it all straight in my head. I also need to make two strawberry cakes... one to leave for mom as a surprise when she gets home friday night from work (I'll get some balloons and flowers too) and one to take to Dallas for Matt. AND I planned to make some taquitos and some chicken pockets for the dallas trip so we can grab them... and some deli stuff. I get tired of eating fast food down there. I do like our outing to el fenix though. yum.
So, this is what I'm doing today... going to the store... lunch with Mike at Old Germany again (I cute and highlighted his hair yesterday so he's taking me to lunch today)... Izzy's school... packing!!! So, tomorrow I can concentrate on making cakes and food for the weekend and finish the packing etc. Oh, and get amanda's birth certificate! I'm praying that passport comes today so I can scratch that off my list! I laid in bed last night, usually as soon as Matt and I finish our prayer I am asleep... but, I just kept running through my to do list until I finally fell asleep.
If you have read all this really boring stuff all the way to this point I really should give you a prize or something... you are a true friend.

a goulash-y post (a little of this, a little of that...) & SCT

Thank you so much for all your laughter my dear bloggy friends at my unfortunate experiences on Tuesday, it makes it all so much easier to bear knowing that my mistakes and misfortune cause you so much pleasure! No, seriously though... thanks for all the sweet comments! Life is pretty much back to some kind of normalcy, whatever that is.

sonic ice!!!

The new fridge is installed, it has food in it, the food is cold... it has even made a lot of ice! I tried out the filtered water in the door at 3 a.m. last night and I would give it a thumbs up! And regarding the old friend, two things I forgot to mention about that... 1) I did get dressed to go shop for a fridge and he was still with my dad visiting outside so I at least was able to show him I did know how to 'clean up,' and 2) the first thing out of my mouth when I stomped in the front room looking like I described was "don't look at me" Isn't that hilarious? I can't even believe I said that or that I am admitting it... but, it just came out of my mouth before my brain caught up. Oh well. I did take that lesson to heart and got dressed early yesterday morning so that I wouldn't be embarrassed when the refrigerator delivery people came. Good thing too! They came earlier than I expected.

Next subject... Sandra's slow cooker Thursday! I love my crock pot. I had crock pot meatloaf on my MPM for Tuesday night, but with the Memorial day cookouts it got bumped to last night. It was really good! I left it cooking while we went to church and everyone came home and ate it up! Even Amanda who hates meatloaf! (Bailey didn't eat it because, well, he doesn't eat meat...)
So, I already linked to it on my MPM... but, it was good enough to share it here. By the way, I also used the crock pot liner and those things sure make clean up easy! I used the foil over that because I thought it might be necessary for browning or something.

Crock Pot Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup italian breadcrumbs or crushed crackers

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 small onion (diced)

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Form into a meatloaf shape that will fit into your crock pot. Cut a strip of foil and place under the meatloaf in crock pot. Cut it long enough to cover the bottom and sides of meatloaf. Place meat loaf in crock pot and top with an additional 2 tablespoons ketchup & chili sauce. Cover and cook on low for approximately 8 hours or high for four hours.

We've been putting Izzy in the stander that we borrowed from school a lot recently. Since we are home more with no school this is possible. This includes wearing the foot splints too, which I have to say she isn't thrilled about either. I do see her legs getting stronger, that is very encouraging. This is a pic of the stander. Our den is basically full of her equipment. It is tucked away everywhere and whatever we are 'using' at the time is just kinda in the middle of it all! I am getting used to it and it is just how things will be until we get her running around. I have said it before but feel it necessary to say again, "I believe Izzy will be restored completely through the healing blood of Jesus Christ, I believe that she has been healed by the stripes of Jesus, we are simply waiting and expecting the manifestation of this healing." If you don't agree with this, don't pray for her. I also don't need to be felt sorry for or talked out of my beliefs. These beliefs are based on God's word alone and have taken root deep inside me now, they will not be moved.

We went to church last night (cornerstone). There was a guest speaker. I am pretty aware of things so when they were having singing I noticed a gray haired gentleman standing by the pastor of the church ... I told Matt, "that guy has spunk, I hope he is the guest speaker." I was right! He did have spunk. His message was "shake it off and step up." He told a story about a donkey in a well that was being buried because they couldn't get him out and each shovel of dirt thrown down he shook it off and used it to step up until he was out of that well. It was a great motivational lesson and lots of good scriptures went along with it.

New topic... Amanda. She is leaving for montreal in less than two weeks and her passport has yet to come. We applied at the beginning of March and were told there was no problem and now here we are with a problem. I plan to spend the day on the phone trying to have it expedited. That and deciding how many american $ to change into canadian $'s have been the topics the last few days. We've been told she will need canadian money for niagra falls too. She is going with our church to visit our old preacher who has a church in montreal now. She is SOOOOO... excited.

Another thing I didn't mention is that Saturday on my way home from that brunch we hosted and while my mil was here, I got a letter from the health care authority stating that as of 5-31 Izzy no longer has tefra which is the program I had to jump through 8 months of hoops to get her approved for. Anyway, I couldn't call until Tuesday, because Monday was a state holiday but I finally found out that they deleted her from the system because I called when they mispelled her name "iszbell" instead of "isabelle" and that correction deleted her somehow. I was on the phone with them when I discovered the dead fridge and while I poured the gunk on Izzy. So, it was a fun morning all in all. I promise that is the last I'm going to say about that. ok?

In Light of the Truth is hosting a weekly memory verse. I signed up! This week's scripture is:
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Thank you Tori for the cd you mailed! It is such beautiful music, I can hear it playing on the kitchen cd player! (it is her husband playing) You are so sweet! I love good mail!

TTT next week I was thinking about memories of our fathers since father's day is around the corner. What do you think?

Ever had one of those days...?...

Today started with a 'puddle' of water in my kitchen floor... followed by an exploded bag of rolls in the freezer, can you guess why??? ding ding ding, lady in the corner? Yep, the refrigerator died! Just what I wanted on a nice Tuesday morning right? Oh, it gets better...
So I was feeding Iz her blueberry, vitamin, protein, soy milk drink and she was kinda whiny like something was hurting so I tried to reposition her and when I did I sloshed the cup of drink all over her head. So, we headed directly to the bath and didn't pass go ...
And then... I was trying to unload things to try to salvage them from the freezer when I walked in the front room (my dad was here) to find a guy I used to know when I looked like I do in those pictures right below this post about 20 years ago... wasn't it just lovely of him to stop by to say hello? I couldn't be more pleased... except that I had on my big t-shirt, no bra, pink pj pants with christmas packages on them and blueberry soy drink all down my front... my hair was in a messy bun with my bangs bobby pinned back, get the vision of loveliness? He did. It was kinda mortifying.
So I spent the afternoon shopping for a new fridge and cleaning out the old fridge... they will trade places tomorrow when the delivery guy comes.
Lessons learned... don't slosh blueberry drink on people, don't be so ugly even when at home where you think no one will see you, and always look for the bright side of things... play the glad game like pollyanna did... you know.
I'm glad I am alive. I'm glad I get a new fridge. I'm glad tomorrow is a new day. :o)

this & that & more...

So, TTT yesterday was fun! Great participation! I think Karen was the only one with a suggestion for next week and it was one I had been thinking about. It has to do with firsts~that's all I'm saying for now :0)...

Well, the kids' bunny had baby bunnies the other day. Right now they are just movements in the 'nest' in the rabbit hutch. I'll have them take pics when they are more out and about. They read in a rabbit care book not to handle them for two weeks. I'm glad emelia read that! She's excited to get her hands on them.

The three legged pit bull had to have surgery last week. Yes, that means I actually had to spend money on that beast my hub loves so much. She had a prolapsed uterus. Gross right? It was. She had a complete hysterectomy or whatever you call it in the dog world. She's fine and back home... happy, and ugly :o).

Here's a pic of Amanda, I foiled and cut her hair the other night... I love it. (yes, she has on my new shirt!)

Took Izzy to bear Monday. He does really neat things. He tried to teach me some techiques to work with her hips and legs this week. I just tried some of them before her therapy and I'm getting the hang of it. He is really good at what he does. I took him some tortilla wraps this week. His wife said something about him not having sweets so I hesitate to take him something sweet. But, the wraps turned out great so that worked. I'm going to cheat and take him some of mom's cinnamon rolls soon.

Tomorrow is Izzy's last day of school. I'm off to work on her teacher and therapist's gifts. I'll show a pic of it tomorrow (I hope).

show & tell & TTT & rosa & weight (ugh)

This day has been full of running & drama... oh well, I can wash the drapes in my bedroom tomorrow right?

Show & Tell...

So, first I thought I'd show you the pic that Izzy got for me at school for Mother's Day. The teachers in her class are the sweetest most wonderful women. They dress up the kids in class for mother's day each year. So cute. The little corsage is the one I mentioned Bailey got for me at church while we were in Dallas. It was so sweet that he held on to that corsage all morning and brought it home so I would have one too.














Bailey also had Terri (SIL) make me some white furry flip flops. He was very proud of himself.




Here's a plant I also received for Mother's day, I have almost killed it thanks to my purple thumb. I plan to take out the flowers that are dying and put something fakish in to add to the ivy. I think it is really pretty...










Amanda stayed home today for a couple of reasons... one was that she and my mother are watching my brother's two daughters this week while they are away on vacation. The oldest didn't sleep at all last night so they were both shot this morning, and also there was a bomb threat at her school and none of her friends were going today. I figured the threat was just a way to get a day out of school, but it's always better safe than sorry. We ran by Panera and then to Hobby Lobby. She got this stuff to do some scrapbooking...

rosa...

Did I mention the dog matt rescued a while back? Well, if not... Matt rescued this dog one night on his way home from a late night call out to work and it had a broken foot and it's collar was so tight he had to use snips to cut it off. It stunk and was bone thin. Now let me start by saying I am not a dog lover. I like our lady dog pretty well, but I have too much going on to give them much attention. Anyway, he noticed that things in her 'area' looked wrong the other day. I took her to the vet today and she has a prolapsed uterus (ick) so she is having surgery tomorrow. Her name is Rosa and the vet confirmed her breed for me today, PIT BULL! Now, you would also know if you have read any of my meme's or lists that I am very afraid of dogs. I'm not afraid of Rosa... she is just a growing girl. But, a pit bull? that's the breed I had my encounter with so you've got to be kidding me...

TTT...

I need some feedback... what do you guys think about for next week's TTT going back to our very first blog entry, showing it, and then describing what led you to begin your blog? Let me know if this sounds fun or if you have a better suggestion! (please?)

weight...

Last but not least... I weighed UGH. I am the same. I guess I expected it since we were out of town all weekend. I'll do better this week!

requested pic