Finished shopping.

Saturday hubby and I did our Christmas shopping. We were gone all day or so it seemed. We went to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Game Stop, back to Best Buy, the mall, Target, and Dollar Tree. We used all cash except for one gift. Yeah! I love that! All bought and paid for, now I have to wrap. I did some wrapping today.

We bought our ham on Saturday as well. I have to finish the rest of the food shopping yet. I will do that probably on Wednesday. I have to plan out the meal yet too. It helps to have that planned before you shop, ya think?

Looking forward to spending time with my family. We will miss our extended family this year as it is the first time in a long time that we haven't spent it with them.

Christmas Cookies!!

The kids and I made Christmas cookies today. Here are a few pictures...

Waiting to go into the oven.



Seth decorating cookies.

Joshua decorating cookies.

Some of the finished products.

Still not ready for Christmas.

I am not ready at all and I am not even in the mood! Bah Humbug!!!! That is my theme this year. Think the kids will mind if we skip Christmas this year? I need to focus, I know. Focus on Christ and the gift He gave. I think it is the traditions that we did before that we can't do this year. I don't know what we will be able to do and what we won't. I do want to make Christmas cookies with the kids this year. I think that will be fun to do. I have never made Christmas cookies. Can you believe that? 39 1/2 yrs. old and never made Christmas cookies. Well, my kids and I will make them this year, or that is the plan. lol I have to find a good recipe and just do it. Oh I need some cutouts as well. I can't freehand a tree that is for sure. lol 

My oldest son is coming to visit over Christmas and I am excited to see him. I am hoping he can stay for a few days but it will depend on his work schedule. Hubby is supposed to have Christmas Day to Jan. 3 off but told me he will probably have to work some of it.

We took some time off school to have a break from the norm. I hope it will not be too hard to get back into school. We did this a few years ago but don't remember how it went. Must not have been too bad because I would think I would remember if it was bad, right? lol 

Merry Christmas!!

Ready for Christmas?

I am not. I have one present bought. That is it! lol I always wait until the last minute. I want to start early but it never seems to happen.

We had snow in TX. It only snowed for a bit and it did not stick, but it did snow. It has been pretty chilly too.

I have been going to the gym faithfully since Oct. I have lost 18 lbs. so far. Yeah!!! I am proud of myself. I am drinking water again too. I had stopped for a long time and drank only diet pop. Now, it is basically just water. That helps a lot not only with cleaning your body out but also keeping you full.

JM came home for Thanksgiving. We had a Mexican Fiesta instead of the normal turkey and such. It was good. We ate all weekend off of that and wasn't sick of it. lol The boys really don't care for turkey so why make what won't get eaten. We had turkey at the church the Sunday before so that worked out. It was nice having JM home for a few days. I hated to see him leave. We had a lot of fun together. 

Not bad for a Monday

It was an okay weekend. John and I had two nights without kids, but we didn't do much exciting. We did go to dinner on Saturday night. We tried a new (to us) restaurant. It was really good and the portions were big. I cut my sandwich in half and ate half of it, but ate almost all my onion rings. We also had fried mushrooms. Oh, they were good.

Sunday we were gone all day. First we went to church, then had a potluck dinner at the church. We stayed at the church and waited for the evening service. Our evening service is at 2:00 so it wasn't long. I love having an early evening service. After the evening service we went to the Fort Worth Library and then back to the church. The boys went wit the youth group to a think called Hell House. It is like Judgment House for those in the Akron area. It is a little different though. John and I just came home after they left and sat and did our own thing... quietly. That was pretty nice. lol Oh yes, we also stopped and got a shake. lol

I got a application for a job. I am not happy about it, but at this point, I don't know I have a choice. I haven't turned it in yet. I am hoping we come up with a better solution first. Is that selfish? I don't mean it to be. I will keep you updated.

Time is flying by...

I cannot believe today is Oct. 20. Good grief where does the time go? It is just so hard to believe life is flying by. 

I will be 40 in Aug. With time flying by so quickly that will be next week ;-). That and a few other things got me motivated to get healthy. I started working out at the gym at our complex. Seth goes with me Monday - Friday. I got John to go on Saturday and Sunday. I wish I could get him to go more, but I will take what I can get. I am watching what I eat as well. I am down 2 lbs. Woo Hoo lol! You gotta start somewhere, right? I feel better about myself plus it helps fill the time. Gives me something to do for part of the day. 

I also colored my hair. It is like a reddish color. I was going for a lighter color but not bad I guess. John and I did it. We had no idea what we were doing. I guess for our first attempt it turned out okay.

School is going good. Joshua is really learning this year and seems interested in a lot of what is being taught. I am glad I got Bob Jones for him for science and history. I haven't tried to catch up on the math book. I will in time. It isn't like we are in a hurry or anything. Seth is doing great and picking up on Geometry. I am so clueless with those theorems. I am so glad John can help him. We would be in trouble otherwise. lol

John Michael switched jobs. He seems much happier with the job switch so that is good. I just wish he would decide about college and get to it. I want him to get an education and have a better life than what we have had. I hate living paycheck to paycheck. We used to have breathing room but not anymore. I want him to be able to do that. He is a smart kid and has a lot of potential so I am sure he will succeed. Just wish he would get to it. lol 

Not much else happening in our little world. I will still take a boring life over one with a lot of anxiety and problems. I lived that before... no thanks!

Math book arrived!

Well, the math book arrived. The condition they said it was in was not described accurately, but that is okay. I got good deals on his history and science books so I will take this bad one. I did hear from the other seller. She asked if I received her check yet. I haven't. I truly believe she did mail them both but for some reason, neither made it. I guess our transaction was not meant to be! lol

It has been raining off and on since Saturday evening. It is to continue until Sunday I think. UGH! It is good reading a book weather though. I got the book The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday. I wanted to read the book before I watched the movie. I don't think I have watched a movie that was better than the book. I like the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. I watched most of the movies as well. If I hadn't read the book, I would have liked the movies better. Does that make sense? Anyway, I am trying to read this book. It is a very thick one too! Wow! I have 3 weeks to finish it. I am sure I can do it. I have a lot of time on my hands these days it seems. lol

I found out last week that Joshua was color blind. JM and Seth are color blind as well, but I thought Joshua missed it, so to speak. It turns out, he is the worst of them all I think. Either that or the other boys have learned to adjust more to it and have learned to look for it more. Is it something you can grow out of I wonder? It isn't a big deal it just means we have to watch what we are doing with colors and what not. He will adjust like the other boys have. The one eye doctor told me that my dad was probably color blind and that is where they got it from. I don't know if that is true or not, but it came from the doctor. lol

Just gabbing...

We are very excited because we are getting an Aldi! If you don't know what Aldi is, click HERE. If you are used to generic foods then you would probably like it. They have their own brand of things and mostly sell it. Some of their stuff is actually better than name brand and so much cheaper!! I do not care for their spaghetti sauce, but will eat it. My kids won't eat any pickles besides Aldi's. I bought them a huge jar of Vlasik pickles and they would not eat them. They taste bad mom. lol I was shocked. We just think this will help us out with groceries and saving money. Milk, bread, cheese, everything is cheaper there. The one we went to in OH had fresh meat too and it wasn't bad. We never got sick from it or anything and it tasted just fine. We are just so excited that we are getting one. Another plus to it is that hubby's work is making the glass for them! They are building quite a few in the area and his company is doing the glass. Yeah! 

I went grocery shopping today. I am surprised I made it this long without going but am thrilled I could! Hubby gets paid in a week so we only had to buy groceries for one week. That was nice! I got creative with lunch and forgot I had potatoes to make soup so it worked out. We couldn't have made it much longer though. lol Anyway, we went to Wal-Mart because we were right there. Got some good deals and bought mostly their Great Value brand.  We got some goodies as well as what we needed and spent about $110! I was thrilled. I have two growing boys and they like to eat! lol  We then splurged at another store and bought pop. (soda if you live in TX lol) Don't preach that pop isn't good for me, I am well aware, but don't care. ;-) I went about a week and a half without pop and have been drinking sweet tea. We go through the sweet tea! I did't use to like tea but do now. Learned to like it I guess you could say.

I finally ordered Joshua's math book again. I bought one used but I guess it got torn up in the mail and got lost in shipping. The seller told me she was going to give me my money back but hasn't. I have no reason to believe what she is saying isn't true, but that hurt. I lost $12 there, then paid another $20 for another one. I could have bought one brand new! UGH! Oh well. Maybe the lady will come through and give me the $12 back. I am not going to complain because I didn't insure it. Just bums me out. I hope his book comes quickly because now we are "behind" in math for the year. The first few lessons are always review anyway so not too big of a deal. 

Tomorrow we are going to get free burgers from TGIFridays. We signed up to be fans of Woody (their mascot I guess) on Facebook and they sent us a free coupon for a burger. We just have to hope that we can use them all at once. That will be a nice treat for lunch tomorrow.

I am enjoying the cooler weather, though I thought TX was supposed to be hot until like October.... oh wait! It is October! Man! I cannot believe how fast the year has flown by so far! Wow! 

Told ya I was just gabbing. hee hee! Have a great weekend!

Broke already

I feel so bad for my hubby. He works so hard all week and then gets paid on Friday. Usually before the man gets home, I have all of his money spent. I wish I could say it was on frivolous things, but I can't. It goes to bills. Just about every stinking penny we make goes to bills. Okay, so I do have some left when he gets home, but it is for food. Yes, he has a place to live, food to eat, a car to drive, electric, water, cable, etc... but other than that, he can't play.  I just feel bad for the man. He is such a good man and I do what I can to help out. I try to save money and I buy the foods he likes, but I just wish he could have more fun in life. 

I have been a little restless for some reason. I don't know if it is the weather or what, but I am. I wanted to ride my bike today, but my tires are low. It is to warm up this weekend for a few days so we will probably have to turn the air on again. It has been so nice having it off, except hearing the extra noise! My neighbors are noisy! Apartment living, you'll have that I guess. ;-)

Why did I get a home phone?

What point was it in getting a home phone? I should have known better, really. One of the reasons we got rid of our home phone was because of all the sales calls we would get. How dumb of me to forget so quickly! We had our new home phone put in Thursday, Sept. 10. I have received about 10 phone calls. I am so popular! lol Anyway, out of those 10 calls, 4 of them were sales calls! The first one knew my name and address. He was going to send me 60 months worth of magazines for free. Yeah right! lol I asked him how he got my number as I had just got the phone and haven't given it out but to a few people. He couldn't answer that question. Maybe from my college or because I just bought a house. Ummm... NO! I think the company that I got the phone from, gave it to him. I told him to cancel the magazines, I was not interested, I was not going to pay for them, and I didn't want them. At one point he laughed and said, "Like we would just send you magazines and make you pay for them." Trust me, from past experience, this is exactly what you would do! lol Ugh! I will have to find that do not call list and get on that, but not sure how much it would actually do. I know they are just doing their job and I should be nicer to them. It is just so frustrating because I have just gotten the phone. It is hard to be compassionate sometimes.

Seth and I tried to think of good things to do when they called again. I told him to start singing to them if they called. They didn't call during that time so he didn't get to do it. 

Things are going well for us otherwise. School is going strong and life seems back to normal. It has been cooler the last week as it has rained for the whole week. Today we have sunshine. It is still only to get up to low 80's so I think we can keep the air conditioner off another day. It has been off since at least Monday I think. Give the poor thing a break. LOL

That is about it for now.

Sarah has been found!

I don't know any details, but Sarah, the missing girl, has been found alive. I wish I had some details for you, but I don't.

I do thank you for praying for her. Please continue to pray as she will need time to heal as well as her family. Thanks!

Missing Girl

A friend of ours ran away from home. Please pray for her safe return.

http://www.ncmissingpersons.org/sarah-eppley/

I thought all Baptists could cook.

The church were have been visiting had a potluck after church. We didn't know they were doing it. I am not sure how we missed it but no big deal. They asked us to stay so we did. We got our food. I was shocked! There are quite a few older people and I was surprised that it wasn't as tasty as what I am used to. I thought all Baptists could cook. You know, like it was a requirement. They ask you when you decided to become one "you can cook, right?" lol Plus with the folks being older I thought that was a given too. LOL Can I go to a church that cannot cook? Hmmm..... Of course I am kidding about that last part. The cooking has nothing to do with it. I just thought it was funny and was a little surprised.

We still haven't gotten the couch. Just haven't had a chance to work it out yet. I hope we do soon. I would love to get rid of the one we have. It is very uncomfortable since it was broke.

Hubby and I are doing great. I am so thankful for that. We are both committed to each other and our marriage. That thrills me to no end to hear. I believe him and think the Lord has given me peace about it too.

I am looking forward to a long Labor Day weekend! I hope it is a great one!

OOPS! It has been over a month since I blogged.

I cannot believe a month has past since I last blogged. I am not very good at this. I don't think anyone really reads it anyway. LOL That is okay. It helps me get my thoughts out and that is a good thing.

So much "drama" has happened the last month. I hesitate to post part of it, but it was my friends' problems that helped me deal with this in a proper manner. JB and I had a big problem. I was actually worried for our marriage, but JB wasn't. He said I blew it out of proportion. We worked through it thankfully. Some of the things that my friends were dealing with helped me through a lot of it and I am glad. We have been so much closer now and have done a lot of talking which is a great thing. During that time we had celebrated 21 yrs. of marriage too. Not the best way to celebrate, but we are closer for it. I am thankful for him. I am thankful to my friends for sharing their stories to help me learn some things. They don't know they helped me and didn't even try to help, but they did by just being them.

We had more car trouble! Can you believe our luck with cars? I told JB if we didn't have bad luck we would have no luck at all. LOL I am sure the Lord was just trying to make us all the more closer or working something out somewhere. He always seems to be teaching us a lesson. We don't learn quick enough I guess. ;-) This bar under the car shoved up into the transmission pan and poked a whole in it, then severed the line for the transmission fluid and also messed up the radiator. JB tried to fix it but couldn't so we had to take it to the shop. He missed a day of work and then had to take a cab one way ($20!!) to work.

There was other things that happened but they aren't worth really mentioning. Just little stresses throughout the month. I can do without them! lol

We started school this week. It is good to get back into a regular "normal" routine. Makes the day go faster and not so boring. I finished ordering books for the boys today. I don't have everything I need but got a good enough start on them to start school.

We tried a new church too! We like it. It is small. We have come to the conclusion that we just aren't going to find a church that fits us exactly and that we will have to work around that. This one had people come visit us. That was nice. They even offered to give us a couch that they had. Ours broke in the move, but we are still able to use it. It is very uncomfortable but we have been dealing with it. They said we could have that one. We just have to find a time to get it. Seth and Joshua (Seth more so) liked the youth group and thought the teens were very friendly. It helps that there are more girls than boys. LOL Seth is at that age UGH!!! One thing I love about this church is that they have the morning service at 11 and then the evening service is at 2:00! Then you are free for the rest of the day! You can bring a potluck in and eat there and then fellowship until 2:00, stay for the service, and you are done around 3:00. No late nights or anything. It is great! We haven't stayed for the potluck yet as we have only been there two Sundays. I will let you know how it works out.

I just want to get back on track with life. I miss parts of my "old" life and am hoping to get some of it back. Is that possible?

Short update on the car...

We did find a car finally. Unfortunately we had to finance it but we got one. Crazy how things work in TX and how different they can be. I was going to get my license but forgot one piece of paperwork and that was the end of that. Good grief the paperwork you need to get a license. Then you have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get it in the mail. All that security to prove who you are, and that your car is "legal" then they mail your license where anyone can get it from your mailbox. Makes a lot of sense, huh? lol

We celebrated our 21st anniversary this week. Hard to believe it has been 21 yrs. already. Time seems to fly by anymore. JM out on his own, Seth getting ready to drive, it just flies by. We went to dinner at a steak house and it was really good. John had steak and lobster. He really enjoyed it. I am not a seafood person but love steak. ;-)

I need to get on the ball and get my curriculum worked out and ordered. I am just not ready for school yet and it is hard to want to look through it all. lol

The car search is on!

JM came very early Monday morning to help us out. He drove up after work and it is about 3 1/2 hour drive. He and I took JB to work Monday morning, then came home and I called a junk yard. I wanted to get that car out of Wal-Mart's parking lot before they towed it. I was not even sure it was still there. I called a place and they said they would pick it up and give me $100 cash too! Wow! I wasn't even expecting money for it. I figured since they were picking it up that would be it. She told me they had a busy day and they would be there between 3 and 4. Not a problem. JM, Seth, and I went to the car, it was still there thankfully. We cleaned it out and then went to a rental car place to get a car for the week. Well, they didn't have any cars. They would after noon. Okay... feeling like I am in the military with the hurry up and wait stuff... that is what I did. We went back about 1:00 and they needed a major credit card since my license is still OH and not TX. Yikes! I don't have a major credit card. JB does have a TX license. So we went and picked him up so we could get a car. After we got the car, JM took JB back to work and then went home. Seth and I then went back to Wal-Mart to meet the junk yard people. About 2:30 I call them to confirm that they are still coming. She then tells me, "I told you 4 or 5" I said no, you said 3 or 4. UGH! Whatever. I go back home again... and wait. We all took showers and get cooled off. Then about 5:30 or so we went back to Wal-Mart AGAIN lol. I waited until 7:00 and they didn't call or show up! Now what do I do!! I had to pick up JB from work so that is what I did. Just after I picked JB up, they call! Perfect timing really! We went back to Wal-Mart for the 4th time that day and waited a few minutes. They came!!! I gave them the title and they gave me $100 cash! Yeah! That was a big relief only because I knew if it was towed away it would have cost us a lot of money!

By this time, we were all starved. None of us had really eaten all day. We stopped at Pizza Hut and got dinner. I was so glad to be home. Not as much as on Saturday though.

While we were waiting to go back to the rental place JM got a phone call from his girlfriend. She had been in a car accident and was upset, which made him upset. It was just an emotional, stressful day for everyone.

The scary part right now is that we do not have a car! We are praying that we can get one Saturday. If not, we are in BIG trouble! We can't afford to rent the car again for another week. Pray we can find and get a loan for one.

The frustrating part about all this is that this was our "get ahead" month. We had a whole extra paycheck this month but not now. UGH! Oh well. I told JB that God just wants us to be poor I guess. LOL If we had money we wouldn't trust Him as much I am sure. Ho hum! lol

UGH! What a day!

Actually the day started off well, especially with the day before at Six Flags. It all went wrong when we left the house. lol Everyone got grumpy and then we lost the transmission on our car. UGH!!! We didn't have it towed as it is 4th of July and can you imagine the cost to have it towed today? We parked it in the corner of Wal-Mart's parking lot and we are hoping it will still be there Monday. How is John going to get to work on Monday? I have no idea. He doesn't work too far away but it is still a long ways off. By car it is close to 20 or so minutes. One good thing that happened was that we got a ride home. We had been in Game Stop and I asked about numbers for a cab and towing. Well, she was leaving when we were pushing the car. She asked if we needed a ride somewhere. So the 4 of us got in her car and she dropped us off at home. There are still nice people left in the world. Praise the Lord for that.

We are broke and can't afford a car payment nor can we afford full coverage car insurance. UGH!! Pray the Lord opens a door for us and quickly!

Six Flags... More Flags... More Fun...

Well, okay. I don't know how many flags Cedar Point has, but it is still more fun that Six Flags. We did have a great day at Six Flags today though and I am not even sure Cedar Point would have beat it for today.

We got a later start than I wanted but we got there and didn't have too bad of a parking spot. I just didn't want to walk in the heat when we were leaving and feel so blah. Our plan was to leave around 2:00 or so when it started to get hot. From 2:00 until around 6:00 is the hottest time of day in TX. Funny to have it hotter at 5:00 than 1:00. lol Anyway, Seth and John got on a ride right away. Joshua and I do not do the rides so we found a nice shady spot to sit. It was a picnic type place that had a roof. There was a squirrel just laying there staring at us. We thought it was funny. So I got my phone out and started taking pictures of it. Well, it thought I had food and was coming up to me to feed it. I had nothing. I felt so bad, that I stopped with the pictures. Well, it started walking over to another couple that did have food. I got the lady's attention and she laughed. She got a french fry and the squirrel actually took it out of her hand. It was so funny! She ended up feeding it about 10 fries and it was just so cute!



The park was not busy so we didn't wait long for the guys to ride. About 1:45 we passed by the Wii Experience place. They have about 7 or so Wii games set up to play and they have challenges. Well Seth and John decided to do the challenge and Seth won!!! He won Mario Kart fot the Wii and a thing called Flash Pass. It is so you can get on rides and not wait in line. It was pretty cool! Neither Seth nor John had played the new Punch Out game besides today. They tried for an hour and are sore! lol It is kind of funny but they worked hard for that game. The guys are happy!

Heard a lot of Michael Jackson songs today. I think more so today than I did in the 80's lol. Okay, not really but they did play a lot.

It was a good day.

July already?!?!?

Time sure does fly by, huh? I paid my rent and water bill today, so I have a place to live for the month and water to keep clean. Definitely need water in TX! lol

JB has Friday off because of the holiday. Even though the 4th is on Saturday, he gets Friday off. We are talking about going to Six Flags sometime this weekend. I saw we go Friday and beat the crowds that might go Saturday, but we shall see. I hope we can stand the heat! We should have waited to get passes until we have gotten used to the heat. If that is possible.

My computer is not working right. When I plug the charger in while the laptop is on, the screen goes black. So I turn it off to charge it, then when it is charged, I play. Not sure what the deal is, but so far it seems to be working okay.

I made a peanut butter pie today. I am either making broccoli cheese soup or potato soup for dinner. Yes, even with the heat. I need to find some recipes for the summer months. At least I am not turning the oven on!

Can you stand the excitement? lol

Ups and Downs

For the most part, the day went well. It is amazing how one minute you are content but the next you are upset. It was an up and down day that is for sure.

The good points... the house got cleaned (including scrubbing the bathrooms), the dishes done, and the laundry done. We ended the day playing cards with the kids and it was a pleasant evening.

The bad points... Joshua and I had a blow-up with the hair cutting thing, I really lost my cool with it, and the boys were bullied at the pool. That is what really ruined my day. Just some older teens being jerks and ruined it for my boys. Makes you want to get the momma claws out and scratch some eyes out, but you can't.

Supposed to be a hot week this week. I believe they are right! lol It is already 83 degrees out and just a little after 9:00. Part of living in TX.

Haircuts anyone?

Saturday we went to Great Clips and got the worst haircut ever! The ladies that were there were all Chinese and we could barely understand them. That should have been a red flag because if you can't communicate with them what you want, don't go! I thought I got my point across to her but I didn't. The lady that did Joshua should not have a license to cut hair. Even if she could not understand me, she should have at least tried to cut it right. It was so awful!!! Here is what it looked like when she was done...
.

Isn't that awful? You should have seen the back. It was just unbelievable. I know I could have went back there and got a refund or had them redo it, but since I couldn't understand them and I don't think they understood me I decided to forget it. Also JB said NO! I decided to try to fix it myself. It still isn't perfect of course, but it looks better to me.



He likes it better too. I just cannot believe how bad it was. I am not thrilled with Seth's either but I won't touch his hair.

I was cleaning out my purse and found a card they gave me where after you get 10 cuts you get one free. They had punched two of the holes. I ripped it up and threw it away. I won't EVER return to that Great Clips again. I paid $32 with tip for bad haircuts... I won't do that again. I have had good experiences with Great Clips in Akron in the past. That is why I went to Great Clips. Oh well... it is done and over and fixed for now.

Summer blues...

It has been very hot, which I totally expected. We have had the air on for almost a month non stop. It gets too hot in the afternoons to turn it off. I guess we will figure out how to deal with the electric bill next month. lol This month's bill was not too bad and we did run the air some.

I have days where I absolutely go stir crazy sitting at home. I can have the car anytime but to be honest, I don't see the point. I don't know where to go and the traffic scares me. I will have to build myself up before I tackle it too much. It is worse than Akron I think. Plus you have to really pay attention because sometimes you can turn left when the straight way is green and sometimes you can only turn on the green arrow! Plus a u-turn here is very common and you have to watch for that too. Ugh! I just don't feel that comfortable with it all yet. If I have a plan of where I am going, that is okay, but if I don't.... forget it. lol If I stay home, I don't waste gas and I don't spend money. I have cable to watch and internet to play on. Of course there is always the pool too.

I need to get busy and figure what I am doing for school next year. I am homeschooling of course, but I need to find out what schedule I will follow and what books I am using. I really don't know what to do with Seth for English. I think I will focus more on writing for him than English. He is about sick of grammar and what goes with it. lol I do have Joshua's science taken care of but that is about it. Oh yes, I have spelling taken care of as well. I do have a Bible curriculum I bought from Terry Hamilton. I will use that as well for both boys. So I have a small start on it. I probably will stick with A Beka for English with Joshua. I have most of the books for that anyway. We shall see I guess. I do have some time but at the same time, I was thinking of starting early and only schooling 3 or 4 days a week. I like using Mondays as cleaning days. It works out well for us.

Also looking for new, cheap, and easy recipes if you have any. Pass them along!

Our new "neighbor"

Seth was bringing the dog in and saw this little guy hanging on the wall outside. We thought it was neat!

Sad news...

My step-son's girlfriend lost the baby. We are really bummed about it. John especially as he really was looking forward to being a grandpa. Pray for Ernie and his girlfriend as they deal with this.

I was busy today cleaning. I have one more load of towels to wash and I am done. Well until it is time to do supper. lol It has been hot here and even with the air one it is hot.

We enjoyed the weekend at home except a trip to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Kroger. We watched the movie Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. It was a pretty good movie, though not totally accurate I guess. They never are though, are they? They say "based on a true story" but it isn't always the true story. Hence the word "based" lol. We love having Netflix and just upped our subscription to 2 at a time. I almost did 3, but stuck with 2.

We have been having a lot of fun this summer so far, but enjoyed this last weekend of hanging out at home doing nothing!

6 things

I was tagged by http://skolihollie.blogspot.com.

6 things that I appreciate that may, to someone else, seem unimportant, but to me are precious:

1. My husband. He is my best friend and a great husband. You can't appreciate him like I do.

2. Sunscreen. I burn so easily and I went without it and got burnt. I am glad I can use it.

3. The internet buddies because I have had a lot of support from them. It doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny, pretty or plain, they care for you and will pray for you no matter what.

4. Homeschooling because I am able to be with my children and watch them grow. I know what they are learning and know it is okay. I can spend time with them and know that they are ready to tackle the world.

5. Purses I can express myself by my purses. I don't have a lot of clothes and am not into fashion but a neat purse makes me happy. The wilder the better!

6. A good library. After having this horrible one, I miss a good library with a variety.

I hope I did that right.

I am tagging...

Amy: http://fichtners.blogspot.com

Nicole: http://nikkis-bubble.blogspot.com

Carri: http://luhvmykids.blogspot.com

I am going to be a grandma!!

My step-son and his girlfriend are having a baby. Yes, it is the wrong way to do it, but it is done and you have to deal with it.

I was worried that John would freak a little because he does sometimes when it comes to age and such, but he is really excited. He says "I am ready to be a grandpa." This will be his mom's first great-grandchild. The daddy was her first grandchild too. Kind of funny.

JM came in late last night or early this morning, however you want to put it. We are going to spend the day at Six Flags. He actually has the day off of both jobs. I hope he has a relaxing and fun day. Seth is excited to take him on the roller coasters. I think he has it all mapped out. Hopefully it won't be too hot today. Yesterday it was 93 out, but today I think will only be 80 degrees. It will be a nice day to go. The park is only open until 6:00. I don't expect it to be busy so once they ride the rides we may just leave. It depends on them.

Things are going well for us in TX. We haven't really made any friends and haven't found a church yet but I know they will go hand in hand. Once we do find a church we will make friends.

We had a cook-out for Memorial Day. We bought this tiny, cheap gas grill. John cooked the burgers while I did the inside cooking. They turned out fine. We will have to sit out with it when we use it, but that is okay. I will miss having it on my back deck and using it this summer.

It will be a hot summer for us this year. We will have to get used to the heat. I am getting a tan. I do use sunscreen but I am still tanning. I probably should get a better sunscreen though to be safe. My step-dad dealt with skin cancer a lot and I don't want to do the same.

Off to Six Flags.

Here are am I again...

Okay, so the text blog thing is cool! I do like it. What I don't like is that you cannot give it title. Also you can only do 150 characters so if you "talk" a lot, you could have a problem. LOL But it is neat, that is for sure. I wish I had it when we were moving.

So what is new and exciting in the Bergman home... well... absolutely nothing. LOL The weather is getting warmer. The boys went swimming today. If I didn't look like a beached whale, I would have went swimming too. It is good exercise and I should do it. It is sad that I have a work out room right at the complex and I don't use it. I have tried so hard to get John to go with me and he won't go. He doesn't have to go to work until 8:00 ish. That is plenty of time but he just won't do it. GGRRR!!! Seth would go and I think would love to go. I need to get Joshua to go to. He is a getting a tad chunky. Maybe swimming this summer will help him. Of course everyone will be in the pool this summer I am sure.

We have been trying to go to church on Wednesday nights. It seems every Wednesday something happens at John's work and we cannot go. Tonight he didn't get home until 7:30. We want the boys to go to the Wednesday night programs they have to help them meet new people and such. It isn't working. We are still going to the same church that I mentioned before. The people are nice and the preaching is good. There is one guy that is a little off on his thinking, but he is just a guy there. He isn't in authority at all. He likes to talk to just talk I think. He reminds me of someone but I won't say who. ;-) I do like Sunday school because it is interactive, meaning you can ask questions or say something. It is great that way. I am hoping to go on a Wednesday night soon. We keep saying "next week". Joshua got a post card in the mail today. I think he liked that. Still not ready to join yet.

Friday Seth is going to a youth outing. He is excited about that. I hope all goes well with that. Saturday they have family night and will be playing games and such... of course since we are Baptist there will be food. LOL We are planning on going to that as well. I am sure we will get to meet a lot of people then. I will let you know how it goes.

Text blogging

I set up my blog to receive a post through a text! How cool is that? We will see how it turns out!

Chimichungas

Some friends wanted me to post this recipe. I hope others like it too!


Depends on how many you want to make on the amount of stuff you get. I use about 4 lbs of ground beef and make about 25 to 30 of them. So you can use that as a base and go from there. They are hard to explain but very easy to make. I hope you can understand the directions!


You need:

ground beef, cooked and drained
taco seasoning (again, depending on how much meat. I use 3 for about 4 or so lbs. of beef)
refried beans (I use one can for 4 ish lbs.
soft flour tortilla shells (again depends on how much meat)
cheddar cheese
salsa

Cook and drain your ground beef. Add taco seasoning and cook as directed. Add refried beans. Mix well. Line 13x9 casserole pan with salsa. Just enough to cover bottom so it doesn't burn. Take the meat and put about 2 spoonfuls in middle of flour tortilla. Fold tortilla into a square shape with meat in the middle. Fry in skillet with grease, you don't need much grease, just enough to brown one side, flip and brown the other. Put fried chimichunga in the casserole pan. I can fit about 8 chimichungas in one pan. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake until cheese is melted. About 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I have made just cheese ones before too. Just add the cheese and fry up like normal.

Toppings are your choice... lettuce, tomato, salsa, cheddar cheese, black olives, sour cream... whatever you like on your tacos.

I hope this is easy enough to understand. They are so easy to make but hard to explain.

The good, the bad, the ugly.

It is a beautiful day in TX. It is 81 degrees, sunny, and just beautiful out! I heard that OH got some snow. It is depressing to get snow in April. It seems to happen every year, but still depressing... IF you live there. ;-P We did have a few colder days but nothing like OH. It does get windy at times. That was a surprise to me. Maybe the wind will help keep it cooler. LOL One can hope, right?

John had a job change. He is still working for the same company, but he has an office job. Actually this job is right up his alley and it worked out great! Don't you love how the Lord works things out?

We went to the library Saturday. Wow! It was small. I was surprised that it was small. I don't know why I expected it to be bigger really. Akron's library was so big compared to this one. Some friends said the one in Fort Worth is bigger and also the one another town or two over as well. We won't be going to the one in Fort Worth, but will try to other one. I won't make it with such a small library! lol We use our library a lot. Akron had a good library.

We went to CiCi's Saturday for lunch. Blah! I miss pizzaBOGO!!!! While we were there, Joshua started crying. He missed Ginger and Casey. We were talking about them and he just started crying. I felt so bad for the kid. John worked on cheering him up and he was okay. We then took him to Best Buy to spend his birthday money. He had a game he wanted. He bought that and was happy. I have to be honest, I was really missing Ginger myself last week. She had a way of making you smile and feel loved. She was just a big ball of cuddling fur! We all miss the dogs.

I made some cookies n' cream bars today. I will let you know how they turn out. It started off looking great but now.... not so good. I got the recipe off of a Philadelphia Cream Cheese package. I hope it turns out well. It smelled good when it was baking. I will say, that peanut butter pie was awesome! Try it!!!

Peanut Butter Pie

Oh my! YUMMY! This recipe is so easy!

1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
6 TBSP peanut butter
8 oz of cool whip
1 graham cracker crust either regular or chocolate.

Cream cream cheese, powdered sugar, and peanut butter. Fold in cool whip and mix well. Put into crust and chill for a few hours. ENJOY!

It is so good and so easy! I just had to share!

Happy April Fool's Day!

To me, this is just a dumb "holiday". I was never into pranks or jokes much. I guess I get enough with my husband, I don't need other people pulling surprises on me too. LOL

Well, we have lived in TX almost a month. We are settled in or as much as we can be right now. I need to get some things for the house but money is not letting me this month. I hate being this tight with money! It scares me! One little mistake can BAM! One good thing that helps a lot is that I can't go anywhere to spend money. When you don't have a car or don't know where you are going you tend to stay home. Thus, you don't spend money! lol I was able to get out some this weekend and that was good. Actually we all got out some on Saturday and that helps everyone. John is understands being stuck at home all week is hard on us.

We are trying to do some stuff for the boys and stuff they like. Seth is really missing his friends and I see a bit of an attitude out of him. He is calling a friend sometimes but it isnt' the same as seeing them in person. I really hope we can find a homeschool group here and join it next year, especially if they have a co-op. Actually finding a good church would be better, but sometimes that isn't easy. We have visited one church. The preaching is good and the people seem nice, but their music is borderline. We will take it slow and see what happens. It isn't like we are ready to join a church right away. It is such an important decision we want to make sure we get the right one. I did find out that some of the people in the church do homeschool, including the pastor's family. That is always a plus.

School is coming along. I thought we were pretty behind with the move and all, but we aren't. We might still make it by the end of May for quite a few subjects. I have more time to devote to school so that helps out. I am so glad I am not working. I hope that continues.

I also have a lot more time to devote to keeping up with housework. John is gone about 11 hrs a day so I have a lot of time on my hands. It is so much easier when you can keep on top of the housework, which I can now as I am home all the time. Anyway, now that I have a clean house, no one comes to visit. LOL

Joshua's allergies have kicked in. He is sneezing like crazy. I didn't have any meds for him. He usually uses Claritin. Well, John takes this allergy medicine and I gave him one of John's. It was not prescription so don't worry. It was not was Joshua normally takes but he seems to be doing fine with it. He isn't sneezing like crazy so that is good. So far so good with the breathing too. I am glad he seems to have outgrown that!

Life's curves

Like can throw you some curves can't it? I am not talking the kind of curves we ladies wish we had, but the curves that you want to dodge or speed through.

First off, today is Joshua's 12th birthday! Wow! Time sure does fly by! We aren't doing too much special. He requested popcorn chicken, cheesy potatoes, ice cream cake, and strawberry ice cream. What a combination! Hey, if he is happy... GREAT! lol

A friend's 14 yr old son is losing his battle with a tumor. He was very young and had leukemia. They fought that and he was cancer free for many years. Then he got this brain tumor. They removed it but it has come back for a 3rd time and they were told they cannot do anymore for him. He is being kept comfortable and the family is with him and a lot of people across the country are praying for him. Please pray the Lord's Will be done, but that he is comfortable and for peace for all involved. He knows the Lord, so that is a big help to the family. They know that he will be with the Lord when he does go. I just feel so bad for the family. I cannot imagine ever losing a child, especially so young.

Renting is not fun! Of course most of you know that. I miss owning my own home, but like the apartment we have. We haven't rented in years. I don't know if it is like this everywhere, but in TX it is a pain really. When we rented years ago, they put everything into the rent. You had to pay your own utilities, but the other stuff was included in your rent. Sometimes even water was included. So I go to pay rent yesterday. I was excited because we got a welcome letter from the place and they gave us $20 off our rent for the month! Cool! She is looking up my paperwork and such, then she finally comes back and gives me a higher total. It was only $3 but I was like... why? I forgot, they charge you a trash fee of $3. Now how dumb is that? Why can't they just put it in the rent to begin with? Why must every little thing be divided up and be like this? I am sorry but it just seems so dumb. Like we are being charged for every little thing. Crazy! I thought that when we started this and still feel like it. We aren't but it is just dumb. Your rent is so much but then you have to pay this for the dog, this for the trash, this for the water... I think there is something else too, but I can't remember. Why not just say your rent is this and be done with it? The way they do pets around here is nuts too. You have to pay a non refundable pet fee per pet. Some are as much as $400! This is not the deposit but the pet fee. You don't get it back. Then you also (most places anyway) have a pet deposit per pet. So if you have 3 pets you could be paying $400 pet for per pet plus a $400 deposit per pet. Then you have your deposit to move in, plus first months rent... Wowzer! It is ridiculous!

I will update more later.

Great Raffle!!! You can even win a horse!

How cool to own a horse, huh? Check out this raffle and support a great homeschool site!

http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/raffle2009/raffle2009.php

We are now Texans! Yeehaawww!

Okay, so not fully. Our hearts will always be in Ohio. We have family and friends there so a part of us will always be in OH.

We found a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. It is 1392 sq. ft. It also has a full washer/dryer hook-up. There is carpeting in the bedrooms and the closets. The rest of the house has a linoleum that looks and feels like wood. It is really neat. We love the apartment. I sold my appliances and miss them. The appliances that come with the apartment aren't as nice as what I had. I was spoiled! I did keep the washer and dryer. I refused to get rid of those! lol

The worst part of all of it was that we had to get rid of two of our dogs. I really miss Casey and Ginger a lot. I am thankful they have good homes though. Casey is being spoiled by her new family and probably doesn't even miss me. lol Ginger has two young girls that love her a lot and is doing very well in her new home too. She probably isn't as spoiled as Casey though.

I will try to post pictures soon. I want to hang pictures first, but if I don't get them up soon, I will just show them without. I need to buy some nails.

More later!

Wow! What a week!

This has been the most emotional two weeks of my life! If I could choose anytime in my life to relive, these two weeks would definitely not be the time. My goodness what a roller coaster it was.

Last week was all the court stuff only to hear they found him not guilty. Then JM left home for good. Plus all the packing... that was all very hard.

This week I had to find homes for my dogs. If you know me, you know I am an animal lover and my dogs are my friends. Are they above my husband and children... no, but they are special to me. On Wednesday, Casey found a new home. That was the worst! I cried when JM left home, but I knew I would see him again soon. But when Casey left, it was for good! Oh that broke my heart. I am sure my emotions were on overdrive anyway, but all I could do was cry! I cried for an hour or so after she left, then cried myself to sleep that night. The next morning the lady called me and told me Casey was fitting right in at home and all was well. That helped a lot. She just sent me pictures of Casey after she groomed her. She will be well taken care of, this I know. Ginger, Seth's dog, went to her new home yesterday afternoon. That broke my heart to see her go too. Especially because I knew it was breaking Seth's heart!!!! Oh I hated taking Ginger from Seth, but we could not take her. She was 80 lbs. and didn't do well in long rides. I heard from the lady that took Ginger and she is doing fine too. They took her to the groomers for a bath and nail trim before they brought her home. She seems to be adjusting fine in her new home. Knowing that they found good homes helped so much! The dog pound was NEVER an option! If worse came to worse, they would have went with us, but we had a few people that would have taken them if no one else would have. Lacy... she is moving to TX with us. We almost got let her go too, but in the end we decided to keep her. After we did, we found this neat apartment and applied for it. I hope we get it because it looks great!

Other than that, it has been packing, packing, packing. Saturday we loaded the truck as much as we could. Today we have to finish packing and load some more. Tomorrow we are on the road! I will try to update when I can. Not sure how easy it will be to get online and such, but I will do my best to let you know we are still alive and what is happening.

Any and all prayers are appreciated for a safe trip and smooth transition! Thanks! See you in TX!

Today is a sad day for the Bergman family.

They found him not guilty! Our faith in the justice system is almost completely gone. My kids are upset and feel like they have been abused by the system. We are all shocked by this!

According to the prosecutor the judge and the defense attorney are in shock as well. Makes you wonder doesn't it?

I hate good-byes.

Of course, I don't know anyone that likes them. JM might a little. He is leaving our house for the last time and moving to TX to be near his girlfriend and college. Yes, we are moving to TX too, but it will be 4 hours away and he will not be living with us. He is just very excited to be near her. So as he is driving off and waving good-bye he will have a smile on his face I am sure. He is starting a new chapter in his life I just have to pray that the Lord will bless him. His father and I did our best with him. Of course we are only a phone call away and will always help him if needed, but it just makes you feel a little less needed.

We also went to see my family and hubby's family yesterday. We said our good-byes to them. As I am hugging my sister and my mom we are all crying. I asked them not to but they didn't listen. I am tearing up thinking about it. What a sap! Hubby's family there wasn't any tears that I could see. They all said good-bye but no one teared up. I am sure they were sad, don't get me wrong, but it was just different.

We leave March 3rd for TX. I am getting ready to call a place about a home. I am nervous! I hate making these calls but it is much easier when you have a more definitive date. I will let you know how it goes.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we have to meet with the prosecutor. Remember when John was attacked? Well we have to go to court on Wednesday morning. We meet with the prosecutor Tuesday then court on Wednesday. We were so hoping that they would plead the case out, but I guess it didn't work that way and we are on our way to court. I am a nervous wreck already with the move and all, now I have to add this to it! UGH! I need some prayer! PLEASE!!! ;-)

I will update more in the next few days.

Date For Moving Day

We have known that we were moving but didn't know when. That was a tough one as it is hard to plan life when you don't know what life is going to be. We were told to be ready ASAP basically so we alerted our friends and made some vague plans. Well on Tuesday we got a date. Dh basically got to pick the date so he gave us a tad bit more time. He starts his job on March 9th. He will work until Feb. 27th at this plant, take the following week off, and start March 9th. I am thankful he has the week off to help and get settled. We have a plan in motion for now.

We also gave our 2 week notice to pizzaBOGO yesterday. Let me tell you, that is one pizza I will miss eating! If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Make sure you sign up for their e-mail club so you can get the coupon for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Anyway... our last day there will be the Feb. 21.

Friday is our last day for co-op. I wanted the boys to continue as long as they could, but John said it would be best to stop this week and put school on hold until we are settled. With school on hold it give me more time to focus on packing. Seth has part of his room taken care of and Joshua started on his room too so we are "working on it". JM is about packed up. He will be leaving early as he is going to see Shelbie and get settled in his own apartment. My baby is moving out! That is even scarier!

I am getting very excited, but at the same time scared as can be. We have no housing lined up yet. Because of that, I have 3 dogs I don't know what to do about. The thought of not taking them with me is KILLING me! I love my dogs. They are such good dogs but if we don't have housing lined up, then I don't know if we can find a place to live with them. If I have to find homes for them, I would rather do it here so I know they will get a good home. This is so hard! Casey has been with us for 11 years! She is the family baby! How do you leave that behind? It is tough that is for sure!

Friday is John's birthday. He will be old... LOL Just kidding. He is turning 44 on Friday. We were going to do a weekend get-a-way but with the move and all, we thought it best to save our money and use it for moving. Moving is very $$$$$!!! We are going to dinner on Friday and maybe do something together on Saturday too but we will be coming home. Then we have to work on Saturday. What fun for Valentine's Day!! ;-) Anyway I have a gift card to Longhorn and another one on the way for Longhorn (curtesy of mypoints.com ... use my new e-mail addy when you sign up;-). With the gift cards it will help out a lot. If I get the other one it will be $35 in gift cards. That is a good chunk. I love Longhorn!

Oh! Something sweet! John called me this morning after he left for work. He said he felt empty or that something was wrong. He asked if he kissed me good-bye and said I Love you? He said if he didn't he was very sorry! Awww! How sweet! I couldn't remember myself and told him I wasn't sure either. He said if we did it was more of a routine thing and that wasn't good. So we said "I love you" over the phone and said we would make up for it after I got home from work. That just put some love in my heart.

Have a good day!

Some news for you!

We are moving! Where to, you may ask, well.... Fort Worth, TX are. We are doing so within 4 weeks! YIKES!!!! JB's job has an opening and he volunteered to take it. Scary part is that we have to do it FAST! So much work to do but at the same time we don't have all the details so it will be hard. They wanted him Monday but obviously that isn't going to happen. So within 4 weeks, we should be there. We are just praying that it all goes smoothly. Anyone into Precious Moments? I have a curiou (sp?) cabinet full of them. We are trying to pack light and that is not something that is needed. I will miss them, but... Anyway, if you are interested, let me know.

Cool Bedroom Bliss Giveaway!

I went to The Secrets in the Sauce blog and found they are having a bedroom giveaway. I could use some nice stuff, but I am sure you could to. Check it out and enter!

Some good Love Dares the last few days.

Day 23: Remove anything that is hindering your relationship, stealing your affections, and turning your heart away from your spouse.

Day 24: Identify every object of lust in your life and remove it.

Day 25: Is there anything you haven't forgiven in your spouse, forgive today.

Now, the first one or two you might thing porn or another person like an affair or something like that, but if you think about it, there are other things in your life that might do the same. Such as reading a book. Do you read more than talk to your spouse? What about going out with friends? Or constantly picking up every little thing that falls on the floor or dirt you see, or do you watch too much TV? On the computer too much? There are so many things that can hinder or steal your affections... even an animal! You think of lust as a body thing; you lust after the flesh of another. Actually lust is:

LUST, n.

1. Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy; as the lust of gain.

My lust shall be satisfied upon them. Ex. 15.

2. Concupiscence; carnal appetite; unlawful desire of carnal pleasure. Romans 1. 2Peter 2.

3. Evil propensity; depraved affections and desires. James 1. Ps. 81.

4. Vigor; active power. [Not used.]

LUST, v.i.

1. To desire eagerly; to long; with after.

Thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. Deut. 12.

2. To have carnal desire; to desire eagerly the gratification of carnal appetite.

Lust not after her beauty in thy heart. Prov. 6.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her,hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matt. 5.

3. To have irregular or inordinate desires.

The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. James 4.

Lust not after evil things as they also lusted. 1Cor. 10.

4. To list; to like.

So you can see lust is not just a bodily lust but can be lusting after other things as well. A vacation, a new car, new outfit, or anything that you crave or want that would hurt your relationship with your spouse.

Let's say you want a new car. You want it so bad you drive by the car lot purposely to make sure it is still there. Your spouse knows you want it and probably would love to give it to you but it is not possible. You constantly talk about it or mention it to friends and family. How do you think that would make your spouse feel? Knowing they cannot give that to you would probably make them feel bad. Maybe even make them feel like they are inadequate and can't meet your needs, even though it isn't a need. They may think my spouse needs this to be happy. Then they feel your happiness is based on that and not them. You aren't lusting after your spouse but things.

Yes, I know it can mean other persons or bodies and dirty magazines and movies and what not. I do know that, but I think it can also mean things in our life that we can live without even though we don't think we can. Does that make sense?

Now, day 25: Is there anything you haven't forgiven in your spouse, forgive today. That is a good one too.

John and I fight but I usually just walk away. I am made as a hornet for awhile, but usually let it go and we are done. Sometimes if we don't talk it out, that will creep back into my mind and next time we fight, guess what... That is right there. I think actually telling your spouse you forgive is important. If you don't, it will constantly creep back up and will ruin your relationship. If he does ask for forgiveness, give it to him, but if he doesn't... You still need to forgive him. It will take the help of the Lord at times but you do need to forgive them. That is when it is hardest when they don't apologize and let it go.

A lot of food for thought these last few days. It has been hard to swallow.

***Side note: I got the definitions for lust from the Webester's 1828 dictionary online at http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,lust

So I am a day late ;-)

I know I said I would do this yesterday but it just didn't happen. To be honest, I am so exhausted right now, I don't want to do it, but I will. I need to because I will be busy this weekend and probably won't be able to. Then Monday is here and it all starts over. lol Blah, blah, blah. lol

First the Love Dare. I am sort of doing it still. The reason I say sort of is because some of the things it asks you to do, I do anyway. Some though make you think and you try to come up with ways to show them you love them. Like doing something out of the ordinary or do something special. Last night was make a special dinner and focus on getting to know your spouse better. Well, we had to go to the funeral home last night so that put a damper on that. Plus the fact that we have kids made it a little harder. So after the funeral home we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse. That was the first time either of us were there. I must say I didn't really learn anything new about him, but we did have a nice time together and enjoyed the food and company.

Another one was to make a list a list of positive things about your spouse and sometime during the day, thank them for having that characteristic. That was a little tricky. I was trying to find a good way to thank him without being obvious.

Today's is a little easier as it has nothing to do with my husband, but with myself. It is to ask God to show you where you stand with Him and ask for strength and grace to settle your eternal destination. That was is easy because I know my eternal destination. The Lord Jesus saved me from my sins and because He sacrificed His blood I have eternal life. I could be closer to Him. That is always an ongoing thing but I do know where my eternal home is.

Anyway, it is all going well. I am sorry that I haven't updated more but I know you all understand being busy and time getting away from you.

John called a few minutes ago. He has to go down to 40 hrs a week. OUCH! When he got hired he was told he could have 50 a week. That is a lot of money to lose. He did say though that he can work whatever hours he wanted. So he can go in when he wants and come home when he wants. That part is cool but financially... OUCH! Ho hum! The Lord will provide.

I need to update!

Life has been a tad bit busy for me and I know I need to update. I will tomorrow, I promise! I know you are eager to hear the Love Dare update. Sorry about leaving you hanging but I know you all understand.

Love Dare update

I didn't get a chance to update on my Love Dare challenge. So here goes...

I did call John, twice actually the other day. I never had a chance to ask him what I could do for him, but I knew a few things that would make him happy and I did them. I made sure his dresser was full of clothes and also gave him a back rub. When I was talking to him I told him I was going to go to the store to pick up a few things, including dinner. He said he was planning on bringing dinner home that night! I was excited. So he Chinese take-out home that night. Yeah!

Yesterdays (Friday) was to ask your spouse what to tell you three things make him uncomfortable or irritate him. You are not supposed to attack them or get upset with them for telling you. He hasn't answered that one yet. I did find out that he was doing the Love Dare thing too. Or attempting too. We will see if he makes it all the way. LOL

Today, Day 6, is Choose to react to tough circumstances in your marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation. Nothing has happened yet today. This could be an easy day. LOL Or I can hope anyway. ;-)

Photo Tag

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag four people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)



This is just a random Christmas picture. Noting exciting.

TAG:

Jenileigh

PuduGirl

Nicole

Theresa

Roses

I went out yesterday and bought my husband some sesame sticks and some strawberry cream savers. I also put them with that other bag of peanut butter m&m's and made a little gift bag. I got a card and put the normal "love you" stuff on it then wrote "I was out shopping today, saw these, and thought of you." or something like that. I had to work last night so I left it on the table so he would see it when he got home. The kids knew I did it too so they were going to make sure that dad got it. I come home and he had found his bag and was eating his sesame sticks. He didn't say much but I was yelling at Seth for loading the dishwasher (or waiting to load it) at 10:00 last night. I shouldn't have done that. Coming home and yelling is not a good thing to do. Anyway once I got things sorted, I went to the bedroom to get my work clothes off and jammie on. On the bed were 4 roses. He had bought them on his way home from work. That made my day! I made big deal about it and thanked him for them.

Now, did I get the roses because of the little bag of m&m's or did I get them because he is doing this Love Dare thing too? lol Either way, I will take it! I like roses, but they die. That part is depressing because the roses are given in love and they are beautiful and then they die. I do love the roses and am thankful for them. I felt like he actually thought of me today.

Today is day 4... Contact your spouse sometime during the day and ask him how he is doing and if there is anything you can do for him. Psalm 113:17-19.

I think I forgot to add the verses that go with the daily dare. It is never to late to join in!!!

Love Dare

If you haven't seen the movie Fireproof, be sure to do so when it comes out on DVD. It is a great movie and my hubby, who was reluctant to see it, loved it. It is encouraging for marriage, but it gives the plan of salvation in it. It isn't KJV, but it is in there. In the movie it talks about a book called (link) The Love Dare. It is a book to help your marriage or encourage your marriage. You don't have to have a troubled marriage to get help with this book. John and I have a wonderful marriage. God first, each other second... Always! But sometimes the little things I miss and I want to make sure I don't miss them. So I found this website (link) 40-day Love Dare Challenge. It sends you an e-mail every day with what to do on it. Today is day three so you will be a few days behind, but I truly believe in the end it will help our marriage out.

Day 1 was Resolve to say nothing negative about your spouse today. I have to admit that one was easy for a Monday. I didn't see him much. I knew he would go to scouts and then come home to watch the Ohio State game so I wouldn't talk to him much. At the same time... it wasn't just to him I couldn't say anything negative but also about him to other people. Again, it was easy as I wasn't upset with him. I wonder if I had been upset with him if it would have been different. I should say I am sure it would have been different. Anyway, I made it through that day. But the funny thing is, the next day (Tuesday) I had did say something negative. It wasn't a bad negative but it was still negative. It actually made me stop and think.

Day 2 was Do at least one unexpected gesture to your spouse as an act of kindness. The problem was he was at work all day then when he would be home I would be at work. I never know when I will get home so I thought how am I going to do this. Well after work I went across the street to BP and picked him up his favorite... peanut butter m&ms. I actually got him 2 bags. I gave one to him last night and planned on putting the other in today's lunch but forgot. He asked me where I got them. I told him I went across the street to get them for you. He said, "Yeah only because you got a drink". I said, "No, I went to get those. Seth had gotten me a drink earlier." You could see the "oh" in him and then he thanked me. Now if I had just gotten it because I was there to get a drink, I still think he would have been thankful, but it was have been a different kind of thankful. Does that make sense? Anyway, it made a little impression on him so... we shall see.

Today is Day 3. It says Buy your spouse something that says "I was thinking of you today." As you can see... I should have waited a day on the m&ms. LOL I will figure out something. I am not sure what though.

I am going to try to stick with it and see what happens. The Love Dare started Jan. 5th and ends on February 13th. That just happens to be his birthday and the weekend we plan on going away. I am hoping to have it planned out to go to the creation museum and I found an awesome hotel to stay at with a city window view. Oh it looks beautiful at night. It is a little more expensive, so I don't know if we will be able to, but I will try.

Check out the websites I have listed and think about doing it or getting the book. It is easier to see the movie to help you understand it more but give it a shot.

Back to the Monday blah! ;-)

Life is now back to normal I guess. John went back to work and we started school back up. We are getting a slow start though. That is okay. Tomorrow will go better I am sure. I have to run to the grocery store today as well. I am just not up for it all. I think after they finish up before lunch then we will quit for today. I want to run to the library and to the grocery store so that is probably what we will do. Take it easy the first day. :-) Lazy, aren't I?

John and I are planning a mini vacation for February. It is to celebrate his birthday and Valentine's Day. I am so excited!!! It will be nice to get away for the weekend. It will just be a weekend. I hope we find a good place to go. I am looking forward to it.

Vacation is over

Well the Christmas/winter vacation is over. Now life is back to normal. I say that it is over because it is Saturday and I will be doing the normal stuff from here on. It was a nice vacation but I didn't do all that I wanted to. I had so many ideas but they never came to be. Part of that was because hubby didn't have the same ideas, but that is okay. He needed a vacation to do what he wanted. He didn't need to be doing what I wanted. I think he had a nice vacation. Or at least I hope he did.

I will probably look at school stuff today or tomorrow to find out where I am and where I need to start back up. That is the bad part about vacation you lose your place in life. LOL I hope we can get back into the swing of things with school and get motivated to be done. No more breaks until spring, if then. I think we may have some math to catch up on as I remember we didn't get as far as I had hoped before break.

Pray for my friend's step-dad. He is in ICU and very sick. I believe they think he will recover but it will be a long road. Also another friend lost her mom yesterday. Pray for that family as well please.

Enjoy the weekend!

2009

May the Lord bless each of you throughout the new year!