Working In The Garden

I've been hoping to post an update with photos, but I can't seem to get a break from the taxes for dh's two businesses - it's a long story, I'll spare you. Needless to say, I think I'm on the slide down from the learning curve. And then I decided to upgrade from Quickbooks Simple Start 2008 (free downloadable program) to Quickbooks Pro and am I ever glad I did! I swear you end up needing to know algebra (which I did pass with flying colors in college, but who remembers that stuff?) in order to figure out the transaction privilege taxes.

Anyhoo... I'm just making a quick post about what I'm planning today in the garden. Kev isn't here to help me, he and dh are at a men's meeting at our fellowship. It's 7:15am. I've just come in from milking, and I'm going to have some Zucchini Soup for breakfast before I head out.

I am definitely making progress in the garden, thanks to all the help from Kev. He can dig like no tomorrow, that boy of mine. I had hoped to have his help yesterday, but ended up spending the entire day trying to figure out January and February's transaction privilege taxes (forgot one invoice in January so had to do an amendment and in the process determined I'd made mistakes on the other lines, ack! and then I had to have February's in by 5pm.) He has helped dig, he has helped me lay chicken wire under the beds, and the biggest help of all is airing up the wheelbarrow tire (it's flat within days of airing it up) and making the trek several hundred feet away to bring back the composted manure. Thanks, Kev! Our garden would not be this far along without your help!!

I planted last on March 1st. Of the twenty or so squash seeds I planted, only one germinated. A few days ago another had sprouted, but sadly it has disappeared. I can only conclude that something is getting in the garden, and not gophers this time (they are effectively blocked by the chicken wire under this particular bed). It could be a bird slipping through some little crack. But they usually can't find their way back out. So I don't know what it is this time. Whatever it is has to be able to jump or climb chicken wire that is one foot tall in order to get into the bed.

I planted red potatoes which are coming up like crazy. My guide that I like to call "When to Plant What" says potatoes should be planted February 15th to February 28th. So I planted them one day late. The weather seemed to stay cooler than normal, at least for the first time in years I was hoping it would warm up, instead of stay cold! I babied the tomato plants for two weeks because it kept getting down to 45°F and colder during the night. The first night it was forecasted to go no lower than 50°F they were on their own. Since that evening, they have been on their own, no night time covering and they are doing good. I am finally beginning to see some steady growth. And doggone it, I lost the notebook I'd carefully written down which variety was planted!! Hopefully I'll find it as it would be nice to know without having to guess which tomato is doing well. I know the Anna Russian's are not doing very well at all.

I planted cucumber seeds on March 1st and those are coming up pretty good. Six in each cage, and at least 18 have germinated. The corn has been a disappointment. I planted about 80 seeds, and only see about 20 plants sporadically spaced. That won't do for corn. I need to plant more. I suspect the corn and squash had trouble germinating because the ground was still too cold. A small percentage wasn't phased.

I haven't gotten my watering system set up. I don't know if it is going to work out since I have so many beds to water this year.

I planted some green bean seeds (Rattlesnake Bean) from 2004 probably on the 16th. I didn't write it down.

So I've been hearing about people wanting to get back to growing their own food, due to the state of our economy. Check out the notice on my favorite seed company's front page today:


I got an email a few days ago for Survival Seeds. Enough seeds to plant an acre, only $143.00. If you've never gardened, you had better bury a few books on how to do it, because momma, there's a learning curve. Here's an interesting link about a doomsday seed vault. Bill Gates seems to think the world is going to be destroyed, and these seeds will help the survivors start again. Let me just interject one little thing. Some of us believe we'll be raptured out of here before the worst comes. Most people think you have to do all sorts of things to be saved, but Jesus did the work on the cross at Calvary. Now don't leave yet, just hear me out. All you have to do is believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead. He won our salvation with that selfless act. No works are necessary. You don't have to go to a certain church, you don't have to pay tithes, you don't have to ask forgiveness for every little sin you commit, you don't have to be baptized. If you think you can get to heaven on your own merits, think about it. In effect you are saying, "Jesus, the work you did at Calvary wasn't good enough. I'm going to do all these works on my own and earn my place in heaven because I'm a 'good person'". See how wrong that is? We don't have to worry so much about all the things that are happening today in the world. Because our real home is in heaven. If you truly believe that, then daily troubles tend to not look so difficult (even though I struggle with this daily).

Okay, back to the gardening post.

So here is my list of what needs to be done in the garden. Heaven knows I probably won't get around to all of it, but I will get some of it done or at least started:

1. Begin preparing the new bed for the 11 eggplant babies waiting to be transplanted. I'm still well within the transplant date. Cool.
2. Transplant the watermelon plants. They are going in a long thin bed which is along the side of the garden, they will be trained to grow up.
   
3. Clear and re-manure the bed where the strawberries are going to be transplanted.
   
4. Transplant the strawberry plants.
5. Plant more summer squash seeds, plus one winter squash, butternut.
6. Clear the "triangle bed" area, where I'm planning to put in flowers.
7. Plant sunflower seeds.
8. Plant green bean seeds.

Within the next couple of weeks, I will need to have several tomato cages built. Probably we're going to need at least 16. Dh's grinder will cut through the construction wire I use for tomato cages, like buttah.

It has been a long haul. When I first started out, the entire garden was filled with weeds and desert grasses. Not any longer! After I finally get the inside done, I will have to spend some time on the outer perimeters as there are weeds growing all around. They will be very happy to drop their seeds into the garden for next year! I want to prevent that.

Which reminds me, it's also time for bullhead sticker patrol. I know we are going to have some new plants coming up because there's no way we got every single bullhead sticker (which holds several seeds in each one) during last year's inspection.

I think that's it.

Until next time.

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Snacks Sunday

I signed up to bring snacks for church for the first time. I think we did good, as it seemed most people were happy with the selection we'd chosen.

The only problem is, since I worked with dh yesterday and ds2 forgot we were bringing the snacks today and we got home so late last night, and I was exhausted from working... we didn't get started on making the food until this morning at 6am. I got started on the breads right away. I made two quick breads. One tried and true - Whole Wheat Banana Bread from La Leche League's cookbook Whole Foods for the Whole Family and a new one, Apple Date Bread. The Apple Date bread turned out very dry, as it has essentially no fat, except for the pecan's fat content. I made a loaf of the Apple Date bread, pictured above in slices. It looked pretty and festive, but that was to hide the dried out looking top. Ack! I also made a dozen small muffins out of the Apple Date bread.

I made two dozen banana bread muffins and frosted 12 of them. Ds2 made the sugar cookies. The vegetable tray was all freshly cut veggies, with real Hidden Valley Ranch dressing in sour cream.

I can't stand Hidden Valley Ranch dressing already made up in the bottle. Why does it taste SO different than the real stuff? Well, actually the "real stuff" is made from a mix... but it is so much better than the bottled kind. At least in my opinion.

Well, we were scurrying around like mad for an hour before we left. We have a small kitchen which doesn't help.

I wore a knitted ski cap throughout service. The color matched perfectly to my new blue dress... Pastor asked to me after service, "Aren't you warm in that hat?" I said at first that I wasn't, then I changed my mind and said that I was but not too warm. My hat was made of chenille and gave me a Russian look. I didn't let on to Pastor the real reason I wore the hat... it's because I was in such a hurry to get going that I didn't have time to fix my hair so I'd just wound it up in a bun, wet and all, then threw on the cap. Once I got to church, I decided to just go with it.

Until next time.

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The Earring Mystery

So the weirdest thing happened to me this morning. This is one of my three pairs of earrings. You might notice the posts are different. Well, they weren't when I put them in my ears this morning. The post that comes with this pair of earrings is the one on the left.

We were halfway to work and I reached up to touch my earrings. I do that fairly often, and when I touched my left ear I noticed the post was missing. I felt disappointed right away, thinking I'd have to not wear my earrings today. Not that I care THAT much about wearing earrings, but when I wear this dress I'm wearing today, I like to wear jewelry. Anyway, so I thought maybe the post had fallen off while I was sitting there in the car and I turned on the overhead light, took off my seatbelt and started looking around in my seat.

That's when I found that other post, the one to the top right. A very nice looking, much higher quality post. Not just the little squiggly piece of metal with an opening, but the kind that grips so you are less likely to lose the earring.

First off, I'm the only person wearing earrings who rides in our vehicle. Second, I don't have any posts like the one above. Third, how bizarre is that, that I lose a post, and find a nicer replacement within moments? A tiny little post that seems to have appeared from thin air.

One year ago, I would have probably started crying because I would have felt like God had performed a tiny minuscule miracle just for me. I would have felt loved and cherished that God cares for me THAT much, down to losing an earring post!

However - and I have a much longer, more detailed blog post coming eventually - our church does not believe that God intervenes and certainly is out of the miracle performing business. One of the arguments used is we are to heed 2 Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight." But you see, I wasn't asking for a "sign" or proof that God exists, or that God loves me. It just happened, and like I said, a year ago, a warm feeling would have come over me and I would have felt like God was putting his arm around me and whispering, "I love you my child, you see, even the smallest things matter to me when it comes to my children."

But now that my views have been challenged, I'm not sure what to think. Do guardian angels exist? How and where did that post come from? I mean, if someone else that rode in our vehicle wore earrings, or if we picked up women hitchhikers, or took earring wearing people places, or simply if one of my pairs of earrings had a post like this one.

This is only one of many hundreds of tiny coincidences I've encountered like this.

I must be one of the luckiest people in the whole wide world to have such good luck all the time. Or maybe it's that I'm so optimistic. Maybe another person would have gotten angry or upset that the post they found didn't match the original one exactly. I suppose that could be construed as having bad luck. "Boy, I find a post, but it doesn't match. How awful is my luck?"

Until next time.

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Artificially Sweetened Pudding Vs. Homegrown Meat

My mom has become interested in going to our church. So far she hasn't been able to make it. Mainly because her significant other is resisting. He doesn't want her to go for whatever reason.

This is a huge thing, my mom having a desire to go to church. She has wanted to go to church over the years, but since Mrs. So and So damaged us to very badly for fourteen years, it has been difficult. My mom has tried a couple of other churches but ended up being hurt so she stopped going.

We've been going since June and I have just talked a little about our church and what we've been learning. Most of it has been eye-opening. Some of it has been hard to accept right away and has taken some time and much study of the Bible to come to the same conclusion. A lot of it has been a comfort and confirmation. Then Mom met our Pastor at the memorial service and she felt comfortable around him as a person. He is like a regular guy.

My mom has a few television ministers that she watches and it occurred to me this morning that she's been watching the vanilla ice cream ministers. The ones whose sermons are about being happy and they smile a lot while they minister to you and they never read from the Bible.

I think this has served two purposes for her. To alleviate her guilt over not attending church, and not having to listen to ministers who will only exacerbate her guilt.

But that's the thing about learning to rightly divide the Word of Truth - it's studying the Bible and learning how to figure out what instructions are given to us (the "Gentiles").

It becomes very interesting. No fear, or guilt. No pressure to give money. No railing about hell and damnation. Just studying the Bible and I tell you it is just fascinating to see the all the places in the Bible that correspond to each other. I thought this was fascinating, to see how prophecies were fulfilled. Learning the Pauline teachings makes me want to read the Bible. All my life I pretty much feared and dreaded reading the Bible. Because it was always used as an instrument against me. One of my favorite things to do in life is read and yet the Bible was not on my favorite reading list, because I was taught to read it wrong. When I read the Bible, it was out of guilt and it was difficult to pay attention. My mind would wander.

The other thing is I actually want to go to church. I don't like missing the fellowship with my "family". You see, this dispensational teaching is not embraced by all churches, so some Christians that I speak with have 1) never heard of it, 2) don't believe it, 3) can't begin to look into it.

I do have some feelings cropping up which has to do with people being people. I sometimes feel like "they" don't like me. The other women in the church. Maybe they think I'm too fat. Maybe they don't respect me because dh and I aren't yet married. At least the pastor's wife talks to me and seems to like me. And the older women are nice. I'm also realizing maybe they are just shy. I am also shy. I feel like since they have been going longer (some for years) it is more their duty to approach me. But I decided last week to stop looking at it that way. I decided to renew my commitment to introducing myself and meeting one new person each Sunday.

In watching one of the "happy" ministers this morning, one that my mom likes, it occurred to me that listening to those guys is like having a steady diet of artificially sweetened pudding. Almost no nutritional value. Compare that to eating real organic, delicious homegrown beef. The nutritional value to the soul cannot be compared. I'm learning things I've never heard and it's right there, in the Bible!

For example, how many animals of each kind did Noah take on the ark? Take my poll at the top right side of my blog.

Until next time.

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Money Issues and Paying Tithes

If you just want to know what I'm going to say about this, without reading through my long dissertation, the bottom line is our church believes that we do not have to pay tithes, and that we should not expect any earthly reward for giving to our church.

I have talked before about how when I choose to get into something, it's more often than not something no one else knows about. This time, we've really done it up good. I can't even talk to the majority of Christians about my faith. Our church is non-denominational. I think we are called Berean Dispensationalists. We believe that Paul is our Apostle, and he was ministering to the "Gentiles" which means anyone who isn't Jewish. We are Bible believers. We believe that the Bible should be "rightly divided" according to II Timothy 2:15 - Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We don't just listen to what our pastor tells us that the Bible is saying, but we read it for ourselves and decide for ourselves. We only use the King James Version Bible (which is a plus for me. I've always been put off by the new versions of the Bible. I have felt offended and like we are being dumbed down to think that the Bible has to be translated into "everyday" language because people are too stupid to figure out what Bible language means.) We believe that we are living in the Age of Grace. Some of what I am learning is hard to grasp. For example, BDs do not believe that God "leads" us. I have still not accepted that 100% but I am still researching and trying to figure out what I'm missing. I have believed for my entire life that God is with me and leading me through life. Well, actually I strayed for a few years, but especially in the past year I felt much leading by God. I will explore this topic at another time, when I understand more about it.

Most everything else makes a lot of sense, feels logical, intelligent, and also confirms lifelong impressions. Take the topic of giving tithes, for example. I've had trouble coming up with 10% of my gross income most of my life for one thing, and secondly, the notion that God will bless you 10 times over for tithing 10%. It has never felt right. In spite of myself, I would always catch myself wondering and watching and waiting for that 10 times the amount I gave to come rolling back into my wallet. From the age of five, I was taught to give 10% of my gross income. For most of my life I've not been in a position to give 10% to the church. When I was in my teens, I was expected to give our pastor (Mrs. So and So) all of my income since I lived in her home and someone had to pay for my room and board. However, she was also extricating fairly large sums of money each month from my mother, for child support. Because after all, someone had to pay for my room and board! (Obviously I was a very expensive boarder. NOT.) My mother also felt guilty and Mrs. So and So was able to persuade her to give much more than 10%. I believe the sum my mother regularly gave to Mrs. So and So was $300 to $400 per month. I'm sure that was most of the grocery money back then (7 children). Since the grocery money was given away, my mother would then go to her mother and "borrow" the money. Mrs. So and So said that since my grandparents didn't pay their 10% tithes to the church, God was taking that money from them. This is wrong, so very wrong. I know for a fact that my stepfather wasn't making $3000 to $4000 per month, so the amount of money was way, way, way over what my mother should have given. I'd be surprised to find out if he was bringing in more than $1200 a month. That would have been back in 1980.

My mother was convinced early on in her relationship with Mrs. So and So to faithfully pay her tithes, no matter what. She was convinced the year I was six. I remember what happened. Mrs. S&S had asked my mother for her tithes. My mother had under $20 to her name at the time. She declined to give it to Mrs. S&S who promptly told my mother that God would take that money from her for her disobedience to God's servant. Later my mom went to the store, with her three little girls. Remember my father had abandoned us approximately one year earlier, so she was all alone and barely making ends meet. Mama bought groceries and we got out to the car and she absentmindedly put the couple bags of groceries on top of the car. She got her babies in the car and... drove away... leaving the bags of groceries on top of the car. They didn't stay there for long. When we got home and the groceries were gone, my mother realized what she had done, and drove us back to the store. We found some of our groceries spilled onto the road, but not much was left. My mother was very frightened by this experience and convinced that God had punished her and took those groceries from us. She was scared from that time on to not give tithes. Ten years later I was sent to live with Mrs. S&S. At that point in time my mother was commanded to give the large sum of money each month to pay for me living there.

For a long time, I considered myself "paid up" with regards to tithing, since I gave my entire paycheck every week for more than five years. I haven't felt a lot of guilt over the past twenty or so years mostly because I'd convinced myself I was paid up. But the idea remained in my mind, that we should be paying 10% of our gross.

The part about where you get blessed 10 times over when you pay tithes has always struck me as the wrong way of thinking, sort of like playing the lottery. I had one Christian tell me that it's okay if I don't pay tithes - God won't punish me. He will just withhold the blessings that He would have given me, had I paid my tithes. Another Christian tried to persuade me to tithe to a specific television minister because he had been blessed financially every time he tithed to this particular minister. This guy has to be THE biggest scam artist out there.

One of the first things I learned about our church is that they don't expect us to give tithes. When I told that to my mother, she asked, "But how do they keep the church open?" I explained that we go by the scripture verse of Paul's: II Corinthians 9:7 - Every man according as he purpose in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Our church teaches that this means we should think carefully about how much we can give, and to give that amount cheerfully. Otherwise, don't give.

Back to the part about my mother getting money from her parents to feed their children. This caused a great rift in our family. Now my Grandma has died and she had some money in the bank 10 years ago. My Grandpa told my Aunt before he died in 1990, "Be sure to get all the money you can from Grandma, before your sister gets it all." So my Aunt started getting large amounts of money from Grandma and BUYING LAND. Big bunches of land. And land for her daughter, too. Where my mother was getting $300-$400 a month for food, my Aunt was getting thousands of dollars at a time. Like, $9000 or $20,000. Then Grandma started getting confused and walking through the neighborhood looking for "Daddy" (my Grandpa) and fell and hit her head and it just got to be where she couldn't live alone, so my mom moved her into her home.

Of course, Grandma's money came with her. My mom sold Grandma's house, too. My Aunt figures she should get around $30,000. But that money was spent taking care of Grandma over the past 10 years. My mother provided 24 hour a day, around the clock care. Seven days a week. Never a holiday or vacation. Constant, every minute of every day. My mom was afraid my Aunt would be mad. She finally got hold of my Aunt's husband to let him know Grandma was in hospice and my Aunt never called her back.

My Grandma paid for her cremation and memorial services at the funeral home many years ago. Probably in 1990 or so. But we live in a state where the whole family has to give approval for the deceased's wishes. This means my mom and my Aunt have to sign paperwork and agree that Grandma can be cremated. My Aunt is now refusing to call the funeral home back. They have been trying to reach her for over a week now. I guess if she won't answer the phone or call back, the next step they take is assembling their team of lawyers to get a court order to follow through with Grandma's wishes.

All over money. Poor Grandma. She never set out to make anyone's life miserable just because she was so frugal. She was the most frugal person I've EVER known. She would put some of today's frugal people to shame. Of course, living through the depression helped her out in that regard. She was generous with her money, but it was embarrassing to ask her for money to pay your electricity bill, knowing hers was only $20 a month because she kept all her lights turned off, except for one bare bulb. She only watched television a little bit each day or week. Her water bill was even less. She rarely flushed her toilet using the handle because she would leave a bucket in the kitchen sink to gather water when she washed her hands (for decades there was only a tub and toilet in the bathroom) or washed a dish. Then she'd carry the little bucket to the bathroom to pour the water into the toilet and flush it.

If you want to know more about why we don't have to pay tithes in the Age of Grace, here is a bible study that explains it in detail.

Until next time.

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Today's Housework

As usual, I'm having trouble getting motivated.

Sometimes I use music to get me going, but after I read this article yesterday I was a bit chagrined to discover that I may give up listening to my favorite music. It slams Contemporary Christian Music claiming that an estimated 95% is not Biblical.

Anyway, here is my plan. I'm going to get off this computer and head into the kitchen. I'm setting the timer for 30 minutes and I'm going to see how much I can accomplish. Since I had the kitchen cleaned up yesterday, except for the floor, it shouldn't take more than half an hour.

My next 30 minutes will be either: Tackle the living room, or bead another line on the veil.

The next 30 minutes will be the reverse of whatever I chose - you know, if I beaded, I'll clean the living room and vice versa.

I'm getting so close on being done with the edge beading on the veil. I have about five feet to go (about 2 hours or so). I've asked the guys to stop by JoAnn's and pick up another package of the beads so I can finish and start on the pearl clusters. It is beautiful.

Some time today I also need to clean ds1's bedroom, fold laundry and put it away (it's so much easier to do one load at a time!). I've already printed out all the statements for our checking and credit card accounts so I want to get to that today, too. It's been six weeks since I last worked with our finances. OUCH!

See you around 11:20am.

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Every Woman Series - Sexual Purity

Ds2 found a great series of Christian books written to guide men and women to sexual purity. There is a series for women and one for men. I recently ordered Every Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge, curious to see what she had to say. Sexual purity is important even within marriage. The men's series begins with Every Man's Battle.

During the many years when I was abstinent, looking for guidance and support, there were few limited resources. One book I owned was Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity. I also learned a great deal from a woman named Margot Sheahan who started a group for unwed mothers who she taught how to practice chastity. Margot passed away a few years ago. Her passing was a great loss. Another excellent down-to-earth resource was Teri Lester's Healthy Love: 36 Questions and Answers on practicing abstinence.

One of the things I found interesting in Every Woman's Battle was the discussion regarding how women look at other women and compare bodies. It struck a chord with me and my body size issues.

Mrs. Ethridge's counsel is persuasive. If you are a Christian struggling with your sexuality, I believe you will find these books very helpful. If you have children that you wish to guide onto the path of sexual purity, you will want to read these books.

This topic is controversial and indeed for many years I went along with the whole "If it feels good, do it" philosophy. But it did not serve me well. When something doesn't work, you seek out what does.

Until next time.

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Happy Father's Day 2007

Pretty calm day today. The washer is may be unfixable. Dh didn't have his voltage meters with him but it might be the timer. I'm very disappointed. This is a Maytag washer but apparently the only "quality" Maytag washers to be had costs hundreds of dollars. This apparently is a cheap version made of plastic. So I guess a "new" washing machine is in order. Although I refuse to buy a brand new one. I would rather get a twenty year old washer than to get one made of plastic that will fall apart in a year.

Ds2 and I went to church. Ds2 enjoyed the service and meeting fellow believers. Next Sunday hopefully we will all attend, including ds1. On the way to church, ds2 and I noticed a man walking along the side of the road. He wasn't hitchhiking and he was clearly leaving a car behind. So we decided to stop and give him a ride. The nearest phone was about 8 miles away. He was very greatfulgrateful. We mentioned we were on our way to church, so we started talking a bit about religion. We decided to give him one of our Questions and Answers from the Bible by Les Feldick books.

I don't often pick up strangers and don't often feel that I should. But sometimes I feel I'm supposed to, and so I do. If memory serves, I've given six rides in the past six years. One was a young couple carrying a newborn baby in one of those baby carriers. The baby was sleeping but in full sun as they walked in the heat of the summer morning. One was a young woman with a bunch of groceries. Two were pregnant women, with broken down vehicles in the middle of the summer, in the heat of the afternoon. Both were crying and red faced from the heat (separate incidents). The other was a young man needing to get about twenty miles east of where he was. It was late at night, it was on my way and I took a chance on that one. It was okay though. I actually asked him if I could pat him down and made sure he wasn't carrying a knife or gun. As it turned out, he was a Christian, carrying a book he'd been reading. A Christian book for men. He and his wife were estranged and he'd spent the night at her home to visit their children. I told him we'd pray for his family and told him the story of our family's reconciliation. Then the man today. I know it's unsafe to give people rides, but sometimes I feel that I'm supposed to. I feel a strong feeling, which I believe is God urging me to help this person for whatever reason. Otherwise, I see people walking or broke down on a regular basis and never have a thought to help them.

I managed to get some work done in the house. I worked on the kitchen again this morning after milking and then it was time to get ready for church. Sunday service starts at 10:45 but they don't get started until 11; service lasts until noon. It's an hour drive there. Once we got home from church I had two loads of laundry left to do. But I was tired, so I laid down to take a short nap at 1:30. I woke up near 5pm. I can't believe I slept so long. Guess I needed the rest.

My comforter needed to be rewashed since it sat in dirty water, then on the porch in a basket and was smelling sour and mildewy all at the same time. So I decided to "borrow" the neighbor's washer (the people we housesit for). They have never had a problem with us using their place, for example when our water pump went out, they said we could take showers there or wash clothes, whatever, until we got the water pump fixed. Thanks, guys!

Am I the only one that still has trouble with Internet Explorer opening Blogger blogs? It takes a long time, used to be I couldn't log in using IE. Haven't tried in a while.

Their washing machine is a pain. It's a GE and one of those that you can't just set it to spin if you want. No way to tell where that setting is. So I chose the wrong setting, the one that rinsed my blanket twice or was it three times? I guess it's good and clean. I was so pertubed because it took about 45 minutes to get that far and I still had one load to go. I put that load in and drove back home because I needed to milk. But when I got here and started to get the milking pail, dh told me he'd milked. Whew. I did water the trees at the neighbor's house while there and I also got in a few rows on the hood for the baby sweater. I can't wait to see the buttons. I hope the color will match. I would have preferred to have white, but they only had pink, blue, green and yellow.

I stuck around at home waiting for the clothes to finish, washed a load of dishes, wiped off counters again, swept and mopped the floor and folded and put away two loads of laundry (done yesterday). Ds2 tidied up the living room and vacuumed. And I got into ds1's bedroom today to clean. I missed two Sundays. It wasn't too bad, but it did need my attention or of course it would have been that much worse.

I'm so glad that I decided to buy everyone a second set of sheets for their beds since the washing machine was broken.

I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday at 7:30am and dh has an appointment that day also, so it's looking like we're going to take the day off. We'll trade that day for Saturday. So next week will be extra busy. I'm still trying to find the time to visit with one of my dear friends. I know she thinks I've forgotten about her, but I haven't. I just don't know when or how I'm going to make the time. If I had any comp time at work I'd just take a Thursday off, but the problem with that is I am about 8 hours in the hole for comp time. Meaning I owe my company an entire day! Since I still work part time, I don't get sick leave, holiday pay, personal days or anything like that.

Dh seems to like his new table saw. He has been experiencing a lack of energy which is so unusual for him. I told him "Welcome to my world". I'm always pushing myself, even though I'm tired and don't feel like doing anything. I almost gave up last week on trying to keep up with the house but I felt like God said to me that He'd given me the strength and don't let Him down now just because no one else seems to care or appreciate. Then when ds2 cleaned up on Thursday that was such a big help. If dh hadn't had his class on Saturday I like to think I would have been able to get a bit of progress on my bedroom or bathroom.

I'm preparing in my mind the story of My Faith and the journey I've gone through over my life, and how God brought me back to Him. I plan to write it in several parts as I have time.

I guess that's it for now and I'm tired again.

Until next time.

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New Couch

I found the perfect couch today. I was going to wait until the 24th and go into the "big city" where the Goodwill's would be having their 50% off sale. But I decided instead to take our big truck with me into the little town where we do our grocery shopping, and check out the thrift stores to see what they had.

First off, I decided to buy a bookcase which was marked $31.25. Pressboard, but I thought it was an okay price. I should have pictures of it tomorrow, if everything goes as planned. When I got up to the register I saw a sign behind the cashier that said, "All Children's Clothing $0.75 each. Everything Else 50% Off". So I asked the cashier if *everything* was 50% off. She said it was. So my bookcase only cost me $15.63! I also bought two more frames, they were $1.13 and $1.37. They had shades of blue.

There was a couch there that I liked for the shape. See, I'd already decided color shouldn't affect my choice, since I could make a slip cover, hopefully for not too much. But this couch was $174.95. Too much, even at 50% off. I looked at a few more couches, each one more and more expensive. I contemplated purchasing the one for $174.95, but started looking around some more and found a couch for $99.95. It had shades of blue and was very pretty and clean looking. I took some measurements on it and called home to consult with ds2 and we decided to go for it. So it ended up costing $49.97. After I saw this pretty one, I decided the other one was going to require several hours of time making a slipcover, plus it was dirty looking.

After I paid for the bookcase and frames, I paid for the couch. I wasn't done yet though. I went looking around again and found a nice chair, that cost me $7.47. I initially purchased it to go with the new couch, since the colors are similar, but I may end up giving it to ds1, we'll see. I bought three more frames that I liked. I'm going to put pictures with frames in shades of blue and gold all over the accent wall. I can't wait to see how it looks!

While the man was loading up my furniture, I saw a VHS cabinet that I wanted, cost $6.63.

I decided to go home and unload, then change back to my Pathfinder. I love my little SUV. It has air conditioning and a wonderful stereo system. The big truck has neither, and it was getting pretty hot out today.

So I switched vehicles and took off again. I still had to buy groceries and run errands. On my way back, I decided to see if the lamp and end table I'd liked were still at the store. They were! The lamp was $4.25, complete with lampshade. The end table was $7.13. Then I drove back to Lowe's and bought a Minwax Wood Finish Stain Marker. $4.98. Once I got home, I spiffed up the end table with the stain marker, and shined the glass. It is a handsome looking end table, and the wood matches the wood pieces on the couch. Oh, and the lamp is blue, too!

All in all, a good day, full of blessings! The really cool thing is I asked the lady at the thrift store how often they have 50% off sales and she said not very often. I asked her if they had them at certain times and she said they never know when, the main office just calls them and tells them to do the sale. So I felt like God heard my prayers asking for a couch to match the livingroom colors, and he sent me looking on the 50% off sale day!

I hope to have some wonderful before and after pictures tomorrow and Sunday. I'm concentrating on the livingroom this weekend.

My right ear is now involved in this illness. It feels funny... clogged and like I might be getting an ear infection. I had ds2 put 3 drops of warm olive oil with garlic into my ear, hoping to stave off an infection. I also took 15 drops of grapefruit seed extract. I have been taking echinachea, vitamin C, and extra cod liver oil (Vitamin A). I'm also trying to get enough (more) sleep. My tonsils are less inflamed, but I did feel feverish today while running all over the place... Tomorrow I do have to leave the house to purchase hay and chicken feed, but I should then get to be home for the rest of the weekend.

Until next time.

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I'm sick again!! I seem to recall at least two people telling me I should be extra careful with myself in couple of weeks after being sick because it would come back on me again. Well, on Thursday evening my throat started feeling sore, this time my tonsils felt swollen. I began taking my "get well" stuff, to include echinachea/goldenseal, vitamin C, vitamin B, cod liver oil, and whatever else seemed logical. I have also taken some L-Lysine because I know it helps with healing mucous membranes. Speaking of mucous... I've also had to take that Guaifenesin stuff. It's supposed to help the mucous thin out. I don't know if I'm having more trouble for having used this stuff, but it seems like I've needed it every day. I'm also fully on my asthma meds (Flovent *and* Albuterol).

But so many things have happened in the past week. First off, dh will be back home with us in two weeks, we are all so happy that he will be back with us. It is hard to fill the shoes of another person who does a major portion of the household, yard and critter responsibilities!

Our air conditioner stopped working about a month ago. I discovered we should have something called a low ambient cooling kit on our unit since we run it year round, no matter how cold it is outside. Dh has mentioned it is "hard" on the unit to run during the winter, but I don't remember him ever mentioning the low ambient kit as a solution... anyway... we finally got the house cleaned up enough to feel comfortable having a guy come out.

About that... the first guy I called verbally attacked me during the conversation. First off, he charges $85.00 for a checkup on the system, and $65 per pound of freon. I'd called another place a week earlier and they charge $55 and $12 per pound of freon. I knew the $65/# was very expensive. After I got the information I needed I said I'd have to give him a call back. He then says to me, "You've already called twice before, are you going to have me come out and fix your AC or not?" I was flabbergasted and responded with, "Excuse me?" As the conversation went on, he demanded to know if I was working with another shop. Finally he seemed satisfied that I wasn't someone out to get him and he said, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing recon for another company." Whew. It was so distressing to me once I got off the phone I started crying a little bit. Wishing we could just wait until dh gets back home so he could take care of this for us.

Then I called the other guy who advertises in our local newspaper. He said he charges $59.95 and $28/# for freon. He was much nicer. We were still going to try to wait until dh got home, but then it got up into the high eighties and was nearly 90°F in the house. It was making all of us cranky, especially ds2. So I talked him into calling the guy out on Friday morning. He came out, and he was a really nice person. We ended up talking a bit, and come to find out his wife leads a church in town. We want to start attending church, and we might try this one out. We went by the church on Friday late afternoon and the daughter was there. She is probably 18 or 19 and getting ready to attend college. So back to the AC. It was kind of weird because he didn't actually fix the unit. I'd mentioned that dh can repair AC units, but he doesn't have the gauges, etc. So this guy says he would be happy to let dh use his tools. Dh doesn't understand why the guy would do that... but I think he was just trying to be nice and give us a break. So he ended up putting FIVE pounds of freon into our unit. From what I understand... if you need less than a pound in a year's time, that's almost normal. But five pounds? That means you have a leak. The guy told me there were two ways to find the leak, but it was expensive. So I guess because I didn't say "find the leak" he didn't want to charge us as much money as it would cost. He also thinks it still might be the inside coil is dirty, deep down in the coils and he told me about a cleaning solution that I could get from Home Depot, which he says is about $4.00 a can. But he charges $120 to do the cleaning, so he told me how to do it. It ended up being $8.xx per can, and he said to buy one for each side of the coil. We haven't tried cleaning it yet.

What was happening with our unit is the inside coils were freezing over, which was in turn causing the unit to run and run and run and run and in spite of running constantly the temperature in the house was staying the same. That's a very bad sign. Air conditioners are very costly, running into the thousands to replace. Most people don't understand all the care that goes into them and wonder why they break so often. It's because air conditioners need regular attention. We have been using these cheapy filters and I wanted to buy something that was washable and found these on the Internet. When I first saw them, they were $70 each and they recommend you buy two. I asked dh about it, and I'm glad I waited! Sheesh!! I was looking around at Walmart yesterday and found they have washable, reusable filters for under $4.00!!!! I bought two, so we can let one soak and be thoroughly cleaned and have a clean, dry one to put in.

Ds2 asked me when I was going to start doing a "Song of the Day". I guess I will start, but his SOTD is one for every single day that he posts. I don't see being able to keep up with one song every single day. So today's "Song of the Day" is tobyMac's Lose My Soul from the Portable Sounds album.

As a surprise for me on Wednesday, ds2 switched out my toilet for my new one. Unfortunately, it is flushing veeerrrryyyyy slowly. You can see here in the photo to the left how very close the water is rising to the top of the rim. We have done a bit of troubleshooting, but this might be one of those things that wait until dh returns. It could be a number of things wrong. Ds2 says the back part of the toilet foot is sitting on carpet, which could cause the carpet to be unbalanced, which could cause a slow flush. Or there could be something in the toilet pipes, which is causing a bit of a clog. The holes under the rim could be clogged, although I poked through each and every one of them with a nail. Anyway, lots of things we could try, but we haven't had the time or energy.

Ds2 has been cooking like a mad fiend all week long. He made himself a daily menu and stuck to it, really liked the idea and the ease - no stress each day "What's for dinner?" so he's asked me to generate a meal plan each week. AGH. Like I need one more thing to do. I figure if we have four week's worth of meal plans we can just do them over and over and over again. Right?

Let's see, he's made Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo ala Alton Brown. He also made my version of Posole, made with chicken instead of beef. The first time we had it was with a good friend, I believe it was her birthday and her neighbor made the dish for her, which was one of her favorites. That version was made with beef, but I prefer mine made with chicken breasts He's also made a very expensive, rich, but tasty Salmon with Cream Cheese Dip. Pineapple Upside Down Muffins, which brings me to another thing that happened this week. Ds2 cut his thumb pretty bad. I'll spare you the closeup, gory pics he took with the cut laid wide open. You can trust me, it was GROSS looking. He cut it with a serrated-edged knife whilst trying to open a jar of maraschino cherries. I was out milking and I heard this, "Raaahhhh!" sound from the porch. I thought... "Is he trying to scare me? What was that about?" He disappeared right away, and I put the girl away I was done milking and got the next one out. Then he comes to the porch again and yells, "Come see all the blood!" GREAT! I left the goat on the stand and went inside to see what was going on. He tells me he cut his thumb to the bone. He was letting it just bleed all over the place, so I asked him to rinse it so I could see how bad it was. I really don't think they do stitches in fingers or thumbs, so I told him I didn't think a visit to the ER was necessary. I had him rinse it, checked it out and then had him hold a paper towel to it. He said he wasn't feeling so good, so I had him sit down so he wouldn't faint on me. He was pale looking by that time. We got the bleeding to stop and I went back out and finished milking. When I came back in, I immersed the bucket of milk into the chilling bucket and did a bit of Internet research. I then took a trip to town for butterfly bandages, steri-strips and other assorted bandaging items, plus some finger cots (a small condom-type covering to place on your finger if you need to wash dishes and don't want the cut to get wet or exposed to bacteria while cooking).

I got my sister's birthday gift sent off to her in time to reach her on her birthday! I took a clock and made a new face for it, using a picture of her children when they were younger. A picture from four years ago. She loved it, and she cried when she saw it. She has it in her kitchen. I'm so happy she likes her gift.

On the knitting front... I've actually made a bit of progress on the newest baby sweater. I started out last week with a goal to knit for 30 minutes each evening, but that was really far too much relaxation time spent on knitting, for it was cutting into sleep time after all the chores were completed. I did get another few inches completed though. It takes me about 15 minutes to complete one inch. So it will be slow going on this one, but at least I'm staying with it. I have felt so crappy I haven't even had the strength to knit. Ugh.

I heard that a young lady who helps with blood draws for goats was in town yesterday. I asked to see if she could squeeze me in. Thank God, she never called. I do want to get all the goats tested again for CAE. The only little girl that we sold last year has come up positive for CAE. But the gal who owns her, had a lot of babies from that time period show positive for CAE. She called to let me know, and ask me if I wanted the little girl back. I told her we didn't. It is too hard to deal with. I'm pretty sure our herd is negative, as we keep a closed herd and the only doe we've brought in from was a CAE-free herd. However, we haven't tested for 2-3 years now. And this disease can pop up unexpectedly. Your does might be clean one year and positive the next, simply because immune systems are weaker and they succumb to the virus. At least, this is what I've heard.

On the FlyLady front. I've done NOTHING. I have been too tired, and sick. I have not even shined my sink in probably two weeks now. I have continued keeping ds1's room clean, and today is the day we clean his room again. I still feel tired this morning, and don't want to get any worse so I am not sure what all I'll get done today. Ds2 asked me yesterday, "Why do you put so much pressure on yourself to get things done? Why not take it easy?" Well, easy to say my dear son. He knows how much work it takes to keep this place going.

Let's see, anything else... oh yes. Yesterday I went to a rummage sale. I got a few things there.Coffeemaker for dh. It's a Black and Decker Spacesaver model, $5. Hope it works! His old one leaks and make a black mess on the counter. There are eight of the glasses, $2.00 for the set. The Crockette was $1.00. The two necklaces and two bracelets were a quarter each. Both necklaces look well made and ds2 saw 14kt on the serpentine necklace. (I wonder if they are worth anything!?) There is a 14kt on the heart necklace, that one cost $0.75. There is a pair of hoop earrings that look like 14kt. I've been wanting a pair of hoops, but haven't wanted to pay the price for them. These were $1.00. My ears will be able to tell, since I can't wear anything less than 14kt or my ears start itching and turning red. A brand new, never been used Windows keyboard for $2. Always good to have a spare on hand. Two Reader's Digest magazines for ds2 which the lady let me have for free. I spent $16, or maybe $14... what else did I get? Hmmm... I think a couple of things were left out in the car.

Well, I think that about catches me up for now. So many more things happened, like on Friday it was so hot that the critters drank up all their water and when we got home after being gone for six hours their buckets were turned over and bone dry. Now we have to get either more water buckets in the pens or start filling them every single day. And now it's time to throw hay.

Until next time.

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I Lost My Balloons!

Not today. When I was five years old.

My Grandpa brought some balloons over to our house for me. I don't remember if it was my birthday... it could have been my birthday as the weather was fair out. There were several and they were helium balloons.

I don't know what possessed me, but while my mom was napping on the couch, I took my balloons out in the front yard and let... them... go... Ohhhh!! I was very upset, I ran in to rouse my mom, and I remember crying and crying about my balloons. I seem to recall that she didn't get up, so I ran back outside and watched them float all the way up into the sun.

I had nightmares for YEARS and YEARS over my lost balloons. Even today, when I see balloons floating away, it conjures up feelings inside me. Feelings of great regret and angst from what I said to myself as a small child and for years during those nightmares, "How stupid could I have been? Why didn't I just reach out and grab them? Why didn't I just grab the string?!" I wonder if perhaps my mom said those very words to me? I seem to recall trying hard to wake her up and she wouldn't get up.

Anyway, so ds1 and ds2 are both sick with the cold that I had, except that theirs turned into really bad sore throats, with coughing. I decided to take them in to the doctor instead of wondering and hoping they were going to be okay. Ds1 had a rash on his face which really made me wonder what was going on with him. He wasn't quite as sick as ds2 yet. Ds2 was dying of the sore throat pain. We tried all kinds of over-the-counter meds, none seemed to do much for him.

While at the clinic, waiting to get my ds1 and ds2 signed in, a little boy was holding onto a Valentine's Day balloon... helium filled... he was moving his arm up and down, bobbing the balloon in the air, and suddenly... he let go of the balloon!! Oh no!!! The balloon floated up, way up high to a part of the clinic that had very high ceilings. The poor baby starting crying and his heart was just broken. His pregnant mother was talking to someone at the clinic and did not even notice the crying, sobbing, angry little boy at her feet. I couldn't stand to hear him crying, so I went over to the mother. I asked her first, "Do you speak English?" She said she spoke just a little bit of English. So I went on and asked her if she bought the balloon for her little boy and did she know how much they cost? The lady that she'd been talking to translated as I spoke to her. She said someone had given her little boy the balloon, so she didn't know how much they cost. So I offered her a five dollar bill and asked her if she would please buy him another balloon and I asked her to please tell him that she was going to buy him another one, so he wouldn't cry anymore. He seemed to cheer up after she told him she was going to get him a new balloon, and I patted him on the head and told him it would be okay now, mommy will get a new balloon for you.

Another lady who worked at the clinic saw him crying, and she tried to see if they had a ladder, but couldn't locate one. She ended up getting two books for him to take home with him.

The physician's assistant did a quick strep test and the results came back showing positive for ds1, of which they say his rash is a symptom. Both boys are now on antibiotics for the next ten days. The PA asked ds2 if his throat feels like he is swallowing glass and he said it did. She said she had this same cold just last week, so she was really empathetic to the pain they were in.

I have to give thanks to God for the fact that I didn't get as sick as the boys. I am sleep deprived due to them being sick, and being up during the night with them, but I did not get the sore throat and I am able to keep going and doing everything I have to get done. Like milking for example. It would be very difficult to be as sick as the boys are, and still get milking done every evening. I have taken the entire week off at work. I don't have the comp time to do this... but I will make it up. I am going to work for a few hours from home tomorrow to try to get some of the billing completed.

Until next time.

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Sick Again Already

I normally don't get sick for a year or two at a time. I was sick with a head cold back in October and now here I am sick with a head cold again. I know why, because I haven't been taking care of myself properly. By that I mean I haven't been getting enough sleep, and have been drinking coffee just to stay awake.

My typical day for the past couple weeks has been getting up at 3:30am, I'm driving and away from home for 11.5 hours, coming home milking, then getting to bed at 9pm if I'm lucky. On Friday night I started feeling like my throat wasn't right. Just a bit scratchy. This has been my last 24 hours.

5am - 7am Cleaned kitchen, swept floor. The kitchen wasn't too bad, but it did take me 2 straight hours! I have not been able to "shine the sink" this entire past week. Daily upkeep makes a HUGE difference in weekend cleaning time.

7am - 7:15am Threw hay.

7:15am - 9:30am Sleeping.

9:30am - Noon Finished knitting the scarf I started on Friday. Don't remember what I was doing but I was up and awake and busy.

Noon - 3pm More Sleeping.

3pm - 8pm Awake. Helped ds2 clean coils on the outside part of the air conditioning unit. Cooked dinner (chicken soup with homemade egg noodles). Paid ds2 (who was not showing any signs of being sick yet) to milk. Watched a terrible Pay Per View movie called _Crank_. Yuck.

8pm - 2:30am Sleeping.

2:30am - 4:00 Hungry, warmed up some chicken soup. Computer time.

4:00am - 7:15am Asleep.

7:15am - 7:30am Threw hay.

7:30am - 8am Tidied up, vacuumed ds1's bedroom. Washed his bedding. He did very good this week. Not even *one* dish in his room! And he used his garbage can all week long. Very nice job.

8:00am - 11:00am Not sure what all I did... but do remember one outstanding thing. I sewed with my new machine. I made a cover for the top of the sewing machine cabinet, to keep it looking new. My new machine is incredible and amazing. I can only say the smoothness of it makes me think of cutting through butter. The motor is quiet and it is so smooth.

11:00am - 3:20pm Back in bed, more sleeping.

3:20pm to now Some computer time. Also dragged the old three story rat cage off the porch. Started my clothes in the washer. Heated up some cream of chicken soup for ds2 who is now sick and very thrilled about it. He's the weirdest person. He longs to be sick and looks forward to it. He got lucky this time. Normally he doesn't get sick. He's been sick maybe 8 times in his 17 years. I attribute his strong immune system to two things. Extended breastfeeding, and no vaccinations.

I was stressing because our air conditioner is not working. It is icing up on the coils. We cleaned the coils both inside and out. We were so excited to see how dirty the outside coils were, because we were sure that was causing the unit to ice up. But alas, once we got it all nice and clean, the unit still started icing up and is not cooling the house down. It just runs and runs and runs. I have learned more about air conditioning units in the last few weeks than I've ever known in my entire life. What with dh not being here, he is the one that usually keeps up with the maintenance on the a/c unit.

Speaking of another thing dh does, the oil changes on my vehicle. Now that ds2 is sick, he isn't going to be able to change the oil this weekend for me. I think I'm already past 5000 miles. Agh. Now is not the time to start falling down on oil changes - my odometer just turned over 200,000 a month or so ago, and now it's close to 204,000. We've been very faithful with oil changes at 3000 to 4000 miles for the entire time we've owned it. It has been a wonderful, reliable vehicle. I would always recommend Nissan Pathfinders. Mine is the 1996 model. Very lovely vehicle. The nicest I've owned in my entire life.

I just talked to ds2 and asked him how long he thinks we can go without the air conditioner. Reason being, it is stressing me out because I'm sick, he's sick and I don't want anyone coming into our home without a bit more work on our part. The boys' bathroom still needs some serious attention. It is a terrible mess. I wouldn't want to have someone come over and need to use the toilet and see that disaster area. Also, ds2 did some decluttering in the livingroom yesterday, cleaning out a shelving unit and threw away four bags of "stuff". It was really annoying as I was on the computer for the first time in days and he kept asking me if he could throw this or that away. He was behind me, so I had to keep turning all the way around to see what he was talking about. He did a great job decluttering though and even cleaned up and vacuumed the living room after he was done. So the living room is fairly clean. Except he put four bags of garbage on the back porch, which is the main entryway to our home. And the garbage can is already full. So I have nowhere to put that garbage. Plus 2-3 loads of bedding and clothing from last week's cleaning of ds1's room is still sitting on the porch.

See I was thinking I need to get someone out immediately, since it is already starting to heat up here. But ds2 said he didn't think we'd call anyone out for a couple of weeks at least. That really takes a big load off my mind. Because now I don't have to force myself to clean the boys' bathroom, the porch, etc.

It's time like these that I embrace my faith, refusing to let life get me down. This is all I need, is to be sick. I have always thought the reason I rarely get sick is because of my devotion to getting the proper hours of sleep for my body. I have been running myself ragged the past couple of weeks, and now it's time for me to cut way back on the things I'm doing. As much as I hate the thought of it, I am going to have to. There is also the worry of getting so very ill like I was back in the summer of 2002.

Did I mention here yet that my job finally approved my extra day each week? That's what you call cutting back, yessiree. ;-)

Seriously, we need the money. Speaking of money, I haven't had time to look at our money for weeks again. I have no idea how much we owe and to whom. I should get off this computer now.

One more thing. I'm doing all I can to keep this virus from getting any worse than it is now. It basically feels like a head cold and I'm just really tired. Every time I exert myself physically I start to sweat and then I get really worn out tired. Even sitting at the sewing machine made me really tired.

Until next time.

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Be Careful What You Ask For

This post was written by me originally on April 24th, 2005.

This is a really funny story of a blessing and a sign to me that God cares for us and answers our prayers.

Ds2 needed a new pair of pants. He's a big boy, and we do our shopping in a small town which doesn't have a "big and tall" men's store. Ds2 measured himself at home and told me over the phone that he needed pants with the waist size 58". When ds2 told me that, I said a prayer that God would help us find him a pair of pants that would fit. His only pair was pretty well worn out. I knew that Kmart or Walmart only went up to 50" so we decided to take our chances at a closeout mall. I asked the salesperson if they carried pants that big. She said they only went up to 50" but I could look on the rack of the pre-worn returned Levi's. I was standing right next to it, and started looking through the pants. I was so surprised to find ONE PAIR of 58" jeans!! I immediately gave thanks to God for this blessing! It really made me feel so cared for!! The other option would be to drive into the big city for a pair of pants. I was so happy about this. So we got home a little later, and I showed ds2 the pants and told him about the blessing.

Ds2 looking at the pants: "Don't you think those are a little big?"

Me: "You said 58", didn't you?"

Ds2: "I said 58"? I meant 48"!"

So the morale of the story is to be careful what you ask God for, and be specific. :-)

Until next time.

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Which One is the Pitbull?

Did you know that most people can't even identify a "pitbull" from a group of pictures with dogs that are often mistaken for pitbulls? I couldn't, when I first saw that page. Did you know that "pitbull" isn't even a breed of dog? It's a term used to describe three breeds of dogs.

We were thrown a few curve balls; things got so busy and overwhelming that I had no energy left at all for blogging. Although I feel a keen longing at the moment, so here I am.

It continues to be busy. I have not had one moment to even lay my hands on the baby sweater, although I continue to carry my crocheting bag with me wherever I go. It would be nice to have it done in time for Christmas.

I have had some revelations and as a warning for those who will be grossed out or intensely offended at the mere mention of God, my blog may begin to contain more religious references as I continue my journey in life. Stay tuned or change the channel, your choice. ;-0

Until next time.

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