Saturday 8/31/13 new blog

I have started a new blog. it is www.oldfashionmom.com I am so glad to have people who like my blog and want to share our adventures. Please follow us to our new blog.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Saturday 8/31/13 written Sunday 8/25/13 race track...

We went to the race track last night. We had just watched the movie "Seabiscuit". In this movie the jockeys are on the horses with saddles. At the race track by us the horses pull carts and the jockeys are in the carts. Cart is probably not the correct word. It took my kids awhile to get over the fact that the jockeys were in carts. We had just finished getting the kids school supplies, so we were late. They had already run two races. We sat outside at first. It was warmer that when William and I went. All of the picnic tables were taken so we stood at the railing. After a few races we went inside. We went over to where we could see the horses in the stalls and watched them for a while. Then we went upstairs for a while to watch. The front wall is all glass to watch the racing through. They also have TVs. We could see the names of the horses. We chose which horse we liked and talked about which horse had the coolest name. After a while the kids wanted to go back outside. We saw the last two races outside. Then we took Beth's friend home. It was a long day but we had fun.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Friday 8/30/13 written Sunday 8/25/13 ice skating...

We went ice skating yesterday. We haven't gone in a long time. William went with us. That was nice. He is older and doesn't go many places with us any more. We also took one of Beth's friends. We had a full car. When we got there, there were only about five other people going in. As time went on more people showed up. Open skate is for an hour and fifty minutes. After skating in a circle for that long with the same people it becomes like a neighborhood. We begin to know which people are there as families or groups, which little kids can skate so fast around everyone. We become like a new neighborhood. There together in a small area, but all too new to have spoken and introduced ourselves. We exist together, but separate for a while...then open skate is over. We can't say goodbye to them, we don't know them...we all go back to our own lives. The next time that we go it will be a different neighborhood.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Thursday 8/29/13 written Saturday 8/24/13 art museum and chop sticks...

Last night we went to the Art Museum. I really thought that it closed at ten. We were there for a half hour before it closed. We wanted to go to the glass blowing area, but we didn't make it over there. We saw a lot of the museum and took a lot of pictures.When we got back into the car Maggie said that she can't use the Art Museum as a cultural event because we have been there before. She could use the glass blowing because she hasn't turned it in as an event before. Maggie and I need to be sure that we are going to places that she can turn in. We had fun, but we really need to accomplish this goal. Tomorrow we are going to the horse races.

We haven't been to the art museum in a while. I didn't realize how much I missed it until we walked into the first gallery. We don't know anything about art. But it is fun to go and see all of the pictures and statues. When the kids were little we used to go every Friday. The museum is free and they had a lot going on on Fridays. There was a kid table where the kids could do crafts. Many times there was a play, and musical groups were there. Sometimes they were groups from high schools and sometimes it was more like an orchestra. They also had tours. I didn't take the kids on the tours, they were too young and would have been board. If I ever went alone I would go on the tour and then tell the kids the information the next time that we were there. We liked the plays the best. I didn't realize how much the museum filled me up until we walked in. I took a lot of pictures.

Outside of our libraries, there are a lot of free local papers. They have lists of what is happening in the area. I picked up a copy of all of them yesterday. They have a lot of choices for cultural events and volunteering. We need to get this done soon. Maggie has been in school for a week and the homework will be starting up soon.

Last week we ate dinner with chop sticks. We don't do this very often. It is fun now and then. We try to do this on nights when we are having stickey food, like something with cream soup on it. Stickey foods are easier for new chop stick users to pick up.

When the kids were little I had a list of skills that kids needed to learn . Eating with chop sticks was on the list. I used it as a guide in teaching my kids skills. I can't find my list and I can't find it on the internet. If anyone sees it on the internet, please let me know the link. I would love to go back and see if we have missed anything.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Wednesday 8/28/13 cats and school events...

We have two cats. Last year I was combing our cat Mandy and telling her how pretty she looked. She must have understood me. She started carrying the comb around in her mouth. She started taking all of the combs and putting them in her bed. Lately we have had to cut a few snarls out of her hair with the scissors. Now the scissors have disappeared. We wonder if she took them so that we won't cut her hair any more.

Maggie needs to go to some cultural events for school. It is a requirement. She also needs a certain number of volunteer hours each year. The theory behind the volunteering and cultural events is that in life, just like in school, people are busy. They should still make time to go to local events and to volunteer. During Maggie's first year at this school we did a few events and forgot about them. They never made onto the calendar. Before Christmas the kids got a reminder that half of their hours and events were due in a week. What a mess. Maggie had a lot of homework and didn't have time for this. We could find events, but there were no volunteer hours. Most places don't need help in the winter. It was a struggle. Now we write due dates on the calender and try to get everything done before the homework starts.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Tuesday 8/27/13 written Saturday 8/24/13 school...

Beth starts school next week. She has gotten her school supplies together and has chosen an outfit. At her school the freshmen start school a few days before the other kids. Then they can meet each other and get used to the school. When the full student body comes in they have a week long project to do before classes start on the second week. The kids are put into groups. Each group has a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. They need to build a working robot, set up a web page and do posters. The kids can get to know each other before classes start. This can be fun and frustrating. It depends on if all of the people in their group are willing to help.

Beth is not sure yet if she will need any more school supplies than she already has, so when we go shopping today she doesn't want anything. We can go next week to fill in the gaps.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Monday 8/26/13 written Saturday 8/24/13 youth group and mission trip...

The youth group at church kicked off their new year so the first week the parents came to hear about the plans for the year. They talked about the topic for the next year, introduced some of the parents who go to the youth group. I guess they would be called advisers. There are some retreats coming up too. Next summer there are two mission trips. The girls went last year and really enjoyed it. They did a Bible study in the morning and went to play grounds in the afternoon to play with the local kids. The girls talked a lot when they got home about how the kids in this area for whatever reason don't have a lot of adult interaction. The kids needed a lot of hugs and liked to be right next to the mission team. It made a big impression on the girls. We have started selling candy bars to pay for the trip. I am glad that the kids have a heart for missions.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Sunday 8/25/13 written Saturday 8/24/13 school...

On Maggie's second day of school she saw a few people that she knew. She didn't tell me about seeing her friends with relief, but with happiness. She feels very secure and comfortable at school.

We went to the bookstore for her books on the second day of school. She couldn't wait until Friday, she had homework to do. When we go to the bookstore, we always have one of the staff help us find the books. It saves so much time, frustration and we get the correct books. The staff all had t-shirts that said "I speak textbook". It was cute and they were easy to spot. Besides the books Maggie also needed a clicker, which looks like a small TV controller that the kids use instead of raising their hands. And she needed safety goggles for chemistry.

We were lucky. All of her books were in stock. A friend of hers was there. She needed a book that had to be ordered from Amazon and the teacher do not give them the ISBN number. So she will not have the book right away and they were not sure that they were ordering the correct book. When I went to school the students could only buy new or used books. Now they can rent books or buy online books. The prices are about $100 and up. Most books are $200 and higher.

Maggie went home and started her homework.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Friday 8/23/13 Maggies first day...

Maggie had her first day of school. Her face was all lit up when she got into the car. She had enjoyed the day. The first teacher let the kids out 10 minutes early so that they could get to their next class. Her first class is math. It is all on the computer, but the students must still go to class to get participation points. Maggies second class is guitar. Maggie is mostly structured. Guitar class is not structured. She said that the syllabus didn't have the usual dates, the teachers said that they would fill it in as they went along. They talked the first day and didn't play their guitars.
Maggie didn't have any homework yet so she decided not to get any books that day. If it was possible, she wanted to go to the bookstore once and get everything. She didn't see anyone that she knew on that day.
August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Thursday 8/22/13 getting ready for school...

The night before Maggie started school she spent a lot of time getting ready. She looked on the map of the campus to see which buildings her classes would be in. She found that on one day she has fifteen minutes to get all the way across the campus to the next class. We talked about the fastest way to get to this class. She packed her backpack and got her lunch ready. On Monday she has guitar class. We..ok I...spent a lot of time talking about not loosing the guitar. Please don't leave it in a room or leave it with a friend while you go get something etc... Keep your hand on it all of the time. She decided to make a sheet out that says which classes are on which days and the times and buildings. Looking at all of the individual papers for each class was confusing. Maggie was ready to go.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Wednesday 8/21/13 written Tuesday 8.20.13 school has started...

Maggie started school last week. They had speakers and looked at their schedules. Maggie had English, chemistry, math and astronomy. The school made a change and the astronomy needed a lab. Maggie couldn't fit the available labs into her schedule. She called me to see if she could take guitar instead. I said ok, but pick some other classes as a back up in case the counselor says no to the guitar class. I kept thinking...Maggie keeps talking about the quibbage (spelling?) team at the school. Quibgage is the sport from the "Harry Potter" book where they fly around on broomsticks chasing balls around. I have this fear that she will sign for a quibbage class. About an hour later Maggie called back. She has the guitar class.

We need to find some baby pictures of Maggie for graduation. The schools like to have a slide show of the graduating classes baby pictures. It is good to have some notice this time. When William graduated we didn't know that he needed baby pictures. William came home on a Monday and said that he needed pictures. We were in the middle of trying to move and a lot of the house was packed to make the house look bigger. I had no idea which boxes the pictures were in. I asked William if we had some time before the school needed the pictures. He said yes, they didn't need to go in until Wednesday. We did find a lot of pictures that were not packed. Everything is so startling with the first child.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Monday 8/19/13 written Tuesday 8/13/13 school starting...

Tuesday 8.13.13 Maggie started school today. This school year really snuck up on us. Last night we went out and got school clothes before the girls went to youth group. While they were in youth group, I realized that we didn't have anything for their lunches and that we had not filled out any of their schools paperwork. I went shopping during youth group. When we got home, Maggie made her sandwiches and we signed all of the papers.

This morning we took Maggie's picture. We take the kids pictures the first and last day of school each year. Someday we can get these pictures together and get them into a frame. We usually pray over each child as they start the new year, but we forgot last night. I said a prayer for Maggie in the car this morning. We can say a prayer together tonight. We stand in a circle together and I say a prayer that God would watch over them and guide them through the year, and I ask if the kids would like to say anything. They all say no. Then we all say Amen.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Sunday 8.18.13 written Monday 8.12.13 ping pong paddles and school starting...

We got ping pong paddles today. The kids play ping pong before chuch and have a great time. We can play ping pong at home now on the dining room table. Our dining room table used to be my grandparents. We have heard stories that they had it set up as a ping pong table for a while. I still can't picture a ping pong table at their house. But we have heard that story from more than one person.

Maggie starts school tomorrow. She will be senior. She is very excited. She has come a long way. When she was little, she refused to scoot, crawl and talk. When she was a few years old Maggie decided that she would be the moon when she grew up and refused to learn the alphabet because she said that she had looked up into the sky and had never seen a book up there for the moon to read. She has decided not to become the moon and has learned to read.

Maggie started the countdown for school to start about week ago. When she was in junior high she would do the countdown on how many days she had left in the year.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Saturday 8/17/13 written Monday 8/12/13 church youth group, McDonalds...

The girls are in youth group at church tonight. I think that they call it by another name. Maggie is with the group that she started with in the beginning, a year or two ago. She settled right in. Beth wandered for a long while and has now found a group. She is not in Maggie's group any longer, they split the group by grade. Beth said that this didn't bother her, she was happy with her group. Cheer, cheer, do the happy dance...now to get William plugged in. .

After youth group the kids go to the McDonald's. While waiting for them in the car...they need some time without me with them...I found that my Nook has the game chess on it. I am not very good at chess. I played part of a game. The computer has been taking all of my pieces, and when I try to make a move, it says 'wrong move' and puts my piece back. When the kids were young we had a computer game called 'Learn to lay chess with Fritz and Chester' it looks like I need to get a copy of that game. Maybe there is a copy on e-Bay

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Friday 8/16/13 crocheting...

I have started crocheting again. It is very relaxing. I like to crochet Granny squares because they are mindless, I only need to be able to count to three as I make them. Then I can watch the kids and crochet at the same time. I can't read and watch the kids and I don't like sitting there doing nothing. Crocheting was a good solution. When the kids were young, we used to go outside and the kids would play on our street with their friends. I could crochet and watch them at the same time. Soon the kids wandered over to see what I was doing and we taught them to crochet too. It was a fun neighborhood. We all learned to crochet, sew, cook, plant flowers, make compost and so many other things. On our dead end street we had between twelve and twenty kids. They mostly got along. Almost everyone has moved away. We miss them. The people that have moved in don't have any kids

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Thursday 8/15/13 written Friday 8/2/13 homework...

Beth has been logging onto Google chrome. She went back to Outlook and the computer is working now. She has lost a lot of time on her math homework. Hopefully she can get it done.

If any readers have kids going to junior high soon, have them learn to type. This skill will help them so much. Most or all of their papers will need to be typed and learning to type in grade school without pressure is a lot easier than learning in junior high when the paper is due. William didn't need to type. I think that all of his papers could be hand written. Maggie didn't learn to type and struggled for a long time until she got good at typing. Beth has been texting for a long time and already knew the layout of the keyboard, so typing was easy for her.

I would like start posting every day...this is my goal. If I can write seven posts a week and load them in on Saturday, it should be ok. But...saying that now when summer is still in the air, school and homework and all of their clubs have not started yet is easy. I enjoy writing, but it isn't first on my list...so I will try. What I am going to do to help myself is to keep my Nook with me so that writing can be done whenever there is free time. I am also going to try to keep paper and pen with me to write down ideas.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Wednesday 8/14/13 written Thursday 8/1/13 math and minecraft...

Beth is doing math on the computer. She has until school starts to finish. The computer is starting to move slowly. As each day passes and the computer slows down more and the number of topics she must do per day grows. The stress is growing. The added problem is that it is summer and people want to play. It is difficult to keep up the pace. Also...after every ten hours of work, there is an assessment test. She is at the computer now.

Maggie has a new phone. She plays Minecraft. She builds houses in this game while zombies chase her. When she gets a second story built on a house she is safe from the zombies. The zombies can't climb ladders or stairs. The game can't be saved so she plays until the phone resets itself or the phone shuts off. She is so happy with this game.

We need to get Maggie's drivers permit renewed. She drove over the summer and was getting good at it. But we didn't drive enough that she could get her license. Maggie needs to get letters of reference from her teachers this year. She is a senior and will need them in future years for scholarship applications and for employment references. She needs to have them written on school letterhead.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Tuesday 8/13/13 written Saturday 8/3/13 cats and school...

The cats have started playing together. Sometimes it looks like playing, sometimes it looks like world war three. The little cat, Stella, likes to pounce onto the bigger cat, Mandy, and play tag with Mandy's tail. Mandy looks at Stella like...really, why can't you just take a nap. Stella is getting bigger. When we got her she fit into our hands. Now she spills out of our hands. She doesn't look like a kitten any more. She has a lot of energy, not as much as at first, but still a lot. Mandy has had to adapt to friends, wrestling and sharing her family. Most of the time she doesn't look happy about any of this. But she has started to play and wrestle with Stella.

The papers from the schools have started coming in, the emergency forms to fill out, the schedules and the school supply list. How can summer be almost over? We had a lot of plans that we never got to. When school starts we will have a few weeks before the large amounts of homework start...I hope. We can still do some of out summer projects. We need to go camping again, work on our family tree that is on the dining room wall, have game night...we like board games...go ice skating...there is so much that we want to do.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Monday 8/12/13 written Saturday 8/3/13 trees...

William cut down a pine tree in the back yard. He had gotten it from school on Arbor day in about third grade. We planted it in the yard and kept it watered. When we decided to move, we talked about the tree and decided to take it with us. It was only about a foot tall. About five years later we moved again. The tree hadn't grown much and it was now like the furniture, always there and mobile, so we dug it up again. The yard at this house is small, and we wrongly thought that the tree would stay small. It was planted by a fence and by the backyard gate. We have been here for about ten years. In the last two or three years the tree has grown to over fifteen feet tall. It is up on the fence and is blocking the gate. One day we decided that the tree needed to be cut down. There is now a big empty area of sunshine. William will cut it up. We have another pine tree in the back of the yard, but it must not get enough light. It is healthy, but only about a foot tall. William cut down a tree from behind our garage. They grow so close to the garage. Some shade the garage roof so that the roof doesn't dry after a rain. We cut the branches back about once a year. Others are right next to the garage and when the wind blows in the summer, the roof of the garage creeks as the tree sways in the wind. This tree has almost completely been cut down.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Sunday 8/11/13 written 7/23/13 camping and fishing poles...

We are going to go camping with my sisters family. The planning has been fun. We haven't decided on a weekend or a place but we do want to pick a place that is between us. We would like to take fishing poles. It will be a new adventure. We haven't gone fishing since the kids were in grade school. The kids have started planning what they want to take.

We got fishing poles. Two of them need new lines. We have never put in a new line. Also we got hooks and bobbers. The poles are short, but we think that they are adult poles...I am not sure if it makes a difference if they are adult or child poles. We needed poles that would fit into the trunk of our car. The flee market didn't have any that came apart in the center, so we got shorter ones. We have a library book on repairing fishing poles on order. It should be here in a few days. I hope that it has directions on how to put a new line onto the pole.

August 2013 Bible verse: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

7/14/13 written Thursday 7/11/13 this weekend...

This is going to be a busy weekend. This is an Emmaus weekend. It will be nice to volunteer. I usually only make it to events about every two years, but this year I added the events to our calendar. Also William wants a hair cut and we have the normal weekend jobs around the house to do.

Saturday 7/13/13 Emmaus...

It has been a busy weekend. There is an Emmaus Walk this weekend. I am not on the team, but have gone in to volunteer. This year I have put the dates for Emmaus on my calendar, instead of relaying on my going into the web site now and then to see the dates. This is working out a lot better. I did miss the last walk completely. It was on my calendar, but it didn't work with our schedule.

Wednesday 7/10/13 day 191/366 rain, our first video...

It has stopped raining. I think that it has rained for two weeks. The next week should be dry. It will give my yard a chance to dry out.

There was a big storm today. Here are some clouds from after the storm.
This is our first video! I am so excited. We were going to try a video tomorrow, But William wanted to try it tonight. He was quietly excited. If this works out we can add more.

Monday 7/8/13 cats, garage sale, e-mail contacts and camping...

The cats are getting along better. They have stopped hissing at each other.  Stella follows Mandy around hoping to play. She bats at Mandy's tail or paws. Mandy plays more now, but not as much as Stella would like.
Yesterday I had a lot to say...today I can't think of anything.
We had a garage sale over the weekend. Everything that didn't sell needs to go to the Goodwill. The sale was fun, but not productive
About twice a year, I print off all of my e-mail contacts. My computer has crashed and we have lost everything. It is nice to have a back-up. I need to put all of the phone numbers in my phone into a book and update that after each new number. The kids update their phone list often, I should get into the habit of doing this too.
We need to set up our next camping trip. We feel confident enough to go again. We had a great time on the last trip and learned a lot of good lessons. Hopefully William will go with us. It would be fun to try a different camp ground.

Sunday 7/7/13 Day 188/366 fridge update, reading manuals...

The kids have updated the fridge with their magnets. They have built Spider man a house and have added his cat and a butterfly.

   I will need to get some more magnets and add something to this.
I have been looking a lot lately at the things that bother me. The things that frustrate me the most always seem to be the things that I could fix. We have a new answering machine and it isn't set up. It will record calls, but the date and other features are not set up. I have a new cell phone. My kids say that I have finally entered into this century. I can call and text on it, but it is largely a mystery. Every time that I try to do anything, the phone calls someone. Everyone is getting tired of me telling them that I am sorry that I called, but the phone is new and calls people when I do anything. This weekend we had some free time while we were waiting for the fireworks to start. I have read some of the cell phones manual and have now stopped calling everyone. Thank you everyone for your understanding. We need to set up the phone next.
I guess this goes under the category of taking stock of my life now and then. I tend to be very happy just drifting along until I realize one day that I am in a totally different place than I wanted to be. I'm not doing bad things, just doing things that aren't part of God's plan for me. We had two talks at church in the beginning of this year. One said to go home and figure out where God was leading you, see if where you were headed that may not be His choice for you. Then decide how to get to where He wanted you to be. I did this and found out where the better directions for me were. The second talk said to look at what scares you and to figure out why you are scared of it. I haven't done that one yet. I think that it would really help to face my fears and to get past them...but I am scared to even look at my fears. I know that this is wrong, because when I do face problems, the solutions are almost always easier than I had imagined them to be. Maybe I will look at my fears this week.. 

Saturday 7/6/13 Day 187/366 blooming flowers...

Sent from my mobile. Enjoy.
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   The flowers are blooming with all of the rain.  

Tuesday 7/2/13 fridge art, basement sorting and asthma...

Our fridge had a smile on it today. I thought that it was funny. The kids weren't amused. They are too old for smiling fridges.

We started sorting out the basement again. Every time that we sort it does look better, but we never seem to finish it. I try to look at everything and say, will I need this soon. Too many times the answer is yes.

William is done with allergy shots. Cheer, cheer, cheer!!! We are so excited. He has been getting shots for years. It has really helped his asthma. He still will need to go in for checkups a couple of times a year, but he won't need to get shots twice a week any more.

Monday 7/1/13 new kitty...

We got a new kitty on Wednesday 6/19/13. The lady that we got her from had all of the kittens in a room with toys and boxes to play in. Maggie, Beth and I went to pick her up. She is a short haired gray and white cat. The lady said that she didn't have much time to play with the cats, so we would need to do that. Our kitty was all claws and fire. We chose her because she was the only short haired cat. William has asthma so a short haired cat would be better. On the way home Beth held her. We needed to name her. All of the names that we had decided on the day before didn't fit her. We tossed up a lot of names. As we got closer to the house I started saying business names "how about Marathon, or McDonald's." We named her Stella.

When we got home we introduced her to William, and showed her the food and kitty litter. Then we took her to meet our first cat, Mandy. They hissed at each other. Mandy looked so upset, like she had been betrayed. I didn't know that cats could give the evil eye to people. We tried to explain that Stella would be a friend, but Mandy wasn't buying it. She sulked away and refused to be petted that day. Beth took Stella to her room so that she could adjust slowly to us. I think that Stella will be a good member of our family.

Sunday 6/30/13 horse racing...

William and I went to see the horse racing this summer. It was a warm evening when we went. The races had already started by the time that we got there. I think that they were having ten races that night. There are picnic tables by the track and indoor seats on the second floor. The first floor has the betting areas, the food and the stalls for the horses. We sat outside first. William and I decided to see two races sitting outside and two races inside. It was warm out, but the sun sets behind the building, making the outside picnic table area chilly...OK I was chilly, William wasn't. The horses trotted around the track for a while so that the guests can take a look at them, then they race. The car with the gates lines them up and goes with them around the track for a while, finally pulling in the gates and moving to the side of the track. After the race, the owner, trainer and jockey get their picture taken with the winning horse. A close look shows the world of racing horses but a more distant look shows the stores in the background, just outside of the track.  After the first two races, we went inside to find the other seating. We did find the stalls off to one side. I would like to go again and take Maggie and Beth.It was fun to go somewhere new.

Thursday 6/20/13 new cat...

We are going to get a new cat his week. Part of me is excited and part says that this may not have been one of my best decisions. The final decision was made today. We have begun to decide on the name. We have a list of about ten names. When we get the cat we can see which one fits her the best.
We have been forgetting to do our sit-ups. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday 6/19/13 camping...day 3

We went camping last weekend.
It rained Saturday night. First there was a small leak in the tent. We woke up and decided to just move away from it. Then there was a second leak. Then the water started coming in from the bottom of the tent. We did have plastic under the tent, but weren't on high enough ground. It was raining really hard, so we decided to move everything into the car and sleep there. The girls got into the back seat and I put the blankets on them. We filled up the passenger seat and finished the night in the car.. Next time, we will look for higher ground and put the tarp over the tent.
We had a lot of fun. Maggie voted that it was fun on Saturday morning. Beth said that she reserved her vote until later. On Sunday on the way home she gave the trip a seven and said that she would go camping again. By the end of the trip "Harry Potter" was in the house by the sea and was about to go and get school supplies. We kept the list of things to pack with us. As we realized that we needed something, we added it to the list. Sandals and a folding chair would have been good. We can make adjustments to the list as we go. The planning for the trip was a big part of the fun.
We had a lot of lessons learned:
Have a list to pack from.
Pack all of the things on the list into the car.
Only take as much as can fit into the car with you if it rains and you are in the car with all of your gear.
Be ready to make changes to your plan.

We had a lot of time to whittle, build fires, laugh together, cook together and plan, remember and talk together. We made a lot of good family memories this weekend.

Tuesday 6/18/13 camping...day 2

We went camping last weekend.
The first night, the neighbors stayed up until about 1:00. They weren't loud, but it is different having them so close. Maggie and I got up early. She told  me about her last day of school and the things that she has been doing lately. We went out and looked for sticks for the fire. We had already changed our thinking from the house to the skills of the campsite. It is always nice to get some time with each of the kids. After breakfast, the three of us played "21" and tried to play a game called "Pirates" but the pieces wouldn't assemble. Whenever we had some relaxing time, Maggie read "Harry Potter" to us.
We went swimming later and found seashells. We went to church Saturday evening. The message was about following God's will. We went home and got William so he could go to church with us. We also picked up the things that we had forgotten from the first trip, or had gotten ready but had forgotten to put into the car. We had the grate for the fire ready, but had put it behind the kitchen door, so it never made it into the car on Friday. I hoped that everything would  fit into the car on the way home.
That night, back at camp, we built a fire, had dinner and smores and heard more about "Harry Potter". The forecast for Saturday night was rain...
We went to bed.

Monday 6/17/13 camping...day one...

We went camping last weekend. We had a great time!!!
When we started to pack, William said that he wasn't going to go. I talked, and reasoned and said that it would make great family memories, but he wouldn't budge. So he stayed home. That was sad, but at 23 years old, he would have been board. Maybe he will go with us next time.
We had started a list of what to take earlier in the week and started assembling the items in the living room. The intent was that everything make it to the campsite in one trip and it would all fit into the car. Some people go into the woods for weeks with one small back pack and a pocket knife, but this was our first trip. We did get everything together in an hour or two. We needed to get there and have the tent up before it got dark.
We arrived, checked in, picked our campsite and started to assemble the tent. This is the tent that wouldn't go together in the living room. We finally put it together in the backyard. We felt confident about it at the campsite, but managed to put it together wrong twice. On the third try it went up...and it was still light...mostly. I had wanted to get a paint marker and mark which poles went where, but hadn't gotten to it yet. Maggie and Beth tipped the tent on it's side to get the dirt out of it. We had only just arrived and were already a spectacle.
We unpacked and built a fire. The wood burns faster than you think that it will. The kindling was gone almost instantly. There weren't many twigs around and no medium sized logs...and it was dark. We let the fire go out and decided to start again in the morning.

6/12/13 Happy Birthday to our pastor! movies, pizza and missing children...

Today is out pastors birthday. Thank you for leading us on our spiritual journey!!!
We watched the movie "Soul Surfer" tonight. It was great to see how their faith carried them through the crisis. Their core beliefs quietly carried them through, as the movie was about surfing. Sometimes knowing that you are not alone, that all things are possible with God, is a firm structure to balance on when everything falls apart.
We got pizza tonight. While waiting for our order, the lady behind the counter mentioned that the small child that is missing in our town is a relative of hers. She said that they all cry a lot each day. There are so many people that we pass by each day that need a prayer and a smile.

Monday 6/10/13 youth group, exercising and the "Family Experience" at church...

Some days it is difficult to find anything to write about. The days seem so normal.
The girls made it to youth group tonight. I haven't been writing about the "90 day crunch challenge" because we have been forgetting to do any sit-ups. Maybe we can do some tonight. William says that he is not interested, but waits to hear our laughter. Beth says no, but watches us and directs on the correct way to do sit-ups, and Maggie exercises with me. She can exercise faster, but doesn't keep count so my counting messes her us and she does extra.
We have a big event coming up at church this month. It is the first "Family Experience". It would be great if all of the kids will go with me. They are having videos, games and popcorn.

Friday 6/7/13 school, flowers and projects...

Maggie is done with her first week of summer school. It is a two week class. So, I guess she has gone over a half of a semester of work. It is an Economics class. She said that it has been mostly supply, demand and graphs.
It has been raining so much that all of our flowers are in bloom.
We need to get a summer project set up. We will have camping, but we need something else to do and plan together.

Wednesday 6/5/13 school ending and exercising...

Beth finished school today. She is always sad on the last day of school. She misses her friends. The kids put a movie in tonight, a week night, as celebration for school being out. We took pictures of Beth since it was her last day of school. She made a lot of faces in most of the pictures and stood still in a few of them.
Beth has a friend who is already posting a status on Facebook as totally board. She has only been out of school for a few hours.
Maggie has one more week of school after this week. Then we can officially start summer.
We forgot to do our "90 day crunch challenge". It looks like this will take a lot longer that 90 days.

Tuesday 6/4/13 exercising

We forgot to exercise tonight. The chart needs to be moved, maybe to the fridge.
Today is Beth's last day of school. On the kids first and last day of school, we take the kids pictures. We can take her picture tonight. Beth likes being with her friends and will miss them over the summer.

Monday 6/3/13 summer school, youth group and exercising...

Maggie started summer school today...with her new cell phone. It went well. She came home with the phone and didn't get into any trouble with it. She said that school was OK. She is taking economics.
The kids had youth group at the church tonight. None of us knew what time it started so we guessed. We got there just as it ended. I e-mailed the head of the group to get the times, and will put it on the calendar. To the kids it is a priority to go, but not a priority to get the times, or put the times on the calendar. We can go next week.
We have started a new exercise program at our house. It is the 90 day crunch challenge. The first day we did 25 sit-ups. Well...really, Beth, Maggie and I did the sit-ups. William tried not to be amused. The second day we need to add five more sit-ups, and add five more each day for 90 days. I made a chart so that we can keep track of what day we are on. By the end we are doing 300 or 400 sit-ups a day. The chart is hanging on the computer so that we can remember the challenge. We will see how it goes.

Sunday 6/2/13 Maggie's new phone...

Today is the day that Maggie got her cell phone. She was so excited that she was up and dressed for church by 6:00 am. She was bright eyed today. She had some phone numbers from friends at school so she got a copy of them ready to take with her. Then she could load them onto the phone on the way home. We try to keep a copy of the list of cell phone numbers at home so that if the phone dies, we have the numbers to re-load into the phone. It is the same way with our e-mail, we print out our contacts twice a year.

Maggie got her phone after church. It is the same one that Beth has, so it was easy for Beth to help Maggie set it up. Maggie is thrilled.

Maggie and I did have a talk about phone responsibility. Now that Maggie has the phone, she still looks as excited as she did this morning.

5/31/13 written Saturday 4.27.13 tent...

We went outside to put up the tent. Beth had homework and stayed in the house. William, Maggie and I took the tent outside. We figured out that the first two poles that were assembeled were not part of the frame of the main tent, but part of the two side rooms. That made a big difference. Most of the poles we could figure out from the directions where they went, some took more looking to find sleves that were the correct length to put them into. William always does a safety test on everything for us. The tent is no differet. When it was assembeled William went outside of the tent to hold the poles and he called out "earthquake" and then he shook the tent. I am happy to report that the tent withstood the shaking and is safe for us to use. As soon as school is out, we can go camping.

5/30/13 written Thursday 4.25.13 parent meeting, bake sale and prom...

There is a parent meeting tonight at Maggie's school. The meeting starts at five thirty and Beth's club gets out at five thirty. Beth will need to be driven home and then I can go to the meeting.

Maggie is making brownies for a school bake sale tomorrow. She is going to make them after I get home tonight. We also need to clean tonight. The boy that is going to Prom with Beth is coming over tomorrow with his mom and maybe his dad to meet us and to see Beth's dress. His mom needs to see the color of her dress to get the correct color tie. This is a good time to panic. Is her dress too short? Is wrong that it is strapless? Should we scrub the corners in the basement?

Sunday 6/29/08 computer programs and homework...

We finally have William's computer hooked up in his room. The computer program C++ is on the computer...we think it is on the computer correctly. He tried to run a program from his class, but the program was written so that it had to go to other, previously written pieces of program...and those other programs aren't there because the class is over. We need to have William write a program from his C++ book, that doesn't need any other lines of programming except for what he puts in now. Then we can see if it is set up.
Maggie and Beth have decided to start their summer homework. They were sitting on the couch with their books deciding where to start last week. In all of the past years, I have kept the books and given one page of homework each day. The page has homework on both sides. I have them do half of one side each day. I only want the homework to help them to get back into school easier, not to have them do homework all day. We don't finish the whole book in the summer, but that doesn't bother me.

5/29/13 written Friday 4.18.13 tent...

We tried to put the tent up tonight. We got home and had dinner. The kids wanted to have the smores first so that we wouldn't be too tired and not make them. The smores were fun. Some people choose to burn every marshmallow, and some choose to cook them to a golden brown...everyone's different. Then we started the tent. The directions were not very clear and it was already late. This tent is bigger than the floor space in our living room, and when it is assembled and it is six feet tall...so without the poles in it, the tent material looked massive in our living room. We put the poles in and the tent bottom hovered two feet off of the floor. We re-read the directions and tried again and it wasn't any better. Also, when this tent was assembled, it was wider than the floor space so two legs needed to be on the couch...which didn't help the problem of the floor of the tent floating, or help us to get around the tent to correct the problem...and it was getting later at night...so we put the tent away and decided to try it again outside. The smores were a happy memory, but I don't think that the tent assembly was.

5/28/13 written Thursday 4.18.13 tent, math and tests...

We are going to put up our tent tomorrow. We are going to make s'mores when we are done. The weather is so nice today. I wish that we could go camping this weekend.

Beth has started doing her math homework on the computer again. We were having problems, the websites wouldn't load.

Maggie needs to take a test for school next week at the college, it must be outside of the normal school day because she was telling me that we need to schedule it.

5/27/13 written Monday 4.15.13 Boston...tents...

Today two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon. At least three people were killed. They say that it looks like a terrorist attack. It is so hard to believe, things like this don't happen in the US. We have such an unnoticed peace. We have a peaceful country and have few restrictions. When this happens, I am just shaken. How do we defend our kids? Where is it safe to be? I am glad that God watches over us. He can be every where at once.

 

We bough a new tent today!!! It is a six to seven man tent with three rooms. I found it on Craig's list and it was being sold by a resale shop by my house. We can put it together in the living room. We will need to check the measurements to see if it will fit in the living room.

5/26/13 new posts...

I just added posts from 6/8/08 thru 6/30/08 to this blog if anyone wants to see them. I will add more old posts when I can. Thanks for following along on our adventures...

5/26/13 written Monday 4.8.13 the tent...

Beth put the tent away last night. The living room seems so large. It is like at Christmas time when the tree is put away and the room is huge for a week. I don't think that the tent will work. It is a four person tent and we have four people to go in it. We really need a bigger tent. It is large enough for us, but we won't be able to put anything in the tent with us at night. We can't go camping until all of the kids are out of school, so we still have some time.

4/15/13 written Saturday 4.6.13 tent..

We got a tent. It should sleep four. We bought it from Craig's List. The girls went with me to buy it.  The tent was never used outside. The family had put it together in their living room and then moved and left it with relatives. We brought it home and started to put it together. The directions said to put it together at home before trying to put it together at a campsite. It is a four person, summer tent. We put it up in the living room. The directions were in the carrying bag, and we took turns reading them. There were four poles, each one held together by a bungee cord inside the poles. There were also some extra pole pieces. The first two poles went in easily. We could figure out where they should be placed, the last two poles took more time put on the tent. The tent has a tent and a rain cover. It took a long time to figure which way the cover went. We kept flipping it over and turning it around. The confusion is that the tent has two doors and the cover has one door. When we got it together, the door on the cover was not matched with either door on the tent. It is OK. We can still get into the tent, it just made it confusing putting it together. We had the cat in the tent for a while. She is not sure if she likes the tent. We will need a bigger tent. A four person tent will hold four people, but there is no room for any gear. We can look for a six or eight person tent. We had diner in the tent and set up the VCR outside of the tent to watch movies. We want to go camping as soon as it is warmer at night. The kids are excited about camping. We have the tent still set up in the living room. We will need to take it down on Sunday... since we have school the next day. We are not sure which campsite to try first.

4/14/13 written Thursday 4.4.13 tents...

I called on tents from Craig's list today. We are going to see one tent on Friday. I am very excited. I also called two camp sites to get some information. When we go to look at the tent, am going to ask that it be set up for us so that we can see that all of the pieces are there. We are really excited about camping. We have started to talk about what activities we want to do while we are there, what food we should take...everyone is excited and is adding into the conversation. This has been a good way to pull us all together as a family. Hopefully the tent that we see on Friday will be a good choice for us. We want to wait until it is a little warmer before we go tenting, but we are having fun making plans.

4-13-13 written Tuesday 4.2.13 Easter...

We had a fun Easter. The kids wanted to decorate eggs. I am never sure which holidays that they will want to be a part of, since they are older. We got some Easter egg die and all four of us colored eggs. William did one egg and said that he was done. The girls and I did the rest of them. The kids decorated the eggs, then with the left over paint, the girls decorated the newspaper on the table, then they said that they were going to decorate their hands...so I took the paint away.

Easter is my favorite holiday. It is when Jesus took all of our sins and washed us clean. I know that we are forgiven any time that we ask, but there is something special about someone coming forward for us. It is like the eggs being all cleaned and ready to take their new designs. Happy late Easter everyone.

4/12/13 written Saturday 3.23.13 tents...

We tried to put up the tent today. We would like to go tenting this year. We started to set it up in the living room. We are missing some of the support poles. We have been storing it in the garage. Some of the poles must have fallen out of the box. We used it a few years ago at a relatives house. It was a disappointment.

3/27/13 written Thursday 3.14.13 school project...

Maggie did a cool project at school yesterday. They are studying addictions. The kids had to write a different good trait of theirs on three sheets of paper. On three more sheets of paper they wrote the names of three friends. They wrote three activities that they are in and three of their favorite possessions. The teacher said to pretend that they had made a bad choice of starting to drink. One of their friends finds out and won't be their friend any more. So the kids had to pick one of their friends listed on their papers and get rid of it. They lost one of their good traits to the drinking, so they had to pick a trait to get rid of. Then they were drinking and driving and got picked up by the police. Since they were in jail they couldn't do two of their activities, so the kids needed to throw two papers with school activities away. Then they needed to pay court costs so they had to sell two possessions, the kids chose two possessions to throw away. One more of their friends left because of all of the trouble that they were now in. Then because of all of the problems, their life and their decisions were not their own, so the kids had to go to someone else in the class and that person got to choose two of their remaining papers to get rid of. Margaret was so sad when she got telling about this activity. She said that only one bad decision was made, but she lost everything because of it. It was a really good visual assignment, I think that the memory of these pretend losses will stay with Maggie for a long time.

3/26/13 written Sunday 3/10/13 grills and learning...

We are going to get a grill and some charcole. The kids need to learn a new skill. They are in college and high school, so they are old enough.
Two summers ago we got a drill and we all learned to use it. The safety talk took a while...we had to talk about how permanent damage would be if there was an injury, and we all had to use safety glasses and ear plugs. Everyone did really well.
The year before William started using the hedge trimmers to cut the front bushes. I was really glad that he could take over that responsibility. When I cut the hedges, they always end up looking like two eye brows. William can get a neat, straight, cut.

3/25/13 written Sunday 3.10.13

We need to sign William up for school for this summer. He never says how things are going, but he smiles a lot, so things must be OK. Maggie had spring break last week. Her dream for break was to go to the library and get a lot of movies and books.  She went to grandmas each day. They took Beth to school each day. Maggie had a great time.

The kids helped me clean out some of the basement. We combined boxes and sorted out things for Goodwill. The basement looks a lot better. We still have a long way to go, but this is an improvement. When I am not cleaning out the basement, I think, we should be able to get rid of a lot of things, but then when we are actually sorting, it is more difficult to do.

3/24/13 written 1/17/13 homework, Christmas ornaments and school...

William is doing his homework at home each day, I am not sure why he isn't going to the computer labs at school. He looks happy.  It is nice to have him home for dinner each night.

I am hoping to take the Christmas tree down today. We had so much going on in the beginning of the month that we didn't get to it. Also, we don't like to take it down right away, it is nice to keep the Christmas feeling. Last year we got a big plastic container for all of the decorations. We put the lights in first then added the ornaments. When we were ready to put the tree up this year, we needed to take out all of the ornaments and put them on the couch and table to get to the lights. What a mess. When we take the tree down this year, we need to put the lights into the container last.

Beth had her last final today and has tomorrow off. Maggie has school tomorrow.

3-18-13 written 1-7-13 school, projects and calanders...

William was excited for school to start today. He was up before I called him.  Maggie does not have any night classes this semester, so when the kids are picked up tonight, I won't need to go back out and get anyone. Cheer cheer...
I have some projects that I want to work on this year. We have an extra calender that we can use to put the project items on. We have tried to put projects on our regular calendar, but if our family gets busy, it is the projects that are skipped and the calender becomes a mess. If the projects are on a separate calender, they won't interfer with the regular calender.
The regular calender needs to be updated with yearly events, like birthdays. Also, school days off need to be added. The kids have dinner jobs and the laundry and dishes job needs to be added. The quicker I get the new calender updated, the easier my year is.

3-17-13 written 1-6-13 looking at last year and school starting...

This is a new year. At church today the talk was about taking control of your schedule. He said to look at what activities fill you up and which ones drain you. The talk last week was about new year resolutions, and looking back at last year to see what went well, what didn't go well and where God was pointing you. I did that. It was very surprising to see an overview of the year. Today's talk was about looking at what drains you and fills you up.
William starts school tomorrow. Maggie started school last week, but her college classes start tomorrow. Beth starts school tomorrow.

3-16-13 written Wednesday 10.31.12 Halloween...

Beth wants to go trick-or-treating, but we are waiting for the sewer man to come and see if the new gas lines that were put in have punctured the sewer lines. Maggie needs to be picked up at 8:15 tonight from art class.
We went trick or treating tonight. It was fun. Beth and I went, she wanted to run to each house. We ended up walking fast. There were a lot of kids on some streets, and a lot of the houses were decorated, not with a lot of decorations, but with some lights and pumpkins, it was festive. We were out for about an hour.
The man from the sewer company didn't come over. I called him and heard that all of the work was cancelled for today because of the weather. He said that the gas company may call if they want to come and look at the pipes.
Maggie had art class tonight. They took pictures of their faces, close up, and they had the pictures enlarged to 8 1/2 x 11. Then they started gluing pieces of newspaper over the picture. She has used one color of newspaper for the hair and a different color for the back ground. They haven't finished the whole face yet.