Gobbledygook

2011-02-16T20:51:00.000-05:00

Silence always makes me wonder if I made you up........

Update

2011-02-16T16:19:00.002-05:00

Well, I don't know if anyone even follows this anymore seeing as how I haven't even followed it myself for the last year.....BUT.......... I got tired of all the facebook drama and cancelled my account. I found myself falling into the black hole of posting what I was doing every second of my day. I finally realized how boring that actually was. I do miss it sometimes, but not enough to start over again. Many changes have happened to my little family throughout the last year. Sometimes we haven't really been a family, just a few people living together, but we are sticking it out. Last year about this time, we moved into my childhood home (actually, I think it would be my teenagehood home??). Mom and Dad got to the point that they couldn't (or wouldn't lol) take care of the place anymore so we bought the "big" house and they live in the in-law quarters. It works out fairly well, but we are still trying to sort out whose is whose. Katie graduated last June with a 4.1 GPA! We are very proud of her. She is currently attending Bible Missionary Institute in Rock Island, IL. We miss her waaaaay more than she misses us. She is dating a very nice young man. His name is Micah. He's a missionary kid! Grew up in the Phillipines. Jay went to prep school in Kentucky for the first semester of his high school career. Mama missed him too much so she brought him back home at Christmas. It's been an adjustment, but I'm so glad he's here to help me out. Robert is still working for Coty. He's been there almost 20 years! I've never even lived in one state that many years let alone worked at one place for that long! Just recently the plant went through some major overhauls and Robert was moved to 2nd shift. This is proving to be a HUGE adjustment for all of us. God will give us the grace........ As my great friend LeeAnn in New York would say......TTFN! You figure it out! :)

Moving

2010-04-21T00:13:00.002-04:00

I'm never moving again!!! (Lord willing) This has been the worst move ever! I thought it would be easy.......that's what I get for thinking!

2009-02-18T11:37:00.001-05:00

I wanted to post this picture right after we had our snowstorm, but I couldn't locate the USB cord. I found it today! I know my "yankee" friends won't be too impressed with this, but this was the first substantial snowfall we had had in almost 5 years! We got almost 6 inches.

Homemade Laundry Soap

2009-02-17T12:39:00.004-05:00

I'm always looking for ways to cut my grocery/household budget and came upon this recipe. I have been making this for about a year now. During this time of economic crisis I thought I would share. It really works and it only costs about $10 a YEAR!

1/3 bar of Fels Naphta, Ivory, Zote or homemade soap
3/4 c Arm & Hammer washing soda - this is NOT baking soda - this can be hard to find.
3/4 c Borax powder - this is found in the laundry aisle.
1 small bucket - about 2 gallon size

Grate the soap into a saucepan. Add 6 cups of water and heat on medium until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Add soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Pour into a container with a lid and let sit for about 24 hours. The soap will seperate and gel. Shake well and add about 1/2 - 1 cup per load.

I saved some of my empty laudry soap containers and after the mixture cools I pour them into these.

Do you have any cost saving tips?

Spring is in the Air!

2009-02-11T11:18:00.002-05:00

We've gone from freezing cold and snow to springtime! It has been in the 70's for almost a week now! Robert and I spent most of the day yesterday out on the motorcycle! We both took a day off and just rode! It was wonderful! This makes me want to get out there and start digging in the dirt! I'm going to restrain myself though, because I know it won't last!

Changes For the New Year

2009-01-07T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in my office on this dreary Wednesday morning. We have had some changes recently. My husband is usually the one that doesn't do well with change, but this time I'm having issues. After 6 years of homeschooling my two children, Katie and Jay went back to private school this week. I miss them terribly! They come home in the afternoons with all kinds of exciting tales about their day. I'm trying very hard to be happy for them, but I'm not having much success. My list of things that I was finally going to have time for has been accomplished, my work is almost caught up and they've only been in school for 3 days! I guess I'm gonna have to find a new hobby. I wonder if this is what "empty nest syndrome" feels like?

Robert's daughter, Amanda, is getting married this weekend. She lives in Florida so he and his mother are going down for the wedding. I was going to go, but....well..... we won't get into that right now.

I'm Back!

2008-12-09T13:24:00.000-05:00

Wow! Where do I begin?! I'm terribly sorry it has been soooo long since I've updated. Things have been absolutely crazy for me. In October I went to Ohio to be with my brother, Justin, while he had MAJOR surgery on his leg. The surgery went really well and they have fixed his leg, but the best news is....after the surgery Justin allowed Jesus to fix his heart! He gave his life back to the Lord while lying in the hospital bed. PRAISE THE LORD! The first week in November I went back to Ohio to give my Mom a break from taking care of Justin. He had to have total care for about 2 months. I was only able to help out for one week because of my job.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time! This has always been one of my favorite holidays! I love the getting together with family, eating and all that without the pressure of wondering if everyone is happy with his/her gift. I love Christmas but it is so commercialized! This year my sisters-in-law and I decided to exchange homemade gifts instead of buying. It has been so much fun doing this. Of course I am sewing mine, but that's the only hint because I don't want them to find out what it is! I have one done and 3 more to go. I don't have that many sisters-in-law, but I'm including Mom and Katie in this. Well, I'll try not to be so long with my next update. God Bless you all!

$10 and a Saturday Afternoon

2008-09-23T12:35:00.000-04:00

I got a phone call from my Mom last Thursday and she asked me if I was willing to be involved in a plan that she and Megan had hatched up. "It's far out there!", she told me. (Usually the farther out there things are the more I like it.) So of course I said "Yes! What are we going to do?"

"We're going to build a kitchen table and benches for Megan."

"HUH?"

I don't know about ya'll, but with gas and grocery prices skyrocketing this year, we have been trying to figure out ways to do things cheaper. I know all the magazines give you all these wonderful ideas on how to save gas by walking to the store, work, etc. Uh......sorry........... I live 10 miles from the nearest store. Although I could probably use the exercise, it ain't happening. So we've been trying to cut in other ways.

Back to my table story. Some of you are probably thinking, How are these 3 women going to build a table?! Let me give you a little background. Megan has helped Micah build 4 houses (by themselves), Mom's been married to a builder for about 40 years and I've just kind of dabbled with building things here and there. Of course most of the men in the family (except for Dad) scoffed at our idea and made fun of us. That just made us all even more determined. We had something to prove. I told them it was just like sewing only we were using different tools. I won't mention any names, but one of the men folk sarcastically asked "Can I sew?"

So we meet at Mom and Dad's about 11am and over coffee Mom shows us several magazine pictures of what she has in mind. She became the designer. We had a plan. Dad told us that whatever wood he had we were more than welcome to use. So up to the barn we go to dig out wood. We finally get our saws set up and begin our project. Megan was designated as cutter. She can run a saw better than any man. If any of our professional builders would have been around, they would have fell over laughing at how I called out the measurements. Megan seemed to understand my "29 minus two lines" measurements. We spent about 6 hours on this thing and let me tell you, WE DID IT! This table is beautiful! As Dad was admiring our accomplishment he told us that we only had about $10 total in materials. What a way to save money! What would have cost Megan about $300, we only spent $10 and a Saturday afternoon! and...... had a blast doing it!

Satisfied

2008-08-25T14:01:00.000-04:00

All my life-long I had panted
For a draught from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt with-in.

Feeding on the husks around me
Till my strength was almost gone
Longed my soul for something better
Only still to hunger on.

Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy;
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul's sad cry.

Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life, so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.

HALLELUJAH! I HAVE FOUND HIM - WHOM MY SOUL SO LONG HAS CRAVED!
JESUS SATISFIES MY LONGINGS; THRO' HIS BLOOD I NOW AM SAVED.

- Clara Teare -

This is one of my favorite hymns. I am so thankful that I finally realized that Jesus is what my life was missing!

I'm back!

2008-08-19T20:04:00.000-04:00

Wow! It's been awhile hasn't it? Things have been absolutely crazy for us recently. Not too long after my last post I took Katie and Jay to Alabama to youth camp. What a blast! As the youngest "adult" there I worked mostly with the activities. We had water fights, volleyball, scavenger hunts, and much more. I'll post a picture of what some of the boys did to my van on the last night. After youth camp the kids and I drove from Alabama to Pennsylvania for our church conference and camp. We had to be in conference at 8:30 am on Saturday. We left Alabama at about 11:00 am Friday morning and made it with about 2 minutes to spare. What a whirlwind. Camp was awesome! The preaching and singing were wonderful. God's presence was everywhere!

Katie has started back to school. She is so motivated! I'm very proud of her. She will be 15 in a few weeks and of course is bugging her Dad and I about getting her permit. We made her a deal. If she finishes all of 10th grade (except for Algebra 2) by Christmas we'll take her to get her permit in January. It'll be interesting to see if she can do it. She can accomplish quite a bit when given a challenge.

Jay is dragging his feet about school. He's the opposite from Katie when it comes to motivation. He takes a lot of "encouragement". He would much rather be playing his guitar or talking on the phone. He has had quite a few new girls calling him since camp. Makes me feel kind of old. Oh, well. Since I'm now feeling old and depressed I think I'll take myself to bed! Goodnight! If you think of us pray for us!

The Stranger

2008-07-17T21:06:00.000-04:00

Today is Robert's birthday! He is...well....I better not tell how old he is, he might get mad! :) I made him a cheesecake. It was a new recipe and it did not turn out very well. I wonder if me leaving out the 4 eggs had anything to do with it?

Megan and I went shopping last weekend. We didn't tear up the town too bad, but a few stores did tear up our checking accounts! ;) She's supposed to come over so I can help her make a new dress for Micah's graduation in August. Where are you, Meg?!

The kids are still on vacation so Robert and I were just sitting around drinking coffee when the dogs started barking. Max will bark at just about anything, but Henri rarely barks. When we heard him bark we knew something was out there. I went to the window and there was a car in the ditch beside our driveway. Our neighbor, Danny, pulled her out with his truck. She was very upset so Robert told her to pull into the driveway and calm down. I thought she was just upset about running into the ditch, but it was more than that. We tried to get information out of her, but all she could do was sit in her car and cry. We finally did get out of her that she was having "man trouble". Robert and I told her that it was no accident that she ended up in our ditch. We told her that she now has two people praying for her. My heart is burdened for her. I don't know her circumstances or background, but I do know the One that is in control. We gave her a church invitation with our phone number. This could be her opportunity. I hope and pray she does the right thing.

Just a few Ramblings

2008-07-11T10:08:00.001-04:00

Well, if you've been reading Katie's blog, you know that she and Jay are on vacation with the rest of the family. I miss them terribly. I talked to them last night and they are having a WONDERFUL time (even though some of the adults are getting a little grumpy). ;) I guess I should kind of fill you in on where they are and with whom. Right now they are in Cody, Wyoming. There are 13 of them total. Mom & Dad took ALL of the grand kids with them!! If you think of it, please pray for my mom's sanity! My brother Larry and his wife Sherry and my brother Justin went along with them. Oh, yeah, they are camping too! Primitive camping! (no electricity, running water, etc......) Now you know why I stayed home! They've been white water rafting, horse back riding, mountain climbing and tons of other things. They still have about 2 weeks left! I think I'll be crazy by the time they get back. My house just seems so empty! It's nice to have a day or two to myself, but a WHOLE MONTH is too much! Robert has been very good about entertaining me. He has kept me very busy going places and doing things around here. Megan (my dear sister-in-law) didn't get to go either. She is missing her kids too. Our husbands are going to be at work all day Saturday so I think we're going to get together and go tear up the town. I'll let you know how that goes! God Bless!

To My Dear and Loving Husband

2008-07-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
-Anne Bradstreet-

I gave this poem to Robert on our first anniversay.

2008-07-08T11:33:00.001-04:00

As I was mulling over the idea of starting a blog, I seemed to be stumped at what I would call it. As a homeschool mom most of my time is spent with my children. This past winter as we were doing our schoolwork we decided to have a word for the day. I picked up the dictionary and opened it. One of the first words I noticed was "gobbledygook". When I read the meaning to Katie and Jay we laughed and laughed and tried to see how many different ways we could use the word. Sometimes I feel like my life makes no sense, but God is in control!