sigh...

We went for a walk today in the beautiful sunshine. Our favorite place to go is the track. The kids can climb on the bleachers and then we walk around the field and look at the chickens at the other end. Today there were many walkers (mostly of the older variety). I had just ushered all 6 kids to the other side of the track when an older man stopped me and said

"You must be babysitting."

I looked at him and said "Nope, they are all mine."

To which he replied, "You've got to be kidding. You look so young."

I know I should be flattered but I'm not, at least not yet. Give me 20 years. I'm happy with my 35 years and am proud I have had 6 kids in that time. Can I say I'm looking forward to wrinkles? Or maybe when I get them, I won't like them so much. Oh well, for now I guess I will just keep fielding these questions (which happens every time I'm with all the kids.)

Amazing Amazon deals!

**Check back often as I will add new deals here as I find them!**

I had to share all these deals at Amazon.com. It's even better if you sign up for a free 1 month trial of Amazon Prime which gets you free shipping. Sign up here: Amazon Prime

If you don't want to keep your membership you can set your account to auto-cancel. After you sign up, click on the "Your Account" tab, then click on "Manage Prime Membership" and finally click on "More Order Actions". You should then see a box to check that will NOT upgrade your membership automatically. Perfect!

Here are some deals that I've been seeing for kids. They all qualify for Amazon Prime shipping!

*NEW!*

• Cloth Strawberry Shortcake, 18",Play Alexander Seriesfor $14.99 (originally $44.95)!


• Little Mommy Baby Ah-Choo Dollfor $19.99 (originally $39.99)!


• 50% Star Wars Toys


• 70% Star Wars Toys
  



• Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition for $9.99 (originally $39.99)!


• The Original Colorforms Set for $9.99 (originally $32.99)!


• Cranium for $9.99 (originally $24.99)!


• Hyper Blastfor $9.99 (originally $29.99)!


• 1-2-3 Stomp! for $9.99 (originally $29.99)!


• Pictureka Flipperfor $9.99 (originally $29.99)!


• Matchbox Power Scouts Skull Mountain Playsetfor $9.99 (originally $34.99)!
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy & BD-Live) [Blu-ray]for $9.99 (originally $35.99)!


• $5.00 Magazines until 12/12


• Melissa & Doug See & Spellfor $9.99 (originally $19.99)!


• AMAZING Fisher Price TRIO deals on their castle sets: Fisher Price TRIO King's Castlefor $34.09 (originally $74.99)!


• Fisher Price TRIO King's Gatehousefor $9.99 (originally $24.99)!


• Fisher Price TRIO Cargo Loaderfor $14.99 (originally $29.99)!


• Style Six Silk Screenerfor $9.99 (originally $43.99)!


• I want this! The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girlfor $11.50 (originally $27.50)!


• Learning Resources Funny Phone Family Gamefor $9.99 (originally $34.99)!


• Hasbro CirKisfor $7.99 (originally $19.99)!


• Blokus 3D Gamefor $9.99 (originally $24.99)!


• ChixOs Design-A-Luxury Loftfor $7.98 (originally $29.99)!


• Clue Expressfor $9.99 (originally $12.99)!


• Radio Flyer My First Scooter in red or pinkfor $35.99 (originally $65.99)!


• Magellan Maestro 4000 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigatorfor $89.99 (originally $449.99)!

more free money

I have been so pleased with Swagbucks and have earned $20 in Amazon gift cards in 6 weeks! I am spending them all on Christmas.

Anyway, I thought I would share another money maker, Shop At Home. It is a website with tons of different coupons codes to a lot of different online stores. They also offer cash back for purchases just for shopping through their site. So say like you need to buy something from Old Navy. First go to http://www.shopathome.com and find Old Navy. You will get 10% cash back just for clicking through their link and buying something from Old Navy. I've been finding some really great deals online and I will always go first to SAH to find out if the store is offering any cash back. Then I just click through the link and get the credit. So far I have $26 in money coming back!

They offer a $5.00 bonus for signing up. That's free money! Hope this helps you Christmas shop.

this little girl

This little girl who looks all sweet and innocent is going to drive me to the mad house. I decided that after Christmas, when she's 2 1/2 years old, that we would start potty training (or potty learning to the more enlightened). All of her other siblings, except the talented and gifted Ellie who potty trained at 2, used the big kids potty at that age.

But then she started wanting to use the potty and did successfully for a few days. Then she didn't want to. Then she did. Then didn't. Then did. Get my drift. Now it's a resounding "no, I don't want to." So back to my original idea to wait until after Christmas. I bought a really cute training underwear pattern (that snaps off in case of a major accident) so I think I'll make some and give them to her for Christmas. Yes, underwear for Christmas, I know.

Our Thanksgiving was really fun. We were invited to our good friends house who happen to have 10 kids and several of those kids happen to be my kids best friends. We arrived at 2:00 pm and didn't leave until 10:30 pm and would have stayed longer if it wasn't for our little ones being so exhausted. The three older girls stayed the night much to their delight.

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. There is nothing like sitting around the table after a good meal and talking about everything and anything. As the evening gets later and you get more tired, the talking turns to silliness and memories and inside jokes are made. So thanks "B" family, we had a great time! And thanks for our new Julian Smith addiction. :)

cheap

I realized the Christmas is only a few weeks away and I have two presents bought. Yes, two. I know what I want to make/buy for my kids but I haven't been motivated to actually do something about it.

I'm trying to do a very cheap Christmas because, well, we are not going to go into debt to buy presents. I forgot to make a Christmas fund last year so whatever money I can make sewing is our Christmas fund. We like to make presents and I have some yummy bamboo velour to turn into blankets, some great homemade jam, bread, etc for baskets.

I'll have a $10 Amazon gift card soon thanks to Swagbucks. I earned it in only 20 days by really doing nothing except searching and entering Swag Codes when I find them.

What is Swagbucks? It is a search engine powered by Google and Ask. I don't like the search answers so I switch to regular Google if I win a SwagBuck. So what I do is go to Swagbucks (or you can download their toolbar) and type in your search. I also type in the site I want to go to. So if I want to go to ebay, instead of typing ebay in my address bar, I type it in the Swagbucks bar and I could get a point or 2 for using their bar. Swagbucks also release Swagcodes good for a couple of points. Sometimes they just give you the code and sometimes you have to find it but it's pretty easy.

It's rather easy and I earn between 2-5 points a day. It only takes 45 points to earn a $5 Amazon gift card. Anyway, I'm hoping to get at least another $5 Amazon gift card before Christmas and buy the kids a new Wii game free!

If this is something you want to try, here is my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/alittlebusy You will get 3 Swagbucks for just signing up. I get Swagbucks when you find them so if you decide you like Swagbucks, get your friends signed up so you can get gift cards faster.

Anyway, I need to go wake Molly up from her nap. We need to go to Walgreens and get some free Aussie shampoo and hopefully the movie UP. I have a $10 off coupon that expires today.

our meals this week

We're on a tight budget. We paid off all credit card/vehicle debt two years ago and have not used any credit cards in that time. It was hard at first. I felt like we didn't have any money but now it is so freeing. We don't buy it if we don't have the money - as simple as that. We now have a growing savings account and are adding at least $500 to it a month with my businesses. We finally have enough money saved to buy Brian a used car when our van dies (which will be soon I'm sure).

We can credit our generous God who provides for all our of needs and many of our wants as well as following the Dave Ramsey plan. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to take control of their finances, especially his Total Money Makeover book. Get it at your library.

Anyway, part of living within our budget means we can only spend $750 a month on groceries and household items (laundry, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, shampoo, etc). I'm sure many of you can put me to shame and live on way less and I would welcome your tips. This money feeds all 8 of us comfortably (including my low-carb diet). We make almost all of our food from scratch and don't buy prepackaged meals or snacks and rarely go out to eat.

So I had $100 left over this week for groceries. I wrote out a meal plan for dinners and we went shopping at Winco. I only spent $76 (of which a couple of $$ were for some candy since Grae was with us) so I have some left over to buy milk, eggs and whatnot this week. (we go through 3 dz eggs and 6 gallons of milk a week).

Breakfasts for the kids are usually oatmeal, homemade pancakes or muffins or cereal if I can get it for under $1.00/lb. Lunches for the kids are sandwiches, mac -n-cheese, yogurt with sunflower seeds/fruit, leftovers, etc. I'm a little different in that I low carb. So I eat 2 eggs with ham & veggies for breakfast. Lunch is a low carb tortilla with cheese, avacado, lettuce or just a bowl of cottage cheese. You get the picture.

Dinner tonight:
Low Carb Lasagna (made with roasted zucchini instead of noodles. Yes the kids eat it and like it.) Side salad. Grapes for the kids and blueberries for Brian and I.

Wed:
Bean and Bacon soup with white beans I bought yesterday. I LOVE white beans. *I better get them out so I can soak them tomorrow.* Homemade bread for the family. None for me. Throw some type of veggie in the soup as well. Maybe chopped peppers, broccoli and carrots?

Thurs:
Low carb quiche (just no crust) with sausage, bacon and broccoli. Homemade pancakes or french toast for the family. Low carb bread french toast for me (so good!). Some type of fruit.

Friday:
Leftover bean soup with turkey sandwiches on homemade bread. Lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
Salad?

Saturday:
Leftovers or whatever the kids fix.

Sunday:
Too stuffed from eating a big meal at church. Brian sometimes makes fried potatoes and we have it with cheese and some type of deli meat.

So that's my plan. I didn't have to buy any household items this week. I'm still super stocked up on free toothpaste, shampoo and enough free deodorant to last for another year. Thanks to the Grocery Game (http://www.thegrocerygame.com).

So now that I've typed for like 30 minutes, I actually need to go prep for dinner. I have to roast the zucchini first and let it sit to drain. Oh and need to finish diaper laundry or Molly will have nothing to wear when she wakes up. Oops.

furniture feature friday

I love this feature at Miss Mustard Seed's blog. I've recently just found her blog and have spent hours looking through posts. Such inspiration!

I entered my chandelier redo on her feature page. Be sure to check out the other creative projects!

bikes

So this has been a great summer of firsts for us. I took all 6 kids for a week of camping all by myself. Ava had 13 horse back riding lessons. Ellie lost her first teeth and Lauren had braces put on hers. The older girls are taking piano lessons, will learn to swim in a few weeks and they taught themselves to ride bikes.



Up until 3 years ago, we lived in apartments. There was nowhere to ride or store bikes so the girls never learned how to ride. A great friend gave us a bike and in the course of one weekend, they were off and riding just fine. We took them to our Goodwill Outlet store and found 3 almost brand new bikes; one for Lauren, one for Maddie and one for Ellie. Ava kept the gifted bike.



We were just about to buy Ellie training wheels when she surprised us by riding all by herself. They are having a ball and we go nightly to the school behind our house and ride, ride, ride. Grae and Molly spend the time playing on the playground.



This has been a very busy and expensive summer, and fall is shaping up to be the same way. We'll replace horse riding lessons with girls choir and bike riding with tearing up the upstairs. We're crazy.

Oh and our house appraisal went through fine. We needed to get $220,000 and the appraiser valued our house at $259,000. Wow! We bought the house for $185,000 three years ago so we were happy! This house has a lot of our blood, sweat and tears in it and we love it.

I finished Grae and Molly's quilts and I will show them later. Love picking fabrics for the quilts - sewing them, not so much. I found it boring sewing straight lines but the free motion quilting was fun. I made many errors but you can't tell without really staring at it so that's good! Well, off to sew diapers.

goodwill finds

We were browsing the Goodwill Outlet store for bikes and I stumbled upon this.



My heart stopped beating for a minute while Brian flipped opened the lid to reveal this...



The price: $15.00. I tackled a sales clerk and asked him to tag it as sold. It was mine. The machine came with the original manual and I discovered it was a Singer 201-2 Centennial model made in Feb. 1950. Only 25,000 were made.

We then discovered that it came with the original binding foot, ruffler foot and hem foot but no all purpose foot. After plugging it in and discovering it ran great, I called our local (very local as in only a few blocks away) sewing repair shop and was told they love working on old Singers and specialize in it. I'm going to have them rewire it (original fraying wires). I was also told they would find an all purpose foot for it.





The cabinet it came in is in very bad shape and I don't know if I want to sand it and restain it or paint it a bright yellow or orange or blue. I'm going to see if I can find out how old it is.

This is the top:


So anyway, I'm beyond excited as I've wanted on for awhile. Lauren has claimed it for herself when I die but I told her she could use it now while I'm healthy.

We did find bikes for the girls but that is another post.

nothing

Well I'm supposed to be waking Molly up from her nap, or cutting diaper doublers out, or hanging clothes on the line but here I am blogging. I wonder what excuses the pioneer women used for not doing chores? Or did they always do their work? Oh well.


This isn't done yet. I need to get some tie backs for the curtains, touch up the paint and finish putting knobs on the hanger.


Sneak peek at our new door.

We are super close to finishing Grae & Molly's bedroom. I'm just decorating it now. It looks so different then before. Much better. We are in the process of refinancing our house and have an appraiser coming sometime. So that means rushing around fixing things so that he appraises it high. We need to prove we have 20% equity in our home so we can drop PMI and lower our interest rate from 6% to 5%. This will result in a $350 savings each month. Can you believe it? We can make our payments now but how great will it be to have some extra money every month. It's going right into savings to help build our 6 month emergency fund.

We are in the process of canning anything we can find. So far we have canned blueberry jam and we're getting ready to can peaches (I hope). We didn't plant enough beans to can those but maybe we can find somewhere to pick. Then on to applesauce, pickles and whatever else we find. Our garden is doing great and we're just about ready to pick and eat our grapes. They are so good off the vine.

So that is an update. Not much but I really do need to go wake up Molly so she isn't up until midnight tonight. That wouldn't be fun.

going on

Since it's much too hot to go outside and do anything but sweat, we're staying inside and trying to find stuff to do. This mainly consists of me looking around and seeing how filthy our house is. When did my carpets get so dirty? Why are the baseboards so dusty? Seriously is it to much to ask anyone to vacuum the blinds? The kids are really loving this and look forward every morning to see what new chores we will do that day. I caught Ava googling "African rain dance" yesterday so the deep cleaning would stop. (not really).

I did sew some clothes for Molly yesterday. She loves them. The little pink dress was supposed to be up for sale but she wouldn't give it up. So I made another one to sell.



Here's when I told her to smile:


Brian picked up the new Wii Sports Resort so we'll be doing that this afternoon.

I have to get ready to take Lauren to the orthodontist as one of her brackets fell off while eating cereal. She now knows to not eat cereal. Lauren just got her braces on two weeks ago. Grae thinks they are cool and even put some silver Christmas tree beads over his mouth to show Lauren that he had braces too.

We finished putting the pergo floor down in Grae and Molly's room and I took pictures accidently deleted them off my camera. I'm going to try to recover the images today and will post pictures. The difference is amazing!

praying for the pollocks

We have known the Pollocks for a long time and adore the whole family, even those little ones we haven't met yet.

Bryan is battling cancer (well technically the whole family is) and we are praying for them. They are blogging their experience and struggles while putting their faith in our Lord. We love them and they are teaching us to be faithful in all things God gives us.

May God bless them.

scheduling

I've never been a strict scheduler. Sure our day would follow a loose schedule of mealtimes, snack times as well as naptimes but nothing written down.

Well now I'm rethinking that a little and only as it pertains to school. Our whiteboard listed which subjects we would be studying that day but not like "from 8:00 am - 8:30 am - Science". I'm still not sure I want to do it that way as I like the flexibility in going longer or shorter depending on what we're studying that day. If I went over, I would be stressing that I was going over schedule.

However, I feel disorganized during the school morning and need something.

The subjects we are currently studying are as follows:

Math
Math drills
Classical Music
Drawing/ History of Art
World History - currently Middle Ages
Student writing: Middle Ages
Vocab/Spelling
Science - Maddie & Ava: Botany, Lauren: General Science
Bible Study: Proverbs
Memory Verses
Read out loud: 50 Famous Stories as well as Trial & Triumph: Stories from Church History
Piano lessons: Thursday
Practice piano: 30 mins daily

Lauren has as well:
Logic
More writing
Latin (to be added)

Then Ellie:
Math
Reading/writing

Grae:
Numbers/Shapes

Wow. That is quite the list. We don't do every subject everday so see why I need a schedule! I guess I just need to sit down and work it through. Not my favorite thing. If I do manage it, I'll post it here.

a job

Brian is at his second day of work at his new job. This is a great stable company, excellent benefits, vacation days, 401K, great salary (making what he was making at his old job), an iphone (!), nice people... but (there's always a but) it is 45 minutes away. That is the only major downside. However, praise God Brian has a job! Bye, bye unemployment!

After 6 months of team parenting, I'm on my own. I had forgotten how hard it was to be home all day with EVERYONE. Any needs, wants or complaints come to me again. It was way to easy say "go see your Dad" and problem solved. Molly wandered around all day yelling "Daaadyyyy...." and banging on the office door. So it's a small adjustment but worth it.

Since I'm on my big workout/wii fit/lose-the-baby-weight-already kick, I have to get up at 6 am (yes, 6 AM!) to go for a walk or workout before Brian leaves at 7 am. I am NOT a morning person in the least but it is nice to have it so quiet around here and the morning air is so nice. I have lost 2.2 lbs since last week according to my "trainer" on the wii fit. I'm really enjoying it.

Well Lauren just pulled the muffins out of the oven for breakfast so while the kids are occupied eating I need to go print some clothing labels for some orders we received through http://www.misslabel.com

getting fit

I was going gung-ho on working out before the plaque struck but I was caught in a rut. I love strength training and lifting weights but the cardio workouts were boring to me. I go for a 30 minute brisk walk but that doesn't really do anything.

So with my birthday money I bought the Wii Fit. I got it at Amazon for $89.99 with free shipping. At Christmas they were $150 because it was sold out everywhere.

Anyway, I've Wii Fitted (a verb now?) for 7 days and have lost 1 pound. (The game tracks your weight for you.) I'm so excited. Let me tell you, this is a workout. I do yoga, then strength training, then aerobics and then a balance game. The game keeps you motivated. I got up at 6:30 am this morning to work out. Do you know how incredibly unbelievable that is for me? ;).

The kids love it too. Ava's favorite is the running, Lauren loves tightrope walking and Maddie does the Hula Hoop. The Hula hoop game is killer to the heart and abs.

Anyway, this isn't a review per se but we LOVE this game and it was worth spending ever last dollar of my birthday money. I can see doing the Wii Fit on days it's too hot or rainy to go outside to workout. So off to start dinner and maybe do some skiing...

a break in

I forgot to mention that the other day, someone broke into both of our vans in the middle of the night. I guess "break in" isn't the right word as we left both vans unlocked and they simply opened them up.

The next morning Brian noticed that the glove compartments were both open but nothing was taken. I guess they didn't want our childrens cds or expired gift cards or the candy on the floor. They didn't take the broken crayons, dirty carseats or crumbled paper. Go figure. We had nothing of value for them to steal. I can't decide to be happy or sad. ;)

We make sure to lock the doors now but still.

what we've been up to...

See Molly there. That is a sick girl. We all had the fever, cough, sneeze thing last week but Molly got it the worst. Poor girl had a 102-103 degree fever for 6 DAYS! We almost took her to the ER but decided to wait it out. She wouldn't drink so every 10 minutes we fed her a couple of dropperfuls of juice. She was on expectorant, Tylenol, Motrin, lavender steam showers and lots of fluid. Her fever finally broke when we were going to take her to the doctor. I thought she might have had a secondary infection but nope, just a nasty virus. She's better now and back to bossing everyone around.

Well Ellie just said a weird thing. "Mommy, sometimes when I sit down my head feels big and I feel like I have dots all over my face."

Okay. I just smiled and said "Really?". That satisfied her.

No job for Brian yet. He's made the second cut for a job he's probably not qualified for but hey at least they looked at his resume. We're starting our new business, Miss Label, very soon. Maybe we'll be so busy at that he won't have to go back to work! That would be great. Well as long as he stayed in the back room and didn't bother us much during the day.

Well off to clean up Molly. She is a complete mess from dinner.

a big thank you...

God has truly been blessing us lately. Here is Molly & Grae with their mouths stuffed with heart candy. Someone left us a basket of goodies at church that included a gas gift card, a mall gift card, wine, heart candy, cocoa, pudding, pencils, marshmellows and homemade banana bread. We don't know who did it but if you read this blog: THANK YOU! It sure lifted our day.

Brian's parents gave us some money as well as, get this, Kettle chips, chocolate milk, eggs, ham and a bunch of fruit. We've been enjoying this break from soups, beans and rice. I've been stuffing my face with chips and loving every minute ;) I feel like I can go back to the grindstone with renewed vigor. Thank you God.

I've also taken a break from sewing diapers to sew dresses for Ellie and Molly. So far I've got two done for Ellie and one for Molly. I have plans for more but need to go back to sewing diapers on Monday. It feels so good to create something again!

my almost present

See what I unwrapped last night? I've been wanting an Ipod for awhile to listen to podcasts while I sew. Obviously I can't get one right now so imagine my surprise when this little gem was bundled with a delicious chocolate bar.

Brian explained that he found it on a walk a week ago. He posted a "found" notice on Craigslist and no one contacted him. So he gave it to me. I got to looking around on it and found a few pictures and one was a house I recognized. So this morning I took a walk and found the house. I'm happy that the Ipod will make it back to its owner but sad because I really want it. It's even my favorite color ;)

So when we take our family walk this afternoon, we'll stop by the house and see if it is indeed theirs. So it was my almost present.

**Update: We stopped by the house and the mom told us she didn't even know her daughter had lost her ipod. Ooops.However she recognized it right away and thanked us. She seemed surprised that anyone would take the time to return it, which is sad. So the tale has ended with no ipod for me but a great lesson in honesty for the kids and that is a great present.

No matter what...

No matter what side of the aisle you're on, this is funny!

Speaker Pelosi said that 500 million Americans will lose their jobs. Umm, Speaker, there are only about 300 million Americans living right now.



Oh and she called President Bush and idiot.

a new business

Here's our new money making venture. We're pretty excited about it and hope to have it running in late March?

Miss Label

Can you pay my heating bills Obama?

Remember when you said the following?
"“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said. “That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added."

You were here in Oregon. How come now that you are in the White House you cranked the heat up so much that your advisor said you could grow an orchid in there?

[WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”] here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/us/politics/29whitehouse.html?_r=3

We keep our heat at a chilly 63 degrees during the day and 59 at night. Yes we are cold but we can't afford to heat otherwise. Have you heard of sweaters? We wear several. And slippers too.

Lead by example? Not so much. I need to get up and do something active because my nose is cold from sitting around.

Indulge me...

I try very hard not to be a complainer. Really I do. But can I just whine a minute here? It's hard being the brave little toaster all the time.

I've been sewing for 4-5 hours a day during the little ones nap time. Then again when they go to bed. In addition I'm trying to spend at least an hour on answering email and working on Journal Modiste. Oh and the insane CPSIA law that was passed that threatens to shut down all my businesses in one fell swoop, that is taking some time to work through as well.

All of this while doing my normal "chores." You know the really fun ones like: 3-4 loads of laundry a day, budgeting/paying bills, cleaning and directing the kids to clean (ie. Do you call this clean? What about that pile of junk in the corner?), making grocery lists, planning & preparing meals, homeschooling, cuddling various kids, thinking of new ways to make money, trying not to worry about Brian not finding a job, breaking up fights, exercising..... You get it.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I have the ability to bring in money while Brian is looking for work. Unemployment just pays our mortgage and heat. Everything else comes from what I can earn. God has been blessing me with orders and is keeping all bills paid and food on our table.

But I'm just a little weary. I'm not a coffee person but I've been relying on it to keep me hopping all day. I'm having trouble turning my mind off a night to sleep and all of my sleeping pills are gone. Whine, whine, whine. Okay done.

This verse is running through my head and it is a comfort to me.

James 1:1-8.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

So I'm going to keep on keeping on and throw the focus off myself and on to serving my family and God. Wow! Who knew blogging could be such good therapy?

What I've been working on...

I did this all week:



Whew, that's a lot of diapers.

Bizarre

Okay - did anyone else find the "prayer" (and I use the term loosely) by Joseph Lowery during the Inauguration bizarre. He was going forth spewing social justice stuff and then he did the mellow yellow, brown stick around thing. My immediate thought was the "green" toilet rule: "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If's brown, flush it down." Obviously he wasn't refering to that but perhaps the old civil rights song: Big Bill Broonzy Black, Brown And White lyrics. Link here: http://www.lyricstime.com/big-bill-broonzy-black-brown-and-white-lyrics.html

Just weird. Here is exactly what he said:
“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."

Do we "white" people not embrace what is right? I'm thinking that Obama wants us to all work together regardless of race and this is what is said? Is this the tone he wants to set for the Presidency?

It will be a long 4 years.

An open letter to President Bush

Dear President Bush,
Today is your last day in office and I wanted to take the time to thank you for your service to this country. I wouldn't wish the Presidency on my worst enemy nor do I want my son to pursue that office. I couldn't stand by while my own son was ridiculed, mocked and hated by the people of his own country. If people disagreed with him and were respectful about it, that's one thing, but to call him stupid and want him dead is too much. So thank you for bearing that burden.

Did you find it ironic that people made fun of your intellect? I thought we valued a leader who spoke like us not down to us. I guess none of them have mispronounced a word or gotten a phrase wrong. I want some of what they're drinking. (I'm sure my letter is far from perfect grammatically. Did you know I used the word "dramastically" in a sentence the other day? It isn't even a word but maybe needs to be.) Oh wait, they do get things wrong (Obama visited more states than we have in the Union, sees dead people. Biden tells a wheel chair man to stand up). However we all know that they were "tired" or at least that is what their spokespeople told us. I think the real reason is because they are human and make mistakes. Maybe they forgot that you are human as well. Anyway...

Thank you for loving God and not being ashamed to show it. Thank you for doing all you could to protect those sweet unborn children and the moms who were in a desperate situation to not make a decision they would regret later. I pray, as I'm sure you will, that Obama would remember those unborn children and their mothers with love.

Thank you for showing the world that a powerful man can love his wife and stay faithful to her. Your love for Mrs. Bush is very evident and inspiring. We all can tell she adores you too.

I'm sure you have your regrets. I'm sure you feel you failed in some ways. Again, you are human and I'm confident you did your best with the information given. I make mistakes and bad decisions all the time and am glad that they don't affect the world. I wouldn't want that responsibility.

Anyway, I need to wrap up this letter and tell my kids to clean up their mess and then get dinner made. I hope tomorrow goes well for you and in the coming days, you'll get some time to relax with your family. You earned it.

God bless,
Amy Shearer

14 years of wedded bliss..

Maybe you haven't guessed by now but I'm not the easiest person to live with. Just ask my kids but don't ask Brian, he wouldn't admit it. Even when I ask him to list some things he would change about me, he just shrugs and tells me he can't think of anything right now. Perhaps he's scared of my reaction or maybe he's just that nice. Could he be so blinded by love after all this time that my flaws just melt away? lol.

Time flies when you're having fun. For the most part it's been really fun. He's my best friend in the world and I am so thankful to be sharing my life with him. I knew from the second time I saw him he would be my husband but it took a little more convincing for him to come to the same conclusion. I still don't know what his problem was ;)

Happy Anniversary Brian. Here's to 50 more years together. Well maybe that's wishful thinking seeing how you are A LOT older than me. Remember, I'm the young one. 6 years younger.

See what he has to live with?

Not again...

Laid off again. Merry stinkin' Christmas.

Ouch...

My throat is on fire. It hurts so bad and has for 2 days. Nothing is helping at all. Ellie had this a few days ago and now has a bad cough. Grae and Ava have it as well. It's not slowing down Grae but is making him grouchy.

Welcome to cold and flu season.

Easy letter for you to sign & send

Here is a great site with a form letter you can email your congressman about the new regulations affecting small business. Let's not make crafters criminals in our zeal to protect children.

Sign the form now!

Please help save us...

Please read this letter and sign the petition if you agree. My business may be shut down as well as thousands of others.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

More info...

The initial shock has worn off and I'm excited for the future. Financially, we'll be okay until January. My business is slow right now but still going steady. Brian is getting 3 weeks vacation pay so that will help and will go right into savings. We are cutting back on all things and not buying anything. We had just begun saving our 3-6 emergency fund but didn't get very far. However we're not in any credit card debt, our vans are paid off and so far nothing major is coming up.

God has been good to us. Our stove blew up the other day (before Brian got laid off) and I called Brian at work. He mentioned it to one of his co-workers who just "happened" to be getting a new gas stove the next day. She told him we could have her electric one. Guess what, it's the exact same one that we had but better condition. So the girls knew how to work it already.

Brian went to pick it up that night and got to use the company truck to haul it back to our house. When he went to unload it, who should show up but his Dad! So I didn't have to help out ;) All things worked out so well. Thank you God!

Lauren needs braces and we had the appointment scheduled for next week. We put it on hold for now until Brian finds a new job. Thank goodness we didn't already start and drain our savings account paying for it.

It's nice to have Brian home. He taught school the other day while I ran some errands. The kids had fun (and I think Brian did too). I'm taking on all kinds of custom orders that I didn't have time to take on before. That means more $$ but it's also fun. I love sewing and creating.

So we're doing great so far. Thank you to all that are praying for us. Brian is applying for two jobs that are local and sound interesting. He enjoys delveloping software to solve business problems and he's good at it. He's so creative that it would be nice for him to be part of a company that has some money to put behind their ideas.

So that's the update. I've got some pirate Grae pics to show you that are so funny but I'm too lazy to edit them right now. So maybe next time!

well...

Brian just told me he's laid off. Oh man.

Learn to take better pictures!

***Update: thank you all so much for signing up. I only need 2 more referrals and then I can get the GC.***


I've been a member of a great photography site for a few months and wanted to share it with you. It's Clickin Moms and basically it's a group of women interested in taking better pictures or wanting to start their own photography business.

There are tutorials and how to's on composing a picture, how to use the settings on your camera, lighting, etc. I've learned quite a bit. I'm also fond of browsing the pictures the members have taken. So stunning!

Anyway, here is the link: Clickin' Moms

Oh and now is a great time to sign up! The site is running a referral contest. So if you sign up under my link, I'm eligible to win a $50 GC to Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma, Gymboree, Gap, Barnes and Noble or Starbucks, or BP Gas stations. I just need 10 new sign ups and I already have 4.

So if you become a member, you can also participate and get your own gift card with your referrals. The contest ends Oct. 31.

Even without the contest, it's a great site.

Fairness?

I am soooo sick of a certain political party talking about "fairness." Look, life isn't fair. Some people have more, some less. Don't tax those who have worked hard, sacrificed, put hours into making money and give it to those who aren't making that kind of money.

What's up with a tax cut that reduces taxes for those making under $250,000 when over 40% of the "low income" households don't even pay taxes. What they will really be getting is a tax credit. Free money.

How is that fair?

I like Sarah Palin...

Just finished watching Sarah Palin's acceptance speech for VP on the web. Funny, funny, funny! She has spunk. My favorite part is when her youngest daughter (is she about 6 or 7?) was holding Sarah's 4 month old and right in front of the camera, licked her whole hand and proceeded to smooth down his hair. (the girl did this, not Sarah.)

I wasn't really behind McCain as I disagree with a lot of things he believes in but with Sarah Palin on the ticket, I am a little more excited!

We did it!

Well we made it last week on $7.00 and we ate well. By Sunday night I had to get creative with the meal but it was still good. The best thing was we didn't use our credit card although it was tempting. I can't wait to get 6 mth emergency fund going and we will cut up the card!

More Graedon!

Grae fell down on his bottom the other day and I heard him say "Ouch, I hurt my feelings."

We were talking about tatoos and how one of my relatives has one. Grae didn't think this was a good idea and told me the God had a pressure washer and could wash it off. He has a thing for pressure washers ever since he saw Brian washing the house.

Molly is 14 mths old and is starting to say some words we can actually recognize! She says: Daddy, bye, cracker, snack, na-na (for nursing), ama (when she want's something), Mama, Ellie, Aba (Ava), Grae-Grae, baby, cheers (we touch cups together), nana (banana), gookie (cookie), Tin-Tin (for the book), Gah (God), ay-n (amen), mm-mm (food) and more I'm sure. I love this age!

We are over halfway done painting the house and it's only the weather that is stopping us. Either it's too hot to paint or raining. I can't wait until it's over.

Well, I'm off to make dinner now. My least favorite chore of the day. Maybe I can convince one of the girls to do it. We'll see.

Can't think of a title.

Hey, I checked our online banking and we have $6.21 to last us until Monday's paycheck. Woohoo! Brian said he had $7.00 in his wallet so that should buy us milk until then. Oh we do need salt too. I didn't know how hard it was to live without salt. I have low blood pressure and salt helps keep the dizziness away.

Anyway, back to sewing. I have some diapers and wool covers selling tomorrow here...if you want to check them out.

Oh happy day!!!

This is paid off today!! I put every available penny toward it and paid it off in 1 and 1/2 years. What a relief. Praise God we are out of debt except the student loan. That will be paid off next and then we'll start saving 6 months salary. Yay for the Dave Ramsey plan!

Hey, it's July!

Wow, it's July and my last blog post was June, oops. This will probably be a totally random blog post as I'll just type as I think.


First, Molly is walking! There's nothing cuter than a baby walking with their hands up in the air for balance, a big smile on their face and a staggering step. She loves this new freedom. She thinks she's quite the big girl! I do have a video of her first steps and maybe I'll get that posted later.

Graedon is such a good boy. Just yesterday I gave him a pop tart (I know but they were on sale) and I reached back in the package to give Ellie one. I turned to hand it to Ellie when I noticed that Grae had split his in half and gave one half to Ellie. So sweet. Molly has a runny nose right now and I was looking for a "snot" rag. Grae piped up, "I have one." He got it out and wiped Molly's nose for me!

He is sure to tell us if a boy hits one of his sisters, he will protect them and hit the boy and tell him to leave his sister alone. That's my boy! However he does embellish the story sometimes and tells me that he will have a flaming pirate sword and will run after the bad boy.

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On a completely unrelated note, what's up with this? I admit that I think sposies are gross now but this is one of the most disgusting things I have seen. You change the pad at the back but leave the diaper on. Pampers claims that the moisture is pulled to the back leaving the front stay dry. How? Magic? There has to be some urine soaked in the front. I'm going to buy some stock in Desitin as this is sure to give babies/toddlers even more diaper rash. Do you know that ever since Molly has been in cloth, she has not had one diaper rash? I'm sure it's because her skin can breathe in the cotton or bamboo and we change her right after she wets.

Anyway, they are trying to promote this as a quick thing to do. Hey you don't even have to look or interact with your child to change their diapers. Wohoo! I don't know about you and your baby but Molly and I have fun at diaper changes. I sing to her, play short games and give her lots of kisses. Okay, done with that rant. ;)

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We've been having fun in school lately. I really enjoy teaching the girls. (we do school year round so no summer break). Our science curriculum is really good. It's Apologia and the Exploring Creation series. Very comprehensive but understandable. I love doing the experiments with the girls. The best thing is that it acknowledges God as creator. Very important to us as we do not seek to seperate God from our studies. That would be impossible as God made 2+2=4, as well as ordered history, made all things, created language, laws of science, etc.

I'm going to be adding an art series to our school program but I need to find a time to squeeze it in. The following may not seem like a lot but it takes all morning to get through. We don't do these all on the same day.

Right now we're doing (with links):
Saxon math 65 (Maddie and Ava)
Saxon 76 (Lauren)
Student Writing Intensive Group B (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)
Exploring Astronomy (Maddie & Ava)
Apologia General Science (Lauren)
Proverbs study (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)
Catechisms (all kids)
Veritas Press History: Ancient Greece and Rome
Beginning reading/writing (Ellie)
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (Lauren, Maddie, Ava)

Will be adding back Shurley Grammar 7
Lauren will be starting Traditional Logic

We just finished a world geography course and will be adding in a poetry course. There is so much more that I want to do but it's so hard with Grae, Ellie and Molly awake and roaming the house, lol.

Okay so this post was totally random and I've had to get up 4 times to tell the girls to be quiet so Grae can sleep. Off to make Bri and I some dinner or at least to dish up the low carb cheesecake ;)

Oh my...

So my last post was about how we just got over head colds and then we were hit with the stomach flu. Monday night Brian complained of his stomach hurting and within a few hours Maddie and Lauren were throwing up. The next day was Ellie's turn followed by Graedon, Molly and Ava. I was feeling pretty proud that I didn't get it when Thursday came along and I got it.

The funny (or not so funny) thing is about 20 families in our church got the same thing at the same time. Thankfully the bug is short lived and we're all feeling much better. I lost 2.5 pounds in 1 day! Not a great way to lose weight and I'm sure it will come back when I feel up to eating.

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On another note, in an effort to remember the cute things my children say, here's one by Graedon.

We were watching the Pirates of Penzance again and the song was "how pitiful his tale, how rare his beauty...." in reference to a particularly handsome pirate with a sad story. This is repeated several times.

Graedon turned to me and said "Mommy?".

"Yes."

"Pirates don't have tails."

I had to stop and think for a moment and then agreed with him. I'm sure he didn't understand what I found so funny.

Cute shoes, oh my

Just had to rave about a website, Gumshoe.com. I ordered from them last week and got my order super quick. Grae has been wanting Crocs so since they offered a 20% coupon and free shipping, I jumped at the chance.

Turns out his feet grew overnight and they are too small. (we tried them on at REI last week and they fit fine). Anyway, I emailed them to find out how to exhange them and not only did they get back to me rather quickly but offered to send me the crocs now. I'll be shopping there again I'm sure. They have the cutest UMI shoes for Miss Molly ;)

Ouch that hurt...

A few days ago I hurt my elbow. Oh man did I hurt it! I was carrying a huge load of laundry in one arm and Molly in the other. As I flew through the bedroom door I banged my elbow on the door jam. Immediately pain filled my arm and I thought I was going to pass out. I quickly threw Molly in her crib, dumped the laundry and myself on the bed.

You know when you hurt yourself and the only thing that will make it better is to scream? Well I grabbed a pillow and screamed into it. Molly thought this was funny and she was grabbing all of her wool longies and throwing them at me.

After awhile I didn't feel like dying anymore but my arm wouldn't bend well. I knew I hadn't broke it but it was sore. I figured I had just bruised it. Brian came home a couple of hours later and gave me some Tylenol (because I never think of those things). If I didn't move my arm, it would go slightly numb but feel okay. Finally I just had to pop my elbow. I'm a knuckle, neck and elbow popper. So I popped it and then took my wrist and pulled while turning. Suddenly I heard a pop and I could move my arm. It was still sore but mobile.

I banged my elbow so hard I gave myself nursemaid's elbow!

Now I'm sporting quite the bruise and when I forget to be careful, I bang it into many things. This results in a loud "ouch!".

Moral of the story - don't do laundry. Well I wouldn't go so far as that. Don't attempt to put away your laundry. Adopt a "floordrobe" philosophy. ;)

that kind of day...

phone rings...

"Hello."

Brian: "Hey, how's your day going?"

Me: "Do you want to get a vasectomy tomorrow?"

Brian: "That good, huh?"

Me: "Yep."

We're changing...

I thought I would list the things we have done to change our lifestyle in the last year. It will be fun to look back on it and see if we still feel the same way we do today.

As I've said before, we don't buy into all the "global warming" stuff but we do think that we need to care about the environment God gave us. His creation is worth taking care of well.

So we're changing the way we use and dispose of products. We're changing what we eat and finding out where it comes from. We're thinking about where we spend our money and more about what we buy. We're looking at ingredients in some of the products we use and promptly getting rid of them. You could call us crunchy (or Crunchy Conservatives as this book calls us but we just want to live healthier and more compassionately.

Now to the list. Things we changed.
1. Cloth diapering. I sat down and figured out how much money we've saved since we started. I've spent about $250 for diapers/covers. I do 3 loads of laundry a week at a cost of $.25 a load (I'm not totally sure of this figure but it's the best I could come up with). Approx cost for 7 mths = $271. Works out to $39.00 a month but she won't outgrow these diapers for at least another 6 mths. So assuming she lasts 1 year in the current stash that would mean: $24 a month.

If we had been using disposables the cost would have been more. We used Pampers because I didn't like the fit of the cheap ones. So about $.30 per diaper and average 7 diapers a day. I'm sure you could change less but yuck. Would you want to sit in your own urine for hours at a time?. Anyway, that works out to $2.10 a day x 30 days = $63.00 a month. We would have to get the bigger garbage pick up so that would be $15 more a month. Total: $78 a month.

Obviously we're not cloth diapering just to save money but I don't like to think about all the diapers we threw from previous kids.

2. Using reusable bags. This is so easy. Almost any store (including Home Depot) offers reusable bags. We bring them everywhere including Joanns, Costco, Home Depot and Goodwill. The cashiers don't bat an eye.

3. Using natural cleaners/soap. I've been hating the smell of Lysol, Scrubbing Bubbles, etc and found some great natural cleaners. My favorites are Mrs. Myers, Bio-Kleen and Bare Naked Cleaners (she's a wahm). I've found some moms that make some great soap and ordered a bunch. This isn't too much more expensive then the regular cleaners. They smell great and they are all natural. We also use vinegar as fabric softener and baking soda to clean.

4. Buying free range and local meats. Now this is expensive so we have to limit how much meat we eat but it's worth it. We have starting buying meats from New Season's. They offer free-range, grass fed, Oregon meats. They taste soooo good. I'm looking into buying half a cow so the cost won't be so high. We're also going to order chickens from Deo Volente Farms (the family goes to our church). I've tasted some of that chicken meat and wow! I didn't know chicken could taste so good. We're buying local brown eggs and trying to find a dairy that will sell us milk. In the meantime we're making sure that the milk has no hormones. We're also trying to buy local produce and we'll be growing our own this summer.

5. Throwing out the plastic cup and plates and moving to glass. I had no idea that some plastics were bad for us, especially when heated up. I'm looking for a sippy cup for Molly that doesn't contain bpa's but haven't found one I like yet.

6. Going to antique stores and Goodwill and buying stuff there. Why go to Target and get something new when you can find something similar that needs a new home? It is so fun to discover something you've been wanting for $2.99 instead of $20. Plus it won't have to go to the dump/landfills.

I'm sure there are other things we're doing but I don't have the time to list anymore as Molly just woke up. So I'll leave it at that.

ETA: We also try to buy only high quality items instead of getting the cheapest one we can find. Most of the time that means that we just have to wait longer to get something (we only pay cash for things now). Not only does this mean we don't have to replace the cheap items all the time, but it keeps them out of the landfill.

Oh and we compost our table scraps for our garden.

Have you done anything differently than you were doing years ago?

Randomness

Lauren was up sick last night so she, Molly and I stayed home from church. It was a relaxing & quiet day. We watched the first Lord of the Rings movie and I did some wool interlock dyeing (oh and some low water immersion bamboo velour dyeing).

When Molly went down for her afternoon nap we popped in Gone with the Wind. (I know, I know but we don't have a lot of movies to choose from and we watched Pride and Prejudice the last time we stayed home.) Lauren had never seen it nor read the book. When I was 13, I spent the summer reading Gone with the Wind. I read it 11 times and it's a long book! It isn't a particularly wholesome book but Scarlet does provide a good example of the kind of women not to be. By contrast Melanie is the "good" one. She's a little too trusting but is full of love. Anyway, we didn't finish it before the my little troops stormed into the house from church and demanded my attention.

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Tomorrow is an exciting and expensive day for us. We're getting a new gas hot water heater installed. The one we have now is electric and about 15 years old. I would estimate it costs us over $70 a month to use based on our current electric bill. The new one is supposed to only run about $20. Hope so! I've been doing laundry like a mad women so our mud room looks okay and the guy can actually move around without stepping on someones dirty underwear.

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My 34th birthday is at the end of this month and the only thing I asked for is a day without kids. ;) My backup idea was to not have to cook dinner or make my own cake. The girls agreed and I can't wait!

Graedon asked me what I wanted for my "birfday" and I told him taco salad.

He said, "No, what do you want?". I said I wanted cheesecake.

Apparently that didn't please him because he asked again. This time I told him a purple shirt.

"Oh okay," he said. "You want a purple pirate shirt?" I thought it was a question but I was mistaken.

"No, just a purple shirt," I said.

"No, you want a purple pirate maid shirt. You do."

"Okay." I agreed.

"Yes, okay." he said. I'm glad I finally got it.

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Brian's 40th birthday is coming up in April and we're having a party for him. I think since we want to invite so many people, that we'll have an open house style party. That way our friends can show up when they want. I'll just have food out all day to snack on. That reminds me, I had better start sending out invites. Maddie thought of a good idea for some presents for him but I can't share as he reads the blog.

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Well off to take another load of laundry out of the dryer. I'm secretly hoping that our washer and dryer break so we'll be forced to get some new ones. We actually have a tax refund coming for the first time in 4 years but we've already spent it (in our heads) about 3 times over. In reality it will go into savings to pay for exterior paint for our house, oh and a new porch, and a new front door, and....

Back from the dead..

Well, it looks like we'll live. I wasn't so sure a few days ago. This virus is nasty and we're still pretty tired from it. In fact, around lunch time I gave Molly to Lauren because my eyes were burning. I laid on the couch and 20 minutes later woke up. Oops! I actually got the sewing machine out and worked on making diapers while the girls watched Pirates of Penzance. Have you seen that movie? Totally cheesy but enjoyable.


A sign we need to go to Disneyland? Is God using chocolate chips to tell us something? The only way we would get to Disneyland is if someone gave us some money as all of ours is currently spoken for.

The weather is starting to warm up and sometimes we see sun. With the nicer weather comes the familiar pull of home renovation. Currently I'm working on painting our tv stand, recovering some lamp shades, making school room curtains, recovering the school room chairs & peg boards and trying to save some money for a new school room rug. We're going to go with the Flor system as you can wash each square fabric tile and put it back down.


I'm also working on expanding my diaper sewing business. I've had 3 offers from stores that want to carry my products and everytime I list some on Hyena Cart, they sell out in less than a minute. My friend Bev is sewing some diapers for me and I asked another lady from my church to help out as well. Then I got sick and everything came to a halt. But since I care about life again, back to work, lol. Brian has all these crazy ideas about what I need to do, but he always does, and I largely ignore them. Not being disrespectful here, I promise. It's just when you live with an idea guy, you can't possibly implement them all. I take the good ones and just nod politely to the rest.

Anyway, Molly is trying her best to eat every single thing off the floor so I better go vacuum her mouth out. I'm kidding. Well sort of, I should probably see what's in there though.

So so very sick

I'm tired of us all being sick with this flu. I'm on my 5th day of a fever. Molly, Ellie, Graedon and I each have a fever today. Not to mention runny noses and hacking coughs. Brian has it too. Ava, Maddie and Lauren are over it.

We've been eating bread, cheese and whatever else we can scrounge up as no one has the energy to make anything. We all want a home cooked meal, something cheesy and comforting. But we have hardly any ingredients to make it and no engery to go the store. Brian is picking up something to eat for us on the way home.

I wish there was a store that sold comfort food or hot soup that tasted homemade for time like these! Anyway, Molly is down for a nap now so I've got to get some more laundry done, although I just want to curl up and take a nap myself ;)

Sometimes I struggle...

I noticed that lately when I sit around on the floor and watch my kids play, I feel a slight resentment. Like I should be doing something better with my life. Like I'm just wasting time and could be doing the laundry, sewing, working on my websites.

I didn't feel this way when my first 3 were small. I sat around with them and played and didn't think twice about it. I also didn't have 3 business to run, a house to clean and homeschooling to do.

Nevertheless, I tell myself that I'm a stay at home mom for a reason. I don't want someone else raising my kids. I don't want to miss the firsts. I would miss my kids and do enjoy being around them all day (for the most part). They are so creative and make me so proud everyday. But I also feel happy to have my businesses. To chat with other moms with the same interests and feel like I'm providing some great services, whether to help spotlight work at home children's clothing designers or make some super squishy diapers, it's important to me.

I guess I just need to focus on the fact that my kids are only small for such a short time and I want to enjoy them. To not get upset when I'm laying on the floor and they are crawling and jumping all over me and I have other "work" to do. To stop and watch the beautiful children God gave me. I know I will want these days back when they are all grown up.

So there...my struggle put into words. I already feel better and ready to face tomorrow. I hope it's sunny and we can go for a walk together. Who cares about the laundry ;) it won't go anywhere.

13 years ago...

I married the man of my dreams (yes you!). We spent this 13th anniversary cleaning up vomit from a 4 year old and trying to figure out why Molly went on a nursing strike (14 hours without eating, ouch). No chocolates, no flowers or jewelry were exchanged but moulding was put up in the school room. I couldn't ask for a better present than your time. Thank you for being an excellent father to our children and a loving, patient and serving husband to me. I don't say it often enough, but I love you.

Easy way to save & earn $$$

I try to use Ebates when I make online purchases. Ebates gives you cash back on all your online orders. Sometimes they even offer special coupons you can use.

For example, I just ordered a Britax car seat for Graedon. I went to Ebates first, searched for Baby Universe (the place I wanted to buy the carseat from) and clicked the link. Baby Universe offered 4% back through Ebates. The 4% will show up in my Ebates account and then Ebates will send me a check or paypal.

Anyway, the carseat was originally $299 but was on sale for $224. I then found a coupon for $20.00 off and the seat had free shipping. So total price was $204.00. Baby Universe gave me $9.00 back in my Ebates account. So I actually paid $195 for a $299 carseat! Not bad at all for one of the best carseats out there!

I just found out that Ebates is offering a special holiday bonus sign up. You can get $10.00 in your Ebates account for signing up and then making one purchase through them. Oh and I also get $10.00! Yippee! Oh the offer expires on December 31 so you need to get your purchase in by then.

Here is the super special link:
Click here!!! My email address for the referrer box is amyshearer @ alittlebusy.com (take out the spaces)

Hope this can help you some as you're searching around buying Christmas presents.

Thanksgiving...

Wine Brined Turkey (a la Martha Stewart): $10.00
Homemade cranberry sauce: $3.50
Homemade bread: $2.50
Homemade pumpkin pie: $4.50
Homemade chocolate chip cookies: $2.50
Me staying home due to two sick kids (Grae and Molly): depressing
Having Brian and the 4 girls going to my Grandparents house for Thanksging: priceless

Molly has an ear infection, major congestion and a croupy cough. Grae has major congestion and a cough. We stayed home and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and the dog show while Brian took Lauren, Maddie, Ava and Ellie to my Grandparents house. From what I've heard my Grandparents enjoyed it very much. They had plans to go the senior community center because they figured everyone else was busy.

Grae and Molly slept practically the whole time so I ate my turkey dinner alone in front of Country Living magazine and the dog show (which I recorded for the girls). It was surprisingly relaxing ;)

Hope your Thanksgiving was really enjoyable!

Oh my...

Guess what this picture is? I took it at 6:00 pm last night.



It's our oven! I turned the oven off after taking dinner out last night and then a little while later noticed it was still on. Brian tried to turn it off and it just wouldn't. He hit the breaker and unplugged the oven and I got on google to see if there was an easy fix. We'll the easiest would be to buy a new oven ;) but that is not in the budget right now.

We figured out it was the oven panel control thingy. Brian called our local appliance store and they could order a part - at $138 - tomorrow (which is today). We would have it tomorrow (today) afternoon. Except I have to bake all day. So he took the panel thingy off and we disconnected some wires and then reconnected them, plugged it in, turned the breaker back on and it worked! Yeah for small miracles.

So far it's working fine. I have the first pumpkin pie in the oven and then Ava will bake cookies followed by the turkey. Lauren made the cranberry sauce and Maddie is just about ready to make bread. Then we need to do something with green beans. We're doing all of this while taking turns holding Grae and Molly who have their Wednesday-after-attending-church cold of course.

Hope your day is going well!

The politics of the holidays

We are in the throes of trying to be just and fair where we spend the holidays. It is by far the most stressful undertaking of the year.

Both sides of the family are in the area so that presents the problem of where to spend the day. My side of the family is usually content to celebrate the day or two after a holiday. Well except for Christmas morning and then we all get together bright and early. That morning is so fun and soooo noisy. In addition to my 6 kids, my brother has 4 girls and my sister has 2 boys and one girl. All under the age of 12. Gift wrap is flying everywhere and the air is punctuated by screams of delight.

Anyway, my grandparents are now in the mix. They've always lived a couple of hours away but now they live just 30 minutes away. All of their kids live far away so they are alone on the holidays. I hate the thought of them spending special holiday's alone but how can we be in three places at once?

We have the only kids on Brian's side of the family. The only kids in Oregon. Brian's brother doesn't have any kids. One of his cousins in Idaho has 8 kids, I think, and I would love to meet them.

I really think that when your kids are grown you forget how tiring having little ones can be. My dad gets tired out just watching all of his 13 grandchildren play but he doesn't have to go home with them. ;) I mean Brian and I haven't had a full night sleep in years. We're awake every couple of hours every night. For years now.

We're also not super portable. When we go to a relative's house, we have so much stuff to bring. Lots of toys and busy stuff so Graedon doesn't knock stuff over in his quest to climb higher and higher and then jump off anything that will hold him. ;) Oh and two of the kids take naps - much needed naps - so we factor that in as well.

I really want everyone to be happy and get the most from this holiday season. So how do you balance making everyone happy with keeping your sanity? What does your family do for the holidays and extended family?

On being crunchy...

Well I was intending on talking about the wonders of baking soda and apple cider vinegar but our family was attacked by another round of viruses. This time bringing fever & chills and sore throats. Brian and I have pretty much sat on the couch all day only taking turns walking Molly around and doing laundry.

We feel a little better now and hopefully we're on the mend.

So onto baking soda and apple cider vinegar. I now use them to wash my hair. Yep, I'm going no 'poo. (no shampoo). My friend told me she and her daughter were using baking soda to wash their hair and I thought "hmmm, okay.". Jump to a few months later and I thought I would give it a go. Everything I've read said to expect gunky, greasy hair for the first two weeks while your scalp "detoxes" and then you will have beautiful, shiny hair.

So I tried it. I mix up 1 tablespoon baking soda to 1 cup of hot water in a squeezable ketchup bottle (like the kind at the restaurants, you can find them at the grocery store, minus the ketchup). I massage my scalp to loosen the dirt and then squirt the mixture all over. I also massage this in and wait about a minute. Then I rinse it thouroughly. Next I take 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and dump it on the ends of my hair (not my scalp). I work it in and then rinse it a little. The vinegar makes my hair so soft. The vinegary smell goes away when it's dry.

I did find that the first 2 weeks my hair was a little greasy and my scalp itchy but now my hair and scalp feel so clean. My hair is full and shiny and my wavy hair is back. In fact, one day I hopped in the shower without my mixture and just used regular shampoo. My hair felt so weighted down and greasy the next day.

So there you have it. I'm becoming crunchier everyday. First cloth diapering, now baking soda. Actually now that we cloth diaper we are not only saving money by not having to buy disposables, but we went down one garbage can size. That saves us $15.00 per month. We've also bought a huge pack of microfiber towels at Costco to use instead of the million paper towels we were going through. Brian is building a worm bin in the backyard so we can start composting our leftover veggies, egg shells, tea and coffee grinds.

God created this beautiful world and charged us with taking care of it. I don't buy into all the global warming talk but I do think we can do things that are healthier for our children and the enviroment.

Since so many of you asked, I'll be writing more about cloth diapering. It's really fun and really not that much work.

Friday, friday, friday...

Will the illness never end? Grae and Molly are getting over their colds and now Lauren is in the throes of a fever/sore throat. Brian and I are feeling some head congestion coming on. I haven't been to church in two weeks straight and it looks like we may miss this Sunday too. Can't we all have it at the same time instead of dragging it out for weeks?

It's a beautiful day here so I grabbed my camera and shot things around my home.

First is my latest vintage pyrex find. Brian found it for me at Goodwill and I love it.

Then I recovered a boring white lamp with one of my favorite quilting fabrics. This lamp makes me smile everytime I look at it now.

You can see one of the blue paint swatches in the background. Here's some in the dining room. We decided to go with a nice pear green (none of the swatches pictured.)

My Craigslist chair from the 1920's. This is a very nice and sturdy chair. The lady we bought it from said we're the 3rd owners. It had been recently reupholstered in some really nice (but boring) fabric. We only paid $85 for it which I consider a bargain.

Carnage from the day after Halloween. I ate so much chocolate I swear Molly is drinking chocolate milk today.


I have one more pic to share that involves baking soda and apple cider vinegar but Molly is whining for a nap now so I'll be back.

Tagged....

I'm so bad about completing tags but I'll give it a shot. The wonderful April of Momo's Clothes tagged me to reveal 7 random facts about myself.

Rules for the tag...
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I have red hair, freckles and blue eyes and none of my kids do. Well all of them have blue eyes and some of them have freckles but not one of them has even one red hair. Grae is the closest with being blonde.

2. When I worked at the Oregon State Capitol(before I had kids) the then Governor came out of a meeting room and almost knocked me down. I was 6 mths pregnant at the time. He didn't even say he was sorry (but he was a democrat so I didn't expect much, hee-hee).

3. I wear my husband socks and his Keen clogs around the house even though they are much too big for me. Actually he doesn't even wear them (probably because I do). I really need to get some house shoes but never think about it when I'm out.

4. I can't stand to have anything that is not absolutely necessary laying around the house. If I can't find a use for it, then I sell it or throw it away. I really want a big fabric stash but it stresses me out to have all that fabric looking at me and not have the time to sew it up.

5. My best friend Melodie and I have been friends since 1st grade. She lives about 5 minutes away from me now. We've never lived more than 20 minutes away from each other (well she did go to college in Washington for 4 years). What's funny is that Brian (my DH) and Melodie are distant cousins.

6. I recently found a love for vintage Pyrex. I can't believe how much I'm finding at Goodwill (and cheaply too!). My favorites are the turquoise blue pieces.

7. Every morning for breakfast I must have 2 eggs scrambled, 1/2 cup of cereal and an earl grey tea with 2 packets of Splenda and a splash of whole milk. That has been my breakfast of choice for over 3 years now. Boring - yes, but it really gets me through the day. Sometimes that's all I have until dinner.

Okay - so I'm only going to tag 3 people 'cause I'm a rule breaker... ;)
Kerri
Melanie
Rachel

I heart The Office

Funniest show on tv!

That kind of day...

Have you ever had that kind of day...the day where nothing goes right and it's only 12:00 pm and you have the worst headache of your life?

Where 4 of your 6 kids have spent the morning crying and/or throwing tantrums until you want to walk out the door and not come back for hours. Where one boy wants chocolate and you are more than willing to give some to him just so that he will be quiet for two seconds so you can teach some science to the girls but he won't say please and just keeps demanding it over and over again. First you try to ignore his tantrum, then move on to spankings, all the while trying to keep Molly happy and quiet. Finally after 1 1/2 hours of crying about various things (sorry you finished reading that book and there are no more pages to look at) I stuff said boy with chicken nugget dinosaurs and send him outside.

Meanwhile Molly wants to take a nap but won't settle down so we walk and walk while teaching mixed whole numbers and improper fractions, pausing long enough to switch shoulders because an arm is very likely to fall off it's so tired of holding a 14lb chunk.

Just when you think it might be quiet so you can go gulp down some wine water, your oldest (who rarely cries) is crying because she just started a new math book and doesn't understand the problems. What she is really crying about is that this new math book will take her longer to finish the problems and more brain power, hence she doesn't like it. You tell her to suck it up and get cracking because life is about work and isn't fun so get used to it. Okay well you didn't really tell her that. You really said something encouraging and told her if she needed help to just ask.

Now it is quiet, 2 advil are down the pipe, Molly is asleep, Grae & Ellie are playing outside, it is t-minus 5 minutes until the boy's naptime and things are looking up. Maybe your husband will read this post and bring home something special for you tonight, maybe something involving chocolate or fabric or paint samples? I'm just saying...

What I've been up to...

Just got back from Maddie's vision screening and she doesn't need glasses. To say she is relieved is an understatement. She's thrilled. Lauren went in for her screening last week and we found out she needs prescription reading glasses. Fortunately our insurance covers hardware up to $250 so we won't have to pay anything out of pocket. Ava's screening is Thursday so we'll see what she needs.

Molly is 3 months old now and I really need to get some pictures of her. Hopefully by the end of this week. That girl will be crawling by the times she's 5 mths. I can't leave her on the bed alone or she will scoot herself right off.

Oh and a big hooray. I just paid off two of our 5 medical bills! It feel so great. 3 more to go (and they are the bigger ones). I thought I ran out of things to sell on eBay but then I find a box here or there will stuff we don't need.

I was sewing on Saturday while Molly took her long nap and Grae, Maddie and Brian were running errands. There is a soccer field pretty much right behind our house and I could hear a girls soccer game. The parents were cheering, the referee's whistle blowing, the coaches, well, coaching. One thing that bothered me though was a male coach (at least I think he was the coach), yelling at the girls. I don't mean encouraging, "go get 'em" yelling but borderline abusive yelling. It really upset me.

I played sports when I was a kid. Basketball, baseball and softball. I know the excitement that a coach feels during a game but since when did it become okay for a man to yell at girls like that? Why didn't the parents step in and tell him to cool off? What kind of example does it set for the kids? Well, it's just a game, he's really nice in real life...NO I don't buy it. If it was just a game, why act like it is the most important thing in the world? I hope he doesn't act that way at home with his wife and daughters. Get a life coach.

Making Red Grape Pie

Every time red grapes go on sale, Brian asks for this pie. Well, they went on sale for $.99 lb so I HAD to make it. Here are the steps:

1. Wash the grapes:


2. Enlist children to cut them in half for you because you don't want too:


3..Assemble your ingredients:


4.In a large bowl mix everything together and dump in a pre-made pie crust because you hate making crust (or maybe because you are no good at it).


5. Put crust on top. Brian likes when I tear the crust and squish it on top. Hey, it's easier that way too. Be sure to place it on a baking sheet to catch the splatters.



6. Pull it out of the oven and stick it on your very favorite Fiesta ware blue plate.



7. Repeatedly tell your 2 year old son that we can't eat it yet. Tell him again and again as he asks for pie all afternoon.

8. Eat it but forget to take pictures.
Red Grape Pie

• Pastry for a 2 crust pie


• 5 cups seeded, cut up red seedless grapes


• 2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar (divided)


• 1 teaspoon lemon juice


• 3 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca


• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine


• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine grapes, 2/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and tapioca. Place in pastry-lined 9 inch pie pan. Dot with butter.
Adjust top crust, flute edges and cut vents. Sprinkle with a mixture of 2 teaspoons sugar and the cinnamon. Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

I'm not a guy

So I was standing in line at our local REI store yesterday waiting to pick up some Keen sandals I ordered on their website. In front of me was a strapping young man in his mid twenties. He proceeded to the next checkout lady (who also was in her twenties.) She was all smiles and helpful and had a cheery tone in her voice. I thought she was nice.

He finished up and she bid him adieu and it was my turn. I gave her the print out of my order and told her I wanted to pick up my shoes. I think what she heard was I needed her to change my son's poopy diaper. She trod off to the backroom and a few minutes later came trudging to the counter carrying what seemed to be 100 lb shoes. My order was a heavy burden for her to bear. She hoisted them up on the counter, printed a receipt and handed me a pen. I signed for the shoes and handed the pen back to her. She took it from me and dropped it in a can right next to me. I told her "oh sorry" and she gave me the "whateva" look. I thanked her but her attention was elsewhere. Probably searching the store for another guy. ;)

Going greener...

We're making the switch to cloth diapers and I'm so excited. We did cloth for 3 months when Lauren was born but then stopped. Now in an effort to not clog our landfills with more of our diapers and to save money, Molly will be cloth diapered. I spent two days researching and asking questions and am convinced it is the right way to go.

I already do 2-3 loads of laundry a day so 1 or 2 more won't be any big deal. Our clothesline came and I've been using it everyday to hang clothes. Hanging clothes on the line is one of my favorite times of day. It's surprisingly relaxing. I can't wait to see our electric bill this month.

We've come under our grocery budget so far this month and I'm really excited about that. I've been cooking meals everyday and getting creative with what we have here.

We've been able to put an extra $250 toward our van payment so far and the month is not over. I love the challenge of not spending money and looking for ways to earn or save it. I need to pull out the fall clothes to sell on eBay. I have about $300 worth of stuff laying around that I need to list.

I really hate being in debt to the bank for our van. Hopefully by this time next year we can say we've paid it off. We owe a little over $13,000 for it. Ouch - that hurts to type it but there it is. We paid $20,000 for it and have had it a little over 8 months. I don't regret its purchase. We only had one van at the time and we couldn't all fit in it after Molly came. So we just need to be free from the payments as soon as possible. How can anyone be happy with their purchases knowing they don't have the money to pay for them? Credit is dangerous. So many people that we consider "well off" and have lots of new stuff are actually so far in debt that they can't get out. That's sad.

Well Molly is awake and telling me she needs to be fed RIGHT NOW. So no more debt talk for now. Aren't you glad, lol...

Grouchy

Everyone in my house is grouchy today. Ava doesn't like math so she's taking a looooong time doing her test. Maddie actually broke down in tears twice, one in math and another because Lauren beat her to the shower. Ellie slammed Graedon's fingers in the closet door this morning and they have been alternately fighting and playing. Ellie just screamed because Grae just took a cracker from her plate.

Molly is sleeping. Yesterday she was awake practically the whole day, which didn't make for a very happy momma. I felt so defeated by this. How quickly we go from feeling happy and content to feeling sorry for ourselves. How quickly we forget to thank God for everything He brings.

So today I declare comfort day. We will finish up our Friday chores and veg out in front of a movie or make cookies or do some sewing. Oh and eat lots of licorice that I bought. Thank you God for making sugar.

Bye Harry...

Last night Brian and I finished the Deathly Hallows. Wow.

I'm sad there will be no more books to read, but wow, what a way to end it.

ramblings...

We had "proper" school today which consisted of a study of Proverbs 19 (we are doing a chapter of Proverbs at a time), grammar and typing. We are supposed to do Greek and Roman History but Molly woke up so we'll move it to Friday.

It felt good to spend that time with the girls. I've been feeling guilty lately of not spending any time (besides telling them to do their chores and such) with them. We had laughs and discussions about fools and a fun time. I'm always amazed at how creative, witty and funny they are. For example, in grammar today we learned about Predicate Nouns and the sentence we were working on was "Sally was a very nice lady."

We classified that sentence and I turned to write their next assignment on the board when I heard them saying "Sally was a very nice lady, what happened to her? Did she die?" "No, Sally was a very nice lady until she tied me up in the back room." Where did that come from?

The next assignment was to write a non-rhyming poem about a color. Ava chose grey and her last line was: "Grey is the color of the silver bells at Christmas." When I pointed out that grey is not silver she replied that silver is just a shiny grey. Well, I suppose she's right.

This all makes me wonder if we should be done having kids so we can spend more time with the ones we have. Of course we won't make that decision when we have a 1 month old. We've been down that road before. A few weeks after we had Ava, Brian went in for a vasectomy. Low and behold 3 years later we wanted more children and had it reversed. It was a success obviously and now we have 3 more children. We most likely won't travel that road again but what do we do?
Brian will be almost 60 when Molly is 20 and I'll be 54.

I want to teach the older girls so much more before they get married and leave the house but I never have any time because I have younger children. It's a struggle and and I don't know what to do about it. Fertility is in the hands of God and we are not promised more children even if we want more.

So those are just my ramblings for today. Off to make Grae and Ellie some lunch.

Look what I ordered!

I have been wanting a clothesline for a while, not only to save money but I love the smell of line dryed clothes. The only requirements I had is that it couldn't take up much room and was able to come down to store for the winter.

Found it here:

Can't wait to get it! Now I need to make an apron to hold the clothes pins.

it's friday

Lest you think from my last post that my life is perfect, let me tell you what happened that afternoon.

Molly Kate woke up and from 3:30 pm - 10:15 pm cried and cried and cried and cried. She had one 30 minute nap when Brian got home but pretty much cried the rest of the time. This is the first time its happened and it was awful. My head and ears hurt so much.

Graedon decided he wanted to pour his milk from one cup to another and spilled most of it on the table and himself. He did this twice before I got wise and removed the cups from the table.

Lauren and I made soup before CryFest 2007 started and I thought it needed more tomato sauce. Bad idea as it made the soup too acidic. Nobody said anything about it but me but they were all thinking it. At least I made bread (ala the bread maker) so dinner wasn't a total loss.

Since it has been raining here, the kids haven't been able to play outside so by evening they were bouncing off the walls and furniture. We finally just sent them outside anyway and let them run.

You should see our front yard. The weeds are about 2 feet tall and we can't cut them down. We only have a push mower and it doesn't cut weeds that tall. So we either need to buy an electric or gas lawn mower or a weed-wacker. But we are slowly getting our bills from Molly Kate's birth and waiting to see how much we owe for Ava's ER visit. This month is also the month to pay for a new life insurance term policy for Brian and I. Fortunately I do have money to pay for that as it's our #1 priority. If Brian dies in the next 20 years, the girls and I will be set financially and I will continue to stay at home with them. Hey then I can buy a proper lawn mower!

On friday's we have Cleaning Day. I really, really want to get some cleaning done as our house is looking like a disaster area. Anyway, we'll see how today goes.

Answered prayer...

After my ranting late last night (it was after 10:00 pm), I took half an Ambien and went to sleep. This morning I called my amazing friend, Melodie (who only lives about 5 minutes away and I have known since 1st grade) and asked her when her parents would be back in town (they have been like parents to me growing up). She said on July 1st. Well that won't help.

I poured my heart out to her about how frustrated and stressed I was about someone watching the kids. She simply stated that she would come over no matter what time of the day. I hadn't really considered her since she just given birth 3 months ago (oh and the birth story is amazing. This is her 4th child and 2nd daughter. She has really fast, non-medicated labors and right as she got to the pushing stage, the doctor declared that the baby was breech and she didn't know how to deliver breech. Another doctor was called. He was 30 minutes away so Melodie couldn't push for that long. When he arrived, she pushed and her little girl came right out and Melodie didn't tear at all!)

So the plan is for her to be "on-call". She and her little one will spend the night and her husband will drop the kids off on his way to work. My girls are thrilled with this plan as they love their "aunt" Melodie and her kids. They are especially thrilled to spend some time with her new baby ;).

God sure answered that prayer fast, lol. I feel so at peace now and not anxious that I actually want to wait until Friday afternoon to go into labor so Melodie's husband will be home on Saturday to help her out.

(so now you know that baby will probably come tonight....)

Hopefully my last...

I just got back from *hopefully* my last doctor's appointment before this baby comes. I'm due June 14th according to my calculations and one ultrasound but June 17th according to the doctor. Dr. Mears thinks I'll have the baby this week though. I hope so! I'm soooooo ready to meet her and see my feet again.

I've run out of "must do" projects so you can find me wandering around trying to find something to occupy my time. Sometimes I'll decide to clean out a closet, scrub kitchen shelves, organize my sewing room, but most of the time I just wander and peek in on what the girls are doing.

I don't like being idle but I also don't want to start a project that I have to abandon to give birth. I think I'll do some sewing for the kids. It is really rewarding seeing them wearing and enjoying something I've made.

Well off to rub down a pork roast. I'm making pulled pork for dinner tomorrow and this thing needs to marinate in the rub for 24 hours. I know I still need to post for Ava - hopefully later today!

My sweet boy...

Brian took Grae and I to Target the other day to buy some flip-flops for my hugely water-logged feet. No shoes would fit.

I sat down and started trying them on. I've never liked flip-flops (or thongs as Brian was trying to call them) but I have no choice at this point.

Grae was going crazy trying on shoes. He loves walking around the house in any shoes but his own, so he was in shoe heaven.

At one point he spotted a pair of pink "crocs" - you know the Target faux brand. He put them on. I wasn't paying much attention at that point as I was still trying to cram my swollen feet into various sizes and shapes of flip-flops. Did you know they sell flip flops that look like they have been worn in the trenches of WWII? Is that called desconstructed? Are the strings and dirt part of the charm? Anyway...

I did pay attention however as Grae grabbed the following shoe and jammed the heel right into my thigh. "Ow," I yelped. Grae simply said "All done, " hobbled away, put the shoe back and picked up another one that looked equally painful. He was on his way toward me again. This time I asked him was he was doing.

"I the doctor," he said. "Doctor hurt self," and jammed the shoe at me again (only this time softer).

I finally realized what he was doing. The nurse at my doctor's office wears pink crocs and she gave him shots about 1 month ago. As soon as she was done with the shots, she had said "all done." I had no idea that Grae would remember that event, let alone that she wears pink crocs. I am amazed at how smart this little boy is and his memory. He is not even two yet!

So as he hobbled away in his pink crocs (that Brian would not let him buy), I finally found a pair of flip flops that fit, were comfortable and only cost $10. It was a fun trip and probably my last trip to a store until the baby comes. Of course I keep saying that. We are going to walk down to Tuesday Farmer's Market next Tuesday (which is a few days before I'm due). We need to buy some Oregon Strawberries. We usually buy enough to make freezer jam for the whole year. There is nothing like the taste of Oregon Strawberries!

So I'm off to take a nap (or more than likely do some laundry).

Feeling much better now....

I went to my weekly check up and mentioned the lack of sleep to my doctor. She asked why I hadn't called her. Well - because I just chalked it up to end of pregnancy sleeplessness. She laughed and prescribed Ambien sleeping pills. I was a little hesitant to take anything but she assured my that it was safe for our baby and that I needed sleep or I would be to tired to go in to labor.

So, I took one last night at 11:30 pm (after mopping and waxing the floors, lol). I didn't wake up until 7:30am this morning. I didnt' dream, I don't remember Graedon crying last night and I didn't wake up to go to the bathroom.

I felt dizzy at first but really good. My attitiude is optimistic again and I have energy. In fact I just took off all the kitchen cabinent doors, washed them, sanded them and put the first of two final coats of oil based paint on them. It's something I've been wanting to finish.

Now off to teach school and then hopefully take some pics of items around here to list on eBay. Trying to clear out the clutter and get some money for our baby's hospital bills.

I'll probably crash a little later but at least I feel good now. That is such a blessing.

Oh I need to go outside to take some pics of the work we got done on the backyard this weekend. Wow! Looks so different.

Yes, I would like some cheese with my whine...

I'm miserable. I have a little over 2 weeks to go and I'm miserable. I can't sleep because as soon as I lay down, my arms fall asleep. I try to sleep sitting up on the couch but that's not comfortable either. I'm so tired. There is so much more I want to get done. We are almost finished with the bedroom, just need to get one more coat of paint on the walls. I need to find some fabric for the headboard and get it stapled on.

I want this to be over and I want to meet my little one.

Okay - enough said, I'm going to drown my whining in a bowl of chocolate ice cream....

Dear Billy Blanks

Dear Billy Blanks,
I have been a huge fan of your cardio-kickboxing series, Tae-Bo for 7 years now. I'm not sure it is popular to "kick-punch" (as my 22 mth old son says) with you anymore but hey it works for me.

The reason why I'm writing is to confess my guilt. When you say on your advanced Tae-Bo dvd to "get your knee up past your belly button or you're not really working your abs" - well - I can't do it. You see, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and the best I can do is get my upper thigh to touch my stomach. Even then it's pretty pathetic.

Oh and while I'm confessing, I must admit that I can't do some of the floor stretches with you either. I either get dizzy or I can't get back up. So I either walk in place or check email kick something.

Well, I feel better getting that out in the open. I really do enjoy Tae Bo and it actually feels better than walking right now. After about 15 minutes on a walk, my lower back hurts but I can do 30 minutes of Advanced Tae-Bo and feel fine.

Thank you,
Your biggest fan (literally).

Oregonian speak

Me: "Lots of granola's live down there."

Brian: "Yeah, its pretty crunchy."

Do you know what we're talking about, lol?

Hey look at me - I'm 33!

Yesterday I celebrated the big 33. Granted I have spent the whole year thinking (and telling people) that I was 33 so I really don't feel older. I LOVE being in my 30's. Many people say I look very young. Those that comment that my 5 kids can't be mine think I am about 21 or 22. I feel so vindicated when I tell them my age - ha - they are mine, thank you very much.

I made my own cake and used my christmas present: Wilton tips . The girls and I watched a cake decorating show called Bake, Decorate, Celebrate on OPB Create and I decided I could do it. It didn't turn out as nice as the lady on the show, but for my first attempt, I was happy.





The pink frosting is supposed to be rosettes.

Brian got me flowers for my very favorite pitcher. He also bought me three bars of my favorite organic dark chocolate. This isn't the cheap waxy kind, but the real stuff.



The girls made me cards. This is from all of them, drawn by my 11 year old.



And this is from my 3 year old Ellie:



We spent the day at church where Graedon actually took a nap without much fussing. He did get a split lip from Maddie putting him in a chair and then turning away. He fell right on the hard floor, poor guy. Brian got his typical Sunday migraine so when we got home we put Grae down for a nap and took one ourselves. Then we all ate dinner and went for a family walk. As soon as we got home, we dove into the cake. After the kids went to bed, I spent the rest of the evening catching up on home reno and craftblogs. So all in all, it was a relaxing day. Brian's birthday is in 12 days so I had better get busy thinking of something to do for him!

Doing better...

We are all almost healthy and sleeping better. Well, most of us. Graedon got used to the idea of sleeping in our bed every night when he was sick and needs to be retrained that his bed is comfortable too. We can't have him and the new baby sleeping in our bed. So last night was the first night of forcing him to go back to sleep in his bed. He only cried for about 10 minutes each time so it wasn't so bad. He woke up in an excellent mood.

The kids and I decided since it was so beautiful outside to go for a nature walk. We discovered a nature trail only a couple of blocks from our house. It was fun! We found horses and wobbly camels to ride on, crocodiles to fight and a great picnic area to eat our cheerios and raisins. Next time we will bring a proper snack and water because the cheerios were left over from our walk yesterday. There is a stinky little stream running along the trail that holds lots of water skippers. We did scare a duck away, much to Graedon's surprise.

Brian is going to be laying down the Congoleum tomorrow morning while we step outside to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. It goes right by our house. It's a pretty lame parade but we do get lots of candy. The girls are excited and planning on what to wear (has to have green in it).

Well I'm off to make lunch for Ellie and Grae and then put Grae down for his nap. I can't decide if I want to paint the kitchen during nap time or sew (well I want to sew but need to paint the kitchen). The girls can't wait to play in the backyard with their Playmobiles. The build houses for them out of sticks and bricks.

I'll post pics of our progress tomorrow.

Sick, sick, sick

We are sick around here and nothing is getting done except for hacking up various parts of our lungs. It started with Graedon and now Lauren, Ellie, Brian and I have it. Ava had it a few weeks ago. Bri is actually staying home from work today and alternately laying in bed and on the couch.

Me, I'm trying to get caught up on laundry as having clean underwear is something you grow fond of. Hopefully this thing won't last too long.

A year of change

2006 was a huge year for the Shearer family. As the kids, Brian and I were playing UNO and the Game of Life:Pirate version on New Years Eve we reflected that 2005 New Years Eve we were waiting for a call from our realtor. We put an offer on this house and were waiting to see if it was accepted. So we decided to put Grae and Ellie to bed and play UNO to pass the time. It was really fun and we ended up getting a call that the house was ours.

Fast forward one year and Grae and Ellie were in bed in my room and we were playing games again. Bri and I were so tired but the girls kept us awake with their giggling. About 9:30 pm the girls went to bed and shortly after Bri and I followed. We are such party animals, lol. I did taste my first champagne though (our friends gave us a bottle of it last year). Not bad but not so good either.

As for changes: we moved into our first house, I didn't kill Grae or myself (which is really a good thing since he has developed into a super fun boy that I couldn't live without), we got two dogs (let's see if they live to see 1 year), ramped up homeschooling and made a consistent schedule, purchased a 12 passenger Chevy Express van (last week), got the flu really bad in our house and worked on remodeling and found out we were expecting our 6th child (hence the new van). The beast.House projects accomplished:
Gutted and rebuilt the bathroom.
Paint bathroom 3 times.
Decorate bathroom.
New roof.
New gutters.
Chimney rebuilt.
Front side of the house siding pulled off, dry rot repair, replace with new cedar siding and paint.
Painted sewing room.
Painted school room.
Painted living room.
Painted fireplace mantle - still need to tile it.
Painted stairs and banister - still need to carpet them.
Painted upstairs.
Painted hallway.
Purchased curtains and 2" wood blinds for downstairs windows.
Started landscaping front and backyard.
Laid brick path in backyard from old chimney bricks.

There is still so much left to do. Our big project is redoing the kitchen. The floor is rotted in one place and we may need to pull out the kitchen cabinents and replace them.

We feel really blessed with this house and are enjoying fixing it up. It is nice to be able to go at our own pace.

Now about the kids:
Lauren, our 11 year old took up knitting and loves to read and write stories. She is a big help around the house and regularly fixes breakfast and lunch for all her siblings.

Maddie, 10 years, is also a big help. She loves to play with Grae when I need to do something and will entertain and baby him. She loves dogs and is being pretty responsible in taking care of Marco and Finn. She also loves to read and is learning how to keep her room clean.

Ava, 8 years, is whacko. She constantly keeps us laughing whether she intends on it or not. She is a delight and has really taken responsibility for the dogs. She is learning patience in playing with Ellie and loves to play with Grae.

Ellie, 3 years, is becoming quite the little lady. She is quickly leaving toddlerhood behind. Ava is teaching her to write and draw. She asked for crayons and a sketch pad for Christmas and has provided us with 1.3 million drawings. She adores her brother and it is neat to see them playing together.

Graedon, 18 months. What can I say about Grae besides I'm totally in love with him. It is hard to believe that he was such a hard baby. He talks all the time and gets so excited about cars, trucks and balls. In church the other day, he clapped and said "yea" everytime we finished singing songs and would yell "Amen" when we were done praying. And I mean yell. He is a delight to all of our family and we fight over who gets to carry him around.

The new baby is growing strong. At the end of the month is another ultrasound so hopefully we can confirm we're having a boy and I can go shopping!

We are a blessed family and God has been good to us. Happy new year!

Just a bee...

I was on the phone with Brian the other day and feeling a lot of morning sickness. All of the kids were upstairs playing. Suddenly I hear a scream, then two, then three. These were heart stopping - somebodies dying screams. I started running upstairs. I think I took the steps 6 at a time.

All the while, I'm thinking that something has happened to Graedon, he's bleeding to death, he fell down the stairs, he's trapped. I hear Ellie screaming "Get Graedon, get Graedon." For some reason I was still gripping the phone.

When I got to the top of the stairs, there was Graedon looking at me with tears in his eyes. Lauren grabbed him and took him to her room. I was so frantic, I couldn't get the upstairs gate open. So I kicked it. Didn't work and hurt my toe. Finally, I wrenched it free and ran to Lauren's room.

Ava was hiding beside Lauren's bed but looked fine. Ellie was in her bed and was fine. Maddie was crying. Graedon was holding a toy and was fine. Lauren was holding Grae and was fine. I looked around for the blood, protruding bones, smashed heads and didn't see anything. So I sank to the ground to catch my breath and try not to throw up.

"What on earth happened?" I roared. "I don't see anything wrong."

"There was a bee in my room," said Maddie.

"A bee. A small stinkin bee. I rushed up the stairs to save you from a bee? Was the bee chasing you? Did the bee sting you? Did the bee ask you for directions to Baskin Robbins - cause that would freak me out too." I asked not so calmly.

"No, it just scared me. I don't like bees." replied Maddie.

I can not begin to tell you how frustrated I was. I was prepared to call the ambulance, to look at a crime scene, I didn't know what. The screams were that awful.

Turns out it was just Maddie screaming in terror. Ellie was screaming because Maddie was screaming. She didn't know what was going on. Graedon was crying because his sisters were screaming and running past him. Lauren was trying to shout "Calm down."

I went to Maddie's room, found the bee (no it wasn't a wasp Maddie) and killed it with Ava's shoe. I left it in the window and told Maddie she didn't have to worry anymore and she had better not react that way again to an insect. It is alright to be scared of bugs but it is not alright to scream bloody murder.

I did devise a plan to fetch the dead bee when Maddie was sleeping and tell her it came back to life when she was sleeping and that I didn't know where it was - but Ava beat me to it and threw it away before bed. Not that I would have actually carried out my plan. 'Cause I am a perfect Mom and would never intentionally try to scare them. ;)

Can't wait for tonight!

If it wasn't that half the people in this house are either throwing up or feeling like it I would totally have an election night party. I can't wait for 8:00 pm to roll around when the polls are closed and the results trickle in.

Politics get my blood pumping. I worked at the Oregon State Capitol during one session as a Legislative Assistant in 1995 (right before my oldest was born). I LOVED it. Loved sitting in on session and committees. Loved the behind the scenes deals. Those who have gripes about politicians need to work for one and see how hard it is to get anything done. It is not pretty but is necessary.

Anyway if Veronica Mars isn't on, the channel will be permantely fixed on results. We have a couple of pretty important races (Governor) and ballot measures (Parental Notification before a minor can get an abortion, Property Rights, Judicial Boundries). Oregon is a liberal state so I don't have much hope for the Parental Notification but hopefully it will do well.

Hopefully the school funding measures will go down. If not than we can expect up hundreds of dollars to be added to our property tax bill. We don't even use these services as we homeschool so I don't want to be taxed for them. Don't even get me started on public education.... ;)

10 more hours to go....

Can you have internet friends?

It has been a really hard two weeks here at the Shearer household. My 3 year old daughter came down with a stomach bug which gave her vomiting and diarrhea. It started last Saturday. At the same time, Lauren (my 11 year old), Brian (the husband) and I came down with a head cold. I was already feeling nauseous so this was just great. We all stayed home from church on Sunday, built a fire in our fireplace and vegged out.

Brian still wasn't feeling so hot on Monday so he actually stayed home from work. Ellie continued to spew forth. She wasn't eating and barely drinking any liquids. She just lay on the couch and slept. I did the same.

Tuesday, Brian went to work for a half day, came home and crashed. So did I. Meanwhile Graedon decided he didn't want to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time at night so we were tired right when we woke up. We missed our church's Reformation Day celebration and the girls were so disappointed. I was too.

Finally on Thursday, Ellie got up, ate, drank and was merry. Bri and I were getting over our colds.

Will we actually make it to church on Sunday? Guess who is throwing up now - Graedon. Brian doesn't want to leave me with Grae all alone while he takes the girls to church. I get so sick when I am around puke that I can't handle it.

During this time, I had announced to my internet sewing friends that I was pregnant and feeling morning sickness all day. I got congratulations and encouragement via email but I also got a package in the mail. In it were lemonheads, life savers, saltines, chocolate, a Burts Bees baby care package and a Parents magazine. Boy did that lift my spirits and the lemonheads calmed my stomach a little.

I've often wondered if internet friends could be "true" friends. I have met many ladies online that I would consider friends. I may never meet them in person but we do care about each other and "talk" via email or message boards. So thanks Internet Friends - your friendship is so appreciated right now - especially since I can't leave the house without wanting to throw up ;)

Did you know...

Did you know that adding two packets of splenda to your eggs by accident doesn't taste good? Nope and no matter how much salt you add to it, the flavor doesn't improve. And when you think about eating anything else, that taste comes back to you and suddenly nothing sounds good anymore.

**Don't try this at home**

T-time

Brian reads the Bible to the girls every night before they go to bed. They all tuck into Lauren's full size bed and listen. When I heard the stomping of feet, I knew that Bible time was over and everyone was getting back into bed.

Soon I heard Brian coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. This was my chance. I cried out "hey Bri, will you bring me a tea?" (yeah I know, I'm lazy). Moments later Brian walks out of the kitchen to me. Did he have a nice hot cup of Earl Grey decaf with a hint of whole milk and two Splenda's? No this is what he brought me.

Wise guy.