Some Quick Tips

So here I sit, half an hour before Hubby is expected home and I am not running around like an insane headless chicken. For the first 7 years of our marriage the hour before dinner was, well how do I put this nicely....um crazy, insane, STRESSED, usually involved me getting frustrated and yelling at the Goons. Starting a few months ago we tried something different around this little Bet-el. At 4:30 I decide what to cook for dinner and start it! even if it is pasta (such as tonight) I cut up the veggies (we eat a LOT of veggies) and get all the prep done so that hopefully dinner is ready and cooked about 15-20 minutes before Hubby gets home. WHY? you ask, well that gives me enough time to wash the pots and pans, wipe down the kitchen and dining room table and get the Goons (aged 3 & 5) to help Mama set the table. Otherwise I wouldn't have the patience to let them help me and I believe in the wise words of Solomon "Train Up A Child In the Way He Should Go".

Yeah, you are right that is speaking spiritually but I think it also applies to the dull, humdrum stuff too!

This afternoon was sisters class. Wonderful study on the Unclean and Clean Animals as found in Leviticus 11. So many good thoughts to chew on (pun fully intended!). Since Sprout fell asleep at Mums I got the whole class and then an hour visiting over a cup of tea and scones! Bliss!

So now the Goons are happily playing upstairs in the playroom and the downstairs is tidy (well, as tidy as a home with 3 Goons ever is!) and dinner is ready for Hubby to walk in and eat!

On to another subject: the Family Meal. As you may know Hubby has been working late when at home. I struggled with the debate over whether to feed the Goons before he gets home but have decided on another course of action. We all have a substantial snack mid-afternoon. Fruit & cheese, crackers, the odd piece of chocolate...toast & pb. Then the Goons and Mummy are content and happy to wait until 6 or 6:30pm to eat together.

We have found that eating (and praying together of course) really helps bind us together. We all (even the Goons) chat about our day, the ups and downs, laugh at the Goons jokes and such. After we clear the table we head straight into the living room for the daily Bible Readings. Which is a wonderful way to begin and end the day, but I'll save that for another post. It is time to turn on the outside lights (as the sun set an hour ago) and get myself looking nice to Welcome Hubby home too.

Blessings

Since I'm in a Grumpy Tired Sick Mood, I thought I'd better follow my Grandma's advice and count out 5 things I'm thankful for:

1) Having already done and put away the groceries
2) God has blessed D with a good job so I can buy heathy above groceries for the family
3) Magoo can go to CHC (Christadelphian Heritage College) since homeschool just wouldn't work right now
4) My sister Leah calling just to chat this morning
5) Our warm, comfy house
6) Its snowing outside!
7) PC Canadian Coffee
8) Being able to breastfeed Sprout
9) Hubby being home this week, last week and next week!
10) Little House in the Big Woods story time with the Goons each night

opps thats 10 things! Off to pick up Magoo now!

Saw this at Michelle's and decided it looked fun for a blah day that we have here today!
Bold the things you’ve done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does highschool count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang/played a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (tried Hebrew...still working on that one!)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (indorr count?)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (with Magoo when he was 3)
47. Had your portrait painted (in higschool, actually its in the yearbook)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason (only once!)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Wrinkles dog)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (Gross)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (preggy with Sprout#1)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (once every year....want a copy of the daily planner?)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating--Ewww! I hope I NEVER have to do this!
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (David Wilder, spokesperson from Heborn count?)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Made a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (but I have swam in the Dead Sea)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

What a busy week so far! Finally one of those many, numerous jobs is done. Here is the finished pocket bag. I'm very pleased with it. Now we only have 2 more to sew to use as gifts for the holidays! I had no idea until it was done that it is fully reversible with pockets on the outside and in, such a practical bag!

This weekend Sprout decided to take her first determined efforts to crawl, and she did it! I'm excited yet dreading all the baby-proofing that now needs to be done. So as I procrastinate and type away the living room is chaos as we are having to reorganize it around the plugs and

such.

Oh and I looked over on Sunday after meeting and asked hubby "did you sit her up" "no didnt you?" so we have no clue how she is doing it but she can get herself up into the sitting position all by herself. OIY this at only 6 mths...

Hubby was wonderful and has been digging up our carrot crop, one basket down....many more to go!

Reality Check!

Tuesday I get this call "Mrs. __________, we have in our records that your furnace needs to be inspected. We will be in the area tomorrow and have some spaces still avalible...blah blah blah"

Now normally any kind of call like this I put off for the Husband to deal with, but he has had so much on his mind with work going insane and the regular issues that a serving brother in the ecclesia must care for and family chaos, that I decided to handle this myself. I'm a big girl afterall and all it is is a furnace inspection, and they said they were a division of the company that services out hot water tank.

So yesterday at 9:45 (15 min early) the doorbell rings and this guy is standing there, and before I can even look at his name tag the Baby starts her "I'm breaking 3 more teeth scream" and so I invite him in and explain where the furnace is. He is down for maybe 10 minutes and then needs me to show him a cold air return (first signal) so I show him the one in the dining room and then he needs to see one upstairs....the only one upstairs is in the master bedroom. I take him upstairs and he just sorta peeks in...hmmmm.....any ways so we are talking the the kitchen and he writes up a "report" for me. Finally I get a minute to look at his name tag and all it is, is his name and the name of the company typed on a piece of white paper laminated, no logo, regular font, looks completely fake. The "report" is a photocopied sheet of paper that has the address and company name and # on the top..... looks very UNprofessional....and they had told me they were a division of the gas company.....

so yeah, I had to get him OUT OF THE HOUSE RIGHT NOW! so Baby screamed again and i told him he had to go. I would "think about it". He said that if I take the opening for today for 8:30 am then it would be half price, blah blah blah.

So I'm freaking out. In our area there have been a lot of theft, produce from the farms, tobacco from the drying sheds, a tractor, and we've been warned that they think they are working in gangs and are armed....

Yeah I freaked.

So I went to my dear MIL for dinner and they had the speaker for Bible class over as well and he took the time to research the company on the web. We did a reverse phone number look up....not a buisness number. There is a buisness at the address but it is a Christmas Decorating store! and the cell number the guy gave is from Toronto.

So today I need to get the kids watched and get myself down to the local police station and report this fraud.

Needless to say I didn't sleep at all all night as I was worried that our house had been cased for a robbery....if it was he was disappointed as we have nothing of real $ value. Even our computer is about 5 yrs old.

Lesson learn't! Always take the time before letting some guy into your house to check everything out, even if the baby is screaming her preety little lungs out.

Another Deleware Week

Yep, another week without Hubby has begone. He left at 6 am this morning to go to the airport. The Goons are getting so well at Daddy being gone, that that in itself is depressing. We've been blessed that this week we have a dear friend...Jenna, staying with us to keep us all upbeat and cheery. The end is in sight though, which is great. I had a bit of a breakdown on Sunday after memorial as the idea of another week without him home was just simply too much to bear. God willing after this week he will be able to be home for three weeks in a row and then only a couple more trips before this stage of the project is done.

Oh, and this morning there was white fluffy stuff in the sky! So the Goons and I did our Happy Snow dance!

Monday's Meal Plan

Monday: Pumpkin Soup (h), Fresh rolls, Tossed Salad, Apple Crisp(h) (we are having visitors)
Tuesday: Spagetti, Tomatoe Sauce using our frozen tomatoes (h), zuchinni (h)& shredded carrots (h)
Wednesday: Fahitas (l) (h)
Thursday: Don't have to cook! - invited out! yehaw!
Friday: Roast Beef with all the fixings (h)
Saturday: Ham, Scalloped potatoes (l), peas, pumpkin pie (we are having visitors)
Sunday: Tuna, mushroom soup, mixed veggie caserole

(l=local farm produce from within 20 km, h=our own harvest from our small veggie garden)

Wow, time is flying by again.

We are so excited to have a special visitor coming to stay....um she's arriving tonight!

oh my!

Kitchen floor - scrubbed and dried
Dining Room furniture - wiped down
Playroom - transformed into guest bedroom
Bread - baked and oh so yummy! (Goons taste tested)
Menu - planned
Groceries - bought and sorted
Laundry - washed.....needs to be put away

All that is left is vacuming and ........................the 2 + 1/2 bathrooms oh my!

Monday's Meal Plan

Monday: Roast Chicken, Mashed potatoes (l), roasted pumpkin (h), peas
Tuesday: Veggies Stew (h) & Fresh Bread
Wednesday: Spagetti, Tomatoe Sauce using our frozen tomatoes (h), zuchinni (h)& shredded carrots (h)
Thursday: Roast Beef, raosted potatoes (l), carrots (h), beans (h) (switch to Friday if Jenna arrives Friday)
Friday: Fahitas
Saturday: Veggie Stew (h) & Pull-apart Herb rolls
Sunday: Ham, Scalloped potatoes (l), peas, apple pie

(l=local farm produce from within 20 km, h=our ouw harvest from our small veggie garden)

The painting is done in the playroom...now if only I could find the camera I could show it to you all!