A lot about nothing

I wanted to blog this morning but I couldn’t think of a thing to say…

This evening I don’t know if I am going to be able to stop to go to bed.

First is the Tip Of The Day…

Baking Soda… I buy baking soda from Costco and then I use half a scoop in my laundry. This allows me to cut my laundry soap usage in half.

Today was a strange day. I got some done, but I didn’t feel like it was a productive day. I even sat down once to do Bible and got distracted. Of course I didn’t notice until now. So, I will share with you my bedtime verse. I am a person who struggles with sleeping. I can sleep anytime, anywhere (just about, including on top of my luggage in a busy airport). However, SOMETIMES I struggle to go to sleep. (By the way I have recently been told, grapes and tomatoes can cause insomnia, food for thought). And I OFTEN have terrifying nightmares. When I have a lot of nightmares it makes me not want to put my head on the pillow. So, I have this verse. I correct THESE verseS:

“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” Psalms 3:5

“In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord. Many are asking, ‘who can show us any good?’ Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:4-8

“By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.” Proverbs 3:19-26

Anyhow, for those of you who have been praying for my nightmares to go away… Thank you, they have been MUCH better. Now my challenge is going to be learning to become an early riser.

My husband’s schedule has changed…AGAIN. He now gets up at a quarter to 4. :-P So, I have to have the little ones tucked into bed early every night so they don’t wake their dad, which means an earlier morning. I am not a morning person. This is going to be a challenge. I am just going to pray and jump. I figure it is easer if I just do it all at once then if I get used to it slowly. Hopefully that will be true.

Now what did I do today… Other then therapists and cleaning the house. Not much. I did make a batch of cookies. I changed a favorite old recipe. Here is the New and Improved… I think I am going to call it:

Christmas in July

1 cup butter (and you wonder WHY I like it so much)
1 ½ cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp. Almond extract
½ tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups whole wheat flour (from a mill and stored in a fridge or fresh ground)
3 cups quick oats
1 cup pecans
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp all spice

Mix Butter and Maple syrup until smooth. Add almond extract and mix. In a different bowl mix flour, salt, soda and spices. Add to liquids. Then add quick oats and pecans.

Bake 325 for 15min.

Makes lots. It has just a hint of Christmas spice to it. If you want you probably could make all of those spices ½ tsp without over destroying the recipe, but then it would probably just be Christmas cookies.

Well, back on topic. I did not get all that much done today other then taking care of kiddo’s but my husband put on a garage sale. I would have told you no one could sell anything on a windy day in the middle of the week. But he did. One item. ALMOST enough to fill a gas tank. He continued to work out there all day. Our garage is SOOOOO close to being able to fit the van in it. Just a little longer.

Our children decided to become industrious themselves. They decided to sell rocks. I tried to talk to them about supply and demand and the fact that EVERYONE has rocks, I kindly suggested other products they could sell, but then wisdom took over and I decided to let them find out for themselves.

Little did I know. They sold two rocks and made $2.50… Go figure. One person actually walked away with a plan on what to DO with the rock!

Well, guys my bread is done rising I now need to go bake it. Hey wait, that means I can type while it cooks,… BRB.

Ok, I am back. I hear rumor even my mom is going to try the new bread recipe. I would share it with you guys, but I don’t know if it is copywrited… so I will AGAIN put the website… Not for you Momma Bug, for anyone else reading this.

www.breadbeckers.com

The bread has fit well with our new life style eating change. I served a ‘vegetable’ meal to my husband today (with much trepidation, he is a stake and potato type guy). I was surprised. It went over really well. We had it with our traditional tea sweetened with apple juice. Not one complaint. Well at least not one adult complaint. Andrew doesn’t like the almond butter on his celery. We have tried macadamia, that didn’t go over any better. It appears he is going to have to just use my yogurt ranch or I will have to brake down and give him peanut butter. Not that I mind, I just don’t want him to have it as often as we eat the almond butter.

I have a lot of supplies I want to buy in order to continue on with these food changes. Unfortunately we don’t have the funds to get them… Then the Lord blessed me today… Out of one of the mystery boxes in my garage came this handy dandy… well I don’t know really what it is, but it does EVERYTHING! It is a mixer, it is a blender (which we don’t have), it even will do bread dough,… I don’t have all the parts found and washed yet otherwise I would have tried it tonight, but soon. I am still very grateful for this surprise… I didn’t realize how much I used my blender tell it died.

Frozen fruit smoothies are great. Thanks C’s for giving us the idea.

Speaking of spending money. It is about time for me to buy curriculum. The home school convention is already over for this year, and I didn’t get to go. :-( I have not been to one before, I was very sad to miss it. I am hoping to find out if anyone knows anyone who has actually USED the Robinson curriculum. Does anyone know anything directly or indirectly about it?

Well, my bread is almost done and I should close up shop… Morning will come to fast.

God Bless All!
~H

Work Book...

Today Andrew felt inclined to talk about his "English" workbooks. I have been very impressed with how my children have been progressing in their "English" workbooks.

Today though, I had a FUNNY... Too funny. I just had to share. I understand that the spelling is probably too atrocious to share, but I don't care. It was great, so here it is:

Workbook:

"Write a sentence. Tell how a cookie tastes."

Andrew:

"yume, srumshis and dlishis."

Interpretation:

"Yummy, scrumptious, and delicious." (Yeah, I wouldn't have done much better with that)

Work Book:

"Write a sentence. Tell how if feels when you pet a cat.

Andrew:

"(backwards G)intol, nise and (backwards c)inde."

Interpretation:

"Gentle, nice and kind."

Work Book:

"Write a sentence. Tell about the loudest sound you ever heard."

Andrew:

"mom toking"

Interpretation:

I decline to interpret. :-)

My soap box...

I can’t say that I have a lot of soapbox subjects in life. Not that I don’t have a lot to say about things. I do seem to have the ability to talk someone’s ear off. J But to actually step up against something doesn’t happen all that often, probably not as often as it should. I would rather not offend people or guide them down the wrong path because of ‘feelings’ I have.

However there is a subject I would like to talk about…

Of all things Christian Colleges…

This topic SHOULD be one I am all for…

However, I am four times on the graduated side of the Christian College. Not for myself, maybe that is the problem, I don’t really see the upsides, only the down. Here is my comment in sum.

I BELIEVE ALL CHRISTIAN COLLEGES SHOULD TEACH TENT MAKING.

Not really how to make tents, but how to make a living and provide for yourself/your family.

Most Christian College’s are unwilling to become accredited… I see the wisdom in this. I would not want state input into what I teach my children, why would they want it when they teach their students? It’s much harder and more expensive to find teachers for accredited colleges; it brings the price up a lot. I can think of TONS of reasons why they should not become accredited. However, when that ‘graduate’ steps into the world again, they are going to be left in the Labor’s position still, with years of schooling behind them.

All of this would not give me pause though if I truly felt that those that attended the Christian Colleges walked away with a closer walk with the Lord.

Not so in my experiences. They have walked away having lost the JOY of the Lord, in the busyness of trying to meet deadlines and fighting over theologies. Their recall for facts and references is great, but the heart of the message seems to be lost. Then on top of that they have no way to provide for their families. They have to either start back over in school or be struggle to provide for a one-income family. Am I saying that, God can’t over come this and provide miraculously? No, I am not. Should money be a deciding factor? That is a hard question to answer. No, to be greedy, it should not. Yes, to provide, it should. We are called to be wise.

How about those of you who say… I am going to be a stay-at-home mom why would I need a degree? Two reasons that I can think of; 1) I never ‘went’ to college. I now have four children whom I am home schooling, I am learning right along with them. However, if this issue of Home Schools having to be accredited comes to light it will cost our family FOUR years or more of home schooling while I stop to get a degree. That is A LOT of time of MISSING our children’s lives, or we will have to move. Can we live our lives in the Land Of What If’s? No, we would be miserable. I do think though, that we need to take care of our families. I include being able to home school them as part of taking care of them. 2) If you happen to meet a spouse at the college you are going to, are they going to be able to take care of you and your up coming family? If this means that they will have a great relationship with the Lord that is a worthy trade off.

Am I saying that NO one should go to a Christian College? NO! I am saying you need to pray about it and make SURE you are called. If I had one piece of advice, I would say. Ask to speak to some of the Post Graduates from THAT College and see how they feel about what they learned. If they walked away with a greater knowledge of our Lord. Perfect! Go for it. If not, I would say your time would be better spent at a college that is both accredited and Christian or studding the bible on your own.

I should note that all my experiences are with ONE particular Christian College and that there are many colleges out there that are probably wonderful.

Some words for thought, and I am LATE,…I can’t even proof this, so please ignore all errors. I will try to come back and proof them soon.

~H

Show Day

TA DA! George, our little TARANTULA!

Mr. T (Georgie's friend)

Happy Belated Birthday Andrew!

FINALLY!!!!

FINALLY!!!


George has joined the club. He lost his first tooth today. He has had an adult tooth for about a couple months now without losing a single tooth.

What does he say when he finally looses his tooth? "I AM BLEEDING!!! I am bleeding!" I said, "Did you loose your tooth?" He replied "No, I,... OH, Yeah, I did! I LOST A TOOTH!"

It was SO cute.



Well, here is my toothless TARANTULA, right before practice.

And here are some shots from practice. It is very hard to get a shot of one child in a whole group. (I don't really want to post pictures of kids without their parent’s permission or at least without the parents knowing how to contact me and tell me to knock it off, that's what all the little hearts are about.) I did my best.

Here are a couple of shots of Mr. T.
And here are A & J.

Hope all is well with everyone else. God Bless and Good night.

Act 1

Here are some shots from practice. The photography in a dark theater is awful. I will not be aloud to take pictures during the play though, so this is probably as good as it will get. (They sell dvd's to pay for the cost of the performance)





















Here is George's Scary Spider face...

Here is MR. T, listening to instructions.

Cool websites

I am not going to tell you what illegal activity my children have gotten into but I will tell you that it has prompted me to do some web searching. In the process I have found some cool websites I thought I would share.

State printables (note: lots of pop ups)

Fed. symbols

Urban Homemaker

Breadbeckers

Tickle me funny bone!

Jonathan came running in the house with Daddy today...

"Mommy, mommy... I HAD GUM!"

The Mommy in me had to ask... "Did you swallow it?"

With a great big grin he said "YEAH!"

His Daddy leaned down and said, with a strate face... "And now your going to grow a gum tree in your tummy!"

I said "Oh my, Jonathan, are you going to grow a tree in your tummy?"

He very proudly looked at me and smiled "Yeah and then I am going to CLIMB it!"

This week...

(Mr. T, Mystery girl and George)

This week is our hardest of the year... or close to it.

Andrew and George and Mr. T, Auditioned for a play yesterday...

Sad to say Andrew did not get a part :-( So, sad. His consolation prize is his time with the Young Marines. We are working on some skills that may help him make the cut next year. (Like keeping eye contact and not playing with the person next to us.)

Anyhow, George and Mr. T got in the play!

YEAH!

They get to be TARANTULAS! For you little guys that is spiders!

Should be fun. But may make blogging again anytime this week, nearly impossible. Just remember I am thinking of you all as I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off!

PRAY FOR GOOD HEALTH FOR ALL!!!

Going Nuts!!!

Peanut Butter vs. Almond Butter.

Currently I have been using Almond Butter around here. I have been buying it at the health food store... However, I went to Costco the other day and they had it for less money. You can order it on-line for the same price I pay at the health food store... I think 'MaraNatha' is the brand name.

Ok, now the Why... Good question. I want to be able to give you a good, 'pat', undisputable answer. However, I am not that read up.

I believe partially because of the 'fungus' that tends to be on the peanuts they use for peanut butter. And partially because our cookbook lists it as not being good for 'cancer control'.
Sad answer huh? The 'Why' is not listed that I can find at the moment. Although I would have told you it was the fungus off the top of my head if I had not gone to look it up.

Well you did it now; I looked it up on the Internet... As usual, conflicting information. I was VERY unhappy about the pecans, I can tell you! Here were the top two picks. I hope that helps. Who knows..? I do wonder though if Almond Butter has all the same health benefits without the negatives.

Peanut Institute

Organic Peanuts

Parade!

Here is our Young Marine "IN" a Parade!

Here is us WAITING for the Parade (over an hour with trumpets blaring, WE NEEDED EAR PLUGS, our kids were not the only kid with them.):

Mrs. Bug, Here are the pictures I thought your little bugs would enjoy:

Ps. Here is Anna's official diagnoses...toxic encephalopathy. Big word. Looks scary when you read about it but her symptoms are not to bad.

Update

Well, I don’t have much time tonight but I did want everyone to know we had Praise the Lord.

My husband’s Schedule changed and he got Wednesdays back. He still has to work on Sunday. So sad. But now he can have a day off and go to church with us on Wednesdays. Yeah!

Keep praying maybe he will get his Sundays back.

New subject…

I took Anna to the Pediatric Neurologist today. Good news is it appears there is no Autism, no C.P., and no other disorders. However he did say she has something I couldn’t even pronounce. Very close to Snuffleupagus but it started with an E. I know that doesn’t help, huh? Point being, her body was damaged by all the toxins and has not repaired its self yet. Good news is in general this just means delay. Bad news is, he told me there is a 40% chance she might start having seizures around the age of 4-7. So, we are not out of the woods yet. Anyhow, he said to expect approximately 6months behind on gross motor function, 1 year behind on speech, and two years on bowel and bladder.

I am sorry guys. I would write more, but I need to get to bed.

Love to all.

~Heather

Car troubles?

Having car troubles?

"Cheese"

We went to our friends house today...

Can you guess who?

Here is the 'tree fort'

Lots of fun... A great day. And hey, I got bread recipies and info! Soon and very soon, I may try and make some home made bread. ~H

Slip and Slide!

Hello Again.

Here we are with more pictures.

We had fun today with a slip and slide. Poor George didn't even know what one was when we started looking for it.

I even had to show him how to use it... Yes that IS who you thought it was. Now he has got the hang of it. He prefers going down it on his knee's, which just sounds painful to me. He seemed to have fun.

Here is how Anna decided to going in the fun! One wet little girl by the time we were done.
I think I have a sunburn myself. Not that I am complaining. I love a good tan.

Here is Anna saying "Meow" and Signing Cat.

Here is George's home made sail boat. He has been waiting months for the 'right day' and place to give it a try. The sails got a little soggy. Other then that it was of great design. He is already spending time redesigning it. I LOVE IT.

Hope everyone’s day was as nice as mine.

~Heather