Thursday, May 31, 2007

I'm experimenting...

 



I've signed up to use the Picasa2... Googles' photo holding place.

I clicked on the above photo -- and said "BLOG THIS", and it brought me here.

Nice photo of my little cowgirl -- isn't it. Sigh... she's only 11 and she already thinks I'm an idiot. Too bad... I was hoping we'd be like the Maxwells -- whose kiddos love their parents. Or the Pearls... who kiddos adore their parents. Sigh... Won't heaven be great!! ;)
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Vintage Apron Giveaway!!


Do you want a Vintage Apron? Not Quite June Cleaver is going to give one away!


If I knew how to make a link with a cute photo -- I'd do that -- but for now you'll have to just click on her blog name and look at the cute picture before you go there... don't worry -- she'll have the same cute picture there too.



But HEY - A free apron -- think of the possibiltiites. tee hee!!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

CAMPING!!!

Ever get the urge to leave all civilization behind? Now you can. Ü We are selling our camper. You'll have to e-mail me for the particulars... for my dear husband (dh) is the sales man around here.


We are selling our camper. Do you want to know more? The papers say it will sleep 9. Now -- if you are like us -- then you can sleep as many as you want in there... it depends upon if you want to be comfortable or not. We have slept as many as 7 in there. We even fit our pack-n-play in there. THAT'S handy!! Very comfortable. On the front here is where you can "add a room". There is a story behing the "add a room". Poor salesman.

While we were looking at the camper -- I pulled open a drawer... inside was a black case full of something. "What's this?" He said off hand -- oh... that's the "add a room". Oh NEAT!!! Dh went on and looked at the other stuff... we noticed there was a place to attach an outdoor stove. Oh -- I think I saw a light bulb above that sales man's head. HEY -- where is he going? He went back to that drawer with the "add a room". Ta Dah... the outdoor stove... it wasn't the "add a room". Oh -- inside I felt really, really bad... outside I just stood there by my dh and watched. The sales man said, "Well -- since I said it had an "add a room"... we'll throw it in for free. Wee Hee!! How nice!! It's very convenient. We would usually throw down a bit piece of indoor/outdoor carpet and then put up the "add a room" and there you go -- you can now sleep 10 more people.. if you want. OR -- you can cook greasy bacon outside and not have to smell bacon for the next 15 days. (Or however long you are camping.) NICE!! I especially loved it with crawlers. They can only crawl so far if they are zipped in. And the mosquitoes can only fly so far if they are zipped out!!




This slide out is nice. It hold the everything including the kitchen sink. ;) LOL No really -- it does. It holds the inside stove and the kitchen sink. Very nice!! Then you can pretend you are right at home and stand there and look out the big window while you are doing dishes. Very handy. Of course that's where I did dishes -- because that's where the HOT water comes on -- nice having a water heater. Almost like home... only since we aren't showering in the sink -- it doesn't run out of hot water like at home.

BUT -- there is an outdoor shower -- if you want to shower out doors. See that box below the slide out -- that's the shower. That VERY handy if you have littles. They don't care who sees their neekid bums anyway. Well -- you can use it to rinse off sandy toes too. Or rinse of fish smelly hands. Or to flush chemicals out of ones eyes... if you need to. Very handy!





As I already mentioned -- there is a stove. Even I can light it! But if folds up nice and can be used as counter space too -- handy place to put your curling iron. If you are into curling your hair while you are camping.



See the KING SIZE bed? This is dangerous if you don't have a KING SIZE bed at home -- it makes one want to camp for a very very long time. Because when you return home to your NON KING SIZE bed -- you wonder why you don't have one of those in your house! Sigh... Now since we have a KING SIZE bed in our house -- we've decided we can finally sell the camper. No one needs to sleep in the dog house -- or the camper any more... there's room enough for all of us in a KING SIZE bed. Ü




Then after you are done camping -- it all folds up and fits nicely in your back pocket. OK maybe your garage. Or your pole barn. Where ever.

Oh -- did I point out the AC? That's a must when you are camping in the HOT IOWA SUMMER SUN... which is the most fun time to camp right? But if you are backwards... there is also a furnace... which works! LOL How do I know? Because we are a bit backwards here. Every once in a while...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

It's Official!!

The Birthday Bash will include a pony ride or two!

Yippee!! My kiddos are so excited. Well -- some of them are. One pouty little soon to be 8 year old is mad because now he won't be able to play soccer with his friends. Was soccer on the agenda? I don't remember it... Poor Baby. Sounds like an area where he could use some training. Do I stop and train --- or not?

Well -- I'd better go -- I've got some training to do. :/

INDEX CARDS -- they are a good thing...

I've found a new thing... now I want to share!!



Home school With Index Cards. This site is awesome!

First of all -- did you know you can send 3x5 cards through your printer? So COOL!!! I just learned this today - a bit late for my chore packs -- but hey -- information I can store away and use later.

But wait -- I think I'll be using it sooner than later.

I just printed off myself a set of Spelling Rules on 8 3x5 cards. I'm going to have my 11yo memorize them.

Pretty soon I'm going to print off a set of Roman Numerals on the 3x5 cards and use them as flashcards.

I followed a link, and followed a link to find this site today. So glad I did.

I hope you find something there you can use. I sure have! Won't my kiddos be happy!!

Advantages of using 3x5 cards? Cheaper than buying flashcards. Easy to store. Really easy to take school on the road. Easy to replace when the wild child chews on them.

Yippee!! I'm so excited -- I think I'll go back and look around some more! Won't you join me?

B.T.W. I'd encourage you to sign up for the newsletter. She just sent me a freebie today, ABC memory verses. For kiddos -- A memory verse for every letter of the alphabet. You know I'll be using that download. COOL! I've got some kiddos in need of memory verses.

I e-mailed Molly and said THANKS for the "stuff", mentioning that I was needing to head off to Wal-Mart for more index cards. She said that she WIPES OUT Staples supply of index cards when she shops. Ü

After a bit of hunting I found a link on her site for a Site called Home School In the Woods. They have some time line helps on this page. I'm a time liner... but I can use all the help I can get -- and here is a page that shows you how to do a time line with -- get this -- INDEX CARDS!! COOL!!

Sure hope some of this information is helpful to you! I love making new finds -- but I love sharing them even more, I think!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

INAGURAL 2007 BIRTHDAY BASH

Our family is going to copy the Jeub's and have a Birthday Bash of our own.

We are going to celebrate all our children's 2007 birthdays on June 2nd. We've invited a few guests... mostly family... but some others -- this will replace our kiddos "friends" parties that they get to have every so often. Previously our rule was you get to have a friends party at age 6, 10 and 16. If this year is successfull -- we will have a BIRTHDAY BASH with friends and family every year.

I've got the plates/napkins/candles. I need to get the balloons. I need to order a cake. Since we couldn't decide on a theme..... I think they are each going to get an individual cake -- we'll cut them up and eat them... then dig into a larger BIRTHDAY BASH cake.

I got a pinata at a PARTY STORE. That's a fun place to go into normally -- unless it's graduation weekend. I put my items down on the country that I was going to purchase then asked a clerk for help with a pinata. So we went back with a long pole and found the one I wanted and came back to the counter -- which was now back clear up to the wall. She said to me, "Grab your stuff and I'll help you over here by the door." Other customers who didn't see me in line first thought they were ahead of me and they stepped out of line and followed me. The clerk said, "She can help you at that register", and pointed back to where they were standing. On lady got a little LOUD. What register WHERE?? The clerk replied, "Back where you were." Oh mercy me. She wasn't in the mood to party. I just kept grinning.

We want the entire family to come celebrate -- so we'll plan multi-age games. Got any good ideas? I think the scavenger hunt/treasure hunt idea was good, that we got to see on the Jeub's TLC special.

The pinata should be fun.

Pony rides? Hmmm... we'd have to find a pony -- anyone got one we could borrow. LOL

We'll -- I'll have to take some photos so you can see how it turned out. My poor dh is stressing out already because I think we should set up the cake and ice cream in the garage. He will probably want the garage to be spotless. LOL!! I'm so glad I got the layed back genes from my dad and mom.

Well -- I'd better go -- I've got one more invitation to send out. And some cakes to order. Woo Hoo!! The ball is rolling.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Our Additions



We are soo very excited to announce our new arrivals at our house. Let me tell you -- the kiddos were jumping for joy on Friday, May 10th, 2007! The day the kitties arrived!! Woo Hoo!!

The 7yo found them and he came running into the house yelling, "She had kittens, she had kittens, she had kittens!" (So glad she had kittens and not puppies!) ;)

Boy -- there was a mad rush outside that afternoon. We all were trying to squeeze into our little cat shed, which normally I never set foot in, because it's dirty and gross in there.


I'll tell you what -- I've been in there almost every day since then. Well - you know... I have to check up on them of course. LOL. We wouldn't want anything to happen to the kitties on our watch. Oh man alive. They are so small. The looked like little chipmunks the first day. By the time we found them, they were all clean and dry. We had happened to be gone from the house that morning -- so I don't know how old they were when we saw them... but they weren't there the day before. We saw her fat on Thursday -- so Thursday night or Friday morning sometime, was the blessed event.


Of course everyone wants to pick them up and hold them. But daddy cat is watching all this curious activity very closely. LOL We are trying to refrain from touching them until they have their eyes open. Talk about resisting temptation. They are so small and fluffy looking!! Wow - neato!! No wonder kittens are so loved. Their mews are sooo small and teeny!!

Well -- that's it -- our news. 4 kittens. We have 4 talking children -- so each one will get to name a kitty. This disappoints the 11yo -- she doesn't want any dumb names. But you know -- sometimes the dumb names are the ones that stick anyway. We named 'baby' something descriptive like "Smoky" or something... but "Baby" just stuck after we nursed her back to health a time or two. Funny how things like that happen.

So -- who wants a kitten? 8 more weeks and they will be looking for new homes! Ü

Friday, May 4, 2007

Another Round

I lost 5 pounds during biggest loser round 6, at my HearthKeepers message board. Blech... sort of a sorry loss.

I'm starting Biggest Loser Round 7 today. (BL7)

There is always a lot of excitement when we start a new round. Fresh photos. New scales... speaking of which. My new scales weigh be heavier than my old ones. Instant 5 pound weight gain. That was a little depressing... but oh well. I'm starting fresh.

I plan on sticking with 1400 calories per day. I am not just restricting calories. I'm going to shoot for lower carbs. Better carbs, when I do eat them. W.W. bread, brown whole grain rice, no white sugar, if possible. I'll try to stick to sweets on Sunday only, then just 1 serving. I'm going to keep on using my small salad plate. I have gotten Jorge Cruise's book 8 Minutes in the Morning, and it includes an eating plan where you use cards to keep track of your food. I've got my eating card system ready to go.

I still plan on exercising 5-6 days a week. Now we get bonus points for weight training. Hooray! I like that. I work out with weights 3 or more times a week. So that's good for me. I like being toned!

Water -- my down fall. I've read that if I will drink my weight in ounces of water each day -- that helps you lose more rapidly. So -- that's my goal. My minimum requirement is 100 oz. a day.

Here we go -- another 8 weeks. My goal will be to lose 16 pounds this round. No puny 5 pounds here. Although it is nice that I've lost 5 pounds and not gained it back. But I want it to be in the double digits!!! Any thing less will be disappointing!

My new team for BL7? The SOWERS. Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

We will be Sowing good habits, and reaping a harvest of weight loss at the end!