Happy Birthday, Jeannie!

Today is my friend's 49th birthday. There are 4 of us (me and my peeps) who regularly get together and cut up. Usually its at our monthly ladies night out, and it is a riot! It gets us through the month, and one of these months there WILL be soda spewed out a nose! (that's my personal goal for success as the Ladies Ministry Leader)

The 4 of us, Jeannie, Sarah, Jody and I, are also putting together the church pictoral directory. Its taking some time, input from the church for pictures has taken some creative touches from us. (there may or may not have been some people taken out behind the wood shed, but I'm not talkin') Its getting down to the wire, we gotta get it done soon.

So we planned to meet at Jeannie's for a meeting today. As soon as we were all there we decided we needed a break, and insisted on DQ, despite Jeannie offering us some lemonade. We get her in the van, and have Sarah follow us with Jeannie in her van, to the DQ. All is well until we PASS the DQ. I think she was suspicious at that point, even though Sarah played dumb really well. But I'm pretty sure she didn't realize she had been kidnapped for another couple of blocks. She should have been suspicious of Sarah showing up for a meeting with lipstick on.

We took her to a really nice local restaurant for her free birthday meal. Where we proceeded to pretend we were at ladies night out and probably were near being asked to leave, if the faces on the table next to us were any indication! (can I just say "fuddy duddies" and not get in trouble? They weren't talking to each other hardly at all, like an old couple with nothing to talk about)

But really, we may have gotten a touch giggly, and possibly a bit loud in those giggles, but the table on the other side of us...... lets just say that when there is a rare hush in the restaurant, that is NOT the time to announce you have not been sexually active this week. And this was a table of maybe 8 adults in their late 40's or more. Two of them said something about being sexually active! In total seriousness, like a group therapy or something. The timing couldn't have been more comedic.

The waitress did tell us we were having a bit too much fun, lol. My throat hurts from laughing so hard. And there WAS some spewing, on my part, but not soda out the nose, because we hadn't even been seated yet. Sarah did something so naughty and surprising as we were walking in the door that I laughed so hard I spit on Jody. I think she still loves me, but she sat on the opposite end of the table from me. She got me back, though, something about a holy cow.

So, Happy Birthday, Jeannie! I hope you had a great time and weren't too full to enjoy your meal with your hubby! I'm still so full I could burst.

Five random questions meme

I've been tagged by Michelle at Heart of the Prairie for a meme. You get tagged with 5 random questions, you answer them, and then make up five of your own to tag someone with.

1. If money wasn’t an issue, what three things would you buy for yourself for your birthday?
1. Carpeting in my house. Wood floors are pretty, but I feel like wall to wall carpeting makes a house a home.
2. A new front loading washer and dryer!
3. A new dishwasher that is quiet and eats every spec of food you put in there, even if its an entire pizza!
2.What restaurant meal would you go back for again and again and again?
It depends on the restaurant, really. I love french dip sandwiches with a side of fries! But if you are talking about fast food, which you probably weren't, I would be going back for a Spicy Chicken Tendercrisp sandwich with onion rings and dipping sauce at Burger King!
3. What did you want to be before you grew up and did you achieve it?
Not only did I achieve it, I went above and beyond it! I wanted to get married and have 5 kids. Always. Belly dancer and brain surgeon, those things came and went through the years, but I always wanted to be a wife and mom, specifically to 5 kids. I switched from brain surgeon to belly dancer when I saw half my brother's lip hanging from his face, how could I face a brain if I could barely handle that?
4. What one piece of advice do you have for others that you have learned through life’s lessons?
Never say you wouldn't do something. "I wouldn't let MY kid do that!" "I'll never fall into that trap." "That'll never happen to me!" Well, that's just asking for God to set you straight, you judgemental human! lol (I have extensive experience here, trust me)
5. What’s your oldest piece of clothing that you still wear?
My oldest piece is a sweatshirt from high school with the names of all my graduating class mates from 1989. I can't get rid of it because who would want it besides my class? And then I gave birth to Devon while wearing it, lol. Its still around somewhere, and I occasionally wear it to bed, or bumming around the house. I haven't unpacked it since I was pregnant with Sam, so I don't have it out to get a pic of.

Ok, five random questions...... This is the tough part.
1. What was it about your spouse that made you decide he/she was the one?
2. What was your favorite pet in your entire life? And why?
3. What one thing should you give up? (coke, cookies, computer?)
4. What is your most embarrassing moment? Ok, at least name an embarrassing moment!
5. What is your favorite/most interesting/weirdest job you've ever held?

I'm tagging Bring your own cheese, JAM, Laughing Mommy, and Don't give him crackers!
Let me know when you get yours up if you play along!
If anyone else wants to play, feel free to join in and let me know you've posted your answers.

Good news

Devon is home and willing to take care of himself and follow our terms.
We let him spend the night at a friend's house to think about what he wanted, and those boys have been in foster care before. I don't know what they said to him, or what their dad said, but he was home when I got home from work. We hugged for at least a full minute, and then walked to the DQ. As we sat there he said he didn't sleep well last night because he really wanted to be in his own bed. Really bad.
I'm so glad! He knew that if he came home that he had agreed to the rules. Things don't process quickly for him, so a little cooling off and thinking time are great.
Laughing Mommy, Devon will be able to take care of himself no problem, he will just have difficulty keeping a job and relationships if he doesn't control his anger. He just says things without thinking or care about the consequences. (Like Thursday "I'm going to find a new place to live!" He didn't want to move out, and didn't think we'd take it serious, he wanted us to be afraid of losing him and then agree that he was right for kicking his brother in the back over a game.) We used to be very afraid he would not make it through school. He could not read beyond a very basic baby book, which took a LONG time to get through, "Ball" "Apple" , at 4th grade. He knew all the phonetic sounds and rules but could not put them together to read. We finally got a specialist and she did WONDERS with him, then the chlorella came along and he is almost caught up. He actually does well in his reading level, its all in the speed, he takes too long to finish things because information from paper to brain and brain to paper gets lost along the way without the Chlorella.

In other news, my blog had more traffic yesterday than I get on my Wordless Wednesday posts or my Thursday Thirteen posts! And my techonorati score is in the top 150! But where were the commentors? :-(

My Golden Keyboard Award

You can now see my lovely Golden Keyboard Award on my sidebar. I shall display it with pride!

I decided to check out my stats from my Thursday Thirteen post, and I saw that early this morning 25 people had already been by. This baffled me because Friday is not a heavy traffic day for me. So I looked to see where they were coming from, and it was overwhelmingly from Owlhaven. Now, I checked again this afternoon and there have been almost 70 visitors here today, and no one new has left a comment. So, all you visitors from Owlhaven, please leave me a "Hello!" in my comments so I can drop by and visit you, too.

Besides, I could use a "pick-me-up" today.

One of my children has an immunization injury. Its really hard because 1) he doesn't look or appear to have any problems and 2) doctors will NOT help you discover the problem if it is immunization related. I discovered it while doing college research. We knew there was a problem, but we didn't know what it was.
He has many, many symptoms of mercury poisoning. Irritability, Fits of Anger, Memory Loss, Lack of Attention, Depression, Low Self Confidence, Drowsiness, Decline of Intellect (actually has learning disabilities), Insomnia, Low Self Control. Lack of coordination of movements, such as writing. Impairment of speech. Skin rashes. Mood swings.

That was enough to do some more searching. I found something that removes heavy metals from your body naturally and we started that. Its a whole food, natural product, the side effects would possibly be intestinal upset, and bathroom problems. But all his side effects were positive! His grades went from ALL F's to ONE F in one report card! His anger and violence levels were so infrequent that we could trace them to forgetting the supplement. His mood swings were almost non-existent. He sleeps better, he eats better (not better for our grocery bills), feels better about himself, is able to pay attention and remember what he is doing, he isn't irritable all the time.

At one point he decided that he was doing great and didn't need that stuff anymore, so he quit. Things declined, of course. He still refuses because he doesn't want to take pills to make himself likable, he just wants to be likable on his own. Then we discovered that chiropractic helps incredibly, also. But it did not fit in his schedule when school started, she wasn't open when he could go, and we couldn't afford to take him out of school 2-3 times a week with being in special ed already.
But, we discovered accidentally that SPORTS works to release the gases, too! Sports are over.

So, Devon is not getting anything that his body needs to deal with the mercury, and he is acting pretty intolerable to his family, who, in turn, is not being kind to him. It blew up last night and Devon got the short end of the stick and left. That's why I am upset. It genuinely had nothing to do with him, but he's an easy target, and it happened.
Now we need to work things out to make sure he will follow a health plan in order to stay at home, and we need to get some more empathy and understanding out of his siblings.
Its hard to be a parent and see your child hurting and sabotaging themselves. Life is easier for him when he takes things to remove the mercury, why wouldn't he want that? We try to force it, but he feels like we are trying to make life easier for us. I can't imagine how horrible that feels.
He understands, when he is taking his meds, that his is like his "thorn" to deal with in life. That God is going to take this and teach him things, to prepare him for something special in life. He knows that God is going to use him.
My heart breaks for him because if his disability was noticeable, like a physical handicap or Downs Syndrome, people would treat him differently. But because his can't be seen, it seems like he is just a jerk, and is treated like he is. He is not a problem child, though. He is actually a very good kid, a very intelligent and strong young man who will stick to what he feels is right no matter what.

Another give-away!

You all know how much I love a give-away! I post these and post these and post these, but I don't win. I see others winning on a couple different give-aways, and me nothing. I finally won a book and I can't wait to read it!! I want to read it cover to cover, so I'm waiting, and today Donnie is taking the kids to the zoo, so when I get home from work I'll be alone for at the very least an hour, but probably 2!
So, here is another one for you to go enter into! I found it on my friend Michelle's blog Heart of the Prairie.
Mrs. U of “Making a House a Home” is celebrating her one year bloggiversary and is providing an amazing, large give-away to commemorate this special event. One lucky winner will receive a set of Marth Stewart every day towels, a choice of earrings from an Etsy shop, an autographed copy of a really neat book, and a TWO year subscription to Victoria Magazine!
Hop on over there and congratulate Mrs. U on her blogaversary!
Don't forget to stop at Five Minutes for Mom via the button on my sidebar, they have 7 give-aways up so far!

Oh, and I won a Golden Keyboard Award from Owlhaven today! That cheered me up a bit!

Found on my bed tonight

I've had a really, really horrible evening, and I can't even bring myself to blog about it yet. But when I finally decided to crawl into bed to hopefully sleep and not cry more, I found this note on my husband's pillow:
"Dad Only" With many underlines. Well, I couldn't NOT open it. (if you know me at all, well, you'd know I had to, lol)
So I open up the three page letter and here it is:
1.
Dear Dad it really Hurt my feelings when you said you trusted TRINA more than me!! I'm in geat pain!! I am in tears of sorow. I still love you BUT
2. It will take a wile to recover from the shocking news, so I will be writing notes and putting tham here each day
3.I still cant beleve you said that!!
Hope-Anne
Ps. Dont show MOM! (insert a giant face with tears rolling down from both eyes)

Is anyone else cracking up?? Sure, I should feel more sympathy for her. She's hurting right? Well, I stuck up for her, and the reason she didn't want ME to see that after I stuck up for her? Because she is manipulating Dad and knows I will NOT let it happen, lol. He's a sucker, and she knows it.
Plus, she earned it. She hits Trina and Donnie has caught her plenty, so when Trinity was screaming like she'd fallen off the roof, and she said Hope-Anne hit her, of course he believed her! And he said that Trinity doesn't lie to him. She's 3 1/2, she doesn't LIE! Hope-Anne was just devasted because she was grounded. I did a little check on Trinity that usually results in her fessing up, but she was not doing it. So either she really was hit or she learned Dad buys it. Or Hope-Anne is telling the truth and she told Trinity she can't have her hula-hoop and Trinity threw a 3 yo temper tantrum, and then lied.
After I read the letter and was laughing, Kaytlin asked me what it was, so she read it and was cracking up, too. Dad was completely snowed, though. I told her what happened, that he said Trinity doesn't lie, and she busted up laughing again! Dad is SNOWED by all of his girls.
Anyways, the letter made me laugh, so I won't be going to bed crying. My eyes hurt, but I have a smidge of humor now. Maybe tomorrow I can talk about it, or Saturday when I know what is going to happen. (Don't worry, its not the end of the world!)

Thursday Thirteen #23 13 Things in a parade

13 Things you find in a small, Midwestern town parade that you won't find in the Macy's Day Parade.

1. Princesses on lame floats. Yes, that's a BARN with "Got Milk?" on it. As if that weren't bad enough, how about having to sit inside a baked potato? I'm signing up for that pageant next year! 2. The obligatory Hay ride and 4-H float.

3. Tractors. There must be tractors. What else is there?

4. Yes, the camo truck, can't forget that! Why, that's practically a staple out here.

5. Then there are the plows. Old and new. What on earth do we need this huge on for? It looks like it should be in Antarctica.

6. Giant objects. As if everyday life isn't big enough!

7. Boat turned float? Seriously, this looks like some sort of tour boat with wheels! With a bunch of elderly gentlemen so thrilled with their ride that they sing wherever they go!

8. How about the broken vehicles? I mean really, nothing says "parade" like having to be pushed or pulled through the parade!

9. What would a parade be without Elvis? Sure, you'd find Elvis in the Macy's parade, but a Fat Elvis and a Flat Elvis? Bring it on, I dare you!

10. BooBahs? What ARE these things? They frightened me so! And my camera was so afraid it took 5 shots to get them.

11. Things that don't belong on the ground. Planes and boats. Why in a parade? They don't go on the road!

12. What says "Midwestern" more than snowmobiles and 4 wheelers?

13. Now, this doesn't scream "Midwestern" to me, but I can't imagine the Macy's parade having a float like this! That is, indeed, gym equipment. Like we need a reminder that we are fat, out of shape, lazy people with nothing better to do than sit on the curb watching traffic and fighting for candy!

Wordless Wednesday #11 Dancing to Stasis Dei!

You guys have GOT to go visit my mom's WW, she has the most amazing, HUGE blue lobster!

Prophetic words.........

I was writing about a friend telling you to look at possible sin in your life in my post Christians? . I said how I had friends who do that, call me out when I'm complaining about how this or that is going wrong, .. And they have pointed out areas that may need to be looked at.
Well, that happened.
My sweet friend who loves me dearly, enough to call me to the carpet, called me to the carpet.
She called me up today (she lives FAR away) and I was telling her how glad I am to hear from her because its cheering me up so much with all my computer woes, and this very morning I tried to get on my computer but all access to the internet was gone, not just trying to sign in, but internet explorer wasn't even ON there, and it was all frustrating. So I tried to go into safe mode and do a system restore to a better time in my computer's life. Well, it worked this time, it went back in time and brought all my stuff back without the adware stuff! But it only works in safe mode, because regular mode........ the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH appears. Safe mode won't allow me to get to the internet, so my hands and feet are removed from me, my life is suddenly halted.......
"Lisa, I think God is telling you to get your butt off the computer and spend more time with Him."
{screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech}
Ummm, I do think that is the problem. Didn't want to hear that, but you know, umm, the truth is what we all want to hear even when we don't want to hear it, right?
I did try spending more time with the kids and cleaning the house and making better food with the computers having limited capabilities, but that wasn't the only thing God wanted from me. Thank you, my dear friend, Sheree, I love you so much and I am more and more grateful for God bringing you into my life! Thank you for speaking the truth and not sparing my feelings even though you are a peace maker at heart and would love to just let things ride out and not make waves! You are my heart-sister that no amount of miles can change.

Well, my dear Donnie told me to try my computer in Safe Mode with networking, and everything works fine there, I can do all things as before, like nothing ever happened, except it is in safe mode and looks a little weird. We'll have to download the pics and stuff and reinstall everything, I guess. It is still better than giving those criminal adware companies our money. They need to be prosecuted. You just would not believe the amount of people on message boards proudly supporting how that software worked so well, not at all suspicious that it was not their virus protection that discovered the problem and sent them to buy it.
Now I need to spend more time with God, because He's calling on me!

Who's conspiring against me???

Between the refrigerator, the roof leaking/shingle blowing off, child needing braces (which I haven't blogged yet), our second computer going down, car needing some serious help, well, I'm looking for a job.
Then we got a virus or Trojan horse or adware thingy on my computer. It kept popping up a thing saying we have a virus and this and that and to click to download software to get rid of it. But it was NOT our virus protection software that was saying it, and it always brought up this same software to BUY to get rid of it. I will wipe out my computer and start over before I will give money to the creeps who put out those adware to make money on their software!
So, my dh did search after search and we downloaded things to get rid of it, and we just couldn't do it. Everything worked on the computer, but we couldn't get rid of the annoying pop ups that would stop whatever we were doing until we dealt with it.
So, Donnie found a way to manually get rid of it. And he did! Its gone, gone gone! But so is my ability to access anything that needs to be signed into. Email, blogging, commenting, you know, MY LIFE!!!!!!!
We are going to have to back up all my pics and files and reinstall everything.
But, the good news is that Donnie is on vacation this week, so I can use his laptop to blog and check email, and he has the time to take care of it. (when he's not fishing) And I work at the church this week, so while I sit there with very little to do besides answer the phone, I can do a little blogging and emailing. I only have to answer phones and add finishing touches to the weekly bulletin and print it out and play with some announcement slides.

Maybe I need to do some major house cleaning??? And this has to happen when all the kids are home and we want to play computer games in the heat of the day, but NO computer works, except Donnie's work laptop.

So, if I'm not commenting much, or visiting or posting, or emailing, you know why. Not to mention the busy week we have.
Kaytlin goes in to the orthodontist this week. She has one permanent tooth that grew in sideways over her other teeth. So she has a gap in her mouth right now. I want to go to the appointment, but I am supposed to work. I may go, though. They are talking about doing something like putting a chain around the tooth and tightening it to bring the tooth down. But the rest of her teeth are straight enough, so why can't they just take it out and put it in place right? Can't we just take it out and put in a fake tooth, not dentures, but a permanent one posted in? Kaytlin doesn't want that, though.
And then on Friday Donnie has to take a group of kids to the Minnesota Zoo for Kaytlin's 16th birthday party.

Fourth of July contests!

I love contests! Five Minutes for Mom
is having 12 between now and July 4th. Just click on the banner to check it out!
There is a Krupps Ice Cream maker
with a cute set of bowls, no need to add ice or salt with this maker!
How about a custom swimsuit from Land's End? We only need 9 of them each year, so I'd love to win that one.
There will be a new contest each day, so check them out!

Plus!!! Adventures in Baby Wearing is having a Summer Sling Give-away! An amazing Solarveil sling that blocks out the rays from the sun, perfect to wear while swimming, or walking those state fairs and summer amusement parks. These are made by KimzKreations on ebay. I am definately in love with wearing my baby, I have a sling and a wrap, but my sling is rather hot to wear, and Sam learned how to arch his back and stand in it in .02 seconds. My wrap is awesome, but no sun protection.

I won something! I won!!!!!

Callapidder Days had a bunch of book give-aways, and I finally, finally won something! I love contests and give-aways, but I never win. Now I have!

The Reliance by Marylou Tyndale! Finally a pirate and Christian romance all wrapped into one!

I can't wait to read it!

Christians?

What does a Christian have a responsibility to do when someone is facing a situation? Lets assume both parties are truly saved, Jesus loving people.
Do you just accept their side of the story and assume there is no other truth, and just offer complete sympathy? Do you sympathise but still discuss where an area of sin could be a problem?
I'm not saying make the judgement call, just point out the possible problem, and leave it to them to work out with God.
Is it tickling their ear to just say "Oh you poor baby!" and not address the issue? (or possible issue)
If its not a sin, and they have sought God, and are comfortable with where they are, then all is as it should be, right? But if it is sin, and they are not seeking God, but all the other Christians did was sympathize with their situation and not try to point them to God, is that sin?
Why does this keep coming up for me? I can't talk about one situation and I won't bring on more publicity for the other situation. But I am left hurting for trying to love on someone and point them to God for direction and truth. Not my truth or their truth, but God's Truth. With no opinion on what the truth is. It hurts to have our sin pointed out, I know, but I love my friends who are willing to call me on it, or to make me be SURE of what I am doing.
I have had to make some tough decisions in following God, things that really go against the grain even in Christian circles. Things that make other Christians mad because they think if I am called to it that I think they are in sin or something. So I have learned not to judge others for what they stand up for. Because God has called each person to a different stand and a different life. I would never presume to know what God wants for a person outside of wanting each and every Christian to be pure of heart and totally surrendered to God's will, humble.
So, which way should we go? The way that causes other's to be mad at us and hurt us but could lead someone to a closer walk with God or out of possible sin or just hug them and let God deal with it?
People have suggested to me that I should seek God in something because I could be wrong. If they are wrong, it has not bothered me because I knew that God had called me to it. If they were right, I tended to get mad and defensive until I gave in to God's leading. And I love the friends so much!
*This is my 200th post!

Whew! End of the week!

This is VBS week for us, and its been a busy one! Drew and Devon were part of the drama, and they had 5 pages of drama a DAY! I'm the drama leader, so I've been running the projector for them, yes, cheating with the words on the screen. My boys are some clowns, I tell ya! They've done a great job all week, along with R, the other drama kid.
Trinity and Sam are holding up, but are definitely not cut out for such a busy day yet.
Thursday night, Donnie was at the church doing some work for the worship team and then helping a church member get some computer work done, and it was getting LATE. He wasn't home yet at 11pm, so I figured he'd not only be hungry, but probably was ending up alone with the woman from church, so I ran some pizza up there. I got one block from home and stopped at a stop sign. I went through east ahead of a car heading north. They ended up turning east after me. They had two lights on the bottom of their bumper, but one was burned out. They followed me to main street and turned with me to the right. They followed me all the way through town and turned left at the light with me. The only thing that direction that late at night is the grocery store. But why would they have been heading north to turn south? Doesn't make sense. But they followed me PAST the store out of town. Hmm, weird. Then they turned with me to toward the church. I'm getting more than a little weirded out. This is out in the country, and they wouldn't be heading to our church at 11pm, its locked up. So I turn into the church, sure they are going to turn into the trailer park across the street or head on down the road. Nope, they follow me into the church parking lot! Oh, yes they did! I went around back to the side where my dh is parked, and they did not follow me that far. I sat there with the lights out but engine running so I could take off if I needed to. They didn't come around. What could have possessed someone to do that? I was pretty freaked out.
My fridge started to die, the freezer seemed to die, then it started back up, froze up really solid, then made some ice and then it started to melt again. We cleaned under the fridge in the coils, we defrosted it completely when we were without power for 2 days........ Its 8 years old, but still, why wouldn't it just die or not die? Could it be freon, or is it a warning that I'm about to have to pull $800+ out of my butt?
Thankfully I DO have a job lined up for next week, but its only a temp. I'm doing the church secretary position for a few days. But not going to buy me a new fridge with that.
I wish my brain worked, because I had more to blog but can't think of it.
Earlier this week we went swimming at some one's house. Trinity took a bit of a dunking and decided pools are evil and screamed a scream of pure torture. And we are no longer planning to swim this summer, lol. Sam loved it, though.
Oh, Trinity was funny tonight. I went to put her to bed, got her dressed in jammies and got her a drink and tucked her in. She was drinking (yes, I'm a bad mom and let her drink milk in bed at night) and I was telling her good night and "I love you" and she pulls the cup out of her mouth, and I think she's going to say I love you, too, but what she does is to lift her other hand and give a princess on a float wave to me. It was so cute!
Sam did somethings that make me worry that he's going to be a pill very soon. He's crawling and pulling himself up on furniture now at 7 months old. So he finds a spoon on a table and decides to crawl around with it, oh, and to stick it in the fan. Yep, that makes a funny noise! When we take that joy away from him, he decides to search for more fun things to play with and pulls a phone charger cord out from under the loveseat and eats it. Its plugged in. He starts crying. I don't see how he can be shocked from that, so I make Devon test it in his mouth. Yep, you CAN, indeed, get shocked from that, lol. Poor boy! But as I was comforting him, he reached onto my computer desk and went for another cord. Not real bright, that boy.

Thursday Thirteen #22

Thirteen Things about Lisa13 reasons I need a job 1. I have 7 kids. Kids are expensive! We are pretty frugal about buying new clothes and things, but it still adds up. 2. We made a blunder on our mortgage payment LAST JUNE and they "just" figured it out and are expecting us to pay up on their mistake, which we thought was fixed. 3. Our dryer died. (hanging clothes is actually great for my cloth diapers, but I will need it by winter) 4. Our fridge is dying and/or dead. Seems dead, but I heard it start running a little bit ago. The water dripping out of the freezer from the melting ice was a big indicator, though. (AFTER I posted this, the fridge started running, and now the freezer is running great! Go figure!) 5. Our roof leaks when it rains hard, just the flat part of our roof, but it needs to be replaced, and now the ceiling needs fixing, too. 6. A shingle blew off the sloped part of our roof this week. I'm guessing that means that part of the roof needs replacing, too. 7. Property taxes. They keep raising them! 8. Insurance. Homeowners is expensive all at once, and between us having 3 vehicles and two teen drivers, well, you can imagine its close to half our mortgage! Drew alone is $1600 a year. 9. The Geo needs some work. A new muffler. Find out why it overheats sometimes but not others. Why does it shake when we go over 35mph? 10. Donnie is going to need a new commuter car soon, but thankfully his car will be paid off in a few months. 11. Sports. I want the kids in more sports and activities, but I just can't swing it. $90 for one sport, $120 for that one, and then multiply that by the 5 kids in school. Well, how do I pick which kids I love more than others and let them join and fooey on the rest? Or do I just deny them all? Devon NEEDS it because it seems to help his brain injury, and even if that isn't what is going on, when he is in sports he is nicer to everyone, either because he isn't home, or because he comes home so tired he passes out, but either way he isn't picking on anyone. 12. Oh, we'd like to eat. Kids eat a lot. Even when you have rules about kids asking before they eat something, they eat me out of house and home without asking me. 13. The second computer needs a new processor and I hate sharing my computer with 6 kids! If we each ONLY get 2 hours a day on here, well that's 14 hours on the computer! We need another one by September when we'll have Cody in internet school all day. With 5 kids in school, they frequently need the internet for research, and if there aren't 2 computers, fights over whose homework is more important start. And there you have it. Only 13 of the reasons I am turning in applications. Electricity and gas and water are nice, too. The price of gas for our cars is a factor, too.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


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Wordless Wednesday #10

What are these things???

I took this video, and I wasn't afraid of the bugs, I am just a BAD photographer/videographer. Still haven't figured it out though!

Concert

Stasis Dei was awesome last night! They played with Superchick last night in our little town for a free concert. My kids were just in heaven!
Stasis Dei is in the top 3 for Lifest, please help them stay up there and get in by voting for them! Its really easy, follow the link, register, confirm your email (they send an email instantly) then search Stasis Dei, and listen to both of their songs, and give them 5 stars, of course!
Thanks to those of you who have voted for them, and if you would leave a note, I'd love to hear who voted for them!

Sweet 16!

Happy birthday, Kaytlin!

Today my daughter turns 16, sweet 16! It also is her "golden birthday."

Kaytlin was a planned child, we (I) wanted another child so much, and I was overjoyed to be pregnant with her. It was rough, I was very, very sick because she was a package deal, so twice as many hormones. Her sister Abigail died in their third month. Kaytlin hung in there, through 6 months of premature labor.

We were living in Germany. Kaytlin was born June 16, 2:05 am on Father's Day in Kusel, Germany after 4 days of very hard labor. Is it any wonder that my first words after her birth were "Happy Father's Day, now get her out of my face!"???

Kaytlin loved her daddy more than she did me that first morning. She screamed whenever I held her, it was a struggle to even nurse her. She would scream for Donnie to burp her. Donnie was tired and eventually needed to go home to sleep and get Drew. He could hear her screaming all the way down the hall until the elevator doors shut.

After that, she wouldn't forgive him for leaving her there, so for four months he couldn't hold her. She would even wake up if he tried to hold her in her sleep.

Kaytlin was very fussy for a long time, we think she felt like she was missing a part of herself because Abigail did not live. For the first year Kaytlin did not sleep in the crib. She only slept if I was holding her.

At about 3yo she finally came out of it. And there was much rejoicing!

Kaytlin was a very sweet young girl. If she told a lie, or just didn't tell something she had done, she couldn't sleep until she came and confessed. Very tender-hearted.

Now Kaytlin is such a mature young lady. Yes, she does back talk a bit, but other than that we really have no complaints about her. She loves the Lord and is waiting on God to bring her a husband, rather than shopping around for one. She does not see the point in dating in high school when you are not in the market for marriage. She wants her first kiss to be with the only man she'll be with.

Its only by the grace of God that she is so mature and Godly, because we mess up all the time.

We are so proud of Kaytlin! She's learning to play the guitar and is starting to play with the youth worship team. She's beautiful inside and out. She cannot wait until she gets her driver's licence, but she needs a job first. She has great friends, showing her wonderful taste! She also works very hard to get good grades, and we are continually proud and amazed.

I'm crunchy, and a little crazy....

Drew, Kaytlin and I were driving home last night and we were talking about the new grocery store. Its a bigger, "better" version moved to a new spot in town. I hate it with a passion. I'd rather shop Super Walmart, its that aggravating to shop there. I said that I think they put brighter lights in there to purposely make people aggravated and angry because when you are angry you want to eat crunchy foods, and then you'll buy chips and stuff, which is a big money-maker.

Kaytlin said "Mom, you are SO crunchy." Huh? "You are, you're a hippy! All conspiracy theory and stuff."

Ok, so I DO cloth diaper and I DO have some conspiracy theories, but I don't buy organic or wear tie-dye, lol. And where did she hear the word "crunchy?"

It was Karaoke night again! I did just what I said I would, I sang "I Think We're Alone Now" even though Donnie did not go. (he went to the new Fantastic Four movie) Drew even got up and sang some songs. I sang several songs! I know, I'm pretty sure I'll be asked not to come next week, unless they want me to bring Trinity back, she was a riot! Sarah got Anna and I to go up and sing "I'm just a gigolo" with her because she wanted to hear it. So we get up there to sing and she just stares at the screen. Then she leaves us up there! Anna and I do not sing. She did not know the song, thought it was some other song, and left us to sing it. We'll be getting her back next month, we will. But we did sing "We are Family" after that, and she didn't leave us that time.

Trinity was laying on the floor staring at Sarah singing, it was so cute! She's her little fan! Then she started dancing. Later she was sitting on a couch and playing air guitar, rocking out, totally oblivious to us laughing at her cuteness. Later she even got really brave and got on stage and sang Twinkle Twinkle all by herself! It was too darling! But the air guitar was too sweet! I wish I had my camera with us!

Today is Kaytlin's 16th birthday! Her sweet 16 and her golden birthday. Where did my baby go? I'll post about her later, when its more "today" than it is at midnight.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Cody! I couldn't do it on his birthday, you know, no power, but hey, better late than never, right?

This is Cody and his littlest siblings. He is so nice and cuddly! He had to learn, he was not very cuddly to Trinity, and for many months Cody thought she hated him because she'd cry when he held her. He learned how to deal with a baby and now he is comfortable with them and they like him a bunch!

Twelve years ago we lived in Germany. Wow, 12 years! Cody was not a "surprise" baby, but he was our first baby in trusting God for our family size. And he happened right away. We moved from Germany when I was about 7 months pregnant. That was Cody's only plane ride. Cody was born in Minnesota. That was his claim to fame in our family for a long time. We did not know he was a boy before he was born, but when he was born and they said "Its a boy" I was thinking "of course its a boy! Oh, yeah, we didn't know that." I just knew.

Cody is a video game nut, he'll play any and all things electronic. He's the one we call down to put the computers together, move cords or reconnect things. He has a future in this stuff!

Cody is starting his last year of not being a teen. He thinks this means he is now a "big kid" and should not have a bed time, etc. even though they had to wait until they were older to be a "big kid."

(this will be a long week of posting, Kaytlin turns 16 and its Father's day this weekend!)

Power's back!

The power is back on, less than 48 hours. No big deal. It got a little stuffy last night, but otherwise we survived just fine.

We were able to cook, just not in the oven, because its electronic ignition. The burners worked fine. The grill worked. But we just sent meat over to my friend's house and ate supper over there with her. It was fun! They have a projector that makes movies the size of a wall, the kids had lots of fun pretending to be at a theater.

Lots of playing in the kiddie pool.

There was no baby making, Yofed! Um, besides the fact that the kids slept with us the second night, with no power the house is QUIET and you can hear everything, like little squeaks in the floor boards I didn't even know were there, lol.

Devon is getting better, but as his steroid level goes down his hives start coming back. If they get bad again we'll have to do something because we have VBS on Monday and he is one of the main characters all week, and we don't want to freak out the kids, I mean Devon would be embarrassed to go in front of everyone looking like that. He actually got worse than this picture, too. He is much better now, just hoping it stays that way.

I want to go blog hopping, but there is a line behind me to check emails, Trinity is crying to get on Barbie.com and there are clothes to wash.

Thursday Thirteen #21

Thirteen Things about Lisa 13 things you can or can't do when the power is out. 1. Blog 2. Email 3. See at night. 4. Cook. Even with a gas stove, we can't run the oven without power. 5. Watch tv 6. Stay cool. No a/c or fans 7. Bribe the kids with videos 8. Blog 9. Listen to music. 10. Charge the cell phones. 11. We CAN play "It coulda been worse...." (sit around the house and say how it could be worse than having a power outage, like someone having an accident.) 12. Can't answer the phone, because all our phones are cordless, lol. Thats a GOOD thing! 13. Keep your food cold. We've been without power since noon Wednesday. I expect them to get it up and running Friday morning, hopefully! We've done ok, we're eating at a friend's house, gotta cook up our food anyways. The kids are enjoying her enormous screen tv! I'm borrowing a computer at church to get this done. Hopefully next week I can get my 13 things you'd find in a small town parade in the Midwest done.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Wordless Wednesday #9

Two miracles at my house! Three?

I have two miracles and something that may not be a miracle, but is kinda amazing for our kids.
I can't say which kid this is because Devon would kill me, but one of my kids woke up with these hives on Saturday. After 2 days on Zyrtec he looked WORSE than this (I couldn't get him in front of a camera again, I had to tell him this pic was for the doctor, hehe) and I took him in. At that point his face had white areas in the middle, big areas, not pimple like things. The doctor so kindly fit us in when all the docs were booked solid! He's the best! Dr. F walks in and says "Whoa, that's quite a look your sporting there!" He calls in a second opinion within 2 minutes of being in the room. They think its a reaction to a virus or medicine (which he's not on) and there is nothing you can do, basically its not hives. But I had him look at other places and they ARE hives. He really wanted to help Devon get better, so he took a long shot on some steroids working. Devon had to take 8 steroids yesterday! Like the kid isn't buff enough! Devon fought me about going to the doctor, he did not want to go, he'd get better on his own, they can't do anything anyway, its too expensive, we don't have the money..... I was really afraid he might actually bite me! All the way home he was growly, "I just want to go home and SULK." So he did.
But this morning. This morning!!! 8:15am, and ungodly hour of the morning for Devon, he shows up in my door way grinning at me like the Cheshire cat! I'm blind, so I can just tell its Devon by the buffness, and I think he's grinning by the glare of the morning sun shining off his teeth. "What?!?" "Look! Its almost gone!" I grab my glasses for that one! Whoa! Seriously! Its almost gone!
Dr. F was so sweet he even called at 8:30 in the morning to check on Devon! (and I was thinking of switching doctors! Pwsaaa! Donnie can hate him, I still love Dr. F!)
VBS is saved! Devon is a main character and I was going to have to find someone else to play his part, 5 page scripts PER DAY.

Now, the REALLY amazing miracle! I can't remember the last time we've had a P00P incident at our house! Not even a p00py pants! I can't remember!!! (that means its been at least 2 weeks, because I can't remember beyond that)

And the iffy miracle, but still amazing for our house...... I realized the other day that out of our 7 kids, you have to exclude Sam because he is only 7 months, so out of 6 kids, Hope-Anne has made it to 10yo without an accident that caused me to bring her to the doctor, ER, or call poison control! She has had no stitches, sprains, breaks, accidentally on purpose overdoses on meds, drank cleaning supplies, super-glued her eye open, or gotten a concussion! (accidentally on purpose was Drew purposely drinking tylenol, but not knowing it was medicine or could hurt his little body)

Why I blog.......

There is a blogging carnival hosted by Chilihead. A chance to get to know other bloggers better. Please feel free to join in! Leave your link at Chilihead's place!

How did you start blogging?
Well, I don't remember exactly, but I actually started my blog when a friend made her's to keep up with family far away, but she kinda stopped after a few posts and I'm still going! I think I had to get a blogger account to post a comment, and I just went for it.
Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?
After a couple of weeks of posting and reading other blogs and feeling lonely that I didn't have readers, I decided I wanted to have readers. I'm not out to be huge, but I AM happy to be read! I got a site meter that I obsess over. I listed my blog on sites and groups, I left comments all over the place, I put people's blogs on my blog, etc. Doing memes, like Wordless Wednesday and Thursday Thirteen, are big reader draws.
What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
I just want to reach out and be friends with people. I'm not sure what my "goal" is in that direction, but I like making people laugh, think, or just encourage others. I want to be real, though. I think I am successful for what I want to do, and am well on my way to what I want to see. I'm still commenting my way to get friends, lol. I would LOVE to get more comments, that's where I feel more successful, I like the numbers on my site meter, but I'd feel more connected if I had comments.
Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
I am still writing to an audience, but its more focused now, there are actual people TO write to, but mostly its still the same as far as day to day things that happen and the shameful things my kids do. But I do a lot more memes to get traffic.
What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
I wish I had known more about memes. And the site meter, love the site meter! I would also have loved to pick a better name, great names bring in traffic. Like Boobs, Injuries, and Dr. Pepper, not that I'd pick that name, but I HAD to go see what on earth happened at that blog to get that name!
Do you make money with your blog?
Sadly, no. I had Google ads, but when I upgraded blogger it disappeared and it won't let me log in and is too much of a pain to get on my new blog. I would love to do reviews and such, but so far its just too complicated to read all the details while juggling 7 kids and a life outside of blogging.
Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Some do.
My husband doesn't have any interest unless I force him to read it.
My mom reads it every day and even prints it out, and I convinced her to start her own blog and picked out a great name for her!
My 15yo dd reads it occasionally to make sure I haven't humiliated her recently.
I think my step mom may have read it once or twice, dad, probably never. My siblings don't, either. My friends do read it a lot, and it takes away my story telling, lol. "Yes, I read that on your blog." LOL
What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
1. Pick a great name!
2. Watch what you post, because people will find out about your blog that know you. I used mine sort of like a journal and posted about a situation, even though it was not known really, it did sort of bite me, so I removed it.

Parade day!

Here is a play by play of Sam and his candy eating. I sat him in the chair while I sat in front of him on the ground. (Thats my house behind us, we live right on the parade route!)

I was storing the candy in a cup holder in the chair.
Sam was able to just reach in and help himself. And he did.

Again and again.

Yummy! Is anyone looking at my candy?

Which one should I choose?

MMMM, yah, this one is good stuff!




As you can see, it got darker and darker as the parade went on. There were only 4 marching bands this year, or it would have really gone on long! We even got a "show" right in front of our faces, all we saw was butts, but we did get a front row seat, lol. I'm going to do my Thursday Thirteen on the weird things you'll see in a small Minnesota town parade. Thankfully this year the toilette on the trailer wasn't there. And the guy sitting on the toilette reaching in and throwing out unwrapped chocolate bars....... well, he wasn't there this year. Would have made good bloggy material though! Too bad I wasn't blogging last year.

Hopefully we are at the end of the sickies, Donnie and Trinity are throwing up today, so that should be the end of it, unless the three who've been sick but not thrown up decide to finish it up in style. Cuts down on groceries, though! And at a time when we are broke, its just peachy! Some of our groceries will stretch over into the next paycheck. I even premade lots of meals, they are in the freezer waiting to be made. I was on top of frugality this month!

Garage Sale Day 2

Day two went much, much better! I felt just well enough to sit outside, but getting up and moving caused light-headedness. I even ate a little bit.
I sold $169.20 worth of stuff! I don't get to keep it all though, I sold Devon's drums and he's going to buy a guitar with it. But, our neighbor bought the drums, so we still get to hear it.
Devon slept all night Thursday night, almost all day Friday, all Friday night, and almost all day today. He broke out all over in itchy hives! I think he's allergic to a stray dog we found yesterday. The dog took off before we could find his owner, though.
Everything is packed up in the garage waiting for next week's sale. It is supposed to rain, though, so it may have to wait another week.
Everyone has gone through the sickies, so hopefully we'll all be better in a couple of days. Sam was throwing up last night, too. Trinity is the only one who hasn't gotten sick at all.
Drew cleaned out the garage in order to have a video game Olympics this weekend. They were still playing at 8am! I don't think they'll be going tonight, lol.
Hmm, have I hit everything and been jumping around enough in this post?

Garage Sale Day 1.

I spent all of day one in bed. I couldn't sleep last night, even though I was BEAT, because I felt so sick. Around 1am I threw up, and other just as unpleasant things, then I could at least sleep. Kaytlin came in around 5am asking for a bucket because she had thrown up, too. 5:30am, get up and change underwear. 6:45am call Jody and tell her I am sick, but she can still have the sale at our house if she wants to run things. She did.
8am start putting out as much as possible while trying not to vomit. Unsuccessful.
I spent the day mostly in bed. Sam slept almost all day with me, after he threw up on my milk maker. I'm not sure if he was sick or not, but it really helped having him sleep the day away. Donnie was home, because he doesn't feel well for the second day in a row. He HAS to be better for work tomorrow, though.
Now our oldest son has a garage full of kids playing video games for the next two nights. Which means we have no tv to curl up with in our misery. But at least they are outside!
Oh, and so far I made about $6 max, lol. I need to get some more of our items out tomorrow, like desks and end tables and my rocking chair.
I'm missing Ladies Night for the first time. I'm so sad! I love getting together with my girlfriends and laughing the night away. Sarah can't make it, either. So, Jody and Jeannie and whoever else shows up, it changes each month.

Lest you think I exaggerate....

These are the un-matched shoes. Even though some LOOK matched, they were not the same size, lol. This was after matching 14 pairs or so. This is also not all the unmatched shoes, Some are behind Cody and some are in a box already put away.

Our town parade was tonight. It goes right past our house, so we always get a great seat! Here is how much Sam liked it. I'll have to post more about it another day because I'm soooo tired and I have to get up early in the morning.

Thursday Thirteen #20

Thirteen things I found in my garage while getting it cleaned for a yard sale.

1. A Tupperware soup bowl with scary stuff on the side, and it was heavy, indicating that something was inside. (our kids cleaned Donnie's car and instead of bringing everything in the house, they put it in a trash bag and put it in the garage!)
2. A Footloose soundtrack tape! My kids didn't want me to play it. (plus about 50 tapes from Quixtar business)
3. 12 missing screwdrivers.
4. A disposable camera that hadn't been developed yet. (that should be interesting!)
5. A Pampered Chef rubber scraper that I have been missing for 2 years! It was in the camping stuff.
6. The book "Stone Soup" which gives us all a giggle.
7. A box of letters that I had written to my dad when we lived far away. In one letter I was describing to my dad how we were watching a video he sent of their Christmas and Drew said "That's a silly grandpa, he's got no hair!"
8. A little ceramic shoe with a pink base with my name and birth date on it.
9. My wedding invitation, napkins, and bulletin.
10. Spiders. Umm, I hate spiders. But I didn't scream even once! That is an amazing feat for me, because a spider touching me could send me to a therapist. (or more likely for the vicodin and a nap after my screaming and crying jag.)
11. Tons and tons and tons of outgrown clothes that I have planned to donate, go through, get out for summer/winter, the next baby.....
12. Tons and tons and tons of shoes, boots, skates. (I can't believe we have that many pairs in the garage since we have WAY too many in the house that we don't even wear.)
13. A bunch of toys we haven't played with in a long time!

And I'm not even close to clean in there. I could do many more TT's on this. And I saved you all from the horror by not taking pics. The soup bowl had refried beans in it. Or it looked like it, but the dead bugs in there could have made something else look like that??? It was scary, I tell you!
***UPDATE***
We turned in 55lbs of cans and made $45!!!! So even if we don't make much in the yard sale, we'll have a cleaner garage and at least $45!