More Pics of the House...

Looking from living room into dining room:

Looking into the living room from the dining room:

A view into the living room from the top of the stairs:

The family room (which is directly below the living room). Note the mindless drones playing X-BOX:

These are all of the pics I have for now. I'll have to take ones of the rest of the house later. I have one more room to unpack and then start decorating. The blank walls drive me batty!! The boys "army guy theme" room is starting to come together and we just got a loft bed from a friend for Zane. I am visibly disturbed that the girls room doesn't scream "Cowgirl" yet - but I have to pace myself...

Pics of the Kitchen...

Ok - after FINALLY finding the cord that removes the photos from the camera, I present to you: my kitchen...

Before we moved in:

The day we moved in:

A few days later:

~~ Pause for 48 hour loss of power due to windstorm ~~

And a few more days later:

And FINALLY (5 days before Christmas):

More pics of the house coming...

HOUSTON - WE HAVE INTERNET!!!

After 18 days without internet - we FINALLY have it!!! YIPEE! My rock star husband got it all straightened out a few minutes ago. (He will be available to autograph your modem later today.) Ok - now I have motivation for "after-Christmas-cleanup" so I can take pics of the new house and post them for you to see.

My personal goal for the day is to tear down the Christmas tree so that I can actually see what my living room will look like without it! I have had a tree in my living room almost since we moved in.

Random thought: A disco ball will be arriving in the mail in the next few days. Merry Christmas to me! (I'm sure the neighbors are going to "love" me!) Hubby and I never ended up buying presents for each other so we are going to set a budget and go buy ourselves something nice in the next couple of days! What with moving 2 weeks before Christmas, trying to unpack the house BEFORE Christmas, planning for 17 guests on Christmas Eve, having construction going on in the house while we were living here, having no functioning kitchen until last Wednesday and being hit with a windstorm and losing power for 48 hours in the midst of all this: oddly enough - we never made it to the mall!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks - I'm looking forward to a very boring January ( I hope!)
Ok - I'm going to clean so I can take pics... (she said with coffee in hand)

I have a kitchen!

This may be a quick entry as we still have no internet access (crossing our fingers for tomorrow) but we found an unsecured wireless signal from somewhere in the neighborhood (thank you mystery neighbor) so we'll see how long this lasts...

We ended up having no power for about 44 hours. Our house got down to 41 degrees by the second morning. We spent MANY quality hours in the family room with the fireplace going. Zane woke up Saturday morning and barfed all over his sleeping bag and into the fireplace. Yum. "That's okay son - because it's not like we have NO power to run the washer & dryer - oh wait, the dryer isn't even HOOKED UP YET!!!"

Because of the power outtage, the construction guys couldn't work on the house, ie: build me a kitchen!! They were finally able to come back on Sunday - and by Sunday night we had an oven and microwave!! I baked/cooked all day Monday...cause I could!! I made muffins, cookies and quesadillas for the workers on Monday. "Keep them fed, keep them happy!" I kept making food so they wouldn't leave to go to lunch! It worked till about 3pm. They thought they'd have the dishwasher and sink hooked that night but it didn't happen. Sadly, I had to wash all of my dishes in the tub that night!

It's so funny, our family has totally bonded with all of these construction workers. Maisie calls one of them "My best friend!" The guys actually enjoyed being here with our family (perhaps it was the cookies). One of the guys said to me "Boy, you are probably going to be glad to have us gone!" I said, "No, you guys are like my new girlfriends!!" To which one of the guys responded, "I need a smoke!" and raced outside! So funny. I called them all "girlfriend" for the rest of the week.

I finally got a working kitchen sink today! HOORAY! I now have a sink, garbage disposal and dishwasher!! This house is SO amazing. I can't even believe we live here. I will post pictures soon.

OK...so last night - the workers were here till about 9:30pm and after we got the kids down I decided I'd better start some Christmas shopping for the kids, so I headed off to Target. They closed at 11pm and then I headed to Walmart (which by the way was packed at 11:15pm!) I shopped till 12:45am and got home around 1:15am. All the light were on when I pulled up "That's strange!" but Hubby was no where to be found. I checked the entire upstairs and then the entire downstairs. I was starting to freak out when I noticed that the garage light was on. I poked my head in there and saw Hubby sitting on a small piece of carpet in front of the washing machine "DON'T LET THAT DOOR CLOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled frantically.

Turns out he was taking some stuff out to the garage (in his t-shirt, sweats and socks) and the handtruck bumped the paint can that was holding the door open. The door slammed on his butt which apparently hit the button on the handle and locked the knob - and then the door slammed shut. [So, your BUTT locked you out?] He had been out in the freezing garage for 1 1/2 hours. His cell phone was in the house and all of the doors to the house were locked. At one point he was so tired that he curled up in the fetal position on the little carpet in front of the washing machine and tried to fall asleep!

I felt SO bad for him but I couldn't stop laughing! Poor guy! Usually that is the kind of stuff that happens to me, not him!! There was many more stories about the house but I'm so tired I have to go to bed. I have stayed up till between 2am-4am every night (except one) since we've lived here, unpacking boxes. I know have the entire upstairs unpacked except for kids' books (because we need to buy 2 small bookcases) 3 boxes in my room and 3 bathroom boxes. The kitchen/dining room /living room are done! And decorated with Christmas stuff because I have "must-decorate-no-matter-what-the-circumstances-there-has-to be-a-theme-itis".

Well, I must sleep because I now only have 3 days left to buy presents, wrap presents, figure out my Christmas Eve menu, and puchase and prep food for 18 people for Christmas Eve dinner. Isn't it so smart of me that I don't over commit and try to do everything? Yes, I thought so too!

Bullet Point Entry...

• Moved to the new house last Saturday


• Remodel on the house isn't finished


• Christmas is in one week


• Currently have no kitchen


• Everything is in boxes


• Lost all electrical power 27 hours ago in a 68 mile an hour windstorm


• Christmas is in one week


• My house is currently 51 degrees


• I am using a friend's computer who HAS electrical power


• Will be sleeping in front of the fireplace in the family room with 5 other people


• Power company stated "It would be a MIRACLE if we had the power restored within the next 12 hours."


• The power could be out for another 48 hours


• It is currently 35 degrees outside


• Christmas is in one week


• An emotional breakdown has not been ruled out...

Today Next Saturday is Moving Day...

Well, this morning (Friday) we loaded up the church van with boxes for our first run over to the new house and had QUITE a surprise when we got there. The house was not ready! We knew there would be some finishing work to be done after we moved in but were told that the major things would be completed by today. Apparently because of the snow storm, several things were pushed back – they are still waiting for carpet, the hardwood floors have not been refinished and they are still waiting for kitchen counters/cabinets/appliances that will not arrive until possibly Monday!

We were able to put some of our things in the garage there but unfortunately the inside of the house will not be livable for several more days. The house is going to be AMAZING when it's done. It's just the -DONE- part that seems to be a problem. The new move date is NEXT Sat.
The workers are EXTREMELY nice and are bustin' their booties to get it done for us. In fact 2 of them were there yesterday from 6am - 11:30pm. They tiled the entire surround of the bathtub so it is slow-going work.

Ok - I'm going to bed now. I have to wake up and paint 2 rooms tomorrow (in our current/old) house. The landlords don't love my BRIGHT color scheme like I do - so I must paint it back to bland white...

Just Call Me Cinder-Mommy...

This morning in bed...

I was laying there mostly asleep with Hubby & Dach chatting next to me:

Dach: "I want some juice!!!"

Hubby: "What do you think I am...your SERVANT?!"

Dach [glancing over at me]: "No, she's sleeping!"

Shampoo Anyone...?

We seem to have an inordinate amount of toiletries...

This was what I pulled out of the bathroom cupboard to pack. *shudder*

Start time: 10:00pm

End time: 2:15am

Alarm went off at: 7:00am

*insert yawn*

I performed a parody song at church today to advertise our annual church Christmas party/talent show. I rewrote the words to Donny & Marie Osmond's "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock -n- roll" to "I'm a little bit Calvinist, I'm a little bit Arminian". [Which, if you are unfamiliar with Calvinism and Arminianism - they are theological schools of thought as to whether we are chosen by GOD - OR - if WE choose God.]

I must say - it was tragically huliliating! But fun! It was videotaped - when I get the right 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cord to upload it onto the computer, I'll try to post it.

I am now going to take a nap before I resume packing...

The Latest...

*looks both ways*

"Shhhh, I should be packing right now!"

Let's just call this a 'break". Yes - we got the house. Nothing short of a miracle. We are moving in 14 days. I'm about 20% packed, maybe 25%. *cringe* Thus...the reason I have fallen off the earth in every area of my life that doesn't involve packing tape and a cardboard box. The story is quite long - but in the end we were VERY surprised that we ended up getting this house. It's going to be a challenge financially - but we are stepping out in faith that it will all work out!

Ok - so a quick update:

On Halloween we went to Jen's church for their annual Harvest Festival, here are pics of the kids in their costumes:



Maisie as Ariel (her clamshells were riding a little low)





Dach was "The Hulk"

Jedi-Master Zane

Disco Rock Star Georgia

I saved up for an armoire (that I've been wanting for YEARS) and have been obsessively searching for one on craigslist.org for around $300. We finally found one last week for $175. It is almost identical to a friend's (who paid $800 for theirs). Can you say "SUPER-SCORE"?!?! Here's a pic, I intend to paint it black:

Well, I must get back to packing. I was just missing OD since I hadn't even logged on in the past 3 weeks! I have to pack, pack, pack. I can't believe we even HAVE this much stuff. I am a purge-a-holic and we still have a ton of stuff!!

Did I mention I'm going to have a double car garage?!?!?!

And the Winner is...

Does your mouse have a little scrolling wheel on it between the left and right click buttons? Yes? Well, then hold down the control button on your keyboard and spin that little wheel on your mouse.
Now - is your screen as screwed up as mine? Good. Welcome to my world. I keep getting stuck in font size purgatory. I am constantly -accidentally- doing that and then I can't remember exactly how the screen was before I did it. Perhaps I should locate my glasses...

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "last year when my kids made me cry because they were mean to me on the day that I am to be honored, revered and served" and a 10 being the ultimate suprise Disco theme party with 500 of my closest friends and suprise guest Jack Bauer, my birthday was about a "5".

The kids were actually pretty decent to me [that would be because my husband bought them a new movie the night before and saif if they were nice to me all day, they could watch it at the end of the day] I say "Hey, I care not about the motivation or even your sincerity - just me nice to me on my birthday."

Hubby actually went to a local restaurant before I was awake and purchased a belgian waffle with strawberries and brought it to me in bed. Quite thoughtful.

We dropped the kids off at AWANAS - one of which claimed stomach ache and another who suddenly decided to subscribe to separation anxiety. Me thinks not. Unless you are gushing blood - I'm going to go take my 90 minute break "ok-bye-bye-thanks-see-ya-later". I peeled everyone off my body and ran like the wind.

Hubby and I grabbed Thai food takeout and a 5,000 ounce coke Slurpee and headed over to a friend's house. You see - the house across the street from her is going to be for rent soon. Which one?? Why, the one that is quite large with all new everything. It has been gutted - appliances, windows, doors, carpets, furnace, kitchen cupboards/countertops, toilet, showers...everything. And they are toying with the idea of renting it to us for an affordable amount. We went to take the flashlight tour (as the electric isn't hooked up yet). Stay tuned. I may be packing soon. *shudder*

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And the winner is...ME!
And the winner is...ME AGAIN!!
I've got my lucky rabbit's foot and I'm back on a roll! Last month (right before we left on vacation) I got a call letting me know I was the grand prize winner of this contest I had entered. I had entered a fairly creative entry and it totally got their attention. They said "out of the almost 600 hundred entries we got - yours was very creative andd had a lot of energy to it". What did I win, you ask...? Why $1,000 in giftcards!! CHA-CHING!!!

I got to choose between several stores and ended up choosing $800 at Target and $200 at Best Buy. Which will come in handy for furnishing a new home with a whole new theme don't you think? They arrived 2 days ago and we've already done a little shopping. We bought a coffee table that I had my eye on [since we haven't owned one in about 8 years since the nasty "goose egg incident" involving a coffe table corner and child #1's head] and our 5 disc CD changer died so Hubby wanted to replace that. Wow - almost $250 later...

We also bought about $150 in "miscellaneous" items: 2 DVD's, new sheets for the girls beds, a rockin' cute pair of black knee-high boots for Chia and 6 pairs of slippers. Um, yes - that would be $51 in slippers. Slippers. For the family of 6. My big whoop-dee-doo-first-thing-I'm-buying-for-myself-when-I-get-that-giftcard is a pair of slippers! The entire family is now outfitted with with sparkly new slippers. *Are you now asking yourself: "Is my life SO boring that I have resorted to reading about a complete stranger's trip to Target to purchase slippers??" I'm right there with you - moving on...*

Then...earlier this week Hubby was the 5th caller on a local radio station and won 4 tickets to "Disney On Ice - The Incredibles at Disneyland". They send us these free passes to exchange at the box office and when Hubby went to get the tickets exchanged yesterday (and buy 2 additional ones) they happened to have seats in the 5th row left. RIGHT ON!! (I took my little sister to Disney on Ice about 10 years ago and we had the cheapest seats available and we could hardly see anything.) So - I'm quite looking forward to that. We had to pay $24/seat for the extra 2 tickets (which I never would have bought otherwise) but I keep telling myself that $48 for a family of 6 to go to something like that and get 5th row seats is actually a great deal. It's not much more than it would cost to take them all to a movie theater these days!

Ok - and because I'm obsessive compulsive: I have come up with new themes for the kids' rooms. Out with the old - in with the new!! The girls are going to have a light pink and chocolate brown room with a cowgirl feel. Not country calico cowgirl - but funky hip "this ain't your momma's cowgirl" kind of feel. The boys will have a camouflage theme. I have tons of ideas and am QUITE excited to pour my life into the creative process of creating all new rooms. Why? Because I have nothing but time people...nothing but time...

Well, Hubby is at an X-BOX gaming night, the kids are all sleeping and since we are setting our clocks back tonight and it's REALLY only 8:27pm - I'm going to go see what great things I can accomplish around my house while living out my favorite little 13-letter word: uninterrupted!!!!!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.."

Dach got to share my cake with me since he got jipped on his birthday cake. Earlier today he was claiming he was still "3" and that he hadn't had a birthday because he *insert wail* "...DIDN'T GET ANY BIRF-DAY CAKE AND BLOW DA CANDLES!!!"

And since I'm good natured - I shared mine. Which those of you who know me - know what a sacrifice it is for me to share my beloved and honored day.

Do you love my fabulous green velvet jacket?! Me too!! "To: Me - From: Me"

Well, it's off to drop the kids at AWANAS and have 95 minutes of free time. Thai food is the plan I think...

Disneyland Day 3 - with pics...

Ok, I'm am so tired that I think I actually just dozed off for a second in the computer chair! I'm going to make this quick. I'll have to come back and tell of of the interesting stories about Disneyland - for now here are some pictures...

Hubby (on the right) and our friend Kevin (Claire's Hubby) in the Astro Blasters ride:

Snow White with Maisie. She was SUCH a good character, she spent several minutes talking with each child asking them about their likes etc... So cute!

The ONE princess Maisie had wanted to meet was Belle, so on Thurday we waited in a line for almost an hour to meet the princesses and right when it was Maisie's turn - they switched out princesses and Belle left! So, the next day we waited in line -ANOTHER 45 minutes- to see if we could meet her and the SAME thing happened. We must have kept timing it just right, because every time Maisie got to the front of the line - it was time to switch princesses! She was always just a few feet from meeting Belle. On Friday we went down to this stage area where they were teaching all the little girls how to dance when all of the sudden 3 princesses came on stage to dance. One of them was Belle!! At the end, she came down and danced around a Maypole right next to Maisie! She was beaming:

Maisie insisted on having her face painted and was even willing to fork over $14 of her own money to do it. (Knock yourself out girl - as long as I don't have to pay for it!)

At 12:30am as we were leaving the park. Can you say T.I.R.E.D???

Dach was faithful to uphold our tradition - he wailed and sobbed all of the way out of the park that night...

We didn't get home till 2am that night by the time we walked 482 miles to the Simba parking lot *hint - DON'T park there. Drive around tho the other side and get Mickey or Goofy parking. THEY have a tram - Simba has the "walk-on-the-two-legs-that-God-gave-you" parking lot!

Many stories to tell but I just felt myself "nod off" again...

Disneyland Day 2 with pics...

Thursday was Dach's 4th birthday. We had a little party for him on Wed night since we were going to be at Disneyland all day on Thursday. Here is a picture of his party:

(Notice how he's NOT in the picture?)

Here is a picture of Dach during his party:

What can you do when a kid is that tired? Is this kid EV-ER going to get the traditional "Natalie Johnson theme party"?!?! Poor kid - last year he had a "family" party with a frosted-the-cake-while-it-was-still-warm-so-the-icing-slid-off cake. *sigh*

He slept 13 hours which was good because that was almost how many hours we spent at Disneyland the next day. Claire and her kids didn't go with us this day so it was just our own little family. It was somewhat less chaotic having just the 4 kids instead of 7 to keep track of.

After 2 hours in L.A. traffic - we finally arrived at the happiest place on earth:

Here is Maisie with the REAL Cinderella:

Mickey and the gang:

We spent part of the afternoon at California Adventure which *looks both ways and whispers* I think I actually like it better than Disneyland! That was where we met Sully:

And Mr & Mrs Incredible:

We saw the Disneyland Parade that night which was INCREDIBLE!! And of course we completed our day with none other than........................................*drumroll please*..........................................................................

That's right, you guessed it - A Screaming Child:

Disneyland Day 1 with pics...

Happy Birthday Hubby! Hubby's birthday was yesterday (the 10th) and we spent it at Disneyland! The goal was to leave the house at 8am to arrive before the park opened at 10am. The reality was it takes a loooooooooooooooong time to get 10 people (7 of which are children) ready and get 10 lunches prepared, and get backpacks packed. We left the house at 9:55am. <-- ACK!!! We are missing precious Disneyland fun!!!

By the time we went on at least 4 freeways, merged the wrong direction on a freeway split and had to turn around, parked, walked, took the tram, went through bag inspection, went through the admission line, rented a stroller, got "It's my Birthday" button at Town Hall, went potty, and bought mouse ears and autograph books it was 1:10pm!

Here is Maisie on Main Street:

We met Goofy:

Got some family photos. Thanks for smiling Dach, I appreciate that!

Good grief what craziness with 7 kids in tow!! I was picturing our children holding our hands and skipping through Disneyland in slow motion, stopping to frolick with Mickey as we all beamed with happiness!

Um, stop the fairy tale and cut straight to reality:

They were running everywhere and we were constantly in a PANIC as it seemed we were most certainly going to lose one of them. They fought over who got to ride in the stroller, they were hungry, had to go potty, and went through a constant wave of "too-hot-too-cold-too-tired-too-thirsty-itis"!!

The last ride we were going to go on was the Peter Pan one. After waiting in line for 15-20 minutes, we got on it 4 minutes before the park closed. Before we could even turn the first corner from loading onto it - it BROKE DOWN! It was just Me, Dach and Zane - everyone else was in line behind and hadn't made it on yet. We were suspended about 4 feet off the ground overlooking Wendy's bedroom and sat there for 10-15 minutes while they worked to fix it. The finally turned on all the lights and got it going enough for us to get through it and unload. Here we are stuck:

All in all we had a great time but it was not QUITE like the commercial depicted. By the end - they were OUT OF THEIR MINDS!!!!! Dach's legs and feet hurt and he actually started walking on his knees down Main Street while sobbing. He screamed (as in "shrill-freak-out" screamed) when we had to return the stroller. He was clutching it screaming, "BUT I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We made one FINAL stop in Downtown Disney before getting back on the tram to the parking lot: postcards. Here is a picture of Dach in the store (the time was probably around 10:15pm at this point):

Photos from Hollywood...

Heading for Disneyland in 8 hours but wanted to share some pics...

Here is Maisie & Dach having a fight (complete with shrill screaming) over the window seat. This was about halfway into the flight. I had gone to bed at 3:30am and was running on 2 1/2 hours of sleep so my patience filters were malfunctioning.

In front of a great hotdog restaurant that is actually an old train car. It's called Carney's:

Dach on the "Walk of Stars" on skanky row Hollywood Boulevard:

Our family photo with the HOLLYWOOD sign smog in the background:

Apparently, on Hollywood Blvd. anyone can put on a costume and get tips when people want their picture with them. Anyone. AN-EE-ONE!!! Even "Menopausal Cinderella":

Need a closer look? I thought you might:

All I can say is "Wow!" She was VERY nice but I couldn't stop staring at her. It was like some SNL skit: "Welcome to Hollywood! The city of dashed hopes and unfulfilled expectations... Those starring roles are hard to come by, but come on down to Hollywood Blvd!"

That's all for now - I'm sure I'll take a hundred photos tomorrow!

Disneyland Here We Come (in 5 hrs)...

We are leaving for the airport in 5 hours.

I am still packing.

Here is a picture of Dach 8 hours ago:

He is ready.

Of course all he had packed in that suitcase were 14 tee shirts and a pair of goggles.

I lost my flight confirmation paperwork and when I tried to look it up on the airlines website under my account - they said I had no upcoming flights scheduled. After 3 heart attacks and a phone call to the airline - they located my info. We ARE booked to fly tomorrow today!

Ok, well - Disneyland is beckoning and I haven't even started packing the bathroom bag yet...

Video from the Comedy Gig...

Last night I performed my first "headlining" comedy gig! I have done several stand-up bits at my own church and some sister churches but this was my very first "official" gig and it went great. I was a little nervous beforehand but I ended up driving up to the performance with 6 girlfriends. We went out to dinner first and then when we got to the place where I was performing, each one of them stopped and prayed for me before I went in.

I had written some brand new material at 2:30am the night before and I was very concerned whether I would remember it well enough, but God is faithful! I was able to recall every word and adlib some extra stuff. I think that so far - it has been my best performance yet - I was SO relieved!!!

I videotaped the whole performance which was 45 minutes long, but was not able to plug into their soundboard so the sound isn't fabulous. I edited some of it down to post on here. Enjoy...

Welcome to the Sweat Shop...

Otherwise known as a garage sale. Why-oh-why did I get amnesia just long enough to say "Why yes kids - let's do a garage sale so you can earn money for Disneyland!"

I have done 2 garage sales previous to this one in my life. Both ignited a severe distain for garage sales. Now I remember why... Where else can you work 27 hours of manual labor to earn mere pennies per hour? Ah yes - a garage sale! Can you say TEE-DEE-OUS!!!??

We spent all day on Friday sorting and pricing. "Economics 101, baby!" I suppose it was good for the kids - they actually worked pretty hard. It may have had something to do with the phrase "You better work harder than that unless you want to see me order my body weight in lattes with the proceeds..." which I kept casually mentioning. We actually had everything priced and ready by 5:30pm on Friday night. What I forgot to do was make the signs! This of course was realized when I arrived home at 11:00pm on Friday night from our Home Fellowship meeting. Somehow I managed to stay up till 2:43am that night. *insert exhaustion*

My alarm went off at 7am so I could go put signs up around the neighborhood. I actually hauled myself up at almost 7:30am and then ran around ike a crazy person. It took me 45 minutes to get all of the signs up. The kids and Hubby helped get everything outside before 9am. I decided we could make even MORE money by doing a mocha frappe stand (out with the lemonade - in with the frappes!). I made 16 frappucinnos and put them all on ice in a cooler. Georgia was the designated barista. "Look CUTE! People LOVE to buy stuff from cute kids! And use lots of manners too!"

Business started off a little slow, although our neighbor bought a frappe. We stayed outside from 9am til around 3pm and by the days end the kids had made $98. A fair amount. I would have liked to have moved more of the stuff, but that was fine.

The sale "in action".


I have to admit I hate the whole barter thing that happens at garage sales, "Would you be willing to take a quarter for this unstained Gap sweatshirt in perfect condition instead of the clearly-marked-yet-exhorbant-price of .50 cents?"

"No problem, and while you're at it - why don't you just take my kid's wallet? It's not like the sign CLEARLY STATES that they're trying to GO TO DISNEYLAND or anything!!!!!!" I know, I know - bartering is an essential part of the universal garage sale code, it just bugs me when the prices are already a steal!

After the sale, Hubby loaded everything into the van to be dropped off at the local thrift store. I believe the statement he was making was something along the lines of "That stuff is NOT coming back into THIS house!!"

The kids already had $19 each saved from selling some of their clothes at a local consignment store and breaking open their piggy banks - so, with the $24.50 they each made at the garage sale, they are now up to $43.50 each! And believe me it's a good thing they have sold so much because they certainly would not have anywhere NEAR that kind of money for spending if I'd have been handing it out.

So, the kids were pretty satisfied with their garage sale earnings. Of course, Mommy & Daddy ended up with the satisfaction of knowing that we are apparently nice enough people that we will work ourselves into exhaustion for the sake of our children's financial gain. *pats self on back*

Can I just say: I. WAS. SO. TIRED.

I haven't felt that fatigued in a while, perhaps since the last garage sale...

Alrighty folks - 13 days till Disneyland!!

I am now going to go to bed. Before Midnight. *TA-DA!!* This is my :Hubby-will-be-out-of-town-for-the-next-three-days-so-I'd -better-be-well-rested-if-nothing-else plan of attack!

And with that, she popped 2 Midol and exited stage left...

Sticky. Very, very sticky...

So, the night before last I was having this dream I was stuck & couldn't move. At one point I was in some sort of a spider's web. I finally woke myself up around 3am trying to move my right arm and found that I really WAS stuck to my bed! "What in the world??!!" I clicked on my bedside lamp and found that my right shoulder was stuck to the bed with a giant glob of sticky pink bubblegum! It was all over me and the sheet. Apparently my 98.6 degree shoulder had heated it up just enough to become the consistency of tar.

Those kids!!!!!

I spent the next 20 minutes trying scrape gum off myself & the bottom sheet. I was so groggy that it didn't occur to me to change my pajama top. I just scraped & scraped till I got a bunch of it off, put a kleenex over it - threw my pillow on top of the kleenex and passed back out!

In the morning I lined all the kids up in front of the bed and proclaimed "LOOK! LOOK AT THIS!!! DO YOU SEE WHAT IS ALL OVER MY BED?!?!?!?! What does that look like to you?!?!"

"Gum."

(They all said nervously.)

"I was CEMENTED to my bed with that gum last night!"

"I didn't do it!"

"It wasn't me!"

"I didn't even HAVE gum!"

"I did it. I didn't want my gum anymore...so I put it in your bed."

Can anyone guess what diabolical child uttered these words??!!

*I swear with the spikes in my blood pressure - it is a wonderment that I'm not put on permanent bedrest!*

Yes folks, it was Dach. My sweet little darling didn't want his gum anymore - so he chose MY bed as it's final resting place.

*clenched teeth*

"Where do we put our gum when we don't want it anymore, dear?!?!"

"In the gaw-bage."

"Is my bed the GAW-BAGE?!?!"

"No, I sorry Mommy!" And off he skips. Tra-la-la-la...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

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In other news... homeschooling is certainly overwhelming this year! Adding another kid to the mix is sending me straight to the funny farm! I can't even imagine when I have ALL FOUR kids at the table: "MO-O-O-O-OM!! I need help!...How do I do this?...What does this mean?...She has MY pencil!...He's in MY chair!...Why do I have to do this?..."

The curriculum I have this year is a little more fun that what I've done in the past but there is an ample amount of preparing for crafty/activity stuff that I seem to attack around 1am regularily! Here are pics of our 1st projects.

After learning about Eskimos we made Sugar Cube Igloos:

Just how many sugar cubes were consumed that day?? We will never know...

And then it was on to "Native Americans of the Northwest". A bounty of Dioramas:

Georgia's

Zane's

Maisie's

We are currently working on Totem Poles. *sigh* I'm feeling overwhelmed. We leave for Disneyland in 2 weeks. I can hardly WAIT to leave my schedule/guilt/stress behind and just P.L.A.Y for a while. I SO need it. Until then - I just have to gear up & get through the business of the next 2 weeks. In addition to the daily Homeschol routine/housework & meals, here is how it looks:

Tomorrow 9/22: 1st Home Fellowship meeting of the Fall / Prep for Garage Sale

Saturday 9/23: Garage Sale (for Disneyland $ for the kids) / Home Fellowship Leader's mtg in the evening

Sunday 9/24: Church / family time in the evening

{Mon - Wed: Hubby gone at Pastor's conference}

Mon 9/25: Georgia's 2 hour sewing class

Tues 9/26: Swim class/ Karate class/ mtg in the evening

Wed 9/27: Science & art classes / Awanas in the evening

Thurs 9/28: Prep for comedy gig

Fri 9/29: comedy gig at a women's retreat

Sat 9/30: Georgia's friend overnight for her b'day

Sun 10/1: Church / Georgia's b'day

Mon 10/2: Dr's Appt / Georgia's 2 hr sewing class / start writing my teaching for Women's B'fast that I speak @ on 10/21

Tues 10/3: Swim class / karate class / Hubby mtg in evening/ separate mtg for me in evening

Wed 10/4: Science & Art classes / Awanas

Thurs 10/5: Little kids art class / soccer for big kids

Fri 10/6: PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK!

Sat 10/7: LEAVE FOR DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mon 10/16: Arrive back in "Reality Land"

Luckily I cut out going to the Pastor's Conference with Hubby (9/25-9/27) and my own Pastor's Wives Conference in California (10/2-10/4). In my fantasy world I thought I could do all of that but my "anchor of reality" aka: Hubby advised against it! Good thing because I don't know -->HOW<-- I thought I could do all that I'm doing AND be out of town for 3 days 2 weeks in a row right before we leave for our trip. Crazy me!

Did I mention that I baked/hand-dipped/decorated 2 1/2 dozen cookies on a stick for Georgia's Pioneer Girls group yesterday?

"Would you like to volunteer me for anything else my dear?? Perhaps something that involves paper mache & 15 hours of my life I'll never get back?!?!?!"

Ok - well I have hungry children & Hubby is at an elder's meeting so it's up to me to make sure they don't starve...