Remodel Nightmare!

We begin again to remodel our basement, which we have started over and over again. Usually we run out of mone, time, or expertise. Sometimes we run out of patience. This project has been dear to my heart though because it involves a bathroom downstairs. I used to sleep down there and you have to go from one end of our basement, up the stairs, around the corner, and across the house to get to a bathroom. Having a bathroom down there will be wonderful. The problem is, it has been expensive and difficult. The plumbing in this house is terrible and has been done wrong.

Rick has been working hard on the basement all week and week-end though, repairing and replacing. I am amazed at how hard he has worked even through misshaps. He has had to take out our main line to the sewer and replace it. Apparently there was some pressure build up in one of the pipes. They had a bucket under it but the pipe exploded and WOW! I could not believe that Peter did not get really upset. That was the most amazing and sick smelling stuff I had ever encountered. It was all over the room and hubby and Christopher. We were airing out the basement all day and night. Then I had to go and scrub it with disinfectant to make sure it was all out of there. We were able to hose it down since it isn't finished but I don't ever want to repeat that again!

Even with our bad experience Wise Owl rose above it and has most of the plumbing and electrical done, with our last framing wall done. We are ready for sheetrock, then mudding and taping, sanding, then skimcoating the floor, then tiling.

I will post a few pics in progress. It really is getting better. I'll post cleaner pictures next time. The first plumbing picture is before most of the new stuff is done. The second one is of the new plumbing against the wall and behind our new existing frame work.

The reason we are working hard is because my son is getting married on the 23rd of this month and is renting our apartment down there. So, we must work ourselves hard to accomplish the remainding things that need done.

Kanga

The Days Are Changing Fast

Ummm, the pictures came up first so.... I can't figure out how to change it.

It's fall and I haven't even had time to plan things for winter yet. We are onto other projects inside and it seems overwhelming to look outside. The leaves are so many and they are covering over half the yard. It's beautiful right now but I don't relish cleaning it up, and clean it up we must. We are having an appraisel done on Monday Morning!!!!!!

We desperately need a new roof, siding, and paint but we need the appraiser not to notice that all that needs done. Please pray that all will go through and we can refinance our house and fix a few things.

We are in the process of remodeling the downstairs into an apartment. We are in a hurry because our son is getting married and they are going to rent the apartment from us. It will be pretty comfortable but the kitchen will be small.

I'll post a few pics for you all to see.

Kanga

Times are Changing

I have finally started my own business. It has been a dream of mine for many years and now that the kids are older it doesn't seem impossible anymore. Once again, that is one of the things I love about homeschooling. Here they will get to be intimetly involved in helping run the business. They are already learing and planning on what they will be doing.

I am the official owner of a semi annual resale event. Pass It On will happen in March and again in September for the most part. Dates are flexible but are not nailed down until closer to the time.

What is Pass it On you say. It is a large event that sells baby, kids, and maternity items. We have over 100 consigners (and you could be one of them). You get to price your items, tag them, and then we sell them for you. We have over 1000 shoppers come through so TONS of items sell. It is not uncommon for a consigner to make 200 to 400 dollars at one sale. The consigner gets 70 to 80 percent depending on if you volunteer for shifts.

If you work 2 four hour shifts, you get 75% of your sales and if you work 3 or more shifts you get 80% of your sales. It's pretty cool.

The other great incentive is that there are pre-sales for workers and consigners meaning you get in earlier than the public. We value our workers so they get to shop first. Consigners second, new moms and foster parents after that and then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we are open to the public. It has been a huge success. I will post some pictures later, right now I don't have them on this computer.

You can look up our sale at www.passitonsales.com to see what it is like. We are redesigning the site so I am not on it yet, just Kim. Soon we will add that there is going to be an east side location and in the next couple of months you will be able to click on the site and then choose my location.

The cool thing is is that you enter all your sale items online and then it prints it out for you to put on your items. It is barcoded so you can see what you sold over the course of the sale dates.

Feel free to sign up under Kim's emailing list and she will pass it on to me for now. It's good to be on her email list because then we will email you when we get it up and running.

This is a huge event so don't miss out on it. Come and shop for your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews or friends. This event will take place in Oregon.

Kanga

How About Some Pics

O.K. So we added a new member to our family. Now, don't let the cuteness fool you. He is the most loving puppy but has the worst problem with potty training and chewing up binkies. He chewed up 3 binkies in the last day!!! He has begun to search them out on the excersaucer, the baby or the car seat. It's so annoying. I have often wondered WHY in the world I got him a puppy. I was so sure that it would be great considering our kids were all older but I was so WRONG. It's worse because I have a grandbaby now.

Speaking of our granddaughter, here is a pick of her and Pooh. I know it's not a front shot but I just loved this pic. She is in her little Indian outfit. She is such a joy and we love watching Pooh learn about being a mom and the love she shares with Honey Bee is wonderful. That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling. We have time to learn a lot of things that she would not be able to do in a traditional school setting.

Homeschooling has given us so many open doors and we are developing many relationships that are deep and meaningful. Several of these relationships encourage and challenge our walk with the Lord. Christopher has been playing on a homeschool soccer team and they stop and do devotions half way through. I love that! Where else could you see and find that.

Ta Ta For Now

Long Lost Mom Is Now Back

It's been so long since I posted and so much has changed in my life. The one thing that hasn't changed much is my house. We are still trying to remodel the downstairs and put a bathroom in. I believe we will be done in about 3 more years! I finally put my new vanity in the upstairs bathroom.

The best news of all is we now are the proud grandparents of honeybee! She was born February 19th, 2008 and we love being grandparents. She is so adorable!!! She just turned 8 months and is crawling everywhere and learning to stand up. I think she might be an early walker. She is spoiled rotten because all her parents and grandparents only live 10 houses apart so she is constantly with family. She has 2 uncles and 1 aunt in our house and 1 uncle in her house. She hasn't got a chance to not be spoiled.

I never thought there was a greater joy than being a parent, but oooohhhh, being a grandparent is the best. I can't wait to have more, although it would be nice if my son got married first!!!!

My oldes, Dick Bob, is now working right here in our town and he is a welder. He makes good money for an 18 year old. I believe he's up to 14.00 an hour. He is however, finding out that paying child support and lawyer fees is expensive. He wants to live on his own but can't afford it. We just keep hoping that our influence will impact him and he will realize how much he needs Christ.

Christopher is growing up so fast. He worked all summer and made about 1400.00. Wow! He has muscles and looks so much like our oldest that I can not always tell them apart. He stuggles with our relationship but genuinly wants it to work out. He is so tender hearted! He spends as much time with honeybee as I do.

Pooh is loving being a Aunt. She feeds her every chance she gets. Frankly, we all fight for our "special" time with honeybee. Pooh is learing so much now that she is home and we love it. She is learning to cook. She wants to make all this yummy food that is fattening for us but she loves it. She is waiting for me to help her make a pie next.

Eyore is coming along and does a paper route or two every week. He wishes he could make more money but doesn't have the stamina he needs yet. His health is better but still impeeds him a bit. He is so tall and big now and eats me out of house and home. We litteraly do not have leftovers in our house. All the dinner is gone at each meal.

Hey, watch for more posts. I want to put picks up of our granddaughter but don't have time tonight.

I Need Some Sleep

I am so tired today. For some strange reason I couldn't get to sleep last night. It started out with one of the boys getting sick. Then I just couldn't fall asleep. Last time I looked at the clock it was 3:34 a.m. That is bad when it's daylight savings time and I'm loosing an hour of sleep already. I don't think I've felt this foggy for a long time.

We came up with this brilliant idea to go out and shop for bathroom stuff for our new fixture. We figured, if we were tired (Pa had been sick), then shopping for our tile would be a good idea. Not! Do you know how many different kinds of tile there are? How about colors? Size? Stone? The list goes on. We spent 3 hours trying to decide. We did get floor tile but I gave up on the shower and wall tile. I just couldn't decide. I got my vanity, faucet, shower head, toilet, floor tile, and accent tiles now. I suppose it would help if we had a floor first. Oh well!

I do so hate it when we get sick. I am happy it's not nearly as often as it used to be.

We started a new Sunday School class this morning that is going to prove awsome. It is a parent support group for teens. Yes! We need that. Although if we have survived this long, I suppose we will continue to survive. I was amazed at how all the parent there have children going through tough times or had been through tough times. I shall enjoy it. Just a little reprieve from trying to survive alone.

On a weary note, my children can memorize verses faster than I can get the first phrase memorized. It's anoying. I am very happy for them, just anoyed that it takes me so long.

Got to go for now. Ta Ta

If you get blown down, stand up again!

Help, my pictures are doing weird things. The order is all wrong. There is two of the same. Oh, this is so frustrating.

Well, here are a few pictures of the kids and the house. The first one is from this past fall. They look the same, except Christopher is growing a mustache now. Ahhhhh! They grow up to fast.

The second one here is the new vanity we put in last summer. I love it because it has 7 drawers. There is one for each of us and one big drawer at the bottom for other stuff. This bathroom could really use an overhaul but we shall leave that for later.

We went on vacation last month up to Mt. Hood. We stayed in one of the lodges and had a great time swimming in the wonderful heated pool. We were able to swim many times a day, read our Bible, Pray, and have devotions. We took this time to concentrate on family and had a wonderful time. Richard and his girlfriend Caitlin came up Thursday night to stay with us. Pa, Dick Bob, and Christopher went night skiing and had a wonderful time. The kids all had a wonderful time on Friday snowboarding too. pooh did a smashing job for her first time. She knew everybody on the tow rope by lunch time and was trying to help other kids snowboard. We all came back refreshed.

We moved Pooh Bear upstairs, moved the boys to Dick Bob's room and moved Dick Bob downstairs. Pooh Bear never adjusted to having to come down stairs, she is much happier upstairs. She does however, want all the windows taken out of her room so no one can see in. She doesn't see the need for natural light! I have put a picture of her room here too. It turned out so cute!

We have much to do on the remodel of our bathroom as we have just begun, so I won't say much ado yet. I will say that I am looking forward to 10 steps to the potty rather than 110 steps every night. I think I have established just how long a person can go, without actually getting up to Go, if you know what I mean. I wait til the last possible moment because I hate the long treck across the basement, up the steps, through the kitchen, living room, and hallway before I actually get to the bathroom.

As for homeschooling, I shall never homeschool the traditional way. I am doing more unit studies. Christopher is into airplanes and electricity right now, Eyore is into woodworking and legos and robotics, Pooh is into butterflies. Did you know that the largest butterfly is 14" wide? Me neither. We are also doing a large block of our time developing a family unit that is tight and relies on God for everything. I like the idea of tea time for our daughter but so far we do our hour or so reading and memorizing verses each day. I can't believe how many verses we know now. We were memorizing 1st Peter 3:8-16 and then we have been memorizing weekly verses from Kids Kollege and Christopher's youth group. Part of our schooling is that everything is done together. If the bathroom needs cleaned, we do it togetherj. If there is dinner to make, we do it together. I am developing a relationship between all the kids and me. It is proving to be one of the best things I have ever done. They are starting to rely on each other rather than on outsiders or their peers. Our saying is "Families don't treat families that way." They no longer are arguing at every turn. They are learing more and more that if they are struggling to pray about it and pray together. We are praying with 3 other homeschool families each week and are seeing the kids come alive in their spiritual walk. Well, at first I wasn't sure wether I saw that but then we had a prayer and praise time Sunday night a church. My children were the only 3 children there. The kids felt a little akward at first but soon became involved. We would sing a few songs and then pray a little. The first part was just saying a Thank You to God. Pooh and Eyore said a short prayer. The second part was praying over our pastor and his wife. Eyore prayed for them. The third part of prayer we split into groups. The boys found their own group to pray in. I came away from there so moved, I was crying. Each one of the younger 3 kids prayed. Thanking him and asking for prayer for themselves and their siblings. It was then that I saw all that God is doing. It was then that I saw how awsome God Is. It was there that I saw a glimpse of God's love for us. I am amazed at their growth and mine too.

Speaking of that, we found the most wonderful youthgroup for Christopher. They have daily, weekly reading and memorizing they do. He say's he likes what he gets out of it. I love the tender heart he is developing. He recently deleted some songs of his mp3 player because he decided they weren't appropriate. It was a big step for him. 13 is such a tough age. He is working towards a missions trip to California this summer. He has to have memorized all the verses every week and then be able to say them all before the missions trip. Pretty cool~

Dick Bob goes to our church youth group. We have a new youth pastor and we all like him. Dick Bob is ready to graduate already. He plans on taking a couple of summer classes and fininshing up within his first trimester of next year. He will still graduate with his class next June. He has a great job and has been rebuilding his engine on his pick-up. He tends to be a little frustrated with it but with lots of prayer, he should be done in the next 2 weeks or so. He is having to refit the houses and wires to a new engine. He forgot to label the parts when he took the engine out.

Some ask me about my mother and her husband. Yes, we still have them here with us. God is teaching me much patience and understanding through this. I believe my mother is begining to loose some of her memory. It is hard to leave the kids with her now because she does strange things. She accuses Eyore of lying. Just out right lying. She gets upset at Pooh Bear because she took 16 ounces of a drink when she should never have more than 8 ounces, more like 7 ounces. She is angry most of the time now. Right now she is ranting to the kids that they always help me and never her. She needs only ask, but no way will she! Her health is so poor now she can barely walk and needs a hip replacement badly. She doesn't have insurance though, so we have to wait. How does one help their mother out when she doesn't want help. She recently went to my sisters house for a day visit. She told her how horrible it was living with me. I am so decieving and I lie and I have never, ever, ever, mopped my kitchen floor. She told her that people may think I'm nice, but I'm really not. The stuff she said went on from there. It is so far fetched that even I don't feel to bad about it. It was so unrealistic! My sister told her she should move out. Nooooo, if my mom wasn't here to take care of the house and the chores and the kids, who would do it? I'm not doing, you know!!!! So, as you can see, I have a lot on my plate right now.

Any prayer my way would be appreciated.

Well, I must go for now, my mother thinks it's horrible that she is cleaning the garage when I'm just typing! Who would ever dare defy their mother? Oh, that's me! Ta Ta for Now!

For the one person who wants to see me here

Well, I suppose if a phone call is too much for some, I can write again. I really don't have much time to do this as I am searching craigslist or remodeling our home the majority of the time. I will, however, tell my happenings, boring that they are, here just for you my friend.

You ask me who this friend is? I shall not name names, except to say she has a tinkerbell in her world!

Since last summer many things have transpired. I decided to homeschool 2 of my 4 kids. As of January, I pulled the youngest out to homeschool her too. I love it, even though I am busy!

We decided to go all organic, as Christopher became so ill, I feared for his life. He is now off all medications, has had absolutely NO ashtma attacks, has not been back to the regular doctor, is up and running by 7 or 8:00 in the morning. He is riding his bike, which he previously could not do for the past 3 years. Not only Christopher, but all of us have absolutely no more ashtma problems. We are all doing better health wise.

We plan on growing a large garden this year. Our swiming pool has a leak we are trying to figure out. We are putting in a bathroom downstairs (big project), We have added the fifth bedroom, put in a large window in the basement, letting in more light. We have done some landscaping, put in a new large window in the living room and sided part of the front of the house.

Our oldest child got his liscence with a 100% on his test. He drives everywhere now and drives us crazy. He has a steady girlfriend. Our next child is a teenager and goes to a fabulous youth group out in Molalla. All the kids are doing a fantastic job of memorizing verses and reading their Bible.

I have had a downfall in my health. I am dealing with almost daily migraines. Not sure what is up with that.

I have a great group of friends that are supportive and all homeschoolers. I love that.

Hubby and I have been hired out to do some out of town work. It is good money and we are able to pay off and do more things.

Hubby is so busy with extra work that we hardly get to see him.

We are attending a Bible training class and a wonderful biblestudy that is so insightful. We are learing more each day about the Lord and what we are here for.

We love our new church and can't imagine being anywhere else.

I have to go for now, will write more later.

Summer Days, Summer Nights

It's been awhile since I wrote here, but decided I should write down some of our doings. I have been so busy working on the house and doing so many other things, I can hardly see straight. So, without further ado, here is what I have been up to.

We have been swimming a great deal in our pool. We have had some wonderful times with friends and family coming over. We usually end up having a bar-b-que for dinner. I have taught several kids how to dive and flip. We had one especially great experience with a friends child. I was teaching her how to dive and she flipped into the water. I thought, great! Now, once you can flip, you have to really back off the head first, feet up. You end up gliding in. So, we get to the diving board and she flips in again. She was landing mostly on her back so I said this time, flip a little harder. Sure enough, she flips and goes feet first. Then she says she wants to do a side spring. O.K. She gets up there and does a cartwheel off the diving board into the water. We then get her to try a backwards dive, a backwards flip, and a hand stand into the water. She does all of it so well. That is the most I have ever seen from another child. This child also happens to be 6 years old. It was a lot of fun!

We are continuing to work on the house, although a bit slower than we thought. On hot summer days we tend to get in the pool again, and again. I have discovered that I love late night swims. It is so peaceful, watching the stars above and just relaxing. God is good!

Along with that we have finally found 2 churches we really like. One is only 3 blocks from our house. We have met with the pastor and his wife and spent an evening at their house. We are pleased with what they are doing for Christ and the community. The other church we love is too far away. We have met the pastor and his wife and they have actually been over swiming several times. They are our neighbor's pastor. Our neighbors are wonderful christians and wonderful people. We are very blessed to have them as friends and neighbors. Their church is a half hour drive away so for now we are choosing the church in our comunity. One of the reasons we changed churches in the first place is because we wanted to get in the comunity we live in. We are happy with where God is taking us and enjoying His blessings.

One of the last things I've been working on is selling my horses. I have finally came to the conclusion that I cannot afford them. It has been very hard for me. It's a chapter in my life that I wasn't ready to let go but my many medical bills have forced me to make sacrifices. Eyore's health is not good and we don't see an end in sight. So, one of them is right here and my pony is being shipped to California this week. They are officially sold and I am a horse free mom.

Please pray for continued health and answers for Eyores health.

The last thing I must tell you about is I am the proud parent of a liscenced driver. Dick Bob got a 100% on his driving test. I believe this is his first 100% on anything! I am loving it and very proud of him.

The last pictures for Awhile

This is our semi-finished entry/laundry room for now. We still have a lot of trim to put up and tiling of the bottom steps. We also have not finished the door casings.

The first picture is from the kitchen leading to the back room. We hung a curtain up to seperate the area for now.











The steps are the new oak boards I bought. I put 7 coats on them to make them durable! They better be. I found this neat little storage unit on clearance and 50 percent off to keep things neat and tidy. Owl put a shelf above the units to keep the very used items. We put a roll around laundry unit on the other side. It rolls out allowing more room to fold clothes. There is even a place for the brooms and such on the side. Owl put in a special dryer vent allowing the dryer to be close to the wall. This allows us as much space as possible. I painted one wall chocolate brown and the others a nice light brown. It turned out very nice. We still have to do the top of the low wall and one window casing but it is coming together.

I started painting at 9:00 this morning and didn't stop until 4:00 p.m. I took about 10 minutes off to eat at one point. I still have a few touch up spots but nothing too major. I was amazed that it took me all day and I still didn't finish. The cut in was tricky as some of the walls and windows are over the stairs.

Owl moved the washer and dryer up with our oldest and everything worked right off. It took us most of the night to clean up our mess. We still had wood, tools, dirt, sheetrock, paint, garbage, ect. all over the kitchen and outside the doors. Owl worked hard at cleaning the outside while I worked hard at cleaning the inside.

Life is full of surprises and we hope the grandparents like theirs. I have already done some laundry tonight and I love it. I think they will too.

Eyore is doing o.k. this week. We are having a much better week than last week. He has done some school work all week-end and today. I was excited to see him up and around. His foot is still hurts him alot but I am noticing that he is putting his toes on the ground. Every little bit is progress!

We are nearing the end of the school year and I am so glad. I will be happy to not have to do school lunches and a firm schedule. I like to sleep in. I haven't even done my excersizes since starting this project. I am going biking tomorrow. I hope it isn't too bad after a week off.

I am off to pick up the grandparents. Wish me luck.

Kanga

Pictures in Progress

I'm mixing the grout so I can finish the tile grouting. What a messy job that was. The kitchen became the catch all for the project. The office area has become the dining room come pantry. The office area was the original dining area at one time. I kind of like the table there.

Well, I wrote this long, great post and accidently erased it all. I will have to make this one shorter as I need to get back to work. Here are some pictures of our project as we progress. There are more to come but will have to post later.

We have put the new steps in but have a few supports to add. We are texturing the walls tonight in hopes of me painting tomorrow so we can move the washer and dryer up before the grandparents return tomorrow night.

We did manage to take the time out for a bar-b-que with some friends tonight. It was enjoyable as we were tired.

God is so good to stretch our dollar. We have managed to do the project for about 500.00 dollars.

Kanga

A Castoff

O.K. It was just Eyore getting his cast off today. It was a tuff decision but between two doctors and myself we decided to let him have no cast. The new xray shows a slow healing process. It has been seven weeks and he is still in a lot of pain. He wanted us to keep a cast on it! It should have been well healed by now. The first doctor wanted to send us to a specialist but my regular doctor and I both agree there is little they can do. We must wait. In the meantime we are going to do pool therapy since we have a pool. His ankle and foot are so stiff from no use that it hurts to move it. The pool should help with that. It is frustrating as a parent to see him struggle.

We are putting the first coat of mud on one side of the wall tonight. I also found a new built in microwave/hood for our kitchen. My husband installed that tonight too. It is way cool to have the microwave up and out of the way. I got a great deal on it, only 40.00.

Eyore is taking advantage of his disabilities lately, expecting everyone to do everything for him. I find it hard to know what he can and can't do. I have begun to expect him to learn how to do things with his crutches because he has been on them since December with only a couple of weeks off inbetween. We can't keep doing everything for him and it's driving all of us crazy. He has a bad attitude now and expects everyone to baby him. I've had enough and I'm making him do more. He always feels bad.

I've got to go to bed.

Hard Work with Results

This is coming out of the dining room down to the basement. The stairs takes a corner. The other one is coming up the stairs.

These are p ictures of each side of the new wall with the relocated door

This is what you get when you are dilligent every day to work on your project. We have relocated the door and framed the wall, we have rewired the switches and moved them, we have put up the sheetrock on one side of the wall, torn up all the carpet and are shoring up the steps tonight. It may still be awhile before we're done but it's a good start. However, are bedroom is still not finished, nor the front window in. It's hard to know what to do every day. Here are a few pics of the work in progress. They came out in a funny order but there here.

Tomorow is the start of my weekend and I am happy to see it. It's been a rough week for Eyore and me. He is struggling with writing a paragraph properly even though we practice, practice, practice.

My parents are gone so I must do the laundry!

Have a good evening everyone

To Do or Not To Do!

Tis the question. We are constantly starting new projects when the others aren't finished. We are good at that. We decided to tear out the pantry last night. It seemed pretty straight forward, but nothing ends up to be that way. You say "what's behind the pantry?" Well, let me tell you. It is old wood siding that runs horizonally. Apparently it was a back porch at one time and then converted into house. Strange, I tell you. Some of it had plywood behind it too. We are going to have to rebuild the entire wall that connects the kitchen so it's done right. This is a much bigger project than we thought. We are also going to have to redo the floor and reconfigure how we use the back area. It will be very nice when done, but I fear that may be a month or more.

My parents left last night for Florida for a week and they think it will be done when they get back. HA! I hope to have the floor done but I'm not sure much other will get done.

I will bike this morning. It's a good thing because I ate chips last night. They were good! LOL! It looks like the rain is going to clear off so it might be a nice ride. I'm not sure about getting into the pool today but we'll see.

Homeschooling is going fairly slow but yesterday was a good day. We got all his schooling done. We'll see how he does today. He is still sleeping and usually sleeps til 10:00 a.m. You ask why I don't get him up? Well, if I do it makes him even more tired to get himself around. On Monday he slept until 10:00. His face and eyes were swollen when he got up and he had a headache. He then managed to do some school work around 11:00. He layed back down around 12:00 until 1:00 when we ate lunch. Then he layed back down and took another nap until 3:00. Now how is one to get much done. He is not depressed, he just doesn't feel well. I was glad yesterday was a good day.

He is still struggling with his ulcer and his stomach hurts every day. I suppose I shall have to talk to the doctor about it. I have hopes of someday having a healthy child.

7 miles and counting

Lately I am falling short of the 10 mile mark. That's o.k. though because I am getting a good work out and my heart certainly feels it. I could not keep up with my friend but I did keep going. She is much slimmer than I am. That's my excuse anyway. I swam in the pool and did crunches in the pool too, so I feel pretty good about my accomplishments.

One more week and Eyore gets his cast off. We are crossing our fingers that his foot has healed.

We can finally see our bricks out front as we pressure washed them. They were covered in moss. I planted all my flowers I bought over a week ago and I think it will look very nice in about a month. We removed the big trees that were IN the flower beds and cleaned up and trimmed out front. There is still much to be done to the outside of the house but it's a start. We still need to fix the siding, paint the siding, get some gravel for the side driveway, put the gravel down, bark dust, remove the front hedge, replant some sod, ect. Not too much! LOL!

We are also in the process of taking out the old pantry, located around the corner from the kitchen. We are putting the laundry there. This makes it easier for my mother to do laundry. No stairs for her. We bought a shelving unit to put the food on and did major rearranging to get everything in the kitchen and extra shelves, providing easy access too. We hope to tear the actual pantry out this week. I'm not sure how long it will take us to get the plumbing up from downstairs.

Got to go for now.

Kanga

To Bike or not to Bike

The rain is back but at least it's still warm. We have been swimming in the rain. This summer promises to be such a wonderful summer. The kids and adults alike are enjoying the weather.

I just spent at least 3 hours weeding, planting, trimming, and pressure washing the flower beds and bricks out front. Having a fixer upper is hard because I am the only one who sees the difference. It still doesn't look all that great. The flowers will be wonderful in about 3 weeks though. I have put a lot of color out front. The bricks were covered in moss and now you can see where the flower beds are. We removed the BIG trees they put in the flower beds and put in the right size. We are in the process of replanting a few bushes in the back and digging for a new basement window. A much bigger one. We want to get as much done this summer as possible so we can take a break this winter.

I am about to go biking this morning in the rain. I think my asthma is better so I can do it. I'll let you know if I made it the whole way.

Out of breath and huffing

is not the way I want to spend my week-end, however, my asthma is telling me different. I have had to take my inhaler every few hours and cough most of the night. I am very tired.

Did being tired and sick stop me from rising at 7:00, leaving at 7:40 and going to our annual neighborhood sale? Not on your life! I had a blast. We spent all of our money and came home with 2 vehichles full of stuff. As most of you know we have been remodeling our house slowly. We got 3 extrerior doors, several lights, and a lot of misc. parts for our house. We got a generator, outside yard lights, work bench, and a wonderful digital camera. Then there was the mundane things such as toys and clothes. The two best deals of the day were a motorcycle for the boys for 125.00 and a wooden swing set for 20.00. I had a good time and came home happy. A good garage sale is good for the heart!

Now the hard part comes. We have to put all the stuff we bought away. We cleaned out the van, ate lunch, cleaned the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. We have piles sorted out and yet to put away. Owl went to get the swing set, the kids want to swim and I want to get the rest of the cleaning done. Soooo, my asthma is getting bad and I have to sit down. I'm making myself feel productive and writing here. Cleaning is out for a little while. I guess I will let the kids swim and watch them.

I have been biking with my new friend and now that I can't breath, have had to let go of it for the past 3 days. I have however, lost 10 pounds now. I am not a diehard excersicer, but I am working at it. It's frustrating when you have to slow down. I am going to try and bike tomorrow.

Today, I hope my husband can put up one of the lights in our new bathroom, put together the swing set, and work on installing a new door. I may be expecting too much but I can dream can't I?

I am enjoying my new friend. We are able to do so much together. I have been helping her with her house and she has been helping me with my excersize. I wouldn't even do it if it wasn't for her. We seem to be able to talk about nothing at all. I also like that Her daughter and mine get along. If she is working long hours her daughter comes over here. If I have an appointment, she will let my kids go over there. It is easy going because all of our kids are school age so it's not like babysitting.

Life is settling in pretty good here in our new little community!
Here's a picture of our new motorcycle.

Kanga

Pictures for a lifetime

Stress for a morning. Sometimes I wonder if pictures are worth it. Will I or could I be satisfied with the ones I take? Do I really need to go to a studio? Will I regret it if I don't take those long awaited pictures? The answer is yes, I will regret it but I hate doing it. I dread it. This morning I went to get pictures taken of my daughter with her biological brother (previously refered to as spiderman). We thought we'd be there an hour. I arrived at 9:30 when they opened and waited for one person in front. Not to bad, or so I though. The next thing I know is it's after 11:30. For goodness sakes, the day was almost gone. We hadn't even gotten to the zoo. We figured we'd get there by 11:30 and leave by 2:00 and that would be a good day. We hadn't had lunch, put the kids in the car or started driving yet. We didn't get to the zoo til 1:00 O'clock. We had to ask her hubby to take her other boy to his swim lesson so we had enough time at the zoo. It was a wonderful time but oh how I wish those pictures had been easier and faster.

We had a wonderful time at the zoo but the memory is bittersweet. I don't know if I'll ever get another day with spiderman. He is due to go to his bio mom in two weeks. My attemps to set up meetings and talk with her have failed. The grandma tries to assure me that she will but I wonder and my heart breaks. You should have seen the two kids together. They were constantly seeking out each other and making sure the other was there.

We left them in the afternoon and I fear we won't see him again. His time with his current family is so short now that I hate to take away their time with our visits. They have been so gracious in opening up their home and hearts to us but I know they need this last bit of time with him. For his sake as much as theirs.

Spiderman keeps asking her why he can't stay with them. What is a mother to say? Finally, she told him because "The Mom" wants you. She doesn't want to hurt him but she doesn't want to take the blame either. He hit the bio mom the other day and when he was asked why he simply stated "because she wouldn't let me go to you, mom!" A comeback is hard to find there.

We've been so hot these past few days so our new swimming pool has come in handy. Little Roo has finally begun to dive properly. It has taken a lot of practice but she has been persistant. We are so proud of her.

Eyore is still struggling with his foot. It appears to not be healing still. I am deeply concerned about the boy. He struggles in every way now. Fatigue is a daily issue as are his eyes and his stomach and his foot. One wonders how he can go on like this. I want to find him a special camp to go to but without a diagnosis, the camps run from 500 to 1000. I can't afford that! I want him to be normal but it sure is hard. Our lifestyle is changing. I have a child who needs me constantly. I am grateful I am here but there are days it feels overwhelming.

The bright spot in my week is Friday for this is the day Garage Sales start. I must be off so I can be ready for tomorrow morning.

Kanga

It's hard to believe

that it's as if summer has arrived. The long summer days spent by the pool side is already true at our house. We have had bar-b-ques, friends over and after school everyday the kids swim with us. We are finding more ways to dive and things to dive off of.

I can't find my good suit though so I finally had to go shopping. The suit that I was wearing I was falling out of. Not Good! So I decided to go to a second hand store before going to the actual store where I have to spend my lifes savings. While looking around I found a brand new suit with the tags, origanally priced at 78.00 for 20.00. I took the gamble and it fits perfect and hides many unsightly spots. I am so excited. I've already swam in it this afternoon.

I think we're going to have chili dogs for dinner and then off to church so off I go.

Life is so full of dilemas that

it's hard to know what to do sometimes. Do I stay home and clean the house or do the grocery shopping? Do I clean the pool or plant the flowers? Do I make a doctor's appt. or do I write on my blog? Some days the decisions are easy and some days they are not. Today is not an easy one. I just want to finish everything all at once and I have hardly started. I kept one child home from school today because of sickness and now have to go pick up the other one. I have a dentist appointment and also need to organize my kitchen. The list is never ending.

I have made one firm decision. That decision is to sell my horses. I don't want to but I need to. I don't have the time, energy, or money they require. We are officially going to be city people. Life puts us through a lot of changes but I also know that I can get them back at a later date.

Got to go get Christopher now.