As The World Scraps

Today is a Day that the Lord hath made

2010-11-06T20:17:00.003-05:00

I must rejoice and be glad in it. It can be hard at times to make yourself to be a humble and joyous person when you really want to scream out injustice. Well, injustice would be an over statement... it wasn't really that bad. We had a beautiful day here on the farm, and I could have spent it getting things done but instead I went over 100 miles to drive to a photoshoot with Invierno.

We left messages before leaving to inform the customer that we were coming and after 1 1/2 hours of waiting for the person and leaving messages for her, she finally texted. She found out that she had to work, and that she would be done at 7pm. Obviously there is NO light at 7pm, and we surely were not waiting in a far off land for 4 hours when the shoot was scheduled at 3pm. Seriously, can't people cancel ahead of time? Even if she called 5 minutes before we left, we could have spared this gorgeous day of now waste.

We wasted not only the day but gas money and food money by needing to eat before our trek back home. When we ate, I prayed. Please Lord, make me humble and when things like this happen, make me like you and forgiving. Not just forgiving but also loving when all I really feel humanly is to vent at the persons.

God gave me the answer..... blogspot - - - now on to being loving.

An Undivided Heart

We become more like Christ on the inside…when we want God to be glorified in every aspect of our lives, instead of compartmentalizing our faith.

Multimedia Collage by Gillian Ross

An Undivided Heart

Whatever our lives look like from the outside, God looks on our hearts. Herein is determined our purity - or lack of it! So the 'heart' (in the painting) represents our hearts - our mind, will, emotions - the very 'fabric' of our lives, in all its multi-layered, multi-textured compartments. It is this heart that God longs to make pure, clean, undivided. This happens first through the 'washing by the blood' of Christ, signified here by the deep red, washing through every area of life, and continues throughout our lives as Christians as we are sanctified. As we allow God into each area of our lives, the compartments become less distinct, and our hearts become more unified. The gold signifies the purification process, which is God's work… impurities are purged through the Refiner's fire. As our hearts are transformed like this we can draw closer to Him: One day we will see Him as he is, and we do see Him now at work in our lives. The natural result of 'seeing God' is to worship Him - hence the figure in white in a posture of praise to God.

"Teach me your ways O Lord,
And I will walk in your path.
Give me an undivided heart,
And I will fear your name.
I will praise you,
O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever."
Psalm 86:11-1

Gillian Ross

It's been too long!

2010-10-29T13:02:00.007-05:00

I have come to realize that I need to blog more. I finally logged into my account and found that it is has been over a full year of not blogging. Once I started Facebook I thought that my posts and picture sharing would serve for me to print the memories or comments but my printing habits didn't do justice to my reasoning. I will now go back to my blogging habit to share about our daily (maybe monthly) lives. ha
Maybe this can also double as my homeschool portfolio if I can keep up with our progress via the wonderful web world.
So, what is new in the Big C household? Dan still works as the manager of a Ford dealership and also is taking college classes in business just to keep up with the trends in his industry and his position. I homeschool the six children who are left at home, and I also take classes in psychology.

My oldest 2 are out on their own and learning more about life. Yes, they are doing quite well at that learning. I am thankful that God's hand is in their lives now that I cannot help God (ha) in their directions. We must....

"Let go and let God have His wonderful way,
Let go and let God have His way!
He'll fill with His Spirit and keep day by day.
Let go and let God have His way!"

Adam is now in Menominee working and his girlfriend Amanda, while working part time went back to school. If you are wondering if 2011 is the year for them to tie the knot.... we will all see. Our friends and family might not be surprised if they are invited to a wedding with a month's notice. I will let you know when I get my months notice.

Chey Baby is doing just that and is letting God have His way. She is working at YWAM Northwoods and though it might not be her desirable work plan, it is God's work plan for the time. She now has a Luke in her life. He is a great guy who loves His Lord before himself or Chey and always puts others needs and wants before his own. Dan happens to get another Viking fan in the family other than Uncle J. That is OK because Dan is happy to have someone to come over each week to watch football with him. Dan has no prejudiced to those men who wear purple. We Clarks are open minded in some areas you know.

Invierno (ha), is now heavy into her photography business. Check out her work at her website or on Facebook. http://www.inviernophotography.com/ For being this young she has learned more than most people in the later twenty's or more. She is being taught that a sixteen year old CAN pay IN taxes! lol

Jo loves her homework and ALL of it. Strange child, I know. She is exactly like her father and can understand anything about science. She also loves math and is now in my dreaded Algebra subject. Ewww, thankfully I have a very nice math teacher on disk.

Gabs is still into anything that is of pink color. She will never give up her alliance to that, ever! She is doing very well in school as well and her favorite subject is math. She might think this but that is what mom can see is her favorite because she is doing so well at it. Alright, I just asked her, and she did say math. I guess she knows where her giftings are ;)

Yes, I know... I need to add pics of J & G but this computer is not willing to produce any for me at this time. Another computer however will be much more willing.

JDog, he is the boy that gives us adventure each day. This kid never ceases to amaze me, and he is also exactly like his father, even the
weird quirks that make me roll my eyes. While I roll my eyes his father hides his chuckle. Men, hump-ft

E&J just turned 5! I sometimes sit and stare at them wondering if there was a way that I could keep each year of their life bottled up to save for my memories. Isn't there always something new to invent? Be watching for posts with their art work, videos of song & dance and maybe their sometimes backwards spelling.

Til we meet again my trusty blogsite ;) You are so faithful to remain here waiting for me.

Sneak Peek for G - The Best American - Columbian Wedding Ever!

2009-07-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

G and Carrie at the reception

_snicker_

Ella

2009-05-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

Spring!

2009-05-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

Can you say, bad blogger?

2009-05-05T10:37:00.003-05:00

Yes, that is me. The bad blogger. I have passed by the posting of holidays, family events, turmoil and defeats. This blog was dead and now needs to be resurrected.

Hallelujah! We are alive. Speaking of alive.....

I have no fear of falling dead from a pig virus. I stopped eating pork long ago. We also spray Thieves Oil, a little up the nostrils and some behind the ears will prevent a virus' catching on. I wash our hands with it daily. Thieves oil was the antidote that the thieves used to steal from people, alive or dead, when they had the bubonic plague. I trust their recipe, since we didn't come down with the strep throat that was being passed around in the past few months.

We endured!

Other than that we survived a trip to mall of America again. This time with another family with seven plus one kids. That added up to 15 kids! That was a fun time! :::: eyes roll :::: or was I just in a stupor after riding that roller coaster?

We have also outlived another year of homeschooling. Though I don't ever stop schooling because we still have math, science, reading and spelling in the summer. I am not a stickler about the summer studying, I merely want them to do a little each day to keep the reinforcement of what they had previously learned. I don't have to force the kids read. They do that on their own! Each of my oldest girls picks up books from the library every two days. I am trying to reduce that because it is a lot of running.
Wynter reads a book a day! I can't keep up with that, so she needs to start requesting 14 books at one time. Oh...... the book "Roots" did take her more than a day to read!

I will end with showing some goodies we have ordered for the 2009-2010 school year.

We ordered all of our curriculum through our public virtual school program. They gave us a whopping $9500.00 this year to spend on materials! I spent that fast. That was fun! Can we say $ Discount School Supplies? That is one of my favorite places to shop. We love art!

Here are more of my latest order spots .....

TaeKwonDo

2008-11-06T22:35:00.000-06:00

Tae Kwon Do Class

Apple Orchard Homeschool Field Trip

2008-10-02T08:17:00.002-05:00

Apple Orchard Homeschool Field Trip - Oct 1st 2008

2008-10-02T07:46:00.001-05:00

Pumpkin Patch Homeschool Field Trip - Sept 29th

2008-10-01T23:14:00.006-05:00

Love, Intentionally Speaking - 40 days of Lovin!

2008-09-21T15:06:00.002-05:00

So this has been a subject everywhere lately. Love. You would imagine it to be everywhere, right? No so. Not really. We in all actuality do NOT love as much as we think we do. Especially if it is with intention. Do I love intentional? Gosh, this love thing has been all around me. I just can't shake it. Church has been preaching on it, devotions, websites I randomly delve into, bible studies and Friday night worship. It wouldn't be strange if it weren't all the same subject and even verses. Crazy things never cease to amaze me. Speaking on the worship night now, it was a crazy thing and is still a crazy thing. What goes on there. Wild party? No, snicker. Just God.

I can close my eyes and listen to praises and See God, hear God and feel the harshness but gentleness at the same time of His love. Why does it hurt? It makes my heart so heavy. I have never felt my heart so heavy. It hurts so much because when I feel His love I feel what He did for us. That makes me hurt and cry. It makes me love Him even more.

Well if that isn't enough to rock me out of my seat it just had to happen again this past week. It was on how we treat people. Intentional kindness. Not only how we treat the stranger but how we treat our brother. Are we INTENTIONAL? Realness. Heartfelt intentional? Do we just do what we need to do, of what is expected of us. Or do we go out of our "self" and find God's love (His love) to come out of us? If we had Gods love come out of us you know the person would FEEL it!
Just as I felt Gods love I wish I could love others that way! Why can't I? Because I am human and I was a sinner, but at times I fall into sin. Selfishness is my sin.
Not having enough time to do more talking to my brother who isn't my friend in daily living, not having time to just stop and tell someone that I like her dress (cause it happens ya know... we see that gorgeous girl in the store aisle and love the dress she is wearing... why can't we stop and tell her how pretty she looked in it.

lol, my husband can refrain from that intentional kindness though... hehehehe

How does the stranger see us as Christians? As political activists? As judgmental people? How do they see us treat our brother? Do they see us extend love and compassion? At Friday worship there were many words of familiarity to me as of late. One that grabbed me was annoy. People who annoy you or have sinned you.

I have been annoyed lately. A person annoyed me. A brother annoyed me. God was speaking at me. I loved it.

I wanted to cry out how much I appreciate God slapping me by words. If the said person who annoyed me offended me I could be justified to take offense. We are to take offense of sin. We are to call sin sin. But, we are to love. To be unified with our brother. The proximity doesn't need to be close. Just enough to stay a healthy relationship. We are to though, to take that offense and throw it away. Forgive and throw. At that minute, when he talked about how we are annoyed with what our brother does to us, I smiled and felt peace. Forgiveness and love. Unified. Why? Why not still be mad at the issue? Because it is baggage. I sure don't want my offensive actions to be my brothers baggage. I have much too much to carry. Would I want my brother to carry my sins? Golly, no! I would get God to take those off of his hands because I am barely able to lift them.

So fast-forward to today. Church. Church and the word love. The number 40! How unreal is the number 40 to me. The 40 day fast starts next Wed. Want to join me? I want to give up myself to my Lord and fast for our nation. It lasts until election day. Also is a new movie coming out called Fireproof. It is about how a man finds 40 FORTY!!!!!!!!!! ways to show love to his wife the love she was lacking. Do we lack at showing love? Let's find 40 ways to love people while we fast for 40 days!

Intentional. Jesus freak love. Are we still Jesus freaks? Did the song die out so we stopped being freaky? I felt stagnant. I really felt stagnant yesterday. My family was in line for a child's golfing game booth at a fall festival. The line was long. All of a sudden 6 or so kids butted in front of us. I said "Hey hey kid" pointing at the first boy and his posse to get back at the end. He replied with a confused look that she, (pointing at my friend in back of me) told them to. I looked at her with a strange look saying "You did?" She said "Yes, sometimes I just want to be nice like that". Great! That INTENTIONAL love of God was in her and I just made those kids confused by acting like the "other" friend wouldn't have been that nice. I was NOT intentional! Pssssshhhh! I felt like a loser.

There was also a high media news case on my mind where I felt judgmental without love. It is a news story that the media had played out. I am not sure what it is at now but it is about a young mother in Florida who has a missing child. I read the news reports and I judged. I think rightfully so, imo. Who knows how it ends. The point here is: if you have heard about that story, how do you feel about that mother? Stop and think. How are you feeling?

Is it Gods love for her? Some of us may not be showing her the love we should be. Are we at her door with picket signs shouting? Are we trying to grab her hand in the crowd to pray for her? If she could feel my hand right now, I would pray, pray hard. No matter what I feel is right I would want to show her love. Gods love. He created her. He created us in His gorgeous image. So if she is in the image of Christ shouldn't we show so much love that satan gets AWAY from her? Satan wants us to be mad, satan wants us to hate, satan wants the stranger to NOT see our love.

Though I didn't state my views about this case to a stranger, I did state them to my older daughters. I didn't scream to stone the mother but my views did show as a strong hatred. I wish now that they could have seen a difference. A hatred toward the sin that may have occurred but a love for the mother. I don't think I showed that difference.

Do we show differences when we talk about things that we dislike? I must start. These are MY daughters that I ~~need to~~ must bring up with love in mind, fully and foremost.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Monsters in your bed?

2008-08-29T08:15:00.002-05:00

Why Oh Why have I not heard of Protect-A-Bed? http://myprotectabed.com
I found this over @ http://metropolitanmama.net/2008/06/sail-away-to-a-good-nights-sleep-contest/
It could have saved me many bottle leaks and the never ending potty training dangers. With co-sleeping with twins as well as another kiddo jumping in the bed in the middle of the night there has always been strain on "our" bed. Wait, is it really our bed? lol
For anyone who is just starting off I shout out a big shout to http://myprotectabed.com You will be saved. Salvation from the hidden monsters that creep into your bed at night.

Summertime Fun

2008-08-12T21:03:00.003-05:00

I saw a link to the blog 5 Minutes For Mom on a friends blog. They're having a photo contest that ends at 3 p.m. tomorrow Wednesday, August 13th

"Summertime fun" is the topic. Twin sisters in white dresses, rock collecting on a sandy beach. What could be more fun?

Lessons in Sharing

2008-07-29T10:46:00.002-05:00

Summer 2008

2008-07-29T09:08:00.009-05:00

I thought I would share some pictures since I haven't blogged in forever and a day. Other than our medical trips we try to stay sane at home. I am thankful for Gods blessings through this summer. We are ahead in school so we took a few weeks off this summer! I have been battling my garden but a friend has been here to help me through the hard times. Dan is busy at his newest job but has made time to help with my garden battles and to host cook outs at his

favorite spot, the campfire. We also found him a friend who doesn't use a grill! The kids have had great times going to birthday parties this summer. I think it is neat to see different party ideas and party favors they make. Their summer has been fun though we have
had trials. Each day they beg to go to the river with friends to swim and find leeches. They love playing flag football. Jed's buddies have been teaching him how to be a man and how to use tools and weapons "safely and responsibly". Gabby has been having fun with her girl friends. Wynter has finally found her long lost twin who can talk just as much as she can. Cheyenne has been making more memories with the other 2 parts of her 3 Musketeer gang and took off to Bolivia for a couple of weeks. Josey, has finally met someone who shares her building, carving, fort making, Lego designing, rock throwing interests. - who says she can't be best buddies with a boy? Last but not least, the twins have been having fun just trying to keep up with us all!

Kids and History

2008-04-05T16:22:00.001-05:00

This is what my kids did yesterday after history class. Drama makes it even more fun :)

This music gets me SO happy

2008-03-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

Glenda SCRAPPED me!

2008-03-06T22:35:00.003-06:00

and she scrapped me good too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

take a peek. How cool is this chick anyway? I don't think anyone could get any more cool.

I have now deemed tea tree oil ineffective...

2008-03-03T20:32:00.004-06:00

at least for treating the flu, it is! Or at least it was for me.
Actually, this is Cheyenne, Karen's daughter. I am posting for her, after just getting off the telephone with her. These are her words, possibly embellished upon, but I get that embellishing gift from her anyways...

Ahem.

So. The Tea tree oil didn't work. I have been down with the flu for the past few days. Sick sick sick! Jed had it at the same time as me, then it went through everyone else. *except Cheyenne because she is just that cool*
Anyways, it was misery. Took off AWANA tonight, keeping the kids quarantined at home. No catching, no carrying here. Then tonight, when I am finally feeling better, I have a horrific allergic reaction to something in our home. Probably because of all of the construction and such going on. Something did not agree with me. I would have died if Dan hadn't gotten me to the hospital in time. I could not breathe, and my eyes were swelled shut. It was frightening. Right now my face is still so swelled up, I look like Herman Munster *her words exactly*! Ugh. It is horrible. Dan was very scared too. Running red lights to get to the ER in time. The doctors said my lungs were the worst part. It must have been something I breathed in. Now to find out what that was and stay far far away from it! Keep my and my family in your prayers so this doesn't reoccur. Quite the adventure of the night. And one I could have done without. God wiling, it won't happen again. I can't wait for all of this to be done. :)
~Karen

Our House Project

2008-02-26T12:46:00.001-06:00

Christianity - I am still swimming

2008-02-24T22:04:00.002-06:00

I hope I don’t scare any of my non Christian friends by the title of this post. On the contrary, read on and you may find out interesting things about me. Though I am a very open book, I may have some hidden evils you never knew of. lol

This past weekend Dan and I took a retreat. We got away!
Just him and I went to Minnesota. Opps, we went with another couple so we weren’t completely alone. That was the best part. Being with this other couple and the fellowship, alone with my husband.

We have little time to just hang with friends so this was a refreshing time we had. It was a hilarious time we had! God showed his word through humor this weekend.
First let me tell you that we went to a Gary and Greg Smalley (father and son team) marriage seminar. No, we are fine; this wasn’t a marriage fixer course. We wanted to go to learn new techniques to make our wonderful marriage work even more smoothly. -hehehehe- (you caught me on a good day). So we started this weekend off with our friends meeting us here at our house so we could caravan. Cory just got a GPS and this is a perfect time to use it. Right? - read on

Well the GPS led us directly to our destination.

The hotel. Kudos.

We unpacked our one bag and we could have had a nice relaxing time watching tv with cable (snicker) but that is just not us. We called down to our friends and asked what they wanted to do.

Eat! Ok, eat it is.

Cory grabbed his GPS and put it in Dan’s car. The men sat in front and girls in back and we asked the GPS lady where some fine food was. Right across the street from the hotel was Fudruckers. It listed many more restaurants and we chose TGI Fridays. The GPS lady gave great directions and when we landed at out pin pointed destination we saw an empty lot.

No food there.

Hmmm.... now where.

It had taken us 30 minutes to finally decide the “Where do you want to eat scenario” so we coped out and went back to Fundruckers. Isn’t that where it all started. Could it be that simple? Why didn’t we stay where we started? Our stupid desires of our own stupid human eateries, that is why.

So now we wanted to go shop a little. Where do the mothers decide on? We could have shopped the mall and picked out a “cute little red number” That was a direct quote from Carrie. Sequins even. She said I could mop the floor nicely in that one. (snicker)

But no, we decide on Old Navy so we could see if the sales I hit the week before were still there. We asked GPS lady where Old Navy was and she led us. Again, no Old Navy there.

Empty. Nada. Wrong!?!

How could our new fancy man made directional unit be wrong? Sometime life isn’t very clear. Sometimes we get strayed away. Sometimes we need Gods directional unit but this was Old Navy for Gods sake. Wouldn’t He want us to go? So we tried again, same thing.

We finally gave up on Old Navy when we had to get to our seminar. On the way to the seminar we saw a little kids clothing store that Carrie liked. The sign said open so Dan turned in and made a dash for the store. We drive up to the door and low and behold it was changed within one minute to “closed”.

What does that tell you?

God didn’t want us delayed to his seminar. –hehehe- After the Friday night session we went back to the hotel. Pulled into the parking lot and I said I wanted some cappuccino. (Being a great friend with awesome temptation skills) Carrie also wanted some cappuccino. So back in the car we went. Cory pulled in Star Bucks into the GPS and when we got there it was a real store (no empty lot).

Yeah!

No.... the girl turned off the light. It closed right that minute. So here we are. No kids clothes and no caffeine! We can’t get any lower.

By now it is late night. I think going on 11-11:30pm. We tried the GPS again and went to the next Star Bucks. It was open. Did I forget to tell you that we ALSO called first this time? We had our treat for the night and we were happy. God provided. We had to get by with some detours and humor but we made it.

The next day Carrie was sick from the late night caffeine, but she pulled through. What a trooper!

It was a nice second day at the seminar. Interesting things we learned. Mainly about how we aren’t doing too bad as a husband and wife. We have no affairs going on at this minute, no swearing or fists fights, we have great kids and we agree on how we are raising them, and my husband doesn’t throw the dirty laundry on my head after a dispute. So, see.... we have it good. We learned a lot.

Seriously though, what I personally learned was to follow God and His lead and direction. What I also learned at the seminar was not to hide. No hiding in Christ. Though I do think they could have hid a little more at the seminar. LoL – some things are not needed to be known by thousands of people. hehehe

My husband and I do great. I love him so much and treasure him. I have him to help me as a wife and mother. I need help though. I am NOT a perfect Christian even with the help of my perfect mate. I am by far PERFECT in any way shape or form. Is anyone?

No matter what walk of life, what religion; Are you perfect?

If anyone says yes, you are a liar! I am NOT a hypocrite and also will not hide. I want it well known that I am still swimming and that I need my Lords direction.

I am sure that my best friends that are pagan, mormon, atheist, agnostic or even Christian as myself can say that they all are still swimmers, right? I hope so cause I haven’t found perfect yet. We are all human. That is one common lovely and beautiful bond. We ALL suck!

I sometimes think that being a Christian has some stigmatisms stuck to it. I want that stigmatism off of me. Do we have to show we are perfect to be a REAL Christian? Are the Christians who “act” Christian on their own time schedule better or more perfect? That to me is hypocritical.

If we see a vegetarian eat a hamburger once a month would we say “what kind of a vegetarian are you?” or “what are you showing others about our belief?” For goodness sakes, no! We would just think that the poor person had a temptation for a stinkin’ burger! They weren’t going over the vegetarian’s sin mountain.

I myself am going (and still swimming there too!) organic. When I eat a chocolate bar or a fast food hamburger do I have people out me or say that I am a hypocrite? I sure hope not cause I could show them a plank they need outta their own burger.

My human desire as a wife, mother and friend is just to stay a float. Growing on my swimming journey. Swim and keep on swimming. Also by making it known by NOT hiding my Christianity.

Not wanting to make another stumble but also not hiding.

I have been wondering why people would want to hide that they are a Christian. A friend’s husband told me a few times of how he would never do what Dan and I did with our vehicle.

We have a big daddy Christian fish, big mama Christian fish and eight little baby Christian fish following the daddy and mama. All fish on the bumper of our big 15 passenger bus.

First off, we can’t hide that van if we wanted to.

Second, most people assume right off that we must be Christian and they even guess homeschooling too (ironic) and

Thirdly.... we don’t want to hide!

The friend told us that he wouldn’t do such a thing because it would show others how not perfect he was. When he cut someone off, they would judge him as a Christian so it wouldn’t look good for the cause of Christ. --- ---- --- --- I firmly disagree

I don’t really think Jesus cared at what others “think”. I agree to be careful at how we present ourselves as Christians but good golly please do not think I am gonna hide my love of growing with Christ.

I am a swimmer and I have Gods GPS.

If anyone wants to know the directions from me, they surely can’t get the guaranteed results cause I just keep recalculating myself.

I fall short, I get up, I fall short, I get up....

…. but I will never hide.

That would mean that people should feel shunned at wearing any Christian t shirt. We may walk around the mall and start to yell at our kids while wearing the shirt. Oh my! Rip that shirt off! You are representing Christ!

No sir. I will not go naked. I have redemption and will show off that un-naked grace.

I think I will even be decorating my yard with fish now because I want to be known as a swimmer in this crappy pool of life.

My husband is known at work as a Christian. Not only by the shirts he wears or the things he has at work but by his actions. At times he messes up with a customer. What does he do? He asks for forgiveness. Isn’t that what it is all about?

Showing people that being part of a belief is growing, not by being the 100% perfect example of that belief. I am even lower than a 99.9% rate. Argh

It is a shame when people only want to show their Christianity during times of serving or when people are pre-invited into their homes. What are they hiding in the times they aren’t invited? Ithink I may even want fish on the door of my home so people will know they can come in at any time and find a wanna be perfect Christian. I may not be perfect but I wanna be. No one needs to be pre invited here because they get me in the raw. Gosh, Karen in the raw. Not a fun sight. That may even be worse than simply no make up.

It will also help me walk right. I want to stand firm and walk like I claim that I walk. I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better friend and just a better person in the community.

Did I show that today?

No! Darn it all. I screwed up.

Today at Wal-Mart a cashier was so mean in the express aisle. She was very rude when I pushed the wrong pin for my debit card. Yes, she was mean, mean, mean. I tried making it better by being gentle but by the end when she just threw my receipt at me and was talking to the man behind me about being so slow + I had it. I took my receipt and I said “thank you very much too and for being so patient” I did not say that in the most friendly way and the smile I was wearing also had look of disgruntled-ness. What I did was made her meanness ok’d now. She was probably justified. When I got home and I told my husband about it he asked if I complained to the manager.

So, I got on the phone and complained. In my complaint, I realized I was wrong at how I handled it and I asked the manger for forgiveness saying that is not how Christ would want me to act. Though she was wrong, I should never have been rude right back. I asked her to relay this to the cashier. Who knows how she will take that or if she will forgive my retaliation but I hope so. I hope I showed her something in my crankiness that we (Christians) realize our transgressions and we can ask to be forgiven. Aint no hiding at Wally’s for me! (<---- forgive me for the aint word. I hate it too but it sounded good there)

So it is now going to be our destination to make it known that the only thing needed to be a Christian is to have the heart of one. That heart grows. Jesus was love. He had heart. He alone was perfect. We are just to try to follow His lead and His direction. What will my bumper sticker under my fishes say you ask? It will say “please forgive me, I am still swimming towards Him”.

I say a big Amen to Gods GPS!

Tertullian wrote (in “De Baptismo”) “But we, being little fishes, as Jesus Christ is our great Fish, begin our life in the water, and only while we abide in the water are we safe and sound.”

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

11For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

2008-02-21T22:51:00.005-06:00

The M-e-l-i-t-a got me!!! I have never liked how many letters were in my middle name. lol -

The Rules:
You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

My middle name is Elizabeth. (Thanks Melita!) I was named after my Aunt Elizabeth who died before I was born and "we" were named after another Aunt Elizabeth who was a famous artist, Elisabeth Bergstrand Poulsen.

Eclecticism regarding Art

Loyal - I have lived with Dan for many a year.... nuff said. Love him dearly. I also have never traded in a kid yet.

Incomplete in my walk with God. I have a long way to go and I love the journey and what He holds in my growth.

Z as in "the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end"--Revelation

I was the baby in my family. I still treated as such. psh, PuNks!

Analogical. I can read into details of the most simple things so that there is a deep meaning behind everything.

Balanced. When I am not balanced I fall over so I am frequently checking to make sure I am at an ok balance in my life. If not, I readjust or readjust other people. hehehe

Ebonic - Can that be a personality too?I think it is now!

Truthful - I hate (yes, hate) when people lie or when people hide themselves. So if I hate it, why should I ever do it?

Hermit I have been enjoying being a hermit and away from a chaotic world. Hmmm, why would I be on the web then? Ok, I am just kidding. I have been busy at home and schooling. I also couldn't think of an H word.

And I tag....

Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle

2008-02-18T22:00:00.000-06:00

gosh, I love this girl

2008-02-13T00:00:00.004-06:00

my girl just came back home from Duluth and this is what I see..... what will she look like tomorrow? in the blink of an eye they grow up

And more from the scrap table

2008-02-12T23:23:00.004-06:00

what do I have going on in my life right now?

thanking and praising God in all things, praying for Jed, schooling the kids, learning how to order in bulk (wow! You can save BIG $ this way!) , forgetting to buy 5 gal buckets for my bulk purchases (Here I come bakeries. I hope they have some to sell tomorrow) , preparing to leave with another couple for a weekend (next week) to the twin cities (Yes! without kids!), praying for Chey as she leaves our driveway all by herself (opps, and the van), having kittens AGAIN from our stray cat that never went away (this time we will go get her fixed. Though she can STILL go back home ANYTIME!) , playing with my kids, hugging my kids, (I better put hug my dh on my to do list - I didn't even hug that man today!) , starting ANOTHER construction project tomorrow AM (why am I not asleep?) , going to the dentist tomorrow to be poisoned by silver toxins (sense any tension there?), calling a sweet lady who owns Treasured Scrapooking.Com and interviewing her for the premier issue of Scrap N Art, writing the interview article, scanning, scrapbooking, writing up projects for my design teams, getting ready for bestest friends visiting us for the weekend, Yeah!!! ..... and cleaning. YES.... my house is clean. Eat off my floors if you like! I have found that my kids like when I am over compulsive, as do I. They are happier (I am) and have more time for the fun things, now that we stay organized.

I am so happy that I am able to see Gods blessings right now. When we are faithful, fervent and in prayer and union with Him, we can see it even more clearly. I really despise those times where we can't see it. Those times when we whine (me), cry (me), have fear (me), doubt (me) and scream (me). Isn't it so wonderful that our God is an awesome and loving father that He even likes us to scream out at Him. It shows of how our heart is in need of fellowship with the holy spirit. When we desire Him? Do you desire Him? Scream!!! It works!

I leave you with some scraps

Flatfoot 56

2008-02-09T12:48:00.000-06:00

This was the main band we went to see last night. Awesome bag pipes!

My Feb Projects

2008-02-03T14:44:00.000-06:00

what have I been working on....

Fulfillment is Mine

2008-01-26T12:28:00.000-06:00

So after getting married, having eight children, running a home business and home educating my kids I am finally fulfilled.....

take a peek.....

http://www.thelittlescrapshop.com/blog/ ---> my name is there

Here were some of the layouts I submitted and you can see my blog articles on TLSS blog. Come visit the gallery and be watching for the new forum opening. We are 12 very wild women who love to show our real lives to the world through our art, scrap booking and ..... through chit chat!!!

I forgot to send some love to ....

2008-01-23T19:55:00.001-06:00

my sweet adorable Melita! for the Tinkering Ink paper that I used below on my layout.

Check the chick out: http://mganoe.blogspot.com/ Doesn't she have the cutest puppy?

Have I told you how much I love you? I hope that 2008 is filled with hugs and kisses for you!

Resolutions 2008

2008-01-22T23:49:00.000-06:00

Here is my 2008 resolution layout - if you are my friend, please keep me to these

Here is a recent layout I did and the meaning behind this was about my depression after the twins were born. The dark picture is of my bedroom when the twins were born. See 2 bottles in back ground of pic.

The bottles are on the desk which was in our room. That desk chair that you can sort of see is the chair that my husband would help with one baby while I fed the other baby. Lots of memories in this simple dark photo.

Prima Lovin' at the Oasis

2008-01-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

Here are a few previews from a my Scrapbook Oasis design team projects this month... can I say how I love Prima? I LOVE PRIMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

2008-01-10T20:29:00.000-06:00

and so does Round Two!!! http://www.thelittlescrapshop.com/blog/?p=258

I made it to Round 2 of this design team call :) They carry hip kits that are so unique. The competition is fierce. Look at them!

PS... I want no prayers this time. I will try for this one all on my own. hehehehe

Scrapbook Oasis 2008 Bling Queen Contest!

2008-01-01T21:02:00.000-06:00

Want some teases of my latest DTeam creations over @ Scrapbook Oasis? ok...

Speaking of Scrapbook Oasis....
they are looking for the QUEEN OF BLING! Could it be YOU that is the 2008 Bling Queen? Go try out today! Search in your scan folders and find some blingful creations! Enter as MANY as you wish. It just could be you who is reined the first annual Bling Queen!

Scrapbook Oasis 2008 Bling Queen Contest!

In celebration of the the new year, we are hosting the 2008 Bling Queen Contest. The Oasis is a community full of scrapping divas and we are looking for a creative diva to start the year off with a big bling! Check out our online store to stock up on bling (i.e., Stickles, Glimmer Mist, Prima Crystals) for this contest! www.scrapbook-oasis.com Rules… - The 2008 Bling Queen contest will be open for entries as of January 1, 2008. - You MUST HAVE a minimum of 25 posts in our forum to enter. Link to Forum www.scrapbook-oasis.com - Entries must contain some sort of bling. (Don't forget to list ALL supplies used.) - Entries must be uploaded to our 2008 Bling Queen section of our gallery. GALLERY LINK http://www.scrapbook-oasis.com/gallery/index.php - Entries MAY NOT BE winners of any other contest/publications. Upload as many entries as you’d like. The more the merrier. - The last day to upload entries will be January 30, 2008 at 11:00pm EST. (No EXCEPTIONS!) - Winners will be announced on February 1, 2008. No purchase is necessary to win. - Winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to the Scrapbook-Oasis store!!

2008 HaPpY NeW YeAr 2008!

2008-01-01T20:52:00.000-06:00

I am blogging about the New Year. Yes I am. Determined I am. I am blogging about how this year is the BIG year for change and direction. About how my Lord can change and mold me to a better likeness of Him. I have not been the best likeness in 2007. I was so busy and God wants us to take time to enjoy this life and His fullness. I pray for God to give me the power to stop. Just to stop things and to smell the smells of life. To stop and enjoy the silent pictures that make a mother tear up. Come on moms... you know those moments. Just plug your ears and look around. What are your kids doing right now? Look at them silently. Aren't they a vision of beauty? I vow to enjoy those beings that do not really have silent moments but I am able to plug my ears when needed, right?
Look at these silent moments from yesterday....

KI Contest !!!!!!!!!!! ENTER TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!

2007-12-19T21:07:00.000-06:00

KI Contest!

We want to see what YOU create using KI products. Don’t forget the Pop Culture and Lace Cardstock! Check out our online store to stock up on KI products for this contest!

http://www.scrapbook-oasis.com

Rules…

- The KI Contest will be open for entries as of November 18, 2007.

- You MUST HAVE a minimum of 25 posts in our forum to enter. Link to Forum www.scrapbook-oasis.com…

- Entries must contain 75% or more KI products. (Don't forget to list ALL supplies used.)

- Entries must be uploaded to our KI Contest section of our gallery to be eligible to win.

- Entries MAY NOT BE winners of any other contest/publications. Upload as many entries as you’d like. The more the merrier.

- The last day to upload entries will be December 27, 2007 at 11:00pm EST. (No EXCEPTIONS!)

- Winners will be announced on December 29, 2007. No purchase is necessary to win.

- Winner will receive a $30 gift certificate to the Scrapbook-Oasis store!!!

I didn't win! ROFL... just my luck again

2007-12-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

Here is my layout

and this had a FEW prizes that I would have taken in a second. Here were the layouts.... take a look http://ebbscrapbooking.com/Forums/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=45

and here are the lucky winners: http://www.ebbcreations.com/catalog/contest.php

Please tell me... should I stop scrapbooking now? ROFL

PS... the winner DID deserve to win :) I am totally all for giving people congratulations and hugs for winning. I am simply sad that I didn't get closer again.

Today is the BIG day

2007-12-19T12:53:00.001-06:00

It is the LIVE announcement of a big huge contest that I would love to be a winner in.

http://ebbscrapbooking.com/Forums/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=45

The prizes are fab and I really am in need of more flowers ya know. I am using mine up every day. Please say a little prayer for my desires if you could. God does bless sometimes, right? ROFL.... So listen at the right. Diva Craft Lounge in 1 hr! 12 pm Pacific Time http://www.blogtalkradio.com/DivaCraftLounge

Blogger Spell Check!

2007-12-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

so the last post I made was in the dark. I literally couldn't see and I am a terrible typist with no light to peek. So, remember... spell check is available on blogger. Since I was typing as I wished and purposefully very badly I actually was intending on spell check but I forgot. lol - sorry to those who saw my Hickville way of speech. I really do not spell that bad.

How do I feel about Christmas?

2007-12-10T00:01:00.000-06:00

So Melita over @ Scrapbook Oasis has given a blog challenge. she asks....

How do you feel about Christmas? Too commercialized? How do you keep the meaning of Christmas? Do you think you are doing a good job at teaching your kids the true meaning?

I do think it is commercialized. I think that the focus of Christmas has become just that to the majority. A "holiday" for shopping for presents. A "holiday" for receiving presents. So how can it not be commercialized? We built this and now we dread it. Shopping and giving gifts. Do the kids really understand why we give by giving these gifts on this day? What is that teaching them? We tell them the message of the baby in the manger. My kids thankfully very much understand it. It has even brought tears to the older few when we have been at live nativities. They know and understand fully that this little baby had been predestined to give His life for us. They picture Jera or Ella when they were babies and then think of how we would feel if we had the savior in our house. Jesus as a baby. Mary held Him. Mary fed Him. Mary loved Him. His family loved Him and each day knowing that the prophesy of Him dying for our sins would come true. Wow. To be that mother. A mothers tears of happiness at His birth and and maybe even tears of humanly sadness knowing you would give Him up later to be murdered. All prophesied and come true. An amazing story but even better is that is is not a story. It is a biography!

Ok, so now I have started tearing up myself. After all I am a mother. I understand the love though I cannot understand her emotions and thoughts.

Getting back to the commercialization of this holiday. We ourselves give in to it. We buy presents for our kids and we have a great time. However, the things we buy are to honor God or give Him glory. Some things are things of a need. Those are honoring to God because they are a need and not a desire. The toys and games we receive are blessings from God who gave the way to buy the presents. (Yes, my kids know that it is really Bruce Lee who gave them their presents) Having fun with friends in a godly manner with new toys and games is honoring God and other presents can give avenues to honor him as well.

our Christmas tree pulling adventure

2007-12-07T16:21:00.000-06:00

1st Week of Decemeber Updates

2007-12-07T12:52:00.000-06:00

So far we have a few things bought for Christmas :) We are far from being done and I think we must like it this way. We do this every year waiting until the last days. Maybe it brings Dan and I some extra adrenaline that we need to get through the big day. This year we are praying that there is no "big" day other than reflecting on what the day means to us. We celebrate our saviour and his birth. We celebrate the day that he was brought into this world because one day He would leave the world for us. While He was here He did so many wonders and taught us precious values. All of this from a small babe in a manger.

I had a great week so far! I made it on the Scrapbook Oasis Design Team.

I already got a design team kit within just days and made my first design team projects. Here is one to share. It is nice to be back in the scrapping world again and I love being on fun close knit forums like the Oasis. Come have fun with us!

I also entered another contest... I know, I know. I was thinking I would never try again but this is different. It felt like a bond with an old friend. Well, that sounds weird, lol. It was my first message board that I felt at home on so I needed to go back and see what was up. Wow! redecorated and all new design teams and gallery. Crazy how time flies and new things can make a place. Now to see if I am one of the finalists winners with this contest..... I wait.

Visit Me!

2007-11-21T12:05:00.000-06:00

Read the below.... all I need is FIVE friends. Only FIVE sweet online friends. - NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A SCRAPBOOKER. Ahem... you know who. We will slowly convert you there. -

Just go to the Scrapping Oasis http://www.scrapbook-oasis.com/forum/index.php

and post 5 (or more) times. The or more would be better cause I like when friends hang out. I win a rak if I can get 5 friends. The best part is YOU can also invite five friends and win the rak. Just to let you know too that I already won a rak from them... they are yucky raks! They are fine raks.

(ok, I better stop talking raks.. it makes my hubby want to go hunting!)

Any member who gets 5 of their friends to join and post a minimum of 5 times, wins a RAK.

You have from now until November 30th. You can win multiple times too!

Scrapbook Oasis Contest!

2007-11-19T14:57:00.000-06:00

I won HONORABLE MENTION at http://scrapbook-oasis.com/forum/index.php for the CI contest I posted earlier. The ever so talented winner was Janet who really rocked it with this layout. http://www.scrapbook-oasis.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1289&limit=recent What scrap she has!

The FINAL Round! Ms. Scrap-Tastic 2008

2007-11-17T22:54:00.000-06:00

the time has came and now it is time to see the last votes. There are four of us left on stage and I was very much at odds this week. My layout changed form only a bit. It was to read something like.. you don't need a mood ring.. I can tell by your colors. That just didn't do it for me so I made it more generic.
It was supposed to have a lot of color swatches on it but the stupid things kept getting eaten by my printer. Oh joy!
So, I just printed the strips on card stock. I used a few different Basic Grey pp's. Love how they mix so well!

So, farewell to any of you who have been keep a close eye on this competition. I know you have my loyal and trust worthy friend, De!

Here is my layout and the things we were given to do are listed in bold.

Title: What mood are you today?
(side note: lol, what a mother needs to know)

Journaling is with the mood ring color journaling strips.

Paint w/ MM green paint

Stamps (LP) and white ink for "mood". I also have a Rhonna swirl stamp in the pp but you can barely see it.

I stitched a thought bubble using Twistel. Yes! I still have Twistel from 5 years ago!

5+ pictures used

5 colors+ oh yeah!

Bedroom doors are nice!

2007-11-15T23:10:00.000-06:00

Odds n Ends

2007-11-15T19:31:00.000-06:00

So the best thing has happened to us! Jera decided that she CAN wear shoes again!!! We were very concerned that we would have a child running barefoot all winter. She refused everything! I tried finding comfortable shoes but she just wouldn't take to the idea. One day... poof! Her change of mind. What did we do? We complied to her will and let her think that she is queen of this decision. We say nothing or she may change her mind again.

I found friends Melita, Robs and Dionne over at
http://www.scrapbook-oasis.com
so I looked at the contests and decided to try my hand in one. This was for using primarily CI product on the layout :) TFL

My thank you card

2007-11-08T17:09:00.000-06:00

So at ST this week in Round 6 (Yes, I made it to Round 6 so far) we had to make a thank you card. Using ribbon, buttons, rub on's and chipboard.

Here is mine:

What a better week to make a card. After a week of being mean and ugly to my dh I better make this one for him!

I love you honey!

I cut the card out of Bazzill with a shape scissor and adding lace and fabric to give it the I love you, Valentine" look. (Yes, I need to get some sweetness going)

I am a ghetto lookin' mama!

2007-11-05T13:52:00.000-06:00

Cheyenne took a picture of my sisters and I on Saturday at Applebee's.
She asked us to look ghetto.... my sisters must be confused. I wonder if they have ever been south of mid Wisconsin before.

Monday - Nov 5th

2007-11-05T12:59:00.000-06:00

So look at what we found today. don't they look caught to you? See close: Jera has a wire hanging from her neck down. They were trying to plug in the old Nintendo game into the back of the tv.

it started snowing at 12:36 pm today- first snow of the new season

and my layout made it to Round 6 at Scrap-Tastic

I am one proud mom

2007-10-30T16:50:00.001-05:00

I am proud of my Chey baby for having her own thoughts and being able to express them well. She is a teen that has a voice. Not a bad voice but rather one that can share her own opinions in a nice forum in a nice (yet debatable manor). Did I say debate? Cheyenne LOVES to debate. Hereditary? Yes, those genes do pass well in our family.

Here is Chey's new site that she put up

http://organicpotatochips.blogspot.com/

Here are some other sites of Chey's. She is my kid and I am so happy!

http://www.cafepress.com/happyskullstees - her art on shirts

http://right-field-dandies.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/rightfielddandies

http://hs.facebook.com/profile.php?id=904020573

Anticipation- Is this normal?

2007-10-25T23:04:00.001-05:00

I have no idea how this idea came to mind but for some reason I started jotting down the grades of my children when the babies start Kindergarten in 3 years.

Wyn 11th
Jo 8th
Gab 6th
Jed 3rd
Babies K

I couldn't stop... I was consumed by checking what grades I would have. It looked so wonderful to me as the grades grew.....

Wyn 12th
Jo 9th
Gab 7th
Jed 4th
Babies 1st

Jo 10th
Gab 8th
Jed 5th
Babies 2nd

Jo 11th
Gab 9th
Jed 6th
Babies 3rd

Jo 12th
Gab 10th
Jed 7th
Babies 4th

Gab 11th
Jed 8th
Babies 5th

Gab 12th
Jed 9th
Babies 6th

Jed 10th
Babies 7th

Jed 11th
Babies 8th

Jed 12th
Babies 9th

Babies 10th
Babies 11th
Babies 12th

so... in 2022 I will be alone :( What started as a refreshing thought of less work and chore turned into the dreadful thoughts of all of my children grown.

Q&A Habit Forming

2007-10-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

What's your morning routine? coffee- I call it "prevention"
What's your bedtime routine? tv wind down for me, maybe a lil scrappin', lil bloggin'
What's missing from your daily routine? a schedule! lol - I like them but they end up hurting me

What is a habit you're working hard to develop? a schedule - see above, things related to twin toddlers, finding a better nap routine habit for them also.
What is a habit you're working hard to break? things related to twin toddlers

At your favorite restaurant, do you always order the same thing or do you try the special? same - always - I WANT change but cannot do it
What things do you buy at the grocery store every single time you go? cereal, bread, cheese ... a yummy exotic juice to drink while driving home
What would someone close to you say is your most annoying habit? talking
Which outside forces have the biggest impact on your routines? kids - inside or outside, they force just the same!
Describe the person you know who is most driven by habit. HEHEHEHEHE - HELLO MRS DAY PLANNER! I KNOW YOUR READING!

and now a layout to share from Round 4 of the Ms. Scrap-Tastic 2008

a post, a thank you, a layout and a warning!

2007-10-20T19:44:00.000-05:00

I am posting my first post since the day I thought in which I was dying. De came over on Thursday and I thought I was feeling bad. I guess I was feeling great compared to what I would be feeling. I was asleep by 6 pm and didn't awake until Sat mid day. I thank De for being so kind to listen to my death bed whining and for bringing me oranges and juice.

I was able to get out of my bed mode for a time to create this layout about Wisconsin. http://www.scrap-tastic.com/pages/gallery_detail.cfm?galleryID=5146

Rules were: to create a LO that captures the personality of the city or state or country in which you live. Your LO may be 8.5 or 12 x 12 but must be a single page. Be sure your LO is about the above theme (place).
Include one non-scrapbook item in your LO and list that item in the LO description. Include at least five sentences of journaling.

Now to the warning: Take a look at the girls (aka my cometition) over @ Scrap-Tastic. I know that one of them is up to no good. Seriously, <@I KNOW I WAS POISONED>!!

Girl Power

2007-10-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

For A Fancy Word For Simple blog we were to come up with: 1 song 1 book title 1 movie that show girl power!
song: Me & Bobby McGee- I can sing to Janice any day any time! That girl has some soul and makes you feel like a woman that can conquer it all.
book: Nancy Drew - she rocks
movie: Powerpuff Girls - Buttercup kicks

Girl Power Questionairre

2007-10-17T13:33:00.001-05:00

Today's challenge? A Questionairre. Twenty Questions about being a GIRL.

1. Name - Karen
2. Pink - Love it or Hate it? Love it!
3. Signature shade of lipstick, lipgloss, etc. Mary Kay
4. Do you have a best girl friend? Yes
5. Do you have a woman mentor? Yes, thanks Joyce!
6. Are you a woman mentor to someone else? Yes
7. Tomboy or Princess? In between
8. Favorite Girl Band - Cindy Lauper
9. Are you a mom? Do you want to be one? Yes
10. Do you and your mom have any rituals? We did
11. Fashion magazines - yea or nay. Ideas! Yes!
12. Do you have a feel good outfit? Yes
13. Have you called your grandma or special aunt, or special older lady lately? Yes
14. Signature Scent? Victoria Secret
15. Favorite female tv character -Hannah Montana
16. Favorite place to hang out with gal pals? at the movies
17. Did you ever ditch your girl friends to be with a guy? Do you still? in the past
18. Friend you call when you need a laugh? thanks Deanna - for this morning
19. Friend you call when you need a shoulder to cry on? thanks Deanna - for this morning
20. Have you reminded your friends of how much they mean to you lately? Yes!!!

It's a sad day when kittens jump

2007-10-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

Here we sit at 11:30 pm in silence. No kitties meowing. Mama cat sad. The story goes like this.
In June we bought our home and moved in. Along with it came a stray young cat. It kept coming up on our deck. It was so skinny so we fed it. We noticed we were feeding it well because it grew fast. Realization came that this sweet cat was pregnant. Great! I thought. I did not even like cats. We are allergic! We had a Siamese once a couple years back but with that breed we had no problems. That cat died from a chocolate ice cream overdose when my 19 yo son left his big custard container in the driveway when he came home from working at Culver's. After that I swore (opps, swearing again. I know, I vow to never swear again) we would never do cats again.
So, here is this fat mama cat. What do we do? Should we call the human society? I did. They keep cats in no kill but are back logged. Some cats and kittens have been there for years! In cages, for years. I would feel terrible if I let this mama cat and kittens live in cages. So I went door to door asking if someone lost a pg cat. they said "If she is pg it isn't ours!"
That kills those options. The day came where she was to deliver. Mama cat lost one kitten (Lolly) that was the runt and the other 5 were fine. Those five turned into the sweetest darned cats ever. I think we fell in love. - yes - I am still in denial you know. Panther (Jed's), Bubbles (Josey's), Poet (Wynter's), Garfunkel (Cheyenne's) and Elmo (Gabby's). The oldest kids each had their own kitten.... for a time. Only for a time we said. They would grow up and find new homes. That day approached and we were getting ideas on what to do with them. Cheyenne's friend wanted Panther so he is on hold until Sunday which is his pick up day. Today was the big day. Why today? The kittens are jumping out of their play center that Dan built in our garage. He made a pen out of dry wall and they had their own little home/area near our garage door. Who knew that at 7 wks they could jump 2.5 feet.
I hated the thought of them getting injured because of jumping over the edge that was a big fall or getting into something in the garage. We put the thinking hats on. We took 3 kittens to the school in a box and walked into the superintendent's office. I told him to take a couple. He declined but it was a good try. Shot down! We drove to the Ford dealership where my husband manages. I called him on my cell telling him that I had a delivery. I told him to take them to his employees and each one who takes a kitten would get a raise. Dan said that would be illegal. Darn! But... a bonus wouldn't be illegal, right? So, as we sat in the van Dan took the box of kittens in. We saw these men ooo'ing and awww'ing over those 3 cute kittens. Dan came back out in 5 minutes and said he thought 2 for sure were taken. By the time I got home Dan called saying to bring more cats because he ran out. lol. All 3 were taken. So still left were Panther awaiting his departure and Elmo. Elmo is a disabled special needs kitty. He has growth problems and a bad rear leg. He loves people and he just wants cuddled. I am not sure what will happen with our lil' Elmo. And poor Sugar. (Yes, we named mama cat Sugar cause she is so sweet). She felt so sad when I came home without her other 3 kittens.
While it is a sad and quiet night I am very relieved and thankful that we found them good homes. My kids were thinking up some serious schemes. My daughter told me about what her friend does to give away free things. It got them thinking. Their parents own the local Little Debbie distribution and when they have extra Little Debbie's they take them to their church and put them under the free sign that is up. Her friend said that they all get taken right away. My kids knew that Little Debbie was a good incentive to get people to take things so they were really contemplating putting these kittens inside of some empty Little Debbie boxes and putting them under the free sign at church. Hmmmm... would that be false advertising? lol On the fun side though, a kitten might have been named Little Debbie!

Week 1 @ A Fancy Word For Simple

2007-10-16T12:10:00.000-05:00

This week’s theme: GIRL POWER. What do you love about being a woman? What do you despise?What are some of the challenges faced by women?Where have we been as a gender? Where are we headed?

That is this weeks theme. I may be a minority but my thoughts are this. Beware this can get deep but please love me despite my views.

I personally love being a woman that can be an at home mother and wife. I love this career and responsibility. To me this is the greatest job in the world. Raising my children as moral, loving and hard working people will hopefully be a huge impact on the world. I give a toast to all mothers who can stay at home with their kids and raise them. Children need their mothers. Husbands need their wives.

All creation has bonds with the mother. Even animals let their babies roam and play but they stay with their kids until they are fully ready for the world. They rarely get daycare to help. I think this rings true for humans as well. In my opinion, my kids can handle playing sports, being in plays, taking band lessons etc. But I do not agree that a child should have to take on the world and other people's morals 6-8 hrs each day and only being with their family for a mere few hours. In those few hours instead of relaxing and playing many times those hours are spent redirecting your families morals in your child.
I lived the life of both so I have been there when I had to reprogram my son and daughter as children, pre-teens and teenagers. There was no time in those after school hours for them or our family to just enjoy them being children.

I hope that no one takes my opinions as criticism because our freedom in this country is exactly that. "Freedom" of choice. I have freedoms to decide what I feel is best and the same with other women and their choices. I also understand that being a single mother or a families income is another factor of being able to do this. We did at one time however have 6 children with only my husbands income of under 30,000 per year. We re prioritized what was needed. Have you seen the tv show with the family of 12 children? They buy in bulk, lol

I despise that in this age more women feel the need for more power. I see many at home mothers feel less worthy about themselves. What is more powerful than raising a child/children to be a stand out unique soul in this country? Being an at home mother does not mean you cannot have other skills. And cooking and cleaning is not all that we do! We can write, we can create, we can help our soul mates be the leaders this land should have. This is a big burden on us at times but it is a very large role in life that we play.

Challenges, we have many but as I somewhat stated before, I think a big challenge is just being able to know what our life's goals should be. We have a need to feel good about our selves. While feeling good about ourselves is a wonderful thing I feel that it can be very selfish. Feeling good about what we do for others is (to me) a better focus. If we cared about others and the direction of our future we would in return feel as high as a queen.

Where have we been? I think we have been stuck. We have been queens in the home and queens in the workplace. We want them both but cannot have both lives. We have not been thinking of priorities but more of ourselves. -Ouch- don't throw stones now.

Headed? I think we will be headed into a more stuck position. Roles are being switched. What walk of life do "I" take to make my life complete? Do we see the animal kingdom changing gender roles. What animal lets the wife bring home the "bacon/pig" each day, every day? I am not saying that men cannot help in the home. Penguin males help with their children as many species do. Men should help us with the responsibilities of the family but I for one will not give up my role as a woman. I want to be the "Vice President" in my home. Sorry Hillary.

Am I a submissive woman? Yes. Check out my blog though. Do I sound submissive? Submissive doesn't mean stupid, lower or quiet. It just gives me the chair "next" to the man instead of over or under the man.

A Fancy Word for Simple

2007-10-14T17:31:00.000-05:00

so I just checked out this site from a link of Barbs. I like it. I think this blog will help me be
1. not a blog slacker
2. give thanks for simple things
3. take action on a few of life's issues
and...
4. find myself when I get lost

if you are interested in checking it out here is the link up: http://www.fancysimple.blogspot.com/

Keeping a Promise?

2007-10-14T10:28:00.000-05:00

this has been on my mind lately. Do I swear to my kids? lol, ok, not that kind of swearing. Promises? Do you make them? Even making promises to our kids and not keeping them is wrong. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. When you make a promise to a friend, promise to pay a bill or promise to take our kids to a movie.

I hear by will not make promises that I can not stand by. I will let my yes be a yes.

James 5:12 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

12Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.

Memories

2007-10-14T10:19:00.000-05:00

I just came across this photography essay I did 3 years ago. I totally forgot about it.

Fall Comes and Goes as FAST as it Came

2007-10-12T17:38:00.000-05:00

What is it with fall? This season comes like a rush at the end of Sept and here it is mid Oct and it feels as if it is winter already. We had to have our heat turned on last night or we would have been frozen.
This week has been filled with sickness (flu? shhh... I know, I said the bad f word). Cheyenne and Jed got it on Monday and Gabby got it on Wednesday. Has it passed? Let's just say it isn't as fast as the passing of the season because they all still feel yuck. No one else has came down with it and I am praying that we don't! I have too much to do and this week has been lax with homeschooling since kids are sick. So, I have no time. I say it again: "no time for sickness!"

Scrap-Tastic Round 2

2007-10-10T15:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the Scrap-Tastic challenge for Round 2. We were supposed to use 25% stamping on the layout and list what we would do to change the world.

This layout has journaling for 2 persons. One to my God and what I would love to change for Him and the same journaling to my oldest daughter in regards to what I would love to change to make her future brighter. Journaling reads: If I could change the world I would make it all pure and clean. Habitat full of green, beauty one has never seen. Your colors free to be shown. If I could change the world it would all be true, no lies no selfishness. It would all be for you.

Scrap-Tasticness

2007-10-08T15:34:00.000-05:00

Scrap-Tastic is at it again! A beauty pageant. I am now going into Round 2 and I am hoping that they look at the inner beauty cause there is a lot of competition in this one. Come check out the talent!

Here is my Round 1 layout. We had to incorporate our fave scent by the colors we used and the overall feel of our layout.

Jack Johnson - Upside Down

2007-10-06T12:48:00.001-05:00

what a happy song!

Perfect Rain

2007-09-18T09:37:00.000-05:00

Today is perfect. It is raining but still perfect. God gave perfect rain along with a perfect place to praise Him. What couldn't we praise Him for? He has made it all perfect.
Well, my headache isn't quite prefect. The terrible news each day of war and destruction, crime, pollution, divorce are also a few things not perfect. But, that is all by human means, not by Gods means. He gave us rights to do with things as we should. I for one will sit here in my God given space and try using my free will for His purpose and glory. Sharing love.

If you are having a bad day just email me. I will pray that God can give you some perfect rain and take your headache away.

I was tagged. Random Things ---

2007-09-10T08:26:00.000-05:00

Becky (check out her blog:http://beckyteich.blogspot.com/ ) tagged me, so I must keep this going! Thanks Becky for helping me get back to blogging and having a bit of fun!

The Rules: So this is how it works. I must post the rules, 7 random things about me and then tag others to do the same. Sound fair enough, right? These are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment.

1. I cannot go up or down an escalator. Becky- I hope you don't close your eyes when you drive over those bridges! lol

2. I love any music you can jump to. Not mosh, just jump.

3. I hate direct sales. Don't even come near me with a Tupperware catalog. It may take years to get over some built up resentment.

4. I like getting all painted, glued up and inked while scrapping or altering. It makes me feel so hands on!

5. I always try to find the good in all circumstances. Everything happens for a reason.

6. I want to be a vegan.

7. I always tell strangers to come over and visit or to call me. Dan hates it. He doesn't like me making best friends with strangers. Last week I told a lady that I have talked to briefly before to call me so we could go to a movie. - lol - I am just too random!

And now I will tag:

Amy
Emine
Erin
Kimmie
Caroline
Chey Chey

School Started!

2007-09-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

Last week we started homeschooling. We usually go through the summer but we started all over with new curriculum from the school system so we want to be on their time line. So now I have a senior, an 8th grader, a 5th grader, a 3rd grader and Jed in Kindergarten. Talk about stress! All I hear all day is "Mom, help me". I love to feel needed but why can't they ask ALL questions BEFORE I walk back up the steps? SO far this week I have had a few petitions from the children who had their books touching each others desks. God forbid that Wynter's book touches Josey's desk!
All in all, we will survive!

- Dear Lord, can You please have Jera and Ella hypnotised by Barney this week while I give the lessons. That would be much help to me! Amen

Zaneta Kazia - interesting

2007-09-10T08:12:00.000-05:00

Your Biblical Name Is...

Zaneta Kazia

You will live to see the end of times.

What's" Your Biblical Name?

where do I start?

2007-08-21T08:41:00.001-05:00

I think the biggest news that you will get a kick out of is that I am a nature freak now. Organic all the way. The entire family will not be eating at any fast food again. The kids are doing great. Our lifestyle has changed. The budget for food has changed too! We eat less though so that is good. Eating healthy feels great. No preservatives, no additives, all raw and organic. We will be buying milk from the cow now, organic and friendly killed (as friendly as you can kill something!) beef, bison and chicken. Why? We started out to cleanse our body of the toxins we have eaten for years. It is sick what we eat and what we have given our kids. Just sick. Do you know that we have been eating foods altered with mutated genes that CAUSE tumors? Yes, it is true. Those tumors make the foods, veggies and fruits bigger so they SELL better (all for the love of money!) but those same foods have been possibly linked to causing cancer and tumors in humans. Sick that they knew the genes killed pigs but hey, give it to my kids! What the heck. Do you think the fda and cdc would take things off the shelf and cause a scare? Heck no. That would be so many foods that we couldn't even do it. It would be mass hysteria more than even bird flu epidemic. Anyway, we feel better and healthy! We MUST do anything we can do to KEEP us and our kids a little longer.

let me give a quick update
May-June: move in
June: camp, camp and more camps to send kids to (Josey's b day)
July: visits from family almost each weekend, Chey's driver's ed

August: camping, news of my best friends breast cancer (PLEASE PRAY!), news of my father's brain tumor PLEASE PRAY!) my b day, Chey's b day, band practice for Josey and Wynter at school and I have entered a contest at Treasured Scrapbooking. Check it out!

this is where I left off, August 21st. this is today.

2 months + where have I been

2007-07-20T09:24:00.001-05:00

As you can tell, I took a break from online life, scrapbooking and my random blogging. I think I am back. I feel some mojo for scrapping and a friend gave a link from her blog to a contest so I may have to try it out. I feel the need to talk again. How can one person named "me" stop herself from talking? OMG it has been hard. Like I was tied and gagged. I have so much to say but so little blog space. All I can say for now is that for some of those goofy people _____BECKY_____, NO I AM NOT PG! silly little girl! Just been away and taking long looks at these tons of kids I have. I love looking at them because they will be 18 tomorrow! (ok, maybe many more years than that but it feels like tomorrow)
Oh and I guess I have been scrapping a little. I have scrapped my walls. Took a lot of paper but it was fun.

pray for me

2007-05-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

not to be cranky. Why am I cranky you might ask? Well, remember that the house we bought was a foreclosure? It was. I felt terrible for them. They lost their home. They had health/income issues so I felt really bad. After understanding the background though, they didn't do well in choices even before they had health issues so I started feeling less sad about buying the house that they were evicted from. Don't get me wrong, I still feel awful that anyone would lose their home....
Now I am getting cranky though. While we have been remodelling the home before we move someone has been driving into the long drive to an OVERGROWN flower bed to steal the landscaping rocks. Hmmm... why would they even dare to come back and snag the rocks. A couple of weeks ago when I looked at it I thought I remembered there being more rocks. I just shrugged it off as it being my imagination. Last week, again... hmmmm seemed to be more rocks. TODAY!!! 30+ rocks are missing total. Seriously, someone knows the property well enough to know we are not actually living in it. No one could tell by just looking at the road, the house is far off the road. The SOLD sign is visible so this is now (and was) theft.
It scares me that we have thousands of dollars in equipment there and we have no way to protect it. I just pray they are done with the rock stealing. A couple of weeks ago 10 pm on a Tuesday, Dan and I drove in to our new house drive. We turned off the lights and just sat in the dark looking at the stars and praising God. (YES! We were just looking at the stars!) Anyway, a car came driving into the long drive. I said, "Dan, go tell them the house is sold!" Even though I wondered how they would see a thing in the pitch black night. We just thought it was just a person doing a drive by late at night. They drove into the back drive (Where THIS overgrown garden area is)! We turned our truck lights on and they backed up quick and left.
Could we have caught them in the act? I bet we could have! What freaks me out is that they had the audacity to come back AGAIN and steal more rocks after that night.
What did I do today? I wrote them a big note on a HUGE box. I placed the big huge box in the garden propped up by a few of the "said rocks". The note read: OUR HOUSE NOW - OUR PROPERTY NOW - PRIVATE PROPERTY - KEEP OUT - WE ARE WATCHING - SO IS GOD - HE WILL FORGIVE YOU BUT DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING ELSE EVER AGAIN! - JESUS LOVES YOU

so bottom line is ... please pray that I can stop being cranky. It is not the thought of rocks being taken but simply that people would come to steal from us. I also want my kids and family safe. Peace out.

What?

2007-05-08T23:37:00.000-05:00

newest pet peeve. see my time I am posting to understand this one. right now it is 11:42 pm

MOWING LAWN? What is with people? People are SLEEPING at 11:42 pm. Aren't they?
We are downtown and an assisted living elderly center is across the street, in back of us. The person who mows for them is finding they can mow better late at night I take it. The poor old folks. I bet they will be cranky tomorrow or very hot from having windows all closed up.

I cannot move soon enough!

Another subject.
Today. ... we had a great day today but a CRUDDY evening. At approx 6:30 my kids were in the back yard playing softball when they came in screaming that Jed was bleeding from the head. He was gushing/spraying blood from his head above his eye and I acted quick. Towel and phone. 911! They put his head in the head brace and got him on a stretcher. We were back home within 45 minutes thanks to small children having huge thick skulls and big brains. He was able to take the head brace home as a memory. Dan asked me to take pictures for the scrapbook! Good gosh, men and boys may brag but I just can't even scrap about this type of thing. My emotions just get flared even thinking of accidents.

my tenderhearted twins

2007-05-08T01:01:00.000-05:00

imagini

2007-05-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

house progress

2007-05-05T22:49:00.000-05:00

I do not want to bore those who don't want to hear me ramble on and on about the progress of our new house so here is a link for those of you who want to see the progress pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/uscrop/HouseProgress
The 78 yo painter man will be starting some of the painting on Monday @ 10am ... estimated date for construction completion is May 18th. Cleaning people, May 19th and moving date is May 25th or sooner. Things that will not be completed will be all 4 bathroom remodels, scrapbook room walls, guest bedroom walls, pantry walls and flooring and master closet. At least that is a small to do list!

another song for Joey

2007-04-27T23:30:00.000-05:00

Johnny Cash - June Carter Cash

http://pcdon.com/-JohnnyCash-JuneCarterCash-FarsideBanksOfJordan.wav

to a land where joy will never end

2007-04-27T23:20:00.000-05:00

I'll Fly Away by Jars of Clay

Perfect Joey

2007-04-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

such sadness we feel when people we love are sick. we also feel sadness when they are just entertaining angels in our lives. Jen's family has helped make their Joey an entertaining angel amongst many people. his story. his fight and now his VICTORY dance. I say victory because he will soon no longer have sickness or sadness but only love and joy. perfect Joey. We need angels like him to make us aware and make it real for people who have never felt hardships and sickness. Thank You Jen, Thank You Joey. This song is for him.

All My Tears by Jars of Clay

Update from Tania:

UPDATE April 26, 2007: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR JEN AND HER FAMILY. Joey was life-flighted to the hospital last night. the blog has been updated.....$10,119 donated. donations are still being accepted.

UPDATE April 22, 2007: $9,427 donated! the blog has been updated with a picture of jen's little man.
www.benefitforjen.blogspot.com

Movin In - Countdown - 6 days!

2007-04-24T12:04:00.000-05:00

and a layout to show my excitement! See the packing tape in the layout? I wanted to show that off!!!
This is for the Scrap-Tastic Idol contest. The last round. This was the most fun contest I have been in. The people, the food, the scenery! Ok, I will stop at the people. They are a fun group of scrappers over there. Come and join us!

AZSCRAP.COM

2007-04-16T21:49:00.000-05:00

I didn't want to cross post so go check out my blog post AT http://scrappingtime.blogspot.com/
I blogged about my TLC instructor/friend who has sweet new offerings. Check her out!!!

did she deserve? * PG 18 Caution *

2007-04-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

and caution to my other sister who may see this and cry. I love you - Karen

the layout "Did She Deserve To Be Murdered" This layout is about my sister who was murdered 14 years ago. It seems as if just yesterday and this was major therapy for me. Thanks for this REAL challenge. Wow!

There is no picture and the dates are "0". It represents that time was something robbed from us. Stitching is messy because the "topic" (not my sister) is a sad mess. The inking. A lot of it. The title. Rub on's, stickers, tiles and chipboard.

Please forgive the spell check. This was a heartfelt topic and I thought the spell check worked but it didn't.

Journaling:
my sister. she once made a homemade bomb and threw it in the toilet at school. she ran away from home. was that bad enough? she flaunted her beauty. she lied. one time I found a gun in her dresser. it was really a pot pipe. I was 10. I was scared. she was older than me but we fought as if we were twins. she left her husband and two kids to be a bartender in New Orleans. she left it all. drugs. she didn’t leave them until that year. rehab. she wanted to quit. she did quit. it all. her life was full of crap but did she deserve to be murdered? she left rehab that week to get shot by a man she befriended in rehab. no, she didn’t deserve it. she deserved love. she deserved love and now she has it. she is in Jesus’ arms. a saved messed up life. I pray the man who shot her and himself is a saved soul as well. they shouldn’t deserve hell.

Scrap Tastic! Woo Hooooo

2007-04-10T17:04:00.000-05:00

I am having so much fun with the A Idol contest at Scrap-Tastic> Come over and check out the talent of this round! http://Scrap-Tastic.com

I wanted the layout theme to be "universal". Thus the "world" theme.

The front of the layout before opened journaling says: Welcome To My (fun) World. Jesus - He is the center of my universe. Everything I do "should" revolve around Him. He is the center of my upside down, crazy, fun filled life.

I printed a globe on transparency and printed my song on it as well.

I wanted the outside to be of the SUN shining it's rays but really the theme is to mean "the Son" as in my Jesus. It represents how I should always try to live inside His ways.

The other side is also trying to resemble the solar system and how I am always spinning around trying to keep up with my life.

The journaling here is : Welcome To My World (Jim Reeves) the life according to Karen, Upside Down Your;'e Turning Me and Love, Love, Love, All You Need Is Love. I care that my life will show my love for my God, my family and love of all people.

Song printed is Satellite by Shaun Groves:

My soul takes flight, drawn to your light
Satellite
Can't get enough, orbiting your love,
Satellite
You are the center of my universe, universe.
You are the center of my universe, universe.
Your gravity, has captured me.
Satellite
My soul revolves, my will disolves.
Satellite
You are the center of my universe, universe
You are the center of my universe, universe
You pulled me in, you set my spin, you chart my course, around your word,
You are the center of my universe, universe
You are the center of my universe, universe
You are the center of my universe, universe
You are the center of my universe, universe
I'm your Satellite.

Happy Skulls!

2007-04-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

Does anyone like the skulls I see everywhere lately?

Cheyenne wanted to make it more HAPPY
... look at these! HAPPY SKULLS! Designed by Chey

http://www.cafepress.com/HappySkullsTees

plumber or demolition?

2007-04-03T00:28:00.000-05:00

I hate water right now. It ruins things! But look at this. Not sure what is worse, the water damage or the plumbers.
They totally took down the wood (hahaha carefully! - NOT)

and then they just put the wood back up to cover the hole in the dry wall they made. Like we wouldn't notice? We want our drywall back. We bought the house with drywall and expect it to have it when we move in. So they did this is more than one area of the house. When they were finished (HA again) they left this.... (picture of 1 inch of standing water)

and it is STILL leaking. Ya think they lost their job? So now we sit having to get bids on new walls, carpet and tile. Fun Fun. Soon enough though.
Why is water annoying me everywhere lately? Is this a sign from God? Things to ponder.

Scrap-Tastic!

2007-04-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

here is a layout I have done for the Scrap-Tastic idol contest. It is so much fun and the girls over there are a bunch of fun and crazy girls. We could use some scrapping fellows to keep us under reins though. lol -

Flood

2007-04-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

God may have promised to never flood the entire earth again but he never said anything about someone's basement. New house, old house = wet! I am so not liking this wet spring right now. Say a prayer for me if you have free time. This cranky lady may need some.

One Week Later

2007-03-29T08:36:00.000-05:00

and I am planning window treatments and paint colors!

On Friday our realtor again called to say that we had papers to sign. I was in tears of happiness and just wanted to rush over and sign them all. On Saturday our realtor told us the newest bad news. The papers were not signed by the bank. He thought that with all of this back and forth paperwork and messiness that things were being forgot, overlooked and just rushed through. We OBVIOUSLY needed their sig on the accepted offer ya know. So, here I sat in his office on Saturday with tears but not of happiness. We filled out NEW papers and a NEW offer to purchase again. Did I ever say weary? Monday came and our guy called to say he forgot to have us sign another spot. What?! Oh my. We were hoping this was already faxed to the bank. Someone could be stealing the house with a higher offer as this process prolongs. (While we were at the house on Saturday I happened to scare away someone when they did a drive through of the driveway... I won't go on to tell that story. I refrain) Anyway, back to Monday. They faxed the new paperwork. Dan called that bank in Texas 3x and left messages. If nothing else we would make them so sick of us they would want to hurry up to get rid of us.
I think it worked! Tuesday morning our guy came with the REAL papers to sign. ALL IS LEGAL. It WILL be our house. Closing date: April 25th!
Tuesday I picked out interior paint colors and set up Friday to have a painters estimate. Yesterday I picked out carpeting and ceramic tile for the entire house. Today I meet the designer to measure for the carpet, tile and windows and I will pick out the blinds and window treatments. Tonight we go to pick out our refrigerator, dishwasher and oven. Woo Hoo! Call me happy. Call me secure. (well.... almost)

can you say 12 days later?

2007-03-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

we so called have an accepted offer... so called. We sit and wait for the papers. Why do we wait? We had an accepted offer Sat March 10th but the closing date was the end of March. We have to wait for the bank to change the dates to April. Policy says they can't change it past the month it was originally for. Whatever. Anyway, legally they could get another offer that is higher and take it. That would suck. That would more than suck. We do have proof and a banker on a voice mail just yesterday saying we still had an accepted offer. Anyway, waiting game again. We had the inspection and it passed. Yeah!

can you say

2007-03-10T19:09:00.000-06:00

accepted offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who wants to help pack?

a couple new layouts

2007-03-07T00:58:00.000-06:00

here are a couple that I did for the AI contest at http://scrap-tastic.com

still waiting

2007-02-27T01:13:00.000-06:00

Prayers needed!!! As most of you know we did place an offer on the brown house. They have 2 offers. Ours and the other realtor. We are pretty certain it is the same realtor that we were in a bidding war last time. We both didn't win that war. Last week the bank looked at both offers and came back and asked us both for our highest and best offer. I sure hope we win. They have until Wed Feb 28th - 12 pm to respond. I would love good news. I have claimed it with God. He knows my weary heart. I am tired.

This is only a house, could you imagine if it were a child we were desiring? I pray for those waiting and weary people much more than myself.

a fresh new day

2007-02-21T09:35:00.000-06:00

The weekend was long with sick kids. We didn't make it to church because both Dan and I had only a couple of hr sleep. The preds made Ella hyper and Jera was coming down with the cough too. Tues pm I finally took Ella, Jera, Jed and Josey into the ER. After waiting 3 hrs we were seen. They all had ear infections and Jera had the beginnings of what could be croup so they got new meds. Last night they all slept GREAT. Dan and I feel we are new people. Yeah! I hope the recovery goes well as we all hide in our house so we don't pick up a new germ.

We haven't heard about the house offer. Tomorrow is our deadline we gave. I pray we hear some news.

Here are a few pictures to share of the twins in the sink.

Friday 2-16-2007

2007-02-16T22:30:00.000-06:00

captains log

my day started with another sick baby -
9:20 am computer almost crashed - blue screen- I prayed heavily when rebooting- Praise God, He listened - bought a removable hard drive - 10 am - 12:30 pm deleting unwanted files and organizing the wanted - 12:30 pm- 6:30 pm transferring thousands of photos and media files to the removable hd - salvation! - ate the best scrumptious Dan burgers (he makes the best!) - 7 pm another sick child coming down with fever and cough, 3 more kids to go - 7:30 pm talking to realtor to make a written offer on the "brown" house tomorrow - 8 pm kids watching movie, putting babies to sleep - 10:37 pm babies are in bed, kids just finished with the movie and it is my time to sleep

tomorrow- Gabby's 8th birthday.

Monday ... a day in Ellaville

2007-02-12T20:43:00.000-06:00

again, sickness. We just got back from taking Ella to the Dr. Her monthly sickness is back. This time croup (sp?) and an ear infection. They tested for the flu but it was neg. She got a shot in the leg and a prescription for 2 meds. Poor baby. I pray that the others do not get this virus. I just finished my Scrapdango design team layouts. I think I like them! lol - I thought it would have been hard since this was a sick day. It was using Dream Street papers so I was used to them. I can't get enough of that company! We are going to look at the "brown" house again tomorrow. 2nd showing. We need to know if this is really the one we want. There are so many negatives as well as positives. Which outweighs them? I have no clue. Will leave it to Dan for the final decision. Submission at it's best!

a day in Naperville .... and more

2007-02-09T15:37:00.000-06:00

on Monday we left for Naperville. Deanna (Dan's mom) came to take care of the seven kids and I let her know that I was weaning the girls since I would be gone for 2 nights. (Good luck Mom! lol) Going through Madison we stopped to see Dan's brother and his family. We haven't seen them since Oct of 2005 so we had 2 years of Christmas presents and birthday presents from last year. It was so nice to see them. Jessica gave me a couple of toddler seats so the girls could be at the kitchen table and lots of fun things and more presents to take home. We got to Naperville by midnight and we were exhausted from the 6 hrs in the car but it was so nice to sleep with no babies waking us.
On Tues. Dan left for his meeting and classes while I slept in. I slept and slept and slept. I didn't get out of bed until 10:30 am. What a dream. I took a shower and then decided to take a bath too. I don't get these peaceful moments much so I wanted to enjoy the time alone. I painted my fingers and toes. I haven't painted my toes since I had the twins. Wow! They look pretty again :) I couldn't wait to show Dan my painted tootsies!
At 12 pm I ventured out of the hotel. What in the world! A snow storm! Why? Why me? I tried to drive but only made it a few blocks and chickened out. I went to the hotel desk and they ordered me a cab. I waited and waited and waited. 1 pm finally a man came running in to the lobby and yelling about who it was who ordered a cab. Like I wasn't waiting and ready for an hour already. He asked me if I REALLY wanted to go to the outlet mall and I said yes. He said some crazy things like how Chicago was in the state of distress and that nobody should be going that far. (9 miles) . The desk manager said "I bet that is what the people who work at the outlet mall think too but they probably had to do their job to please their customers." Way to go desk manager! So he said "whatever!" and told me to hurry up. While in his cab he ran a couple of red lights, complained about taking me to the outlet mall, yelled and swore at the snow and at the radio dispatcher and kept telling me that I should go to the other mall that was only 3 miles away. He was swerving so much and cutting people off. I heard at least a few people honking at us. What a ride. I would never complain about my husbands driving again. I knew that we didn't go in the direction that the hotel told me for the outlet mall so I asked him about it. He said that we could go that way too. OK... you know where you are going I thought. He kept telling me that I would be better off at the other mall and that the cabs wouldn't be at the outlet when I was done. I again said that I needed to go to the outlet mall. We drove into the "other mall" parking lot and I figured he had to pick someone up. We stopped and he told me the fee of $21.00; I said "ahem, this is not the outlet mall." He said" @$#%F I thought I talked you out of it $@%^!" I was scared to death but said "no, I just told you a block away again" He again yelled at me about how I should just go to this mall we were at and that if not it would cost me another 20 $. I said "Are you serious? I told you where I wanted to go and they told me when I ordered the cab it would only be 18.00 for a 9 mile trip." Now he charged me $21 for a 3 mile ride and was going to charge me another $20 to go where I wanted to go! This is the cabby from hell! I said "fine" and handed the $ to him and got out. I was not going to stay in this cab when he was mad. He was crazy enough when he wasn't mad.
The first thing I did when I got in the mall was call the cab company. I told them my adventure and they are sending me 1/2 refund. The other option was them sending the SAME cabby to get me and take me to the outlet mall or my hotel. No way! Imagine what he was like after he knew that I called.
So I shopped. A new winter Fubu pale yellow coat for myself, candy flower suckers for the kids, a high school musical cd for Wynter, a new Victoria Secrets bra and The Children's Place clothes for the 5 youngest kids. What a sale! Oh no! I remembered that I left Dan a note to pick me up at the outlet mall. I called the hotel desk and asked them to change my note. They did. At 5:15 I talked to Dan at the hotel he said he was on his way to pick me up. I prayed and prayed because he finally showed up at 7:15! It took him that long to get just a few miles in that weather and traffic. Poor husband. He asked if I wanted to eat now at a restaurant near the mall. I said I wanted a shower first. Bad choice Karen. After the shower and us playing a little on the hotel computer to send an email to the kids it was after 9 pm. We decided to try downtown Naperville for some food. We drove around but didn't see anything that jumped at us. We wished we looked in the phonebook or online for a good place to eat since we didn't know where to drive. Dan asked if we should just go back to the mall area and I said sure. He took a different road. It was pretty and we were sight seeing while driving. After 30 min Dan said he may need to turn around. We went a different way and another 30 min Dan asked for directions. We had just missed the street we we turned around the first time. Once we got near the mall every restaurant was closed. Other than fast food or Denny's. We ate Denny's. Our food came around 11 pm and we were back at the hotel by 12. We slept again! This time I woke up at 9 am. I was meeting Janet at the sb store. It was so nice to meet one of my favorite 2peas scrapper :) She is so nice and her girlie was the cutest lil kiddo. Not to mention that she was the best behaved kid I have ever seen in a sb store. I am hoping that Janets creative juices escaped on me. I picked up some good stuff for Cheyenne while I was there too. When she had to leave she gave me directions to the outlet mall. One more try at it with me in the drivers seat this time. It was fun to browse and I stopped at The Children's Place one more time to find more sales. 99 cents! So if you see all four of my youngest girls in the same skirt every day but different pattern you will know they were a 99 cent find. I picked Dan up the hotel and we headed back to our home sweet home. Driving through Madison we detoured to eat at Pedro's, our favorite Mexican restaurant. This was our treat :) Add some fried ice cream and I was in heaven. We got home at midnight to an alarm going off as we entered. SpyTech trip wire sensors really work. Josey wanted to know exactly when we arrived. Kids, I missed them all!
Thursday I caught up on laundry and did a class for an elderly assisted living home. What a group of gals. Fun! Friday - today - the kids let me sleep until 10 am. They better stop spoiling me like this. I think they just don't want me to ever leave again just to be able to sleep in.

What am I doing now? After writing this I am throwing in another load of laundry, moping a floor or two, searching the net for houses and scrapping. I may even throw in some family time with a movie night. I love my family. I love my life. I really love my life.

it continues........... is it meant to be?

2007-02-03T22:51:00.000-06:00

Just this morning I got on the net and searched. I thought that I found it! I really thought I had found my dream home.

(I added a few pictures here. Please note the first picture is looking down from the stairs into a SCRAPBOOK AREA with custom cabinets and a sink. This area pretty much only suits a scrapbooker IMO. lol)

So at 3pm we looked at the "brown" house today. While I think we may be placing an offer on it I do want to say that the pictures were taken "creatively" :o There is a lot of work needed but it has major potential. The work is not too costly or hard but it is enough to not pay their asking price. We doubt anyone will come to that asking price. It is a new listing but if they don't come down it very well may sit empty for over a year.

It is 16 acres but just through the woods is the 4 lane highway so it has traffic noise. (Dan didn't like that. Me? I say... I WANT A HOUSE!) lol You give and take and I really do want to TAKE something now. Anyway, I think we may be placing an offer when we get back from our Chicago trip.

Unless that is we happen to buy the house we really want before next week.
You may get a laugh at this but after looking at this house today we decided to walk on the wild side. :mrgreen: Dan and I are fairly wild side kinda people anyway you know.

Anyone who remembers my old blog and the start of our house venture may remember the "blue house". Yes, that blue house that is still in my dreams. Yes, that house that was the first of many that I said were "meant to be". One of these meant to be's are really meant to be you know. So I will keep up with my motto of "it was meant to be".

So we took a drive past the original house that we wanted to buy when we first moved here Sept 2005. It was a foreclosure. We made an offer last year. The bank wanted 14 day financing so it wasn't an accepted offer. Someone snagged it the next day when we were going to make the 14 day offer. Ouch.
It seems as if they do not have kids. Just a husky dog. Maybe they don't really "need" the 6 bedroom, 4 bath house. (lol) Hey, you never know! So Dan and I drove past to stop in and ask if we could buy it for 50-75000 more than they paid for it a year ago. (that is how we saw the dog in the window in case you thought we may be wacko stalkers) They weren't home. Dan is going to go back tomorrow to ask them. I told him to drive our 15 passenger van to look more needy and to verify that we actually did own eight children. lol. I figure it is 50-50 chance of them saying yes or no. That kind of an offer also comes once in a lifetime so if they do not take our offer they may never sell it for that.
It reminds me of that commercial where the family just comes right into the house saying "we will take it!" and the house was not even for sale. I am almost ready to squat and claim someones house while they are away on vacation. lol, just kidding. Anyway, wish us luck talking to the "blue house" owners tomorrow.

House Hunting Horror

2007-02-02T16:10:00.000-06:00

Our house hunting is not any more fun than when we started. It is a nightmare. We have made offers on a few and lost each one. When will other people stop trying to bid over us? This last time really hurt. We had it in our fingers and we were only a few 000. under the other bidder. Ouch!

We looked at 2 places yesterday. One was a house and had 5 bedrooms but it was not what I liked and a lot of small fix up's that I knew we would never do. I just didn't like it. My husband on the other hand sort of liked it.

When we were walking out my husband said "what don't you like about it?" I didn't want to run my list in front of our realtor so I just said "a lot of things".

Dan: like what?
Me: I just didn't like it
Dan: Well, I guess we have to build then (this is his way of being cranky)
Me: We can talk later if you want

I looked up at our realtor and the look on his face was shock. I started laughing hysterically saying "you must see a lot of fights!"

He said he had and shared a few funny counselling sessions he had with some couples.

On the way to the other property I told Dan about a listing that was newer just down a road that we were near. We pulled over and waved down our realtor who was following so we could drive past it on our way to the other property.

When he pulled up I screamed out the passenger window "We decided we do not need a house after all!" He just laughed and said, "Is this where the counselling starts?" lol

Ok... so we pull up to the "other" property. It is a 12 bed elderly resident unit. Yeah Yeah, I know what you are saying. It would fit us. True! So we looked. Very nice but it is an elderly home for goodness sakes!

If we convert it to a home, where is the resale possibility? Yes, you would have awesome ramps through out the home for bikes and skateboard stunts. Yes, it would have hand rails through the long halls which would be great for ballet practice. Yes, the sweet commercial upgraded kitchen was excellent and exactly what I would want. Yes, there would be room for a scrapbook store much less just a sb room. Yes, the kids would have a gym, a music room and art room. Yes there would be enough bedrooms for everyone and guests to have their own room (even Dan and I if we wished). Yes, there was many bathrooms. Yes, the bathrooms for "him" had urinals. Dan loved that. Yes, there was a security system. You know how I love to be secure. Yes, sprinkler system. You know how I fear a fire. So why don't we buy an elderly home?
I just don't want to! Are we being picky? I mean, helllllo. These poor old folks. The new owner is going to have to boot them from their home & I do not want to be that new owner. I could see it now that we would be stuck waiting for some ladies kids to pick her up and they don't show. Poor old Betty would be stuck with us. It is a Chevy Chase movie in the making! ::::: don't mind her, that is just old Betty. She came with the place! ::::::
Maybe that is a bit dramatic but with how things happen in our life, I would not doubt it could happen.
So... no elderly home. We are scheduled to look at 2 homes tomorrow. I think we have ranked top in Rods list of showings per family. hehehehe Who said realtor's make too much?

Here is the type of house I want! If anyone finds this within 5 min from my husbands workplace, please let me know.

Purses and Hats

2007-02-02T16:07:00.000-06:00

I got another one done as well as an altered hat. Both are using Die Cuts With a View product. Here they are.

Fiber Scraps Insprired Designs Contest

2007-01-31T11:30:00.000-06:00

LOOK! LOOK! I made the list :) I am not sure which layout was chosen but I am super thrilled to have made the HM list. Thank you so much Patricia. I can't wait for more yummy product.

Grand Prize
Linda Beeson

First Prize
Sara Allison

Second Prize
Roxanne Everett

Honorable Mentions
Karen Clark
Sudie Alexander
Allison Weinzapfel
Jan Harrill
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
Kimber McGray
Niki Meiners

Another Dream Street Winner!

2007-01-31T11:29:00.000-06:00

YEAH!!!!!!!!! This weeks winner is Beth_W737!!!
Send me a peamail with your addy Beth :) Enjoy your goodies!