December 19, 2008

Eight

I have been tagged by my cousin Amanda to make lists of eight things (I am assuming I was supposed to use the same lists she used)......so here goes:

My 8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Texas Roadhouse
2. Chick-Fil-A
3. Posados
4. Bodacious
5. Formosa Gardens
6. What-A-Burger
7. Taco Bueno
8. Marble Slab (that can be a restaurant!!)

8 Things That Happened Today:

1. I got out of bed (and that is HUGE considering how sick I was yesterday)
2. I wrapped a few Christmas presents
3. I ate a meal without throwing it up
4. I enjoyed getting some Christmas cards in the mail
5. Ben hugged me
6. Annalisa gave me a poem she wrote at school
7. The temperature was warmer than 39 degrees
8. I talked to Windy on the phone

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Summer Vacations
2. My anniversary
3. My kids' birthdays
4. Trips back to Texas
5. Visits from friends and family
6. Sledding with my kids
7. Friday night dates with Benny
8. Susan's baby being born

8 Things I Am Scared Of:

1. My dad's "mean" face
2. Roaches--those suckers can fly!!
3. Falling off the ladder while it is positioned on the stairs
4. Something happening to my kids or husband
5. Flying
6. Using a ruler--I hate measurements!!
7. My kids not knowing how much I love them
8. Missing important things in my kids' lives

8 Things I Wish For:

1. My kids to mind me!
2. Peace and quiet
3. A date with Ben
4. Ben's photography business to take off
5. My friends to not move away
6. Good friends for my kids
7. My kids to love and serve God
8. A Merry Christmas

8 Things I Watch on TV:

1. Psych
2. Heroes
3. Chuck
4. Pushing Daisies
5. The Soup
6. The Office
7. My Name is Earl
8. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

So, now I tag.....Beth, Janette, Jamee, Meredith, and Michael....don't you just LOVE me????

December 17, 2008

Christmas Wish

There are some things that you just have to share with others, and I feel like this is one of them. Jacob is my stubborn, hard-headed, sneaky, intelligent, fun-loving middle-child. He is hard to get up in the mornings, happy to go to bed at 8:30, always ready to play a video game or read a comic book, and in love with Jesus! What more could you ask for in a child???? I have prayed for Jacob since I found out I was pregnant with him...then when the complications came I prayed harder and even more. When he was born 7 weeks early I prayed that God would grow him to be a strong young man that would KNOW how much He loves him. So far my prayers are being answered, but trust me I have NOT stopped praying for this boy! Today I got a letter from Jacob's teacher that just made me so proud of my son and so happy to know that God is allowing me to be his mother, his nurturer here on earth. This is what she wrote:

"This morning, our writing prompt was to write about a present that they really want to get and why. The majority of the kids wrote about getting a Wii or some other kind of toy. I just wanted you to know that Jacob read his and he said that for Christmas he really just wants everyone to get along and have fun together, because "Christmas is not about getting presents, it's about loving each other and celebrating Jesus' birthday." I thought that was SO sweet! He almost made me cry! It's obvious he is taught very good values at home - you should be proud! :o)"

Don't we all hope that our children will learn the true meaning of Christmas? Don't we pray that they will not be afraid to share that with others? I am so proud that Jacob not only believed it enough to write it, but was willing to read it in front of his class! I LOVE THAT BOY!!!!

December 4, 2008

Tag-You're It!

So, I have been tagged by my friend Janette! Apparently when you are tagged you are supposed to retrieve the 4th picture from the 4th album on your computer and post it. So, here it is:

Christmas Morning 2007

And now I tag Windy, Melissa, Amanda, Beth, Meredith, and Jamee! Can't wait to see your pictures!!

November 28, 2008

....

THANKSGIVING

I AM THANKFUL FOR....

my friends and family who came over to my house for Thanksgiving dinner
my children who fill my house with laughter each day
Benny who has worked on our house every day for the past 8 weeks
our church family
Brian and Stacy for keeping our stuff in their garage...and working on our house
Cynthia for keeping my flowers safe
my Heavenly Father who blesses me each and every day
blogging in my kitchen on my laptop
cameras
my Dad and Lynn surprising me on Thanksgiving
Canasta at Windy's kitchen table.....it's so much fun!
sleeping late
Melissa for taking me to the NKOTB concert
my brothers who always call and make me feel special
dates with Benny
Dennis and Becky for letting us live in their basement for 6 months
bedrooms to send the kids to
homemade dinner together at the dining room table
praying with my kids before they go to sleep at night
hugs from my children
Psych, Heroes, The Office, My Name is Earl, Pushing Daisies and The Soup
Susan and Jamee and phone calls with them
being BEST friends with my husband!



November 25, 2008

Moved In...But Not Unpacked!!

This past Saturday I dropped the kids off at the church at 8 am for Kid's Craft Day, headed back to Pastor Dennis and Becky's house, woke Ben up, and started packing our things!! Ben was extremely tired because he had only just gotten back from working in NM at 3 am.....so he didn't have much sleep, but he still worked hard ALL day. We had lots of help from our church and we had everything moved out of Dennis and Becky's in one trip (excluding bikes), and 1 trip to clean out Cynthia and Fernando's garage, and I think 2 trips to clean out Brian and Stacy's garage. In all, we were done getting things INTO the house by 5 pm. Now we just have to unpack!! We have been there 3 nights now, and the kids are sleeping great. Annalisa was so proud to find her big Dora doll and sleep with her! Today the cable guy comes so we can have cable TV and internet at our house! That is great because last night we had to go to Brian and Stacy's to watch Chuck and Heroes....which was fine for us, but not good for the kids who needed to be asleep in their beds. I will take more pics after the house is more organized and unpacked, but for now enjoy the few I have taken and posted under the Photos tab.

November 21, 2008

TOMORROW!!

Tomorrow is the most anticipated day of the year for our family---MOVE IN DAY!!! We are so excited that it is finally here! Ben has been in NM since Wed working for Brian's father-in-law, so he hasn't even seen the carpet yet! He will be home either late tonight or early tomorrow morning, and even though I know he will be tired, I also know he will be ready to move in to our house! Here are some pics with the new carpet......( I will post more pics as we get moved in and decorate the house)...oh and the bottoms of the walls are not painted because that is where the baseboards will eventually go....when we get enough money!!!

Master Bedroom


Office Area
Annalisa's Room
Cole enjoying being able to lay down on the floor!
boys laying on the floor in the basement


November 18, 2008

Reliving Our Youth

It is a hot, humid day in S'port, LA during the summer of 1990. NKOTB are going to be in concert tonight at Independence Stadium and Melissa and I don't have tickets, so we spend the entire day trying our best to win or track down tickets. The concert starts at 7 pm and at about 4:30 we go home depressed and sure that we have missed our only chance to see our favorite group perform live in our hometown. Uncle Johnny comes home from work at about 5, and we notice something in his shirt pocket. Could it be? He smiles that "I know something you don't know" smile as he pulls the tickets out of his pocket! He got 3 tickets to the concert!!! How awesome is that?? So, we head to Independence Stadium for what we think is the best concert of our lives! Uncle Johnny even admits that it is a great concert although he is deaf and yelling at everyone else for the next three days! What a great summer night filled with excitement!
Fast forward 18 years......Melissa and I notice that NKOTB will be in concert at Broomfield Event Center in Colorado which is where we both live now. We look for tickets and ticket prices and are excited to know that they aren't sold out, but since I just purchased a house and have been doing a lot of remodeling it is not something that I can really spend money on. This is a bit upsetting to me because I definitely don't want to miss the chance to see them in concert again after so many years with my same cousin/BFF. The Wednesday before the concert Melissa comes to my work place with an envelope and pulls out the tickets that she got for us to go to the concert!!! I am speechless and totally excited! Even though this means I have to miss an evening of working on the house I know that it will be totally worth it!! We decide to leave the house at 4 on Friday evening, stop at Cinzetti's for dinner, and head to the concert which starts at 8. Leaving at 4 was a good idea because the traffic was horrendous. We were on the road for over an hour when we decided to head toward the event center (instead of straight for the restaurant) and then backtrack to the restaurant. It is supposed to only be 15 min from the event center, and if we go that way there is no traffic.....so we head off of I-25 onto 36. We pass an exit ,and Melissa asks if we were supposed to exit there, but I say, "No, that road is not written on your directions." An hour or so later we will find out that we should have taken that exit, and we would have saved ourselves a lot of time and heartache, but we wouldn't have enjoyed all the laughs we had. We got to the event center and decided to try to follow the directions from Cinzetti's to the event center backwards because this should get us to Cinzetti's....only one problem....the street names change regularly, and we can't find the streets we are looking for. I call the ever resourceful Bubba who is undoubtedly in front of a computer and can get us there safely. He tells us which direction to go, and we head that way. After about 10 minutes Bubba calls back and says that he thinks we are going in the wrong direction....too far North...we need to turn around. What??? So, we turn around, cross several lanes of traffic while being honked at and flipped off, then we are headed the right way. Bubba stays on the phone with us through every intersection and turn until we are back at that road that we should have exited on an hour earlier!! It takes us about 45 min to get to Cinzetti's even though it was only supposed to be 15 min. We get to Cinzetti's and enjoy a delicious dinner before heading to the Event Center for the concert. When we leave Cinzetti's we have a better idea of what we are doing and we get to the Event Center in about 10 min. We get free parking (SA-WEET), and when we get in the elevator in the parking garage one girl busts out with, "I think I am going to pee my pants when they take the stage!!!" Melissa and I burst out laughing, and we are both thinking that maybe she should hit the restroom before the concert starts! The opening acts are Lady Gaga and Natasha Bedingfield, but the crowd isn't really into either one. There are women in the audience with side ponytails, mini skirts, and their NKOTB shirts from the late 80's. We laugh alot and can't wait for them to take the stage. Once the room goes dark and the music starts the crowd goes crazy!! It is like everyone is 15 again! They sing all their old hits and a few new ones....still doing all the dance moves and getting the crowd all revved up. About halfway through the concert we notice that the security guards are putting up a barrier about 10 feet from us, but we really don't know what's going on....then they come through the crowd and get on a revolving stage about 20 feet from us!!! It is soo cool to be that close! We take pics, scream at the top of our lungs and enjoy ourselves!! The concert is definitely worth it, and we drive home at close to midnight....our ears ringing, our throats dry, and NKOTB music resonating in our heads.....we relived our youth and it was AWESOME!!!

November 13, 2008

Science Vs. God

I got this in an email from my mother-in-law and I wanted to share it with others. This is really good. You have to read all of it to totally understand!


'Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'

'Yes sir,' the student says.

'So you believe in God?'

'Absolutely.'

'Is God good?'

'Sure! God's good.'

'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'

'Yes.'

'Are you good or evil?'

'The Bible says I'm evil.'

The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible!' He considers for a moment.

'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'

'Yes sir, I would.'

'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'

'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'

The student remains silent.

'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

'Let's start again, young fella Is God good?'

'Er...yes,' the student says.

'Is Satan good?'

The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'

'Then where does Satan come from?'

The student : 'From...God...'

'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'

'Yes.'

'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'

Without allowing the student to answer, the professor continues: 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'

The student: 'Yes.'

'So who created them?'

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them? There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized.

'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'

The student's voice is confident: 'Yes, professor, I do.'

The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'

'No sir. I've never seen Him'

'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'

'No, sir, I have not.'

'Have you ever actually felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'

'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'

'Yet you still believe in him?'

'Yes.'

'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'

'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'

'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of his own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'

'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.'

'And is there such a thing as cold?'

'Yes, son, there's cold too.'

'No sir, there isn't.'

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain.

'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'

'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'

'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light,
flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'

'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'

'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.'

'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'

'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do'

'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.'

The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.

'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelled the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir. So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'

'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'

Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'

To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just
like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God.

God did not create evil.. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'

The professor sat down.

November 10, 2008

Cole's View On Allowance (age 10)

"I don't think you should pay me for something I should do anyway."

I am keeping this quote so I can show it to him when he is a teenager trying to get money from me for cleaning his room! How refreshing to hear a child say he should be doing certain things without a "reward"!

Another Weekend Update!

Saturday was the end of Week 6! We are hoping to move in by the end of this week, if I can get the painting finished up. Everything is looking so good and moving along so quickly now. We got the toilets and sinks in the 2 upstairs bathrooms, new flooring in both bathrooms, and everything upstairs is painted! I am so excited about how good it is all looking! Ben has worked himself to the point of sickness though.....just a bit of a sinus cold, but it is keeping him from resting well at night. I am praying everything gets finished up quickly so he can finally get a good night's rest!! The kids have been out of school for the past 3 weeks, which has kept him extra busy. They track back on tomorrow and will be in until the Thanksgiving holidays. I got to thinking about it yesterday and I realized that this Thanksgiving will be the first one since we were married that we won't see any family. Even when we lived in WA Jamee came and visited over the Thanksgiving holidays. I am a bit stressed and sad over this revelation. I wish I had a ton of money and could either fly someone up here or fly my whole family back to TX. I love Thanksgiving and family together....I will have to pray about this, so I won't get depressed!
Enjoy the photos under the photos Tab.

November 6, 2008

Progress

Progress is being made on our house....slowly but surely! I am excited to say that nearly all of the upstairs is painted and ready for the carpet to be installed! We had a very busy weekend (this past weekend), and I was able to get a lot of painting done. Then, on Monday a couple of ladies from our church came over and painted the guest bedroom, my closet and my bedroom area for me. Now I only have to finish edging in the closet area, then paint the guest bathroom and the hallway upstairs. Ben has gotten the back door installed, the french doors installed,the wall put up separating the kitchen area from my office area, the wall put up separating the dining room from the living room, new flooring in the sunroom, all the lights installed in the living room, and sheetrock up in the kitchen and dining room. He has been super busy because we are doing our best to get it all finished up by the end of next week!!! Wouldn't that be sooo awesome? I am so excited that everything is coming together and it is looking so nice! There are more pictures in the photo album labeled "End of Week 5" under the Photos tab.


October 28, 2008

I'm Not Scared!

I am just enjoying finding all kinds of old pictures that bring back so many good memories! A couple of months ago my brother, Jeffrey posted this picture of us when we were young....we used this picture for a Christmas card....with our Rottweiler Yogi. Yogi was a great dog, but a lot of people were scared of him because he was so big....and maybe a little overzealous! As my cousin John put it, "I remember Yogi grabbed me by my coat hood one winter and almost strangled me. Now I see why he was so angry. You were strangling him with your beast love all the time :)" It's true that if you tried to leave the backyard Yogi would nip at your ankles or grab you by your coat hood to try to get you to stay....he never tried to hurt anyone, though! Despite telling my cousins this, I think Melissa spent the better part of her childhood on the top of the monkey bars if Yogi was out of his kennel! There was NO WAY she was going to take a chance that he might nip at her! Not only did we have a big dog in Yogi, but my grandparents always had Doberman's that "took care of us" while we were out there. One of their Doberman's wouldn't even let bees get close to us...he would nip them out of the air in order to protect us from them!

So, my dad has always loved BIG dogs and back in 2001 he got Bear for Lynn. Bear is part Rottweiler and part German Shepherd (I believe), but he is a BIG BABY!! He really is a good dog, and some of the funniest memories I have from when Annalisa was little are those of her feeding him. She would put the dog biscuit in her mouth and Bear would take it from her mouth....she had NO fear of him even though he was like 10 times her size! (Now, what kind of mother lets her 1 year old child hold a dog biscuit in her mouth so a HUGE dog can get it from her and hopefully not bite her in the process???) Annalisa also used to walk around the house with Bear while he held her hand in his mouth....he never bit her, just led her around. Because we lived with Bear while Annalisa was sooo young (it was right after Ben's accident and we had to be in Dallas for 4 months while he was recovering), she developed a great bond with him that still holds to this day! Here they are together last year...still BFF'S!

What Kind of Peepaw Are You?

So, referring to my previous post "What Kind of Mother Am I?", I have to say that I must be a better mother than my dad is a Peepaw. How did I come to this conclusion, you ask? Well, it's simple....at least I had given her FOOD before she fell asleep....looks like all he gave her was a tupperware lid to play with....she obviously fell asleep from lack of energy, and her shoes are probably tied so tight that she lost circulation in her legs thus making it impossible for her to move from that spot!

I found this pic and post from my dad and just wanted to share it....so the next question is what kind of mother leaves her child with a grandparent who lets her fall asleep on the floor???? (and just so you will know...there are MANY more pics of my kids sleeping in places OTHER than their beds!)
Posted By: Mike Newman
Date Posted: Sep 8, 2003

Description: I'm supposed to be babysitting Caci's kids while she goes on a job interview. Cole and Jacob are watching Spiderman. I thought Annalisa was playing with the "Tupperware" until I walked into the living room to check on them.

Apparently, I should have known she was sleepy. Although, at first I wasn't sure if Jacob had knocked her out - "accidently", of course.

I also didn't know when her diaper needed changing. She kept banging on her momma's bedroom door, so I let her in and she tried to crawl on the bed. Then I realized that's where Caci changes her diaper. Lo and behold, she was soaked.

In my defense, I didn't have to do these things with my kids. My wife took care of all of that stuff. So, the fact that she has a clean diaper and is in her crib sleeping peacefully before Caci gets home is a feather in my cap. Right?!?

October 27, 2008

What Kind of Mother Am I?

I found this picture as I was looking through old photo albums I have saved on my computer. I am guessing Annalisa was at least 2 (she is not wearing a diaper), maybe 3 years old. There are so many things wrong with this picture.....like, what kind of mother am I to feed her Cheetos? I mean, doesn't everyone know how unhealthy (and addictive) Cheetos are? I should have been feeding her grapes, or apples, maybe banana slices, but not Cheetos!!
Also, what kind of mother am I to not give my daughter some pants to wear??? For crying out loud, she was probably mortified to be running around in her panties all day!
I can't help but wonder what kind of mother I am that I didn't put her in her bed when she fell asleep?? What kind of mother lets her baby fall asleep on a hard wood floor and leaves her there?? She will probably have back problems for life because of this, and I will most definitely be to blame!
And most importantly, what kind of mother takes a picture of the situation--apparently finding it cute?
ME!!!

Weekend Update!

The weekend started out with us going to a Corn Maze on Friday night. It was mine and Ben's first Corn Maze and it was pretty fun! We didn't go in the haunted maze like most of the youth did, but we had enough fun in the one that wasn't haunted! It was very dark and we only had 2 little glow sticks to guide our way! Once our eyes got adjusted to the dark it wasn't so bad, though! The kids stayed with my cousin Melissa and they went to see HSM3....which I heard was very good!

On Saturday morning 3 men from our church came to help us work on the house. They spent all day Saturday taking the flooring out of the back

room, the cabinets out of the kitchen, and getting light switches to control the correct lights! They were a HUGE help, and I am so thankful for their willingness to spend a Saturday doing dirty work! Ben and Brian stayed late Saturday evening getting new sheetrock put up where the wall had been molded. It is so much nicer now! On Sunday some more guys came over and helped finish taking the flooring out of the fireplace room, then Ben and spent until 9:30 putting new insulation in. We got 1/2 of the flooring put down as well. I cannot explain how happy I am to get those nasty cabinets out of my kitchen!!! We had our new stove, dishwasher, and microwave delivered on Saturday! They are so pretty!! I am excited about all that has been happening, even though it is a little bit at a time!

October 22, 2008

Update

I am doing my best to keep up with everything that is going on, but we haven't been getting in from working on the house until close to midnight every night since last Friday. We didn't have much extra help this weekend, so it was extra long days for Ben, Brian, me and Stacy.

On Friday afternoon Annalisa had her author's tea at her school. She read a book that she wrote called Dear Zoo. The children used the format of the already popular children's book Dear Zoo and then just added their own animals and adjectives. It was pretty cute and I am very proud of her. If you are on Facebook you can watch the video of Annalisa reading her book on my profile page. I tried to upload it to Blogger but after 20 minutes I got irritated...it must be too big of a file for Blogger! After school Annalisa came back to work with me so she could go to Peyton's Kit Kittredge birthday party that evening. There were a lot of girls and it was very fun. Annalisa enjoyed being at an all girl birthday party!

After the party (7 pm) we went over to the house to help the guys work. I can't remember what we did that night! I know that on Saturday, with Stacy's help, I got the main floor bathroom painted and ready for a new door. On Sunday Ben put the new door on and now the main floor bathroom is finished except for the flooring. Cynthia and Fernando (from our church) came Sunday afternoon and they were big helpers! Cynthia put Kilz on the walls in Annalisa's room and the guest bedroom upstairs, and Fernando put sheetrock mud on the walls. When we were trying to wash out some paint brushes Cynthia asked me if we had a garbage disposal because the sink wasn't draining so well---as I was telling her that I think we have one but we haven't used it, she turned it on and glass starting coming up out of it! I am so glad that none of it flew into her face! She promptly turned it off but informed me that the good thing was that now the sink was draining better! Later, after Cynthia left, I turned the sink on and the sprayer nozzle shot off at me like a canon and water started spewing out of the hose all over the kitchen! I couldn't do anything but laugh! I was in that "It's after 10 pm and everything is hilarious" mood! Ben wrapped Caution tape all over the sink!

On Sunday night someone from our church was being nice and rolled up the windows to Ben's car for him (1969 VW bug) and locked the doors. Well, Ben doesn't have a key that easily unlocks the doors, so he never locks it. He called me at 11 pm to let me know that he couldn't get into his car (I was already home with the kids because we had gone in 2 cars), and he drove the church van home. So, Monday was the first day Ben hasn't worked on the house in the past month. He got his car unlocked and now has 2 keys for it.

Last night Stacy and I put Kilz on the walls in the Master closet area and we pulled staples out of the floors. That is not fun!!! I will go back tonight after work and see what else there is to do!