Thanksgiving Menu

Turkey (brined)
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans
Clover Leaf Rolls
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Fudge Macaroon Pie

Thanksgiving with Brent's family was on Thursday. We went to his mom's house and had a nice time. We were the only ones there. His brother's family went to an 80th birthday/Thanksgiving celebration for her great-aunt, so it was just us. The girls and I didn't eat (my MIL can't cook), but we had fun and watched the I Love Lucy marathon on TV Land and played Bingo with the kids after dinner.

Thanksgiving with my family is tomorrow. I'm hosting this year. Usually we go to my parents' house or to my brother's house but since my mom died I'm the only one who knows how to cook. The last three Thanksgivings I've prepared the entire feast here and then carted it over to whoever's house. Huge pain in the rear. This year we have our house nearly completed in terms of the remodeling so we're having everyone here. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about carrying the entire Thanksgiving meal all over town.

The girls and I are making the dough for the rolls today and baking the pies. I will also roast the sweet potatoes for the sweet potato casserole. The bread (challah) and cornbread for the stuffing are already baked, cubed, and dried (I did that two days ago), so I should be in pretty fair shape tomorrow morning. I have to go mix my brine now and get the turkey going in that so it brines for a good 16-18 hours.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday.

New Job Possibility

I'd rather be posting to say that I am quitting work altogether, but this is a good turn of events for me. It would mean less time working and more time to spend on my husband and children and home.

I've been praying for something to come my way, something that will mean less time typing and more time with the important things in life. I believe this is my answer to prayer.

I hope it works out.

Comfort Food

Life has been hectic lately. Too hectic. I feel like I'm flailing in the wind, exhausted but unable to sleep, so many responsibilities hanging over me and not enough hours in the day to accomplish them. I want to take a good book and a hot cup of tea and hide under the covers. I want to forget I have a job and remember what it was like before, when my children and I spent quiet days together, just living life and having fun. I have to keep working for the time being. I hate that it has to be that way, but it does. For me to quit now would place an unnecessary burden on my wonderful, hard-working husband, and I love him too much to do that. However, I've developed carpal tunnel in my right hand and it is incredibly painful and makes it very difficult to type, so as soon as it is feasible for me to quit this job and be "just mom" again, you better believe I will do so.

Since I cannot take comfort in quitting, I'll take comfort in pudding. Rice pudding, to be exact. It's one of my favorite comfort foods and is also a favorite of my youngest. I make it especially when one of us needs a pick-me-up, or just because.

Rice Pudding

2 cups water
2 strips lemon zest
1 cup arborio rice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil with the lemon zest. Add the rice, cover and cook over low heat until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in the milk, sugar, cinnamon and salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, over medium-low heat for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.

While the rice is still hot, lightly beat the egg yolks with the vanilla in a small bowl, then temper the mixture by whisking in a few spoonfuls of the rice. (This keeps the eggs from scrambling.) Stir the yolk mixture into the cooked rice.

Remove the lemon zest, stir the raisins into the rice pudding and transfer to a casserole dish or individual serving bowls. Serve hot or cold.

~*~*~*~*~

But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.

Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.

Isaiah 43:1-4

~*~*~*~*~

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

One of the ways I try to save money on a regular basis is by making my own cleaning solutions. My grandmother used a lot of white vinegar and baking soda around her house, and those two things are in heavy rotation at my house too, but one of my favorite things to make is detergent for the dishwasher.

I admit that I love my dishwasher. I was fortunate to grow up with an automatic dishwasher, and I actually had never washed dishes by hand until I got married and we moved to a small house in Maine. I remember looking around the tiny kitchen, turning to my husband, and asking "But, where is the dishwasher? How will we wash dishes and things without one?" Ha. I was young (20) and naive, and about to find out just "how" to wash dishes without a dishwasher. I was so grossed out at the thought of putting my hands in that dirty dishwater after the first few dishes had been cleaned. I used to drain and refill the sink multiple times so that I didn't have to touch that yucky water. I laugh at myself now, after 16 years of cleaning up after sick children and pets and rinsing and washing cloth diapers, a little dirty dishwater seems like nothing.

But I still love my dishwasher and use it daily. Here's the recipe I use:

~*~*~*~*~

Automatic Dishwashing Detergent

1 cup washing soda (crystals)
1 cup borax
2-3 drops essential oil

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process until washing soda crystals are reduced to powder. Store in airtight container. Use 1- 2 tablespoons per load in your dishwasher. To save even more money, substitute Rinse Aid with white vinegar.

~*~*~*~*~

Processing this in the food processor grinds the powders finer and helps to distribute the oil throughout the detergent. I've been without a food processor for almost a year, so lately I haven't been able to do more than just stir the three ingredients together and it still works just fine, but I think it does dissolve better when it is processed beforehand.

You can use any essential oil you like. I normally add either lavender (my favorite) or lemon oil (smells more like commercial dish detergents).

Slow Work Day, Busy Home Day

I got so much done today! I am always thankful for light work days, especially because they come so few and far between lately. I love to cook and bake and make treats for my husband and children, and I'm pretty sure they love it too.

I made a wonderful Caramel Dip from Tammy's website. As I wrote a couple of weekends ago, we visited the apple orchard and came home with just shy of a bushel of Northern Spy, Granny Smith, and McIntosh apples. We love apples eaten plain or spread with peanut butter or almond butter, and I made the apple pie from last week's blog entry, but we still have a LOT of apples left. Luckily they keep for a long time in a cool, dry place, but I thought the caramel dip might be just the thing to move some more apples along into the children's stomachs!

For dinner tonight I made Spaghetti & Meatballs using a tried and true recipe from Recipezaar. Brent and the children all love it. Last but not least I made another favorite of ours, Amish White Bread, again from Tammy's site. If you haven't visited Tammy's Recipes yet, I encourage you to do so. Some of our best loved recipes have been gleaned from Tammy's site. I visit nearly every day just to read her blog and see what delicious recipe she has added.

I need to get back to work and finish what little typing I have.

Thursday Dinner

I have ham and greens simmering in the slow-cooker. I'll make a pan of cornbread served with butter and raw honey and DH will be in food heaven. The children don't care for collard greens, so I'll be making pasta primavera for them.

I just took an apple pie out of the oven. It smells heavenly. We picked lots of apples at the orchard last weekend, the Northern Spy variety is one of my favorites for pie baking.


Amish Apple Pie
(Cooking From Quilt Country, by Marcia Adams)

Streusel:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, cold
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted pecans

Pie:
4 large apples (totaling 4 cups)
1 unbaked, 10-inch pie shell
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 cup cream (I have used whole milk with success many times)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a food processor bowl, mix the first 6 streusel ingredients. Add the butter and process until the mixture is crumbly; it should still have a dry look to it - don't overprocess. Add the nuts and set aside.

Preheat the ove to 350°F. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples; there should be 4 cups. Place the apples in the pie shell. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon.

Beat the egg in a medium bowl, and add the cream and vanilla. Add the sugar mixture to the egg mixture and blend. Pour over the apples. Bake for 1 hour in the lower one-third of the oven. After 20 minutes, sprinkle the streusel over the top and continue baking approximately 40 minutes longer, or until the top puffs and is golden brown.

My Mom's Bible

Last week we had unlimited trash collection. Normally we're limited to three cans or bags of trash per week, but twice a year the city allows us to put out as much trash as we want to and they pick it all up. I'm sure you can imagine the mountains of stuff that appears at curbside in front of people's houses. It's impressive.

This year we were able to get rid of our big screen TV, which (finally!) decided to die about a month ago. I wasn't a big fan of the big screen, but my husband and children loved it. It was gifted to us by my aunt and uncle about 10 years ago when they decided to sell their home up here and move to live full-time in their house in Florida. I think I was the only one who wasn't completely excited about the TV. I was grateful but not particularly thrilled. That thing was huge and took up half of one wall in our family room. The family room looks enormous now that the TV is gone.

Back to my original point. While cleaning out the garage for unlimited trash collection, I came across a box in the back corner and among the other books inside the box was my mom's Bible. I was SO happy to find it. I didn't even know I had it, but what a nice surprise. I remember her carrying that Bible to church every Sunday when I was young, so there are a lot of nice memories attached. Plus, my mom used it, held it, flipped through its pages, and studied and memorized God's Word from it. That makes it priceless to me.

My mom went home to Heaven a little over four years ago, and I still miss her every day. I feel so lucky and blessed to have had her for as long as I did, and now I have her Bible. Happy day.

"We are hard pressed on every side,
but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed."

--2 Corinthians 4:8-9

It's still running

I called my dad yesterday when the washer died. I had a load of laundry in there and the drum was full of water and detergent and fabric softener and what-have-you. I asked if I could bring over the load of laundry after I figured out how to drain the thing and wash that load in his washing machine. Of course he said yes (he lives three blocks from us) and about 10 minutes later he pulled up in the driveway. I was scooping water out of the machine with a cup (the bucket was too big to fit) and was also in the middle of work. He took over the scooping and told me to go type and he would take care of it. Caleb helped with the scooping. My dad is a patient man.

After he got it drained he fiddled around with it for a while and got it running again! Yay Dad! I have no idea what he did to it or how long it will run, but it runs. That's all I care about right now. Five people can generate a surprising amount of laundry.

I got a list of approved orthodontia providers from the insurance company. Neither of the orthodontists that our dentist recommended are on there, but the orthodontist that Sarah's friend Lara sees is. She likes him a lot, and his office is about five minutes from our house, so I'm calling this morning to make Sarah an appointment. The money aspect still freaks me out a little, but Brent said we will use his cost of living bonus this year to cover at least part of it. We were going to use the money to buy a second car, but Sarah's teeth are more important. I also found out that he, for some God inspired reason, upgraded our dental insurance this year (thank you Lord) so we will end up with approximately $1000 covered by insurance. We have around $1000 cash to put down, and then with his cost of living bonus next month we should be in relatively good shape. God provides. God provides. God provides.

I think I'm being tested. I hope I pass.

One More Thing?

I think our washing machine just died.

Perfect.

Kid Needs Braces, Dogs Have Fleas

Sarah is at the dentist right now. She was so nervous before she left, even though I told her they're not going to do anything to her today. Of course one day notice wasn't enough for either Brent or I to get off of work to take her, but luckily my dad was more than willing. I don't know what I'd do without him, honestly. I hope whatever they find out, that she is still able to go to the University of Michigan opener this Saturday with Brent. She will be crushed if she has to miss it.

I know the dentist is going to tell me that Sarah needs braces. Our dental coverage is crap so we haven't been able to afford to do it thus far. I think we are going to have to bite the bullet and trust God to provide the money. I have been awake since 2:30 a.m. worrying about this whole tooth situation. Luckily Emma and Caleb have my teeth and won't require braces. Sarah was cursed with Brent's side of the family's genes and their small palates and crooked teeth. Poor kid.

I bought some new tea from Yogi Teas, lemon ginger. Wow, it is so good. I love tea and I always add lots of lemon, so this is right up my alley. It's supposed to be good for digestive health too, which I can always use.

Too much coffee and soda lately. Gotta drink more water. Brent bought me more watermelon (bless him) and some organic avocados that I could just devour all at once if I had a little less self-control. Sprinkled with a little sea salt and squirted with lime juice, so yum.

Oh, and the dogs have fleas. Yay. I ordered Advantix through 1-800-PetMeds and got them treated. Beau was treated first and he is fine. The other two dogs' meds came today and I just put it on them so hopefully we can get the fleas killed off quickly. Why are those teeny little vials of medicine so darned expensive?!! It was $50+ a piece for that stuff, but I guess if it keeps my house from becoming infested it's worth it.

Update: Sarah is back from the dentist and her problem is NOT her wisdom teeth. The wisdom teeth are fine and are coming in with no problems. The pain is from the misalignment of her teeth and inappropriate bite. It's so far off that it's causing her teeth to loosen and hurt. Yikes. Brent is going to find out who is on our approved list of providers and then we will make an appointment for her ASAP. We need to start praying for financial provision now. God has always made a way and I don't expect He will start letting us down now.

Monday Monday

The kids are starting school today. It will be good for them to get back into the routine of school work. I'm sad that summer is over, though. I hate cold weather so much and the thought of snow...I don't even want to consider it.

Poor Sarah was up most of last night with tooth pain. Her wisdom teeth are coming in and pushing her other teeth out of place, I think. Brent and I both have our wisdom teeth intact (except he did have one pulled due to impaction) so it didn't occur to me when her wisdom teeth started coming in that it might be a problem for her. Poor thing. The dentist can't get her in until next Friday, so hopefully she won't suffer too much until then.

Brent and Emma are having a Father Daughter Day today. He is taking her out to lunch and then to the Art Museum for the afternoon. Saturday Sarah is supposed to go with him and his brother and our nephews to the University of Michigan for the first game of the season. Hopefully her teeth will cooperate. If you don't mind praying for her to not be in a lot of pain while she waits to see the dentist I know she would appreciate it.

It's hard to juggle homeschooling and working.

Quiet Sunday

Quiet day today. Not much to say. We woke up late and watched some shows on Food Network. I love Nigella Lawson, but the episode they showed this morning I have already seen five or six times. Giada's menu was too frou-frou for me so I didn't watch that one either.

I did see something I wanted to make on FN this morning. That new show, Simply Delicioso, which I don't like at all so far, the host made arroz con pollo this morning that looked SO GOOD. I need to go to FN.com and dig up that recipe. And churros! She made churros using puff pastry, which I fully intend to replicate at some point this week.

We went to the health food store this afternoon. I bought some organic avocados, some organic almond butter, and some other stuff I can't remember right now. In the bakery they had these things called Superbars and they looked like a no-bake cookie in brownie form. We bought two of those and some free-trade coffee to go. You know how you're expecting something to taste a certain way and then when you eat it, it doesn't taste at all like you expected? That's how those bar/brownie things were. They looked really chocolaty and they have oats in them...hence the no-bake reference. They don't taste like those cookies at all, but they're still really good. They taste raisin-like, and...healthy I guess, not at all chocolaty. It's like they're sweetened with fruit juice or something (which they probably are). They're also full of sesame seeds and (surprise) raisins. I'm glad we only bought two because I'm pretty sure I could eat an entire batch by myself. I must never ask for the recipe.

After that we went to the Italian market. We bought an Asiago ciabatta and some deli stuff. I bought a bag of Baci and a Perugina chocolate bar with almonds. The Baci are my favorite.

So I just finished up some work that was left from Friday, Brent cut our grass, and now he's over cutting my dad's grass. Caleb is watching a movie, Emma is outside reading, Sarah is watching TV in her room, and I'm about to go get things organized for the start of our new school year tomorrow. Wow, summer sure went by fast.

I Love Summer!

The girls and I canned eight quarts of pickles last night, four quarts of garlic dill pickles, and four quarts of volcano pickles (Brent's favorite). We need to go back to the farmer's market this weekend for another peck of pickling cucumbers, and hopefully we can get to the orchard for peaches too. My kids love home canned peaches.

I absolutely love the farmer's market and all of the homegrown fruit and veg we can buy. I polished off an entire watermelon all by myself in the span of two or three days last week. I think Caleb might have eaten a slice or two but the rest was all me. I'm glad fruit is good for me.

Today I had a banana and a kiwi, later I had some fresh pineapple and blueberries, and I just now had more watermelon. I think that given the chance I could live on fruit (with the occasional tomato and avocado thrown in).

My friend Jude sent me some English tea and it's really good. I love hot tea with lemon.

I need to figure out what I'm making for dinner and get cracking.

Curriculum for the Coming Year So Far

Sarah
English - Notgrass
History - Notgrass
Bible - Notgrass
Math - Singapore
Science - Apologia Anatomy
French - Rosetta Stone

Emma
English - Learning Language Arts Through Literature
History - Story of the World Vol.2
Bible -
Math - Singapore
Science - Exploring God's Creation: Zoology, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Caleb
English - LLATL
History - Story of the World Vol.2
Bible -
Math - Singapore
Science - Exploring God's Creation: Zoology
Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears

I only need to get something each for History and Bible for Emma and Caleb (leaning towards Rod & Staff), and I think I will be set.

Decisions, Decisions

The most difficult decision facing me every year at this time is "What materials should I buy for the kids to use for school this year?" It's such an anxiety ridden subject for me. I lay awake nights trying to determine who needs what and which approach will best fit with each child's learning style. I also want things that the kids can do mostly self-directed. The whole idea behind homeschooling for us is to teach them to self-teach, to ignite a love of learning and a desire to know more about subjects that interest them.

Sarah loves history and reading and I think I've found something perfect for her: http://www.notgrass.com/index.php. It looks like something she will really like and that she can do mostly independently, and it will actually give her a full credit each in History, Bible, and English. Now I just need to find an appropriate Biology course for her, order her math books from Singapore, and that will be that as far as requirements go. She can round out the rest with subjects of her choosing.

I think I am going with a majority of Rod & Staff for Emma and Caleb this year, along with Singapore math. I might have to find something more "workbookish" for Emma. She loves workbooks and worksheets. Maybe LLATL, I don't know. I hate spending a bunch of money on stuff they end up not liking, but such is the life of a homeschooler, and you know there's always Ebay.

Karate

We took Caleb to his first Karate class last night. There is a Kempo studio near our house that other homeschoolers in our support group have recommended. He's been asking to take lessons for months, so last night he went and loved it. He got his Gi and on Saturday they will give him his white belt. Brent is contemplating taking classes with him, which I think would be a fun bonding experience for both of them. Luckily he will get a 40% discount on lessons because this stuff is not cheap.

Now I need to find some art lessons for Emma and we'll be set.

Tuesday

Work was slow today, which was nice because it was also Brent's day off this week. Tomorrow should be hectic as Wednesdays usually are.

We have a plumber coming to fix the kitchen sink tomorrow morning. Some part of something is broken off and it leaks. Brent tried for an hour to disconnect whatever it was he was trying to disconnect but because it's broken off he couldn't get it. We called the plumber who replaced our hot water tank a couple of weeks ago and he's coming tomorrow morning at 7:30. SEVEN-THIRTY! Who in the heck shows up to fix a sink at seven freaking thirty in the morning?!!! I tried to persuade Brent to take tomorrow off so he can handle the repair stuff, but no such luck. Oh well. I'm always up by 7:30, I just hate having people in my house and having people in my house at such an early hour is even more undesirable.

I think I told you all our freezer died, right? Our deep freeze in the garage that was my parents' freezer. It's probably 25 years old or so. Anyway it died. I like to stock up on stuff when there is a good sale, and we like to buy large quantities of meat from local farmers so I really, really, REALLY miss having the freezer. My FIL called Brent today. Brent had called him on Sunday to wish him a happy Father's Day but he was at a car show so he called him back today. Brent asked him if he knew where we could get rid of the freezer, and his dad told him that he would haul it out to his house. He lives in a small town and the city picks up anything they put out for trash. We're limited to three bags a week and if we get rid of the freezer here we have to pay a guy $75 to have the freon drained and then pay a $25 fee to the city to have it hauled away. If my FIL takes it, his city will haul it away for free, so yay. Then came the clincher. He said "...and then I'll take you and buy you a new freezer." Ummm...come again? "I'll buy you a new one. Any kind you want, upright, chest, whatever, as big as you want." *insert image of me with my jaw on the floor here*

Okay, the reason this is so flabbergasting is because Brent and I have been married almost 18 years and this man has never bought us anything in that time. NOTHING. He sends money at Christmas, and I'm extremely thankful for that, but that's always been it.

When we were first married and living in an empty apartment in Maine, sleeping on the floor and recycling aluminum cans for grocery money, he didn't give us a cent. The whole reason Brent went into the Navy is because his dad refused to help him out with money for college, yet wouldn't forego using him as a deduction on his taxes so that Brent could get financial aid. The man has a LOT of money, but it's always been for him. He has three cars (one of them is a sweet little classic Corvette and the other is a 70s model Stingray), one truck, a Harley, a home here and one in Florida, and more gold jewelry than Disco Stu.

We never really expected financial help from him, but it would have been nice when we were wondering where our next meal was coming from.

None of that stuff really matters anymore anyway. We made it. When my parents found out how we were living they sent us money and bought us some furniture, but we made it through those times on our own and I'm proud of us for that. I'm also very thankful for my FILs generosity and I kind of feel like a jerk for thinking there have to be strings attached somewhere. I am actually afraid to take him up on this offer for fear of what it will mean, but Brent wants the freezer and so he is going freezer shopping with his dad on Monday.

In other news, Brent took Caleb out today and bought him his first BB gun. Squirrels and birds beware.

20 Years Ago!

I got flowers today. A dozen white roses (my favorite).

It is the 20th anniversary of our first date.

Is it weird that we still celebrate that day after 20 years?

I don't think it is. I love him more with each passing year.

Money, money, money!

Would you believe that our sink backed up on Friday and we had to call Roto Rooter to come and...well...Roto Rooter our pipes? It's to the point now that it is just freaking funny. But everything is paid off (my last paycheck was about $200 more than I expected it to be. yay) so good for us. And thanks to God for coming through for me even when my faith isn't what it should be.

I was sitting here typing on Friday. The washing machine was running a load of clothes. The double sink in the kitchen was backed up. I made a big mistake by putting cooked rice down the garbage disposal I guess. Anyway, I had plunged the thing until my hands were fixed into claw-shaped nubs. I gave up and decided to wait for Brent to get home from work and let him try to snake the drain.

So...I'm sitting here typing and all of a sudden I hear Sarah in the kitchen going "OH NO! OH MY GOSH! MOM, HELP!" So I run out there to see both sinks overflowing rapidly and water pouring out at record speed onto the floor. Sarah was standing in front of the sink, attempting to hold the water back with her hands, which completely cracked me up. I literally could not stop laughing.

She was like the little Dutch boy and the dam.

I heard the washing machine spinning on the spin cycle and ran over and lifted the lid up to hopefully make it stop. That worked. Apparently the washer and the sinks are on the same line. Good to know! The girls and I used every available dry towel we had, plus a roll of paper towels to soak up the mess on the floor. Brent got home about 30 minutes later, took the pipes apart, and tried to snake it, but it didn't help so Roto Rooter it was.

It took the Roto Rooter guy about 10 minutes to get the thing cleared, but he said he had to go 30 feet out to get the clog, which he attributed to tree roots. Nothing we could have done to fix it, in other words. So I paid him his $120 (not a bad take for 10 minutes work, eh?) and he went on his merry way and everything is peachy. So far nothing else has broken, but I'm not counting my chickens or my ducks or however that saying is supposed to go.

Sarah turns 16 in 11 days. I don't feel old enough to have a 16 year old child. She is such an awesome, smart, friendly, kind, funny person. I feel lucky to have her in my life and to count her among my friends. Even if she wasn't my child I would still want to know her.

What is going on?!

Broken Dictaphone (yes, again) - $200
Leaky Hot Water Heater - $550 (that's an 'estimate,' they're coming in two hours to install a new one)

This stuff. All of this stuff that falls on us and buries us deep. The horrible things that I see happening to other people right now. This is what makes me question God. Not the existence of God, but why it seems that so much bad stuff happens to good, faithful followers of God. I know He is there. I know that He will provide.

I guess it's like that old quote attributed to Mother Teresa.

UPDATE: The guy is going to bill us for the hot water tank, which is good because they had to put in a lot of new pipe and valves so it's going to cost closer to $700 and we will need time to gather that amount of money. I can't wait to tell Brent.

But on the bright side, we can now flush the toilets, do the laundry, and take showers. Woo!

Disney in a Nutshell

Sunday - We arrive at the resort at 9:45 a.m. Our room will not be ready until 4:00 p.m. We put on our suits and spend the day at the pool. I forget sunscreen and end up with second-degree burns on my back.

Monday - Magic Kingdom. Awesome. Short lines, light crowds.

Tuesday - Sarah wakes up with stomach flu. We spend the day in the villa. Sarah is a trooper and the rest of us are pounding the Airborne to try and stay well.

Wednesday - Caleb's birthday breakfast at Chef Mickey. They stick us waaaaay in the back and our waitress completely ignores us. They do nothing for Caleb's birthday even though we remind them twice. Its sucks. MGM in the afternoon. Again, crowds are light, lines are short. MGM is not one of my favorite parks. Rock N Roller Coaster is the big hit of the day. We return to the resort and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening swimming.

Thursday - Caleb wakes up with a sinus infection. I stay at the villa with him while everyone else goes to EPCOT. I love EPCOT, but I love Caleb more.

Friday - Shopping at Downtown Disney in the morning. Swimming until 3:00 and then back to the Magic Kingdom until 9:00.

Saturday - We leave the resort at 8:30, and just before Lake City Florida they shut down I-75 because of the fires. We sit, parked on 75 for an hour and then they detour us two hours out of our way. We pick up 75 again in Valdosta, GA and we're on our way home. We got in around 4:30 a.m. Sunday (not bad for being sent so far out of our way) and crash.

Sunday - We grocery shop to replenish food, unpack, sleep, etc.

Monday - Back to the grind.

The Dog was Only the Beginning

Two new tires for the car - $250
Replace broken fax machine - $180

Add those two things that came up today to the $400 for the dog, and yes ladies and gentleman, we have burned through $830 in two days. Beat that.

Our house payment is due on the 5th. I have no idea if there will be enough money in our savings account to cover it. I'm going on vacation.

And never coming back.

Doggie Surgery Part Deux

Aaaaaand $400 later, the dog is fine. She has a bunch of staples in her neck but they sent her home with pain pills and said in a few days she should be good as new.

Ouch. It is painful to have to pay out that kind of cash right before vacation, but I'm glad it happened before we left because if it had happened while we were gone the dog probably would have died.

I have today and tomorrow to get everything ready for vacation and I haven't even thought about what I'm going to pack. So I finished all of the painting around the house, but it's quite possible that I won't have any clothes to wear. Priorities. I'm good.

The kids are all packed and ready, so that's something right? Luckily Brent took today and tomorrow off so he can help me get things together since I am working both days. Why do I do that to myself? I always think "Oh, of course I can work the day before we leave," and then when that day actually comes I'm all "What was I THINKING?! I have a million things to get done!"

*deep breath*

It will get done. One way or another. It always does.

Doggie Surgery Part One

One of our mini Schnauzers is having surgery this morning. She was acting weird yesterday and then started having what looked like seizures. She was stiff and shaking and drooling like crazy and couldn't stand up. It was in the middle of a bunch of storms and tornadoes in the area (of course) so I wasn't sure whether the change in pressure had triggered something or what. She seemed okay for about 15 minutes after the first episode, but then it started over again.

I called the vet, and even though it was 4:55 and they close at 5:00, they told me to bring her right over. Luckily my dad was here and he took her for me. Sarah was a basket case (Heidi is her dog) and the tornado warning sirens were blaring, so my dad took the dog and Emma went with him. Their office is only five minutes from our house.

The vet checked her over and discovered a fatty tumor in her neck that is partially obstructing her esophagus. So she has food particles that get stuck in there when she eats and she is periodically choking on them. So she is at the vet right now. She will have surgery to remove the tumor this morning, and we can pick her up at 4:00 this afternoon.

The snow is coming down like crazy. I don't enjoy Ohio weather. Here it is, nearly the middle of April and it's 36 degrees and snowing. Unbelievable.

I told Brent the other day that I want him to go to travel nursing SOON. I am so tired of the cold and snow. Anytime the mercury dips below 65 degrees or so, it's too cold for me.

Thankfully, in 23 days we will be in Florida where it is nice and sunny and WARM (I hope). I need a break from cold and wind and snow.

I cut six inches off of my hair on Sunday. I like the way it turned out, but I probably will grow it out again. I feel more feminine when my hair is long.

Brent bought me some sunglasses from H&M and I love them.

We have saved up enough spending money for our vacation.(YAY!)

We have two more park hopper tickets to buy, but my next check will be more than enough to cover them.

I need to buy some clothes for myself for vacation. I bought the kids stuff, and Brent has stuff. Only one pair of capris from last summer fit me, the rest are too big, so I need to buy at least one more pair. I have a few dresses, which is what I usually wear in the summer. I don't wear shorts. I don't even own a pair of shorts...wait I do have one pair of tailored, knee-length shorts that I might wear....maybe.

Okay, I started this entry early this morning and I've been typing (working) and distracted. I'm hitting the save button now before I get distracted again and accidentally delete it.

The wine tasting was WAY fun! I had such a good time and drank some really good wine. They had three different whites (white is too sweet for me) and three reds (more my taste). I was loving the red zin that we tried, and Brent bought the last bottle they had. We also were gifted with two bottles of Spanish red as party favors.

Amy's expression when we all yelled surprise was priceless. I thought her jaw would literally hit the floor. Some French restaruant catered, but I didn't eat any of it. Brent said the lobster bisque and the warm brie on baguette was delish. I stuck with wine. Amy loves my cheesecake so I made her a turtle cheesecake and we also got her a $50 GC to Victoria's Secret. Two fun, girly gifts. She was really happy with them.

Fun times, although I had some raging cramps by the time we left. Stupid uterus. I came home, popped 800 mg of Motrin and went to bed.

Today is freezing cold and snowing. Monday it was 80. Today it's 27 and snowing. Ohio has to have the worst weather in the US, I swear. I'm holding out for Tuesday when it's supposed to start warming up again.

We went to the Disney Store at the mall this afternoon and bought three out of five park tickets for WDW. I almost passed out when she told me my total was $750, and that's only for three of us. Luckily I have a couple more pay days to buy the other two tickets we need and I'm sooooo excited to go back I didn't mind blowing my entire paycheck in one place. Brent bought me a cute pair of sunglasses from H&M, which just opened in our mall.

Benign Birthday

I remember as a kid being so excited about my birthday. I would count the days for months ahead and mark them off on the calendar. Adding another year to my age was so exciting. The first birthday I remember being super excited about was my 13th. I could not wait to be a teenager. I thought everything would be suddenly so much more exciting. It was for a while, but then the novelty wore off.

The next milestone was 16. I wanted to drive so badly. Most of my friends turned 16 before I did and were driving their cars to school. I really, really wanted to be one of them. My mom took me to take my driving test. I passed both portions pretty easily, so she let me drive home. I remember coming up to a light and she said "Okay, now you need to turn left." I panicked and said "But I don't know HOW to turn left! I've never turned left before!" She calmly explained that I just needed to turn the wheel gently and then let the car right itself, just like a right turn. She didn't even freak out when I turned right in front of the oncoming traffic without yielding. She just (again calmly) explained that I needed to yield the right of way because I didn't have an arrow. I kept wondering what I had learned in all of those driver's ed classes. Whatever it was, as soon as I got behind the wheel for real, it left me.

Twenty one wasn't a big deal for me. I didn't drink and didn't care that I was legal, so that one was pretty uneventful in terms of milestones. I was married and about to give birth to my first child, so I was more focused on that than anything.

Yesterday I turned 37. Not a milestone in any terms, but another year of living and learning. This is the year I've vowed to be less shy and introverted. I'll be put to the test tonight when we attend a birthday party for a friend. This is the wine tasting thing I blogged about a month or so ago. I don't care what happens, I'm NOT swishing and spitting. So what was my birthday like? I worked a little, my kids baked me a cake, Brent bought me four pounds (yes pounds) of Cadbury chocolate, a carrot cake from my favorite bakery (the kids' cake was better) and a new cell phone. My dad gave me some money, and I got a lot of cards in the mail from friends and relatives. It was a perfect day.

I thought of my birth mother as I do every year on my birthday and said a prayer for her. I hope that she is happy and healthy and that she knows Jesus. I thought of my own mom and how much I miss her call first thing in the morning, her lovely voice singing Happy Birthday to me.

Eventful Day

The cable guy was supposed to come today between 10:00-12:00 to hook up our phone line and install cable in our new bedroom and in Sarah's room. I'm sitting here at the computer this morning at 9:00, sorting through my work for today and I hear a knock on the door. Lo and behold the cable guy is here early! Our cable company is offering a digital cable/cable modem/phone line bundle package that will save us around $30 a month. Little did I know it would take the guy three hours to switch the phone line and install two lines. I thought he would never finish. He finally left a little after noon.

So of course now that everything is done I decided to move our furniture into our new bedroom, move Emmas stuff into our old room/her new room. All by myself. I know, I'm stupid. I should have just skipped my workout this morning because I am TIRED. It took me around two and a half hours to get everything moved and settled. Actually not as bad as I anticipated, just some of the furniture was heavy. I'm SO glad it's done, though, and Emma is beyond thrilled to have her own room. I need to finish painting it this weekend.

So after all of that I finally sat down at around 3:00 to get my work done for today, luckily it was a light day. But I was sitting there typing away and all of a sudden the Word screen started flashing at me and I couldn't close the program or save anything or even shut down the computer. Finally I managed to shut it down, but when I rebooted it all of my AutoText stuff for work had been wiped out. ARGH!

You see, with my transcription program I can program things in, like doctors' addresses, frequently used words/terms/phrases, etc. I key in the code I have assigned, hit F3, and it is automatically typed out for me. For example, I type a lot of letters from one doctor to another and they're all local so I address letters to the same doctors over and over again. So if the doctor's address is something like:

John Doe, M.D.
123 Main Street
Nowheresville, OH 43613

I can just type "Doe" and hit F3 and it will insert the entire address for me so that I don't have to look it up or type it every time. It takes a LOOOOOONG time to program all of the names and addresses and words in and that is what disappeared from my program. Not good, but frankly I am too tired to be mad.

I am taking my tired self to my new bedroom and going to SLEEP.

Money, Money, Money

My Dictaphone died yesterday, which wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't just written a check for $1700 for new carpet literally two hours before it died.

Since this was my back up dictaphone I need another one ASAP and they aren't cheap ($700 for a new one). I found a used one for a little over $300 on ebay from a guy who only sells transcription equipment and has 99% positive feedback. He agreed to overnight it for me for $50, so I should get it tomorrow.

Hopefully he will come through for me and hopefully we have enough in our checking account to cover both the carpet AND the dictaphone. I think we do, but I also took Sarah to the doctor yesterday and ended up spending $105 at the pharmacy.

Wine Tasting

Our friends Scott and Amy are hosting a wine tasting. Actually, he is hosting it for her 32nd birthday on April 6th (which happens to be the day after mine). He rented out this local wine shop called Vino 100 so we're supposed to go and....I guess taste wine.

I like wine, but I don't know anything about it. I like wine in the sense that I know I prefer red to white but I know nothing about tannins or oak or fruit or whatever it is wine savvy people discuss at these things. I guess I can go and learn, right?

Learning is good, however swishing and spitting into a bucket in front of strangers is not.

I'm actually becoming a somewhat social person. Totally uncharateristic of me, but strangely enough making friends isn't as difficult as I expected. Who knew?

I am in need of a new bathing suit before we go to Florida. I cannot find one that I love and isn't $150.

The guy came to measure for the carpet this morning. Brent has not replaced the baseboards yet and the guy wants the baseboards in place before the carpet goes down (duh) so that means it all has to be done tonight. That should be fun.

We got snow for Valentine's Day!

We ended up with about a foot of snow, some areas got as much as 16 inches with all of the blowing and drifting. Everything is closed today, the libraries, the city offices, everything. It's crazy. It took Brent an hour to shovel out this morning. We are under a level three snow emergency, which means the police can arrest you for driving if you're not considered an emergency person. Of course Brent passes for an emergency person because of his job, so he had to brave the elements and make the 30 mile drive to work today. I think he made it okay. I called his cell but he didn't answer, so I'm taking that as good news.

I loathe all of this snow. The kids tried to keep up with the snowfall yesterday shoveling the driveway, but gave up around 3:00 p.m. They did keep our elderly neighbors' driveway cleared, so that was good.

I got the floor in the hallway done yesterday. A lot of offices were closed by noon, so I had very minimal dictation to type. My next check is going to be small because I'm sure a lot of people will not make it to the offices for appointments today either, especially if the level three emergency stays in effect all day.

I need to prime the walls in the entry way and the hallway today so I can paint them and give them a chance to set before we put up the new trim this weekend.

I know it's Valentine's Day, but we don't really celebrate it. I got a big bunch of tulips last week because Brent felt like buying me flowers. I like him to buy me flowers because he is thinking of me, not because the card and flower companies tell him he should.

I hope Valentine's day was lovely for everyone who does celebrate it.