Bullet List

Some points of interest. (Or not, but let's just pretend, ok?)

• Remember when I had the best mail day ever?

Well, Volume 2 arrived in the mail yesterday. This is the funnest thing ever. It's like I have a secret pen pal. Except instead of stickers, I get books! Woo Hoo!!

• I cannot believe December starts tomorrow. Crazy, crazy.

• Last night, my Dad and a bunch of other people went to the UALR game. Every year around this time, Pappy (Dad) rounds up Pappy's Army and treats anyone that shows up with a ticket to the game. It's a bit of a different crowd each year but always a lot of fun. I stayed home with Eily, Claire and Nora so that Jason and Elaina could have some fun one-on-one time. Rumor has it that at one point Aunt Kat, Elaina and a foam finger made it onto the big screen while dancing. I would have loved to have seen that.

That's all. Have a great Friday!

Recently...

I have several things I want to share with you today.
Every year, instead of giving gifts to each other at Christmas, my family does a gift exchange at Thanksgiving. We call it Family Day. I thought I made a point to take a picture of each of the girls with a gift but apparently, in all the chaos, I forgot to take one of Claire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't make as much food this year as a couple of years ago, but I did make two pumpkin pies.

(P.S. This is the best pie crust recipe I've ever used.)

 

 

 

Eily made a Christmas list this year. It's hilarious. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read her gift ideas. I'm thinking I may borrow some of them for my list.

                           During all the water problems the other day, Aunt Sarah came and got Eily and Claire and took them to her house. Apparently she's updated her dress up supplies.

 

I've had some "proud/hooray/we've improved/I can see a difference" moments lately.

When we started the school year, Elaina's handwriting was horrible and she wrote almost all of her letters incorrectly. She'd start at the bottom or circle around the wrong direction. This paper is from her spelling test this morning. All letters were written neatly and correctly the first time and she made a 100% on her test!! Go Elaina!

Claire made her own bed this morning. It's looks perfect.

 

Elaina made her own bed this morning. It looks perfect.

Their housekeeping skills are greatly improving.

Hooray for Mama's helpers!

He's pretty special and I like him.

Thanksgiving is over. It's my favorite holiday every year and this year is no exception, but it seemed very short this time around. By Saturday, a stomach virus had started making its way through the crowd and people were dropping like flies. So far, it has avoided our family, although Jason did feel very nauseous Sunday morning.  I'm crossing my fingers that somehow we managed to hide from the germs. (Logan did throw up in the sink at our house so it's not very probable. I'm just going to continue to think positive.)

Sunday morning, as Kathryn was taking a shower, water started pouring in from under the toilet again. It was A LOT of water. Our plumber is supposed to come today or tomorrow to replace some of the line so we left the house, went to church and then went to my mom's house for the rest of the afternoon. After evening services, my oldest brother came over and cleared the line so that we could at least use the commodes. I still keep running back to check my bathroom floor every time someone flushes or turns on the sink. I've become paranoid about the whole thing.

Another week of school is starting and I need to get in the schoolroom and start the lessons. Have a great Monday!

Today

Earlier this morning...

Today I am hosting a 31 party at my house. I'm feeling good about it. I'm not going all out on the food. Just simple things that are yummy and hopefully filling. There is only one load of laundry to do and it's just the clothes we wore yesterday. I'm just going to sweep, mop, vacuum and clean the bathrooms. It's all easy peasy and should be able to be accomplished before 6:30pm. There's plenty of time for school to be finished, too. Sounds stress free, right?

Two hours later...


Elaina hopped in the shower this morning after breakfast. Claire had to go use the potty so she went in my bathroom. I started cleaning the kitchen. Screams started coming from the back of the house. Jason started yelling to pull Elaina out of the shower. Water started pouring out of the bottom of the toilet in my bathroom. Pouring.

I now have two bathrooms out of commission. I have a basket of soaked, and I mean soaked, towels that need to be washed but can't be because of the backed up water line. I have almost no clean towels left in the linen closet. I have three little people that will need to go use the potty at a moment's notice, but can't. I have women coming, women who expect (and rightly so) clean, working commodes. I have a crockpot full of homemade chicken stock that needs to be strained and put in freezer containers which will then leave me with a greasy mess that I can't wash because of the backed up water line. I have nasty, greasy hair that can't be washed because of the backed up water line.

You think I would now be stressed, right? I admit that I was. But now I'm just laughing. It is what it is. And it will all work out in the end. If my house smells like a chicken carcass during the party, oh well. At least it's an organic chicken carcass. If I have laundry everywhere, oh well. These people have laundry at their house, too. If I look gross, what's new? I'll spray some perfume on me or wear some sparkles or something.

Life seems better if you just learn to laugh and move on.

Entertaining myself

*snort*

A while back...
on a Sunday morning...
while we were singing hymns at church...
particularly Wayfaring Stranger...
even more particularly during the I'm going there part...
Elaina leaned over to me and whispered...

"Where is this guy going?"

On that same Sunday morning...
while we were still singing hymns at church....
particularly Rock of Ages...
even more particularly during the let me hide myself in Thee part...
Elaina leaned over and whispered...

"That's a very bossy ending.

 

Weaving

One of the projects in the Little House class at Wednesday School was learning how to weave on a loom like Almonzo's mother did in Farmer Boy. Claire made a bookmark out of yarn for her daddy. She's pretty proud of it. :)

It's Monday. I promised you a post today and I intended to deliver on that promise.

It would probably make a very interesting post if I told you all about all the things that have I have been mulling over in my mind but that would require an awful lot of typing and I just don't have the energy. I'm having to prop my head up on the bar stool just to get this post written. When I'm in this sort of slump, I like to make lists.

1. I don't really enjoy Parables from Mother Nature. Sorry to offend, but I'm just being honest.
2. Elaina and I both enjoy 50 Famous Stories, though.
3. Punctuation can save lives.
4. I ate, Grandma.
5. I ate Grandma.
6. I saw that on Pinterest and laughed.
7. Maybe you'll see it on here and laugh.
8. Nora has been very climby today,
9. On me.
10. Only.
11. I need coffee.
12. Despite my energy slump, I want to exercise.

Remembering what's important

I'm slacking but I'm slacking on purpose. I need to devote my time this week to my house and my family. I'll be back Monday. Promise!

Well, ok then.

Someone found my blog because they searched for canine drool.

I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Also, did I ever even write about canine drool?