Tuesday morning we did some weeding in the vegetable garden. It is so overgrown that you really can't see the vegetables for all the weeds. Notice the before and after photos.

After lunch we went into Fort Collins. We were going to tour the New Belgium Brewery but forgot we needed to make reservations. The beer tasting didn't work out either - it was too crowded. Not that Mom or I would have tasted. Gary, Dad and Matt would have partaken, though. All we ended up doing is buying new beer glasses. Then we walked through old town, looking through some shops.

In one of them, I found a very cute shirt made from bamboo and cotton. It is very soft. Gary got one, too. Oh, I forgot to mention that our trip to Fort Collins was childless. Claire watched the kiddos for us. Once we had children with us again, we ate dinner at an authentic Mexican restaurant. Josh had no less than 5 time outs. Most before our food came. Nor did he want his burrito, just Ellie's quesadilla.

Wednesday was spent on the road to Estes Park. It took us forever to leave (of course.) So when we got there (after some stops for time outs for Josh), after visiting the potties, we went right to lunch - at the Estes Park Brewery. This time Dad and Gary got to taste with no wait. We didn't bother with a tour because we could see the whole operation from our seats. Then we walked the main street and took in some shops. Dad looked in vain for a bamboo shirt. He and mom headed back to the bamboo shirt store, before going home, to get him one but got there when it closed. On Thursday Claire was going into Fort Collins. He finally got his shirt.

The drive to and from Estes Park is very beautiful. There is a pass through the mountains following the Big Thompson River, called, conveniently, the Big Thompson Gorge. Gary was most awed by the sheer rock faces with trees growing from them. I liked the river. I also scanned the rock faces for big horned sheep but saw none.

Thursday was spent in the field again weeding. Did I mention it is hard work? The kids had weed patrol. We'd pulled them out, the kids would drag them to the end of the rows and make piles of them. Biggie, the puppy, would help by dragging one back and gnawing on it. The kids also helped by picking some vegetables. Josh got bored easily and wandered about, which is not safe because of the ditches and pond. So, I took him back in the wagon and he sat and ate fruit leather and a granola bar, while I vacuumed out the back seat of the car. It was seriously in need of vacuum attention.

Last evening a storm blew through. Much rain fell. At two in the morning, rain came again with heavy winds. Gary and I couldn't decide if we should move inside in case the camper blew away. OK, the wind wasn't that bad, but it was a bit scary, knowing it's open range and tornadoes like open range.

Now with all the rain, it's been raining since 2:00 AM, and the forecast of rain all day today and tomorrow, Matt and Claire decided to reschedule their party. So we will not be here for it. Maybe we can still do our acts for the variety show.

NOTE: A day of rain and four kids stuck inside is a super fun day. Actually the kids did great for being stuck inside.

Monday - A day of rest. Our first one. Gary and Josh got long naps. Ellie fussed and carried on about a nap, not actually taking one. I am sitting watching "National Treasure" and typing this post. I also took care of laundry and reorganizing our clothes. Don't know what this evening holds.

We have reached our farthest west destination today - my brother's house. It was our shortest drive, about 2 hours. Ellie and Josh slept for most of it. We pulled in in time for a late lunch. We are so glad to see family and to be in one place for a while. A place that's not a camper.
My brother has two children, Madeleine and Simon. All the kids all got along right from the start. They were excited to see each other and got right to playing. Later that afternoon a large storm came through bringing lots of wind and rain. Couldn't see very far at all. I am glad we waited to set up the camper, because the wind was very blowy. We did get it set up before dark, though, since we are sleeping there.

Matt took us around the barn and told us about their little farm and some fun stories. They have a great place and big dreams I hope come true.

Today we graced Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve with our presence. It was a 3 hour drive one way. A little far, but I wanted to go.








We found their picnic area and enjoyed another picnic lunch.



The kids had fun in the shallow creek that runs near the dunes. Apparently it is quite the hotspot. People were everywhere playing and enjoying themselves. Several volleyball nets were set up, people had beach chairs, canopies, and the like.




They had fun on the dunes, and you can see I did too. Then the kids got tired. The whining and carrying on began. We also had two gross incidents that involved a nose with a cold and no tissues. We also had sand everywhere.

Dinner was at the one restaurant near the park. We decided to drive home through some mountain passes. It turned into night and we had more . . . you guessed it, rain. Both kids slept on and off. Josh missed having his blankie, which we all suffered through.

It was a long, long day.

Today we visited Garden of the Gods. It was very interesting. Gary remembered it from when he lived in Colorado Springs as a boy for a short time and wanted to see it again.

Ellie took our photo. She did a good job. I think we are sitting in front of South Gateway Rock.

This one is called Steamboat Rock.

This is Balanced Rock.

The kids didn't find it all as interesting as we did.

We packed our lunch and planned to stop at the picnic area. The was a great plan, the rain foiled us again. So we ate in the car.

We rested some at the site and readied ourselves for a Colorado Sky Sox baseball game. The kids did fairly well for a while, but it got to be too late for them. We ended up leaving early, missing the fireworks. They were losing when we left, but they pulled off a win in the 9th. We found it on the radio.

Up by 6:30 again. Josh and Ellie need to work on sleeping in later. We were up, so I figured I give Ellie her bath. She does not care for showers (and that's all that you find at campgrounds.) And I don't care for all the crying that goes with one. By the time we were all ready, and our stuff all gathered and in the car, we missed our free continental breakfast. But since the lady wasn't completely finished putting food away, we got some cold cereal and oatmeal. Just one more thing on our list of things that have gone wrong.


We made our way back to our campsite. We moved the camper to a better position in the site and realized we couldn't level the camper right. Gary cut off the other lock, and I wedged my arm inside the camper to unlock the door. We then discovered the metal bracket for the propane tank was broken. So, we all got back in the car and set off for the local RV store. They couldn't fix the bracket, nor did they have any to buy, but they did give Gary the name and directions for a place that could weld it back together.





Here is our old lock.










So, we mostly spent our day doing errands, shopping and not seeing much of the sights. We did have our first (and so far our only) campfire. We have been toting wood across the country but haven't gotten to burn it.

Up and at 'em by 8:00 AM, thanks to our two little alarm clocks. And since we didn't have to make breakfast or pack up anything. But of course we can't have an outing without some sort of drama. It seemed that Josh and Ellie woke up on the we-are-going-to-give-our-parents-grief-about-everything side of the bed. If my memory serves me correctly (and I am trying to forget,) we literally dragged two kids back to the car kicking and screaming, cutting short our day at Dodge City. Now mind you, not every moment was a battle, but probably 80% was unfortunate. Ellie did get deputized and learned the Can-Can. We had Sarsaparillas and popcorn. We took a stagecoach ride. We looked at an old steam engine. We watched a little video about Dodge City. We walked up and down the recreated Front Street. We walked through Boot Hill Museum. And we tried to watch a gunfight, but that was were the children thought it meant kidfight.










A great place to stick the misbehavin'!










We got the heck out of Dodge around 1:00 PM. Made the kids wait to eat lunch (they actually fell asleep, so we kept driving.)

NOTICE TO ALL BEEF EATERS:

THIS IS WHERE IT COMES FROM, AND WE'VE SEEN AND SMELLED WORSE.


Pulled into Colorado Springs in time for the skies to pour down the rain all night, throwing in a little thunder and lightening. We headed to the campground with intentions of setting up. As it continued to pour, we thought maybe not. We could not decide on setting up or dry hotel. The main issue was already having paid for our campsite. We ended up getting soaked getting the camper situated, then driving to the hotel. Even in their parking lot, we thought maybe we should go tough it out and set up. We opted for the hotel. Unfortunately, we paid double that night. Our soggy camp site and our dry hotel room.

We decided to go to Dodge City instead of the Pony Express Station and ghost town.









But on the way, if it could go wrong, it did.

First, we were again late leaving Tuesday morning (nearly afternoon.)

Second, at our stop for lunch, two hours into the drive (doesn't that say something that only two hours into the drive we had to stop for lunch,) we discovered that I lost the camper keys at the KOA in Lawerence.

Third, the nice rest stop workers' hack saw did nothing to cut the lock on the camper.

Fourth, we packed up to head to Wal-Mart to buy bolt cutters. Once there we realized we left Josh's seat at the rest area.

Fifth, although the seat was still there, some other things stuffed in it were not.

Sixth, Wal-Mart was out of bolt cutters.

Seventh, went to True Value to buy bolt cutters. (They did have them, and they did cut off the locks.)

Eighth, forgot to buy new locks, had to go back in to True Value. Couldn't actually get into the camper at this point. Just cut the padlocks off.)

Ninth, back on the road to Dodge City. We decided to drive there anyway, even though our trek put us into Dodge after 9:00 PM. Since it was so late we stayed at Super 8 Motel. Once there we remembered we needed to plug in our refrigerator. Well the motel staff hooked us up with an extension cord, since we couldn't get into the camper, and an outlet. We happened to park next to the pool, which happened to have an outlet. Some good news.

We arrived in Lawrence, Kansas today around 5:15 PM. We are enjoying our trek across our great land. But it is so stinking hot and humid. I don't know for sure what the temperature was today, but I venture over 100 with the heat index. There has been no reprieve from the humidity, just the heat, as the sun goes down. We thought we'd relax and cool off in the pool. The water was warmer than the air. So much for cooler. It did help to have a breeze to blow on my wet skin. And then when we got to take our showers, the bathrooms, though they claimed to be air conditioned, were more like saunas. Finally leaving the bathroom brought some coolness. It is raining now. Perhaps the humidity will go down.

I did get to do some laundry.

We definitely need to work on our tear down routine, because it stinks. It takes us about 4 hours from when we get up to when we leave. We really need to shave many minutes from that time. It would help if we didn't have to chase the kids around.

And lastly, Ellie and Josh have colds. Josh is worse, at least right now. He's woken up twice coughing and sputtering from not being able to breath. He desperately wants to shove his blankie in his mouth, but then he has the not being able to breath issue. Poor thing.

We made to St. Louis!! Yeah!!














We pulled into the campground, though a industrial setting (which not very encouraging,)










and found a green "oasis" of a place. It isn't perfect, but it is better than the tankers and other industry around it.











Yesterday we got on the road by 6:00 AM. Slightly later than we hoped, but not too bad. We did have some errands to take care of before we left. We made several stops and pulled into our site at Buck Creek State Park near Springfield, OH around 4:30 PM. We were pleased with our progress. We decided to go past Columbus, OH to make today''s drive shorter. (Good thing.)

We set up and had dinner on the table all in good time. I had prepared beef-a-roni ahead of time and only had to warm it up. Josh and Ellie weren't hungry enough to eat. More for Gary and me.

We even had time to take a dip in the lake to cool down. The swimming area had a sandy beach, but the moment you stepped in the water, your feet got an unwanted massage. Little stones line the lake bottom and felt not so nice to walk on. Ellie wanted to go in the water but didn't want to let go of my hand. There was much crying and not much swimming on her part.

Today is Ellie’s birthday! She is 4 years old. She opened her first presents from us at 4:51 this morning. Today is also the day we start our drive west on our way to my brother’s house.

Go West Young Man

Howdy. Might I dare say that in 24 very long hours, we will be at our Friday destination?

We hope to get past Columbus, OH tomorrow, and to St. Louis on Saturday. We have a Phillies game to attend on Sunday. I'm excited about that. Three of us will be in Phillies attire.

I guess my break is over, and I should get back to packing.

A World Record??

Gary and I are doing some trip planning. Gary wants to stop at a ghost town. And to my way of thinking, Kansas is a good place to look. There's not much else to see.

During our perusing of the map, Gary found the site of "The World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine." Now if that's not a reason to pull off the highway, I don't know what is.

Like I said, not much else to look at.

I'd also like to set my eyes on the Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, a pony express station, and other historic things I might not know about yet. The pony express has always fascinated me ever since the TV show "The Young Riders."

What is Sisal Twine, anyway? Click here to find out.

A man and his Legos and a girl and her bear

Here is my husband with his most favorite toy. My parents, his parents, and I all pitched in and bought him some Legos for his birthday. It is a set called Town Plan, and it's the 50 years anniversary edition.

And here is Ellie, not going to bed. After being rocked and having prayed and being put in bed, she declared, as she does most every night, that she did not want to go to bed. She even went so far as to come up with an 'I have to go poopy to take up more time' excuse, even already having gone potty not 10 minutes before.

I told her to go ahead and to call me when she was done. She whined that she wanted me to stay with her. I told her she had two choices to go back to bed or go potty and call me when she was done to make sure she was cleaned up properly. She whined some more, I told her I wasn't playing this game, and I walked away.

Later when I went up to check on her, I found her like this, asleep, dangling off the top step.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!

I made our oatmeal too healthy this morning.

I need to work on ratios. Too much flax seed, wheat germ, brewer's yeast, and bran can make for an untasty bowl of oatmeal. Josh and Ellie thought so too. I ended up making a plain bowl of oatmeal and mixing it in to the healthy version. I have enough extra for tomorrow.

This is too much work. Trying to go back and post about what has happened that I didn't post about.

But you still may want to scroll down and see if you missed something.

I will go on about our last camping trip. We went off to the beach. Ocean City. We camped at Frontier Campground. And if you want to know, they require two (2) weeks cancellation notice.

Why you ask do I mention that? Because we changed our reservation only one (1) week prior to our visit. The lady tried to keep our $40.00 even though she said we would get it back and the man I spoke with told me I only needed one (1) week cancellation notice. They shouldn't have been so stiff necked about it, we only changed the reservation, not canceled. And if the store had opened before 10:00 AM (what camp store doesn't open until 10:00 AM, especially near the beach when they sell beach tags) they would have gotten our $10:00 for beach tags.


We did enjoy the campground. We had a very nice site. We were able to set up in the daylight. I had fun organizing my little home for the weekend. Josh and Ellie enjoyed themselves also. And if you are a country music fan, this is the place for you. It plays uninterrupted in the bathhouse. Except for during quite hours. Gary REALLY enjoyed the music.


And if you are into biting flies, it is also the place for you. I have no less than 30 insect bites on my legs from the knees down. My legs already look pitiful from my pregnancy veins, but now they are downright pathetic.

Josh loved to play in the sand. Not so fond of the water. Ellie liked to play in the sand, but would rather it not stick to her. Not so fond of the water, either, unless clinging to a parental unit. But in all fairness, she did stand in the water as long as she was hold my or Gary's hands and jump with the waves. Josh would have none of it. But again in all fairness, it was a toe numbing 58 degrees. Maybe 59 degrees.

The boardwalk was fun. We took it all in at a quicker pace this year. We rented a surrey. It was more fun than I thought. My bottom disagrees.








Aren't they just so cute?












Here we are in our alternate mode of transportation.

Here I sit, eating double peanut butter cookie dough (sorry P) and thinking about my food intake. The former is probably not the best for the later.

P gave me a copy of The Bowel Book, and yes it is about what you think it is. I am actually finding it quite fascinating. And coincidentally, I am doing my reading while in the bathroom. I had previously just read snipits here and there, but then I decided I was going to read it from beginning to end. I am on chapter 3. And amazingly with two preschoolers in the house, I am able to get a bit of reading done each day.

I won't go into much of what I am learning about my bowels, but I should eat more fiber, bran, honey, and garlic. Those who know me would definitely advise the garlic.

I highly recommend that each household should have one of these books in their bathroom.

Note: I plan on recapping the last month and post the blogs where they happened, so go back to the end of May to catch up on the things of my life.

G and I tried to have a third baby.

We decided to try the IVF natural cycle, meaning no shots. Everything was going well. The no shots thing was great. The progesterone suppositories wasn't.

The transfer happened on a Saturday. The following Saturday I was bleeding. After my blood test on Monday, I was pregnant. Woo hoo! But why the bleeding? After my blood test on Wednesday my hormone levels were going down. They aren't suppose to do that when you are pregnant. By the next Monday they were back to zero. I wasn't pregnant anymore.

I was so upset on Saturday with the blood, convinced I wasn't pregnant. G said to wait and see. The positive pregnancy test just made me more confused. I was happy to be pregnant, but worried about bleeding. As the hormone numbers went down, I didn't want to believe that the embryo stopped growing, and I wasn't pregnant anymore. I told myself that maybe both embryos implanted, and one didn't make it, so the numbers went down some. But they just kept going down.

I don't think of myself as having a miscarriage. I wasn't pregnant long enough. But I still don't have my baby.

I wonder if it was a boy or girl. What she would have looked like. What his personality would have been. My little one that was with me for just a moment.

P introduced me to "Doctor Who." I find the show to be quite interesting. We watched 6 episodes, and I liked them all.

We also watched an episode of Stargate SG-1. But when P discovered she had missed watching many of episodes before the one we watched, we stopped watching.

We had a 4th of July picnic today. I made homemade hamburgers and hamburger rolls, Gary husked corn and cooked the burgers, my mom made potato salad, my aunt brought baked beans, P made brownies, and friends Ray and Nannette brought a jello dessert, and my dad showed up to eat it all (he came from work.)

First though, we played games. We had the meal mostly prepped, and games were on P's menu first. Chicken Foot, then when Ray and Nannette arrived, we played Phase Ten. After dinner, games were resumed. I don't remember who won, but I know it wasn't me.

For P's visit this time, Gary and I decided to get her a bed and make a space for a room in the attic. For her last visit, she had a plow up mattress that would stay inflated and the mattress from the pop-up. Not the best of beds, by far. So, we bought a mattress and box spring.

We attempted to take the box spring up the attic steps first. No good. All the shoving we could muster would not get it up the stairs. I think we turned the mattress and tried again. No go. We then tried our hand at the mattress. Much better, went right up. Tried the box spring again. You'd think we'd learn. After many attempts of trying to get it up every which way, Gary sawed through the one side of the box. Two more attempts and no, it still wouldn't go up. He sawed the other side. Bingo. We shoved and heaved and told it it was going up. And finally after 1.5 hours, it did.

When we ever move, the new owners get a bed.

So, back to the room. When P arrived, she was taken aback and overwhelmed. She had her own room, complete with a bed off the floor, a chair, a space for her clothes bag, a space for Kashi's bed and Fancy's cage, table space for her, a green tissue box, a green power strip, fresh flowers, a bed side "table," a trash can, a hand rail, stair treads, a fan, and most importantly a AC vent right over her head.

She has a place in our house.

Gary decided that he was going to take the train down to pick up P for this visit. He sure does like his trains.

It works out really, because than I have the chance to work on P's room. I want it to be perfect.

The children and I will not be heading to Pottstown today. Yes, Pottstown, not Norristown. The place in Norristown is not, from what I deduced from the lady I spoke with, an actual collection location. She didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I told her what I was trying to do. While she was trying to be helpful, she was not.

So I went to the plan of going to Pottstown. But there in lies my next issue. I thought I'd take a gander at the website of the recycling place in Pottstown. http://www.recyclingservices.org/

Want to take a guess as to when they have public recycling hours? Tuesdays (yesterday) and Saturdays.

Although I am slightly annoyed that I missed the drop off yesterday, I am very glad I didn't drive over there to learn they are closed today.

Needless to say we are not going to Pottstown today, the stuff will remain in the car for three more days, and dad is picking up Hunter.

I am trying to be good steward and recycle everything I can. But when you have to drive 45 min. to do so, and use a fair spot of gas in the process, one might wonder if it's worth it.

I am going to scour my house for all things recyclable that we don't need or want. This place in Pottstown does take most anything. If you are searching for something to read, try going to their website (see above). They have quite the list of instructions on recycling.

We did enjoyed ourselves the rest of the weekend, though it wasn't perfect.

We went the pool, went boating, E made G a Father's Day present, forgot G's coffee pot and our slow cooker for dinner, J got to put stones in any container he could find, ran out of propane, had some campfires even though it was hot and humid, drove into a town and bought a new slow cooker and a used coffee percolator, E bought more candy than a 3.5 year old should have, played on playgrounds, and forgot our refrigerator when we left and had to go back for it.

Doesn't that sound like a splendid time?

We went camping this weekend to Camp Swatara. We were smart and decided to go an extra day. We left Thursday evening and stayed until Sunday.

The plan was to leave soon after G returned from work. He even came home early for the occasion. In past years, we have gotten up there so late on Friday that it's dark, and we've missed the group dessert time with all the other families from church.

But not so this year. We got smart. We went a day early. Planned to eat when we got there after we set up.

Well, what do you think happened? Yep, we set up in the dark sometime between 7:00 and 10:00 PM, having eaten on the drive out.

I will start by saying we do get credit for arriving before it actually got dark. It just took us forever to get the camper set up.

First. We got the camper where we wanted it in the site. Forward and back. Forward and back. Forward and back. And maybe another forward and back.

Second. We set to unhitching the camper from the car. But the handle to the wheel jack, what raises and lowers the tongue of the camper, was too close to the spare tire on the CRV. So we couldn't lower the wheel enough to raise the camper to get it off the hitch. We did know this could be a problem depending on the alignment of the camper and car. It's a very annoying problem. G used the car jack to raise and unhitch the camper.

Third. We needed to level the camper. What fun that turned out to be. To avoid some rocks and gullys in our site we had the camper on a slight incline. To get it level, the front stabilizer jacks would need to be open too far to really stabilize the camper well. After consulting with a neighbor camper from our church who also came a day earlier, but actually during the day, G decided to rehitch (remember - not as simple as the word sounds) the camper and move it over some to a flatter section of the site and unavoidably closer to the rocks and gully. (Which turned out to be not that bad.)

Fourth. After about the thirtieth time he moved the camper forward and backward, G got it to a better spot.

Fifth. Unhitching. It think it went better this time.

Sixth. Raising the roof. After unhooking the hooks, the top goes up, the sinks flips up, the door comes down, a bed transforms into a table and benches, B organizes stuff and makes the beds, and children (who behaved rather well stuck in their seats the whole time) finally go to bed. Parents follow shortly after.

Yesterday I went to get my son after his nap. He was in his crib crying. I walked in and saw a patch of orange on the floor. This alarmed me, becasue I had put him to nap wearing an orange cloth diaper. When I checked his bottom, sure enough the diaper was missing. It is a velco one, which Josh has apparently figured out how to work. Amazingly the diaper, his crib, and surrounding areas were not wet.

He is again wearing the orange cloth diaper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's finally gone. She finally ate it. E was served a leftover twice baked potato for Saturday's dinner. After being served it at least five more times, it's gone, in her belly. Today, it's all she was served. If she wanted food, she got a bowl of potatoes. And since eating it, she has also partaken of her quesadilla (half of one) she didn't get Sunday night, and her mini shredded wheat (biscuits) she wanted for breakfast. Frankly, she's eaten more for lunch today than in the past two days. And get this, she just asked for more biscuits, because she's still hungry.

She is a wonder.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, P!

Today we went to a different church with P. It was too warm in the sanctuary for her. We didn't leave in time. She spent may moments on our couch cooling down.

Though she might have waited a little longer to get up. The stairs were not her friend this visit.

We were concerned about P driving home, but she decided to try it and did make it home alright.
I think that I won most of the games we played. (I don't really remember, but I am choosing to remember that I won.) Unfortunately I do remember that she just slaughtered my mom, aunt and I at Chicken Foot. It was embarrassing how badly I did. I think I lost by over 200 points. Disgusting.

I love my visits with P. She is always willing to lend a hand, change a diaper, do the dishes. Even when it hurts. Literally. She also gives much needed advice to G and I about parenting E and J. I also love to hear her opinions on things.

She does have this one flaw, though. She absolutely loves to win and hates to lose. I think she should work on that. And lose more. :)

Today P, my mom, and I went out.

First P treated us to Applebee's fare. I think we tried one of everything.

We then stopped by Wal-Mart. It sucked us in for many a minute, as it always does. We bought what wasn't on our list and forgot what was.

Our next stop was pedicures. There was only one lady working, so it was a longer time than I thought it would be. I had envisioned us sitting three in a row in the relaxing chairs, our toes dipped in the teeny whirlpools, chatting about anything that came to mind, while our toes, feet and legs were massaged, rubbed, cleansed, trimmed, and painted.

I didn't quite happen that way.

But we did all walk out with beautiful feet. And P was sporting her new fabulous flip flops. And bare naked feet. (A thing that never happens.)

Our next stop should have been home, but since we forgot the AC filters at Wal-Mart, we stopped off at the local hardware store.

Earlier this week I hypothetically had asked P that if a cake was made, what kind she might like. And if a few people stopped by for dinner, if she'd be OK with that.

Hypothetically she said she'd be OK with people over for dinner and that she WANTED A CAKE!
So party preparations began for P's Birthday Party.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I was a lovely evening filled with family and friends all joined to wish my dear friend P a wonderful birthday.

We had kabobs, twice baked potatoes (which P made because there was poor planing on my part,) baked beans, and for dessert yellow cake (which although the batter tasted scrumptiously like yellow cake, the batter tasted more like white cake) with milk chocolate icing.

P bested my mom, aunt, and I with a game of dominoes chicken foot, which consists of ten rounds. She won most of them and I had many many points nearly every round. I didn't have as much fun as she did. But that's OK, for it was her birthday.

I think she went to bed happy with her day.

I went on a train to drive P back up to my house. It is always worth a visit from her.

She tried valiantly to be ready when I got there, and Amtrak thought they'd help her out, by my train being an 1.5 hours late.

But we made it safe and sound to my abode.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so begins our game playing.

G and I had a wonderful long weekend for our anniversary. E was with G's dad and step-mom, and J and Hunter were with my parents.

After dropping E off, we headed north. G had a surprise for me. He took me to a drive-in movie. We like drive-ins and Becky's Drive-In Theater is the closest. It's about 45 min. drive. But it was on the way to the cabin.

We watched the "Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "The Spiderwick Chronicles." It was a double feature, and although we left the drive-in very late, we watched them both. We figured since we didn't have children to care for, we could sleep in.

Sleep in we did. We got up at 11:00 AM. We then headed to Honesdale, PA. We were suppose to eat breakfast at a little coffee shop, but I forgot to remember their name, so we ended up at a diner. We then strolled Main Street and checked out the local shops. Most of the shops weren't of huge interest, but we did happen upon one "little" place where we purchased some finds. At first look, we weren't much interested, but as you went back in the store, it opened up to some fun antiques. And when I say antiques I don't mean pristine expensive stuff, but the cool somewhat practical old stuff. And it was priced in our range. I had been on the look out for a b-day present for a certain someone and found just the things. He had a lot of green stuff. G left with a small wooden level, an old scoop for our wood pellets, and an old map of the railroad lines of New Jersey. Now you ask what does a man who lives for his hometown area of Lansdale, PA want with a New Jersey railroad map? Besides that he does like railroad stuff, if you look on the PA side of the map, because it isn't just NJ, you will see the town of Lansdale. Need I say more?

Unfortunately, we spent too much time strolling and missed getting into the museum and visitor's center. They closed a half hour before we got there. The main draw to the museum was that it "contains the full-scale replica of the famous Stourbridge Lion, the first commercial locomotive to run on track in America." But we missed seeing that famous locomotive. An the visitor's center? Well, we thought we'd at least see what was in there.

On our way home we stopped by an antique car show in a shopping center parking lot and then spent way too much time at Wal-Mart.

We did get to see trains. For on Sunday, after missing church because we got up late again, we headed to Scranton's Steamtown National Historic Site. Here "you can relive the era of steam as the engines come back to life. The cinders, grease, oil, steam, people and stories of railroading have returned."

Here I realized that although I enjoy looking at all the engines and train cars and some memorabilia, I don't care much for reading every word printed on every sign. I leave that up to G, and if it's important, he'll tell me.

We rode a steam train, watched a video, walked around a lot, rode a pump trolley (a maintenance railroad car powered by its passengers), watched the engineers put the steam engine into the roundhouse, and heard the shorten tale of a hobo (it was shorten because we left to watch the locomotive.) And as we left the park we stopped at the park shop and bought an engineer's cap for the kids.

In the evenings we watched StarGate: SG1. We are into season 9, disk two.

On Monday we stayed at the cabin, watched more StarGate, cleaned up some shingles from the roof project a while ago, and relaxed. On our way home we stopped at a park so I could take some photos.

We picked up our children from their locals and came on home.

Every day that my children (note plural) take naps is a good day.

While children napped, I puttered in our camper. The previous owners left everything they had. I pulled it all out, went through it, kept some of it, included what we had from tent camping and put it all back in the way I wanted it. G claimed one cabinet as his, but I get all the rest. I didn't change the essence of his cabinet, but I did straighten it up for him. All that organizing was quite satisfying.


I am not finished, for some items, which were brought home dirty on Sunday are sitting waiting to go out. They are calling to me - take me out, put me away. I want to put them in their rightful place, too.

E just asked for cheese. I told her to wait until I finished with her sandwich, and I would see to her needs. She looked down at her leg and told me her knee was okay. I chuckled, rephrased and gave examples of "needs." And while typing this little story, I burnt the one side of the grilled cheese. I pulled off the offending piece and quick buttered a new one, and it was good as new.

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On the way to drop off a meal for a new mom tonight, I pointed out girl's Lacrosse at the local middle school. I told E I liked Lacrosse. I had to repeat the name several times for her to understand it, since I think she has never heard the name. She then declared that she loves Lacrosse and J loves it. And Daddy likes it, and so on naming all she could think of and stating that they liked Lacrosse.

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I cut E's bangs tonight. She really likes her bangs. When I was all finished she took a gander at herself in the looking glass. She pondered a moment and declared "I'm like a different person."

Camping was wet and wild. Well maybe not so much wild, but definitely wet. The forecast, we thought, was for a shower or two Sunday afternoon. Instead we got steady rain for most of the day. It did finally cleared up once we packed up and left. While drying out at G's dad's place, we saw the sun for the first time that day.

One might consider the wild part being when we had to calm J back to sleep when we went to bed, at 2:00, 3:30, and 5:00. E need some readjusting a few times as well. G and I were lucky to actually sleep until 9:00. I guess the late night wakenings helped the kids sleep longer, though I highly recommend sleeping through the night instead.

We only were at the camp site over night. Since Friday night was rainy as well. But we wanted to get some camping in with our new pop-up camper. Pop-up is a misnomer. Only after cranking, pulling, tugging, zipping, lifting, wedging, and rearranging does one get to rest in a "pop-up" camper.

My family and parents went to the cabin this weekend. Although I was there with my husband, I rarely saw him or my dad. It was a work weekend for them. The roof near the chimney had been leaking, and they were there to fix it. The project has consumed their time. I pretty much only saw G for meals and falling into bed tired and sore. He apparently has muscles about which he didn't know.

It took them a long time, longer than they thought. In fact the kids, my mom and I left last night. They stayed. Even though the forecast was for rain today. They still had work to do. I talked to G tonight. They finally finished this evening - in the rain.

He said he would call after they got on the road to let me know they were on their way home. It's 10:39 PM and no call. I will be heading to bed very soon. I'd like to actually see my husband before this day is over, but I may have to wait until tomorrow.

Good news! I enstalled our three new retractable 40 ft. clothes line, complete with 12 soft touch clothes pins.

Bad news! We need line longer than 40 feet.

Good news! One can purchse retractable clothes line longer than 40 ft.

Bad news! It's $22.99, plus shipping. (The 40 ft. one was $15.99.)

All this to hang my laundry outside.

Notes to self: Measure first. Install only one of something and test it's use before installing several of something and then testing their use. Don't assume that since retractable clothes line was previously used in said location, that it was used correctly.

The following is an email from my husband about his experience going to Quest Diagnostics.

I write this letter to you not with much elation and lack of fear, but with much of a sense of overwhelming relief. It seems that I was indeed in fear of my life being extinguished this morning, alas before I could even complete the task with which I had set out to complete. Apparently one is able, via the “internet”, to make an appointment with one Quest Diagnostics with such a sheer amount of ease it is truly astounding that one would not use such a service. Also quite amazing, is the immense number of the population that chooses not use this service. It is again apparent that this same multitude will resort to intimidation and threats to discourage others to use this service.

And such was my fate this beautiful morning when I visited this Quest Diagnostics. I came upon this multitude of advanced years, some of whom had been waiting for over 35 minutes, when my name was called after a mere wait of only 3 minutes. The woman who called out my name to the crowd, thus knowing I was numbered among them, graciously used my surname and only the first initial of my family name. Obviously, she had knowledge of the capabilities of the restless multitude and wanted to spare my person possible future retaliation for my thoughtfulness.

Amidst grumbling and fervor of sharp comments directed to me, I quickly and quietly completed the pre-test procedure. After I slinked off to perform my test, I dashed through a storm of daggers thrown at me as I darted through the room of waiting to the vestibule of safety.

Perhaps if I am required to visit this Quest Diagnostics again, I could instill fear into the crowd itself by not appearing to be prepared to withstand a long stay, and surprise them with my confidence as I uphold my convictions of a short wait.

I just returned from church. The program was presented by the Post Abortion Counseling Center. It saddens my heart that such a ministry is even necessary. One of the woman from the center presented "The Silent Cradle." It was her story of guilt, grief and forgiveness.

I don't know every woman's story. Why she makes abortion her choice. Why she doesn't choose life for her child. The grief it causes her.

I hastily say, "If you don't want the baby, give it up for adoption. There are plenty of couples who want to adopt." At least I used to say that.

Giving up a child is no easy thing. I look at my two children, snuggle with them, and I can't imagine holding them only one time, if that, and then never seeing them again. Never seeing those eyes look up to me in wonder or never hearing their little voices call to me.

The question of giving up a child, has given me pause. With going through IVF, G and I have more embryos than the number of children we wanted. Therein lies my choice. What do we do with our extra embryos? The only two options I'll even consider are to continue having children until we use all our embryos or to let them be adopted. And right now, I am not in a place where I can give them up. I see them as my children. They are a part of me. How can I let anyone else have my children?

So, now I don't quickly say just give up your baby, since I can't even think about giving up my child I have never carried.

But abortion still is an issue. For there are countless women who feel like their only choice is abortion. It might seem like the easy way out, but there is no other choice that will grieve you more than ending the life of your unborn child.

And no matter what choice a woman makes, God is there. Through Jesus Christ, He offers unconditional love, grace and forgiveness.

Life is a precious thing.

I have had it will E wetting her pants. The floors are sparkly clean in front of the toilet. There is a pile of four pants and underpants from just today, not to mention the other pile soaking from yesterday. What is her issue? It is driving me crazy.

I had to go pick up a prescription today, so I checked out the diaper aisle. I am loathe to buy diapers for my child who was potty trained, but I am also frustrated with her five outfits a day and cleaning the floor.

The token system is working fairly well with E in the earning department, but she hasn't really altered her behavior when in danger of losing them. That may be in part because she and I don't remember to ensure her redeeming them on a regular basis.

I am also frustrated with the curiosity J now has. He is into everything. He is constantly climbing up the stairs. He climbs on E's desk. He pulls thing off the desk. He empties the basket of twigs. The books on the shelf in the kitchen are not for reading, oh no. They are for pulling off and scattering. Once sufficiently in a two foot radius around him, might one be ready for perusal. The books on his shelf in his room are much better for reading. His favorites right now are The Little Engine that Could and The Very Busy Spider. And he doesn't like to linger on a page, mind you. In fact, I think he mostly enjoys turning them, not hearing what's on them. Many a book has been abridged in our house while J is in charge.

Good thing that Crayola has non-toxic markers. J decided to not wait for dinner and munch on marker tips. From the looks of it, brown and red. He actually bit the tip off of one of them. Maybe now E will keep her markers in the baggie.

We are on the last episode of Stargate SG-1 season 6.

K slept all morning. An easy $40.00. Or so I thought. I felt it would be nice to send her off with a clean diaper. She had other thoughts. Whilst I had her diaper off, she decided to poop. Not even my own children have done that. It was on my carpet in three spots and on my hand. I had the clean diaper ready to go, so I used it to block. E earned some tokens in helping me get things to clean up.

Is there anything more annoying than a dog with that plastic cone on his head? Hunter is still totally unaware of the area required to move about with an extra wide head, even though he has worn the cone for ten days. I am tired of being nudged and poked by plastic, of it getting caught on doorways and furniture, of him knocking over Josh.

But tomorrow morning by 7:45 am, it should all change. The stitches come out. I am guessing that Hunter will be just as glad as I am. He will be able to chew his toys, scratch, and clean himself properly. Watching him try to do so now is quite comical.

In addition to his obliviousness to head size, he is in great need of a bath. His stitches require dryness. His smell requires shampoo and wetness.

I have been doing better as of late at not getting too impatient with E when she acts up. My voice has been level, I haven't gotten short tempered, and I have been matter of fact with my instructions for if she continues to misbehave.

However, she did test me yesterday (with me failing slightly,) when after doing her potty dance, she refused to use the potty. I took her to the bathroom all the while she's telling me doesn't have to go. She stood there and refused to go. My patience was not so patient. She leaked a little in her underpants and the floor and refused to go. My voice was not so level. I stuck her on the potty and she refused to go. My temper was getting short.

This not getting to the potty in time and/or refusing to use it thing is getting old.

What is stewardship? Taking care of that which is entrusted to us.

God has entrusted to us His creation. What are we doing with it? We are exploiting it, using up the resources, polluting it. Well, some of us humans are, anyway.

I am trying to do better. I recycle, I reuse, I reduce, I conserve, I am teaching my children to do the same. Today I talked on this topic at my MOPS meeting. I feel I did a fair job of painting a "be a good steward" picture. I received good feedback. There is so much I could have said, so many more ways to help the earth. I gave suggestions, but really each of us has to find the place where God wants us to make a difference.

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I started watching Kaila yesterday. She is such a little peanut at 6 pounds. She slept the entire time (3.5 hrs), with nary a cry for food. She showed her eyes a few times then settled in for more sleeping. I guess when you're 2 months and 6 pounds, you have some growing to do. Her mother, Stephanie, said that maybe she'll be more alert in the afternoons. I watch her again tomorrow afternoon. We'll see.

E ~ How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love to snuggle with you and breath deep of your smell. Your laughter is music for my ears. You never tire of sending me inquiries of the world around you. You wrap your little arms around my neck and hold on tight. I love to sit quietly with on my lap and be close. I can never give you enough kisses. I love your attentiveness to your brother. You like to help me do tasks around the house. You want to be read to. You are my special girl.

J ~ How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love you snuggle with you and breath deep of your smell. I love to watch you explore, looking to me and saying with your eyes, "Look at this, Mommy!" Your chatter is endless. Your little hands are learning to give hugs. I can never give you enough kisses. I love to hold you and feel your head on my shoulder. You point and ask "What's that?" You find great pleasure in simple games. Your giggle is infectious. You are my special boy.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that during our time at the cabin, I managed to get the upper hand of a game called Quorridor. I lost many games in a row, but no longer. I will win some too.

I also must mention I am posting while watching the Phillies play. Tomorrow starts their season. G, my sister and I will be enjoying them at the game next Wednesday. It is a free retro
Phillies t-shirt day and dollar dog day. We like dollar dog days. And I like free t-shirts.

G and I finally officially instituted E's token system. Hanging in the nook is her chart of earning tokens, losing tokens and trading tokens. She redeemed two for me painting her finger and toe nails, while watching her "Emily" movie. I believe the token system will help with her behavior.

Thanks P!

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OK, the anomaly. Sometime several weeks ago, I got the notion that I might like to watch some of P's beloved sci-fi. While visiting my husband's friend, I noticed they had season 1, 2 and 3 of Stargate SG -1. I borrowed the first season and have been hooked ever since. I mentioned my new found like of the show to P, and she proceeded to buy the entire series. She's had it on her Amazon.com wish list for a while and saw the price drop dramatically, so she made a purchase. During the time I was with P at the cabin, from Friday to the following Saturday, we managed to watch nearly five seasons of the show. We had a blast watching together and laughing at the witty lines of the characters. I have missed her company while watching them alone. I find myself wanting to turn to her and share a laugh at something someone said or guessing the plot and being right.

Since I have become a fan of Stargate SG-1 and have been watching practically nonstop (P sacrificed watching her new purchase and left the series with me for my viewing pleasure,) I've managed to hook G into my obsession. He said today that he wants to watch them now. I don't mind him wanting to watch them with me, mind you, but it does put a cramp into my watching progress, since he works all day, and I can sit in front of the TV or computer all day.

I know, I know, it's been awhile. I've said before, that I'd like to write more often, but it just doesn't happen, though this might be the winner of the largest gap in my writing.

Since my last post, I have, well, it's been so long, I can't sum it up. I can say that the night before the last post I did agree to speak at my MOPS group about being good stewards of God's creation. I speak in a little more than a week, and I am still not ready.

I will highlight my week at the cabin. I love going to the cabin. I have gone there all of my years. I hold memories dear to me of my time spent there with my family. I now have memories of time spent there with my bestest friend. The five of us people and two animals drove up on a Friday, G drove back home for work on Monday morning, than back again Thursday night. The rest of us spent the week in our cozy cabin. We had many a fire, many a game, and many a Stargate SG-1 episode (I will discuss this anomaly in more detail later.) P has taken many a moss photo. Actually she has taken many a photo in general with her ten (alright, three) cameras (she did bring ones that she didn't use.) We even had a short power outage when on a windy day, a tree fell in a neighboring lot taking down another tree and some power lines. PP&L was snappy in fixing it but not snappy in taking my call.

I had a very relaxing week. I was a bit concerned that P would not find enjoyment during her stay at the place I enjoy retreating to most. But she embraced "my" little "Rock Haven" (the name my grandparent gave their mountain home) as much as I did. She could have used an elevator though. It does have a few steps to the "first" floor. And I think she wouldn't object to a dishwasher either.

My weekend with P is almost over.


We have played many a game, of which she thinks I have the most wins. We have watched 9.5 movies (we are watching one now,) eaten copious amounts of Double Peanut Butter cookies and other foods, stayed up late and slept in late (as much as possible with a 3 and 1 year old.)

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I just realized I never posted this.

I just won my third game of scrabble. P's rating is almost into the 500s. She finds the 500s to be loathsome, but I don't mind her being there. She does however start playing like a pointmonger when her rating gets to low.

We could have played much sooner than we had, but P fell asleep. I tried calling, but she didn't answer.

E was an extra pip tonight. She didn't like my decision to have her leave her brother's room so I could put him to bed. She stomped her foot several too many times. With her foot stomping, she was put to bed first. She liked that even less. She cried and carried on for half an hour and finally succumbed to sleep on her floor next to the door. She usually goes to bed fine.

I still can't connect to the internet, using the laptop. I got the new wireless adaptor. the router is not picking up the internet signal or something like that.

I tried again with Verizon today to fix it. He did a bunch of tests on the line and all was for naught. Still can't connect. He gave up and told me to call Sony, the brand of my laptop for new settings or drivers or something. Big help he was.

Anyway, I am also packing for a trip to the cabin (see my very first post.)

I hope to have relaxing weekend with my family - G and the kids, my parents, sister and the dog.

We might even be able to leave on time.

"Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar."

Do you know where those words are from? An old time radio program. My husband came across WNAR Re-Creation radio, "Radio the way it was in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. The very best of Radio Drama and Music with some News and Comedy. 24 hours a day!"It is complete with old time commercials, too. Have you ever heard of Fatima cigarettes? They were a hit back when, along with some other interesting products.

They do also put current news reports and other current adds on, too.

G's favorite program is "Johnny Dollar, Insurance Investigator." Last night G thought he'd check out more about this station, since it is broadcasted from our area. Check out this link.

If you want to go back in time, picture yourself around a radio and listen.

P gave be a bag of Babybels for my birthday. She is so thoughtful. I would probably never buy them for myself. She engineered the buying too. She called my dad and asked him to procure them for her and then give them to me on my birthday. (He forgot to bring them, and my mom dropped them off today.)

P loves the little cheeses. When she was here for Christmas she brought some with her. Or was it Thanksgiving? Well, maybe it was both. Anyway, on a visit she brought them, and had her Babybel and peanuts snack. (It was Thanksgiving, because at Christmas she added Cheerios to the combo.) She let me try a hunk of cheese garnished with peanuts. I found it to be quite palatable. I went and got my own little peanut cheese snack.

P is very big on tasty food (maybe she should be a food critic,) so she knew I would enjoy a bag of Babybels to go along with my peanuts. Previous to my Babybel acquisition, I was using extra sharp cheddar to accompany the peanuts to my stomach.

Although in February P is sharing her gift certificate to a spa with me (plus spending a little more) for my birthday, she wanted me to have a little something from her on my birthday.

What a dear friend have I.

J has acquired some new habits. One alarming, two irritating.

He has discovered that he can make a sound that imitates a cat trying to dislodge a hairball. His new thing makes me stare at him to ensure he's not choking. J thinks it's great fun. When he sees me looking at him, he'll stop, smile at me, and then continue his gagging sounds.

His other new thing is to grind his little teeth together. It's like fingernails on a chalk board. He only has 5 teeth, but they sure do make a piercing sound.

Next. J has discovered the magazine/newspaper rack. Now what do you think a 1 year old will do with a pile of paper? See how wide of an area he can spread it. Yes, he, with help from a sister, emptied the rack of it's contents over half of the living room floor. And much to his delight, when next he happened upon the rack, it had been conveniently refilled so he could empty it again. The second time he only got half of it emptied, before I came along and stopped him.

E has decided that nap time is not for her. Since Thanksgiving she has declared war on naps. She still, however, continues to be put in her room for rest time. She protests most of the time. Every once in a while, she will loose the nap battle and fall asleep. But not this day. She continues to bang and holler, though she is still in her room. Sometimes she will play nicely in her room. But not this day.

E has gotten much better with her behavior, but I reckon to say, not so much at nap time.

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Today is my 35th birthday.

G is taking me to the Melting Pot for dinner.

I have been wanting to go to The Melting Pot for a while now. It is a fondu restaurant. Unfortunately, it is rather uneconomical. We also haven't gone, because it isn't exactly kid friendly, what with small open flames and tiny spears everywhere.

But I asked G to take me there for my birthday.

Hunter has come to live with us. He is the dog my sister had originally picked out for me around Christmas 1998. She had seen him on one trip to the SPCA, and when she went back to adopt him, he had already been adopted. We went back a week or so later to see what other dogs were there, and saw Hunter. He was back, so I adopted him after all.

When G and I got married, my sister (and parents by default since it was their house) said she would keep him. G had two cats, the townhouse wasn't big, and there was no yard. Well, 8 years, two new cats, a bigger house with a yard, and two kids later, I decided, and G finally succumbed, that we could have a dog. My sister didn't want him anymore (she isn't living at home now) and my parents were only tolerating him, so we took Hunter. He's had a vet visit, a grooming, and we are trying to train him to behave better and walk him once a day.

Hunter is very good with E and J. J did not like him much when at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house. He'd cry whenever Hunter would come near him. Not so anymore. I've witnessed J sitting next to Hunter and patting his back or pulling his tail. Hunter doesn't mind either. Hunter is also not protective of his stuff. Although we are teaching E and J to leave Hunter alone while he's eating, he doesn't object when a hand comes near his food bowl while he is eating. E likes to boss Hunter around. He doesn't obey her yet, which is another way we are trying to train him - submitting to the kids as well as us. Sometimes when we're all in the kitchen, Hunter will lay in the middle of the floor and ignore the mayhem around him. He wants to be with his people. When he's had enough, he'll vacate to more peaceful surroundings.

Now, Hunter and the cats are another story. They haven't decided to be best buddies yet. The cats just run away from Hunter and willingly chases them (he chases anything that runs.) My guess is that he wants to just smell them. He doesn't try to bite at or hurt them. Patches has growled and hissed at him. Hunter just stared back. Kalli made a run for it once and got chased for her efforts. Maybe after some time, the cats will tolerate Hunter.

I finally have Windows XP on my laptop. I just don't have anything else. In the process, it wiped out everything. It also took out my wireless adaptor, somehow. The computer won't recognize it. I called Linksys and can you believe it was still under warranty and they are sending me a new one. For free! According to UPS tracking, it should arrive tomorrow.

The main reason I wanted the laptop was to use the Internet anywhere in my house, which I still should be able to do. Getting Microsft Word and Excel back is getting looked into. I also need virus protection.

I always wonder why parents want to shelter their children from death. I am not one of those parents.

My family went to my parents' home the morning of my grandmother's death. She was staying at their house. After Grandmom's death, my aunt cleaned her and had her lying in bed. E knew M had been sick. We also told E that M had died and was with Jesus. I didn't shield E from the death of her M. I told her M would look like she was sleeping, but she wasn't going to wake up. We took her to M's bedside. She gave her a kiss and told her goodbye. She asked some questions, we answered them.

What do you say to someone who's just lost a loved one? Really there is nothing to say. The closest thing is "I am sorry" or "I'm here if you need me." But I think the best thing is to just be there, listen, and not say anything.

My husband did that for me. The night of Grandmom's service he just held me while I sobbed. He didn't say anything, just held me. That's what I needed.

Although my parents are still alive, I feel somewhat orphaned.

My maternal grandfather died November 12, 1998.
My paternal grandfather died September 16, 2003.
My maternal grandmother died July 3, 2004.

My paternal grandmother died today.

It was pointed out to me by P, and I have been very reticent to admit it. I have been making a laundry mistake . In my mind I have been trying to insist she is wrong, but unfortunately evidence is in my own drawers.

Not only does the dryer shrink things, but washing in warm or hot water does also. I hadn't been able to figure out how shirts I have never dried are now smaller than when purchased. Then I thought about P's accusation about me shrinking her unmentionables because I washed them in warm water. How much harm could warm water do to fabric? Apparently it shrinks it. My brain says it's just warm water. I could see hot water doing some shrinking, but warm water? Yet, there my clothes (and her unmentionables)are - smaller.

The other thing my brain has to get around is washing with cold water. It just doesn't seem right. Will it be as clean? I know Tide makes the cold water detergent, but that is costly. I generally now use warm water as I begin filling up the wash tub, but then switch it to cold.

I have yet another cold. And really I am quite tired of it. My friend P has a persistent cold and mine comes and goes. E's cold has finally started packing up. Her cough has decreased as has the nose blowing. J still sounds not the greatest, but both kids have been acting normal. I don't have sickly sick kids.

On another note, E has been doing much better with her behavior. G and I have been better too with our reacting. She still has her not great moments, but they have definitely decreased.

Though today, right near lunch time, was a more unfortunate time. She kept asking for gum. Which she wasn't getting because it was too close to lunch time. And G was at church, and sick me got to stay home with the sick kids. G might have stayed home with us, if not for Communion duty. So, she had a meltdown about not getting gum. Perhaps letting her have it in the first place was not one of my more brilliant mother moves.

Four packs of gum "thrown out" (I only made her think I was throwing them out, because I am not wasting gum,) two time-outs (which was a lot of me putting her on the step and her getting up again,) a can and a bottle thrown in the kitchen and finally picked up, a few swings at mommy, and a few spankings later, and I had my nice girl back.

And then Daddy walks through the door. She couldn't have waited to put on her show until after reinforcements showed up. No, tire out Mommy even more, was her strategy.

But alas, she didn't want Daddy to miss out entirely, so an encore was presented when Daddy had enough of her dragging out lunch time. Several items ended up on the floor and another time out was issued.

And right now, she isn't napping up in her room.

My daughter is definitely a pip. I think I may actually have found something that my daughter cares enough about to change her behavior. At least for one time.

Let me back up a moment though. My brother told me that my nephew's favorite dessert is chewing sugar free gum for 15 minutes. Gum. Yep, that's his favorite. So G and I decided to let E try some. Her cousin let her have a piece. She liked it.

So on our last trip to Wal-Mart, I got her some Extra, bubblegum flavor. She really likes having it. Yesterday E wouldn't clean up some toys. I threatened throwing out a toy, than changed it to throwing out her gum. And man did she react. She came hollering "No," found a toy, and tried to hand it to me to throw out (sorry P, it was the pink purse you gave her), but I said no, she had to clean up or loose the gum. Needless to say, the toys were cleanup, and her beloved gum was saved from certain disaster.

In case you were wondering, my computer still has Millennium operating systems on it. The first code didn't work. The second code didn't work. Hopefully today I will get a third code that will work.

And I did a fishing expedition today at 7:45 AM. P keeps telling me that I need to put the router higher and less hidden. So this morning when I went to go online, and and I couldn't because the router was off (we cut power to it at night and have decided to try to be more energy conscience and unplug other things that draw power unnecessarily.)

I climbed in the cabinet, pulled out the router, untangled all the cords, dangled the ether net cable that goes between the router and the computer down the back of the computer cabinet, found the end through the small opening, fastened the ether net cable that goes from the router box to the other thing to it. I then proceeded to pull both cables back up. I connected them both to the router, guessing about which one went in which port, because I forgot to pay attention when I unplugged them. I then dangled the cable back down to connect it to the computer. This attempt took two trys. With all cables hooked up, I then dangled the power adapter down, found it through the hole, and plugged it in. Now everything was set. I came in the dining room to check on my work. I was able to log on using my laptop with 58% signal. Last night, with the router in a more sheltered environment, the signal was about 28%. We'll see if this helps.

Christmas time was very busy. P came the Wednesday before Christmas and stayed until Christmas Day. My brother and his family came Christmas Day and stay until the Sunday after Christmas. My cousin and her family came the Thursday after Christmas and stayed until the next Wednesday. My aunt also arrived the Thursday after Christmas and is leaving today. Only P actually stayed at our house. It was fun to have everyone here and let the kids play.

We also had a wedding in there as well. My mom's cousin got married on the Saturday after Christmas and invited us all for the weekend. She and her husband paid for their guests' rooms and food. So the many of us hung out in Harrisburg area that weekend. Most of us drove out Saturday morning and stayed only one night. We had fun.

P was here.
When P comes it's always a whirlwind with all her stuff and the animals. :) Twenty trips to the car and back to bring it all in. Well, I guess that is a bit of an exaggeration. She does try to pack light, but it is OK if she doesn't. Having her visit is fun. We play games and watch movies quite frequently, though not as frequently as she would like. With having two children and my weekly tasks, it is harder for me to spend as much time as I or she would like playing games and watching movies.

P also helps out with the children, for which I am quite grateful. J loves her and talks to her about his day, and lets her change him without fussing and wriggling, feed him, cuddle with him. E loves her too. She is very caring about P's recent loss of one of her birds. E also loves doing P's make up. She is not too bad at it, I think. E also likes going for walks with P and Kashi, and giving Kashi his bones. And every morning E wants to know if P is up and if she can go wake her up. Being quiet to let P sleep is hard for her. They each have a special place with her.

A note about the flush toilets. I now carry in my purse small post-it notes, for those stupid wall sensor flush toilets. They adequately cover the sensor, so no toilet flushing occurs while my daughter is sitting on it.

Upon our first encounter with the a fore mentioned flush toilet using the post-it notes, I had to cajole my daughter to use it.

Here I sit on couch with my lap top. It still has Window Millanium instead of the update to Windows XP. The tech friend at P's work had to leave to attend to his daughter's broken leg.

And among other things, P forgot to take the computer home with her. Oh well. Since she's coming at Christmas, we can do something about it than.

Obviously, the fellow who invented automatic flush toilets did not have young ones.

My girl, who's three, does not care for automatic flush toilets. In fact with our last encounter with one, she absolutely refused to use it. I tried to cover the sensor, but the paper fell. When the sensor's on the wall, it's rather hard to cover it up. The toilet flushed and she started to cry that she didn't have to go. We tried another toilet, but the stupid thing flushed on us too. We ended up leaving, no one having used a toilet, and me very annoyed. I didn't want to have to clean up an accident.

If there have to be automatic flush toilets, they should at least be the kind with the sensor away from the wall.

I had my first (and last) craft fair at Elm Terrace Gardens on Saturday. I sold nothing, save one note card to my 8 year old cousin for a $1.00. I had available to buy, plain and matted prints, some framed prints, note cards, and greeting cards. Many came by and said that I had beautiful photos, but no one felt led to buy anything.

I thought that at least something would sell. But no. I don't count the note card R bought. I did learn that craft fairs at retirement communities are not the place to sell prints. I should have had my photos printed on fabric and made into pillow covers. Then I would have made some money.

I need to find art venues. I want to try selling at local stores and online, too. We'll see how it goes.

I was reading in my Bible a couple of weeks ago and started to cry from conviction. E, who was in the room entertaining herself by lining up books on my bed, stopped, turned and asked, " Mommy why are you crying?" I replied, "Because I'm not doing what God wants me to do." As she went back to arranging, she simply said, "God will keep you safe."

I took her in my arms and thanked her for caring about Mommy. I got a big E hug, which can melt any heart.

I have been thinking lately about my faith and my walk with Christ. I have felt that something has been missing, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I finally decided that besides studying the Bible much better and more than I have been, I might try getting to know Jesus better. So I pulled my The Jesus I Never Knew book off my shelf. (P has asked me to read it with her, and I haven’t been ready to until now.)

Right now I was reading about the birth of Jesus and was quite taken aback by the account in Revelation 12:1-6. Yes, there is an account in that book.

" 1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

Now, I have never given a lot of thought to Revelation, for it is quite a different sort of book. I have read it but have never taken the time to understand it very well. That passage depicts Christ’s birth, but I am pretty sure that when I search through the Christmas cards this season, that is one scene I won’t find. Yancey writes “in daily life two parallel histories occur simultaneously, one on earth and one in heaven. Revelation, however, views them together, allowing a quick look behind the scenes.” It was quite amazing to learn that Revelation gave me a parallel look at the two worlds. I have always believed that Satan is at work in this world but never viewed it like that and didn’t realize that Revelation did.

If you go on to read in chapter 12, you come to this passage.

"13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

Again, since I haven’t studied this book, I found a passage new to me. I was most taken with verse 17. I am counted among her offspring, which puts me at war with that dragon. I sat and thought on that for about 5 seconds, and decided I needed to share what I just
learned.

Now what have I just learned? And how will it help me to grow? That is something else I recently read. I learn and I grow. Learning is taking in new information, but growing is changing whom I am and becoming something more. Hopefully closer to whom God wants me to be. If we are Christians, we should always be striving to be more like Christ. We should not be stagnant. And I think that has been my problem. I have been stagnant. I haven’t been growing, and it has left me feeling dispassionate about my faith. That is certainly not how God wants me. What good am I than?

Back to what I learned. Revelation may be a strange book, but I still need to study it, for it is relevant to my life and very applicable. Christ entered this world with Satan chasing after Him, and since Satan has no sway over Jesus, he tries his wiles on us, Christ’s followers. And yes, he does find those who can be tempted into sin.

How will I grow? A starting point is to oil my armor and stand alert.

Right now I am sitting in my basement, our future family room, in front of our pellet stove in a recliner typing on my blog. The stove is kicking out some heat ,and my feet are getting toasty.

The "family room" is currently the middle portion of our basement and still looks like a basement. It has miscellaneous items that have no other home. It also presently has clothes hanging in it, which of course are dry and need my attention.

Did I mention that it's getting toasty? Well, I might actually need to back up. I'd say the stove is doing it's job.

I guess I'd better tackle the clothes. But I also can say that I added more clothesline so that I can hang all my clothes at once this winter down here instead of in shifts, like last year. More clothesline also means more space taken up on wash day. Which means less room in our family room, since that is the location of the new line.

E has done it. She has gone too far with ketchup. I had meatloaf for lunch, so I had the ketchup out. J is eating stew. E is having PB&J with apple slices. She claimed she needed ketchup. So, I gave her a blob. Do you want to guess what she dipped in that ketchup? Her apple. Yep, she just dipped it right in there. And then she did it again. And again. Apparently her taste buds don't find that offensive. Mine, however, have a problem with that.

I called my dad, since he puts ketchup on far more foods than most people I know. He said he would have to try that too.

I still say NO, THANK YOU!

An aside: My previous post and this post have been written at the kitchen table with nothing hooked to the computer. My dear friend P took pity on my attachment to electricity and bought me a battery.

Almost every morning I awaken to "The Call of The Elisabeth." It starts slow and quiet. As time progresses, it intensifies until I must ignore it no longer. MOM - MY can be heard for miles around.

My child has held fast to one rule, regardless that this one rule has been dissolved upon her being potty trained. "You must stay in bed when you wake up." It has never been a rule that needed enforcing, and now I can not convince her to give it up. Every morning and every nap time she wakes and sits in her bed and calls for me. If I don't appear, she calls for Daddy. Why she refuses to give up this rule is beyond me. Since she now wears underpants, the staying in bed rule has been done away with. When she wakes up and has to go potty, I want her to get up and go. But she hasn't quite caught on yet.

I will say, however, that although she called for me for probably a half hour this morning, she was dry when I took off her diaper.

Today I scanned in the remaining photos I wanted from my trip to Yellowstone National Park. I am desperately getting ready for my big debut at ETG's Christmas Craft Bazaar. I now have to finish editing my photos, upload them to Winkflash, and order them. Than decide how much I want to sell them for. I do have some other photos that I want to look for that would be good to have on display. I also need to go to a craft store to buy mattes for some of them.

I am also wondering who I may get to help in the threes room for MOPPETS on Tuesday. There still are no permanent workers in there. Is five hours a month too much to ask?

Oh, by the way, I was able to get all that scanning done, because E went to a friend's house to play and eat lunch. That was a fun treat for her and a blessing for me.

I am trying to be thankful for this laptop. Although I am very thankful for it, it hasn't quite lived up to my expectations yet. It can with a little help.

It's main problem is the archaic operating system, Windows Millennium Edition. It doesn't support much anymore. One thing I was hoping to do with it was watch online shows in the living room. FOX is not compatible with ME, and when I tried to watch CBS, the show kept jumping. I am hoping I just need to update the players on the laptop. I haven't tried NBC or ABC. Of course those channels have the dumb shows anyway.

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On a different topic I wholly believe that it should not be this humid on the 19th of October. I am ready for long sleeves, hot cocoa, fires and s'mores. Instead, I am in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-lops, and all the fan are running! What's going on?

I am writing this post on my new laptop. If you go to P's blog, you will be able to read about some of my trying-to-log-onto-the-Internet-using-my-wireless-router woes.

I will say that I am very thankful for tech support person, Maria, at Verizon, because she saw what none of the other 5 tech people saw. The wrong setting checked on my router. Even the guy from D-Link didn't notice it. And I also have to say, she didn't ask me to configure my adapter one more time, since the last 15 times should have done the trick.

Anyway, I can now browse the Internet, watch online TV shows, or trounce P at scrabble all from the comfy spot on my couch or bed, or anywhere else I desire since I am now wireless, as long as it is near a power source. For although I am wireless in the Internet arena, I am still attached to the electricity source until I buy a battery.

Here's a funny story.

My friend P came a while ago for a visit. She brought along her laptop, which has wireless capability. She lamented that we don't have a wireless router, so she could use the Internet from our living room, instead of crawling in our computer cabinet to hook up to our router with an Ethernet cable. Not only is wireless good for when P visits, I acquired my sister's old laptop with wireless capability.

P offered to buy us a router. She was all set to, but was waiting for me to give her the OK. When I did, the site was idle for too long and closed. Just this morning we were discussing it again and decided I would call Verizon first.

Well, I finally got around to calling Verizon to see if the router she suggested was compatible with our system. The tech asked why I wanted one. I explained that I wanted wireless capability. He said that we probably already had a wireless router and asked when we got our service. he than did some checking and confirmed that indeed we had a wireless router. He than connected me with tech support, who proceeded to set up our wireless environment.

So, now with nothing but a phone call, we are wireless!

Now I just need a power cord and AC adaptor for the laptop.

Sometimes having children is a blessing, but sometimes it feels like a curse.