One more year older

I don't feel older. I don't even feel as old as I am. Good thing . . . not that I'm old or anything.

Yesterday I made myself brownies and chocolate chip cookies. The brownies turned out very dry (even though I baked them for less time then the recipe called for.) Rather disappointing. Maybe ice cream will help. The cookies didn't turn out as expected either. For some reason the recipe didn't call for salt. Well, the cookies don't taste right without it. I was able to mix some in the remaining dough. Much better.

I left the apple crisp for Gary to make today. When I pulled out the bags of apples, it was determined that there would be no apple crisp for us. But the deer get a fruit treat. Gary offered to go buy apples, but I told him he could make it sometime this week. I suggested he make a fire instead.

We got suited up and played in the snow and did some sledding. The kids made good use of the sand toys. Ellie informed me they were for snow too.

Pay day

The kids were paid today for their labors this week. They also paid their fines. Maybe some day their pay will exceed their fines. But not today.

They also did some extra jobs around the house this week to buy a birthday present for me. It was good for them to use money they earned to buy something, instead of us just handing it to them. Josh got me a hard sided foldable tote, and Ellie got me a bag of heart-shaped peppermint patties.

They certainly do like having jobs and earning money.

Financial Peace

Some people might think that those words do not go together. But they can, if you work at it.

I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is changing our financial lives. And we are teaching it to our kids using Financial Peace Jr.

We bought the online version. We also have workpages and such to complete. And we received a few books, the CD version of the sessions, and membership to attend a in-person FPU workshop, if we want to. We are learning about emergency funds, budgets, the debt snowball, savings, retirement and having a plan for all of this. It is freeing to have a plan.

For the kids, Financial Peace Jr. has the tools for us to teach the kids the value of hard work and commission, giving, saving, and having spending money. There are also fines for when work is not completed or there is unwanted behavior. There are magnetic charts to keep track of all these things. Our kids like the idea of earning money, being able to save for things they want to buy, and having spending money. They do not care for fines.

Off again

Here we go again with a snow day.

Today though we Skyped with my sister in CA. We all enjoyed the chance to see each other. She is planning to Skype again when she gets home to say goodnight to the kids. I suggested she read the kids bedtime stories, but she has no children's books. Maybe the kids can read to her.

Right now Ellie and I are going to attempt making a cloth bag for a birthday gift for a party she is attending this weekend. Josh will have quiet time with his cars and some books.

The third day

Ellie has been home three days now. Monday, she was still getting over an intestinal thing, but yesterday and today have been snow days. And I wouldn't be surprised if Friday is as well.

Monday, we didn't go outside, since Ellie was still considered sick, and we did home school, per Ellie's request. Josh wasn't as impressed with the idea of home school.

Yesterday was more sleet/ice than snow, and we watched PBS and did free play.

But today I was determined to get us outside.

We went sledding on the side yard for a while.



We went for a walk with the sled to a bigger hill to sled on. It turned out to not be a good hill for sledding, but the kids did get a sled ride since I pulled them there and back. They also gathered ice and some sticks, since we didn't have enough here at the cabin.



And we managed to make a snowman. He's a little short because the snow (remember the snow is part ice from yesterday) just isn't cooperating in making a large snowman. And I was able to scrounge up eyes, a mouth, and buttons from my grandpop's tool bench.

After Mini-Frosty was finished, we came in for hot chocolate, lunch, and a movie.

And thankfully for my sanity, of the past three days, today has seen the least amount of conflicts.

Kid cameras

Grammy and Pop pop K gave the kids digital cameras for Christmas. And they've been taking pictures of everything. Last night we finally got around to viewing their photojournalism of our everyday lives.

The cameras have no flash, so inside photos are grainy and dark, even if it's daytime. And most of their photos were taken inside.



But unfortunately something happened to Ellie's photos.

Ellie and Mom mom B.











Josh and Ellie's toothbrushes









The table decoration









Josh's photos.






The lamp







Ellie girl










The front of the computer

Shopping out of season

Personally I find it very irritating that if I want to buy slippers, I need to shop in July. And if I want a swim suit, I need to shop in January.

Why can't they sell winter items in winter, and summer items in summer, and it not be the clearance section?

A fire again

My dad and Gary worked on the fireplace today.
Here's dad investigating. They determined that they should caulk the holes. Gary took care of that and my dad started a fire when it was dry enough.







It's been burning for over three hours without any smoke in the house. They also uncovered the vents, since that wasn't the problem. There is now more heat coming out now. They also cleaned out all the ash and repositioned the fire grate.

It is nice to have a fire again.

Another snow day

Thank you God for the snow. He definitely knew we needed a day off today.

I was not looking forward to waking up the kids and getting them ready to take Ellie to school. So, when Western Wayne School District's automated service called at 6:23 am to tell us that school was canceled, I was thankful. Even though they did call at 6:23 am.

The kids woke up two hours later, bright eyed and ready for the day. Not a glimmer of themselves from last night. Again, thank you Lord!

Ellie was most excited about the snow. Josh was more excited when he saw the deer. [I still don't get their fascination with seeing them.] We still haven't managed to get out in it yet, since I had to wash Ellie's snow pants. There was an incident with getting to the potty in time last night. I wasn't going to give her dirty pants, so I went to do a load this morning. The washer outlet is connected to the light switch. I usually remember to not turn it off when I leave the basement, but when I went to put the clothes in the dryer, the light switch was off and washer had never run. So no clean pants yet. And they need to get outside. Though playing fairly well together, they are also being a little crazy.

First time skiing

And what a first time it was.

The line for rental equipment was nearly two hours long. The kids did very well waiting. A lot of that time was spent standing outside. We got very cold and hadn't even gotten to the snow yet. In this photo is the waiting line.


Finally we got our boots, skis and poles. I was surprised the kids didn't have unhappy comments about how constricting the boots were. They just wanted to try out their stuff. I was wishing for an extra set of hands to carry everything.




The two unsuspecting children.













Finally we were ready to strap on the skis. But since people didn't really part way for our novice crew, we were unsure of where to do this.

On and off with the skis, we decided to walk to the area near the bottom of the beginner slope.

"These things keep moving on me!"

After many squawks of frustration from the kids, we weren't sure what to do. It wasn't going well. I decided to take Ellie up the ski lift and try just coming down the hill. My biggest concern was her getting off the chair without falling. She did splendidly. We both just skied straight down the little hill. Then when we got situated at the top, she wanted to try it herself and went straight for the fenced off area under the lift. Then she got twisted and her skis came off. Trying to put them back on while on a slope was a treat. I decided the best thing was for us to both hold our poles, I'd straddle her and hold her. Then we'd ski down the hill in snowplow formation. It worked wonderfully, and she got to experience the fun of whooshing down a hill.

Next came Josh. And since there was no way I'd take him on the ski lift, we walked up the hill. I did the same thing with him, and snowplowed down the hill.


After those two hours of trying to stay upright and a trip with mom (Gary still doesn't like skiing) down the beginner hill, the kids went in the lodge with Gary for hot chocolate.

I took a chair lift to the top of the mountain to get in one actual ski run. And since I haven't been on skis in over a decade, I decided to take the easy trail down.

When I got in the lodge Gary was still in line and Josh had a burnt finger. While in line the first time, Josh spilled his hot chocolate and burned his finger. We were given free hot chocolate and sat down to let it cool off so the kids could drink it. As you can see, the evening ended with unhappy skiers.

And from the time we left the lodge to go return our equipment, to gathering up our stuff from the locker and going the restroom one more time, and walking to the shuttle to get to our car, Josh cried and carried on. Ellie threw in her whine here and there, too. I lost count of how many people stared at us.

To their defense, it was three and a half hours after their bedtime and they didn't eat much dinner. We knew what there issues were, so they weren't in trouble. But we still had to keep our patience about us, which I think we did rather well.

We will seriously plan our next Member Day ski trip differently.

WVIA Members

In December we became members of WVIA, the local public media in the area. And as members we can enjoy Member Days at Elk Mountain, Ski Sawmill and Knoebles. The kids also get Passports to Fun, which gives them free admission to area participating attractions with a paying adult.

Our first Member Day is today. The kids and I are excited. Gary isn't so much into skiing.

Musical differences

Here is where we started. The song was in the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens" that we watched last night. When Gary hears a song in a movie he recognizes, he likes to go find it on line and listen to it, especially if he can't quite place who sings it. And that is what he did with this song.



And then it just mushroomed into a night of listening to music. From Beverly Hills Theme song, he went to B-52's to REM to The Mamas & The Papas (where I joined in and added my songs preferences) to Blondie to Eagles to Credence Clearwater Revival to Steve Miller Band to STYX to Nena (Red Balloons in German and English) to Pink Floyd, just to name a few.

Sometimes Gary's and my taste in music is as different as night and day. And sometimes we manage to like the same stuff. But there are two genres he has no interest in ever letting pass through his ears. Folk and country. And this is for certain. I, on the other hand, love folk music and like some country.

And writing this post finds us listening to a second helping of songs we like. As I am writing, he keeps directing me to songs he wants to hear, and I mix in songs I want to hear. And since you can have more than one tab open, now we each have a tab for YouTube.

A New Year, snow pants and storage

It's the first day of the year, and I slept in until after 9:00am. A good start to the year, I think. We also did errands. We stopped at the grocery store, then finally picked up the snow pants for Ellie. I was hoping to do it three other times. But now, although we don't have anymore snow, we have snow pants for the kids.

We also attempted to look through storage. We moved the bed and mattress, which was blocking our view of most of our stuff. We did manage to locate a few things, though not nearly enough. Our new plan is next weekend when my parents are up is to ask them to help us sort through it, maybe create a path. Or something.

Tangled

We traveled today to meet friends at Red Robin's for lunch than go to the movies. On the way, we planned to pick up a pair of snow pants for Josh.

I thought I packed the kids snow pants in a box that would be accessible once we moved. I was wrong. They are among the other lost things in storage. But as Myrtle pointed out, since they were from last season, maybe they wouldn't fit the kids anyway.

So I looked on line to purchase new ones, which bothered me to have to do. I couldn't find any for Josh, but found some for Ellie for $30.00, but waited to buy them. Good thing. I remembered to check freecycle, and three people responded.

The lady had given us her neighbor's address, but didn't tell us or her neighbor she did that. So of course I couldn't find the house. The neighbor, though clueless to what I was there for, did direct me to a house up the street. Though since I wasn't sure, I didn't go knocking on the door. I wanted to call her, but I forgot the paper with the phone number on it. I tried calling my dad to look on my yahoo email, but he wasn't home, so I called Myrtle. She was able to get it for me. But the lady didn't answer, so we left and continued on our drive.

We had a nice time at lunch and the movie, "Tangled." When Josh and Ellie heard we were going to a movie, there was much excitement, and it escalated when we said it was a movie about Rapunzel. They both are enamored with Rapunzel. Gary and I felt the movie was well done. The storyline and the animation. Animation has come a long way since "Snow White."

While we were at lunch, the lady called me back and told me the correct house and that the address she gave me was her neighbor's, since her house doesn't have the address marked. I didn't mention to her that the part about the address being her neighbor's was important. On the way back we stopped at the correct house and were able to pick up the pants.

A Baptized Life

On this day my daughter was baptized. Is baptized. Jesus wrote his name on my daughter, and through her baptism He works forgiveness of her sins, rescues her from death and the devil, and gives her eternal salvation.

And I was there with her in the baptistry. It was a moment I will treasure always.

Jesus said, "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." Mark 16:16

Peter says, "Corresponding to that (Noah and the flood,) baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 3:21

Paul writes, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by
the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all
our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Colossians 2:9-14



Now her baptism also had a bit of humor. As Pastor Mark prepared to dip her backwards, she turned to me and requested a cloth for her face. She took it, dipped it in the water, squeezed it, and placed it on her face. Now she was ready.









Here is the newly baptized girl.


Jesus first came to us as a baby. He became our sacrifice to save us, to forgive us, to do all for us.

A new thing for Christmas

Since moving to the cabin, we now will most likely be traveling at Christmas time.

Gary came home early on Wednesday, we picked Ellie up from school, and left to drive to my parents' home, where the four of us joined the other 8 people and dog there. The home I spent most of my childhood in, which had been in an empty nest state for several years, was once again filled with people. My parents of course, my sister and her boyfriend, my brother, his wife and two children, and us. It was a hopping place.

Matt and Claire brought some tasty meat from their farm. We had the most delicious pork roast, bacon, and sausage. Matt also roasted their 33 lb. turkey, which I actually haven't tasted yet, but will tonight. But I know it will be a most agreeable experience.

We got to meet my sister's boyfriend. She is quite smitten. And she acts herself around him, which means he's a keeper.

Ellie and Josh got to play with their cousins. The girls like to be creative and the boys like to play cars and trains.

We took a trip to Philly to visit Rittenhouse Town (part of our family history,) Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. We also watched a movie - one on the Revolutionary War at Independence Visitor Center.

Christmas Day was spent with my family, Gary's extended family, than my extended family.

Sunday was the day to drive home. It was also the day of the snow storm. The 2 hour drive home was lengthen to 4 hours, because of snow and a quick dinner stop. The road conditions were not great but with careful driving, it was passable.

We had to shovel the driveway to put the car in the basement. We decided to not use the snow blower yet. There really wasn't enough snow to warrant that monster yet.

Family day

We started with a healthy breakfast at McDonald's courtesy of Verizon. [Our refund check from July finally came.] Then off to Wal-Mart, where we split up to shop. Josh and I shopped for Gary and Ellie, and since Josh doesn't really pay all that much attention, I threw in some things for him. And Gary and Ellie shopped for Josh and me. Then we switched kids and did it again.

We had packed a lunch and ate in the parking lot. We then drove into town (Honesdale) for Gary's haircut (he finally found his new barber.) We got there 22 minutes after they closed. No haircut today. We headed home by way of the two houses that have caught our interest, even though we have no intention of actually buying right now. Neither are real winners in the beauty department. We are going more for features besides the house. The one property has a shell of a house, which really deserves to be demolished. But it has nice land. The other is a foreclosure on a busy road. But we still take a look around.

It was a nice day for a drive.

When we got back to Indian Rocks, we stopped to look at the pond. Ellie had been asking to touch ice on the various frozen ponds we passed. So we stopped to check out "our" pond. We ventured out on the frozen water a bit, which the kids enjoyed. We took a walk around it, stopping to check out the ice here and there. There was one spot near the pond where there was standing water that had frozen. I had fun running and sliding on it. The kids wanted to do it too, though they aren't quite masters of their balance yet. Nor do they know how to slide on ice. So I held their hands and we'd run and slide together.

We threw pieces of ice across the pond to see how far we could get them to slide. We chased each other, we pretended to be trees.

We headed home. Lit a fire that eventually smoked us out. Had leftovers, took showers, sang advent hymns, prayed, put the kids to bed. Paid bills, blogged, did dishes, and will put ourselves to bed. Very soon.

It was a great family day. Good night.

No more cozy fire

The fireplace hasn't been cleaned in ages, if ever, so I called a chimney cleaning place. Also, lately when we have a fire, the house gets quite smokey. We end up closing the doors part way and letting the fire die out.

After a look-see the chimney man said the Heatilator insides are all rusted out (which is why there is smoke in the house when we have a fire) and expensive to fix. We either stop using it, or get an insert.

It cost $49.95 for chimney man to tell me this.

Did I mention that we just bought a cord of wood last week?

By the way, when chimney man came to the door, the first thing that popped into my mind was the image of Dick Van Dyke in "Mary Poppins" when he is the chimney sweep. This fellow could have been part of the cast. Except for he wasn't sooty yet and a little older.

Are we done yet?

Yesterday we had settlement on the sale of our house. Everything went smoothly and we no longer own a home. I am sad, but relieved. No longer do we have a too-high mortgage hanging over us. We will be smarter in buying another house.

We do have a storage unit to root through, though. I forgot to flag stuff going in, so now some things we want are lost. And you can see in the "storage" post, it is quite packed. It is a 10x30 space. Only about 8 feet is available to walk into. I try not to think about it.

And we took the camper to Gary's dad's house. We have some boxes at my parents', which we will take with us back to the cabin. Everything else is in storage.

While at Gary's dad's we had a break from child watching. Judy took over for us. She and Ellie made cookies. Josh played trains. I watched a movie. Gary read.

My mom and Ellie made cookies together as well. I pitched in after Ellie moved on to something else. My dad, Gary and Josh took my dad's Lionel steam engine to the train shop to have it fixed. Josh enjoyed himself. He also followed my dad around after they got home and called himself a worker.

This visit to Lansdale was much less stressful than the previous one.

In storage

On the way to meet the movers (I was going to the right place,) I received a call from them. They were at the wrong storage area. Even though I previously called the movers and told them of the address change for storage areas, the truck was still at the wrong place. So we rerouted ourselves and met the moving van at the wrong storage area. They followed us to the right one. It wasn't the moving company's first mistake.

They got their truck into position, and Josh and I settled in for 4 hours of watching the movers move our stuff into the unit.

It was a cold day. I would run the heat now and then to get the chill off, but even then my lower legs never warmed up. Josh spent the time eating his lunch, roaming around the car as best he could, and doing puzzles on the iPod. He was well behaved for being very confined for four hours. All the while, we listened to music.

The unit is packed floor to ceiling. They did a very good job of getting it in there. Almost too good. There is no way to access anything. I was hoping for an aisle. All I got was a skeptical look from those guys.