Wrong

Picture this. I am shopping, with Isaac in his seat, in the top of the shopping cart. Both girls are in the main basket, munching on samples. A nice old man smiles at me as I round a corner and comments on what a full cart I have. I smile back and say something about not much room for groceries... The lady he's with glances at us, and without a smile, says "Oh, you poor thing." Her tone of voice is neither joking nor sarcastic. She means what she says. She is a woman without joy.

I disagree. I am not poor.

On the contrary, I am rich beyond measure.

Blessed with what I do not deserve, gifted to me by the Lord of all creation.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalms 127:3

Love it- Dave Ramsey quote

"The difference between men & boys is whether you put your family before your toys."
– Dave Ramsey

Let's say a little progress...

The Vitamixes did go away. But the cardboard is still there. The kitchen counter is now clean, sort of. Organized anyway! Plus 3 more load of clothes. And we did get to Albies and Costco. And dinner with Papa and Grandma, Darcy, and Gma&Gpa Elliott. Busy! All three of them were asleep when we arrived home; I was able to bring all the groceries in before getting them out of the car. (Some almost always sit there for a day or two- I have to prioritize what comes in when, cause someone always needs fed, put to bed, changed, what ever...)

Now, I want to go to bed, but Gabe reminded me on the phone that I need to do some more posts in our Galatians class. We are to the end, but I have 5 posts I still have to complete before I take the final. So my goal is to do at least one tonight. Maybe two, if I get on a roll...

Tomorrow: Get that cardboard cut up and out of here!

Because some of you did ask :-)

I cleaned the master bath yesterday. Not truly deep (that would have included organizing the shelves- yuck), but thorough anyway. Then I moved outward into our bedroom, cleaning up the real mess on HIS side of the bed :-). I've done 5 loads of laundry, and it took 4 to get through the pile! One more to finish up our laundry, then on to the girls'.

Plan is tomorrow to attack the counter in the kitchen, and maybe, just maybe, burn a bunch of cardboard in our burning barrel. Or does anybody I know with a wood burning fireplace want some cardboard? (We have a pellet stove.) OH- if nobody wants it, I'll take it out to the barn so he can burn it in the stove out there. WOOHOO- that is a huge pile in our main area! And tomorrow it will be GONE! And I'm moving those Vitamixes too. Ok, so kitchen and entry-family room. That is the PLAN! (plus costco and albies thrown in, after Isaac's always long morning nap...)

See. Progress. Yea me!

And by the way, if you haven't seen our mess, let me quote my dear friend Brooke when she saw it.... "It looks like a hunter walked in and exploded!" (I just loved that. It justified my frustrations!)

Plus, if you remember to include me in your prayers... I was pretty down yesterday. Tired, plus missing Gabe. A whole week is hard. And yes, I feel somewhat guilty verbalizing this considering Matt (bro-in-law) has to be gone for MUCH MUCH longer. But that doesn't make it less easy, it just makes me appreciate that hunting season is only a few weeks, not months. And helps me in how to pray for Darcy (and soon, Marissa).

Ugh.

I hate it when I start off so strong... and then falter. I was picking up like crazy yesterday after he left, but then had to go to work... and crashed. So tired. So tired this morning. CanNot get motivated... It's almost noon, and I can only list these done so far...

Ordered gifts online (actually took forever...)
Made waffles for breakfast
Fed Isaac... twice
Started cleaning the bathroom...

I just can't decide if I want to deep clean the bathroom, or surface clean it and then put more stuff away. I know, I'll do the bathroom really good, and that will motivate me, right? :-)
I'll give it a shot anyway...
But what I really wanted to do is deep clean the kitchen...

Will You Be My Accountablity Partner?

Not in the normal sense of the position, but without sharing details, I have a a specific amount of time which would be very useful in my attempt to clean/organize/tidy.

Would some of you be willing to email or comment with encouragement during this time? I know keeping busy will help with the missing part, but it's easy to keep busy doing other things, instead of being productive like I want to. I've been doing ok with the tidying part, but getting a hold of the organizing has been more difficult. He has so much stuff, all I can even do is put it in boxes so he can organize it. But at least right now, there won't be an "influx" of more clutter from his person.

My goal would be to have the main living part of the house de-cluttered by the time he returns. Unless of course... he gets something and I decide to haul the kids 6 hours away to celebrate with him. Which I very well might.

Anyway. Just a thought. And a goal. Motivate me, will you? I've done a bit this morning, but have to work today. Off we go...

And, more pics...

Some fun ones... And for those of you whom I told about the picture that I thought looked like my dad, it's this first one... Just evidence that Isaac did come from my side too, even though he looks so much like his daddy :-) Plus... that hair looks like it may still be on the orangy side of blond...

This one looks TONS like one we had of Melia making the same face!

Pretty girls...

Kiera's Chore

"Mommy, can I fold your bed?"

Leapster

I am not a fan of video games. For one, I pretty much suck at them. Two, I think they can be a huge waste of time. I told Gabe a long time ago that I would prefer not to have our kids play video games. They need to be active, playing and learning, and being kids! (Note: Gabe does have an XBOX. And a farm on Farmville... which I struggle with holding my tongue against. Ask him. "Struggle" may not be a strong enough word... but I do try.)

But last summer he found a Leapster at a yardsale, with a game. It has sat around for several months because I am not going to take the time to figure out how to work it... I'm impatient like that. He's played it a few times with Melia. I guess. I don't even think I was around. :-)

This weekend, she asked him if she could play it. He said he didn't know where it was, but she piped up that she did! Long story short, I was pleasantly suprised. And unfortunately, not suprised. She plays it well. Kiera, kinda. Kiera can even sit and watch her play for a while. And they are learning by playing it. Today, Melia was counting by fives. And she doesn't even know her numbers by sight! (She can count, she can add, but she can't look at a 7 and say it's a seven. Or pick out an 8 in a bunch of numbers.)

The not suprising part? She wants to play all the time. And wants to tell Kiera how to play, so Kiera doesn't even want Melia to watch her... AT ALL. I did go to clubhousejr.com (found it in our magazine Brenda!) where there are some little games they can play. Memory is good- they can learn to use the mouse, moving it and clicking on squares. Melia was doing puzzles, under the Frog Mazes button. And a few others.

So, I am stretching myself. It's not such a waste of time, as long as it's supervised and limited. Let me capitalize that. LIMITED. There. That's better. I did splurge and buy the Kindergarten game for the Leapster... I am annoyed that I had to get it off Amazon because the only ones they have in the store are the copyrighted characters. But I digress...

Oh, and did I mention how quiet they are when they play on it? yes... quiet. Perfect for when Daddy is sleeping. Or mommy. Not that mommy sleeps. But she does dream of one day being able to sleep... hmmmmzzzzz ;-)

And by the way, I am open to your thoughts on the subject. I know I am just one person with an opinion, which doesn't seem to match the rest of the purchasing power out there... So I know there are other opinions that you all have... :-) Share away. Especially if it has to do with regulating time on the game... finding good deals (because I'm just plain always interested in that)... and recommending games that are more worthwhile to play. Like NOT the pet pals... I don't think they really need to learn how to raise a pet. We do have chickens after all.

Weird Feeling

Tonight, the kids and I made a final run to Albertsons to take one more advantage of their current (at least for 2 more hours) catalina promo... And take advantage we did. Not more than usual, but somewhat...

As the cashier is ringing us up, she asks if I am attempting to do something, I didn't exactly understand her. I said, "the catalina deal? yes, we are." She explained that apparently, today, the catalina's weren't printing, so she would just take the $15 off my order, if that was alright... Well sure! That's just fine, same difference, right? We finish ringing up, she takes off the $15, then my coupons, then my doublers... Then my total is $9.44. I have $15 already in catalinas. I hand her two $5 catalinas, and it kicks out $.56 for me. "Have a good night!" And behind me in line I hear a "whoa...." I paid $0 for $56.78 worth of groceries, plus got change!

Now, this is not usual. But it's not wrong either. Had it been working, I would have paid the $9.44 and gotten $15 back again... It just felt really weird to not have to pay anything in cash for the groceries, even just a little bit... *grin*...