Play Doh Advice

You know those huge packs of small canisters of play-doh they sell at the holidays? (halloween, easter...) Most of the time, at least at Costco, they get marked down. I bought some a few years ago, and we still have most of the pack (80 cans!). I love them because you can get one or two or three out, then when they are done, just throw them away. You always have fresh, soft play-doh, and don't feel bad about sweeping it up and tossing it.

Just thought I'd mention it ;-)

Great Wolf, Here we come!

I did it! Plus an extra blessing...

This morning I was sitting down to call, but remembered that there was another special deal on Facebook, and I wanted to compare the deal code I already had to the current deal. So I hopped on over to their Facebook page, and was trying to find it when I came upon a post about firefighters/lawenforcement/military discount.

So I called and asked the nice man to compare the two, and sure enough, the one Gabe qualifies for was a better deal! A whole $40 off each night! We now have our dates reserved, Feb 8-10. And I am so excited!

Oh yea, and I ordered another vacuum filter. Grmph. At least I know it's coming. Now that I've paid for it, I'm sure the old one will show up!

And One more thing...

Isaac's pulling himself up already. Not all the way to his feet, but to his knees.

Yikes.

Our new household conundrum....

Grrr... The other day... meaning I think Friday? (I'm not even sure) I washed my Dyson "lifetime" filter and placed it on the vent to dry. Then we left. It must have been Friday because we didn't go anywhere Sat/Sun... and I know it's been missing at least that long. (This is a vacuum filter I'm talking about)

Anyway, when we got home and I went to put it back in the vacuum, it was gone. My only guess is that the kittens got to playing with it, and moved it somewhere. But somewhere has become nowhere. I cannot find it anywhere! I even crawled around the house on my hands and knees today looking for it... nothing. Nowhere. Nada.

I'm so frustrated! It's a lifetime filter, so it's not like every store carries them. In fact, as far as I can tell, I'm going to have to order one online. And I have a crawling baby!!!

So. If you remember us, would you please pray that it turns up? It's so bizarre that it completely disappeared. I'm desperate. Or, if anyone has a DC-18 filter I can borrow so I can vacuum my house, I'd be so very grateful!

Cheap Entertainment

Take all your old maids from a bag of popcorn, place them on a plate, put back in microwave.

Set for 2 minutes, stand back, watch your kids laugh themselves silly.

:-)

Seriously

I am so bored. I know, I know. Part of it is always that feeling that we can't go anywhere, do anything because one of us is sick.... but I am BORED!

So, I am going to tell you about our recent oil experience. Enjoy.

Christmas day we noticed that Ziva was holding one of her back feet up and not putting any weight on it. We laid her down to find that she had a swollen area inside her paw. It was difficult to see what was even going on, but we figured it was probably a goathead that had broken off and gotten infected. It may not have been, but for the purposes of this story, assume that whatever happened, the symptoms were similar to what you would expect to occur if a goathead were the culprit.

Being Christmas day, we weren't inclined to take her to the vet. After paying Kerzon's bill, I wasn't inclined to take any animal to the vet again unless their health was actually in jeopardy. We bandaged it up after using some rubbing alcohol and Animal Scents ointment on it. Note: Duck tape does stick rather well to dog fur. She looked pretty cute with one of Gabe's socks pulled up over her leg, held in place by duck tape.

The next day was Saturday, and her ankle was much more swollen, with some puss around the wound area. We rinsed it out with alcohol again, and put more ointment on it. We still couldn't see an actual puncture, but assumed that where the puss was would be a good place for the ointment. Gabe and I talked over the possiblity of a vet trip again, and didn't want to take her in until Monday. I mentioned that I hate taking them in for something that isn't impossible to do at home, asking if one of his dad's many, uh, bizarre, purchases might have included ether... ;-) Apparently not. But we do have the oils...

Because we couldn't see exactly where to treat, I didn't want to take the chance of lancing the swollen area on her pad. (didn't want to cut anything important!) But we did use lavendar all over the swollen section of her ankle several times that day. The next day, Sunday, her ankle was even more swollen. I decided to use Purification (a blend) on it, two or three times. By the evening, we saw her begin to put her foot down and by Monday morning (when we would consider a vet) she was running around on it and the swelling was gone.

Not bad for about $10 worth of oil. Saved us a $150 vet bill!

Life at our house

Mellow yellow here at our house. Kiera's had a fever the past two days, so we are house-bound :-) I ordered some DVDs that were on sale from Answers in Genesis so we have a little more educational stuff to watch when we have a sick one on the couch. (We've exhausted our recorded supply of Dog Whisperers!) By the time they arrive, hopefully we'll all feel better!

I made this last night for dinner, plus a big batch to send to church today for Acts 2:42 (our monthly fellowship meal time). Creamy Potato Soup We all really enjoyed it, plus some corn muffins with honey butter. YUM!

Isaac's crawling all over the place; his smile is just huge when he comes around a corner to find you! He loves sitting in the kitchen and watching Ziva, or trying to chase down the kittens.

We are adapting to Gabe's new work schedule. The main challenge for the family is figuring out dinner time. We used to eat around 5-5:30ish before he went to work, now I am preferring to wait until 7:30 when he gets home... but that's more like bed time than dinner time. I have not yet mastered the art of having dinner for the kids, then later with Gabe.

My own challenge is not being able to steal his pillow when he's gone.... Maybe that will be on my birthday list. ;-)

Anyway, just catching up. I have a neat new oil story for you, just need to find time to sit down and write it out...

Provisions: A Highchair!

Since early last year, when I saw one on a blog, I'd be keeping my eyes open for an old-fashioned highchair. Easy to use, doesn't take up so much space, and quick to clean! I know they market the newer ones as "Put the cover in the wash! Wash the tray in the dishwasher!" but really, do you want to throw it in the washer three times a day? Because some days, it gets that messy at every meal. But we never found one.

So, we came to the decision that with Isaac, instead of getting out the great big highchair, we would use one of the little booster seats and just sit him in one of the dining room chairs with the rest of us. (Thanks to my inlaws, we now have more than 4 chairs! 7 to be exact. At least room for two more kids...!) I was planning on reorganizing the dining room to fit every one this week.

Sunday at Gramps' house, this came up, and Gramps offers the highchair that has literally held every member of my mom's family since my mom was born! I am shocked. The exact item I'd been looking for nearly a year for was just waiting, out there in Gramps garage! Is that not just an awesome blessing? I'd bet if I would have prayed about this, it would have come to light sooner :-) But this way, God let me totally come to the end of my own means, and then provided, all to His glory!

One down, one to go...

Woo Hoo- One of the people who called 2-3 weeks ago called back about the kittens, and we are 80% sure we have a buyer for Rose! The plan is to take her over when we go on our little trip over to Great Wolf Lodge. (In a few weeks- no reservations yet, but we've been looking at the calendar...) He was pretty excited we're gonna be headed his direction, so I think that helped to seal the deal... Now, if we can just get Cocoa moved...

Their nighttime antics are good motivation :-)

Avatar: Yes. Go see it. In the theater. In 3-D if you are able...

Out of 5 stars, I would give this one 4 1/2. It was fun. It was sad. It was eventful. The picture was amazing. Worth the money to see it, which is MUCH more than I'd say about most of the movies nowadays!

I refrain from 5 stars simply from personal preference. A little language, a "mating" scene (not sex... but.... obviously meant to be such), some chanting that actually made me feel uncomfortable. But all on the barely noticable side, other than the chanting. And no "F" words. Phew!

A few things that I brought away from the movie were these:

1. The beauty of the night scenes were seriously intense. Absolutely gorgeous. Stunning. Loved it. My thoughts took this turn: Our eternity with Christ will be more than we can imagine. This movie was imagined by a human mind... We serve an amazing, mind-blowing, God!

2. A paraphrased quote from the main character went something like this: "Reality seemed to be a dream, where my dreams had turned to reality." It reminded me that this world is merely a shadow of what is to come. God's work in our every day is so much more epic than we realize, eternity is at stake.

3. Part of the plot was that the bad guys were going to kill the native's deity, and the good guy was pleading for help from that deity, claiming that the bad guys had killed the "mother" on their planet. Consider how "dead" God is to so many today, and what a difference He makes in our lives who know Him.

Great movie, and I left feeling oh so blessed, although I highly doubt that was the intent of the writer! ;-) But He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world....!!