Blessings From Home

Rug Making

I have been busy in my down time making a rug for my kitchen. I wanted one that matched the colors in my kitchen and one that would be comfortable to stand on while doing dishes. I bought a bit of fabric, mixed with some that I already had and tried out several methods of rugmaking. I started by trying to braid it, but the fabric I had was just too thin for braiding. I tried making a toothbrush rug, but I'm afraid it would have taken me too long, and I wanted to get it done pretty quickly.

So I finally settled on crocheting it. And it is working up quite quickly. I'm making an oval rug and will probably make it about a 2'x3' or a little larger. I'm only having a few minutes here and there to work on it, but I'm sure I'll have it done by week's end.

So I got to wondering, are there any of you who enjoy the past time of rug making? What are your favorite techniques? Favorite fabrics to work with? 

Painting Pains

I have spent the last few days working on my kitchen. There are things about my kitchen that I love, and that I hate right now. Here's a picture of what it looked like before I started working on it.

The kitchen is small, but has lots of storage and enough counterspace for my needs. The main thing I hate about it is how unclean it looks and feels. The previous paint job was done haphazardly and the kitchen was not kept clean at all. The things that I would like to fix about it are fresh paint on the walls and on and in the cabinets, two more cabinets above the stove for extra storage with a shelf in between for my microwave so that it won't be taking up extra counterspace. I would also like new flooring. There is a space for a dishwasher, but it needs to have an outlet installed and needs to be plumbed in. All of this sounds a little expensive, but we are doing most of the work ourselves.

As of the last few days I have already taken down the wallpaper that was on one of the walls, retextured all of the walls in the kitchen and painted our main color on the walls which is called crisp wheat, a mix between yellow and beige, it looks beautiful. And I started painting the cabinets a clean white semigloss.

Hence the reason for my title today, I am in pain. The kitchen is small, but after texturing, painting, climbing up and down the ladder, I am sore. I am going to take it easy today and just do some tasks around the house that have gotten behind, like laundry and straightening and unpacking some more.

The rest of the week I hope to get done painting the cabinets, put in the new hardware hubby bought, and get our handyman in to put up the new cabinets and shelf. I've got to make a decision about the flooring this week. I would like to cut costs and do it myself, but I don't think I can. So I'm going to look into how much it will cost me to have new installed . There is not much flooring space, so it shouldn't cost too much.

I'm really hoping to have it all done this week. It's a stretch, but if I do a little every day, I think I can do it. I'll take pictures when it's all done. And then I'm going to set to work on making a couple of braided rugs for the floor and a new curtain for the window. Well, back to work. I pray your day is a blessed one~

Sara

It's a Brudder

All Moved In

We closed on on our house on July 3rd and we're finally all moved into our new home and are so blessed to be able to once again call ourselves homeowners. We have had a whirlwind of excitement and busyness, and I am thankful that things are slowing down for us again.

Some tears have been shed over the last week as we lost our sweet dachsund on the 4th of July. We have no idea what happened to her and only hope that whatever it was she did not suffer. The kids are already looking forward to getting a new dog, but we've decided to hold off for a while and just worry about our cat, Shiloh.

The house is slowly coming along. I have given up on trying to get it all done and settled for getting stuff done as I can. The carpet was put in last Thursday and as much as I love wood floors, I think we made a good choice to put carpets in the bedrooms. It is beautiful! My big project for this week is to take down the wallpaper in the kitchen and retexture and paint so that we can have a couple of cabinets hung and a shelf built for our microwave. I think that will help maximize the small space in the kitchen.

I am enjoying my backyard so much already. There are beautiful flowers and plants growing everywhere in our backyard from English Ivy to 2 different types of rose bushes to day lillies and other beautiful vining plants. I can't wait until next year when we can really take care of this yard the way it should be and hopefully have a vegetable garden of my very own.

On the baby front, I am 18 weeks along and enjoying a bit of 2nd trimester energy. I am scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon, at which time we are planning on trying to find out if we're having a brudder or a sisser, as my 3 year old says. I am really looking forward to finally being able to enjoy this pregnancy and preparing for this little one. It has felt as if our lives have been on hold waiting for this house and not being able to enjoy anything else.

In less than 2 weeks, my husband's parents are going to be flying home for their yearly vacation and will be here for a month. They stay with my husband's sister, thank goodness, I don't know where I'd put them anyways.

Well, I've got lots of things I've been wanting to post about, but this is all I have time for today. I've got so much I want to do now that we're able to settle into our own home. Things like making soap and making playdough for my kids and friend's children, and making wonderful food for my family. But for now, I need to work on unpacking and decluttering some more for a yard sale that we're going to have in a few weeks. I don't have a lot of things, but the people who lived here before us left a lot of stuff for me to get rid of, including all their old appliances. So it's back to work for now, and hopefully more fun stuff later.

Blessings, sara

Can't Keep Up

I've found over the last few days of working on our house that my energy level just can't keep up with my desire to do everything. I want to jump in headfirst and tackle it all at once, but I'm learning my ever-growing pregnant body just can't do it all.

My dear husband is off for this whole week and is working so hard already. This weekend we got so much done and the rest of the week holds much more. We could not afford to hire a moving company so we are moving things on our own and I have been praying that we will find someone that would be able to help us move some of the heavier things, because there is just nobody else around that can help us and I can't lift on things like the sofa and ice box.

We've been doing so much to the house already, besides cleaning, we have taken the uneccesary door off the kitchen, taken the broken sliding doors off of the girl's closet, and we got carpet ordered for the bedrooms. We were hoping to leave the floors hardwood, but when we got to the front bedroom and took the carpet off, the floor was ruined, there was nothing we could do for it, so we opted to just put carpet in the bedrooms. That will be done Thursday. We're trying to paint at least the baseboards in the bedrooms before that is done, and will paint the rest later. Well, I better get back to work. I will probably not be able to get on here much over the rest of the week between moving and getting my internet switched over to the new house. So I will wish you all a blessed week and a Happy 4th of July!

Blessings,

sara

Working Wednesday

I've got lots of work to do today. I'm going to be working around the rent house cleaning and packing until after lunch and then I'm going to our new house to do some cleaning.

We got some bad news from the underwriter that may slow us down on closing. The guy who appraised it did a horrible job and only appraised the house for 500 dollars more than what our loan is going to be and then said it only passed as fair. Our lender requires that the house pass as average, so there are going to have to be some repairs made on the house before we can close. The only repairs that I can see that would really affect are the back roof which is flat and needs to be fixed, which we've already got a estimate and was going to have it fixed as soon as we closed, and some of the floors in the house need to be redone. Other than that all the house needs is a good cleaning and some fresh paint. And if the house had all those repairs, there is no way we would have gotten it for the price we did. It's all very frustrating but I'm sure will be worth it in the end. We're expecting an email of all the repairs we have to do before we can close. So I'll be praying about that all day. I'm hoping it's just some small things.

Hubby and I spent yesterday evening cleaning the formal living/dining room. I swept all the cobwebs up, wiped down the walls and windows, swept and cleaned the wood floors and it made a 100% improvement on the whole room. I'm pouring over magazines in my spare time trying to decide what color I want to paint the room and also what kind of window treatment I would like to sew. I can't wait to see it all put together.

Today I'm going to take out the remainder of the carpet and try to get most of the tack strips pulled up. There is only one room of carpet and the hallway and underneath are beautiful hardwood floors. I'll never understand why anyone would want to cover up beautiful wood with carpet. I'm trying not to overdo it, but it's hard when I'm finally getting to fix up my own house.

Well, I'm off to work. I pray your day is blessed!

sara

Moving Along

Things are really moving along for us. My husband's 401K check came in. That is what we're using to help us pay for closing. We had to cancel his account and get all the money out. It was a last resort for us. He's starting it up again in September. We just decided that it was more important to buy a home right now. The check ended up being 5,000 dollars more than what we thought which is such a blessing. With that money we will be able to make some of the repairs and fixing up that we were wanting to do, but thought we would have to wait for a while.

We were going to go ahead and use it all and put in central heat and air, but have decided instead to go with several smaller projects. We don't want to use it all, though. We want to make sure we have some in savings for just in case. Here's a partial list of some of the things we're going to do.

~Paint throughout the house

~Fix leaky toilet in Master bathroom

~Put in shower in Master bathroom, just a plain ole tub in there now.

~New shower head in other bathroom

~New flooring in both bathrooms

~New dishwasher in kitchen. There's a hole already cut for one, but there's no dishwasher there.

~Above the stove microwave to maximize space in the kitchen

~New chest freezer, something we've been needing for a long time.

~Possibly a new refrigerator, ours is about to kick the bucket.

~A computer. We have a laptop right now, but could really use a desk top for the kids and homeschool.

Some are neccesary, but some are just because we want them, which will be nice since we'll be in a house that is finally ours. Some of these may not happen for a while, but it's nice to have a wish list. And there may be other things that we will decide to do. I know I would really like to do some work in the yard and get it ready for a garden next year.

We're not scheduled to close until next Thursday, but since we're good friends with the people who own the house, and since my hubby has the whole week next week off from work, they're allowing us to go ahead and start working on the house now, so that we can go ahead and move in next week, while hubby is off. Isn't that sweet!

So I called and got all the utilities turned on and we'll start cleaning and working this afternoon. Before we move in we have to...

~Trim the bushes in the front. They're nearly blocking the stairs to the front door. And they really attract bees, which is okay, except when you brush past them and the bees start attacking.

~A deep and thorough cleaning. It's not completely filthy, but it definately needs a good scrubbing.

~The people who owned the house left a lot of their stuff their, and told us to do what we wanted to do with it. Sell it or trash it. So we need to move all the appliances-an old fridge and stove, a washer and dryer, and all the other little things they left out of the way until we have a yard sale.

~Take the carpet and tack strips out of the hallway and front bedrooms. There is nice wood floors underneath that need a little refinishing.

And that's about it. Then we'll move in. I'm going to make sure and take lots of pictures of before we even get started, so we can see the progress we've made.

Hubby will be home for lunch soon, so I better run. More updates later when I have a chance.

Blessings, sara

Pregnancy goings-on and other stuff

Praise the Lord, that second trimester energy has finally arrived this week! I have managed to get so many things done this week.

Today alone, I straightened up around the house, baked some bread, baked some potatos for tomorrow, boiled some eggs for breakfast and other meals, made some syrup from a wonderful product called mapleine (not exactly sure how healthy it is, but it's definately budget friendly), went to the store, made some homemade ice cream, and kept up with the kitchen mess.

As for the rest of the week, I worked around the house, did lots of laundry, got my hair cut (just a trim, it's almost to the top of my rear), and went for my first midwife appointment.

I really enjoyed meeting the midwife. She was so nice, and knew exactly how I felt about the birthing experience. Most of the appointment was the usual, and then we went to listen to the baby's heartbeat for the first time, and couldn't find it. To say I was scared was an understatement. So she went and grabbed the U/S machine and found out that the little bean was too busy dancing around. They found the heartbeat and it was a strong 150 beats/minute. I go back on July 10th for the official U/S and then on the 21st for my next appointment.

In other news, we are getting closer and closer to our closing date. There still has been no official date set, but I'm certain we'll be closed by July 3, which is in less than 2 weeks. That's the date on our contract. And then we have until the 15th to get everything cleaned and moved in. So among other things, I have to get busy packing up.

I guess that's all the news I've got for this week. Have a blessed week!
sara 

Clothes, clothes, and more clothes

Ya know, I feel really blessed that we have no worries about our clothing, because my goodness we have plenty! I have spent the last few days sorting out all of our clothes, washing, sorting, packing away, and getting rid of a lot.

I finally got my children's clothing all sorted out by sizes and put away in tubs until they are needed. That in itself relieved so much stress from me. I finally am able to wash their clothes and put them up without having to forcibly shove them into the drawers. I can also see what we are truly in need of for the next several seasons so that I can keep a look out at good sales and at thrift stores. I also packed away their winter clothing that they shouldn't need until October sometime.

So now that the children are taken care of, I'm working on my clothes and my husbands. I was immensely blessed by a friend to be given a huge box of maternity clothes! So now I need to sort out all of my clothes that I won't be able to wear until after this little one makes it's arrival. My husband doesn't have a lot of clothes to sort through. He has a few sweaters that can be packed away until winter, but he wears most all of his other clothes all year long.

Once we get moved, I'm going to start digging out all the baby clothes that I have that could be for either a boy or girl, and I also need to get busy sewing up the other things I will be needing, such as diapers, a new diaper bag, and a few other things.

My husband and I have decided that we're going to go ahead and find out what this little one will be. I have an ultrasound scheduled for this Friday, but it will still be a little early, so we may not be able to find out until next month when I'll have another one. Then I'll be able to dig out the little boy or little girl clothes I have. If it's a boy, I'm afraid it will need quite a bit, because I don't have many of my sons baby clothes.

Well, back to the clothes!

sara

A week end review

Wow, has this week ever been busy! I didn't slow down until about 9pm last night. And as much as my body needs a good rest, it looks to be another month before things will truly settle down.

This week we had VBS! It was so wonderful! By Friday we had more than 200 kids with us, and the assistant pastor agreed that if we broke the 200 mark, he would shave his head, which he reluctantly did on the final day, yesterday. All my children had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the carnival yesterday, and were so proud of all the candy they got. I helped out a lot with the other kids and was very drawn to a little 5 year old handicapped girl, who had a brother my son's age, about 8. Their parents sent them to VBS and had made the brother responsible for his sister, who was not very easy to take care of at times. So I helped him with her throughout the week, and yesterday as he was fixing to get on the bus, he came to me and told me he was so thankful that I helped him with her, and that he was able to have fun. What a sweet little guy! I wish they came every week, but I will continue to pray for them.

Thursday, I had to go the city for a meeting that my midwife holds about a week before the first appointment. It included hospital policies, tips for handling typical pregnancy symptoms. And then they drew an enormous amount of blood, and I had to go ahead and pee in a cup, gotta love that! LoL. I go again next Friday for my official first appointment and they are going to do an ultrasound also, and may get to find out whether this little bean is a brother or sister. If not, they'll do another one at about 18-20 weeks. I wasn't planning to find out the gender of this baby, but my kids and family have swayed me otherwise. So fingers are crossed that we're able to find out.

Friday, my daughter came up with a double ear infection and I took her to the doctor, after the doctor visit, I went to Walmart, I usually don't go there, but all our prescription info was already there. While at walmart, I didn't care to do any shopping, so we sat in the subway and had a pretzel and a drink, next thing I knew, my daughter threw up all over me, herself, and in my purse! The minute she got done with that she had to go potty. I wiped myself down as best as I could so as to avoid another mess, and got to the bathroom. Apparently, I hadn't paid attention to which bathroom I had gone in, because I looked up and there was a urinal! I had gone in the men's bathroom, I had never been so embarassed! And to update on Emily's ear infection, she's all better now!

An update on the house, I'm turning in our 30 day notice today, which means we have about 2 weeks or less until we close on the house. That'll give me about 2 weeks to pack and about 2 weeks to clean and move. The lending company changed their mind about having to have 20% down, and decided we only needed 10%, Praise the Lord! Back to cleaning! The electricity got turned on at the new house for the inspection, and I was finally able to see exactly how greasy, grimy, dirty the house really is. The cabinet door handles were all sticky, there were dirt spots and just filth everywhere. I haven't seen any critters yet, but that doesn't mean they're not hiding. So I'm gathering a team including myself, my mom, my sister, and my good friend, and we're all going to go over and clean the house as soon as we close on it!

Well, I guess that all of an update I really have! We'll continue to be busy as bees for the next month at least getting moved in and settled down. Hubby's parents will be coming in from overseas for a vacation the end of next month and we will be spending time with them, I suppose. Well, I'm off for now to get everybody ready for church! Have a blessed week!

sara

Monday at Home Updates

We're experiencing a cool front as of today and it is lovely! The rain is pouring down and is very relaxing.

Last week and the weekend kept us busy. I kept my nieces  off an on throughout the week, and still managed to get things done including schoolwork, cleaning, and packing. Schoolwork with 3 children is going well, we're still learning our way around each other and figuring out a routine that works for us. I sat down with the calender this weekend and went ahead and planned out our curriculum and schedule for the rest of the year. I planned around moving, and holidays, and planned to be at a stopping point by November 21, the week before Thanksgiving. We'll break there until after the first of the year for the holidays and in time for the bringing home of our newest blessing around December 7th.

Saturday we drove up to Texas for a visit with family. It was a short visit, but we all had a good time. While on our trip there, my kidneys started giving me trouble and we had to stop at a Walgreens for some medicine. It was an awful pain. While visiting with my granny and dad, we also picked up our new to us headboard for our bed and my granny wanted to give us some money to help us with the buying of our house, it was such a blessing, and much needed.

The mortgage company that we're using threw us a curve this last week. We had been approved, and got the cost estimate for down payment and closing costs and they only needed 10% down, so we signed the contract on the house, because we had that money, and then after signing the contract and putting 500 dollars in Escrow that is non refundable unless you buy the house, they came back and said, oh, we're sorry, we actually need 20% down. So we're trying to come up with the extra funds. So far we're about 500 dollars short. I think we'll be able to come up with that, but money will be tight. The good news, however is that our monthly payment will be less than 300 dollars a month! I can't imagine that! So what we will be out now, we will definately save in monthly expenses. I'm about to go to the new house to meet with the realtor to check on leaks since we're having such a downpour.  

This week we will be having vacation bible school and will also be doing our regular school, cleaning, and packing. I will update when  I have more to share. Have a blessed week!

Sara

We got a counter offer and accepted it!

I got a call from the realtor this morning and she told me that the seller counter offered. Our original offer was fairly low, hoping that if she didn't accept it that when she countered it, that it would stay low. The original price of the house was 49,900. Our offer was 45,000, and seller pays 3% of closing costs which would have been about $1350. The seller counter offered 47,500 and seller pays 3% closing costs which would increase to $1425.

Although it would've been nice for her to have accepted our offer, what we settled on was a great price too. The house is wonderful, and although it needs some work, it will be perfect for our growing family. For those who don't remember, the house is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in town, but with a huge backyard and a privacy fence. I posted a while back with pictures that you can see here.

So in less than a month we will be moving again to our very own home! What a blessing! I'm looking forward to so many things besides the fact it will really be ours....things like painting and decorating the rooms for the kids and the new little one to come, fixing things up and making the home ours, and using all the wonderful storage we will finally have! Oh, and best of all there will be plenty of air conditioning to keep this hot mama cooled off. Praise the Lord!

I'm so thankful that this month will stay busy. Between re-packing, vacation bible school, father's day, a weekend trip to Texas to visit family, and catching up on schoolwork for everyone, the month will be over before we know it, and we will be moving in!

Blessings, sara

We just put an offer on a house!

My dad and I just went down to the real estate office and put an offer in on the house we're trying to buy! I'm so nervous and excited, but am trying to keep faith in the Lord.  The realtor was taking the offer straight over to the seller so we should hear something by tomorrow. We're a little worried because there is someone else interested in the property, but they're still trying to get financing. We've already got our financing in order and downpayment taken care of. If you could, please say a prayer that either the seller accepts the offer or that returns with a fair counteroffer. I'll update when I can about it. If the offer is accepted, then we will close on the house by July 3rd! What a blessing that will be!

sara

Last day of May already

Where has May gone?! I can't believe tomorrow will be the first day of June. Not much going on around here to update, really. After taking a week off of school, we are starting back to work this next week. I decided it would be better for us to school all year long with short breaks along the way. We need the structure and schedule.

Other than school, I've been working on decluttering and packing. We've had to work out a few issues so that we can move forward and buy the house that we've been looking to buying. Every time we think the Lord has something else in mind for us, things move forward and He shows us that this really is where he wants us. We were hoping that we would be able to close on the house by mid-June, but it looks like we won't be able to move until the end of June, first of July. So I'm using this extra time to really declutter and simplify what we have to make the next move easier.

June looks to be a busy month for us, with getting things ready to close on the house, schooling, decluttering, and packing, father's day, and I have my first midwife appointment. I'm really looking forward to that.

Well, I guess that's about all for now. Not much else going on. I think we're going to camp out in the backyard tonight, or at least the kids are. I may not be on much for a while, but I'll update when I can. Have a blessed week!

Sara

My Perfect Tuesday

Did you ever climb into bed at the end of a hectic day and think, "This day sure didn't go as I planned it." Well for me, I do that every day. Not one day goes as planned, and honestly not one day probably ever will.  So I thought it would fun to devote an entry to what my perfect Tuesday would look like, and maybe it will help me to work harder to strive for that perfect day. If you would like to join me, that would be great, just leave me a comment so I can check it out. So here it goes, my perfect Tuesday....

I wake up to the sweet smell of coffee brewing in my pre-set coffeepot. It is 6am. I get up, slide into my slippers and throw on my robe and head to the kitchen to fix my husband and I a cup of coffee, and a quick bite to eat for him to take with him on his way to work, perhaps a muffin. I also pack his lunch that I prepared the night before into his lunchbox and set it by the front door. I wake my husband up and he gets ready for work. I have already layed his clothes out for him the night before to make his morning run a little smoother. He is out the door with coffee, breakfast, and lunch in hand by 6:30am.

After he is out the door, I sit down in my favorite chair with cofee and Bible in hand. I spend the next 30 minutes in quiet, delving into the Lord's word and praying. At around 7am, I get ready to start the day. I make my bed, get dressed in the clothes I layed out the night before, fix my hair, and put on a little makeup. I straighten the bathroom, and head out of my room with a load of laundry in hand. Today I will wash all the darks. I start the load and head into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I quickly unload the dishwasher that I ran the night before. For breakfast, I will make some french toast and some bacon with some sliced peaches on the side.

When breakfast is almost ready, I go and wake the children. The come to the table with tousled hair and sleepy eyes. I give them all their morning hug and kiss as I set their breakfast on the table in front of them. We read Proverbs 27 and talk about it a bit while they eat. They eat heartily and head to their rooms to make their beds and get dressed in the clothes I helped them lay out the night before. They go to the bathroom and brush their teeth and wash up for the day. While they are busy, I wash up the breakfast dishes. We all work together to get the remainder of the morning chores taken care of, so that by 9am we can all sit down and begin schoolwork for the day. I check the laundry and reboot it whenever neccessary.

We all work diligently getting our work done. We spend about 3 hours doing all our schoolwork without so much as a whine or whimper from anyone. (Hey, I said this was my perfect day.) At 12pm, I head to the kitchen to fix the mid-day meal. We'll have tuna salad sandwiches on homemade bread, and some cantaloupe on the side. We clean up the dishes and I take the kids to play out in the yard for a bit. At around 1pm, we come in and the children have some free play in their rooms for about an hour. Meanwhile I begin work on the day's chores. Tuesday is an easy day for me. I will spend my chore time working on some sewing, perhaps a dress that I'm making for one of my girls or myself. 

At around 2pm, I will lay my youngest down for a nap, and the older children will spend some time laying down and reading or resting. I take this time to do anything else needing done, or maybe take a short rest. Before I lay down, I need to get some bread started so that it can rise and be ready for baking when I get up. I take a short nap and wake up feeling rested and ready to finish up my day. I get the kids up and they do whatever chores that they have set to do today. I spend a few minutes in the weekly flylady zone, this week is the living room.

While the bread is finishing up baking, I make a quick snack for the kids, some peanut butter crackers and a glass of milk. The chores for today are done and now it's time, hubby is going to be home soon, and it's time to start preparations for dinner. I've already got some red beans cooking in the crockpot, so I finish up the rest of the meal and have it ready to eat by 6pm. The kids play and get along wonderfully while I'm cooking. (I wish) I usually will have one helper with me in the kitchen, today it will be my youngest daughter, Emily. Before dinner, I finish up the laundry and put it away with the children's help.

Hubby arrives home to a clean home and a happy wife and children. We talk about our days as we sit down to a warm meal. After dinner, with the help of the children, we quickly get the dinner dishes taken care of and everything cleared away. I prepare hubby's lunch, the coffepot, and make sure I have everything prepared for tomorrow night's dinner.

I join my family in the living room, and we spend our time watching a movie, playing a game, or just chatting and doing other things we enjoy. I like to knit or crochet in the evenings, and most nights the kids like to join me with their little ball of yarn and I try to teach them what I can.

At about 8pm, each of the children take their turn in the bathtub, they brush their teeth and are ready for bed. We sit down and read a chapter from whatever book we've chosen to read. They each say their prayers, and get a hug and kiss goodnight from their dad and mom.

Around 9pm when the kids are in bed, hubby and spend time alone watching tv, or just talking for about 30 minutes, then I head to the tub for a relaxing bath, and am ready for bed. I lay in bed reading my Bible for a bit, praying, and maybe reading a few chapters from one of my favorite books until I can no longer stay awake. I fall asleep finally realizing, today was my perfect Tuesday. 

We have been busy!

The last several days have been really busy and lots of fun. Last Friday was the last day of public school and I am now thankful to say that now all 3 of my children will be home with me and learning with me! Praise the Lord!

Saturday was a hot one, and we spent most of it outside doing yard work and preparing for our memorial weekend campout. We set up our new 3 room tent and cooked out and even set up our new little swimming pool and the kids played in that for a while.

That night we camped out...until a huge windstorm came through and blew our tent down. We ended up coming in about 1 am and putting the kids in their beds. About 2am the wind blew so hard that it knocked the power out. In fact it knocked a power line down across the street and we kept getting power surges and the fire dept. ended up being called because the house across the street almost caught on fire. Very scary.

Sunday, we relaxed at home and were going to camp out Sunday night, except they were calling for major winds again, so we voted to stay in.

Yesterday, I stayed busy working around the house. I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. Our kitchen is so small here that even a few dishes left undone makes the kitchen look very cluttered. I did up all the dishes, wiped down all the counters, and swept. That's stuff I should really do everyday, but most days I just don't get to it. But now that I've gotten a head start, it'll be easier to keep it up. I also got a nice meal made up in the crockpot for dinner.

I finished unpacking the school stuff and organizing it as well, which took a lot of my time. We're not unpacking a lot of stuff because of the fact that we may be moving again very soon, but the school stuff needed to be unpacked and gone through.

Last week, I got my first midwife appointment made. I won't be able to get in until June 20th, but that's only a few weeks away. I've not been having any major problems, so it's not a big deal to have to wait. I'll be almost 16 weeks.

Today I plan to stay busy working around the house some more and since the weather has cooled off, I will probably do some baking. I guess that's all for now. Not much else going on. Praying you have a wonderfully blessed day!

sara

Wednesday at Home

Allergy season is upon us, and I am feeling it's wrath. I finally got into the habit of taking my vitamins daily and started getting some more energy and then allergy season hit me and it hit hard. I feel as if I might actually sneeze my head off. Night time is the worst, that's when we open the windows to let the cool night air in. I found out that I was able to take clarityn or benadryl to help, but unfortunately they don't help at all. Not sure what else I can do except to tough it out and take some extra vitamin c to ward off any infections.

Enough whining about my problems. We're experiencing a cool front and a break from the 90+ temperatures today. Praise the Lord! We have a busy day ahead and thankfully I'm getting a little repreve from sneezing my brains out for the moment.

My daughter's school is hosting a carnival today and I promised her that I would come and check it out. So I'll be out doing that for a couple hours this afternoon.

Today is also payday and although I usually run errands and go to the store on Thursday, we're going to go ahead and do them this afternoon when hubby gets home.  I only have a couple of things to get at the store since I did my 2 week shopping trip last week, so I only need some milk and fresh produce.

I will still have to get out tomorrow. I am taking my youngest daughter to the doctor. Her eczema is getting out of control and needs to be seen about.

Also today I have to bake some more bread, work on some laundry, and try and fit school in. So I better run for now. I pray your day is blessed!

Sara

Monday at Home

Our weekend was quiet and uneventful. We spent time at home just working around the house and enjoying each other's company. We did take a short jog around the block to meet with the seller of the house we're trying to buy, but after that we were back home.

Today is no different, we are at home. My husband is at work ofcourse and my middle daughter is at school, finishing up her last week of public school, and then she will be at home with us. Praise the Lord!

I'm waiting on a few different things in the mail this week, and I'm hoping they will come soon, as they will all be such a help to us. Our stimulus check should have been mailed out today and will probably be here by the end of the week. I am waiting on my insurance cards so that I can make my first midwife appointment. And I also ordered some diagnostic tests for my kids so that I can see where we need more work in their schooling. All of that should hopefully make it here this week.

My dad is calling today to get the financing started on the house we're trying to buy. I'm praying that things will move along quickly as it is warming up a lot and we only have one little window unit right now that only cools the living room and dining room. We're expected to reach 100 degrees today. Not to mention, I'm a little anxious to get to live in a home that is ours again.

On today's to do list is....

~Homeschool

~Wash towels and sheets

~Keep up with daily routines and chores

~Make some bread in the bread machine ( I prefer to make my bread in the oven, but with the heat I usually make it in the bread machine.)

~Work on this week's zone(flylady)-This week I'm working on the master bedroom. Since it looks like we'll probably be moving again within the next month or two, I'm going to be going through and doing some more decluttering and going ahead and repacking what we don't need right now, like winter clothes and other things that we're not using.

And that's about it for us. I pray your day is blessed!

Sara 

Met with seller today

Today we got a chance to meet with the seller of the house we're looking at to buy. She was so nice and kept everything very honest with us. Told us what was wrong and why, showed us all the details we didn't see. She said she really wants to see us get the house. We shared our homeschooling stories too. She homeschooled for 8 years, but her husband left and she had to go to work.

So we've started the homebuying process, we're praying to be able to move in there by June sometime. I'll update more as we know. I'm so thrilled to be able to buy a home of our very own. The Lord is really blessing us.

Sara 

Friday Update

I haven't been posting a whole lot as of late, because we are just so busy it seems. And when we're not so busy, I'm so tired.

My kids have all been taking turns feeling sick or keeping me extra busy. About 2 weeks ago, my oldest and youngest had strep throat. Then I've spent the last week or so potty training my little one. That in itself takes about half my time, although now that she's getting the hang of it, she's starting to be able to do it on her own. And she didn't have any night time accidents last night! Yay! Today, my middle daughter is home from school with what seems like a urinary tract infection. So we're drinking extra water and she seems to already be feeling better. Also, public schools are going to be done next week, and so we're getting all the end of the year stuff done, and then I will have all three of my children at home with me to homeschool! I am so thrilled!

We're also just getting through our biggest birthday season. My girls both had their birthdays within the last month, plus my brother, step brother, and brother in law all had birthdays one right after another. And then this week was my nieces birthday.

Mother's day was such a blessing to me! My husband and kids all made lunch and we went and ate at the park and just enjoyed time together.

On the housing front, we went and took my dad to look at the prospective house and he thinks it's a nice house, but found a few things needing repair. There's evidence of a leaky spot in the den, which would need immediate attention(unless it's an old spot), and we couldn't find an outdoor cleanout for the plumbing. Other than that it's a lot of cosmetic things, floors needing some repair, windows that are cracked or broken, stuff like that. We had a good rain the last couple of days and dad wants me to go look and see how bad the leak is, and depending on that will depend what our offer will be. But the good news is that we will definately be making an offer. If the roof is leaking horribly, then we're going to offer about 10,000 less than what they're asking and see what kind of counter offer they make. The realtor told us the seller is desperate to get out from under it, because they've already bought another house and are having to make 2 payments. So we're praying that we can be in this house by sometime this summer. I honestly don't remember how long the homebuying process takes, but I know it at least takes a month to two months. I know we'll definately be in there by the time this little one makes it's arrival.

And speaking of this little one...On Sunday I will be 11 weeks. I still have yet to make my first midwife appointment. I'm really not in any hurry. With my other little ones I've always seen the doctor by the time I was 8 weeks, but I guess after 3 healthy pregnancies, I feel no rush to get in there, although I would love to hear the baby's heartbeat. I'm also still contemplating which doctor/midwife I will see. I had my mind set on a midwife that's about 40 miles north of us. It would mean a drive once a month and more often as the time drew near, but it would also mean the birth that I've always wanted. Then there's the doctors here in town, but I would have to sacrifice on what I want. But then I got to thinking about gas, and the chances that I could go into labor during an ice or snow storm during December. I'm still not sure what I want to do. I'll just keep praying for now and see what the Lord would have me do.

Well, that's enough of an update for now. We've been having wonderful weather and have only had the a/c on twice for just a couple hours. I'll update again when I have more to share.

Blessings, sara