Cracking up...

Just a minute to pop on here to share a baby video… Enjoy!!

Now, back to your regular scheduled programing!

Daybook Entry 3.10.14

Outside my window…
There is light just barely glowing on the horizon. OH, how I dislike Daylight Savings Time. Wishing we could just let it be and keep time standard like they do in Arizona!!

I am thinking…
I enjoy hosting parties at my home and hope that all the people who were here for my soon to be sister-in-law's shower enjoyed their time here, had fun visiting, and enjoyed a few delicious treats with their coffee. I plan to post a recipe here later this week that was requested over and over!

I am thankful…
For a most wonderful husband who is a great daddy to his children! While I hosted the bridal shower yesterday, our littlest treekid was OVERWHELMED, to say the least, with all the noise and commotion that is involved with 25 people all in the living/dining room! Li'l guy was completely unconsolable in the house while I was tending to hostessing duties. Pops took him outside and sat in the  truck and calmed him down and let him nap in his arms after he cried himself to sleep. Such a sweet sight that baby finally sleeping in his papa's arms. {{sigh}}

a tear rolling out of his left eye… :(

I am laughing…
I hopped back on the blogging train with 7 posts in 7 days and then disappeared for a week! Sheesh - regularity would be good. Perhaps I need to find a blogging rhythm that works for me! A new post every day doesn't always work. This past week I was very busy preparing for the bridal shower and Pops' was out west galavanting from Boise, ID to Jackson, WY before arriving home 30 minutes before people arrived for the shower! (Thanks be to God that he did and was able to calm and soothe that babe!)

Learning all the time…
Math math math. Double, triple, quadruple a recipe!! I had kids asking what I was scratching and scribbling and showed them all kinds of fraction work. They are seeing how one can use math skills and "when am I ever going to use THIS?" kind of flies out the window seeing me actually figuring!!

Celebrating our faith…
This year during Lent, as we prepare our hearts for Easter, our family is giving up our sugar addiction and avoiding sweets. It is quite challenging for the tree kids as they are very used to enjoying delicious sweets and deserts fairly regularly. Additionally, I have put Facebook scrolling on "limited" to a few minutes on Sundays and checking the pages that are informational and a way for us to stay in the loop of groups and clubs that we are physical members of, not just virtual! Boy, is this a hard one for me! I love to see what people are sharing and doing. People having babies - hope that all goes well! People asking for prayers - I won't be able to know specific prayer requests, all those FB friends are getting blanketed prayers these next few weeks! I set up an app long ago to feed this blog into my FB account. So, these will still post. I wonder what happens when I enter a give-away on another person's page and it has a "like" button or "share" button that I click as an entry into the contest… Hmmmmm...

From the kitchen…
I have seen this past week that there have been many more requests for fruit than over the rest of the winter. A hankering for sweet can be cured with an orange or a banana!

I am working on…
remembering to keep my camera handy. I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of everything. I didn't get ANY pictures of the bridal shower… but, I enjoyed myself and I think that it turned out beautifully. Wish I had taken pictures, though...

I am creating…
a ribbon bouquet with the package ribbons for my new sister-in-law to be to use at her wedding rehearsal.

I am going…
to eat eggs and bacon in a few minutes. It might be a quiet breakfast as the treekids are all sleeping in late this morning after getting to bed late last night!!

I am hoping…
that no one falls into the lake. People are still out ice fishing on the nearby lake. There is much open water. It was 70 degrees yesterday - but people still are drilling holes and putting a line in the water hoping to catch a fish! CRAZY, I tell you! I hope these crazy people do not fall in!!

I am reading… 
Lent Reflections with Father Barron this year. They are short little thoughts/devotions that show up in my email inbox. Things to ponder, ways to grow closer to Jesus, ways to challenge myself to grow in holiness… all packed into a short little snippet each day through Lent.

I am listening…
The sounds of the ocean are rolling in on the baby monitor. Our "white noise" machine has been in use a lot more lately. Coach Tim Miles talking with his team. Pops is watching  video and loves sharing what this coach says and does with me.

Around the house…
I have a little bit of clean up to tend to, today. Just straightening things up and getting things back to living life order! I am excited about the little touches I added in our "main" bathroom this past week. I finally decided on what I wanted in there after living here over a year, now! I added a couple vinyl cut-outs to the wall and Bump is telling the world we have new tattoos on the wall in the bathroom! Perfect! I will look in there and think of my Aunt Grace, though, every time I see the owls decorating the little room! (And I am appreciative of the help that my mother-in-law added in there with a couple rugs, some towels and a decorative owl! What fun she brought along with her this week! The treekids all liked the foam airplanes she brought them mush better than the rugs!)

One of my favorite things…
A quiet morning wake up. Kids still sleeping, me alone pondering the day. (Why don't I get up earlier than everyone else EVERY day!?!)

A few plans for the week…
Bud has his first book club meeting today. We are seriously contemplating a long family journey out west with Pops again for his work.

Pondering these words…

Sunshine Award

I was recently blessed by Amy over at Knit Together with the Sunshine Award!  This very sweet, and I have been trying to figure out how to get it done!  So here it goes... 

Here are the "rules" for acceptance of this award:

• Use the award logo in the post.
• Link to whoever nominated you.
• Write 10 pieces of information about yourself.
• Nominate fellow bloggers who nominate 10 fellow bloggers who "positively and creatively inspire others in the blogospere."
• Leave a comment on the nominees' blogs to tell them of the award.

So without further ado, 10 things about me you didn't know you wanted to know:

1. I am a perfectionist. But, unfortunately it works against me ALL. THE. TIME. When you have perfectionistic tendencies you can get stuck unable to move forward because it isn't PERFECT. That happens to me often with this blog. I get behind and then I can't get myself to get going again because how do I fill in the missing time? {{sigh}} If only I had more arms, more hours in the day, more brain cells to figure it all out!!

2. I grew up with really blonde hair. I loved my hair. My hair has gotten darker as I've gotten older. For a while I colored it myself. But, it would get pretty brassy looking. So, I when and got a color fix and loved it. Then it grew and got cut and grew and got cut and one day I looked in the mirror at myself and when I say I looked… I mean I stared at myself one day. We were in Oklahoma in our little RV home. I was in our little bathroom looking at myself in that little mirror over the sink. And I had the realization that I didn't even RECOGNIZE myself! My hair was quite dark!! I had to do a double and then triple take. I ended up with a highlight job about a year and a couple months ago. I loved it. I had it done a couple times, but it is starting to need a fix again. Ok, that is exaggeration. It needs a new highlight BADLY. But, how to make the time to get that done with a teeny nursing babe? I could have someone out to my house at 8pm and the baby would be sleeping. Otherwise? It might have to wait - and I hate to say… there is gray now.

3. I think I would rather have all gray hair than this "I don't know what to call the color" of my hair currently. Then I would tell myself that it was "Ash Blonde"!!! :)

4. I LOVE frozen peaches. I just ate some with my hubs and I LOVE them. They are better than a bowl of ice cream. Of course, these are no standard frozen peaches. They are made by my mom and I don't know what she does to them, but they are goooooooooooooood. The ones from the store are not. This may have been my last bowl of frozen peaches, though. My mom learned how to can peaches this past summer and she says she prefers them canned and doesn't plan to freeze any more. I know - cry a river… But, I will miss her peaches. I think it is how she cuts them. Then I eat them when they are still a little bit slushy!! YUM!

5. I don't really like to talk on the phone. BUT, when I do get on the phone, I have a hard time getting off the phone. But, the thought of talking on the phone sends shivers up my spine and I cringe. I don't think I always felt that way. I used to talk on the phone for hours. But, I was a teenager then. I am of the text/email persuasion. Send me a text. Send me an email. I'll get back to you. Leave me a voicemail and you probably won't hear back. Unless I email you.

6. I wish that my cellphone number was a secret. I don't like feeling like I can be reached anywhere and at anytime. I want to have a cell phone to get a hold of someone to come help if I have car trouble or am lost or the like. But, I would rather not have a number that anyone knows! Of course, that means that #5 isn't entirely accurate. Email me.

7. I feel like I am sounding anti-social. I don't think that I am anti-social. I just don't like to have answers to questions immediately. I want to read the question and ponder it and mull about it and then respond. I don't really like chitter chatter. Well, I like to chit chat with my mom. But, we like to beat a dead horse on the same topics, usually. No surprises. Comfortable.

8. For one of my college jobs, I worked as a bartender at a dance hall. I loved it. It was fun to listen to people talk about … every.thing. I enjoyed learning about a variety of mixed drinks. I laughed at one point because the nights of the week brought different crowds. One night of the week was country & western, one night was big band or polka, one night was rock and one night was often a wedding reception. I knew what kinds of drinks would be ordered based on the "theme" of the evening. I still can't get over how many gin & tonics old men drink!! YUCK. Cowboys with a drawl drink Coors and that is pronounced "Kirrrrrrrrrrrs". 

9. I do not like movies that are scary, action, tense, suspenseful. I do not particularly like animated movies. I don't like all chick flicks. I don't like all comedies. I am a picky movie watcher. I don't watch television. I do not like the news because it is too scary to see what is happening in our world. I read the weekly newspaper, listen to the radio, and rely on my husband to tell me if there is any "big" news.

10. I love listening to talks about faith. I love amazing conversion stories. A couple years ago I drove from Illinois to Jackson, WY alone. I left our children with my parents and drove all that way and met Pops there (he flew in from Las Vegas for work, I think). The whole way I listened to inspiring faith filled talks and was ready to listen the whole way back. Pops was done listening after 3 CDs! He was ready for simple music. Hmmmm. I should have put him on a plane and drove by myself again! It might have had something to do with not being able to sit and listen uninterrupted during the regular days of my life! Something about being needed by one of those precious tree kids!?!

11. And just for good measure, I'll share that I prefer to write VERY conversationally and I really dislike editing. If I edit, I tend to not put anything up here because it all sounds like silliness to me!

OK - so, I think that most of the blog writers that I read have received this award. I would love to give it to you if you haven't received it! Or perhaps their blog is more focused than this little journal of mine. BUT, if you have a blog and want to play… let me know and I will link to you here!!

1. YOU!

2. You!

3. …

4.

Too Cold, Too Hot… Where is JUST RIGHT???

OK - now I know I am really stretching myself. 7 posts in 7 days just to make it happen is quite a challenge! I need to go around and find some link-ups to do on various days of the week if I am going to continue at any kind of similar rate of posting! Then I will have an idea to spring off from!!

As it is, it is near the end of the day and I have very little to share that I have a photo to go along! I like pictures. They make reading my drivel a little better, no? So, where does this leave me? Hunting in iPhoto for something to share.

AHA! THIS:

What is "this" you might wonder! Well, let me tell you about this. These are ice crystals that were in my pitcher of strawberry lemonade in my side by side refrigerator-freezer in the kitchen. The beverages are stored on the top shelf (Heat rises, but apparently not in a this fridge.) and I poured myself some lemonade and it was very cold!! Would be extra appreciated in the summer!

So, what is so great about these ice crystals? We currently keep the thermostat in our house anywhere between 68 and 70 degrees F. The thermometer on the cupboard says it is 79 degrees (but it IS sitting right next to the printer…) in the kitchen. The freezer in the same appliance freezes things rock solid. The settings are such that we expect the freezer to freeze hard and make PLENTY of ice continuously. Somehow, the freezer is freezing things in the refrigerator, though. My vegetable drawer is producing frozen lettuce, frozen cucumbers, frozen carrots, frozen mushrooms. I am pouring lemonade crystals into my cup. The cheese is freezing. The LEFT-OVERS are FREEZING!! (This might be a good thing considering how long some of them sit in there!)

But, here is where things get a little more interesting. We have a refrigerator -freezer in our garage. It is the kind you probably had growing up with the freezer on top and the fridge on the bottom. It is out there in the unheated relatively cold garage. It has been quite cold lately and I wouldn't venture into the garage without at least socks on my feet and sleeves on my arms. (I am currently wearing a tank top, but would put on a jacket, sweater or sweatshirt to go into the garage.) Things in my refrigerator out there are at a normal refrigerator temperature. It is gonna get crazy here so hold onto your hat…

The temperature in the garage is probably under 30 degrees F. The freezer of the fridge/freezer combo cannot seem to keep ANYTHING frozen. There is a chest freezer out there and it freezes rock solid. But there isn't a thing out there that will stay frozen in the fridge. I need to take all those frozen pizzas and bring them inside my nice warm house and put them in my refrigerator to keep them frozen… WHA????????? So, the heat is rising in that appliance where the air temperature around the appliance should keep the stuff frozen if I just open the door! I would imagine that it might have something to do with the temp outside being too low for it to work efficiently, but my chest freezer is working great. The fridge portion is working great and now houses all fresh veggies so they stay cold, not frozen. 

What to do? What to do? Have any of you had this problem? How do I fix it? I am tired of frozen stuff in the fridge and thawed out things in the freezer. I don't want to live in backwards world!! Help?? Ideas please!

(And… this post is definitely squeaking in under the wire for 

Friday at just before 11 PM… but I did make it! Woot! Woot!!)