multitude monday

My weekly Multitudes on Mondays post.  If you're just stopping by for the 1st time, I joined in with this post here.  (Check out the banner below for more information from the person who started it.)

116. another Etsy sale!  yay!
117. a shopping day today (Just to put this into perspective, it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes for me to get to the nearest Wal-Mart & JC Penney so shopping days like this are few and far between.  We do have some smaller local stores, but the selection is rather limited--especially for clothes.)
118. gift cards (I happened to have had one for JC Penney which I used today!)
119. a husband with a good paying job (to pay for everything above and beyond the gift card amount)
120. McDonald's (not my favorite, but BOTH boys eat the McNuggets so I always plan on it when we're down shopping)
121. finishing another Sherlock Holmes book on my Kindle. wish the free version came with graphics, but otherwise a good read.
122. new outfits for the boys
123. and one for me too
124. shoe inserts for Bubba, who has really low arches. am hoping these give him the arch support he so desperate needs!
125. some new yarn too (I needed it for work!)
126. a good run Saturday for T and Bubba--they ran a 5K for ALS.  T came in 3rd of the men in his age group and Bubba got 1st place (of the 2 boys) in his age group.

 
127. $460 in donations raised by Bubba (with a little help from his daddy)--enough to win the "prize" for his age group--a new iPod Nano!  good job kiddo! and thanks to those of you who gave!
128. a lovely lightning show Saturday night.
129. capturing some digital lightning. :)  isn't it pretty?

It's fair week this week up here and it's supposed to be in the 90s all week. UGH!  I sure hope the heat doesn't make everyone sick!

multitude monday

It's Monday again.  Time to look back at my previous (hectic!) week and consider my many blessings.
Thank you, Lord.

99.  eye doctors (I just had my check up today!  No worries!)

100. glasses and contact lenses for those of us who need them (it's nice to see things clearly, every now and again)

101. fresh & new contact lenses (as opposed to ones you've worn quite a few days already...)

102. disposable contacts (as opposed to those ones way back in the day that you had to be sooooo careful with so you didn't rip or lose one because it would cost you every so much to replace!)

103. rain (we've had enough now, though)

104. thunder

105. my husband--because even though he didn't sleep well last night due to the fact that I was not sleeping well because of the itching of the poison ivy rash on the back of my ankle that I evidently picked up Saturday night when I was outdoors for our weekly Bible Bee bonfire/supper-cookout, he is willing to come home from a long day at the office and cook his family dinner and then enter the dark, dank cavern (aka our basement) to try and help our sump-pump which has been having difficulties and needs some therapy--he's a wonderful man!

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Come back again next Monday for more! 

multitude monday

is it monday again already?  i just about forgot i was going to start posting again today!  here we go...
if you want to see my other multitudes on mondays posts, they began on mother's day with this post.

54. holiday weekend in Duluth with just my hubby!!!   (Thanks AGAIN to my parents for making it possible by taking the kids.)
55. yarn shops!  and getting to shop at 4 in one weekend!  WOOT!
56. a mall to shop at too!  (can you tell we live in the middle of nowhere?)
57. my new purse in a lovely shade of PINK! yes!
58. a couple new outfits too
59. new clothes for my man as well
60. finding a fun gift for hubby's dad (his early b-day/father's day gift)
61. did i mention yarn shops?  well, i should have mentioned my beautiful new yarns and needles too!
62. going out to the movies with my man--we saw Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Kung Fu Panda 2 (in 3D).  and yes, we enjoyed them all.
63. coming home
64. hugs and kisses from my boys
65. my hubby's 45th birthday
66. getting our Bible Bee box on Friday (exciting!!!)
67. dinner with my inlaws (to celebrate their eldest son, of course)
68. the first day of summer swim lessons (today)
69. finding out there's another boy in bubba's level who's "behind" on swim lessons so he's not the only 11 year old in level 4
70. time to knit while bubba was in lessons because cj was being such a good boy
71. planting raspberry plants that were given to me (actually, we were originally getting them for my mom, but she let me have them since she already has a few plants and i didn't have any yet)
72. going for a walk with my little man, cj, to try and find monarch caterpillars (no luck this time)
73. finding tadpoles in our front ditch instead!
74. being the kind of mom who catches tadpoles--eight in all--so we can watch them grow legs

75. accidentally catching THIS while trying to get tadpoles and being thrilled even though we didn't know what it was

76. learning that it's a triops (i couldn't find any info to tell me if they are native to minnesota though)
77. going for a family walk and seeing all kinds of wild strawberry plants in blossom.  (gonna have to keep my eyes on those for berries!)
78. pizza
79. falling asleep to the sounds of a gentle rain and distant thunder
80. waking up to the sounds of birds (the one rather loud and crazy bird that has a bunch of different calls was kind of annoying at 4:30am, but otherwise it's kind of a nice way to wake up)

 
On a side note: I decided to put the tadpoles and triops in the same container.  Mr. Triops (as he's been dubbed) eats mosquito larvae and other stuff like that so I'm hoping he'll clean out any bugs from the ditch water we collected with these critters.  Hopefully he won't be hungry enough to eat the tadpoles! Not sure he'd do that, but you never know...

 

They seem to be getting along well enough, but it's only been a few hours. 

thirteen

lucky or no, thirteen is how many years i've been married to my best friend.  and yes, after 13 years, we're still the best of friends!  i love love love my man and am so very thankful the Lord gave me such a wonderful husband! 

happy anniversary to my sweetheart!  i ♥ u!

4.18.1998

i've put off posting this today because i'm bummed that my man had to leave today.  i'm not talking about the normal go-to-work leave here.  i'm talking about the my-hubby-has-to-go-to-the-cities-7-hours-away-and-won't-be-home-until-thursday-and-i-have-to-spend-my-anniversary-alone-with-the-kiddos kind of leave.  it stinks--at least we think so.  you can take my word on that.  but he had to go for some work-related classes or workshops or whatever they are.  so i understand.  really.  i do.  in my head i do.  but not so much in my heart which tells me he should be here spending our special day with me! 

so what did i do all day?  let's see.  i spent the morning here at my computer.  mostly just doing some perfectioKnits-related stuff and Facebook. and dripping on occasion.  after lunch, i decided to distract myself a bit and did a little baking.  had to use up my nearly black bananas before they weren't usable, so i baked a batch of banana "muffins" for cj who doesn't care for cherries.  {just used the same recipe and baked in muffin cups!}   and then a double batch of my mom's banana-cherry bread.  yum!  the house smells wonderful!  i just wish i hadn't bumped the top of my arm on the edge of the oven as i was reaching in for the bread pans.  yowch!  that hurt.  still does a little.  i used an ice pack to cool it down and it doesn't look like it's going to blister.  still not really sure how that happened.  i'm usually VERY careful when baking!

after my baking, i turned the computer back on and did some more perfectioKnits-related business {found some buttons that i think will be perfect for some of my items. good price.  ordered 2 kinds in lots of 100.  so excited that they're coming from the UK!}

we finally decided on ramen noodles for tonight's dinner. 
[yes, mom, we'll manage.  i even have chicken thawing in the fridge for tomorrow.]
and now i'm back on here writing this while the boys are deciding which movie we're going to watch.  i think they've decided...so it's time for me to go!

Happy Valentine's Day! (recipe included)

I hope your Valentine's Day has been as lovely and fun as mine! 

My hubby and I did a little shopping together this weekend.  While we were at Sears to return a shirt I had purchased that ended up being a tad too big, he "hunted" for a certain item I've been wanting for quite a few years...

Can I just say I was so surprised?!  And isn't the red a fun color?  I shall always remember that he gave it to me for Valentine's Day!  ♥ 

So, I tried out my new KitchenAid today and made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. Yummy!

If you're like me and you like your chocolate chip cookies to be just a little bit crispy on the outside but nice and chewy on the inside, you'll want to try this recipe for sure!   

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies   Yields about 24 cookies
1 egg
1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I substitute milk chocolate chips and my hubby loves 'em!)

Set the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
Grease the cookie sheets (or use parchment paper...much easier).
In a small bowl, beat egg until light and foamy. Set aside.  (My KitchenAid hand mixer got used for this recipe too!  Didn't want to hurt it's feelings after almost 13 years of it being my only mixer!)
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar.  Add beaten egg, vanilla and water.  Beat until smooth and creamy.
Sift together flour, soda and salt.
Stir half the dry ingredients into batter. Then stir in the other half until all the flour is blended into the batter.  (I just added it gradually and mixed the batter until it was all blended together.)
Stir the chocolate chips into the batter.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto greased (parchment lined) cookie sheet.
Bake about 12 minutes.  Cool on wire rack. 

A double batch works really well.  ENJOY!

So I had thought that my new KitchenAid mixer was all I was getting.  I mean, really!  It's a VERY NICE GIFT!  But no.  My wonderful husband had also ordered me a Kindle.  He brought it home today at lunch--handed the box to me with the mail--and I could see it had been opened so I popped the box open and I believe the words that left my mouth were "No WAY!  You're SICK!"  I guess that what ya get when you really surprise me.  LOL! 

I spent the afternoon learning how to use it. (No school today! Mommy wants to play!) I already have a bunch of free books including The Light of Eidon by Karen Hancock.  It's the first in a wonderful series that I've read and own in paper format too.  How fun to get it free for my Kindle too! Next I need to figure out how to download PDF files to it and maybe MP3s too.  I'm just so happy, I could burst!

My poor, dear, hubby didn't have such a great day though.  He's sick.  Poor guy!  I put him to bed early and I hope he's feeling better by morning.  He even has a low-grade fever.  Not very fun.  I wish I could make him feel better with a hug and a kiss, but I tried...it didn't work. 

Get well, my love!  And thank you, again, for the wonderful gifts this Valentine's Day!  I love you.

summer fun

i realize i haven't posted in a while.  not for lack of things to say, but rather lack of time to say them! 

i've been planning a really nice post about our trip out west.  only, i haven't had time (or energy) to go thru the bazillion photos we took to find the few really great ones i'd want to share here.  so, bear with me as i take my time and i WILL post about it...someday.  hopefully sooner than later!

top that off with it being Fair Week here this week which means eating lots of junk foods, rides for the boys, and checking out all the animals and other things that folks have entered.  i've been telling myself for years "next year i'm gonna enter something i've knitted."  and yet again, it's fair time and i don't have anything to enter.  seems like all my projects lately have been either gifts or things that i want to use right away--so MAYBE NEXT YEAR!  we'll see!

here's a couple photos of the boys at the fair

bubba and his best buddy, ty on the tilt-a-whirl

that's right...ty's dad took the big boys on the ferris wheel. 
they're in the blue carriage at the top!

cj enjoying the rides

another fun ride for cj

oh yeah...one more thing.  T ran his first 5K of the summer on the 17th.  placed 2nd of the guys in his age range.  {it wasn't a PR, but it was better than he'd expected since he hadn't been able to train on our trip like he would've liked!}

here he is just about to cross the finish line:

T--the runner in red

it's been a good summer so far.  hard to believe it's already july 22.  and yes, we're still doing a little schoolwork here and there when we can!

our projects

my new knitting project:
one of my husband's sisters, annie, gave me some fun yarns for my b-day this year. last night, since i had finished my kureyon kowl, i decided to start knitting with one of these, so i cast on a really easy lacy scarf using the ball of Artful Yarns Portrait which is basically a mohair yarn. it's really soft and fuzzy, and looks nice in the pattern i chose. it should be a really pretty scarf when i'm done. thanks, annie!


Artful Yarns Portrait
Pattern: One Row Lace Scarf by Turvid
{another free pattern i found via Ravelry, but this one's published on the designer's blog!}


T's woodworking project:
we decided the boys need a bunkbed ever since cj graduated to a twin mattress. so a couple months ago {at least}, T went and got materials for building it himself. since then, he's had little opportunity, but when he can he heads to his wood shop and has been cutting the pieces, assembling the bed frames and sanding everything smooth. yesterday he worked on it again for a few hours {he took the afternoon off from work so he could} and we took a few photos of the bunks in process. he's out in his shop again this morning because he wants to get all the pieces ready for stain. maybe he'll even get to start that today. i really can't say, since i'm not sure how much else he needs to do before the pieces are ready for that though.


T reminds me of a stormtrooper with his goggles and mask on.
it must be time to watch something Star Wars-ish. ;-)

bubba's school project:
a writing assignment! after 3 years of pulling out my hair every time we tried to do a writing assignment with Sonlight's LA programs {and i just LOVE Sonlight}, i finally realized that their methods just weren't working for us. so this year i switched to the English 4 workbook {since he's Grade 4} by Bob Jones University Press. i bought it thru Christian Liberty Press because of a friend's recommendation and am so glad i did! i especially like how CLP has published their own teacher's handbook and a test booklet for the student too. it's cheaper than buying the classroom-style teacher's book, yet makes my job much much easier than if i'd just bought the workbook. i also really like that it alternates a chapter of grammar and then a chapter on writing. this was bubba's first writing chapter with the new curriculum and it was so much easier for him. each step was well explained, and he was shown a really good example of what, in this case a personal narrative, should be like. all in all, i'm thrilled that this is working so well. and i'm proud of my son for a job well done!

cj's learning project:
uh. being three. he's learning his ABCs and can count to at least 15 without help. he can now climb up the ladder for the slide on our little swingset without help. and he is learning to pray at mealtimes.
{which is really cute!}


my boys helping mix up a batch of cookies last week. what fun!
too bad we ate 'em all already. gonna have to make more!

well, that's some of what's keeping us busy these days!
thanks for stoppin' by and taking the time to read all about it!

pictures of summer

county fair:



family reunion:


vbs program:


family walk:


happy summer days!

thankful thursday

today i'm thankful for my husband.

not only is he my best friend and lover, he's my playmate, confidante, supporter, financial adviser, and cook! really the list of his amazing qualities goes on and on, but you get the idea. he's a great daddy. oh yeah, he even does dishes too! he's nothing short of amazing and i'm so blessed to be his wife! even after 11 years of marriage, it still amazes me how God brought us together. i can't see it ever happening without divine intervention. i'm so thankful that God orchestrated our lives so that we would meet when the time was right. T completes me. and his love for the Lord and faith in God strengthens my own.


i'm also thankful for prayer.
and since today was the National Day of Prayer, i thought i'd add that to today's thankful thursday post. what a blessing to live in a country where it's not a crime to pray in public. i think it's incredible that the Creator of the universe loves me and wants me to know Him personally! it's sometimes hard to believe that God really wants me to talk to him about what's going on in my life. the ups. the downs. the joys. the doubts. the concerns. and through it all He continues to reveal more of Himself to me and He shows me how much He loves me.

simple joys

first, let me wish everyone a very happy earth day!

shana has a really great post on her blog today so i'll let you read what she has to say about living the green life! i'm really feeling challenged about this today. i guess it's time to make some changes! for starters, i plan to use reusable grocery bags as often as i can for my groceries from now on. i even have a couple already. now to just take 'em with me when i shop. i'd like our family to be a lot better about recyclables too. {there was a time in my life when recycling was the norm. but here recycling isn't mandatory, so we don't. it's sad, but true. i know we could if we just put a little effort into it! we'll have to figure out the HOW, but i know there's got to be some people who recycle around here!}


T got home safe this afternoon. i'm so glad! and even though he's super tired, T took bubba in for awanas tonight and is at work until he picks him up at 8pm. life is already getting back to normal!

after eating out at DQ this evening, cj did not want to come in the house. but it was just a tad too cold for me to stay out and let him play outside. so when he finally decided he didn't like being outside alone {about 3 seconds!}, he came in. but was very sad. so after T left with bubba, i did something special for him. i blew bubbles in the house! *gasp!*

cj had so much fun even though he had to be inside! i'm so glad that grandma patty gave him that little bottle of bubbles in his Easter basket! of course, after about 20 minutes i was feeling quite lightheaded so we had to quit. for now! gonna have to remember this when i need something fun to do inside next winter!

i'm so glad...

...that my husband's coming home today!

yippee!
woohoo!
yeehaw!
wahoo!
whoop! whoop!
yay!
woot!
yahoo!
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

when daddy's away...

...the kids and mom play!

well. a little. mostly we've just been wasting time until daddy gets home and life can go back to normal.

T had to go out of town for a few days for some work-related classes. i've been missing him so much! and so have the boys! we've gotten absolutely nothing school-wise done this week yet, although we have worked on sections for Awanas since tomorrow night is the last chance bubba has to finish his book for this year. we're hoping he'll get it done so next week at awards night, he'll get the 1st book award for T&T boys! exciting, i know!

i've spent WAY too much time on the computer. it's hard not having T here to talk to and to tell me to turn off the evil-devil machine (i.e computer)! so i've been wasting my time away on facebook and blogging and who knows what else.

actually, we did do something a little fun today that got us out of the house for a bit. i took the boys out to lunch at a local mom-and-pop style diner. bubba had today's special--potato dumplings with bacon and toast. cj ate a few goldfish crackers i had in my bag {he's just impossible at meals lately!} and i had a grilled chicken sandwich. afterward, we spent a little time at the library. the boys played on the kids' computer for a little bit and i had a chance to look around at all the books. i even found a couple books for my hubby on the book sale {library fundraiser} that should be a nice surprise for him when he gets home. after i paid for those 2 books and checked out the 3 other books i wanted, bubba had a little fit because he didn't have any books picked out and i wasn't waiting to let him find some {i'm such a mean mommy, but he HAD been given many warnings that i was getting ready to go!} then we headed to the grocery store to buy milk & nutrigrain breakfast bars for cj and ended up finding all sorts of other foods we "needed" including some mango ice cream which i'm gonna try when i'm done posting this.

after cj woke up from his nap this afternoon, he was quite sad. poor baby! you should have heard it! {or maybe you did? my apologies if he disturbed your peace and quiet!} i think it was part hunger--remember he wouldn't eat much at lunch--and part missing daddy. so after getting him to eat a little cheese and a breakfast bar and he was still in near hysterics, we called daddy so cj could talk to him. it seemed to help him just being able to know daddy's okay. and so cj doesn't wake up in the middle of the night tonight hungry, i'm gonna give him a snack before bed.

well, right now, the boys are just finishing playing computer games on our older computer...Dr Seuss's ABC cd-rom is one of cj's faves already. he loves the book and i think the game makes it that much more fun to learn! next on our schedule: finish watching 101 dalmations that they started last night and eating that afore-mentioned snack!

getting ready...

...for a trip to new orleans next week! i've never been to louisiana, so this will be a new place to experience.

i really don't have time to blog but i want to post something so here's a few pics.

first, my "frogparty" socks. finished at last. (sigh of relief.) *smile* now what to do?

and yes, if you look close, my legs were slightly hairy when i took the pic. what can i say? i didn't shave that day. and my leg hairs grow way too fast if you ask me.

next we have T and cj sitting and veggin' together after getting haircuts. cj has been practicing scowling at us lately too. i'm not exactly sure what face he has on in the pic. it's not quite a scowl, but not a smile either.

and finally, there's bubba. being a goofy 9 year old.

don't look too close to his teeth. they're yellow. again. can't seem to get him to brush enough. amazingly he's never had a cavity (yet). we have dental appointments next month. i wonder what he'll do if (and when) he has to get a tooth filled. (actually, i know what: he'll freak out.)

my crazy 2 year old is screaming in his crib cuz he doesn't wanna nap. too bad. momma says it's naptime. no arguing. but i'd better go calm him down and tell him so.