Extensively Informative

Here it is the last day of August and I've neglected my blog terribly this month. However, I aim to redeem myself with this extensively informative post. Ha.

1.I think we've decided NOT to sell our house. Let's face it; the housing market just isn't what it was a couple of years ago and folks don't have the same spending power they did either, what with gas prices and everything else prices going through the roof!! And besides, I happen to really like my house.

So this will remain "Home Sweet Home."

2. Along with NOT selling our house, we have decided NOT to send Katie to the private christian school we were initially planning to send her to. Instead we are going to homeschool her using an online curriculum. She will attend math class at the middle school and perhaps an elective but her other core subjects will be taught at home. I'm as surprised as you are to hear myself speak of homeschooling my 8th grader but I'm convinced this is the path we are to be on. God will let us know if/when this isn't the right path for us anymore. But for now it's the way we're going.

3. In two weeks we've had a total of NINE house guests. Eight of them were here at the same time. Can you say FULL HOUSE?! It may have been a bit chaotic and crazy but it was a blast - memories that will last a lifetime. Needless to say we've been a bit busy with our company and loving every minute of it. In two more weeks my parents are coming down. Good times, people, good times!

4. Becky got a very cute haircut and Allison decided I should cut her hair too, including her bangs. Now they look more alike than ever! And then Miss Katie got her braces off and her smile is just so dern pretty!!

5. We made a mad dash to enjoy the last bits of summer this weekend. That meant some more time on the boat. We got a great end of season deal on a tube so that's what we did - TUBING!

Here's Katie and Allison zipping along behind the boat. Doesn't Little Miss look so tiny?

And here's Becky before we sent her on her way. My little Becky can be quite adventurous sometimes which always takes me by surprise!

The day after tomorrow school begins. And I ask you, Does this little girl LOOK old enough to be going off to school ALL day without her mother?! Does she LOOK big enough to go out into the big bad world without her mother?! I mean, look at her. She's just a BABY!

Sweet dreams Little Miss...

Woe is Me...

We had an offer on our house. The first one. It didn't work out. We were too far apart money wise to be able to come to an acceptable agreement. After I hung up with the realtor this morning I felt a very literal cloud of discouragement surrounding me. It was almost so real I could see it and feel it. For a few moments I let myself be enveloped by it. I lamented about how I was feeling so optimistic last week, even though nothing was really happening with the sale of our house. I was comfortable with whatever was going to happen or not happen. I liked being in that place. Then these folks came along. So I allowed myself to wallow and despair. Then I hung my head and asked God to take me back to the place I was last week. He did. Sort of. It's a choice I have to make to let Him bring me back. I think I'll probably have to consciously choose that several times today, this week, etc. And seriously, with God anything can happen. We'll see.

I'm trying to make a grocery list. I keep getting distracted. I do not enjoy grocery shopping and have been putting it off for days now. Last night we ate Kentucky Fried Chicken because there was nothing to cook at home and I didn't want to figure out what to get at the store that I could cook. It cost us nearly $35 to eat at KFC. How sad. If we're going to spend $35 on eating out at least we could've gone somewhere better! However, there really isn't cole slaw that good anywhere else...

Today we're headed to the outlet mall for some school shopping. I've gotten a couple of coupons in the mail for stores there and I'm hoping to find some back to school deals as well. Jeans for Becky is tops on my list. They really are the staple of any wardrobe and she is in need of a couple of pairs. We'll be checking out the sneakers too at the Stride Rite outlet and Famous Footwear. I just love one stop shopping. Park once, shop til you drop...

Happy Thursday...

Whoopie Pies for Breakfast?!

I had a Whoopie Pie for breakfast. With a glass of milk. I would NEVER allow my children to eat such un-nutricious, 'junk' food for breakfast, but they weren't around and the Whoopie Pies were calling to me from their individually wrapped pile on the counter. I started with just a bite - you know to get the craving out of my system. That, of course, didn't work and one bite lead to another. After two bites I shrugged my shoulders, poured a glass of milk, and sat down with my breakfast at the computer for my morning dose of internet. I'll eat a healthier lunch - unless we go to the mall and McDonald's is the only thing we can all agree on :)

Summer is apparently over in New England. August is always a bit undecided on whether or not it would like to participate in summer or autumn. This year August has clearly decided to go with autumn. That is such a bummer but what can we do. With global warming threatening every aspect of our environment you can't blame old August for trying to counteract the negative affects of too much warm weather. Maybe September will appease us all and be extra warm - by then what does it matter? The kiddos will be in school, apples will want to be picked, and my porch will look so pretty with warm colored mums lining the stairs. I guess the temperature doesn't matter as long as the sun is shining...Sun? Oh, Sun, where are you? Sun? Hmmph!

I finished Something Blue by Emily Giffin. It was so good. Much better than I expected it to be. Go find it at your library! Becky has recently discovered the Magic Attic Club books. She's reading them faster than we can get to the library to sign more out! And Katie is completely HOOKED on Janette Oke books. There are several series written by her and Katie LOVES a good book series. The books are wholesome love stories perfect for a Katie's age. There've been days when Katie has barely come out of her room due to being wrapped up in a book. I have a feeling that once Allison starts reading she'll be like her sisters and LOVE to read! I hope so!

Happy Tuesday!

Back in Bloggerland

I'm finally back in Bloggerland after a couple of weeks of, well, not being in Bloggerland. How's that for a summary of where I've been and what I've been up to?

As I'm pretty sure I mentioned, we went to Maine to spend a week on the beautiful Sebago Lake. We rented a cabin on Frye Island and had the most wonderful time. Getting there wasn't without its difficulties however. Let's back up. The week before we left, Ed & I decided we wanted our realtor to host an open house on that Saturday we were to leave for Sebago. I knew that would mean extra cleaning in addition to the stacks of laundry and packing I needed to do for the trip. No big deal. Until Thursday when I got the creepy crud and just wanted to sleep all day. So, in between waves of nausea I did manage to wash the floors and do some laundry. Later in the day Becky decided to get sick too. That was nice because you know misery loves company! Even Allison was complaining of a belly ache and had no appetite. We survived and by Friday we were feeling lots better - still a bit under the weather but much improved. Friday night Ed took the boat and his Jeep to fuel up. That was a fine plan until Ed got to the gas station and found it closed. In the dark he misjudged his clearance while turning passed those cement pillar thingies by the gas pump and rammed his boat trailer into it. Not good. I was long since asleep by the time he got home and didn't find out about the mishap until morning. Ed was slightly agitated by the whole thing and pretty concerned about the 5 hour trip north with a damaged trailer. He took the trailer for a few spins around the block and it seemed as if it would be fine. We loaded into both vehicles (my van and his jeep) and set off. After about 15 minutes into the trip the tire on the trailer was smoking and making very loud noises. Hmmm...Detour to the boat selling/fixing place. I followed along thinking we may have to ditch the boat. After some long discussions between Ed and the boat people I decided to leave and head out with Becky and Allison. Ed and Katie would follow along as soon as they were squared away. It looked as if we would rent a trailer for our boat for the week. As I'm driving along- about an hour into the trip, my dear husband calls to say he's bought a new boat - yes, you read right. Ed bought a new boat. My first reaction was less than happy, I mean, boats cost money, blah, blah, blah... As Ed pointed out, fixing damaged boat trailers costs money too, blah, blah, blah... Long story short it did make more sense to buy the boat than it would've to keep the old one and get it fixed. He got a great deal on the new boat and the trade in on his bass boat. And, I'll admit it, I LOVE the new boat! Our vacation was even sweeter because we had it. It's an eight seater bow rider. Perfect for our family. I've even learned to drive it and don't feel nearly as intimidated as I did by the bass boat. Once we finally got to Sebago things settled down. Ed and Katie were about 2 1/2 hours behind us but that worked out to be just fine. The weather all week (except Thursday) was fantastic with just the right amount of hot, sun, and clouds. Perfect. The girls got to sleep in, stay up late, go swimming and tubing, build sand castles, and eat ice cream - what more could you ask for on summer vacation? Here's a few pics.

We've started to think Back to School. YIKES! Yesterday we had a pretty successful shopping trip to LLBean in Colonie, NY for a backpack for my kindergartner (sniff, sniff). And we found some uniforms pants and tops for Katie and Aeropostale. Katie LOVES Aero and so finding khaki and navy pants that were uniform approved from there was such a relief, to both of us. Becky and Allison both need fall clothes so we'll tackle that a little at a time. All in all a good day. Even the hour drive to get there was easy.

I've read four books over the last several days, more than I've read in a long time! The first one was The Dowry. It was written by a former priest (I don't remember his name). It's set in Ireland after WWII when money was tight and many Irish were emigrating to England to find work. The parish priest hatches a plan to keep folks in his parish from leaving by setting up a sort of dowry plan. It was boring. Then I read Flirting with Forty by Jane Porter. In short, a divorcee finds love in Hawaii which turns her world upside down. It was entertaining. Next was Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. One girl steals her best friend's fiance, blah, blah, blah. Entertaining again. Next, The Commoner by? The story chronicles a Japanese commoner's struggle to adapt to the Imperial lifestyle once she is chosen by the Crown Prince to be his wife. A fascinating read and definitely not the usual kind of book I read. Now I'm starting Something Blue by Emily Giffin. So far so good.

Shop Talk: My article about Lucy was published this month in Stories for Children Magazine. Here's the link. The mag. is solely available online but they do offer a download and print feature which I did. Ed suggested I bring the printed pages to Staples and have them bind them for me. I may do that. My baseball article was rejected its first time out but I'm planning to get it in the mail to another magazine. My instructor suggested Cricket. I'm thinking about it.