Still counting...... to 325

Counting the joy found in having an iPhone.  It has become one of my favorite tools.

311.  Start blog posts spontaneously and upload pictures that will wait to be narrated.
312.  Reference emails from children with shopping lists for science lists
313.   Reminiscing over pictures in brief quiet or not so quiet moments
314.   Note taking app that eliminates paper clutter
315.  Devotional app so I an do devotions at anytime. Especially convenient when my day starts off with my feet running. My phone is always near so I can get then done in those snatches of moments when I wished I had my bible with me.
316.  Facebook app. When I have forgotten where I am going and I can just look it up off the invite.
317.  Words with friends. Getting to have fun with friends and family and pursing those relationships.
318.  Texting and emailing. For all the above reasons. But also for coupon codes and money saving opportunities. :)
319.  YNAB and how it helps us to stay on budget.
320.  Note app, for keep memory verses handy.
321.  Game apps...great entertainment tool when you need to buy yourself a few quiet minutes.
322.  Clocks...timers, alarms and stopwatch.  Love them all.
323.  Calendars
324.  Phone and contacts.
325.  Music
An awesome tool that does all this and more and fits in my hand, pocket or purse. 
So much personal clutter has disappeared! !

It makes me kinda wonder....

Hmmm, I just rediscovered this post that I never posted...

Tonight, I was in the mode to make waffles for dinner. But then my tummy started flip flopping. ?? Haven't figured that one out. Unless, of course it was meant for another wonderful blogging tale to share. :) So I am doubled over and not sure what is wrong and I holler for Fun Mom to help start the waffles. Seeing, we have to be on the road in 40 minutes, at least a few of the crew would get started on dinner.

Little while later Fun Mom, comes in to share the time with me. I tell her I will do my best to get her to church on time. Still doubled over.

She comes back about 5 minutes later, very calmly.

"Mom, there was flames shooting out of the back of the waffle iron. I unplugged it, nothing else was damaged. The flames got close to the cookbook and cd player, but they are fine. "

Totally dumbfounded, trying to pull myself together. I had her run some water in the bathtub, put the waffle iron in the water (not plugged in, of course) and out the door we went.

Call Big-O-Daddy-O.

Tell him, I am trying to decide what to do about dinner. Seeing there was a fire in the kitchen, do I go buy a new waffle iron or do a drive-thru?

BODO: "Ummm, is the kitchen ok??"

I had to quickly explain the fire to him.

He is relieved and said it was a drive-thru night.

But what gets me is the calmness of my daughter. I think she has lived in this family too long. Is that possible? Is our life so eventful, that she doesn't freak out when there is a fire in the kitchen? I knew she had first aid down pat when she started bringing the neighbor kids down the street to our house to patch them up, but this...???

So I am trying to figure how many fires we have had in our kitchen...

I can only think of one in the oven. God was gracious and merciful, because shortly before that one happened, I had read an article about kitchen fires. It said if there was a fire in the oven, keep the door shut and it will extinguish itself. It did! !

So now I wonder what God might be preparing Fun Mom for in life?

Disaster Relief

Crisis Intervention/Prevention

Emergency Room Worker of some kind

A mother to a brood of wild and crazy children, more so than her siblings

Late Night Snacking....

This is what happens when the beast is let in while I am working downstairs and not ready to go to bed yet!

Do you think he found the snack he was looking for?

I don't think so...
The trash can was remarkably clean by
the time I got upstairs.

BUT !!

This time he didn't get on top of stove
to get these delightful little
leftovers!

Surviving the first day of school

I am not much for reward charts.  Not much for check off the boxes or put a sticker here and there.  Not that I don't try.  I make lots of lists and plans.  But the long term follow through just isn't there.  Sometimes it is a lack of motivation on my part, sometimes it just works for a day. 

But it was the first day of school and my younger two were hard to convince.

Thankfully, we had started our day with prayer. 
Thankfully, I was crying out to God to help me survive their combined efforts to color my hair gray.

Next thing I know I was in my cabinet pulling out the business card paper, typing up reward coupons.

My boys speak electronics. 
They love their DS, Wii, Netflix and TV.
They love their siblings' I Touches

For every assignment completed they get one card. 
For every whine, contrariness and headache they give me, I can take one or more away.

Plus, I was thoughtful enough to declare myself not responsible.
Not responsible to keep them from being lost.
If I find them laying around they are mine!

This week it is working.  Hard at work and asking for more assignments to earn more time.

Just for our friend Princess Brylee...more gaps all around

Just for you Miss Brylee over at The Cav 5

Little Princess lost yet another tooth.

Hopefully, you have discovered the joy of the Tooth Fairy.

Hubbie is a little tired today...

Our Parent Teacher Conference was canceled today. 
Hubbie was a bit tired. 
I wouldn't care to guess why...

This is what we did on Saturday:

Up and deposited Fun Girl at work first thing in the morning &
Hockey Player to the church for training.
Yard Work
Trip to the store to :
Search for special lightbulbs for the basement....gotta have light to do school
Parts to repair the stairway gate
Curtain rods for his daughter's rooms
Pick up Hockey Player, cause shopping took just that long!
Meanwhile I am taking pictures for Ebay
Running the dishwasher (mind you...we did 4 loads of dishes on Saturday... there were some left from the night before...breakfast, then we did a massive leftover feed for lunch and that alone produced enough dishes for a load)
The laundry machines are running as well.

Hung the curtain rods and curtains !  What a guy. ;)
Fixed the gate
Replaced the basement lightbulbs.  The Man enthusiastically noticed and said a glorious Thank You to his dad.
Due to a lack of rain and childish curiousity which led to unplugging the sump pump, our sump pump has not run all summer.  Not a good thing.  The water has become stagnant.  Thankfully, it was discovered before the house started to smell.  Stirring the water to flush it out, there was some odor, but the house vented really quickly. 

Trip to the nursing home to see Granny.  Her birthday was Friday.  84!
Cheesecake and a song were on the agenda.









Lots of Smiles.  If we didn't reflect back on the happenings of the day or stop to look at the photos.  An hour of smiles and relationship could easily be lost in the business.


Home to work on Home School Planning and Preparations.  We managed to get through 4 kids' studies. 
While Daddy O was working on all the above, I was cleaning...purging and recycling old school stuff and.........
packaging up Ebay items we have sold.
Kids worked on various chores and played games together. 
Hockey Player cleaned up all his old hockey gear.  The younger brothers have found their own paths and no longer desire to follow big brother in hockey.  So it is time to sell brother's stuff.
Stomped down the recycle bin more than twice....and filled it some more. 

Picked up our Fun Girl from work. 
Dinner. 
More work.
Showers...cause church is in the morning and we can't have smelly children. :)
Kids folded all the laundry from the weekend! 
Daddy-O reserved an hour to watch the fastest men in the Olympics.
And then we crashed....