The Week In Review

I thought I'd update y'all today on everything that got done - and everything that didn't.

I say what didn't get done because I had scheduled an electrician to come this week and change out the light fixture in my entryway, the one that is too high up for me to reach. We agreed on Thursday at 9:30 am, so I got up bright and early to be ready. Just as I was about to brush my teeth I got a text message: the electrician's daughter was sick, had been taken to the doctor, and was given a Covid test. Although the electrician had no symptoms, since they didn't have results yet he wisely decided to cancel all his appointments until they knew for sure. I haven't heard back from him, so I don't know if he'll be available this coming week. It's a reminder that, while I make plans, God decides what gets done and what doesn't.

A lot of studying was done this week. I was serving in children's ministry on Saturday so I had to study the lesson. This was week 3 of our ladies bible study so I had to prepare for that as well. We studied Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the 10 virgins. And my son had his Astronomy final plus a research paper he had to turn in, and he asked me to help him study for that. He's done very well in the class thus far, but the final was a disappointment. The professor directed the class to a study guide which my son worked on, only to find out none of what was on the study guide was on the actual final. He ended up with a 68%, much lower than any of the quiz grades he's had. However, since all his other grades have been good, I think he will end up with either an A or at least a high B. Since this is just a gen-ed class I'm not concerned. It's still a good grade for what was a pretty difficult class, and he did it in 8 weeks so I'm proud of him.

Thursday was a day of unexpected stuff. Around 8:30 at night I got a call from my son-in-law. He was at a local gas station whenever his car battery died. Thankfully I have charger cables - though at first I couldn't remember where I'd put them (they were in my toolbox) - so E and I were able to get his battery jumped so he could get home. My daughter had been using his car to go to work because she needed new tires, and my son-in-law is currently working from home. Now this little predicament meant she couldn't take his car until he got a new battery, and she'd have to get her tires changed right away. I teasingly told them it's a good thing I live nearby. I was able to pick them up and/or drop them off at Pep Boys so they could get their vehicles taken care of.   

When my daughter's car was ready she asked if I'd go with her to TJ Maxx to look for some bathroom decor. She and my son-in-law are remodeling their master bath and she wanted to look for some new towels and organizers. I can't say no to TJ Maxx; it's my favorite home decor store because I always find great decor at even greater prices. I'd mentioned before on my blog that I was thinking of upgrading my bedding, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I'd looked at Costco since they usually have some high quality affordable bedding, but I hadn't seen anything lately. Then I saw this at TJ Maxx:

And this is why I love this store! Y'all, this comforter is so soft and luxurious! It came with 2 standard sized pillow shams and the cost is $39.99. I could not believe it was so inexpensive! I couldn't wait to put it on my bed and see how it looked.

While I was at it I picked up some new pillows. The pillows I had were very soft, a little too soft for my liking. I picked up these extra firm pillows for $16.99 for a set of two. 

I tried several different options on my bed. This was the first idea I had.

I folded the current bedding, which is a mint green bedspread, and put it over the new comforter. I also used all the pillows I had on the bed previously and added pillows in the new pillow shams.

I then put the fall pumpkin pillow in front of it. I love that pillow so much, and it ties in all the fall colors that I've added to my bedroom, so I knew I wanted to incorporate it.

I liked the idea of keeping the bedspread folded onto the comforter, but I felt like it covered too much of it, so I folded the bedspread further. Now the comforter showed up more, and it looked like a fancy hotel. This was much better, but there was still something I wasn't feeling that I couldn't put my finger on. Yesterday I tried something else, and I think this is my favorite.

I took off the throw pillows with the teal design and left just the plain teal pillows along with the fall pillow, and I think it's just enough. I figured out that it was too many pillows and that was throwing me off. I feel like now it's just the right amount, and all the fall colors make me smile.

As my daughter looked at bathroom decor, I spotted something that was perfect for my own bathroom.

I knew I wanted to change my shower curtain. Not because I didn't like it; it's a very pretty and simple design, just what I like. But I had a bit of a mishap with the shower curtain and some Clorox cleaner.

I cannot even express how upset I was whenever I saw that I'd gotten Clorox cleaner on my new shower curtain! Thankfully it was at the bottom and it stayed covered by the bathroom vanity. Still, I knew it was there and I wanted to get a new shower curtain; I just didn't want to spend $25+. That's what this one had cost at Target (I had a gift card so it was free to me). The curtain I found at TJ Maxx had all the colors I love and it was only $14.99 - $10 cheaper than the one I already had but much nicer quality in my opinion.

The bathroom went from this:

To this:

It may not seem like a huge change, but to me it makes the bathroom seem brighter and more cheerful. I am so happy I found this shower curtain!

This week was also bittersweet for me personally. My oldest son R got married yesterday. In California. That's where his fiance has been living with her family. I wanted to be at his side on his special day. That had been the plan since they got engaged last year. Then coronavirus hit, and California has so many restrictions that it would have been a waste of time to travel all the way there and not be able to celebrate with him. So we stayed, and I cried. We love his new bride, my new daughter-in-law, and my one comfort is knowing she never wanted a big wedding to begin with, so she got her wish. But oh, how I wanted to be there! Still, I know God is in control, and He has gifted me another daughter, so I will rejoice in that. Welcome to the family AB!

That's my week's highlights. Looking forward to what God has in store for me next.

The Week In Review

 I wasn't sure if I'd post today. My body is in pain (I'll explain shortly). I decided I'd go ahead and post because a) I'm sitting down so I can type as long as I'm comfortable, and b) I want to be consistent. I slacked for too long; it's time I get on track.

My week has actually been quiet for the most part. It consisted of cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry. Pretty standard stuff. I studied for my Friday night Bible study on Wednesday and Thursday. We are working through Jesus' parables and this week we looked at the parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27. We looked at the entire Sermon on the Mount and broke down the conclusion. It was a powerful study.

In my entryway I have a light fixture that I've wanted to change out since we moved in. It's the original fixture from whenever this house was built, and it's not only ugly, it's nasty.

It's a builder grade light fixture from the 80's that is plastic. It's up high so cleaning it is very difficult unless you get on a high ladder. This apparently was never done, and it's grimy at this point.

I don't know if this picture does it justice. The dirt does not come off. It's been baked on with the heat from the light. 

There were two of these whenever we moved in, this one at the front entry and one at the top of the stairs. I was able to change out the latter.

I got this light fixture off of Amazon. Not only is the size perfect for the space, the rustic farmhouse style fits my decor. Changing this fixture was simple. I could reach it from the living room; I didn't even get the ladder out to take down the old fixture, but I did have to whenever I was ready to put in the new one because it's metal and it was too heavy. 

The problem I ran into whenever I was ready to switch out the second fixture was reaching it. I have an extension ladder, but even with that I just don't reach. It also makes me very nervous to try and balance on an extension ladder while holding a heavy light fixture and attaching all the wires and such. I have friends that are electricians, but they live in our old area which is kinda far from where we live now. So I contacted the children's ministry director at my new church and asked for a recommendation. I figured, if I'm going to pay someone to put up this light fixture, I'd much rather give the job to someone in the church. So, after months of having the light fixture sitting in my office, hopefully it will get installed either this Wednesday or Thursday. I'm so excited, I can't wait!

This week I went to Publix to do my groceries. I needed some thin steaks and chicken wings, and while Aldi has really good meats, they don't have much variety. Publix has excellent products but the price is higher; Walmart has better prices but the quality of their meats is lacking in my opinion. So Publix wins whenever I need meats. Since I had to go there anyway, I got everything else I needed as well.

I found steaks and chicken wings, and while I was at it I picked up Luigi's Italian Ices for my son. They're his favorites.

One thing I always like to get whenever I go to Publix is their sweet tea. It is by far the best sweet tea out there. 

I really didn't need much from the store - or so I thought. When my son saw what I'd picked up, he asked if the store was out of his water. I totally forgot his Clear American flavored waters! It's a Walmart brand so I wasn't going to find them at Publix. It's the only water he likes to drink, so Saturday morning I headed out and picked him up some water and snacks.

The other thing I did on Saturday was plumbing work. My daughter and son-in-law are remodeling their master bathroom, and they're trying to save wherever they can. They have a contractor doing all the major stuff like tiling, installing the new toilet, wall repair, and putting in a frameless shower door. They decided not to change out the vanity because it's newer and in excellent condition. All it needs is a coat of paint and new handles, so I offered to paint it. The other thing it needed was new faucets. My daughter asked if I could change them out, since I've done it before and they didn't want to have to pay the contractor to do it. I have to be honest, changing out faucets is one of my least favorite things to do. It's not difficult; as long as you follow the instructions it's pretty straight forward. The hard part is removing the old fixtures, and these were in pretty bad shape. It's also really hard to get under the bathroom sink to pull out/install the faucets. It's the reason why my body is in such pain today.

It took me forever to get this old handle out, and then I didn't think I'd be able to get the water supply line off, but eventually I managed to get it off. 

I think the faucets turned out beautifully (there's two sinks in this vanity and I changed out both) but y'all, it took me four hours to get this job done, and I feel like three hours were spent in just getting the old faucets out. I'm so glad I was able to do this for my kids, but I'm paying for it today. Even my fingernails hurt! I've been sitting on my couch with a heating pad on my back for most of the day. I'm finally feeling better, and I thank the Lord for that.

And that's been my week! Hope y'all had a productive week as well. God bless.

Summer 2017

The summer of 2017 was normal for me in some ways,  but that doesn't mean there weren't changes going on, changes that affected my household. I was reminded that my babies are grown up, a fact that brings joy and sorrow at the same time. There's that part of me that wishes they were still little, even though I'm proud of who God has made them into.

My daughter was given the opportunity of a lifetime: to work at a day camp in Israel! She would be away for one month, from the end of June to the end of July.  I was both excited and terrified. She was going with a group of ladies from work, which gave me some peace, but there's always trouble in Israel unfortunately. Still, to be in the Holy Land, to walk the same cities and towns that Jesus walked with His apostles, to minister to the Israeli children, was a dream come true. I wouldn't object to her going, but I was going to be on my knees for a whole month praying for her safety.

At the same time, my oldest son had some exciting news. His best friend's girlfriend had a job offer in Central Florida. They were going to be moving up, and wanted to know if my son R would like to join them as their roommate. R had lived a little over a year in Central Florida when he and his sister were in school, but he'd come back home after she left because it was too lonely for him on his own. He often commented that he wanted to go back to live there one day. He liked it much more than South Florida. Now he had the opportunity, and he was going to take it. That was a bittersweet moment for me. I knew this was what he wanted and he'd probably have more chances of growth at his job in Central Florida. Oh, but to not have my baby close by everyday was breaking my heart! Of course, I was quickly reminded that he wasn't leaving the country or even the state. We could still visit him, and I felt that this was going to be a change for the better. 

I was off work for a week in mid June, then the following week R was in Central Florida looking for a place to live and interviewing so he could transfer from his job. He and his roommates made great progress in the two days they went up. Two days after they got back, A left for Israel. I'm not ashamed to admit I cried my eyes out even though I was happy for her. That week was an emotional roller coaster ride.

The next three weeks were filled with packing and decluttering. They didn't have much to take with them; they'd all been living with their parents, so they had no household items to speak of and very little furniture. I decided to give them my recliners. We had bought a set of recliners along with a reclining couch some 12 years earlier, and they were still in great condition. They needed furniture, and I needed a change. Since J had moved out I had replaced some of the furnishings in the home, not out of necessity but because of the sad memories attached to them. I wanted to be able to enter my home and not be reminded of all the pain I felt daily. My son jumped at the chance of having these super comfy recliners and I was glad to contribute to his move.

R and his friends left on July 13, and A didn't get back from Israel till the 23rd. It was me and my youngest son E on our own again for those 10 days. Just 5 years earlier my older kids had moved back home after a year in school, and now my son was moving out for good and my daughter had caught the travel bug. They were all grown up, and things were changing, but little prepared us for what the fall was going to blow in (literally!).

It's October Already?!

My, how quickly this year has gone by! Seems like just yesterday I started working, and that was back in February. Eight months and I'm still at it! God has certainly been good to me.

It's almost a month since we said goodbye to Molly, and I'm still not used to it. I wait for her to come out at her dinner time; I expect her to be on the rug in the evening, or in the middle of the floor where she can watch us as we walk by. It's hardest when the doorbell rings and there's silence. We knew someone was at the door even before we heard the doorbell - she was standing up, looking out and ready to bark at whoever it was that was disturbing our peace. Now it's just quiet, and we all look at each other with sadness on our faces. I never imagined it would be this hard.

This past Thursday I asked my son R to throw away the last few cans of dog food that were in the pantry. We'd gotten rid of most of her things (except for her collar, leash, and favorite toy; those are keepsakes that are dear to us), but I couldn't bring myself to throwing away her dog food. It seemed so final; I would get choked up every time I attempted to go near them. R took care of it while I was at work, and when I got home and saw they were gone, I cried again. My sweet puppy. What a large hole you've left in our hearts.

School has been going well. My son has A's in all his classes except biology, where he has a B. He's working hard in that class but his teacher is pretty demanding. Her motto is, "If it was easy you wouldn't be learning." Okay, I get it. His favorite class is Personal Finance. These are lessons he feels he will use his whole life, and I'm glad for that. We went to our credit union a couple of weeks ago, and he opened a checking and savings account. His goal is to have $500 in savings, and another $500 to build himself a computer. I'm so proud of his progress.

Between school and work I've kept so busy that I often think about blogging but can't find the time to do it. There's just so much to keep up with around the house. Right now our lawn mower is giving us problems, the master bathroom toilet is running even after I changed the mechanisms inside, I need to get an oil change on my car, hopefully I can get my hair cut sometime this month since I haven't been to my hairdresser since March...my life is on autopilot and I can't find the brakes! I'm seriously looking forward to the holidays and some days off!

I did manage to decorate for fall and rearrange some stuff so I could get a bit more organized. As part of his allowance I'm paying my son E to vacuum and help with laundry. Best money spent in my entire budget!

I think I'm gonna stop here, since I have to clean up the kitchen. Honestly, I need a break, but there's so much to do and so little time. I do want to say thank you to everyone who has sent me comforting comments and messages about Molly. You've all been so kind and compassionate. I don't have the words to tell you how much those words have meant to me.

Hope y'all have a blessed week. Enjoy each day and be thankful.

What I've Been Up To

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, busy and productive weeks.  Let's see if I can remember what all I've been up to.

I'm on an organizing kick.  Spring cleaning so to speak, except in the summer.  I've been getting rid of clutter and putting things in order.  I hate clutter; I avoid having things I don't need or having things in the wrong places.  But with work and home and church and everything in between, things have fallen to the wayside and been pushed back on the priority list, until one day I looked and said, "Enough is enough!!"  It started in my bedroom closet.  I'd bought some clothes and was having trouble fitting it all into my closet.  It was starting to look messy and out of control.  One day I decided to go through my clothes and pull out anything that could be donated so that my closet wouldn't feel so cramped.  That was all that was needed to get me motivated.  I not only got a donation pile going, I organized all my clothes, shoes and purses.  I decided to take any "winter" clothes out (winter clothes in South Florida means a few long sleeve shirts) which meant I had to organize some of my dresser drawers to fit them in.  When I was done I felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders (when in fact it had been lifted out of my closet).  There's actually room to move in my closet now, and I can see the floor again!  It got my adrenaline pumping for more.

This week it's been the kitchen.  I reorganized the pantry: there are bins to put bagged items in, canisters for snacks, pastas, flours and cereals.  The slow cookers were moved to the storage cabinet in the garage to make room for food containers.

The shelves outside the pantry were organized as well.  To make it easier for us to find things, I labeled everything with chalk labels so that the information can be changed at any time.  Now we can easily see where everything is without having to move everything or having five items fall on the floor trying to reach for one item.

Today I emptied out several kitchen cabinets, then put things away so as to make the kitchen flow better.  I moved all my spices to the cabinet on the left of the stove.  This was where I used to keep my spices originally, until we remodeled the kitchen and J insisted that cabinet should have a glass door.  I didn't want to keep my spices there anymore, because I was concerned it would look messy, so I put glassware there and put my spices in the cabinet on the right of the stove.  Problem is, I was using the left side cabinet as more of a display cabinet, which ultimately meant my cabinet space was reduced.  I'd already lost cabinet space when J decided that one of my cabinets should be converted into a trash bin (why do people who never cook or spend more than 2 minutes in a kitchen think they know better than the folks who actually use the kitchen?).  My kitchen was so cramped.  I had to move so many things around just to get my spices out because of the way the cabinets were made; the right side cabinets are corner cabinets, but they were not built as corner cabinets.

The cabinet on the left goes all the way back to the wall, but the one on the right has no access to that space, so if I need something from the back of the cabinet I have to empty the entire shelf to reach it.  Many of my spices ended up back there; cooking became a hassle of moving things in and out of the cabinet, creating more of a mess.  As you can see, I took the spices out of the cabinet and put canned goods there instead.  I had some of my canned goods in my kitchen and some in the storage cabinet in the garage; again, every time I needed something I had to go out of my way to find it instead of having it nearby.  I decided to put my glasses, mugs, and all our drinking cups in the cabinet above the sink.  I've ordered a 3-tier spice shelf/rack for my spices from Amazon.  It's bamboo so it'll match the color of my cabinets, and it'll keep my spices neat so I won't worry about what my cabinet looks like.  I'll have to remember to take a picture once I've got it all done.

I also cleaned out my refrigerator and freezer.  It's amazing how many things are hidden in the back of the fridge - items that have expired but we've forgotten they're there.  I found some file folder holders at Target for $3 that work perfectly for holding onions and potatoes.  I have to keep these in the fridge because, with our heat and humidity, they would go bad in no time.  This works much better and keeps them longer.

Speaking of heat and humidity, I don't know about the rest of the country but it is H-O-T in Florida!  Granted, it isn't as hot as it was last year, but it's still sweltering, especially in the afternoons right before the thunderstorms start.  We are in the rainy season now, getting hammered with rain every afternoon for about a half hour.  I cut the grass and it grows back in no time.  Allergies are on the rampage thanks to this weather.  My boys are especially susceptible; they are sneezing all the time, and while R has the itchy, watery eyes, E has eczema.  E has an appointment to see the allergist for testing on August 3rd.  He has to be off all allergy medicines for five days before he can be tested.  I'm not looking forward to that - he's gonna be miserable.

My daughter has been busy with work and school.  She is taking online courses to get certified in pastoral counseling.  Nothing like having a child who can tell you everything that's wrong with you :P.  Actually, she's learning a lot and has a strong desire to help teenagers and young people.  Her dream is to work with the A21 Campaign, an organization that helps victims of human trafficking.  I pray God would use her to help many suffering people to know they can have hope in Christ.

Of course, I did some shopping for beauty products during Bare Escentuals' Beauty Rush sale.  I actually wasn't going to get anything, and I didn't even place my order until late that night because I kept debating whether to place an order, but ultimately I got a Complexion Superstars set containing two mineral veils (one loose and one compact), a bronzer called The High Dive which is in a compact, a gorgeous highlighter called Bare Radiance, and a blush that I've been wanting for a long time called Vintage Peach.  I like peach colors more than pinks on me, and this one is a soft peachy tone that is very feminine.  It also has a blush brush.  All for $21 - just the blush retails for $18.  I also got a brush set that contains 5 brushes (2 face and 3 eye) and a gold-toned case for $18 (original price was $49). I decided to get these because we are going to Disney World in September and I wanted makeup that would be easy to bring along.  A lot of the Bare Minerals products are loose powders which makes them a little tricky to travel with, though I still plan on taking a few items.

Those have been the highlights of the past couple of weeks.  I'm going to continue focusing on organizing and purging.  I know, I've got to blog about it!  I'll keep it in mind ;).  Have a blessed rest of your weekend.

Recapping the Past Week

It's been a long and busy past week...but thankfully, a less stressed one.  Not completely stress-free, but let's be honest, does such a day exist when there is absolutely, positively, no stress?  Only after we die.

Molly is healing nicely.  She's in her normal mood again, cheerful, playful, happy.  Since she isn't a complainer, it's hard to determine when she's in pain or distress; now that we see her so full of pep we realize she was not comfortable with the tumor.  At all.  There was never any whimpering or crying, just lack of energy and no desire to play, though her appetite was never affected.  She is so totally different from Tobey, our first dog, who let us know when he was not feeling well.  I guess the male of the species aren't so different, one creature from another.

My son E, on the other hand (or should I say on the left hand?), had me running from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what in the world was that nasty rash on his hand.  The rash was first detected by his doctor around his left eye.  She said it looked like eczema and gave him medicine for it which took care of the problem.  Then a similar rash took over his left hand.  It looked awful; first it started as a slight rash, then as it got more intense I had him put the medicine from his eye on his hand.  It didn't do much of anything.  Since E has had eczema before, I was able to recognize similarities in this rash, though he'd never gotten it on his hand.  It was always on his elbows or behind his knees.  Still, I thought that's what it looked like, so I went to the pharmacy and got him some Neosporin for eczema.  The itching stopped, but the rash got worse - I mean really bad.  I took him to the doctor (his doctor wasn't in so an associate saw him), who determined it must be a fungus, since the eczema medicine wasn't working.  The doctor honestly admitted he didn't know for sure what it was.  He gave E another cream, and said if it didn't get better we should see a dermatologist.  The cream seemed to work for the first couple of days, but soon after it started making matters worse.  E complained every time he put the on medicine because it burned.  That was not good.

His father showed up that Saturday after not having seen or spoken to his son in two weeks.  All of a sudden he decided he needed to be a dad and take care of the situation because I hadn't done enough.  He wasn't around when the rash started, nor did he know what I'd done, but he started putting on a show, telling me I should have taken him to see a dermatologist from the start, and taking pictures of E's hand to "figure out" what it was.  I was angry and annoyed for hours.  How can one human being disrupt a household the way he does?!  He doesn't fool anyone; we all see through his act, including E.

As I saw the rash not improving, I went ahead and made the appointment with the dermatologist for the following Friday (this past Friday).  Tuesday I got a call from J asking how E was doing, and that he'd been trying to get in touch with the dermatologist to make an appointment for him but was unable to get through.  He claimed he was extremely concerned because the rash looked "dangerous". I told him I'd already made an appointment, and had gotten through to the dermatologist just fine.  Once again, I was convinced he was just putting on a show.  E spoke to his dad on Wednesday because it was his dad's birthday, and once again his father asked for a picture of his hand to see how it was doing.  Friday couldn't come fast enough, as far as I was concerned.  I wanted to get this thing over with once and for all.

Finally the dermatologist was able to see him, and guess what?  It's eczema.  No fungus, no "dangerous condition", just eczema.  The medicines I had weren't strong enough to take care of the problem, so the doctor prescribed a stronger hydrocortisone cream and told us that, just as in the past, this would eventually go away on its own.  In the meantime we would treat it, and there was nothing to worry about.  After the doctor, I took E home and went to do some grocery shopping.  I was at Walmart when J called asking what it was E had because E had told him but he didn't understand.  When I told him it was eczema, he didn't know how to respond.  His first comment was, "But that's just dry skin."  Which of course it isn't, but I just said uh-huh.  Then he asked about the blisters on E's hand.  What blisters?  E didn't have any blisters at any time.  His skin was dry and cracked, but it never blistered.  He claimed there were blisters in the pictures E sent him.  I know there were no blisters, and he was being a drama queen as usual.  Here's the interesting part: we haven't heard from him since.  He didn't show up on Saturday to see his son or take him out, he didn't even call to ask if his hand was better.  Once he realized the show was over, he disappeared.  And then he wonders why his kids don't ever reach out to him.  

The rest of the week went by fine.  E finished his schoolwork a day early, which was great since he had to be at the doctor's on Friday.  He's got straight A's so far, and we are praying that continues, since finals are going to be coming up in the next few weeks.  His hand, by the way, has improved dramatically.  I expect the skin to be back to normal before weeks end.  Thank You Jesus!  Weather-wise, it has been scorching.  Yesterday we were in the 90's.  Thankfully the humidity hasn't been as high as in the summer, but still, it felt like we were in the 100's.  I don't even want to think about what the summer will be like.  Praise God for air conditioning!!!

Saturday I stayed home all day getting the house cleaned up.  We were all suffering the effects of allergy season this week, and I was finally feeling better, so I didn't want to go out and provoke my sinuses to shut down.  Yesterday we went to church, then my daughter and I went to the outlet mall for a little shopping.  There's a Bare Minerals outlet there, and since I had a $20 off coupon I decided to get some concealer.  The small sample I got back in November is finally running out.  I also picked up a neutral lip liner and a gorgeous blue eyeliner.  Then we went to the CCO (Cosmetic Company Outlet) and I picked up a Mac Face And Body foundation for $19.  It usually goes for almost $30 so I was thrilled to get it so cheap.  My daughter got some too.  Can't wait to try it out!  She had gotten a Forever 21 gift certificate back in December for her birthday, so she decided to bring it along and see if she could find something she liked.  She got a really cute handbag that was on sale, so of course she was excited - I thought she'd start dancing in the store!  We also stopped at Teavana for some herbal teas.  She got a ginger coconut tea that is delicious!  We had some last night, and while it doesn't say it's relaxing, I can tell you I slept like a baby.  I could get used to that stuff!

That's my recap for the week.  I'm hoping and praying we have a stress-free week, but if not, it's okay.  God's got my back.  Blessings to everyone!

Week in Review - It's Been A Difficult Week

I've wanted to post a few times this week, but time kept getting away from me.  How I would love a day when I can do absolutely nothing.  Just sit around watching TV, which I haven't done in awhile.  Some days I miss that.

Molly is scheduled for her surgery tomorrow.  She has been getting steadily worse this week, though you wouldn't know it from her demeanor.  She is still as loving and affectionate as ever, even if she doesn't have the same amount of energy or spunk.

The surgery can't come soon enough.  The tumor on her belly appears infected, and I mean badly infected.  It oozes, and has turned dark, almost green, and it smells awful.  I discussed with my daughter today that I'm concerned it might become gangrenous, which would be devastating.  Even if she comes out of the surgery well, which of course is our hope, there is no guarantee we will have her with us for very long.  We are both convinced this is a cancerous tumor, and more than likely it has spread, though we don't know to what extent.  We have to wait for the surgery, then make a decision as to her future.  It's not something any of us is looking forward to.

My son E had a very busy school week.  He had an English paper and presentation to finish and send in.  He started quadratic formulas in algebra which were complicated to learn.  There was a science quiz and a review portfolio which he just finished today.  Music history is usually just reading, but this week he had a review and critical thinking paper, class discussion, and lab to complete.  Usually he doesn't have to work on the weekends, but this time he worked both yesterday and today, with a Hope assignment still not completed - it should be done by tomorrow.  There's about 8 weeks of school left so of course it gets hectic as we approach the final stretch.

Work was also really busy this week.  Many of the students we tutor took their ACT exams this weekend, so they're done with tutoring.  New students that have been on a waiting list are now starting this week, which meant lots of paperwork had to be completed.  As busy as we were, I had to help with tutoring a few kids.  Two of our teachers were sick - one had kidney surgery and the other had a kidney infection, so both were in the hospital at the same time.  MM arranged their students as best she could, but there simply weren't enough teachers to go around, so I was assigned homework help students.  Since they were all elementary school age it wasn't a problem, but I felt like I would never get my work done.  Thankfully everything fell into place and I think we're back on track, but I have to say it was pretty stressful.

Then Friday, my "day off", started off at 6:00am.  I went to bible study where we finished studying the book Daniel by Beth Moore.  It was such a great study that I'm actually sorry it's over!  Afterwards I came home to do schoolwork with my son, make lunch, then take him to the doctor.  He has a rash on his left hand, a very itchy rash.  When it first appeared I thought it was ant bites.  As more bumps appeared in clusters, I thought it was similar to what he'd had on his eye, so I had him put on the cream they'd given him for his hand.  It did nothing.  It kind of looked like eczema, which he's had before, so I got him eczema cream.  It got worse.  The skin around his thumb was cracking, and it was very painful.  So I took him to his regular doctor, who believes this is a fungus based on the fact that it's only on his hand and the hydrocortisone made it worse.  He prescribed a cream, and antibiotics because of the cracked skin.  I'm keeping an eye on it; it seems better, but if I don't see enough improvement by Tuesday I'm gonna have to take him to see a dermatologist.

As exhausting as my week had been, I was looking forward to cleaning my home on Saturday and then relaxing.  That wasn't meant to be.  My kid's father showed up after two weeks of not seeing or calling any of his children.  He put on a show of concern for E's hand, and suggested yet again that we get rid of Molly because he blames her for E's allergies and anything else that happens to him.  He actually asked if any of us could catch what Molly has.  Since when is cancer contagious?  He finally left without E, because he didn't think E should go out with his hand looking the way it did.  Meanwhile, once again, I was left feeling angry and resentful and bitter, which I absolutely hate feeling, but he brings out the worst in me.  It is so frustrating that he acts like he's so concerned about his kids, then he disappears for a week or two.  It took several hours before I was able to calm down - that, and a trip to Target ;-).  I looked through the tops for clearance items, and found 3 tank tops and a v-neck, each under $10.  I don't usually recommend retail therapy, but I needed to get out of my house and focus on something else.

This week our Sunday school class was challenged to learn Psalm 23 by hard.  And let me tell you, it was hard!  I know bits and pieces of it, but I've never learned it straight through.  For some crazy reason, I thought I'd learn it in the King James Version.  It sounds so beautiful with all the thee's and thou's, but honestly, what was I thinking?!  I actually made it harder on myself.  I was relieved to find out everyone else had a hard time learning it as well ;-).  We are gonna continue working on it this week.  I printed it and put it up on my fridge to help me remember it.

That's my recap for the week.  It has been rough, and I don't think the coming week will be much easier, especially with Molly recovering from surgery.  If you think of her during the day, please say a prayer for our puppy.  We love her dearly, and just want to see her get better.  Thanks y'all.  Goodnight, and God bless.

My Not-So-Restful Saturday

Saturdays are typically busy days.  Finding time to rest on a Saturday is like finding a needle in a haystack - you might find it, but it'll probably hurt.

My boss MM decided to have a women's bible study class at work.  Her husband has been doing a men's bible study group on Thursday night for years, and he's been encouraging her to do the same.  I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since it was supposed to start Saturday morning at 9:30 and end at 11:30.  A two hour bible study?!  Sounded a bit lengthy, but I told her I would go so long as my son's eye was better.

I got up early and E's eye looked almost completely normal, praise the Lord.  There's still some irritation around the inner part of the eye but it's minimal.  I started getting ready but told my daughter I didn't think I'd go very early.  After all, Saturdays are cleaning day, and my yard needed a ton of cleaning!  As I was finishing my breakfast, I was telling my daughter something when we heard the sound of her dad coming.  I can't begin to explain how uncomfortable it becomes in my house when he comes over.  His attitude is one of negativity and complaining; he complains about his health, he complains about his job, he complains about his car, he complains about the kids, yada yada yada.  It's like he sucks the peacefulness out of my home.  He was here for about a half hour, which meant I was late to the bible study class, and quite honestly I wasn't in the best mood.  It's very difficult not to be affected by the atmosphere of negativity.  I could see, though, why God scheduled this bible study when He did.  It wasn't anything new, nothing I hadn't learned from studying God's word on my own, but just being in a room full of ladies who were encouraging, loving, and welcoming, lifted my spirits.  I was annoyed when I got there, but my heart filled up with peace as we prayed for the needs of others and I stopped focusing on myself.  I'll tell you what, when you're praying for the healing of a 12 year old girl with leukemia, all other problems become insignificant.

I left as soon as we finished so that I could attack my backyard.  With homeschooling, work, and everything in between, I hadn't had a chance to tackle the grass.  Add to that several days of on and off rain showers, and my yard was starting to look a bit Amazonian.  I started by clearing some boxes out of the garage - my son had taken a bunch of stuff to the dump, but he worked all day today so I just threw a bunch of stuff in the trash can.  I then had to go to the backyard and pick up several palm fronds and coconuts that had fallen yesterday thanks to the rain and strong winds.  I finally got to actually mowing the lawn, which took about an hour.  I did one side of the front yard, but not the other.  My neighbor on the left was having an open house and I didn't want to get her yard full of grass clippings after she'd cleaned it up.  My neighbor has had her house up for sale for a couple months now, on her own.  The neighbor on her left wanted to buy the house, and it looked like they would get it, but the deal fell through just a few days before closing.  All parties concerned were terribly disappointed, but as I told my neighbor, God must have something better planned.  As I was trimming some plants in the front yard she gave me the news: the house was sold.  I couldn't believe it - she'd only just given the house to her realtor a week ago!  What we found out was, homes in our area sell quickly.  It's a lovely neighborhood, right across the street from a park, the schools are excellent, and there is very little inventory.  Whenever a house goes on the market, it flies.  It'll be sad to say goodbye to them; we moved in at about the same time almost 15 years ago.  But I do understand her position: her marriage crumbled, she works far from the house, and taking care of her kids has become difficult when she spends so much time in traffic (and money on gas).  This is what is best for her family right now, so I know she's making the right choice.

Once I was done with the mowing and trimming, I came inside and ate some fish and chips with sauteed veggies that my daughter prepared before going back outside to clean the patio.  It had gotten so grimy thanks to the branches that had fallen on it last night and all the dirt from the wind and rain, it looked like the house had been abandoned.  I was out there for two hours cleaning, but I can say it looks a whole lot better.

I came inside and decided to heat up some frozen pizzas, which got devoured by my son E and my daughter.  It wasn't until my son R got home from work that I realized the significance of that:  today is 3/14/15, or 3.1415.  That's right, it's Pi Day, and my kids had pizza pie.  I had forgotten about it, so it was completely by chance that it happened the way it did.

Since it's the day before Sunday (and I was a filthy mess) I showered and did my hair.  I told my friend that I liked the Smoothing Therapy shampoo and conditioner except for the fact that they aren't very moisturizing like my OGX shampoo, and she recommended I use my regular shampoo first, then wash it a second time with the Smoothing Therapy.  I must say, it does make a big difference.  My hair feels softer and smoother doing it this way.  There is one thing though: I have to cut my hair.  I haven't cut it since October, and the ends are badly in need of a cut.  I'm gonna see about getting an appointment for this week, since my son is on spring break (Hallelujah!).

It was mani/pedi day as well.  I don't know why, but I find that giving myself a manicure and pedicure is relaxing.  Plus I like the way it looks when I'm done.

That was my day.  I had hoped for a slower paced day, but who was I kidding?  My to-do list was out of control, and needed to be tamed.  There's still plenty to do, but God willing I will make a dent in it this week.  As for now, I say, goodnight.

The Week In Review

It's Friday, and this is the first chance I have to sit down at my computer to do something other than schoolwork.  Yes, it's been a crazy busy week.  Let me tell you all about it.

This week was my son E's last week of school before spring break, so I knew we'd have a lot of work to do before he could sit back and relax.  His allergies have been acting up lately, what with the weather being wacky, and he'd been scratching his eyes quite a bit, especially at church on Sunday.  His left eye looked irritated, so I did most of the reading to him so he could rest his eyes.  He had portfolios due this week for science, hope, music, and English, plus he had his unit test in algebra.  I worked with him and he got quite a bit done, but not everything.  I came home from work and we did some more school, but he wasn't feeling well due to his eye bothering him, so he went to bed.

Tuesday morning we got up early to work some more, but his eye was looking pretty bad.  It wasn't red but it was crusty.  He said it hurt, only not his eye.  What hurt was his eyelid, the outer part of the eye.  I found some eye ointment and put it on him, and we continued doing school.  I have to admit, I was starting to get stressed.  My son was falling behind in his schoolwork, his eye was getting more swollen, and my boss told me she'd be taking the day off on Thursday.  I was praying the ointment would alleviate the irritation in my son's eye; if it didn't I'd have to seek medical attention, and quick.

Wednesday morning, it became clear that my son needed a doctor.  His eye looked positively awful, and he wasn't able to sleep because his eye kept crusting over all night.  Thankfully I was able to get him an appointment for 10:30 am.  We did an hour and a half of school before we left.  Wednesday is his busiest school day, because he has 3 live lessons to attend.  I knew he'd miss his science class, but at least he could attend music.  I was so glad the doctor was able to see him.  The office was so packed, but there are several doctors at this practice, and I wasn't going to be picky.  His regular doctor didn't see him, but the one that did is great.  She examined him thoroughly, then said he had an eye infection, most probably due to all the scratching he'd been doing.  The eye is so delicate, and scratching it (especially with dirty hands) can easily bring on an infection.  She was concerned, however, that he might possibly have eczema on that eyelid as well.  E had eczema as a small child but never on his face; it was always in the back of his elbows and knees.  She gave me an appointment to come back today (Friday) to have it looked at again.  Meanwhile she sent him some eye drops, an ointment, and Zyrtec for the allergies in addition to Allegra.  I about passed out when I saw the pharmacy bill for the meds:  $130!  And I have insurance!!  So much for affordable healthcare :P.  It took an hour waiting at the pharmacy for the medicines, which got me to work late.  Talk about really stressing out!  Good thing I only work 3 hours on Wednesdays, because I go to church and serve in Awana.  This Wednesday, however, we didn't go to church.  E didn't have youth group anyway (they'd gone on a trip the day before) and I wasn't going to take him with me to be around the little kids with his eye all swollen.  Besides, there was lots of schoolwork to catch up on, so that's what we did.  I missed my girls, but I'm glad I stayed and took care of my son who needed me more.

Already Thursday he was feeling better, even though the Zyrtec made him sleepy.  We got lots of schoolwork done in the morning, then I went off to work.  I wasn't sure if my boss would be there or not; she wanted the day off, but I don't think her husband knows what to do without her there.  He really depends on her a lot!  I walked into the office, and MM was nowhere to be found.  I said a short prayer, then got to work.  It actually went pretty well!  My daughter said I looked like I had it all together and was more relaxed than I'd been all week.  The other teachers were so helpful, too.  They pitched in if I asked them for help or if I had any questions.  MM did finally show up about an hour before closing; I think when you've been at the helm for so many years it's hard to let go, or believe someone else can do the work.  I hope that, as she sees the work I do and that things are running smoothly, she can trust me to work on my own without having to check on me constantly.  I have always worked independently, so it's weird for me to have someone looking over my shoulder, but I also recognize I've been there for less than a month.  Obviously there's still much I don't know, and much I need to learn.  With God's help I'll manage, I'm sure.  After work I sat down with E and told him we would finish school.  Spring break would begin on Friday, and he needed to have all his work turned in by Thursday night.  I'm pleased to say, he did it!  The only thing left was a report on Beethoven's symphony Eroica, and he sent it in at 10:30 at night.  We won't have to think about school till March 23rd.  Hallelujah!

This morning (my "day off") found me back at the doctor's office with my son.  He had to be there at 8:00 for his recheck.  When I woke him up in the morning, he let out a yell and said, "My eye isn't stuck together!"  Poor kid, he'd been waking up to an eye that was sealed shut every morning, and now the medicine was doing its work and he was looking considerably better.  There's flaking around the eye where the rash is drying up, but the swelling is almost completely gone.  Praise the Lord!  The doctor was pleased to see how much his eye had improved in such a short amount of time.  It was a huge relief for me as well.  I trust God, and I know He will always do what is right and best for me and my family, but I won't deny, when one of my children is sick it's like the life is drained out of me.  All I want is for them to get better.  I guess I'm no different from every other mom in the world.

After we'd finished at the doctor's office, I dropped him off at the house and began my journey into grocery shopping.  I started off at Winn-Dixie, hoping to find some good deals on meats.  I got a package of steak and a London broil that were on sale, but the ground beef was ridiculous.  $4.53 a pound?!  Gimme a break people!  I skipped on that, but did get my canned goods, pastas, breads, those sorts of things, spending a total of $93.18.  Not bad, considering my total budget is $300.  I dropped that food off at the house, then headed out to Walmart.  I picked up whatever I hadn't gotten at Winn-Dixie, like dog food and breakfast foods, plus I got some ham steaks and frozen foods, and spent $97.70.  I left there and stopped off at Pep Boys.  I was in need of tires - bad - but I'd had to wait till I had my income tax return.  Now that I had the money (and the time) I went and scheduled my tire replacement appointment for 4:00.  From there I went to Costco to get my bulk items, including ground beef.  I don't particularly care for the ground beef at Costco (it's very fatty IMO) but it's $3.79 a pound, a large cry from the $4.53/lb at Winn-Dixie.  My total at Costco was $70.87, bringing my total to $261.75, $38.25 under budget.  That's great, because this week I bought pizza from Little Caesars and KFC on Wednesday when I was running around with my son, so I'm still within my budget.

I got all the groceries home and put away with my daughter's help.  After lunch we made a trip to the bank so I could finish opening a checking account.  I wanted a separate account for myself now that I'm working, and I'd tried doing it online so I wouldn't have to visit the branch.  It worked - but when I tried using online banking, I found out I'd have to go to the bank to get a special pin number.  So much for not having to make the trip :P.  To give you an idea how crazy our weather is in Florida, we got to the bank as it was starting to look like rain.  We were there for about 20 minutes, in which time it rained pretty heavy and steady, but by the time we were done the sun was out and it didn't look like it had rained at all.  That is so typical in Florida, it surprises none of the locals.

I came back home to drop my daughter off (she'd gone with me to the bank), then went to get my new tires.  While I was there my daughter made one of my all-time favorites, spaghetti carbonara.  Boy was I thankful for that!  After a non-stop day it's really nice to come home to a delicious meal.  I'm so blessed.

Bare Escentuals had another Beauty Rush on Wednesday (my very insane day), and I was gonna skip it because I didn't think I'd have time to even look at what they had.  But while we were having lunch I took a peek to see if they had any skincare on sale, and they did.  I went ahead and placed an order for a kit containing neck cream, toner pads and body lotion; then I found an eyeshadow duo for $7 and another kit for $21 and I snatched them both up.  That was before I found out that my son's medicines were $130.  Part of me wishes I'd waited and not placed the order; part of me can't wait till it gets here!

There's more to add to my "fun" week, but I'll leave it for the weekend.  Right now I think I'll take a shower, then relax a bit before bed.  I think I've earned it.  Good night ya'll.  Pleasant dreams.

My "Day Off"

I wanted to post about my crazy "day off" yesterday, but by the end of the day I was beyond exhausted.  I couldn't even think straight anymore.  So here I am, giving a recap of Friday on Saturday, though I can't say I'm fully recovered.

Let me just mention, for starters, that I love to decorate.  I love fixing up my house, whether for holidays and special occasions or just everyday.  I love changing things up.  I love moving furniture around and into different rooms to get a new look.  Even when I was young and living with my parents, I would change things up and move them around.  I love to paint, I love to clean and polish and dust and shop for beautiful things...you get the picture.

When my two older kids came home from living in Central Florida, they brought a bunch of furniture with them, including a sofa and love seat we'd bought them at a furniture outlet store.  At first I put them in the garage, since my son's desire was to look for a place and take the furniture with him.  Things didn't work out for him financially, and it made no sense to me to have brand new furniture in the garage while I was sitting on faded furniture that was 13 years old.  So I sold the old sofa and love seat and put the new items in the family room.  It worked quite nicely.

Last year I decided to get an electric fireplace/media center for the living room, and I got rid of the enormous wall unit that was in the family room.

The wall unit worked while we had the oversized television set, but once that broke (and there was no way to get it repaired) I was left with a gaping hole in the wall unit.  I tried fitting other things in there but it didn't work.  Out it went, and a television table the kids brought back with them took its place.

I'd originally put it in the living room, but I moved it to the family room and put the fireplace/media console in there instead.  I flanked it with bookshelves, a look I documented here.  And that worked as well.  I was super happy with the way the house looked.

Unfortunately, the furniture we'd bought for the kids was not the greatest quality.  It was 3 1/2 years old but looked like we'd been sitting on it for 20 years.  The cushions were attached to the furniture, and they were sagging horribly.  The frame under the cushions also appeared to be sagging.  The fabric itself looked the worse for wear.  It's microfiber, which usually stands up to all kinds of abuse, but this fabric was stained and the stain wasn't coming off.  I tried covering the sofa with a fluffy blanket so the sagging wouldn't show too much, but it wasn't fooling anyone.  I had moved this furniture into the living room at Christmastime because the tree wouldn't fit in there with the recliners and sofa, and after Christmas everyone wanted the ugly furniture to stay in the living room because "they made the room look bigger."  I thought it made the room look dingy.  I wanted so badly to get rid of it, but I didn't want the huge expense.  I thought about going out looking at garage sales or second hand furniture, though there's always a chance I'll end up with something as bad or worse than what I already had.  

After Christmas Costco always puts their home furnishings out.  I was walking by the seasonal aisle on my way to the meat section, when I saw a gorgeous, huge sectional.  It was a lovely beige fabric, light but durable, with the nailhead design that I love so much.  It was $999, a great price for this large piece of furniture but more than I wanted to spend.  I sat on it for a minute and loved how comfortable it felt.  Ah, if I could only find something similar but at a lower price!  A couple of  months later I saw that the price had been reduced - a common occurrence when Costco is ready to bring in the next seasonal item, in this case patio furnishings.  Now the price was $699 - a whole $300 off!  I was tempted, but at the same time, how would I get this home?  I don't have a truck or SUV anymore.  Besides, I was wanting to get some cabinets to organize the garage, and my car needs new tires.  Spending $700 on a sectional wasn't an option right now.

Because I have executive membership at Costco, I get a yearly rebate from them.  I wasn't expecting much; I buy from Costco regularly but I hadn't bought anything major, so there was no reason for me to get much money back.  I was totally surprised when the rebate check came in: $116.  The wheels in my head started turning really fast.  With this rebate check I'd be able to get the sectional for under $600.  No way was I going to find a deal like that anywhere else anytime.  I'd have to act, and fast.  Time (and inventory) was running out.

When I told my daughter what I wanted to do, she suggested renting a truck from Home Depot.  Home Depot rents vans and large pick-up trucks for $19.95 for the first 75 minutes, then $5 each additional 15 minutes after that.  The idea was, rent the truck, get the furniture from Costco (which is a few blocks away), get it to the house, and get the truck back in an hour.  That sounded doable!  Then I remembered the garage storage cabinets.  What if I could get those from Home Depot, and the furniture from Costco at the same time?!  I would save on delivery costs!  I checked out the Home Depot webpage, but there was nothing at all like what I wanted.  Everything was either plastic or resin, and I wanted something stronger.  I looked on the Lowe's website next.  Bingo!  A large steel cabinet for $249, and a smaller cabinet for $157.  Lowe's is less than a mile away from Home Depot; I could still get everything done and pay less than what it would cost to have the cabinets delivered, which was $79.  The picture looked brighter and better each moment.  I prayed and asked God to work this out for me as He saw fit, then I got to work.

Thursday morning I called Home Depot to reserve the truck.  Turns out they don't do reservations - it's on a first come, first served basis.  I told the woman at Home Depot that I'd need the truck Friday morning, around 10 am.  See, with homeschooling and work, Fridays and Saturdays are the only days I can run all my errands, and I needed to do this on Friday because that's also my son R's day off and I was going to need his help.  She told me to call a half hour before and she'd hold the truck for me, but no more than 30 minutes.  At that point I decided, on faith, to go ahead and order the garage storage cabinets from Lowe's so they would be ready for me to pick up the next day.  I was really taking a chance, and I considered skipping my bible study group to get there early, but that didn't feel right at all.  How could I put God in second place to garage storage and furniture?  No, I was going to my bible study class, and trust that God would provide.

I was up early Friday morning.  I'm so glad I have a quick and easy makeup routine for days like these, because I didn't have the time to spend in front of the mirror.  I went to bible study and boy am I glad I did - Daniel chapter 9 is totally awe inspiring!  I left just as the video ended, ran home and called Home Depot.  To my chagrin, the truck had just been rented out, and the woman didn't know when it would be back.  She kindly took my number and said she'd call as soon as it was returned.  In the meantime I was left to wonder, now what?  My daughter suggested I check with another Home Depot, but did I really want to go to the next city north or south of us to get this truck?  I thought about heading to Costco so I could be close by when the truck showed up; then a thought occurred to me: what if they didn't have the furniture anymore?!  I grabbed the phone and called.  Good thing I did, too - they were sold out.  NO!!!!!  I asked if she could check stock in other stores.  She found 5 of them at a store two cities north of us, about a 20 minute drive.  I called that Costco to verify and they confirmed that they still had it in stock.  If I was going to do this, I'd have to act fast, but not before lifting my petition up to the Lord.  I called the Home Depot in the city north of us.  Yes, they had a truck and it was available to rent.  The clock was ticking.

I grabbed my son and we headed north to Home Depot.  Renting the truck was easy-peasy.  All I needed was my driver's license, insurance card and a credit card.  I left there and headed north on the expressway.  I took a bit longer at Costco than I thought because the boxes were so large and bulky; so large that I wondered if we'd be able to get them all in the truck.  I didn't want to have to make two trips!  I was praying that it wouldn't be necessary, and praise God it wasn't.  The young man at Costco was able to get everything on and even tied the boxes onto the truck for us - now that's great service!  R and I went straight home, unloaded the boxes into the living room, and headed out to Lowe's.  My daughter A is still nursing her leg per her doctor's orders, so she wasn't able to do any physical work, so instead she was in the kitchen making stir-fry for our lunch.  No time to stop though - we ran to Lowe's to get the storage cabinets, which by the way, weigh a ton!  Oh my gosh, it took so long for them to bring the stuff out because the girl couldn't find anyone to put them on the dolly.  R and I were trying to load them into the truck and another customer kindly helped us.  It was definitely a three person job.  I stopped off at our local Costco to fill the truck with gas - that's something to keep in mind.  If you bring the truck back to Home Depot and the tank isn't filled, they charge $6.50 per gallon to fill it up.  No thanks!  I put $20 in and made sure that was enough.

Back home we ran, left the boxes in the garage, then hauled ourselves back to Home Depot to return the truck.  By now we were both tired and hungry, and R was getting a headache.  Because of unforeseen delays we had the truck for 3 hours, so I ended up paying $62 for the rental.  With gas the total came to $82, more than I'd wanted to spend, but considering that I was able to get so much done that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, it wasn't a bad investment.  Besides, now I'm able to enjoy this:

It looks so pretty, and is extremely comfortable!  The pillows were Christmas gifts from my son R.  He got each of us a pillow that he felt best described our interests:  A got Alice In Wonderland because of her love of Disney, E got Treasure Island, filled with adventure, and I got Sherlock Holmes.  My son knows me only too well!  Classic English literature, crime and mystery, all rolled into one.  Sherlock Holmes has been my favorite since I was a teen.  It never gets old!  Anyway, there is enough seating here for our family and then some.  I'm so in love with the look!  I would like to eventually get an area rug, but with Molly I don't know if that's the best idea.  The area rug I had in the living room had to be thrown out because Molly's nails kept getting caught in the rug and it was looking pretty shredded.  I don't think I want to do that again.

By the way, the stir-fry turned out exceptionally delicious!  It was a chicken stir-fry with lots of veggies and a spicy sauce.  It disappeared off my plate very quickly!  I'm so thankful to my son R who ran all around town with me, my son E for helping me get the furniture moved and everything put together, and my baby girl for cooking and cleaning.  I'm especially thankful to God for making it all possible - I couldn't have done it without Him!

We haven't put the garage storage cabinets together yet - that's our next project.  Can't wait to get that done as well!  Stay tuned!

The Week In Review

I had every intention of posting yesterday.  I really did.  But we don't always do what we want, do we?  We plan, but God commands.  I decided to give more of a recap, instead of posting separately for yesterday and today.

Yesterday was a pretty busy, non-stop type of day again.  We woke up to rain, and went to bed with rain.  It rained on and off all day long.  Thunderstorms woke us up in the morning, but thankfully the rest of the day was quiet.  It was hot, muggy, and dreary.  School was good; my son got caught up on all his assignments.  Unfortunately, his cold was making it difficult to focus, so he did 4 hours worth of work and left it at that.  Since he'd done an extra hour of work earlier in the week he was able to finish early and rest, which is what the body needs with a cold or flu.  He's feeling much better today; not 100%, but certainly not as bad as yesterday.

After school I threw a load of laundry into the wash, then got ready for bible study.  I look forward to our Thursday night study because Beth Moore teaches like no one I know.  I wore a pair of dress pants because, with weather as yucky as we had, I didn't feel like getting dressed up.  That was my thought process, anyway.  I ended up looking pretty dressed up in my navy blue pants, navy blue long sleeved v-neck, and cream colored scarf.  I wore a pretty pair of cream colored heels too, because I don't have many closed shoes.  Living in Florida means sandals, flip-flops, open-toe shoes, that sort of thing.  I also have sneakers, but I wasn't about to wear dress pants with tennis shoes.  I did my makeup pretty quick, and it turned out lovely.  I got there on time (I'm always on time everywhere, which is unlike the South Florida culture), and enjoyed some fellowship with the ladies.  Then we sat down to our study.  Once again, the teaching rocked my world.  Honestly, we here in the US take prosperity for granted.  We complain about what we don't have, when there are people in this world who lack the basic essentials.  We're so busy trying to keep up with the Joneses, that we don't appreciate the fact that, compared to most nations of this world, even the poorest American is wealthy.  It cut me to the core.  I am so blessed - how dare I complain and whine about what I don't have?!  God reminded me that we're to show compassion, not feel it.  It doesn't do anyone any good if all I do is have pity, then turn and walk away.  I have to be willing to do something!  It gave me a lot to think about, and plenty to repent from.

After I got home, my daughter wanted to tell me all about her day.  She literally followed me around the house talking away, which is why I didn't get to post.  I was exhausted by the time she was done.  Besides, I wanted to get to bed early.  My cousin asked me to babysit her youngest son, so I had to be up and ready when he got here the next day.

Unlike yesterday, today was chilly and cool all day, without a cloud in the sky.  Those who live in Florida know, the weather changes in the blink of an eye!  I'm kinda hoping the whole weekend is as beautiful as today - it was gorgeous the entire day!

I thought I was up pretty early, but I was finishing up getting dressed when the little guy showed up at the door.  He's in pre-k, but he wasn't able to go to school.  He has eczema.  When the school teacher saw it she said the school needs verification that it's eczema and not impetigo.  His mom made a doctor's appointment, but the doctor can't see him till tomorrow and he won't be allowed in school till he gets medical clearance.  He's a sweet little 5 year old boy, and I'm always happy to have him here.  As long as he can watch his favorite TV program, Super Why, he will behave like a little angel.

E did his one assignment for English (and got a 90%) and attended his Hope live lesson, then he watched documentaries on Netflix because he was all done for the week.  It was a much easier day for him, which he totally appreciated.

After school was done and our little guy was picked up, my daughter and I headed to the mall.  We have a baby shower to attend tomorrow.  It's a brunch style shower, so the ladies will most likely be dressed very casual.  My clothes are mostly dressy, or around the house type of clothes.  I have 2 pairs of jeans that I wear occasionally, which are hand-me-downs from my daughter.  I wanted some jeans of my own, something more appropriate and dressier than what I have but still casual-looking, and New York and Company had a sale going on, so that's where I headed.  I found two pairs of jeans, one pair a dark indigo and the other a very dark grey.  I wasn't sure what size would fit, so I got a size 8 and a size 10.  On top they fit fine, the 8 better than the 10, but the length...either I'm shrinking or these things were excessively long.  I mean like, even with a pair of stilettos they would be too long.  I was sure I hadn't pulled any jeans from the tall section, so I didn't understand why they were so long.  Then my daughter heard one of the sales associates say that this particular style came in one length.  Obviously that length was extra long :P.  I didn't want to get something that I'd have to hem or get altered, so I went back and got a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of ankle length "boyfriend jeans" (why any woman would want to wear her boyfriend's jeans is beyond me).  I picked up both in size 10 and headed to the dressing room.  I tried on the ankle length jeans first; they were enormous on me.  I was afraid they were going to fall off!  Well, maybe not that big, but they were really big.  So I asked my daughter to get me a pair in a size 8, and she went ahead and got the skinny jeans in a size 8 as well.  I tried the ankle length in size 8; still too big.  I could say right now that I was frustrated, but what woman gets mad because she's smaller than a size 8?  My daughter went back for a size 6, and in the meantime I tried on the size 8 skinny jeans.  Perfect fit.  She brought back the size 6 ankle length jeans.  Another perfect fit.  Which is why I always try on clothes before buying them.  You never can tell what's going to fit, and it's better than making another trip to the mall.  I didn't get anything else, because I didn't find anything else I liked.  NY & Co has always been a favorite store of mine because I find clothes that are stylish while still age appropriate for me, but what I saw today was a lot of clothes geared towards a more youthful demographic.  Even my daughter said, "Sorry mom, but it looks like NY & Co is trying to bring appeal to a younger crowd."  Not what I wanted to hear, but I had to agree.  My store is a-changin'.  :'(

We got some really cute baby outfits for tomorrow.  Our friend is Puertorican like me, but she lives in Sweden with her husband.  She's visiting family, and a quick baby shower has been organized so she can take stuff back with her.  She specifically asked for baby clothes, because she says they're really expensive in Sweden.  We found some adorable outfits at The Children's Place that were super discounted, and which I think she's gonna love.  We are so happy for her, and happy to be able to share in this joyous celebration of new life with her.

So now we're back home, I just finished having dinner (fried chicken, shells with white cheddar cheese, and mixed veggies), and now I'm gonna do my nails.  I haven't figured out what I'm gonna wear to this baby shower tomorrow, but of course I want to look as pretty as I can!  Good night ya'll, be beautiful!

It's Sunday

A "good" day is classified as a day when all news is good news.  A "not so good" day is one where the news is bad, sad, or anything other than "good".  So what do you call a day with a little of both?  I call it, Everyday.

I got to Sunday school late.  That's because I got up late.  I got up late because I kept waking up last night.  I don't get it; I went to bed at my regular time, and I was tired.  Why did I have such a hard time sleeping?  I've never had trouble sleeping unless I have something on my mind, but that wasn't the case last night.  I just kept randomly waking up.  Is it the whole pre-menopause thing?  'Cause if it is, I ain't liking it.

Anyway, I got to Sunday school late, and it was almost a cheer-fest.  I'm usually the first or second person in class, making coffee and setting up.  They all figured I must be sick or something because I'm rarely ever late.  It felt really good to know my church family cares that much about me.

We're looking into a curriculum for our Sunday school class.  Last week we finished an intense study into the book of James, and now we're looking for something topical, something about living out our Christian life.  I'm hoping we can find something on discipleship, which is what the pastor has been teaching on since the beginning of the year.  If a curriculum can be found it would be great, so we can tie everything in, but we're trusting God to lead in what He wants us to study.

We went to service, and Pastor Ralph was teaching today.  He talked about what it means to be a real man.  It was a great teaching, but it's what happened afterwards that really moved me to tears.  For the past few weeks we've been praying for a sweet lady in our church.  LS has had cancer twice in the past, has had to go through chemo and all the ugliness that comes with it.  Recently she went to the doctor and was told her levels were high and she'd have to go in for more tests.  This was presented to the whole church so that we could all pray for her.  Today she announced, citing Psalm 115:3, that it pleased the Lord to keep her cancer free.  The joy in my heart was overwhelming!  I'm not a crier; I personally hate to cry in public, but I could feel my eyes well up with joy and happiness knowing our prayers had been answered.  Before I left I found LS and gave her a huge hug.  She is one of the most loving, kind, humble human beings on the face of this earth, and she prays for everyone.  It was a most satisfying feeling to know that I had the privilege to pray for her and have my prayers answered in such a wonderful way.

My son E and I left church quickly; E was complaining of a stomachache.  We ate leftovers for lunch, then my oldest son R's friends came over to play video games.  My daughter A got home shortly thereafter, not looking good at all.  I don't know how she was able to lead worship today - her voice is shot.  She's obviously caught her brother's nasty cold, and she's feeling pretty miserable.  She's also being very clingy.  My daughter is not a small child; she is a 25 year old adult.  But when she is sick, she wants hugs from mom.  Mom, on the other hand, wants to stay clear and NOT catch what she's got.  I don't know how we're gonna manage that.  She's pretty whiny too; all she's had to eat is soup, but she's complaining that she's got too much liquid in her stomach, making her stomach hurt.  Her throat is sore, her ears are hurting, but when I told her to go to bed and get some rest she gave me the "I don't wanna go to bed" look.  *Ugh*  Just when her brother was feeling better, and I thought we'd gotten through this with only one person catching it.  Yeah right.  I'm not getting off that easy.

I happened to go to the school's website to see if any of my son's teachers had posted his final semester grades.  I almost fell out of my chair.  My son's English grade had gone from a 96% to an 87%.  What?!  How could that be?!  She hadn't graded his thesis or his final exam the day before; had he done that poorly?!?!  I checked the grade book and saw the grade he'd gotten on his thesis.  1%.  When I clicked on it, I saw the note the teacher had left for him: he was supposed to have sent in his thesis with a Turn It In report.  Turn It In is a website that checks their work for plagiarism.  Without that report, the highest grade he can get is 1%.  Thankfully, his teacher was kind enough to let him submit the thesis to TII and email her the report, so that's what we did.  The actual grade she gave him is 100%, so that should bring his grade back up.  I'm glad I went in to check that; the semester ends on Wednesday and that's when the final grades go in.  It would have been the difference between getting an A and getting a B.

The rest of my day has been pretty ordinary.  I finished the laundry and put it away, watched an old episode of the Tonight Show, then cleaned up the kitchen.  I think I'm gonna go take a shower now and relax the rest of the night.  Maybe I'll even get some sleep :P.  I'm gonna need it - I'm babysitting tomorrow.  Board games, here we come!  Have a blessed night.

Satisfaction Saturday

Don't you love those days when you get to scratch stuff off your to-do list?  When everything you had planned actually gets done?  Those are satisfying days.  Today was one of those days for me.

I got up early but decided there was no need to rush.  The room felt chilly - it was 55 degrees and the breezes were keeping the house nice and cool, even with the windows closed.  I got up and started in the kitchen by taking some pork chops out, then making breakfast.  My son left for work before I got to the kitchen, and my daughter got home from dog-sitting shortly thereafter.  Once breakfast was done I called my youngest son, E.  Today was gonna be the day he finished the semester.  We had reviewed his science notes the day before, checked and double-checked, so I knew he was ready.  He wasn't so sure; just the thought of taking a test that was 1 1/2 - 2 hours long was enough to get his head spinning.  I encouraged him and reminded him he wasn't being timed, he didn't need to rush, and we had reviewed so he should be okay.  It took an hour and a half, just as the teacher said, and so far he has an 85%.  There are 3 essay questions that the teacher has to grade, but I think he did well.  Finally, he has turned in all his semester work and we can both enjoy the rest of this three day weekend.  Hallelujah!

Once he'd finished I started vacuuming the floors.  Two girls from church were coming over to practice for tomorrow's youth group worship, and once again my floors looked like they were growing fur.  I got the floors cleaned, then changed the bedding on all the beds.  With my son R having had pink eye, it was imperative that his bedding be washed, so I went ahead and did all the bedding.  Then I made pork chops, sauteed in tomato sauce with mixed veggies, along with white rice, black beans, and fries.  After having eaten pizza or Tyson chicken for the past couple of days, I was looking forward to real food :-).  My kids even complimented the meal.  I haven't made pork chops this way in a long time, and they were happy to have it again.

After lunch it was time to color my hair.  My roots were starting to take over.  Every time I look at my roots I'm astounded at how many grays I have towards the crown of my head.   I bought the same hair colorant I'd purchased last time, Clairol Age Defy, because I did notice that it covered my grays really well, and the color lasted for over a month without looking dull.  I think it also has to do with the fact that I'm using a shampoo that has no sulfates, but I still loved the way the color turned out the last time.  I'd been using 6R which is a medium auburn, recommended by my hair stylist, but when I bought my hair color the last time they only had 5R which is dark auburn.  Now when I went to Walmart to pick up my hair color, I noticed they had the 6R, but I chose to stick with the darker shade of auburn.  I love the way it looks, the way it covers my grays, and how it works with my skin tone.  From the moment I start mixing the color till it's time to wash it out takes just over an hour.  The box says to leave the hair color on for 35 minutes: 30 for the roots and 5 for the rest of the hair.  My stylist recommended I leave it on for 45-50 minutes on my roots and another 10-15 minutes on the rest of my hair.  This is because my grays weren't being completely covered when I left the color on for less time.  So for me, it's a mission getting my hair colored, washed, and styled, but I was determined to do it today and not go to church looking like a skunk head.  It turned out beautiful, and it was another item taken care of.

I decided to play with my makeup a little, too.  I have lots of eye shadows, and I wanted to try using a couple of them to see how they worked together.  The first combo I didn't like; there was too much shimmer going on and it was overwhelming.  The second one looked much nicer.  I used lavender with shimmer on my lid up to the crease, then a matte brown shade above the crease.  I lined my lash line with a purple liner, and it looked soft and pretty.  I didn't have anywhere to go, but I still enjoyed being able to do something just for myself.

We had dinner, then I decided I wanted to watch a movie.  I'd gotten three DVD's over Christmas and my birthday, but I'd only gotten to see one because, now that both my sons have Wii U's, they are on them every chance they get.  Tonight, it was my turn.  My daughter was on her Wii in the living room, and E was on his computer playing a game with his friend.  R wasn't home yet, so the family room television was free :D.  I grabbed the movie Mom's Night Out, a hilarious comedy, and proceeded to laugh my little heart out.  That felt so good!  I'd been wanting to sit down and watch this movie for a while, and I'm glad I finally got that done.

I couldn't believe the time when I finished watching the movie: it was just 7:30!  It was so dark outside I was sure it was after 9:00.  That's the problem with wintertime: short days.  I went ahead and cleaned up the kitchen.  My son went out with his friends, so the food I'd saved for him got put away in the fridge.  I'm sure he'll appreciate the leftovers for work tomorrow.

On a very positive note: I've been drinking lots more water everyday for just over a week, and I have to say I'm noticing a difference in my skin.  It's not as dry as it was before.  It's not greasy either, but it is glowy.  I'm sure my skin regiment is helping as well, but I changed my skin care regiment back in November.  Yes, I've seen improvement, but since drinking more water it's like my skin was bumped up a notch.  I'm liking this quite a bit!  I plan to continue with this little experiment and see how my skin looks at the end of the month.

I have to go do my microdermabrasion now, so I think I'll say goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite.  God bless.