Getting Ready For Changes In The Sleepyhouse

Today's the last day of freedom for our public school friends. My basement, ahem... I mean Mancave, is filled with boys, and I'm left to my own amusement. DS11 still walked with me this morning, but other than that, the boys' time has been occupied with their friends.

I've been working on cleaning and organizing my kitchen. I'm excited that soon we'll be replacing the flooring. For 9 years I've lived with the floor that originally came with this house, which is 15 years old now. The kitchen has a white vinyl floor. I've told my boys several times, when they are blessed with a wife, make sure her kitchen does not have a WHITE floor!! It is impossible to keep clean looking.

My new kitchen floor will be nothing fancy, vinyl again, only its a tile this time that looks like stone. Its a peel and stick that can go right over the existing white vinyl sheet flooring. I'm excited about that. Easy to install and I don't have to rip up the existing flooring.

This all came about because DH decided we need to get rid of the living room carpet. It too is 15 years old and its at the point where even shampooing can't help it. We're going to put in laminate flooring that will look like wood. I'm excited about doing this installation ourselves as a family. I'm hoping the boys learn quite a bit. (Learning through living!)

Our living room area flows through to our kitchen area, but we didn't want to put laminate in the kitchen because it really shouldn't get wet. Plus with wooden kitchen cabinets, a wood looking floor would be too much wood, in my opinion. I like the look of a stone floor better.

I'm looking forward to how much easier it will be to keep clean, free of cat hair and dander! Eventually, we'll probably do the same in our bedrooms, ripping out the carpet and putting in laminate and room sized rugs. It will be better for our allergies. 

I thought my week off would be a complete break from the pool, but I am working on projects at home, and I will have to go in to the pool to work this Friday. At least I'm able to enjoy suppertime with my family every night!

I'm trying to come up with something special to do tomorrow, our "not back to school" day. We won't see our homeschool posse until Thursday so we'll be on our own all day, or at least until after 3:00pm. :) When I ask the boys, they mention going to McDonald's. Blah! I want to do something better than that!

Maybe we'll go to the big library, which will now be empty, and load up our giant canvas bags with goodies. Or maybe we should try golfing, but of course its suppose to thunderstorm tomorrow. Hmm...maybe we should try the indoor mini-golf and then take DH out for lunch?

Well, I better get going. While I have one last afternoon of free time from boys and work, I think I'll take another walk and check out our town's Farmer's Market. Hopefully I'll be inspired to make something yummy for supper.

Beware Her Kitten Charms

Do I get upset the boys have yet to put away their laundry and sleeping bags?

Do I get upset they left the guest bedroom door open allowing a certain naughty kitty to enter?

No. She projects out her powers of cuteness, and all I can do is smile. So she can sneak a nap on their clean laundry for now, and hopefully she won't do anything naughty to make me regret my decision to let this one slide.

Me Time

Today starts the 1st day of my personal StayCation. I don't have to be back at the pool until after Labor Day as we transition from the summer session to the fall session. There is some work I should probably do at home, and I should try to make it in for a few hours next week to take care of a few things otherwise when I start back on the 7th, I'll be overloaded.

Every year I get this break and every year I tell myself I'm going to get stuff done around the house that I've been putting off, but the reality is, the week will go by pretty quickly, and I won't get it all done.

Walking with DS11 this morning, I was surprised when half way through, I took one step and felt instant shooting pain through my sciatic nerve. It caught me completely off guard and was very unexpected. We stopped at the library and I stretched best I could. I made it home and told myself I must buy new walking shoes pronto.

So the boys gave me some ME time this afternoon, while they offered to stay home and have friends over. They actually seemed anxious and pleased for me to leave. LOL! -Teen boys in a mancave without any parental authority. I said, "Make wise choices," as I headed out the door.

Two hours later I now own 4 pairs of shoes. If you know me, you know I am not a shoe person. I literally had one pair of athletic type sneakers over 2 years old and my Birkenstock sandals that I'd wear year round despite the weather. For me to go and buy 4 pair of shoes, it shocks me! They were cheap though. Being a penny pincher, that sheds some light on why I did what I did.

I bought two pair of walking shoes that supposedly are designed to make you strengthen your balance, improving your workout. They are sort of like those anti-gravity wedge type shoes, but instead they have two built in balls of support aligned over the middle of the ball of your foot and heal. They look like regular trainers. I tried on those rocker bottom/anti-gravity shoes, but those felt completely bizarre to me, and I knew I'd stumble in those shoes sooner or later.

I also bought two new cork sole, suede clogs, not Birkenstocks, but way cheaper. In fact all my shoes were buy one, get one half off. Can you guess where cheapskate me did her shopping today?!

I looked over a few other potential purchases but decided to confer with DH before giving up the cash. One item was a water filter for the tap.

This morning I forgot a pan of water I was boiling for hummingbird food. The pan boiled dry and I was horrified to discover so much chlorine powder. I know my city adds this to the water to make it more "safe" but the reality is chlorine is terrible for your body. We do fill a Brita pitcher with water for drinking, but we do use water directly from the tap for cooking. I want to pick up a filter now for the tap. 

I picked up a book from the library called, Grow Your Own Drugs by James Wong. My son was concerned I was considering growing something illegal, but I've explained to him its a book about growing legal plants you can use for medicinal purposes. LOL! I'm hoping to plow through it, pun intended, and start planning for next year's garden. 

Also on my autodidact list this next coming week, EFT tapping. I'm going to spend some time watching Brad Yates' videos on Youtube, and hopefully my family will join me. It can't hurt to try. 

I'm going to put my feet now, and dig in to some magazines I haven't yet gotten around to reading. Have a great weekend!

Today's Blah..Blah..Blah...Thoughts

I've been in a strange rhythm that doesn't feel quite right. Why is it I can be doing everything right yet, life feels so wrong?

I miss my husband. I'm thankful he's got work for the time being and ends are meeting, but I still miss him. I'm not the only one. The boys miss him too. Still, we're taking advantage of the time we get to spend together.

DH came home yesterday and announced we were going out for supper just because we could. After my day long headache, this was a wonderful surprise. Sometimes you need to break from the routine and treat yourself, even on a Monday night.

I'm back to walking everyday with DS11 but lately it doesn't give me the high it used to. Its not giving me that energy boost either.

My sleeping patterns are all out of whack too. Either I can't fall asleep or I'm ready for bed early. I'll wake before getting a solid 7-8 hours too. This morning my mind woke up at 4:30am even though my body wanted more sleep. Could this be hormones?

I think I'm ready for the end of summer. I know the cooler weather will re-charge me and give me that fresh start I need. I'm in the final week of my summer work schedule and soon it will be Labor Day weekend. That will help me transition my thinking.

I'll continue to go with the flow for now, and hope time brings changes.

"The world is our classroom. Life the lesson." Cherly Pitz - "There's nothing like staying at home for real comfort." Jane Austen - Two quotes I've read back to back on my Facebook page from Woman's Day magazine that really speak to my homeschooling heart.

Funny how even though I've seen the movie a thousand times before, when Pride and Prejudice is on, all of my other plans go out the window.

Yesterday we had two young hummers fighting over the feeder. They worked it out. As soon as one would fly away, the other would swoop in. I'm hoping we can pick up another feeder this weekend, one with wasp guards. It was interesting to see how at first, the young birds would be frightened away by the wasps, but now they are sticking around and having a sip. I'm still worried about getting stung every time I have to refill it with nectar.

Making Marinara

These Romas wouldn't wait any longer. I had to make sauce before they went bad. Most of these beauties came from my neighbor's garden. My tomato plants are pretty sad, but my green thumbed neighbors have grown plants that are as big as a human beings, I'm not kidding. I've never seen tomato plants taller than me before.

We've been taking care of their garden while they are on vacation, and they told us to eat whatever was ready. This batch we picked barely made a dent compared to what's still left. I will have to pick another bushel tomorrow. Our neighbor's didn't want the tomatoes going to waste.

I thought I would make up some sauce, even though I don't yet have my canning set. In a few weeks, my mom will visit and teach me all about canning. She's giving me my very own canning kettle and tools for my birthday. We'll probably make and can some applesauce, but if we still have tomatoes, I'll have to can some of those as well. 

I made a simple marinara. Just tomatoes, onions, garlic and celery with herbs. Except for the celery and olive oil, all the ingredients came from our gardens. I love how sweet those fresh tomatoes make it without having to add any sugar at all. My marinara comes out a little more orange than red, but I think that's because I add lots of onions. I almost forgot to snap the final photo before filling up all the jars, but I think you can see it made quite a bit of sauce.

Step 1-  Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pot and sweat out chopped up onion, celery and garlic.

Step 2- Add in your peeled and seeded tomatoes and fresh or dried herbs. I used basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, pepper and a little bit of kosher salt.

Step 3- Simmer for at least an hour if not longer.

Step 4- Blend up your sauce for a smoother consistency, using a stick blender or careful process your sauce in smaller batches in your blender.

In January it will taste like sunshine to open a jar and pour it over fresh pasta. Store bought can't come close.

Very bizarre dream last night- I was babysitting a dozen or so kids in a haunted house. The ghosts kept turning my right foot into a magnet of sorts, on which various non metallic items would get stuck. Woke feeling frustrated.

I'm torn. I want to feed the humming birds, but I don't like the collection of wasps we now have. I can't easily grab the feeder to refill it without thinking I'll be stung. Humming bird watchers, I ask you, how do you manage this?

Our STP Concert Experience 8/16/10

My ears are still ringing, and I've only had 4 hours of sleep but it was so worth it!

We arrived in Milwaukee at 6:30pm, and were able to find our usual free parking spot when we attend concerts at The Rave. If we would have arrived any later, I think we would have had to pay for parking or hike a bit farther.

We found a rail spot, in front and to the left. It turned out to be perfect, no crowd surfers kicking me in the head, no mosh pit crushing my lungs and feet, and I had an unobstructed view of Rob. :) He has the best guitar rock stance! 

I decided to wear my Birkies this time and it paid off. We were on our feet for a total of about 6 hours, and I'm happy to report no Plantar Fasciitis this time around. When DS11 insisted we do our daily morning walk, I thought I would be hurting, but after that first 1/2 a mile, my feet felt better. Either they loosened up or my exercising kicked in those pain endorphins.

Unlike most concert participants, DH & I do not drink. We know this only leads to having to go to the bathroom which means losing your prime front spot concert real estate. So when the show wrapped after midnight, we were beyond thirsty, and not to mention hungry having skipped supper. We amazingly found a Wendy's open at 12:30am, and I think it was the best tasting Diet Coke I have ever had in my life. Today of course, it back off of soda and NutraSweet, but last night, it was so tasty!

The STP show had two opening acts who were pretty good, but I was more than ready for STP to begin their set. The band seemed very together this time around, no technically difficulties or personal difficulties either. It was a much better show than last March, a perfect date night, despite the cotton ears I am now suffering.

STP TONIGHT!!!!

Its date night and an exciting one at that. When DH gets home from work, we'll be heading to Milwaukee for the Stone Temple Pilots concert.

I should be more excited, but I just finished reading Fall To Pieces by Mary Forsberg Weiland and its left me with a lingering sadness. Mary is/was Scott's wife. Scott is the lead singer for STP. The book tells of their struggles with drug addiction and the breakup of their marriage.

One thing I'm taking away from reading her autobiography, I'm making sure my children have good nutrition. If we don't put into our bodies what our brains need to function the chemical imbalances can leave our brains damaged. Even before the drugs go in, prescribed or not, we should evaluate how whole, nutritious foods can help us first.

Reading about how drug addicts take prescribed drugs to keep them off of the illegal ones seems crazy to me. Take this drug because it will keep you from craving another. It doesn't make any sense! Isn't that trading one for the other? I'm sure the pharmaceutical companies are happy because they make the profit not the street dealers, but this answer doesn't really help the individual overcome their chemical imbalances.

In Mary's book she writes about how as a baby she was fed Carnation Evaporated milk, not breast milk or formula and how she had access to drink all the grape cough syrup she could get her hands on. I can't help but wonder if this damaged her brain development, leaving her prone to her mental illness.

I can understand how a person may need drugs for mental illness, perhaps for the rest of their lives if their brain is incapable of making the necessary chemicals and hormones on its own, but I have to wonder how many of these people suffering with mental illnesses could have been helped if they had healthy beginnings?

I'm going to make a larger effort to encourage my boys to eat more healthy. I did nurse them and when they were little guys, they ate fruits and veggies. Of course now that they are older they have more power to choose what's going in their mouths. Besides the usual broccoli, carrots, corn and apples, I'd like them to eat more a variety of fruits and veggies.

I'm going to ask them to become "garnish" chefs, having them be responsible for the veggie preparation for our meals. I'll bring in more different kinds of produce and tell them they have to at least try it once. I'll count this towards our "health and home economics" portion of our unschooling. :)

I better get chores done here and shower so I can be ready when DH arrives home.

My 11 year old personal trainer is pushing me today. I have a headache but he just said to me, "Alright. Let me know when you are ready to walk. I WOULD like to be home by 11:00am though." So I guess I have to ignore the headache and lace up the walking shoes.

Monkey Bars

Description:
If you like banana bread you'll like these bars. I used whole wheat pastry flour but you'd never guess these were whole wheat.

Ingredients:
4 large ripe bananas- mashed
3/4 C dark brown sugar
1/4 C olive oil or substitute apple sauce
1/4 C milk
2 large eggs
2 t vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
1 C mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix the mashed banana with the sugar, oil, milk, eggs and vanilla. Add in the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flour. Add 1/2 C of chocolate chips.

Line your baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Add in the batter and sprinkle the other 1/2 C of chocolate chips on top.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire wrack in the pan.

Friday Five 8/13/10 - Scary Movies!

"Ooooooooh, scary!  For Friday the Thirteenth, tell us about your five favorite scary movies.  (Count a series as a single movie if you're going to play fair.)  And don't forget to come back and post your link."

1. The Exorcist (the original with Linda Blair)- No contest. This movie terrified me to my core. I foolishly watched it at age 12, with my best friend Lisa, while the two of us were ALONE in her house. I did not sleep for 2 weeks thinking I was going to become possessed by the devil. Years later I found out my husband had a similar experience with this movie, seeing it at the same age, only he was COMPLETELY alone while his mom was out of town on business.

2. Pulse - The Japanese version. I had to hold my son's hand while we watched this late one night. Japanese horror films have that extra element of creepy that I haven't found in American horror.

3. Suspiria - The Dario Argento classic. The first 5 minutes are genius, and the rest of the movie never disappoints.

4. Let The Right One In - I feel the need to have a vampire movie on this list, and this one is truly one of the best vampire movies ever made.

5. I'm at #5 already?? So many good films still to choose from.....Since its so hot and humid outside, I'll go with Stanley Kubrick's, The Shining. I could use a run through a frozen hedge maze right about now.

Join me in the Friday Five group - http://fridayfivegroup.multiply.com/

I'm complaining today - Where's the rain!!!! It seems to be all around us, but nothing is falling here, quenching our garden's thirst.

The boys are baking me a cake on their own. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Birthday Thoughts....

I'm over the age thing. I greet 42 today with a thankful heart. I am blessed with family and friends who love me. I still feel not a day older than 22 in spirit, yet I do like the person I am today at 42. What the years have robbed me of physically, I have gained in strength tenfold emotionally and mentally. Actually, when I think about it, physically, I don't get sick nearly as often as I did years ago. My body may not be perfect, but my immune system seems stronger, so maybe physically I haven't been completely robbed.

I'm just so grateful to be able to celebrate 42 years. To quote a favorite artist of mine, "Everyday above ground is a good one." Its so true. Even in trying times, we are still left with choices to make to try and improve our lives. Everyday we are given a chance for a do over. Life is a wonderful journey not a destination.

My birthday wish is for continued strength and health to help me on my journey. There is so much out there to learn about and enjoy. There are so many opportunities to shine my light.

There will always be challenges but I bend, not break. I saw that on a sign yesterday, it is better to bend than break. It certainly is true. I'm bending my branches around these hardships and continuing to grow.

Me- Its too hot today to walk outside. DS11- Today is only here for today. If we don't do it today, we'll never be able to say we exercised for TODAY. We'll never get this day back. We should just do it. - How did this child of mine get so self disciplined and motivating? Anyone doubting out there, I have living proof unschooling works.

Barn Quilt Blocks

Through out our village, there is a barn quilt block movement. Barn quilt blocks are usually 8 feet x 8 feet quilt blocks painted and mounted onto the sides of barns. The artwork began a few years ago as a remembrance of a quilter's sister, and soon across rural America, the idea took off. Our county is putting them up not only on barns, but also smaller versions are going up on buildings in town.

DS11 & I have been walking through our village's downtown area nearly everyday now, and I've always meant to take photos of these barn quilts. Of course my camera's zoom lens is broken, but hopefully you'll see why I think they are so neat.

I'm not a quilter, but my mom is. I'm hoping to work with her and design our own quilt block. I'd love to paint a smaller version to go up on our Sleepyhouse.

Hmmm...Can't seem to add photos tonight to any albums. Good old reliable Multiply.

Weekend Notes 8/8/10

Friday morning DS11 & I saw these mushrooms while on our daily walk. They just sprang up in this family's yard over night. I'm jealous. Any mushroom spores who are looking for a place to land, my yard is open.

Our village had their garage sale weekend, and this year we decided to be bargain hunters rather than sellers. I'd rather just drop off our castoffs at Goodwill than deal with all the work that goes into having your own sale.

Thursday morning I woke the boys up early at 8:00am and taught them the meaning to the saying, "the early bird gets the worm. " In this case, it was the early teenagers get the Nerf guns. We found two awesome Nerf guns with original packaging and Nerf darts marked $8 a piece. We found a mini version of Uno, a few game guides and talked the sellers down to $15 for the lot. Not bad for our first sale of the weekend. One of the Nerf guns is going for $60 on the resell market, but we're just going to enjoy playing with it. I think its crazy how many attachments these guns have, and how you can reconfigure them.

Friday G-Ma arrived to continue garage sale-ing with us. We didn't find any great deals but enjoyed stretching our legs and adding a few more miles to our daily walking total.

Friday evening we had our cousins over to hang out after pizza supper and enjoyed brownies and scones.

Saturday morning DH, G-Ma and I hit up the other side of town to do more sale-ing. First stop was the library's used book sale where I picked up another Series Of Unfortunate Events book for my collect, a Wisconsin almanac and a favorite picture book we enjoyed when the boys were little.

We found a few more treasures including a box full of Yu-Gi-Oh cards for DS11 and a sword for DS14. Yes, a real sword. The handle appears to be silver and the blade stainless steel. We are trying to figure out what the letters inscribed on the handle mean. I can't yet identify what language it is. It could be Russian or eastern European. Both these finds were unbelievable bargains. That always adds to the fun.

We took a break from sale-ing, picked up the boys and went to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Cocina.

We ran some errands, picking up wall anchors for our window hardware. Yes, the drapes arrived on Friday and I love them. Hopefully once they are all hung, it will look great. They are light blocking and insulating, and we went with a dark brown suede. Once I get the Love Nest complete, I'll take pictures.

Saturday night the family got into a cut throat game of Monopoly with G-Ma. It had been quite awhile since we had played. I had forgotten how competitive my husband can get! DS14 won once we established a cut off time after playing for several hours.

Sunday woke us with thunderstorms, which would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't so hot and humid again. We had to close the house back up and put the air on. I feel a little less worried doing this after seeing our electric bill wasn't too high from last month's heat wave. I had DS11 open the bill and tell me what the damage was. I thought it would hurt less coming from him. :) I asked him, is the first number a 1, a 2 or a 3? Thankfully he said 1 and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I still hope August isn't as hot as July was, but it doesn't have that repetition, does it.

  

Since this cupcake craving has been with me now for over 24 hours, I'm baking a batch. Who wants one?

More garage sale-ing today. Yesterday we scored two huge Nerf guns. Let a certain brother be warned. My army's arsenal is growing. You're going down bro!

Feeling Blah...

As if my wonky camera wasn't enough, now the computer is giving me the business when it comes to uploading my photos. I'll have to put the food diary on hold. Ever since we hooked up an external back up drive, I'm having to adapt to doing things a bit differently.

I'm feeling down, and I don't know exactly why. Its probably a trifecta of heat, humidity and hormones. Of course maybe the bank account and messy house are not helping either.

We have this strange leak of some kind happening in our kitchen. Its really strange, as if I poured brown sugar on the floor and wet it down. I can't figure out what it is, or where it is coming from. The pipes do not seem to be leaking, but this tan, grainy substance is showing up along the baseboard in front of the kitchen sink. I suppose I'll have to take everything out from under the sink and really investigate it tomorrow, when I have more time.

I think the Japanese beetles are bringing me down too. Our birch tree is infested with thousands and I'm fearing the worse, we'll lose the tree. Its funny how certain plants and trees they ignore completely, but others they swarm on. I've read you can chemically treat your grass to kill the larva but complete elimination of the pests could take up to 5 years of applying these chemicals. As sad as I am to see my birch tree killed, I don't think I want to dump all those chemicals on the lawn.

The mulberry tree/bushes they seem to leave along. Maybe I should encourage more wild mulberries to grow around the yard instead of trying to fight the beetles? The problem with mulberry bushes, they grow almost too quickly and for a deciduous tree, their leaves come out later than others in the spring and drop off too quickly in the fall. 

We have a mulberry bush that grew wild near the corner of the house. I had DS11 chop it down to the ground last year but we did not remove the roots. This year the bush grew back huge. Its over 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide in this growing season alone. If only we could place these bushes around the perimeter of the yard rather than the house, we'd have lots of quick privacy for part of the year.

On a positive note, as I sit here and type this, I can hear the boys outside moving the rest of the dirt off the driveway and into the garden area. They are laughing and having a good time, which is pretty remarkable considering its hard labor in the 90 degree heat. They are shoveling the dirt onto a tarp, dragging the tarp over to the garden beds and dumping it.

This is just proving to me I need to stop worrying so much about them. They are capable of hard work, and they are capable of doing it without complaining about it. I found myself worrying the other day about SAT preparations and questioning what more should we be doing, yet if I'd only relax and take a closer look, they are proving to be fine young men.

I'll leave for work soon and hopefully this will distract me. I can only do what I'm capable of. I don't have to try and solve all my worries at once. The Japanese beetles, the mystery sugary goo, the messy house, the bills to pay, they can all wait for me or I can let them go, and just try redirecting my focus.

We're hoping to be able to see some northern lights tonight. Its on DS11's bucket list and this would save me a trip to Canada if we hopefully can capitalize on that recent sun explosion. The prediction was that people in the northern states would be able to see them. If those thunderstorms hold off, maybe we'll be able to!

Weekend Notes 8/2/10

We brought this back from K-town with us. It was a gift from my DMIL. DH and I are joking about how we can't break into it because we'll turn into piranhas. When Kringles are in our Sleepyhouse, they go uneaten until that first person cuts into one. Then we become like piranhas, drawn to an injured fish. Its just too easy to cut off an inch, walk by it again and cut another inch or two, find another reason to go into the kitchen and cut another inch while there, answer the phone and see there's a Kringle nearby waiting to be cut by another inch, etc. Before you know it, we've eaten an entire Kringle. I should just freeze it and forget about it until company is here to help us enjoy it.

We did spend a lovely Saturday in K-town visiting G-Ma (DMIL). We ate pizza of course and did a little garage sale-ing. G-Ma bought new running shoes for the boys which should help with our fitness goals. Their previous footwear was nothing but skateboard shoes, which aren't all that great for hiking.

Sunday we did a bit of yard work. We finally got around to building the last of our Square Foot Gardens. I figure we'll plant garlic in it this fall and maybe try to grow a last batch of baby spinach and lettuces. Our Romas have blight. I should never have bought those few nursery plants, but then again, blight is airborne. The Romas I started from seed are dying out.

We tried to save our birch tree from the Japanese beetles, but after pulling hundreds off, we realized there would be no way we could pick off the bugs on the higher branches. I just hope our tree doesn't die. They've already eaten so many of the leaves.

We enjoyed watching the X-Games. I'm amazed at the size of those vertical ramps. They make it look so easy, but can you imagine going 40 mph and jumping through the air with a board that is NOT attached to your feet?!

We're bird sitting Gilbert, our friend's parakeet. I'm hoping ours, Tornado and Gust, don't upset him too much. Our birds are loud and obnoxious, Gilbert is quiet and sweet.

Our friends are house hunting in Houston. We are sad to know they will most likely be moving away from us. We were so excited when they moved to our neighborhood a little over a year ago. Its been wonderful to have part of our homeschool posse so close by. Unfortunately, their dad has no choice but to look for a new job. We've become such close friends, we're really going to miss them.

I ordered curtains for our new Love Nest. I settled for a darker, chocolate brown and I'm trying not to worry about how brown my bedroom will be. The object was to find room darkening, insulated and washable curtains and I did it staying on budget. I ordered them on sale from Target with free shipping too. The last step in making over our room will be artwork, which I'm really hoping will help bring color and vitality to the neutral room.

I better get moving. DS11 is up and he's promised to walk up the library with me. I have a new summer read on hold for him, Big Nate In A Class By Himself.