Scissors and such...

Okay, I haven't lost my mind and just posting random things about scissors. Well, not yet anyway... give it some time. Last night I was cutting out strips of fabric for Karis and Savannah's project. I, of course, left it till the last minute and was cutting them at 11:30pm. As I was sitting there in the quiet living room, I happened to notice the scissors I was using. These scissors - the ones in the picture were my sewing scissors from 6th grade. I remember showing up for Mrs. Niles home-ec class. We had to put together a small sewing kit. My mom took me to the fabric store and I was amazed. I loved it! I never did become a pro at sewing though. The scissors weren't expensive or anything amazing. Just plain scissors. I can't believe I still have them. I lose things I just bought last week. Somehow over all of the years, they just keep tagging along with me. As I was sitting there cutting with them, I couldn't help but laugh that I didn't really have a clue. I had no idea that 25 years later, I would be cutting strips of fabric to show Savannah and Karis how to make a braided rug. Funny how time goes. I knew I loved my class that I was in. I loved learning how to make a pillow and how to cook monkey bread. I remember Mrs. Niles talking about how she had two little boys - Dan and Ron. Their initials spelled out their names. Crazy - the things we remember. When she talked about her boys, her eyes lit up. She probably was a great mom. She sure had a lot of patience teach 6th graders how to sew.


The girls are working on an American Girl history study with me. I will try to post more details about that in another post. Their first project is a braided rug. They are going to make it bigger than the original small one that is in the book. I will post the finished product then. I had so much fun sharing this with them today. I think we are going to have a great year of learning and enjoying this study.

The lawsuit...

Awhile back I asked for some prayer for a few things. One of those things was a pending lawsuit against us from our lake association. It was a very, very long story with lots of details. We really didn't feel like we had to join the association according to the covenants. I was even told by three lawyers that it was optional. The thing was that if we didn't join, they could try to sue us for all sorts of crazy stuff like drainage into the lake. They wanted us to pay an assessment that was billed to the previous owners (a bank foreclosure). After several trips to our original closing lawyer, he finally decided to share with us that we had what he called "Plus Title Insurance". Apparently, this PLUS covers more things than the traditional title insurance. Why this man did not tell me this weeks and weeks ago when I first called him, I have no idea. Once he told me this and gave me contact information, I was able to get a claim rolling. They paid the $3800 and the lien/lawsuit was dismissed. We still had to join the association. We are pretty sure that there will be more lake repair assessments down the road and that will cost us money. We felt sure we did not have to join, but to prove that - we would have had to hire a lawyer and fight to not join. Then if we won and didn't join, we would have to hope they didn't sue us for drainage damage. We just decided the easiest solution was to join and hope the assessments came down the road when we could hopefully afford them. That is a whole long story in a nutshell! I wanted to thank anyone and everyone who said a prayer for us. I was really, really stressed about this. I kept just trying to give it over to God and let him figure it out. In the end, that is exactly what happened.

The puppy saga...

Last week, Tim found a puppy while he was test driving a car in our neighborhood. Yes, it is a perk that he lives so close to home! Anyway, first he took the puppy to our friend, Laurie. He didn't want to bring it to me because he was afraid the kids might want it, etc. Laurie took one look at that puppy and said that if it came in her house - she would have to keep it. So, he brought it home to me. I like puppies. I would not say I love puppies or dogs or really any pet. We brought the puppy in and showed it to Savannah. She was in love instantly. Here is the background on puppy issues in our household. Tim has always wanted a Weimaraner - a gray one to be specific. I have told the kids I just don't want dogs. I love our dog Woofie. She really is a sweet dog, but she sheds a lot and just adds work to my schedule. Savannah still wanted a puppy at some point. I told her if we were getting another dog - it would be a Weimaraner. I didn't want to hear Tim say how he always wanted that kind of dog and never got it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Savannah saw a fluffy puppy at the pet store. She came home to tell me about it. I didn't see it, so it was pretty easy to stay strong. Okay, fast forward to this adorable little puppy in our house. I didn't think much of her the whole morning she was here. The kids were hovering over her. In the afternoon, the kids went off to other things. This little puppy came and snuggled against my feet. She was so calm. I thought it was because she was tired from her morning out. After a long nap, she was still really calm. I called Tim around 4:30 and told him I LOVED this puppy and had to keep it. Now, I know, I know... wasn't I the one that said the next dog would be a Weimaraner pup? I know! Trust me! I know! We had to borrow a cage from Keith because my mom has our cage for her puppies. While Tim was getting the cage from next door, a neighbor saw the puppy. He knew where it belonged. We knew this was a possibility and we had told Savannah if we found the owner - we would have to give it back. Oh, the tears. I actually wasn't there. I was at Walmart. Tim called me. My heart sank. I literally wanted to leave my cart and go home. I couldn't believe how attached to the puppy I was. I thought about that puppy all week. It was nuts. We decided to get Savannah a small puppy. She wants a "lap dog". The thing is that even mixed breeds are really expensive for lap dogs. I mean they are nuts! We looked around over the weekend, but we didn't find anything. Well, we found lots of cute puppies, but the cost is just too much for us right now. We are on the list at the animal shelter. That brings us to yesterday. Savannah put Woofie out back. When she went to let her in - who was waiting for her? The puppy and she had brought her momma dog with her! It was so funny. They had tags with their address and phone number this time. I was proud of my girl. She got the leash and walked them over. Oh, what a cute face this puppy has though. I can't stop thinking of it.

I am back...

My laptop is finally fixed! WooHoo! I have so many things to blog about and not enough hours in the day. I do have new motivation though. I want to try to blog daily or at least every other day. Then I plan to print my blog out and mail it off to Timmy. I figure he will get pictures and details of what is going here. Of course, my mind is scattered as to what to write about first. Obviously, there was Timmy leaving. I actually did pretty well. I didn't cry at all the first week. I think because Jessica was here and I was really busy taking the kids to VBS. The next week was harder though. I did really well until this past Friday. Then I started to go downhill and miss him a whole lot. I have been cleaning up his room. Did somebody not tell my son that if you plan to move out for 4 years, you may want to take your laundry out of the dryer? Then Tim was missing him. He wrote him a sweet letter that just made me cry. I mailed it off to Timmy, yesterday.

Besides all of this, we started school last week. I am trying to get the groove, but it is going to take some time. I have lots of plans this year and it includes other people. That means I have to be organized and on top of things. I need some super, master schedule on my dining room wall that tells me what the heck I am supposed to be doing and when. We are off to the Lake Murray Beach this afternoon for a homeschool day. I am going to leave you with some pictures we took before Timmy left. I will be back to write all sorts of interesting things at some point.

Ramblings from Sebastian...

Sebastian has had a few funnies in the past week or so. Sometimes I just have to stop and try not to laugh at the things he comes up with.

Last week at VBS, we were singing and watching a Bible story acted out. He didn't really want to be still for all of this. He stands up and proclaims, "I'm outa here!" Oh, really? I wondered if he had a car waiting for him out front.

Next up at VBS - several times he tells me he is "about done with this" - It is hard to portray the frustration he had in writing - but I think I probably tell him "I am about done with this" at least 5 times a day. Funny how they use your words on you.

Yesterday during a potty training moment. He is sitting on the toilet trying desperately to poop. He looks up at me and says, "My butt is just retarded." How do you not laugh at that one? I apologize to anyone that is offended by the word retarded (he lives around teenagers - it is a teenager word - right?).

Finally - I threw all of his pacifiers away yesterday. I know, I know - How could he still have a paci? Believe me, I was one of those moms that mocked people with preschoolers and pacifiers. Then I had one of those kids. With my other two, the minute they gave up naps - their pacifiers were gone. Sebastian is still napping. I couldn't stand the thought of the end of naps a year ago - now I am okay with no napping. Anyway, they are gone. I was explaining to him that everyone had to grow up at some points in their life. He tells me very sternly - "I don't want to grow up! I want to go down!" That's my boy!

Laptop down and some other ramblings...

I know I have not been blogging. My laptop decided to go crazy again. I have spent 2 days backing up my pictures and documents to my ipod. I am almost done and then I can try to restore it. Meanwhile, I am left with my desktop. I hate the keyboard on here. It is bad, bad, bad. We also have been doing VBS each night. Oh my goodness, that wears me out! Sebastian is trying to learn social skills though. I keep telling myself it is worth the frustration. My sister-in-law - Jessica - is here. I have been hanging out with her. And... since Timmy left on Sunday - my niece, Tabi, came to visit. I will post pictures of Timmy's parties and other stuff when I get my laptop back to normal. (Pray we don't need to buy a new one!) Check back for an update soon!