What Happens While I Am Out

I have major cleaning to do today. Like I mentioned earlier, I was away at a doctor's appointment yesterday for half of the day. My husband did a spectacular job of feeding everyone, taking them on a walk, playing, making sure everyone was safe, etc. However, as I started to tackle my bathroom this morning, I noticed a dirty sink. I said, oh, someone must have rinsed something from the yard in the sink.




I went to wipe the grass out of my sink, when I realized it wasn't coming out. Yes, the grass is growing FROM my sink. So far the story has been that someone rinsed a bowl of mine that had some of my wheat berries, and the berries went down the sink, and I guess it has since sprouted.

I can't even imagine what will be growing out of my house when I have the surgery. AHHHH!!

A Great Resource

I wanted to share a wonderful resource for making some of the Bible stories come alive for your children. I have had my felt Bible set for a little less than nine years. My children really love not only learning from them, but playing with them as well. You can pretty much re-create any story you want from the Bible. Even though Kayla is already 10, she still enjoys setting up the stories and scenes. Kayla started playing with our set when she was very little, and she even at that young age, she "got it." They sell all sorts of backgrounds, a water scene, a desert one, etc. I know, I sound like a commercial. lol The felts have small numbers one them, and it came with a large book that has all the Bible stories listed, with the numbers that you would need to re-create the scene in the book. All the felts are stored on pages, with the corresponding numbered outline to place it in. It makes it a breeze when you are looking for a specific character, etc.

During Family Worship

We also have a play set that they can play with, it's more cartoony(;0) ) looking. Like the ark you see on the felt board. The children like to play with these just for fun, aside from worship.This kept them busy for a bit yesterday while I recovered from my ear appointment yesterday. Look at that, the giraffes are flying. lol

Prayer Request Box

I moved my little cbox over to the right side, and I titled it Prayer Request Box. My post earlier this week got me thinking about the things I post about, and how I need to pray before I post, etc. I started thinking about prayer, and I thought it would be nice to see if anyone needed prayer for anything. I put my prayer request the same day I changed the box. So if anyone needs prayer for something, please feel free to add it to the box. If it is a private request, you can just email me, and my beloved and I will pray for you during our evening prayer time. With that said, I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday, and it doesn't look too good. They will be putting a tube in my ear next Wed., another 21 days on antibiotics, and then I have to have a MAJOR surgery done, probably for August. The major surgery consists of cutting an opening behind my ear and drilling a hole in my ear drum to clean out the "junk"(dr.'s words, not mine) in there. Then they need to graft skin and reconstruct my ear drum, which has a hole in it, and is pushed in. All of this from an untreated ear infection which I didn't even know I had. URGH!! So for all you that pray, if you can please keep me in prayer, I would really appreciate it. And don't forget to add anything that is weighing on your heart over in the prayer box. ;0) It doesn't matter how small.

My Inspirational Morning

As some of you may know, I teach the cradle roll Sabbath school class at my church. Now with a new month, we are starting a new lesson. I needed to go buy some poster paint and brown postal paper, being that my beloved offered to help draw an indoor tabernacle scene(the lesson is on Samuel) for me. I didn't want to miss family worship this morning, and I knew I had washed all of my beloved work shirts, and I needed to iron one. So I left here at 5:30 this morning to go to Walmart, and figured I'd be home for family worship at 7:00. It was so nice and quiet on the road. It was still dark, and the roads were pretty much empty. I put on one of my CD's and the song that you are hearing now, came on. If you muted it, shame on you. lol ;0) I normally don't put the music to play automatically, but I wanted to share this song with you. As I was driving, I started listening to the words, and of course, I started crying. Now it's not a mushy song, but the words are great. I just started to ponder how He really is there when EVERYTHING happens. He was there when my beloved and I met (by the way, he promised to finish the story today). He was there when Britney was vaccinated that day. He is there ALWAYS. And like the song says, He was the power in David's swing, and the calm in Abraham, etc. (He is the patience behind Shereen, because I've had a rough one today, lol) We really do need to listen to Him, even when it doesn't make sense. I'm sure it didn't make sense to Abraham to sacrifice his son, but he was going to obey. Then I got to the part where it says, "hanging blameless on the cross" and then the tears really started flowing. He was BLAMELESS. I don't know about you, but for me, if someone accuses me of something, I am going to pipe up quickly. He stood quiet, He didn't try defending Himself. He just hung there, blameless, for US. What a wonderful, loving Father we have. The song was finishing just as I got to Walmart. What a sight I must have been. I didn't brush my hair this morning, as not to walk up my beloved. I sort of just patted it down a bit, lol, and then my eyes were all read and puffy. I sure didn't look like a princess, but I know I am, because my Father is a King.
(Here are the words to the song, so you can read it while you listen. I really hope you have a few minutes to listen to it in its entirety. Just hit play again from the beginning.) (I took the song off on 6/30, as I know it is a little annoying to have a song playing everytime you visit. lol. If you want to hear it, let me know, and I will send it to you)
I wonder how it must have felt
When David stood to face Goliath on a hill
I imagine that he shook with all his might
Until You took his hand, and held on tight

'Cause You were there, You were there
In the midst of danger's snare
You were there, You were there always
You were there when the hardest fight
Seemed so out of reach
Oh, You were there, You were always there
You were always there

So there he stood upon that hill
Abraham with knife in hand was poised to kill
But God in all his sovereignty had bigger plans
And just in time, You brought a lamb

'Cause You were there,
You were there
In the midst of the unclear
You were there, you were there always
You were there when obedience
Seemed to not make sense
You were there, You were always there
You were always there

So haven't I learned that my ways
Aren't as high as Yours are
And You alone keep the universe
From crumbling into dust
You are God and though we would
Not have understood You
There You were
Hanging blameless on a cross
You would rather die than leave us in the dark
Every moment, every planned coincidence
Just all makes sense
With Your last breath

You were there, You were there
During history's darkest hour
You were there, You were there always
You were the Victor and the King
You were the power in David's swing
You were the calm in Abraham
You are the God who understands
You are the strength when we have none
You are the living, Holy one
You were, You are and You will always be
the Risen Lamb of God

You were, You are and You will always be
The Risen Lamb of God

Tackle-It-Tuesday

These pictures are embarassing, but here it goes. This is a before of one of my bathroom drawers.

This is the after. Not the greatest, but it looks better. I love Micah and Elijah's little blue and yellow razors, to "shave" with my beloved in the morning.


One of the drawers in my kitchen. This one has been bugging me for a while.


Here is the after.

For more Tackle It Tuesday projects visit Janice at 5 minutes for mom.

Two-Fold Post

I just wanted to share how we made Tori's Biscuits . I must say they came out excellent. Tori will probably gasp here, as I probably lost the whole southern appeal the biscuits had, but I just exchanged the soy milk for the regular milk, I used natural sugar cane for the regular sugar, and I used aluminum free baking powder (which is tricky, because it is moisture activated instead of heat activated. So once you add liquid, you have to hurry and get them in the oven.) I forgot about that, so they came out a little flater than they should have. Next time I will add the baking powder right at the end and form them quickly. They came out very delicious. I think it's a definite keeper in our home. I will try to make them a day ahead for Sabbath morning breakfast. I will let you know if they keep well overnight. Kayla pretty much made the biscuits. They were easy enough for her to follow without any problems.
And then the second thing I wanted to add, do you see she has a dress on. YAY!! I didn't ask her. It is very scary what a huge influence we have on our children without saying one word. I guess the girls seeing me in dresses/skirts for the last couple of weeks, has made an impact on them. Britney had on a dress as well. It was an eye opening experience, and I realize I need to walk even closer to the Lord. I know for Father's Day in church they sang a song and one of the lines was, "I want to be just like You(Jesus), because he wants to be just like me....." That song spoke true to me today. p.s. Kayla hates wearing her sneakers, but she has some orthotics that she has to wear every day, except for church, in her sneakers. lol

I just wanted to start sharing a week of meals. We are vegetarian/vegan, and sometimes people ask, well what DO you eat. lol I know my beloved gets made fun of all the time at work. They have made statements saying they will leave him outside the restaurant to graze on the grass while they go inside to eat a steak. ;0) Today we had pasta and a vegetarian chicken cream sauce with some carrots, some of Tori's Biscuits and some vegetarian chik patties. We normally have some pecan oat patties (sounds weird, I know, lol) but since we made homemade biscuits, I ran short on time to make the patties.

Midlife Blog Crisis

Have you ever wondered why you blog? I've been questioning myself for the last day. Do I blog for myself or for others? Am I blogging about things other people want to read, or am I blogging about what I want to blog about; whether people read it or not; whether they leave a comment or not. In the grand scheme of things, am I helping anyone? Am I making them feel bad by posting my accomplishments? Am I bringing anyone closer to the Lord by my posts? Do they see Jesus in me? I shared this with my beloved last night, and he told me he loved the fact that I self analyse myself. Not the answer I was looking for. lol ;0) I was debating whether to stop blogging. But this morning he said, "Shereen, as long as you don't pretend to be something or someone you're not, which you don't do, then I think you should keep blogging." He said, "but remember, you don't get paid for this. This isn't a newspaper. You don't have a column to write for. If you don't want to write for a day or two, fine." And it got me thinking. He is right. I don't want to be obessesed with my stat counter any more or my comments. If only one person comments, or no one comments, so be it. I wrote the post for myself. Does that make sense? If I added up all the time I spend blogging, (whether me posting or reading others' posts) will I be ashamed of myself? When I get on my knees at night to pray, can I tell the Lord I used my time wisely today. Sorry, I know I'm rambling, and I don't know exactly where I am going with this, BUT this is what I wanted to post about. lol ;0)

A Beautiful Apron

I found one of the prettiest aprons I have ever seen yesterday on one of my favorite sites called Pattern Review For those of you that like to sew, it has reviews written by people of different patterns, sewing machines, notions, sergers, etc.. So if you are going to sew a pattern, and you want to see if it was difficult to sew, or any tips on that paticular pattern, etc. you can check. Anyway, for those of you that like to drool over aprons like I do, just look under my link there on the right under Favorite/Interesting Articles. Make sure to look at the front and back view. It was done by Pattie B over on Pattern Review. I think it is so elegant. She picked such pretty fabric.

Rainy Day, No Problem?

We just bring the game inside. It helps that we are in the process of redecorating and have practically no furniture . We're hoping to find some good sales on July 4th. I just wanted to share some of the craziness that happens in our house on a daily basis.

Amazing Bible Fact

This is from Amazing Facts. The link is in my links section. Tori has a great post on Bible facts, and I just wanted to add this one, which I found during my reading time this Sabbath. Do you think Jacob realized it when he was naming his sons? Do you think the Lord just impressed him with the name of his children? Maybe I should have prayed a little more before I named my children. lol ;0)

Here are the names of the tribes listed for the 144,000, in the order in which Revelation 7 lists them, and their corresponding Hebrew meanings as found in Scripture:
1. Judah means “I will praise the Lord”
2. Ruben means “He has looked on me”
3. Gad means “Given good fortune”
4. Asher means “Happy am I”
5. Naphtali means “My wrestling”
6. Manasseh means “Making me to forget”
7. Simeon means “God hears me”
8. Levi means “Joined to me”
9. Issachar means “Purchased Me”
10. Zebulun means “Dwelling”
11. Joseph means “Will add to me”
12. Benjamin means “Son of His right hand”

Now here is the amazing part. Notice what happens when you line up these meanings of the names according to the way they appear as listed in Revelation. It forms a very remarkable statement declaring how God saves the church as His bride!
“I will praise the Lord for he has looked on me and granted good fortune. I am happy because my wrestling, God is making me to forget. God hears me and is joined to me. He has purchased me a dwelling and will add to me, the Son of His right hand.” (As in Scripture, the words in italics are supplied for flow of thought.)
These names presented in this order describe a brief story summarizing the church’s struggle, redemption, victory, and ultimate marriage to the Lamb. It seems evident that this is a special message of encouragement for those who are in the Church, believers in Christ, and not necessarily just Jews.

More of God's Creations

More of God's creatures. I think these are so pretty. We have an oleander
bush in the front of our home. It attracts these oleander moths. This is our second year where they come to lay eggs on our bush. The little eggs turn into these bright orange catepillars. The caterpillars pretty much just chomp away on the leaves of the bush and they grow and grow. (We don't mind. The leaves eventually all grow back.) Eventually they leave the bush and climb up the side of our house where they make a little cocoons and then obviously turn into moths. This moth laid her eggs so neatly in little rows. I just stay in awe. We really do serve a God of order. Let all things be done decently and in order. 1Cor.14:40 With that being said, I have a home to make decent and orderly. P.S. I will see if I can get a picture of the orange catepillars.

Beautiful!!

I know a lot of you don't like spiders, but I thought these were just too pretty not to share. We like all sort of creatures at our house, as long as they won't harm us. I see this, and I just think of how the Lord created these creatures with the instinct to make their spectacular homes. p.s. I will answer some questions in my comment box in a few minutes. Please enlarge to grasp the beauty.

Pictures of Britney

This is Britney when she was born.


Before the seizures. She was such a happy baby before they started.

This was the day she had her appointment. It was after these pictures were taken that she got the vaccine.
We later found out the seizures were on the side of brain that controls speech. So learning to speak for Britney was a big deal at our house. We had a running list of the words she learned. So when she hit 100 words we threw her a 100 word list party, and then at 300 we did another one. The first pic is her 100 words, and the second her 300 words.
This is the day we found out her EEG came back normal, and she no longer had any spikes coming up on her EEG. My beloved brought home some flowers for us. Britney loved smelling them.

My Vaccine Injured Daughter

Hi. Mrs. B said she would like to hear about my daughter and her vaccine injury. I’m sharing because I hope that this information will be able to help someone else out, so you don’t have to go through what I went through. My second daughter, Britney was born without any complications. She was born naturally with no pain medications. I exclusively breastfed her for the first 6 months before introducing any solids. She was developing completely normal. I remember when she started to coo, and I thought wow, she’s doing that right on target with when all those baby books say she should. She was grasping her rattle right on target, etc. She was reaching all those developmental milestones that I, as a mother, always looked for. Then one day I noticed she just started screaming, and I tried putting her to the breast to drink, and she wouldn’t. I found that strange, because she was pretty plump, and loved to drink. She just screamed for a few minutes, and then immediately went to sleep. I found it weird, but didn’t put too much into it. I figured maybe she was just really tired. This happened one or two more times. Then one day I was heating up some food for her, and I noticed her head bobbed forward. I thought, “oh, poor thing, she’s really sleepy. Look at that, she’s dozing off in my arms.” That’s exactly what it felt like. I wasn’t looking at her face when it happened, I just felt her head bop forward while I was turning her food. And sure enough, she fell asleep within minutes. I thought how funny, she normally falls asleep while nursing ( I know, bad habit, lol) Then a couple of days later I had her in her chair while I was feeding her, and I noticed it looked like she shrugged her shoulders up and squinted her eyes. I told my beloved, look she doing something sort of weird. At that point for some reason, even though I had never seen or heard of seizures like this, maybe a prompting of the Holy Spirit, I thought, maybe this is a seizure. My beloved knew what a nervous Nelly I was, and told me no, that’s not a seizure. That was a Friday. On Sabbath we went to church, and while in church she started doing it again. We had a member of our church who was a really good friend of ours who was/is a pediatrician. My beloved called him into the mother’s room, and he saw her, and instantly said, we’ll talk later. I guess he didn’t want to cause a big commotion. He said for us to pass by his house later on after lunch. So when we got to his house, he had a few books (medical books) out, and he started reading us some information. And sure enough they were seizures. I’ll skip around now, because I didn’t realize how long this was getting. He wrote me a letter for me to take to her pediatrician. And then the slew of doctor’s appointments started. Overnight stays at the hospital for video EEG’s. Not once was it mentioned to me that it might have been connected to a vaccine. It got to the point where she was having several of these “infantile spasms” daily. Yes, she had numerous seizures every day for 16 long agonizing months. She was on 18 pills a day at one point. Nothing would stop those seizures. I thank God that during this time she never regressed developmentally, but she became pretty stagnant. She always did everything at the end of the normal period, according to those books(which I no longer look at to check developmental milestones, lol ;0) She does things at her pace. She learned to sit at 8 months, crawl at 11 months, walk at 15 months etc. She had to start physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. The place where supplied the therapy wanted me to put her into their school. They made it sound so nice, how the bus would pick her up and bring her home, etc. I couldn’t stand to think that my tiny baby would be away from me all day long. I told them no thank, that I would stick to the regular therapy visits in my home. They weren’t too happy. I later found out that they get a hefty check for special needs children, and that’s why they were pushing for it. I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, but it felt right. When she was about 1 ½, a friend of a friend mentioned how they knew someone’s son who had seizures and they were giving them some natural juice called noni juice, and it took it them away. At that point we were so desperate, and if it was natural, it wouldn’t hurt. I started giving it to her, and she went a couple of weeks seizure free, and then they returned. I prayerfully kept giving it to her, and I believe that is the medium the LORD used to heal my little girl. Feb. 1st she made 6 years seizure free. She is still taking the Noni juice. It’s a natural juice that people call miracle juice, because it has helped people with all sorts of ailments. It’s just a fruit that grows in Tahiti, and it’s made into a juice. The lady whom I purchased the juice from mentioned to me something about vaccines causing seizures. I thought she was just one of those natural health nut people(which I am now one of, lol). And didn’t think too much about it. But it sort of kept bugging me. And I realized that Britney’s doctors never asked me to vaccinate her again. She hadn’t received a vaccination since the seizures. When we moved to Florida, I had to find a new neurologist. We found this 70 something year old doctor, who was on his way out the door to retirement. And as he was getting the background information, I mentioned something to the effect of how I thought it was the vaccine, just to see his reaction, and he said, oh yeah, those vaccines cause all sort of things, seizures being one of them. URGH!! FINALLY. I had a doctor admit it. Then one day I was watching some Christian program, and this lady was talking about her granddaughter, and this is what she mentioned. *There are batch numbers to these vaccines. If you have a doctor’s appointment for your child to get vaccinated, call the doctor’s office a few hours ahead of time and ask for the lot or batch number of the vaccine they are going to use. You can then call 1-800-909-SHOT, and give them the lot or batch number, and they will check it against their records and see if any other children or people have had a reaction to that specific lot or batch of vaccines. If they say yes, unfortunately, you will have to reschedule your doctor’s appointment, and some other child will get that vaccine. You have to wait until the next batch of vaccines are opened, and try again.* That hit me like a ton of bricks. Sure enough I looked into Britney’s medical records, and called the vaccine hotline, and she was given what was considered to be a hot batch. Meaning other children had had reactions to it. I looked at the date she was given the vaccine, and it was within 24 hours that she started having seizures. I remember the date clearly, because we had a photographer at our house taking pictures of the girls, and I was rushing, because Britney had her vaccine appointment that day. I can’t look at those pictures now without instantly thinking about it.
Britney now is playing the catch up game. We are trying to make up for the 16 months that she lost due to those seizures. She didn’t respond well to outside therapy. I thought well, since I homeschool Kayla, why can’t I hometherapy Britney. Sure enough I found these wonderful people who evaluate her and then give me a program to do with her. She has flourished, with me doing the therapy. She is reading above grade level right now. She still has lots of issues to deal with. She has very weak muscle tone in her fingers; so weak that it’s hard for her to write, etc. We play button tug of war, etc. to strengthen those fingers. The therapy people I use are in my links section under I Can Do. Sorry for making this so long. My sons have never been vaccinated. I’m not telling you to not vaccinate your children, but if you are, please due what I wrote above in red. Find out that batch number before hand. It’s well worth it. I will try to add some pictures of her when I get a chance. But right now I have a kitchen to go clean up. ;0)

Part 2 Beloved's Version of When We Met

*Beloved just sent me this from work. He said the 3rd and final part will be done tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I will get a picture of him typing it up, so you all don't think I'm making this up. lol ;0)*
Needless to say I was shocked. Something like that had never happened before. As my bus stop approached, I went to the stairs and departed. I wanted to see her one last time before the bus pulled away (and to see if she was looking in my direction) so I decided to casually glance up and look in her direction. And, much to my delight, she was looking. Much to my chagrin, I gave her a not so nice look in return.
Unfortunately , NY 16 years ago was a little different than it is now. So as a young teenage male, it was common to walk around with a half scowl on your face. When I got off the bus, I put this face on without realizing it. All I could think of was, great, I can't speak to her, and now she thinks I want to steal her purse. Way to go, Casanova!
I was not Christian at the time, but was raised by good Catholic parents. I remember walking the one block home from the bus stop and thinking, I have got to pray. I don't know why I felt that way, but, I did. I got home, got on my knees and recited the Our Father along with this simple request, "God, if you don't do anything for me the rest of my life, let me marry that girl on the bus." I know, it probably sounds pretty desperate to you all. I had never done anything like that before (nor since, that would be pretty bad) but it was a strange feeling that was impressed upon me.
I now had a bigger problem, in order to see this young lady again, I would have to hang around the school in order to catch the same buses and try to meet up with her again. What I did not know at the time, was that my lovely wife had basically run out of the school that afternoon, caught the first train, then the first bus on her way home. So where I was waiting around, my wife was running her own version of the 100 yard dash to the subway station.
So I made up my mind right then and there that I was going to get this young lady. Sure enough I saw her again, and decided to approach her. Once again, I had brain to tongue paralysis. Could not say a word. And this time it was worse. She was/is the only person to ever have this effect on me. This went on for a span of 3 months. On top of this, I was feeling compelled to pray every time I got home. By the way, some would say my prayers were getting more and more powerful, others would say they were getting more and more pathetic. At the end of the first month my prayer probably sounded something like this, "God, just get the first word out, I will do the rest." By the end of the second month it was probably like, "God, just have her smile in my direction, let us bump into each other or something, and I can take it from there." By month 3, I am sure it was something like, "God, let me catch on fire and have her spit in my direction, I got it from there." Well the Bible does say, "Pray without ceasing.", not so sure my method of prayer was a fulfillment of that verse.
Now we get to the all important date, January 5th, 1990. I truly could not take it anymore. As I mentioned before, I went to Vocational High School. Vocational is another way of saying, This school has absolutely no females within a 500 yard radius. The good thing about this, is that the students in the school knew every All Girl school within a 60 mile radius, and the female students could be identified by any member of our school by the pattern of the skirts, colors, pleats, local mass transit, lunch schedules, etc., etc.
I remember asking the guys at the school what All Girl Catholic / Private school wore burgundy socks, grey skirts with a few pleats and blue stripes going across and that you needed to take the #2 or #5 train uptown to get to was, and after some internal discussion with the "Council" it was determined to be a school right off of Williamsbridge Road in the Bronx. I was also fortunate because a fellow student agreed to be my "wing man" in order to speak with my future wife's friend who was always with her on the bus.
To Be Cont.

No Television In Our Home

I didn't want to consume Mrs. R comment box with my long reply, so I figured it would be easier to do it here. I just wanted to share how the TV, or lack thereof has affected our house. We(my beloved and I) had in the past tried cutting out the TV, but I think we did it in "self," rather than giving it to the Lord and asking Him to help us. Even though the TV was off, in our hearts, we wanted it on. Does that make sense? It wasn't until my beloved mentioned something about how when we are watching TV, we are pretty much consenting to their actions. Even though they aren't real, they are actors, but if we are watching someone commit adultery or whatever sin, we are consenting to it. We are taking part in it. Once we thought of it like that, it helped out tremendously. I remember we also went through a period of thinking okay, we will only watch nature type shows like from Animal Planet, etc., but even with that, you can overdue it. There were better things that we could have been doing. I believe we will be held accountable with what we did with our time. (That goes for the computer as well) My children go to sleep relatively early, around 7:30 (now a little later in the summer. lol My beloved said he doesn't know how, but it has to be some form of abuse somewhere. They fall asleep within 5 min. so I know they need to be in bed at that time) and since they are bed, my beloved and I have a decent amound of alone time in the evenings. It is so nice not to have the TV involved in "our" time. We just decided it was best if we stopped watching it all together. The house really does seem quiet now. I went to someone's house not to long ago that had the TV on. It wasn't showing anything bad, but it just seemed like noise. And the images just seemed so fast paced. I guess my eyes and ears had grown accustomed to no TV. Sorry it this was all scattered, I'm trying to do a few things at once. ;0)

I Forgot

My beloved will probably write part 2 of how we met tonight. He had a big conference call he had to prepare for, for work.

My Household Binder

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Here is the front cover of my binder. I just decorated it with some eyelet ribbon, and I weaved a thin little piece of beige ribbon in between the holes in the eyelet. Then I used some fabric that matched the beige ribbon in the back. I copied a Proverbs 31 and just cut it out.

When I open the binder I have a picture of my family on the left, to remind myself why I do what I do. ;0) And on the right I have my bill paying items.

I have my calculator, behind the calculator I have a clear case with pens, pencils, stamps, etc. Then behind that case, I have another case that has my checkbooks and any receipts that are waiting to be entered into the bank ledger or into my grocery list price sheet that I am filling out as I bring home receipts. I would like to be able to know how much my grocery bill will be before I go buy the items.

Then I have my monthly calendar that I can quickly jot down any appointments or special dates I need to remember.

I have a little file thingy that holds any letters, cards, poems, or notes of encouragement that my beloved writes me concerning the household. Any regular love letters, etc., I keep in a cute box I have. But the household ones I keep here, that keeps me motivated alot. ;0)

Okay, now.....deep breath. I had a hard time trying to figure out how exactly to set this part up. In the beginning I had all my sections filled out, a separate tab for phone calls that needed to be made, bills to pay, letters to write, etc. But then I realized that it would be a pain to go to each section every day to see if I needed to do something that day. SO...I decided to do it this way. I have a monthly tab, ie. June, and then I have the days of the week behind it. As I finish with one week, I move those numbers to the back, awaiting their turn for July. ;0) Behind the numbered days I have specific pages. For example, behind Sunday the
18th, I have a menu sheet. Those are the days I fill out my menu for the week, and I make out my grocery list. Any calls that I need to make or emails to write go behind the specific numbered date for that week. I also have a sheet to properly prepare for the Sabbath. Like what our plans after church are, etc. I think I have a picture of that coming up.

Here is an example of our menu for the week. We go by the principle of eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a pauper. We don't like to eat a heavy dinner and have our stomach and digestive system working hard all night on it. That tends to make you sluggish in the morning, when your body has been working on food that you have eaten late in the day. This is just a little blurb to remind me. I normally don't write all the fruits or veggies with eat with the meal, but I think I am going to start doing that, so that we don't waste any excess fruits or veggies.

Here is the Sabbath Planner I mentioned.

Some fun Sabbath Ideas to keep our minds on the Lord.


Here are some of the chorecards that I use for the childrens' chorepacks.

Pretty self explanatory. I did this just in case my computer crashes, or something happens to me and my husband needs some of this information.

A bank ledger I use. This is great, being that my beloved is always taking out customers to lunch or dinner for work, which I have to make sure we get reimebursed for from his job. In this section I have our budget information, etc.

This is where I keep track of school for Kayla and therapy for Britney.

Projects I want to do whenever I have some spare time. What a joke. lol ;0)

Here I keep anything really important that needs to be filed, or addresses etc.

I hope you enjoyed it, and that it might give you some ideas in creating one for yourself. It really is a huge help to have everything in one spot. I would like to print up some verses on some of my dividers, but all in due time.

Through The Years

My Beloved and I

I have to download the driver for my scanner. This was the only old picture I had on my computer. We were 17 here, at a school dance at my school.

My Beloved's Version

*You might want to read the previous post to see why my beloved is posting. ;0)
For all of you ladies who visit my “wif’s” blog, thank you. That’s right, she calls me her Beloved and my wonderful nickname for her is “my wif”. I used to call her “Chilli” way back when, but right around the birth of our 1st little blessing, the doctor in charge messed that up for me (a story for another day). Before I share this story with you all, I wanted to point out that my wife does not call me her “Beloved” at home, but, she does call me “Babe”. I cannot remember the last time I heard my given name come out of her lovely mouth. If I had to pick a time, I would say it was probably around 16 years ago, in New York, which is where this story starts.
Around September / October 1989 a young man who attended Alfred E Smith Vocational High School in the heart of the South Bronx in New York was delayed in getting out of school. This is interesting in itself, as anyone who knows him would testify that attending all of his classes in one day was a small miracle. Staying after hours was definitely out of the question. On this particular dreary day, I remember how grey the skies were, how rainy and misty it was, how dirty the streets were, and I remember really not looking at all forward to the trip home. After getting on the first of two different New York City buses (the #4 and #27 buses to be precise) to get home, the time soon came when a transfer to the second bus would be necessary to complete the journey, and then, IT happened.
I had never in my life encountered a woman so beautiful. Even now, thinking about it, I can still see her, experience IT and relive it vividly in my mind. That incredibly murky day somehow became pretty beautiful after all. I remember how the rain had messed up those long soft curls on her head, how the rain and mist had affected the makeup on her face (quite frankly, the make up was a mess) but the one thing I remember the most, is feeling passion, for the first time in my life. I now knew the one thing I wanted in life. The one and only person who I would want to spend the rest of my life with, Shereen. It is weird to say this, and you folks out there in www land don’t need to believe me, but I knew Shereen the minute I laid eyes on her. I knew what her character was like, there was a purity of character and an innocent lovely transparency to her that I had never experienced before.
I decided right then and there to go speak to her, make a casual comment, or joke, just to start conversation. As the thoughts went to the brain for verification and then traveled the short trip from the brain to lips and tongue, a strange thing happened. Nothing. That’s right folks, absolutely nothing came out. Nothing at all.
TO BE CONT.

In Seven More Days...

One week from tomorrow, Tues. the 27th, my beloved and I will make 13 years of marriage. I can honestly say it has been 13 years of sheer bliss. Through the grace of God there have been no long bumpy roads. It really has been a wonderful journey thus far. I am looking forward to many more. In honor of our anniversary, I would like to share how my beloved and I first met. I'll see if my beloved wants to share the story. I love the way he words it. I would love for you to share how you met your beloved. If you do, please leave me a comment, so I can go check it out. It can be as detailed as you want, or not. Or you can do something anonymous if you don't want to give names, locations, etc. I would love for all those lurkers, who I know are reading, to come out and celebrate with me by sharing your love story.
My beloved typed up part one of how we met. It is pretty descriptive. I always wondered where my oldest daughter got her flare for stories. I now wonder no more. lol To tell you the truth. I was on our bed folding a mountain of laundry, and I asked him if he wanted to share our story. I think he took one look at the laundry pile, and he decided typing was much more fun. lol ;0)
Just to give you some background, we were 15 when we first laid eyes on each other, 16 when we started dating, and 19 when we got married. Yeah, yeah, I'm 32. ;0) I know...I'm getting old. I will send in my beloved's part one in a little bit. He typed it up in Word, so I need to do a copy and paste.

Looking Through His Eyes

*Scroll down for updates. I just wanted to challenge you to look through the eyes of Jesus today. As I was typing up all the things that I needed to do today, I realized I would need the grace of God in order to get it all done. I realized that I needed to die to self and allow Him to help me. I realized that I would need to look at my children and my house through the eyes of Jesus today, in order not to let self rear its ugly head. So I just wanted to share, so that if you want, you can make sure you are looking at everyone and everything around you, no matter what is on your to do list today, through the eyes of Jesus. He is so loving, so patient, so kind, and I think we all need a little more of that. Here is the list I typed up earlier. I have a house to clean, therapy to do with one daughter, school to do with a another daughter, and two little boys to play with and guide throughout the day. I will post later on(once I get half these things done) about our Father's Day and a few other things I wanted to share.

*I've updated what I have done. *Praise report. My little one, who just turned 23 months, peed in the toilet 3 times this morning. I didn't think he was ready, but he proved me wrong. *YAY* I've been changing pampers for 10 years straight. I can't wait to get rid of them.

*Last update. Overall it was a good day. I feel like I got a good amount done. I wasn't able to do some of Brit's activities with her therapy, because my batteries ran out. I will run out quickly tomorrow before my beloved leaves for work to pick some up. Thanks for the encouragement, ladies. Thankfully I held on to Jesus and was able to accomplish most of my list. I think I need to remember to look through His eyes more often. When my children did something in self today, it was a lot easier to deal with them "through the eyes of Jesus" than through my eyes. ;0)

make breakfast DONE
make lunchDONE
make dinner DONE
sweep houseDONE
mop house DONE
dust deskDONE
1 wipe down bathroom mirrors DONE
2 wipe down bathroom mirrors DONE
wipe down closet mirror DONE
wipe down computer screenDONE
wipe down TV screenDONE
wipe down patio doorDONE
-wipe down bathroom 1DONE
toiletDONE
bathtubDONE
shower
sink 1DONE
sink 2DONE
counters DONE
-wipe down bathroom 2DONE
counterDONE
sink DONE
bathtub
toilet DONE
sort laundryDONE
wash load 1DONE
dry load 1DONE
fold load 1DONE
put away load 1 DONE
wash load 2DONE
dry load 2 DONE
fold load 2DONE
put away load 2 DONE
wash load 3DONE
dry load 3DONE
fold load 3 DONE
put away load 3DONE
wash load 4DONE
dry load 4DONE
fold load 4 DONE
put away load 4DONE
wash load 5 DONE
dry load 5DONE
fold load 5DONE
put away load 5 DONE
unload dishwasherDONE
load dishwasherDONE
remove everything from counters and wipe downDONE
organize console tableDONE
organize bottom of master closetDONE
organize sewing tableDONE
wipe down plastic runner under cat litterDONE
organize laundry closetDONE
wipe down washing machineDONE
wipe down dryer DONE
BRITNEY'S THERAPY
Deep pressureDONE
trigeminal stimulationDONE
trigeminal stimulationDONE
cross crawlDONE
cross skipDONE
walk/jog with wts.
fusion and pursuits DONE
fusion and pursuits DONE
spinDONE
spinDONE
hang from monkey barsDONE
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
pleoptics
gogglesDONE
occlude left earDONE
finger/thumb opposite activitesDONE
finger/thumb opposite activitesDONE
Fine motor activitiesDONE
1000 word listDONE
1000 word listDONE
1000 word list DONE
1000 word list DONE
social storeisDONE
teach high interest booksDONE
modular mathDONE
what your 1st grader needs to know DONE
draw/print/trace/color w/ stubsDONE
draw/print/trace/color w/ stubs
pick up marble with toesDONE
pick up marble with toesDONE
read to her DONE
memory work on tape
memory work on tape
stories/books on tape
stories/books on tape
positive response on tape
positive response on tape
Samonas
auditory processing DONE
auditory processingDONE
visual processing DONE
visual processing DONE
pinhole glasses DONE
pinhole glasses DONE
SCHOOL WITH KAYLA
bibleDONE
mathDONE
healthDONE
science
natureDONE
penmanshipDONE
social studiesDONE
Polished Cornerstones
start home ec class with Kayla and Britney
read to MicahDONE
read to ElijahDONE

This Evening's Plans

In our household we observe the Sabbath. The Sabbath for us is from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. During those hours, we completely try to just focus on the Lord. That means we do no shopping, cleaning(we make our beds and pick up after ourselves, just no...hmm.. decluttering of the garage type of cleaning ;0)) etc. So I have decided to try to start a Friday night tradition. Thanks to Jennifer who mentioned having Cinnamon rolls Sunday mornings, I made some today so that we can have them as we welcome the Sabbath. My beloved has the camera. He went fishing with the boys while I picked up a little. When he returns I will see if I can take some pictures. They are very tasty. (Shhh...I snuck one as a taste tester) It's my first time making them from scratch.
Another thing we will be starting this evening, is that I purchased a wooden heart, it can really be anything you would like, and we are going to start doing anonymous good deeds for each other. So for example, let's say I am in posession of the wooden heart. It's my turn to do a good deed for someone in the family. I see that my dd went into the bathroom and hasn't made her bed yet, so I go in and quickly make it. And in it's place I leave the wooden heart. She doesn't know I did it, and now she has 24-48 hours to do something nice for someone else in the family. So the good deeds will continue to circulate around the family. Does it sound corny? LOL Oh well, I will let you know how it goes.
If anyone has any ideas of little things you do, please share. I'm talking to all those lurkers out there as well. Come on out and visit.

It's All About Perception

I was so pleased when I saw my boys pulling up chairs to help me peel the almonds for the blanched almonds I needed for breakfast this morning. I thought, oh, I need to take a picture for my blog, (because it's all about the blog, right? ;0), lol) So here are my two little angels helping mommy . AWWWW..... how cute.



But I couldn't with good conscious, not show you all this picture that happened when I turned my back. I could have left it at the above picture, and had you all think, wow, how nice, her boys help, blah, blah, blah. But this how my house really is!! lol ;0)

Garage Update

Okay, this is my lunch update. Do you notice that blue bucket and black bag? YES, they are the same ones that are under my projects section on my left hand column. The bucket full o' paper and bag o' stuff. URGH!! I told you they were a thorn on my side. I really just organized everything. At least now I can go through everything calmly and toss things. While I am going through everything, at least my beloved can work out in a semi decent garage. It's still not the way I want it, but it's getting there.

Why I'm MIA Today!!

I will be MIA most of the day. This is why. lol I told you it was bad. I'm hoping if I embarass myself by showing you my garage, I will push myself to get it done. ;0) If you don't hear from me by this evening, send the search crew, I might have gotten swallowed up by the mess. I want every part of my life to be a Christian example to those around me, and this garage isn't doing that. I think of the verse that I have printed on my binder cover, "Let all things be done decently and in order" 1Cor. 14:40 I will be in the garage praying that the Lord show me what to keep and what to toss. I don't want to just move the mess from here to into the house. Janice, this should have been my Tackle It Tuesday post, huh? lol I will be around later on to comment on some interesting posts I saw around there on your blogs, and also to give an update on some of my previous posts.

Traditions

I've recently been thinking about traditions after commenting about Christmas with Mrs. Blythe. I was wondering if anyone has any traditions that they do with their spouse, child/children, family, friend, that they would like to share. I have a few in my head that I would like to start. One of them I purchased all of the items for it, but I just need to start. Not too long ago I purchased a beautiful tea set. It's a childrens' tea set from Tea With Grace . I ordered the second one, the Rose Garden set. Mrs. Wilt would be proud. ;0) lol. I would like to get dressed up and have tea with my daughters. I thought maybe now that they are still pretty young, 8 and 10, I can have tea with them together. But as they get older, I would like to do it individually, and use that time to talk about anything that might be on their mind, that they didn't want to mention in front of the entire family, etc. I also purchased the little gloves and hats. I know that for now, it's more of a play thing, but as they get older, I want it to take on more of a traditional meaning. The reason I have been putting it off is that I was waiting for the boys to be old enough that my beloved could take them out of the house for bit and have his time with them. I just recently weaned my younger son, so I think now he can take them out for however long without it being a problem.
Another tradition, well, I don't know if I can call it a tradition, because it will only be two times, lol, but I would like to make a binder for each of my daughters when they reach *that* age of puberty. I can't even say it without hyperventilating. lol ;0) I would like to make a binder sort of like the one I have, that we can start filling it up together for when it is time for them to start a family of their own. I would like for them to fill it up with recipes that they enjoy, and that they know how to make. Like that when they get married, if the Lord sees fit, they will already have a nice stack of recipes that they know they like and know how to make. I would like to fill it up also with cleaning tips, decorating tips, etc.
As you can tell, I have some traditions that I want for my dd's, but none for my sons. I need to think of some for them. Maybe when they hit puberty I can get a tool box and start filling it up with tools as dh teaches them how to use them or something. I don't know. Is that corny? lol
So I was just wondering if anyone has any traditions that they would like to share.

For Little Ms. L

If you want to know why I am posting a picture of a spider, just check out Mrs. Blythe's blog. This is for her Little Ms. L. I hope she enjoys it, Mrs. Blythe. By the way, this spider was found by my 1 and 3 year old in my bathtub this morning, and I thought of you. They also have a fascination with spiders. lol ;0)

Rewarding My Beloved

I need to change the title to my post. It makes him sound like a dog. ;0( Anyway, not too long ago, my husband wanted to start exercising more. He has always done some form of physical exercise. He decided to look into the local gym. For those of you that don't know, I live in South Florida, also called Sodom and Gomorrah by me. URGH!! It's really bad over here. The couple of days he tried out a trial membership, he had a few ladies hit on him. One of them after staring him down, tried to start a conversation about how to use the exercise machine. He politely told her the instructions were written on there, and walked away, etc. They don't care if you are married over here. He has told them he is happily married, and they still will try giving him their number. I thank God every day for the relationship we have, in that we are super honest with each other. He came home and told me everything that happened. He thought that maybe working out at a gym wasn't the best idea. There are no, male only, gyms down here that are close by. So no too long ago they had a good sale at a sporting store down here. He bought a great piece of exercise equipment and some weights, etc. So my beloved has been working out in our garage for the last year. However, the garage isn't completely empty. We keep our cars in the driveway, but I feel like everything else is in there. We don't have a closet like to put our vacuum cleaner etc. Our bikes, roller blades, lawn mower, etc. is in there. In our community the garbage cans aren't allowed to stay outside (I told you, we live in a snooty neighborhood, lol) The trash cans need to stay in the garage until a few hours before they come to collect it. Then I have baby items that we no longer use, clothes that are waiting to be passed on to the next child, etc. I would LOVE to be able to clear up the garage to make it conducive for him to work out and have enough space to enjoy it. I feel like he deserves it, after he decided to forego all the fake boobs and great bods at the gym and work out in a hot, messy garage. Do you understand?? So, my question is, does anyone have a spotless garage, and if so, what do you do with all those odds and ends that end up in the garage? Thanks for any help.

What I Learned....

What I learned from wearing skirts/dresses last week is that I am pretty much able to do everything I normally do, without any problems. That is a good thing. The other thing I realized is that I need to make myself some aprons. I noticed that by the end of the day, I was filthy. I didn't realize how much I wipe my wet hands on myself, or a dirty little mouth rubbing up on my legs while I try to do dishes, etc. Ideally, I would like to have 5 aprons. One for each day of the "work week." My good friend Mona made me one. I noticed I used it that first day, and then in the hamper it went. Does anyone else use aprons? I figured if I use the apron, it can get dirty throughout the day, and when my beloved gets home, I can just take the apron off, and still look decent for him. Does anyone else have pictures of aprons on their blogs? I noticed Mrs. Blythe has some pictures of herself in some beautiful aprons. They are very inspiring. AHHHH!!!! There are SO many things I want to do. I just need to prioritize everything. There just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes. When I prioritize, obviously my family comes first (after the Lord ;0) ) and then there isn't much time for anything else. By family, I mean making sure they have good food to eat, clean clothes to wear, their spiritual welfare, etc. How does everyone do it? The only way I blog is by doing 2 or 3 minutes here or there, in between therapy with Britney, or school with Kayla. Maybe I need to do that with sewing and the other things, take 5 minutes here or there. But then I feel guilty sewing if I know the garage could use some decluttering, etc. HELP!!

Day 6 Dresses/skirts

This was when I got home from church and the doctor. Sorry, my hair was all over the place so I picked it up, and I forgot to take my name tag off. I know I look kind of disheveled. After teaching SS, I had to run to the doctor, both boys weren't feeling too well. On top of that, my beloved was at an elder's conference in a nearby hotel with our pastor, so I had to go by myself with all four littles. Those bags under my eyes look ridiculous. lol

When is it okay to tell a lie?

I read a post over at Lindsey's blog(Enjoy the Journey, 2nd link on the left,under blogs) the other day that got me thinking. She posted about the tooth fairy. I personally don't do the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, or Santa Clause thing. I don't do it for a few reasons, but one of them being that I don't want my children to ever come to us and say, "but Mom, you lied to us about...." So lately I have been thinking about Rahab, and how she lied to protect the two spies that went to check out the competition. Joshua 2:4. I sort of just accepted it. Not too long ago my oldest daughter asked me about it after she read that chapter. How would you ladies explain that to your children? Not only did she lie, but the Lord blessed her and saved her and her family when her city got invaded.

Day 5 of Dresses/Skirts

This was yesterday. Doesn't it look like the background is fake? ;0) It's getting easier and easier wearing skirts/dresses.

Living Frugally

Okay. I hope this isn't too much info, but here is goes. My hubby has been feeling the calling to be a pastor. He is going back to school hopefully in August. He's waiting to see if there are any openings to register. His current job will pay for it, which is a blessing. However, once he finishes and is a pastor, his salary will drastically drop. So the only way we can survive off of a pastor's salary is to completely pay our house off during the next couple of years while he is in school. Our goal is to get completely out of debt. So last night my beloved and I brainstormed in ways to reduce our monthly bills. I also hopped online this morning and found ways to reduce our electricity and water bill. I found out that 56% of my electricity bill is AC. So guess what? Yep, all the windows are open today, and the AC is off. I live in the South. It will take some getting used to, as the temps are supposed to be in the high 80's all week. It is VERY humid over here. I will be washing and drying throughout the day, so that at night we can turn the AC on a little, and the house will remain cool without the dryer running. I wish I could hang our clothes out on a line, but the community where we live is very snooty, and they don't allow it. I am going to exclusively bake our bread, no more buying it. While the bread is in the oven, I will put whatever else needs to be cooked in the oven for the week in one shot. I'm checking into what is more economical, dishwasher or handwashing. Does anyone know? I will be giving the boys haircuts. I will only be buying food that we need to make the meals on our weekly menu, no extras. What else? What else? Come on, give me your best tips!!

Family Time part 2

This was me hiding in the AC closet. lol I couldn't have anyone take a picture of me, because then they would know where I was hiding. so this was my view from inside the closet, looking through the little slats.


You might think this wasn't a good hiding spot for Micah, but...

that picture was after we pulled the pillows off of him. Do you see his clothes peeking out from the little pillow teepee he made ;0)

And here is my oldest, who you think would know better, she cheated. LOL She heard dh's footsteps and locked the door to the bathroom, as evidenced by those two rolls to the right of her. LOL

I hope you enjoyed them.

Ready Or Not, Here I Come!!!

As part of our daily schedule, we have 1/2 an hour of family time before our evening family worship time. My beloved and I are strong believers that if we want our children to pray with us, we need to play with them. We think it binds our childrens' hearts to ours when we take time to play with them. In the beginning it might have been kind of weird, and sometimes I didn't want to play with them, after having taken care of all their needs all day long. Sorry, I am being honest here. But you know what, when I finish playing with them, I realize I actually had a lot of fun. We ALL go rollerblading, we ALL go bike riding, etc. That doesn't mean my beloved and I watch them rollerblade or bikeride, it means that we ALL put our rollerblades on, or get on our bikes and do the activities with them. Now the HARD part for me is that whenever dh has to work late, is that I don't pick up the lead to play with them. We end up just doing our own individual thing, which stinks. So I am praying to continue on with family time even when dh isn't home. We are going to make an effort to make family time a priority in our family. After family worship, of course. ;0) With that said, here are some pictures of our family time today. We played hide and go seek. We played in the house because it was raining out. If you have any good family games you would like to share, please do so. I would love to hear from you.

Here is Britney looking for her dad in the shower.
Not there!!


Even our youngest, who is 1, caught on to
finding a good spot to hide.

Even in a good spot, his older brother found him.

Here is Britney in the bathtub hiding under a piece of clothing she grabbed from out of the laundry hamper. EWWWW!!!

Oh, there goes dad. Hey, what are you doing up there?? He had the best hiding spot yet.

There are some more pictures, but Blogger is giving me issues.

Getting To Know Me

I got this off of GroggyFroggy's Blog

1. FIRST NAME? Shereen
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes. My mom had a best friend when she was little, and they promised to name their first dd's after each other. I never met her though.
3. Is missing? hmmm..
4. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Monday(I think PMS, lol, I was wondering if I was holding my husband back spiritually, he assured me I wasn't. I told you, pms, lol)
5. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It's ok.
6. WHAT IS YOU FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? lol I'm vegetarian.
7. KIDS? 4 (2 girls, 2 boys)
8. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably. I hope so.
9. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Yes, but I need to use it more.
10. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes. Dh is the king of sarcasm, and some has rubbed off on me.
11. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Nope
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Froot Loops ( I know, junky)
14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I think so
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOUR ITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate Chip
17. SHOE SIZE? 7.5
18. RED OR PINK? Pink
19. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I get really quiet when I am around a lot of people. Anything over 4-6 people, and I get very shy.
20. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My husband when he goes to work every morning. Corny, I know, but true.
21. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Well, I didn't send it to anyone, but I hope to see other people fill it out
22. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? I am wearing a dark beige dress and flip flops
23. LAST THING YOU ATE? French Toast that my oldest dd made.
24. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My one year old pulling old SS lessons out of a bag.
25. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Yellow. It reminds me of morning time and the sun coming up.
26. FAVORITE SMELL? The smell of my beloved deodarant as I lay on his chest at night. Corny, I know, I know, but true. I also like the smell of Gardenias.
27. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My beloved, to let me know he got to work okay.
28. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their sincerity. Lack of drama!! lol
29. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I don't know her, but I look forward to getting to know her better through her blog. ;0)
30. FAVORITE DRINK? Tropicana Orange Juice.
31. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Don't watch any.
32. HAIR COLOR? Brown, with some grays popping through here and there.
33. EYE COLOR? Light brown
34. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Nope
35. FAVORITE FOOD? Pancakes.
36. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy endings.
38. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? I'm not, I'm wearing a dress.
40. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs, unless from hubby, then both.
42. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Don't know.
43. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Don't know.
44. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Behind the Seen, and my Bible
45. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Not using one, I think it fell behind the puter yesterday. It's a football one though.
46. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I don't watch TV. Best thing I ever did.
47. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My beloved's heart beating, at the same time I'm smelling his deodarant. lol
48. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither. I only listen to Christian music.
49. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Puerto Rico
50. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Nope. Well, I teach SS(suprisingly enough, being that I clam up around people. I feel like I am going to poop on myself while teaching, but I know the Lord wants me to teach them) So I guess I will say teaching the littles at church.
51. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? September 22nd, NY, NY

This was pretty fun, I hope you do it as well. Leave me a comment if you do, so I can go check yours out as well.

Day 4 of Dress/Skirt Only

Today my beloved got in on the picture with me before leaving to work. :0) My hair is a little messy on that first one. It's really humid out, and that's what happens when you have curly hair and you need to take the dog out ;0) It really has been pretty good dressing nicely. I have still been able to scrub tubs, sweep, pick up the yard, etc. while wearing a dress/skirt.

Day 3 in Dress/skirt

Can you tell how tired I am. lol Here I am with the youngest baby and the oldest baby in the house. You can tell Elijah wasn't feeling well. This was taken this morning, and by bedtime tonight, thankfully, he was back to himself. He was (we all were) happy to have daddy home tonight. As for my oldest baby, this is our Boxer, Butch. As you can tell, he has free reign of the house. lol Naa... this sofa is on it's way out the door, so we let him sleep on it. He is old, and his poor little body can use something soft to sleep on ALL day. ;0)

My Crocheting Adventure(or lack thereof)

(picture coming soon, blogger's fault, not mine) Yep, that's all I got to crochet last night. By the time I yapped on the phone with dh, and then a did a quick pick up of the house(no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sit to crochet seeing that the kitchen and family room needed a little sweeping) it was already 10:15. I put some music on, got my pattern out, my crochet hook, my yarn, and I started. Not even 5 minutes into it Elijah(ds1) started crying. I went into his room to comfort him, and I realized he was burning up with a fever. So I stripped all his clothes off and layed down with him. He continued to wake up EVERY 15 minutes for the next 9 hours. I found myself longing to see some form of light coming in through those blinds. I wanted morning to come quickly, so this nightmare could be over. Every time I would dose off, he would wake up. Then he finally slept uninterrupted from 7 to 9 this morning, which did me no good, because by that time the rest of my crew is up. So when I take my picture of me in a dress later on, don't look at the dark circles and bags under my half open eyes.

Tonight's Plans

My beloved is out of town tonight. He will be home tomorrow evening. I was thinking I will take a little time tonight to do some crocheting. I have been wanting to make this Bread Cloth , and now that I have some bread to go in it, maybe now is a good time to start. The only thing is, that I have beige cotton yarn, not white, but I think that it will still turn out nice. I just need something to do to take my mind off of the fact that he is not here, and that I don't have him to yap with. I have plenty of house things to do, but I figured I would take a little tiny time for myself, which I haven't done in a long time. So once the children are in bed, and the house is picked up for the night, I will start on it. Maybe I can put some nice Chrisitan music on, and crochet away. I hope to show some progress tomorrow. I don't crochet very fast, I have only been doing it for a few months. Is anyone out there working on something crafty? Mona? Come on, share your cross stitching. I know you're working on it. lol

My Dresses/Skirts Only Week

I was going to post a picture yesterday, but as you all know blogger was acting up. This week I will be trying to dress nicely for my family, and also myself. I am trying to get out of the rut of wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I always think, "oh, I'm only in the house." But to tell you the truth it has been very nice. It was nice to run out this morning to the grocer to buy a thermometer for making the bread, without having to change my clothes first. I was ready and set to go from early in the morning. So these pictures are from yesterday and today. Sorry for the funny looking expression, it was hot, muggy, and sunny out. lol URGH!! Blogger is still acting up. Pictures coming soon.

My Adventure In Breadmaking

I am so excited. Last week I ordered a crate of bread baking supplies from Marmee Dear It's the first one on the page. My crate came in yesterday. This morning I was able to get my act together and make a little time to try it out. I have a Bosch machine, which kneads it for you. However, I have had it for over 5 years, but I just couldn't find a recipe that I liked. It just never tasted right. I have been looking for a good recipe that we can use to make regular peanut butter and honey sandwiches, French toast, or cheese sandwiches. I am ECSTATIC to report that I found one. WOOHOO!! I was able to grind up the wheat berries to make some whole wheat flour, and then I followed the directions in the little book that came in the crate. I only tried two loaves, at least for starters. I made one regular 100% whole wheat, and then the other one I added a little bit of cinnamon and sugar. My family is addicted to the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl Bread, and I can happily say that this is a perfect healthy substitute. I have been trying to download some pictures, but Blogger is giving me a hard time. When it allows me, I will add some pictures. Sorry, they are out of order.

Cleaning Caddies

I just wanted to share how well this has worked out for us. For my younger daughter's birthday, back in April, I had bought her some gifts, and then just for fun(my type of fun, lol) I went to the dollar store and they had these little caddies with a handle. I filled it up with some wash cloths, little dusters, dustpans, a spray bottle, etc., and I wrapped it up. She really liked it. I bought four of everything, so that each child can have one. Like that when it is time to clean, everyone has their own set of cleaning items. And it sure came in handy this morning when my oldest dd mistaken spilled some millet which I am supposed to mail out to my friend Mona (hi Mona, don't worry, she only spilled a little, you still have an easy 5 lbs left, lol) So both boys offered to help me sweep it up with their dustpans.

Funny Fish

My hubby lately has taken a liking to fishing. About 20 feet from our backyard gate(we have a gate because of the alligators), we have a canal that leads into the Everglades, so we get a decent amount of fish in there. This weekend dh caught a large mouthed bass. And I thought this picture caught the essence of why it is called a large mouthed bass. ;0) I get such a tickle every time I see this picture. lol Sorry, I just had to share.

It's Official

I feel old. It's funny how I don't feel old when it's my birthday, I feel it more when my children have a birthday. lol Kayla turned 10 years old this Sabbath. We had a lovely time. We had a family from church invite us over. I was originally going to say we couldn't go, because it was Kayla's B-day, but then dh asked them if they would mind if we took a cake to sing Happy B-day to Kayla. It worked out perfect, because she said she hadn't thought of what to make for dessert. I made a regular cake, which we used to sing to her with, and everyone ate from,and a vegan one for us and the children. And then since I had left over batter, we then sung Happy Birthday to her again at home. We bought her some paper dolls which she really liked from the Edwardian Era, etc. We bought her paper dolls from about 4 different eras. She also enjoyed receiving some colored and black ink and a ream of paper, being that she is constantly asking me if she can print up some old fashioned pictures from In Timely Fashion She was very happy. I also bought Britney some Little House On the Praire paper dolls. They have really enjoyed playing with them. I would recommend them for any little girl. Here are some pics of us at lunch, then when we got home, and also of Brit's paper dolls.

My New Bible

I just wanted to share a little about this Bible that I recently purchased. I am so excited. For some reason I feel bad marking up my Bible. I don't like to underline things or write on the page, etc. So I was very excited when I found this looseleaf version. With this version I won't feel so bad if I write things on the pages YAY!! I would really like to underline the verses, like blue for promises, red for warnings, etc. I have to find my color codes, and then I will list them. I want to know my Bible inside and out ;0), and I think this will help me.

My Binder

I've been working on my family organization binder for the last couple of days. Here are pictures of just the cover. When I get a chance I will show detailed pictures of the tabs and sections, etc. Now I feel like it looks too nice to use. ;0) I made sections for everything that you need to run the house. My husband was telling me the other day that God forbid I die, he has no idea what the passwords to our accounts are, what our account numbers are, etc., so this got me started on this binder. I just surfed the net and got lots of great ideas. You can click on the pictures to see it up close.