May 24, 2012 Part 1

This day was preschool graduation at our church. Lamb 3 did not graduate, but they had the 2 and 3 year old class participate in graduation. Lamb 3 became very shy and cried when we walked in the door and did not want to sing with his class. The teachers planned a preschool graduation, then picnic for preschool families, then play time on the playground. It was a fun morning/lunch time.

Lamb 3 with his class but not singing

Lamb 3 didn't even want to sit with his class and watch the preschool graduates even though we were in the row behind him.

Lamb 1 and Aunt Hannah

3 Lambs in their Hawaiian shirts from Aunt Hannah with Aunt Hannah

Sissy Time

Ewe, Hannah, Ram

The "beach" cupcakes Aunt Hannah made for the picnic

Lamb 1 playing on the playground after the picnic

Lamb 2

Lamb 3

Then we went home to meet our guests which I will save for another post.

May 23, 2012

We had cabinets installed for my china on this day. One arrived with a broken door so they will reorder a new door. Hannah and I unpacked some of my china and as the Lambs would say, "my pretties" and put it in the cabinets. I am not to open the one door that is broken so there are a few things left to unpack and put in that last cabinet. Hannah talked me into giving her a small teapot from my great grandmother. She wasn't there when we packed up my grandma's house so she didn't get as many treasures so I was happy to share with her. Then she had to figure out how to pack a teapot that was over 100 years old and get it back to Hawaii! Photos of the new cabinets to be posted after the new door is installed.

After lunch Hannah and the Lambs and I ran a few errands and "needed" to stop at TCBY for treats. Ram made chili for supper. After supper Ram was nice enough to put the Lambs to bed so Hannah and I could go shopping.

We went to Hobby Lobby and got a few items before they closed and decided to go back again another day as we didn't have enough time. We went to Kohl's to go clothes shopping for Ewe, especially to get jeans and ended up getting a dress and a sweater for Ewe. I don't think I was shopping for anything for myself for a year-last May was the last time I went shopping besides online shopping. It was success to find a dress! I'll have to get jeans another day. Then we browsed Ross as I had never been in there and she thought perhaps there would be another dress I would like.

Then we tried to get coffee but all the coffee shops close really early here and we laughed as we drove around town trying different coffee shops and never got coffee. We went home and got some food ready for our guests for the next day. The next day was a packed day so I will save it for another post.

May 21-22, 2012

My sister Hannah was here for the week. We spent much of these two days getting organized-unpacking what she mailed to us so she didn't have to pay the extra baggage fee when flying, wrapping Lamb 2's birthday presents, having her decide what of the things I set aside for her that she wanted (craft supplies, things from my grandma, etc. that I found when I was unpacking from moving).
On Monday Hannah and I planned to go to lunch, but the place we had planned to go was closed on Mondays. We switched our plans and decided that she would babysit while Ram and Ewe went out to lunch. We picked up a pizza for the Lambs and Aunt Hannah and then we went here. We had lobster bisque, the salad bar, and sandwiches. We each decided to save half our sandwich and have another bowl of lobster bisque for dessert. The salad bar was not the typical salad bar-instead of different lettuces and veggies as toppings, it had salads like potato salad, shrimp, blackberries, strawberries, etc. I should have saved room and had the salad bar as dessert. There were several soups to choose from but we both chose lobster bisque. We decided to get a babysitter again and go back for lunch another time. :)
While we were gone Aunt Hannah was a good aunt and did paper mache and other crafts with the Lambs.
After lunch Ram and Ewe made a trip to Home Depot for supplies to put up shelves in the playroom closet. That evening we put them up and organized the games and puzzles. The whole area of the playroom looks a lot better.
Hannah and the Lambs and Ewe walked to the park and also had snowcones there. Hannah said they weren't as good as Hawaii snowcones, but we enjoyed the treat.

Lamb 3 had his last preschool class before summer break on Tuesday. Hannah missed him while he was gone that morning! Ram took the Lambs out for pizza and Hannah and Ewe went out for lunch. Today our lunch place was open.

We had Monte Cristo appetizer, artichoke soup, shared a piece of quiche, and then shared a piece of yummy dessert that I don't know the name but was full of chocolate. Hannah couldn't even finish her dessert and that says something! If I were to go again, I would have everything again but skip the quiche. We had a great "sissy time". We were enjoying our food and neither of us remembered to take photos of inside. Afterwards we went to a few thrift stores and came home with a few treasures and did a lot of window shopping. Hannah couldn't believe I hadn't been in any thrift stores since we moved here-I needed a thrift store shopping buddy!
Hannah made us a yummy Italian soup for supper.

May 19-20, 2012

I am behind on blogging so I decided to do a few days at a time. Last Saturday our church preschool had a garage sale. Here is one load of stuff I took after moving.

We also took a bunch to Goodwill that I didn't think was nice enough for the garage sale. I saved some stuff for my sister. We cleared out a big area of our garage getting rid of all of this. We still can't fit our second car in the garage, but we made some progress on that.
I was at the garage sale for the whole sale 8-2 plus clean up. A lot of the items that I took sold. It was nice to see them go to new homes where they will be appreciated. The garage sale made about $300. There were no big priced items so that was a lot of quarter and dime priced items. I got sunburned and I got my exercise that day during clean up. We each took a little home to donate so a little ended up back in my garage to be delivered another day. The rest stayed at church for another garage sale in the fall.

Sunday we went to early church. I took the Lambs to their last Sunday School before summer break. Then I went to the airport to pick up my sister. The last time we saw her was before she went to South Korea to teach English, in September 2010. I brought her back to church and the Lambs weren't even excited to see her. We went home for lunch and to get food for Ram while he was at second service. Then we went back to church for a long Voter's meeting. I was so glad my sister was there to babysit the Lambs while they played on the playground. The meeting was a good meeting, but there was just a lot to discuss.
Then we went home and changed clothes and headed to an event in downtown Boise. As it was Museum Day, the museums all go to one site and have activities for the kids and tell what/where their museum is. Here are some pictures from the afternoon:

This was the first time Lamb 1 or 2 ever had face painting. They have had lots of opportunities while we lived in MN, but there were either long lines or they just weren't interested. The lines were not long here and they enjoyed this.
There were other activities that I didn't take photos. It was nice to have Aunt Hannah to help too. She enjoyed seeing the Basque museum.
The Lambs had a paper that each museum with a booth signed when they did an activity at that booth. At the end we turned in their papers and were allowed to choose from a wide variety of CDs, DVDs, or games. I chose this for the Lambs when they couldn't decide. We haven't listened to it yet, but I'm going to see if our library has other similar ones to this CD. The Lambs also got balloons and other treats.
Since we were downtown we decided to take Aunt Hannah to Old Spaghetti Factory. She had never been there before, not even to another location. We had a nice dinner and headed home. The Lambs went to bed and us adults stayed up late talking.

Checking in this week

Our schedule just keeps getting more busy even though I hoped things would slow down once we were in our new house.
Saturday-Mother's Day tea at church, clean and do yardwork
Sunday-church, Sunday School sang in church, packed up and went to Ram's parents overnight
Monday-had a relaxing day at Ram's parents, visited a Looper that lost her husband a few weeks ago, came home
Tuesday-tried to get caught up at home after being away, Lamb 3 had preschool, voted!, took Lambs to two libraries, Ram and I watched The Adventures of TinTin (It came up as our turn from the library.)
Wednesday-Lamb 2 needed some fillings, treated the Lambs to TCBY, still trying to catch up at home, walked Lambs to park for exercise, Ram and I watched Lars and the Real Girl while we drank BBC drinks
Thursday-Lamb 3 had preschool, still catching up at home, priced everything for the church preschool garage sale and loaded it up in the van for Ram to take (I have a lot more of my garage empty now!), helped Lambs clean up their play room which was a disaster (and threw out a lot while we were at it), did a lot of laundry, did a lot of dishes, unpacked a box and priced all the toys in it for the garage sale-if the Lambs didn't miss anything in there since October when it was packed, they don't need those toys!, waiting for Ram to come home so we can have BBC drinks again
Tomorrow night it is possible that my sister comes to visit for a week, Saturday is the garage sale at church which I will help with (and be thrilled to see so much of my stuff go to new homes!), Sunday is a very busy day with events at church almost all day including the last Sunday School before summer break, Tuesday it is possible that a friend and her family comes to visit that I have never met any of her 4 boys and I haven't seen her for about 13 years (Can you imagine 7 boys at our house?),  Wednesday my cabinets for my china will be delivered and installed, Thursday is the end of preschool party that families are invited to, Friday Ram's parents come to celebrate Lamb 2's birthday with us and my sister may be going home, Friday is the opening of the pool in our subdivision-guess where the Lambs want to be at 8am?, and Saturday there is a wedding at our church. Oh, and we need to keep our regular routines of homeschool and Ram being a pastor in there somewhere too. Whew! I'll be glad when June is here!
I don't think I'll have time to blog, but I'll keep taking photos and eventually I'll post some of what we did! Have a good week.

Happy Mother's Day!

My mom received this as an e-mail from Allen County Right to Life and I thought it was beautiful so I am posting it here.

For Mothers who are celebrating the day with children: May the Lord grant you wonderful times of making and cherishing memories.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

For Mothers of wayward children: DON"T GIVE UP!       

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 
Philippians 4:6&7

For women who yearn to be mothers: Be comforted to know that you are complete in the Lord just as you are.             

Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8

For mothers with children in heaven: God's tender mercies are for you every day.                                The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

For all who have a mother - that would be all of usJ Our mothers may be living or already with the Lord. Either way, let's take a moment to thank the Lord for the one who gave us life.      

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. Proverbs 31:28

My perfect man

I found this list on the internet and since I disagreed with much of it I thought I would share it with you.
Here's a full list of qualities the perfect man apparently possesses:

1. 6 feet tall-yes
2. Toned and athletic-who cares?
3. Brown eyes-does it really matter?
4. Short dark hair-I agree with short, Ram doesn't have dark
5. Smart dress sense-really? Can't the wife try to help him?
6. Beer drinker-yes, would he really be Lutheran if he didn't? I don't like beer but I don't have anything against drinking it.
7. Non-smoker-yes
8. Wears smart jeans, shirt and a V-neck jumper-I don't even know what a v-neck jumper is!
9. Gets ready in 17 minutes-where did 17 minutes come from?
10. Stylish-wasn't this covered in #5?
11. Wants a family-yes
12. Earns £48,000 ($77,000) a year-well if they don't then the wife better be frugal. Where does $77,000 come from?
13. Loves shopping-this is an odd trait to find in a man. I hate shopping so why would I want my man to like it?
14. Eats meat-yes
15. Clean shaven-yes
16. Smooth chest-no
17. Watches soaps-only if Downton Abbey counts, otherwise no. I can't stand soaps.
18. Enjoys watching football-who cares if he likes football? I only like the marching band.
19. Drives an Audi-no, I can think of much better cars for him to drive.
20. Educated to degree level-yes
21. Earns more than his other half-his other half should be a SAHM if possible
22. Jokes around and has a laugh-yes
23. Sensitive when his wife/girlfriend is upset-yes
24. Says 'I love you' only when he means it-I don't quite understand this, why would you be involved with a man that didn't?
25. Admits it when he looks at other women-yes
26. Has a driver's license-really? What age women did they poll for this?
27. Can swim-who cares if they can swim?
28. Can ride a bike-again, what age women did they poll for this?
29. Can change a tire-yes, by high school both boys and girls should know how to do this although I admit it has been a long time since I practiced changing one and I never needed to change one by myself
30. Calls mom regularly-yes

From Find the perfect man.

Frustration

I keep receiving phone calls at the worst times (usually while I'm doing the bedtime routine by myself while Ram is at church meetings) so I tried to resolve it today. Here is what happened. (Grammar is exactly as it was typed, but names were changed.)

Hello Ewe. Please wait while we find a CLEAR specialist to help you.

Your question is: I keep receiving phone calls for someone called Jason Lee who does not have this phone number. I thought I had it resolved yesterday when I talked to your representative. Today I received another phone call asking me to take a survey on how I would rate your representative. I have not chosen Clear service. I do not want Clear service. I do not want to be bothered with phone calls from your company. Please remove my phone number from your list and do not call me with any more surveys.

You have been connected to Abigail.

Abigail:  Thank you for contacting Clear, my name is Abby.

Abigail:  I am pleased to meet you here online, Ewe and I hope you are having a great day today!

Abigail:  I understand that you do not have a Clear service and you would like to remove your phone number from our list.

Ewe:  Yes

Abigail:  I am sorry to hear that you are having this problem. I can definitely assist you with your concern.

Ewe:  Do not call me with a survey.

Abigail:  Our records show that your number was already listed on the Do not Contact list.

Ewe:  I just received a phone call from you a few minutes ago regarding a survey because I asked you yesterday to remove me from your calling list.

Abigail:  Yes, we do random survey for those who were visited the Chat support.

Ewe:  If you are on a do not call list you should not be called for a survey.

Abigail:  Phone opt-outs will be updated within 10 business days.

Ewe:  I will be very upset if I receive any more phone calls from your company.

Abigail:  I do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

Abigail:  Please be assured that you will no longer receive any phone call.

Abigail:  Do you have any other concerns that I can assist you with at this time?

Thank you for chatting with Clearwire. We value your feedback. Please click here to answer a few questions about your chat experience.

What do you think, do you think I will receive another phone call? Would you chose this company to do business with? It started with their error for  Jason's phone number and has become a pain for me.

And this is not even related to when I first got the phone and for several months I kept receiving phone calls and texts for Megan, who I figured out lives in IL, so when I received a phone call for her at 5am our time I told the person off and amazingly I have not received any more calls or texts since then. 

Trying new recipes post 2

I read this blog post and decided to make almond flour scones. We now live in the city so I thought buying almond flour would be easy. Dh went to several stores and finally found it at one new grocery store but it was in the bulk section and it was on sale the week before so they were completely out. I went back later in the week and got it but it was Bob's Red Mill brand which is not recommended as the best for baked goods. I decided it wouldn't hurt to try it for the almond flour scones since I could get it locally and not pay shipping for it.

My first batch I made with no sweetener or sugar. I put chocolate chips and crushed walnuts in it. They were really good and maybe some day I will try it with another brand of almond flour and I plan to make it again with different add ins besides chocolate chips and walnuts.

These are not cheap to make-I paid over $6 lb for the almond flour and it took about a lb of almond flour. But I love having a treat without flour or sugar for my family. Adding in the dark chocolate chips (I don't buy Nestle!) and walnuts made it more healthy. I will definitely be making these again.

I still limited the Lambs to one scone each day-since they think they are dessert they don't need to know there is no sugar in them. Plus they will last a little longer at our house for financial reasons. Perhaps making a batch of these will be on my new weekly kitchen day list.

I am so glad that no one in our family is allergic to nuts so we can have this treat!

Trying new recipes post 1

On Friday I tried Black Bean Brownies. A Looper had said they were too sweet so I put in less than half of the sugar the recipe called for. They were a little too crumbly so next time I think I would add another egg. I put crushed walnuts and chocolate chips on top and they were good. Lamb 1 saw me put the black beans in the food processor and had a fit, "I asked for brownies, not black bean dip!" But after they were made, everyone in the family ate them without complaining.
When we were in MN I learned everyone's definition of healthy eating is different, sometimes based on foods they are allergic to or can't tolerate. Some think replacing sugar with Splenda makes it healthy. Some need no dairy or no gluten etc. Some think replacing oil with applesauce makes it healthy. But most of the time these recipes still have way too much sugar. I think I would make these brownies again with the lesser amount of sugar, but we still need to remember there is sugar in them and treat them as dessert should be-an occasional treat.

Exercise Motivation

Our health insurance has a program where you can earn Amazon dollars and other rewards for doing healthy things like your annual physical and eating healthy and exercising. Last year Ram and I attended Doxology so we easily got our Be Well Serve Well dollars with just that and going to our regular doctor appointments. Ram went to Doxology this year without me for the final session.  We have made the decision after moving last year to not go this year together in the fall. In order to get the maximum numbers of dollars I will not have enough points without Doxology to make it as easy as last year.
We have bought many things especially for moving and the new house with our Amazon money from last year. I know that some of my friends have used their dollars for a big item like a Kindle. I was glad that we had those dollars for all the little things we needed last year. We also bought some homeschooling treats that weren't necessary but made our studies more interesting and fun. And Ram and I each got about $100 to spend however we wanted. But unfortunately we are down to the last about $10 of that money from last year.
In the move we lost our passwords and since we changed e-addresses we couldn't just have them e-mail a new password. Since we are low on Amazon dollars I was motivated to look for those passwords and get back in the program this year. After dropping an old typewriter on my foot and searching through several boxes yesterday we found my password but not Ram's. So Ram called them today and we are both back in. Ram will be able to register for a lot of his this week-he has eye doctor and dentist appointments this week and he went to Doxology in February. So we will again have some Amazon money once this is all processed.
I am either going to need to track my eating fruits and veggies or exercise or both in order to get my maximum points. Ram will need to do some of that to get his maximum points but not as much as me without Doxology points.
A new part this year is you can earn bonus points if you do exercise for 24 weeks. So Ram and I decided to try to do that in order to get the extra bonus dollars. If we begin next week we could be done in October, if we take breaks for busy/vacation weeks then we can still finish the 24 weeks before the end of the year.
Money for books is definitely the best way to motivate both Ram and me. The Lambs will encourage us to keep it up because they know they get treats with the Amazon dollars too. And I was slow learning that you can buy all kinds of things at Amazon, it doesn't need to just be books. Since we had that Amazon money I learned to look there first if I was buying something online. The Lambs are begging for a big Lego set but if I do all this exercising I am going to buy what I want, not Legos for them!
I'll try to keep you posted on how our 24 weeks of tracking exercise is going. We aren't beginning until next week due to the typewriter accident I had yesterday. I tore the skin back on my toe, but thankfully it wasn't worse.

Car insurance

When we moved to MN we had a terrible time getting car insurance because I had totaled my car backing out of the driveway about a year before we moved to MN. We finally found Progressive would take us as customers. Car insurance in MN was very expensive and we checked several times but Progressive was the best deal for us. Then when we got new cars it was even more important for us to be insured well.
We were hit by a cement mixer on the way to Doxology last August. When we moved to ID I thought that we should continue with Progressive at least until we were sure the entire cement mixer accident claim was done. So we found an agent here to sell us Progressive.
I was shocked how cheap insurance was here in ID. After we moved to the new house I made an appointment to sit down with the agent to discuss our insurance. I was thinking we didn't have the same coverage as we did in MN because it was so much cheaper. When he entered in our new address the rates dropped even more. We did have the same coverage as MN, but ID is cheaper. This is partly due to very little chance of natural disaster-no tornadoes here etc. Even the agent was shocked that our rate dropped more because we were moving within the same zip code. I think it is because we own our house instead of rent, but the agent didn't know the exact reason.
The agent checked and if we switch companies we can save even more money and have the same coverage. I was shocked because after checking in MN, Progressive was the best deal for us partly because we had been with them for so long. Every once and awhile I have received e-mails from friends about how liberal Progressive is and what kind of causes they support. I have not enjoyed spending my dollars at a company like that for the last 9 years. So I am thrilled that when it comes time to renew our car insurance this week we are switching companies.
After moving we have had tasks like this to complete on Ram's day off. It is frustrating to spend so much time checking on things like this. But to save dollars makes the time spent on his day off worth it.

Work for Days of the Week

Melrose posted about ordering her work by days of the week here. As we get settled into our new house I think this would be a great idea. My grandma gave me this set of embroidered dish towels. Here is what they say:
Monday: wash
Tuesday: iron
Wednesday: sew
Thursday: shop
Friday: cook
Saturday: clean

After looking at Melrose's plan and these dish towels, I came up with a plan that I think would work for our family.
Sunday: church
Monday: shop-Ram's day off/family time
Tuesday: wash
Wednesday: paperwork/pay bills-library day and shopping if it wasn't completed on Monday
Thursday: clean
Friday: cook
Saturday: yardwork/catchup

Since I have 3 bed wetters I am unable to do all my laundry in one day, but Tuesday will be the major laundry day. Since our laundry room is upstairs I can easily throw a load in first thing in the morning and put it to dry before I go to bed if there is no other time. The other thing I have added to my daily duties is sweeping the floor downstairs. I remember Martha Stewart saying this duty should be done every day. It has helped a lot to do this. I am also trying to get the Lambs to tidy up their toys and their areas of the house some time during the day before bedtime. As we get settled into our new house I am trying to also settle into routines that will make our life easier and more organized. It's great to have a fresh start on all of this. Thanks Melrose, for the idea!

Now I need to figure out how to frame and hang these cute dishtowels in my kitchen!