It feels weird having Christmas half done already. We had a great time.

My friend blogged about stargazing the other day and inspired us to go out ourselves. It was amazing. We saw Venus. It was not too exciting. Just an almost round white light. We saw Jupiter. We could see the stripes and a little of the coloration of Jupiter. We saw some of Jupiter's moons, at least four. We looked at the moon and could see the craters. The Youngest said it looked like a golf ball. We are going to try to go out again and look at the moon when it is full.

What I'm Thankful For

I'm thankful for my Jesus. He is my King. Through His love, I have the rest of my list.

The Husband
The Oldest
The Youngest
My Mom
My Sisters
My Niece
My Grandmother
My Brothers-in-Law and soon to be Brother-in Law
My 4-H friends
My church family
My country

Coffee
Home
Internet
New tile grout
New car
Old cars
Homeschooling
New furniture
Old furniture
A warm fire
Free firewood
Coupons
Other people scrap booking for me
Crochet
And so much more

Well, the congress is holding hearings. I went over budget on the tile work in the bathroom and The Oldest found the receipt. Part was the president's (aka, The Husband) charges because he found more work for them to do. Part was mine because I found more work for them to do. But, the bathrooms looks great. I have to wait until Monday to mop. I can't wait to see the final outcome.

We had a great day yesterday. The church we are going to is encouraging people to volunteer at a local low-income, high-risk public preschool. The boys and I went yesterday to volunteer. We spent about an hour playing with them and reading to them. The boys enjoyed it and it seemed they were useful and encouraging to the kids. We have done other volunteer work that hasn't gone as well; work that was not easily done by children. Then, we went to Give 2 the Troops to pack Christmas boxes for the troops. That was good work for them to do also. Everything seems to get packed, and then packed and then packed some more. First in zip lock bags, then in stockings or goody bags, then in boxes. I also got to go crochet last night at the tea shop/book store. It was a good day.

I have someone coming today to re grout the bathroom floors. I asked The Husband if I could spend some money without telling him what it was for. He was worried and told me to get The Congress (aka, the boys) to approve the request. I'm hoping it goes well and encourages The Husband to let me get started on some other, bigger projects around the house.

Well, I made it to triple coupons at Harris Teeter yesterday. It is the first time in a long time that I have made it on the first day. I'm going out of town today and I will not be able to go the rest of the weekend. So, it was worth the extra gas to make a special trip. I really did well. A while ago, HT had a promotion where you got a $25 gift card if you transferred a perscription to their pharmacy. You also got a $10 electronic coupon on your loyalty card for each perscription filled, including the perscription you earned the gift card with. So, I still had the $10 e-coupon and money left on the gift card that I used to shop with my coupons. I spent just under $2.00. Some of the things I got were: 2 loafs of bread, laundry detergent, 3 containers of disenfecting wipes, 3 boxes of tissues, smoked sausage, whipped cream, cereal, 6 cans of soup, yeast, condensed milk, and worstershire sauce. It was a good day.

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Last night at dinner we were talking to the kids about what they needed to pack for their boy's weekend with The Husband. We told them they needed clean under ware. The Oldest asked why they needed under ware for a boy's weekend. I told them "Real men wear clean under ware." The Youngest replied "But rednecks don't."

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I'm ready for my weekend with my mom and sisters. The kids have been getting to me lately. They just can't seem to talk to one another. They have to whine, yell, hit or push instead.

The Youngest turned 8 yesterday. It doesn't seem like my youngest should be 8 yet. I try hard to remember how I treated The Oldest when he was 8. I think I baby The Youngest some. It is easy to do. He is smaller in size than the The Oldest was. He likes to snuggle me. The Oldest was over that long before then, although he will still let me in private if I ask. The Youngest does not like to talk to other adults. He is getting better, but he doesn't like it.

The Husband's family came to visit yesterday and celebrate the birthday. I just really have a problem with my mother-in-law. I try not to let it effect the kids relationship with her too much. Some of the things are just because I don't like her and I know I need to get past them. Some of the things I think she shows The Husband and I a lack of respect. Some of the things are just plain wrong. I just have to keep smiling when she is here.

I think The Oldest is growing up. We went to the State Fair yesterday and while we were walking out, he said he had a great time. In the past, when we have gone to the fair he has not been very excited about it. We don't do the rides and he always felt let down because he sees the rides and wants to go on them. We go in the "Village of Yesteryear". It is a building with people demonstrating and selling handmade items, mostly crafts that people have been doing for years: spinning yarn, pottery, metal smiths, etc. It has always been my favorite part of the fair. We go in the buildings to look at the craft winners. They had a tent about conservation and going green this year. We go in the business exhibit halls; you can still get Mt. Olive pickles for 50 cents, but milk has gone up to 75 cents. So, The Oldest is starting to enjoy what his parents enjoy and not being so envious of the things he can't do. The Youngest still focuses on the rides, but I think he had fun, too.

On the way home, we always ask "What was you favorite thing?" The Husband: "Muscadine grape cider slushies." The Oldest: "The rabbit skin I got." Me: "The handmade yarn I bought." The Youngest: "I can't remember."

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We're back down to 4 cars. We donated the Contour to the community college. We took it back to the dealership and they fixed the wiring one more time so the check engine light is off. But I still didn't feel comfortable trying to sell it knowing the wiring is so fragile. The man at the community college said we could rest assured ours would not be the last headache the car gave someone. I think it was a good decision.

I wrote this a while back.

I have a friend that I talk with about all sorts of different things. She is a socialist and I am definitely not. We were discussing politics relating to welfare and a universal health care plan. We are completely on opposite sides of the arguments, but we love Jesus and each other enough to discuss these things openly and without hurt feelings. (Everyone should have a friend like that.) During this conversation, she made a statement that has been with me ever since. I’ve been debating it in my own mind back and forth. She said, “Socialism is a Christian form of government.”The part of me that agrees with her goes to the story in Acts, Chapter 2 about how the early followers of Christ came together and “had all things in common”. They didn’t have any personal property. They sold everything they had and divided it among the community. They worked and ate together. To me, this says socialism. Then later, in Chapter 6, we see the need for a welfare system. It seems it was too much work for twelve people to pray and study and spread God’s word plus divide the food and property evenly. So, they hired seven social workers to help. This system worked and their number “increased greatly”. To me, this says socialism was given a stamp of approval from God.But then, like I said, I am definitely not a socialist. I don’t want the government in control of this and telling me what kind of house I can have, how much food I can have, what kind of toys I get to play with and what kind of car I can drive. I like my things. I like the feeling I get when I work hard and earn enough money to buy the things I want, even if I don’t need them. And then I look at how we in the U.S. have the richest poor people in the world. We do not have massive starvation. I heard a statistic a while back that one of the growing health problems among our poor people was obesity. We don’t have cities of people living in cardboard boxes and drinking sewer water. Don’t get me wrong, we do have people who are poor and hungry and homeless, but not like I hear it is in other parts of the world where whole societies are destitute. To me, this says a free market society has been given a stamp of approval from God.So, I’ve come up with the argument against socialism. In the same stories in Acts, the Christians did not give their problems to the government to solve for them. They didn’t demand the government to come up with a system of food stamps to feed their widows. They found a way to continue to do it themselves. They kept the poor people in their community and took care of them. They kept the relationship with the needy and didn’t outcast them. They committed to living sacrificially and in community. I don’t see God commanding them to live this way. No one says “God told me we should do this.” In the Acts, Chapter six story of hiring social workers, God doesn’t give anyone a vision of a way to solve the problem. Instead, they have a town meeting and present their proposed solution. The solution seems acceptable to the community, so they go with it. So maybe, God’s stamp of approval in blessing them with increased numbers is approving of their desire to work together for a common solution and not just approving the particular solution they came up with. Maybe God is approving of their desire to keep the poor with them. Maybe God is approving of their accepting the responsibility themselves and not passing it along to someone else. Maybe God approves of all this, maybe not. The Bible just says their numbers increase. My desire is for God’s Church to increase. Their method of keeping the poor in their community worked to increase God’s Church. So, I want the church communities taking care of each other and not the government taking care of us. I want God’s Church to increase, not the government. So I guess my conclusion to my friends statement "Socialism is a Christian form of government" is that I want to be the socialist, not the government. How about that, I want to be a socialist! My friend won't believe me.

The Oldest and I were struggling yesterday with writing. I still cannot figure out why he has such a problem with writing a paragraph. I have tried to take out all the obstacles I can think of. He can type it on the computer, or yesterday, I offered to type for him. The assignment was to write about his favorite food. After we got past the problem about "favorite", he could not come up with a topic sentence. I think he is going to hate it, but after this grammar book, we are going to spend some time writing paragraphs.

Then, later in the day he needed help with a computer game. I hate trying to figure out problems with loading/installing/running computer games. I got really frustrated and yelled at him. I later had to go around and apologize to the hole family. I have to work on that.

I watched the gubenatorial debate last night. It was so different from the presidential debates. One of the main canidates was not there. The Repbulican canidate and the Libertarian canidate were. They were both well spoken. I don't think either of the presidential canidates speak that well when it's not a prepared speech. The two canidates on several questions completely agreed with each other. Sometimes it think if one of the presidential canidates said the sky was blue, the other would have to disagree. It reminds me of my children sometimes. Then, they two canidates both answered the question that was asked of them instead of talking about whatever they wanted to. It was very interesting to me. I think I will try to watch the next one. The Democrat canidate is supposed to be there.

I have been immersed in politics lately. Sarah Palin was in town speaking last night. The Husband and The Oldest went to see her. Turns out, I could have gone also. They had more tickets available at the door. Instead, The Youngest and I went to a "Political Meet and Greet" sponsored by the 4-H and chaired by a member of our 4-H group. They had a few candidates cancel because Palin was in town, but it was a good evening. Most of the candidates I can't vote for because I am in a different county. But, it was still good. The Youngest didn't like it, go figure. I watched the presidential debate also. I really think deadlock in government is a good thing. The less they do, the better. We have so many laws and programs, we cannot enforce or support what we have. I think if everything could be made simpler, it would be better. I think the economy is in trouble because they don't seem to understand the problem. The problem is that everyone from the government to the businesses to the population spend money they don't have. They borrow money without a plan to pay it back. No one seems to be able to say no to their desires and therefore, their needs eventually cannot be supported. I heard in the debate that the credit has to be able to flow or business will not be able to make payroll. I just don't understand how a business can survive if they cannot earn enough money from selling their goods and services to pay their employees. You should not have to take a loan to pay your workers. Loans should be for expansion with a clear plan of the new income that will be generated to pay the loan back. People never seem to look for the least expensive house or car they can find. They look for the biggest house or car they can get a loan for. Government never seems to understand they cannot spend money they don't have. It really doesn't matter how good the program is or how many people it will help. If the money is not there, you can't do it.

I think I've ranted enough for now. We have to go start school work.

Mom's show went great! She had the best display. Hers was at different levels and in different areas of her space. Some of the others just had shelves. I made her cry... I sent her flowers and she got them Friday during setup with some of the other potters around. She said they all got a tear.
Friday night was an invitation only reception. They had food and they had a local winery do a wine tasting. There were a lot of people there. At one point, the line at the cash register was 5 or 6 people deep. It was a good night.
Saturday was open to the public. They did a good job marketing the event. They did a banner in the town, posters everywhere, they mailed postcards, and had several newspaper articles written about them. There was a steady flow of people in the gallery and at the cash register. Mom said the gallery did more sales for this show than they have since they opened.


On another note, the President and the Congress have said they have an agreement on the bail out package. I'm very sad. I have heard several people say we have to restore the flow of credit; that the banks need to be able to start giving out loans again. I have a problem with an economy that can only work on borrowed money. I think it would be better to have an economy that worked on making and doing things. I think we should have things instead of loans. I don't know how a government that doesn't make anything can help solve that, but maybe they could stop encouraging so many loans.
The T.V. announcer just asked about the presidential candidates "Who will handle your money better, Barack Obama or John McCain?" I think I will handle MY money better, thank you very much!
I better turn off the T.V. or I will be worked up all day.

We have had a very busy week. We were out all day Tuesday with eye doctor appointments, geography, the kids are in art class, and I went to a group that gets together to knit/crochet. Thursday, we had to turn in fair entries. We had art work, jewelry, pottery, jam and poems to turn in. We also had hair appointments and we went to Cold Stone Creamery for free ice cream. Today we have co-op classes starting. The Oldest is taking "Red Herrings", literature and P.E. The Youngest is taking two science classes and "Little Buccaneers". I am co-teaching "Evaluating Viewpoints". After co-op, we leave to go see Mom.

I am so proud of my Mom. She is having her first pottery show this weekend. I think I have told everyone about it, even the hair stylist. I am so excited to go see her and support her. I miss Daddy. He would not be able to stop grinning, just like I can't. I love you Mom.

The car is so cute. We fit in it well. It doesn't feel like a small car when your in it. All the groceries and the cooler fit in the back last Sunday. I am very pleased with it.

The Virginia trip was great. First we went to the Petersburg National Battlefield. We learned about the siege that took place there, how to fire a cannon, how they took care of the wounded, and about the crater. I found the crater story interesting. Near the end of the siege, someone from the Union army presented a plan to dig a tunnel under the Confederate army, fill it with gun powder and blow it up. The generals didn't think it would work, but said they could try. The guys with the idea were from Pennsylvania where they do a lot of coal mining, so they got it done. The crater formed from the explosion was big. It was very interesting.

Then we went to the Virginia Air and Space Museum. We had a class on how to build a roller coaster, a demonstration on simple machines, and IMAX movie called "Fighter Pilot", and a tour of the museum. I didn't know this before, but The Youngest was born on the first day people started living in space. It was the first day the space station was inhabited. They also had a flight simulator set up in an old commercial airplane. The kids really liked that. They set it up so passengers sitting in the first class seats would see ground or sky depending on what was going on in the flight simulator. There was a lot of simulated crashing.

It was a good trip. All the tour guides were very informative and dealt well with the kids. Some of the other people (like the hotel clerk) were not nice to deal with. We had a great time. We have the best 4H group.

It's here! The car came in yesterday afternoon. They will have it ready this afternoon and we are going to go test drive it. If we don't find anything wrong during the test drive, we will bring it home. The salesman said it is black.
I will have to get the boys up early to do school work today. We need to be done before we go get the car. We have a trip to Virginia on Monday/Tuesday next week. We will go to the Petersburg Battlefield and the Air and Space Museum. We just got the itinerary for the battlefield. We have some classes lined up that sound very interesting.

Date Night

The Husband and I got to go out to dinner the other night... alone. It was a nice, relaxed evening. The church gave all the married couples a night out. They gave us a gift certificate for dinner and they got together and watched the kids. I was very impressed they thought of watching the kids for us. As I've said before, they are a young group of people, in college, or just out of college. So, it was nice that they thought of the details. They fed the kids, had a time of worship, played basketball, did some crafts, and played video games. The kids told us all about their evening and had a lot of fun. It was a good evening for everyone.

The hurricane has delayed the cars arrival. Maybe it will come in today.

The pre-football party has been canceled. The hurricane couldn't stay away long enough. It looks like The Husband and The Oldest won't be able to go dove hunting again. Maybe next weekend.

It's been a busy but boring week around here. We have had plenty to do, but all the same stuff. Tuesday, as usual, was our day in town. We ran errands, had a 4H meeting and a geography co-op. The Husband had a bad day at work that day. Employee problems. He didn't get to meet us at the dealership to get the truck looked at again, so we had to go back to town Wednesday for that.

Tomorrow, the church is meeting at the local, pre-football game party. We will be helping with set up, checking id's, selling Pepsi and pouring beer and wine. It sounds like a good time. I hope the hurricane stays away long enough.

The Husband and The Oldest went dove hunting last weekend for opening day. They came home with 22 doves. The Oldest shot 4 of them, 2 while The Husband was at another stand. We had some for dinner last night. I fixed the sides to go with them and The Husband fixed the doves. After dinner, he said thanks for helping with dinner. I said thanks for not making me clean or cook dove. That's really best for me to be able to eat the dove is for me not to see it until it looks like meat instead of a bird.

Car Problems

Since I graduated college in 1989, The Husband (then boyfriend) and I have had 7 vehicles. We still have four of them. Having four old vehicles, you might think the problems never stop, but really we have been blessed. The maintenance requires some time, but the problems have been few. Until this past month that is.

The truck we have to pull the boat failed its inspection. They said there is a hole in the muffler, something (I don't remember what) is loose and it needs new tires. So The Husband took it to the dealership. The dealership said it didn't have a hole, nothing was loose and the tires were worn, but would probably be all right for a little longer. The Husband ordered tires from another store and had them put on. When he went out to the truck after the new tires had been put on, they weren't the tires he had ordered. Turns out, you can't get the tires he wanted in the size he asked for, so they replaced them with another kind of tire, but forgot to tell him. So he did a little more research and found that you can get the tires he wanted in a size that is just slightly different than what he asked for. So, they are ordering them now. So, while he had new tires on the truck, he thought he would get the inspection done. Back to the store where he had the inspection done. They put the truck up on the lift and brought him out and showed him the hole and the thing that is loose. So now he has to take it back to the dealership and show them the hole and the loose thing. It took $195 dollars to fill the gas tank on this truck before he started and its almost gone from driving back and forth.

Meanwhile, the car he normally drives to work has had the check engine light on and the air conditioner doesn't work. So, the took that to the dealership. (The same dealership as the truck.) It took almost 2 weeks and $1600 to get it fixed. But on the way just down the street for lunch, it stalled out 3 times. He looked at the engine and all the wires were left exposed and were touching each other so they shorted out. Back to the dealership with it. They covered the wires and sent it home with him. It only took two days for the check engine light to come back on and now the air conditioner works intermittently. This car was made in 1996, so we don't want to put any more money in it.

So, after all that, the motorcycle The Husband has been talking about getting has turned into a NEW CAR!!!! He started doing research as to what would be best and decided on a Honda Fit. They are very popular now because they get good gas mileage and have a good safety rating. He couldn't find one anywhere withing an hour drive to look at. He was struggling with what to do. He doesn't like talking to car salesmen and he thinks he knows all the answers they will give him. He stopped at another store to look at a second choice and the salesman tried to convince him he should get something different. He didn't like that, he knows what he wants. I talked him into going to the Honda dealership and asking about the Fit. The salesman said they had just gotten one in! It hadn't even been thought their shop to get things like power door locks connected, but we could look at it. He came back about a minute later and said it had all ready been sold, but we could still look at it. He brought it out and The Husband got to drive it from one side of the lot to the other where the couple that were buying it were filling out paperwork. It is a very small car, but he fits in it comfortably. The back is plenty big for the boys. And, the cargo area seems to be big enough to fit the cooler for when we do our grocery shopping. We have our name on the list to be the first to check out the next one that comes in which should be September 8. I haven't bought new cars often in my life, so I am very excited!

Well, nothing much has inspired me to blog lately. I lead a boring life.

The Oldest was scratched by a cat about a month ago. It got infected. I didn't know a cat scratch infection was hard to treat. He is responding well and it seems to be going away.

The Youngest is doing well with no teeth. He looks so cute to me. The doctor said the new teeth may take a while to come in.

We had the pastor and his new wife over for dinner last night. They make me feel old. They are both right around 23 years old. To me, he shows wisdom from the "pulpit" (we meet in a bar, so there really isn't a pulpit), but not always in other settings. They both seem humble and willing to learn. We told them about some of the churches we have been to over the years. Thinking back, I am grateful for the last church we attended. It was a good place for us. They let us heal before moving on to this church. This is a new church and they are growing. I think God will have us in more of a leadership role here. I don't think we could have handled leadership again without some time to heal in between.

Back from Surgery

We're back. The Youngest made it through his surgery just fine. The nurse said he was their favorite patient. She said he really did well with the I.V. Dad got him a Nintendo DS while he was waiting to get his medicine. I think the tooth fairy will pay a little less than planned for these teeth. The game seems to be working better than the Tylenol did. He is not complaining about pain and says he wants to try to eat a little. All is well.

More Things Kids Say

The church we go to went Saturday to help college kids move into their dorms. On Friday, while we were deciding whether to go, I asked The Oldest if he want to go. He said yes and gave me 2 reasons. "First to build muscles. And second, if we improve the time line of the students enough, they will have more time to study and may one day find a cure for cancer." Sometimes I just love the way his mind works.

Helping the college students was interesting. I don't remember such a big process of moving into dorms. They had the roads closed, lines for check in at the dorms, people directing traffic, signs everywhere helping with where to go, and dollies available for check out. Maybe it was because I moved into the dorms early because diving practice started early, but I just don't remember all that. I also don't remember having so much stuff with me. There were several church groups there helping. They would find a student unpacking a car and help. There would be 6-10 people following the one student, everyone carrying as much as they could. Sometimes more than that. It was a lot of work.

Afterwards, we had to go to Target. Apparently, after you move into your dorm, you have to go to Target to buy hanger and plastic storage boxes. I don't remember having to do that, either.

What kids say

The boys are at it again saying funny things. Yesterday, The Youngest was bored and said "Mom, what can I do?" And just like my mom always answered me when I asked that question, I told him to clean something. He did and then came back and said "Mom, what can I do that's fun?" I told him I didn't know, but I really needed him to clean his bed. (They both like to store toys in their beds.) He didn't like it, but went to do it. When he came back he said "That was surprisingly satisfying."

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School has been going well. We are getting a lot done every day. Everything except handwriting. It is time to teach The Youngest cursive. I thought I had books to teach from, but I don't. I think what I used before was part of a Language Arts curriculum that we decided we didn't like, so I sold it. I finally got the last math book I needed and thought I was done looking for books this year. I guess I get to go look some more.

Now we really start

Today school really starts. We got the geography presentation done Monday, along with a little grammar and math. Tuesday, the boys had a 4-H day camp and the the geography co-op started. Today we are home all day doing school work. We are starting Spanish online this year. I'm going to try also. The youngest will be learning cursive and then, we are going to try all cursive writing the rest of the year. We also have a real science book to study from. In the past, science has been more of studying what looks interesting and what comes up. I hope it goes well.

My First Try

I've never tried blogging before. I don't know that I will keep up. My goal is to blog more than my husband and my friend M.

We are all home now. The oldest son just got home from a week at camp and the youngest son and I just got back from Aunt C's house. We are starting school today and we are all ready behind. We have Geography Coop starting tomorrow and we are not ready yet. That means the other subjects may not get done today and tomorrow we will be out of the house so the other subjects won't get done then either. That's why I don't like to have a schedule. I don't like being being late!