WE had to get out all the winter gear to try it on though.
A TRULY FROSTY snowman!
Can I just say out loud….”It so good to be home!!”
After days away, no power and even coming home to stinky cat litter it's my house, my stuff.
Now I'm going to have shrimp fried rice with my hubbie. It's not gourmet but it's takeout.
Merry Christmas
Julie
Well, after 5 days away from home we're headed in that direction tomorrow. I'm looking forward to my own house. I feel blessed that we've had this time with my husband's family. It was so nice to have somewhere to go when we had no heat.
I found out yesterday that friends at church had significant damage from the storm. Branches and trees down everywhere and one tree even fell on their dog pen killing one of their two dogs. Then the other got hit by a car and may not be alive today. I haven't heard. My heart aches for this family. They homeschool six kids and have a wonderful family. When another friend called to tell us what had happened I wanted to be there to help.
A big group of people went to help them after church yesterday and got the yard clean, the breaker box back on the house and one guy who is a contractor talked the electrical company (who was across the street working) into pulling another line so they would have heat. This was a miracle apparently because it's quite unheard of. I'm so thankful God takes care of each of us in exactly the way we need it.
I'm looking forward to reconnecting with everyone when we get home. I am looking forward to my own bed, my own stuff, and my own house. We have friends coming for Christmas and I'm looking forward to having them. Isn't it nice to have wonderful Christian friends who help to care for us when we need it? I am so thankful to God for His family and how he blesses us through them.
Julie
Don’t you love it when you see all the hard work finally paying
off? All the “Be nice to your sister!” comments. All the
“We don’t hit in this family.” All the “We love each other and
help each other.” comments.
I actually got to capture this one on film. My youngest son is
trying to teach “baby girl” how to blow into this strange plastic thing
to make a cool noise. Oh, brotherly love!!! sniff, sniff!!
So we hear from the home front that
power was restored to our neighborhood this evening. It's
comforting to know when we return home there will at least be a
termostat who's little red line has come alive once again. For
those of you who haven't read last night's blog that little red line
had disappeared as a result of an ice storm.
Tonight
we went to the local Stuffmart to get diapers and a few things.
Both my husband and I forgot our wallets/pocketbooks.
Lovely! My mother in law was kind enough to drive down the
mountain to bring us money at 9pm. Have you ever tried to hang
out in the front part of Stuffmart and just wait? Seeing how I'm
in the major throws of PMS I was just about to sell my second born for
diaper money. If he has a quarter it must be spent. I have
officially banned any purchases FOREVER until he can make it through
ANY store without begging me for everything he sees.
As my easiest child my second born has this one area that needs lots of
work. It must be a stage he's going through because he was so
good at saving money for a while. Now it burns a hole in his
pocket. If anyone has any suggestions for redirecting this
annoying behavior I'm all ears!
Well once again tonight I'm
lying in bed typing as my husband unwinds from our day
downstairs. The heat is hopefully back on at home. I'm
supposed to be out on a super romantic date with my husband (see last nights blog entry)
and instead I'm PMSing and recovering from our Suffmart trip (after a
cup of decaf and a chocolate bar). As my kids say, “Not fair!”
Good night……
Julie
We woke up yesterday morning to a
winter wonderland of ice. It was so pretty. I went outside
to take pictures of all the beautiful frozen landscape. It really
was gorgeous….until our power went out. It took about half the
day for the temperature in the house to reach an uncomfortable 60
degrees.
Thankfully I had followed my husband's lead
and called to make reservations at a local hotel in the event the power
didn't come back on. It didn't. So at 4:30pm we find
ourselves with enough stuff in the van for an overnight trip to the
local Ramada Inn. Hey, their YP ad said they had an indoor pool.
Well, the pool's heater was broken so the kids shivered to death while
swimming as I stewed over the 130+ dollars I was having to spend for
two adjoining rooms in a hotel with all four of my children.
Usually when we spend money on a hotel it's for a night out with an
overnight sitter at home. Now this doesn't happen very often but
at least once a year we get away.
After the teeth chattering
dip in the pool we then return to the room only to hear on the local
news that it may be Tuesday when we get power again. It's
Thursday night!!! YIKES.
This morning we
regretfully check out of our warm yet expensive hotel to return home to
a thermostat who's little red line has disappeared into the never land
at the bottom of the thing!! I'm guessing it was about 45 degrees
in the house. So we make the decision to leave for Alabama 2 days
earlier than we'd originally planned because, hey, mother in law has
heat!!!
Many miles later, many bathroom stops later, many “be
quiet before I stop this car” 's later and we're here. And it's
warm. But I had to throw out every bit of the food in my
refrigerator before we left. All I could hear was CHING, CHING as
I watched dollars being flushed down the toilet. I silently
quote “God is in control.” “He has a reason for
everything.” etc. etc. And trying to figure out His
reasoning behind me emptying my refrigerator into 4 garbage bags.
On top of it all I find out my husband had 100 dollar NON REFUNDABLE
tickets to see The Nutcracker tomorrow night, plans for a wonderful
dinner AND an overnight babysitter so we could spend the night away
from home. All which had been planned for over 2 months.
CAN ANYBODY SAY “AAGGHH!!””????
So here I sit, alone in my bed
as my husband unwinds downstairs knowing he'll have to sleep with the
two that aren't on the floor beside me tonight. And I MAKE myself
remember “and to everything in ALL circumstances give thanks”.
So here goes…
I am extremely thankful for heat tonight.
…..for a warm bed
…..for 4 healthy kids
…..for a place to go that's warm
…..for a husband that cared enough to plan an awesome evening even if we had to give those tickets away.
….for a God that knows I fret over money and feel like we just dug ourselves even further into THE HOLE.
….for a blog to express it all.
(But I really wish I was spending tomorrow night with my hubbie wining
and dining only to return to my own warm house where my wee little ones
have been well cared for by a loving friend.)
I do believe I've had enough of today.
Nighty night….
Julie
Okay, I give up. I've tried to blog four times tonight and I've managed to erase my blog every time! I give up!!!
So here are the pictures I wanted to tell you about but can't. It must be the almost full moon.
The dollar store hat purchased tonight…..and the robe worn to dinner last night (in public) and out tonight….
Baby girl wouldn't cooperate with the hat but managed to empty the chair of all it's pillows and pose for a shot…….
“Here's my foot mommy!!!”
My children have a talent for finding pumpkins in the woods.
Whether thrown out by neighbors or found in a magical pumpkin patch
only kids know about, I am unsure. Nevertheless we painted
pumpkins on December 12th. My thirdborn wants me to carve
it. I refuse to do so but once a year!!!
So after 3 failed attempts at blogging tonight…
Happy Halloween, oh I mean, Merry Christmas!!!
Julie
This morning my second son was
complaining about not having enough money (for what I have no
idea!). So I told him if he'd make up all the beds I'd give him a
dollar. He stands there for a few minutes and then says, “How
about a dollar and a quarter?”
To which I laugh loving his already sharp business skills. Who can argue with that? He takes after his mama!!!
Then yesterday as I was finishing some Christmas shopping ALONE my
husband calls to tell me all three boys have come into the house from
playing outside. They got three Stuffmart bags, put bananas and
peanuts in the bags and said they were going on a mission. All
three leave the house with bags on their backs like backpacks. My
husband laughs as he watches them march across the yard having no idea
what they are up to. About half an hour later they show back up
having been on a fire ant mission.
We have a drainage
area behind a neighbors house with lots of good SC red mud. The
fire ants love the area. And my sons love to go stomp on their
mounds and watch them swarm. I mean what's a few bites compared
to the instant reward of thousands upon thousands of swarming fire
ants????
Boys! They never cease to amaze me!!!!!
Meanwhile our baby girl is content to sit on her daddy's lap and watch
football doting sweet 18 month kisses on him every so often. As
you know this only causes her to further wrap him around her ever
precious little girl finger!
I had my second EVER mammogram
yesterday. Although not as unpleasant as some describe having
another woman handle THOSE is a little uncomfortable. Can't you
imagine her “after work” conversations……
“I'm going to start selling IVORY soap as a side job.”
“Do you know how hard it is to get NOTHING squeezed between two pieces of metal?”
“I had no idea those things can be shaped like bananas (cantaloupes) (watermelons) (peas).”
“This one chick screamed today when I got her all mushed in there like I was killing her or something.”
Her comments to me were…..
“Someone should have told you we don't do mammograms in the winter we do freeze and squeezes.”
“We're going to do three pictures of one side because it's not good to freeze and rethaw meat that many times.”
So I can just imagine the “over dinner” conversations.
YIKES!!!!
julie
Tonight we had my oldest son's birthday
party. Since he was born on Christmas Day we usually celebrate
early enough for him to have friends over. I like to pay more
attention to their birthdays since we try to concentrate on Jesus at
Christmas. They know there isn't a Santa and we celebrate
Christmas because it's Jesus's birthday.
So this year I
offered him a party or the money I'd spend on a party. He chose
the money but then decided he'd like to have a few friends over for a
couple hours. Okay, maybe I'm naive. I'm thinking a couple
friends over to play, like a party but not really a party.
Yea
right! One thing leads to another and before I know it I've spent
money on paper plates, napkins and a tablecloth. Then a small
present from the family for him. I thought I'd order pizza.
Big mistake. I forgot Dominos had the deal where medium one
topping pizzas are $5 each and I order larges. Three pizzas ran
me $40. Can you believe it? I about had a coronary. I
was sure the lady on the phone misquoted the price but sure enough the
guy at the door says 38.55. Can you spell ROBBERY? or STUPID?
I guess I spent about $40 at Stuffmart, $40 bucks on pizza. I
could have done a blowout at Gattistown for $120 bucks. Boy did I
learn my lesson. Feeding 8 boys, buying pizza, a small present,
oh and I forgot the $14 for the cake! There certainly wasn't much
left over for the “I want money” fund.
Then add 8 boys hiped up on sugar 
from suckers
, cake, those yucky puffy cheetos and juice boxes. We had one doozie of a NONparty!
Tired and ready for bed,
Julie
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