Goings on......and other such stuff...

Crazy title huh..lol.   We have had a busy last couple of months....well, the whole half of last year was busy...and now we are starting to settle into routines.  A (starred) list of things we have been doing or things I want to do....well see how many of those I get done. (grins)

* My husbands home business took off like a rocket.....he is now very very busy....but since it is at home, we get to spend lots of time with daddy!!!!

*Our involvement with our Homeschool group has grown.....we now do Moms night out, 4-H play day, regular play day (or will when it warms up...brrrr). 

* I want to start going to the other moms house and letting my kids play or learn one craft from the other kids.....(craft, cook, farmwork, something like that)

* I want to learn how to make fabric or felt food for my kids to play with....who knows , someday I may sell it....(anyone have any hints on this)

* I have 6 aprons to make....need to get started. Kylie wants to help me.  We will see...lol

* I have 2 quilts to repair....yeah....ummmmm they are still in my sewing basket for like the last 6 months...lol.

* I have 8 or 9 quilts that I need to make......yeah...the material is still at the store...

* I have started trying a new recipe a week.....so far only two of them have been keepers.....I think we may stick to the oldies but goodies....you know, all that bad for you butter and red meat stuff...lol.   And dont forget fried taters... (its a southern thang ya know! )

* Today is a play day around here....Kylie did math, but other than that, nah...we are watching Elmo......(its educational.....)

* We are hoping to have a farm within a year.  Seriously, I miss my country living.....so ready to wade the muck to check on cows....and gather eggs......

* School did not go at all like I wanted this year.  We will try again next year...no big deal right....I mean come on, Kylie is only 6 and she is learning to read after all......and she can already add, multiply (some) Subtract (some)

* I'm going to be a grandma in July (well, step grandma, but I am the one that lives the closest to it....)

* And I am kinda excited about that.....anther baby around....

* I have been spending less time on facebook and blogs. Its kinda strange not to be on the computer everyday...

*but I'm getting more done.

*my house is halfway organized......

*the other half is getting done this weekend....hopefully

*I am enjoying learning more about GOD and life with my kids

* and now my kids want to know if I can have a tea party! 

* So I will go and next time I will try to do some pictures of things we have been up too.....although I havent stopped to take a lot of pictures lately....life is too full and fun to stop and grab a camera

Blessings
Crystal

My unannounced blogging break...and my 300th post!

Yeah I guess I have been on a break, unannounced yes but very needed. I dont know when I will get back to regular posting. This is my 300th post though! Interesting, I had no idea I had posted so much or so little depending on how you look at it.

My blogging time has been taken up with time with the kids and at night, my extra time has been occupied with ..... are you ready for this? "The Love DARE"! We started doing this 11 days ago and it is going great. Paul and I wanted to do it, and with Jack and Amber getting married in January, they are joining in.

A few words about it, when we decided to do it, the first few days it seemed that the Devil was trying his hardest to keep us from succeeding, but once we realized this and said "GET BEHIND ME SATAN" it was so easy to read the dare each night and the next day, actually use what we had read to better our relationship, and not to say that there arent little spats..here and there, and Paul and I have actually realized that over the past 6 months, we have actually been doing alot of this stuff, just to try to make our marriage better, without a book, but this book is helping so much.... I encourage anyone to try it, whether you think you have a good "Unconditional Love" marriage or not, try it. 40 days and you wont regret it...

On other notes, I am almost through with my Christmas preperations. I have a few more gifts to finish up and some food to make and I will be done. I hope to finish it up this week and then Monday and Tuesday will be spent packing for our trip south to my parents for the Holidays.... I am so excited, I get to see my family.

Other than that, there is not much more to report and I am out of time for today. I have to get back to my projects and get food ready for Bible Study tonight.

Much Love and Blessings and Happy Holidays to all...
Crystal

Some things I have found lately..

What little time I have had on the computer here lately has been spent doing school stuff and research for a friend. But I have had a few extra minutes with sick kids piled up on the couch and resting. So here are some things I have found that I have started trying to do but not neccesarily posting about as I just dont have the time.

I will be putting a button on my sidebar too. I think this is a great idea. Praying for your kids seven times a day seven days a week.

The Love Dare! This is a wonderful thing to do. Paul and I plan on seeing the movie this weekend if possible (babysitters...) and we are going to take Jack and Amber and then we plan on doing the 40 day challenge. We are even thinking about getting the Couples Kit to do...

Making Your Home a Haven! I love this. I have been working on my home, not in the exact order she has because I didnt find this before yesterday but it is a really neat plan. Please go over and take a look.

My sister has a daybook. The idea was from the Simple womans daybook..but altered to fit her needs. I have been doing this and tweaking it as I go....I havent been poting it but I have been doing it.

And my all time favorite recipe that I tried this week! Autumn Chowder from Heritage Schoolhouse. Oh you must try this...it is delicious..everyone in our house loved it.

Blessings to all..

Crystal

Changes in our Life...

Our house is full of changes here lately. But before I get into them, I want to say a little about the weekend meeting that we attended at the church that I grew up in. We left Friday afternoon to go down to it, before we had even made it an hour, my glasses broke...so we had to go to a wal mart vision center to have the lenses put in new frames....well, they messed up my lenses so now I am having headaches...and I have to get new glasses anyway. It was an awful evening, we did not even make it to Church Friday night.

Saturday, we went to a fall festival and seen lots of beautiful stuff and ate wonderful food. Saturday evening services, we got to listen to a wonderful man speak and boy did he step on my toes... Lets just say that after his lesson, My day Friday was WONDERFUL!!!! Did you hear that JERRY? WONDERFUL!

Jerry spoke about how we are not supposed to let others or events dictate how our day is. And we gripe about our days and we gripe about what we have to do but JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS!!!! HE HUNG ON A CROSS WITH NAILS IN HIS HANDS AND FEET AND A CROWN OF THORNS ON HIS HEAD FOR US AND WE GRIPE ABOUT BEING TIRED!!!!

Nope No more Jerry, I wont gripe...My days are wonderful and marvelous and I am doing great...lol.

I am sure that Jerry had more points in his lesson, and I am sure that they were great also. And I do remember alot of them...this is just the one that stepped on my toes the hardest. I also had three or four kids around me making noise so I couldnt hear all that well...but I am not griping, their sounds are so musical.

The changes in our life have been for the better we think. Last week, my parents took the girls home with them for 3 days. I managed to get alot done around the house without them. I organized my file cabinets, I organized their room, my room, went through a bunch of clothes, got homeschool stuff caught up on and done lots of Bible reading.

When we came home from the meeting, Jacks fiance came home with us. He is going to be staying in our camp trailer and she will be staying with us until their wedding. (This is cheaper than driving 4 hours each way to see each other...they need to save all they can. ) So we are adjusting to having her here...not real hard since she fits right in.

We are adjusting to having Daddy home more since he has not been working as much and with that comes adjusting to not as much money. Its tough but in the spirit of Jerrys lesson, we are still alive and eating... :) See I'm smiling Jerry...Its a good day..


The Church group where we went saw the movie FIREPROOF this weekend. Paul and I did not get to go because we had to come back home and get him ready for work today. They said it was awesome...and we want to go see it...Please theater have it this weekend...(we live in a little town with a one movie theater.. THANK GOD FOR THE ONE MOVIE!!!) Just please let it be FireProof this week... anyway, Julie wrote about it.

I am going to try to write more inspirational and helpful stuff on this blog.....I just feel the need to get our Christian viewpoints out there. So we will see what I come up with.

Blessings
Crystal

Rain Rain!

Rain Rain Rain.....that is what it has done here for the last 24 hrs. But hey, I'm not gonna gripe....we need it and it beats 105 temps. I want to live somewhere where there is not summer..is that possible. I think I will move to Alaska or somewhere...lol. I love Fall, Winter and Spring......absolutely cannot stand summer.

I was going to post Husband Encouragement yesterday but I got so busy spending time with hubby doing things to our house. We have a list of repairs and organizing things to do and yesterday, alot of our little stuff got knocked off of the list. I will go into more detail later but for right now, I am off to get ready for Church. I am so excited.....Its SUNDAY!!!!!!! God is so Good!

Blessings
Crystal

Catching up!

Finally, I get to catch up on my post. But only because I dont feel like doing anything else right now. I just got back from the dentist (I had two teeth filled) and the numbinb stuff always makes me sleepy and sick to my stomach but I have kids to love and hug on so I am sitting here with them watching a movie and resting. (Hubbys orders!)

Let's see. I left off on Thursday. Well, Friday we were at the archery shoot and were really really busy. My Husband Encouragement (H.E.) for that day was the fact that my dear sweet hubby worked hard all weekend to make some extra money so we could pay off some bills....He takes such good care of us and loves us so much.

Saturday, he told me that I could go shopping for the girls one new outfit apiece and when I got tired, he told me to go back to the motel and get a nap. I did get to go shopping and I got the girls several shirts at the goodwill store (that has to be my favorite goodwill store around...lol). I also got Jason several shirts and some jeans for this winter. Then I got the girls one outfit apiece at Goodys for 60% off. I was so happy.

Sunday, when we got home from the shoot, Paul helped me to unload and start laundry and he went and got a pizza so I didnt have to cook and he fed the dogs and watered them and then came home and we sat down and watched Star Trek.

Monday, he got up at 4:00 a.m. to go to work and get in some extra hours. He also came home and worked on our new project we have going.

Tuesday, he got up at 4:00 again and when he got home, my parents were here to visit so he visited with my dad. He had to go get some stuff for our project so he invited my dad and dads friend to go with him and they had a great time visiting. When he came home, he helped me get the kids in bed.

Wednesday, my dear sweet hubby let me sleep in and he had to go to real estate for a little while but when he got home, he worked some more on our project and he helped me last night with a major catastrophe in the house.

Today, he is doing an extra job to make som extra money. But this morning while Iwas gone to the dentist, he watched the kids and done dishes and laundry! Isnt he sweet! I really think so.

I am still trying to get caught up on everything. It seems like the laundry is never ending and I am also trying to get our school schedule made. I was going to start school at the first of July. As you can probably tell, that did not happen. It seems like one thing right after the other happened to keep us from it. All it was was the devil, I know it and I let him in. I need to focus on God and not let the devil in. I really need to get my schedule made and stick to it. So that is my plan by Monday, to have my schedule, to make sure I am up earlier than the kids, and to stick to my plan.

I hope you all have a blessed Friday and weekend and that your plans are working out.

Blessings
Crystal

I'm Home!

Glad to be home. I am catching up on laundry and STUFF! If you have emailed me I will get back to you in a day or two. I will also try to post my Husband and Kid encouragements tommorow.

We had fun but an archery shoot in August is not all that appealing anymore. It was HOT! TIRING! We did get to see alot of people we havent seen in a while and we did get to eat at our favorite Italian Restaraunt (sp). We only eat there once a year and I had been saving money for it. lol. It was worth it after a hot day outside.

I am off now to go get Jason in the bed (his bed finally he says), take a shower, eat some Wal Mart pizza, and do laundry and watch Star Trek....weve missed that. lol

Blessings..
Crystal

Odds and Ends

First of All, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROSE! My Niece. She is 7 today!

Next I want to share some links with you. I have probably shared some of them before but they are very inspiring to me and on days that have just not been going so well, well, they just help.

Kelli at There is No Place Like Home always has such beautiful things to show. Her garden and crafts are always inspiring to me. Makes me wish I had more time and was more creative.

The Art of Making a Home Joyful has very helpful post on working through day to day issues. She is so real and I cant help but relate to alot of things that happen in her days.

I am always enjoying new and exciting blogs that I stumble across, I may not always remember to bookmark them but I do like to read them.

I have been struggling here lately with my attitude. I have not been very Christlike or a very nice mommy at all. I have been snappy and grouchy and just overall really hateful. I have been doing alot of soul searching and have come to some conclusions. 1) I need to take more time to stop and listen to my kids. Actually hear what they are saying. 2) I need to work on my attitude because until I change mine, theirs isnt very likely to change either. 3) I need to be more positive in every aspect of my life. I just happen to go to Church with a very negative person. I tend to let this affect me and I shouldn't. I should be positive anyway. This one person should not make my entire week bad from one week to the next. There are plenty of positive people at Church. I need to gain from them. 4) I need to encourage my husband more. He is so loving and he deserves all the encouragement I can give him.

There have been more stuggles than just these but I am through focusing on them. I am going to focus on the positive. Like the fact that my daughters are being so thoughtful and caring today, and the fact that my little boy is no longer in his play pen (yeah thats positive...he was tearing it up!) He is now trying to potty train and yes it may take a while but he will get there and then woo hoo no more diapers....lol.

I am going to try to post one encouraging thought a day about my sweet dear hubby. (I may miss a day here and there but I will just post two thoughts the next day...) Todays's thought is the fact that he cleaned out my tub last night so I could soak in it because I had a very long day yesterday. And even though I didnt soak because something came up, the fact is it was the thought that counts. And Tonight, I get to soak...Lord Willing!

Please pray for my sister as she is nearing the end of her pregnancy! Your almost there Julie! I am so excited to see my new nephew.

Please pray for me that I may learn patience and be a more happy and cheerful mother to my kids.

Blessings
Crystal

Menu and other things.

Our menu for this week is mostly just simple food that we can fix out of what we have in our pantry and freezer. I had $100 dollars to buy groceries and household stuff for two weeks and gas to go to Church and back on. But not looking at the negative, We are looking at the POSITIVE things about all this. We are not starving, we were and will be able to go to Church, we were able to be with our friends husband while she was in Surgery Friday, (which by the way, she came through great and her husband was able to get a weeks paid vacation to stay home and help her recover. We are praying for you Kristy. ) and we hae been pretty fortunate in that Paul did get to work an extra day last week so that will help on next weeks pay check.

So on to our menu.

Monday-- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup/cornbread.

Tuesday--Hamburger Gravy w/toast Green beans and carrotts

Wednesday--Sausage, eggs, fried potatoes (This is Pauls night because I am having one side of wisdom teeth pulled wednesday morning.)
Thursday--Grilled Backstrap (yes off of a deer from last year!) loaded baked potatoes, salad.

Friday--Spaghetti
Saturday-- Leftovers and Grilled Cheese.
Sunday--Chefs Salad

We are also trying to not heat up our house to keep our electric bill down. It is tough but we are getting through it. I have been doing laundry all at night so I dont have to heat up the house with the dryer. (I will be getting a clothes line before summer is over...but in this humidity, it takes forever for clothes to dry.) We have been using the crockpot alot or having salads or something that we can grill or cooks really really quick. We are learning to like reheating foods in the microwave. I will cook something early in the morning or late at night while I am waiting on laundry and we will reheat it for supper. We are also doing all of our baking at night.

It isnt too bad though. It cools down in here about 6:00 to a comfortable level and we are able to start laundry and baking and the dishwasher.

A little explanation....we live in a double wide trailer in the middle of 1 acre that has absolutely no trees...no shade. So being a trailor, it isnt like most houses that have lots of insulation in the roof...It soaks up heat and makes it like a greenhouse in here in the middle of the day. Last year, we did okay, it stayed pretty cool in here....this year, I think our central air conditioning unit is going out because it just cant keep up. At about 2:30 everyday, it gets up to about 80 in here according to the thermostat. That is usually the time that we are all sitting around doing nothing. We may be reading or I may be doing some crochet or hand sewing. Then about 4:30, we get supper going and we eat by 5:30 so that we can do clean up and get laundry going and the kids can go outside to play when it is cool. We are doing good today though, it is 12:30 and it is only 73 in here so it may not hit 80 today. lol...

My plans for today include sewing curtains for my patio door in my dining room, I think if I get some curtains on them, it will help. And also if I get that done, I need to go through my material tote and see what kind of craft I can come up with for Kylie to do. She has been wanting to sew so we are going to start small.

This week is proving kinda busy and I just got a call from hubby. His boss may go on vacation next week so he may get to work all week...What a blessing. The Lord is taking very good care of us!

Many Blessings and Praises in His Name!
Crystal

Busy Busy Busy

It has been very busy around here lately. Paul was supposed to go down to two days a week last week on his job but the guy that he works with threw his back out and so Paul ended up working his usual four days last week. It was a blessing in a lot of ways but it threw our schedule we had worked out for Daddy being home two days way off. But that was okay....He was off for the Fourth and we had a wonderful time. Our car is about to wear out on us. It has things wrong with it that are not even worth the money to fix them. We have prayed and prayed and hoped that it last long enough to get us to the point that we could afford another one or till we could go to just one vehicle...which right now we cant really afford to drive our truck so Friday night, instead of going to a Fourth of July party, we went out and had a little date night (kids included but they were so good....) and we drove around looking at cars. We havent done that in forever. Usually, the kids go to sleep but they were too busy watching all the pretty fireworks in the city we were in. They had amazing fireworks displays. It was such a joy to get to hear the oos and awwes from the back seat.

Saturday, we had a very relaxing day. I got to get my house partially cleaned up and play in my garden.

Sunday, we had some visitors at Church.....I say visitors but they actually helped us start the Church there and had to move because of jobs. It was so nice to get to see Mick and Janice and Amanda. They are always a joy to see and visit with. I miss them so much. Mick gave a very good lesson...over being ready for God. If Jesus came back five minutes from now, would I be ready? Honestly, probably not. I have things on my heart right now that are not very nice and things that I need to work on...Not saying that I wouldnt go to heaven, but I would probably go with unfinished tasks. Something to think about and work on.

Our friends from Japan. Angela and her husband Justin and their kids Macie and Landyn left this Sunday to go back to Japan. They are moving to the states in August and have so many things to take care of before they move that they wanted to get back and get started. They made it back over safely and hopefully will be back Stateside by the last of August. It will be so good to have them back close again. We miss them so much. Please pray that they are able to get everything taken care of without any problems and that they make a safe journey back over when they come HOME this time.

Our friend Kristy goes in this Friday to have her partial hysterectomy. She is only having her uterus taking out if her ovaries are okay. As swollen as her uterus is and with the fibroids, they couldn't see her ovaries very well on the ultrasound so they will find out when they get in there. Please pray that she will have peace and comfort as she goes into this. She has come to accept that she has to have this done, it is just still very emotional for her. Just please cover her in your prayers.

My sister has posted on her blog that our other sister, the oldest one, and her husband need prayers right now. Please keep them and their children in your prayers. They have two 18 yr olds, one is fixing to go into college and doesnt need this stress right now, and the other is fixing to embark on the world of the working man and doesnt need the stress either. They also have a 14 yr old girl and a 7 yr old girl that need our prayers right now. They are only children and should not have to endure the trials of adulthood yet.

Please pray for my sister as she is in the last month of her pregnancy and is having problems with her legs swelling and hurting. Please pray that she can carry this baby to term and that it is born without any complications and that it is healthy.

I have got lots to do today. Bill paying and grocery buying and meal planning. It is going to be another busy week so we will see if I get back on here to post again.

Crystal

ABC's

I found this on Mistys blog and decided to do it today. I have a migraine (stress related I'm sure) so I am taking it easy.

A is for age:27
B is for burger of choice:Bacon Cheeseburger with Mustard and everything but lettuce.
C is for what kind of car you drive: 2007 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab
D is for your dog’s name: Elmer and Tinker Bell..and Red
E is for essential item you use everyday:Tooth Paste
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Dont watch Tv but weve been watching the Star Trek series on DVD
G is for favorite game:To play - Basketball To Watch - Basketball
H is for Hometown: Somewhere in Oklahoma
I is for instruments you play:I used to play the piano.
Jis for favorite juice:Grape Juice
K is for whose butt you’d like to kick: Cancer...Especially Breast Cancer.
L is for last restaurant you ate at? CiCi's Pizza two weeks ago
M is for your favorite Muppet:don't have one
N is for Number of Piercing:2 (my ears even though they've grown up)
O is for overnight hospital stays: 3 (1 night when each of my kids was born)
P is for people you were with today:My kids
Q is for what you do with your quiet time:Read
R is for biggest regret:Not making more time for my friends
S is for status:SAHWM (Stay at home wife and mom)
T is for time you woke up today:6:00
U is for what you consider unique: ????
V is for vegetable you love:Okra Squash
W is for worst habit:I'm very moody
X is for x-rays you’ve had:None
Y is for yummy food you ate today: Root Beer Float
Z is for zodiac sign:Taurus

HAVE FUN!
Crystal