I am a Firefly/Serenity fan!  For those of you who have never heard of this, it is a fantastic television series (Firefly) that was cancelled partway through it’s one and only season on Fox.   It’s being doing very well in DVD sales (that’s how I found it, I missed it when it was on TV) and is currently a major motion picture (Serenity) that has been in theaters since September 30th.  Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to find, especially now, more than a month after it’s release.  I am disappointed that it hasn’t done better (financially speaking) in the theaters.  I was hoping it would be a huge success, ensuring a sequel or two.  It’s probably my favorite sci-fi cast and show since Star Trek:TNG.  I like it even better than Stargate:SG-1! 

Halloween Pictures!!!

A few sights from our house last night — I’m down to only two trick-or-treaters in my family — no wait, I take that back, I had THREE sons who got dressed up and went out to beg for goodies from the friendly neighbors.  You’ll see what I mean as you check out the pictures below.

Mark is Indiana Jones

Isaac is one of the 101 Dalmations

The dalmation demonstrates how to wag his tail.

Posing by some pumpkin friends –

– And by our resident “friendly ghost”

(oh look, it’s not really a dalmation, it’s Isaac peeking out from under that mask!)

Our assortment of carved jack-o-lanterns.  Most of the family gets in on the pumkin- carving action.  Clockwise starting at the upper left (11:00) we have Mom’s pumkin, Grant’s pumkin, Mark’s pumkin, Dad’s pumpkin and Isaac’s pumpkin (Mom helped carve Isaac’s pumpkin, but he chose the design–the bat!)

Jack-o-lanterns are best viewed in the dark!  (The extra–unlit–one in the middle is Isaac’s candy-collecting pumpkin, but he thought it should be in the picture too.)

Settin’ a spell with the pun’kins.

The neighborhood kids who prowled the area together.

My 17 year old son who decided to dress up and visit some of our neighbors and friends.  Nathan and Brittany were going for the “Roaring 20′s” look.  Nathan’s outfit is actually one of his costumes for his play, “Anything Goes”, which opens in only TEN DAYS!!!!

There you have it, a quick look at Halloween 2005 from our corner of the world.  I hope your evening was as “spooktacular” as ours was!  Unfortunately, Isaac woke up this morning with a fever and a headache (not related to candy consumption, we were pretty careful to limit that last night) so he is home sick from school today *groan*.  Poor kid.  I think he actually was feeling a little low last night as well (he doesn’t look his usual perky self in the pictures) but didn’t want to admit it because he didn’t want to miss out on the fun!  Hopefully it’s not going to develop into anything major and he will be back at school in a day or two.

Happy All Saint’s Day!

                       ~Leah~

P.S.  One more picture — I have to post a picture of my most recent “birthday boy”, Grant, who turned 15 years old last week!  (This picture is a take-off on Isaac’s b-day picture where he was holding up 7 fingers because he was 7 yearas old):

Obviously Grant had a little help coming up with 15 fingers! And the iPod nano he is holding/listening to is his birthday present.

Playing Catch-Up

I had a request from my #1 son who is away at college to update my blog with the latest and greatest happenings from home, so here goes…

I’ve used the analogy before, but it remains true — our life at home is nothing short of a three ring circus.  I’m not complaining — au contraire!  I enjoy the hustle and bustle of keeping up with kids, school, work, church, and the variety of extra-curricular activities our family of a half-dozen plus one always seems to be involved in — well, most of the time, anyway.  Kyle, as previously mentioned, is away at college, but we still hear from him regularly and see him occasionally.  His class schedule FINALLY seems to be straightening out.  Now if only the job he applied for comes through — THAT will be a big help in the finance department!  Nate is busier than a kid his age has a right to be, I think.  He is taking 3 high school classes (college reading & writing, concert choir and symphonic band — both the top music groups in the school) and 3 college classes (calculus, speech and computer repair), he is working about 15 to 18 hours a week, and he is in rehearsal for the fall musical, where he has a lead role.  Not to be forgotten is his girlfriend — for some reason he thinks he has to make time for her as well, go figure!  Grant is adjusting to life as a high-schooler.  He is on the cross country team and he joins big brother Nate in the cast of the musical.  He started confirmation classes at church last month.  Not surprisingly, his social life is becoming an ever-increasing priority to him.  Mark is continuing to keep busy singing with the choirboys, where he was chosen by his fellow choir members to be the assistant Head Chorister for this year (second highest choir office!).  They had their first public performance of the season yesterday (pretty early for a choir that basically starts over every September by replacing 1/3 to 1/2 of it’s members).  They sang at a benefit concert for hurricane victims.  He is also experiencing a sudden increase in homework expectations as a 7th grader.  He was furiously working on his Lewis and Clark project all weekend, and needs to start his leaf collection today (after he gets home from his oboe lesson).  Isaac started singing with the choirboys this year also — he is in the “prep” choir.  He seems to love 1st grade.  Last week he turned 7 years old and invited all of the boys from his class (10 of them) to a bowling party to celebrate the occasion.  We held the party on Saturday afternoon and it was quite a hit!  Watching all those cute little boys throwing those (to them) heavy and cumbersome balls down the alley was priceless.  They each had their own unique “style”.  Some would carry the ball to the line, set it down and give it a vigorous push, while others energetically ran to the alley, wildly releasing the ball with abundant enthusiasm — sometimes too abundant, in fact.  We had a few balls that jumped lanes and ended up knocking down pins in the neighboring alley.  Fortunately they were not being used at the time.  Following bowling we filled the boys up with pizza, soda, cupcakes and ice cream.  I’m sure their parents loved picking up their sugar-energized boys when the party was over. 

 Here is a picture of the birthday boy, taken the morning of his big day:   

Isn’t he just about the cutest 7-year-old in existence?

Hubby has been unbelievably busy at work for the past 6 weeks.  It was 6 weeks ago that one of the three doctors in his practice decided it was time to part ways (a decision hubby wholeheartedly agreed with), so now there are only two doctors in the office.  At the same time, unexplicably, the number of patients coming to the office increased by about 10%.  Consequently, that means both doctors are working harder than ever.  Not only are they spending more time seeing patients, but there is a necessary and corresponding increase in paperwork that accompanies the rising number of patients.  Hubby is pretty much maxed out as far as the number of patients he can see and still manage to keep up with the paperwork.  The other doctor could probably see a few more, but he is also in the process of rebuilding his house that burned down last winter, so at the moment he does not have any time in his schedule to spare.  I guess, all things considered, being busy at work is a good “problem” to have.  However, I sometimes feel like hubby doesn’t really have enough time for a life outside of work, and that is definitely NOT a good thing.

Now I’m just as busy as ever doing all the things I have always done.  I have many roles.  Mother, wife, housekeeper, chauffer, sister, volunteer, friend, bookkeeper, musician, cook, errand runner – the list goes on.  A few of the new roles I have taken on this year include being the vice-chair of the Choirboys Service Organization and singing with the Praise Team for the contemporary service at our church (but only once a month…I volunteered to join the “new” team, allowing the “regular” team to have that one Sunday a month off).  I gave up my role as the chair of the silent auction committee for the choirboys, but the CSO vice-chair thing will probably take just as much (if not more) of my time.  I’m still singing with the chancel choir at church, teaching Sunday School and helping with the Wednesday youth program for elementary age kids.  My book club is still going strong, and I continue to work one day a week at hubby’s office.  I’ve volunteered a couple of times so far at Isaac’s school, and I expect I will be called upon several more times throughout the year.  My “temporary” roles at the moment include real estate agent (we are still working on getting that cabin sold) graphic designer (I’m helping put together the new picture directory for our church which is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year) and costume designer (for the fall musical) — I’ve found that eBay and thrift stores are great places to find period clothing at reasonable prices — as long as you don’t get carried away with the bidding frenzy on eBay, that is!  (So far I’ve managed to avoid getting too caught up in that.) 

Well, that pretty much sums things up for now.  Garrison Keillor has a line that he closes all of his “Lake Wobegon” segments with that seems appropriate…”and that’s the news from [QueenBee-land], where all the women are strong and all the men are good looking!  

Parting shot:  if people can be disgruntled, can they also be gruntled?       

Cabin for Sale!

I’ve been playing realtor the past few days.  We own a small cabin on a very nice lake not far from our “real” home.  We are in the process of trying to sell it, because we are hoping to buy some larger property on the same lake (potentially a site to build our “retirement home”), and we need the money from the sale of this cabin to finance the new place — not to mention we don’t exactly need two places on the same lake!  Here are the “particulars”.  It is a small cabin, a perfect, cozy and charming weekend get-away that’s not so far away from home.  It is on a beautiful lake, with excellent water quality, and a nice variety of game fish.  It is especially known for it’s pan fish and bass.  This 6-room cabin overlooks 60 feet of lakeshore on this sandy-bottomed lake, and includes one bedroom, one full bath, a natural gas fireplace/cast-iron stove and a large sun porch.  It has a well and septic system.  It’s location is ideal if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, because it’s at most an hours drive — much more convenient than the 3 to 4 hour drive to the central lakes area of the state, or the 5 to 6 hour drive to the north shore/boundary waters area!

So, look at these pictures, pretend you are a potential buyer, and tell me (honestly) what you think!  We are asking $265,000 — which, if you can believe it, is a “bargain” price for lake property in MN. 

   Approaching the cabin from the road:

Cabin exterior on the lakeside: 

     Storage shed by the road –

Cabin exterior from the road:

   Entering the cabin –

The “great room”, opens to kitchen and has a vaulted ceiling, two large closets for storage, plus a great view of the lake!

(Here is what you see from the “great room” windows):

 View of the living room — fireplace keeps the cabin toasty on cool evenings, the bedroom entrance is off the LR, you can see the doorway just behind the fireplace. 

Looking back from the living room to the kitchen and “great room” –

 Bathroom includes a large linen closet — not visible in this picture –

Bedroom — small but comfortable, also has a nice sized storage closet.

 A view of the porch from the living room –

Another view of the porch — we use this area for extra sleeping space (sofa sleeper and futon) –

  The main reason someone would want to buy this cabin — to be at the lake!

Stairway down to the waterfront:

Standing on the dock looking up at the cabin.  Storage shed is a great place for all sorts of water toys, skiis, inner tubes, life jackets, etc.

The retaining wall is not very aesthetically pleasing, we know.  We had some plans and estimates done for replacing it with a terraced boulder type wall, but since so many potential buyers are mainly interested in lake property and end up tearing down the existing structures and building newer, “fancier” homes on the property, we decided to leave it alone and sell it “as is”.  (The white thing leaning up against the wall to the left of the storage shed is a paddle boat). 

So, do you think we will find any interested buyers?

From a vacation cottage Karin and I watched on TV as the desolation unfolded in New Orleans and the Gulf coast. Through that agonizing week we sat helpless with millions, while the world’s most technologically powerful nation could not provide food, water, and rescue to fellow citizens whose desperate faces filled our screen and haunted our consciences.

Commentators described Hurricane Katrina as a “natural disaster,” or at times as an “act of God,” like language used in some insurance policies describing events beyond human control. It means no one is liable. Except, of course, God. And that’s what troubles me. How can a God of love, Creator of all that is, be responsible for such terrible, destructive disasters?

But as I listened, reflected, and prayed during that week, another question emerged. Just how “natural” was this disaster? Consider this, for instance. When Katrina left the Florida coast, it was classified as a “tropical storm” – not even a hurricane. It picked up tremendous power as it passed through the Gulf of Mexico, in part, experts think, because the waters of the Gulf were two degrees warmer than normal. So by the time it reached New Orleans, it was a category four hurricane.

Years before becoming general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, I led a group studying global warming and the responsibility of the churches for preserving the environment when I served as director of Church and Society for the World Council of Churches. Even then (1990), a clear global scientific consensus warned that global warming due to human causes – especially the accelerated use of fossil fuels – was causing disruptive climate changes. And I clearly remember listening to scientists say that one effect could be that storms such as hurricanes would increase in their intensity and destructive effects because of warmer waters and changing sea levels. So a part of Katrina’s fury was not completely “natural.”

And there’s more. New Orleans was built between the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, with much of the city below sea level. Its vulnerability to flooding from hurricanes was partly protected by the wetlands between the city and the Gulf. These act like a “speed bump,” absorbing and lowering some of a hurricane’s force. But they’ve been disappearing, making way for shopping malls, condos, and roads, so 25 square miles are lost each year – an area the size of Manhattan. And the city has kept moving closer to the Gulf.

Moreover, the levees and dams constructed to protect the city and “control” the Mississippi deprive the wetlands from the sediments and nutrients that naturally would replenish its life. There’s a lot “unnatural” about this “act of God.”

And then, consider the victims. Those who have suffered the most are the poorest, and most of them are black. Twenty-seven percent of New Orleans residents lived below the poverty line, and many of those simply had no cars, or no money, and no way to leave. That also isn’t “natural.” The poverty rate, and the gap between rich and poor, continues to increase in this nation, and that is a national disgrace. More to our point, that’s a sin, condemned by literally hundreds of verses of scripture. Those most vulnerable to Katrina have been kept on society’s margins by persistent economic injustice and racism.

I celebrate the tides of compassion flowing in the wake of Katrina. Organizations such as Church World Service and the Salvation Army bear the compassion of Christ to the desolate, homeless, and hopeless. And I still don’t fully understand why, in the providence of a loving and all-powerful God of creation, things like hurricanes and earthquakes happen.

But I do know this. When I see the devastating effects of Katrina, I don’t simply regard these as an inexplicable “act of God.” I also focus on the sins of humanity. We’ve disobeyed God’s clear biblical instructions to preserve the integrity of God’s good creation, and to overcome the scourge of poverty. In the aftermath of Katrina, we desperately need not only compassion, but also repentance.

Wes Granberg-Michaelson is general secretary of the Reformed Church in America. Reprinted from the Church Herald, October 2005. (c) 2005 by the Church Herald, Inc. Another version of this article will appear in the print version of the October 2005 Church Herald and on the Church Herald Web site herald.rca.org.

We’ve made some  progress at our house in the past week.  It might only sound like a little thing, but to us it is a breakthrough!  Isaac has been sleeping in his own room and in his own bed for almost an entire week!  Up until last Saturday night, Isaac almost always slept on the floor next to my side of the bed, or on the loveseat at the foot of my bed.  Last Saturday Mark moved into the basement bedroom that Kyle vacated when he moved into his college apartment, leaving Isaac a room all to himself.  We moved a Little Tykes desk that had been in storage for several years into Isaac’s “new” room, one that is just his size and has both an overhead light and a light in the desk surface (for tracing) and he could not have been more thrilled!  Now every night at bedtime we read a story together, he spends a few minutes drawing at his desk, and then he picks out a tape or CD he wants to listen to, and he climbs into bed and quickly falls asleep — no fuss whatsoever!  I guess he just needed his OWN space so he could go to sleep in his OWN special way.  Mark is a reader, and he likes to read to himself before he goes to sleep.  Isaac needs sound (the tape/CD) to fall asleep.  The two styles in the same room were apparently incompatible.  Now they are both happy and harmony reigns in our house.  I never minded Isaac sleeping in my room, but I am glad he has finally decided to use his own room for a change.  Another sign that he is growing up  *sniff*.  As much as I am proud and happy for him for taking this step, a part of me grieves this little step towards independance.  

Speaking of independance…a friend of mine related a cute story to me yesterday.  Her youngest daughter left for college a couple of weeks ago.  Casey (the daughter) has been (according to her mother, Jackie) ready to move out and assert her independance practically since birth. Jackie called Casey a week or so after she had been at school, and although Casey was happy enough to talk to her Mom and fill her in on how school had been going (it was terrific), she asked her Mom, “Do we have to talk on the phone EVERY week?”  So Jackie decided to back off a little bit and let Casey initiate the next contact.  Yesterday morning, Jackie turned her cell phone on and found she had a text message waiting for her.  It was from Casey.  The message read, “I had forgotten how much work grapefruit is to eat.  I remember now that I don’t have you to cut it for me.  Love, Casey” 

Life and love are so often all about the little things.

I’m finally making some contructive use of my premium subscription!  In my “custom module”, in the left column of this page, I have included links to my favorite posts.  I hope those of you who have not been reading me “since the very beginning” (way back in February, I think it was) will enjoy checking these out.  For my faithful readers, perhaps you would enjoy going back to some of these posts without having to search through my whole blog to find them.  I think they are the best examples of my writing, or tell the most about who I am and what makes me tick.  And even if nobody else cares to go back and read my old posts…at least they will be easier for me to find!  LOL!  Have a great Labor Day Weekend!  

Update time!

Garage Sale Update:  I can report that the sale was a sucess!  It ran for two days and I sold just under $400.00 of unwanted “treasures” (at least I hope the people that bought my old things consider them to be treasures ).  Unfortunately, I am still left with a considerable pile of stuff that did not sell, but for now it is boxed up and sitting on a trailer in the garage.  A local teen hangout (a safe, fun place for kids to hang out after school and on weekends — run by caring volunteers who just want to see local kids grow up healthy and have some positive adult role models) is asking for donations for a rummage sale they are having next month, so I think a lot of what’s left will go there.  It’s all good, useful stuff for somebody, just not for me — anymore. 

Lasik Update:  Hubby’s vision continues to improve daily.  He is happy with the results of his surgery.  I am jealous .  Unfortunately, my eye doc tells me I am not a great candidate for lasik, due to some retinal irregularities.  I’d have to undergo another laser procedure before I could have the lasik procedure…and neither would be considered medically necessary, so insurance would not pay.  I guess I’ll continue to get by with my glasses and contact lenses.  I’ve lived this long with my faulty vision, I guess I can manage to get by…maybe the price will continue to come down and someday we can think about it for me.

Back-to-School Update:  The transition back-to-school has gone amazingly smoothly.  We are in the middle of week 2, and I haven’t had to struggle to get Isaac going in the mornings at all!  He is enjoying 1st grade, with TWO recesses per day (that’s a huge plus).  He is bringing home sentances to practice reading to me.  I’m not sure how much he is reading and how much he has memorized, but at this point it’s all about becoming familiar with words on sight, so I think it is going well.  This morning he had some trouble “sounding out” words such as one, two, you, and like…but they really aren’t words that sound the way you think they should anyway (I had to explain the silent “e” rule to him for the word “like”…I’m not sure my explanation sunk in).  English is such a goofy language!  He still only talks about two boys that were in his kindergarten class last year who made the move to the same 1st grade classroom that he is in…Noah and Seth R. (Last year there were two Seth’s in his kindergarten class, so they were identified by adding the initial of the last name.)  Even though only one of the Seth’s is in his classroom this year, he continues to add that final initial when he talks about him.  That’s okay, we are friends with the other Seth’s family — Seth K. — so we still see him as well, even though they aren’t in the same class anymore.  Hubby has three freinds with the first name Dan, and he talks about them all the time.  I wish he would learn to use a final initial to identify which Dan he is referring to…it would save me the trouble of interrupting him to ask “Which Dan?”  Getting back to Isaac — I’m sure as the year goes by, he will branch out and make new friends with some of the other kids in the class.  For now he is happy with his two buddies being there. 

The rest of the kids are adjusting to the school routines well also.  Grant seems to enjoy the high school, Nathan is doing well balancing his high school and college courses, plus his work schedule.  Mark has always handled school the best of all the kids, so I didn’t expect any issues with him and so far there are none.  This afternoon I head to the cities with Kyle to help him make the final trip completing the move into his college apartment.  He and his room-mate moved the larger pieces of furniture down last weekend, but they plan to move in “officially” today.  He is clearing out his room at home so Mark can move into it.  Mark has been sharing a room with Isaac for the past three years (before that Mark and Grant shared a room) so it will be the first time he has had a room of his own!  I don’t know who is more excited about the change in living arrangements, Kyle or Mark!

Life in General Update:  Life is good.  I am so blessed, there is nothing to complain about.  I feel so fortunate to live where I live, to have a happy and healthy family, a dependable source of income, a network of friends, a strong cup of coffee every morning and my computer to inform and entertain me.  (That is by no means a complete list of all of my blessings!)  I am made even more mindful of my good fortune by a couple of recent events.  As we all know, the residents of New Orleans and surrounding areas have been devastated by hurricane Katrina.  It’s as bad or worse than the tsunami that hit Indonesia last Christmas, from all reports! It will be interesting to see how the world responds to Americans in need…considering all of the relief efforts that we poured into the tsunami victims, let alone the ongoing relief we provide around the world.  I know we have the resources needed to “take care of our own”, so to speak, but I still feel some assistance from other coutries is warranted, given the massive scale of what happened along our gulf coast.  We’ll see.  The other thing that has happend to put thing in persepctive for me is that I had yet another friend diagnosed with cancer.  This time is is my friend, Faith, who got the news that she has an inoperable brain tumor — a primary grade 2 astrocytoma, which in the words of her husband, John, is “neither the worst nor the best of brain cancer worlds but more toward the not-so-bad side”…meaning that although it is located such that it cannot be successfully removed surgically, at least it is slow growing and there is time to treat it with radiation to see if it can be reduced in size and “managed”.  No one is telling them it can be cured, but hopefully, with treatment, Faith can continue to live comfortably and productively for quite some time.  Neither the “worst or the best” of prognosises. 

So I continue to give thanks.  For all that I have, and maybe especially for what I DON’T have…I don’t have rebellious children, I don’t have a home devastated by a natural disaster, I don’t have to deal with an ineffective school system, I don’t have an unemployed husband, and I don’t have cancer.  Makes all my other “don’t have’s” (don’t have perfect eyesight, don’t have a new chair for the family room, don’t have the figure I had 20 years ago, don’t have all the money in the bank to pay for college tuition, etc.) seem pretty insignificant.  I am blessed by my have’s and my have not’s.  For that I am grateful.

~~Leah~~

“You can’t have everything…..where would you put it?”                            -anonymous-  (I have this quote posted on my refrigerator)

Good Morning, friends

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I was spending the afternoon at the clinic with Nathan while he had allergy testing indicated because of a reaction to a bee sting he had earlier this summer.  This was the third round of testing he has had.  The first test was in the emergency room the day he had the reaction. It was a simple blood test…tryptase, I think, that indicated that he was indeed suffering from a systemic anaphylactic type reaction.  That indicated that he should have another blood test done, called a RAST test.  The RAST test showed he had elevated sensitivity to hornets and yellow jackets.  Yesterday he had the infamous skin tests, where he got individual injections (pinpricks, really) with serum from two different types of hornets, wasps, yellow jackets and honey bees.  This test told us that he is most sensitive to the hornets, followed in order by yellow jackets, wasps and least of all honey bees.  We think the insect bite he reacted to was a yellow jacket. 

Now we have to decide if we want to go ahead with desensitization shots…a 5 to 5 1/2 year process consisting of weekly shots for 3 to 6 months, then monthly shots for an additional 5 years!  That’s a lot of shots!

When I got home from the clinic with Nathan, my hubby had just gotten home from work and was getting ready to head to the cities to have LASIK eye surgery performed.  My oldest son, Kyle, was prepared to take him down there (I didn’t think I would be back from the clinic with Nathan in time to go with him), but since I was home, I decided to go along instead of sending Kyle.  Once we got there, I was asked if I would like to observe the procedure.  Being the medically curious person that I am (in my “former” life –before kids — I was in the medical field) I said “Absolutely!”  I was told I could watch from outside the room where the procedure took place, through an observation window, and that if I decided that I didn’t want to watch I could just sit down in the nearby chairs.  Apparently some observers get a little queasy.  I’m not the queasy type.  The guy on the left isn’t my hubby, but he looked just like this.  There was also a TV screen that I could see with a huge blown up image of his eye that was fascinating to watch.  The wierdest part was when the cut the flap from the

front of his eye, about the size of his iris (slightly smaller) and folded it back to access the part of the eye that they zap with the laser.  The whole procedure took less than 10 minutes.  He only had one eye done (his left eye).  His right eye isn’t so bad, so they left it alone for him to use for near vision (reading and such) so in effect he has the vision correction they refer to as “monovision” — one eye functioning for distance vision, while the other one functions for near vision.  He had to wear an eye patch and has 4 different types of drops he needs to put in his eyes for about the next month (I’ll be putting them in as he can’t put his own hand anywhere near his eye without blinking….the main reason he was never able to wear contact lenses — he couldn’t get them in his eyes!)  He is not going to be a good patient, I don’t think.  He thinks he is so tough, but really he is a little wimpy when it comes to stuff like this.  (Sorry, sweetie, it’s true).  This morning I put the first drop in his eye…then he is supposed to wait 2 minutes before the next drop, and 10 minutes before the third drop (the fourth drop is only at bedtime).  After the first drop I went to help Isaac get ready for school.  Next thing I know, hubby is getting ready to head out the door to work!  I asked him if he got the other drops in his eye by himself, and what do you know…he had FORGOTTEN that we only put one of the three drops in!  Sheesh!  Plus, he really wasn’t supposed to drive himself to work today, but since it’s a short drive ( 3 miles) and there is relatively little traffic (not like commuting in the cities) he thought he could handle it.  He is probably right about that, but it just goes to show you how he resists following “doctor’s orders”.  You would think being a health care provider himself, he would know the value of compliance, but he is a MAN, after all, LOL!!!

Guess I really didn’t get much done yesterday.  I sat around in doctor’s offices a lot.  Tomorrow my neighbor and I are having a garge sale, so I’ve got to get busy pricing stuff for that.  We are using her garage because it’s bigger (and cleaner) than mine.  I’ve already got a lot of stuff over there, so I’m just pulling out some odds and ends today.  I hope to get rid of a LOT of stuff.  Whatever I don’t sell, I DON’T want back, I’ll donate it to some worthy organization.  The epilepsy foundation comes around with a truck about once a month and collect stuff, so maybe they’ll be in the area soon.  We also have a local used clothing/household goods store called the Shalom Shop that I can take some of the items to.  Some of the nicer clothes that don’t sell might be worth taking to the consignment store, but it’s an hour away, so I don’t get there too often.  I’m sure there will be plenty of work after the sale just in deciding what to do with the “leftovers”.  I’ve got to make some signs today too. AND, I have a planning meeting with the church youth group I volunteer with this afternoon –I’m geting tired just thinking about the rest of my day.  I think I need another cup of coffee before I do anything else.  Java, java!

Whoo wee!  What a month it has been.  The kids are back in school already.  Yesterday was the big “first day”.  These days it seems like it is such a rat race just to get ready for the first day of school.  There are the appointments with the dentist and the eye doctor, and the school physicals for sports participation.  Of course they all need haircuts, not to mention new clothes (I keep telling them not to grow so fast ) and school supplies!  Nathan is going half-time at the high school and half-time at the community college (PSEO classes, a great deal for those who want to do it) so we had hours of haggling over schedules to get something that would work.  Kyle is transfering to the University of Minnesota for his sophomore year of college, so he had to find an apartment to live in.  He did find one…a nice one…but it’s not cheap!  And it’s not furnished, so that means trying to find decent furniture at a decent price.  Fortunately we accomplished that thanks to some lucky garage sale finds.  He moves into his apartment on August 31 and starts classes September 6th.  He still has to register for classes, however.  I hope he can get into the classes he needs (particularly calculus, so he can complete the requirements he needs for admission to the school of Biological Sciences.  Currently he is enrolled in the school of Liberal Arts). 

Having five kids does not make for an uncomplicated life.  There is always SOMETHING!  This afternoon it is another trip to the clinic for allergy testing.  Nathan was stung by a bee earlier this summer and had a nasty reaction.  He has been carrying an epi-pen ever since, but the allergist wants to get more of a handle on the reaction, to know if desensitization shots would be in order.  So that is where I am heading later on today.  I’ll be bringing a book to keep myself occupied as the testing can take up to three hours.  Nathan will be bringing his homework.  He is taking a college calculus class and already has a ton of homework (calculus seems to be the class du jour).

I’ll leave you with some of my infamous “first day of school” pictures.  They look happy….I’m not sure they felt quite as happy as they looked!

They look amazingly bright-eyed for 7:15 A.M.!

Isaac’s first day of first grade.

He was apprehensive, but reported after the day was done that it had been a great day!  He is very happy that his friend Noah is in his class again this year.

Mark’s first day of 7th grade.  His “new” thing this year is that he moves from class to class, with a different teacher for each subject.  He’s a natural at school, so he really IS happy to be back, and thinks all of his teachers seem NICE.  Even the “strict” ones .

Grant is a brand new high school student.  He is looking forward to the high school experience…finally, he is done with middle school!  He is out for cross country again this year, and will have a small role in the school musical, “Anything Goes” (he’s in the chorus, and has to learn to tap dance!)

Nathan, my senior…his first day of his last year of high school.  He is actually as much or more a college student this year than he is a high school student, thanks to college courses offered by the high school and PSEO classes (post-secondary education option).  The only classes he is taking this year that are NOT for college credit are band and choir.  He should have enough college credits earned by the time he graduates that he will enter college next fall as a sophomore instead of as a freshman.  He is also in the musical, with a lead role!   

I had to include this picture of Isaac with his first grade teacher, Mrs. “W”.  This is her second year of teaching, but her first year with her own classroom (last year she just taught reading).  She is young enough to be my daughter, ack!  I’m sure Isaac will fall in love with her…what first grade boy wouldn’t develop a crush on such a pretty young teacher? 

I upgraded to premium so I could upload pictures to my blog directly from my computer (to save time) but I’m really disappointed with how blurry they are looking.  *Sigh*  I don’t have time to become as computer savvy as I would like to be.  I had to reduce the file size first (original photos were too large for Xanga to accept) and now they look horrible.  Sorry.