What's on your feed?

I am loving the RSS feed available on most of my favorite blogs and websites. My ISP lets me set up my homepage with all of my favorites right there with any updates. Lately it's been having some issues with the updating part but I can still just glance and click to visit my "friends" (even the ones that don't know I exsist). Dawn has a clever little site she uses to update her readers of what she is reading. I never have quite got the hang of that (or maybe I got so caught up in visiting her friends that I forgot why I went there in the first place?)

Currently on my feeder, I'm featuring:
Monica from Homespun Heart - I love Monica's crafts and Clean Heart series. I enjoy her Friday Family Fun Nights too.

Angie from Bring the Rain - Angie and her husband Todd, from Selah, faced tragedy square in the face, not once but twice this year. Angie's faith through her trials has been such an inspiration and strength to me. The way she has clung to God's promises is beyond words. I know she is human but God has truly given her a supernatural strength and peace and a ministry that so many need.

Crystal from Money Saving Mom (and also Biblical Womanhood) - My go-to site for deals, bargains, free stuff and just general financial blessings. She subscribes to the Dave Ramsey school of thought and that scores big points in my book.

The Nester from The Nesting Place - Oh ye of little faith, The Nester will prove that all you need to make your home a haven is a glue gun, fabric, fringe and a few dozen tassels. She knows what it's like to want a pretty home and knows how to execute it on a tight budget.

Emily from Chatting at the Sky - I won't lie to you, I originally subscribed to her feed because I was so jealous of her. She is The Nester's sister and who wouldn't want a budget friendly designer for a sister? But I stayed because she is transparent, honest, funny and names her houses. Seriously.

Ken Ham from Around the World with Ken Ham (and the Creation Museum) - I so wish I had met this guy twenty years ago. A creationist with a vision and a heart for education. I mostly keep his blog feed up to remind me to visit Answers in Genesis and keep up with their site.

So there you have it. I won't tell you that I have another 19 bloggers in my bookmarks that I visit on a weekly basis. You really have to be careful, it can be such a time hog to visit blogs. And you know what the worst thing for me is? Browsing the author's favorite blogs - you just get sucked in and pretty soon two weeks hours have gone by. So whose blogs and sites do you visit upon jumping on the World Wide Web?

Attempting to Tame the Paper Monster

Mr. Steady has been after me for a while to utilize the scanner we purchased two years ago. He has asked me to scan all the magazine articles and recipes I clip in addition to all of the boys' schoolwork and artwork.

Several years ago I came into some large nice clear plastic pouches that were the perfectly odd size of the preschool's art paper. As I was putting away the 4th quarter papers I realized FirstBorn is on his third pouch and he's only entering second grade. After some quick math I realized this artwork is going to quickly overtake my house. So I schlepped the artwork upstairs and am slowly plugging away in scanning it. It's a great time passer while I'm making my phone calls.

As I am scanning FirstBorn's journals I am translating what he wrote because in fifteen years I might not be as good as interpreting his handwriting as I am now. After I am done, we will go through together and keep 4 or 5 original pieces from each grade and the rest will be sent to grandmas and great grandmas. One great-grandma is a nursing home so we might send the majority to her to pass around and share with the residents.

I just hope I can recall these recipes when I'm looking for something new. How do you keep your magazine inspirations and recipe clippings tamed?





I'm keeping this one for a special occasion...to put on his changing room door the day of his wedding maybe?

Fun Summer Giveaway

Monica is giving away a fantastic $120 gift card from Lands End! I really enjoy her blog and I really, really enjoy Lands End. Her particular post is on their swimsuits, which look lovely but I've never purchased. I really like Lands Ends clothing, both for the boys and for me. When I worked full time our uniforms came from Lands End and we experienced excellent quality products as well as superior customer service. We would order shirts, send them back, order different shirts, send them back, on and on until we found a fit and color everyone was happy with. I am so happy their products are in Sears stores now so you can feel them, try them on, and coordinate them. But above all, my absolute favorite thing about Lands End is their plus sized selection. Most places that sell plus sizes go one of two ways, way too sexy or way too frumpy. Lands End does something that I don't know why more stores don't do: make the same clothes, only larger. You can buy great, classic clothing in your size! What a concept! Don't forget to go over to Monica's and leave a comment to be entered in her giveaway.

Amen and amen

Gonna need hankies for this one.

Happy Birthday BabyBoy!

Today is your second birthday! I can't believe we've been blessed to spend two sweet years together! You are a joy and a balm to my soul. You had a rough start and a couple of speed bumps along the way but God has given you such a spirit and a smile that smooth everything over.

You are a ham and love to make people laugh. You love to dance and sing, at church you grab any book that resembles a hymnal and just start singing. I know your song delights God as much as it does your daddy and me. You love to help, setting the table, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping the floor. You live big, you scream big, you cry big, and you laugh big. You only say two words "Mama" and "hot" but somehow you get every single thing you want. You refuse to have anything in your crib, no blanket, no pillow. You are your brothers' sun, moon and stars. Each morning, FirstbornSon cuddles with me in bed and within five minutes always asks if he can get you out of your crib, even when you are not yet awake.

I always wanted three boys. Kristine found a letter I wrote to her in March 1992. It said, "...I want to get married to a nice man and have three little boys...". God heard my heart and granted my prayer but he made those three little boys the sweetest things you ever laid eyes on and that "nice man" is 1000 times more than I ever dreamed.

Thank you, Abba Father, for BabyBoy. Thank you for never leaving his side while he was in the NICU. Thank you for helping him plug along when he couldn't gain weight. Thank you for your healing hand when he had his febrile seizure. Thank you for sitting with me through all the sleepless nights with earaches, toothaches, and just I-want-to-be-with-Mommy-aches. Bless him, Father, and may he always follow and serve you above all. I pray that as he grows, he would do so in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with you. Help Mr. Steady and I to be the parents you designed us to be and may we always reflect your will and love for our children. Amen.

Happy Birthday BabyBoy!

Reading

Today I made a list on the computer of all the books FirstbornSon read for First Grade this year. He had an agenda where we recorded them but I wanted to file it in the circular file so I typed the list up. I was quite surprised to find that he had read 347 books! He received an award for reading the most minutes - over 3,000. For a child who says he doesn't like reading, I'd say he did pretty good. Here are were a few of his favorites that I saw repeated in his agenda:

Jumpy Jack and Googily - a new book with sweet illustrations and even had me laughing out loud!

Kid Tea - had my children begging to take a bath so they could see what color "tea" they would make.

Not So Tall for Six - I make an effort to choose books whose characters are near the same age as my boys so they can relate. I think it makes reading more enjoyable.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - a read-aloud that I read to the boys, they loved this one and I promptly read them two more in the series.

Well, that worked well

So I have been reading A Life that Says Welcome by Karen Ehman (find it at your local library). Last night I decided to put all the excuses aside and treat my family better than company. I wanted a summer theme and, following Ehman's advice, used a khaki colored sheet as a tablecloth. I have a beloved cream platter that I like to put cranberries and white votives on at Christmas and I had these Yankee Candle Greenhouse candles. So I puttered outside and plopped some potting soil on the platter and settled the votives in.

Then I took out my Cracker Barrel maple syrup bottles, added two tiny vases to the lineup and tied the letters B-L-O-O-M, one on each bottle. I added a geranium stem and petunia stem to each bottle/vase and placed one at each place setting. MiddleBoy asked "Are we having company?", just as predicted in the book.

I made a simple dinner of nachos (Mr. Steady's favorite and now FirstbornSon's as well). For dessert I made chocolate milkshakes served in canning jars complete with whipped cream.

Crazy things happened. MiddleSon stopped playing the computer to help me set the table. Mr. Steady asked me to make him a chocolate shake instead of the cherry cordial one I had planned for him (he doesn't particularly care for chocolate but said he wanted to make it easy on me), and when FirstbornSon was licking the ice cream scoop and MiddleSon came in and asked for a lick, FirstbornSon quietly handed over the scoop! FirstbornSon did the dishes without complaining and everyone went to bed happy. All because of a tablecloth, candles and flowers? Or because they felt special and loved? We might have to do a double-blind study to conclude the findings.

This was the first evening in several weeks that Mr. Steady was home in time for dinner. We drank our milkshakes on the porch and shared a game of HiLo (where everyone tells their highest and lowest parts of the day). Everyone said their high point was dinner and that was thanks enough for me.

Wish I took pictures but our camera isn't keeping a charge so we're saving up to buy a new one. Maybe next time I'll have pictures to share!

Oh yes, and Mr. Steady's projects are half completed and I am ticked pink with the results...pictures forthcoming ~ I promise!