I love myself...and so do I!

It has been just a few short hours since my last sugar treat. However, I have not had a sugary "episode"(read binge) in many days. Part of me longs to be healthier and cross off sugar completely and the other half of me wants to beat that half to a pulp and celebrate with cake. What is a girl to do? I am taking the wean myself off slowly approach for 1 week and if the cravings intesify, then I will have to do cold turkey again never to return just in time for the holidays.

Sleeping on the floor of the quilt museum was really fun-EXTREME sarcasm! Susie, I did not want to!! I was scared I would look to princess-y if I took an air matress but next time I will risk being a princess to sleep. Spoiled. Spoiled. I kept trying to think of our troops sleeping in holes in the sand but kept thinking if they were in my shoes-they would do an air matress.

Real fun though was touring the museum in the dark with flashlights and pajamas on. And since we were all girls, free access to the men's room as well. I can now say I have used the men's room at the quilt museum in my pajamas. Yes, the "lock-in" transformed me into a middle-schooler. Hee hee. I will now find sexual/gross references in everything everyone says. It is my duty. (hee hee, duty-get it-doody??!!ROTFL)

This weekend is also the BBQ festival and Erik has spent so much time downtown, our house sort of smells like we are cooking ribs or something. The girls and I got to see him play yesterday before we "checked into" the quilt museum and he was great. He was also excited to see us when he took a short break. We got to see him this morning a couple of times too after we were done "cuddling with the quilts". All my scouts were picked up at 10AM. We stayed at the fest till about 12:30. The BBQ festival is so much fun. I love to see our fair city so full of people. Especially downtown. The parking is HORRENDOUS and the food is way overpriced, but it is almost all for charity and a totally fun way to spend a day (or three).

I am so excited to be back to my bed tonight. I may even go there before midnight.

To all the bars I've loved before...

...CHOCOLATE BARS, that is. This Beth Moore Bible study is really challenging me. [BTW-I did not have my homework this work but it is the first time and I may kill myself to prevent it from happening again and the topic was STUFF(how funny is that I had no time for the lesson on stuff because of all my stuff-LOL!)] (Parenthesis within brackets-Janice you've gone tooooo far!) Anyway, this Daniel series is stepping all over my toes and because I am weird, I love it. I love to hear Godly truth. I hunger for it. There are so many Christians who just won't take a stand against sin and try to call our sin something else so we don't have to cut it out (I said WE there!!)

I try to act like my overeating sugar love is not sin. I try to act like the TV being my "relaxation" is somehow OK because everybody else overeats while watching TV too. As much as I hate it, it might be ok for them, but God is dealing with me on TV and sugar and I am rebelling like crazy. Lately it seems as though I cannot get enough sugar and even mid-snack-I want more. Going on sugar busters seems to have intensified my craving for sugar to a staggering level after cheating the first time. I shake my head at drug use and wonder how someone could make that choice as I am brought to my knees by a twinkie.(I think there is a speck and plank reference ther!) I am doing better with TV all day before the kids go to bed. After 8PM though I become a crazy woman with a remote in one hand and a snack in the other.

Soooo Beth Moore kind of "got into my business" today when she was talking about staying away from some things all together. She also delivered me from the evil one when she said "objects that have been used for unholy things can again become holy". There is alot of power in that statement and I KNOW it is Godly truth. Frankly, I am just tired of the way I feel. I covet your prayers for me cause there is a whole lot more "stuff" I am dealing with than just the clutter in my home. The clutter in my brain and on my butt need to be dealt with as well.

Clutter B Gone

I need a bottle of that!! I have hauled many boxes and bags to my van after staying up really late pricing stuff for an upcoming yard sale at my friends house. I vowed I would not do one again, but I have so much crap at this point, I really need to. My stuff is priced way cheap too so I will be blessing other people I hope. We have tentatively set a date for a couple of weeks away and maybe that will happen. I will take these boxes and bags to her before or after church tonight. I am also sharing a few things here and there with some younger kids at church. We could share with a couple of small villages and still have much left over. STUFF!!

Pajama day had to be postponed today because Erik was off. He is on vacation for BBQ fest but I did not think he would be off until Thurs. I woke up at 7:31 and said "ERIK!!". "I'm off", he mumbled. Thanks for telling me sweetie. We hardly have time to communicate since we are both in hyperdrive this month trying to get all of our stuff done. Pajama day is gonna happen soon and I still refused to leave the house today until church time. I would like to play hooky from that too but I guess I won't.

Gotta get back to work now, I have discovered beautiful hardwood under all my piles of crap. I would so enjoy seeing it again...it's been so long.

A GLIMPSE INTO THE LIFE OF A CRAZY WOMAN:


GIRL SCOUTS
Parliamentary procedure is a fun way to do our girl scout meetings. Since I have loved it since FFA in high school, I have a renewed sense of accomplishment with these kiddos. If they can "get" this down, what a fun thing to know for the rest of their lives. I hope the girls are having fun too. We are doing an overnight trip this weekend, relating to quilts not parliamentary procedure. I am so excited to sleep on the floor. I hope it is fun. I did our calendar today and it is jam-packed and I am being sooo conservative!! What happens?? Cutting back on your obligations can be hazardous to your health.

ON CLUTTER
Clutter is going out of my house this week. One way or another, these bags and boxes must go somewhere. It is not enough to just box and bag. I long to have my house clean and orderly again, even though it is only for moments at a time.Hold your ground cats and little people. Everything not nailed down may go.

THE CALENDAR
October is shaping up to be just as busy as Sept. Happy happy JOY JOY!! There will be plenty of time for sleep when I am dead. (this may be sooner than later if life doesn't slow up a bit.)

FLASHBACK
Why do I keep doing things. I miss the toddler years. Who said that?

BOATING,PRAYING AND REPENTING
We went boating yesterday. ON. THE. RIVER. Do you know how churning and elevated the river is right now?? And full of LOGS. Yes, I said logs. I sang songs to God most of the ride-praises go up and blessings come down and held on to Lilly with white knuckles. My prayer life was strengthened as well. I was a submissive wife. Luckily we were with another couple(they were in their boat) and when our engine died they were able to pull us from in front of the barge that was coming. It wasn't as bad as it sounds... The engine started again too, it was a tank issue(trash in the gas or something) not engine. The Cumberland river is beautiful. I would love to see it on a calmer day. I do love my husband. I repent of calling him an idiot in front of my children and saying, "Well I guess if he is going to die, we may as well die with him." Lilly ratted me out. She always does. I think he may have forgiven me. I have forgiven him for saying "SH**" when the engine died. Erika looked up at me wth big eyes and asked why Daddy said a bad word. Proof we really don't talk that way. Until our boat dies in front of a barge and then half of us does. LOL.

I skipped church cause I spent all afternoon there!! Hee hee. Actually, 3 hours of constant stress and worrying kind of wears you out. Erik was a little weary as well.

THE BEAT GOES ON
More running tomorrow. Wednesday though, I will declare pajama day until church time. Ravioli for breakfast, lunch, and supper.

One more reason...

The weather has turned to autumn officially so I will be doing a clothing swap out of summer for fall. My Favorite thing to do for five people.

Thank God it is Friday although since our week has been so scattered, tomorrow will just be another schoolday for us!!

Last night it stormed so hard here it woke me up at 4:30 with the most amazing lightning show I've ever seen. I went back to sleep and slept like the proverbial rock. I'm going to make breakfast now.

The Beth Moore bible study of Daniel is awesome. I wish these videos could be on prime time during a really good time slot, like in the place of Desperate Housewives or something. You can't help but do better when you know better!! The whole study is built around the attitude of Babylonia which was "I am and there is none besides me." Sounds like another country I know of!!

Have a great weekend!!

Top 10 reasons I am crazy this fine September:

10. I scheduled a retreat for me and an overnight girl scout event in the same month. (One or the other crazy woman but never both!!)

9. The first day of September started with a Pelvic exam. (Not the best way to start your month!)

8. There was a field trip on skate day. It's what I call a twofer. AND. LIKE. A. FOOL. We went to both.

7. I am behind on all schoolwork and just got caught up on my school log YESTERDAY.

6. I am behind on all housework. I have yet to take one item to charity so the piles are all over the house!!

5. On September 8th, I was caught up on schoolwork and housework. Only about 4 days later I was hopelessly behind on all.

4. We have had 2 playdates already this month because I am crazy. We are calling it "social studies". (Not really, we catch up later in the day!!)

3. I spent an entire Saturday with my mom and then my dad. (These should not occur in the same day!!)

2. We start TWO new extracurricular activities next week because I am simplifying our lives...

1. I scheduled all the girls(including me-see #9) for a physical this month all within a 20 day span. I should work at the doctor's office for how often I am reporting in!! Last one today!

I love that I am paring back my life and making more room for family time and God time.

I hate the rain!!!

Okay, I don't hate it. I know it is necessary, but it sure does bring me down. I am way to busy to blog. Mondays are full for sure. I just wanted to post something even if it is short.

I should kick up my stress level about ten or fifty notches so I could actually get some adrenaline going. It might help me catch up on some stuff let go too long!!

My church angst is cured by prayer. I am accepting not "fitting in". I am choosing to see it as a way to bring people together. Since we are always in the middle of things without feeling a part of things, we can just connect people while we are there. Thanks Steph S., for listening to me as I sorted that out in my brain!! I am still praying for someone to come along that can be a really strong christian friendship for my fella though. Maybe a whole family ( :

I am teaching parliamentary procedure to my girl scouts this year and it is fun fun. Gotta go, I am researching the web to save me some typing!!

Have a great Monday!!

I credit my low stress to the fact that I have given up. I choose joy. This world is NOT my home, I'm just a travelin' through. I stepped out of the race of having the best behaved kids, nicest car, hippest clothes(maybe I should try a little bit on this one) and cleanest house. It's good that I did too, we were always coming in last anyway, LOL!! I pray every day that I can love my kids and enjoy them. I will teach them to the best of my ability and hope God can help me beyond that. The housework, well, I do what I can and hope people always feel welcome.

Your Stress Level is: 31%

You are slightly prone to stress, but generally you keep it under control. You know how to relax and take things as they come, even when your worlds seems to be falling apart. Occasionally, you do let yourself get stressed out, but you snap out of it pretty quickly.

How Stressed Are You?

If you give a Mom a weekend away...

...she will come home and hit the ground running trying to desperately fill in all the gaps of her time away. She will notice laundry that was all finished when she left piled up exactly 24 hours after she arrived home. Getting behind on laundry will remind her of outings and appointments. Appointments and outings will allow dishes, paper and chores to pile up. Paper piling up will remind her that it is difficult to do school without a clear table or smooth surface anywhere to write upon. She will cancel school for one day after History and math are finished in a vow to clean. This vow to clean will cause a friend to call with earthshattering bad news that involves lengthy listening time and much affirmations. Lengthy phone call does away with cleaning time, moving right into meal prep time. Preparing meals will cause more fresh messes and more chores to be behind on. Evening meetings, outings as a family,church, and Bible study will keep these chores undone. Bad smell in house will be a constant reminder of need to clean. New oil burning air-freshener bought on family outing with "CLEAN" scent will not make house smell better. Exhaustion will prevent cleaning. Bad smell will cause depression. Depression will prevent cleaning.

Tomorrow is Friday. I wish I could say TGIF, but instead I must feebly ask where all the days since Sunday went to. I think they are misplaced. I'd like them back please. They were days to clean, straighten and do some laundry-maybe even school. I implore you to be on the look-out and send them on home if you see them rushing by. REWARD! Am I staying home tomorrow to catch up all that is behind? Absolutely...NOT!!!

Could someone slow down time for a day or two????

My weekend was fabulosa! I am going back next year! It was like a bed and breakfast on the lake with lots of nature trails thrown in to keep me excited. I learned so much and did cool things I never thought I would have, like:

*Got up at 5:30 to go on an early morning hike with someone I did not know because it sounded fun. (It was fun and we saw three deer-I love deer. I see them all the time but I am always excited to see them.)

*Held a snake, not for long, but all by myself just the same. (another lifelong fear issue!) At the same animal encounter, I also watched a possum eat. Nasty business. I had never seen a possum alive but I did know they existed because of all the dead ones I have seen in 34 years of living. Not a cute animal, but interesting.

*skimmed a pond with a dip net and was fascinated by what we found (newts, 4 different life stages of tadpoles, dragonfly larvae, leeches, water scorpions and so much more!!)

*existed an entire day with hardly any sleep because of all the snoring. We were also awakened by the sounds of hunters which was comforting since I was doing the aforementioned hike.

*I was completely fascinated by the history of the Civil War, especially the battle of Fort Donnelson. (I don't like history so this was a big surprise.)

*I saw an eagle nest. It is as big as a small car and she ain't done yet!! I did not see the eagle but I sure hope too next time I go.

*Made friends with total strangers. (Okay, this is really not a surprise.)

I had a great time and loved every minute of my stay there. They gave us all kinds of goodies in a tote bag and they were totally sweet and accomodating in every way. I don't think I opened my own door ever. Unmatched hospitality. I felt honored and revered. You don't get that very often in this day and age. The man that runs Brandon Spring and all the staff there are nice, fun people that truly love their jobs. When I grow up, I think I wanna be a park ranger.

It was a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to go back with my family!!

Back to the real world:
* I cut alot of Kayla's hair off the other day and it looks cute. No more crying over all the tangles she had to comb out!! She was really mad at me but I really did just intend to give her a trim and it just got trimmed too short. She really likes it.

*We had our first care group on Sunday and it was great. I can't wait to spend nine months with these people.

*We went boating after care group and had wonderful family time. The water is still warm and wonderful. Erika tried to ski and almost did but she just does not have the leg muscles yet. She was exhausted after two tries but she almost got up both times. We spent about two hours on the lake and then we heard thunder rumbles. Erik got our boat out and loaded just as it was beginning to sprinkle. On our way home there was wind and great lightning. We got out just in time to miss a really big storm!! Thank you God!!

*I told my scouts/parents last night that this was my last year as leader and then we could cease to be a troop or someone else could step up. I did not want to even hint that I might stay on longer, because I won't. I love all my girls but it is just to hard to take another night away from my family when there are so many other things that take evenings from my family! I may do our homeschool 4H group or a homeschool troop. I have a year to decide. I am making it a good one to, I plan to leave these girls in great shape for someone else or for whatever troop they go to.

*I will slowly and prayerfully pare other areas of my life as well- by next year I hope to have time, energy and Godly focus to make a difference in my family and my community for the will of God, not just be tired and crabby all the time!

Today? I leave the house at 9:15ish and I won't be home until who knows when. I love days like that!! Have an awesome Tuesday! Call and book an outing at Brandon Spring!! You will have the time of your life! I promise!

Countdown to departure...

My house is somewhat clean with a few piles around the perimeters of rooms for storage or eventual discard(does anyone else do that??) My husband DESPISES IT!! I am a piles person. If I put it away somewhere that is not it's "HOME" I know it will be lost forever. Since not all our things have been assigned "HOMES" yet(and we've been here 6 years!!), it is very annoying to see all the things in piles. If someone knows a better way, let me hear it!! Some piles are just paper, there is also a give-away pile, consignment pile and several toys-to-go-through piles.

Anyway, house mostly clean, laundry is two loads away from done(one in the dryer, one still washing). I want to leave the house in fine shape so dear hubby can enjoy his personal home time between jobs!! He is playing gigs and packing mail all weekend. He works hard for the money... Hopefully he can watch a movie or have a nap in his peaceful home. OR BLOG...hee hee. And desperately miss me since I will be so far out in nature cell phones don't work(I will still have it though if you want to try though, honey!!). Looking forward to some time alone with God as well as enjoying God's land. LBL. Oh and I guess there will probably be some stuff to learn and people, but I intend to enjoy myself despite that...hee hee.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!! I can't get over all the fun stuff going on tonight!! Never again will there be so many options in our fair town on a Friday night!! Ice cream festival-murray, museum story hour, birthday party, carshow downtown, church trip...I don't feel guilty though because the pox cancelled all those options anyway. SOOOO, I get to be with nature and my kids spend the night with the coolest babysitter on Earth. Seriously, they love my friend Kathy and beg us to date more. AND, Erik drums tonight with no guilt(not sure there ever is but...)of time missed with me. Win-win-win-win-win.

I am outta here...well pretty soon anyway!

Random and ODD!

*I am so excited about my field trip to LBL-I may explode. Being on lockdown at home because Erika has pox only makes it sweeter!!

*I am doing major housecleaning today, can't blog long or I will lose momentum.

*My kids think someone is coming over because of the above. Very sad indeed.

*I have my bible study homework all done.(And I did not just finish 4 days worth today-I finished it days ago!) I can hardly believe it myself.

*I have a peace that surpasses all understanding about all things church. Some of you must be praying with me, thank you. Thanks also to all of you who admitted you feel the same way!!

*My thyroid medicine is upped since my doctor visit. This makes me conclude that yes, indeed, my body is falling apart.

Back to work, if I play my day right, I will be getting some stuff to a consignment store and some other stuff to Heartland's clothing closet. Maybe today! Have a wonderful Thursday.

"The [person] who is always having ... feelings hurt is about as pleasant a companion as a pebble in a shoe." ~Elbert Hubbard

Feeling like a pebble in a shoe today afer re-reading my last couple of posts. The above quote came in my inbox today. Appropriate, me thinks. I considered deleting the posts, but they are accurate as far as how I feel and this blog is my journal that I hope one day my little chitlins will read. I don't want to send the message that my life was sunshine and roses all the time. I don't guess there is any worry of that . My second concern is that some people from my church read this and I assure you guys, this is more about me and mine than anyone at church. We have never reached out to anyone that someone wasn't reaching back! Our church is not large-around 200-but that is an awkward size in my opinion. Too large to be super intimate, to small and varied in ages to group up effectively. Since I grew up in such a small congregation of 50-70-I realize my expectations are a little skewed.

This is a busy week for our family, last night I had a Pampered Chef sales meeting, tonight Erik has practice with his blues band, and Thursday is my Bible study. Friday, I leave here at 4PM, drop my kids off to my friend and head to LBL(land between the lakes- a huge natural settings park for you out-of-towners) for my teacher workshop(they let me in-heehee). I won't be back until Saturday evening and Erik has gigs and work, so all of our family will be all over!! I am very excited as I will visit parts of LBL I have not been to: Fort Donelson-which apparently has a historic military hospital and cemetary and some other area I have not ventured far enough south to see. We will be housed at Brandon Springs which is yet another area I've not been to. Anyway, the trip teaches us how to get the most out of a field trip to LBL and the services they offer. They are home educator friendly!

In other news, Erika is quarantined starting today waiting for the outbreak(chickenpox!)Her outbreak won't cancel my plans though!! My friend Kathy said if it happens, she will deal with it! It does mean no church for our family tonight. If Erik did not have practice, he could take the other two-but Wednesdays work out best for the rest of his band for practice. They don't practice alot since they play so much, but about four or five times a year they are learning a new song or playing an important gig, so they get together for an hour or two.

We are finally back on track from the long weekend-it took ALL DAY yesterday to get caught up. Today we are not doing that. They are watching a video on bugs to supplement our insect study. I vowed last year I would incorporate some fun stuff in our year as school lest we all spontaneously combust.

Thanks for always lisening, bloggy friends!!

I am waiting for the apples to kick in...

I am a little better today. I am trusting that God will guide our family in exactly what we should do. Thanks for the sweet comments, especially you Julia, I swear we are sarcastic soul sisters. I miss your posts, love your pics, but enjoy your thoughts as well. A church change would be an awesomely huge decision that I am not sure any of us could do right now. Plus my heart aches at the thought-our church is family in so many ways. Clicky with lots of issues, but family nevertheless. Maybe it is me, maybe my personality is so obnoxious that people dislike me enough to ostracize the whole family. I try really hard to always be kind, but I know gentleness is not my strong suite!! If so, a church change would only intensify these feelings. Maybe it has nothing to do with me and it is just the time factors that all of us deal with-trying to fit all we have to do in a day with so little left over. Maybe God is allowing me to wander in the desert a bit and grow my faith. It just seems like he would give me people to minister and mentor me instead of making me wander alone.

Erik and I just had a nice conversation about it and agreed to sort of take a wait and see attitude. (I learned tonite that rubbing Erik's back with lotion makes him OK for discussing things) We will start a new CARE group soon and that may make all the difference. Whew, no pressure CARE group!! Hee hee! I am also in a ladies Bible study and that is always a welcome bonding experience. Erik, though, really does not have any friendships through church at all and that bothers me(Especially since he is so cool and all!). I want more God in our day-to-day living and Godly friends are a very essential part of that. I am thinking maybe we should just reach out to more people in church and be a little more proactive instead of waiting for the friend wagon to pull up in our driveway!!

OKAY-shutting up on that for now. I am praying and listening to God instead of ranting from now on (at least on this subject)

We had a very productive labor day. We laid around all morning but then we rode our bikes to Erik's Mom & Dad's for ribs & the fixings. Buddy the wonder dog(we wonder where he came from and why he LOVES us SO MUCH!) came along. We were shocked. He nevers leaves this yard. Our other dog, Thunder, never comes home-he truly lives at the corner grocery and comes home when they close. Buddy, though, apparently takes his job of guarding our family very serious. He is very good at it. It takes him a long time to accept even welcome visitors. Last week, he had a group of Jehovah's Winesses backed up to their vehicles until I saved them (If only we all took our beliefs as far as they do!) Anyway, other than being scared of Memaw and Pepaw-he was very well behaved and eventually took rib bones from their hands. Then we rode home again with much fuel to burn off(much much fuel!). We then tackled our garage in what proves to be only step one towards completing the task. We are also draining our pool-it takes a while. Hopefully we can finish up those chores tomorrow afternoon, or Erik's next day off.

I am also still decluttering. It takes along time when you have the vast collection of all things that I have amassed. I went through our games and resolved that we will play more often and yet keep fewer!! We started last night with Scrabble Jr. It is a neat game. I love scrabble-but it will be a while before my little mis-spellers will play the real version!! I hope another consignment sale is coming up soon so I can keep my vow to never have a Yard Sale again!! I bet we could fill up a truckbed right now and I am not done yet (or even close!) I hope the ache for more space will go away once I clear out the space we already have. I had a nightmare the other night about a house so big I lost our kids. I just want 300-400 more square feet really. I have never wanted a very big house. Too much to clean, paint, maintain, etc. 1800-2000 square feet would be just perfect. All in one story please. And a big barn and chicken house out on the back ten acres please. (getting greedy!)

Okay, laundry to finish and Frazier to watch!

Don't read this post, as I am annoying, negative and spoiled!!

Really, read no further!! I have already hurt a good friend's feelings today with my biting sarcasm. I am not in good spirits today. I have been praying about it all day but I still feel unease. I am, in a word, lonely. It is hard for me to imagine that I feel that way because I have so many friends and know so many people-but it is true. I am a people person, social to the max. In almost every group of people we are in, we are welcomed and accepted, but we don't quite fit in anywhere we go. The hardest one is church. We don't fit in at church. I hate that even more in print than I do in life. I have prayed about it so often and it isn't that we don't have friends-we do. We even have fellowship, just not like I want it. If people my age at our church fellowship, we are not included. People older than us do and they are close. People younger than us do and they are close. We, as a family, just don't fit. The one time we really bonded with another family, they changed churches. We are still very close with them and our families are bonded. I guess I should be thankful for that, but I want more. I want close friendships and fun social stuff. It is all around us at church and we don't fit into it-youth, seniors, young adults, young couples. We have churchwide things too and I love them, as a matter of fact one is coming up and I am just sick that we have a conflict. It is probably just the night I need to make it all go away.

Maybe I am in the temptor's snare. Or on the pity pot. Maybe I just miss Erik and hated spending Sunday alone with the kids. I am glad he got to go see baseball with his Dad. I know they have had a fun day. I had a fun day too. The girls and I went to our church for Sunday school and a little bit of church and then we went to the church I grew up in with my Mom. I really enjoyed going there, it is amazing how the people have changed(some of the old people died and kids grew up and had kids of their own) but yet it is still the same. It could maybe hold 80 people at the most and it was close today. Very small and very friendly. A family. All through the service people are talked to and they answer back. ("What do you think about that song Miss Cassie?", "I say Hallelujah Brother Dobbs!") Very casual. Maybe that is what I miss. That church was so small, everyone was always included in every activity and everyone came. Church was your life and your life was church.

Maybe I am just a spoiled brat. I want it "my way" with extra cheese.

God have mercy on my spoiled brattiness. Change my heart, Lord. Let me know why lately I am so uncomfortable and uneasy in my life. Help me know what direction I am to go OR help me wait it out with patience if that is what I am supposed to do. Help me fall in love with you and take away my desires for more earthly friends when I have you and that is all I need.

As for the rest of you, well I told you not to read this. My apologies.

Fall is coming!!

With fall come many things I dearly love: apples, leaves changing colors, cooler weather, sweatshirts, hayrides, and oh so many more. I love spring because of the summer it begins but I love fall because of all of the above and more.

We went yard-saling today and since we were driving all over creation anyway, we finished off our day at Mathis apple orchard on HWY 131 between Mayfield and Paducah. As soon as we walked up, the lady said, "Would you like an apple?" YES!! We all had an apple, she even peeled for Lilly and Erika. Then we picked out all the varieties we wanted to buy, got some end of the season corn and some fresh made apple cider. I am soooo energized now. Apples must have that same chemical that chocolate has.

(mmmm! chocolate covered apples)

I talked to them about a possible homeschool field trip. It would be awesome. All of the varieties of apples don't come in until mid to late September though so I will see about getting a small group together closer to the end of the month maybe.

I have decided to pare back my life. There is much soul searching going on accompanied with prayers. There are things I am doing now that really take away from my family(my sanity!) and don't really seem like where God wants me. Help me pray and join me in paring back your life as well!! Post a comment if you want prayers.

Thank you my sisters for being my makeshift "yada yada" prayer group. I love praying for you as well as knowing you are praying for me!

I've been tagged by Susie. Glad you posted Susie, enjoy your weekend!!

1. One book that changed my life...
The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger (I think it should be required reading for all married women!!)

2. One book I have read more than once... See above...just kidding
I love The Island of the Blue Dolphins I recommended it to my daughter to read and read it right before I gave it to her to read and then we listened to it on audio in the van. Such a great story.

3. One book I would want on a desert island... The Clan of the Cave Bear or The Island of the Blue Dolphins would be good reading and also a survivor manual sort of.

4. One book that made me laugh... Any Erma Bombeck-she was and her work still is great. Cheaper by the Dozen is a great read too!! We listened to it in the van(audiobook) and it is NOTHING like the movie. There are some spots of bad language but the overall theme of the book is great, funny and I loved it!

5. One book that made me cry... The Yada Yada Prayer Group series made me laugh and cry. I saw so much of myself in that main character, sometimes I thought it was about me!! I also cried during the Dr. Laura book because of the lies we are sold by this culture we live in.

6. One book I wish had been written... I've always wanted to write a book.

7. One book I wish had never been written... There are a whole lot of witchcraft books geared to children-how to harness the powers of the dark and I wish they did not exist!! I wish my daughter did not love fairies and Harry Potter so much and then I would not know such evil how-to books existed. There is also a bunch of teen porn/smut novels available now-a-days and that makes me sad too.

8. One book I am currently reading... I am sort of focused on trying to get into the Bible right now so I am avoiding starting a new book (and the library!)


9. One book I've been meaning to read... Too numerous to mention!! The Bible is probably tops for me right now!!

Late to bed, early to rise...

I got up early again today and guess what!!??? My kids are gettig up earlier too. They are so excited to go ahead and get up and Mom already be up. I can't win. I think 7 is the earliest I can do when I go to bed at midnight. I think if I got up at 5, there would be a child looking at me saying, "cool Mom-it is just us!!" I think I dreamed of being this popular once upon a time.

Yesterday was a mommy day from hell that ended up being okay but at one point, putting my child into foster care and checking into an insane asylum were very real possibilities. I hope to not have a day like that again. EVAH!!

I started a new Bible study last night-the Beth Moore Daniel study. Maybe it is the topic, but I am so excited. I came home and couldn't wait to do my homework. I hope that continues to be the way I feel because I am notorious for keeping a blank book. This just seems like a really relevant study with the things I am battling right now.

Today is my lovely yearly Dr. appt. I like to diet a couple of weeks before I go usually so it is not such a shock when I weigh. Alas, I have forgotten to do that so it will be so fun to see how fat I am. Scales, gotta love 'em.