School's Over & Summer is Here

yesterday was #1 son's last day of school! wow--another year finished up. they always seem to fly by, don't they? i told the joe-boy that starting next week we can sleep in--woohoo!! we both enjoy a good lazy, lounging kind of morning. unlike the other male in the family who typically rolls out of bed around 5 or 6AM. what's up with that?





this last day was kind of sad, as we will be moving and starting in with a new school in boise next fall. #1 son has had his wonderful teacher for the last 4 years. i remember my first meeting with her when we enrolled joe-boy into school. she saw his sense of humor right off the bat, and unlike other specialists, she not only had heard of Angelman's Syndrome, she knew all about it. that gave her a special place in my heart right from the beginning.

Mrs. Helen has always understood joe-boy, she has been creative in reaching him, helping him learn, and pushing him just enough. her classroom has been a great place for him these last 4 years and i can only hope that we find a class in boise that comes kinda close. i have to mention that the aides in the room have also been wonderful. and most were there all 4 years.

i don't have any recent pics of joe-boy with his class so these older one's will have to do.

Birthday Meme

Here's a meme i found, don't ask me where! i did a google search and found several, that'll i'll be spicing up my blog with every so often. and now that i have figured out how to play the game, i'll be tagging some bloggers to play along. watch out internets, i'm on a roll!!!

and no, its not my b-day, not even close. i always wanted to have a summer b-day instead of a dec b-day, you know, too close to Christmas ...



The instructions:

1) Go to Wikipedia
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday
4) List two important birthdays and one death
5) One holiday or observance (if any)

Events:

1606 - The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who, at Jamestown, Virginia, found the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States. (that's cool)


1941 - World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. (isn't that a nice event? NOT )


2001 - A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia. (and this one's for the hubby)


Died:
1848 - Emily Brontë, English author (b. 1818)


Born:
1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor (he's kinda cute, i don't think i've seen him in anything)
1961 - Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004) (i think i remember him, so sad he died young)
1936 - Marian McKnight, Miss America 1957 (don't have a clue who this is)


Holiday/Observance
Roman festivals - Opalia (i think the romans had a festival for every day of the year!)


so i'm tagging julie at peapod four
carrie at with all that i've been given
and kathy at duckabush blog

Frugal Meals Update

Tuesday I pulled out the chicken and made a homemade shake and bake. Served it with blackberry jello and carrot sticks. Wed I made pizza dough in my bread machine, tried a new recipe for the crust, sprinkled it with the last of the cheese and served with carrot sticks. It turned out really good. A nice thin crust. I will use it again

So now for Thurs (today), I’m thinking I’ll make pancakes with peanut butter and syrup, milk and canned fruit. One of bloggy friends recommended b’fast for dinner. Thanks, Julie!

This has been rather fun to have to stretch myself this way. I’m found a couple recipes for beef pot pie and this will be tomorrow nites dinner. I’ll check in again and give you another update. We’re half way thru making it to wed June 4th when I’ll be able to go grocery shopping again.

While looking for recipes and inspiration I came across Thrifty Florida Mama I know we’re almost out of May, but I liked her concept. Here’s a few of her ideas: It seems that fast food habits and the rising cost of groceries is hurting most of us right now. My usual $40-$50 grocery trips have recently become $60-$70 grocery trips. I've read that with every 1 cent that diesel fuel increases, 10,000 self-employed truckers come off the road. The bottom line is that we all are feeling the pinch in the pocket when it comes to food. How can we combat this? Make more stuff ourselves and skip the fast food and higher-priced convenience foods.

she goes on to talk about how and why we should do these easy things. of course, the saving we reap are obvious. go to her blog and read the rest of the story. and if you have any blogs that you like to read on frugality, let me know. i think the rest of the year is going to be a penny-pinching one for me.

OUCH!

last thurs evening i was driving michael to his class, when a red taurus decided to take a left hand turn right infront of me. i slammed on the brakes, but the back end of her car met the front right hand side of our van! ouch!!! yikes!!! help!!!

thankfully no one seemed to be hurt, tho i do have a twinge in my neck every once in awhile.

our insurance company has decided to total out our 11 year old van. which i half expected. they are offering us a fair deal for the van and we'll be looking for a new-er used sedan now. we've done a bit of research and like the looks of the saturn sedans, and the ford focus. my mom has a focus and i enjoy driving her car. with gasoline prices the way they are, we are definitely looking for something that gets good mileage. we still need to see what consumer reports has to say on the different years of the cars we're looking at.

thankfully the van is still drivable since it is our only vehicle. and we have a bit of time to find a new car. we may have to get a small loan which doesn't excite me too much as we haven't had a car payment in years. but i can deal with that.

don't ya just love messing around with photos?

i was upstairs doing some sewing. i decided to come down for a snack and the computer just reached out and grabbed me! seriously, 2 hands reached out of the screen and pushed me into my seat.

so i had to do something. so i went to my photo area and played around with some of my fav pics of my son. i think they turned out cute, but you be the judge and let me know which is your fav.





i kind of like this one: half tone effect



this one is called topography, i kind of like this one



next we have charcoal, you can't see the effect very good in this shot



my least favorite: colored foil effect



and last this is colored pencil, i think this might be my favorite of all the effects. and of course, #1 son is my fav subject

frugal meals week

ok folks, with gasoline skyrocketing and food prices following close behind, i am in need of some great frugal ideas for meals. we are a week away from payday and our big once a month grocery shopping spree. i have a little bit of leftover chicken, some stew meat, a little bit of cheese and most staples. what can i feed my sweet boys without eating cereal every night?

come on now! i know you have secrets just waiting to be shared.

i'm thinking i can do cheese pizza from scratch one nite. and i'd like to make a stew, tho i have no potatoes, or onions. can i just do carrots in a stew? what about a beef pot pie with frozen peas, corn and fresh carrots? would that work?

its kind of scary. hubby is determined not to resort to credit cards. our bank accts are on emergency rations, and i'm starting to raid the pennies jar. but yet, i am forcing myself to look at it as an adventure and a challenge. WE -- CAN -- DO -- THIS!

so tell me your tales: have you ever come to an empty cupboard before your month was up? have you had to make "stone soup"? what and when has been the most frugal you've had to be? (sorry for the bad grammar there)

Thankful Thursday

i haven't done a thankful thursday post in awhile and i thot it might be a good time to remind myself of what i have to be thankful for:

i'm thankful for ---

--- my sewing machine and the creative endeavors i'm able to work on with its help. i was just thinking how time consuming and tedious sewing would be if it had to be done by hand. thank you to whoever invented the sewing machine!

--- my hardworking, studious hubby who is studying hard to get a good job to provide for our family for the rest of our lives.

--- for running water; hot and cold, for heat and AC, for electricity and other modern marvels. i guess i'm just glad i'm living in the 21st century with all its technology.

--- for freedom of religion here in America and freedom to worship.


--- for my family, my friends i've known for years and for fellowship with other believers. connection is so important.


--- books to read, information to discover, the ability to read and libraries. knowlege is such a great thing.


what are you thankful for today?

My New Fav Thing

i was able to do a bit of sewing yesterday. i had the fan on so it was really quite comfotable. i mended a pair of #1 son's jeans that he had ripped. i cut off a pair of his sweatpants that are getting a bit too short. i hemmed them with a zigzag stitch and i really liked how it turned out. and i started on a pair of shorts i cut out of an old denim maternity jumper. a jumper i was wearing 10 years ago! i'm starting to think in terms of reusing and repurposing around here and its alot of fun. the material is still very nice, and its been worn and washed so many times that it is soft and pliable. i want to add some funky pockets or appliques to the shorts to make them fun for him. we'll see what i come up with.

sewing has become a fav hobby of late for me. out of necessity as well as trying to use up my stash of fabrics i have had lying around, i'm finding that i'm doing more sewing and liking it more and more. one reason could be that i'm gaining confidence in my abilities and another could be i'm so inpsired by what i see out there in bloggyland. so many talented sew-ers and craftsters.


one sight i like to check in and see what others are up to is sew,mama,sew. they have great tutorials, contests, and they highlight many wonderful projects and the people who make them. so if you haven't found them already, go check them out. me, i'm going to do a little more sewing.

Drive By Photos

when i was a little girl, our family would pile into the baby blue station wagon and go for drives in the nicer areas of town. esp near the university where there were big houses with fancy landscaping. i loved it!

then after i was married, i would coerce my hubby to go on long drives. sometimes we'd end up in residential areas where i could satisfy my longing to gaze at upscale houses and fancy gardens.

when i discovered the blogging world, i noticed a couple blogs that talked about drive bys. hey, there were others out there that liked to do the same thing, drive thru neighborhoods and look at homes and gardens. and they took pictures!

so, this last trip to boise we headed up to the north end. there is a n'borhood called hyde park that is upscale and a bit hippy-fied. since i'm the driver in the family! (hee hee hee) i was able to stop a couple times and get a couple shots of homes i enjoyed before hubby said "Enough!" he can get grumpy at times.

so here are a couple shots of what i found in hyde park. enjoy!

Mission Minded Friday

for those of you who come read my blog, you may have noticed the joshua project box on the right side. each day it highlights a different people group from somewhere in the world who haven't heard the gospel of Christ. today's group is Rajput, Muslims from pakistan. notice the number of people --- 15 million! that's million folks. that boggles my mind. i live in a country where most everyone has had the ability to hear the gospel many times over in their lifetime, and here is a country that has a sub group of 15 million people who may have never heard the gospel.

the joshua project also lists what religions each people group adheres to, in this case Islam. and also the status of the evangelistic efforts. the rajput is 1.1 which means that there are very few, if any, known believers. how would it be to be the only believer in a group of 15 million. the task can seem daunting, but our God is able, and our prayers are needed.

i added the joshua project to my blog mainly for myself. to remind myself to pray for others and for the missionaries in other countries. but i'm hoping as you come to my blog that you would read about the group that is highlighted for the day and pray along with me. i've also been praying for the Lord to send missionaries to these countries. as the Lord said "The harvest is great, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into the harvest." Luke 10:2

i think it is interesting that our Lord said to pray, that is our responsibility. we dont' have to jump up and go, as i would be tempted to do, but i need to pray. and he said that it is His responsibility to send forth the workers. He gets to pick and choose who should go, and where. not mine. but by praying we are interacting with the Lord to further His kingdom. what a great privilege to be apart of what He is doing, in our world and for His kingdom!

let me know how you pray for the lost. do you have a certain country you are praying for? do you have a visual that reminds you to pray? i'd love to hear ...

Spring Flowers

i love spring! don't you? the colors, the fresh aromas, the sunshine ...

the first pic is of our crabapple tree. its pretty pink blossoms only stay for a couple weeks but for the time its in bloom its wonderful.






this 2nd pic is of my n'bors tulips. isn't yellow just a happy color?






and finally, a close up shot of our lilac tree. we actually have 2 large lilac trees that are magnificent and oh, the fragrance! delightful. i'm really going to miss our lilac trees when we move. then we also have 2 other small lilac trees that we planted along our fence to give us some extra privacy.



just a small shot of color from my side of the world ...

Bananas + Missionaries

instead of doing laundry this morning i was blog hopping. shhhh! don't tell my hubbie. as i read this post over at Mocha with Linda i thot, what a great idea! i just had to share it with you.

since i have become more missions minded over the last year or two, i have been open to new ways to incorporate ways to include missions emphesis in our family routine. this will be perfect when my son comes grocery shopping with me, or at home when we peel the peels off the bananas he loves so much.

as many of you know, our son is mentally disabled and non verbal. not being able to speak makes it really hard to know how much he is absorbing. after many years of being sad at what he can't do and what i can't do with him (in terms of teaching him about things), i have decided to "just do it". whether or not i know that he is catching on what i'm trying to share with him, i'm going to present him with the idea/story/song/ whatever and assume he'll at least catch on to some of what i'm sharing.

so go read linda's post. you won't be disappointed.

Way to Go!

hubby just finished up his semester. he has one last class on wed nite but he has a solid A so he knows his grades. i'm so proud of him, i had to shout it from the rooftop: WAY TO GO HONEY!!! he got a 4.0 this semester. i'm so proud of his hard work and diligence.

so he has a brief few days off and then next monday starts in on a 3 week session of summer school. at night! Mon- Thurs! can we say: AAAACCCCCCCCCCCK!!!! at least its only for 3 weeks.

Challenger Baseball

every spring since #1 son was 6 we anticipate the arrival of challenger baseball. #1 son is disabled. he has physical and mental issues, so regular baseball is above his abilities. that's where challenger comes in. challenger baseball was introduced to our small community by a couple from our church who have twin boys (age 20 or so now) several years ago when they were looking for something that their disabled boys could participate in. thank you ron and susie!!!




hubby and i love baseball, and #1 son has inherited our love of the sport. so having him participate in challenger baseball is a perfect activity. he giggles and laughs, he runs the wrong way, he swings to early or too late, but best of all, he has fun. and so do all the other kids. its for ages 6 - 18 or so and they have a great turnout of boys and girls of all ages.


it starts next tues. i have known it starts next tues for about a month. i have a flyer hanging up in my kitchen reminding me to sign up my boy. i really need to sign him up. why haven't i signed him up yet???? sigh .... i guess procrastination is alive and well in my life. last year i signed him up on the the day it started! anyone else have this problem?

but we are anxiously anticipating challenger baseball starting ....

This n That Thursday

was moseying around the blogworld and came across one of my fav blogs. lisa writes, and boy does she write with great perspective. i have to link to her post on thinking, cuz it was so good. one of those that you wished you could have wrote yourself, but your brain isn't awake enough these days. so go here, to read her words. then come back and read the rest of the blather that i have to say ....

so you're back!

lisa mentioned john piper and i must say i see his name pop up alot. i need to find something of his to read. i'm always impressed when i see a quote of his. anyone have any recommendations on what to dive into first? i have found with not having cableland anymore i do have time to read and i actually do read a bit. not as prolifically as i did before #1 son came along, but .... you know.

last nite i drug #1 son to the thrift store. i found a cute pair of khaki green shorts for him. i think they should fit--i'll have to get him to try them on. i found a shirt for me and a couple patterns. clothes are probably the only thing we need right now. i'm trying to declutter for the move, but clothes are always a necessity. next on the list are sandals for #1 son and husband, undergarments for me, did i mention how much i hate shopping for bras? but it can't be put off any longer. and some new jeans for husband. i'm not much of a shopper if i can get away with it, but some things have to be done.


well, i told you it was blather. come back later and maybe i'll have something witty, deep or at least acceptable to share ... we can only hope!

Are You Messy?

i think i may be a little more than they think!

You Are a Little Messy

You aren't the cleanest person in the world, but you're definitely not a slob. You clean up when you have the time, but you're realistic about what you can get done. Generally, you're pretty organized and tidy - though you may have a few hidden messes. You eventually get around to making things spotless, but you do it on your own schedule!

Are You Messy?

lazy sunny sunday afternoon

hubby and i were lazing on the lawn chairs this afternoon talking. #1 son was busy watching n'bor don mow his lawn. i guess we've finally adjusted to life without TV. we were entertained by the free show! sad, but true. on the other hand, its nice that our son is not hard to please. give him a power tool to watch and he's happy as can be.

sorry there is no pics to go along with the post but i was too lazy to get out of my chair and get my camera.

another meme

i found this on the brewster, a blog i found while wandering around the net. thot it was cute and a bit different than the other meme's i've seen around. the key here is you can only use one word. try it yourself and leave me a comment. i love to read about others.


1. Your cell phone​?​ .​.​.​.​.​.basic
2. Your signi​fican​t other​?​.​.​.​.​.inspiring
3. Your hair?​ .​.​.​.​.​.​.frustrating
4. Your mothe​r?​ .​.​.​.amazing
5. Your fathe​r?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​heaven
6. Your favor​ite thing​?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​worship
7. Your dream​ last night​?​.​.​.​.​.​.groceryshopping
8. Your favor​ite drink​?​ .​.​.​.​.​.​decafcaramelmocha
9. Your dream​/​goal?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.waiting
10. The room you’​re in.​.​.​ .​.​.​.dining room
11. Your talent ?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​fellowship
12. Your fear?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​insignificance
13. Where​ do you want to be in 6 years​?​.​.​.​.​.thriving
14. Where​ were you last night​?​.​.​.​.​.home
15. What you’​re not?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.energetic
16. Muffi​ns?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​rarely
17. One of your wish list items​?​.​.​.​.cruise
18. Where​ you grew up?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​happyland
19. The last thing​ you did?​.​.​.​.​.drive
20. What are you weari​ng?​.​.​.​.​.​.​jeans
21. Your TV?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.disconnected
22. Your pets?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.energetic
23. Your compu​ter?​ .​.​.​.​.​.​laptop
24. Your life?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​challenging
25. Your mood?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.hopeful
26. Missi​ng home?​.​.​.​.​.​.sometimes
27. Your car?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.necessary
28. Somet​hing you’​re not weari​ng?​.​. . . hat
29. Favor​ite Store​?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.target
30. Your summe​r?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​moving
31. Hate someo​ne?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​no
32. Your favor​ite color​?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.cherrycobblerred
33. Last time you laugh​ed.​.​.​.​.​.​.​.yesterday
34. Last time you cried​?​.​.​.​.​.​.​.​monday
35. Who will re-​post this?​.​.​.​.​.​.???????