What I did this summer

I do not remember ever having to write a "What I Did This Summer" essay, but on movies, it's always the topic teachers choose for the first day of school. That's what I feel like when I get to this time of year. Most people have already sent cards. If they were going to write a letter, they did that in November. But Late Lori always does this between Christmas and New Year's. I am always left wondering how it is that most people send us single page one side only letters that tell us all about their year, yet I sit down to write and struggle to keep it to front and back of one page. My dad tells me I write too much in my letters. My mom tells me to send her one so she can read it, too (though mine is often a variety of her letter). My great aunt tells me she likes to hear all about our activity. So tonight I sat here and typed out a rough draft. This will now be read by Phil, be edited, be shortened (I hope), and be put into small enough print to fit on the paper, but large enough print that we don't have to include magnifying glasses with it. And I'll add in pictures.

So, if you are one of those, "I can tell the story in ONE page" letter senders, tell me how you do it. Of course, if you are one of those, you have long since given up on reading my blog as it contains entirely too much detail. I would never have made it on "Name that tune", "I can name that tune in 5 notes, but first, let me tell you how that piece of music came to be and why it is written in that key, and one of my daughters can play that on the piano without any lessons, and the other one can burp the entire song."

It's okay to wake up now. I'm through!

Needing Christmas

Last night we went to church at my inlaws church, as we do every Christmas Eve. The sermon was about how we need Christmas. The pastor spoke of how in our world of things going wrong, it reminds us that the perfect Christmas isn't in everything looking like a magazine photo, but in the fact that Jesus came to us because we aren't perfect. What a great gift, the GREATEST gift, we have in Jesus, our Savior!

We went to Horseshoe Bay/Marble Falls area on Sunday night. Phil was feeling bad, but no fever when we left home. When we got there, his temp was 101 & went up to 102.6 or so. Then, the next morning, he had no fever, but stayed in bed most of the time we were there. He & I came home tonight. His temp spiked back up to 102.7 tonight. He's taking some meds to keep the fever down, or at least from going up. Tomorrow at 9 a.m. I have an appointment with the rheumatologist (who will no doubt fuss at me for not having my blood drawn since my last visit!), then I will likely take Phil to the doctor. I can't see him being able to drive there. He had asked for these days off this week (Wed-Fri) but it was too late when he asked & he didn't get them. Let's pray that they know he is REALLY sick & not just trying to get out of work! Please do pray that he gets well. His cough is awful. He's sleeping on the couch tonight so I hopefully will sleep better tonight.

The girls stayed with Grandma and Pop Bill. They had a great Christmas. Neither of them got any "big ticket" item as they have some Christmases. Bethany wants a Nintendo DS game, but came up with the idea to ask for money & gift cards so she can get one! So, she is combining money & gift cards and will go shopping tomorrow. Natalie also got money & gift cards & didn't have a big item in mind, so she is quite excited! I suspect she'll have new clothes when she gets home! Though, she is thinking she might also like a DS now.

& then Natalie made pillows for them all. We just cut the edges & tied knots on most of them. But, we did make one special one for Phil's dad. It all started when I tried to find something special for him. It's easy to find We "made" fleece blankets for the Grandparentssomething for our moms. And my dad loves anything golf related. But Bill is the hardest one to shop for. Since he is on blood thinners & has lost weight from the cancer & chemo, he is always cold, so a blanket seemed the perfect gift. We WANTED to order a fleece blanket. We waited too long to take pictures, though. By the time we took them, it was a day late for ordering, even with expedited shipping charges. So, I pulled out some iron on transfer stuff to see if I could print pictures & iron them onto fleece. It worked! We went to JoAnn's, with multiple coupons in hand, and began shopping for fleece. Pop Bill had to have white on one side, so that was easy. We just needed some for the back, plus some for Natalie to make pillows. WELL, as we looked I saw that no only was fleece 50% off, but so were the blanket kits! We must have looked quite funny with a basket overflowing with blanket kits & bolts of fleece fabric! I told the girls, and they in turn told the grandparents, that these were very "knotty" gifts!

Off to bed for me so I can rise & shine at normal people time. Hope you had a VERY Merry Christmas!

A Homeschool Family

I have no idea whose family this really is, but this video is hilarious! Homeschool Family

The video appeared on Tim Hawkins site, of whom I've never heard, but he sounds very funny! His bio says he has 4 kids, so this isn't his family (at least not ALL from his family!). I found it quite amusing.

Good news on the health front!

From my dad spending 3 weeks in the hospital in January, to my Father-in-law being diagnosed with cancer, and other things in between, this hasn't been the best health year for our family in general. However, I finally have some GOOD health news! About 8 years ago I had allergy testing done and was "highly allergic" to many things. I began allergy shots and was faithful for some time, then during periods when we were without insurance coverage for shots, I would dwindle off of them. When I talked to the allergist about getting back on shots, she asked when I last had testing & decided it was time to check them again. Yesterday I had the pin prick test and am only allergic to a handful of things! Mountain cedar and cats are still up there, which means life in South Texas from late November to South Texas is my worst season, and I'll never have a pet cat. Okay, so that was never a question, but it's easier to tell the kids than, "Daddy really doesn't like cats at all!" Though, I'm pretty sure they've figured it out since he's told them that! I am NOT allergic to dogs now! I always pretended I wasn't since I love dogs, but now it has been proven. Several of the grasses, weeds, and trees are no longer my enemies! Praise God for this new and improved health!

A midnight run to Wal-Mart

Here's the short version. When I have caffeine in my body I'll share the details. Yesterday evening, after a dr.'s appt. I went to 2 stores to pick up the rest of the Christmas stuff, minus stocking stuffers, as I knew I'd be going out even later to shop with a friend. I missed my friend Stephanie's cookie swap, which sounded like such fun (despite the fact that I couldn't eat any of the cookies! LOL!). But, this was my last chance to be alone and shop. So, my friend Kathy & I left her house sometime after 9:45 (we opted for a 10 p.m. shopping spree rather than midnight). We periodically checked the clock. When I got home it was 4 a.m. Yep. And we learned that our over 40 bodies don't do well going around the ENTIRE floor area of Wal-Mart after midnight. But, we are THROUGH with shopping! Almost. hee-hee!

The Spirit of Christmas?

Today we had lunch with a homeschool family that we don't see as often as our co-op families. They have 4 kids in the family & one of the girls is between Natalie & Bethany in age. She came home with us for the girls to play. Well, on the way home they were scheming. I mean, um, using their creative thinking skills in higher level thinking capacities. They first wanted a lemonade stand. Do we have fresh lemons? No. Do we have lemon juice? Yes, but we don't have cups. On to plan B. Hot cocoa! We can sell the packets & have hot water for them. Um, excuse me, but we DON'T HAVE CUPS!!!! So they settled on plan C: Dress up in Christmas costumes and sell stuff. Yes, seriously. We got home and soon an angel (complete with halo made of a pipe cleaner & a pen, which I'm sure is completely Scriptural!), Mary with Baby Jesus (the friend, because she "has the same color hair as Mary," no doubt from all the photos they took back then), and a lamb, who probably had the most authentic costume of the three! LOL!

They proceeded to find junk, er, treasures to sell. McDonald's toys, swimsuits that somehow missed the giveaway box, and other delights. They made a poster with "Christmas Carols 25 cents" and "Stuff 50 Cents." They set up shop and waited to make a sale. Did I mention we live on a culdesac? And that we have very little foot traffic on our street at 4:30 in the afternoon? We learned that we have a new couple who bought a house 2 doors down, that the man who runs everyday with his headset on can't hear you no matter how loudly you scream, and that the next door neighbor's daughter who was Bethany's age when we moved in, and is now around 20, has a soft spot for either Arielle (the Disney Little Mermaid) or for 3 little girls acting silly!

These 3 girls, all dressed in their prim outfits, were acting like hooligans jumping up & down shouting, "Come buy our stuff! Great sales!" And, yes, they actually sold songs! One man paid them $2.00 for a Christmas carol! Okay, so it wasn't a carol, but was Jingle Bells. I paid them each 25 cents. I heard a very nasally version of Jingle Bells from Natalie, an operatic version of Joy to the World from Bethany, and our friend sang one verse out of Christmas Shoes that she knows by heart! They ended up earning $4.50, which divided nicely into 3 equal amounts. Thus, we had math class, too.

I will add a picture of the 3 wise girls. I've blurred the friend's face since I've not asked permission to post that. Note the fake look of despair they chose to use in this posed shot. They had not earned any money yet! Look for these 3 to be in Fortune 500 in about 20 years!

It's the most dorkiest time of the year.....

Yes, I know that is not grammatically correct, but if you want to sing it to "The Most wonderful time of the year," you have to say it that way. On Splitcoaststampers I am a part of a group called the "Traveling Dork Sisters." We are all willing to admit our dorkiness & laugh at ourselves. These ladies, though some of us have not met in person, have become very dear friends. Some have even had Pampered Chef shows for me! I just did something so dorky that I had to tell you all about it (assuming I have millions of readers---LOL!).

I had asked for prayers for FIL (that means Father In Law, not to be confused with Phil, who is dh---dear husband) from some friends online. One wrote out her prayer, "Lord, would you do a miracle for this family?" However, being the dorky girl I am, I read it as, "LORI, would you do a miracle for this family?" I wondered what in the world I was supposed to do & what family I was supposed to help! It took me a minute before I realized she had written LORD! Then I laughed so hard I cried!

A dorky girl I am for sure!