Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Double Tackle


Although according to blogger this is my 100th post, coming up with the standard "about me" post that I seem to see on other's blogs is going to have to be a tackle for another day.

Two things were tackled today.
#1. My husband and I went to the comissary this morning to turn in our paperwork to renew our residency. I spent a good portion of time over the weekend and yesterday making photocopies and getting everything in order. It took over an hour to process the 6 applications, but the woman that we got was very pleasant and we think that it certainly helped that I had everything in packets, neat and organized and in the order that it was on the list. We all go back on Friday March 28 with more pictures, receipts from the bank showing that we have paid the fee for new id cards, and we sign the papers and leave our fingerprints. It will be nice to have the whole thing done for another couple of years.

#2. The dresses for this Saturday's wedding arrived via Fed Ex yesterday. Praise the Lord! Today my daughter and I met with a friend who has 3 little girls and she worked on Princess's hair to come up with a hairstyle for Saturday. I had been thinking of some kind of french braid but with her hair being so fine, Teresa came up with a simpler idea using little clips that she had. They are almost the exact color of the dress so that will be nice. We came home and played around with the curling iron to see if we want the rest of the hair to be straight or curled. Then she tried on the dress .... a perfect fit.



Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling this week.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

mother´s work is never done

1:30 am 2 trays of Rice Krispy Treats made and ready to be brought in to the 2nd and 5th/6th grade classes to bring a bit of American Valentine´s Day to an otherwise ignored holiday in the classrooms. CHECK

24 cupcakes baked and frosted for Princess to bring in to her preschool class to celebrate her Valentine´s Birthday #5 CHECK

Tell me again, why did I induce labor so I could have her birthday fall on Valentine´s Day????

Goodnight --- morning will come too soon I fear. And when I do wake up I have a kitchen full of dirty dishes waiting for me because I do not have the energy to wash them right now.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Little sister invades the "man cave"


I thought the whole idea of getting my son his own bed was to let him and the little princess sleep in their own rooms. I guess the "man cave" was too irresistable.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tuesday's Tackle: Wedding planning


Today I spent way too much time doing something I never dreamed I would be doing .... ordering Flower girl gowns online for a wedding in our church. I met with the bride and groom a week ago for the first time because they had asked our daughter to be in the wedding and we had not heard anything regarding what she needed to do and what she would be wearing. That was Sunday, Feb 3. That was the day they also asked if our son could be in the wedding and if my husband and I could sing for the wedding. Oh, and by the way, the dresses had not been picked out yet. I had a busy week and did a little looking in the local mall but came up emptyhanded as far as reasonably priced dresses that could be found in size 5 through 12. I started looking for music and met with the b&g again this Sunday to get their opinion on a song I found. These poor kids have some plans made but they are in serious need of someone to help them confront the DETAILS. I wish I had known the situation a couple of months ago. But I know now, and I am stepping up to the plate.

I got online and started searching for dresses for the girls and a black suit for my son. I was hoping to find the cream colored dress shirt that he needs (since the only one I found here in Spain was 32 euros (that is $50 people for a CHILD'S DRESS SHIRT!!!!) Let me tell you, it is practically impossible to find.

I did find some dresses, emailed the links to the bride and she called me this morning to let me know the one she liked the most. According to her it was exactly what she had been hoping to find as she looked for dresses here. Then I spent most of the afternoon on the phone with Holly from dresskids.com. They pulled the 4 dresses and a double breasted black suit out of their warehouse while we talked and for a mere $15 rush fee packaged it all up to go out with the UPS shipment today. They should reach Ohio Thursday where my nephew-in-law will use his employee discount to ship the whole thing FEd Ex to Spain where , Lord willing , it will arrive Monday or Tuesday. The deed is done, and now all I have to do is manage to not bite all my nails off hoping that the package is not held up in customs or stopped by a winter blizzard or some other "act of God".

Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling this week.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Questions from a second grader.

Mommy, can you talk and breath at the same time?

Mommy, can you breath inside a rocket?

Mommy, would you die if you were breathing from your nose while you swallowed?


OK, kid, let's review. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Tuesday's Tackle: Getting the creative juices flowing

This morning was a scheduled "craft time" at a friend's house. She planned two "creative Tuesdays" back in December in an effort to get to know some of the ladies in her neighborhood and (hopefully) make some contacts as she and her husband plan to start a church there soon. The first meeting in December was to make and decorate Christmas cookies. Remember the picture of my creations here?
The second Tuesday was a craft project that I would've loved to do (they made Chrismas plates by cutting designs out of printed napkins and used mod podge to glue them to the backside of clear glass plates). I missed that one because my youngest son was inaugurating the "family clinic" with the first of a month full of illness.

The women all enjoyed themselves and decided to meet once a month to continue the creativity. Today we made picture collages in clear glass frames using scrapbooking techniques. Ten minutes before I was supposed to be there, I was still searching the house to find my photo paper to print out some of my digital pictures. I found it just in time and today I tackled Collage #1 for Princess's bedroom wall. Since we bought her brother a new bed and moved him out of her bedroom, there is no need to keep the unsightly homemade bunk bed up. Soon I will persuade hubby to take the thing apart and then I will have a wonderfully blank wall to fill. Today I decided I would make several of these framed collages with pictures of my little girl and her friends and family. Today's was titled SMILE. I think I will do other one word themes for the ones to go with it (like DREAM, LOVE, PLAY etc.) Any other great ideas for more titles?

Doesn't she have the greatest smile ever?

I had so much fun this morning and it has awakened the desire to get out my own scapping supplies and get creative with the boxes of old photos that I have lying around collecting dust. Besides, it was much more enjoyable than yesterday's feeble attempt to scale Mt. Washmore. (which, by the way, I must get back to now)
Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling today.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Monday Meanderings: Feb. 4-10



Ok, I admit it, January was almost as bad as December as far as planning my work and working my plan. We are now into February and I even get an extra day in the month so we're shaking off last month and forging ahead.

Here's the plan for this week:

BIBLE STUDY/DEVOTIONAL-- I am still trying to meditate on the verse for the day from my new journal. This week, starting today 2:4 we are in Romans,1 Timothy, Proverbs,Colossians,Ephesians, 1 Peter, and Ephesians again. I am also reading through Bible Gateway's 4 month Biographical Bible Reading Plan. If I keep up with the daily readings it will count me down to a very important date (or very close to it) that I am looking forward to this spring. Can't divulge any more details quite yet ..... but it is BIG. Ü

TRAIN THEM UP-- The kids are being inundated with assignments in school about “peace” and “the environment”. I want to do some studying on my own and with them about true peace and what a Christian’s point of view on the topic should be.

MUST DO:

FINANCIAL-- I had a little money mishap this month .... used the wrong credit card for a few larger purchases (I thought I was using my credit union credit card which would give me till next month to pay but by mistake pulled out my Spanish card which is more like a delayed debit card, so the money was automatically debited out of my account this week.) Uh oh! Gotta get busy getting reimbursed for some work expenses and must must must turn in ALL our medical receipts for reimbursement ASAP.

SCHOOL-- Nothing pressing that I know of. I may try to attend the AMPA (equivalent of the PTA) meeting at the junior high school but I have to find out if it is this Wednesday or next.

HOME-- I am planning to continue doing Rachel’s little things over at Home Sanctuary. Last month was very fun and I only missed a few days. I also must must must conquer the Mount Everest of laundry. Two loads started today so far. The true challenge is getting it all the way through folding and being PUT AWAY.

EXERCISE-- I know, I know. I must do something. Does walking up and down 3 flights of stairs count since our building’s elevator is on the fritz? I’ve done it twice this morning and will be doing at least 2 more round trips today unless the elevator tech comes. I did do a TON of walking 2 weekends ago when we had company and went sightseeing. (I posted pictures on Wordless Wednesday but got no comments and I expect no-one ended up seeing the post. Take a second and check it out …. Some good pictures of Madrid and Aranjuez, Spain as well as a cool video)

FUN—Tomorrow I plan to go to a craft time at a friend’s house. She is hoping to use it as an outreach and to make some contacts in her neighborhood for the church she and her husband hope to plant there soon. I MUST get a couple of pictures printed out to bring with me since it is a “scrapbooking” type craft.

Menu—I think I will just continue the simplified version online instead of posting our breakfasts and snacks unless the comments ask me to go back to the old way. I still have the b-fast and snacks on the menu on my fridge though …. It just doesn’t seem very “inspired” to me. Depending on the day, the bigger meal will be midday (when the kids get home from school at 2pm) or in the evening (around 7-8 pm)


MONDAY- 1. Slow cooker split pea sausage soup (excellent w/ kielbasa)
2. sandwiches
TUESDAY- 1. grilled cheese sandwiches, raw veggies
2. Oven beef stew, fresh steamed green beans
WEDNESDAY- 1. breaded chicken filets, steamed broccoli and cauliflower
2. Leftovers
THURSDAY- 1. BLT sandwiches, chips, cucumber spears
2. Turkey soup (that bag of turkey bones in the freezer needs to be used up) with dumplings
FRIDAY- 1. Leftovers
2. homemade pizza
SATURDAY-- Lasagna

SUNDAY—Spaghetti and meatballs

Don't forget to head over to Tiany's blog for more Monday Meanderings and to Laura's for more Menu Plan Monday posts.