Uninvited project

A new project was dropped onto Brent's plate after the storm. Our awesome Bradford pear tree that gave us so much great shade needed to come down after some wind damage. This thing was so tiny when we moved in 9 years ago.1999...little tree on the left side of the house

These trees are known for getting really big and full. Also known for splitting easily.
2008...after Brent had already cut 1/2 of it away

I am mourning the loss. Couldn't plant much under this tree because it took all the light, but it was best thing for reducing the electric bill in the summer. We can already tell a BIG difference on these 85 degree days. I dread next summer!

Attempting to see the positive...

1) We have a new house. Okay, at least a house that can be seen from the street now.
While it was on the market last year, it was kind of funny to see the listed picture. You thought we were selling a garage with a bedroom above it.

2)We also have firewood...holler if you need some bonfire wood.

3) Brent is now a pro at running a chainsaw. He didn't lose any of his limbs, thank God.

Any ideas of things to plant in FULL sun?

After the storm...

We've had an exciting weekend and now things have somewhat calmed down. Our crazy effects from hurricane Ike have put some things into perspective for me.

We had finally purchased a stove, after shopping around for a day or two. Took our business to a smaller appliance store here in town, b/c we heard they have great service. They price matched also, so we wanted to give them the business, rather than to the monster chain stores.
However, when I heard it would still be another 4-5 days before they delivered our stove, I had a meltdown. I reconsidered taking our business to a chain that could deliver when I wanted it. Total wake-up call of how much I am a part of the "me" society that we're plagued by. At least I could say I was trying to look out for the good of my family and our eating habits. But I still wanted the stove when I wanted it.

Then Sunday came and the storm rolled in. We've never had a storm like that...75 mph winds...no rain...just crazy winds. We woke up from our naps that afternoon to part of our maple tree down in the backyard. The power went out right when I woke up and we spent a lot of time outside wondering how long the winds could keep blowing. Enjoyed dinner out with our friends and realized that even if I had my stove when I wanted it, it would be in vain at this point. Sources were telling us the power would be out for up to 7 days.

Went to the store to get "D" batteries for our flashlights...along with everyone else in town. There were NONE on the shelves. I even knew the hidden spots for batteries in the store...they were cleaned out. I spotted a set on a random shelf and snatched them so fast...I thought I needed to run in case someone mugged me for the batteries. It was a pretty crazy place.

Came home and part of our tree out front had fallen on the house. Thankfully extremely minor damage, but we have to sacrifice our shade-bearing tree. So sad about that. Our friends with a small t.v. told us there was no school on Monday. We've never had school cancel for power outages! Brent woke up early Monday to beat the rush and buy a generator. Monster chain stores had none...we had already sent them south for the hurricane recovery. There were 2 for rent. Brent got one and we split it with the neighbors. Powered up the basics... fridge, freezers, T.V. & of course, the Wii. Just the basics, ma'am, just the basics.

Friend came over to cut down the small part of tree that landed on the front of our house. He'll come back to help take out the rest later.
Boys played & played & played with neighbor buddies.
I had a dr. appt. and they still had power! We'll find out whether the baby has indoor or outdoor plumbing in 3 weeks!! Can't wait.
Power came back on 24 hours after it went out. We are so thankful, but kept praying for many around us that still didn't/don't have power.
School cancelled again today. Tomorrow everyone goes back.

Boy, I realized my reasons for meltdown don't pale in comparison to what some people are experiencing down south. We had the tiniest glimpse of what life is like with no power. Add flooding, scarce food & nowhere to call home to that. Wow. We'll keep praying for them for sure. They have a real reason for meltdowns...hopefully they're all stronger than me in the face of those circumstances though!

We chucked it out.

You sure wouldn't think that it would be such a tough decision about throwing out food and going out to eat. But that was a hard call for us. Not to mention I was tired and ready to get everyone to bed...a time when making wise choices becomes difficult for everyone in the house...most of all for me!

So we chucked all the food out. And we've done a little shopping for a stove. But that's not a quick process either, when you've never had to make that decision for yourselves! We know we're switching to gas and we'll have to put in a gas line for the stove. That probably means we'll be forking out for fast food several more days...ugh.

Shopping for major appliances goes like this for me...I need a stove, but I'm having more fun looking at refrigerators. We've replaced all of our appliances except for the fridge and we know that's coming soon. Not to mention, they have a much wider selection to choose from. But I need a stove...I am such a decisive & focused person!

Maybe we'll have a home cooked meal by the end of this week...if we're lucky! If I were as disciplined as my friend, Haylee, over at HaybeeBaby, our family would be well fed on raw foods. I've been intrigued by her new food choices...she's made it a long process to change over, but I can tell she loves it! She's amazingly creative too, so enjoy all that she creates and concocts in her "spare" time!

What would you do?

We came home from soccer practice tonight to indulge in a meal that I had prepared earlier today. I left it in the oven on 200 to finish cooking and joked that I'd probably burn the house down. When we all returned with rumbling bellies, I opened the oven and felt no heat. The heating element/coil/not-sure-what-you-call it had burned out. I felt the dish and it was still hot, but noticed a type of film all over the oven. It sort of looked like there was a fire in the oven. I also noticed the clock was not working any longer...either the oven was completely dead or the breaker was tripped.

I called our knowledgeable neighbors to see what was most likely going on. She confirmed that the coil had burned out and that usually trips the breaker. She also said we shouldn't eat our meal, because of the possible contamination by fumes.

Normally, I invite any excuse to go eat out. However, I was craving this roast & it was too close to bedtime to think about going out. I also don't have a whole lot for back up in the house...that sounds appealing to this pregnant lady anyhow! So I didn't like the idea of throwing out a delicious (and expensive) roast. We considered that the lid was on and seemed to have protected the food. There was a film on the outside of the dish and it's lid, yet none on the inside rim of the dish.

Why is this such a tough decision for me this time around? I've done it before, but usually because I botched it up or burned it.

What would you do...would you risk it or chuck it out?

(We did end up loading up in the van and heading to the boys' absolute favorite place...Mickey D's. But I'll save the food, until I know for sure whether I'll be poisoning my family!)

New clothes for new life

Just wanted to post an opportunity to share some spare change and buy some new uniforms for some precious children in the Dominican Republic.

Several months ago I posted about God opening doors for us to come alongside Makarios International by sponsoring a child. We have been blessed to support & pray for "our girl" and hear updates, not only about what she's learning and how she's excelling in school, but also about how the other children are being impacted by God's work at Makarios.

At the beginning of this school year, just like we do here in the States, Makarios has costs for new uniforms for those growing kiddos, among other starting expenses. Consider whether you could help any of these kids through this ministry.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe that $10 will help to cover the costs of a new uniform for each child.

You can simply send a donation to the address listed on the bottom of their homepage. If you have any more questions about sponsoring a child or about the ministry, their people are so caring and helpful...I'll send you one of their email addresses. And while you're checking out their homepage, dive a little deeper to learn more about their passion to reach the Haitians & Dominicans there! It's pretty amazing...God is doing a great work!

Love this computer

Brent did a work on this computer...after we took it to the Geek Squad and they told us what to do. But he did the work and now I can log in to my favorite stuff again! I'm pretty excited about a faster computer back in action. Let's see if it actually makes an impact on my blogging frequency. I was ready to send it back and jump to mac...but we're not ready for that price increase quite yet!

In other news...our hermit crabs are still alive, after 2 days. In fact, they both moved to a new "home" the day that we brought them to OUR home! After our day at COSI, the boys found a new shell for them from a random collection here at home. They put them in the crab's containers, we left for a couple hours to run some errands & we returned to find original shells were empty. The boys were so thrilled! Just wish we could have witnessed their moving skills! Little Brudder's actually moved again that night while we slept, after we had offered him yet another shell from the collection. What fascinating creatures!

The boys and their new pets - "Crabby" & "Hermit"
Wow, we exude creativity!

Feeling a bit more energy these days. Felt quite productive today, which hasn't really been the case for quite some time. Now that I have this computer back at my disposal though, the productivity around the house may decrease again. I can still play that pregnancy card, I think. Brent may be on to me soon though! :-)

Catching up!

It's been quite a month full of wrapping up summer vacation! My mom came for her annual Longaberger Bee and stayed with us. It's always fun to have her out here for a few days. She's usually back and forth from downtown Columbus, where her meetings are and then to the Longaberger Homestead, for her big shopping & basket-making day. We did a little shopping while she was here and she also watched the boys for us while we had a date night!

We turned around and drove her back to Iowa with us when we took our annual trip to visit our families. A week at the Bower's and a week at the Bailey's...we kept going, but also had some nice "down" days too. More on that trip later...but no promises with the way I'm blogging lately.

Back to Ohio for a week of catching up before Brent went back to teach and Big Brudder went off to school for his first time!! We were all very excited for school to start and see what this new world holds for all of us. Our school system does a staggered start where 1/3 of the class begins on Tuesday, 1/3 on Weds. & 1/3 on Thurs. Then they all return to bombard the teacher on Friday! I think the 2nd day was harder for me to let him go than the first.

Little Brudder starts pre-K next week and we are looking forward to his first experience there also. We think it will go well, but you never can tell, so we just keep praying.

Today we had some fun as a family and went to a COSI Hermit Crab workshop for the boys. (COSI is the kids' science center here in town. It was rated #1 in the US by Parents Magazine recently! A good friend of ours is director of membership there, so we just had to get a membership. :-) It's a treat to go whenever we have a chance!)

Back to today...the boys have been fascinated by ocean and water animals for quite some time. After our pet fish bit the dust, they started their request for hermit crabs. So this seemed like a perfect introduction to the creepy, crawly creatures. I signed them up ASAP when we learned about it!. A cool surprise was that each kid in the workshop was going to be taking home a pet crab after the class! The class was wonderful and had a great mix to keep them occupied. It was well worth the investment!

We had some lunch there and checked out the outdoor exhibits before catching the Extreme Screen movie. "Fly Me to the Moon" is now showing there in museum length (45 min...just perfect for their ages) and it's in 3D!! I don't know if all their movies are shown like that, but this was a neat one for the boys. Their first 3D movie, so we weren't sure if they'd keep the glasses on. If you didn't, it wasn't near as cool to watch. Kind of blurry and annoying, actually. It was very funny to see all the kids in the theatre reaching out to grab for the flies and other objects in the movie! The movie got poor reviews for the full-length movie, but we thought it was perfect for kids that are our boys' age! We say "Go see it!" if you're even considering it!