Happy Halloween!

Here are photos from our Halloween...

My oldest as Bob the Builder/Construction Worker:

Monkey as Batman:

Peanut as Cow Girl:

Linebacker as Jack-O-Lantern:
The whole crew together...

We did the door to door trick or treating and gathered 17+ lbs of candy to eat... It was a bit on the cool side but everyone had great fun...

Bathroom Linen Closet Curtain

I had to remove the old busted up bi-fold doors... Next it was to remove the track/hardware that connected the bi-fold doors tot he 'closet'.... Going in and out of the bathroom the door would hit the bi-fold doors breaking it apart...
I marked the wood for cutting...

I used my new saws all (birthday present) for the first time to cut the pieces....
Using a drill and 3" drywall screws I installed the blocks to hold the tension rod... Tension rod installed... I bought 2 pieces of fabric after measuring my 'closet'... I have sewn one piece of fabric into a ruffle less single pocket curtain... I need to sew the other piece of fabric to make it's matching curtain to create a fuller look... At least now the 'closet' is covered... It was hard taking a full length shot so I have a top shot:
Bottom Shot:
Full Length Shot:

Many Things To Say Monday

I've been quite busy since the last time I wrote... First off gas here is now $2.19 or LESS! Isn't that amazing? We were inching towards 4 not to long ago and now it appears it may be below $2 in the not to distance future... Crazy! I finally sew up the curtain for the bathroom linen closet... Photos to follow in another publishing... We switched all 4 children's clothes from summery/warmish fall... To coolish fall/wintery wear... Now that we have gone through storage we know exactly where we need to fill in if at all... My husband said it's like shopping in our home... ::smirk:: The highlight of my weekend would have been going to the 'Women's Showcase' and seeing Jo Frost a.k.a. Super Nanny... I didn't take a camera because I figured I'd be too far away for a decent PIC... Well, I was wrong... I sat with three friends from FMCHE... We were only 6-8 rows behind VIP seating or closer and centered stage (right behind the camera for the 'big' screens that were all over the arena)... So, we had a great view and Jo's talk was really good... I didn't see much of the 'Women's Showcase' other then Super Nanny... So, I can't really tell you what the 'Women's Showcase' even is... :-X I picked up Jo's newest book entitled Confident Baby Care... Other then the misinformation on Co-sleeping it is a really good book from what I've skimmed through and read thus far... I hadn't seen and finally met a new Avon lady... Mine has disappeared on me... So, it was a really cool afternoon... After Jo's talk I saw another friend from FMCHE and a friend from CCM browsing the booths and chatting... My husband had to work so I only had a short amount of time to attend the event... For $15 ($12 for show and $3 to park) it was a great deal... I might even consider going next year... ::grin:: Yesterday I made my first ever 9 pound Spiral Glazed Ham... It was DELICIOUS!

Touching Base Tuesday

I figured I'd take the time to touch base with my 'readers'... Things are up and down here... Mostly up... Linebacker had his 4 month check up today (5 weeks late)... He is 12 lbs 14 oz (peanut was 12 lbs 4 oz at 6 mo) and 24-1/4"... So, he is on the small side he isn't small like she was... Our doctor noted his BMI was over 15 which I guess is good... Don't know much about BMI except I'm in the 'you're big fat' range on the chart... ::smirk:: The doctor noted we had visited the lactation consultant earlier in the month... She didn't say the F or S word the whole time... I'm surprised but happy! He had his vacs and did well with that... He was all smiles 2 hours later... He is a bit fussy now but I think he just wants to nap... We are gearing up for Halloween... We have two costumes so far... Batman and Jack-O-Lantern... Should have the other two figured out by next Monday... My new less filled plate doesn't feel any less... I still feel as busy as ever... I'm hoping the less fullness will kick in soon... I'd really like to make a difference around her visually... Ahhh... I hear baby snore noises.... My guess was right... ::grin:: Tomorrow should be a quiet day with time to work on things I've put on the back burner... I picked up some new yarn to make the boys and Peanut new hats for this year... So, photos should be rolling in soon... I also will be knitting up Linebacker a scarf... The weather hear has cooled off much like the gas prices... We are at two - thirty something at some stations... He is in the 30s/40s and occasionally 50s... Too cold to walk very far with Linebacker... So, we will be walking less and driving more... I've been eating and sleeping better... I'm still tried... Hopefully as I continue to eat and sleep properly that will go away... I'm off to make homemade Mushroom Chicken Tetrazzini... Will try to update again probably on Monday...

A Life SAVED!!!

Praise be Jesus Christ, a mother & child have been spared the pains of abortion. We have received word from a young mother who had an appointment scheduled at the abortion clinic. The night before she, drove by the clinic and saw a man praying in the rain.

She said I can't believe that I wanted to get rid of my baby and then there's people out there praying everyday that their 1 pound babies live through the night, and some guy freezing all night in the rain praying for a baby he doesn't even know.

Thank you for your prayers, they are having a profound impact.

Thanks Be To God! Let all us continue in our prayers during 40 Days For Life and year round to save more lives...

This young mother's precious gift from God will be approximately the age of Linebacker (pictured above) this time next year... Amazing isn't it? The gift of life is such an honor... We should all accept this tremendous joy with grace be it biologically or through adoption...

Going Digital

Details to come...

To Do List Thursday

Today was bus-y! I had a lot of places to go... I did however finish it all before Peanut was done with ECSE... I dropped the boys off and picked up Peanut and dropped her off... I dropped the extra donuts from MACH I at my friends house and sat at home and prepared for my day and nursed Linebacker his 9:30 AM feeding... So, I was pleased with that... I went to the bank to make a deposit... Followed by a stop at State Farm to buy our insurance... They give a free gift for your birthday and I planned ahead and chose the ice scraper as my 'gift'... Next I headed towards downtown and dropped off some paper work and filled out forms... It was a stop at the PO to mail packages and bills before I could head back south for a stop at the Dentist to pay on our bill... Next month we can pay it off... Woo hoo!!! I stopped at the south pharmacy to pick up brush on fluoride the dentist recommend (Gel Kam)... Next I stopped at a speciality pharmacy to pick More Milk Plus... It was recommended by the lactation consultant if I wanted to do something if I felt like I needed it... It is better then taking just Fenugreek alone... I went with the capsules over the liquid... I will start taking it tomorrow... For good measure... Linebackers check up is coming up and I want to be well prepared for questions... Next I picked up Peanut and headed home to eat and give Linebacker his 11:30 AM nursing... We ate turkey, stuffing, ham, green beans, carrots, and broccoli... I then went to my friends to help with the twins and socialize... Her sister was there and we were busy... I held one of the twins for a bit till it was time for his feeding and Linebacker needed his 1:30 PM feeding... We made a quick trip to the store together... Her sister's daughter celebrated her 4th birthday today and they had a late afternoon party for mostly family only... I picked up the boys and came home to catch up on things here since I wasn't home much yesterday... I worked on catching up on laundry and cleaning up the clutter...

Wonderful Wednesday

I have a lot to share but Linebacker needs his 9:30 feeding... Well, I didn't make it back till tonight (Thursday)... I fed linebacker and called it a night and headed to bed... So, tired I even forgot to set my alarm... Good thing for early rising children waking me up or today may not have started off so well... Back to Wednesday... I dropped the boys off at school and headed home for Peanut to have ST... Next we headed to the local grocery store to pick up 3 dozen donuts for MACH I... It will be one of my latest as this is one of the 'obligations' I'm dropping... I'm going next week for the first 1/2 only because they will have a speaker talking about advocating for your special needs child... So, even though I hadn't planned on going I changed my plans for that... I will have to leave early though because I'm going to a once a month breastfeeding group... For some support and information... I home long enough to eat before heading to see the lactation consultant about Linebacker's slightly slower then average gain... What I learned is that changing my list of 'obligations' improving my diet and slowing life down in general is all I really need to do... Yes, he is gaining slightly slower but he is still average doing very well... He just happens to be one of the smaller people... So, he is doing wonderful and I feel great! What a relief of stress that has been weighting so heavily on me... She did recommended More Milk Plus if I wanted to do more then what I'm already doing and I will pick that up tomorrow... If the doctor insists on supplementing to supplement with expressed milk... So, I'm going to start pumping after feedings to build a stock for either supplementation or to mix with cereal when that times comes in a couple months... We will be using the Jack Newman method of supplementation if necessary... I checked into feeding tubes and they come in 3 sizes so that will be one of my questions for the doctor if she insists on supplementing... They are $9 and the speciality pharmacy can order one and have it in about 4 days... After that I picked up the boys and Monkey had ST... We rested a bit and then we to the Home school Mass/Pizza party to celebrate the start of a new schooling year... We stayed till almost 9... I came home and popped a 6.52 lb turkey in the oven... That leads us back to where we are at the top of this message with a turkey cooking and me about to sit down and give Linebacker his feeding... Well it is now 9:30 PM (Thursday) and time for nursing session so I will end my message...

Linebacker's Hat

Isn't he adorable... He is now 19 weeks...

My 'Plate' A Work In Progress

I have revised and cleaned off my plate a bit... It is still a work in progress but here is what I have so far...

Schooling x 3
Schedules x 6
Laundry
Nursing Support
Clutter!/TOYS/PAPER
Household Paperwork/Finances
Effective Positive Discipline <~~~ been consistently using the time out corner with timer
Familia (mom's group) <~~~ kept just one mom's group dropped the rest
Autism Support Group (once a month)
API Group (once a month)
Meal Planning<~~~cutting back how often I go and stocking/freezing homemade ready to eat meals
Potty Training <~~~ Temporarily on hold
Speech Therapy x 2 <~~~ adjusted schedules to make it less 'plate' consuming
Quilting <~~~ only for 10 mins after everyone is in bed to relax before going to bed myself, no more late night activities... I'm in bed by 10:15 at the latest instead of midnight or later!
Doctors/Dentist Appointments for 5 People
Gardening <~~~ done with this till spring... just pickin' food once a week
Knitting <~~~ putting on hold after I finish Linebacker's new hat (already more then 1/2 done!)
Library
Mail
Family Faith Formation (CCD)

Prayers

Linebacker and I could really use your prayers... Thank you...

I'm afraid my plate is going to have to be scrapped off and I'm going to have to drop out of all my activities... I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with doing this but I know it is something I will have to do... ::sigh:: I just can't keep going this way...

Norwex, 40 Days For Life Vigil, Caroline's Shepherd's Pie

I went to a 'party' tonight for a new product line I had never heard of called Norwex... WOW!! It was really cool... I will share more later... Off to figure out what I want to order well what I can buy now and what I will have to order later... If I could I would order almost everything in the catalog... LOL!!! I saw a few good 'Christmas' presents...

Today was my first day in front of the Abortion Mill to Pray for the End of Abortion... They have "clinic" staff posted outside now... I talked with several other people from other Parishes in town... We said Luminous Mysteries together... Linebacker was a great witness... ::grin:: I was thinking back that I had just found out we were expecting our 4th around this time last year... Just amazing... What a beautiful example of life...

Among all my running today I made my version of Shepherd's Pie this morning by 11:15 AM... Not sure how but I did... Between 6:30 and 8:45 I was with the children readying them for their day and dropping them off where they needed be... I spent an hour Praying downtown and picked up Peanut since her program is only half day... Not to mention nursing Linebacker 3 times... It was a busy morning... I then went shopping... I picked up Linebacker a 'bouncy' seat because his other 'house' seat isn't working now that he can wiggle out of it... It has no 'seat belt'... I also picked him up a really cute 'triangle' floor toy that has a spin toy, rattle/teether, mirror, bead slide and crinkle toy plus other 'tactile' items to explore... I received several more questions and complements on my nursing necklace... It has been a real hit!

Nursing Necklaces / Butterflies / Pot Pies

I've decided to make instead of buying a nursing necklace to entertain Linebacker... He loves it! Here is what it looks like...

I used a random combination of the beads highlighted in the center with some 'sport ball' beads that consist of a football, baseball, basketball and soccer ball...

They are primarily used to entertain a distract able nursling... They can also be used to entertain baby/toddler while being supervised during activities such as a diaper change... It is a great learning 'tool' to teach colors, counting, matching, shapes and other things depending on the type of beads used... I used foam beads so they would be soft and baby friendly...

Sunday night I went outside to visit with my husband who was stripping 4 layers of paint (white, baby blue, baby pink, and primary colors {in that order they were added}) off an antique (made in early 1900s) dresser we own that was one of the first items manufactured in the Bassett Furniture Factory in Bassett, VA... My daddy's family is from this area... I saw this butterfly hanging out on the patio... I let the butterfly walk into a toy beach bucket and placed the butterfly over our fence into the yard for the butterfly nibble and maybe find a home for the night... The butterfly was either hurt or confused... I do believe it is a female Monarch Butterfly...

I made another 'old fashioned' pot pie... I'm not sure if I shared the recipe last time or not... Here is before and after baking... It was delicious! You don't use Bisquick and you don't use canned soup... I had extra 'pastry' so I made a little design... ::smirk::

Today was supposed to be my 'off' day for the week... I had to go to the PO and then the van wouldn't start... It took several minutes for a man from MN to jump start it... I noticed my battery was July 07 and had a Walmart 3 year FREE replacement sticker on it... So, I took it over to Walmart ASAP for fear it wouldn't start again even with jumper cables... It was replaced for FREE... I saved $80! That was the extent of my excitement for the day...

This That and The Other Thing

Not much to report since Wednesday... I went to the local quilt show hosted by the local guild it was eh... ok... I can now say I've been and don't plan to go back again for as long as I live here... Don't get me the wrong the quilts were indescribable... No words I could type here could do justice to their beauty but the hosts and other quilt goers... Talk about a room full of snobs... You think I was some thief waiting for their backs to be turned and steal something... Very un welcoming... Exactly how they behaved at the guild meeting... Only been there once and never going back there again either... It was like I was a joke for just showing up with my first row not even a finished quilt... When I showed my first paper pieced block that was entered into a drawing and won a DVD was some kind of entertainment... You would have thought I was a hired clown... It's a total mockery and inferiority if you make your quilts with non quilt shop only fabric and don't pay hundreds of dollars to have it long armed quilted or spend years hand quilting it yourself... I find that just close minded... Making a quilted item is more then how much you paid to make it or how many ribbons/awards it wins or how much is sells for... It's an emotion expressed by the Quilter with fabric for another to feel upon being wrapped up in it or viewing it... I've talked to hundreds of Quilters from all over the world and our guild is somewhat unique with it's hoity toity attitudes... So, beware! I dropped off and picked up our home school groups directory... It turned out magnificent... Better then I could ever expect... Great job Kinkos! There is an added surprise related to it's printing but I can't share till after our opening mass and pizza party for the group... ::wink:: We started our CCD classes... I'm using a new curriculum this year and haven't quite figured it out yet... It is a program called Family Faith Formation... This month's "theme" is Angels... I picked up several supplemental texts from our fabulous Catholic Bookstore in town, Holy Family... I sure will miss that place when we leave... I hope to find a new one in my new 'home'... I'm all ready for 40 days for life... I'm excited about being able for the first time to attend Walk with Christ for Life Sunday with the Bishop this year... I'm just hope I'm up for the Eucharistic procession from the Cathedral to our only abortion facility in the ENTIRE state... I was given some items to eBay... I now have to figure out how to go about listing them... I have some thoughts and will keep you updated... I'm excited about my new 'project'... Linebacker is doing well... We have successfully been able to adjust his nursing schedule... I will know better our success at his next weight in... I guess there isn't much more to write... I will write when I can...

Weeding Through Things - Wednesday

I took some time after much input from everyone after my 'plate' publishing and have almost given my life a complete overhaul... I'm still mid overhaul so the complete effects aren't evident yet but things have really improved... Reflecting on recent discussions on the Feasts: Triumph of the Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows has helped me to evaluate my life... Continued prayers and suggestions are always appreciated... Thank you!

My 'Plate'

This is a list of all the things on my 'plate':
Homeschooling x 3
Public Schools x 3
Schedules x 6
Laundry
Dishes
Child with Autism
4 Children
Nursing Issues
The Legal Thing I'm Not Disclosing
Clutter!
TOYS
PAPER
Bills/Household Paperwork/Forms
Laundry
Figuring Out Effective Positive Discipline
Familia (mom's group)
MACH I (mom's group)
CCM (mom's group)
La Leche League Support Group
Laundry
Autism Support Group
API Group
Respite Staffing
Meal Planning/Cooking/Shopping
Potty Training
Laundry
Diapers
Speech Therapy x 2
Quilting
Doctors/Dentist Appointments for 6 People
Laundry
General Cleaning (Vacuuming, Dusting, Sweeping, Mopping, Etc.)
Gardening
Finances/Budgets
Auto Condition (repair, maintenance, gas) x 2
Knitting
Sewing (clothing and for the home)
Laundry
Public Library
Recycling
General Household Shopping - Non Food
Planning Birthdays/Holidays
Mail
Family Faith Formation (CCD)
eBay
Everything else I can't think of right now... ::sigh::

Vacation

I'm going on vacation from the computer... There is just too much happening here... See you all in a week or so...

Much To Deal With Monday

I've been dealing with many things and probably haven't been the best of company... I'm sorry for that... I'm hoping things will calm down and pull themselves together... I'm really stressed out and emotional most of the day... I can't seem to think straight and feel I say the wrong thing or say it the wrong way and upset people... I am trying to do the best I can... I will try to update my blog when I can... I don't seem to have time to deal with what I have to at home or time for the computer... My life seems to be lacking time! I used to have all this time and wonder what I could do because I was bored... Now I have the opposite problem... ::sigh::

Before and After - Home Repairs/Updates

Photos coming soon...

Happy Birthday To...

ME! Details coming soon...