New poll!

I was shocked a couple of weeks ago to learn that hubby's cousin had never seen the ocean. She and her new husband were going to drive to the Atlantic before heading home to WI after her brother's wedding.

Growing up, I didn't realize how fortunate I was to go with my family to visit relatives on Cape Cod for SEVERAL consecutive years. We camped at Nickerson State Park the first few times we went, then two of my Dad's brothers bought/built homes on the cape, so we didn't have to go to the bathroom in the woods (or the campground's facilities) anymore.

During our visits, we walked the trails through the salt marshes, swam in the lakes in the park, swam in the bay (& walk out onto the sand bars at low tide), went on whale watches, walked to the Brewster Store and back, spent time with our cousins (who we barely saw otherwise), got sand in our shoes, rode our bikes on the rail trail, saw real cranberry bogs, picked and sucked honeysuckle along the path to the beach, and made homemade chowder. Okay, our parents made the chowder from the clams and crabs that the dads and boys caught while the tide was low. You haven't lived until you've had homemade seafood chowder. Oh, yeah, my little sister ate sea kelp. I wish I had a copy of that photo, it was priceless. We learned what barnacles were and to be extra careful climbing on the rocks, had hermit crabs tickle our palms, and collected shells and wave-tossed glass and bricks.

This year will be our second trip with hubby's side of the family to Gulf Shores. I can't wait to watch Baby Bear try to keep up with her cousins. I want to capture (or should I say I want our family photographers to capture) her first reaction to sand in her fingers and the waves lapping over her feet. I want her to see dolphins, great blue herons, and pick up sea shells. I don't want her to get sunburned, and I hope her swimsuit still fits. It was snug the last time she tried it on. Thankfully we do have one that I know fits, but sheesh... how fast can a child grow?

Anyway, maybe sometime my side of the family can journey back to the Cape with the little additions in tow.

A country song worth listening to.

This is the link to an article about a famous country singer and his wife's relationship, and in it is also a link to a song he wrote for the book. I never expected People to not edit out such a strong testimony of how God can heal. Wow. The song is definitely country in style, not crossover, so if you aren't a country music fan, get over it.

"Somebody, quick... watch for flying pigs!"
-hubby

Baby Bear slept in until almost 8:00 this morning. But that was not the cause for astonishment. As hubby began his day of working on reports in the guest room/office, and I tossed and turned, I was fully awakened by the sound of a bulldozer, shovels, & a saw outside our window. I know it is not normal to be excited about hearing such sounds at 7:45 a.m. It might be a little bit crazy. But elections are in 2 days, and I suspect our city councilman wants our vote and put some pressure somewhere. And by golly, now that hades has frozen over and pigs are flying in 90-degree weather, leading us to the beginning of a retaining wall on the side of our property, well, I just might go out and vote on Thursday. I suppose I should vote for Mayor while I'm at it.

So, this
at our house is actually being done by a team of workers, but it took effort on my part to find someone to listen to us. After 4 years of my requests being put off by the developer it appears we are finally getting somewhere with the help of the city councilman and public works department. Our yard may not wash off the hill after the next rainstorm after all. (For those of you who are new around here, the cliff was not so bad when we moved in. It was sloped nicely. After we closed, they tore up that side of our lot to put in a sidewalk part of the way down. Almost a year ago, they tore it up further to extend the sidewalk, and left it as an even worse safety hazard and eyesore.)

Please pray that in the steepest part, the wall is high enough to make it safe for hubby to mow the back corner of our lot without twisting his ankle or falling and braking his neck. Right now they are saying the retaining wall will be 4 feet at its highest point... I'm not convinced that will make the situation better on that part of the cliff, but I am far from a landscape design expert. They are actually beginning the wall further toward the front yard than we expected... no complaints about that!

Here are the "before" pics:




"After" pics to come. Or maybe some "during" pics when they take a break. I don't think the workers would appreciate having their photo taken in their sweaty grandeur.

As for my Tackle? The usual housework. I need to fold all the laundry that was washed yesterday. Maybe I'll try to see if there are any swimsuits on clearance at Kohl's or the mall department stores. Oh, and I should really make a list of everything I need to pack for our upcoming family vacation.

Happy Tackles!

2:15 p.m.- Other than their lunch break/siesta on the neighbor's gently sloped yard, the workers have been very busy. The frame/support for where the wall will be poured is coming along. Granted, it looks worse in some ways because that's just how the process goes, but once we have the wall, with somewhat stable ground to work with, we might possibly be able to put in shrubs or a fence or something so nobody dies falling off our yard. Until this point, we were very limited, and we didn't appreciate having the developer tear into the corner lot (which we paid a premium for because it was supposed to be a good lot).

Please pardon my run on sentences. I'm going to fold laundry now.

Here are the "during" pictures...





please, God, let the slope at least be mowable when they are done filling in the dirt....

updated 5:26 p.m.

It's the last day to take my gardening poll!!!! Please do it if you have not already!

Why is it that my toddler wants to brush her hair with the hand-broom? Okay, I know why. She thinks it's a soft hairbrush. But ewwwww.... I have repeatedly shown her its proper use. She then reaches toward the pile of junk the broom has acquired and tries to eat the "leftover" blueberries an cherry tomatoes.

I heard about a particular passionate message from John Piper in church today.
I stumbled across it on another blog:

refreshing

not the waking up early, but baby's sweet giggles
fellowship with believers in Jesus: sharing prayer requests and thanksgiving
learning how the Gospel affects (or should affect) our homes.
vibrant and soulful music... classic hymns and contemporary classics
pastors who are not afraid of tackling tough topics in light of the Word
leaders who actually confess their weaknesses and shortcomings in public
God's grace filling a room as He is praised.

sweet toddler-ese from the backseat on the way home from church.
leftovers which make meal prep relatively easy.
alphabet puzzle and story time
nap time... eventually lasting an hour and a half, after 45 minutes of toddler-ese coming through the monitor (somebody was fighting her fatigue and in denial of her eye rubs)
a quick dinner, and a toddler who shares her mommy's love of "toe-toes" and "umbers" and daddy's preference for meat (even as she calls the pork "chicken" half the time)
more toddler giggles and chuckles, "ma-ma's" and "da-da's", hugs and kisses
sitting-on-elmo-for-stickers-time (a.k.a. unproductive bedtime stalling on the potty-seat). just getting her to sit on the seat is progress.
bedtime stories
rocking and lullabies
kisses and prayers
tucked in with kitties and bear
good night, sleep tight

I love the Dollar Tree.

We're preparing for vacation. We don't have a pool at our house or in our neighborhood, so there's no need to buy tons and tons of fancy pool toys for our week with a pool outside our door and the beach just a couple of minutes away.

I found "bugcatcher kits" for our nieces, who LOVE science. (They just released some monarch butterflies which they raised from caterpillar by feeding milkweed.) They are sure to find some bugs they are unfamiliar with. I bought one for Baby-Bear, too. After all, she is sure to want to copy every thing her older cousins do. The kits came with a binocular-case shaped plastic container with matching net and plastic tweezers.

I also found some fun toys... 2 nets with a water soaker ball for playing "catch" in the pool, and a ring toss set. We'll see if the thing floats or not. I mean, it was a dollar. Both of these can be used in or out of the water. Baby-Bear has tested the nets and approves. (I may have to pick up another set or two so everyone else gets a chance to play.)

In a week, we'll be settling into our home for a week with hubby's side of the family. I wonder if Em & Mad will pick the top or bottom bunks in their room?

p.s. Have I ever mentioned I hate shopping for clothes, and the only reason I must fit into that pair of size 8 shorts is that they've stretched with me? I did end up buying a pair of capris in size 12. The 10's had just a tad too much pooch at the waistline, no room for shrinkage. And don't even get me started on tops...

Another great drawing from 5 minutes for mom!
They are giving away an Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!!
This incredible prize is valued at $799.99 and is courtesy of Best Buy.

I must say, this would be very nice...
Go enter for yourself if you want a chance to win.

I won something, I actually won!!!!!

Gretchen over at Quantum Leap is going to custom make me a quilted table topper!
Wow! I am sooo honored!

I can already imagine it a) laid across our little drum table with the mini Christmas tree underneath
b) draped over our piano with family photos on top
c) accenting our kitchen table during a holiday meal
or
d) being used to help keep th dice from rolling too far during a bunko game at my house

I'm feeling like I really need to learn to do something by hand, especially if the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway becomes a tradition (other than typing)...

Take one last look and cross your fingers....

the winner of these silver-plated petite tennis bracelets is......











Diann!

Congratulations!
*******

This week has been so much fun! I love meting new people. I've been visiting blogs, trying to leave comments and enter contests, but wow! This contest thing could really takeover one's life!!! Thank you, Shannon for coordinating this event!

Now I just want to share a bit more about those bracelets.
They are NOT in the Premier Designs' catalog for purchase.
The only way you can get one is as a gift from a Jeweler (Distributor), usually for being a hostess or letting them share more info about their business with you. I had a couple left, and thought I would share them in a less-conventional way. Although I am not a jeweler right now, if you contact the company, they would be glad to connect you with a jeweler in your area. If you live in Nashville or Memphis, TN, Lancaster PA, or the Atlanta, GA area, I could refer you to jewelers who I know personally, so contact me if you want their info.

update on baby Catherine!!!

My cousin's 1-year old daughter is home with her family, following her successful surgery to close a hole in her heart. Pray that her older brother will not rough-house with her as her stitches heal, and that her heart will be healthy from this point forward!

a small miracle for this domestically challenged woman

we have not eaten dinner out since sunday. there just may be hope for me yet. we have enough leftovers from tonight's italian pork chops and egg noodles for another meal (and guess who ate the leftover squash-pepper-onion mix- yep, me. it was yummy, too, having stewed in the marinade for over 24 hours before being cooked). actually, we can think of at least 3 meals we have enough food for if we scrape the fridge, freezer and cupboards. but i think we'll go out tomorrow, anyway. we'll see. i may change my mind and try to set a record for us... oh, wait, this just may be it. maybe i mean i may try to break my record. perhaps i'll get brave and jump on the meal-plan-monday bandwagon...

Thankful Thursday-Joy




This week's theme for Thankful Thursday is "Joy".
How fitting, since I have been on a hormonal roller coaster this week, struggling to look past how I feel and embrace life. So here are some things which bring me joy, especially when I want to just stay in bed or sit on the couch:

• Our toddler. She is so busy, so joyful, and so affectionate. Her belly-laugh fills any room.
  
• My hubby. He is very patient during the tough times, understanding & even helped with dinner by grilling what I prepared 2 days in a row!
• These cruddy symptoms should be gone before we leave for our family vacation in Gulf Shores next week.
• The Lord's faithfulness IS new every morning. Just because I had a rough day yesterday (note- not 1 thing on my weekly tackle list got done), doesn't mean today has to be a repeat. Now, where is that ibuprofen? It's easier to be joyful when the wonders of science have kicked in!
  
• Blue's Room DVD- I can go get a shower while BabyBear has a playdate with her friends on the tv screen.
• Rain. We had more rain storms yesterday afternoon. (The crabgrass is thriving. At least it's green.) The day lillies and black-eyed susans are flowering. Oh, so are the pink spirea shrubs. Their bloom is so delicate, reminds me a little of queen-anne's lace, but it is pink and smaller.

May the joy of the Lord be our strength today!

506
the # of giveaways linked to at the DOG DAYS OF SUMMER GIVEAWAY HQ

167
the # of entries in my drawing as of the moment i began typing this post



Whoooaah....
talk about overwhelming!
There are some REALLY cool prizes being given out,
so even if you don't have anything to give,
go enter a few of the drawings!

Wordless Wednesday: Flashback to 12/6/05

It doesn't seem like she was ever this little.

For more WW pictures, visit the WW Headquarters or 5 minutes for mom!

Time to bite the bullet...

A few weeks ago, my glasses broke. They are only going on 4 or 5 years old... I'm not sure which. My toddler loves pulling off jewelry, glasses, hats, you name it. Well, they got so bent that the screws would not go in. I posted a photo of hubby's ingenious solution a couple of weeks ago.

With vacation coming, I want to be able to wear my glasses instead of contacts if I feel like it. I don't want to know how much glasses cost at expensive boutiques, and I am trying to convince myself that if they last another 5 years they will be worth the "discount" store price... But really, is vision insurance worth it when you only get glasses every 4 or 5 years? (Thankfully my prescription has stablized. I still have to pay extra for the thin kind so they won't be coke-bottle lenses, but if they last 5 years... without my sweet child breaking them....)

Not sure if I'll have a Wordless Wednesday post or not today. Perhaps, if I dig through my photo archives I'll be able to come up with something to share.

Oh, it rained cats, dogs & who knows what else last night so I don't have to water today! My rose bush was sooo wet that the water was at least 1/2" deep above the soil. Too bad I dumped it out before realizing it would have been a worthy pic for WW.

I've made a poll!!!!
Unfortunately, half the responses got cut off... so here they are for your answering pleasure. (Please actually answer in the sidebar. I thought this might be fun to do since there are a lot of new wanderers these days...)

Question: What's growing in your garden right now?
Answer Options:

• Garden? What Garden?
• Shrubs
• A healthy mix of annuals and perennials
• veggies- lots of them
• herbs
• weeds, and more weeds
• moles. and bugs. and mushrooms.
• a couple of tomato plants and struggling green beans bushes
• this drought is killing my dreams of a garden!
• a couple of flowers have survived

Feel free to elaborate in the comments on this post, but please play along in the sidebar so my responses get balanced out. Thanks!

just so you know... (my regular readers will really understand)

i made a menu plan for dinner this week. i'm not posting it, because we've already changed course. it's only tuesday! we stuck to my plan last night, then tonight hubby suggested that instead of the smothered chicken bake, we bbq the chicken breasts on the grill. that makes my job easier, so who am i to complain? i thawed the frozen chicken breasts in water, smothered them in Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Vidalia Onion sauce (yumm!), and stuck them back in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.

baby bear LOVED the chicken. she also loved the cucumber bits and fresh-from the "garden" (veggie-pot) cherry tomatoes (halved and quartered)... tomato seeds ended up all down her shirt. but i am so relieved that for the time being, my toddler still eats healthy food, at least sometimes. and the true miracle occurred when i half-heartedly asked hubby if he wanted a salad and he said YES!

our deviation from the menu plan was a success- and we have actually used most of the bag of spring mix salad greens that i purchased yesterday instead of iceburg lettuce for our tacos.

but hubby ate SALAD- lettuce, tomato, a little cheese... it may not be my side of the family's traditional soupy Italian salad, but it's progress. and he's been voluntarily ordering salads at restaurants when he used to substitute them with other sides.... umm... what is going on here? i kinda miss nagging him...

not really.

Tackles of the week:
General Housework

Well, I'm behind on chores (shocking, I know), so this week I am returning to public posting of my To-do list so it stares me in the face. I think I'll even do the color coding. As one who is domestically challenged and a procrastinaholic to boot, I find this to be an effective way of holding myself accountable.

Red= needs to be done
Yellow= in process
Green= tackle completed

Ok, so here's my "Master List". An * indicates what I will focus on today.

1. Sweep kitchen floor*
   
2. Mop kitchen floor*
3. wash, fold & put away clothes (5 loads)*
4. clean out fridge*
   
5. clean bathrooms (2)
   
6. straighten living room
7. pick up nursery
8. vacuum all carpets
9. water flowers & cherry tomatoes*
   
10. change and wash bed & crib sheets
    

For more Tackle It Tuesday participants,
visit out 5 minutes for mom.

original post 9:13 a.m. Tuesday

My list is stuck as you see it. I should tackle more. Specifically, the fridge. But I'm in a slump today. Headache. (Probably from wasting time online). I'm wearing my most comfy pair of jeans- the ones with the holes in the knee and back pockets that I can't bear to throw out. I have rotated laundry. I keep hoping a summer shower will pop up so I don't have to water the flowers and tomatoes. Although it is a little fun to try to flood the mole tunnels as I water the flowerbeds. Hubby came home for lunch and has set up his office in the guest room for the afternoon. PBS is on TV- Clifford the Big Red Dog, to be exact. Not much variety here- no cable or satellite. Yet. Maybe in a few months, when hubby gets a raise.

Anyway, I will try to get back to the tackle and continue updating the color-codes as I complete my tasks.

Oh, and I must say I am overwhelmed by the # of responses to my giveaway. They are pretty bracelets. Dainty yet eye-catching. I'm going to have to make a raffle ticket shuffler out of an oatmeal container or something! Actually, I do think I have a value-sized diaper box that will do the trick. After all this insanity of the giveaway is done, hopefully some of you will stick around!

**** Almost halfway through the list... not a bad start for the day. Tomorrow I hope to spend more time playing with my daughter. But today, she thought it was fun helping me push wet clothes into the dryer and throw dirty clothes into the washer from atop a step ladder. Too bad laundry is an ever-growing pile! 8:43 p.m.