Deogratias

A Minor Crisis Everted

Thanks to Jacob, Andrew now has a doorknob!  Unfortunately we didn't give  him instructions on its use and this morning he locked himself in his room.

I was really proud of Andrew because he didn't panic, and everytime we gave him an instruction through the door he followed it.  I was also proud of Nicholas who is definitely a born leader.  He took charge and gave instructions and even pushed a towel under the door when Andrew complained that the doorknob was slippery. 

We didn't figure out how to get him out until Jacob woke up (he's on a teenager schedule) and provided user-instructions to us all.  Turn the knob hard to the right.  Voilla, the door opened.  Andrew came out with a smile.

Settling In

Saving the universe can be exhausting!

And it can also make you lots of enemies!

Installing doorknobs will get you much appreciation!

  

But if  you are an inside dog, you won't be appreciated if you get in the creek.

 

Because then you will be truly FORBIDDEN from the house until you are bathed!  Perhaps you're not too happy about that.

A Happy Birthday

Last Saturday was my birthday and I had pretty low-key plans.  Celia, my mother-in-law was coming over to take me to lunch, and I was going to get some bushes for the family to plant for me for my birthday present. 

Well, it seemed that Lee and the boys had other plans.  Behind my back they were planning a surprise birthday party for  me.  Read all about it here:  http://ratiocinate.typepad.com/.  I had absolutely no idea that there was a party until I walked in the door.  They had hidden their cars at neighbors' houses so when Celia and I pulled in from lunch I had no clue. 

The biggest surprise was that my dad and step-mother had driven down from their home 5 hours away.  I had called him on his cell phone the day before while he was driving down and had even asked him when he was planning on visiting.  He said he would let me know and that he would be here "sooner than you think"!  Ha!  I had no idea.

One of my dear homeschooling friends came over, as did my brother and sister-in-laws, neice and nephew and some old friends we hadn't seen since New Year's Day.  My friend said she was expecting to see a little cabin, and was impressed by Lee's building ability. 

It was the best birthday present I could have had, and then it was followed up on Friday by the second best - We sold the house!!!!  We had the closing about 10 days after the contract signing.  The new owners had cash and that allowed everything to go very quickly.

THANKS BE TO GOD!

House-selling News

OK, we finally got an offer on the old house!  Yea!  Unfortunately it was sooo low that there was no way we could take it.  I mean, they want our playset and a comperable house down the street just sold for about $20,000 more.  So we counter-offered.  And they counter-offered. 

Here we were tonight just about to send off our second counter-offer which was probably going to be accepted according to the buyer's agent.  Then Lee got a call.  A woman who looked at the house the other night without an agent (no real estate commission!!!) wants to show it to her fiance'.  It was the first house she had looked at among many viewed that fit both of their requirements.  He's showing the house to the couple now as I write this.

We may end up selling to the first couple because they have cash and want to close in two weeks.  Or we may sell to the second couple if they give us some ernest money because they may offer more and they don't want our playset.  Either way, I have hope.  There are buyers out there and someone will want our house!

On the new house front, Lee and I finally have a closet and two dressers full of clean clothes for the first time in a month.  Our new dryer didn't work and the replacement - a closeline on the screened porch - was NOT acceptable.  Oh, sure it may save energy, but the energy saved is not mom's energy.  We bought a brand new dryer and it works great! 

We also bought a new deep freezer for the 1/2 of a cow we'll be buying. 

It's not all money-spending around here.  I recently re-downloaded Homeschool Tracker Plus on my new computer for free.  I had it on my old one but it didn't transfer, and the company has a policy that every customer only has to buy it once - no matter what.  I'm finding the video tutorials to be invaluable and I have already written lesson plans for just about all of the materials I have bought. 

A Weird Image That Won't Go Away!

Have you ever read a book that was bizarre and terrible but yet you couldn't put it down?  Or a book that left images that remain with you for years?  Well, I did this a few years ago, and boy have I been regretting it for the past few days. 

Warning!  Please don't read this book as a result of this post!

The book is called One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and it is about several generations of a Central American family and very bizzare unreal things happened.  I picked it up at Barnes and Noble on the Employee's Choice shelf.  I do that occasionally when I don't have anything to read and I have some extra money.

Warning!  If you plan to read this book don't read any further because I'm going to tell the end!  And if you are sensitive about horrible scenes don't read further!  When I told Lee about it he said he wished I had never told him.

So here goes.../

After generation after generation of war and immoral activities, the last generation starts to wallow in filth.  A brother and sister live in the family home as a couple and have a baby together.  After the birth they get up and leave the house and go off to do some "fun" things.  Then suddenly they remember - the baby!  So they come  home and find that the baby has died and is being carried away by ants.

So why did this image return to my mind recently you wonder?  Well, because we have had a huge infestation of ants out here.  They were everywhere - especially the kitchen.  They were all over the trash and the dishwasher and yesterday after I cooked breakfast I kept finding them on my clothes. 

 I started thinking about that book and I still can't get it off of my mind.  I'm hoping that it will leave eventually. 

After telling Lee about this agreed that the ants had to go.  Like the wonderful husband that he is he sprayed outside last night.  He found where they were coming in - he even found a path of traveling ants way across the yard.  And this morning - voilla - they were gone!

Hopefully soon I'll stop thinking about the book.

 

A Delicious Nature Walk

First we found some blackberries.

We had a little snack.

Then we found some blueberries.

We really enjoyed these!

Good thing we were no longer hungry when we found these.

 

I'm In a Slump

And I can't seem to crawl out of it.  This morning before my wonderful husband woke me at 6 a.m. to ask if I had washed any underwear lately.  Uh oh!  I'll do it today - I promise. 

Then my adorable 5 year old son woke me at 7 a.m. to ask for breakfast.  Just 5 more minutes - think about what you want I instructed him.  "I know what I want," he informed me - "Tacos!"  Hmm - tacos for breakfast - ok.

Lately I've felt a total lack of motivation to get things done.  I would rather sit in front of the computer or lie down and read.  I want to get up late, take a long nap and then go to bed early.  I'll watch the Braves game just for an excuse to lie on the couch.   I did go to Jazzercise yesterday for the first time since moving, but then I had to come home and nap for a couple of hours.

I've promised myself that today I'm going to unpack the boxes containing books for the bookshelves.  This week I'm going to get started planning my school year.  I'm going to get Jacob some news shoes and a haircut.  I'm going to sit down with Alex and have a really good piano practice every day.  I'm going to go get a new driver's license and transfer my car tags to our new county and register to vote.  I'm going to the old house and do some cleaning.  I'm finally going to buy a shower curtain so Jacob can use  his shower.

I'm not going to get any of this done if I just sit here and read blogs all day. I'll get one of the kids to go get the newspaper so I can read that too - and then I'll work the crossword puzzle - I've gotten really good at that.