Another good week here Up the Hill!

Pete had two tests this past week and he did wonderfully on them. He’s so smart…I really don’t think I could take in all the info he is taking in and I certainly wouldn’t be able to do well on the tests! He’s really smart!

We started reading Treasure Island this week. We are also putting together PowerPoint presentations about different pirates. Jake asked if he could do three pirates! Uh…YES!! I love when my kids get excited about learning!

Judi called! It’s always nice to talk to my dear friend!! I’ve missed her!

I started reading Kite Runner as part of a reading challenge…well, actually, I signed up for 3 reading challenges! lol!! Scroll down to see the ones I’ve signed up for….

I won a book from Deena! Fun!!

My house still looks like a drug dealer’s den….now it smells like a landfill….I need an extreme home clean out or something! lol!!

I also found out that two women from our church have been diagnosed with cancer. One has breast cancer and will be having surgery on Monday. The other lady has cancer that has spread throughout her lymph system…she is terminal and I’m praying that God will show me exactly how I can minister to her and her family. Please keep these two women in your prayers….

ok…the smell is getting to me so I’m ending this time of reflection….

Visit more WR over at Judi’s blog!

This is going to be one of the most pitiful posts I will ever write. It saddens me to have tell you all that Pete did not get an iPhone. He is doing well after this horrendous let down he has experienced and we are hoping that soon his dream of owning an iPhone will come true. We just have no idea how this dream is going to come true but…we’re still hopeful nonetheless!

….sigh…..

I’ve been tagged by Manilla Mom to do this “8 Random Things Meme”. I know there have been other people out there who have tagged me too and I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to keep up with them all….so today I’m starting brand new! I’ve got my little notebook ready and I’ll write down all the info so I won’t forget!!!

1. I can play the flute and piccolo but I hate playing the piccolo!
2. I can’t eat chicken on the bone because of all the blood veins and vessels and grisle and ack!!!
3. I was a drum major in high school.
4. I was VP in charge of Membership in my sorority (Delta Zeta)
5. I once snuck into Dr. Bass’ Body Farm in Knoxville…was caught by security and escorted back to my friends house where we were spending the night…later we drank Bartles & James wine coolers! lol!!
6. I grew up in a family business…Customs Drapes and Bedspreads…my lungs are probably coated with fibers….
7. I have had a child on the national transplant list…waited for a liver/small bowel.
8. I completed a very rough draft of my first novel during NaNoWriMo 2006!

There…now you know just a bit more about me! I’m tagging any reader that wants to do this meme at their blog…but please come back and tell me so I can come read about you!!

Belle: (whispering in my ear) I am in love with Luke.

Me: You are?

Belle: Yes! I am….but I have been pretending that I am mad at him so he won’t know…

Hooooooold on there little gal….you’re waaaaaaaaaay to young to be playing this game! Sheesh…

Luke is the youth director at church and he really is pretty cool. He’s a lot of fun and is loved by all the kids, not just Belle! I think Belle likes Luke so much because he’s always acting goofy with her and making her laugh. Isn’t that what we all want? I just need her to be quite a bit older! lol!!

I was reading about a method used to create skeleton leaves. Skeleton leaves are those leaves that you find on wedding invitations….they are..well..they are the leaves with out all the green between the veins. Of course, I picked the wrong type of leaves but I didn’t realize it until afterwards. Anyway, we poured water and bleach over the leaves and let them soak until they turned white…this took about a week. Supposedly, we were going to be able to pull the leaves out of the mixture and brush away the green (that was now white) to reveal the skeleton. When I pulled the leaves out…they completely fell apart…skeleton and all!

I give up!

I am naming this week “Bad Knees” week! I haven’t blogged about this but my knees are really hurting right now. I have somehow strained my right knee to the point that is hurts to put pressure on it when I sit down or stand up. Because I have favored my right knee, my left knee is now hurting! I went to the doctor because the pain got so bad….I can walk, it’s just sitting down or standing up that kills me! Anywho….the doc said it sounded like (and felt like) “runner’s knee” and he gave me several exercises to do. I’m supposed to check back with him after six weeks if my knees are not better….

Pete had another big test this past Monday and he did fine on it. Summer school is so intense…I can’t wait for it to be over! lol!

Dad is doing somewhat better…he’s become an insomniac like me though….

I found out about Shelly’s “Share a Square” and I’ve made 7 squares so far. I find crocheting so addictive! I need to buy some yarn though…maybe I’ll do that today. It’s Father’s Day you know, so I’m sure Pete will want to take me shopping! lol!!

Click and Clack croaked….well, actually I should say they died before they even got to croak! However, today we will be welcoming 2 gerbils into the family….I’m still working on names. One is an albino and the other is brown… I need to see their little faces though before I can name them! lol!! That will give us a Milo the dog, Hyacinth the hamster and these two gerbils. There’s room for plenty more I think!! Pete probably disagrees with me though! SONYA.….there are two more pairs of gerbils that need a home…hint, hint….

I really need to write things down on my calendar so I can remember what went on during the week…I always feel like I’m leaving something BIG out of my reflection!

You can visit more WR over at Judi’s blog!

Yesterday, our neighbors farther up the hill came down. We had a lovely picnic of PB&J sam-itches and baby carrots with dip…oh, and a fruit cup thrown in there too.

After lunch, we went to the backyard and created our Country Bird Home Depots. Hopefully the birds will still be adding “stuff” to their nests and they will come to our Home Depots and grab some of the yarns. If not…well…if not, then we will have these bright colored strawberry containers hanging from our trees! lol!!

Here are the quick instructions:

Take a strawberry container and punch holes in the bottom and around the sides. I snipped the rim of our containers. One of the plastic berry containers would work much better but that’s all we had…I’m big on use what you have! lol!

Poke yarns through the holes until you have the amount you want to put in your Home Depot.

Through two of the holes, run an extra long peice of yarn through and then tie. This will be how you hang your Home Depot in a tree…or on a swing set! lol!!

Hang and then your Home Depot is open for business!

Belle and E, on the back deck, working on their Country Bird Home Depots

Belle hung ours on the swingset. Look at our sad slide…sigh…

Close up of Country Bird’s Home Depot

Sparkle didn’t make a depot…he just sat around and smiled!

We had a great time and look forward to more fun times with our friends!!

Photo by gmwnkcmo

I had such high hopes for Click and Clack. They were going to grow into great big, strong and healthy frogs and go out into the world and make us all proud….but what did they do instead? They up and died on us! Sheesh….

The first night Click and Clack were with us was very stressful for me! Click was doing well…swimming around with his little arms and legs going strong. Clack, however, didn’t look so good. He was just kind of floating toward the bottom of the bowl…I was certain he was going to die. I would poke him and he would move but not very much. I went to bed that night certain that Clack would be dead in the morning.

When I went to check on the tads, I was completely surprised to see Clack sitting up on the rock looking like a little frog! He changed over night! I guess he was just “resting” before the big change…I felt bad for poking him! lol!! I really had no idea that tads slowed down that much before becoming a frog.

I was thrilled that Clack had survived! I then noticed that Click was floating underwater. Click didn’t seem to be moving as much but I wasn’t terribly worried because I had been through this with Clack! Later in the day, I noticed that Click was all stretched out….and dead….but still, I held out hope because maybe he was just really in a deep rest! lol!! Unfortunately, I checked on him later and it was obvious that he was good and dead. And there sat Clack, up on his rock as if he was waiting for Click to come join him. It was sad! I mean really, it was!

That evening, I went to look at Clack (because he was just so darn cute!) and I found him right beside Click….underwater….with his legs stretched out….dead! Can you believe that?? Sheesh-a-moley…..little punk tadpoles!

Oh well, there’s always next year….

We’ve had another busy week…nothing unusual or extraordinary happened…which is nice!~

The Summer Beacon’s program at church started this Wednesday. The kids made beads out of air-dry clay and they will paint them in a couple of weeks. Pete volunteered us for leading next Wednesday’s meeting…gee thanks! One of the little guys proudly showed me one of his beads….it looked like a bottle. I asked him about it and he said “it’s either a classic Coke bottle….or a beer bottle.” LOL!! Now, some of you all will not think that is funny at all…but I do! It reminds me of those commercials where the kid is telling something he shouldn’t and then the spokesperson suggests a KUDO bar!!

On Thursday, our neighbors up the hill came down for a picnic lunch and some craft time. We had a lot of fun and I hope we will be able to have visits like this more often.

Dad is still not feeling well at all. Continued prayers for him is much appreciated!

My house looks like a drug dealers house so I am going to be power cleaning all day! Well, actually, I’m going to “Sew and Clean”….I’ll have to explain that one later! lol!!

Visit more WR over at Judi’s!

Nik found the big leaf in our backyard a couple of days ago. He brought it to me and told me that he had found a “teenage leaf”…I thought he meant that it was medium sized. When I looked at it later, I realized that he had called it that because of the bumps which look like zits! lol!!

About 30 minutes after Nik brought me the “teenage leaf”, Belle brought me “tiny baby leaf”. She was just so thrilled to have found such a tiny treasure and she said she wanted to give it to a friend since it was a “friendship leaf”! I had no idea that my kids were so into naming leaves!!

So, after all was said and done…or named…I found this photo on my camera! I like to think it represents the love between sibs…I can dream can’t I?!

I am heavy-hearted over the plane crash that was carrying a transplant team from the University of Michigan Transplant Center. I can’t help but think that since one of the docs on-board was a pediatric surgeon that they were retrieving organs for a child. I could be totally wrong about that…the organ could have certainly been for an adult but you know where my mind goes first.

I am so sorry for the families that have been left behind but, in all honesty, my heart is just broken for that family waiting on the life-saving transplant. To get the call saying that organs are available and to start getting ready has got to be a huge ball of emotions…and then to be told that the plane had crashed has just got to be devastating. I’m sure the family has gotten to know these docs well so I can’t even fathom what they are feeling right now…such a tragedy.

And what about the donor family? A lot of times, organs are donated because the family wants to help another person…it eases the pain. And I’m sure that the donor family wasn’t informed but there are times that you can put two and two together and kind of figure out what has happened.

In my eyes, all of these people involved are heroes: the docs, the patient and family and the donor family. Things like this don’t make much sense…but then again there’s not much in this ol’
world that does….

We’ve had a good week!

This past week, we celebrated the coronation of our sweet little boy Gus. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a nice evening with some new friends. There was great conversation…and I have a feeling that there will be more great conversations! We feasted on this wonderful crockpot dish with chicken, artichoke hearts, tomatoes….what else, Jennifer?? Send me the recipe!! It was a wonderful way to celebrate the day!

Pete took a huge test on Tuesday and got an 86! WooHoo!! We are very pleased….it was a very hard test and only the brilliant ones pass! lol! No, really, if you don’t pass this test then you are booted out of the Accelerated program….shew bobs…that would have been the pits…

I had to drain my funds I’ve earned through writing ads and posting them here. Our computer died and since we use it a lot for school (Pete’s assignments, my pharmacy tech course, and homeschool) we bought a new tower. I’m pleased that I was able to pay for this myself!! Well, Pete had a to throw in the tax! lol!

Because I had to buy the new computer, I was not able to go to the used curriculum sale this weekend. Mary (who refuses to blog) found me the Apologia Science set I needed and she picked it up for me! Aren’t you jealous Sonya???? Btw, Sonya…we are going to do the same science as Logan and Mary’s Andrew…so we can get together and do some mad science experiments!! Yowsie!

Dad spent some time in the ER but is doing better now. Come to find out, his new meds to help with his hyperthyroidism was causing him major problems. He is taking prednisone now and is waiting until the bad meds clear his system. Vegan Momma, we could probably use some advice from you right about now! lol!

I think that’s it…it has been a busy week with lots of different emotions popping up here and there but overall, it has been good!

Visit more WR over at Judi’s!