Money talks

I was speaking with the man who is going to lay carpet at our townhouse and he was impressed that we had a "family project" going to fix the place up. He said it just "wouldn't fly" at his house. I told him money talks at our house. . . . Chancy and McKay and now my nephew Baxter have a sign in sheet sitting on the kitchen counter at the townhouse. They sign in when we get there and sign out when they quit working. Every time they start to get tired (I am giving them breaks lest you think I'm overworking them) I say "just go sign out." This, so far, works like magic. They have running totals on paper and in their minds of their wages adding up and what they are going to spend it on. It is kind-of cute.

Working together has been fun. We've had some gut busting laughter going on when we bump into each other and get paint blobs on each other. It's a lot of work, and also a great bonding time. Yesterday I was talking to someone about what we were doing and he asked if it were a house we were working on. McKay chimed in and said he was mighty glad it wasn't a house, the townhouse was plenty big enough! I agree. I'm glad we started small!

Digging in . . .

Today I awoke at 6:30. The boys and I had agreed to wake up at 7:30 so we could leave at 8:00 and get over to the townhouse and work, work, work. In my mind I was thinking, to shower or not to shower? Lately, when I've known I will be outside sweating it up I've decided to just forgo the shower. I am not proud to admit, but last week I went almost 3 whole days without one. I didn't start out saying "I'm going three days without showering" but it just ended up that way. Now I know why my grandpa only took one bath a week. If Sunday and church didn't occur he probably wouldn't have showered then. WHAT WAS THE USE? You just get dirty again . . . . I have to say, I've never smelled anything quite like grandpa smelled on a Saturday afternoon. Whew! We wouldn't get anywhere near him and I feel sorry for those who were around me last week!! Today I knew the townhouse had no water, no electricity and we were going to be broiling, so the shower went out the window. When I took the boys for lunch I couldn't help looking around and noticing how fresh everyone looked! WoW! they have lives of leisure! I'll have you know, I did come home and take a shower. My piano students will thank me, even though they don't know why they should be thanking me!

Flip that House

I have just embarked on one of the most stupidest or one of the smartest things I have ever done. I've been working on this for months and after several failed attempts (or learning experiences) it is finally coming to fruition. On Saturday we closed on a little foreclosure townhouse that I bought on the courthouse steps. Closing brought a few surprises. Being an investor vs. being buying a home to live in is very eye opening. They really sock-it-to investors, believe you me. Anyhow, now the race is on. We are going to try to get this house turned around and ready for market and if the market doesn't work for us we will rent it. WISH US LUCK! This is going to be a great way to keep my boys busy this final month of summer. I'll have to take some "before" and "after" pictures and post them later.

Happy Birthday Chancy!

3rd Child Syndrome

Chancy is a normal, natural 3rd child. Or should I say, I am a normal, natural mother of a 3rd child. When making his slide show above, I didn't have many choices when choosing pictures. Why? Because he is a 3rd child. I have the school pictures. The required birthday pictures. The halloween pictures, but hardly anything else. Here are a couple of cute things about Chancy. . . .

1st of all his birth picture . . . isn't it UGLY? The first thing I noticed when Chancy was born was his nose. The nurse in the birthing suite said, "Don't worry, he'll grow into it . . . ." I think his nose has grown with him!!

Chancy (despite his nose) was a cute toddler. Everywhere we went people would comment on how cute he was and that he could be a child model. That was always fun.

Chancy had a favorite blanket which he called a "nee nee" I thought I was going to have to cut a corner off of his nee nee and send it to kindergarten with him, but he was able to go to school without it.

Chancy is a very determined young man. Being the middle child, he has had to fight for his rights when he needs to, but on the other hand can disapear into the wood work when he needs to. He is a great joy in our lives, and he has caused sorrow also. We wouldn't know great joy without the sorrow . . . . . WE LOVE YOU CHANCY!

Our LAST swim meet!

Today was our last swim meet of the season. It is to bad that McKay doesn't have more meets to follow. He improved his IM time by 12 seconds, his Breast stroke 6 seconds and his Freestyle 3 seconds. TOTALLY IMPRESSIVE, if I do say so myself. He was seeded in the bottom 8 to 10 kids and finished with the top swimmers: 4th(IM), 5th(Breast) and 6th(Free). He did much better than expected. WAY TO GO MCKAY!

It's finally happened

What has happened? My oldest son moved out of our home 2 days ago. You'd probably think this was a sad experience but it was not. He needed to take this leap. Am I worried? YES! But he needs his own space and we need ours. My younger two boys, Chancy and McKay were thrilled. They both get their own rooms. Since Justin decided to take his bed and dresser with him we had to do a little shuffling around of rooms. Do you remember my "clutter war" post? I THOUGHT we had done some dejunking!!! I was amazed at how much more stuff made it to the garbage bin when the boys were divvying up which stuff went into whose room. . . . . Halley's bed ended up in Justin's old room for Chancy. Justin's desk went into McKay's room. Chancy took a dresser and the TV stand from McKay's room. and so on and so on. They both claim that they will keep their rooms much cleaner now that they have their own rooms. I'm not holding my breath . . . . . . . but Halley needs to hold hers because under her bed were a bunch of her old treasures that I'm going to have to go through . . . . more dejunking. . . . oh boy!

Blogger's Block

Recently I have had blogger's block . . . . we've been really busy, I just haven't felt like writing. McKay seems to be keeping his blog up-to-date though and his tells what we've been doing. Last week we went to the National Zoo to see Justin give a concert with the Army band. We had a ward party we went to which was really fun. We also went to what I thought would be McKay's last swim meet. He is getting to go to divisional's though . . . he tells about that on his blog. We went to a going away party for some good friends. It feels like they are dieing. I was a coward and didn't say goodbye at the party . . . . and then saw her at church, gave her a hug and blubbered most of the way through church thinking about them leaving. It is hard to see people move away and know you are probably never going to see them again. With all we did, I think I got over-heated this last week. We've had some really hot weather and combined with the humidity and being out-of-doors for the zoo, and the swim meet and the ward party.. . . it all just zapped my energy. Today I feel like I'm recovering though. Whew!

My own medicine

I have this picture that my mom embroidered in my kitchen that states: Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, for babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow, so quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep. WELL, McKay has this poem memorized, and for the past week whenever I ask him to do a cleaning job for me, he spouts off this poem for me. Good try McKay. . . but it's not working.

Can I complain a little? well . . . . maybe a lot?

I just got back from 2 grueling hours of laying in the dentist's chair. I feel like my face has been through a war. Aching jaws (REALLY aching jaws) headache, I feel like a chipmunk, and I know when this numbing wears off I'll feel the injection sites! I had 2 silver fillings replaced today, and one was a bugger because of my child sized mouth. (I can only get about two fingers turned sideways into my mouth at full openness) The dentist is very patient, but has to use extra extra small drilling tools and extra extra small everything elses on me. "Can't you open just a little wider?" she asks and I'm almost in tears because my jaw aches soooo much from keeping it open . . . . . . and I have 2 more silver fillings to come out in two weeks and that isn't even the last of them. JOY, JOY! I think I'm going to go veg at the pool . . . I need a break!

Who is Uncle Sam?

The below cartoon was published in 1861. The cartoon is captioned, "Chief Cook CAMERON divides the VIRGINIA GOOSE between MARYLAND and DELAWARE. " This cartoon appeared shortly after the start of the Civil War, and is dealing with the issue of Virginia being split into two states.
Below cartoon shows the many people welcomed at Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving table . . . Black, White, Chinese, and Indian, as well as many others are seen sitting around the table. The image is captioned, "Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner; Come One, Come All, Free and Equal." The cartoon shows that Uncle Sam was originally a symbol of freedom, and equality.

Okay, because of the questions from my children, my nieces and nephews and even Tanya (who knows I'm sure) I decided to research just WHO this Uncle Sam is that I use to represent the United States President and/or government . . . . So here is the history lesson:

Uncle Sam, is a popular name for the government of the United States. Its origin was as follows: Samuel Wilson, commonly called "Uncle Sam," was an inspector of beef and pork, in Troy, N. Y. He inspected the meat purchased for the government after the declaration of war against England in 1812. A contractor named Elbert Anderson purchased a quantity of provisions, and the barrels were marked "E. A.," the initials of his name, and "U. S.," for United States. The latter initials were not familiar to Wilson's workmen, who inquired what they meant. A facetious (amusing) fellow answered, "I don't know, unless they mean 'Uncle Sam.' " The joke spread, and it was not long before the initials of the United States were regarded as "Uncle Sam," which name has been in popular ever since. Even a popular song says: "Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm."

Our popular image of Uncle Sam (As seen in the image on the top of this page) was defined in large part by Thomas Nast, who was one of the most popular artists of the 1800's.

While the exact image of Uncle Sam has evolved over the years, one thing remains constant. He is a symbol of the best ideals of the United States. From the earliest days until today, he has stood for Freedom, Equality, and Justice. While as a Nation, we do not always perfectly achieve these ideals, Uncle Sam remains a poignant symbol and reminder of the goal and objective . . . One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All.

Now you know . . . . even though you probably didn't even WANT to know!

Boys just want to have fun

This is an addendum to the "clutter war" post. When we went to drop off our stuff at the Salvation Army they wouldn't take a dresser that we needed to get rid of. They said it "wasn't sellable." What???? It had been sitting in my kitchen for 10's of years being useful, and now it is a reject? I had tried to give the dresser to one of my piano moms, but she very politely declined! So what were we to do? We had already made the trash run, the Salvation Army wouldn't take it, it was too big to put out for trash day . . . . so I had this idea. . . . . let the boys crush it to bits! McKay had a friend over and they had the most fun I've ever seen two boys have demolishing that dresser. It kept them busy for quite a while, and even later commented on how fun it was. If you've ever heard Paul Harvey's radio show, put his voice in your head and say "here is the REST of the story." Lincoln took the porcelain knobs off of the dresser and made another run to the Salvation Army and they were ecstatic to get those knobs saying, "These sell like hotcakes!" Well . . . the day before those knobs were attached nicely to that dresser they rejected . . . . . . . . hmmmmmm.

Clutter War

Lincoln took quite a few days off work this month and last month. He took off all the time that Halley was here up until now. His reason for taking off work this week was to go on the annual bike trip that the Patuxent ward has, but he ended up staying home so we could get a few things done around the house. We spent Wed, Thurs, and Friday decluttering our house. The bad news is, that if you came to my house you would probably not notice one bit of change although we spent a great amount of time decluttering. The good news is, it feels so good to have a lot of extra baggage gone from our lives. We decluttered the boys room, the crawl space, the utility room, the shed, most of the kitchen and a couple of closets. It was so great having Lincoln helping me with this because I get caught up in the emotional aspect of some of our things. We girded up our loins and if it was broken, or we'd outgrown it, if it wasn't enriching our lives or had some use in our lives, it went packing. All-in-all we had I'd say three pick-up loads of charity/trash that we got rid of. What a weight off!!! I only heard one statement of withdrawal . . . . Lincoln had gone through his ties and donated a dozen or so of them to charity. On the way home he was already missing them! I don't think we'll be missing anything else. Yippee!

Thank You Uncle Sam

I was beginning to think that we were not going to get a stimulas check from the government. It came last week and I had it spent in a few days. Poor Lincoln . . . . he probably would never have chosen the item I chose to buy, but because he loves me and does almost anything for me, he let me have my way. I know that we should have/could have done some bill paying, maybe even put it in to savings, but we did what Uncle Sam wanted us to do with it. We stimulated the economy. So, above is a picture of our purchase. I am sooooo excited! I have needed extra storage space in my kitchen. Either that, or buy a new house. This was cheaper. What did you do with your stimulas checks?

Mmmmm Mmmmmm Good

I made this Vidalia Onion Pie last night for dinner. Oh Boy, is it good. The secret to getting this pie to be eaten by your family is to never let the word "onion" pass your lips while making it or while serving it. You also have to make sure that no one comes into the kitchen while you are baking it, because 3 large onions go into this baby. "What is it?" they asked. "Quiche." I said. There were only 4 of us at the dinner table and it is 3/4 of the way gone. Here is the recipe:

Vidalia Onion Pie

3 cups thinly sliced Vidalia onions

3 T butter, melted

One 9 inch prebaked deep-dish pie shell (I put mine in a regular pie dish)

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

3 T all-purpose flour

4 slices bacon, cripsly cooked and crumbled (I cheat, I use precooked bacon, didn't even warm it up)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Saute' onion in butter until lightly browned (fruit of the gods!! what an aroma!!!). Spoon into pie shell. Combine milk, sour cream, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well and pour over onion mixture. Garnish with bacon. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm in center. Pie has taste and texture of a quiche.

I had to cook this much longer after an extra 15 minutes it still wasn't set up, so I turned it up to 350 and baked another 10 minutes. This recipe comes from "The Lady & Sons" Cookbook by Paula Deen. She is on the Food Network another of my favorite channels, if I ever turn on the TV.

Anniversery

I looked back to my first blog entry . . . . July 9, 2006. I've been blogging for a full two years! I can't believe how time has flown. What a nice journal to have. . . . I used to journal a lot, but my journaling was down to about 1 entry a year, pretty sad. Blurb.com (and probably others) offers the making of a blog into a book. It is easier said than done, when you download your blog into their book format, all the pictures aren't a high enough pixel to print. . . . but I do have the high pixel pictures . . . . and the blog entries . . . . I think I'll give it a try!

Thanks to my fellow bloggers

Lincoln came home last night from mutual saying . . . "all the women in the ward are talking about your blog." "What women?" I ask? And all my fellow bloggers names came tumbling out of his mouth, and a couple extra . . . . and the next minute, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. He was actually sitting down at the computer looking at our blog! I didn't even know he knew the address. I usually have to (not really) take him by the ear-lobe and say "come look at our blog." He has little or no interest in our blog, or anyone elses blogs for that matter. He can't understand why my favorite TV show are Wife Swap and Super Nanny and that my favorite channel is the Home and Garden network. I love to hear about and see other people's lives. Can't get enough of it. Is he converted? No . . . . I'm betting he doesn't even see this entry. If you do, Hon, try commenting . . . I'd love to hear from you from blog land.

Adios Halley

Today Halley flew back to Utah. She was sad to leave but very excited to get back home and be with her husband Ryan again. We had such a great time while she was here. We played lots of games, talked, went to the beach, talked, spent time at the pool, talked, and talked some more, went shopping, talked, and had a great 4th of July together. It was so nice to have all four of our children together for a little while. Justin couldn't go to the beach and had to leave on his guard trip, so he didn't spend much time with her, but it was still nice. There were only a few tears when she departed. Both McKay and I did the tear shedding but we will survive. Can't wait until she comes again and hopefully next time with Ryan.

What Justin is up to . . . .

Justin is on his 2-week guard trip. He called me tonight and was excited about a concert that they had done that had 40,000 to 50,000 people there. They haven't ever done anything that big before. He wanted me to look up the newspaper in the town and read about it. Here is a linc to the article: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/223946

What we love about the beach:

Being lazy in our umbrella made oasis . . . .

Kite flying . . . .

Digging . . . . .
Sunning . . . .

Burying . . . . . .
Spending time with family. . . . . .

Horsing around . . . . .
and sleeping . . . .

We spent 3 nights, 4 days at Ocean City mainly to celebrate Halley's coming home. We invited grandma and grandpa and the Bainters to join us. It is so fun to watch the family having fun together. I love the beach for the time it gives us away from the normal hum-drum of life for all of the above reasons.