Whew!

Yesterday was one of the busiest days of our school year so far. 

It started Tuesday evening when my alleged "mentor" in the Girl Scouts organization suggested we meet together for a picnic. 

No big deal. I can pack a picnic.  I know where the park is.  It's fine...

Until I woke up in a cold sweat, realizing that we were out of bread. 

Then Nick couldn't wake me up so I wasn't up to give him the bag of library books to return...

If you haven't caught on to my complaining about this, when I don't wake up with Nick I don't wake up...it's horrible.  I have no idea why/how I turn off the alarm in my sleep. 

Anywho, so what happened was that apparently the children and I were VERY tired and we all slept in until 8:30...that's right folks, 8:30. 

I don't think I've slept in to 8:30 since before we had Emma. 

Oh, and by the way...we usually start school at 8...geesh we were running late.

So I got the kiddos up, dressed, ready, fed, and then we left for the library, the store, and then to the Girl Scouts office to visit their little store thing-y for supplies.

By the time we got home I had 20 minutes to pack our picnic before we had to leave for the park...and in case you haven't noticed in this story we had not done any schooling yet. 

So we went to the park, did all of that, and then we came home.  We did school FINALLY in the afternoon, didn't get it all done, then came down had made dinner. 

After that it was back to the library and then to the vitamin shop. 

Anyway, it was just kind of a harried day but it pales in comparison to how busy today will be...

Preschool, homeschooling, home, lunch, dentist appointment, library, home, change, gymnastics lessons, home, make dinner, walk dog, and then fall on the couch and die. 

In good news though I was supposed to have a girl scouts meeting at my house tomorrow but due to not enough people coming we are rescheduling...so I don't have to get the house guests-I-have-never-met-in-my-life-before-clean.  Praise the Lord! 

A word about Girl Scouts: we signed up and then found out that there isn't a group for Emma to join because no leaders have come forward.  So here I am being a leader.  I am finding that my Mentor lady eats/sleeps/breathes for Girl Scouts and lets be honest, that's just not me.  I'm doing the best I can to be on board with everything and I don't know how these other troop leaders do it but I just don't have the time to skip off every weekend for some "leadership training summit" in which you have to be staying overnight...nope, not gonna do it.  

So there it is, I've been a little busy and am really looking forward to putting these days behind me.  :)

Welcome to the Gun Show

How cute is this picture? 
This is my husband in case you are just tuning in. Not some random man I'm taking pictures of in the middle of an electrical field apparently. 
We were at the pumpkin patch. 
His name is Nick. 
He likes to do funny things when I try to take his picture. 
He's hot. 
And now we're caught up. 

My husband has been working tirelessly every.single.day.  for the past three weeks.  He puts in at least 12 hours, usually more.  Then drives his 45 minute drive back home.  He doesn't complain.  He doesn't get mad.  He's perfect. 

But there's me back home complaining becuase he's gone.  Because it's every day.  I know it's not his fault.   I know that he would rather be home with us. 

I love him so much and he is such a great guy.  Thursday when I came down with what was obviously the plague, he just put me in bed.  He took care of everything. 

This weekend at the market we were checking out and I spied Macaroons in the cart.  "I didn't know you liked macaroons!" I exclaimed. 

"I don't.  But you do." He said.  Swoon :)

My husband has never been a romantic man.  Sometimes that bothers me more than other times.  It's something I work on.  It's something he works on.  Once he gave me a watch, a beautiful expensive watch.  We were broke.  He forgot wrapping paper and proceeded to dump out a box of tampons and give it to me in the tampon box...unwrapped.  This is a true story folks, you can't make crap like this up. 

Anyway, back to now...he doesn't plan these elaborate things but he's always there to tuck me in bed, take my earrings out when I'm too sleepy, he comes home with a bottle of wine, he sticks macaroons in the cart. 

I love him so much and I am so thankful for him.  And I'm thankful that I'm the only one who gets to go to his gun show :)

Little Pumpkins

As mentioned in my previous post, Emma and I have been sick.   Well yesterday (Saturday) I was still sick but I was determined to not spoil our plans.  Nick took the day off and we had so much planned I was a little worried about getting it all done and having it still be a fun day.  I mean, at what point does running errands on a beautiful Fall day stop being fun and simply become checking things off of your list of "to-dos"?

Well I shouldn't have worried because we had such a wonderful time together!  We started the day super early...we were out the door without any breakfast.  We stopped at this Italian bakery in our neighoborhood for doughnuts and coffee and then made the drive to a tiny town south of us that has a great butcher.

Since we were down there we made a drive to Nick's hometown to another store with great cheeses and bulk baking items.  We stocked up on things we need.  I love the fact that we live in a metropolis area but can drive 10 minutes in any direction and be in the country.   LOVE that.  I also love that we live so close to the Amish folks and can take advantage of their wonderful baked goods, produce, and meats. 

Anyway, we FLEW home, changed clothes and then it was off to a fashion show Emma was a model in.  After that it was time for some shopping, lunch out, a trip to a Nursey for mums (I heart Mums so much!), and then onto Pumpkin Picking!

While Pumpkin picking we had a great time but it was so weird!  It was 82 degrees out...Nick was in Birkenstocks for crying out loud!  Usually we're wearing gloves!  It was a weird day, and while picking pumpkins we had a Stealth Bomber circling overhead for the football game going on.  It was kind of weird but neat all at the same time!  :)

If you'll remember apple picking pictures the children were enamored by the wagon and as you can see here, they still love the wagon!  Apparently they have a system where Emma pulls, Cal pushes.  They fell into their positions quickly. 

 Emma found her pumpkin quickly and how cute is she?  I just love her to death!

 Here's Cal's...his isn't that heavy but he just could not figure out how to hold it...Nick's teaching him how.  Cute!

 These little pumpkins made Emma's day...she thought they were sooo cute!  They were 3/$1 so Nick told them each to pick 3.  Well Emma did quickly and Cal only had one.  He kept saying "I only have one" so Nick kept trying to help him pick 2 more out.  Finally Cal declared "I only have one because I only need one!"  Oh!  Now we get it.  I love that Cal doesn't like excess.  And sometimes he's confusing but when he let's us into how his minds working and what he's thinking it makes so much sense to us.  Nick just said "okay, that's cool" and we were done.  It's times like those that I love when he tells us what's going on in his mind. 

Here's our shopping trip.  I got pumpkins to stack so I'll have to take a picture of that when I'm done. 

So that was our day yesterday!  We came home, made dinner of burgers, brats, green beans, and pierogis, ate dinner, and collectively crashed on the couch to watch Gnomeo and Juliet.  It was a full day.  It was a gorgeous day.  It was a wondrful day. 

Happy Lord's Day! 

Well here I am.  What weird days these have been. 

Yesterday I was doing some work on the computer during naptime and went downstairs to check on the children.  I figured I would finish up my work last night but never made it back to the computer. 

After I checked on the children I felt kind of tired so I laid down on the couch and took a short nap.  When I awoke I felt suddenly miserable...chills, achey and my head felt like a rock...I couldn't even lift it up.  I was dizzy and weird. 

When Nick called to say he was on his way home I could barely get the phone.  I have such an amazing husband.  He told me to not worry about getting dinner around...just to stay on the couch and he would take care of everything. 

I have such an amazing husband.  I am so blessed.  When he came home he got me into bed and then made the children dinner and played with them all night.  I was sleeping but apparently he sent the children upstairs to get their pajamas on...that's when Cal thought it a good idea to try to climb his dresser.  

It fell over on him...not good. 

Thank the Lord he is okay.  He has a little bruise but other than that it is okay.  Which is amazing as Nick said that the whole dresser was on him and his leg was pinned in a drawer. 

About 1:45 in the morning I woke up and felt so much better.  I woke up Nick who confirmed that yes I didn't feel like I was going to catch anything on fire anymore...praise the Lord my fever had broken! 

I woke up and felt better (not 100% but maybe about 57%?), got Cal to bed and Emma and I got back on the couch to watch some Kit Kitteredge.  Did I mention Emma?  Last night she started saying her head was feeling "swimmy"...she had a little bit of a fever but not too bad.  When I checked on her last night in her sleep I knew she felt bad because she looked horrible! 

This morning she couldn't get her head off the pillow it was so "swimmy" as she put it! 

I've given her some Motrin and now she's starting to feel better.  We are both on the upswing but decided that movies are the way to feel better. 

Nick's Mom picked up Cal from preschool so we could rest and he will be spending the afternoon over there...I'm hoping that that will give us a chance to recoop and it will help keep him away from us sickies. 

So there are our days.  I hope to be feeling better tomorrow so I can get back on my feet and get things in this house around...it is very apparent that Daddy's were not meant to run households!

Salted Caramel Mocha Latte

Thanks, MomAdvice!

I would like to introduce you to the website of Mom Advice!  Mom Advice is Amy Clark's blog and while I've never met her (I saw her in Target once!), I consider her a friend.  Yep, that makes me sound like a weirdo stalker but I'm not I promise! 

I just consider Amy a friend because 1) we share a butt load of friends, 2) we live super close to one another (again, not a stalker, promise!), and 3) I've been reading her blog since the day when she was journaling about their journey out of debt long ago. 

Anywho, Amy does this crazy awesome thing in which she gets super high on caffeine in the process of copy-cating Starbucks' coffee specials.  The one she has put together this time is the Salted Caramel Mocha Latte.

The kids were good today, I managed to get out of bed at the correct time (it's the little things, right?) and so I thought I would treat myself so I followed her recipe jobby and made this. 

One word...amazing!!! 

The only thing I didn't have though was Caramel Syrup but I did have some weird Caramel Cinnamon (or Vanilla?) creamer so I used that.  I was a happy camper. 

Here is my reasoning for making these at home: I don't have the luxury of having a Starbucks right down the street...close it is, but I just hate schlepping the kids out to get myself a coffee.  Also the last Starbucks coffee I had was horrible!!!  I can't even tell you how bad it was.  Bleh.  Thirdly, I always feel bad buying coffee.  It's 5.08 for the pumpkin spick dealy and I don't make the money around here so I always just feel bad.  Sometimes I even call Nick and ask permission in which he acts like I'm this huge waste of space and time and tells me, yes for God's Sake just get the stupid drink. 

Okay then.

So now I can make them at home and everything will be right in the world.  Birds are singing, angels are all aflutter.  Ah, it's a beautiful thing. 

So click on one of the many links I've snuck in here to get the recipe yourself or click here to get it.  Just know that I couldn't get the exact recipe's link to work so if this doesn't take you to it just explore her blog until you find it.  It will be worth your time! 

Check out the Outfit

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday...we had a crazy busy day.  We went to this thing in our area called "Homeschool Hangout".  I HATE meeting new people sometimes and I was super nervous for some reason.  But I met some really great moms and the kids played with a lot of wonderful children...win, win for everyone! 

We also had a super late start yesterday.  When Nick goes to work I try to get up at 4 in the a.m. with him to get things done around the house and feel a little organized before the house is all a'whirl.  Well I was REALLY tired and decided to go back to bed for a few minutes.  I set the alarm for 5 and buried myself in the covers.  I woke up at 8 with my hand hanging over the bed and the alarm clock turned off...fail.  I hate when I turn off the alarm in my sleep. 

So we didn't get up and around until 9:30....it still feels like we are still trying to catch up after starting so late.  Ugh.  Yesterday was one of those crazy busy days where you don't know what you are in fact so busy with but you find yourself having a panic attack before your feet even hit the floor...ever have one of those days?

Well enough about yesterday...what's in the past is just that.  I'm learning from it and moving on.  Let's just say yesterday and I had a huge fight and broke up...

Today however is good.  Great!  Woke up at 4!

Worked out!

I was dressed and had eaten breakfast before the children awoke!

We got homeschooling done!!! 

It was pretty great!  Except for one thing...

Do you see this outfit?  Just so you know, that's a long sleeved polo shirt on backwards and underneath his undershirt...fancy right?  I asked him if he was comfortable, to which he said yes...so we've left it.  I didn't have the heart to change the way he thought it should go.  And just so you know we haven't left our little home (well we rode bikes and played in the neighborhood but you know what I mean!).  If we had gone somewhere we would have changed it. 

Here's Emma...she's wearing a little glove eraser that she likes...we are learning days of the week so the ka-jigger (technical term) behind her is a dry erase board that we write the days of the week on.  I think we are almost done learning them...hooray!!! 

I was super proud too that they know the pledge of allegiance (and actually SAY the right words!!!).  We are learning fractions now and compound words, spelling, we are reading Heracles, and learning about Ancient Egypt.  Tomorrow we start learning about dogs. 

So that's all that's going on here in our little Manor.  Hope you all are doing well! 

Homeschooling About Dogs

Thank you Homeschool Creations for your genius printables!

As I mentioned in a previous post regarding homeschooling, we are studying animals right now for Science.  One animal a week.  We study it, we research, we learn the scientific name, what species it is, we go to the zoo, pet shop, living room and observe it.  We are that animal. 

This next week coming up we are studying dogs. 

 Who let the dogs out?  Who? Who? Who? Who? Who?

That may be one too many whos...

Posts like this come when children wake up at 3:45, refusing to go back to bed. 

Where was I?  Oh yeah dogs. 

So anyway, I found this amazing set of printables for our dog section.  There is math, writing, everything in there...I like to be coordinated on dog days so everything is dogs, dogs, dogs. 

Some of this stuff is a little young for Emma, which actually works out perfectly for me because then Cal has something to do while Em is working on spelling, or math, or literature. 

I've said this before and I'll say it again...you do not have to be homeschooling to use this stuff!  So much of this stuff if just plain fun!  Clip out the letters and start using them with your babies.  Use the "follow the lines" for little guys starting to use those cute, fat crayons.  The opportunities are endless.  Endless, Jerry, Endless! 

Speaking of  dogs, I wonder where Lucy is?  I guess I'd better track her down...she's probably hiding from the chaos that started four hours earlier this morning!

A Tour of Our Autumn Loveliness

Thank you readers for keeping me accountable and on track with the whole idea of decorating.  Yesterday afternoon I was lounging around the house during naptime, trying not to fall asleep and wondering what house work I could do that would not disturb the children when I suddenly remembered decorating...I had told ya'll I would finish decorating and post pictures. 

So away I went.  In fact I was still at it when Emma came down from quiet time, so she was thrilled to help as well.  Here are some of the decorations...

 It's all about simplicity here.  I filled a bowl full of apples.  I am still so busy with apples, so these few can do a good job of sitting and looking pretty for the time being. 

 This is the newest member of our family.  Do you like?  Our neighbors gave it to us!  Can you believe the rocking awesome neighbors we have?  Nothing like having  neighbors who you feel are like a fill in set of parents and friends all at the same time.  They are such wonderful, wonderful people and we are so blessed by them!  Anyway, I really want to decorate the dern thing but can't come up with anything...any ideas? 

Ah, my little Hallmark sign and some pumpkins.  The sign sits on the buffet which is the perfect size for a five year old to add some pumpkin candles!

 Alright I left out the best part of this picture...the tv right above the cut off.  Here is my mantle this year/so far/I give up.  It's lame.  Emma added leaves.  Which are dead.  D.E.A.D. But she REALLY wanted to add them.  I want height, flare, pizazz, but again, ginormous television about it kind of prevents from having huge cornucopias or anything...I'm still working on this.  I think I may have to go shopping for some inspiration! Do they sell inspiration?

Here's the center of my mantle, again...LAME!!!  I'm working on it.  This is by no means the finished product.  I'm just going to keep telling myself that. 

 Here is my centerpiece on the dining room table.  Simple.  Is this lame that I used a wreath as a candle ring?  Let's call it inventive!

Giant candle...I have fun with thing adding things in around the candle...candies, sand, shells, it goes on and on.  This sits in a window between the blue room and the fireplace alcove in our living room, which I realize makes absolutely no sense if you've never been to our house and perfect sense if you have.  One of my best friends, Elizabeth, who has in fact never been to my home (hi!!!!) said she really wants to see it because she has this idea of what it is...so come on up!!!  We'll go shopping!!! 

Anyway I have a HORRIBLE confession to make to you...I had to scrape, scrape!, conversation hearts out of the bottom of this thing to get the pinecones and pumpkins in.  Yep, you heard it here first folks, I had left that thing sit since Valentine's Day with the same thing in it.  And do you know what the mortifying thing is?  It's in the center of our home. Not tucked away in storage or anything, nope, right there for God and everyone to see that I am some kind of moron who got used to looking at the gross nasty candy.  But that will just be our little secret so, shhhhh!

Here is the mirror in our entry way.  Hi mirror!  That's the top of my twinkly light tree in case you are wondering there on the right. 

 Here's my front door wreath.  Kind of proud of this thing because there's a story behind it.  My Grandma (whom I love dearly) makes wreathes, bless her heart.  Well since I had a purple bedroom when I was, oh about six years old, every wreath I get has purple roses.  Big, plump, lacivious looking roses.

Well anywho when we moved back home from Indianapolis she wanted to make me a wreath for my door.  I summoned all the courage in the world to tell her I had a different idea for a wreath...one with Fall colors since we moved in in September, and I gave her a picture of one like this. 

And she made it for me.  As far as I know I'm one of the only people to ever get a wreath with no flowers on it.  She thought it was ugly but said if that's what I want she'll make it.  I think it's just grand. 

And finally here's my pilgrim lady on the foyer table.  Hi pilgrim lady!  Her hat makes her look like a WWII nurse, but that's totally beside the point...and if you look REALLY  close you'll see that she has boots accompanying her at the bottom. 

So there's my tour...whew! I'm pooped...see yourselves out will ya?  :)

My Planner

Those who know me know that I am a very organized person...sometimes no where else but in my head, but nevertheless, I like to at least feel organized. 

I have always had a planner.  The school I went to believed in planners and supplied us with at the beginning of every school year.  I cannot tell you the joy I felt when I received that new planner every year.  It was such a thrill to have a new one to fill in with my orderly duties pertaining to homework. 

And as I have grown so has my love of all things planners.  When I was a business girl I had the ones that matched my outfits that I could put a notebook into...you know, the big honkin' ones. 

The past few years Nick has been getting these lovely leather bound planners with the beautiful gold trimmed pages and satin ribbon placeholder.  He always writes something wildly spectacular in them at the front and then I have that to look at all through the year. 

I still have that planner and love it with all of my heart.  But for Mother's Day, Nick's cousin Jodee got me the planner you are about to see below and I love it!  It was such a breath of fresh air...which incidentally describes Jodee as well.  I love her and love being around her...she's such a godly woman who I take such joy in being around...hi Jodee!  Hi! 

Anyway back to my planner explanation...

It isn't my poor old planner's fault but I was so used to the design and layout that my eyes were just running over it and not reading  anything.  Does that may sense at all?  I would write "Nick's Birthday"  and then realize as I was writing "Nick's Birthday" under it that I had already written it.  My eyes were just skipping over everything because it all looked the same to me.  (Reading this sounds like I am totally lame, but I just.can't.delete.)

Here are some things I like about my new planner:

The days are side by side and I can look at the whole week in one glance.  The top portion is for my schedule and then you can write in everyone else's schedules.  Since we don't have enough kiddos to take up all of the spaces I have a row for "Lucy/Roscoe" (flea treatment, heart worm pills, vet appointments), and "$" (bills coming due, when Nick's paid to remember to check the bank and make sure everything's correct). 

I am one of those people that if I don't write something down I perpetually think about it.  Over and over and over and over.  It's pretty maddening.  But if I write it down it just kind of, poof, goes out of my head and I know I don't need to try to remember it anymore. 

Here's the cover of my planner.  By default, it has to be pink...of course.  Boy howdy does Jodee know me :)

Jodee was sooo excted to show me the best part of the planner...stickers!!!  There are oodles for all of the fun activities the kids do.  I just love them! 

I stick my schedule in the front of the planner.  This is my daily cleaning schedule, just so ya know.  This is how I keep myself sane and tidy. 

This one's blurry but in the back there are 3 prooferated lists per sheet that are for shopping lists...I have a perpetual shopping list going at all times.  Again, so I can get it out of my mind, onto paper, and just forget about it. 

A card holer on the back.  I haven't put a card in there yet but when someone gives you one when you are out and about it's nice to have somewhere to put them. 

I swear I tried to flip this picture 18,000 times and it still looks like this!  But anyway, this is on the cover of the planner and it helps keep me grounded.  And whose time this really is.  I can try to plan as much as I want, but ultimately He's in charge of this life. 

If you like my planner you can click here to order your own.  No one's paying me to say this...I just like the dern thing. 

Whatever you use, just remember to get organized and stay organized.  An organized mom makes for an organized home and an organized home is a peaceful, happy home. 

Breakfast Smoothie

I love Fruit Smoothies for breakfast.  They are the ultimate go-to meal for moms.  Quick and easy to make they pack a punch of vitamins, protein, and nourishment...all in a smoothie that can be taken anywhere. 

I try to make a fruit smoothie every day.  Sometimes I just get too busy, but on the mornings I can actually REMEMBER to make the silly thing, the smoothie always seems to make my day go "smoother". 

Really, I'm horrible. 

If you're new to Smoothie's they are so super easy to make.  Here's my recipe/combo for a smoothie:
1 cup of orange juice
1 banana
1 cup of blueberries (or strawberries, raspberries, anything)
1 6 oz. carton light yogurt

Just thrown into blender and blend.  Easy peasy! 

Some of my notes are:
I think the banana and yogurt are musts.  These really help bind it all together and make it creamy. 

I hate light yogurt.  Bleh.  I bought some and hated it but had so much left I had to find something to do with it.  So I used it in this.  And I promise you can't taste the light-ness of it.  Just trust me on this one. 

Sometimes I add powdered flax or kelp...it adds extra nutrients and protein and you really can't taste it.  In that too comes spinach.  If I have spinach on hand I throw some in.  I know it sounds disgusting...that's what I thought too but I PROMISE you can't taste it.  It does give it a funky cool green color though.  Just be warned. 

So there you have it.  Now we can be smoothie buddies and drink our smoothie's together. 

One of the things I love about the smoothie is that it packs so much stuff together.  Seriously, it would take me FOREVER to eat everything on its own.  Yogurt, then 2 servings of fruit, then a glass of orange juice.  With the smoothie I just pour it into a glass and carry it with me through the house as I'm tidying and getting the kiddos ready.  On mornings I take Cal to preschool I just throw it into a travel mug and go.

As Emma says that's Easy-Peasy-Lemon-Squeezy :)

Decorating for Fall

This year I thought I was being pretty good about the decorating.  The week after Labor Day Nick schlepped the bins down for us and Emma and I got to it. 

But as life sometimes does, it got crazy, and for the past few weeks the two bins have been stacked together and the end of the couch, making for some weird collegy concoction of a coffee table. 

Today however I am vowing to get the Fall decorations put out once and for all.  I have so much stuff and a blank mantle right now, so there is no reason to do some decorating, there, if no where else. 

I browsed the internet this morning for some inspiration. Isn't that just the best thing?  So many creative ladies at the simple move of my fingertips...heavenly! 

Some of my favorites are below.  And I am making this promise to you...I will post pictures of my fall decor tomorrow...and it will be around the house, not just in a bin! 

I love the banner...not sure if I have enough creativity in me to make one but I have the "drive" to make it to Hobby Lobby :) 

I am in love with the twinkly lights!  We have twinkly lights for Christmas time outside but I am in love with this...What is that plant?  Wisteria?  Some neighbors down the way have wisteria like that with twinkly lights and I LOVE it!

Nothing is better than big, huge mums inviting you into someone's home. 

Happy Friday ya'll!  Have a great last day of the week!

Free Fall Printables

A Huge, Pumpkiny Spiced thank you to Myra at My Blessed Life for posting 12 free Fall Printables!  I LOVE printables!  Mainly because I can't design anything to save my life.  Period.  I mean, if you were to put a gun to my head and make me come up with something it would look like something off of Windows 95 and would have the creativity of a four year old. 

But anyway, I also love printables because I am a stay at home mom who doesn't have a lot of money to refresh my home decor as often as I would like.  The printables allow me to swap out frames with cute, seasony things from time to time.  They make me smile and so grateful for them. 

Anyway, you can click here to go and print some of your own. 

Fore!

Nick took the kids to the park by our house to teach them to golf.  The kids have been begging him to teach them for, like, totally forever. He didn't want to have them hogging the golf course somewhere so I suggested the park. 

Like, duh dude. 

The kids both seemed to really enjoy it. 

Cal liked it but had a hard time positioning his hands (gee, like he doesn't do that with every other thing he does).   It will be good for him to practice.  Well, the hands and how to NOT try to hit everyone in the face with the club/stick thingy. 

I love her little foot... :)

We made her carry the bag home...isn't she just so cute?

Nick really wants to get Cal into sports of SOME TYPE so he suggested golf...no other people you are trying to watch out of the corner of your eye while your brains telling you to intercept something, something and block, and grab and...We thought that was just too much for him right now.

So like I said the kids really enjoyed it.  And seeing how Nick is crazy good at golf, he enjoyed teaching them as well.  This is something we will definitely be doing more of. 

That is, if it ever stops raining here.  It's been a werid rain in that it has been raining pretty consistently for the past 4 days but there are no puddles anywhere.  We must have needed the rain. 

Well, pray for us.   Cal starts soccer tomorrow :)

Marilou and The Joy of Cooking

Hi there.  This is Marilou.  I worked with Marilou in college at a museum where I was a docent.  Later I worked at the same museum after college and again got to work with her.  She was a wonderful lady and I loved talking with her.  She was from the city where I went to college.  It was amazing to here her stories. 

Nick had proposed to a place called Minnetrista, which was a cultural center comprised of the old Ball Brother Mansions (the Canning Company, Ball).  Well when we were there they were just museums and things of the like, but Marilou remembered attending Daughters of the American Revolution Teas at the Ball mansions...with the Ball ladies. 

She met her husband at Ball State (just like me!) and was one of the ones who made me want to elope with Nick...a lifetime together was what I wanted, not a big fancy wedding. 

A couple of days before I left with Nick on a big plane to go to a small island and marry the love of my life, Marilou gave me a wedding gift...it was "The Joy of Cooking".  As a former teacher and librarian, it was so Marilou to give me a book. 

Anyway, Marilou passed away in May.  She was a wonderful lady with a wonderful family.  She taught me how to properly make tea.  Sometimes her yogurt used to spew yogurt in my direction.   And everytime I open up my Joy of Cooking book, I think of her and smile. 

Thanks Marilou...I love you!