Daybook-the night before

To participate in the simple woman's daybook go here.

FOR TODAY December 7 (or really tomorrow Dec 8)...

Outside my window...it is dark and I just shut off the Christmas lights, I do still have one white candle light in the window.

I am thinking...about our Christmas letter which still isn't done, and the lapbook I made tonight at a fun Mom's night (thanks Tiffany and Crispy!).

I am thankful for...great friends.

From the learning rooms...don't ask!!

From the kitchen...we've got a lot of chicken and fish in the refrigerator, we spent $57 at Albertson's and SAVED $64!! We'll have a lot of picnic suppers in the back of the Theatre though because it is Annie this week, we are planning to have no fast food until after Christmas.

I am wearing...jammies, but it is night this time and not morning.

I am creating...I just made a lapbook, does that count?

I am going...to a play...A Christmas Story tomorrow morning that's why I am doing this now.

I am reading...I just finished Tuck Everlasting this morning and LOVED it!! We have read the best books for mother-daughter book club. I was just getting ready to start a new book Learning to Fly by Roxanne Henke, when I decided to get on here instead--I've never read this author before, but it caught my eye at the library. I read two Karen Kingbury books last week and loved them. Jake and I are reading at least one Christmas book a day.

I am hoping...that it snows in Florida this winter...I keep feeling like that just might happen!

I am hearing...the TV in the bedroom I think it is Scrooge.

Around the house...don't ask about that one either!

One of my favorite things...show weeks, I'm looking forward to four performances of ANNIE this week!

A few plans for the rest of the week: too much to think about...the plays, attempting some schoolwork, hoping to finally finish and send the Christmas letter, wrapping some presents and buying more, more acupuncture for Mike and Jonathan, and trying to relax and enjoy it all while remembering the "Reason for the Season"!

Here is picture thought I am sharing... FRIENDS...sadly some have moved away!

Christmas Parade--Annie preview

Today (after our yard sale and before our neighborhood picnic) was the Christmas Parade...






Jake opted to sit on the sidelines and catch candy instead of being in the parade this year.

Christmas Walk

You know how most towns have one or two big events, like the town I grew up in had a four day "Festival" in July and the town I went to high school in has a "boom box" parade for the 4th of July. Here they have about 10 different big events, last night was one of my favorites-- the Christmas Walk. The streets are closed, the lights are lit, you see everyone you know, you watch the "fire juggler", have ice cream, and just have a lot of fun. I took my camera, but didn't even use it, I stole these pictures from Tiffany's blog. The funny thing is I know somewhere I have a picture of Jonathan wearing the same shirt Jake's wearing from the Christmas walk about 6 or 7 years ago.

Hy head is spinning...

I sat down to blog last night, and would you believe I couldn't even do it?! My head is about to explode it is so full of thoughts, questions etc. I've had an overwhelming response to my brother's situation. So many people are praying for them! There are also tons of ideas of how people want to help and so many QUESTIONS! I don't have the answers. I've talked to both Rob and Kim over the last two days, but only briefly and their brains are 100 times more full than mine, so at each phone call I can get one or two of the many questions answered. Apparently the link to the article that I put in my 2nd mass email was wrong and I also put the wrong home address. Too much going on and I'm having trouble getting things right. I'm avoiding sending a correction because I don't want to keep sending emails to hundreds of people. (I can blab all I want here because you are reading this because you chose to and if you want to stop right here you can and I'll never know!)

Anyway, I need to calm down because my head (and therefore my heart beat) is going a million miles a minute. I do however have two fairly calm guys in my family because Mike and Jonathan visited a Chinese Doctor yesterday and had their first treatment of accupuncture. Mike's for his general health, continued healing of his pancreas (if you don't know that story there is NO WAY I am going into it now), and ideally to eventually get off of the insulin. In addition to the accupuncture, Mike was sent home with some herbs and cleansing tea to take for two weeks. I fell pretty good about that because I didn't want to hear "OK, take this for the rest of your life"...there's got to be a better way. I also like that while this office is using Eastern medicine techniques, they don't completely discount Western medicine...I am a big fan of the combination. That is why we drive over and hour to see our pediatrician (incidently, this office is an hour away too). Jonathan is going back today. He should only need about 3 more treatments. He was referred there by our pediatrician because his thyroid is a little slow. Back in the archives of my blog there is a little info on this and it says when he was tested again it was fine. Well come to find out it is within normal limits, but not ideal. This treatment should CURE that (not just mask it, but cure it).




We are also heading to the orthodontist today for Madi's 3rd broken bracket in just over a month! She is really being so careful, I have no idea why this keeps happening! Too bad there is no accupuncture treatment for that (although maybe there is some way to get her to not be such a picky eater...and maybe it could also help with her "emotional basketcaseness"...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree).

Jake on the other hand has peed in the bed two nights in a row. When time and money start growing on trees he will have accupuncture for that. In the meantime I think he's going to spend his Walmart birthday gift card on pull-ups. Oh, and did I mention he fell asleep in the car on the way home from the accupuncturist and so I let him sleep in the car for the 30 minutes we were home yesterday before heading back out to the tree-lighting at the library. Well, we arrived at the library and guess what....WET PANTS!! So we dropped Madi off there with friends, picked up an extra child, and headed home for Jake's second bath of the day. Although, I guess it is a good thing he's peeing like this or with this crazy life, he might never get a bath (or change clothes).

Well now all of this is out of my head and into blog world, so I plan to start fresh this morning. I'll catch up on laundry, spend time with the kids, maybe even try to educate them, oh yeah, and babysit, go to the stressful orthodontist appointment, drive the stressful drive for the calming accupuncture appointment, and other things, I'm sure I'm fogetting. Thankfully my good friend (and would be neighbor if some meanies didn't put a stop to that) is taking Jake this afternoon and evening to see Santa at bass Pro Shop...thank you soo much!!!

I just re-read this (mostly because I forgot to put the pictures in), how does this all sound for our Christmas letter...it pretty much sums us up wouldn't you say?!

A call for help

I mentioned this situation a few time since it occurred, but today I feel really strongly about getting this information out there to anyone I can reach so here it is again, some of you will probably see it a few times as I sent a mass email and put it on facebook as well. Their biggest need is prayer...


Hi everyone,
As most of you know I'm not a big fan of the "mass email", but my brother Rob, sister-in-law Kim, and nephews Zack and John are in a terrible situation and I'm calling out for help.

On November 12th the man who lived in the apartment upstairs from them was threatening suicide (he ended up doing it) with a gun. Someone (I guess in his family, but I'm still a little unclear on the details) called in the police. Rob had left to pick up the boys from school (he was home on a month long furlough from work due to the difficult economic situation this country is in). Kim was home resting because she was to be working at her waitress job that evening. On his way back home, Rob met a police barracade and couldn't get back to his house. He called Kim to see what the situation was and when she went outside to look the police spotted her and told her to leave immediately (she didn't even have shoes on). There was nothing they could do, but go spend the night with relatives 30 minutes away. The next morning they learned that their neighbor had indeed died and in the meantime the police had thrown SEVETY FIVE teargas bombs into their 1st
floor apartment. Nevermind that there is no way to get from the 1st floor to the 2nd from the inside of the house or that the man held no hostages.

Here we are three weeks later and Rob and Kim are still with out their home and "stuff". They are still staying with relatives. They are getting the runaround everywhere they turn. They spoken to some lawyers, but no one will really give them any informantion or take on their case. The town refuses to pay for any of it and won't work with them because they've spoken to lawyers (although they don't really have a lawyer). Sadly, they didn't have renter's insurance because money has been so tight for them. This tragedy happened through no fault of their own, but doors are being slammed in their face everywhere they turn. Apparently this was the most deadly type of teargas that was used and no one even knows how to clean it. So everything they own is still boarded up in the apartment, and they don't know how they will even get it.

They deperately need your prayers. If anyone has any ideas as to where they might be able to turn for help with this extrememly unusual situation, please let us know.

Thanks so much.
Blessings,
Julie

Christmas questions

I've gotten this email three times already this season and instead of doing the traditional email thing, I decided to just put it on my blog.

Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends.



1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually a little of both, we have tons of gift bags that I'm trying to use up this year.

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL!! We do have an artificial one also that will go in the front window, but we always have a real one too...it's already up!

3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving, we did it little by little in between running around this weekend and finished last night while watching It's a Wonderful Life.

4. When do you take the tree down? Last year we burned it on Christmas night (we were going out of town) almost always before New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? very little

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably my doll house, I wish we had it now.

7. Hardest person to buy for? I don't know everyone is pretty easy, maybe Mike's father.

8. Easiest person to buy for? the kids, Mike and my parents.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, lots of them!!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, or hand them out.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I once received blue pastic gloves that had pen mark on them.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life!!! I also like Rudolph, Frosty, and Twas the Night Before Christmas with the mice.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Dec 26th?

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies, fudge...everything!!

16. Lights on the tree? This year we have small colored lights on the real tree and the fake one is prelit with white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Have to be HOME!!!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph...I copied this one from the last person who sent it to me, but the kids and I were talking about this yesterday...is it Donder or Donner??! I'll have to look it up!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Usually an angel, but we bought a star last year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Some on Christmas Eve, but obviously not the ones from Santa until Christmas morning...early!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? That there was a shooting at a Toys R Us and someone got trampled at Walmart.

23. What theme or color are you using? I'm not sure I understand the question...red and green?

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? more hours in the day

25. Who is most likely to respond to this? surprise me!! ( especially if you read my blog and don't comment!)

Have a blessed day everyone!!

daybook

to participate go here.
FOR TODAY December 1st!...

Outside my window...it is chilly and breezy, Mike and I walked this morning.

I am thinking...about our Christmas letter which is finally in the works.

I am thankful for...health.

From the learning rooms...we're going to attempt to get back in the swing of schoolwork at least for the next two weeks...we'll see.

From the kitchen...chicken soup cooked in the crockpot overnight. I made chicken for a meal for later in the week and then I had the stock and limp carrots and celery to use up anyway, so I threw it all in and let it cook...I might have it for breakfast. We still have mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving, they will show at a few more times this week.

I am wearing...jammies (again) and a Tigger sweatshirt.

I am creating...a creative Christmas letter.

I am going...to have to call the orthodontist when I finish with this because Madi has another loose bracket.

I am reading...One Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury...I'll finish today. Then I have A Shepherd's Prayer for our Catholic bookclub and Tuck Everlasting for mother-daughter bookclub.

I am hoping...that my house will do a better job of keeping itself clean!

I am hearing...I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Madi sang it at two different events this weekend.

Around the house...the tree is up and mostly decorated inspite of my desire to have the house clean before we got and decorated the tree.

One of my favorite things...It's a Wonderful Life, we watched it last night.

A few plans for the rest of the week:finish cleaning and decorating (is cleaning ever finished?), babysitting, attempting to educate my kids, driving to and from Theatre, AWANA, Youth group, Church Christmas Eve play rehersal, Christmas walk on Friday and Parade on Saturday and in the middle of those two things we are supposed to take part in our neighborhood yardsale Saturday morning...yes we are crazy!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...My parents at the big light up event...a Christmas tree lighting in the "sunshine state!"