I love the Seahawks!

They won and won big!

23-3!!!

I was half wrong, but I don't mind. Way to go hawks!! and thank you for not giving us heart failure this week!

'hawks vs. 49ers

On a lighter note...today the Seahawks play the 49ers. Both teams are 2-1. I'm picking the 'hawks, (of course!) by 1. (21-20)

Your predictions?

Update later!

the girls

I have seven grandchildren. Six girls and one boy. Four of them are my daughter's step-daughters. They live in the same town that we do. In fact, they only live about two miles away from us, but I haven't seen them in months. Their mother won't allow us. I miss them so much. I don't know when, or if, I will ever see them again, and I miss them so much, it breaks my heart.

The Mom Song

You may have all seen this before, but it's so worth watching again! Enjoy!

Faith

The message says it like this: "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see."

How do people who don't believe in God live in this crazy world? How do people who don't have faith, carry on? It's hard enough for those of us who do.

Bella Boo

Isabella's newest tricks:

1. pulling grandma's hair
2. hitting grandma in the face
3. sitting on grandma's lap and throwing herself backwards trying to break grandma's collar bone and rib cage in the process
4. getting into EVERY cord and piece of paper she can get her hands on and putting them in her mouth.
5. pulling the books and cards off grandpa's bookshelf
6. crawling to the brick hearth on the fireplace and trying to pull herself up on it.

Just found out #1 granddaughter has the stomach flu and threw up at Awanas. Great. Guess who her babysitter is? This is after #2 granddaughter, Isabella, has had the flu this week, too. Not to mention their mother and step-dad coming down with it today. I will not get sick. I will not get sick. I will not get sick.

Made in China

Thursday I went to the library and picked up "A Year Without 'Made In China'", the book I had reserved quite some time ago. I finished reading it Sunday night. It was a quick read and I really liked it. Although I found myself questioning some of the shopping habits of the author, the book was humorous and eye-opening. I mean, in my opinion, it probably wasn't the best idea for the author and her husband to take their two small children to Target to go shopping for Halloween decorations, honestly thinking that it wasn't going to be a problem that they weren't buying anything "made in China".

My hubby and I started checking labels on some items we needed to purchase Saturday and almost 100% of the things we looked at were made in China. Even the Fiskars blade to my rotary cutter, which I needed to replace and figured was from some Scandinavian country, was made in China. When we got home, I checked out the labels on a couple of other purchases I had recently made for my granddaughter for her birthday and for Christmas. The result...one made in Hong Kong, one in the Philippines, and one in the good old U.S. of A.!

Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against China or it's people. I admire the diligence and ingenuity that has brought them to the position in the business world they are at. However, I am becoming more aware of the way our country is becoming more and more dependent on foreign countries, of the U. S. jobs that are being lost to other countries, and of the impact on our environment that mass imports are causing, not to mention concern for the labor conditions in other countries that can enable goods to be manufactured, marketed and exported at such low prices. To be honest, it's an issue I've never thought of before now. I'm glad I found this book and read it and I can definitely say from now on I will be much more careful of what I'm purchasing. Although I don't intend to boycott China as the author, Sara Bongiorni, and her family did, I do intend to look more diligently for the "Made in USA" label. I realize I'm only one person, but I firmly believe that one person can make a difference in our world.

Update on the laundry tub situation

Okay, today my dear, sweet hubby took the tub back out of the cabinet and took it to work to find a saw to cut those two little knobby things off the front. Let's hope we can wiggle it back into place when he brings it back home.

On Saturday we went to Home Depot and got a new faucet for the tub, only to find out when we got home that it wasn't going to fit. :(

BUT, progress is being made, that's a good thing! My hope is that the hubby will bring the sink home with him and actually be able to install it into the cabinet permanently, minus the faucet. I'm thinking a trip to Home Depot may be in order tomorrow to get a new faucet. Keeping my fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I'm still scraping on the kitchen wallpaper.

Yes, the Seahawks won!

Would it be possible for them to do convincingly next time?

My daughter (with the heart condition) says she's going to take up watching tennis or golf from now on.

new toys

My hubby bought a new toy. and I object.
As I've spoken about before, we have what is commonly referred to as a "bonus room".
this room is basically a small movie theater.
it has a 10' big screen projector tv. (yes, ten FEET)
it has three levels of floor, for your viewing pleasure.
it has black leather, recliner theater seats (with cup holders!)
it has butt-thumper speakers.
it has surround sound.
it has a VCR and a DVD player
it has a DVD changer that holds 400 movies, (yes, 400!)
it has a Wii game hooked up to the big screen
it has...well, you get the picture

up until this point all of our movies were listed on paper in alphabetical order. want to watch a movie, look it up on the movie list. buy new movies? update the list, print out a new one. easy, right?

nope, not to my hubby, mr. technology! he didn't like the paper list. he didn't like having to print a new list every couple of months to add the new movies to it.

i don't know what the new toy is called, let's just refer to it as the black box, shall we? want to watch a movie? follow these steps...

make sure the universal remote is on "Main"
turn on the power
push the dvd button
wait..give it time to warm up
the movie listing will come up..it's divided into genres...animated, comedy, etc.
scroll down thru the movies
find what you want
push the center button
voila, it plays!

want to take a movie out and play it on another dvd player? find the slot number on the list, wait unti it loads, push the open button, push the eject button and out it pops. Need to put the DVD back into the black box? Go thru the whole process all over again.

I'm looking for simple. This ain't it. Whatever happened to just finding the movie you want, taking it out of the case, popping it into the DVD and pushing the play button? That's simple.

p.s. the universal remote now also operates all the lights in the room. if it could only pop me some popcorn and serve it I might just buy into this whole nonsense.

Sara Groves

Thanks to Brit at Baby Ethiopia for sharing this video:
(make sure you turn off the music on my blog to listen to this)
I hope it moves you as much as it did me.

Laundry Room continued

Somehow, someway, my laundry tub has been re-plumbed. I managed to wiggle and jiggle it back into position the other day, past the impinging new tile, only to discover there are two little fat posts under the front edge of it, that evidently are supposed to have holes cut out for them so the tub sits flush with the counter, and stays in one place. There are NO holes being cut in my new tile counter, however. Sometime between this post and today the laundry tub plumbing was reconnected, sans faucet. Not sure who is responsible for this, but I'm not complaining, either. Except that it would have been easier to remove said little fat posts under the front edge BEFORE the tub was hooked up, rather than after. I think, however, that I will venture into the black hole known as our Big garage, as opposed to the small garage, which is attached to the house, which is ONLY supposed to house our cars, but, in actuality houses only the motorcycle and a bunch of junk, and find a file, which I will attempt to use to file down the fat little posts so that the laundry tub lies flush with the new tile counter top. Somehow, I will make this work. Then all that's left is to find the faucet and reinstall it, which, for some reason, unknown to me, was removed. Can't quite figure out how that one happened.

thoughts

"When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands."

Ralph Waldo Emerson



Do I defraud others when I do too much for them? Do I deny them the pleasure of a job well-done, if I do the job for them? How many times have I denied my children the opportunity to learn and to grow and to accomplish, because I have undertaken a task for them, that they should have done themselves? even if it was done in the spirit of "trying to help". How does one learn the value and concept of self-discipline, if someone else is always taking care of business? Thoughts that make me go...hmmm.

Laundry Room

See that list on the right? down there towards the bottom? the one that says "Projects I am Working on"? Now see the one that says "remodeling the laundry room".

It's been there since I made the list almost three months ago.

It's been on MY list for 2 1/2 years. That's when we started remodeling our house. Why is it you can build an entire house in a few months, but you can't remodel one in 2 1/2 years?

This project actually started for two reasons:

#1. My hubby, in a fit of domestic endeavor, decided to vacuum BEHIND the refrigerator. The refrigerator is a side-by-side with water and ice dispenser. In his enthusiasm, he pulled the refrigerator away from the wall, unknowingly dislodging the connection to the water, which leaked under the solid oak flooring, unnoticed by anyone, until several days later, at which point the floors were wet from the bottom up, split and cupped. The insurance company paid to replace them. This was about 5 years ago and we finally decided to do something about it. It should be noted that in my house I consider the vacuum to be a "power tool", thus insuring my hubby will always want to participate in the use of it!

#2. We have what is commonly referred to as a "bonus room". When we built our house we placed the stairs to the bonus room in the garage, thinking that when our kids went to college they could come home and have their own apartment up there, OR, when if we retire, we could rent out the room as an apartment, supplementing our income and allowing us to have someone watch the house and do the yard work while we traveled. Bad idea. Every time we wanted to go up and watch a movie on the big screen in the bonus room, we had to go out into the dark, cold, always-messy garage. Basically, it went unused. Except when an adult child would move home and destroy it take it over. I wanted a hallway punched through from the main house, the hubby wanted a new big screen.

Naturally, the first project to get finished was the bonus room. The wood floors downstairs are still unrepaired/replaced. The insurance money is long gone. The refinancing money is long gone. So now I tarry on, doing the rest of the remodeling myself, as much as I am physically able to, one room at a time, my first project being the laundry room.

So far I scraped the wallpaper border, patched, sanded, textured and painted the walls, and chose and contracted for new tile counter tops. All that's left to do is to replace the laundry tub. Therein lies the problem. I've been waiting weeks and week for the laundry tub to get reinstalled. With the new tile on the counter and back splash, the sink no longer fits in the opening. It needs to have 1/4" trimmed off the side. My hubby won't do it and claims he will have his brother (one of our employees) come and take care of it, any day now. I'm still waiting and I've basically given up any hope of that ever happening. I'm trying to hire someone. It's all that's left to be done and my laundry room will be finished. I'm having problems moving on to the next room until it's done...it's not in my nature to leave a project unfinished.

At this rate, it may be another 2 1/2 years before this house is done. Then it'll be time to start over again!

Birthday pics...

water slide!


pinata time!


water slide again!


See what I mean about the cake!


All tired out after a great party!

ARGH!!

I
cannot
believe
the
Seahawks
LOST
that
game.
ARGH!!!

My son-in-law's birthday is tomorrow, but my daughter is having a birthday party for him today. Happy birthday Paco!!

One thing I especially admire about the Hispanic community is they LOVE to celebrate! Give them a reason, and they'll have a party...and oh, what great parties they are! Family and friends gathered around, and food, lots and lots of food! For his birthday, my son-in-law and his brothers and cousins had a cow butchered. A whole cow. They drench it in oil and spices and cook it all day. We eat that, along with tortillas, homemade salsa, rice and beans, and some kind of funky cactus salad stuff, and it is SO good!! Often times, there's a traditional fruit punch that is basically lots of different kinds of fruit juice with a whole bunch of sugar mixed in.

When it's time for cake, for some unknown-to-me reason, it's tradition to smash the birthday celebrants face in the middle of it. Can't quite figure that one out, but it's always done. Everyone stays all day and into the night, and usually my son-in-law will light a bonfire and the late-night stragglers will make s'mores and sit up into the night talking and laughing.

My son-in-law missed out on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Easter, 4th of July, his anniversary, his wife's birthday and his kids' birthdays this last year, so today is a celebration for him of all of those things wrapped into one. There's even a pinata for my grandkids because their birthdays were a bit more subdued this last year than usual, and my daughter has rented a "bounce house" and water slide. It should be a fun day and I'm really looking forward to it. It reminds me, in a lot of ways, of family gatherings at my grandparents house when I was a kid. Only the food and music were German, instead of Mexican. I miss those days.

Never Give Up

What are your three words?



HT to Like Merchant Ships.
p.s. make sure you turn off my music player first. :)

It's 10:43 a.m. and I am bored.
Today I got up at 7 a.m., took a bath, got dressed, made the bed, put away yesterday's load of laundry.
The girls were dropped off at 8:00. I played with the baby for a few minutes, then made her breakfast, fed her and put her in her walker.
I made breakfast for McKenzie and myself, we ate, put the dishes in the dishwasher, then I put in a SpongeBob video for her, made the baby a bottle, changed her diaper and put her down for her nap.
I worked on a Christmas gift I'm making for one of my granddaughters for about fifteen minutes and checked my e-mail.
Then I swept the downstairs floors and cleaned the downstairs bathroom. As soon as I finish this post, I will mop the floors downstairs, then go upstairs and clean the extra bathroom up there.
Isabella will wake up in about an hour and if I'm lucky, I may just get some time to work on the Christmas gift for another fifteen minutes, OR, I may even get time to scrape some more wallpaper off my kitchen walls, before she wakes up.
Such are the dreams of the average American housewife. I think I need an attitude adjustment today.
It's now 10:47 a.m.

Proverbs 31:10-15 (New International Version)

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls...

The Eagles

I love this new song and video by the Eagles...(warning, you'll need to turn off my music player first!) Guess I'm showing my age here! I remember 1977, rolling in my 71 Ford Pinto, singing away to Hotel California...ah, the good old days!

and so it begins...

the downside about babies learning to crawl...they get into everything! Especially the cords to grandpa's computer...

At last!

It's here!
Finally!
Seahawks season opener!!!!

and we have no cable.

i may have to rethink this idea.
or go to the pavilion and watch it on the big screen.


For many years we had two season tickets to the Seahawks. We bought them from a lady that worked in our office who had bought them back in the 70s in Season One. They were on the 40 yard line, Seahawk side, 20 rows up, and they were awesome! We went to every home game and loved every minute of it. We got to know the other ticket holders around us and looked forward to seeing them every other week. Then the King Dome was torn down and the Hawks played at Husky Stadium. The seats were uncomfortable for our long legs, but we persevered and hung in there until the new stadium was done. Then the unimaginable...in order to keep our season tickets we were told we would have to buy the rights to buy the tickets. Although I don't recall the exact price it was around several thousand dollars for each seat. After paying that amount, we could then buy the tickets, which were approximately $500 per game, per seat!! We'd been paying $38 a seat in the King Dome. It would literally cost us over $1000 to go to a Seahawks game. Of course, this was a no-brainer; there was no way we would pay that much money. Oh, but it was SO disappointing. We'd been loyal fans for so long. Sadly, we gave up our seats. But, we still remain fans. Let's hope this season's team is Superbowl-bound once again!!!

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

fun...

Check it out...

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf


it'll make you laugh, or at the very least, smile!

Boo

This is Isabella Rose, my youngest granddaughter. We call her Boo. Isn't she just about the cutest thing you've ever seen? She's seven and a half months old and an absolute joy. She's such a chunk; she weighs 25 lbs. and she's short and chubby. I babysit her for my daughter and son-in-law while they both work and I love it. She's just starting to crawl...well, really, to crawl backwards. She starts at one end of the room and she can make it all the way to the other side, going backwards. She hardly ever cries. Most of the time she just sits and plays and laughs. I love children so much. A friend of mine asked me the other day when I was going to stop babysitting my grandkids, and after thinking about it I've decided, maybe never.

Mattel recall, again!

I heard Wednesday that Mattel was recalling even more toys, this time some Barbie items, due, again, to lead paint. This morning I read a funny post on Punny Money. Check it out.

I have a book on hold at the library called: A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy, written by Sara Bongiorni. I'm still WAY down on the list, but making my way slowly to the top. It's about a family that went for an entire year without buying anything made in China. Should be interesting!

Over at Wide Margins, Mary recently talked about this bible verse: Psalm 56:8

...I like the Message version..it speaks to my heart.

You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights,
Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.

I've had a lot of sleepless nights the last few years, but lately I've been sleeping much better. My son came home late the other night and came into our room to let me know he was home. I was sleeping so soundly he could barely wake me up. It's a comfort to me to know that God keeps track of my tossing and turning, and that he knows every heartache and tear. Where would I be with Him? What would bring me hope? His peace and comfort get me through my days of worry and fear. I know He is in control and I'm beginning to accept that more and more each day...maybe because the evidence of it is irrefutable. I am so glad my God loves me.

Doing the Dose'

We went camping last weekend with a large group of families from our church. It was SO relaxing. It was the first time in two years that we've been able to get away and go camping; something we used to do all the time when our kids were little. This time our son is a grown man and the little kids we took were our grandkids...it was so much fun to enjoy this time with the kids, but even more so with our son and his beautiful girlfriend. I can't remember the last time I sat around and did absolutely nothing. It was a much-needed break. Although I always love getting away, I do love coming home even more. This time, though, I think I could have stayed away for a long, long time....ah, but back to reality!

Nevertheless...
fun times
good friends
awesome fellowship

McKenzie and grandpa...

Josiah "getting air" on the jump he and Scott built...

and "getting air" again...

McKenzie riding her two-wheel bike for the first time without training wheels...
does she look determined or what!

Josiah on the losing end of tug-of-war...

and Dale and Mel...

All in all it was a fun weekend, and I hope there are more to come!

Character is who you are when no one is watching.

Anonymous

a penny saved is a penny earned...

I found out a couple years ago that you can get free gift boxes at the Capital Mall. A good friend from church told me about this...

If you purchase $50 worth of merchandise in one day at the Capital Mall, you can take your receipts to the Customer Service desk and they will give you a red gift box, complete with ribbon and tissue paper. Now $50 is a lot of money, BUT, if you're Christmas shopping or school shopping, it can add up fast. Also, if you buy anything at Best Buy or at a jewelry store, or a pair of shoes, it's likely to be over $50, and, you can combine receipts...in other words, $10.00 at one store, $5.00 at another.

It's a small thing...but every penny helps!