Missing blogging!!

I am missing blogging, and reading all the blogs I love so much! I hope you will come back and visit me next week, when life slows down and I am back to blogging again! Reagan is really ready for her SAT - she made a 1870 on her practice test today. I am sure she will do great!

I leave for San Jose on Thursday. I am very excited!! It is the Reliv conference and they are always very fun!! Anyway, not bad for a girl that didn't leave her house for weeks at a time, now I am off flying!! :) YEA!!!!!!!

See you next week!!

Break

I guess I will take a bit of a blog break. Reagan, my oldest, takes her SAT on May
3rd. We are doing LOTS of essays!! And just general prepping - we are homeschoolers, so the buck stops here, so to speak!
Anyway, I will try to pop in during the next few weeks, but will mostly be being mom, teacher and Reliv distributor - My 3 favorite things! I will miss you guys, but will catch up when I can!

FUN!

contra dance
Pronunciation: \ˈkän-trə-ˌdan(t)s\
Variant(s): or con·tre·danse \also kōⁿ-trə-ˈdäⁿs\
Function: noun
Etymology: French contredanse, by folk etymology from English country-dance
Date: 1803
1 : a folk dance in which couples face each other in two lines or a square
2 : a piece of music for a contra dance

I went to my first Contra Dance last night! It was actually a BLAST! Probably because I went with two of my favorite people, my two daughters. We all had a lot of fun and are now hooked! We can't wait until the next one. We each only had one complaint at the end of the night.
Me: Aching feet - but SO worth it!
Reagan (16 yrs) - NO hot guys
Lizzie (6 yrs) - that it was actually over and we had to head home

We will be back! Who'd of thought? Definitely not me...

Guess I will just be a Prude

So, after my last blog entry, I only get a PG rating. What a weird deal, they look at words like pain or hurt, and ignore nipple? I give up, I will just be a prude, and I can live with that!

It is friday and it has been a good day. Lizzie has a new friend, her family moved here a few months ago from Illinois. The great thing is that her mom is pretty cool as well. That is a good plus, if the kids and the moms enjoy each other! They came out today for several hours. It was fun. Then this afternoon we went to see Nim's Island - good movie. We all enjoyed it, even Jake, who was under protest.

I have a new friend as well, Judy. Judy is a great person. I have really enjoyed getting to know her and helping her share Reliv with lots of people. We are changing the world, one person at at time! It is fun!! An extra bonus to having Judy as a friend, she is a part time manager at the movie theater. So, she gets us into movies free!! My teenagers think Judy, is AMAZING, and she is, but not just because she gets us into movies free, but it doesn't hurt. :)

Right now we are all five sitting in here watching The Truman Show. It is a pretty good show as well.

Well, my blog friends - go and have a fabulous weekend! I plan on it...

Blog Rating

I am feeling a little boring...having been rated a "G" due to "shoot" in my blog one time!! So, here goes, I am aiming for a higher rating:

Tonight we went to the library. It was very interesting. Did you know they have TONS of CDs to check out for free and download on your IPod? SEXY!!! I am pretty sure they have books in there to answer any sex questions I might have about my sex life or anyone elses. I do not think there is any porn there, but there were some national geographics that might have shown a few breasts or other body parts. I did see a woman there with many visible piercings... I am quite certain she probably had her belly button pierced and maybe even a nipple or two.

Cleaning update

I joined "Messies Anonymous" about 2 months ago and have slowly been decluttering my house. It is quite satisfying as I look around at all that has been accomplished. I am keeping laundry room usuable, keeping the 1st floor where it can be picked up and fairly straight within a 30 or 45 minute job. This picture is an area that has perpetually been cluttered. It is mostly stuff we use for school and some odds and ends. The clutter used to extend a good 2 foot out in front of the bookshelf! I actually had 2 entire black garbage bags that went to the thrift store and 2 small boxes of books that went to the used bookstore - just from this area! Anyway, I cleaned it about 2 weeks ago and was sitting in my chair tonight and looked over and am pleased with how well we are keeping it. Today I cleaned out the guest bedroom. It is an area which accumulates odds and ends from everyone. It looks good, but I have not gotten the bedding washed and put back on - so no picture YET! One of the slogans for MA is "Never underestimate the inevitability of gradualness." I am finding that is true! Slowly but surely, I am making a more organized, comfortable home.

Stair Railing

Remember forever ago when I said the stair railing was finally in and I would take a picture of it and post it?? Well, I finally took a picture!!!

Grandmas

Grandmas can be such a wonderful thing. They are not perfect, but some seem pretty darn close! My maternal grandma was this way to me. It is 2 years this month since she went to be with Jesus. I still miss her terribly.

I was the youngest grandchild and grandma was my playmate. The other grand kids all had cousins around their age, except me. I can remember so plainly Grandma in the middle of cooking dinner and taking five minutes to go out and swing with me. YES - she actually swung in her own swing right beside me! She lived in Artesia, NM, a small town. No matter what was going on at the time, if a we heard a fire truck, she grabbed her purse and we ran out the door to go chase the firetruck. Man - that was fun! These excursions were often followed by a trip to the DQ for ice cream.

She knew each grand kid's favorite food and when we came to visit it was a staple in the house for those few days. It made us each feel special, all those little things she did for each one of us.

One time I was with her at New Year's Eve. It was just me and Grandma. At midnight, she came in with "wine" in little sherry glasses. I was about 10 I suppose. I thought I was so big drinking my wine. We were about half way finished with our glasses and Grandma just started chuckling. She said, "I am sorry, I can't keep it in any longer - this is cranberry juice!" We laughed about that one for years.

Even though I have always gone by my middle name, Michele. I am named after Grandma. She was Mary Elizabeth Jackson Dowell. I am Mary Michele, and my youngest is Elizabeth. Grandma was so proud that Lizzie was named after her. She would often write me cards and say that she was proud of her "two" name sakes. She was an amazing woman, I have A LOT to live up to.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

I am reading this book - very interesting!! I got it from the library, so if you don't want to buy it, look at your library. "One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible - as Literally as Possible-"

" 'Nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff.' Leviticus 19:19

Day 5. I've made a list of the Top Five Most Perplexing Rules in the Bible. I plan to tackle all five this year, but I figured I'd start with one that requires neither violence nor pilgimages. Namely: the ban on wearing clothes made of mixed fibers. It's such an odd proscription, I figured there was zero chance that anyone else in America was trying to follow it.
Of course, I was wrong."

Just a small sample of the book...

So Sad!

I was going to post about this the other day when I was REALLY angry, but knew I would probably say things I shouldn't have! Now, I am still angry, but have also moved into a deep sadness. Last saturday Clinton and Obama were in Butte, MT. They were speaking and lots of people went, etc... Now, I am still not sure who I am voting for, so I like Obama, not sure he is the right one for the job - but am still angry about the story. I would be angry no matter who the person was it was aimed at.

There was some jerk - of course he was from my town of bozeman - uuuuggghhhh - and he had a sign that read "America without N_____s" I refuse to put in that word, but I think you can use your imagination. What is wrong with people like this? I just absolutely do not get it. My first reaction was to find out where he lived and sneak over there everynight and do something - like write "America without You" in his front yard in round - up!! Sabotage his car, hang him in a tree....but then I realized that is just more hate! What is the answer. I know free speech, etc... but where is the line drawn?

I know this - discrimination is wrong, whether we are talking race, gender, financial status, whatever. Nothing really gets my blood boiling more than this - yet, there are so many ignorant people out there. When I heard the story, it totally shocked me. I thought "No way"!! People just surprise the heck out of me - usually in a bad way. I feel sad, sad for them, sad for our world.

Changes

Well, this post is totally inspired by Citizen of the World's post on her snake. (She is listed in my blog list and is one of my favorites! Check it out) When we were building this house...the YEARS we were in the process of building this house... we started out living with friends. The MOST fun we had the entire time, was when we lived with Friar, until his grumpy landlord kicked us out!! Then we moved into a travel trailer with no running water or electricity. Then, when I ended up pregnant and Montana winter arrived, we moved into some friend's basements... When my belly was getting REALLY big and the baby was actually coming in a few months, and we were STILL homeless... we rented a house. Gosh, that house was owned by a drug addict, she seemed totally fine the day we signed the lease and gave our deposits. Then she began showing up at the house, totally high and we figured out there was a problem! In the end, there was a notice on our door one morning that the house would be auctioned off. We had lived there about 8 months and had never missed our rent payment to the Landlord. The landlord on the other hand had not paid her mortgage payment in 2 years!! Yes, our rent money must have all gone to drugs.

OK, so after all that, the baby was about 4 months by then, and we all 5 moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. Like the previous dwellings, it was to be a temporary situation, right? Well, we all 5 lived in that 2 bedroom apartment for 4 years!! OH MY GOSH, I don't even like to think about that now!!

To my original thought on this post: We are animal lovers in our family. We had a cat, but other than that, no animals were allowed in our rented homes, right? So, when we finally moved our to our beautiful log home in the country, we went a little "Pet Crazy". At one point last year, we had: 2 horses, 5 cats, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits, and an iguana!! It was CRAZY!! I think it was a symptom of the fact we finally felt free. We were in our own home and NO One could tell us what to do, by God! I am happy to report, we are all healthier mentally now and have downsized!! We have found happy homes for the iguana and the two indoor rabbits and one cat. Two cats were involuntarily given new homes inside a fox's tummy. The two dogs we used to have are now running around in the great unknown, but we have our beloved Chihuahua, Chica. Total Pet population now: 2 cats, 2 horses, 1 dog.... awe I feel less stress just seeing those numbers!! But am glad for the freedom of being in this house and free to make my own choices about it either way!!

Pigeons!

Our house is so welcoming and inviting, that the pigeons have come to live on the ridgepole!!! Not only Mr and Mrs Pigeon, but all their grandparents, cousins and friends have now joined them!!

I have been reading online how to get rid of them. From what I can determine, the option is to not show mercy and take no prisoners!! We can't really shoot the silly things without shooting the house. I know one thing, I am OVER the large amount of droppings right outside the front door on the deck!!

WATCH out Pigeons, you have worn out your welcome around here!!

Log House

This is our house, before the deck railing was up. I REALLY need to get some updated pictures. We have lived here almost 2 years and many things are still not completed. Presently there is a carpenter here putting in stair railings! I will add a picture as soon as I take one! I am pretty excited, as it seems much safer when we have guests over! I don't want one of us to fall down the stairs, although we all have at one time or another over the past few years! Luckily only a bruise here or there, but no one was hurt, really. BUT when my kids have friends, I just really worried someone would fall. I would feel terrible about that!! Also, I am not very patiently awaiting the claw foot tub to be hooked up. It has sat in my bathroom collecting dust all this time! I can't wait to soak in it!! Maybe soon...

Hard Work!

It is funny, the best thing about relationships is people, and the worst thing about relationships is people. It is so great when the relationships with those closest to me are just cruising along, in an easy fashion. Now, is NOT one of those times! Today I feel like relationships are hard work. I am not too sure I am up to the challenge either. Today is one of those days when I really just want to throw in the towel. That is not a good feeling. Is everything we have been thru and done up to this point worth holding on to, or is this all just a waste of both of our times and energy. I do not know the answer.

I do know this...I keep reminding myself that love is a choice, not a feeling. Once again, love is a choice, not a feeling... I will keep repeating that in my head, OK? Will that make it all better???

I will cling to an old saying of Grandma's..."This too shall pass."