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Home for Sale by Owner

$97,000

1978 Rambler, on a 66 x 165 lot. The house has new cement board siding (2009) and many new windows. It has a front deck and a basement walkout and features a lower level kitchen. This home has 1040 square feet of updated living space. There are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The kitchen is 18x12 with laminate flooring and lots of birch cabinets. The living room is 18x14. The basement has a fireplace, large bedroom, bathroom with large, handicapped accessible shower and large living space as well as a kitchen with a cook top, fridge and convection microwave hood oven. The house has a gas furnace and central air conditioning. The lot has a spacious backyard with an apple tree, shed for storage, a cherry tree and several rhubarb bushes.
This adorable home is move in ready!. Recent updates include new trim and doors on the main level and some brick landscaping. Conveniently located only walking distance from the main street businesses, the school and several churches.

This about sums it up for me

I was reading Dr. Suess to the girls this morning and I couldn't believe the parallel's to my life...

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked... A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin. Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...or right and three quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?...Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

I will not be stressed out...I am stressed out...

Lord, when my concerns consume me, help me remember that You are with me, holding me by the hand and guiding me. I want to seek You as much as I serve You and others. Help me balance my life and give my worries to You, knowing with confidence that You care about me and are good at taking care of me! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

water bugs

this moment

It's 10:10 pm on a Friday night. Dad hit the tent sale on the way home from work and we unloaded the car, picked the cukes in the garden and lit a fire to roast hot dogs before the beeper went off and he had to leave again. The day has been crazy with a final ballgame, unbearable humidity and heat and crabby little girls. But the moment he handed me the campfire fork and said, "I gotta go", I felt the most in love with him that I have ever been. I wouldn't trade this moment for anything. I am so blessed.

it's that time of year again

I think the title of this video should be "give me 5" you'll see why :)

Ball is winding down. Gavin's last game was on Friday and Maleah finishes up this week. Poor Addi only made it to 2 t-ball practices...maybe next year she can participate more.

Now it is time for districts and state for the Cornbelt teams. Ryan plays at home on Thursday and then again in a double header on Sunday. Next Friday districts start...so much for summer :)

Again, I ask you to pray dear faithful friends.

Four very simple prayer requests;

for my aunt Correne and her family as she mourns the loss of her sister to cancer

for my aunt Patty as she applies for another research study for her cancer and for safe travel for those of us who will be visiting her

for my friend Joann and her family as she continues to struggle with illness and pain

for my dear friend Sarah and her family who are loving a baby very much and hoping God's plan for them includes him

Lord, I pray for my friends and family just as your Word tells me to pray, for healing. I believe you hear this earnest prayer from my heart and that it is powerful because of your promise. I have faith in you, Lord, to heal my friends, but I also trust in the plan you have for their life.

Lord, I don't always understand your ways. I don't know why we have to suffer, but I trust You. I ask that You look with mercy and grace toward us. Nourish our spirits and souls in this time of suffering and comfort all of us with Your presence.

Let everyone know You are here with us through this difficulty. Give us strength. And may You, through this difficulty, be glorified in their lives and also in mine.

Amen

 

Iced Coffee

photo from thegrocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com

The pioneer woman posted a recipe a few weeks back about iced coffee. I wanted to make it but I was frightened. I had no large container like hers. I do not posses an adorable dispenser like hers. I put it out of my mind.

This weekend my mom served me a tall glass of iced coffee. It was AMAZING. I looked in her fridge. She had a large jar of coffee concentrate with a screw top lid. It wasn't beautiful but it tasted better than Starbucks. I asked her for the recipe. She sent me to Bob's post from 2006. I tried it out with some beans I have been wanting to use up. It is perfect. I am in love with iced coffee.

The two recipes are very similar. Add some water to a pound of coffee and let it sit. Ree sat hers out on the counter. I put mine in the fridge. Some reviewers say that the room temperature makes a more bitter tasting brew. I don't know. Ree uses more water in hers. I like my coffee strong enough to chew it. I like Bob's 6-8 cups of water dilute. It works for me. Of course I add two parts of milk to one part of coffee concentrate and Ree did about 50/50. I coarse ground the beans and let it 'brew' in my big Tupperware bowl in the fridge overnight. I used 4 coffee filters and some paper towels to filter it this morning. I need to find my cheesecloth it is lost in my canning supplies somewhere.

I can't wait to try a shot of the concentrate over chocolate ice cream.....mmmmmmm. Bob lists several recipe concoctions at the end of his post. They all sound delish. Are you going to try one?

Oh and let's talk money, shall we? The pound of coffee was $4 off of amazon.com. The water was free:) I used a few pennies worth of coffee filters and a few more pennies worth of paper towels. I used a half of a cup of milk and a shot of half and half and a teaspoon of splenda for my one cup. I don't know what that adds up to but I do know it is one cheap and tasty treat!  You should try it.

My favorite VBS crafts

 Gavin made this junk mobile at GADGET VBS. I LOVE using found items to create something.

 Maleah made this cross hanging from dried beans and peas. I love it when the kids can make their own designs and there is not a follow the lines diagram.

 baby jar tea lights...Addison made this one, she was so proud

 Faith bamboo - doesn't need dirt just water and rocks. The most fun was had picking these rocks for this project. The original container was a painted soup can embellished by the children.

 You can never go wrong with a frame. Never. Parents will not throw away a photo of their munchkin.

 These smashed can pandas were fun. The cans were smashed so the kids had to decide how to put feet and legs and arms on the can. Some were sitting, some were on all fours. All of them were adorable, this was at Pandamania VBS.

 I love having free art for the littles. Nora was so content painting this. She told me it was a deer when she was done.

 More frames. This year I put each child's frame on their bedroom door. They love it and so do I.

 Gavin's bean art is a baseball :)

 Rain sticks. These were fun. Take something that makes noise (we used beans) and put 'em in a holder. We used a recycled paper towel holder. Parents can help collect these items and it make a cheap or free craft for one night.

 Shake, rattle and roll. Admittedly this one is probably the first to be trashed but wasn't it going there already? We just extended it's life for a bit.

I do really like themed things, that is the old teacher in me. Kits and toys are fun. But, my favorite crafts are the ones that reuse junk and that allow creative expression of the kids.

Birthday Blessings!

Happy Birthday USA (and auntie Tracy!)

waiting for Auntie to pick us up for storytime...

 moment of cuteness (rare)

 sister love

 strike a  pose

look mom a truck!

here it comes

diarrhea of the mouth that is...


This morning (in the shower) I was formulating a blog post just like a do every morning. It was a good story, it had highs and lows, a little love and war, parenting advice and a bonus freebie. Then I turned the shower off and it all went down the drain, just like it does every morning.

By the time I got upstairs to my coffee two kids were up and there was no more quiet time for mom. So here I sit while the house is in chaos typing up a post because I love you. I can't even hear myself think right now let alone form a complete thought and put it into a sentence. Hence, diarrhea of the mouth.

Are you ready? Wait for it...

It is SO STINKING HOT OUTSIDE. I can hardly breathe. I think it was last week when I was complaining about the air being cold and hurting my lungs on our morning routine. This week the air is so think I can chew it. I took my workout wear off this morning and it was as wet as my swimming suit. Ew. Sorry. Good thing I am a go with the flow kinda gal and these temperature changes don't stop me from working out. I am loving our early morning routes. It has been nuts these last two weeks with one or more of us always on vacation so I have been changing it up. My muscles are screaming at me but I sure do like not gaining anything because I have been eating CRAP.

My (smart) sister is running the concession stand at the youth games. I volunteered (stupidly) to help her out. Four or five nights a week I make chocolate covered rice crispy bars and popcorn treats to sell at the counter. We are usually down there by 5pm and things don't quiet down until after 10 most nights. It is exhausting. Then getting up early to walk and run. But that isn't the half of it. Do you know how hard it is to be around all that food all night long? I started the summer out feeding my kids supper before we went down and then they begged me for food all night long and I eventually gave in and fed them chips and cheese, walking tacos, bbq's, hot dogs, fruit and yogurt and veggies and ranch and a Gatorade with laffy taffy, ring pops, super ropes and rice crispy bars for dessert. Then I got smart and stopped feeding them supper before we went. Yep, I am a smart mom :)

The garden (yep this is how my brain works no transitions) is BURSTING with strawberries and spinach and lettuce and cilantro. I am so proud of those little green plants. I took photos about a week ago but they have changed so much it isn't even worth posting them. We get an ice cream bucket of strawberries about every other day. I have to cover the plants with tulle so the birdies don't eat them. We have been stuffing our faces with the berries. There is just no comparison. It makes the ones at the grocery taste like paper. Ours are tiny and misshapen and as sweet as honey. YUM. I have so many I don't know what to do with them. Do I freeze them? I am not much of a jelly maker but I may have to start. This is a lot of strawberries. The best crop we have ever had. I am dreaming of a balsamic vinaigrette with the spinach and strawberries and sugared pecans...yum.

Maleah made an AWESOME catch last night at the ballgame. The team we played was very good at the plate and hit the ball every time. It was the last inning and they were popping up every time. Our team is still in that stage where they are mostly afraid of the ball. They are little, ages 10 and under, and you can just see the fear in their face and they back up and hold their glove out while their other arm shields their body. Maleah, on the other hand, is a chatter box and she is always yelling out things on the field. She is telling the girls to watch or get ready or shouting encouraging phrases to her teammates to play. She yelled out, " Don't be afraid of it - catch that ball" right before a high pop came right to her. She stepped forward to it, caught it and immediately got rid of it back to the pitcher. I was screaming, "Nice catch, Mia" from the stands and she was already thinking about her next play. It must be something in her blood. It's a desire to play and run and never give up. She got herself out of a pickle last night, too. Just plain outran the second and third basemen to reclaim her base. "SAFE" the ump yelled and she didn't even blink. She put her hands on her knees and watched the batter so see when she could run again. It is a joy to watch her. I love to see her face so caught up in the game and her knowledge of the sport surprises me every time I see it. I am so blessed.

Gavin loves the game as well, has since he was 18 months old. That boy was born with a baseball glove on his hand I think. But lately, the fishing pole has taken over. He has always loved throwing a line in and he has this classmate that loves to fish, too. Last week his mom took the boys down to the part of the river that flows through town and they both caught walleye. If you could have seen the look in Gavin's face. He was so proud of that catch. He has begged to go everyday since. Almost makes me want to learn how to put a worm on a hook, ALMOST. Ryan went out the other day and out fished his buddy for the first time, EVER. It was a good week here for fishermen and it was in our own backyard, too:) I do love a good walleye baked in butter with a little lemon...mmmmmm.

Speaking of fish (the kids are engrossed in PBS cartoon so my brain is coming together now enough for smooth transition into my next topic). I got two free samples of fish oil and started taking them in the morning with my protein shake and my vita slew (I like to call it that it reminds me to eat or else I have vita slew in my belly urping up my throat all morning). I take a multi vitamin, calcium with added vitamin d (EVERYONE NEEDS TO ADD VITAMIN D if you don't do it shame on you) vitamin a and lysine. I added the fish oil this past week. The first pack was three or four pills and I didn't have a problem with it. The second pack I began a couple of days ago. Different brand. Same size pill. Very similar. Same nutritional info. on the package. Same benefit. I figured I was safe. SO WHY AM I BURPING UP FISHY GUNK ALL DAY LONG. It is terrible. I shouldn't take the last two. So I know for a fact that I will not buy this brand. Too bad I threw the other sample package away so I will never know the one that did not give me fish indigestion And that,my friends, is why the Lord created free samples :)

So I was bound and determined to get a "good" meal in yesterday because we have been eating chips and cheese and hot dogs and tacos and crap for weeks upon weeks. I spent all morning mixing up turkey meatballs and rolling them and baking them. I had a few cans of progresso light creamy mushroom soup I was going to throw them in the crock with and serve it over penne with spinach salad. I was cooking and slaving away and the house smelled like onion heaven when I popped open a couple of cans of soup and dumped them in the crock. I stirred it ever so gently so as to not break the turkey balls and this foreign smell hit me. It smelled weird...like...fishy...like... I RAN to the trash to get the soup can and read the label "Light New England Clam Chowder"! That is the story of my life.

There you have it.  A post with no photos. I HAVE photos. I do. I just don't have enough patience to wait for the upload.

May your 4th of July be safe and blessed.

Ew, I just burped fish breath. Gross.