I got this from Julie at Accidental Pastor's Wife...
I'm a lover of coffee, so of course it peaked my interest!

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe

But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites. And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear.

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

Got Milk?

The price of a gallon of milk is rumored to go up to $5 a gallon soon!
It's already $4.50 where we live and I think thats expensive!

So... I tried following some advice I got from a couple of different moms,
(one is over at hillbillyhousewife.com)!

I'm now mixing equal parts powdered milk and regular milk.
So, when we buy one gallon, just by mixing it with powdered milk,
we double the amount from one to two gallons!

We drink about three gallons of milk a week in our family.
With milk prices at $4.50/gallon, that costs $13.50 a week ($54.00 a month) just for milk!

Now that were mixing powdered with regular, I am cutting my cost in half, to $2.25/gallon, $6.75 a week ($27.00 a month)!
Thats almost $30 a month savings, and $360 a year savings!

I was pleasantly surprised at how good, and like regular milk it tasted!
My little guy didn't even discriminate, he can't even tell the difference.

One piece of advice I got, and that I try to do is
to make the milk at night, and let it chill overnight
to let it get nice and cold. This helps the flavor.

"Choo, Choo, Whoo, Whoo!"

I've got a Train Conductor in my dining room...
The boxcars are full and the track is set as my Little Conductor
says, "all aboard!"
When his little sister isn't busy watching him or acting
as the, "Engineers Assistant," she's content to listen
to Wiggles songs, and talk to the babies in her books.

...must go do some more, "chugga, chugga, choo, choo,
whoo, whooing!"...

Days Off

Well, there's been a little change to our schedule thats starting this week.
Our day off (our family day) has always been on Mondays, but now is changing to Fridays.
It's mostly because Mondays are such a let down day in the ministry.
We've been finding it near impossible to relax and to just forget about the business of the church on Mondays.
So, I'm praying that Fridays will be better...we'll see!

Sick Days

Hubby's not feeling too good these last couple weeks.
He's had a low grade fever, coughing, aching, and other
yucky symptoms.

I think he needs to take a break, but I also realize
that it's not in our budget right now...
Our vacation is scheduled for the end of August, I
just hope he makes it okay till then.

For now, I'm praying lots of prayers, and trying
to give him a little more TLC. It's amazing how
fragile this big, strong man that I married can be
sometimes. I think his vulnerability during these
times is sweet, but I do hope he gets better soon!

Embarrased Miss New Jersey

I don't want to spend too much time on this one, but in case you haven't heard...
There are some pictures out there of Miss New Jersey that were being used by someone alegidly blackmailing her.
At first, she did not want the public to see the pictures, but she decided today to release them.
According to her they are just pictures of her being a normal college girl.

My interest about this story is not due to anything more than role models (or lack thereof).
Now that I have a daughter, I am wondering...where are all the role models for girls?
I certainly never expected to use any of the "Pagent-Types," as role models...
but, aren't they at least supposed to act lady like?

I was no angel in high school.
By the time I got to college, the Lord had done a major transformation,
so that, thankfully, I was no longer a normal college girl.

I don't expect anyone who doesn't know Christ personally,
to act any different than Miss New Jersey.

It does however confirm my mental list of poor female role models, make my job of finding good ones even more important, and making sure that as her Mama, that I'm the role model God intends as well.

Hot and Sunny Days

Mmmm, our raspberry bushes are yielding lots of berries this year.
I picked a bucket full this afternoon.
Usually, I get about half that because my little guy loves eating them right off the vine!
Right now, I'm eating my favorite; Raspberries and Cream (delicious!)

The weather is projected to be unusually hot for the next couple days.
They say it's supposed to get in the triple digits. We almost never see this here!
Little guy and I set up our little pool and turned on the mister (like a sprinkler) in the front yard.
So were as ready as we can be!

What fun these times are...
I prayed today that these times wont go by too fast, and that God will make it seem like my kids have been little forever!

5 Things I Dig About Jesus (Tag)

Juloyees, from Accidental Pastor's Wife tagged me with, "5 Things I Dig About Jesus,"
(do people still say "dig" It makes me think of the 70's)

Anyways... to whoever reads this here goes
(By the way Julie's answers were great!)

1. The simplicity of the God the Father and Jesus the Son relationship. God uses a relationship between a father and a son to show himself to us. A basic, simple, easy to understand relationship that a child can understand.
2. His love for His children. Unmerited and undeserved, but nevertheless, unconditional!
3. His grace towards a worm such as I!
4. That He was in all ways tempted...yet without sin!
5. That He's coming back for me! Please hurry Lord!

Sunday and More

My legs are so tired from the long, but good day.
I've been on my feet and running today with church nursery, the bachelors dinner and evening church nursery!!
The bachelors dinner went great - they stayed for a long time just talking and having a nice time (which made all the hard work and preparations worth it!)
My mind is spinning thinking about starting a mom's group at our church.
I'm not super gifted in administration and leadership type roles, so it's a little scary.
I feel like I'm being stretched a little, and I'm hoping no one is expecting me to be Miss type-A personality, with everything planned out to a T, activities organized for the year, and answers for everything!
I have a best friend like this and I keep telling her she's making the rest of us look bad! {smile}

Hubby's beat from the busyness of the day, so were both like blobs, barely moving and too tired to talk.
He's bummed because a family in the church, who he's spent lot's of time helping and counseling, has been visiting another church.
His first reaction is to take it personally. "Am I doing something wrong?" he asks. Of course asking this is okay, not always a bad thing to self evaluate, but in this case, I'm afraid there's nothing he could have done.
The sad thing is, this family will probably do the same thing to their next pastor. Sadly, it seems like some families can't function unless they are totally codependent. It's like when PH tried to let go a little, to let them walk on their own a little, they couldn't handle it, and took it wrong.
It's still hard to take because it does feel a little personal - we really care for these people, but can't live their lives for them.

Bachelor Dinner

I must go to sleep...why do I always get my second wind so late at night!!! {sigh}
Tomorrows Sunday...at that means, BUSY!
We're having the church bachelors over for Sunday dinner.
I'm making tip roast, bread machine rolls from scratch, potatoes au gratin from the box, salad and blueberry pie (no I didn't make the pie!) {smile} Oh, and to drink, I made sun tea (for the first time), lemonade, coffee and hot tea.
So, it should be fun.
Somehow, I feel less pressure with only men-folk coming. It seems they are less critical than the lady-folks.
I think they will be happy just to have a meal cooked for them.
Now, I will go to bed and try to sleep!

Last week we visited a Northwest island by boat with other extended family to go crabbing.
I don't think a person has ever really experienced how yummy crab can be until they've tasted a fresh, salt water Dungenous crab!
We caught them in nets and then cooked them in boiling salt water right on the beach to eat! They tasted like they had been slathered in butter. My tiny daughter liked them so much she ate a whole crab! I only ate a half!
Somehow, I got away without having to gut any too (which I was happy about!) Something about being too busy taking care of my little ones!
I guess having two kids in diapers has it's advantages...sometimes...

I'm realizing I've been really inconsistent with my blogging lately.
I guess I have to write when 1) I'm moved to write and 2) when I have time. Apparently the two haven't intersected lately.
My littlest one is getting more mobile, although she's not walking yet! She actually walks on her knees!! It's the craziest thing! I've never seen a kid do this before, but she follows her brother all around the house walking on her knees!
My husband has taught our oldest, the toddler, a little bit of spanish and right now he is yelling, "Mamasita!" at me (don't know if I spelled that right) What a goofy kid!
Guess I should tend to my little Miho {smile}