I Love Books!

Right now, I have five different books I am reading.  Most of them, I am about half way through and, for different reasons, have stopped.  These books are:

- Tom Clancy's Shadow Warriors, which chronicles the Army's Special Forces units.  My father-in-law, Dick, served in this unit for 15 years.  It is over my head in areas but still an interesting read.

- Mom's Trapped in the Minivan by Cynthia Sumner.  Dick and Daphne gave it to me for Christmas.  I was reading it while waiting in the carline and put it down when Hannah and I started reading the "Little House" books.

- Violet's Perplexing Puzzles  Book Five which is based on characters by Martha Finley.  She was a 19th century Christian writer who had millions of followers at the time.  I was also reading this one before the "Little House" series book marathon.  This is actually one of Hannah's books and thought it looked interesting.

- Laura Ingalls Wilders' These Happy Golden Years.  Actually, I haven't started reading this one yet.  Since Hannah is still reading The Long Winter, I decided to wait until she catches up.  She still has one more book to read, Little Town on the Prairie before she is caught up with me.

- Liz Curtis Higgs' newest book, Here Burns My Candle.  I am reading this one for an upcoming blog tour for Waterbrook Multnomah.  My review is to be posted between March 22 and 26, so I am trying to get it finished.  This book is another adaptation of the story of Ruth and Naomi and is set in 1745 in Scotland.

- Book number six isn't here yet.  I will be doing a review of Why You Say It by Webb Garrison.  According to the Thomas Nelson website, "Why You Say It explores the history of these and over six hundred other common and uncommon phrases in an intriguing and entertaining way. Have you ever wondered what rhubarb and angry mobs have in common, why we call them red-letter days, or what loaded for bear actually means? With delightful insight into how our language grows and changes, Why You Say It is intellectually stimulating and easy to read."  Since I love to learn little trivia things like this, I think this sounds really interesting.  The book should be here any day now.

I know...I need to sit down and finish the books I have already started before reading anymore.  You are right. I am just enjoying reading again.  When the kids were younger, I had a hard time concentrating and would fall asleep when I tried to read.  Now that they are older, I can actually undertand what it is I am reading and stay awake.  The blog tours I am doing are supplying an addiction I have to the written word.  (The best part is...they are free!!!)  For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed having a book in my hand and on my bookshelves. 

In the Eighth grade, I remember reading Gone With The Wind.  The book is 1,062 pages long and took me only eight days to read it.  Yes, EIGHT days.  I read it as soon as I got ready for school, any time I had a spare minute during school, at lunch, between classes, before homework was done, after homework was done, and late into the night.  I thought the book was so facinating but could have done without all the information about the Civil War battles. It was too confusing.  LOL

I am blessed to have children to love to read.  Hannah takes a book with her to school to read during free time.  She also likes to read before she goes to bed and, sometimes, in the morning after she is ready for school.  Will and Andrew both like to read, too.  Will likes to read short stories and books himself and to us.  Mike will read to Andrew before bedtime most nights.  Mike even likes to read.  Unfortunately, he has a hard time concentrating nowadays when he sits down. 

In my dream house, I would love to have a Library to put the books we all have into one place.  Right now, they are scattered all over the boys' room; Hannah's closet, shelving unit and her desk; under mine and Mike's bed, in a bookshelf by my closet, on shelves over Mike's dresser, on my nightstand, and on the chest by Mike's side of the bed; and in four bookshelves in the living room.  One day.... until then, I have to find somewhere to put them all.  Now that I think about it, there might be space in the bathrooms....

Pictures

Here are some pictures we've taken over the last few weeks. 

If you look closely, you can see the Canada geese walking on the frozen lake.  This picture was taken on January 30, the day after we got sleet and ice.  The lake froze over and the geese and ducks were able to walk across.

Baron and the leftover sleet we received

On February 5, while Hannah was at school, Mike and I put up Hannah's new bed and rearranged her room.  Click here to read the details about the changes that were made.

Hannah and Andrew enjoying Hannah's new bed

Hannah and Andrew playing

Mama, Hannah, Andrew and Will

The rest of the pictures are of today's surprise snowfall. 

The first few pictures were taken of our backyard through our dining room windows.

The next two pictures are of our front yard and the small courtyard garden.  Look at the snow on our fountain.  It looks like a wedding cake.

After much talking in too (I was surprised), the kids finally went outside to play.

Andrew, Baron, Hannah and Will having a snowball fight.

Andrew and Hannah with Crystal, our snowwoman.

Another picture of Andrew, Crystal and Hannah

Crystal

Unwanted and Unwelcomed Visitor

Today, while sweeping the kitchen, I found an unwanted and most unwelcomed visitor. It was a small lizard. At first, I thought it was a dead leaf that had been stripped to the spine. But, at closer examination (or at least as close as I would get), I noticed it had toes, feet, head and long tail. It looked dead at first, but after a few minutes it moved. Talk about someone leaping off the floor!! It started climbing up the wall, then changed its mind. It stayed close to the baseboard then moved, more like hopped, over to a pile of dog hair that I had already swept up. I put a pot over the top then a towel around it to keep the lizard in. When the kids and I got home from school, Nathan volunteered to take it outside for me. I had him take it to the lake and release it.

My skin is still crawling!! OOWWHH!!

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

Mike says it is the unofficial Marine Corp motto: improvise, adapt and overcome. That seems to be the motto I live by nowadays. With Andrew not wanting to sleep in his crib, I let him sleep in Will's bed for naps and at night. Will slept in the floor and didn't mind. I bought Andrew a Cars toddler bed yesterday. He slept in it last night and it seems to be working for his nap, so far. For some reason, Andrew hasn't wanted to sleep. He has been up early (yesterday at 6 a.m. and this morning, 5:45 a.m.) and doesn't want to take a nap until late. Maybe now he has his own "big boy bed" he'll start sleeping more.

Last night while doing laundry, our dryer stopped working. The drum isn't turning. Mike and I discovered it late last night, around midnight. He took it apart but couldn't find the belt. Mike did find a roller lying on the bottom of the dryer case. I'm thinking either the belt slipped or broke because the drum isn't turning. Our old dryer has one of the rollers brake and it made a loud racket when the drum turned. Mike's not sure but thinks it might be the belt, too. We both hope it will be something easy and inexpensive to fix.

Here are some pictures we took recently.

Andrew and Hannah in the RoadTrek

Will and Andrew in the RoadTrek


Andrew in the van on the way home from Chattanooga

Hannah on the way home from Chattanooga

Will on the way home from Chattanooga

Dick and Mike

Dick, Mike and the kids

Andrew taking a nap in Will's bed
(See the Cars video by his head. He wanted to sleep with it.)

Andrew playing with toys on his first day of school

Andrew while walking into MDO on the first day

Andrew sitting on his new bed

Andrew and his new bed while holding his lunchbox

Michelle, Dick and Mike

Van and Bathroom Pics

While we were on our trip, we had a little trouble with the van. When we were getting ready to leave for home, the van didn't want to start right up like usual. Instead, it sounded like the battery was low after someone left an interior light on. I checked all the switches but everything was turned off. On the second try, it started right up. We had trouble again when we stopped for gas. But, it started back up on the second or third try. The rest of the trip was uneventful, thank goodness. This same thing had happened once before we left but I thought one of the kids had forgot to shut their door all the way or left an interior light on.

Yesterday, the van was slow starting but was soon running like a dream. When Andrew and I left the Board Meeting at church, the only sound I heard was a click-click-click. Oh, great!! I went over my checklist - all the lights were off and the doors were all shut. Tried the ignition again - click-click-click. Great!! I'm thinking it was either the starter, alternator, or battery. It finally started on the third try so I started home. Afraid that once I shut it off it wouldn't start again, I picked up something for Andrew and me to eat through a drive-thru and headed straight for Nathan's school. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. and left the car running. Nathan got out at 2:20 then we headed to Hannah's school to repeat the process. As soon as she got in the car, we headed to get Will. I finally shut the van off at 3:30 when we got home. Mike got home early and we went to Auto Zone. The technician there said the battery was extremely low. After soccer practice, I dropped off Mike at Walmart while the kids and I went to Chick-fil-a to get a bite to eat and to leave the van running (we had trouble getting it started after soccer practice). Mike changed out the batteries. Good thing he did because it was leaking battery acid. Now, it runs like a dream. It's nice not having to worry about getting stuck somewhere.

Now - for the BIG REVEAL!!!

Our Master Bathroom is done!!!

This is our bathroom closet.
Look at the beautiful floor and walls!!

Isn't it nice and neat?

Our bathroom sink and toilet area

Another look at our sink

The far bathroom wall (before pictures)

The far bathroom wall (after pictures)

The bathtub area

The bathroom window

Didn't Mike do a great job?! It is a big change from the pink paisley wallpaper and tan carpet. It has taken a little time to get use to it but we love it.

WOW

This blog is kind of random today. There are a ton of ideas running through my head about what I want to put down but it's hard to corral them all into different areas. So please bear with me.

The past few weeks at our house that been very crazy. We redid our bathroom (just have to touch up some paint and put a second coat on some trim), said our last good-byes to Gracy, took a quick trip to Pigeon Forge to get our furniture, unloaded it in a storage unit, rearranged some furniture at our house, fixed our computer (still have some more to do to it), and get the kids ready for school. Mike is heading up the church's softball team this fall. We are planning to sign up Hannah and Will for soccer. The Y is offering a soccer program for 2-4 year olds and we are thinking about signing Andrew up. He has been begging to play ball (softball, baseball, any kind of ball) and tells me he is going to his practice as I get him dressed.

I've also started blogging reviews for Waterbrook/Multnomah through Random House. It has been fun and interesting. My first one was posted on August 3rd. I have another one coming up on August 24 where I am reviewing three books. If you are interested, you must have a blog. (A blog is VERY easy to set up and keep. Let me know if you are interested in starting on and I will help you.) If your blog is approved by them, they will send you notices about books to be released. If you are interested in reading the book, let them know. They will send you a copy for free for you to review. You will have to post a review on your blog and send them the link. FUN!! I am able to get my book and blogging fix in! If you would like more information, click here to go to the Blogging For Books site.

Grout

Last night, Mike started putting the grout on our bathroom tiles. We both thought it wouldn't take too long, but boy, were we mistaken. He started after dinner, around 7 p.m. He finally finished around 2:45 a.m. He never stopped. I was helping by changing out the buckets and bringing clean water. When he finally finished, Mike's hands were really sore and it hurt to move his fingers. Here are some pictures of the finished product.




We still have to seal the tile and caulk. The inside of the closet needs to be painted and I need to finish painting the trim. We both can't wait for this to be finished.

Latest Pics of the Bathroom

Here are pictures of the tile Mike laid in the Master Bathroom. It took him a good four hours or more to lay the thinset and tile (there are a LOT of little pieces). Once it is set, Mike can go through and grout the whole bathroom, including the walls. I can't wait to see it without the spacers. We are hoping to have everything put back together by this coming weekend. I can't wait. Sharing the hall bathroom with three kids is not fun at times. Having only one working bathroom for a family of five: interesting! HEHE

This is the area in front of Mike's vanity to give you a closer look at the terra cotta colored tiles.

Slowly But Surely

Here are pictures of Mike's progress on our bathroom.

NO MORE CARPET AND LINOLEUM!!!

Another picture of the floor

Tile around the bathroom closet

Tile around the doorway

The light tile at the top right became lighter when it was put up. When it was on the floor, it was the same color as the other ones.

Tile on the far wall

(The white dots are tile spacers. They are not part of the tile decorations.)

The End of an Era and Experiments

The last of the wallpaper came off tonight!!! YEAH!!! We aren't sure, but Mike and I think the wallpaper was installed when the house was built 16 years ago. Goodbye wallpaper!! Hello paint!! Here are some pictures of Mike as he removed the last pieces.

On a different note, the boys decided they wanted to sleep together in Will's bed tonight. So, I thought we would try it and see how it goes. Here are pictures of the boys just before we tucked them in for the night. This is an experiment because Andrew has never slept in a big boy bed before. If this works out okay, we may have to get him a big boy bed of his own before long.