Flickr Upload - February 2015

ell, I apparently did not take many pictures in February. Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things these next few months.  But most of this month did look like this first picture...  The rest you can find here...

 

 Snowblowing the driveway...  It was also a very pretty sunset.

 Homework time... this is starting to happen more often as they are getting into more involved material...

 Getting braces again... He's not happy.  But that's OK.

All bundled up with favorite snack and a TV show...

Frightful Weather Tuesday

Well, good morning!  Winter Storm Thor is dumping freezing rain on us, and quite a bit of snow to the north of us.  Of course this comes on the heels of Sparta which gave us 6" of snow.  Got to use the snow blower again, and that is always fun, but it left me a bit sore this time.  It does not usually do that.  Pandora kept me from 013's Science Olympiad in Goshen, IN this year.  011 and I attempted to get there, and got stranded at a very nice elderly lady's driveway and house for a couple of hours.  She was very sweet and wonderful, and gave us some shelter until it was safer to leave.  It was way too crazy beyond words.

So the school went right to cancelling, no 2 hour delay first.  That was odd.  But since 013 forgot to do his math homework, it saved his bacon.  Not sure what that will do to the band concert that is supposed to be Wednesday.  I guess we shall find out.
Our secretary at the church got a full-time job with benefits (yea!!!!  It has been a long time coming!) so I'll be filling in until they are able to find a replacement.  I am excited about the opportunity as it gives me a chance to serve, and it keeps me from being bored here at home!
My soaping is really starting to take off!  I'm very excited about that, and have lots of ideas that I want to try.  Thank you so much to everyone.  My crafting also continues to plug along.  That was certainly a big scare, when I lost my external drive.  I had my pictures backed up, but none of my artwork.  I know, dumb!  So I've been looking at RAID NASs on Amazon and think I have found one I like.  So once I get my tax refund, that will be the first thing I get.
Massage school is going well, we have learned so many fun things, I can't wait to get out there and start trying them!

Update from last time:

• Still preparing for the final
• Aced my MSA quiz
• March Menu done
• Freezer not nearly so jam-packed.  In fact, I ran out of lunches last week!  Don't worry, there are new ones in there now.
• Still slow going on the scrapping, but slowly plugging away
• Got a wonderful 100 song compilation for my iPod to use during massages.  Gadget got me a super-cool speaker to use with it so it sounds lovely!  Although 1 guy really likes 70s songs, so I put together a special playlist just for him.
• Last month's bill was not lower, darn-it!  I was really surprised.  But the good news is it is working so much better, so maybe I should just be happy that for the same amount of money I had a warm house, that stayed warm, and was set 2 degrees higher than last year!  We now keep it on 66 which is a tad bit more comfy.  We'll see about the bill for February that comes in March.  It is historically the big one.  If you don't keep track of this stuff, you really should.  Duke allows me to download my bills into CSV format, I then convert it to a regular XLSX format and do graphing and whatnot with it.  It allows me to keep track of the KW that we use, not just the $$ spent.  Trust me, it goes up every year, so if you are just tracking $$ it is not a good comparison, you need to be tracking usage.
• Other things I track?  Grocery spending and coupon saving, also in a spreadsheet.  I have historical data back to 2009.  It really helps you not spend so much, when you start to look at how much it is over the years.  And gas.  This is a new one that I started doing.  I have SpeedyRewards, and Kroger Points, so I try to track how much I save at each place.  Not every Speedway gives you the .10 credit, some just give you the points, so I've started using that info as well.  Wabash and Kokomo, and Auburn's Speedways do.  Marion and Battle Creek's do not.  And I have a Chase BP card, so I do get points on that occasionally, but there are fewer BPs near me now so I tend to not use that card much anymore, in favor of my Amazon card.  Also, Kroger is hard, I have to drive to Kokomo, Peru, Fort Wayne, or Huntington to get gas on that, so I tend to only go there 1x a month and use all the points in one go.  I am usually in one of those cities at some point during the month when I need gas so it works out.  And I use an app on my phone called Gas Buddy.  It will find all the stations around you and tell you the price.  You may think that there is not much variation, but I will tell you that the Speedway on the south side of Kokomo is typically 20 cents cheaper than the one on the north side.  Both of them give you the .10 discount, but you can guess which one I go to.  They are about 10 miles apart.  And between Alexandria (school) and home it can vary almost .40 per gallon so yea, it does pay, even with my tiny little gas tank!
• Massage practicing is starting to pick up and I've even had a few repeats, that is really cool!  I'm hoping once I am certified it will mean converting them to actual clients!

Well, that is about all, folks! Have a great, safe day!

January 2015 Flickr Upload

As always, you can find the full feed here...

 Still working on the kitchen... I love the backsplash & the new stove!!

 Getting to see my cousin from CO!  Love her!

 A rare instances of him being silly.  It is hard to see, but he drew a face on the yogurt container.

 eLearning lunch at Eugenia's Pasta Bar.  Always a favorite treat.  Made even better by a visit from Grampa!

Getting the braces off.  OMG! He now looks so old!  And handsome, if I do say so myself!

Hump Day - again!

Glad to see that it has not taken me as long to get back to writing.  Just some random thoughts swirling around in my head today:

• Preparing for my final test of Level II (which is actually done at mid-term!)
• Preparing for my next anatomy quiz (next week)
• Trying to get back into the habit of monthly menu planning - done for February and this time plus breakfast! I hate having to figure it all out last minute, plus it helps with the grocery shopping
• Eating out of the freezer - tons of stuff in there, and that equates into less spent at Kroger
• Only buying what we need at the store, also equates into less spent
• A bit sad that Kroger doesn't do double coupons any more
• Liking more and more the digital offerings they have though, as a lot of them do not come in paper varieties any more
• Trying to scrap more, I need to get those stories told
• Focusing more on stories, less on events
• Getting music squared away for my massage practice
• So many thoughts on how to market it and get it going
• Excited that I think we finally have the heater/heat pump combo fixed, and now it is just fine-tuning for my environment.  Can't wait to see the next bill.  But scared too.  What if there is no difference?  But I guess the difference might be that my house actually stayed on temp this time?
• Excited that JillyBean is actually improving now!  She gave us quite a scare
• Excited that 013 got his braces off!  He looks so different & grown up!
• Loving my soap experiments
• Loving my homemade granola bites (and so do the boys)
• Loving the freedom that comes with unjobbing.  So much more time for me to concentrate on getting the right stuff done
• Got my February birthday cards done already
• Wishing my handwriting was not so sloppy & I didn't feel awkward writing stuff on the inside 
• Christmas cards, however, still sitting there for me

I am sure there is tons more, but I think that is a good summary... :)

Have a blessed day!

Card Share on BenzillaScrapping

Be sure to go check it out here...

December 2014 Flickr Post

Wow, can you believe it?!?  You can see the whole thing here, I've included a few of my favorites...

 Lego-mania!  He is so creative and just builds stuff.  Doesn't really even think about it.

 Carribean Christmas 5K.  013 placed 3rd in his age group, 011 placed first in his.

 Homemade soap - awesome!!

 I like to date stuff when we put it in the fridge/freezer (the sharpie washes off).  Someone thought it needed more flare.

 6th grade Christmas concert - incredible!

 His snowman - he was so proud of it!

 The boys did a great job with the tree again.

4 Generations, but missing my mom.  These are her folks, and they were able to join us for Christmas.  I was so excited!

Hump Day

It occurs to me that it has been quite some time since I have actually done any writing here.  It seems like I can get so easily distracted by everything else, that I then don't have the time to write.  In reading back through earlier posts, it was Fall Break the last time.  Since then we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

We actually got to do Thanksgiving this year, at my brother's house.  We did it the week before, but that worked out perfectly as I had the boys.  My nephew got baptized and then the church had a big meal and we were invited.  It was a wonderful day.  Gadget wanted to fly down as well, but a bad battery in the plane won.

Then I got to have Thanksgiving the next week with Gadget's family, and it was so good to be included in that.  He has been working on remodeling the kitchen (had the sinks and countertops replaced), so we went out again.   It is wonderful, except you don't have the carcass to make soup, and there are no leftovers.  But maybe really that is OK too.

And then before I knew it, Christmas was here.  011 had his Christmas program at school, and I switched days at school (I went on Wednesday instead of Friday) so that I could go.  It was weird being in the other class, but I was not going to miss that program.  And they did such a great job!
We spent Christmas Eve through to the 27th at his house, and he was able to at least have the new gas stove installed.  Gas lines had to be run, cabinets had to be removed, etc.  LOVE IT!  He did a fantastic job picking it out. It was good to see his Gramma again, and then also to spend the night with good friends at their annual get-together.

Christmas Day was pretty laid back, the boys saved out some presents to open that morning, and of course their stockings because Santa can find them no matter where they are. We just chilled and watched a couple more episodes of Warehouse 13.  Love that show, and they did too.  Was very sad when they cancelled it.

Friday we came back here, and got the house ready as I hosted the Christmas for the Poole family.  On Saturday, my brothers and their families were here, Dad & Eric, and my Gramma & Grampa made it up as well.  It was absolutely lovely to share a meal with everyone and then just get to catch up a bit.

After church on Sunday, then I took the boys to their dad's for the rest of their vacation.  I stayed at the house for a couple days to get the rest of it cleaned up and just have a minute, then I headed back to MI to see Gadget.  By then he had the new backsplashes put in, and wow did they look good.  A friend of D's helped him with it, and Gadget was so happy.  The dude was a super-smart kid, and really took pride in his work.

We went to Kumo Hibachi Grill in KZoo for New Year's Eve, and then spent the evening at home.  I think I fell asleep while we were watching a movie.  Not exactly the dress to the 9s that we usually do, but that is OK.  It was a wonderful day.

On the 2nd, we celebrated D's birthday by going back to Kumo's for sushi.  Extremely yummy, and so much fun to be included in such a big table of people.  Half his friends, and then his parents & sister.  And me.  Afterwards, we went out for drinks & pool at The Hob, which used to be an old GM bar.  In other words, it was right across the street from the plant, and the guys would go there for lunch, and for beer after work. Some really cool stories!

Then it was back home to reality.  A friend of mine went into the hospital to start her next round of chemo and stem cell replacement.  The next few months are going to be Hell for her.  I wish there were some way I could take some/all of the pain for her so she did not have to.  She has already been through so much.  She is amazing and wonderful, and I feel so helpless and powerless. 

The boys started school on Monday, and I went back on Thursday.  And the cold snap hit.  And the pipes froze.  And the house froze - aka the furnace stopped working.  And we lost power.  I thought that week I was going to hurt someone.  I missed a day of school.  My perfect attendance for the semester was shot.  That made me very sad.  But I got the pipes working again, the power came back on, Gadget swooped in to the rescue with a kerosene heater (I have no experience with these, so I've learned a lot!) and we did some major troubleshooting of the furnace.  After many hours, lots of meters, and mashing our brains, we were able to see what it was doing.  Then it was a crazy experience to try and get parts for it, as no one wants to sell you HVAC parts unless you are certified.  But I will tell you, after the $1000+ that I have paid certified techs for, I'm not sure it is all that it is cracked up to be.  They kept telling me it was working normally.  It has not worked normally for 3 years and my electric bills of $500+ per month can atest to that.

But he was able to get the parts, and last weekend was able to fly down and put the most important one in. And we hooked up indicator lights so that I can tell what the thermostat is calling for, and  what the furnace is doing in response.  We both have learned so much about it.  Not exactly how I wanted to expand my knowledge base, but useful non-the-less.  Now we are in the testing & monitoring phase.  So far, working a million times better.  But the weather is warmer too, with less wind.  So not that I'm praying for a cold snap, but it would be nice to proof out the work, ya know?

The boys during that time had 5 snow days, so they are out of them for the rest of the year.  They had their first scheduled eLearning day of the semester, and so we went to the pasta bar.

I have finished up Level 1 and start Level 2 this week.  I can't believe I'm half done.  I've had much more interest from people being practice clients for me, so that is very encouraging.  I like thinking I may be able to (somewhat) hit the ground running after I sit the board tests. I got to see my old therapist while she was in town last week, and it was so wonderful.  She had lots of good suggestions and ideas.  I can't wait to get going.

I am still totally fascinated by soapmaking, and have started looking at other ways of reducing chemical dependence around the home. Some successful, some not.  And to be clear, there are lots of times when chemicals are very necessary & important.

Anyway, that's a lot of reading, thanks for hanging in there!  Have a great day!