Our Stuff is Here!

Dave flew out to Utah Friday, loaded up the moving truck, with the help of his friend Jim, Saturday and arrived here in Pennsylvania today, Monday! He is a crazy, crazy man, but boy were we glad to see him and all our stuff! I know that sounds materialistic but I'll accept that label to have my own washer and dryer! The kids, of course, were glad to see their toys and other personal items and all of us were glad to have our fall and winter clothes (we've had a few chilly days).

So we had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: David arrived home safely, we had real dishes and cookware with which to prepare our Thanksgiving dinner, we had warm clothes to wear, a washer and dryer to keep them clean, and toys, movies, games, and books to keep us entertained all winter.

Noah was most happy to have his costumes!

Big Food

We have been getting our apples (Noah's favorite food) from Brown's Orchard just up the street from us and they are humongous! Katie had one that was almost as big as her head.

The kids like to eat at Arby's and order the two handed sandwich (medium) combo.

Big food for big boys.

AMEN!

I was sent this in an email recently and all I can say is AMEN!

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right. 'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. 'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. 'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams. 'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card. 'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. 'You want me to do all this and then you tell me: I CAN'T PRAY?

Fall is Cool! (pun intended)

And weird! I love all the strange shapes squash can be.

We're in a farming community and just a couple doors up from us is a little farm stand and junk store. I love it! We've been up there several times already.

I'm Baking!

I used my oven to make some yummy treats!

Sirens and Birds!

We moved into the house we're renting yesterday, yeah! We're so glad to be out of the 5th wheel, but of course the house has it's own issues. Everything in the camper had a place and everything was in it's place otherwise we'd be falling all over ourselves, here there are no bookcases or shelving or built in end tables and tv stands so we have no place to put anything until Dave goes to get our stuff out of storage in Utah. He will be doing just that in 3 weeks but I'm not sure my sanity will last that long. I don't mind clutter, as a matter of fact having 3 children, 2 dogs, and a husband I've become quite good at ignoring it, but it must be up off the floor. I can't stand to walk over, through or (heaven forbid) in things! If my floor is clear and clean I can handle almost any other mess, but tracked in mud, discarded backpacks, coats, shoes and toys make me a raving lunatic. Right now almost everything we own is on the floor either loose or in cardboard boxes, UGH! As I'm writing this I'm desperately thinking of ways I can turn the boxes into sturdy furniture that will hold our TV, video games, books and board games, I already took a behind-the-toilet stand from the half bath that the last people left and set it up to hold my scrapbook stuff in the dining room for now, priorities you know.

On to other issues...

I have never lived in an area where the fire department was still volunteer, but apparently that's the case here because at 4:30 this morning we were awakened by an ear splitting siren, then again 10 or so minutes later, then it went off again around 10:30 this morning and again 10 or so minutes later! What the heck? You can be sure I'll be asking around.

Also, there are birds nesting in the gutters right outside our bedroom window, so as soon as the sun came up this morning (an hour earlier!) I started hearing bird song, okay, tweets, hmmm, pecking and rustling, ugh! I'm sure clogged gutters are a hazard! Those birds are getting evicted as soon as I can get a hold of the landlord.

All-in-all we are grateful to be in a real house, even one with fun house floors (it was built in the 1800's and added on to several times), and strange hidey holes. It's cozy and has character and I think will serve us well.

Not Me!

I would never let my children go play in the street..., barefoot..., in the rain. Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.