Take a fresh look at your To-Do list. (and I will mine!)

Do you feel so busy that you can barely catch your breath before the next round of activities begins? I have been following the journey of a young woman who has bravely shared her experiences as she is 'waiting to die', in her words. Our friend Tim shared this video on Facebook a while back (thanks Tim!). I encourage you to watch it after you read this post by Rachel... To- Do List - and to remember her in prayer as you rush around trying to get your to-do lists checked off.

Edit: As I was looking at Rachel's site today 7/7 - a box popped up informing us that Rachel's wait ended on July 2nd. Her testimony endures.

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The Summer of the Sparkling House...HELP!!!

We have been living in our cozy little Teahouse for 13 years now. The 10 months before we moved in was a process of complete gutting and remodel of the original house and putting on an addition. We don't have a huge house or even a large house by many standards. It's a modest 3-bed/2-bath house which seemeed much bigger before we had kiddos!

I am not much of a housekeeper - there, I said it! I would like to be but I fall woefully short. I always have a load or two or eight of laundry to do, dishes in the sink or drainer to take care of, floors to sweep clean of all the dog hair, carpets to vacuum... you get the idea.

I've begun the process of cleaning the basement and am about 3/4 finished. The part that is not done is Al's tool bench, fishing gear storage, etc. I can't really do anything with that. So, now I must maintain and move upward to the rest of the house.

The challenge for me this summer is to make my house sparkling clean - from the floors, cabinets (inside & out), closets, baseboards, walls, underbeds, corners and ceilings! This is something I hope to accomplish while I take care of my kiddos along with two other sweet girls. On top of that, we have 3 dogs (1 is a puppy!), 2 cats, and me! We have limited storage and literally piles of books everywhere. I'm going to have to look past the things I can't control and cheerfully take care of the rest. I've got a handle on the clutter - for the most part.

Why should you care? Well, you don't have to, but I want some advice and tips! When I was at the church making the copies of the bulletin last week, I saw that Barb had her youngest sweet girl cleaning the scuffs of the floor with a magic eraser. Well let me just say that I tried it on my floor and the scuffs that I assumed were just part of the design were gone!!! Thanks, Barb! I'll return your little girl soon! (haha) So you all have favorite cleaning tips & products. Help a sister out!

First - any ideas for cleaning my white laminate kitchen cabinets? I've tried soap/water, scrubbers, goo-gone, and even the magic eraser. It's not too bad, but it could be cleaner...

I'll come up with more questions later.

PS - for any Seinfeld fans, the title is an homage to ...'The summer of George!'

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Morning Coffee...

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.

Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalm 96:1-4

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Dr. Livingstone, I presume? A glass half-full kind of man!

Dr. Livingstone, as you know, was a missionary/explorer into Africa in the 1800's. I knew a few stories about him, but sadly not much. I am now reading a biography called, The Life and Explorations of Dr. Livingstone, by John S. Roberts. It is an interesting read. For example, did you (solitary reader of my blog) know that David Livingstone spent his early life working in a factory. By early life, I mean at 10 years old he became a 'piecer' in a mill and worked from 6am-8pm. He then studied on his own from 8-10pm and did personal reading from 10-midnight. Six days a week! 10 years old!! He would put his book on the spinner at the mill so he could read while working. At nineteen, he was promoted to cotton-spinner which was much harder work, but paid better. He used his wages to attend University and medical school (a daily walk of nine miles!) and became a medical doctor. His hopes were to become a missionary to China and he knew that being a doctor would be a practical and helpful profession in mission work.

Circumstances (opium war in China) caused him to redirect his work and he was led to South Africa.

While on an early journey into the interior of Africa, Dr. Livingstone describes the following 'adventure' with a lion...

"Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as he sprang; and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain, nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and, if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe (a native schoolmaster), who was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels: the lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose hip I had cured before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe: he left Mebalwe, and caught this man by the shoulder; but at that moment the bullets he had received took effect, and he fell down dead... Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth-wounds in my arm."

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More kid pics with animals...

Daniel caught this monster pickerel - ALL BY HIMSELF! His father had to help with the net to get it in the boat. Pickerel are gross and have sharp teeth. Daniel has trouble coming up with a good smile when the camera is turned to him. I wasn't there, but I'm sure his father said - "smile normal, Daniel" - to no avail. He's still a cutie!

Ruth is more into birds. She caught this one last week. Actually, the poor bird crashed into Ruth's bedroom window and was lying dazed on the ground. Ruth saw the opportunity to grab the birdie and ran like the wind! So, what is this bird? I know most people know, but I don't. Maybe a warbler of some kind?

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Lame, but fun.

I'm not sure what got into me, but I decided to take a picture of the inside of my refrigerator. It's not that I am proud of it, in fact I'm not. I'm just feeling random. So here's the picture...



Then I started playing with it on Paint.net (a very basic and free photo editing program).

Here is 'my fridge' with witty captions ...

Here it is with x-ray vision! Nice...

I think I will have notecards made up on pink linen paper in this lovely embossed style. It says "CLASSY", I think...

Here's grandma's fridge. It looks remarkably like mine! (Ha - did the sepia feature fool you?)

Ruth wanted to paint a picture of 'my fridge'. Not a bad rendition for an amateur.

But my favorite option was the 'quick-fix' feature. See how it made 'my fridge' better...

*I don't remember buying that many eggs, but whatever - maybe it's an upgrade!

I'm off now to take pictures of my closet and the basement for a 'quick-fix'.

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What's up, buttercup?

Actually, not much is going on. Ruth worked on her CAT tests. Daniel is on the verge of losing his first tooth (even though the replacement is already fully grown in and waiting for the spot!) and Ezra turned 2!

We've gained some feathered friends. An all white homing pigeon is one new 'pet'. She is currently living in a cage on the side of the shed in the backyard. I'm not really sure why we have her. I want to purge the pets, not add to them - except for the beagle. I love the beagle. We also adopted a baby blue jay. Al's hoping that she'll be able to fly away soon. AND...we had a large bear in the backyard. But we are definitely NOT keeping him!

Here are some recent pictures...

Daniel is fishing with his 'ugly stick'

He caught a perch - but check out the size of the perch compared to the lure! Hungry perch!

Daddy's perch...

Daddy's girl catching perch (or trying)

Ruth's snake-charming skills didn't work on the snake, but Daniel sure looks woozy!

Ruth with a small blue jay...



My sweet Ezra... Happy Birthday!


PS - after we got home from King of the Frosties where I took the Ezra pics, I showed Al what I thought was a skin tag under Ezra's arm. Turns out deer ticks look just like skin tags! My poor boy has been feasted upon by a tick for more than 24 hours! I'm calling the Dr. on Monday. I'll let you know how that turns out.

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Baby Boy and Pup

Ezra and Echo

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Helloooo!! hellooo. Is there an echo in here?

Well - we went and did it. We did what I was sure we wouldn't be doing for a long time. We got a new...

puppy. Isn't she beautiful???!!! She is a sweet little beagle. We've named her Echo because of her bark. I wanted to go with the name, 'fingernails on chalkboard' but it's not an easy name to holler out the back door when I'm calling her in. One of her many sisters might be living nearby!

Here are some more pics...

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BEWARE!

This child WILL steal your heart!

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