This morning is not going well.   Apparently my daughter says our van would not start so she had to call for a ride from work.  It is -28 but is -42 with the windchill.   I am so sick of the cold weather.  My kids are going nuts cooped up in the house and with the vehicle problems and pipe problems it has been a rough week.  Michael went down there in all that gunk and fixed the pipes.  It was the dishwasher pipes not the sewer which is what I said originally so now it is fixed.  We will still need to go down there and spray bleach all over it, but for now, it is done.

The vehicles have been another story.  I bought a brand new battery on Tuesday night and now the van won't start???!!

Kyla-Dawn's car was going last night for the first time since we got home from our trip.   We discovered her lights were left on.  However, her alternator is shot.  Derk drove it for 15 minutes, shut it off and it just clicks.  SIGH!!!

Our Lumina, which has been a blessing all winter, died the other night too and it took us awhile to get it unthawed and going again but today, it is fine while the van and car sit frozen.

Today I feel positively awful.  Hence the complaining probably.  I have an upset stomach and headache and you name it I have it.  

The stress of the financial woes and the pipes and my studies is getting to be too much for me and then...I pick this time to quit drinking diet coke.  We shall see how long I make it.   So far...it is 11 hours and most of those were sleeping. 

Well  time to get everyone motivated here and get this day moving along a bit faster. 

Well here we go again.  A new year and frozen pipes.  We spent the New Year in Kenora Ontario with the Wittmeier family because our daughter will soon be moving in with them to help out in their church.  

God blessed us with a mysterious couple sending us a cheque for $400!  It was american so we got almost an extra hundred.  We were so in need that day and I had been sitting there so badly depressed over our financial situation.  We had not even been going to have Christmas except our two oldest kids had bought the food and presents and a wonderful new fireplace (electric - stone) for me.  

We ended up having a great Christmas with both Josh and I  on the mend.  I had half of my third toe on my right foot amputated on December 5th.  Another story that one.. including running out of gas!   Then while I was still recovering and not even walking yet, Joshua had surgery on his right foot for an ingrown toenail on his big toe.  SO both of us sat the entire holidays out pretty much.  However, he recovered much faster than I did of course as his wasn't as serious, and he also was way younger.

We enjoyed our time out and had fun at the WIttmeiers too.  During the Christmas season, someone also bought boots, ski-suits and other things for our family which were and still are such a blessing to us.  God has shown us that in 2009 He is blessing us.

However, the problems still multiply.   We came home to frozen pipes.  sigh... they stayed frozen for an entire week.  Well the HOT water was, then it warmed up on the weekend and we got it back.  Our washer however apparently had a leak in the pipes somewhere and we never got that back.  It is a sheet of ice around the pipes down there so the boys are trying to deal with that issue today.  However, the hot water has frozen again due to the windchill sending the temperature so low.  It was down to -48 C last night!   Extremely cold.  Our van will not start today and I do not even know how Kyla-Dawn got to work.  

So here I sit at 10:46 am, nobody has had breakfast yet because we are trying to work on pipes and get things in place to warm them up and get our hot water back, and I am sitting here with my foot throbbing and burning trying to get everyone organized and myself in gear.  So much for school or anything else I had planned. 

Depressed?  Yup!!!  

I am trying to not think of the money this is going to cost us that we do not have.  I am trying to stay positive about it all but it is not easy today when the boys keep arguing over everything we need to do.  I know it is not fun for poor Michael who at 13 is the only one who can get down in that back crawlspace, but he has to do it and there is nobody else!

So that is how my new year has begun.  I went about 20 hours with no diet coke then the stress got to me when the adjustor for our insurance company came yesterday and later that night, I went and had some diet coke again.   We are trying to at the least cut back on it but preferably quit.

Well enough whining on here.  I need to focus on something more productive I guess now that I have vented.

We just called the company recommended to us and he refused to even come.  He is too busy.  Call the town he says it could be their issue so now my husbad is doing that and in the meantime, I am sitting here paralyzed at all of this that is beyond my control and knowledge and most definitely finances!!!

Well here we go... PMS week for my dd and I.  Why is it women have to go through the same thing at the same time in the same family?!  grrrr

Come to think of it, my men folk get cranky around the same time of the month too.  Could there be a male version of this?

I haven't written for some time and most of you who bother to read this know why, but I shall try to play catch up on here for those who don't.

We have had a wonderful vacation.  An all expenses paid vacation with three motel rooms per night... ahhhhhh what bliss!  We went to Alberta.  All our gas and food was taken care of too so it was just wages for the person covering for us that we had to deal with.

Before we went, I prayed that the Lord would send us home with more than we left with and guess what?  YUP!  HE DID!

Things around here have been hairy and yet good at the same time.  We have been dealing with some income tax issues that for some reason weren't right and so we are awaiting on the new judgement and all of that.  It involves our GST for our business expenses so it could be good for us in the end..... hopefully!

We baptized our first actual MORRIS person on Sunday afternoon and we had 23 in service.  Just 3 shy of doubling our regular congregation!  It went well and we had a potluck dinner afterwards.

Oh great... my kids are dumping juice everywhere sigh..  A typical monday after we have finished cleaning up!  We've been schooling year round this year and enjoying that.  KD will graduate next spring and she's working as well as working extra hard on her school work so she can make sure to be done on time!

My toe infection is still pretty bad.  I haven't seen a dr here yet because I'm still on the major antibiotics they put me on in Alberta.  Once those are ended, I'm going to have to see one because it doesn't seem to be going completely away.  Everytime I walk on it for a long time, or whatever, it flares up again!

Well... time to eat my yummy cabbage roll. 

Heidi

Wow has this summer flown by quickly!  Thursday Jenaya turns 6, Friday I turn 41 and next Friday Kyla-Dawn turns 17!  I can't believe we've already started grade 12 me and KD.  We are schooling year round now and it's much better this way.  School and then nothing for long periods of time really messes up our routine and the kids are bored anyway!  This way, we do less work each day and so on a regular basis, they have more playtime every day.

Yesterday, I took it upon myself to get going on some cleaning and re-organizing projects that involved the computer, laptop, desk drawers, papers, and my bedroom.  I moved a small desk to the church so we needed to clean it out, KD's desk had been in the kitchen during camp so we had a hair doing station for us all and now its back where it is supposed to be in her room,  the desk is at the church and I'm cleaning and rearranging the papers in the one here plus the church papers.  Lots of work!

Sis Gayle came over again today and picked up the front door key as the back one to the church won't work.  She's been doing some sanding over there so that's helping us out alot!  We should be ready for the primer this weekend hopefully.  Maybe even before that!  It'd be nice to be ready to paint actual color on the walls on Saturday... who knows....

Same thing around here.  We need to get some painting done around here too.  I have tons of rooms to paint so we need to get on them asap!

It's starting to come together though and that's exciting.  Even though my room isn't the right color, most of it is neat and tidy and looks good when it's like that!

Zach is feeling better now finally and this morning all three kids were crying to go outside again after we had to come in lol.  They love it out there sooooo much!

I still need to go for groceries and some other shopping but I'm not sure when I'll get to it.  There's too much to do here.

School is coming along too.  Kyla-Dawn is already beginning her grade 12 subjects so that she can finish school by youth retreat next spring.  It's going to be a heavy load on her this year, but we think it is looking like a possibility.

Well it was a great camp this year that's for sure!  First of all Derk was off the entire week and that made life SOOOOO much better although the youth went to Winnipeg for some fun driving go-carts etc, and Derk drove and chaperoned so it meant that I was at home with the three youngest ones because the two girls were at recreation.  I had to walk over to the grounds the 8 blocks carrying Zach and having the twins running along on the sidewalk the entire trip because I needed to be there for choir and pick the girls up and the wheel on the stroller went wonky and I was afraid of being stranded with no stroller and have to lug it along too!  It was one of the hottest days too!  We made it though!

On Thursday night Derk and I did the music and leading so I had to be prepared for that too plus get everybody dressed up to the nines!  All the girls had brand new dresses and looked soooo sweet!  That night though, the Lord moved and everyone was laughing or drunk in the spirit.  There were about 40 people laughing in the altar it was amazine and the cop came in for a liquor license check too! hee hee.  At least that is what it LOOKED like.

Saturday wasn't too nice.  We discovered our yard filled with forks and our van toiletpapered and written on with soap.  That part was okay but then our primed only front door was full of ketchup.  Our stairs STILL even after washing it down with pots of water because we don't have a garden hose hook-up thanks to my father removing it, and the rain that was all night has not cleansed those pitted concrete steps and walk so its kind of icky to walk out there sigh... the door was just horrible.  We were NOT impressed on that one let me tell ya!

Oh well... we shall survive this one too!

We had one of those services where everything that can will go wrong on Sunday and so it was a teidious time, but all in all it came off okay and then there were two peeking in the door, one twice, and later one of our people met someone who'd been at camp and was thinking.  He wanted our articles of faith!

Monday, we kind of cleaned up from Camp and KD and I had to go to Morden to help Derk.  Today, we are dealing with 3 sick girls.  Not fun...  Derk left later today on purpose thinking his freight would be scanned in as promised the day before but found out when he was almost there, that they'd not done it so he's behind and is not impressed.  We are putting away laundry that was washed on the weekend, and I'm deep cleaning the book closet and the shelf. I've finished the desk top but am not really gung-ho to begin the drawers yet.  We've got littles sleeping everywhere and at almost 1 pm we are just thinking about lunch.

I can't believe my 41st birthday is in 10 days!  Jenaya keeps counting down to her's which is the 19th but I'm not paying attention to mine which is the day after and all of a sudden it is coming fast!  Kyla-Dawn turns 17 on the 27th and Josh will be 15 on August 10th so birthday season is in full force.  Jenaya turns 6 this year.

  Do you ever have those days when you think things are running off the rails?  That's how the past few hours have felt to me.  My stomach has literally started to hurt because of the phone calls and mail I've received today.  They mean decisions I have to make on things and sometimes I'm SO sick and tired of things looking good and progressing along and then suddenly a wall pops out of nowhere.  Today it was a consolidation loan we'd wanted to do.  Well... let's rephrase that.  THE LOAN COMPANY approached US!  They made it sound okay and we thought we could actually benefit from this because we'd have a lower interest rate.  However, they seem to want to do a second mortgage or something on our house and we don't want one soooooo I get a phone call from a realtor here in town saying someone from this office has wanted him to come into our house, measure everywhere and take pictures of every room.  Now... we are still renovating mind you and that's why we did not go this very route with our bank!  An assessment would be kind of useless as each room has areas that we've not finished working in so how can they give a fair value if they can't see it?  sigh...  Anyway, Derk's put the kibash on it as far as I know.  We can do this another way and we will just forget about these guys.  grrrr  

School went okay, Josh read today and was reading about 13 words per minute which is an improvement.  Larissa was reading about 24 words per minute and is doing quite well.

We've had a kinda wobbly day around here.  Things happening, but delayed due to other things cropping up and us oversleeping again sigh.  I think maybe my clock is an hour wrong.  I was sure it said 7:00 when I got up but then down on the puter, it said 8:00.

Well. we are almost back to schedule now, about a half an hour behind I think and that we can catch up on soon.

What a day!

It's hard to imagine a Monday that went perfectly fine with no troubles!  I've not had many of them that's for sure.

This morning I overslept as we went to bed a bit later last night and then it was lightening and raining so much out there I kept waking up.  So I was behind from the get go by about 2 hours.  Not impressed!

Then I woke up the kids, got things back on schedule as best as I could and so far so good.  Some school accomplished, some chores done, things were recovering nicely when suddenly Zachary tripped over his own big toes!  This is something he's been doing lately and smashes his little face but so far so good until today.  Now, his poor lip has a slight cut, a definite blood line where it hit, is swelling and bruising as well as he had a slight nosebleed and a scrape to his little chin.  Poor guy!  How on earth can we keep him from tripping though?  sigh... he just gets going so fast.

We had freezies on hand luckily and since he refused a washcloth or ice, we gave him those and he was happy.  He's been weaning himself off the bottle too so that's great.  I'm ready for us to begin the potty training but we haven't started yet due to the issues of camp in two weeks.  He knows all the words, knows what he's done and when and even says his diaper needs to go to the garbage and then takes it there.  He's such a sweetie!

We got the new bunks for the girls, but decided to set them up as two twin beds so that each older girl can sleep with a younger one making sleeping arrangements easier.

I'd wanted to paint today and do a bunch of other things too but it is just not happening!  Outside we are due for another storm and so while Josh did get some gardening in, we can't really do much else at the moment.  We still have the rest of the shed to tear down yet.

Oh great... Ember just had an accident on the girls bed!  Luckily we have those mattress covers on there and they are spill resistant!  Mama was thinking this time round!

It is nap time around here and I really hope these girls conk out!  I have a terrible headache brought on by allergies and the approaching storm.  I would rather NOT be a weather vane but here I am!!!!

Today I'm doing some desk work, sewing and planning clothes for camp.  Tonight I need to do church work.  Always something on the go it seems!

What a time we are having today!   I've had to revise the schedule again.  Its time to start listening to what we need and want around here as a family and homeschooling family instead of what other people want us to run our lives like.  sigh... always hard to draw that line in the sand for me!

Anyway, today, I'm redoing the schedule and so far, we are following along pretty well.  I'll have to maybe keep a journal of what works best and how much more or less time is needed for something to take place.  Already, snack time could be only 15 minutes but I have it at 30 because of the way I did the schedule.  Later I will narrow things down somewhat.

IT is sunny today and that means my kids might get outside later.  Well... JOsh is already out there gardening and mowing the lawn.  We've had so much rain this summer its making the grass really green but also grow real fast too!

The house was tidied up pretty much on time this morning and it still looks good.  One unusual thing was the new printer I had to install this morning.  I needed to use it!  We did it though and I think I am really going to like it.

The kids' school is divided into wierd chunks of time.  Sometimes they are longer than other times and sometimes someone is in the tub while the rest are doing school, but that's the only way we can accommodate all of them having daily baths.  Now... to schedule MY bath lol.   hmmmmm should it be TWO hours.... THREE?  Maybe 10??  depends on the day I guess!

uggh just got bit by one of Manitoba's provincial birds.... THE MOSQUITO!

One thing I've been doing the past week since all these issues developed regarding my son's being gone so much and seeing his tiredness increase while his productivity decreased, feeling the loss of control over our lives and schooling, the stress when the phone rings or someone knocks at the door because of this issue, has made me search out what I want from life as a woman, wife, mother, homeschooler etc.  I'm so tired of people walking all over me and my goals for our children.

The youth retreat we were just at was a tremendous one and it helped so much.  We've relaxed some of our "petty rules" that were in place because mainly we didn't  KNOW we were allowed to "have fun" or "be mischievious" and we've also told our daughter that she may now join the ranks of those who date.  We think 17 is acceptable in our lifestyle for this and since camp comes before three of our children's 17th's birthday, those three will be allowed to date as of that camp.  Fair enough I think.  Our rules are simple too.  We want to know where they are, who they are with, how they plan on getting there and back, that they keep their cell phone with them and on, that they call us if anything changes and ask our advice first and that if there's any curfew issues.... they be discussed before they go out or else we get a phone call immediately once they realize they will be late.  That's all.  I'm not an ogre lol.

Well time to eat.  Michael was to make lunch and threw a fit about doing it.  He hates egg salad and that was lunch.  After several times of being talked to, he changed his attitude and is FINALLY doing as he was told. 

It has FINALLY stopped pouring.  It started yesterday with a tornado watch for much of Manitoba and then that being downgraded to a severe thunderstorm watch.  Nothing of that came to pass thankfully but it did start raining and the wind came up around midnight which has lasted all day till now at noon!

Last night, everything was going wrong.  We'd let Michael go off with our friend for the day and they had a time.  They'd ridden horses, gone exploring in an old church and the cemetary etc and that was fine except for the fact that Michael was needed home here to help out because he's getting to leave and go with this man while brothers and sisters are having to do his chores.  He says he's done or whatever but it is a half hearted attempt and that makes me very upset.  It is not fair to the other two.

Anyway, he was home by 3 or so and that was actually earlier than normal so I was happy and put him to work.  Supper was a disaster.  We'd taken out the chicken but it just wouldn't thaw and so it wasn't in on time and wasn't done on time either.  We finally took it apart and threw it on the barbecue to finish it off.  It worked good that way and once Derk was home he took care of it after we ran to the store.

We'd no sooner sat down at the table to eat when along came this guy and just walked on in even though Derk told him we were just sitting down to eat!  Normally we would have invited him to join us, but we really didn't have enough last night, its one of those we are broke and just getting by till payday meals, and also, he'd already eaten anyway. 

He was going to do laundry and he had decided to come over for awhile to wait on the washers.  It was kind of awkward but we got through it.  He'd no sooner gone when Derk mentioned to someone that Zach looked like he was going to fall down  the stairs if someone didn't get him down.  With that, Zach did fall and Larissa couldn't get him.  Ember was sitting on the steps crying because she'd gotten hurt or something when suddenly she realized what was going on and that 3 yr old child grabbed her brother who was summersalting by her face and caught his ankles stopping his fall and he landed on his bottom!   Ember's little face was ashen when she was done!  I think she was shocked but also thought maybe she'd done a bad thing or something.  When we praised her and gave them all a piece of chocolate it still took a few mintues for her to calm down again!  But... she saved Zachary's life!

Today, life has been very hectic at times, and at others' almost dead!  Derk's doing okay on the route despite sleeping in this morning, and we all were up by 6:09 am too so we have our day well in hand here.

We've planned our father's day service, the meal afterwards, and we're working on a grocery list for that day plus our next two weeks.  Also planning meals for camp.  So much to do and so little time.  I'm working with Josh and Larissa both together on their spelling as they are around the same place.  I want to make SURE they know how to spell so... this way it will take me less time because I can teach the same subject (till Josh really get's it and takes off!)

What a wierd day it has been!  I am so worn out today I had to lay down this afternoon.  Obviously KD is a grouch today (someone always has to be the party pooper right?) and only Josh really was helping work.  The girls are wild and wholly and the littles are their normal pain in the rear selves as they get into things and won't sleep during nap time etc.  Zach though was well behaved and didn't really try to kill any cats today so that's great!

We've gotten rid of one of the white cats .... one to go and then we have the four kittens and their mama and daddy still.  We aren't getting rid of the parents but not sure about how many cat's we want around here.

Its almost 6 pm and I'm totally burned out and feeling sick right now.  I'm probably going to be staying home with the littles tonight so I don't give this to anybody else.