Saturday, April 26, 2008

Puter Wresling

Well, since the last time we have visited I have tried to blog twice ~ no dice. With that said, I am running out of time. Today is traditionally the day I post my weekly menu, but no time to day and leaving on a camping trip tomorrow. I have spent all day today grocery shopping and packing the RV for our trip. Now I have like 8 minutes until I have to start getting ready for a Women of Faith dinner at my church. Well actually it's at one of the ladies homes and we will have dinner and a movie tonight. I really look forward to these outings with no kids. Does that make me mean? Or just human?

Anyway, when I get back from camping next week I promise to try and catch up on all the news and post my Slow Cooker Maui Chicken recipe, since a reader asked so nice. Of course all this depends on my computer. I have discovered that it is not blogger but my very own computer giving me grief! Can you Imogen? Oh the sham!!! LOL

Well gotta run.
Blessings, Beth Ann

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

blogger battles

Greetings all from middle Tn. A balmy 80 here today. The past few days have been warm and sunny, we're not complaining! LOL Matter of fact. heading down the road to do a little local camping this coming week. With gas so high it is about all we are will to commit to. The place we go to is pretty rural, so it still feels like we are roughing it. (as best we can in an RV) : )

I also want to let you all know that I am not only having computer trouble, but issues with blogger as well. So if my blogs seem a little hit and miss, it is not from lack of trying. for every 3 or so wonderful blogs I have planned, I am lucky if 1 gets posted. So I am struggling with this and will not be swayed! LOL The problem seems to lay in if I want to post a picture or image. What is a blog without pic's?

Here is a picture of our warm and sunny day. We have a screened in back deck, connected to our pool, and it sees alot of use this time of year. Here middle dd and little ds are building marble runs!
Well we have about 8 weeks of home school left here, and it is a pretty big deal. Usually we go year around, with a few weeks off here and there. This time we are taking a 6 week break and will start roughly back up the same time as public school. My oldest ds seems to think this will be helpful with his many extra curricular activities. We will see. So we are all excited, and now that I have gone to the home school convention I am excited to pick some new stuff for the fall. I can't believe oldest ds will be in 10th and dd will be in 7th. I searched and searched and think I have even found some good stuff for the twins. They will only be 4, but they need something. The issue is that all the pre K stuff I find, they already know! I personally wouldn't worry about it, but they want something. They like to sit at the table or on the couch with us, and ask for their own work. So I am kind of excited about them as well. All in all it looks as if it will gear up to be a great fall!
Now that I got ya hear there is so much I want to tell you! LOL Could do a whole blog on dh and his job coming to town and the impact that will make on our family. With gas the way it is, him staying local could very well be our saving grace. It is scheduled to open in June, lets cross our fingers. That means financially we only have to hold on 8 more weeks/2 months/4 pay checks or so. Best part is that he will be here for the set up too, so even if the time is off it will still work out.

My friend Amy has been trying to adopt a child from Haiti for 31 months. The adoption is approved, all he needs is a visa. Please pray for her and her family. Visit her blog, Amy's adoption, see link at right and see her story. Three years is along time for her, her family and ds in Haiti. Please Pray!

Blessings, Beth Ann



















Saturday, April 19, 2008

Whats for dinner this week

Whats for dinner at your house this week?

At our house this week ~

Sat: Home made Pizza w/salad

Sun: Mushroom Cheddar Soup w/ garlic bread and salad

Mon: Salisbury Steaks w/ baked pot and green beans

Tue: Crock pot Lasagna w/ rolls and salad

Wed: Church/mom's night off

Thur: Pork loin w/ mashed pot and corn

Fri: Slow Cooker Maui Chicken on rice w/ steamed mixed veg.



Other cooking includes for the week: Home made bread, home made cinnamon rolls, hummingbird food (does that count?) and I am having a craving for my peppermint mocha coffee creamer. What are you making this week? Post for any recipes.



Blessings, Beth Ann


Intelligent Design

Today's topic is a quick review in evaluation. Last night we went to the movie "Expelled: no intelligence allowed" by Ben Stein, and it was a real brain picker. It is a documentary on the scientific study of Intelligent Design ( God made everything) vs. Darwinism (we evolved.... from what?) Ben Stien did an awesome job with the facts. I have to believe that most of us there (in the smallest theater in the megaplex) were there for religious reasons. Stien doesn't clam to be a religious person. His problem is the blocking of free speech. All I can say is that as a religious "freak", I am excited to see non-religious "freaks" starting to take note of the dumbing down of America and the loss of our Constitutional rights. Which if you read the constitution, you will notice were given to us by our "Creator". Basically the premise is this in a nut shell: Darwinism believes that we all evolved from a single cell. Where did it come from? They don't even know themselves. Their two most popular theories are piggy back crystal mutations, or another evolved planet seeded our planet (aliens?). But where did that life form come from? They don't know. But all the Darwin teaching scientist, the majority, won't consider any other option and anyone who does is a trouble maker (can't be controlled by the government). It all boils down to money, and being able to control the masses. If they don't believe in God they have no hope, and people with no hope are much more easy to control. For those of you still pondering this, here is something to consider (borrowed from my bff's dh): Where did the pencil come from? A tree? Where did the tree come from? A seed? Where did the seed come from? A tree? Where did the tree come from? A seed? This is a circle theory and is the very definition of insanity. But this is what Darwinism is teaching. Shaking my head here.

When we visited the Creation Museum in KY, the kids got to take a class on dinosaurs and how they relate to the bible. Again, for those of you not sure, visit the book of Job:4 ~ where there is mention of a "behemoth".

Here is dd making her own Behemoth.


The class was taught by the man who made all the dino's for the museum, including this one!

Here is dd with her finished "Behemoth"! Good job B!!!
Blessings, Beth Ann























Friday, April 18, 2008

It's Friday!

Another sunny day here, currently 77 at my house! We are gearing up for a busy week-end. My bff is having a community garage sale in her subdivision. So we are gathering a few items to take over and try to unload. That runs most of tomorrow, but not sure if I will go over or not. Gas is always an issue, currently $3.35 here. Also, ds Z is working. It is the last rabies clinic scheduled. Then the following week-end our church is having a garage sale to raise money for the kids mission trip. Also happening is the library bake sale/book sale, and both ds and dd are members of their teen group. So I guess every week-end is busy! What was I thinking? LOL

Tonight DH and I are joining bff and her Dh for a movie. I am sooo excited, first one I have been to in 5 years! Oh wait, I have been to the drive-in with the kids twice since then. Please dismiss my previous enthusiasm as it is premature and unwarranted. Anyway, we are going to see this Ben Stein movie/documentary. It is about creationism vs. evolutionism, and the persecution attached. Sounds heavy, I know. I will fill you in tomorrow when I blog. I understand some of it was filmed at the Creation Museum in Kentucky that I blog about when I came back from my home school conference.

Well the kids and dh are out trying to plant some flowers. Better check up on them.

Blessings, Beth Ann










Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Whats new under the sun?

Noticed it has been a few days. So thought I would just check in and let everyone know I'm still alive (so are the kids despite what you might have heard).

Another beautiful sunny and warm day here, 68 currently. Not much new or exciting happening here however. We are in the midst of a cold/flu thing. Most of us are on the mend, but ds Z got walloped good last night. I know he is really sick, he isn't even asking to watch t.v.!!!! LOL

DH and I are trying to decided if it will be worthwhile to plant a garden this year. The soil is rocky and full of clay, and lets not forget the summer heat. The temps get up into the 100's. Plants literal get burned at the stake! LOL

Blessings, Beth

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Out and about town

Yesterday was a very blustery day here in middle TN. Still it didn't stop me and DH from spending the day checking out new places while we hit the town to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.

The first place we went to was a Gorden Foods Marketplace. Wow. I haven't been to one of those since leaving MI. This is only the 3rd one to open in TN. We also managed to hit there, totally unplanned, on there grand opening while they were having a food tasting tent. My DH was sooooooo excited. He had missed there large pans of nitrate filled meatballs. So we had a brunch there and checked out some old and new favorites. I did a lot of price comparison. We have a Dollar General Market in our town. NOT a Dollar General, but a Dollar General Market. The difference is that the Market has a real grocery store with produce included. I found most times that the $GM prices were cheaper than GFMP. For there grand opening they had some good deals, but other than that ~ buyer be wear.

Then we headed over to the new World Market. Never even heard of this place until I read about it on a friends blog. She worked their briefly. Kind of like a Pier1 on steroids. I did enjoy their kitchen gadgets (my passion) and a few interesting things in the gourmet food section. But mostly I was disappointed that so many of the so called gourmet foods I have seen at "regular" grocery stores. My DH feel in love with a little terracotta pig grill that he found at the grilling kiosk. He said it would be perfect for just two steaks. I found that hysterical since there are 6 of us in our house. He said he wanted to get it and keep it for when it was just the two of us full timing it in our RV. Aweeeeeeeeee! How sweet. We are planning on getting some new living room furniture in a couple months and saw some possibilities there. So we have to check back on that.

The other noteworthy excitement of the day came when we ducted into a local pet store, not one of the 3 major chains in town. We were also out pricing ferrets, but that is another blog. So there we are, ewwwing and awwwwing over the puppies. I see they have a squirrel for sale in a cage. How interesting. Then I see a sign saying the small animals are downstairs. Hmmmmm, thought puppies and squirrels were small. Shrug. Ferrets must be down there as I haven't seen any signs of rodent life whatsoever up here. Down we go. Bingo. There are the ferret cages. So DH and I gawk at them and check prices on them for a couple minutes. Then I am on the hunt for the actual animal. If they have the cages they must have the ............. GINKYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a flipping KANGAROO!!! DH almost had to catch me, thought I was going to pass out. I did not expect that! Then DH says, "actually the sign says it's a Wallaby". Zoinks! $2000 and he is all mine. Then I notice a Kinkajew next to him in the next cage. But he is not for sale. He is just there for .....?

Well we did have a great anniversary, even though there were tornado's going on around us. But grandma S and grandpa D held down the fort and even picked Z up from standardized testing in town. So nice to be able to get out and look at stuff with out the kids jumping up and down begging for stuff. That was my job yesterday ~ LOL I did manage to snag a couple more Baby Einstein DVDS for my grandson, at the consignment shop that I get the twins cloths from. And as I was drifting off to sleep last night...... was I dreaming of hubby another 20, 30, years with him? NO! I couldn't stop thinking about that kangaroo! I felt the urge to set him free. On our way home we passed an Ostrich farm. So I tried to convince hubby we could pull off a covert mission to free the roo and leave him at the ostrich farm. But hubby was already snoring........

Blessings, Beth Ann

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Warm days

Greetings from warm and sunny middle TN. Another beautiful day, 72 at my house. Yesterday reached 79 here. We had friends over for dinner and ate out on our screened in porch. Days like that remind me of why we moved here.

Well I have many more pictures to share with you of my trip, but I cant load the files. My friend took them on her digital camera and then burned them to disk. Well when I try to load them here at the blogger site, it tells me that the files are to large. I tried several things, obviously none worked. So if anyone has some ideas, feel free to share them.

A very dear dear lady, who was the secretary at our church for many years, has retired and is moving to Atlanta, Georgia. At church they roasted her and I didn't know what to say that someone else hadn't already said. Someone brought up Philippians. Now on looking back, I wish I had expounded on that theme. Miss H. Philippians 4:8 is for you ~ the whatever verse. Because you are the very embodiment of all the whatevers!

Miss. H gave the twins a play tent before she moved. Used to belong to her grandkids. We broke it out yesterday and you would have thought it was Christmas time here! Here is E playing ball off the back of it.


Here is other E camping in it.


Here is E & E playing with the ball toss that came with it. Thanks Miss H.!

The twins don't want to stop playing in this. There are tears when it is time to come in. Although there was laughing when the tent fell over on grandma S. during dinner last night. Then E boy went potty (we are about 3/4 of the way through potty training) and came back out and put his underwear in his dinner dish. Never a dull moment at our house. All this while ds came home from animal clinic and is asking to go to a flea convention! Don't know why, but this is the funniest thing I have ever heard. I just can't stop laughing every time I think about it. How DO they get those collars on those little fleas? Get it, flea collar ~ LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann










Friday, April 04, 2008

Prepare to Believe

Greetings from soggy middle TN. A week ago today I went to one of the most compelling places I have ever been privileged to go, The Creation Museum. I started asking around, and was shocked that no one in this area had heard of it. It is relatively close, on the Kentucky ~ Ohio border, in Petersburg, KY.

So I am asking everyone to check it out at www.creationmuseum.org The Creation Museum presents a unique and unparalleled experience, a walk through time portraying significant, life-altering events from the past, illuminating the effects of biblical history on our present and future world.

The top photo is an engraved plaster, depicting St. George of England slaying a dragon/aka a dinosaur. The museum goes into great detail (and does it well) explaining the part of dinosaurs in the book of Genesis, before and after the flood. Many people people have trouble wrapping their minds around this fact, and can find the answers here.

The second photo is of a sculpture that hangs above the book/gift shop entrance. "Dragon Hall". I have many more photo's to post, but will take it slow and try to weed out the dead wood, so to speak~ LOL I just wanted to share this with you all as fast as I could when I found out that this resource is going un-noticed and unused.




Blessings, Beth Ann




Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Another home school moment

Today was mostly nice and we took advantage of it by eating lunch out on our screened in porch. While DH was laying the twins down for their nap, I started sorting through all the home school curriculum catalogs I picked up in Cincinnati. I need to get their fall 2008 item ready to order soon. It was wonderful and quiet out on the back porch, ps kids not home, adults at work, no one mowing the grass and no one for the dogs to bark at! Pretty soon my dd brought out her school work to keep me company, and then Howard the handicap mini doxin insisted on being with us too! Just another perk of being a home schooler. Just as a side note, ds has been at animal clinic last two days, that is why he is not mentioned or pictured ~ LOL It is considered his biology lab and when he turns 16 and they pay him, it will be considered an apprenticeship. I tell you, that kid is on the right track. I am so proud of him. Four years ago, before we started home schooling, I was very concerned about him. Now I know that Gods plan is for us as parents to teach our children. I have seen miracles in my own. What is considered troublesome in ps is actually a sign that my son had an above average IQ and was board. It tells us in the bible, over and over, that we are to train up our own children, not send them away. Truthfully, who other than their own parents know them and their needs?

Blessings, Beth Ann