It's almost November and time to make some choices. I will get you in a patriotic mood with some early voting.

In this process, I have two dilemmas:
1. The colors did not show very well in the picture. (I think maximizing it will help.)
2. There is a good possibility that we will be moving back to Cincinnati in the summer of 2008. With that in mind, I began to mull my choice of wanting brown walls in the living room. Should I go neutral such as #3 or #6 for all the potential buyers who will view the house? My choice is #2 which "in person" looks like a Wendy's frosty. I had thought about striping one wall with #1 and #2 and doing the other walls #2. I had also pondered doing one wall #1 and the others #2. Would that scare people? I mean, afterall, they are already going to panic when they see orange in the bedroom and bath. (Hee. Hee:-)

Here are the voting choices:

1. Do I go neutral for the future owners?
2. Should I stripe one wall for fun?
3. Should I do two colors?
4. Should I just do the frosty color?

Please vote and help me decide. (You do not even have to include your name!) I am so curious to know opinions concerning this matter. I know how I tend to be so "out of the box." In fact, sometimes I think I have obliterated "the box." You have a few days to choose. My sister is flying here on the 7th, and I am planning to paint while she watches the munchkins.

I am finally posting more pictures of our new home. Yes, I painted and decorated the laundry room. Surely, I am not the only one that does that! I chose pink because it is my favorite color, and there is no other room that I could do that shade. So, I went for the "Mom's Laundry" type of room. Since I spend a good deal of time in there, I might as well have a cute place to enjoy! As for the curtain, I was going in the direction of the "Shabby Chic" line of decor. I wanted it to have that scrap material, patched, imperfect look to it. I am not sure if I succeeded in your mind, but I like it. I am debating whether or not to paint the wooden trash can that is brown and quite an eyesore in color. Guess I am not currently in the mood to undertake that project. It would look prettier if it were white, wouldn't it?

It is a busy Friday, but before I head off, I wanted to tell you about our school outing yesterday.

I need to hurry. Little Stevie Russo will be here in 25 minutes. I get to watch him while his parents go on a date. He is such a cutie and has me wrapped around his finger!

Just thought I would break the monotony of my putting away groceries and cleaning the house with this little interruption. . . part of one of my teeth just broke! Sniff! I have lost part of me. I was so happy it's Friday and was having a great day despite the cold rain. Then my tooth had to go and break in Walmart. The problem was that I was dying to know which tooth and was not about to walk around with a finger in my mouth! I probably looked just as strange trying to find the broken tooth with my tongue. Oh, well ~ I own soft teeth and have gotten to know many dentists in my lifetime. Some "Dixie Dentist" will now be able to go on a trip after he meets me. (I just hope that he does not use my money to buy a rebel flag! :-)

Have a great weekend.

Russos! (Clapping, cheering) God has blessed us with wonderful neighbors to help fill the void that was left in our hearts when we pulled away from Cincinnati. In all the moves I have made, none have been this hard, and I cried bucketloads of tears on the way to Dixie. I had no idea the people God would bring into my life. I was hoping for neighbors that would have a nice boy to be friends with Seth. Well, God gave us a Christian, homeschooling family with four children! That makes for some fun school trips together. Kim and I have become "fast" friends, and she has successfully created a permanent spot in my heart. She is lots of fun and such a kindred spirit. Sorry I do not have a picture of her husband, Dave, who gives us the free paint. Nice guy! :-) Their children are Caleb, Naomi, Anneliese and Stevie.

The "castle" was close to being "squeaky clean" on Monday night. Les, here is the before and after proof of how awful my house looked. I am only including the living room shot. :-)
Yes, we did whip out the good old imagination for the sake of Seth. We worked in the "castle," and I was "Maid Marian" from the Robin Hood story. Seth wanted to be called "Mike." (Still not sure where he fit in the tale.) I suggested "Little Seth" because of "Little John." Nope - he was "Mike." The interesting thing was that "Maid Marian" did the brunt of the work while "Mike" spent a good deal of time "helping Robin Hood get the bad guys." I was busy, but at least safe in the castle! :-)

Following the busy days of last week, the "castle" is in shambles! I almost included pictures to prove that my house is not in perfect order 24/7 like some believe. Sorry - I couldn't. It was too embarrassing! Since the "queen" of the castle is also the headmistress, I canceled school for today. I ensured myself a good night of sleep by taking Benadryl last night, and lounged in bed until nine this morning! It was wonderful! The boys behaved well, but I did have to make a few new laws from my "bedchamber." You know the "Do not hit the piano keys while your brother is playing a song" type of rules. Other than that, they have had a wonderful time playing and racing around the house. I, on the other hand, had a wonderful time sleeping and resting!
They did "surprise" me with their new game. (I am not sure how this rates with "Crashing Fat Bellies.") They kept tossing stuffed puppies until they landed on the ceiling fan, and then sent the poor things spinning until they would plummet to the floor. (Sounds like something their mother would have done years ago. :-)

Now, I am off to clean the castle. . .Speaking of "castles," where are the maids around this place? Oh, well. . .guess I am stuck with just me. I will have to rely on the old imagination by inventing a new game so the boys and I can have a great time cleaning!

Rain pattering on the roof. Bedroom nice and dark. Deliciously warm bed. Awesome sheets with a high thread count. Get up and return to the DMV!
This morning again found us at our new spot. (I have included a picture for your benefit.) I was amused at the letters that have been removed - Department of Public Safety. They would return those letters if they knew how many times I have left that place and returned to the road with expired tags. Not to disappoint you; today was no different. Just for your info - if your husband wants to include you on the title, he has to sign the places as a seller, and you become the buyer. (You have to work for the government for that one to make sense.) Believe me, I had this lady highlight, explain, repeat, explain, let me fill in spaces now, do some more explaining. . . If I could have connected with Troy today, I would have been willing to drive to BJU to get his signature. I am getting weary of this whole thing. Sigh!
On a different "note," last night, I left my windows "cracked" in the van. That is always a joy to discover in the morning when it is raining. I made a temporary seat of Walmart bags and towels. With the pouring rain, I also discovered it is a great day for hydroplaning! (My poor heart skipped a few beats on that one!)

We have made it through another weekend of expired tags! Monday morning, I had everything to remedy the problem. The paper containing Troy's signature in hand, the children and I headed into our new hangout to finally complete the dreaded task! As we are hopping out of the van, Ethan wanted to know where the "wittle wady is." Dear child, I am sure she had the privilege of completing every transaction in one day not weeks!

Hold it!! New "snag" in this situation ~ my name is not on the title. Troy and I decided it was in our best interest to include it in case anything happened to him. The lady at the front desk tells me that Troy also has to sign the back of the title if I am to be included. I was kind and restrained the "You've got to be kidding me" withering look that was ready to appear on my face. I plopped down and decided to call Troy to see if it is worth trying to get my name on it. Within thirty seconds of being seated, Ethan has already started producing chuckles from the man directly across from us. Second thought. . .maybe I was producing the laughs. . . Well, Troy says my name should be on it, so I leave; the dreaded task still undone. . .

At home this evening, Troy and I have scoured the back of the title and did not find any such "spot" for his name. So, Tuesday morning will again find us winding our way to the SCDMV.

Am I the only one who dreads standing in line just to give your precious money to the county in order to obtain the privilege of driving on their roads?
Am I the only one who knows that when you take two small boys you are ensuring that there will be mishaps?

Am I the only one who wonders why you cannot do all the business in one place? You know ~ some type of BMV/DMV Supercenter? No, the government would rather you run between different locations so that you are frustrated and disliking them by the time you are done!
Well, I had to do the "business" this time. Troy has been the "lucky" one in the past, but he is so busy, I felt guilty asking him to complete the dreaded task.

I chose Friday, the 13th, as my day to ruin! I knew Ethan would make it memorable; he never lets me down on that one! The interesting thing about him is that he is wonderful in the van. He will sit in his carseat for hours and be a great kid. Something triggers in his brain as soon as the straps are off. I contemplated taking his seat in with me, but then I would probably have more policemen at my door! :-) During our first stop, we read every book and looked at all the pictures on the camera. I thought about reading the publishing and copyright dates, but decided the boys would not be interested. Ethan is too busy waving, smiling, chatting, talking, climbing. . .Meanwhile, Seth has finished all the seatwork I brought. (Great! We are still at our first stop!) After leaving there, Ethan starts doing gross things like licking a counter! I was appalled and mortified. I am so germ conscious that there is no water fountain drinking allowed, we always clean hands before a meal and absolutely no drink sharing. You can imagine my horror to see him swipe the counter with his tongue! Then he bumps a table which in turn crashes into a wall. (Don't you love it when everyone stares at you?!) Oh, no! I just spotted a midget two people up from us. I begin to pray, "Lord, please do not let Ethan see her." Yeah, right. Seth politely tapped me and whispered, "Mommy, I think I am taller than her." Did Ethan whisper? Of course not. He blurted out, "Mommy, wook at the coot wittle wady!" So Ethanesque! Now it is my turn to be told what large amount of money I need to surrender. We then leave that line to go join another line so we can "pay up." That lady is not thrilled because I cannot give her a home phone number. "I do not have one. We use cell phones." (That solicited a half rolling of eyes, smirking twist of the lips, dignified county worker look.) She finally wrote it down. What other choice did she have? I was not about to go have a phone line installed just to make her happy! We pile into the van again to go to the next stop. I have the replacement title from OH, so we can take care of the expired tags. I am getting ready to turn left when a car pulls out, and I had to swerve into the other lane so it would not hit me! I arrive at the next place a bit flustered after the narrow escape. The problem here is they are moving too fast. First, I am told Troy has to sign the paper for the new tags. Lovely!!! I went through all of that so I could not complete the "task." (Inwardly I am muttering, "Lady, if you think I am driving all the way to BJU and back just for a signature, you are funny. The tags will remain expired for another weekend!") Well, I will settle for getting my new license. Now, I am frantically trying to fill out the form before my number is called. . .Let's see - Name. . .Ethan, please get off the floor. Birthdate. . .Ethan, please quit knocking on the wall. . . Are you a felon. . .No, more like feline right now. . .Mother's name. . .Ethan, you only need to sit in one chair. . .Mother's maiden name. . .Ethan, please quit swinging your toy dinosaur. . .Mother's height when she was thirteen. . .Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the questions are about as bad. The plastic dinosaur ends up whacking me in the face at one point. Good - nice red mark for the picture! Oh, no!!! The midget is here getting her license, too! At least Ethan did not say anything this time. Whew!!!
We are FINALLY done, they hand me my new license and guess what??? My name is spelled incorrectly! I had to laugh at that one!! Is is just me? :-)

That is the name of the game my boys invented! To play, you will need a stuffed bear and a brave heart. The object is to cram the bear up your shirt and run pell-mell at the opposing person. Whoever is still standing is the winner! (Am I the only one laughing? :-) I will reiterate - my kids amuse me!!!! Their imaginations are amazing. Any GBS student or staff member that lived or even walked by our house came to realize how imaginative Seth can be. I will never forget when Janna H. told me he had chased every alligator out of her yard! (No wonder he loved Steve Irwin!) I cannot for the life of me figure out where they inherited such imaginations! (Choke. Cough.) Okay - Okay - I am guilty, but I never would have made up a game like "Crashing Fat Bellies!" The nice thing about being an imaginative child is that life is not boring; you can always dream of something. As a little girl, I pretended everything from a soldier to being Martha Miller. I used to dream of playing the piano in front of Reagan at the White House. I even tried to put that dream in action by playing the piano as loudly as I could in hopes that some government official would walk by our house and hear me. (I am sure the neighbors were thrilled.) Surely, if I were heard by the right person, I would be invited to the White House! That is the mind of a seven year old in action! Okay. . . that is far out, but at least I wasn't playing "Crashing Fat Bellies!" My imagination also got the best of me when my cousin would lock me in my grandparents' basement and tell me some dead ancestor was there with a knife! (Thanks, Les!) I came to realize that an imagination was very handy around punishment time. For your benefit, I have included my six year old picture. . . Can you think such a sweet little face would ever cause problems?! :-) I had it all worked out that when I was sent to my room, I was in solitary confinement. Next up was sentences time. You know - "I will respect my parents." (Hopefully I was not the only one who had that punishment!) No problem there - I pretended I was the manager of some big company and was doing paperwork. I even became very accomplished with using two pencils at once and writing double time. Spankings were no different; in fact my older brother helped me on that one. . . Being the patriotic citizens that we were, we pretended to be American soldiers, and Mom and Dad were the communists. With all that in mind. . .I prefer my kids inventing "Crashing Fat Bellies." I do tap into their little imaginations though. We pretend to be bakers in the kitchen, restaurant workers at meals, and I have even donned a hard hat so I could be "Wendy." "Bob" and I had to fold laundry together. (Did I miss that episode?) It's all great, and the boys and I have fun. Thank you, God, for vivid imaginations. (For now - anyway.)

It was a normal Friday night at our home - Troy arriving late from the pharmacy. It was Friday, so I decided to let the boys stay awake and wrestle with Dad. Wrestling - a favorite pastime in this household. In fact, that is one of Seth's reasons as to why we should have more children - more to wrestle. Picture the scene - the weather cool ~ windows open. Mistake #1 if you plan to wrestle! They all had a great time yelling, laughing, joking, playing, and Ethan crying at one point because he was scared when Troy flipped him in the air. By 11 P.M., boys were ready for bed and enjoying a story when we had "company" at the door. To my astonishment, there was a policeman and another joined him shortly. They were here on a domestic call investigating a report of screaming children and wanted to know if everyone was okay. After my initial shock, I was worried, scared, upset and every other emotion you can imagine! The boys came to the door right away, and the policeman was able to chat with them. They told him they were wrestling - nothing more, nothing less. Troy having arrived at the door at this point, decided to take advantage of the situation and report something else that was going on in the neighborhood. While he was talking, Ethan (the one who chats to anyone about anything) pipes up, "My Daddy threw me up in the air and hurt me." I almost croaked! I quickly clapped my hand over his mouth and said, "Now be quiet, honey, Daddy is talking to the policeman." Thankfully I was the only one who heard him, otherwise I think the story might have ended differently. So, be careful when you are having family fun; it might be a shirttail crime!

I forgot to snap a picture of the policeman to include in this post. :-) Maybe I will remember next time. No, let's hope there is not a next time! What a way to ruin a perfectly good evening!

Here are a few snapshots of some of our school activities.

My blindfolded son is learning about his senses in science. He is trusting enough of me to cover his eyes/nose and sniff and eat away! I was very kind, and the worst that my prankster side did was to put a tiny bit of vanilla extract on his tongue. It was not a very good reaction because he did not think it tasted yucky. So much for my jokes! You will find the boys painting some art projects, playing the library's computers, and Seth shopping at Dollar Tree with some prize money he won at school. He had a difficult time choosing one item.

This morning, I was finally able to get pictures to post, and they are not in the order I selected. I am just so thrilled to get them to appear that I am not even trying to rearrange. So, you get the honor of figuring out the scenario.

This, obviously, is my newly painted kitchen! I got so tired of the "institutional "color and decided to grit my teeth and grab a paintbrush. The good news is that it only took one coat of paint! The better news is that my neighbor is a painter and gave me Sherwin Williams paint for FREE!!! As for the painting, I had to do a little improvisation since I do not have a ladder. Here are a few tips you might need to know if you ever decide to stand on your fridge to paint:-) :

1. When getting down from the top of the fridge, do not place your hand on the freezer door; it flies open! Oops!

2. Your fridge can hold 150 lbs of body weight without caving or denting.

3. Do not use a swivel stool to get up and down from the fridge. It swivels under your weight! (How's that for logic?!)

I also had an interesting time standing on top of my piano bench which was on top of the dining room table. I tried to get all of that painted before Troy came home and stopped me from putting my bones in such jeopardy. It was worth it though! How do you think it looks? Can you believe I actually went neutral?! Deep down I really wanted red. I am being very good and not allowing myself to decorate until the white trim is painted. Hence the bland looking kitchen.

To all my faithful blog readers, (If I have any other than Troy's mom :-), I have so much to post, but since the pictures will not appear, I have no heart to do it. It does not surprise me that I have "blogging" problems. It has been one of those days! Actually, it has been one of those weeks - no, more like months! The printer quit working. Ethan told me he put his tiger in it, and that is why. (Didn't know he had one and couldn't find one in there. . .) The AC quit working in the van. (That would not be such a big deal if we had not just paid $250 in July to have it serviced.) I just realized that the beater bar (I think that is what it is called.) is not working on the vac, so I have the "privilege" of cleaning my house with just the hose. It's sorta like using a "Shop Vac" on your carpets and leaves your back in wonderful shape! (Yeah, right.) I am driving with expired tags on my van while we wait for a new title to arrive from OH. (I hope no policemen read this. If you do, I live in Timbuktu.) On Tuesday, I was driving through a green light, and a lady turned left and then saw me! Thankfully we both had good brakes and control of our cars and missed each other. The shattered back patio door is not repaired. (Yes, we will get to it before winter.) One of our tires has a nail in it, and we will have to get a new one soon. To top it off, I walked in my kitchen for a late night piece of toast and found a huge, whopping, massive, horrid (I still do not think I used enough adjectives!) nasty, gross, wicked, disgusting roach! (I shiver just to think of it!) He found his eternal resting place inside the bag of my vacuum!

So, as you can imagine, the lack of blog pictures is the least of my problems. Believe it or not, my optimistic side is still there although sometimes I have to convince it to "come forth!" Through each one of these obstacles, I am seeing a good side. Well, all except for the printer - can't think of anything positive about having a printer that does not work. Especially when you have to download forms and have no clue where you can print them. Most of all I praise God that the "other driver" who was in a bigger vehicle did not hit me. (She would have blasted into the driver's or Ethan's door. What fun to have a wrecked van with expired tags!) The weather is cooling, and I really do not need my AC in the van. We have not run the house's AC for a month!!! At least the hose on my vac works! This week I bought gas for $1.88 a gallon!!!! The leak in the tire is a slow one. God gave us wonderful neighbors that bring us so much joy. We have a great church to attend and lots of new friends. Since moving here and I am not teaching piano lessons and doing several cleaning jobs, we are scraping and barely keeping our noses above water - - yet God provided the money to pay all the bills last month. (That included a massive credit card bill which boasted the purchase of things like a lawn mower.) Ethan has not had any asthma issues lately which is a BIG relief! Due to Troy's graduate assistantship at BJU, he will not have any school debt when he is finished with this degree! Now that is huge!!!! Most importantly, I can sleep peacefully and not be afraid to meet God, and that makes all my other problems pale.

Returning to "earthly" subjects, Troy does not have to work at the pharmacy tomorrow (YIPPEE!!!), so he should be able to help me correct the "picture issue." I will try not to post all 3,482 pictures in one day. (Kidding! :-)

P.S. Forgot to mention another positive thing. . .Until the other night and since that time, I have not seen another roach in my clean kitchen!!!!!

I am finally sitting down after a long weekend to be a good blogger, and my computer will not post any pictures! (Nothing like showing off your freshly painted kitchen!) Yes, that is where I have been. Painting, mowing the lawn, helping cut Ethan's hair (Troy does the cutting, and I do the entertaining. For some reason, our boys cry like Troy plans to cut off their ears or something!), practicing the Christmas cantata, doing extra cleaning and organizing, putting up seasonal decor, grocery shopping, putting the house back together after the "beating" it took while I was painting, taking the boys to Kids' Planet, scrubbing some of the siding on the house, cleaning/washing the van, attending church. . . and that's a taste of what I have been doing. Hopefully I will get this "picture thing" corrected soon. It is really frustrating me. How boring is a post with no pictures! Hopefully the color helped!