The Final Push!

Tonight I am going to push through to try to finish my last yearbook! Two are at the printers and four are out on “final proof,” which leaves me with one to complete. Oh, I LONG to put these to bed! Then I have one more sort of big project and one small project and then I’m going to take a little time off – completely off.

Today was a little taste of what is to come…MW and I had the best time! We ran to Walmart to pick up a few items, then by Sonic for limeades because it is already SO HOT here! And then we went home and juggled making the most yummy black bean soup, with our three-part poster all connected with bright yellow raffia…and I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of it! Our neighbor had quadruple bypass surgery earlier this week and has had a slight set back…MW has been running fever and coughing…and with T’s work schedule and the weird visiting hours at the hospital (four x a day for 30 min. each time) I just haven’t made it by to see him. So, MW and I made him a get-well poster. Really, MW designed it. We took the backs off of three huge wall calendars and tied them together and MW decided to have me write “I LOVE YOU” on the first, then “UNCLE” on the second, and “R” on the third…she colored each letter and even put glitter on all the letters in his name. Then we took pictures of MW and T3 and cut them to fit these little foam stick-on frames, and added five of those to the posters, along with “fringe” (punched holes with yellow raffia) on the bottom…it was quite a glittery mess! But we had the best time working on it together! We sat at the dining room table for probably two hours coloring and gluing and glittering…so much fun!

And that was my little taste of what is to come…projects with my little artist spread all over the dining room table…and I am hankering to get my fingers back into painting. I haven’t done a “fun” painting in a long time! I’m thinking watercolors…and maybe acrylics. I’m not sure I have the patience for oils, not to mention the energy and tolerance for inquisitive little fingers poking at my paints!

T and I do our own pest control – what a HUGE $$$ saver! And it works so well! We gave that a go today. We usually spray outside about three-four times a year and inside twice a year. Our yearly “pest control” budget is a mere $40! Yahoo! I LOVE spraying the house. T took the inside and I took the outside and we went to town! Hooray! I HATE roaches! But I’m not afraid of them anymore! When I was a kid, we’d been out of town for a week or so and upon our return, Dad instructed us to brush teeth and get in bed…and that’s what I did. I always drank from this green plastic cup on which Mom had paint-penned my name…and I drank from it that night…and being a kid, I saw no reason to put fresh water in it…so gulp, gulp, gulp away that week old water…and I opened my eyes and what was floating in that cup??? A ROACH! Ever since then, I have passionately HATED roaches! And I dare say I was afraid of them, paralyzed with fear. But my sweet husband helped me get over that fear…one night we got into a disagreement. During our “passionate discussion” a roach emerged from the vent. I immediately demanded T kill the thing. He, in order to gain the upper hand, refused. In a combination of fear, fury, and rushing adrenaline, I charged the thing, and he escaped…something about that night changed me and now I am on a mission to rid the earth of those nasty little things! (What purpose DID they serve before the fall???)

T and I are sort of HUGE Dave Ramsey fans…we’ve been working his plan for about four years. So... I wanted to mention that this morning while in Walmart, my heart sank. I felt that clutching feeling and my stomach did a little dip…I heard a woman speaking rather loudly, pretty much yelling, at her husband, that they couldn’t afford a soft drink. It made me think of a few years ago, during our “get out of debt” period, when we couldn’t afford to purchase a soft drink. Okay, that makes us sound like we were picking through dumpsters…(which we did and do, but only for “vintage” furniture, never food, thankfully. ) We had money, T is a hard worker and a wonderful provider, but we’d made some less than wise decisions financially and we spent about two years digging out of all that…and during that time we made many sacrifices, including the cessation of all soft drink purchasing. So, hearing that little rant, that wife pleading with her husband, imperative that they couldn’t afford it, well, it just made my heart ache. We’d been there and done that, though never in Walmart for an audience! It also prompted me to say a prayer of thanks to God for bringing Dave Ramsey into our lives and for helping us through that time.

The dryer is beeping at me and this last yearbook is calling my name. I better post and run! Oh, the pics are from our last hour with Ramsey...and just so you know, MW BEGGED to get in the cage! What am I going to do with her???

PS Somehow, and I'm not sure how, but when I redid the template for my blog, I quite getting emails letting me know a comment had been posted...and I just assumed no one was commenting...oops! I just read through the last several posts/comments - Thanks, y'all! I LOVE hearing from you!