We Are SO Green!

Let me just tell you...yesterday afternoon T got home from work and we all (me, t, and kiddos) went outside to water our new bushes and crepe myrtles. Get the picture...T3 is in footy pajamas. MW is in her bride dress, veil, and Cinderella glass slippers. She brings out a tray of plastic food and fills several cups with "sugar" (sand). We get the bushes watered and...long story short:

We bought a lawn mower for roughly $300 from Lowes in the winter two years ago. That summer, that time of year when grass needs cutting every week, T was cutting the front yard and it died. IT DIED! Back to Lowes...they wouldn't exchange it...it'd been too long, but they would cover the repair cost...I mean the thing was brand new! Goodbye lawn mower for the next few weeks...hello lots of tall grass!

We get her back and she works...for a few weeks...and then dies, AGAIN! Then, we start getting calls from a collection agency about the $70 worth of repairs to the lawn mower...that LOWES was supposed to cover! What??? We get up with the manager at Lowes and he vows to take care of the matter. We only got calls everyday for a little over a week. Ick!

At this point T is so frustrated with this lawn mower, he puts it on the road!!! I found out in the middle of Home Depot when he suggested we purchase a new lawn mower and I was like, "I really think you can fix the old one." He forgot to mention he'd put her on the side of the road! We quickly exited Home Depot. Discussions like that aren't meant to be had in public. :) Um...that's all I'll write about that.

The GREEN point is, that T found his dad's old mower...a Reel Lawn Mower...and "borrowed" it from the attic. So, yesterday, with the kids in the yard, we gave it a try. AWESOME! Sweet! It was so fun! I love to cut the grass anyway...instant satisfaction! The Reel Lawn Mower was so quiet and it was efficient. I think we need to sharpen the blade...but man we've been missing out! And with gas prices where they are...not only are we "helping the environment," but we're also helping our wallets! And...I used to wait for nap time and then attach all sorts of vibrating baby monitors to my waist in case little ones roused while I was out cutting...it was a hassel...not anymore! I can cut while the kids are out in the yard with me! Which means a tall glass of iced tea during naps instead of sweating it out with the gas mower! It also means we can cut before 8am without annoying neighbors.

Speaking of which...the Humane Society would not take Ramsey. I placed an ad in the paper. I am sort of sad...oh well. Happy day!

One last thing...an explanation of the above photo...I couldn't find T3's shoes. Backtracking to bath time, I found the bathroom in order...where were those shoes? Finally I thought to look under the sink skirt...just in case they'd gotten pushed under...and that's what I found! Staged by none other than MW! Surprisingly, she remembered doing this and was adamant that it was her bunny rabbit's "housey." And by the way...I have scrubbed that 70 year-old tile on my hands and knees with all manner of cleaners...that IS clean...

A few things to ponder from The Enemy Within by Chris Lungaard
(a book worth digesting!)

"So when it seems you don't have enough time to do your work, care for your family, love your friends, and devote yourself to prayer and meditation, the problem isn't God's providence. The problem may be that you've taken on yourself more than God intended."

"The flesh resists with it's last breath anything that smacks of communion with God, because it suffocates in His presence."

and last...

" The flesh works to make you forget the deisgn (that you are saved to be holy) and think only of the remedy (if you sin you'll be forgiven). It preaches half a gospel (a twisted gospel) to us: "Go ahead and indulge-it's already paid for....You know the flesh has made a break in your defenses when your heart is hardened by its deceitfulness (Heb. 3:13) so that you are careless about sin...You'll know you are hardened when you begin to extend the boundaries of Christian freedom to include indulgences that in the past would have shocked you..."

May God purify our hearts and show us our sin.