Maddening

Mom says teacher let classmates vote autistic son out of class
By Colleen Wixon | Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers
2:31 PM EDT, May 25, 2008

PORT ST. LUCIE - Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son's kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn't like about Barton's 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Barton said.

By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex -- who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism -- out of the class.

Melissa Barton filed a complaint with Morningside's school resource officer, who investigated the matter, Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele said. But the state attorney's office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said.

Read entire story here

I would say that I could never fathom this happening in an American school, but unfortunately, I know from my 6 years in the classroom that things like this happen all the time. Truly revolting. There are no excuses for the damage the teacher has done to little Alex. This, along with at least a hundred other reasons, is why I am choosing to teach my child at home. You can find out what you can do to make sure the teacher is held responsible for her actions by reading Melissa's (the child's mother) comments below this post on Mommy Life. You can also send Alex a card by following the directions posted here. I have more to say about all of this, but it is late and I'll write more next time.

We are truly loving our new home. We finally have most of the pictures hung and boxes unpacked. I never imagined that God would bless us more than He did with our first house. I cannot describe the feeling of peace and retreat I get every time I pull into the driveway. Thank You, Lord, for this unexpected gift.

P.S. New pictures are coming, I promise!! :)

Home...sick

No, I'm not homesick for the old house. I'm literally home and still sick (see below). We did move in to the new house and have been here a week and a half. We are loving it! This week, we've had several workers out to finish up and correct a few things, but all in all, the house is wonderful! I've almost unpacked everything and it's slowly feeling more like "home". I'll post some new pics soon.

The reason I'm posting is to ask you all to pray for us. Nothing major - it's just that we cannot shake the sickness in our house. I've continued to run fever and have been told that it's most likely a virus that's just lingering. Over the weekend, I developed another sore throat that sure felt like strep again. It is better today and I will mention it at my follow-up appt. on Friday. Ella has had a bit of a cold/cough for the past week and though she seems to have recovered from that, something new has popped up. She had been a little sluggish late this afternoon and had complained of her tummy hurting. I didn't think anything of it because at this age, it seems like she's always talking about her tummy. Well, we went to her favorite place to eat dinner before heading to church and she didn't feel like eating. She didn't even want us to order something for her, which is very unusual. I kept asking if she felt like going to church and she said it was fine. We parked the car at church and I went to get her out of her car seat when she began vomiting. A lot. So, we promptly went home. She's thrown up a few more times since then (twice in her sleep), but she seems to finally be settled down for the night. I hope and pray that it's not the dreadful stomach virus that's been going around. Maybe she has what I've had and this is just the beginning - remember that I threw up when my illness started back up again at the end of last month. As much as I hate being sick, there is nothing worse than watching your child get pale and pasty and scared. Anyway, I know there are much worse things that we could be handling, but it is very stressful to try to get settled in a new house while not being able to rid of these "bugs". I'm sure the stress is not helping the recovery either. It appears to be a vicious cycle.

Thanks to all of you who are such faithful prayer partners. Though I may not get to say it very often lately, I keep all of you in my prayers as well.

Ready or not, here we come!

We have made the call. We are officially moving this weekend. Ready or not. I don't think everything will be done by Friday, but I'm hopeful. We had our "walk-through" last Friday. I made a LONG list of things that needed to be fixed (the majority of issues had to do with paint & drywall). As of today, not a whole lot of that had been done. I really just give up. If those spots don't get painted, I'll just do it myself. I'm tired of people who don't care about their work.

Let me just tell you about what I found at the house today. I went over to check some fabric samples for the window seat cushion I'm making. As I drove up to the intersection of my street, the painters were about to turn the corner past me. They saw me, so they backed all the way down the cul-de-sac and back down into my driveway. I watched one of them go into the house for a minute then return to the truck to leave. I went in to find that they had left everything wide open - the garage door and the back door into the house. They left all the lights on in the house and they had taken off with the key to the lock box. [They later explained that since they saw me, they thought they could leave the house open. My point was they saw me AFTER they left the house that way!] I was upset about that, then I saw something that really sent me over the edge. A pair of my pajama shorts was on the kitchen counter covered in drywall debris. As if someone had used it as a rag. WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!! I went out to the garage to see how they had gotten to it since there are several of our boxes in the garage. I had packed one of those extra-large zip-lock bags full of my pajamas and it was stored on a table in the garage, UNDER some sheets we'd thrown over the boxes. One of the workers had moved the sheets around, looking for something, then ripped a hole in the bag and pulled out this pair of shorts!! What an invasion of privacy! What a lack of respect for my property! I just cannot even fathom someone thinking it OK to do something like this, especially when these guys carry tons of rags around in their truck. I called Paul right away and asked him to call the builder - I was just too upset to talk to him. The site manager met me over there and I went over the whole ordeal with him. The builder was livid and he is going to be having a *chat* with the drywall workers tomorrow. I now feel like I need to move in there to protect my things. This incident is just the icing on the cake of several other things that have gone on around the house recently.

Earlier this week, someone stole the copper wiring out of the A/C units at Paul's office. My grandmother has been in town this week and she found out that someone keyed her car on both sides while it was in my aunt's driveway (where she was storing it until she returns home). A woman who's been going through a ministry program at our church was released back into "real life" this past week and she wound up back in jail. I had gotten to know her through a Bible Study and just love her to death. I don't know the situation that landed her in jail, but it just makes me really sad. I am feeling so disappointed in the human race in general right now. Satan has such a grip on so many people and it's very hard to see the good anymore. Don't get me wrong, I do see the good. God's Hand is more and more evident every day that goes by. Just the fact that the American Idols were allowed to sing a praise song to Jesus that was broadcast to millions of people is proof that He is Alive! The older I get, the more I find that the only One I can fully trust and rely on is Jesus. People will continually fail and fall short of our expectations but Jesus never fails.

As much as I have whined about the house (etc.!), I do know how truly blessed I am. I do know that while I complain about the little paint problems in my beautiful new house, there are many people who do not have a home to complain about. While I groan about having to wear the same shirt over and over because I don't like the 20 other shirts in my closet, there are many children who have only one shirt to wear. As I fuss over the higher prices at the grocery store, I realize that there are many parents who cannot afford to buy any food for their family. When I gripe about the family members that grate on my nerves for their over-involvement in my life, I am reminded that many people do not have a family to love and support them. I do not deserve the blessings that come my way and I cannot explain why some go without. What I don't want to do is take these provisions for granted. I do not want to get so involved in my own "problems" that I forget about the world around me. Oh God, continue to bring me to my knees in humility and break my selfish heart. Turn my eyes away from myself and help me to view the world through your eyes.

I didn't intend to turn this into a dissertation. Just thoughts going through my weary head tonight. We will move this weekend and it will all be just fine. God is so very good.

FrustraSHON, AggravaSHON, and IrritaSHON!

Cajun Man came by to give me the title for this blog. Ok, I'm a dork.

So, yes, I'm very "frusterated" (as Ella would say). I went by the house today, expecting to find most of the paint done and carpet put in. As you can guess, the paint isn't anywhere near being finished and the carpet was just being put in at 2pm when I was there. I'm mostly aggravated by the fact that the painters told me yesterday that they were going to get most of their work done because they KNEW the carpet was coming today. It would just make sense, wouldn't it, that they would want to paint the rooms before the carpet went in, right???? The living room has not been given a 2nd coat, so now they have to be extremely careful when painting in there. I was irritated that there was one cable/phone outlet that had not been cut out a while back (all the wiring is there), so it had been drywalled and painted over. I told the builder about it and he said the cable company would catch that when they came to install cable. They won't be coming out til right before we move in, so since there was no face plate or cut out there, the drywall guys put more drywall over it yesterday!!! WHAT?! I guess they thought it was just another crack in the wall. Another irritation is that some of the workers messed up our windows and I don't know how they are going to be fixed. The windows had "stoppers" (don't really know what to call them, but they prevent the window from being pushed all the way up) on each side of the casing. When the workers got hot, I guess they opened the windows and didn't realize there were stoppers. They basically jammed the windows up as far as they would go and the stoppers broke through the casing at the top of the window. I'm not sure if my little description makes sense, but it all boils down to a very difficult problem to fix. I don't think they can just replace this part of the casing because I think the casing of a window is all one piece, but I'm not sure. Blah! Oh, and the electrician went on vacation this week, so he won't be back to fix the little glitches til Monday I think. Sorry to rant and rave, but I really am sick of this. Many people have told me it's par for the course, but I just don't think we should be ok with people not doing the jobs we've paid them to do!! Or doing sub-par work. As I said in my last post, I've got friends and family who have basically put their weekends on hold for us for the last month, so they'd be ready to help us move. It's not fair to them and it's certainly not fair to us for the builder to keep telling us it will be ready when it's not. Trying not to pull my hair out...

There are a couple of positive things to report. TOday, I went to pick up our blinds from Home Depot (Ella's new favorite place because of the cool "cars" to ride in). I still have to figure out what to put on the doors going out to the porch, but it feels good to have the majority of the window coverings ready to go (once the windows are fixed, ARGH!). I also found cute tier curtains for the kitchen and laundry room. I have new bedspreads for all three beds. It's going to be do much fun having a fresh start, whenever that may be. ;)

Ella asked my mom if she could spend the night with her and, of course, she said yes. She took Ella at 3, so I've been free this afternoon. It's been nice and quiet. Paul and I might actually get to go to dinner alone tonight - what's that like? Hopefully stress-free!

Greens and Things

We have a yard! From the outside, the house looks ready for us. The inside is a different story. We do finally have electricity, but the drywall spots have not all been repaired, so the painters haven't been able to come back yet, and of coure, the carpet can't be put down yet. Ugh. The waiting is killing me. What's worse is that we keep lining people up to help us move each upcoming weekend, then we have to tell them that it will be another week...then another...then another. I hope we still have help by the time the house is ready. We asked the builder if we should be able to move in this coming weekend and he assured us we will. Well, by the looks of things today, that ain't happening. No one had been there to work since Friday. When I got there at 3 pm, the plumbers had just arrived to work on the kitchen appliances. It annoys me that the builder doesn't seem to be using every available moment to finish up the house. I guess I'd rather have him do it right than do it in a hurry, but still. It's frustrating. In the meantime, I've nearly finished packing. Next up will be the deep cleaning. I'm definitely not in a hurry to get to that point!!

I'm still having some little health issues. The fever went away for about 2 weeks, but it has returned. I'm beginning to think that my body temperature has just gone up a bit with age. I don't know if that happens. The fever did accompany some other yuckiness this time, though. Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready for church, I had a bit of an upset stomach (which isn't out of the ordinary for me, thanks to IBS). Warning - TMI! I headed for the bathroom, when a rush of nausea came over me out of nowhere and I threw up twice. Mind you, I have not thrown up since high school, I think. I usually do everything I can not to, but I had no time. The worst part about it was that I was singing a solo in church yesterday morning. What a wonderful thing to happen before you have to get up in front of lots of people to sing your heart out to the Lord! It actually turned out to be a good thing because it totally took my focus off of my nerves and I had to completely rely on the Spirit to get me through. I had to sing it in 2 services and was just overwhelmed by how God worked through me, in spite of how I felt. He never ceases to amaze me with His goodness and grace. By the end of it all, I was thoroughly exhausted and still had to go back last night to direct children's choir. I was queasy on and off for the rest of the day and have felt better today, though still tired. I just don't know what's going on with me lately. Maybe stress is having a hayday with my health.

Here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday. It was such a good day. Ella really seems to be mulling around the ideas of who Jesus is, what happened to Him on the cross, and how He comes to live in our hearts. It may still be a while before she truly understands, but I love to see how He is working in her little life. We used the Resurrection Eggs with her and she remembered every detail when she retold the story to my family. Oh, how I pray that God will continue to draw her to Himself.

Beep! Beep!

We have a driveway!! I know, I know, it's huge! But, we are in a cul-de-sac where 4 lots are squished together at the street, so parking will be an issue when we have people over. Oh, and less grass to mow for Paul (and he dreams of putting up a basketball "court" there on the corner. Dream on, baby). We found out today that the landscaper has some St. Augustine sod from another job that fell through. He asked if we would take it off his hands for no extra charge (we originally ordered centipede because it's so much cheaper). Well, duh! Of course we will! The sod should hopefully be put down tomorrow. We will have some miniature azaleas in the bed on the left corner of the house with a crepe myrtle on the end. After spending all day yesterday searching for a tree, I finally decided on and bought a Cleveland Pear tree today to go in the middle of the front "yard".

I'm a bit frustrated with the guy who sold us our spa. He's causing some issues, but we're dealing with it and I hope that he doesn't delay the inspections. Other than that, it appears that things will be finished next week. I hate to keep putting dates out there because they keep changing.

We had a showing today! I had to rush home from the picnic/egg hunt we had with our friends today to clean up. I had been letting things go a bit lately, so there was a good bit to do. I only had about 2 & 1/2 hours to make things spotless and shiny and I pretty much killed myself to get it done. I sure hope these people liked the house. I can't wait til we've moved out so I don't have to keep frantically cleaning up for these spontaneous showings! It all seems just pointless when people don't even throw out an offer. Please pray that we'll get an offer soon!!

Other than the cleaning part, we had such a fun day. This morning, we went to the library for a performance of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", by Mark Twain. It was really cute. The acting troupe consisted of just 2 people and the show included some singing and a lot of humor. Ella really got a kick out of it. After the show, we headed to the park for our picnic and our own private egg hunt. Here are a few of my favorite shots from our outing today:

Sorry my entries have been short on writing these days. I hope that once we've settled into the new house, I'll have a bit more time on my hands. I do have a lot to write about (other than the new house), I promise!

Hunting Eggs

We went egg hunting on Saturday with some friends. We had a great time. The hunt was much more organized than the one we went to last year. There were 3 fields - one for each age group - set up with eggs. Our field was for ages 4 and under and the parents were allowed to help the kids. It all went very quickly, but Ella is still talking about how much fun she had! We will have some family Easter activities this weekend.

HOUSE UPDATE: The screens are finally up on the back porch. The trim is complete! The guys were there today repairing drywall spots so that the painters can come back to do 2nd coats on all the walls. The driveway has been framed, so the concrete should be poured tomorrow (praying the weather stays clear!!) and the sod will be put down. All the mirrors are in. The appliances were delivered today! We found a new dining room set and a bed for Ella today. We are SET! It seems that most everything will be done this week. Of course, once the power is on, we have to make sure the lights all work and things like that. So, barring any other unforeseen problems, we should be in our house the first week of April. I'm soooooooooo READY!

It has been a very long day, so I'm going to turn in for the night. Sweet Dreams!

Running on empty?

I'm still running a low-grade fever. I may call the doctor in the morning, just to see what I should do. I guess it may just be some little virus that has to run it's course, but I've had the fever for 6 days now with fatigue and some very minor sinus symptoms. I just want to be healthy (which is a relative term for me) once more.

The house is getting nearer to completion. I'm sure this is par for the course when building, but it seems like these last "little" details are taking forever! The trim took over a week, but there was only one guy on the job. I think he's almost finished, but he's holding up the painters and carpet-layers. Those are the last few things to be done inside the house (oh yeah, and closets & mirrors - duh!). Outside, the sprinkler system is in, which means the sod and driveway (+ gutters & screens) should be in soon. I'm sorry if any of this sounds repetitive!! :) Anyway, here is an overabundance of pictures for you! Enjoy and have a good night.

The Kitchen
The Kitchen Desk Wall
Light Fixture Above Dining TableLaundry Room
Laundry Room 2Living Room FanGuest Room Fan
Ella's Room FanMaster Bedroom Fan
PorchView of Porch from Deck
Front of House

Little Red

Or "Rojosita" as we like to call her (not sure if that's correct Spanish, Su!). But, look at all that red! Her hair has really changed over the last few months. She still has some blonde highlights, but the red seems to be taking over. :)

These were taken on our trek to the beach this past Sunday. We had so much fun as a family, even if it was still a bit chilly. We had a little picnic lunch, including her favorite..."peanut butter n' crackers". DH & I surprised her afterward by treating her to ice cream. It was a nice little break from our hectic lives of late.

Sorry to cut this short but I have a temperature once again. It's on the low side, so that's good. Who knows what's going on this time. I have no other symptoms, so it's just wait and see. I have new pictures of the house, but will post them later in the week. Must go to bed to hopefully ward off some new illness. Please pray for a showing we have tomorrow. It would be perfect timing for this person to buy it, since the house should be done by the end of next week!!

P.S. I'm still getting used to my laptop and I think this monitor makes my pictures look different than on my desktop. Can you let me know if the pics look odd to you and if so, how? Thanks! And, thank you for all your comments on my last post. I love you guys!

Fluff and stuff

Countertops are in! Doors & trim are in! Light fixtures are in! It's just about time for us to be in! Just a few more details (second coat of paint on all walls, carpet, mirrors, closet shelving, driveway, landscaping) to go and we'll be set. I'll be back over there later this week and will take some new pictures to post.

Now we just have to sell this house. Our open house had one visitor. I guess if she's "the one", it was a success - but it still feels like a LOT of work for nothing. We also had a showing today by another realtor. I left while they were here, so I have no idea what they thought. It would be awesome, of course, if we could get an offer before we move, but I'm trying to prepare for the worst. The market is so horrible that we truly have no control over whether or not it sells. It's all in God's hands and sometimes it's hard to just concede it over to Him!

I have a ton of sewing projects I'm dying to start working on, but am trying to wait til we're settled in the new house. I really want to make a new poppet and I may have to give in to help me procrastinate on the packing! At least I got my Jo-Ann fix today - forget drugs...just give me fabric! ;) I found tons of remnants to make doll clothes, wallets, and other cute things. Oh, I'm going to have so much more crafting room over at the new place! Can you tell I'm going crazy with all this waiting??

I wanted to say that as part of the revival at church, I felt a renewed calling to the work I'm doing at church with the kids. It's hard when you're working with children this young to feel like you're making any kind of impact on them. But, as I was reminded during the revival, it is our job to plant the seeds in the lives of others. We may never see the harvest, but God's Word never comes back void, so I should not lose heart even when they stare at me blankly when I ask them questions about the story I just told them! I do wish that I had started this work after the house was built because it's been very challenging to keep it all going. I really enjoy the kids and I just hope that I've been able to convey my love for the Lord to them.

Hubby is FINALLY feeling better! He broke out in hives soon after my last post. We think it was a reaction to the allergy medicines (of all things!) his doctor told him to try. The hives cleared up once he stopped taking them. Whew! We've all really been through it this winter. My brother came down with gout a few weeks ago, so you can imagine the conversations we've had around the Sunday lunch table. We sound like an advertisement for medicare.

Ok, I need to go to bed. Lots of work yet to be done...

So close

I cannot believe how fast things are going with the house. Just a few short weeks and this kitchen will be mine! I know it's not the best pic (that's the island), but I wanted to get something up that would show you the cabinets and tile. Of course, the cabinets are a bit dirty at the moment, but other than that, I think they're beautiful! I've been thrilled so far at how everything is turning out.

In one of my last posts, I told you I was getting sick again and I did get sick...again. I have had strep throat twice in a month and my poor hubby has had some weird virus/allergy thing that just won't go away. He's gone through spurts of fevers, with upper respiratory symptoms. But, the worst part is that he's had a headache for a solid 2 weeks now. Strange. And worrisome. His doc told him to take some allergy med samples to see if they help. I guess if they don't help, he may need to have some tests run. I don't know. These are not even just tension headaches...more on the verge of migraine with sharp, shooting pains. I'm praying it's all just from the stress of everything right now. Oh, and I'm praying the Lord will deliver us from illness! Enough, already!

I wanted to post tonight, even though it's late, because the next few days (er, weeks) are going to be crazy and I wasn't sure when I'd get to post again. We have our first open house this weekend. I pray that someone will fall in love with our worn, but dearly cared for house and that will be the end of it. I don't like all this uncertainty. Will it sell? Should we just rent it out? Are we freaking crazy? :) We also have revival at church each night this weekend, which will be busy, but hopefully refreshing for our stressed out, worn out, sick of sickness souls. After that, it will be pack, pack, pack, prepare for garage sale (which we still haven't had), pack, pack, pack some more. Then move!! Wow! I really should get to bed so I can have the energy for what's ahead.

I'll leave you with a cute pic of Ella from our recent trip to the NAS museum. Good night!

Comfy cat, catchy colors, & chicken pox

Somehow, we've adopted a couple of our neighbor's cats that love to sneak into our backyard most afternoons. I've caught this guy snoozing in the same spot several days in a row. I just love this picture.

We have color!! In our new house, that is. Here's a little preview:

DH's weight room area of the garage (*rolls eyes* Go Gators)

Laundry Room

Kitchen (green), looking into the hallway (dark taupe)

Family Room (bottom of chair rail will be darker brown)

Master Bedroom (shown by my mama and Ella)

Guest Bedroom (looks a bit yellow here, but it's actually light green)

Ella's Room (she's so proud!)

The deck - almost finished!!

One more thing I wanted to share before I pass out from exhaustion (is it really midnight already?!). Last night, I made pork chops for the first time in a while. They turned out really well. All I did was rub them with some chili powder, salt and pepper, then cooked them with a little olive oil in a skillet for about 30 minutes. Brown rice, steamed veggies, and salad accompanied the chops. I fully expected Ella to ask for something else to eat. She's actually a good vegetable-eater, but I just knew she'd reject the pork chops. To my surprise, she ate the whole meal and loved it, saying that she'd like to "order" it every day to eat (great..what am I? A short-order cook? LOL!). So, tonight she knew she was going to have leftovers. When I started getting dinner ready, she said, "Mommy, are you making me some more of those chicken pox?" Hahahaha!! We laughed so hard. I don't even know where she's heard about chicken pox! So cute! :)

GAH! Sick again!

The whole household's been sick, I'm afraid. DH started it about 2 weeks ago, right before he went out of town for 5 days. Then, as I said, I had strep throat for which I'll finish up antibiotics tomorrow. DH was better when he returned home from his trip last Monday, but yesterday, he came home early with fever, sore throat and headache. At about the same time, Ella started in with a cough and runny nose. Now, my throat's hurting AGAIN. Ugh! I hate this time of year. Bad timing to be sick, too, with all we have to do. I was planning to have a garage sale this Saturday, but we haven't felt up to getting ready for it. We'll have to shoot for next weekend. I think we don't have many weekends left until we'll be moving into the house.

The good news is that I did get most of my list from last Saturday accomplished. I cleaned most of the day, while DH fixed the toilet, spot-painted the master bathroom, and pried open the fireplace doors that had rusted from non-use. Ella was surprisingly good at entertaining herself by pretending we were all in a plane going to Mexico. She "fixed" the tv so that pilot would know where we were going and she served up some wonderful food while singing to the passengers. We did go by the house that day and DH went out to pick up Ella's favorite fast food then we played her favorite game. All in all, it was a pretty good, but exhausting day.

If only I could feel like I was "done". Alas, there is still so much left to do. Time keeps on rolling along, though, and as I mentioned, we will be in the house before we know it. I went by today to find that the spa had been delivered, the walls completely ready for paint, the deck almost finished, and a tub in the guest bathroom! Here are a few camera phone pics that I have not edited, so I'm sorry if they're a bit lousy:








Ok, that's it for now. Good night!

To do tomorrow:

1. Deep clean the house (scrub windows, use awesome wood cleaning wipes I found on all baseboards & doors, use Magic Eraser on all walls!).
2. Keep DH focused on repairs needed around the house.
3. Keep Ella occupied with some Valentine crafts, playtime in her room, and games while I'm cleaning all day.
4. Plan for my busy Sunday, which includes learning the motions to a song for children's choir - must recruit Ella to help with that.
5. Go by new house & drop off light fixtures.
6. Draw up landscaping plans for new house.
7. Plan some kind of family fun for tomorrow night so that Ella can have quality time with Daddy.

WHEW! Maybe I should try to go to bed now so that I'll have enough energy to get me through the day. I'll let you know if I accomplish it all. Definitely have to do #1 & #2, since we have realtors coming to see the house on Monday - eek!

Follow up

Please watch these videos from the funeral of Bronner Burgess. Rick's testimony here is incredible. The message is divided into 3 parts, so please watch them all:

Rick Burgess - A Father's Heart Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Today is the first day I've felt "normal" since coming down with strep throat on Saturday. I know Ella was happy to have me mostly back to myself. She's been so sweet, but of course, she got to watch lots of tv (which, unfortunately, is one of her favorite things to do!) over the last several days. We did do a few crafts today, which made me feel like a better mommy! I found this site, which has lots of craft ideas for preschoolers: Kids Craft Weekly. If you click on the link to the newsletters, you will find all sorts of activities which are sorted by themes. We made some of the crafts from Issue 11 - Underwater. Here are the results:

I certainly needed the rest I got while I was sick and I feel refreshed and ready to get back to work. Before I got sick, I was feverishly trying to get this old house ready to sell. It's looking pretty good, but we've still got alot to do. I'm hoping to have a bit more help from the hubby this weekend. If we can have a garage sale the next weekend, we'll be in good shape to move. Work on the new house has slowed down a bit, but things are about to really come together over the next week or so. In fact, I believe the spa was delivered today. Yippeeee!! Can't wait to get in that thing! :)

Ella Ballerina

She cracks me up! She got this ballerina dress-up from her Gmaw (her great grandmother) and every time she puts it on, she has to put on a big show. We have to put on the pretty dancing music so that she can sing and dance. She makes up these songs all about love and finding the prince. It's all very dramatic and wonderful. Where you see her staring off into the distance, she's really watching herself in the fireplace doors. The new house won't have a fireplace. She'll have to find a new place to perform! ;)

Well, things are rolling along with the house. The sheet rock is up and they should start painting soon. We've pretty much picked out the flooring and the cabinets will be delivered next week. Oh, it's getting so close. We talked with our realtor this weekend and have officially put the current house on the market. I have alot to do this week to make the house more presentable! My mom and I worked hard today, packing and cleaning up the first 2 rooms you see in the house, so that's a good start. I'm feeling a wee bit overwhelmed as this all comes crashing down on me at the same time that I'm teaching 3-year-olds in Sunday school and children's choir, singing on the praise team and in the choir, working on the guitar, and trying to keep my family going. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if I showed signs of mental illness before this is all over.

I should sleep pretty well tonight after all I've done today. I'm stalling about going to bed, though, because I know I'll probably just lay there thinking off all the things I've yet to do.