September Acres

Here is the poem our vet sent us after we put our dog, Montana, to sleep a few weeks ago. Rainbow Bridge Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over th

On my bedside table: "Organic Housekeeping" by Ellen Sandbeck On my TV: Nothing On the menu for tonight: Beef Ravioli On my To Do list: Nothing for today :) New Recipe I tried last week: Nothing In the Craft Basket: Nothing Looking foward to: Scrapbooking on Tuesday Homemaking Tip for the Week: Add a little vinegar to your water when washing 'stinky' clothes (socks, sports uniforms, etc) Favorite Blog Post of the week: Simplifying our stuff , by Me! Usually I don't toot my own horn - or try not to. But I love the book "Organic Housekeeping" and this post talks about some of the stuff I have read. Favorite Photo of the week: My daughter's hockey game - she is doing the face off in the orange. She plays on an 8 and under team. And the reason she is doing the face off is, I love this, the little boy who usually does it had to go to the bathroom right in the middle of the game. My husband, the coach, said it must have been the chugging of the water in

I am currently reading "Organic Housekeeping" by Ellen Sandbeck. It is really good so far. At the beginning of the book she talks about 'organizing' - I have to admit I am sick of that work (along with the word 'clutter') - but it's a great section that talks about keeping your home organized so you can enjoy the things you have. Sandbeck says a lot of clutter 'is the product of absentmindedness'. Hmm. I never really thought of it that way. We walk into a room with something in our hand, put it down, do something else (maybe more than one thing) and then leave the room without that item, leaving it to clutter up the room in which it doesn't really belong. I have to say I am relieved that I am not the only one who does this. She says that living in a house is like an giant game of Memory. Well, yes it is. We don't often have enough room in our memory banks to remember where we put the keys, our purse, our shoes, etc. Hence, '

Last night after hockey, Little Miss wanted to go to the school science fair so I could see her class project ('do oil and water mix?'). Now this was the last thing I wanted to do for various reasons: It started at 7:00. Dangerously close to bedtime. Really, school officials. We got home from hockey at 6:15 and Little Miss was in need of a bath. We needed to eat dinner. Little Miss thought we could eat after the science fair. Umm, no. I was so stinkin' tired I could barely keep my head up. Good to drive around town feeling like that. So, as you can imagine, we ended up at the science fair. Little Miss took a quick shower, had the only lunchables in the house for dinner (healthy, I know) and we were out of there at 7. Got to school about 7:05 and walked around until they announced the winners at 7:30'ish. Two of Little Misses friends from hockey (who also came after practice) did a project together and won 1st prize for group project, lower grades. So it was wor

Tomorrow I will be spending most of the day cleaning and scrubbing. Our house is really a mess and probably a little dirty, too. I am having a hard time without the old hoover (AKA, the dog) to sit by the table and pick up our crumbs. Things are not as bad as the picture I am painting but I will be knee deep in cleaning and picking up. My husband has not said anything about it - YET. So I hope to get things in tip top shape tomorrow by the time he comes home. The only place I have to go is to pick up my daughter and her friend at school in the afternoon so I will have all day to get things in order. We are knee deep in girl scout cookies right now. Our leader delivered ours today & I have packed up about 1/2 of them and hope to finish up in the morning. We opened our box of thin mints tonight. Yummmm. We put them in the freezer which makes them even yummier. I know that people have recipes which include some of these cookies so I will be on the look out for them. If I c

Says a friend during a conversation this weekend. We were talking about the hotels we were staying at while out of town for our hockey tournament. Me: "Bill says you are at the Holiday Inn (HI)." S: "Yes, the Spring Hill was booked so we are at the HI. And it was $20 cheaper. I'm on a budget now, you know." Me: "I hear you." (My new, irritating way to say "I can relate".) S: "You're always on a budget, even when times were good you were. Bill always talks about how you have him on a budget." Me: "I know. But since we have always been on a budget we haven't had to change our lifestyle yet." S: "I know. Mine has sure changed. Not for the better but that's the way it has to be." Well, I guess I have a reputation out there! But my husband is walking around very proud that since we have always watched what we spend we haven't had to drastically alter our life style now like so man

I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon. ~Author Unknown Well said, although I never really thought of it that way. :) I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day. I got a nice surprise today: the door bell rang and a man was standing there with not one but two baskets of flowers. All I am thinking is 'I hope he's got the right house'. Sure enough, the lovely baskets were for my daughter and me, from my dad. How sweet is that? So it is smelling & looking nice in our house now. We leave tomorrow for a hockey tournament; my daughter's first. My husband is the coach so I am sure things will go well but I am a bit nervous since this is the first time she has played a game with kids she hasn't known all of her life (the kids on the other team). My husband says not to worry, lots of girls play hockey. Yes

Thanks to Europafox for this nice award! It was such a wonderful surprise. It is nice to know that there are people out there who enjoy reading my blog. :) And now to pass it on: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”! I would like to pass this on to: Laurie @ Tinker's Piggies Sarah @ Fortner Family Kellie @ Acorn Cottage Carie @ Planet Maxwell Lisa @ Coastal Nest Carrie @ With all that I've been given Wendie @ My Heart is always home Ashley @ The Draper House I have links to all of these wonderful blogs on the right hand side of my blog so please go visit these wonderful ladies when you get a chance.

Yes, it's coming up. It'll be here before you can blink an eye. My daughter is having a little party at school on Friday. We were told that the kids need a shoe box to decorate which will end up holding all the Valentine's they will receive in class. Cute idea, but.... I don't keep shoe boxes anymore - I toss them as soon as I know the shoe fits. So luckily my mom had one she could let us use. Right now Little Miss is going back and forth between making heart shaped Valentine's for her classmates on the Cricut or buying some mass produced, licensed character cards. Right now we are leaning towards buying them. I still have a couple days to turn her around though. I got a great idea for an inexpensive, cute, useful teacher's gift here . I totally swiped her idea and it turned out really cute. Thanks Chris! It didn't have stickers like Chris used so I took some red paper and wrapped it around the hand sanitizer bottle (after taking off the labels) then glued o

This week on Good Morning America they have been doing a series on Garbage in America. It has been interesting to say the least. One day they talked about the trash in our waterways. It was really disturbing to find out that the fish that is caught for our consumption often has plastic inside. The trash that is thrown into the water (accidentally or otherwise) is eaten by the fish. Lots of plastic ends up in the water for some reason (the kind of plastic that is super easy to recycle in most areas of our country). Apparently, the US generates more garbage than any other country in the world. Lovely. I believe it is estimated that each person will throw out 64 tons of garbage in a life time. Yikes. One day they showcased a man who saved all his trash for a year in his basement (yuck). At the end of the year he put it out on the lawn to show exactly how much it was. Astonishing. And he was just one guy who composted and reused things. I bet if we could see the amount of

This Dave is quickly being replaced by... this one during my days on the computer. I have always listened to the Dave Ramsey show during the day while I work on the computer. (Don't you just love technology?) But since getting David Cook's album I have been spending most of the time listening to that. I guess I'll get sick of it eventually - well, maybe not... I am guessing that Dave Ramsey will serve me better in the long run with his advice.

We had to put our precious pup to sleep last week. We knew the day was coming but it was still hard. She was just to the point where she couldn't walk very well, fell down alot, used the bathroom in the house almost exclusively, wasn't eating much, etc. It was definintely time. She was 16 and I had her for 14 of those years. She lived a good live with us and was a happy pup, even at the end she still loved and kissed us alot. Although she was not a fan of other dogs (to put it mildly) she was perfect with humans - kids & adults alike. She was here when my daughter came home from the hospital 7 years ago and accepted her right away & was always gentle with her. She would sometimes sleep right by her crib while Little Miss was napping. The above picture was taken recently while she was napping (which she did alot at the end) - Little Miss put one of her Littlest Pet shop toys close to her so she could 'play' with it. I still haven't put her bed away

On my bedside table: Elsewhere, USA by Dalton Conley On my TV: Nothing now. CBS sitcoms tonight On the menu tonight: Soup and quesadillas (hockey night) On my To Do list: Laundry, unpacking, putting away things, bills New recipe I tried last week: None In the craft basket: not really crafts but I need to put up my Valentine's decorations before it's too late! Looking forward to: A quieter week than last. (Is it possible?) Homemaking tip for this week: 2 parts water, 1 part vinegar. Cleans almost everything - windows, counters, tile floors. Favorite Blog post of the week (mine or other): Stephanie's from Keeper of the Home - Love money saving ideas! Favorite Photo of Last week: We are big football fans around here and big Kurt Warner fans. He is a class act, win or lose, and if a kid wants an athlete for a role model there is none better. His gracious statements after the super bowl are a testament to that. He, and the Cardinals are winners no matter what the score was. Go