This and That

I had meant to post this Saturday afternoon, but due to the high winds and rain we were without power for about 14 hours that day. By the time it came back on - 11:30pm - I was already in bed. Although, the TV had been on when the power went out that morning so I was rudely awakened by the little thing on Cartoon Network about "Boom-a-royalty" about 15 minutes after I fell asleep. Got to love it.

But while I was doing my weekly cleaning of my hubby's grandmother's house, a number of things I wanted to post about popped in my head. So rather than completely forgetting what I wanted to say, I jotted them done.

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Just a few days ago - right before Thanksgiving actually - hubby handed me a rather substantial check he had just written. We have officially paid off ALL our credit cards! And I'll confess right here - the reason he handed me the check? I had taken out a credit card without telling him and put some seriously charges on it before finally confessing what I had done. It set back our debt-pay-back plan by a year - at least! And all the charges were mine. It took us two years to pay it off & it is now gone! We are one step closer to being debt free (thanks Dave Ramsey!) We have two more outstanding debts to pay off (one I'm driving!) and then we can say we're officially debt free & "living like no one else so we can live like no one else!)

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I spent Black Friday doing my best to stimulate the economy. For about the past six or so years hubby & I have done a Christmas Club at our bank. It's really one of the best things we ever did. It allows us to put aside money all year long so that when it comes time to do our Christmas shopping - it's there. We don't have to worry about where it's coming from & we're not tempted to use it on other things over the course of the year. It comes due in October so we have plenty of time to hit the good deals.

I spent the day with my two best friends (my sister & Tammy). We met at the local Target at 9am & I finally dragged myself home around 10pm Friday night. It was a long day but not only did I have fun but I have 95% of my Christmas shopping DONE! Yippee! It helps that for most of the adults in our families we don't exchange gifts. I will spend some time putting together a gift bag of baked goodies and homemade candies for each of them though.

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All but hubby spent the Thanksgiving holiday ill. That just amazes me as he is typically the one to get sick first, but then again, he has been gone for over a week at deer hunting camp.

The yuckiness started on Wednesday with J5. He hadn't been feeling well Tuesday afternoon but sometimes with him I'm just not sure if he's really sick or just playing it up a bit. I called the doc first thing on Wednesday but they had no appointments available so off we went to Quick Care at the ER. They ended up treating him for a strep infection although they didn't make us wait for the swab results. Considering once we had three doses of the antibiotics in him he began feeling MUCH better, I'm pretty sure there was something going on there.

N8 fell ill on Thanksgiving Day as did I. I just have a regular old cold - annoying as it is - but nothing major. N8 complained of "hot eyes" and had a fever. He was pretty miserable the poor kid. Of course, I didn't let any of this stop me from going out on Friday. Did I mention that hubby was gone for the 12 days prior to this at deer camp? I needed adult time badly!

Poor B13 called me twice while I was out to tell me he was now sick too. The bright spot in all this was that it all appeared to be a 24 hour thing with the two older boys & the medicine has made J5 better - for the most part. Now I'm just praying hubby doesn't get it.

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If you drive up our driveway, you will probably notice this sign....

I'll translate (I never admitted to my boys knowing how to spell well...)...it says "Slow Caution." This is their new project...

They are busily cleaning out this old goat shed to make over in to a clubhouse. I'm loving it. N8 is the one who thought up the idea & has been working the most to make it happen. As soon as he was well enough he has been down there working to get all the sap wood out of there (i.e. the wood burned while cooking down maple sap to make maple syrup & it's probably been sitting there a good 20 years). My FIL was even out there this weekend with his tractor leveling it out some. I'll have to get new photos soon. This was shortly after they began working on it.

Our next thing is to try to scavenge a table & chairs from the barn for the boys to use. I'll probably see about getting some canvas or a tarp to hang in the door. The little window actually has a door that closes. I love that they have taken this on. This little shed sits just down from our trailer where the lawn meets the woods. N8 has grand plans of painting it soon but that will probably have to wait until after mud season.

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I'm currently involved in a couple of Bible studies that I am really enjoying. There was actually a third one but it just ended yesterday. That was one about finding God's purpose for your life. Boy, did it make me think! The actual book we used is called God's Path to Purpose - Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Design. It was actually written by the niece of the woman who facilitated the study.

I also attend a family Bible study on Friday nights. Our church does not do a Wednesday night service. Instead there are a number of small group Bible studies that meet. Last year we joined one in which the kids were welcomed to come but they typically play while we do our study.

We took the summer and fall off due to so many sports commitments at night that made it hard to meet. When we started back we realized that it wasn't going to work anymore to meet in a home - we have too many noisy kids! So now we meet at the church. The kids play in the gym (one adult stays with them) & the rest of the adults go downstairs in to a classroom. We also have a potluck dinner beforehand which is nice as well. We're currently using Dr. David Jermiah's What the World is Going On? study about the end-times. It's very interesting and very eye-opening.

Lastly I just began (we're on week 3) of an on-line Bible study that is doing wonders for me in maintaining a daily quiet time. Mrs. Sharon White (one of my TOS Crew Mates) is facilitating this. I love the accountability of the study. We are reading through Psalms & Proverbs (two chapters daily) & the book Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss. (It's also in the public domain as a free pdf book.) We're reading three entries in that as well daily plus a few other tasks to help keep us on task. The accountability is great and I really am enjoying this a lot.

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I'm thrilled that it's almost December. I've been listening to Christmas music now since October 1st. Now I won't continue to get odd looks when folks find it out. After all, tomorrow is December 1st! Off to go listen to some music now on YouTube. My favorite is this one.