‘Nother F6 layout

Isn’t he cute?

Credits:paper and ribbons by Brenda Kempf (Antique Valentine Kit)
heart doodle by Jennifer Trippetti (AYR – February)
Sketch by LisaBranka

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Oh dear…what to write about. (Warning: Complaining ahead. Continue at your own risk!)

I’m cranky. Have been since my birthday, last Friday. I had decided to relax for the day and just do basically whatever I wanted to do. I expected that the fruit would be able to handle doing their chores (after all, they’ve only been doing them for a year or more now) without being nagged and that they would perhaps, since it was their mommy’s birthday, go the extra mile and do a few of mine. But, they apparantly didn’t read my mind and took the day off too. When I surfaced from my self-imposed hyper-focus, I realized that I would literally have to kick my way out of the living room if I were going to get ready for F1’s basketball game and that the dining room hadn’t been cleaned (although it had been used plenty!) all day. I couldn’t even see the surface of the table. KABOOM! I was very upset. Like crying upset. I really hate birthdays and Mother’s Day. Because I expect to be treated like a princess on those two days (and really, only on those two days) and my expectations are never met. Maybe I don’t make them clear enough, but it seems a little…self-defeating, selfish, and maybe even disheartening to have to explain that I should be treated like a princess on these days. So, after a small amount of cleanup, we went to F1’s game, which his team won. But he didn’t get to play, something he was tremendously disappointed about, because he had apparantly been planning to surprise me with some extra good playing for my birthday present. So now, not only did I feel like crying, never baked my cake, and now I have a little guy very upset with himself because he didn’t get to play.

And I’m still cranky. There are some extenuating circumstances that maybe I’ll explain in a while, but I’m still cranky. And I need to get in the Word, and stop being so cranky. Because I’ve said some things to the kids that I really regret. And I’ve allowed our schedule to be blown off course today. So, now I’m off to do some prayin’ and Bible readin’. Because He knows what it is all about and why I’m like this…way better than I do. And since He knows what’s wrong, He knows how to fix it. Way better than I do.

Prayers would be good here. Thanks.

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F6 walking

F6 is officially a walker. Here’s a scrapbook page that I did of him practicing on his 11 month birthday. So cute! I love how babies always hold their arms up when they are learning to walk. I took some adorable video of him this morning that I hope to transfer to dvd or video cd to send to Mom, who is in South Carolina right now at a quilting seminar. She has turned into such a little jetsetter!

Okay, now for the layout.

Credits:Notebook paper and staple: Ronnie McCray – school desk1 and school desk 2
Background, File foler tag and stamps: Amanda Rockwell
Measuring Tape: Gina Miller – BYOBB Add-On pack
Film Strip: Jennifer Trippetti – AYR April

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We all have colds today

Actually, we’ve had them for about a week now. F4 and F6 started them out last Tuesday or so and promptly passed it on to Mr. Nutt. He is miserable, poor man. He can’t take any drugs for it because of his elevated blood pressure, so he’s just stuck sucking on peppermints and trying to not cough too much. His ribs hurt and he’s exhausted.

I was pretty happy, because all winter I’ve only gotten smidgens of colds…none of this laying awake at night wondering if I would feel better with my head removed from my body because of the intense sinus pressure. I’ve been drinking one DanActive a day, in an attempt to boost my immune system. It seems to be working, because even though I have a bit of a cold now, it isn’t anything like F4, F6, or Mr. Nutt are dealing with. I’m pretty tired today, but I think that’s because I was up late with Mr. Nutt’s coughing. Poor man.

Well, back to work for me. We have some odds and ends to clean up from school and cook dinner.

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What kind of yarn are you?

I got this from Kim’s site. I agree with my results I think. 🙂

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that’s okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!

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| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

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Some more stuff

We got some snow again last night. All the area schools are closed, but we are having our school today. The fruit are eager to get outside to play in the snow, so I expect that I will get a lot of cooperation about their work. They will probably be ready to go out right about the time it is warm enough to be out there, so it should work well.

Mr. Nutt and I haven’t been exercising as much as we should, but we are getting it in sometimes. I’m hoping that gradually, we will feel better because of the exercise and so will actually want to do it. I’m still sore from the last round of exercises, but that is because I walked a little over 2 miles on the treadmill (had my heart rate up to 144!), did two sets of the weight machine exercises, and did the Core Program, all in the same setting. I was soooo exhausted. But, I slept really well that night, so I know my body needs to work like this.

I need to make F4 some preschooly type activities. She wants to “do school” like the other kids, but I don’t have anything leftover from the others to give to her. I really don’t like workbooks, but I think she would do well with an alphabet book or something. She knows her numbers 0 through 9, thanks to her Barbie laptop computer that Grandpa bought for her a couple of birthdays ago. She also knows some of her letters, and loves to write. Given the chance, I think she’ll be reading before too long.

Church was great yesterday. We had a special speaker for Spiritual Emphasis Weekend, and he is a very good preacher. Last night he talked about how we are to be servants to our fellow man. He said that when we become Christians, we all want to do great things for God. But in the Parable of the Sower, we see that the seed that fell on good ground developed thirty-fold, sixty-fold, and one hundred-fold. So while all that we do for God (that is His will) is great in His eyes, as far as what we think is concerned, some of will be thirty-fold or sixty-fold Christians, and that is okay. Some people He made to be Golden Urns and some of us are simply clay bowls. What really matters is that we are in His will (and not just being lazy and using the excuse that, well, I’m just a thirty-fold Christian) and that we are serving our fellow man. That will draw attention to us and by default, to Jesus. I really appreciated this thought, because I know that, at least at this point in my life, I’m serving God in a very menial-labor kind of way. I’m a mother of six children, homeschooling them, and trying to do my best by them and by my husband. I know that this is where God has me, but I’m not leading people to Christ daily, or speaking to crowds of thousands, or feeding the poor and hungry by the truckload. Sometimes, I want to do that. But today, I know, that God has me ministering to my own family, and witnessing to His love and grace through that medium. And when people ask me, “How can you stay home with your kids all day?!?” I can smile and say that Jesus helps me and I gain all my strength from Him. And I know that I might be a thirty-fold Christian, right now, but even thirty-fold is better than nothing.

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I needed this this week

Tied Down

I’ve been feeling like an angry mommy the past couple of days. My moods swing from this loving tenderness that cannot be described to an irritated anger that is boiling under the surface. I get so sick of the disrespect and disobedience (and really, my little fruits are good kids). So, I need to remember that the joys of having my sweets around is just fleeting and someday, I’ll look back and regret my flares of anger and the icky lava that spews from “Mount Mama.”

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So yesterday we were supposed to start up our school days again

after too long of a break. Of course, F6 didn’t go to sleep until about 1:30 and I didn’t open my eyes until 10:30 am. When I did, I browsed through my brain, looking for the schedule for the day. ‘Hmmm…January 8th…Monday.’ Runs tongue over teeth. ‘Boy, my mouth tastes like garbage. I better get up and brush my…OH NO. F1 and I have a densist appointment this morning!’ So I jumped out of bed and ran down to the living room to find my planner…which was no where to be seen. Sometimes, I leave it in the truck, so I tossed on my coat, no time for shoes (the snow and frost had all melted by 10:30, anyway), and ran out to get the planner from the truck. Wasn’t there. A thorough 2 minute search found it hidden in a corner…oh, yeah. F6 was driving it around the night before like a car. Deep breath…I have less than an hour to get myself ready, wake up 6 kids, get them ready to go, drive 20 minutes to the dentist, and be on time. Bigger deep breath…and we did it! Well, we were 5 minutes late. But not too bad, in my estimation. So nobody’s hair was brushed. It happened later on in the day. {sheepish grin}

We then went to the dollar store, as we always get a treat when we go to the dentist, and then the grocery store. Didn’t get home until 3:30, and then it was time for chores. Sigh. No school for the day. But I can console myself in the idea that F3 reads like a fiend, F1 is always inventing, reading, and drawing out schematics for some new or old craziness, and F2 loves to do math and count money. So, in the game they played later on in the evening, I saw some educating happening, even if it wasn’t planned.

Mr. Nutt and I went down to the treadmill and weight machine and started to get ourselves set up for our new exercise program. We tested our max weights on various of the exercises on the machine (it is old and I honestly don’t know what all the stations are for because the book that came with it is next to useless). I walked a little over a mile on the treadmill. Today, my job is to figure out and make up a sheet of our program, with weights and repetitions for each exercise. Perhaps I’ll post it if I get it finished.

I walked another 1.55 miles this morning and did my 15 minute Core Program. So, we’re off to a better start today. We have some schoolwork to accomplish, although F2 is already well on his way to finishing his for the day. Then we have Swim & Gym this afternoon and basketball practice this evening. I promised F3 and F4 we would go to the dollar store and Walmart to get a scrapbook and planner for them. F3 wants to be like me and have a planner (like I use it, right????) and F4 wants to be like F3 and have a scrapbook.

Just another day in paradise. 🙂

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Mom’s Gone

She left this morning on an airplane to visit C and E for a month. Sigh. I already miss her. I know that she is going to have a very good time with my wonderful brother. I am so thankful that her trip went well, in spite of her arthiritis and the fact that she didn’t sleep a wink all night. The airport in Cleveland was excellent – the people were helpful and they had ways to accomodate the weak and handicapped. God is wonderful…He does answer our prayers. Her destination airport wasn’t quite as accomodating, but at least she was at the end of her journey and C could help her out once she got out of the gate areas. I’m sure she is peacefully sleeping right now in her newly decorated room…C says he’s going to romance her away from me! Hah!

In other news, at the bottom of my blog sidebar is this cute little walkie guy. I’m actually trying to achieve my goal of six hundred miles this year. Notice, though, that we’re four days into the year and I’m only at two miles. And those aren’t really recorded, for sure miles. During swim & gym on Tuesday, a couple of other moms invited me to go walking with them around outside. It was a beautiful day for it and Mr. Nutt was watching all the non-swim&gym fruits, so I joined up. I’ve been in pain ever since. I didn’t realize how absolutely out of shape I really am. My shins are sore, my shoulders (and no, I wasn’t walking on my hands) are sore and tense, and my heel has the beginnings of a blister because I had a hole in the heel of my sock. Complain, complain, complain. lol Those ladies don’t just go for a Sunday stroll…they really move! I went out yesterday and bought myself some new socks and walking shoes. If I’m going to really do this get in better shape thing, then I should have some non-pain causing equipment.

That’s my life now. Mr. Nutt is home for three more days, and I’m sure going to miss him when he goes back to work Monday. But it will be a good thing to get all of us back to a more realistic and goal-accomplishing schedule. Vacation can’t last forever.

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Happy New Year!!!

Well, it’s a new year and I’m looking foward to it. The last year held a lot of changes for us…F6 came, Mr. Nutt changed jobs and was gone for much of the summer due to said job change. Mom settled in with us. Our school year came in stops and starts, but we did accomplish a lot and also began many outside lessons.

This year, I hope to accomplish more by way of schooling (both the kids and my own) and learn to stick to a stricter schedule. I’m not one for really making resolutions, but I also feel that if I don’t have anything to aim for during the year, I won’t even shoot the arrow.

May God bless your new year with His grace and love.

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