Reiman Gardens

Took our second visit to Reiman Gardens for a field trip last week.  Absolutely beautiful grounds on the Iowa State University Campus.  Love the Butterfly House too.

Daniel and Tom on the covered bridge.

I seriously want one of these at my house!  I mean look at that arbor!!!

Getting Something Crossed of the To Do List

We are on our second week school and it was hard to get going again after the long weekend.  We attended the Lifelight Music Festival on Sunday evening and drove home very late after it ended.   Totally worth the sleep we lost!  After sleeping in (well most of us), the morning was shot and I had high hopes of decluttering and reorganizing the dumping ground that is my office.  So we decided against going ahead and doing school on the Labor Day holiday and got some things done in there.    Today we hit the books again for a full and very productive school day.  By the end of the week, I think we'll be fully in the school groove again.

Tonight my husband helped me put together the IKEA Expedit that I purchased several months ago in Minneapolis to store my scrapbook supplies, paper, albums, etc.  Here is a link to it:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60071358

I read somewhere on the internet that it took a lady's husband 3.5 hours to put the same kind together.  As my husband said, "I think there was a game in there somewhere."  We put it together in just under an hour, working together.  I don't think it would have taken 2 hours for one person, or that other fellow might not have been very handy.  Only one minor mishap (using a rubber mallet to put the last side on, dented the hollow core, so I will have to be crafty there.  Thinking of using one of the Command Adhesive hooks on the side to hang a little bag or picture I make.  Because the bottom is made solid and the top is not, this side will be exposed, unless I put it on the north wall rather than the east wall.  Because of the sun exposure, I think I will go with my original plan and decorate it to cover it up.

Hubby just came up with a new plan to get it in the room.  Praying it isn't too heavy for us to move it this way.  It would not require me to completely empty the room first.  Then I could simply move items from their current location to the new shelf.  Hope he is right.  Usually is!!  :)

Feeling like I am getting a little crossed off my list.  Still hoping to paint in that room this fall, but it should be made much easier if I can pull my supplies from existing furniture and fill the bookshelf.  That will allow me to paint the other walls first by moving the existing furniture.  Hoping the weather holds and I can get this one in the books and move on to the livingroom (it is connected to the office with a half wall so it will look bad if I don't get it painted).

A Neat Site

I came across this site through links from another blog.

http://www.justpeace.org/better.htm

It has quite a few recipes for making your own mixes, and also lots of recipes for crockpot meals, breakfasts, soups, etc.

Whether you are trying to save some money, cut down on the additives and preservatives in your food, or just prefer to make things yourself, you should find something here that you can use.

Another similar site is:

www.hillbillyhousewife.com

It looks like she is sprucing up the website right now, but you can still link there to the old website addy and find what you are looking for.

If you have other great similar sites, I would love to have you share them in the comments.

Where Did Our Summer Go?

As I have been walking in the evenings this summer with my next door neighbor, we have been lamenting the fact that life seems so busy, that we can't even get to the things we'd like to do.  Just trying to stay caught up with the things we need to do/have to do seems to take up most of our time.  Guess it might be time to look at my priorities again and also to see if I have allowed too many things to creep onto my plate.

I am reminded of this when I am asked to do one more thing.  Sometimes I say yes, as it does not add significantly to my workload, requires a minimum of additional time or effort on my part and doesn't take away from responsibilities and vocation as a wife and mother.  Sometimes, I have to ask a lot more questions to find out how this will affect me if I do say yes.  You can't always tell right away.  Usually you need to get more information, or if you are lucky, you are told up front when asked.

This week I was asked to run for a position.  The person who asked me graciously explained it all up front (which is a blessing).  I told her I would talk it over with my husband and she asked that I get back to her later that evening.  Of course we got busy when we returned home and I realized it very late (too late to call her).  Thankfully I emailed her then and followed up with a  phone call the next morning.  As I wrote out why I regretfully couldn't do it, I started writing out what I all have on my plate.  The list was long and very full.  No wonder I don't have time to get to the things I would like to do.  Actually, I do make time for the one thing that I really love to do and that is scrapbook.  Probably because I prioritize some time (usually monthly) and put it on the calendar, I do manage to accomplish this.

Guess I should take a cue from that and do the same with other things that I would really like to do.
Even with simple one time things, like painting a room and reorganizing it, if I put it on my calendar, I will likely be able to make it work.  So today, I plan to clear out part of my office and get a wall painted so that I can begin rearranging the furniture in there and paint the other walls.  The whole day is before me and part of Monday as well.  Much of the delay is not wanting to deal with the stuff that accumulates and just needs to be dealt with.  The other is wasting time on the computer, internet, etc and justifying that time to myself.

I get reminders sent to me on an email list about productivity.  Their motto is:

Off, Go, Do!

Get off the computer, Go out and Do those things that need doing.

Otherwise you are just wasting time that you could be productive.

And with that, I am posting this, getting OFF the computer, and Going Out to Do my office today!!

Where to start????

Things have been pretty much nonstop around here over the last month.

My 25th High School Reunion
4th of July
Family Reunion
Trips for the kids to stay with Grandpa and Grandma in Nebraska
Installation of our New Pastor
Hosted a speaker here on our farm
County Fair

I have tons of pictures to post and will put those into a bunch of blog posts as I find time.

Hoping to work on decluttering the house and get some rooms repainted and put together and then work on lesson plans for the year.  I already have the books, just need to do the planning.

Beauties of Nature

We have been getting rain at least daily and sometimes multiple times daily here.  The grass is growing like gangbusters and everything is green (various shades) which makes for real beauty.

A few nights ago we were under a tornado watch but the weather didn't really develop into much until very late (like after bedtime), but around 6:00 p.m. I noticed some interesting clouds, so I grabbed my digital camera and went outside.  I ended up walking down our lane, down the gravel road and back up the other lane that come into our farmstead.  The views, looking in different directions, with different amounts of sunlight, front-lit and back-lit were pretty incredible.  And I also got some photos of the sunset over the horizon.

Saturday evening on our way home from the homeschool conference, there were quite a few storms brewing on either side of us.  We managed to avoid all but a little bit of rain, but as we approached home there was a beautiful pink sunset with sun rays showing through the dark clouds.  Was sure missing my camera.  While we had it in the vehicle, it was in the very back and we didn't have time to stop and get it to take pictures.  Hubby was trying to get home before dark so he could do a few things before it got dark and another storm hit.

A couple days ago, I hung a decorative wooden birdhouse on a nail on our porch.  Lo and behold, today, we have a couple of wrens, just singing their hearts out as the build a nest it in.  It is right out my office window and I am really enjoying their diligent work and beautiful songs, given the gray, cloudy backdrop that the weather is giving us.

Sorry to disappoint but I didn't get a card reader yet and it seems that my laptop and my camera dock, don't like to work together.  Hopefully this weekend, I can get one.

Getting in Shape and Losing Weight

Recently someone on one of my email lists posted a challenge to see if others would like to join her in a quest to lose some weight.  After some quick banter online, about a dozen of us took the challenge and we'll be working on losing pounds, inches, and/or various other goals (ie. getting into this size clothes, etc).

I used to be very fit and participated in all kinds of sports in high school.  Haven't done anything like that in years.  Also I am very busy, so it is difficult to fit exercise into my routine.  I know that watching my calories and drinking more water are easy to incorporate into my routine.  Here are the ideas I came up with so far for exercise:

walking (with a neighbor) - which I already committed to, but can't seem to find the time to do (frustrating)
biking - would have to be one of the kid's bikes as I don't own one
Fitness DVD - Have one or two of these
Dance Dance Revolution - or some other fitness thing on Wii (don't own Wii Fit but am considering it).

Would love to hear your suggestions as I need to get going on this.

Thanks in advance.