How Pinterest potentially saved us from a fire.

As many of you know I have been busy this past while fall cleaning or deep cleaning our house. Also you may or may not know that we are filling out paperwork and laying the ground work so we can foster to adopt. In doing this I have realized that many things in our house could be better arranged so that they are working better for us.
As well as many of you know I am addicted to Pinterest. I have spent many an hour pursuing the sites and finding a whole pile of useful information. My hubby hubby thinks it is a bit of a pain and I will admit that other than some great recipes that I have found on there many of the things that I do doesn't overly benefit him. For example we made our daughter a desk, (we made), I have found articles on sewing that I have made, things like that.
So when I asked him to stack our front load washer and dryer he was not thrilled with the idea, but not against it either. Now I should tell you that our porch is small. Our washer and dryer were on pedestals  (which I loved) So to do this we had to move both pieces outside, move the pedestals and then stack them. Not a fun task at all.
Once I got them outside and was cleaning the porch I remembered something that I had pinned on Pinterest a bit ago. Cleaning the lint out of my dryer. If you have not seen this, you NEED to go and check it out.
I told my hubby about it and he said well lets check it out since they were outside anyway. At this point I am not kicking myself that I forgot to take a picture. Once they took the bottom off of the dryer let's just say hubbies opinion of my time on Pinterest has changed. I did remember to gather the lint up and take a picture.

Now for reference I have a size 8 shoe and the lint pile is larger than that.
This stuff was where the heater and the motor are. VERY SCARY!! You can see that some of it had already turned brown/black from laying up against the motor.
It freaks me out to be honest.

I am so thankful that I found this site. Even more thankful that we managed to clean up our dryer totally BEFORE we had a fire.

Please, please, please take the time to check out your dryer. The link is for both types of dryers. I know that this will be a regular even to clean it out.

I am linking up today with Theresa and with Jenni.

Top 10 reasons I love homeschooling. A guest appearance.

Today I thought it would be fun to take a different look at homeschooling. I wanted to get my daughter's perspective on it. This year has for the most part been going really well so far. She is happier, works harder, and is more relaxed. I also think she is understanding more.
So I thought hey why not get her take on things.
So here is Sarah's list of  'Top Ten reasons I love being homeschooled.'

1. Sometimes I like to sleep in.

2. I get to school on the couch. floor,and at the desk.

3. I get to listen to music.

4. I have the ability to make my own lunches and eat snacks all day :).

5. I get to wear my p.j.'s all day.

6. I get to be done school earlier in the day.

7. I am able to be myself without being judged.

8. I get to work at my pace that I need to.

9. I get the odd day off.

10. I get to spend the day with my mommy, and cat :P.

We are linking up today with Angie today.

Small progress, but progress non the less

Well this week has been another full one. I guess now that we are on the move full time I had better get used to it. I had a few unexpected gliches in my week but all in all it wasn't too bad. I thought there was one particular bank in the town closest to me (about .5 hour away) when I got there I realized I was wrong and had to drive another 35 minutes to get to the bank I needed. Oops. Oh well all is well that ends well. After all when I drove to the bigger center I treated myself to a pumpkin spice latte so it was not a bad thing. :) Then to top it off my windshield has had a terrible howling the last few months and this week it finally got fixed. YAY!!

Anyway I digress from the point of this post.
1. Complete fall cleaning list.
Well I did work on this one this week. I managed to clean my kitchen window inside and out. Even removed the panes of glass so I could get at it all. :) 

I took this picture so you could enjoy the lovely fall day we are having. :)

 I defrosted out upright freezer, through away a whole bunch of freezer burnt food. :( and managed to give away 19 bananas to make banana loaf for the youth retreat. :)

 This freezer is next. Its also needs defrosting and organizing.

Yes I have a paint roller stored in my freezer. We redid our bathroom a couple weeks ago and I need to  finish the baseboards. I really need to get that done. :(

Plus I cleaned up and organized my desk. I won't show pics of that as it is still not overly pretty to anyone but me. :)

2. Get us on a really good working schedule, which includes making a schedule just for Sarah on stuff she needs to do everyday. 
I think I actually have this one mastered. I get up before her and do my bible studies and then wake her up. While she wakes up, I make myself breakfast and take my meds. Then while she is eating breakfast I write in her planner what she has to get down that day for school and then I go on line and enter my bible studies into the group. 
Her chore chart is a hit and miss but now before she goes outside to hang with her friends or if she has free time in the afternoon I make sure to remind her of it.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Make Bed	Make bed	Make bed	Make bed	Make bed	Make bed	Make bed
Clean room	Clean room	Clean room	Clean room	Clean room	Clean room	Clean room
	School	School	School	School	School
	Put away dance gear	Put away dance gear	Put away dance gear	Put away dance gear	Put away dance gear
				Garbage in and out	Recycle
Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes	Dishes
	Tidy Bathroom	Tidy Bathroom	Tidy Bathroom	Tidy Bathroom	Tidy Bathroom	Tidy Bathroom

Explanations and Expectations of above items.

Bed made properly every day.

Clean room: Means dirty laundry in basket, if have clean laundry put away, all dishes taken out and put in kitchen, all stuff picked up off of floor and put in proper spot. Twice a week vacuum.

School: All school work done for each day that is assigned to you. Once school is finished tidy up desk and area. Any dishes take to kitchen.

Put away dance gear: After dance every night put away dance bag in proper spot. Empty out lunch kit and put away in cupboard and put water bottle in the kitchen.

Thursdays garbage has to be taken to the curb and brought back to the house in the evening.

Fridays recycle the bottles and the cardboard. If outside bins are full you must bag them and put full bags UNDER the deck.               

Dishes: Once a day you must either help with dishes or do dishes by one self.

Tidy Bathroom: Toilet must be flushed. Sink wiped out. Dirty laundry put in basket. Mirror windexed. Floor swept. Twice a week also mop the floor and bathtub needs to be wiped.

3. Clean out camper, finish fall yard work, go through clothes and get rid of summer ones that are no longer fit or are falling apart. 

Nope this one was pretty much a fail. Although after doc appts tomorrow and a lunch with friends this is on our list. Or at least the cleaning out the sheds is. :D

The only thing that I did towards this was I found a skirt that had been given to me by my sister as she had lost a pile of weight. When I tried it on today it also was WAY to big so into the donate pile it went! I am super happy about that. :)

So all in all it wasn't a great week, but not a terrible one either. 

How was your week? Did you get a lot done on your list?

I am linking up today with Aurie.

A wonderful group.

This morning as I was doing my Good Morning Girls study I was once again struck by how much God's hand was in the fact that I joined this particular group. As I was reading through some of the other ladies responses to the passages I got to thinking I wonder what led each of them to this group.
So me being me and the fact that I am me and like to talk I started to write down on that page about why I joined the group, then I realized that I REALLY like to talk and it was becoming too wordy so I thought hey I will do a post and then I can share just how happy I am and thankful I am that God led me to this group.

About a year and a half ago or so I cyper stalked this wonderful lady who happens to be a friend of my cousin. I read her blog and got to know her that way. I honestly don't remember exactly how it all started after that but we became friends on Facebook and things just sort of snowballed from there. Definitely God's hand.
About 8 months ago she made a comment about how she was loving the Good Morning Girls group. I was curious so I asked what it was about. Then I googled it. Yeppers I am a cyper stalker. LOL. She replied and it really started me thinking.
This summer I knew that I wanted to strengthen my faith and walk so I decided that I really needed to join a bible study of some sort. (We live half and hour away from our church and I home school my daughter everyday. Every night we are busy with dance and on Wednesdays we also do youth. So I knew I needed something that would fit into my schedule).
Then I read a tweet that this wonderful lady had written about the Hello Morning Challenge and I was intrigued even more. So I decided to join.
During this time I had emailed Michelle asking her about the Good Morning Girls study. She informed me that they were in the middle of one, that I was welcome to join in then or wait until the next one. I decided to wait.

This is were you will really see God's hand in this.
As we started the study I was really enjoying it but I wondered how I would be able to do both studies at the same time. Would I be able to get up and focus on both groups and would it strengthen my walk or make me stumble? Whereas then would I get frustrated and end up quitting both groups??
I prayed a ton about this decision. In the end I decided  I really wanted to join the Good Mornings Group as well so when Michelle emailed me and asked again I said yes!
I have to say I am so happy I followed God in this. This amazing group of ladies have fast become my friends. I love the connection that I am getting with them and the support is amazing. I even received a phone call from one of them yesterday. I know I shouldn't be but I am still astounded by God's work in this.
He is shaping me and molding me. My fruit tree is growing and coming something that I am thankful to show off.

Now I realize that this is not a conventional thankful Thursday post from me, but it is one large reason why I am thankful this week non the less.

I am linking up today with Red Oak Road.

Wednesday's Walk

This week has been a difficult one.
Monday was just sort of a bad day in this house.
I had to fight with Sarah to work on school work, which up until that day she has been loving. We were arguing, things just were not right. I got two phone calls, one from a friend whom is concerned that she may have lost another pregnancy and the other is from my sister informing me that our Mom will not be getting surgery as she is in too poor of health. This means unless she does a lot of physio she will be in a wheel chair from now on. Both of these phones calls were really hard for me.
The friend I feel so bad for her. She is a non-Christian and has no relationship with God. I am praying for her. However I can also really relate to her. I have been pregnant 6 times and only have 3 beautiful children here on earth with us. I know the utter heartbreak of losing one.
My mom however was really hard for me. I knew that she probably won't be getting the surgery but still to hear it confirmed was hard. I think like most every child that grew up in a healthy happy home, you hope that your parents are going to be healthy and live forever. To made fully aware that things are changing is sad for me.
Both Sarah and I have been off of our game this week.
The only things that have kept me from being completely crazy is my Kept Study and My Good Morning Girls group.
I can not say enough wonderful things about these ladies. All but one was a complete stranger to me a month ago, and even that one we have never met face to face. However now these group of ladies are friends and are there for me each and every step of the way.
The one thing that I think is rather interesting is that I questioned on whether or not I should do this study. I was already signed up to do the Hello Morning study and wasn't sure if I should attempt to do two. I am so glad I did. This was definitely God's hand in this.
God listened when I cried out that I NEEDED someone to talk to, someone to help me walk this walk.
He listened as I lay broken-hearted saddened that I was not able to fully connect with someone like this.
He was there for me. He knew what I wanted in a way that I needed.
He is always there for me.
I can always count on Him.

I linking up today with Mary Beth and Sam.

The real me...

This is a post about the real me. I will warn you now, it's slightly disheveled and messy. It's not always pretty, but like I said it is the real me.

I may possibly sometimes not make my bed until noon or later. I will admit most days I make it first thing, but perhaps sometimes I get a bit lazy.

I may or may not always do my dishes at night. Sometimes they don't get done until the next morning. Alright lets be truthful more like 65% of the time they don't get done until morning. :)

I may or may not always take my clothes off the line right away. Sometimes they spend the night outside or gasp sometimes even two nights. :)

Sometimes this is what my living room looks like Monday morning. Ok, ok most of the Monday mornings it looks like this. Sometimes it looks worse. :)

 I may or may not stay in my pajamas a good chunk of the morning. Come on now they are just plain comfy. I am cheating a bit in this pic as I don't wear the hoodie to bed but in the morning it is chilly so out it comes.

I may or may not have a goofy daughter, whom I am extremely blessed by. I love this girlie so much.

For the past 4 weeks I have been getting up earlier than normal and spending half an hour each morning with the Lord. This is fast becoming such a blessing. I love this habit and most days I am such a better Mom because of it.

I hope you all know that this post was silly. But honestly it pretty much is a small glimpse into my life. I do stay in my pajamas a good chunk of the day, my living room really does look like that especially Monday mornings as Sundays I want to spend the time with my family and not worry about my house. Sometimes life gets busy and the laundry stays on the line. I do love having my bed made, but some days it just doesn't happen until later.

 This is me, this is real life.

I hope you enjoyed it. :)

Not much progress...

Well another week has come and gone and I don't have a terrible much to report.
We were really busy this week. Sarah came down with a bit of a cold yesterday and still not feeling great today so we took a break from schooling. She is already ahead so I wasn't overly worried about it.
However on my 3 in 30 list, well... let's just say it could have gone a bit better. :)

 1. Complete fall cleaning list.
Well under the fridge got cleaned out but that was because I had lost my good knife behind it so I needed hubby to pull it out. Once out I found another good knife and proceeded to scrub. :) Feels better knowing at least that is clean. :)

2. Get us on a really good working schedule, which includes making a schedule just for Sarah on stuff she needs to do everyday.
This is probably the best. Today I printed off a daily 'chore' sheet for her to follow. I am tired of picking everything up and asking her a million times. So I will be now simply saying do your chore chart. Hoping it works and she learns to put things away again.

3. Clean out camper, finish fall yard work, go through clothes and get rid of summer ones that are no longer fit or are falling apart.
Nope never even looked at this one. 

Part of the reason things were crazy for us this week is because dance is back in full force. I managed to get all caught up on laundry. I also made 11 freezer/crockpot meals. I know I going to love that. Already started using them. I also managed to list a few things on a buy and sell site and sold a couple within an hour of listing. I hope the other ones go soon. It has really inspired hubby and I to go through some of what we would classify our 'junk' and get it cleaned up in the hopes that someone else can use it. :)

I am hoping that you all had a much better week goal wise than I did. :)
I am linking up today with Aurie.

The start of a new month brings some new goals

Wow it so hard to believe that it is the 7th of September already. This season I believe is loved my many. After all what is not to love? The crisp air, the wonderful smells, the need to cuddle under a blankie, wearing sweaters and of course do I even need to mention Pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. hahaha

With this month for me it usually means I want to get everything fresh for the long winter ahead, and let me tell you here in Alberta, Canada we are usually in for a LONG winter.
So this month my goals are going to reflect the mood I am in.

1. Complete fall cleaning list.
When I was cleaning last week, I start to write down things that I want to get down that don't normally get cleaned. Such as for me the inside of the window frames, underneath the stove and fridge, under the china cabinet, clean the washer and valcum out the dryer vent. These are things that most of the time I would ignore but in the fall and again in the spring I like to get the house freshen up.
Alright I am pretty embarrassed to be showing these too you, but here they are anyway. This is keeping it real folks. LOL I promise I will show you pretty pictures when they are all cleaned up. :)

Patio door frame. Can you say DISGUSTING!!

Under the china cabinet.

2. Get us on a really good working schedule, which includes making a schedule just for Sarah on stuff she needs to do everyday.
Yep I really lacked on this as she was growing up. If she didn't do it and I never noticed until she went to bed then I would just do it. Now this is driving me absolutely batty, and with wanting the house to be keep clean and schooling her she also needs to learn to be WAY more responsible. So I am hoping a daily checklist will help her and me. :)

3. Clean out camper, finish fall yard work, go through clothes and get rid of summer ones that are no longer fit or are falling apart.

I figure this is pretty self explanatory. LOL Although the fall work might have to wait until October depends when the leaves stop falling. :)

I am linking up today with Aurie.

some of you had asked for pictures on my home binder. Please, please please stop back on Monday. That is the post I have planned for that day. :) I pinky swear I will put up pictures and let you know what is and what is not working for us. :)

Blessings shining through!

I am happy today. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!! 
I am so blessed it sometimes amazed me.

I have an amazing husband, who seems no matter what crazy ideas I throw at him he is always on board.

I have beautiful, talented children.

I have fantastic friends. Although most of them live to far away for us to see often. :(

We are one step closer to our adoption. Every day is one step closer right? :)

Homeschooling so far is going fantastic. Sarah is willing and wanting to learn more. She is happy and focused this year.

In turn her dance so far is going really good as well. She seems to be thrilled to be back at it.

The Hello Morning Challenge is fantastic and I am in love with each of the ladies from my Good Morning Girls already.

The blessings that the Lord is giving me is overflowing!!

I am linking up today with Theresa.

Wednesday's Walk

I realized yesterday that exactly a year ago this week I became gluten free. I have not had a slice of bread for 12 months. I have not had a my favorite chicken mushroom fettuccine. I have not had a cinnamon bun, garlic toast, or a big bowl of corn chowder in 52 weeks.
I did this primarily because I was sick of being sick. So I decided to just stop. Cold turkey. I won't say there hasn't been hurdles along the road but when I have something with gluten in; oh my not good at all.

Alright I am going to take a small detour here, but stay with my I will wrap it up fast and it will soon all make sense.

I have been doing the Kept study through the Hello Morning Challenge and one of the words that jumped off the page to me today was obedience.
It got me thinking about how hard it is for me to be completely obedient to God. Then I wondered why. I have a very strong desire to follow Him, and learn from His Word. I desire to want to be the sheep He wants me to be. So why then is it so difficult.

(Get ready because here comes the link between the two. :))

Then I thought about my ability to be able just give up gluten. Why because it made me sick. If I cheat or disobey I pay for it.
So how is it any different from cheating or disobeying God.
Obeying God makes me healthier spiritually wise. It makes me a better person and one that helps me be the Proverbs 31 woman I desire to be.

If I am strong enough to give up gluten why can't I be strong enough to give up my strong willed personality and hand my life over to HIM?

The truth is I am working on it. One day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time, even one minute at a time. I am a sinner, I am weak, but I know that God loves me anyway. No matter what.
He has chosen me. He will give me the Grace and Peace that I need. (referenced from 1Peter 1:2)

So to further my quest and strengthen my walk I have joined the Hello Morning challenge, (which I love) and Sept 20 I will be starting the Good Morning Girls study. ( I already am in a group and connecting big time with these wonderful ladies) These studies I am and will continue to do first thing in the morning. (after I manage to keep my eyes open for more than two seconds. LOL)
I have also joining the 4x4 reset. This study I will do either during the day or in the evening whenever I have time.

My goal on doing these studies is to learn more about His Word and how I need to live in it.

Through it all I know that I am nothing without Him, and He is always there for me.

Today I am linking up with Mary Beth and Sam.

Fall TV

I love, love, love fall, autumn, the season before winter. However you word it, it is truly my favorite season.
I mean what is there not to love?
You have, crisper weather.( a nice relief after so many hot summer days.)
You have, the wonderful smells.
Gardens being harvested.
Leaves being raked.
Pumpkin anything being made.
It is all together a wonderful season.

Today I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite things. New episodes of some of my favorite shows.
Although we don't watch a ton of television around here, there are some shows that I love. In fact so much so that I PVR them.
So for fun today I thought I would list them.
Here they go in no particular order.

1. The Big Bang Theory.
I love all the characters of this show. The humor in it has me laughing for days afterwards. You can often find me quoting them.

2. Grey's Anatomy
I truly understand why some individuals do not like this show, but it seems no matter what they throw at me I keep coming back season after season to watch.

3. Private Practice.
Must admit I like this one better than Grey's. The story lines are usually much better.

4. Duck Dynasty!!!!
New season starts Oct 10th!! These Robertson's have me in love with them. What I think is even more funny is I like them so much more than my hubby.

5. Bun Heads.
Not sure if any of you watch this or not, but it is essentially about a dance school. If anyone ever watch Gilmore Girls (which I was a HUGE fan of and so sad that it is not longer on air. In fact have re-watched most of the episodes 6 times.) you will love this one as well. There is many of the same characters and the dialog is similar.

6. Cake boss.
I love seeing what they can create. There is some talented people there.

7. Brothers and Sisters
This isn't one that I will set the PVR for, but when I am around and manage to catch it I really enjoy it.

8. Vegas
This one is new this year, however I can see it becoming one of my favorites. I mean it has Dennis Quaid in it. Hello! hahahaha

9. Pawn stars
Alright I will admit this is more my hubbies than mine but I am being nice here. LOL I do really enjoy this show though. I love seeing some of the old and neat stuff they have come in their shop.

10. Storage Wars.
I could use without the drama but again love the stuff that they manage to find.

I am linking up with Angie today.