Back Kinda

Monday we were supposed to start school but spent the day running errands all over the place instead. We also did yard work. Tuesday we spent the day putting Buddy's car back together and cleaning gutters. Monkey cooked chicken fried steak for supper on Monday and YCJ cooked breakfast for supper on Tuesday.

Wednesday we worked around the house and were mostly outside.

Thursday was Peanut's 10th birthday! We woke her up by singing to her. Then spent the day playing with her, opening gifts, having a bonfire, sparkles, and smore pie! Peanut wanted split pea and ham soup for supper so that's what we had. Most of the day was spent outside, but when she was inside she spent most of her time working on painting a ceramic wreath that we'd given her. All in all she had a wonderful day!

Friday Daddy and Buddy had to run more than an hour from the house to pick something up for Buddy. ECJ had an online creative writing class (look for a post on this next week!) at 9:30 in the morning. It took him some concentrated effort to get that and his morning chores done. Monkey and I rearranged some furniture, did laundry, cleaned, and organized while YCJ and Peanut cleaned their room and the rabbit cage. I spent time going over this year's new school books with each camper and after Daddy got back with Buddy we had bbq for supper.

Next week Tuesday has now become our new start date.

Leading Up to the Move

Monday Daddy, Monkey, and I ran a load of scrap to the scrap yard after a cup of coffee. All of the campers were up and in various stages of breakfast or chores. When we got back to the house Daddy made his famous spinach spaghetti (when I put it in blue that means I'm going to add the recipe at the end of the post). Then he and Monkey loaded up the car and went out to the new house to finish the painting that we'd started on Saturday, prep the kitchen walls for paint, and paint at least one more room in the house, along with some other odds and ends. I folded a load of laundry, got the campers working together to gently deflate the floats for the beach, started a load of laundry that was half linen and half clothing, and prepped to wash blankets for the rest of the day. My goals for the day included getting much of the linens that we don't use on a daily basis washed, dried, and packed up using them to cushion my ceramic decorations ... including two dancing lady music "boxes" that my grandmother had given me (these are precious to me and so I made sure to mark the entire box fragile with a red marker). In between doing laundry and writing out the notes for this blog post I did some exercises and also crocheted a bit. The campers helped me and ran the vacuum, did dishes, prepared lunch, and various other things. Daddy and Monkey came home in the early evening and of course our supper was spinach spaghetti! After supper everyone pretty much relaxed, took showers, got meds, and did the bedtime routine... everyone in the house was asleep in bed by 11:30 PM.

On Tuesday we all lazed about in bed until around 9 AM when Daddy got a call from out contractor about the electricity... the fastest he'd be able to get the power company to turn us back on wasn't going to be for another week and Daddy had to fax some forms to the electric company. We did one better. I woke up all of the campers and got them going for the day after which Daddy, Monkey, and I went to one of the customer service centers for the electric company with the paperwork. Paperwork filed and one call made and the electricity and gas would be turned on this Wednesday!!! While we were down in that area we stopped in to do a few things for Papa, Grandma is down in Texas visiting with family and won't be back for another ten days or so. On our way home we actually went out of our way to go to the video store and rent several movies to watch. By the time we got home it was around 4 PM (140 + miles worth of driving this day!) and we turned on Alladin to watch with the girls. After the movie I cooked pork chops, mac and cheese, and broccoli for supper. Meds were passed out on time, crocheting got done, and everyone was in bed asleep (including the adults) by midnight.

Wednesday morning all of the adults woke up really early so that Daddy and Monkey could get out to the new house and get the stove installed in the kitchen while they wait on our morning appointment with the electric/gas company as an adult has to be in the house while things are turned on. Daddy loaded the trunk of the car with most of his tools and off they went. I was enjoying my last cup of coffee after doing 25 squats to exercise my legs, then packed up the rest of my knick knacks (believe me, there are a TON and I have almost as many outside decorations for the house), updated this blog post with notes from Monday and Tuesday, folded a load of laundry and washed another, then took a shower... all before the first child popped their head out of the covers. In between loads of laundry, and while I waited for the campers to wake up, I crocheted ... one of my new goals is to crochet every day to make sure that I'm making time for myself... I also laid out the meat for supper so that it would defrost. Meatloaf done on the bbq anyone? (It's so good!) Daddy and Monkey came home in the afternoon victorious! The electric is on to the new house and so is the natural gas! 

So, here it is Thursday, and I'm wrapping up my blog post for this week. Tomorrow and the weekend will be filled with moving so I won't have much time for being online and we won't have internet on at the new house for at least a week or more. I'll be back to blogging by the beginning of September and the "new" school year... Today we spent the morning quietly together, then ran a load of scrap out to the scrap yard, followed by a quick trip to pick up the newest member of the family! Meet T. Rex! (Tyson Rex) We stopped after picking him up to visit with a friend we hadn't seen in far too long and then came home. The afternoon has been filled with dogs and a puppy playing, baths, cuddles, and more. Supper tonight will be chicken thighs, green beans, noodles, and beets. We'll be getting to bed a bit earlier tonight so that we can get up and busy early in the morning!!! The next time I post a blog post it will be from our new home!! How exciting!!

Spinach Spaghetti

• two cans of spinach
• one large can of whole pealed tomatoes
• one small can of diced tomatoes
• one large can of mushrooms
• 2 -4 jars of favorite spaghetti sauce (this depends on size of jar)
• salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, minced onion, and a dash of sugar
• spaghetti noodles

Drain spinach extremely well. Drain both tomatoes and mushrooms. Place all ingredients in crock pot set to lowest setting (we set it on "keep warm") and let cook from morning until supper time. When ready to serve boil enough noodles for your family to all eat. Serve with garlic bread if desired and parm cheese sprinkled on top. Depending on the size of your family you'll have enough for one or two more meals, you can also freeze the leftovers and use them later. 

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Not linking up this week. We'll be fully moved in to our new house this weekend and I won't be blogging until we get the internet set up at the new house (not in the top five of our to do list) ... look for updates on how and what we're doing on our Facebook page!!!

Busy Little Campers

Monday we woke up rather early. There was a load of scrap in the truck already that Daddy just secured with ties and then we ran it to the scrap yard. A second trip to the scrap yard happened after a quick run home and another filling of the truck. We were done with scrapping by 11 AM and back at the house. Daddy and I dropped Monkey off so that she could take a shower and grab something to eat and then he and I grabbed some chicken on the way to my 11:30 appointment. I was out just before noon. Daddy and I went and picked up six large boxes to help with the moving and then headed back to the house, where paint was loaded into the trunk and back seat of the car, and Monkey and I traded places. She ran with Daddy out to the new house to finish running some wiring and clean up part of the basement while I stayed home with the other campers and we did two days worth of school. Did we have to do two days worth? Nope, we could have just done one day. But, I figured we could get two out of the four school days scheduled for this week done and then I could either double up another day this week or pick school back up after Noni's scheduled visit for Wednesday. I folded a load of laundry, wrote out my notes for the blog, got both Peanut and YCJ off into the bath and the shower after lunch (which YCJ cooked), and then played a video game for a few minutes to calm my irritation... Yes, for very little reason this day I was irritated and I needed to calm down before I lost my cool. I talked to Daddy on the phone a bit and then I went and crocheted quietly in my room waiting on chicken to defrost so that I could make supper out of it ... possibly two or three suppers out of it. (10 pounds of legs and thighs go a long way when cooked properly.)


On Tuesday the adults were all up by 9:30 (Daddy and Monkey are both early risers and were "sleeping in" when they woke up at 8!) and the campers quickly followed. Daddy and Monkey went back out to the new house to do some more work while I stayed home with the younger campers to do some more school. We did two more days worth of lessons again! That finished out the lessons for the week and we won't be having more lessons until mid-August after we're finished moving (so the campers are getting a larger break of possibly double the time off in July and August, but we'll still do at least two weeks worth of lessons before the "new" school year begins in September.) Approximately 7 pounds worth of chicken had cooked in the crock pot over night while we slept, so I took each piece out and shredded the meat for two more meals (putting each half into two separate containers in the fridge) ... I'll be making chicken noodle soup with one batch of meat and chicken quesadillas with the other batch. ECJ did the breakfast and lunch dishes and then I ran a load of laundry. Afterwards I crocheted while ECJ worked on his coding and the girls worked on crafts and videos. Daddy and Monkey came home in the afternoon and I had a meatloaf ready for Daddy to put on the bbq to cook. Meds were passed out at normal times, bedtime rituals were done, and everyone in the house was asleep by 11 PM.

Wednesday!! Noni came out again and we were off to the inland beach that we went to two weeks ago!! We had the exact same lunch as we did last time, turkey or ham sandwiches with cheese and potato chips. We ate before anyone went into the water and Noni had brought four floatation devices with her that we blew up with her car adapter. The campers all had fun swimming and floating in the water. Noni had hurt her toe two nights before and didn't want to get into the lake and as for me I didn't think it was quite hot enough for swimming so we stayed out and chatted while the campers went swimming. Daddy even showed up about halfway through our time there and hung out and chatted as well! Afterwards Noni stopped by Meijer (a grocery and other store more expensive than Walmart) and we picked up a few things that were needed that I hadn't purchased in the last couple of weeks due to the upcoming move. We had a quiet night after Noni left and all of us were in bed by 11 PM.

On Thursday the girls, Daddy, and I ran out with a load of belongings from our shed (think kids bikes, tools, and yard equipment) to the new house. We unloaded everything into the garage and checked out the inside of the house, straightening a bit of a mess that had been left from all of the electrical work, before turning around and heading back home. But, we hadn't gone out until afternoon so we didn't make it home until supper time ... I threw together some chicken quesadillas for supper, passed out meds, did bedtime rituals, took a long hot bath, and watched some scary movies that we had in the house. 

Friday we had a long day with an appointment for Monkey taking up the better part of the middle of the day. We didn't feel like taking a load of furniture out to the new house and so we picked up several different movies for the campers and the adults and just hung out around the house for the rest of the day.

The weekend was a bit packed with painting being done by the girls, Daddy, and myself at the new house on Saturday. We got two rooms basically finished and did some more cleaning and planning. Daddy and Monkey sanded the plaster walls in the kitchen to prep them for paint when they go back out there. The plan is to be totally moved in by this time next weekend. On Sunday we went to mass and then did a bit of scrapping followed by Monkey learning some basic mechanics from Daddy on our car. Monkey is currently planning on becoming a mechanic and Daddy figures it's time she start learning a bit while he supervises. The rest of the day will be spent with one more trip around the neighborhood looking for scrap, supper of fried bologna/egg/and cheese sandwiches, some crochet, and a few scary movies...

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Big News Weeks!

Saturday the campers and I basically hung out together all day long. The weather was cooler so we went for a short walk, I went through all of my clothing, YCJ went through all of her clothing, we watched more of Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events, and had breakfast for supper. Peanut slept in bed with me again this night because Daddy was still on his road trip to bring Monkey back home from her excursions away from home. I will say that it is a VERY good thing that I have a king size bed because Peanut literally spun around in her sleep like the hands of an analog clock!


Early Sunday morning, we're talking around 6:30 AM, Daddy surprised us by showing up early with Monkey!!!! The whole house was up and excited to have them both home.... although ECJ did go back to sleep for a while because he'd been up the night before unable to sleep. Monkey, Peanut, YCJ, and myself walked to the store after doing a few things around the house to pick up some ingredients that I was missing for our chosen supper (sour kraut and sausage with mashed potatoes ... I had 0 potatoes in the house and I also wanted some melon). In the mid afternoon Daddy, Monkey, and I ran to the dollar store for a few items that were on a must have list that we'd run out of (remember that I don't drive), did a touch of scrapping on the way home, and when we got back two of the three of us took a nap for about an hour. Supper was at 6 PM, meds were at 8 PM, and everyone was in bed around 11 PM. It was a good, laid back, restful day.

Noni came out Monday morning with her cooler filled with goodies for a picnic lunch!!! The campers, Monkey, and I went with Noni to a nearby inland beach (please remember that Michigan is a peninsula surrounded by large COLD lakes, so when we say inland we mean NOT one of the Great Lakes)!! The lake was like bathwater, which meant that Noni and I actually joined the campers in the lake! Of course, we ate lunch and hung out for awhile before hand. Everyone had fun splashing, swimming, and wading. We were there for several hours and I burned on my back and shoulders even though I had sunscreen on ... yes, redhead curse. We then moved over to the other side of the lake where there was a nice playground and pavilion and relaxed, chit chatted, and hung out for awhile. Daddy showed up for a bit and hung around with us. I didn't write down what we ate for supper after Noni left... not that it's really all that important.

Tuesday Daddy, myself, and all three girls got up early and headed out to a house in another town about an hour and a half from where we're living currently. This is the house that we'll be moving to probably before the end of the month! We met a contractor there and then started cleaning the house. It's been sitting for a few years so it needed the walls and ceilings washed to prep for paint, the kitchen had been left a total mess, and we needed to take some garbage to the curb. So, we spent the majority of the day doing just that. After we left (half the house ready for paint and vacuuming) we went to a town here in Michigan called Frankenmuth to walk around, buy some fudge (ooo YUMMY! So, not on my diet!), and have a meal of Zender's famous chicken dinner family style. It was like Thanksgiving only with turkey and nothing ever runs out unless you don't want more of it. We did this to celebrate Daddy and my 11th wedding anniversary coming up this Saturday and to celebrate the buying of a house! We drove home and hung out for several hours with NOBODY going to bed anywhere near normal bedtimes!

On Wednesday everyone was up between 8 and 9 in the morning. Daddy and Monkey were going to go do some work for one of Daddy's clients to help with scrap. I stayed home with the younger campers and did laundry (we had three loads of laundry backed up because I hadn't done laundry pretty much all week!). I could have done school with the Cracker Jacks and Peanut, but decided against it for this week. We may not do school next week either, or we may take the entire rest of the month of July off to move. I sorted through homeschooling books, making sure that we were only moving what really needed to go with us. (I would end up sorting through them again.) ... the rest of the day was mostly unremarkable.

Thursday through Sunday we spent much of the time scrapping, finding the right hitch for Daddy's truck, and going back and forth to the new house getting things ready. I crocheted, the younger girls made videos, ECJ worked on his coding, and Daddy and Monkey kept busy doing work to the truck and scrapping.

Monday all of the girls, along with Daddy and I, got up early and got ready for our day. We had to run a load to the scrap yard first thing and then go to the bank. After the bank we picked up Peanut and YCJ (who are not allowed at the scrap yard because of their ages) and headed out to the new house to work on some things. We spent about an hour and a half out there cleaning the main living area and Daddy and I had to do some paperwork with the representative of the owner ... you know, all the wonderful paperwork that goes along with buying a house (we had to finish it up). After getting back home we left for a short grocery trip and to grab some movies from Redbox. The younger kids watched one of the movies after supper (which was S.O.S. ... or chipped beef on toast) and the adults relaxed in my room and tried to watch the three movies that we'd rented ... we ended up falling asleep after starting the first one three times (Daddy actually watched that movie and said that it wasn't as good as it was hyped up to be). Don't worry, the campers were in bed before the adults fell asleep.


So, Tuesday morning dawned with Daddy and Monkey heading back out to the new house. ECJ was supposed to go with them but he'd ended up staying awake way too late the night before playing video games and wouldn't wake up easily so they left him be. I woke up and drank a couple cups of coffee and ate a yogurt. The campers all woke up and had cereal before doing some basic chores. Then I whipped out our language arts and math books and we did two days worth of work this day. I scheduled out a week's worth of lessons for next week as well (though I'm not sure we'll actually do them next week or if we'll just fit them in as we can). ECJ helped tote out books to a donate bin we had outside, I listed some of our history books for sale on Facebook marketplace, and ECJ ran the vacuum really quickly. Peanut chose a cartoon to watch while YCJ worked on a music video and ECJ worked on his coding. After Monkey and Daddy got home I went with them to load up some scrap from a client. Supper this night was hot dogs and eggs. I'll have to start packing soon so that we can get the move accomplished rather easily. At least things are organized now. I spent the evening after supper (other than passing out meds and doing our bedtime routine with the girls) crocheting ... just working on a little project to help me relax.

Wednesday and Thursday nothing amazing happened. We didn't do school. We DID do some scrapping. We didn't go to the new house. The kids didn't do any book lessons. Life was pretty relaxing. I did crochet. Meds were passed out and sleep was had.

On Friday everyone woke up rather early. We had a busy day ahead of us. It started with the clean up of a camper being scrapped, loading of the truck with scrap, and then following a wrecker to the scrap yard that was towing our broken down old camper from a client. 3 loads of scrap really quickly all went to the scrap yard. The campers all hung out around the house while we did this. After getting those three loads done we spent the rest of the day relaxing because we knew what Saturday would hold...

Saturday we again woke up early (ish) and went to the client's property. Another load of scrap was put inside of the truck and taken to the scrap yard. Then the girls, Daddy, and I loaded up a trailer full of things and took it out to the new house in the afternoon. We had Wendy's for lunch (late since it was near three o clock) and I made just fried potatoes and mac and cheese for supper because we'd all eaten so late. On Sunday we didn't go to mass because we had to finish the job for our client. All garbage cleaned up out of the storage units and put into the trash, scrap brought home for Monday's load, then went scrapping and picked up three fridge's and a stove plus a bunch of little stuff. A fridge slipped and hit Daddy in the sternum and then came down on Monkey's arm causing some deep muscle bruising and a sprain. We came home and everyone took a nap which was followed by supper that Daddy made: bbq fish, butter noodles, and broccoli and salsa con queso! It was really really good! I'll be finishing this post now and will start again with notes tomorrow. So excited for our new house!!!!

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The 4th of July!!!

Monday rolled around and we thought about doing full force lessons ... instead we just did math. The reason behind this is that Daddy and I had several errands to run during the regular part of the day and some major scrap lifting to do (for a client) in the late afternoon. Math was literally all the planned out lessons that we could get accomplished. Does this mean that the campers didn't learn anything else on Monday? Nope! ECJ not only read his requisite hour of personal reading but also did several hours of coding practice and research. YCJ read her half hour allotted and then practiced putting together videos. And Peanut read her fifteen minutes with me and worked diligently on her crafting projects. After supper (pork chops, rice, and gravy) the campers all got their meds, got read to about Australia, and went off to bed.

Now, for those of you doing the same Give Your Child the World summer book club that are going, "Wait! This week is North America week!" .. Yeah, I know. BUT, we've already covered North America, the Middle East, and Latin America during previous weeks! I knew that we'd not be able to do the book club for the extra three weeks required and slipped lessons in with other lessons to make this work for us. Isn't homeschooling with freedom grand?!?!?! So, this week we're doing Australia and the Polar zones. And we'll be done with this book club a few weeks early, but will revisit much of it throughout next school year.

Tuesday Daddy and I took two trips to the scrap yard during the morning, followed by an oil change and new wipers for the car, new wipers for the truck, checking on the next scrap job for a client, and ran to the grocery store. While we were busy doing this the campers did a lesson of math each and did their independent reading. After Daddy and I had been home about an hour I cooked supper of hot dogs and eggs (scrambled together, really good if you ask us) and melon pieces. Peanut developed a headache from the heat and was given a Tylenol along with a cool damp cloth and sent to lay down for a bit to relax. I passed out meds, read some about Australia (in the room so that Peanut didn't have to get up), and tucked them all into bed... Well, except for ECJ who stayed up a bit later trying to figure out a problem he'd been having with a certain game by watching walk through videos on YouTube. Daddy, ECJ, and I were all asleep by 11 PM.

Wednesday, the fourth of July, Independence Day!!!! We started out the day like any other day ... chores, breakfast, and so on. Then it was time to clean the car and load tools in the trunk for Daddy to take his road trip the next day. After that Daddy and I again ran to the grocery store (yes, that's three trips this week) because Daddy decided to BBQ supper and pick us up some supplies for while he's on his trip ... for those of you who don't know this is because I do NOT drive. That's right, I gave up my drivers license for a regular state ID years ago because I am no longer comfortable behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. There was a heat advisory in effect so we discussed options with the campers: we could go down to the riverfront and see the fireworks but we'd be walking there and back in the heat, OR we could stay home and relax with good food and sparklers. The campers chose the sparklers because Peanut gets headaches from the heat and ECJ didn't like the idea of taking such a long walk. YCJ would have been fine with either choice, she had pros and cons for each lol. We spent the rest of the day relaxing until supper time. Daddy made BBQ steaks and we had noodle salad and melon pieces to go with it. After supper, meds, and bedtime reading we went back outside and did the sparklers behind the house. Then, leaving three boxes completely untouched out of the twelve we'd bought, it was time for bed. But, we had a wonderful time together celebrating our nation's freedom!!!


On Thursday Daddy and I ran to the store really quick before he left for his road trip. Yup, Daddy had to leave for several days and was leaving me in charge of the campers until he gets back. This reminds me of when he was an over the road truck driver, but at least I know when he's coming home this time. The girls and I watched movies and Netflix all day long after Daddy left. Including six episodes (all that Netflix had) of a show called Wild Australia. I finally finished the blanket that I was making for my one niece who's birthday passed about two weeks ago (late birthday gift because I didn't get it done in time). And that was basically our day.

So, it's Friday and we've been a bit busy so far today. We cleaned, ate, did math, I crocheted a bit. The girls are almost ready to watch some more Netflix with me and ECJ is playing a game with one of his friends. I plan on breakfast for supper ... or chicken tacos (we'll see, I have the stuff for both laid out) and a quiet night at home with me working on some crochet projects. I hope that you've had a wonderful week and will have a great weekend!!

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Camping for the Campers!!

Monday we pulled the camper that we were working on home after a small rain storm. We'd popped it up slightly while in storage and found some water... so, we knew where we had to fix so that it wouldn't leak anymore. The campers had already done their math for the day and so we called the school day over (schools around us are already out for summer but we school year round) and asked the campers to help us. Well... we got where it was leaking fixed and had it partially popped up while still on the truck to check for something... Daddy asked ECJ to get something out of the bed of the truck, ECJ jumped up on the back bumper, and the roof that we had just finished fixing started splitting from the rest of the camper! Daddy quickly moved it to a flatter area only to have the entire roof cave in right after we finished popping it up the rest of the way!! So, we spent the rest of the day tearing apart the camper so that it was only the bottom box and nothing else to take back to the scrap yard the next day. We also had to go repossess the camper that we'd sold because the woman kept coming up with excuse after excuse not to pay us when she'd promised. Sometimes you get burned when you trust people.

On Tuesday we took the old camper to the scrap yard and then came home and did math with the campers... After math we brought home the camper that we'd repossessed and spent some time cleaning it and repairing the damage that the people who were supposed to have bought it did to the camper. Life lessons were learned for everyone in the family (although Daddy and I were sad that we had to talk about how you can't trust everyone to keep their word yet again). While we were finishing up cleaning I noticed a caterpillar that was gray and nearly blended in with the dirt and sticks that surrounded it right before it climbed up one of the trees in our yard.

Wednesday and Thursday we did math, read a lot of books about Europe and England for Europe week in the Give Your Child the World book group that we joined. We read some about Ireland and how there's still religious problems between the Catholics and the Protestants there ... this made Peanut especially sad, she prays that they'll reach a peace sometime soon because she doesn't think that you should fight over religious beliefs. I happen to agree with her. We spent a lot of time outside and some time scrapping ... there was time spent doing individual projects and playing games. All in all both days were pretty normal for us.

Friday Daddy decided pretty early in the morning that we were taking the camper to the nearest state park and going camping for the weekend to celebrate his birthday! The camper got brought home from the storage unit and packed for the two nights that we'd be gone. ECJ decided that he'd like to stay home so one of our friends came over to spend those two nights with him (he's 16 and COULD have been left alone as we were only about fifteen minutes from the house ... but, he'd never been left alone over night let alone for two nights). Daddy, myself, and the girls left and went camping! We set up camp really quickly (we've had lots of practice with the putting up and taking down of campers over the last few weeks) and then Grandma and Papa showed up at the campground to give Daddy his birthday card!! We went for several walks, watched videos while it rained, and I crocheted quietly during those movies. Yes, we bring TV and DVD players with us while we camp ... especially when we know that it's going to be a rainy weekend! We tried to go to bed/sleep around 10 PM but there were so many mosquitoes that we were bombarded all night long! There had to have been at least 100 mosquitoes in the camper itself and so many more outside! 

On Saturday morning, Daddy's birthday, we all woke up around 6 AM ... we'd only slept a few hours each thanks to the mosquitoes and grabbing some coffee it was discussed and agreed that we'd leave camp a day early. We were all tired and had realized that we much prefer tow behind campers or fifth wheels than pop ups. Besides it was scheduled to pour down rain for most of the day and we didn't want to be locked in the camper watching videos with mosquitoes bombing us every few seconds. We packed most of our stuff up and took the girls back to the house, woke up ECJ, and then YCJ made pancakes for everyone while Daddy and I tried to get the energy up to go back and take down the pop up. Around 9:30 Daddy and I did head back, check out of the park, and take down the pop up relatively easily. We have the process down to a science now! We took the camper back to storage, unpacked the truck at the house, and then settled in to ride out the rain with naps. Daddy actually spent the majority of his birthday napping and relaxing which is how he'd really wanted to spend it anyways ... we just weren't camping while he did so. That evening Daddy and I drove to meet up with a person we're doing a few scrapping jobs for over the next week or two. We tried to go look at the second job but the rain was coming down so hard that we could barely see!! We headed home, ate a late supper of rice with shredded chicken and gravy, and then all went to bed early! (We also weren't feeling very well thinking that we'd ended up with mild cases of food poisoning while camping.)

Sunday morning we woke up to more rain and a "lake" in our side yard. I ran to the store to grab some fish sticks and tater tots for the campers for supper (Daddy and I are either going to eat chicken sandwiches or eggs salad sandwiches). After getting home I updated this blog post (not publishing it until next Friday) and decided to crochet the rest of the day away other than the time that Daddy and I will be quoting the second job for scrapping tonight. Rainy days are best used crocheting, writing, talking to God, and relaxing in my humble opinion... I won't blog about the rest of the day because I'm not touching the computer again until Monday evening.

Monday again! Daddy and I woke up relatively early (but late for our usual wake up time) at 6:30 A.M. ... we had coffee and chit chatted while I jotted out the contract for the scrap job that Daddy had to do this week. We did a quick run to the store after waking up ECJ to take the dogs out and then Daddy and ECJ left to begin work on the scrap job. I took a shower, ate breakfast, and planned out this week's lessons in my planner. I woke the girls up and made sure that they ate breakfast before we did a few chores (some of which usually fall to ECJ to do) ... we brought up the trash cans from the curb, took the dogs out, cleaned the cat pan, and set up the coffee pot for later. We followed this by school lessons: this week it's The Prairie Primer unit study (we're going slow on this one and won't have it completed until probably December), talked about why it's never a bother to talk to God or ask Him questions, math, health with Eat This Not That, and began studying Asia for the Give Your Child the World book club since this is Asia week. After lessons were over the girls each wrote a letter to a friend, cleaned up the living room and dining room, and turned on Boxcar Children to watch. I ran the vacuum and then went to write a letter myself and work some on my crochet because I have to finish a blanket by Wednesday. But, before I began crocheting for the day the girls and I ran to the store (well, actually we walked) and picked up the things I needed to make potato soup for supper and some cereal. When we got back we ate lunch, a small off brand lunchable for each of us, and I played a computer game for about half an hour. I then crocheted until Daddy came home. We took a gentleman to the storage unit and sold the pop up camper and then came back home. I quickly got supper going (Potato Soup, recipe at the end of this post) and then crocheted some more. As a matter of fact I spent pretty much almost all night crocheting, pausing only to eat supper, pass out meds,  read to the girls before they went to bed.

Tuesday rolled around again and Daddy and I lay in bed long past time to wake up. Quietly drinking coffee and relaxing the morning away. Then it was time for Daddy to go back to the scrap job he'd done half of on Monday, before he left with ECJ he ran me to the post office and then the gas station. After Daddy left the girls and I did school lessons, our regular chores around the house, and laundry (time to strip the bed Daddy and I sleep in and change the sheets out while running the comforter through the dryer to get rid of the dog hair). After lessons the girls watched some cartoons on DVD while I played my computer game for a bit and then went off to crochet. We went on a small walk after a lunch of leftovers and I went right back to crocheting while the girls watched some more cartoons. When Daddy came home he dropped off ECJ and picked me up, we ran to the bank and then the gas station, and quickly we got back home. There were several leftovers in the fridge from boiled eggs to chicken and potato soup ... not to mention the sandwich fixings. Everyone had a very eclectic supper except for Daddy and I who ate the same thing that we ate the night before: potato soup, butter bread, and melon pieces. We turned on Netflix to watch Forensic Files after we ate and I spent the majority of the night crocheting ... again only stopping to pass out meds and read to the campers about Asia. This night we read about the Philippines. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 11:30.

Just in case it isn't apparent in the upper two paragraphs ... ECJ not only worked pretty much all day long with Daddy both Monday and Tuesday, but he also came home did his chores AND his school work! He's working really hard to impress upon us that he is mature enough to get his learner's permit for driving later this summer/year.

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake! I had to finish the blanket before I left the house (or so I thought)... coffee, breakfast, and crochet all before the sun officially rose. I did not get the blanket finished in the morning. After looking at the forecast we noticed that it was supposed to rain all day, so Daddy called Grandma and Papa and rescheduled the BBQ we'd planned to have with them this day until Saturday. The campers woke up and ate breakfast about an hour and a half before Noni showed up. Could we have done lessons? Sure, but we try not to do five days of lessons during the summer usually (though this summer there will be more five day weeks than previous summers). Noni brought ECJ's new math book: Life of Fred Advanced Algebra ... algebra hasn't been friendly to ECJ in the last few months but we're hoping that he can get through both Advanced Algebra AND Geometry (Life of Fred again) before this time next year. He was less than thrilled to see how thick the book was. We went to eat at Wendy's with Noni and then went bowling ... ECJ won the first game and YCJ won the second game. I came in dead last both times. But, we had a lot of fun!! We stopped at Kroger on the way home to pick up some things like milk, cereal, and bread. I gave Noni a bottle of wine that I'd been given by Grandma and then Noni had to leave. I did a pretty quick scrapping trip with Daddy and then we picked up some pizza for supper (I'd taken out fish but neither of us felt like eating fish). The campers were excited by the surprise. After supper I spent several hours crocheting, again I stopped for meds, bedtime reading, and to stretch a bit. Everyone was asleep by 11:30 again.

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake again. More coffee, breakfast, and crochet before sunrise while listening to the Bible being read to me. After Daddy woke up we had a bit more coffee, woke up the kids and fed them, and then headed to the scrap yard to pick up what was owed us from the scrap job on Monday and Tuesday. Once we finished with that we ran to the auto part store and grabbed a new coil pack (spark pack) for the car and new plugs for it as well. We came home and Daddy gave all three campers a lesson in installing a coil pack and doing a tune up on a car. Once that was done Daddy and I ran to pick up a load of dirt, two yards worth, with our truck. Dropped that back at the house and grabbed the car and then went to Menard's for a few other items needed. Friday we'll be down at Grandma and Papa's house most of the day using up that dirt and other items to help them out. I came inside and played a bit of my computer game, then crocheted more while Daddy took a nap ... and finally cooked supper of fish and fried potatoes. I then continued to crochet until it was time to pass out meds, read for bedtime (moving on to Australia a few days early as we'd like to just finish off this part of the book club ... we'll be going over the same territory during the fall semester and into next spring doing one section at a time per month), and getting the girls settled for bed. I then crocheted until 10:30 PM and was in bed asleep by shortly after 11 PM.

Friday and Saturday we spent the majority of each of these days at Grandma and Papa's house building up the ground around the foundation and in the garden, spreading grass seeds, watering things, and doing some minor work in the basement. Both of these days were HOT ... like in the 90's dripping with humidity HOT. We made BBQ both nights while we were there: fish and veggie packets for Friday and ribs and corn on the cob for Saturday. When we got home Saturday evening (we'd slept at home on Friday evening as well) we discovered that our lawn mower no longer worked... so off to the store Daddy and I went and we bought our first brand new lawn mower in about a decade.

So, here it is Sunday afternoon and I'm finishing updating this blog post. We went to early mass at church today and then took a drive to look at a house (more on that in a future post). We ended the day with scrapping, supper from Taco Bell (too hot to cook, in the high 90's again today with humidity), and after a cool bath I crocheted for a few hours.

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Potato Soup:
4-5 lbs pealed and cubed potatoes
2 small onions diced
garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper
tbs butter
instant mashed potatoes
shredded cheese
water and milk

Prep all your veggies. Saute onions in butter right in your soup pot until onions are tender. Take off heat and add potatoes, seasonings, and water to cover potatoes. Boil approximately half an hour, or until potatoes are tender and falling apart. Turn heat to low and add milk to fill the pot 3/4 of the way full ... add instant mashed potatoes to thicken soup to desired thickness (you may end up having to add more milk). Serve with shredded cheese and butter bread if you wish.

Building Memories 2018

Sunday morning Daddy and I woke up before 8 AM and had our coffee, I also had my Belvita breakfast biscuits and a small yogurt for breakfast (part of my diet that I've given myself to try to loose weight by the end of summer). The morning was cool and slightly cloudy but we had a camper to work on. We woke ECJ up around 9 and after he did his morning chores he helped us close the camper back up so that we could work on the roof some more. Daddy and I discussed some options and then left on a hardware store run to pick up some small self tapping screws and some foam board for the roof. After getting back Daddy laid out the foam boards while I woke the girls up (this was near 11 AM ... yup, we missed mass again this week). After the foam was laid out and duct-taped lightly together to stay in pattern we measured the roof and measured a length of roll roof for one side of the camper roof. Several cuts, liquid nails, and the top molding put back on on the one side we had about 1/3 of the roof ready for a seal coat (the seal coat we'll be doing next week or the week after, $55 a gallon!). We took what was left of our roll roof, not enough to finish another third of the camper let alone the whole roof, and set it down on the roof and then weighed it down with some boards. We made a spot in Monday's schedule to include running back to the hardware store and buying more roll roof. The campers helped us with everything and spent a lot of time outside. About 1:30 Daddy and I ate roast beef tortilla rolls with cheddar cheese and the campers each had a sandwich and some fruit, sandwiches varied by camper lol. Around 2 PM ECJ went fishing with a friend, Daddy and I took a quick trip a few miles away to do some light scrapping, and the girls had some fun times watching Goosebumps that they'd borrowed from the library. Daddy and I were back home by 2:30 and we instantly got a load of laundry going and Daddy laid down to relax and watch Blue Bloods on Netflix while I settled in to crochet on my niece's birthday gift (she's getting a blanket from me and knows it already). The girls played some Go Fish and other card games while Pokemon videos played in the background. Supper was at 5 PM (by which time ECJ was home) and consisted of chicken parmesan , garlic bread, and noodles with sauce. Desert was fresh melon, strawberries, and grapes. Since we wake up early in the mornings through the week the girls took either a bath or shower according to preferance, took their meds, had me read more Children Just Like Me, looked at a few picture books we'd borrowed from the library for International week in our reading club, and were in bed by 9:30. ECJ quickly followed and was in bed shortly after 10. Daddy and I were in bed and fast asleep by 11:30 PM. Whew! What a day it seems like it was after writing all of that down!!

On Monday Daddy and I woke up at 5 AM, I started the coffee pot, and opened one of my drinkable Activia yogurts to start my day out... three cups of coffee and a Belvita soft baked chocolate and oat breakfast bar and I was ready to face the day with a smile on my face! I did a bit of cardio with one of my exercise DVDs and then woke ECJ up to do his morning chores. The girls woke up on their own shortly thereafter. Daddy and I ran an errand around 9:30 and then came home to load the truck with what scrap we had (ECJ had taken it apart while we were gone) and ran it to the scrap yard. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to grab a few things that we were missing for the next couple of night's suppers and also grabbed the campers some lunchables and us adults a fruit platter full of melon and berries. When we were done with the fruits we were able to give what was left to the kids for a nice, healthy snack. I've also taken a liking to these Sparkling Ice waters and settled down to drink one while I did some organizing for the rest of the month for homeschooling. We read some information about Africa, part of a book on tropical rain forests, watched a few YouTube videos on Africa, and then did some math to round the day out. This week we're not doing extra language arts but are simply journaling about what we're learning about Africa. By mid afternoon Daddy decided to take a quick nap (his back and knees hurt and the heat was bothering his lungs), the girls were watching videos about Littlest Pet Shops together, ECJ was playing his new favorite video game, and I decided to take a mental break and play a computer game. The campers all went outside to hang out with friends or play when their friends from public school got home for the day and stayed out until I called them in for supper. We ate chicken wraps and salads. The campers then went back outside to enjoy the weather while I sat next to Daddy watching Blue Bloods on Netflix and crocheting. The campers came in the house in time for meds (around 8:30), had an ice cream sandwich, brushed their teeth, did silent reading, I read aloud from the rain forest book some more, and then the girls went to bed. ECJ followed them pretty quickly and Daddy and I were asleep by 11 PM. ((NO laundry this day!!! YAY!!!)))

Tuesday Noni came over and we went to the beach... just the campers, myself, and Noni. It was a fabulous day! Weather in the mid 80's, nice breeze off of the lake for Noni and I, and very cold lake water for the campers to enjoy! Swimming in the great lakes really isn't warm enough for me until around mid to late August... and even then it's pretty chilly. I personally like inland lakes or pools now that I'm older and dipping my toes into freezing water makes me whimper. ECJ actually got a headache from submerging his head in such cold water repeatedly. Before the beach we'd stopped at Wendy's for lunch, I stayed on course by eating a baked potato and a fruit cup. After the beach we stopped at Wal-Mart for some things that I needed to pick up because it was right on our way home. Noni spoiled Daddy this day with 3 shirts (2 T's and a tank), a pair of jeans, some of his favorite beverage for summer time, and a gift card to Menard's. Daddy was in a great mood the whole day because of this. After Noni left Daddy and I did a bit of scrapping in the next town over and basically came home with nothing ... to many scrappers in a small area competing for too little scrap. We had homemade turkey meat nachos and I added a side of melon slices to my meal because of the small portion of nachos that I'd taken. We were all in bed no later than 11:30 PM and the only "school" that we did was our read aloud, Does it Always Rain in the Rain Forest? , which was part of last week's books that we didn't get to.

Wednesday Daddy and I ran several errands (including going to Menard's) and paid for an outside storage spot for the camper. We then spent the majority of the day outside, all of us, working on the camper getting the roof sealed and ready for camping. It still needs a good cleaning and a coat of sealant on the roof for extra protection ... but it is weather tight right now. Oh, and I still have to repair a few small spots in the canvas. A small tear by the dining table (fixing by sewing it back to the base as it only tore out the thread) and fashioning to extra bits of material for either side of the door because the canvas just doesn't quit reach the door at the moment... but might after a bit of stretching. After hauling the camper to the storage spot Daddy and I went for a trip around town to see if there was any scrap out... we got a few things. Then we came home and picked a friend up to show him the camper and go out to a store that we have here in Michigan (called Meijer's) to pick up some sandwich fixings for supper. We ate sandwiches and a noodle salad before Daddy and I headed back out to pick up some more scrap. Again, we were competing with too many scrappers for too little space and too little scrap... this gets harder every year. We also took a few minutes to look at a newer pop up than what we've been working on that needs a little repair, since we know so many people who want pop up's right now Daddy is thinking about buying it to repair and sell, if the price is right. We got home, passed out meds, did our read aloud, and then pretty much everyone went to bed. Again, we were all asleep by 11:30 PM.

On Thursday Daddy and I woke up at five to have coffee and I ate my breakfast of my Activia drinkable yogurt and my Belvita soft baked chocolate and oat breakfast bar. I then rested a bit and fell back asleep for about two hours while Daddy ran around town again looking for scrap that people had put out in the morning on their way to work. Two nights of scrapping came up with one of our smaller loads that we took back around noon. The campers had finished their chores, eaten breakfast, and done their math lessens all by noon ... as well as helped load the truck. When Daddy and I got back from the scrap yard we had lunch of sandwiches and a veggie tray while the campers made lunch out of tortilla chips with hummus and a veggie tray. Daddy took a quick nap, I updated this blog post and read some emails, and the campers all watched various YouTube tutorials on their subjects of interest (programming, gaming, video making and editing)... Around 3 Daddy and I left to go scrapping in another town, a friend of ours stopped at the house at 4:30 to stay with the campers until we got home, and we tried to finish the week out strong scrap wise.

And so we come to Friday. Nearly the end of the week, one day left and a new week begins, and it's going to be a lovely (if hot) weekend! Daddy and I woke up at 5 AM again, coffee and talking before the day began. I ate my breakfast, considered exercising before the campers got up, discarded that thought and caught another two hours of sleep. When I rolled out of bed everyone else was either up or soon following my example. Campers ate breakfast and did chores, Daddy unloaded and then reloaded (with mine and the campers help) the scrap in and out of the truck, and then Daddy and I left for the scrap yard. While we were gone the campers did their math assignments and then moved on to their favorite escape of play in the house .... ECJ to his new obsession of Skyrim and the girls played with Littlest Pet Shops together. When we got back, after stopping at the bank to deposit some money, Daddy took a nap ... he'd had a migraine brewing since last night and hoped some medicine and rest would set it straight. I decided not to run the vacuum but to play my computer game for a bit since that likely wouldn't bother Daddy's head. The campers went outside to enjoy the weather for awhile and came back in when Daddy and I went to go pick something up around 5 PM or so. Yup, Daddy had found a pop up for the right price for us to fix quickly and resell! No major issues with it and we knocked out the work on it before we even had supper... 

Camper that we sold...

Daddy helping Peanut
wash our camper!

Saturday and Sunday (Father's Day) we cleaned up the pop up we'd just picked up AND sold it within the same day! That was Saturday, the whole family helped to get it power washed, cleaned inside, and sold ... Daddy and I dropped it off to the new owners Saturday evening and pulled our pop up home where we popped it up in preparation for cleaning it Sunday. Daddy's choice, not mine, it's how he wanted to spend his Father's Day. So, after coffee and breakfast on Sunday morning we all went outside and began to put the braces around the camper, get the canvas stretched all the way out, power wash and scrub the entire camper, unzip windows to air it out, clean floors and counters, ... and so much more! With the weather being in the 90's it was a very hot day to be doing such a thing. For supper we had chili dogs, salad, and baked beans. And I'd like to wish a happy father's day to all of the dad's out there!!! We ended the day watching Maleficent since we'd found it while cleaning up the camper! Pop corn for those who wanted it and nice cold melons and strawberries for those of us who preferred that. 

There will be no update next week as we'll be camping with little to no reception. But, look for our update the following week!!

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