Death and Flu

I've been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. My very sweet mother in law passed away after a long battle with PSP(supra-nuclear palsy). She declined rapidly around the 15th and passed away the morning of the 18th. With my husband being the youngest of 11 children, there were bunches of family members to visit with over the last week and a half. Actually, all said, there are 76 of us with another due in May. There were some good times of reminiscing but with 40+ family members all in one house at any given time, well... let's just say sickness this time of year was inevitable. DS came down with the flu on Monday during the day and it hit me during the night. Finally after two days in bed, I went back to work today, but the extremely bad sore throat lingers, wahhhhh.

Has anyone gotten the book Oprah is telling everyone to read? The New Earth? Waz up with that? Worth the read?

With everything that has gone on at my house the last couple of weeks, I haven't started a new book to recommend (sorry)


There are still a couple of little guys in need of prayers at this time:
Ethan, a baby who's just passed his first birthday, struggling at ST. Jude's.
http://www.ethanpowell.com/

And
Peter, who's at home surrounded by family, getting closer to his heavenly home with each passing day
www.caringbridge.org/visit/peterbarr
if the above link doesn't work, you'll just need to type in his name in the "visit" space. (peter barr)

ARGH!!!

I just typed an entire page (ok, not the whole thing) but clicked on publish post and I got an error page and my entire post was gone! CRIPES!

Long story short, please go visit http://www.ethanpowell.com/

Until I cool off and remember what all I just posted,

Lana

ps, the pic above is of ds who is 13. dd has her photo on the side. she's almost 9!

Whooped! BUT FOUND MY LOST ENTRY

Here is the entry I thought I'd lost! That was so frustrating! I decided to put it on anyway!

Ya ever get plain old tired and run down? Feeling like you need a calgon moment? I always think it's my age catching up with me! lol! But since this past week, I have felt out of steam. Hopefully, not coming down with something.

With the lack of energy, my daily routines have went down the drain. The weekend has provided lots of laundry, dishes, cleaning that I don't normally do on weekends. And letting it go has made it feel worse about doing/not doing it. Did that make any sense?

On a lighter note, ds, dd, and I all got MP3 players for Christmas. We're finally getting around to loading all our fav's on them. It's so weird, my 13 yo ds is downloading all the stuff I listened to when I was his age! arrghhhh! where did the time go? He;s putting Eagles, Queen, Super Tramp, Van Halen, Bon Jovi on his while dd is listening to Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Sara Evans. (she's almost 9) Me, well I'm putting a HUGE mix on mine. Yesterday, I put some Sugar Ray, Blaque, Dwight Yoakam, Stevie Nicks, Sara McLachlan, Jimmy Buffet, Lifehouse. I wish I could find Mercy Me's version of I Can Only Imagine.

With both dd and ds involved in winter basketball, I will be needing to bump up my daily house work, so that weekends are totally open to attend their games. We only allow our kids to be involved in one outside activity per quarter of school. Even so, they have practices 4 nights a week, (her 1 and him 3) and then 3-4 games every weekend. The silver lining is that she's almost done and ds is just getting started.

Helpful hint/tip for the day: I read this somewhere, so I can't take credit, but don't remember the source :(

Turn all your hangers around (hook side facing towards you). Mark your calendar on the day you do it. Then 3-4 weeks later, see how many items you haven't worn. Take a serious look at those items, determine if they really need to be there or not. If not, donate them to the goodwill/salvation army. They hang there so long they become permanent fixtures and we don't even realize we haven't worn them in ages. This works extremely well in the kids closets, unless they go and turn the hangers back around on you ;)

Spiritual words for the day: I hope you have faith and religion in your life, it is there for you when nothing or no one else is. ALWAYS. I keep up with several children who must go to St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis Tenn. for treatment of rare and life threatening cancers. There is a toddler with whom I've kept up with since his daddy started his website. His name is Ethan Powell and he was diagnosed at 2 months of age. He just passed his first birthday and he's not doing so good. His parents have been given the worst news yet in their journey. Please take a moment and visit his site, leave some encouraging words for his mommy and daddy and pray for them. His website is http://www.ethanpowell.com/

Until the next time,

Lana

ps. I'm learning how to post pics and in so doing, I'll be introducing you to my family a little at a time. I've posted a pic of ds who is 13 and dd who's almost 9. They are just the beginning. I'm married to a man who's the youngest of 11 children and I have 60-70 members on his side in his immediate family alone!

Ash Wednesday

Good morning fellow bloggers,
Have you got your load of laundry in yet this morning? As soon as I get out of the shower and dressed, that is my very next step. BEFORE I eat breakfast, before I do anything else. After loading the laundry, I swish and swipe the toilets, and spray down my glass shower doors with my bleach solution. All of that takes me less than 5 minutes! I then help dd with her hair if she needs it. Get my breakfast in, do a little hot spot prevention and pick one thing that needs to be done and work on it as long as I have time for before leaving to drop the kids off at school and get to work. This is usually my mornings. Oh, and forever shine your sink---that is so habitual for me I don't even think about it ;) ;)

Today marks the first day of Lent. Many religions including mine will fast today. I will attend Mass tonight. Have you contemplated what you're working on this Lenten season? Now is the time ;) In a letter to our parish, our Priest wrote....Any act of charity, penance, or self-denial can be fruitful if it is practiced for the right reason: to focus on God and His love. He goes on to say to suggest a different kind of fast this year: to refrain from gloominess(giving something up) and instead radiate the joy of being a Christian('nough said).

Handy tip for this morning: What have your kids done to do their share around the home this morning? And if you don't have kids, what about dh? Engage them in helping you. I find the more I make it fun for the kids, the more willing they are to help. (and they also know that if they don't get their own laundry to the laundry room, it doesn't get done :( I have 2 kids and dh, if all 4 of us take one task every morning, it's not so overwhelming for me on the weekend. Make it age appropriate, so that if you have little ones they can help too. The earlier you begin a habit, the more blessed you'll be as they age.

Did you go and listen to Rick Burgess about Bronner yet? If not, take time to do that, and soon. Powerful testimoney to God.

all for now,
lana

Super Sunday

Well, we didn't get the snow last week as predicted. Oh, we got some, just not the 4-8", it was more like 2-3". The kids didn't get out of school, wahhhh!

Yesterday, I made a list of things to do for the kids and I and stuck it on the frig. I included things like sweeping the tile floors, scrubbing the tubs, putting away laundry, you know the general weekly stuff. They seem to like having the control over what order they complete a task in and being able to do it without mom having to bark an order at them. We always set a timer for 15 minutes and see how much we can get done. We tackled it all in just a little while. We always purge 10 items from our bedrooms each Saturday and I know eventually, all that will be left is what we truly love and want to be around us. It made it into a game and was fun.

Flylady was just overwhelming to me this week. I couldn't keep up with all the emails and I don't think I like all the stuff she "advertises" as helpful tools. Her philosophy is about getting rid of all the clutter, except it is ok to buy her stuff and bring it back in because we "need" it to help us with our organization. I think that's where Peter Walsh has a better spin on ridding the clutter from your life. There's not a constant barrage of emails and he's not telling you to go out and buy more stuff. I have my basic cleaners, a few "tools" and that's it. I have a bleach solution in a spray bottle CLEARLY MARKED to clean the stools and sinks in the bathrooms. A vinegar solution to do windows. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, a feather duster, a scrub brush, and I buy a name brand floor cleaner for my ceramic tile as I haven't found anything else to work. All of these I keep in a plastic tote with a handle and can carry from room to room. Then I put them away under the kitchen sink.

With FAT Tuesday this week and Lent fast approaching, have you been contemplating something to give up? Maybe it's chocolate, soda, candy, or the like. For a few years now, I have decided that I will abstain from something, but also, I will ADD something to enrich my life. When we just give up something, we almost count the days until we can have it again. Is that really what lent's about? Just for the 40 days of Lent, why not choose something that GIVES of you and ADDs something to your life. For instance, one year, I chose to smile at everyone I met, EVERY TIME even when I was feeling down, ill, or even angry. Try smiling when you're frustrated! It takes a lot of effort to do it each and every time. Then, after Lent, don't just quit doing it, keep on giving of yourself. It can and will change your life! Trust me.

Recommended reading: The Bible

until next time,
L