Flitting Around

Hello Sweet Friends!

This week has been a whirlwind of jumping back into the school schedule, catching up with old friends, working on a major renovation project, and wedding preparations.

1.Over the weekend my brother and his fiance' came to town for a wedding shower given by my mom's long-time friends. The bride was very gracious as she thanked various "strangers" for the abundance of gifts as I coveted her array of new crisp-white towels.

2.Twice in less than a week I had the opportunity to catch up with my own long-time friends. This is a cyber-hug to my friend (and secret reader) Mary. We've been friends since college days and it does a body good to have a friend who stays as funny as she was the day I met her. She lives in Atlanta, so we took the opportunity to meet along the interstate and catch up. Since it was 102 degrees that day, Hobby Lobby, Mimi's Cafe and JC Penny served as a playground for the abundance of offspring we toted along. I'm sure that JC Penny had their undercover shoplifter stoppers following us since we spent an hour and a half meandering through the children's department and purchased nothing.

I also had the chance to catch up with a friend from high school/college days. Kellie, her camera, and her adorable twins came for a visit and a dip in the pool. One of the best things about catching up with old friends is getting to know their children. What a delight to watch the circle of life unfold!

3.I've been up to my eyeballs since January with a major renovation project at our church. It is finally starting to take shape, which is good since my kids have started wondering if it is our second home. :) I do have before/after pictures that I will share in the near future.

4.We started our school year on Monday and let me tell you, the kiddos were much more excited about starting the early school day than I was. If the world could operate on a 9am-midnight schedule, it would be fine with me. All in all, it was a great start to the school year. I just didn't have it together enough to blog and teach at the same time...

What kept you busy this week?

Follow Up to This n' That

To fully appreciate this follow up, go here first to read about This n' That.

Computer camp ended up being all that we imagined and more. The people at the Mac store really went above and beyond my expectations. The staff was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and entertaining to say the least. They even offered a free seminar to the grown-ups on "parental controls." My girls wore big grins for the duration of the morning. At one point my daughter breezed by me and whispered, "I LOVE computer camp. Thanks for signing me up." The angels sang... and I got a gold star.

They were given these cute t-shirts and name badges with cool pins:

Remember the savings goals that my girls have been working on? My days of paying my children to do silly things like rub my shoulders are coming to a quick end. Camera girl reached her goal last week so we promptly did a little comparison shopping and purchased her first digital camera. We were so proud of her working hard to accomplish her goal. She wore the batteries out within the first 48 hours. But it sure provided good entertainment for my mom's birthday when she played a video of herself proclaiming her love for her grandma. 2345 times.

On Wednesday, the girls were asked to bring a digital camera to camp since they were going to do some video editing (how cool is that??) Needless to say, our new photo fiend was thrilled. The joy was short lived because 10 minutes into the morning she came to me in tears with a broken camera in her hands. It had been dropped during a transfer. On concrete. 6 days after purchase.

Hard life lessons.

I promised to take it straight to the camera repair store after camp. Upon which they informed me it would cost $50 more than what we paid for the camera for them to even open it up. Sigh.

Can you say PARENTAL DILEMMA?

Mercy won out on this one. Since she had worked so hard and it truly was not her fault, we decided to purchase another camera for her with the 2 year protection plan.

Thursday was a much better day for the NEM family.

I arrived ready to plop my 6 year old in front of the kid sized computers to play games for an hour and a half while I attended the parent seminar a few steps away. Suspiciously, there weren't any other parents hanging around. I meekly asked if they were doing a seminar and they said "no, but if you want to learn something we can teach you. In fact, we have the guru here today. He's just arrived from the Mac flagship store in San Francisco." Um... well let me think about it...

So I had a one-to-one computer lesson for almost two hours.

I was the very happy girl with a great big lightbulb on the top of her head, who decided the $100 she forked out for a new camera was worth every penny.

Have you ever faced a parental dilemma? What did you do?

Sunday Rest

But as for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.

My mouth will tell of your righteousness,

of your salvation all day long...

Psalm 71:14-15

This 'n That

1. I've spent 2.3 hours on the phone with Apple Care experts helping me adjust to my new toy. Let's just say that having to wait 19 hours for my laptop to "migrate" information to the desktop was like giving a child an ice cream cone and telling him he can't lick it until it is completely melted. But I'm learning patience. Apparently waiting 9 years and saving our pennies to purchase a new family desktop computer didn't do the job.

2. While we're on summer break, I've filled my rainy afternoons with important things like designing my lesson plan book. Since I didn't want to fork out $7.99 for a cute 3ring binder, I bought a white one with clear insertable front/sides for $1.99, added some scrapbook paper and patted myself on the back. Because school starts in a week and the inside still looks like this:
Anyone else in denial about school starting? Several people asked me about our schedule in the comments section. We follow a modified year-around schedule which allows us 2 weeks off in the fall, 3 weeks at Christmas, and 2 weeks off in the spring. Hence the start of school in July. We LOVE this schedule when the long breaks roll around. Right now, I'm still digging the sleeping in n' such...

3. I signed my kids up for computer camp at the Apple store with the hopes that they can then teach me everything they learn. The rules state that the parents have to stay in the store thru the duration of the camp. Their reasoning probably has something to do with liability and good marketing time for the adults. I'm thinking "free help at the Genius bar" time. We'll see...

4. My girls set their first big savings goals earlier in the spring. One is saving for her 1st computer and the other for a digital camera. Can I just tell you how easy this has made my life? No more asking for stuff in the dollar section. No more watching them spend their $$ on junk. Plus I can pay them to play with my hair, wash the dog, brush the dog's teeth (gag), and organize the kitchen drawers without feeling guilty. It's for a good cause, right?

5. I am learning the joy of submitting to my husband on areas I never even considered:
Ummm, yeah. This deserves a whole post in and of itself.

What do you like to do to waste time?

Perfect Pound Cake

2 sticks butter 3 cups flour

1/2 c. Crisco 1/4 tsp. salt

3 cups sugar 1/4 tsp. baking powder

5 eggs

1 cup milk 2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon flavor 1/2 tsp. almond flavor*

Cream the butter, Crisco, sugar. (Now we're feeling healthy!) Mix in eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine milk and flavorings. Alternate mixing in dry/liquid ingredients to the butter mixture. Pour batter into a greased, fluted metal pan.

Place in a COLD oven. Turn heat to 325 degrees. Bake approx. 1 hour 20 minutes.

*Depending on the flavor you prefer, you can always increase the almond or lemon flavorings to suit your taste. It is flavorful enough to serve without any topping, but be my guest and add whatever your heart desires.

This recipe is originally from Southern Living, but passed to me by my dear friend Leslie who is a master cook. It is basically no-fail.

What's your favorite topping for pound cake?

Summer Bliss

smoothies

beach towels

laughter

crepe myrtles

steady rain

watermelon

flip flops

swim parties

fireflies

summer tunes

travel

iced tea

Sunday Rest

{Jesus said}

You did not choose me,

but I chose you and

appointed you to go

and bear fruit -

fruit that will last.

John 15:16