The Grand Experiment

We began our grand experiment a month ago. While it might sound like a noble cause, it really all came down to our budget which we wanted to tighten up a bit. So after much consideration and discussion, we called the cable company and turned off our cable TV. At the same time, we ordered a free month of netflix. It took the cable company quite a while to come out to the house to turn it off. I was beginning to think they had forgotten about the order it took so long! Netflix started right away and we took only 1 disk at a time so that we could have the entire month free. Now we have upgraded to 2 at a time. We still are saving about $45 a month on this arrangement. But the best thing is the improvement we have seen in the attitude of our son! It is like night and day! He does his chores (usually) without reminding. He is pleasant most mornings too! It is such a joy!

The funniest part of the experiment is walking into the bedroom to find my DH staring at the blank screen which is that tv. We do not have tv in that room for now. He is working to put a netflix compatible pc in there but it hasn't happened yet so all he has is the blank screen of the old tv! I think we have all enjoyed netflix and hulu is another great source of entertainment for us. I would highly recommend the grand experiment for other families. And if you try it, I would like to know how things turn out for you a month down the road!

Update: Read more here!

A bit of a funk...

I took my youngest to the bookstore today to get a present for a friend and I took advantage of the time to go look at magazines. I pulled 4 from Stampington to look through and found myself rather disappointed. Belle Armoire Jewelry left me quite uninspired which is unusual. I checked out the Apprentice and that might have been the most interesting on of the bunch. Holiday and Home were not what I was expecting either. I suspect it is me and the mood I am in currently. I normally love almost everything I have read from Stampinton so I have a hard time believing that nothing was worth my purchasing.

Then I had a bead society meeting tonight. I had ordered some of the supplies for the project they were going to be working on tonight but I wound up not having the time to stay. I had planned to purchase my supplies and not work with the class but sit with the girls and work on my kumihimo project. I have not had the time to attend any of the meetings now that they have moved to evenings. I am seriously thinking about dropping out of the bead society now. I am in such a different place than most of the other members that I have a hard time relating with many of the members. Then the lack of time is another factor. But what does this mean for my creativity?

I feel drawn to fiber currently. I want to sew, felt, crochet and embellish!!! This is a new path to explore but I don't want to abandon jewelry completely either. But my role as mom has to come first!

a new adventure

Today starts our church's 10th year of LOGOS! I am thrilled! We have worked so hard to build this program to where it is today. My own kids would not want to miss it. And this year, I will be teaching Bible to 6th graders. It looks like we have a class of girls and they all have real hearts for Jesus which will make this fun. I am teamed with our pastor who thinks we can just wing it on the curriculum! I'm a little nervous about that! His plan is to use the book of John as our basis so that is comforting as I know the book of John fairly well thanks to BSF. We don't really have a plan for tonight that I know of so I will start with bringing an ice breaker to help us get to know the class better. Not sure that we will use it, but we will have it as a backup plan anyway!

Labor Day!

What a glorious weekend we have had! God has given us truly wonderful weather for the whole weekend. We have worked outside on Saturday and again today. Yesterday was more of a day of rest. I took our oldest DD and went to church to usher at the 10:30 service. Then followed that with a long afternoon nap!

Today we began working on the door which will become a desk for the girls. The molding strip has been removed and sanding has been done on the top and all four edges. I need to make a trip to home depot to research and maybe purchase some supplies to finish this project. Paint for one thing, and plexiglass for the top, two more legs as well and some sort of strip to finish the front edge of the door and that should complete the project!

DD #1 is hard at work on a project for her English class (9th grade honors). She has had it for almost a week but just got started today! I want to wring her neck! (No! Not literally!) Learning to balance her time is going to be a challenge. She has too many classes that require a significant amount of effort to be slacking off like this!

I started a project today that I have wanted to do for a bit. I am embroidering the inside of my jeans' pocket! The way the pocket is cut and assembled, the lining usually shows when I sit. It is a very plain piece of cotton that is dyed from the indigo of the jeans. Not the best picture here but I'll try for another one later...

a week of moments...

I have had a week of moments. Not any one huge thing but lots of little moments that made things interesting. Some failures and some successes through the week but overall I feel closer to God which must be a success of the highest magnitude!

Mark Stearns of the Lincoln Village Project is teaching a Sunday School class for adults at my church and it has been eye-opening to say the least! We are blessed in so many ways and I praise God for those blessings! I am trying to be more reliant on Him and less trying to do it all myself! I had time this week to read through the book that Mark has put together and it is a profound story that can change a life with God!

So with that as my background thoughts all week, I was truly struck by how fortunate Huntsville is and how much excess is around us. I am appalled by kids driving luxury foreign cars. I have seen teens driving jags and ferraris and mercedes. What do you have to work for when these things are available to you at 17 or 18? And yes I know that some of my friends' kids drive very nice vehicles and I still feel this way.

On to more mundane things - I did three, yes three, loads of laundry today and cleaned the garage fridge. Some sorting of papers also happened. The kids went to rehearsal and I shopped for groceries and got gas for my van. Totally mundane but I feel very good about getting things done!