Back to School

Michael sent me to school today. They are offering some tax classes at our local community college and he thought it would be good for me to go. I guess he said this shortly after we set up our new business, but I said that I didn't need any stupid tax classes. A short time ago, I got a post card in the mail advertising some tax classes for small businesses that I thought looked helpful. This is when I found out that he had already told me about this and I about took his head off. Nothing new there, I guess. So anyway, here I am in a little class room studying business tax. I really think we should find someone else to do this. It sure looks way over my head, but Mom has been doing it for several years now so she should be able to help me through it. I hope. Wow. Well, possibly it would work better if I paid attention. Better go.

wow wow wow wow wow!!!

Shipping took less than half the time it usually does! I love my new shipping room!! I'm going to miss it as my cake room, but like I said, I do way more shipping than cakes now so...

Jeremy's coming over to build our lockers and tote shelves tonight. This is just so incredible. I guess that which you wait for becomes all the more sweet when you get it! The boys are actually disappointed that they lose the totes out of their room, but oh well!! They need to be building forts outside anyway.

Ok, I have some returns to take care of so I'd best get busy. I just couldn't believe how fun shipping was this morning with everything in one place and a great countertop to boot!

shocked

Yes, shocked I say! My blog is still here! Are you? Highly doubtful, but that's never stopped me before.

My mom and I actually went to a movie together. We've done this once before. The last time was the Nate Saint movie. Today we went to Fireproof. Michael told us to take a box of kleenexes each, but we forgot. Wow, was he right. Anyway, EVERYONE needs to see this one! Oh, be careful little eyes what you see!

Anyway, a lot has been happening around here. Boxes in, boxes out, every day. We're having a lot of fun, and business seems to be working. We'd like to see it work a little better, but we're quite impressed with it so far! Michael has been enjoying being the main teacher and I pretty much do the shipping and receiving. He'll source and order the products we sell, then I write the ads for them. Then it starts all over! We've finally got some shelves going up. I planned on those a long time ago, but it wasn't to be. We also bought a ton of shelving to store things downstairs. Think I'm getting my "lockers" in the mud room tomorrow. All of our storage totes are in the boys' room right now. That was so we could clear out the basement to put up all the shelves to clear out the living room of all the toys we're selling on ebay. Then tomorrow I'll get the shelves to clear out the totes from the boys' room! I thought they would get more upset about this, but nooooo... they just build forts with them! Actually, it's no harder than usual to get around in there.

We're eagerly anticipating a visit from Nana and Papa next week. This will be the first time they have stayed with us. They usually get a hotel room, but we found out that was just so they didn't have to go outside to smoke... but... (DOUBLE BLESSING AHEAD>>>) THEY QUIT SMOKING!!! Yayy Nana and Papa!!! No easy thing, let me tell you... and I didn't smoke that long. We are so proud of them. The kids have prayed for them so much over this! It's so nice to see their prayers answered. But anyway, we haven't seen them for more than a year, so we are really anxious for them to get here. This will be their first time to see our new house. We're really excited about that, too.

Ok, Morgan's off my computer so I can print labels for tomorrow's boxes. I'd best get busy. We also pretty much cleared out my cake room for a shipping room. I do more shipping than cakes at the moment, so it's worth it... for now!

More on Mallory...

Mallory entered the Cherry Pie Contest again this year and did SO WELL!!! Her pie just looked absolutely perfect going into and coming out of the oven!! They only announce Champion and Reserve Champion, which both happened to be boys. They each received a score of 86, and Mallory's score was 85, so we know she was really close! She had a really good time, too, so that's what really matters. Last year something went wrong and she had to start over, but this year it all went very smoothly and she got done in a little more than an hour. Last year took 3 hours, so we've given her a pretty hard time about that!
They auctioned them off that evening and Mallory's pie went for $375!! All the money goes for the seniors' trip to Washington, D.C, so you really can't go wrong. Grandpa was planning on bidding on it, but it started above his allowance. Mallory said she could probably make him one for less.

On another subject, the tall boy beside Mallory in the auction photo was seriously injured in a car accident that killed a man. The boy is still in the hospital, so we would all very much appreciate your prayers for him. Both girls behind Mallory making her pie were in the accident, too, but they are home and doing well, although one was saved by the car's side impact air bags and still had to be extracted by jaws of life. She has a pin in her femur. There were five kids in the car and the other vehicle was a motorcycle. The man on the motorcycle was killed instantly. You can imagine how this accident has impacted our small town, so please remember all of the families in your prayers.

Where's my picture??

Yes, I knew that would cause a ruckus. I'm so unfair. The boys were at camp, too, and feel slighted that I didn't post a picture of them. I really wasn't around them much because they were always in a water fight. I'm not much of an outdoors gal, and less of a get-wet gal, and much less of a defend yourself gal. Now paintball might be fun, but since I'm not very war-oriented, I don't imagine that's for me, either. Target practice is good. Indoor target practice is really good. Anyway, I spent most of my free time in the geek infested lobby, which was the only place we could get internet. Actually, internet came in well from about 2 am until 8 am, so if you know much about me, you know that the world isn't really grateful about my presence at that particular time. Michael took me into town a couple afternoons for good coffee and good internet. No, it wasn't the highlight of my week, but it was close!

The first night we were there, a gal was trying to herd three little kids all by herself. I thought that was a bit much to ask, so I told her that there were plenty of moms in our little group, plus a couple-three pretty good baby-sitters, so she should feel free to ask for help. She pretty much fell apart and said that she was planning on going home! Wow... just in time!! So a couple of us convinced her that we could do this together, and she agreed to stay. Another seasoned Maranatha mom led her to the Play Park where you can just leave your littlest ones for what looked like all day Bible school. They even had a stroller to lend her. That was really great! Anyway, it was pretty obvious throughout the week that her little ones knew her buttons and in what order to push them!! So she got her Play Park escapes, and Mallory really took to her little Bailee and she actually got some fun time on her own, too. It's fun to run into people like that. We did have a really great time. The boys did, too, it's just that I hardly ever saw them. Matthew joined me at the craft hut for a little while, but didn't take on any overtime.

Well, I better get this posted and get moving on. Name tag girl gets really flustered when she gets there late! You should try that sometime... hand out alphabetized nametags to everyone you see, gather the names of those you don't know, try to answer questions of your friends and while sorting the important questions from the bickering of your kids, and try to remember everything you were going to ask someone at church today! It can really scramble your brain!! Although most of my answers go something like: "L, M, N, O, P... who was I looking for?"

better days...

although I have to say, my back hasn't been too bad, my feet have been fine and my contacts don't burn at all. This is primarily due to the fact that I had dental work done today. That really seems to make everything else feel like nothing. So I've been moping around all day, dizzy and numb and mostly sick from the Novocaine, and sleeping a LOT! I told Michael I would be pretty worthless today. Good thing he's nice about it.

The really bad part is that he bought me a Rainbow yesterday, and I've hardly played with it at all! Morgan vacuumed the living room and his room and we've all done a little, but not all I'd like to do. I had a few minutes to blow before the dentist this morning, so I pulled the fridge out to see what I could find back there. Not too bad, but I've always kept up on that pretty well. The Rainbow guys wanted to take Kirby as trade for the shampooing unit, but I wasn't having any of that!! Kirby stays, period!! I gave them a Bissell that Michael gave me for Christmas a couple years back, but that was only because this little bugger will do everything that did and then some. We were pretty nervous to be spending that kind of money this early in the game, but we were pretty convinced that this could improve our air quality. Matthew and I have been struggling pretty hard with allergies, so now we're working on some names of folks who would watch a Rainbow demonstration. For every two couples willing to watch a demo, we get another room purifier, so if you're at all willing to watch, let me know!! You even get two nights in a Holiday Inn for free, just for watching! It really is fun and the guys showing them are really decent guys. Great to the kids, and not pushy at all. I knew I had wanted one since we got married, but had put it out of mind when we got Kirby. We only saw a demo so my mom could get her purifiers, but it was fun for Michael to see why I wanted one so badly. Matthew said he didn't practice saying "NO" enough!

Ok, well I was going to try to catch up with life in order here, but this Novocaine has me pretty scrambled. My other Maranatha pictures are on the PC, so I guess I can't even end with that. Oh, well... maybe I can add to this in the morning. No proofreading, Mom, today's been pretty rough!

We're back!!

Well, we've been back for a while, but I'm just now starting to catch up!! We went to Family Camp at Maranatha again this year, and it was wonderful as usual! We took some newbies with us, as usual! It really is fun to introduce others to this place. It's truly amazing!! Come with us next year!! Or come crop with Jaymi and me in October!!
We made some new friends along the way and got to see friends we made last year. Another couple is working on the internet, too, but we actually learned that this spring at the Couples' Retreat. It was fun to catch up with how they are doing their business and talk about activities! They pretty much inspired us to step out into the unknown!! I also met some guys who loved to talk Mac, so I learned a lot on that, too! Ok, this doesn't sound much like camping, but how do you think they get me to go??
Poor Mallory got sick on the last night. We got to see a magic show and hear some fantastic kids from Lincoln sing, but then she got sick right before fireworks. Bummer. She was looking forward to that all week, then missed it! I was trying to find links for the people who did the magic and the kids that sang, but I'm not finding either one right now. I'll post more if I find it!!
Anyway, have to move back to my website now. I'll try to catch up soon!! Thanks so much for your patience!!