Friday Favorites!

Wow, a week went by already, how did that happen?!?! This week has flown by! There was choir, piano, we sold the Saturn, stocked up on food storage (complete with full kitchen inventory), J had a busy work schedule, I worked in L's and R's classes, procrastinated my homework (I'm paying for it today), took L to library school, helped boys with their homework, and listened to my fair share of kids books on CD while zipping around in our awesome truck running errands!

The weeks favorites are (there are more than 5 today)...

1. Music List - R helped me pick the music out for the blog! They are songs that are R approved and that we both enjoy. They are songs that remind me of J, the boys, and certain times of life. Yesterday we turned it up to help motivate us while doing chores. Well, I think R did a little more rockin' out and singing to it than cleaning! But who can blame him?

2. Take a seat -
We got this couch this summer (at a great deal of 50% off!) and we just love it. This week we got this table and chairs (30% off!). The last time I had chairs that matched my table was when R was a baby! It was so nice of J to get it for me! They both look so pretty, so different than my last table (now my computer desk) with its metal folding chairs, and our old couches...uh not going to describe those!

3. Early Bird - Well, I don't actually like getting up early, but I do like seeing J for that bit of time before he goes to work. When he's home in the morning I've been waking up with him and making him breakfast. Well, that morning he had to get up at 4:30am I just told him I loved him, have a good day, and rolled over and went back to sleep!

4. That L - I just love this little guy! He has been making such progress in his education and I'm so happy for him! Yesterday I had a meeting with his school about possible speech therapy. They will test him, it sounds like he will benefit from it. His teacher had some great things to say about his work. He has become a sponge and absorbs so much information that it just amazes me!

5. Choir - R has joined choir! With this school you get to join when you've reached the 4th grade. Well, R has arrived and he is pretty excited! So now every Tuesday morning R has choir practice before school at 8am, I can't wait for the concerts!

6. Apples - I have an abundance of apples! I love apples in the Fall and this week I put another project on...canning apples! I'm not sure exactly when this will happen, before they rot I'm sure...Anyway, I love canning apples, I am going to make apple butter, applesauce, and apple pie filling. I have red and Fuji apples from the fruit stand in town, hooray!!

7. Stocking up - As I said, we stocked up on food storage this week. L and I went to the commissary and filled the cart with non-perishables. Our cupboards are full of canned and boxed goods now. I took an inventory of everything we have (so organized!) and it's in the kitchen to help me keep track. I've calculated using MyPyramid.org how much each of us is supposed to eat in a day, so then a month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. I want to keep building on our food storage, and our water storage. J and I are planning on a Costco run for some other staples...now I just need to find a place for it all!

8. Miracles - It makes me smile and laugh when I think about how really blessed I am, some days are very stressful and I tend to forget momentarily about this fact. Anyway, lets just say that I'm on a learning curve when it comes to anything that has an engine in it. When J was deployed I drove our trusty Saturn all over. As the days progressed so did this funny sound from the front end area of my car. I just prayed that it'd hold up and when J got home I'd let him deal with it. Well, he got home, I told him about the noise. He looked at me and asked, "Did you check the oil when I was gone?" Uh...why would I do that?! He never told me to check it! I told him no, but that I did do many other things that should be noted:
1. I didn't lose the kids
2. I aced my finals and started 2 new classes
3. I did chores day in and day out
4. I paid all the bills, didn't forget a single one
So these did help my argument a bit. Anyway, he checked the oil. The stick was dry, I mean dry....so he poured some oil in, still dry, a little more, still dry. Now I didn't asked him how much oil it finally needed and he didn't say. But the point here is I was driving around with my 2 boys in a car that was practically void of all oil. Now if that engine seized I'd be in a world of hurt. J was gone, I only had 1 vehicle and I live out in the boonies. Heavenly Father sure blessed me, and my family, when he mercifully kept that car going. I think if I'd ruined the car (a vital instrument in our daily life) I'd be driven over the edge of stress. Thank you Heavenly Father.
So the car was oiled, and it ran quite nicely no longer making that funny sound. Then J got us that awesome truck (another blessing) and a co-worker wanted to buy the Saturn. J tried to talk him out of it, told him it has an oil problem, a crack in the windshield, and has 130k miles on it, AND no AC! But he was not to be deterred. So we have a bit of extra money now and J is looking for another car that has lower miles on it for the boys and I. Wow is how I feel.

9. General Conference - I'm looking forward to General Conference this weekend. A friend of ours said that its their tradition to make special treats for when they watch conference. I plan on doing this this year! I can't wait to hear the Prophet and all the church leaders speak! I will be watching on the BYU channel and online.