Saturday, October 27, 2007

HIking

HI ALL,
Well today was beautiful fall day and very warm , Rob decided to take us on a hike. This is usually a guy ritual that they do in our house, but we decided to make it a family event, FINALLY! there are certain milestones on this particular hike that we went on, where the guys have actually named them. SO when we get to the first "milestone" it is called " Preston's Pass" b/c years ago when they first started going on this hike, they decided Preston must have been the youngest kid to ever go on this hike and be able to make it up such a steep hill. Then as you keep going, there is " bear claw" rock and then as you keep climbing up this steep hill made of rocks, there is " The Plate" as they call it--which is at the very top of the hill and it is a big flat rock that they usually eat their lunch at and take their break.There are really three different stages, as you climb up and get on the trail --the trail eventually stops--you have to choose going over the other side of the mountain or you choose to go up either side of the 2 adjoining mountains--one was far to steep for us girls---so we went up the one to our right, it had a 1.5 foot area to get up on this ledge, I barely made it thru to lift myself up, as the boys were cracking jokes about how they don't think I could get thru. ( although not very funny, I was actually scared I couldn't get thru!) so then once you get up that you once again, find somewhat flat ground, but you see this big mountain thing with a flat top, you have to climb up the side of that- (it had an even smaller area to climb thru and the first ledge was taller than I am )-to get the " The Plate" . JEri and I opted out of that and stayed behind while the boys and CLarissa went up.( Clarissa being hoisted by her Daddy!)
SO finally we decided to head back down the mountain. I made up just fine, no big deal, However on the way down, I fell about 5 times! A few of those times a few words came out of my mouth, that is not a normal vocabulary for me! BUt After awhile I got my grip and I made it down! whew! By the time we made to the last leg of our trip( meaning the trail again) CLarissa was jumping over little stones and what not, its official--she is one of the boys!
So we made it along with the guys and us girls got home in one piece!
SO now we are going to relax, for a bit and then go help Melissa paint her house after we eat dinner. SO I will check back later I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful weather!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Hello

Hi All,
Well it has been a few days. I went to SPokane yesterday, had a court date for child support modification--it went well and I got a raise! wooo hoooo! Anyway--I had to take the kids out of school yesterday , because I had no one to watch them after school, so we had a nice day in spokane. We went to lunch with my Mom, had a few hours at the mall, I was so proud of myself, I didn't spend hardly anything at all. I gave the kids each 3$ to spend on what they wanted and I bought myself a manicure kit, I would not have even bought that except the very handsome ( gay ) guy that was ( not white, I might add) speaking with an accent lured me in by his cologne and VERY nice looks. He started working on my hands and I melted like butter and bought the darn manicure kit! ( I think they hire nice looking guys on purpose!) He said it was OK because he did his own manicures , too. HAHA! Anyway, I justified it by thinking that I am not getting my nails done anymore so I am actually saving money by buying the kit to do it myself, right?
* wink*
anyhow, We all went out to dinner, my family, Landon,jordan and Carla, we all had a nice time and then we came home. Today I had alot of good intentions to get anything done, that didn't happen . But I did turn in my FIRST AT HOME AMERICA party so I am official. If any of you need to a catalog or anything , let me know. I also have my own personal website WWW.ATHOME.COM/CHARISMAHORTON
OK well I will check back in a few days--have a great one!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sunday, October 21st

Hi All,
Well this weekend I didn't do alot of MATH--however, I did do a few pages. I did alot of scrapbooking though. I did a lot of layouts and I have decided unless there is a few things I need to replenish in my stock( plain colored paper and adhesives, mainly) I need to quit buying scrapbooking supplies, Since I have re-vamped the way I scrap,( Thank you , Stacey Julian) I am going thru my pictures--I am in no way going to be thru my pictures anytime soon, but I do see an end in sight and if I were to scrap every picture I have, I have way more supplies than pictures. SO no more buying! I decided last christmas that I would not buy anymore fabric for quilting unless I needed a certain color or fabric to finish a project , but I needed to use my stash otherwise, I have not bought one stitch of fabric so far this whole year, Granted I have not quilted as much as usual , but I have maintained alot of self control ( not that I had a choice , really) SO I am sure I can make this goal as well. I know those of you who scrap with me , know that this is true and you will hold me accountable although I have to say --usually when we go shopping for supplies I am the one who spends the least since I am the one who already owns everything, I have been scrapping many more years than most of you.
I went to Ritzville today to pick up my boys from Landon, he pointed out I don't have many weekends with the boys next month due to holidays and what not and we have to plan Carl and Bryce's birthday around that , so they are trying to decide what they want to do party wise--ugh! just when you think you don't have to worry about it--it all comes creeping back. I told them no sleepovers, I still have not re-covered from the last couple that we have had and I don't feel like cleaning up after another one. SO they are going to get back to me. this obviously requires alot of thinking--they are going to be 10 & 11. UGH!
I have been enjoying having somewhat cool weather--I LOVE This weather, it is almost sweater weather and I still have not turned our furnace on--my kids hate that--but I love it!
I hope you all are having a blessed weekend!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

October 18th

Hi all,
Well it is starting to get cold outside...last night was the first night I actually started to feel as if the weather was changing. I love the fall..it is my most favorite season of the year. I love all of the warm colors , the changing of the leaves and apples. I love apples and apple cider, apple dumplings, Apple pie and apple crisp! Yummy! I can smell the sweet smell along with cinnamon. I don't think that I could live in a better place for apples, we are so close the Apple capital of the world! ( at least that is what the sign says) It has been a few years since I went overboard with the whole apple process and my kids are still sick of applesauce, but I love the whole apple season.
LAst night we went to football practice and no coach showed up and normally I might be upset because, I drove 20 miles there for no reason, However, the hand of fate, this man pulled up behind me out of nowhere, ( I am not sure where he came from b/c I was parked out of the way) anyway he told me I had a flat tire. SO I panicked at first, then I called LEs Schwab and they sent a guy out to help me, he filled the tire and told me the air was coming out so fast , he was going to follow me to the store. AT this point I am worried about how I am going to pay these guys b/c I am out of checks and payday is on Friday. So we made it to the store and after about 30 minutes one of the guys come in to tell me that, he has been working on my tire and he can't get it off b/c the bolts are so damaged and worn. so he said he didn't know what to do, my tire wasn't salvagable. He went back out, a few minutes later he came back in and told me another guy got the tire off . I asked him if he could just put my spare on and I would deal with things later.( I have a real spare not a temp.) SO Les Schwab didn't charge me anything. Thank you LEs! Anyhow, the thing is....I am taking all of my kids to Spokane next Wednesday and if it took the guys at LS 40 minutes to get my tire off , there is no way me or Joe Blow off of the street could have gotten my tire off if I got a flat on the side of the road! So I am thankful that I went to Quincy last night and got that issue taken care of in a small town rather than having to be stranded on the side of the HWY with 6 kids! Thank YOu JEsus!
I think sometimes we just need to appreciate the little things and that is a fine example of seeing the good in an everyday situation.
I am realizing there are many reasons why my house isn't selling, I need to learn patience and I need to trust and if the good Lord is going to protect me from being stranded on the side of the road he is going to protect me from other unseen things! Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that! Anyway--I hope you guys are having a great day and you can see something GREAT the Lord has done for you today!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wednesday

HI ALL!
Well I don't have alot to talk about, the last couple of days I have been going to work , coming home and working on MATH! yuck! anyhow, I am trying to get thru this math book so I can start on algebra, I am not going all that fast, so at this point I am just praying that I get into MATH 95 I was trying to shoot for MATH 99. SO we will see what happens by the time I go take my placement test. But if I don't get in in won't be because of a lack of effort. I worked on math about 10 hours the last 2 days, and I am going to put in my time today.
Clarissa has been in speech therapy for about 3 weeks now, yesterday she was doing so well at her lesson, we can move on to her "L" sounds now. She is picking it up very well, so I don't anticipate her being in speech very long.
The kids are doing well in school, we had conferences last week, the only one with an issue is Carl b/c he is not turning in his homework as I suspected and he also isn't doing any A/R tests. However he also got a letter from the gov. stating his WASL scores were above average. So we have one student who isn't even passing the WASL and she only has 3 years to get her butt in gear or she won't graduate and then the other 2 that are old enough to take the WASL's are scoring way above average. I hate the WASL's, I have a hard enough time getting JEri to turn in her homework , so I have that down, and now she is not even getting passing grades on the WASL and that is all that seems to matter , if she doesn't score high on the WASL in 10th grade she will have to take it ever year until she passes to graduate. So what does school work matter?? Anyway, we will see how it all plays out. Carl is grounded until he turns in all of his missing work. JEri had to go thru the same things every other year and this year with her being in 7th grade some of her teachers don't accept late assignments, good for teaching responsibility, not good for JEri!
As far as the house is concerned, we have not had any lookers since the first weekend in OCtober, I think this is the slow time of year to sell a house, so we won't be getting alot of traffic , I am not upset by that. My house has been trashed for days and today will be my first chance to clean it! I hope you all have a great day while I am cleaning!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Greetings!

HI All,
Well yesterday we made it to the football game and then to Spokane for the Apple Festival in Greenbluff ( otherwise known as the Pumpkin Patch). We had a good time, I had heard from other friends that they changed things around and the farm that we usually get our pumpkins is no longer doing hay rides, so I went on a hunt to find a farm that does, and by the time we got there it was to late to take a hay ride! Darn It! Anyway--We went to the harvest house, and to the big corn maze , it was so chaotic everywhere, I had never seen that place so busy in all of the years we have gone there. Then we all went to dinner at Arby's , the Halloween store and then a brief stint at the mall before heading back home. It was a good loooooong day! I love being with my friends and family so much--it really makes me homesick!
I just love that there is so many things I could be doing in SPokane and I love that my kids could be with family all of the time. This is when I REALLY want to go back HOME!
My kids had such a good time with their grandparents and the grandparents were so happy to see them. Anyway--just a bit of homesickness has creeped in since we were there.........awe.
I made sure before we left to have the house clean , just in case there were any lookers, I came home--no cards--so no potential buyers for a week. I don't know----the house is only going to be on the market for 11 more weeks. I am sure I can get thru it.
Well I hope you all had a good weekend!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

It's been a long time!

Hi All,
Well just checking in I know its been a while. We heard back from the people that offered they can't afford to bid anymore than they did, so back to square one. We are supposed to have an open house this Sunday, but by the looks of my house today, I don't think we will be having it because my house is a wreck and I am working the rest of the week, and then heading to Spokane for the big PUMPKIN PATCH! We have only missed 2 years of the pumpkin patch since my kids were born and last year was one of them, so we really need to go this year. It will be alot of fun, and it will take our minds off of the house. ROb applied for a job close to home, it is the same kind of position with the same amount of money, so pray he gets it and I don't have to go thru this house business anymore!
I applied for financial aide to go to college, and they got back to me, I qualify! HURRAY! I also went to the college to take some tests , so I will know what to study before my placement exams. I scored higher than I thought I would, so I am brushing up on some skills! I am going to get my pre-requisites and go to nursing school. SO that is my big news for this week---HURRAY for me!
This week the kids come home at noon because it is conference week, I only have conferences for 3 of the kids, which is unusual for us--3 will be a walk in the park! I am not worried about any of these 3 kids , so I am sure they are doing fine. ( I may be worried about 1 of them, because I haven't signed any homework for awhile)
I am having my first AT HOme America show tonight, I am signing up to be a demonstrator because I love their stuff! just in case I get a new house I will be getting a discount! WOOOOHOOO! SO any of you want to have a show--you know how to reach me!
OK well I guess this is all for now and I will--check back in a few days. Have a great night!