Busy Week Notice!

Hey, Y'all....I am giving the kids the rest of this week off school for a Spring-cleaning Fest! My house is rapidly swallowing me alive.....help! I need to do a serious purging out of tonnes of 'stuff'. We just have too much junk laying around....soooooo, I want you to know that I haven't forgot you all, or that I am supposed to email everyone, still. Maybe I should post before and after pics for you all....and maybe not! LOL Oh, and I did get my camera, and my mixer, it has been so much fun!!! I'll blog about them both soon! And yes, I'll upload some pics too. Can't wait.

So if I'm a little scarce...you'll know why, but I want to get it out of the way so we can maybe take a family vacation, and really enjoy our summer vacation when it gets here....

Mistake....

I regret to report that I apparently made a mistake in my column regarding my sister and her fruit...apparently she would LOVE to have all the fruit if she hadn't....

1. just got married
2. just moved house
3. just moved town
4. just moved to a new church
5. a friend-circle to develop
6. changed 'cultures'
7. unpacking still needing to be done...all at EXACTLY THE SAME TIME!!!!!

Or at least that's the excuse she gave me...so in hindsight....

I regret the error.

I think.

When I checked the Mail...

...there was a big brown package, it was full of blackberry and raspberry plants that I had ordered last fall, only to find that they wouldn't ship till Spring! So they are finally here. Unlike my sister, I relish the though of having fruit coming out of my ears.... In fact I want my gardens to be at least 80% productive plants eventually. I guess one day I can learn how to get the rosehips from my roses and put rose petals in my fruit salads and on my cakes....but not quite there yet...so I don't consider them part of my edibles yet. I did replace a sage bush that had died though with a blueberry plant! Yes! I want produce! OK, back to my berries! So amongst my laundry, giving Jorge a much needed haircut, and general housework, I need to go out to the garden and turn over some dirt, mix in the manure that I picked up at Walmart yesterday (thankfully they sent me a shipping notice, and so I had a 'heads-up' that they were on their way) and plant them thangs!

Care to join me?

P.S. does anyone know anything about the health of fruit trees??? My peach tree's tips are messed up, either by bugs (grasshoppers?), or some fungus/disease... I have chopped some off and plan to go over the rest in hopes of protecting it...we had a wet summer last year...my apricot tree didn't make it...but the peaches were great...hoping for a good crop this year.

The weekend...

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Heath and his back! It held up through it all, and is gradually improving...Praise the Lord. Usually, if he didn't have a bad back, he would've after all the extra work....but not only was it already bad, all the extra work "should've" landed him in bed....but he's doing better! I like to threaten him each time I help him stretch it out (picture him flat on his back, me pushing on his feet to bend his knees to his chest....see why I have leverage with him??? How else would I have talked him into a new camera, mixer, and...???? LOL), for one little 'slip' could inflict great pain...."So Honey, how about a dehydrator as well??"

The guys were able to lay the 'body' of the tile, and then on Monday night they started on the cutting/laying of all the edge tile, and got 90% of that done. Now we need to finish that, grout them, and then tile the outside of the baptistery....the we have to finish sealing the kitchen cabinets....then we have to CLEAN... I think I'll be on vacation that week? Just kidding.

Other than that, I have been spending hours trying to sort through digital cameras, and I can't wait to buy one soon! Then there will be pictures folks! Yay!

Since then....

We have been working on the church building trying to get that done.... We are hoping to lay tile this weekend....Any volunteers??? Pray that Heath's back is strong by then! He hurt it last weekend....and has been limping to work all week...makes you really admire a man when you know he's in pain, but works on anyway...I love him. We are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel....it's been a long haul, and I can't wait till it's finished, and Heath can rest again....it has been a lot of work, and it'll be so good to be able to set up over there again, as we've been all eating here after church and it's a little crammed....which is great, as the Lord has been bringing along extras and we are running out of room at our place.

A thing or two...

Sorry I've just been so slack! I just really haven't been in the 'mood' I guess!

Friday before the retreat I went to wash a bunch of dirty laundry....only to find that my washer had decided to die....lovely! Fortunately I did have clothes to wear....and left that evening for the retreat, happy to forget about the dozen or so loads of laundry that would still be waiting when I got back.

The retreat was a lot of fun! Much different to what we expected though, as the speaker went into major doctrine stuff....although it was the "Heart of Motherhood" retreat. I didn't agree with a lot of what she said, but it was a very enjoyable time just the same! Saturday evening she did talk more about the 'theme', and then a lot more on Sunday (the one day that I didn't go...bummer!) :) The food was great and super healthy....my sister would have felt at home...LOL. They also gave out the recipes for everything that they cooked...that was cool! I'll try to post some on here soon! They pulled out their weapons (Vita-mix's) and we drank green stuff....OK, so it was good, and yes, I, the junk food addict, have slowly turned around and am getting closer to wanting to be a health nut too.... Actually, so far, I make our own bread, granola, cookies, and am hoping to do more as time goes on. (like quit using veg. oil, and switch to coconut/palm oil, cut sugar, etc....but I don't know that I could switch to fresh milk....ick!

But all in all it was fun, and probably just as much for the fact that I didn't have to prepare or clean up after the meals, change diapers, train children etc.....I just got to eat....hot food, mind you....and sit and do nothing....it was refreshing! But I am so glad to be home too....I love doing my calling of 'mother', but after everyone being sick the last few months....I was ready for a little break/rest!

Then, back to reality....12 loads of laundry.....AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Ok, not really. 12 loads, maybe, but I didn't scream. :) The Lord provided a replacement through a friend who specialises in fixing such things, and he was kind enough to drop it off by Monday evening....and order, or at least, clean clothes, were restored. The Lord is a great provider.