Painting, packing, and leaking windows oh my

Today Monica and I started painting my bedroom. I also have been doing some packing. Scott has been busy converting one room upstairs into two bedrooms and a hallway.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect no problems along the way. The window upstairs has been leaking in like crazy since it has been raining the past few days. It has been leaky for years, but I was hopeful to wait until I get my income tax refund to fix it. But I don't think I can wait. The worst thing is we don't know if it the roof, or window. There is some roof damage, not enough overhang on the roof, and the window slopes in instead of out. These things were in my home inspection, so it is not a complete surprise.

Tomorrow I have someone coming to look at it to see what can be done.

Still I am so thankful for Scott and Alex for all the work they are doing upstairs, Monica for watching my boys and helping me paint, and my mom for all she is doing.

Tomorrow after church will be more painting and packing.

What are you doing this weekend?

-Becky

YIPPEE

I got a valid c of o today.
We can officially move in.
But we are waiting until we convert room upstairs into two bedrooms for the boys (my stepfather has agreed to do this- he really is great!)

Yippee!! (is yippee one p or two?)

-Becky

Not even a dent

I just packed 8 boxes, threw away a huge carpenter bag size of junk, and have another huge bag of stuff to give away. Most was from going into my kids rooms. And right now it barely looks like I got rid of anything. Ahhhh! Plus I packed two huge bins.

What we packed:
1 box Josh's toys
1 box Josh's games
1 box Josh's stuffed animals
2 boxes Josh's books
1 box Josh's radio, alarm clock, and cds (he has like 4 cds)

1 box Jason's stuffed animals

1 box my books

1 bin fall / winter clothes that are still too big to fit Jason or Joshua
1 bin summer clothes for next year

I am going to have alot of work to do over the next two weeks.

My goal is to move into the new house on Nov. 21st and Nov. 22nd.

-Becky

Donate a Pack of Diapers-Win a Prize-Help Me Honor Eric

My local pregnancy center, called Solutions is in desperate need of diapers. They give these out free to those in need all year long. I have a real heart for this ministry as I came to know the Lord there 11 years ago.

So I thought I would have another contest.

I was thinking that you all probably have local pregnancy crisis center's as well. I thought many of us CVS and coupon and such. Maybe this week we could all buy a package of diapers (with savings, coupons, CVS bucks, etc) and donate them to a local pregnancy center. Actually this is my contest. Buy diapers and be entered to win a prize.

Could you imagine not even being able to buy diapers for your baby? I am glad I am not in that situation anymore. But many woman are. Let's help them this week. When you buy the diapers also pray for the mom who will receive them.

If you can't find a local pregnancy center maybe you can donate online to Solutions or another center closer to you.

Go to Carenet to find a Christian based pregnancy center near you!

So to recap:

1) find local pregnancy center in your area
2) buy a package of diapers or donate an amount equivalent to a pack of diapers to your local pregnancy center
3) leave a comment telling me that you donated the diapers or amount equivalent to diapers

Bonus: To earn an extra chance blog about my contest and link this post on your blog.

Then I will pick one of you (who participated) to win a prize.

The prize is a really cool Swiss Tech key chain. It is brand new in a cool case, all ready for gift giving. It is a safety key chain.





It has:
seat belt cutter
automatic glass breaker
sonic alarm
and
led flashlight

It retails for $10-$15. So it is worth more than a package of diapers. This would make a great gift for everyone on your list (who drives.) I bought this for my brother Eric for Christmas, so I want it to do more than just collect dust (since he passed away and can not use it.) I want this gift to give forward this Christmas.

So leave me a comment once you've bought the diapers, and you will be entered into the contest. The more packs of diapers you buy the more entries you will have to win. This will be on the honor system.

DEADLINE TO BUY DIAPERS AND COMMENT IS MON. NOV. 30th, 2009

MY GOAL IS 100 PACKS OF DIAPERS!!!

-Becky

Sunday

Sunday I overslept and missed church. After finally getting up and getting a shower Jason and I stopped at the bank on our way to get Josh. The bank was very crowded so we did not wait. We went to get Josh from my mom and then went back to the bank. I had to close out a checking account. The bank kept charging me $15 a month if my account was under $100 at all that month. Yikes. After paying that fee for three months I didn't want to do it anymore. I have two other checking accounts that have no minimum balance and no monthly fees at all.

Then we went to see Astro Boy with my brother, Kevin. It was cute. After the movie we had to stop at Lowe's to get some stuff for the new house. Josh had a melt down because I required him to hold my hand. I know I an SO mean.

After Lowe's we went food shopping. The boys picked fish sticks for dinner and the smell of them in my house was making me feel sick. Yuck processed food. Tonight we are making tacos. I will be putting fresh peppers that Josh just picked the last batch from my garden.

Once home we all relaxed together. I put both boys to bed by 9:00pm. Josh was actually asleep by 10pm. Then I folded all clean laundry and wrote out the instructions for our bearded dragon, as today we donate her to a middle school that will appreciate her much more than we do.

I actually went to bed before 12:00am. Go me!

That was our Sunday, how was yours?

-Becky

Saturday

This Sat. I slept in till 9:00am. Then we stopped at new house as my stepfather and friend, Peter were doing work that failed the c of o. Next, we ran to food store to get half time game snacks for Josh's soccer game. Then we went to Josh's soccer game at noon. I had to work snack stand, so I watched from there. Josh's team did well and won the game.

After soccer we went to the new house. The boys raked leaves with a friend. My stepfather, Scott was working on giving me a bedroom door. Peter was fixing outlets and the dryer vent. I straightened up and then made lunch for everyone (hot dogs, grapes, and store bought cookies.) It was nice cooking in my new kitchen. After lunch I cleaned out the shed. It is still full of my grandmother and aunt's stuff. I got everything out of one room of the shed (it is a two room shed. Half for storage, half for the lawn mower and yard stuff) except four boxes my aunt still has to go through.

So as of now everything should pass for the c of o. Please pray it does as the inspector is coming back tomorrow (Tues.)

Sat. night Jason came to work with me and Josh went to my mom's. I worked from 5:00pm-11:30pm. It was good I worked late as I so could use the extra money.

So that was our Saturday. It was a good, productive day.

What did you do on Saturday?

-Becky

Guest Post by Sylvia

This is a guest post from Sylvia, who is on another blog my mom started:

I am 57, almost 58. I was married for 35 years to a man 17 years older, was with him since I turned 21. He died in 2008. I have stepdaughters very close to my own age, and their kids range from 6 to 31. Also more steps and stepgrandkids. It's not a family tree, it's a family forest.

I have worked in service jobs my whole life, either retail or food service, sometimes both at once. Currently I work in food service at a private women's college on the east coast. And for now, it is the only job I have, lol.

When my husband died, an event I thought I was well prepared for, since he was ill for quite some time, I found myself planning for the end of my own life. I don't mean I wanted it to end, I mean I set up my trust, started simplifying my assets, started to write my end of life plan. And then I stopped. And I had no idea why I stopped. It all just got to be too much, but I wasn't really aware of that.

I started doing more things at church, seeing different people, keeping up with my hospice support groups, etc. And then December 2008 our section of the world was hit by the worst ice storm in a hundred years. I had no power for 7 days. I moved into a motel, told my work I was staying with family, told my family I was staying at the college where I work, and only told my brother where I really was. Everyday before work I drove up into the hills to make sure my house was okay. And after work I sat in the motel and cried, thinking I was going to lose my house. Up to that point I had started listening to people who hammered at me to think about getting the heck out of the hills and moving down into city. Yeah, as if I could afford that. I didn't know how I could afford my mortgage payment, [too young to get my husband's social security], but I darn sure knew I couldn't afford anything in the city, rents are $1200 and up for an apartment!!

So this ice storm and coming close to losing my house proved to me I wanted to stay here. So, how to do that. I had heard that this man at church who I knew slightly, was pretty smart about electronics and plumbing, and had helped some other widows from church set up generators. So as soon as I got a Sunday off from work I went to church and walked up to him and started asking questions about generators. I knew nothing about this man.......but now know that he had in fact asked people about me months ago and was told I was married, but my husband was dying. So he never pursued me. And then he was away from the church for a few months when my husband died so he didn't know that.

Long story short, we are now deeply in love. It took me a long time to get over feeling like I was somehow cheating on my late husband. I told all the kids, and frankly the stepkids were not so good about it, but the grandkids, after checking him out, lol, are delighted. I laugh and tell them they are just glad they won't have to take care of me in my old age. We are in love "with God", and so far have chosen to not live together. Hardest thing I have ever done to be truthful. But good things are worth waiting for. I needed the one year point of Bob's passing to happen, which it did at the end of the summer. Now we talk about a future together, but we are spending this time learning about each other and spending time in the Word. Gosh, I had a lot of baggage I was unaware of, I had never thought about a relationship this late in life, and all the stuff people bring with them.

Anyway, I now have a second set of step-kids so to speak, who think I am a gift from God, their dad was so lonely and miserable for so long. His ex-wife has a mental illness that went undetected for years, and they have all spent time in therapy. Some of the stories make me wonder how this man and his kids survived, but they did. He got them out of the situation, got custody of them, took care of her two from a previous marriage....as he puts it, he's 55, been through Hell, and it's his time now. How wonderful that our Lord set us together. We live 2.2 miles away from each other. Honestly, even if I were not a believer, I would have to know this is from God.

That's where my life is at right now! I'm desperately trying to pay down my mortgage debt, because he is pretty much debt-free and I'm not anxious to bring my debt into a new marriage. Yes, we speak of that often!! And I know the bible preaches about getting out of debt.

So my daily concerns are the same as most of the people who read Becky's blog: stay in the Word, love our Lord, and live below my means.

I enjoy reading about other people's lives and struggles, knowing we're not alone. I hope my story shows people that when you least expect it, God knows your needs and supplies it for you.

Sylvia