Wednesday 8/20/08 chicken pox???...

One of the neighbor kids across the street has something that looks like chicken pox. Her mom came over and showed it to me. She said that most of her kids, including this one, had already had chicken pox. Can people get it twice?My kids had it years ago. Can they get it again? It was very uncomfortable for them, they itched a lot. When they find out what it is, they will come back and tell us.

Tuesday 8/19/08 bike riding with the folding bike, alarm clocks...

We went bike riding last weekend. The folding bike was good and not so good. It was so nice to not have to put four bikes on a three bike bike rack. But, the folding bike has easy close levers to hold the handle bars and seat in place after the rider adjusts them to the correct height...the levers slip. The handlebars weren't so bad because not much weight is put on them, but if I bumped them when I got off of the bike, they turned and were not at the correct angle to the tires. The seat also kept lowering. I am going to contact the company and see if they have a solution. It was so nice to be able to put the bike into the trunk and not to have to wrestle with the bike rack, that we will find a way to make this work.
My alarm clock still reads that it is January, but on the up side, the clock does say Saturday.

Monday 8/18/08 cooler weather, planting garlic, orange moons and atomic clocks...

It was cooler last night. Soon we will need to get the blankets out of storage. I am not ready for Fall yet. The kids are having so much fun bike riding and wearing sandals and doing all of the summer activities. I miss the flowers when winter comes. This year we will have some mums that bloom in the fall, and some snowdrops that bloom in January or February, right through the snow.
If we are still in the house when the ground is about to freeze, we are going to plant garlic. It grows over the winter...or maybe it just sits there and grows in the spring. In the spring the green shoots come up out of the planted garlic and when they die and turn yellow, the garlic is done.
I went outside tonight, the moon was out and it was orange. I don't know if I have ever seen an orange moon before. I was outside with my new atomic clock. I have one atomic clock...an atomic clock sends a signal to the national clock somewhere in the west and brings back the correct time. The clock is always set correctly, even during time changes (as long as the batteries are good)...but I needed a second clock in case I didn't hear the first one. I am not sure that it is healthy to have the clocks waves going out by my head every night every two minutes. I hope that it doesn't cause brain damage...but I am guessing that it is OK and have purchased a second clock. The second one hasn't sent out a signal yet. We have had it for about two weeks. I set the time, and thought that it would set the date. It hasn't. The directions said that if the clock didn't send out a signal, take it outside at night, that is when it would get the best reception, and leave the clock outside for two minutes. The clock and I were outside for four minutes. The date still says January. I did feel silly on the front porch with my clock...but the moon was pretty. I don't really need the date on this clock, my other clock has the date...so...I am not going to set it. I may set the clock outside another night.

Monday 8/18/08 reading, essay's, weather and showing the house...

Maggie likes to stay up at night and read. Sometimes she reads two books at a time...one book one day and one book the next. Beth finished a book this summer.
William has been working on his essay. He hopes to have it done soon.
The weather is starting to turn cooler each morning. I like the summer.
Someone came to look at the house last week. We haven't heard yet what they thought about it.

Saturday 8/16/08 grass seed and sprinklers...

We planted more grass seed last week in the front yard where the tree was taken down. Some grass had sprouted from the last planting. If someone is two houses down from ours, that area looks like it has grass. But...when someone is right by it, there are a lot of bare spots. We have put more grass seed in and bought a sprinkler. This is the first time that we have ever watered the yard. It has not rained for at least two weeks. We watered two days straight. Then it started raining again, about every other day. I have put the sprinkler away.

Friday 8/15/08 goals and ponytailes...

On Friday's I like to look back at my week and see if I accomplished any...or all...of that weeks goals. Even if my goal was to play one week, I like to look back and see if I did it.I like to make goals for the weekend too. Then I can check on Monday and see if they were done. It is important to me to see that I am always making progress.
Beth had her hair in two ponytails today. Then later she changed to one. When the girls were young they used to have me do their hair...now they like to do their own hair. Kids grow up so fast.

Thursday 8/14/08 college classes and junior high...

William worked on his college application last Friday. He filled in all of the rest of the questions. At the end there was an essay. On Saturday we went to the library for him to get some books for the paper. He is so close to being finished with this step.
William needs to call the Community College and set up a meeting to get signed up for classes, I don't know when classes start.
Maggie has been counting down the days until school starts. She is very excited. Beth is a little concerned. Beth starts junior high this year and will be switching classes. I have talked to her and explained that everything will be OK. I think that after the first day, Beth will be OK.

Wednesday 8/13/08 showing the house...

The Realtor called tonight, the house is being shown tomorrow. I have a good feeling about this showing. We may sell the house at the same time that William starts college. We did a quick clean-up around the house. We vacuumed and pulled weeds outside. I will be glad when we have moved and we can begin to settle in to the new house.

Tuesday 8/12/08 bikes...

Maggie's bike was done last Friday. When we picked it they said that my bike was put together, but it needed a tune-up.All of the bolts were loose and it needed adjusted before it was safe to ride. They scheduled to start the tune-up on Wednesday and be done Saturday. I did want the bike back, but we rested last weekend and can ride next weekend.I will be glad when we can get it back and ride again.
I went to Goodwill to get two large towels to sew together to make a bag for the bike. This is to keep the bike from getting scratched in the trunk. There weren't any large towels, so I got a lap blanket instead. I can fold it in half and sew up the sides to make a protective bag.

Monday 8/11/08 bird feeders and solar ovens...

We put a bird feeder in the backyard last week. It is the kind that holds a block of suet. We are hoping that if we had some birds in the yard they would eat the mosquitoes.
The birds can eat a block of suet in three days. Oh my...The mosquitoes are gone, but they are gone on the whole street. So, is this the end of the season for mosquitoes? I don't think that one bird feeder could clear a whole street.
We are going to make a solar oven. We have some plywood in the garage for the base. Today I got a large inner tube...the size that you would go inner tubing with...it goes on the plywood. We still need a black pan with a black lid to go in the center and a piece of Plexiglases to go on top. The directions said to use glass on top, but I think that this would be too dangerous with the kids.
The sunlight goes through the Plexiglases and gets trapped between it and the inner tube and the plywood. The black pan absorbs the heat and cooks the food. We may put a few large rocks on top to hold the Plexiglases on. I hope that it works.

Monday 8/11/08 the new bike...

The folding bike arrived Thursday. We were all so happy. It came in good condition. We opened the box and all of us tried to put it together. We couldn't do it. The handlebars didn't fit in their spot, the seat would go up, but wouldn't stay in place, the chain was off and it looked twisted to us and...I think that we did get the pedals on OK. At first we thought that there was a problem with the bike, maybe we got the one in a million bad one...but as the problems continued, I thought that maybe we just needed help to assemble it. Maybe some of the problems just need one adjustment that we just don't know how to do or what to look for.
We were taking Maggie's bike in to get the flat tire fixed...so we took the new bike in too. The guys looked at the bike like they could fix it without a problem.They said that it could be picked up on Friday. I hoped that everything works out and we can use it this last weekend.

Saturday 8/9/08 College, watermelon and styling hair...

William was accepted to the Community College!!!!!!! We need to finish the application for the other college. We also need to set up an appointment with an advisor at the Comm. College so that William can choose classes.
We took the watermelon outside for the kids to eat. Some of the neighborhood kids were out so they came over too. We did eat on the lawn this time.
The girls had their dolls head with all of the hair that they can style outside today. They styled the dolls hair and each others hair also. The doll has had about four hair styles so far.

Friday 8/8/08 ice cream, praying maniis, and school clothes...

One of the neighbors took her kids and mine to the store for ice cream cones. They came back with chocolate, vanilla, sprinkles, and some candy toppings.
We saw a praying mantis today. I haven't seen one of those since I was in grade school.
We have bought some school clothes for the kids. The girl's school has a uniform policy. The stores are just starting to put the uniforms out. We got the clothes a little big. I hope that they will still fit when school starts.

Thursday 8/7/08 postcards...

The kids love to get mail. Every time the mail is brought in they ask ''Is there any mail for me?'' They are always so excited. The kids don't send out any letters so they don't get any letters back. For a while I was having them send out postcards to their cousins. Some of their cousins started writing back to them. I liked the post cards for the kids better than having them write a letter because there was less space for them to fill up. Also the constant practice was good for their hand writing. They knew that someone would be trying to read it...it wasn't just for their journal...which made a difference to them. When summer started we quit writing. Beth is writing to a cousin tonight. We can mail it tomorrow.

Wednesday 8/6/08 bike riding...

We went for a bike ride last weekend. The bikes were loaded very easily onto the bike rack. William and I put the bikes onto the rack, and Maggie and Beth bring us the bikes. We went for a ride after dinner Saturday. We usually go on morning rides. In the morning we have more time. We don't feel like we need to race back to the car before it gets dark.
The back tire on Maggie's bike went flat. We will need to get it fixed right away so that we can ride again next weekend. But...if my folding bike shows up, then Maggie can ride my bike.
We have only been riding on this trail a few times. I wonder when the kids will get bored with it. The next time that we go to the bike shop we need to ask where there are more trails to ride on.There are bike areas on the sides of some of the roads, but I don't think that this would be safe for the kids.

Tuesday 8/5/08 watermelon...

We now have two watermelons for the kids to eat. I will cut them up into a big bowl and take them outside so that my kids and the neighborhood kids can eat them. We did that one other day this summer and it was so much fun. We had watermelon juice all over. Last time everyone ate on the front porch...this time we may have everyone eat out in the grass. Then all of the juice can land out there.

Monday 8/4/08 College and the library...

William is going to print the applications for the colleges. He has decided to start at the community college until he hears back from his first choice college.
He would love to start with programming classes, but he realizes that he must start with the basic math and English classes first.
Today William went to the library and returned a few books and check out a few movies. He is enjoying summer.

Monday 8/4/08 recycling...

We have started recycling, and have been having fun with it.When we empty something in the kitchen, we check the list to be if it can be recycled. We started with two recycling containers, but we ended up needing three. Now we are also only taking out one garbage can each week, instead of two cans.
We need to get the kids school clothes. There is about a month before school starts. If we wait too long, there won't be anything available in their sizes.

Saturday 8/2/08 the house next door...

The house next door to ours is for rent. There is a family coming to look at it. We met them this last week. They were nice. I hope that this family rents the house. I have been praying for nice neighbors...and if the ''for rent'' sign comes down, it will make our ''for sale'' sign look better. The family that is looking at the house has two boys. I think that they are both in grade school. My kids will be thrilled to have more friends.

Friday 8/1/08 a college is chosen!!! playing outside...

William has chosen a college!!!!!!! We are not sure yet if he can get in this fall. After he finds out, he may decide to go to another school, like the local community college, until he can get into his first choice. I am so relieved that William has made a choice, now he can apply and start working on financial aid. William looked pleased that he had made a decision.
When we went out to play yesterday some of the neighborhood kids were out. It always makes it more fun when other kids are out. Beth likes her scooter. The neighbor girls prefer bikes and Maggie likes to run.