cool website

I found this really cool website that will make your photos into a museum exhibit. You can put any jpg on there and then pick your museum scene. It is really neat. You can find it here.

Here are some things I have done with it. I took these pictures over this weekend while the kids have been playing with their cousins.


Art Museum by dumpr.net



Art Museum by dumpr.net


Create your own Rubik's Cube


This site will do a few other things, almost like actions for Photoshop. You should check it out.

Visiting with cousins

My nieces and nephews are here from Idaho for a visit. They are the kids of my husbands brother, Peter. He is divorced from his wife, Jennifer. They are both remarried. Jennifer and Cory are visiting Jennifer's mom for a week. On Thursday, we went to Brenham for a tour of the Blue Bell factory. It was a lot of fun. We had a picnic before we took the tour. It was a beautiful day even if it was a little bit windy. Here are Kirstyn, Rachael and Allison standing outside of the factory after our tour and after we ate the free ice cream we got at the end. That was the best part of the tour.


Today, Faith was baptized. Their stake does a baptism day for all of the kids that turned 8 that month. There were 8 kids that got baptized. It took 2 hours. After the baptism, we went to Emily's house for lunch. Emily and Richard are in the same stake, but not the same ward. so they live fairly close to each other. Before we would let any of the kids change out of their church close, we wanted to get a picture of all of the grandkids together. It has been a long time since they have all been together. It is hard getting this many kids to be still, especially the little ones. With the lighting in Emily's house, the older kids in the back were shaded a lot. I messed around with it in photoshop and adjusted the lighting. I think it looks pretty good. I am going to print a copy and frame it for their Grandma Hodge since she didn't get to go today.

Fly Lady and an Easter Egg hunt

I know, a strange combination. A friend of mine introduced me to Flylady. I need to declutter my house so badly. Suzanne gave a challenge to declutter one item per day. It is an individual thing and so you chose how much you want to do, but it needs to be at least one item each and every day. Even on those days when my MS has me exhausted, I can manage one thing. It may be just throwing away something on my desk or in my room. I can do this. I am publicly announcing my intentions here. I started today. I cleaned off my kitchen table. We can't eat at it as a family as it isn't big enough. I do want to use to more though even if we can't eat at it. My table is cleaned off and functional. If you want to take part in this challenge, Suzanne set up a blog here.

Yesterday, the boys had their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. Andrew didn't want to, but I wouldn't let him have the candy if he didn't. Rachael wasn't with us as she had spent the night with Megan. She wouldn't have gone for it anyway. She won't even take a picture with Santa, even if she doesn't have to sit on his lap. Before you know it, I will only have one child that will take pictures with "holiday characters". I'll take advantage of still being able to bribe Andrew. After we went to Walmart, we went to the park. It was such a beautiful day yesterday and again today. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the day. It feels good to feel good again. It has been a while since I have felt good.
We had a family Easter egg hunt today. Bryon and Margie came over with their kids and Emily came down with her 2 kids. It was so much fun. Jacob and Grace were so fun to watch. This was Grace's first year for hunting eggs. Jacob was excited about getting eggs too. Here are a few pictures I took. I tried not to take up too much room so I made a collage to show a few of them. I will be doing scrapbooking pages with them later in the week.


Here is a picture I took of Grace before the egg hunt started. She looked so cute in her hat and glasses. I can't believe she leaves them on. My kids never left their hats and glasses on. I would have been happy if they had left a hat on. She loved the trampoline as long as no other kids were on their with her.
I hope you all have a great Easter.

Why am I awake?

It is 3:20 am and I am awake. I have no idea why I can't sleep. I have been tired half of the day. It seems I only sleep well every few nights.

We had such a good day today. We were suppose to take Grandma's surger and swap it out for her. Michael ended up having to go up north anyway, so he drove her van and they went together. I had to get some scout stuff for Andrew, so we went to the Scout Shack. I talked with the kids all the way up there. We looked at all kinds of stuff in the shack (that isn't it's official name, but the scout store has been called that for a long time). I had to buy Andrew his Webelos colors. I also bought Jeremy his own Polar Bear patch. I thought he deserved something for sleeping in a tent in 25 degree weather with a burn ban in effect.

After we finished there, we had to go to Michael's (the craft store, not my BIL). Rachael wanted to buy more painting canvas. She got some for Christmas from Grandma and really enjoyed painting on canvas. She used her babysitting money to get more. She wants to do more modern art paintings. Her favorite artist right now is Jackson Pollock. Here is a part of one of Rachael's paintings. I got a little too close. I need to put it in a better place and take a better picture of it.



Next door at Petco, they had the puppies out front. We HAD to go look at them before we went into Michael's. Rachael wanted to get this really cute small tan and white dog. When I told her we didn't need another dog, she said we should call Grandma so they could get it for Grams. I didn't think that was a good idea since they are dog sitting Baily right now. We went into Petco and looked at the fish and reptiles. We ended up at the small animals. This is my kids favorite part. Rachael wants to save up her money for a ferret. I'm not sure that is a good idea. We have 2 dogs and 3 cats. I could see a ferret becoming dinner. She also said she wanted to get a mouse. We tried hampsters. They didn't last long an I'm not sure about doing a mouse. We don't even have a place to put it. She definitely can't put it in her room. There is just no space. We have to make sure the poor thing is safe from the cats. They would love to get a hold of a little mouse.

We got home a little after 4pm. I was pooped. I was suppose to make pizza for dinner, but I didn't have the energy. I couldn't have gotten it ready before Rachael had to be at dance anyway. We ordered pizza for dinner though.

Rachael went to dance, then she went to spend the night with Megan. They boys played outside for a while, then they watched a movie. They didn't even fight about who got to pick it. Stan and I went out into the garage and watched "Next" with Nicholas Cage. It was really good. We blocked out the windows and closed the door and watched the movie in the dark. The boys only interrupted the movie a few times and always with important things. Not once did they fight all night. It was so nice.

I hope I can get to sleep soon so I can have another good day tomorrow.

Getting back on track

I have been doing Weight Watchers for 18 month. In that time, I have lost 48 pounds. I had hoped to be at goal by now, but I didn't anticipate MS coming into my life. For the past 10 months, I have gained and lost the same 5 pounds. I do well for a while, then slip up and then do well again. My biggest problems is that I HATE journaling. On the flex plan, success is based on journaling. That is where I fall down. My pain specialist, Dr Ximenez, wants me to follow a Mediterranean diet. He thinks I will feel better if I do. I have been resisting it for a long time. I saw him yesterday and decided I needed to start taking his recommendations on my diet. My first step in doing that is switching to the Core plan. The other advantage to Core is that I don't have to journal everything I eat. I only have to write down those things that are not core. I can only eat 35 points worth of them. I feel good about this decision. After I get used to core, then I will start the stricter died that Dr Ximenez wants me to try. I'll let you know how it works. I am hoping to lose weight better on Core. I don't know what I am going to do while I am at girls' cam. The only thing core there is fruit and salad. I may just need to switch to flex for that week. We will see what happens.

Last night, we had a sleep over. I had 6 teenage girls at my house. I am so grateful for our new family room. They were able to go into the family room and watch movies all night and I never heard them. They had a great time. I have no clue what time they went to sleep. Here is a picture of the group. I took this during the commercial break while we watched American Idol.


As a side note, I don't think the right person was voted off. I don't not like that girl that takes the rock and pop songs and makes them country. I can't even remember her name. When they did 80's week, there are tons of great country songs that came out in the 80's. I don't understand why she took a Journey song a made it country. Then she took a Beetles song and made it country. YUCK!!!

Sleepovers at my house are suppose to be top secret. This is why. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but these are plastic forks in my lawn. Andy has a tradition of pranking our house every time we have a sleep over. The only time he doesn't is when we keep in secret. That is OK, the girls got him back. They took the forks and stuck them to his truck. I think they taped them on. I'm not sure how they did it though.

A cure-yeah right

Have you ever noticed that when someone hears you have a chronic illness, they have the cure? Never mind that I have seen many doctors and everyone knows that MS is not curable at this point. Here is what happened today:

I had to go to the pain specialist today. I ask him about lots of other things besides just pain. He has gone back to school and did some extra training in acupuncture, nutrition and alternative medicine. I asked him about this sinus infection I am working on. He recommended some herbal drops to mix with saline and use for irrigation. After my appointment, I headed to Sun Harvest to pick these up. I was asking one of the clerks about where to find what I needed and also if there was a lotion that could be used for sore muscles (for Rachael after dance). They mentioned she should take some Magnesium after class to help with the soreness. I mentioned that I had some as I take it for my MS. One of the clerks asked me if I was open minded. I told him "fairly". He said that he knew something that was "guaranteed to cure MS". He said he had a friend that had been in a wheelchair from MS and died from pneumonia last year. He showed me this bottle of stuff that contained elderberry extract and several other herbs that I can't remember. He told me that I would need to take 3 times as much as what was recommended on the bottle though. He also recommended I eat at this little shop half way between here and
Bastrop as their food would help me a lot. Apparently it is expensive, but they give out free meals on Sunday. I told him I would check into the supplement and ask my doctors about it, but that I would not be eating at that place on Sunday as the Sabbath day is very important to me and my family. He proceeded to bash my doctors. Even when I told him that he uses a balance of traditional medicine and holistic medicine, he said "he probably took a 3 day class". Next, he told me that my health should come before my religion. At this point, he had irritated me. Some clerk in Sun Harvest should hardly be my go to person for all of my health concerns. If this guy had a cure for MS, then why did his friend live in a wheelchair up until he died. Why are millions of people taking injections to decrease their MS flares when they can go to Sun Harvest and buy a cure for less than $20.00. I believe that nutrition is extremely important and I know I will feel so much better if I would eat better. I also believe that all of the answer lie with a combination of traditional Western medicine and holistic/nutritional/herbal medicines. I am not going to hold my breath that a cure will come out of Sun Harvest though.


On a lighter note, I got my hair done last week. It was the first time I went somewhere besides Super Cuts to get my hair cut. I love the way it turned out. I told the stylist that previously, if I didn't curl my hair, you could see every one of the cuts and it looked horrible. I liked it when it was curled, but not when it was straight. She cut it a little differently so it looked more natural. Here is me with my haircut. The picture isn't the best. Rachael still needs to work on her photography. She gets better and better. I am usually the one behind the camera and not in front of it. I hate getting my picture taken.

All is Well

The boys got home Ok on Saturday. They were tired, but fine. Jeremy told me it was super cold. I had to rent a car dolly from U-haul Saturday morning. Michael met me there and then drove out and picked everyone up. They drove straight to the car place and dropped the car off. It was closed but Stan left it in the parking lot and he will be there tomorrow (this) morning as soon as they open.

Poor Stan had to work a 12 hour night shift Saturday night. He showered up and took a nap as soon as he got home. He doesn't usually work nights, but the night person for the end of the week quit and so Stan has been picking up extra shifts to cover. The ironic part is that the person that quit asked Stan if he would trade shifts with him. This guy was having trouble adjusting to the night shift. Stan said he would. The other night person that works the beginning of the week was making a fuss because he wanted to go to days first, but Stan couldn't work the beginning of the week. We had too many things that conflicted. Stan's boss basically wouldn't let Stan go to nights because he wanted him to stay on the accounts he is on. There has been no complaints from the account since Stan took it over and there used to be constant complaints. So, the told this guy that he couldn't move to days so he quit. Stan is going to be working at least one night shift every week, on top of most of his normal day shifts. It will be a good amount of over time. I just hope he doesn't burn himself out.

It is spring break this week. Spring break really means very little to a homeschooling family. What it usually means is that my kids friends are home and are a distraction while we try to get school work done. It means Rachael doesn't have seminary. She is happy about that since she has early morning seminary. It also means she doesn't have dance. She hates it when they have time off from dance. She loves dance class. Since there is no school this week and no dance, Rachael's friend, Megan, is going to go to YW with her on Wednesday. She will then spend the night that night. My nieces are going to come over too. Amira is going to try to come and then we are going to invite Julie also. Julie just moved into our ward in January. Rachael and Julie hit it off really well. They knew each other from girl's camp. Julie and Megan also get along really well. Megan goes to most of the stake dances with Rachael and has met Julie through them.

Here is a picture I took at our after choir choir practice. I am suppose to take some pictures during practice, but I forget. I got glares from Rachael and Aashlie for this one. Jessica thought she was in the clear since she isn't officially part of choir practices. She wasn't though. (Insert evil laugh here)


Speaking of Jessica. She called tonight to give us some good news. She got accepted to the Ann Richard's school for girls. It is an all girls charter school here in Austin. She had to get letters from all of her teachers and write an essay about why she wanted to go to that school. I am so proud of her. WTG JESSICA!!!!!

What Emoticon are you?

Your Emoticon is Cool

You're not feeling particularly up or down, just relaxed and calm. You're ready for whatever is going to happen next!

What Emoticon Best Represents You Right Now?

Camp-out trouble

Stan told me yesterday that the clutch on the Rio was having problems and we needed to look into getting it fixed. I guess it was worse than the thought. He called me from the camp site yesterday and told me that he barely made it there. The clutch was slipping so bad that he had to drive on the shoulder and could only go really slow. He was going to have his brother go out to tow them back this morning. He also told me that there was a burn ban out there so there would be no fire. It was suppose to get down below freezing last night. I hope they were warm enough. I sent the boys with their long john pajamas. I was so worried about them last night. I hope they were warm enough.

Yesterday, I was clicking on people's links on the side bar of blogs and I came across this blog-Calling all LDS Women Bloggers. I found a bunch of links to blogs belonging to LDS women. So many of them were inspirational. I spent way to much time reading blogs yesterday. I know where I need to go to get uplifted now. This blog, http://wearethesimmons.blogspot.com/ , was so wonderful. I went to her old one and read over 2 years worth of posts. It was like a good book that I couldn't put down.

In my wanderings, I also found this wonderful poem. It really touched me. I don't remember where I got it or I would give them credit.

~Dancing with God~
When I meditated on the word GUIDANCE,
I was drawn to”dance” at the end of the word.
I reflected upon how doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn’t flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes this and lets the other lead,b
oth bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.
It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word GUIDANCE.
When I saw “G,” I thought of God,
followed by “u” and “i.”
“God, “u” and “i” dance.” !
God, you, and I dance.
This statement is what guidance means to me.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings
and mercies be upon you and your family
on this day and everyday.
May you abide in Him as He abides in you .

Dance together with God, trusting Him to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life.
I Hope You Dance !!!

I will never look at that word the same way again.

Our Weekend

We always seem to have a lot going on for the weekend. This one is no different. Stan actually took the day off today. There is a Cub Scout camp out this weekend. I don't do well with camping since my back pain started. Stan is taking the boys with him. Right now, he is doing some work stuff from home before he packs up the car and heads out to Perdenales State Park.

Rachael is volunteering to help out at a dance show tonight. Tapestry professional dance company has a show tonight. The VIR girls run concessions and help usher the shows. It is a fundraiser for VIR, plus then the girls get to see the show for free. This is the only way she would see the show as they tickets are $25. I know that isn't a lot, but it is more than we can spend on going to a show. I drop her off at 6:30 and pick her up and 10:30.

I am going to be home all by myself for several hours this evening. The last time I was home by myself it was because I was sick and my family was at church. It is going to be so nice. I am going to enjoy the quiet. I will probably scrap or design and maybe watch a movie. I just sent my Netflix off, so I don't have a movie here. I'm sure I can find something.

Savior of the World practices are going really well. At Stake conference, Sis Toler, our stake YW president, spoke on how much Satan is trying to make sure this play doesn't happen. I immediately felt the spirit witness to me that what she said was true. I have seen it in my own ward. Each of the wards were assigne parts when the song had 8 parts. Our ward was assigned 1st Alto and 2nd Soprano. The alto part actually goes higher than the soprano part in a few places. The alto's are constantly complaining about it. I have tried and tried to make it managable. I even stay after practice so they can learn the 2nd Alto part. Rachael stays and learns the 1st Soprano part since she has a pretty high range. While I was listening to Sis Toler speak, I realized that every time the girls complain, they are letting Satan put his foot in the door. This is such an amazing experience for the youth. Their testimonies are going to grow so much from this. I spoke with the girls on Wednesday about the prompting I had recieved. I told them each time they complained, it was Satan trying to stop them from learning and growing from this experience. Practice went really well on Wednesday. Now, it was only the girls. I still need to give the "speach" to the boys next week. I hope as they are practicing, they will just do their best. I know that if they really focus and let the spirit be with them, they can sing things they didn't think they were capable of singing. I hope they have the faith to test this. I feel so fortunate that I get to be a part of this play. It is going to be amazing.

I feel alive again

I have finally recovered from this stomach bug. I was really hungry yesterday and it felt good to eat again. I have more energy that I have had in 2 weeks. I wear out very easily though, so I need to make sure I don't over do it.

This weekend was pretty full. Stan went up to see his mom Saturday morning, then went to his brothers to pick up a TV. Ben and Wendy got a new flat screen TV for their livingroom. They own a huge big screen (60 inch) that they were going to move to their bedroom. They couldn't fit it down the hall. Ben had won it in a drawing at Dell, so he gave it to us for our newly refinished family room. It is so cool. We watched National Treasure out there last night. We had all of the lights off. Jeremy loves watching movies like that.

That afternoon, the boys had a birthday party at Cabella's. They had so much fun. They did a scavenger hunt. Jeremy loves doing scavenger hunts. He makes them up all the time. They got to shoot in the gallery and feed the trout. The boys could spend all day at Cabella's. I sent Stan with the camera and he got some pretty good pictures.

I was feeling pretty worn out, so I didn't go to the party. Rachael and I stayed home. I had planned on getting my hair cut, but there was a really long wait at Super Cuts. We went to Ulta to look for a make up case for Rachael. We found a great deal on one and then proceded to spend way to much money on make-up there. I am never knew they had a hair saloon in there and Stan has given me permission to go get my hair cut there. I have never gone anywhere except Super Cuts before. I never minded before when I would just get my hair trimmed, but now that I have them layer it, I'm not fond of the job they do. I can always see all of the cuts. My hair is really fine. I'm going to go to Ulta today or tomorrow for a cut. I'm excited to actually get it styled.

I hope everyone has a great week.