What goes in . . .

. . . is what comes out!

This was one of the main reasons we got rid of all tv/satellite services over 7 months ago. That's right - we have NO TV! AHHHH! Most people ask us: how do you survive?

As the kids got older they started wanting to watch shows that we just didn't feel were appropriate or that were not the examples that we wanted out kids to follow so we x-nayed the t-v-ay.

The best part is that we haven't even missed it. Okay, maybe once or twice we have thought it would be nice but for the most part it has been GREAT!

Kurt and I have really gotten into inspriational movies - you know, movies that you walk away from thinking "I want to be a better person." Here are the ones that we have watched so far:

Fireproof
Forever Strong
Facing the Giants
The Blind Side

Have you seen any really good, uplifting, inspriational movies? If so, let us know! We would love to know about some more!

They have been warned!

Yesterday I went on a cleaning frenzy! It wasn't really planned but I have been wanting to do it for a REALLY long time. I have this issue in my house: apparently I can only keep one level of my house clean at a time. If upstairs is clean, then downstairs is destroyed. If downstairs is clean, then upstairs is destroyed. This is usually how my house is: downstairs clean (that's what people see when they come over) and upstairs is like a bomb went off, and then another bomb and then another.

Only a very selected few friends have seen the destruction of our upstairs. It really has gotten out of hand lately. Between working in the mornings and doing school in the afternoons til 5 pm then dinner, etc. there has not been time for cleaning - only stashing and shoving and piling.

Well, HELLO SPRING BREAK!

I went home from work yesterday and just completely got sucked into a cleaning frenzy. I started upstairs and went crazy. Every drawer was cleaned and rearranged, every closet was rearranged and vaccuumed, everything was dusted.

IT FEELS GREAT!!!

Today I plan on attacking the toy room. I should take a picture and show you how destroyed it is. As I was cleaning yesterday, every toy I found I just threw it in the toy room knowing I would clean it today. It is pretty bad.

So I have warned the kids that I am coming after the toy room. I should mention that when I am in a cleaning mode, I show no mercy and throw a lot of things away. The kids know this and usually panic when I come after the toy room. I told the kids that anything they want to keep should be cleaned up and put away.

What do you think the chances are of the toy room being clean when I get home?

A Little Bit Country

I have a little bit of a country side to me. I seriously think I would love living back in the Mid-West on a farm. But who knows, maybe I wouldn't last 2 seconds but it sure sounds like fun.

Plus cowboys are so cute!

Maybe it's the hat, or the jeans, or the boots, or the horse or ???

I tried to convince Kurt to wear a cowboy hat around here but he doesn't think he would fit in.

Apparently a cowboy-landscaper isn't the image he is going for.

Bummer!

A Day of Blessings

Yesterday was an amazing day! A huge turn around from the last few months.

As you can guess, the landscaping market is not so hot right now. Actually it has been rather awful. During the month of January, we had NO work. I mean zip, zero, zilch, NADA! It was quite scarey!

February was ok. We got a few small jobs so at least our guys were working again. Unfortunately though these jobs had to be put on hold after the initial tear-out and concrete installation because we need to get rocks out of a field in the Red Bluff area and the weather just has not cooperated. Finally we have had a lot of consecutive dry days and they should be able to get the rocks out on Thursday.

March has been better. We have had a lot of leads come off of a booth Kurt installed at a new car wash right next to our office. The phones have been ringing and we have been delivering bids but not a lot of people are signing.

But yesterday takes the cake. We got 4 (FOUR!) contracts signed in one day!

WHAT? HOLY COW!

That is just amazing. We have been so blessed! Thank You Heavenly Father!

Now we are going to go from one extreme to the other; meaning: from no work to having way too much work as we already have 3 jobs waiting for us (the ones waiting for rocks). So we are going from no guys working all the month of January and no guys working the last 2 weeks to 7 jobs all screaming for our attention. THIS IS AWESOME!

I will gladly take this problem over the alternative!

SPECIAL PRICING ALERT

Kurt found Pillsbury Brownies for $.78 at Winco.

Time to load up people!

Somehow he managed to limit his purchase to 12.

However, he did purchase 20 cans of tuna and 10 boxes of Tuna Helper (which we haven't eaten in YEARS!) The Tuna Helper had coupons for cans of tuna so he basically got the tuna for free! SCORE! I guess it will be a good "last minute - running crazy - don't know what else to cook" meal!

Way to go Honey!

Approaching panic mode

Anyone that has been over to our house inevitably comments on what is on top of our fridge. At any given time there is between 20 - 30 boxes of brownie mix.

Yes, 20-30 BOXES of brownie mix - aka: Kurt's food storage!

The boy LOVES his brownies! (Actually it's the batter he loves the most.) He will drive 15-20 minutes away to buy ONLY brownie mix. He buys it by the case (10 per case) and the cases sit on top of our fridge (who has the cupboard space for that much brownie mix?) The store checkers will usually ask him if he is doing a bake sale and he replies "nope, it's all for me!" Crazy boy!

His "theory" (besides the fact that he loves brownies) is that in an emergency brownies will become the new "currency". When everyone else is tired of their wheat, beans, rice, etc., brownies will become a hot commodity. I have told him that he needs to have eggs, oil and a working oven to make the brownies but he says those are just minor details.

So why are we approaching panic mode? We are down to only 3 mixes left. Yes, I said 3. This is a serious crisis here people! I mean what would we do if we had an emergency today? How would we survive with only 3 mixes?

Hopefully the budget will soon once again support our brownie food storage and we can replenish our load. Spending $20-$30 on brownie mix just doesn't fit in the budget right now. Until then we will just have to make due with only 3 mixes. Man, this will be tough!

You know you have a puppy when . . .

. . . toys start loosing their body parts

. . . church shoes look like this

. . . and blocks start looking like cheese!

It's a good thing he is cute!

Plus it is a great way to purge the toys without being the bad guy!!