Boeing Science Alliance and Trojan Horse

Stephanie has been busy at school with many different projects. Here you see the Trojan Horse she drew as part of a poster. We made it a pop up, but in a flat picture, you can't see that. The wheels in the front are elevated and the body of the horse is too. The best part is that she was able to draw the horse and really make it look like a wooden horse!
All year long, Stephanie has taken advantage of the Boeing Science Alliance (which I dubbed the Science Club) and they met after school on Tuesdays and studied things like electricity, various experiments and the last quarter it was the science of magic. This video is her part of the magic show. The best part of this club is that it was FREE! She also came home from them full of excitement of the projects they completed.

Now for an update on her toe! We saw Dr. Moore yesterday and he was really pleased about how it was healing. Thankfully the infection is finally cleared and we saw good toe nail growth. There was also some calcium deposits, but we get to slowly clean those off with some cream. She goes back in two months to make sure that the nail is growing in straight and not curved.

School only has two more weeks, but lots of reading and such still needs to be done. And there are two more piano lessons before summer break.

All Tuckered Out

Yesterday, Saturday, we really did have a work day. The work started around 10 am for Steve and the children and I worked downstairs. The children were to totally and completely clean out their bedrooms!

Scott's first chore was to clear out any clothes he could find on the floor and to put them in the hamper in the bathroom. Next...and this was the big one...he needed to pick up all his Legos. And we meant ALL of them! Yes, he was allowed to keep intact any ongoing projects and those he had finished, but all the others were put in buckets.

After working hard for a couple of hours...Steve was the task master of the upstairs...I called for a break! It lasted for about 20 minutes. Their next break wasn't until I had lunch ready and then they were back to work. By this time, Steve had managed to halfway fill up the big garbage can in the garage and they were also sorting out things for us to put in our garage sale we hope to have next weekend.

At 6pm I called an all-stop! 8 hours of work, even with the breaks, was enough for anyone! Especially on just one task. What is sad is that their floors are still not done and my part of their rooms hasn't even started. I'm targeted to help them go through their clothes to determine what to keep and such. Scott has so many shirts, and he loves them all, but if I didn't wash any for a month, he would still have shirts to wear. :)

Stephanie had a hard time with sorting her horses...what to keep was easy...what to delete...that was hard. She also had probably 3 years worth of school papers to go through. Mind you, this is a girl that always makes her bed and you could always get through her room to the closet and the window...but all her surfaces were covered and the corners and the chair were full. So she too had issues to be dealt with. And no...she is not yet ready either for a clothes review.

Scott was seeing all the beautiful weather outside and really wanted to play...so out he went. But what did he do? He went next door and helped our neighbor, Jim, with his car. Then he helped Steve get some plants we had gathered this past week in the ground. They put the pumpkin, zucchini and cucumber in the front just in front of the porch. There were also some Hen & Chicks to plant up there. There was also a couple of flowers that needed to get into the ground. In the back they planted some coulious (don't know how this is spelled, and neither does spellcheck, but it is the pretty red and green leaves that loves shade) near the snowball bushes in the back. He then helped Steve mow the front lawn.

It was after 8pm when I finally got dinner on the table. And just before putting the chili on, we were waiting for Steve to come back downstairs, noticed that Scott was resting his head. We wore him out!

Their reward? They got to watch a movie while Steve and I went and did the shopping.

M&M's Premiums - Not for me!

In March, I decided that I needed a goal for April. And in light of our lowered finances, I decided that for the entire month of April,that I would not purchase any candy. But to make it really work, I also added that I wasn’t to ask anyone else to buy me any candy either. And I did it!

Let me tell you though, April was not easy! The only people I told this to were my husband, Steve, and Jen, the wonderful lady who owns the candy store here in Monroe, Sweet Indulgence (just in case you wanted to know about her store).

So…that being said, on May 1st, I found myself at Grocery Outlet checking out what they had in the way of better candies. They didn’t have exactly what I wanted, but after not buying any for a month, I really wasn’t being too choosy. I just don’t buy regular candy bars. What they did have were these Premium M&M’s. I thought, cool, I have been meaning to try them, but at $4 for a boxat Fred Meyers, it just wasn’t going to happen. However, at Grocery Outlet, they were $2.50, so I was willing to give them a try. I picked out the Triple Chocolate ones, “truly tempting layers of milk chocolate, white chocolate & dark chocolate”. I decided to save them for my treats when I went Scrapbooking at Ben Franklins on Friday night (on May 2nd).

On Friday, before leaving to go to the National Scrapbooking event, I opened the bag that was inside the pretty box and dumped all the lovely, shiny, purple M&M’s in a small Tupperware dish and just stashed it in my stuff. I was pretty busy at the time getting all my scrappbooking stuff packed, that I didn't bother eating one. It wasn’t until around 10pm when I finally opened them up and had one.

YUCK! I was so majorly disappointed! I thought that maybe they were at Grocery Outlet for a reason…the crunchy outer shell had gone soft! That had never happened to me before and I wanted my crunch with my chocolate! I mean, even when my M&M's had melted, the candy shell always was crunchy! So the chocolate really did stay in my mouth and not in my hands. :)

Then, on Saturday, I was talking to Steve and Stephanie about them and gave them a try and they too did not like them. So Monday morning, I called their 800 number on the box (yep, I kept the box) to complain about the soft shell, only to find out that they are supposed to be that way. I told the customer service representative that I thought they tasted terrible and that M&M’s were supposed to have a candy shell. She is sending me coupons to replace the ones I didn’t like.

But then, what do I do with a dish full of pretty, purple, shiny M&M’s? I made up some cookie dough and instead of putting in 3 cups of regular chocolate chips, I used only 2 cups and dumped in the M&M’s. In the cookies…they tasted great! But I won’t be buying anymore of these “Premium M&M’s", just to put them in cookies!

Stephanie's First Talk in Sacrament Meeting

Now that Stephanie is 12 years old, she is in the Young Women's program at church. Included in that is the opportunity to get a talk in church. Yesterday was her first time to do this and this is her talk:

Stephanie’s Talk:

I was asked to give a talk about temples.

Temples are places we perform sacred ordinances in the Church. This includes Baptisms for the Dead, Confirmation, Marriage, Sealings, Personal Endowments, and Endowments for the Dead.

During General Conference, Elder Gary E. Stevenson talked about temples. He began by sharing this memory:

Quote:

“I remember a warm, sunny afternoon when spring was trying to nudge its way through a long winter in Cache Valley, Utah. My father, whose Saturdays were always filled with chores for his grandsons, stopped by our home with an offer to “go for a ride.” Always happy to ride in Grandpa’s truck, our four- and six-year-old sons scurried into the back jump seat, and I joined my father in the front. Our drive took us through the streets of downtown Logan, which wrap around the Logan Temple, prominently situated on a hill, centered beautifully in the city. As we moved further away from the city, we turned from paved, busy streets to seldom-used dirt roads, where we crossed old bridges and weaved through trees far into the country. We were far from any other traffic and all alone.

Realizing his grandsons were in a place they had not been before, my father stopped the truck. “Do you think we are lost?” he asked the wide-eyed boys as they gazed out the windshield across the valley. Followed by a moment of silent assessment came the profound reply of a young child. “Look!,” he said, pointing his finger, “Grandpa, you are never lost when you can see the temple.” Our eyes turned, focusing with his, seeing the sun glistening off the spires of the Logan Temple, far across the valley.”
…EndQuote.

It’s true – we are never lost when we can see the temple. He also told us to make our homes a house of the Lord. Everyone is already one step towards that goal and may not even know it, because we are never lost when we can see our home.

Last week, I was able to officially go inside the temple for the first time. It’s amazing how much gets done inside the temple in such a short time, especially when the Bishop is baptizing about 5 people a minute or more, and the confirmations at about double that pace. I can see why Elder Richard G. Scott suggested in another conference talk for us to remove our watches when inside the temple. That way, we won’t be concerned with how long the ordinances take.

I’m happy I was able to go to the temple. It was very peaceful, and the experience was quite spiritual. I want to go again because it is a holy place, and I am never lost when I see the temple.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bags and Purses for Sale!

As promised...I am listing some of my bags here before listing them on Etsy.com

Just so you know...all of my bags are upcycled materials, those found in thrift stores, garage sales, left over material from dresses and such...

This pink and green one was made from a scarf and a remnant from Walmart. The base is 12" across at the bottom and it stands 9" tall. The top of the bag is 8"across and the strap is attached by D rings. It is fully lined with the lime fabric.

This is the back side of the bag. I have priced this bag at $18.

This horse purse is slightly angled in on the sides. Only the front of the purse has the horse fabric, the rest is made up entirely of denim, so it is very sturdy!

This bag and all the bags below are reversable.

All three of these horse bags are $12 each.

This shows the lining of the teal flower purse. This was made from a scarf/kerchief found at a garage sale.

As you can see, here too I have angled in the sides to make it more purse like.

This is the other side. You can have this one for $10.

This pansy bag has a purple lining and some purple fur trim at the top. It's sides are straight up and down and will make a perfect gift bag!

$8
There is also another pansy bag of the same size and lining, but we put a yellow ribbon on the front with a button...let me know if you want to see a picture of that one.

I have two of these bags, $12 each, but these pictures are for the front and back of the same one. They are just shy of being 12" tall and the base is 6" wide, both are lined with denim.

Back side of gift bag above...

These two smaller bags are actually the same...I just turned one with the striped fabric out so that you could see that they are reversable. The white fabric has tulips on it and on one of the bags we put two red buttons.

$8 each. ($14 if you buy both)

Here I have 3 bags made of the same fabric. They have also been stiffened as the pink material was quite flimsy. Two of the bags have been embellished with the yellow rickrack on the printed fabric, and the third one was embellished with purple rickrack on the pink side. They are just shy of 12" tall and have a base of 6" wide and 4" deep. They would make great gift bags or lunch bags.

$12 each.

I have 3 of these bags, the exterior is made of a quilted material and the lining is a white background with navy blue dots on it. the handle is the same as the lining. They are 6.5 inches tall, about 6" wide and 3.5 inches deep.

$8 or $20 if you want all 3. :)

This shows the lining of a bag with two handles.

8" tall, 7" wide and 4" deep.

Again I used a garage sale scarf/kerchief for this bag. There was even enough fabric for the handles.

I'm asking $12 for this bag.





If you saw other bags on the racks and I didn't mention them here, let me know if you are interested. I will also make custom bags. When I do the show in October, I plan on having school sized bags, ones big enough to carry binders and laptops.

Oh...the Mariners are currently going to the bottom of the 10th inning with a tie score of 2-2 ... sure hope we win!