Living Easter

I found this project online a few years ago and wanted to try it but always waited too long to start it. This year I was determined to do it so I got my butt in gear, got my supplies ahead of time and yesterday made it! Not really sure what the project is called but I am going to name it, "Living Easter Project". Here are a few pics of how we did ours.

Sophie as my little assistant, getting all the supplies together. Which are: potting soil, a large shallow round pot which I found at the dollar store, a small pot to use as the tomb, rocks for the path out of the tomb, a large rock to put aside the tomb to signify the tomb was empty and stone was rolled away, rapid growing grass seed such as rye grass, sticks to make the three crosses, rope to tie the sticks together in the shape of a cross and I added moss for the sides of the stone path.

 

Sophie working hard designing the project with me. Like her mommy, she loves to get right in there and get her hands in the dirt. We can't wait to go outside and start planting our gardens and flower pots but until then these types of projects will have to do. 

Completed without the crosses. I will spray the grass seed with a water bottle a few times a day and cover with plastic wrap until the grass starts to grow. Then I will remove the plastic, add the crosses and continue to water. It is important to remember that you will need to allow yourself anywhere from 7-10 days for the grass to grow for your finished project by Easter. You need to put in a light area so when the grass does grow it will grow straight and thick instead of sparse and droopy.

 

Showing you how the crosses look. I'll take them off until the grass starts to grow but I wanted you to have a visual of the end product. I am so pleased with it. You could do anything you want as far as what you added to it just as long as you keep the main things in place...the crosses and the empty tomb with the rolled away stone. 

 

The finished product once the grass grew in. I had to "cut" the grass three times before Easter Sunday.

 I wanted to make sure that my kids knew that Easter wasn't just about Easter bunnies, baskets and candy. Although that is fun and we do all those things too, knowing that Christ died on the cross for our sins on Good Friday and rose again on Easter is what is most important. Doing projects like these is a fun way to teach the kids in a way they will remember. I will post a picture of the end result once the grass grows in. Then I will take it to my parents house to display for all to see on Easter Sunday.

May each of you have a blessed Easter!

Enjoy these songs. I believe this was my grandmas favorite church hymn and it is mine also. Crazy how some songs can be so moving. It is beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT88jBAoVIM
Here is a rendition by Chris Tomlin that is also quite beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbe7OruLk8I

You're Worth More Than Gold

Thought I'd share a song that I've been jamming to all morning! A friend shared it with me a couple weeks ago and I loved it. So today I came across it again and figured I'd share it with all of you.

On top of it being a catchy tune, the words are so great too! I wish I could put up posters of the words all around my kids schools as well as taping them to each kid. Good reminder for us adults as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YUfy58Gac4

SO...whether you're having a stinky day and need a mood changer or you're having a great day and want to turn it up a notch, this song is for you!

Rock on my friends!

Livin La Vida Loca

Big Ole Fail This Week!

Up until this year, 2013, I would say I had it pretty easy. By whose standards, well mine I guess. Easy meaning compared to this year's happenings, it's been a piece of cake. Lately baby Neil's mischief has brought back Sophie's toddler years and those years were enough to make any mom check herself into the loony bin. But as the years went by, I soon forgot them. That is...until now. I would often say, "If I got through Sophie's destruction, I can (literally) handle whatever this baby throws my way!" Well here we are and I'm getting it thrown at me from all different directions as if to say, "Ha, how do you like me now!" Yep, I'm sticking my foot in my mouth alright. Ok, ok, it's not THAT bad, well maybe to some it is. A mom's gotta do a little whining too, I mean we learn from the best!

Here's a little peek at what baby Neil's been up to or into, whichever way you want to look at it. During the Sophie years I had to buy special child-proof locks to put on our pantry and laundry room door because that leads out into the garage. With these locks on the doors, even without locking them, it makes them hard to turn. Well baby boy has figured it out. Just this week, he has gone outside into the garage when he felt like it and I found him playing with the sidewalk chalk, no coat, shoes or socks. That was fun finding him there. Next day, he figured since he was able to go outside and that door is locked, he might as well try the pantry door to see what he could find in there. You guessed it...he found a box of instant cafe mocha and evenly spread it all around my kitchen floor. I just don't know how much more "fun" I can take? Apparently I needed more because today Sophie didn't lock the pantry door after she came home from school and little "Houdini in training" decided to check out the pantry again to see what he could find. He found the paper napkins and played 152 pick-up with them and a baggie full of tea leaves thrown around the kitchen. I'm just having a ball over here, don't you wanna join me?!

 Are you thinking that I should be watching him more? Well if that's what you are thinking you must either A) don't have kids B) all your kids are grown C) have only one kid that you say is an angel and never gets into anything or D) are a person out of touch with reality. Anyway, I have a house to keep, calls to make, laundry to do, kids to feed, fights to referee, contractors to monitor, homework to check, games to play, toys to pick-up, taxi service to provide and 20 questions to answer every hour- SO- no, my eyes are not on baby Neil 24/7. He's a baby and baby's are busy and with busy comes exploring and with exploring comes learing. See the pattern here. Well by #3 you get pretty good at figuring stuff out so you'd think I'd be ahead of the game. Sometimes I am and then other times I think that this one isn't going to do what the other's did and WHAMMO they got me. It's those times that I have to stop, take a bunch of deep breaths and continue on...ok, maybe a little bit of shouting along with the deep breaths, a glass of wine, a couple Advil and a few prayers for patience, I didn't say I was perfect.

Then at night when all my babies are asleep and all I have are my thoughts, I think about the days happenings and I think, small kids, small problems. One day they will be grown and I'll be wishing for the laundry door escapes and spontaneous pantry reorganizations. Right now I'll focus on the sweet smiles, big hugs and kisses, lots of lovin and the 20 innocent questions an hour.

Our House

Some might wonder how I came about the name of my blog. Seems self explanatory but there is more behind it. Not only am I sharing the goings-on in Our House but the fails too. Everyone is welcome and every comment is welcome in Our House. You know the saying, "not in my house", yeah, it means that too. It's also the name of our 2nd cottage on Kelley's Island. Our House is the name of our wedding song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7goifK_2qY
Most importantly it is these words that we live by, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15.

Which brings me to today's topic, being a Christian. For those who don't know me, I am a Christian. Did I say in another blog post of mine that one doesn't talk about politics or religion with friends and family? Well just because "It's been said" doesn't mean I follow that saying. I saw this and thought that it really says it all.



Some people have asked me how I can be so positive all the time. I can't take credit for that, I pray often for help to be a better mom, a better wife, daughter, sister and friend and I believe God is with me every step of the way. People say, "Well you haven't had it as bad as I have" or "You can't possibly understand what I am going through" but truth is, sometimes my pain feels just as dark and heavy as yours, just in a different way. I just take that dark and heavy pain and give it to God. I trust he knows what he is doing and that his plan is far greater than my understanding. I've had people say to me when they are talking about something they don't think I'd agree with, "Sorry Bon, but...". You don't have to be sorry. Actually by you saying that tells me I am being exactly the person I want to be and it's showing in my actions and words. I would have to say that you just paid me a compliment.

I don't claim to know all the answers about Christianity, to be honest I still have a lot of questions myself as to why God did this or that or why he let's certain things happen to us and those we love? Some of those questions can be answered and some I won't know the answer until I ask God myself when I stand before him when my time on Earth has ended. Until then I will live my life as a imperfect Christian women, in an imperfect world saved by the Grace of God.

Things That Make You Go Hmm?

So why is it that I have two bottles, one each of shampoo and conditioner, using the same amount of each when I wash my hair and I run out of shampoo before the conditioner. So I am left with 1/4 full bottles of conditioner. If I just buy a new bottle of shampoo then I will most certainly run out of conditioner so I always buy both and end up having 3 bottles laying around. I could marry them but I don't always buy the same kind every time. Just one of those thing's that I think about when I take a shower. There are a ton of those things that make you go hmm, aren't there?

On a different note, I was talking to my sister who told me about a great find she got at Trader Joe's, Coconut Oil and all the things you can use it for. I had seen it there but never bought it. Then I saw a bunch of stuff on Pintrest about it so decided to buy 2 jars. It has got to be one of the best buys I've made in awhile. I keep one in the bathroom for moisturizing and one in the kitchen for cooking. I slather it on my feet then put socks on. I do this in the morning and before bed and I can't tell you what a difference it's made. I use it on my lips and hands and I cook with it too. The cool thing about using it to cook with is that it tolerates high heat very well. It's not overpowering in taste or in smell. It doesn't get better than using natural ingredients on and in your body. Hey, and it's only $5.99 at Trader Joe's! Try it, I think you'll like it!

Eye Need Sleep!

My eyeballs are tired! So close them and take a nap would be the logical thing to do but see, that doesn't work. What I mean is, when I close my eyes my eyeballs feel like they can't relax so it makes me want to open them. It's very frustrating and it's driving me nuts. Really it's eye strain throughout the day that is caused by not enough sleep, allergies, excessive computer, phone and tablet use and not wearing my reading glasses sometimes when doing some of these things. I think I am guilty of every single one of them. It's been going on now for about a week, not a huge deal but no less annoying.

So what do you do about it? Well their are things you can do to relax your eye muscles to relieve that feeling. Such as blinking your eyes rapidly and then closing them to rest and repeating. Palming, which is rubbing your hands together to warm them and then placing your palms on your eyes until the heat subsides. Looking at a object in the distance and changing what you are looking at every 20 min. and of course limiting those things that are causing the strain. Then their are exercises that you can do to stregthen those muscles such as looking to the left while you move your head to the right and vise versa also doing that same movement up and down. I tried the above relaxation techniques and exercises and they did seem to relieve the irritation somewhat. So hopefully if I keep it up it will go away. Well I'm hopeful it will anyway.

I figured I'd blog about this because it's such a weird thing to have that maybe if anyone else was experiencing this, you would remember this post and know what to do.

When you get to be my age, the ripe age of 41, you start having all these things going on that you never had to worry about before. I never even needed glasses except sunglasses, until 40 and now I have to wear reading glasses to read comfortably. They still feel foreign to me though. I mean, they help and all but I just can't get used to the fact that I have them and need them but hey, what are ya gonna do. I'm only hurting myself by resisting them.

Well seeing as though I'm not practicing what I preach, I should get off of the computer for awhile and rest my eyeballs. Here's to a relaxed eye muscles tonight! 

My First Amendment Right

It is said that you don't discuss politics or religion with family and friends but no one ever said that about voicing your opinion on Labor Unions or Gun's. So I'm just gonna voice my First Amendment Right: Anything I say in this blog post, should not be taken personally and is not directed towards any one individual.

Oooh I bet you are all on the edge of your seat wondering what in the world I am gonna talk about today. Then again, you may care less. Anyhow, unless you don't live in town or under a rock, I'm sure you have heard about the Strongsville, OH Teachers Strike going on right now. I'm just gonna come right out and say that I am not a supporter of the teachers in this case. Really, I am not a supporter of Labor Unions. So unless your job on a day to day basis is life treatening such as law enforcement or firefighting, that sort of thing, there is no need for them. Just so all of you know by definition Labor Unions are an organized associatian of workers, often in a trade or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Way back,  mid 19th century or so in response to the industrial revolution the labor unions began to form and rightfully so, they needed them then. People including children, were being treated unfairly in the work place, factories etc... because their were no laws to protect them. Over the years Labor Unions got to be too big, too powerful and the reason for them being around became distorted. Now their are laws in place to protect people in the work place so Labor Unions are no longer necessary. Now with the 2008-10 Economic Crisis unions have become an issue and are on the decline in popularity.

Now here's my beef with the whole thing. First off, I still can't figure out how Labor Unions have crept in all these different areas. If someone can answer me that question intellegently, I'd appreciate it. The average teacher salary in Strongsville City is $47,140, not bad at all for being in the suburbs.

Grade Level	Average	10th percentile	25th percentile	Median	75th percentile	90th percentile
Pre-school	$21,447	$16,209	$17,601	$20,050	$23,618	$28,409
Kindergarten	$46,547	$26,775	$32,422	$42,038	$60,748	$73,035
Elementary	$55,270	$29,752	$39,527	$57,743	$70,344	$80,400
Middle school	$52,579	$33,038	$39,341	$51,821	$64,633	$77,355
High school	$59,860	$37,088	$46,060	$60,229	$74,223	$84,050

What's the reason, for teachers to have a union and don't give me the old stand by answer of, "It's for the sake of the children" bologny. That doesn't mean anything. For instance this strike that is going on does not and I repeat, does not have anything to do with the children. It has everything to do with the teachers themselves. One of the reasons is because they do not like the fact that their is a freeze on pay increases...ok, so what! I have worked for a couple companies that put freezes on pay increases, it's just the way it is. Suck it up like the rest of us. Why should you have the option to say, "I don't like that, so I'm not going to work until you give me what I want!" WHAT!? So now you have made a worse situation for the children and for yourselves. You are doing the exact thing that schools are trying to ban and that my friends is Bullying. You are bullying the board into giving you what you want. I believe union officials use the word, negotiating an agreement. Either way, it's bullying.
Continuing on...say my passion is to be a teacher but I do not want to be a part of a union, I don't think that is an option and I would be told that I can either join or they will find someone else. Also there are a lot of poor teachers out there just waiting out the time until they can retire. Unions make it near to impossible for them to be fired for poor performance. How about you don't do your job well repeatedly, you get handed a pink slip and they hire one of the thousands of other qualified teachers willing to take their place. Another thing is they have off 3-4 months out of the year AND still get paid so how can you possibly complain? Don't get me wrong, teaching is tough and I give props to them and those who work in the inner city schools that many times have to pay for the supplies of the classroom out of there own pocket, however, my job is tough too. How about those people who used to sit outside of the Marc's Store in Berea, on lawn chairs with signs telling people not to shop there because they do not support unions? They are there rain or shine for years? How about WORKING! You mean to tell me that those people are being protected under the labor union to do that day in and day out for years? That makes no sense and if you can explain it to me, I would appreciate it because as of right now I have not gotten a good answer. I think it's called, taking advantage of the situation.

So now look what you have created by going on strike. You have put the children in an environment that is crowded and chaotic. Substitute teachers are in charge of 3-4 classrooms full of children. They are not being taught anything. They are going to school to color, play cards, text and socialize. The superintendent actually said that the children were not in any danger and that they should be going to school. Um, really? You think that that environment is a positive one? Then the teachers on the picket line are not even following the laws and it is getting out of hand. Wow, what positive role models.

I have a lot of very intellegent, hard working teacher friends and family out there who love what they do and do it well, some of which will read this and I mean no disrespect to you but I believe you would agree that this perticular situation is out of hand. If I lived in Strongsville, I would start homeschooling like a few of my friends who do live in that city, are. I feel for all those parents who's children are going through this. What a stressful situation your are being put in.

Now onto Guns... Ha, no I won't go into that today. I'll save that for another day.

3/9/2013-
Today is Saturday, almost a week since the teachers strike in Strongsville has been going on. Here are my thoughts on it now. Yeah, I still feel the same way, if not more so. Just because I don't live in Strongsville and my kids do not attend that school system doesn't mean I do not have strong feelings on the situation. I know some might disagree with my feelings and that is perfectly fine with me, I don't expect everyone to share what I believe on everything I post. I love hearing other points of view. I believe that if you put something out there on any social media, you absolutely have to expect to receive other thoughts on the matter. So for those of you afraid to comment or say anything, just know I welcome them all. Of course I think it goes without saying that since I do not curse or disrespect anyone, I will not tolerate it in return. Ok, got that out of the way...

As far as the strike, here are some new lows on the part of the teachers who are picketting and posting on different public social media's: Calling the substitues Scabs and negatively bashing them saying they are out for there jobs and that they are not qualified to be taking there place in the classrooms, so a settlement has to be made so those teachers can get back to work. Are you kidding me???? Those so-called Scabs, as they so indearingly referred to them as, are being asked/hired to do the work that they are refusing to do. It is by no means there fault. They are doing the best they can with the situation they were put into. Obviously they are qualified.

They have caused the city to be less safe both by driving and causing a chaotic situation outside the BOE and the school on Rt 82. Each area that they are picketting in, there are one or more police officers to, keep the peace and a controlled environment. Now, is that a proper use of our law enforcement? I think not!

The children walking or driving by seeing there teacher on the pickett line and watching them display poor conduct, is unacceptable, period! The children don't know whether to wave to them or cry. Then saying that if the BOE would come to an agreement, this would not happen. Um, no! Good for the BOE on not giving in to the ridiculous demands and not allowing themselves to be bullied.

Good for the parents of the community on stepping in to help where ever it's needed, alot of them are. Also, good for those parents who are now responding in protest to the teachers on the pickett line, but sadly that is stooping to their level if they are also picketting.

Believe me, I know not all of the teachers who are on strike necessarly agree with how this is being handled and are in the middle of this whole thing, with there hands tied. That is a sad state of affairs right there.

So again I ask for someone to please give me logical explainations as to why this is being tolerated? In my opinion, those teachers who are doing the bullying and picketting should be given there walking papers and they can pickett themselves right down to the Unempolyment Agency, buh bye.With their being so many people without jobs and barely able to put food on there table, this is a disgrace and those teachers should be ashamed of themselves.

Now I would like to give a shout out to some awesome teachers that have made a huge impact in my childerens lives:
All the teachers and staff at All Saints Lutheran Preschool
Mrs. McNeeley, both Anna and Sophie's kindergarten teacher at Olmsted Early Childhood Center
Mrs. Rivera, Anna's 1st and 2nd grade teacher at Falls - Lenox Primary School
Mrs. Stanszak, Anna's 4th grade teacher at Olmsted Intermediate School
I am certain that they are the reason both my kids love school and have learned so much! For all of that, I am So Very Gratefull!

 

 

 

 

 

Because We Can Do Whatever We Want

Did you ever have one of those weekends, weeks or days that you didn't want to end? I just had one of those. A weekend without the kids, just Neil and I alone together from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon to do whatever we wanted to do, whenever we wanted to do it. They are SO important to have, to recharge the batteries and be able to give all my attention to my husband.

We took a little trip to Pittsburgh, PA to go to Ikea on Friday afternoon. It was our first time there without the kids, just the two of us. We had a lot of fun and spent 4 1/2 hours browsing around, taking our time because we could. We always leave with a cart or two full of stuff for the house and in our case, our cottages too. After stepping foot in that store, makes me want to redo my whole house and it's fun to plan out how we are going to decorate the Our House Cottage once it's finished. We didn't end up leaving the store until 8:30pm and got home around 10:30pm. One would think that we would call it a night after that but nope, we decided to go have a couple cocktails and some snacks at our local joint up the street. It's fun to be able to just head out whenever we want to, so we did. After a little wind down time, we called it a night and headed home, ready for another fun day ahead.

Actually the real reason for the weekend was to kick-off the Kelleys Island Season with our annual KI Party at Sawmill Creek Resort. It's a time to gather all our neighbors and the island gang together and talk about the upcoming season, make plans and see how everyone is doing after the long winter. We all get hotel rooms next to each other and spend the whole night going from room to room like we were in high school. Lots of laughs and much needed catching up. The best part, being able to sleep in, be lazy in the morning and going out to eat in peace! I can't tell you how nice it was, no really I can't....it was that nice! You're probably thinking, "Did you miss your children?" and my answer is, of course we did. Funny enough, as much bickering, noise and chaos that goes on in my day to day life, when they aren't around, we miss em, like crazy. We talk about em, show pictures of em and say we can't wait to see em but that's what it's all about. They say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" does that go for your children as well? I'm gonna say yes. When we got home I got lots of squeezes, kisses and I love you's and I soaked up every bit of it. Then.......after about an hour the pestering started, the bickering started and the whining started and I say to myself, thank goodness for weekends away!

 Of course those weekends would not even happen without someone to watch our 3 kids for 3 days and I want to say a HUGE Thank You to my wonderful mom and dad for all you do for us to give us that time to just be together, it means so much! Mom and dad, I hope you know we don't take any of it for granted either! You guys are the BEST and we love you lots!

Also Neil's mom is always willing to take the girls for fun sleepovers and trips around town and I want to say a big thank you to you too, Nama! We love you!
Oh we know how extremely lucky we are to have our family live so close and so willing to do all they do for us, we are beyond blessed!

Now here it is Monday, the start of a new week and I'm wishing the weekend wasn't over but it's fun planning the next adventure...whatever that may be?