A bright, white idea

I have to admit...we have some yucky, yellow pillows.  I know, that's disgusting, but I'm sure we're not the only ones.  :)  I thought the only solution was to buy new pillows.  That was until I came across a remedy on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest).  Granted, I wasn't looking for this, it just happened to pop up.  Lucky me.  Below is a picture of some of our pillows.  These happened to be the worst, so I started with them.

The recipe calls for the following:

*VERY hot water (I put my machine on deep clean/sanitize)

*I cup of laundry detergent

*1 cup powdered dish washer detergent

*1 cup of bleach

*1/2 cup of Borax

My pillows were so bad that I had to do this procedure twice, but it was well worth it!

Because it was a beautifully sunny day here in the south, I put my pillows outside to dry.  You can also put them in the dryer with tennis balls or homemade 'fluffing' balls to plump them up.

Sorry about the quality of the pics.  I hope you can tell just how clean the pillows are now.  100 times better!  Thank you to Jillee  for posting this.

Long Distance Friends

The beauty of a blog is that you're able to meet so many wonderful people.  I've never had the opportunity to meet any of my blogger friends in person, just through email and text messaging.  My daughter Grace has a much different story.

A girl who reads her blog emailed her one day.  She commented on how much the two of them had in common.  Emails led to Skyping and texting daily.  Their friendship gradually grew. Not only do they share similar personalities and interests, but they are both strong in their faith too.  They wanted so badly to meet each other.  Unfortunately we live more than 900 miles apart.  

When we started planning our DC trip we realized that our route would take us right through Melissa's city!  Both girls were thrilled.  In fact, Melissa's parents even invited us to have dinner with them and to spend the night at their house.  I was so moved by their generosity.  

The visit was all Grace dreamed it would be...just too short.  I really enjoyed getting to know Melissa's mom and dad and her younger sister.  Meeting this family affirmed for me that God has brought Melissa into Grace's life for a reason.  I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Melissa, Grace and Rachel

Mary, Rachel, Grace, Melissa and Emma celebrating Grace's birthday early with cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes.

A Happy Reunion

Once upon a time about 7 years ago, I found out a new family had moved in a few blocks from us.  They had children similar in age to mine and they homeschooled!  How perfect.  We ventured over and introduced ourselves.  From that day forward we were fast friends.  There were lots of spend the night parties, bike rides and deep discussions about books.  In fact, Samantha is the one who introduced me to Ambleside Online-the curriculum I still use.  She gave me so many wonderful books-things I would have never picked up on my own but ended up loving.  She opened my eyes to different styles of teaching and all kinds of resources.  Not just school, but we shared recipes, discussed hobbies and diets.  It was such a perfect time in our lives...then they moved.  Our hearts were broken.  Over the years we've kept in touch with email and now texting, but it's just not the same and sitting down face to face and having a good visit.

It happened that in planning our route to DC I found out that we would be passing very close to where they now live.  I was thrilled!  

When I got out of the car at their house and saw Samantha, I couldn't hold back the tears.  We had such a lovely visit.  She made lunch; we got to meet her 2 youngest (who had been born since they moved); Emma played outside with all the little girls; I tried to make up for all the lost years and soak up everything I could.

It's not often that friends and families come into our lives that move us, change us and make us better people.  That's what this family did for us.  They will always have a special place in my heart-no matter how far away they live.  We have truly been blessed with their friendship.

The big girls-Abby, Mary, Erin and Grace

The little girls-Johanna, Emma, Katie and Autumn

The only 2 boys-Seth and Jack

Baby Mia

Samantha and me!  (with baby Mia)

Checking out the coop

Just in case you're wondering how things are going down at the coop, I thought I'd give you a little update.

Here's my rooster-little Lorenzo.  He's so handsome and so sweet.

Some of my girls just chillin' on the roost poles.

One of my 12 baby Buff Orpingtons (12 weeks old and 3 of them are already laying).  

Last but not least in Louise, better know as Weezie.  The smallest of all my girls.

Washington DC trip

The girls and I took another quick trip this summer, this time to the east coast.  I'm 43 years old and had never been to Washington DC!  This was a trip I wanted to do before my girls were grown and gone.  So...we planned it out, as best we could.

One of the first stops was Mt Vernon-George Washington's home.  

The girls were taking a break, looking at the Potomac.

In front of Mt. Vernon

Next we went to the Pentagon and saw the 9/11 Memorial

Our day at Arlington National Cemetery was incredible.  It was such a beautiful, emotional area.  It's also the resting place of a guy who went to high school with me.  

We toured Arlington House and also saw the changing of the guard in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier.  Amazing!

What's a trip to DC without seeing the White House.  It really looks bigger on TV.  lol!

The night before we saw the Lincoln memorial, it was vandalized.  Someone poured paint all over it!  Can you imagine?  Why?  That meant they had it partially closed off because they were trying to remove the paint.  This was as close as we could get.

I'm thankful the guide book I read said to go to the Old Post Office for a spectacular view.  They were right!  Above you can see the Capital building in the distance.

Just as the sun was going down, we made it to the Capital building.  I thought this was the prettiest government building that we saw.

On the way home we stopped at Monticello-Thomas Jefferson's home.  I loved walking through the gardens and enjoying the breathtaking view.

6 history filled days that none of us will ever forget.  I'm so glad we finally made this trip.  God bless our wonderful country!

A New School Year-the old school way

This summer has passed so quickly.  I haven't even posted to my blog!  I've tried, but had issues getting pictures to upload.  If I can't have a picture, I don't want to post.  :)  Anyway, tonight it worked.  Maybe I can play catch up in the near future.
Besides traveling a lot this summer, my mother has had serious health issues.  We've all been stressed and had extra running and things to do.  Last week I realized that I had not even planned our new school year.  Those who know me, know that I'm normally ahead of the game when it comes to planning and scheduling.  I started last week planning out which books we would use (we follow a Charlotte Mason approach with Ambleside Online).  Once the books were ordered-either online or from the library, I started thinking about a schedule.  Wouldn't you know it, our printer is acting up!  I've always, always, typed up and printed out our schedule. Not this year or at least not this term.  I was able to print one blank form and make copies-that's it!  Honestly I'm thankful that I could get that much out of the printer.  I set to work tonight writing out the schedule.  I have the first six weeks done.  That will have to do for now.  Who knows, I may stick with this old school approach.  I'm thankful just to have my girls at home and be able to homeschool them.  I'll gladly hand write the schedule.  Jeremiah 29:11

A Whirl-wind trip!

3600+ miles in 6 days.  8 states and 2 countries!  What in the world was I thinking??
It all started with taking our puppy to camp (dog training) in Brainerd, MN.  We've made this trip a few times-no big deal.  The dog trainer and his family are friends of ours so it's always nice to visit them.

Then little Emma spoke up and said she just had to visit her penpal who lives in southern MN.  We don't get to MN that often, so I added this stop to our list too.

A few days before we were to leave one of my Canadian friends called.  As we chatted she mentioned that she'd be in Winnipeg while I was in MN.  Seriously?  Winnipeg is only 7 hours from Brainerd.  It wouldn't be a problem to hop across the border for the day!

So, our trip went like this:
Day 1 drive from our home to Foristill, MO (about 13 hours)
Day 2 from MO to Brainerd, MN (about 11 hours)  visited and had dinner with our friends and dropped off the puppy at the kennel.
Day 3 drove from MN to Winnipeg, Canada (about 7 hours)-had lunch with my friend and visited for 4 hours) then drove back across the border and spent the night in Fargo, ND.
Day 4 drove from ND back to Brainerd.  Had lunch with our friends and visited our puppy one more time.  Then drove to southern MN.  Had dinner with our other friends and spent the night with them.
Day 5 drove about 10 hours from Lonsdale, MN to Arnold, MO (just south of St. Louis).
Day 6 drove from MO to home sweet home!  (about 11 hours)

To say we were exhausted is such an understatement, but it was all worth it.  Seeing our friends, sweet fellowship, making memories.  That's what it's all about!  Now to rest for a few days and embark on our next girl's road trip!

Early morning driving calls for a stop by Starbucks! (day 3)

We're in Canada again! (day 3)

Me and my sweet buddy Cheryl.  I was so very happy to see her, even if it was for just a little while.

(day 3)

Here's Emma with her friends Kate and Clark.  Their daddy has trained several of our dogs. (day 4)

Our friends in southern MN-Emma and her pen pal Betsy with the rest of our families. (day 4 and 5)