wordless wednesday: cleanup week find!

Only Alex could come home from school with an electric mower complete with "works perfectly" sign & mint condition owner's manual!  A neighbor down the street had just put it out on the birm for "clean up week."  

He even came out to give Alex an impromptu lesson on electric mower charging and operation.  He said there is nothing wrong with it - they just bought a new one and didn't need this one anymore!  What a perfect find for the boy who struggled with our old gas-powered mower all last summer.

"Clean-Up Week" is one of our favorite times of the Moorhead-Fargo calendar year - my boys are always inspired to do a little more "just riding around" on their bikes in early May.  But I worry most about Alex.  He pretty much always shifts my junk balance back to neutral with the stuff he brings home and has been known to regularly bring stuff back in from our own curb.  I slowed my average driving speed significantly this year for fear he would give himself whiplash watching for treasures between home, church, school and store.

weekEnd review

Suddenly cooler weekend weather was just Cruel for the 1st weekend in May.  It's been in the 40's, windy and rainy since Friday - still everything keeps getting greener and greener and the crabapple trees are just dying to bloom.  All they need are one sunny, warmish day and they'll burst into beautiful springtime bliss!


The other, less pleasant, way we know spring is here is that the dog STINKS.  I mean - really, really stinks.  Ugh.  And her allergies are in full scratch, scratch, roll, roll, roll.  Poor puppy.


Kathryn celebrated spring in her own gotta-get-my-car-fixed way.  We got her bike down and the poor girl showed up with serious allergy eyes.  Everyone has been out digging around in the garage for treasures - Kathryn found the old kitchen table and chairs and dragged it back to her place so she and her roommate can enjoy their weekly coffee time in style.  


Nate & Alex both chose their own two days to be home sick last week.  The first day Nate stayed home, he pretty much slept all day and I FORGOT he was home until he came upstairs and scared me almost to death!  (Bad Mom.)  I thought it was probably a couple cases of Spring Fever until I got it myself on Friday.  We're calling it the car-sick-like-illness until we come up with something better.  It involves serious tiredness, faint dizziness and fairly serious nauseousness - let's just leave it at that.  Jamie named it today.


Jamie's advanced art class presented an art show at the high school this week and then moved it to West Acres Mall this weekend.  We had lunch at the food court after church today and perused the high school art work.  I'm so proud of her work.  I can't wait to see what she'll learn and how she'll grow as an artist in the next several years.  (Northwestern College, St Paul)


Jeff started a new work schedule this week.  He can submit schedule changes once a month and he has to turn his requests in almost a month in advance.  He switched to days with their new scheduling system this month, hoping to attend all the kids' last concerts of the year.  So now he works Mon, Tues, Fri and Sat.  He will be submitting new requests tomorrow for the very end of May and most of June.  By the time he switches again we'll be right on top of Jamie's graduation.


In the middle of last month I was selected to take part in some special advanced training for Mary Kay consultants in our unit.  It was really an honor to be selected - and both fun and challenging to take part in these special classes!  One of the assignments was to read Mary Kay's autobiography, Miracles Happen.  I am so impressed with how her principles have really stayed with the company.  Nobody thought you could build a business based on the Golden Rule - a "go-give" attitude.  So cool that I'm seeing it lived out more than 40 years later in the women who are teaching me.  


This week's new favorites:

• BLOG(s):  The Pioneer Woman, I'm An Organizing Junkie
• TV Time Waster:  Discovery Channel's Swamp Loggers
• Menu Planning:  E-Mealz
• Friend's Business:  Martin Pens (also on FB with many more example photos of these one-of-a-kind pens - let me know if you would like to friend him!)

Our first week using E-Mealz was a success - it is just so wonderful to know what we're having for supper on any given day and even have the shopping done.  (my poor family & I have been suffering from lack of planning on my part for too, too long!)  As I suspected, seven new recipes per week is going to be several more than we really need to plan with leftovers and our own favorites to work in.  From last week I still have London Broil with Company Potatoes & Peas, Hash (with the leftovers), and Pepperoni Loaf to make.  For this week we've chosen White Chicken 'n Bacon Chili, Shrimp Creole and Jeff's Skillet Lasagna, which is always delicious!

Glad we've got some meals planned for this week as we have doctor, ortho & other appointments every day this week.  I have Mary Kay events & appointments most days (yay!), including a trip up to Grand Forks Wednesday.  Alex has an orchestra concert Thursday night.  Nate & Jamie each have an AP Exam and Alex is finishing his prep for Youth Symphony auditions next week.

Happy May!  Love you,

~L  

wordless wednesday: 1800 Spring!

1800 CentreSquare
early spring 2010