Places We'd Like to See #3...

Antarctica!

(Preston's Choice)

(photo by Gerhard Hudepohl)

Antarctica???  Why would anyone want to see Antarctica you say?  It has been Preston's long time dream to visit - and possibly to live in Antarctica.  That is one of the reasons he decided to go into Geology.  He would love to go into Arctic studies.  There are some places that are very pretty in Antarctica - although the weather can be very unforgiving, which turns most people off.

(www.porhomme.com)

This is somewhat like what Preston has in mind for accomodations there.  This one happens to belong to the Belgians.  He can envision himself living in a pod like this, watching the surrounding landscape and venturing out to make scientific observations.  Hey, if the pod is heated and has a running shower, we might go visit him there. 

(www.getalinka.com)

And if we get bored... we can always run with the penguins!

Sunday Gems:

I really liked what Preston shared this morning.  He spoke about David, going to defeat Goliath.  David had every confidence in God, that God would help him - he didn't question it.  And God had confidence that David would go forth and do what was needed. *  We can have every confidence that God will be there for us and help us - all along the way.  We need to live in a way that God can have confidence in us to do what he asks.

Grandma Shop Finds...

We love our Thrifty Grandmother's Shop here.  It is an organization that accepts donations of clothes and household items, cleans them up and sells them and gives the money back to the community in various ways.  We love them just for that.  But we also love to shop there.  Sometimes you can find some really great bargains.  That said, I thought I'd share my latest Grandma Shop treasures...

A cut crystal heart (please ignore the fingerprints) - I love these kinds of things.  I put them in the window and they invite the rainbows in.  I couldn't pass this little 'nick-nack' by so I brought it home with me (only 75 cents!).  It seems to be a popular item here.  It's not just Winston that likes it.  Preston and Keaton can't seem to keep their hands off of it either!

Some pretty scarves... I was wanting something like this to wear to work in the cold weather.  I was really happy to find these.  I think they were about 50 cents each.

And of course books!  They always have nice books there.  Their children's books are 25 cents each.  I'm constantly dragging books home to add to our library.  (Don't tell Tom!)

I found a few other things, mostly clothing items.  Most of their clothes run about $1.00,  25-50 cents for children's clothes.  I don't make it in there every week, but when I do, I usually find something worth buying!

Stones Into Schools

"When it is dark, you can see the stars"

 Preston and I got to go listen to Greg Mortenson speak at WSU.  Preston read the book 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' for his Lit class and his Prof. wanted him to go listen to Mr. Mortenson speak about his book 'Stones into Schools' and do a comparison of the books.  Preston asked me to go with him, because he knew I was a fan of the book 'Three Cups of Tea'. 

One of the things that I was most impressed with was that Mr. Mortenson was very down-to-earth, he seemed very humble.  His main goal from the very start was just to help people.  And he's doing that.  He talked a lot about education and literacy and the importance of it - not only here in the U.S., but all around the world.  One of the things he said that I really liked was 'If you teach a boy to read, you teach an individual.  If you teach a girl to read, you teach a community.'  He stressed the importance of girls in Afghanistan, and everywhere in the world, to learn to read and to get an education.  They are the ones that go on to teach their own parents, or their own children and then the generations after. 

He also talked about how literacy helps promote peace, and how it is working in countries all around the world.  It really lit a fire under me about my own part, teaching kids to read.  Sometimes it's easy to become complacent - feeling like I might not have this job next year, so what's the big deal... or getting caught up in the school politics to the point that we lose focus on the real goal, to teach children.  He quoted Martin Luther King Jr.'s "The world may end tomorrow, but today I will plant my seed."  I liked that.  I may not have a job teaching children to read tomorrow, but today I can do my best at that job - because if I'm not doing it, who is?  It was a great pep-talk and wake-up call all in one - at least for me.

I definitely recommend "Three Cups of Tea" for reading.  I have the "Stones into Schools" book, but have not read it yet.  It's on my list to read this year. 



BRIBERY... It gets you everywhere.

I've learned that my little boy (Winston) has been naughty in his reading group class.  We had a little discussion (an agreement).  There is a certain something that he has been wanting for a while (Poor Puppy Book).  I told him that if he can make it to Friday without being naughty in class, we will get it for him.  Let's see if he can make it happen.  (I love bribing my kids).

Palouse Falls #2 - Check This Out!

After hearing we visited Palouse Falls, a friend of ours sent this link to us.  We'd heard about this happening but had never seen it.  Pretty Wild! World Record:

http://www.dump.com/2010/11/30/highest-waterfall-in-a-kayak-189-ft-video/

Palouse Falls
The canyon at the falls is 115 meters (377 ft) deep, exposing a large cross-section of the Columbia River Basalt Group. These falls and the canyon downstream comprise an important feature of the channeled scablands created by the great Missoula Floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. Franklin / Whitman Counties.

Palouse Falls

We love our panorama setting!

Yesterday Tom, Winston and I decided to go for a drive.  It was a nice sunny and mild day, so we decided to take the long drive to Palouse Falls.  With all the water that has been gathering around here, we were sure it would be spectacular.  We were not disappointed.

Palouse Falls has dug out a canyon in the middle of the desert.  It is really cool to just be driving along, looking at the scenery and all of a sudden opens up a big hole with a waterfall in it.  It is one of our favorite family picnic spots.  There is a really nice park that overlooks the falls.

A bit of a view of the park (albeit from a far vantage).  It's a loooong way down!

Poor Winston wasn't feeling very well.  I was kind of glad he wasn't being his bouncy-hyper self - those cliffs are just too sheer and I would have been a mother with a basket-case for a brain.  As it was, he just wanted to sit around, so we took advantage of the situation and used him for our photography model.

Lovin' and soakin' up all this sun!!!!

Tom is posing in front of a smaller waterfall above the big falls.

Winston kept asking me about "All those trees" and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about.  It's a desert, there are no trees.  Then it dawned on me, he was talking about the huge sagebrush scattered all over.  He wanted to have his picture taken in front of a "Tree". 

Winston's Desert Tree

Places We'd Like to See...#2

New Zealand!

(Tom's Choice)

A couple of posts back I wrote about how I would like to go see the Biltmore Mansion in North Carolina.  Today I asked Tom where his number one choice of where to go or what to see would be.  He surprised me with the choice of New Zealand.  (I was expecting the Florida Keys).  So because I've already shared, I'm calling that #1.  Tom gets to be #2 with his New Zealand.

It's possible that my husband has a secret desire to play the part of a Hobbit.  He is a Tolkien fan.  And I suppose because the modern day 'Lord of the Rings' hails from this part of the world, it would inspire him to want to go to such a place.

As I perused photos of the location, I have to admit there is a great deal of natural beauty to be enjoyed here.  I think I would like to see it too.  And possibly the boys wouldn't mind tagging along.  Nah - I think Tom and I should just sneak away to this enchanted land by ourselves... probably after the kids move out.

Baaa - Haaa!

Draggin, draggin, draggin...

Tom got called in to work at 11:30 last night.  He had to fix a high-voltage something that went out at the college.  He didn't get back home until 3:00 a.m.  So he got to sleep for two hours before getting back on the road to go to his normal workday.  He's gonna be a big tired bear tonight.  I'm tired too.  I've been putting some full days in at the school to help out with reading tests.  Looks like there will be more next week for me to do.  I'm also a bit baggy under the eyes because I don't sleep well when Tom's gone.  When he's doing that high voltage stuff, it kind of scares me.  It's good that today is his Friday.  He can sleep all day tomorrow if he wants.   Oh, sleep sounds so good right now.

Pulling Hair Out Over Homework!

Sometimes I just want to bang my head against the wall.  Helping Winston with his homework is that painful.  It's like drawing blood to get two pages of written work out of him.  And I'm not talking regular writing paper.  It's the easy lined with dotted line in the middle paper.  It took two hours to get it done.  Then Tom started helping with Math... it's taking forever again.  Tom says it's almost enough to send him to drink.  I really hope this is just an immaturity thing that he'll grow out of.  If not, I fear for his educational future.  Okay, there, I've vented my frustration.  Tom's still dealing with his - over coffee.

In other news, Preston came home from school and work today and let us know he was chosen to be one of the official 'Sandpit Rakers' for the WSU track team.  He's pretty excited about it.  They get to wear special 'jackets' and everything.  It may not seem like a glorious job, but it certainly beats cleaning out trash cans - which some other poor athletic department employee will get stuck with.  Preston is doing great with school.  He loves college.  He's even talking about doing a Summer Session.

Keaton is at another basketball game tonight, playing in the Jazz Band.  He is usually gone two or three times a week to games or doing yearbook stuff.  I think he enjoys getting to be with his friends while doing these activities.  The nice thing is that he can drive himself to each event.  He's such a busy boy!

Tom and I are really feeling our age.  With the weather doing weird things, it seems to affect our bodies in weird ways.  I've been trying to keep migraines at bay - again.  Tom has been battling a back that keeps wanting to go out.   It's the pits getting old.  We are sooooo ready for Spring to get here.

KILLER CHICKENS!

Tom's been having fun with his new camera...

She looks like she could peck your eyes out, doesn't she?

Our two Cool Cats know to stay away from them chickens! 

Awwww... Koko Kitty & Cowboy Boots.  They're so fluffy!

You Dirty Stinkin' Toenail!

We played a hot game of Slap Uno tonight.  As always, it was just plain crazy.

At one point when Tom beat Winston in the 7-slap, Winston bursted out with "You dirty toenail!  You dirty stinkin' toenail!"  We were rollin with laughter at that one.  It's a pretty wild game.

So here's a true story... yesterday I went to make a disk of the pictures on our little digital camera.  The machine at the store said the XD card was either damaged or dirty.  I went and told Tom that we needed a new XD card or we wouldn't be able to take any more pictures.  He agreed... and promptly bought a new camera.  Hmmm, XD card $30 -  New Camera, $130.  That's just the way my husband rolls.   Can't find a tool that you know you have laying around somewhere?  Just buy a new one.  It's not cheap, but it's easy.  Soooo, these pictures are taken with our new Olympus digital camera...

Tom and Winston took a nice walk down by the river today.

Winston took along his own camera - our REALLY old one that only sometimes takes a picture.

 They met a little friend along the way - cute little porcupine.  It tried to run away from them, but porcupines don't run very fast.

What to do... we were enjoying having a break from the extreme cold.  Today got almost to 50 degrees, so it was a good day for a walk.  Notice there's still a LITTLE bit of snow left around here.

Hip-Hip-Hurray!

Keaton informed us tonight - as we sat around the dinner table - that he has been officially chosen as Yearbook Editor for next year.  This is exciting news indeed - and he's pretty happy about it too.

Then Winston informed us - also at the dinner table - that as soon as he turns 18, he's moving out and getting his own place.  Tom was pretty excited about that, too!

This post is Rated PG.

Winston has come up with a new word.  The other day Tom was walking through the house without a shirt on (gasp!) and Winston made the comment "Dad, when I'm a Dad I'm going to wear clothes in the house.  That's 'piscussting'." (referring to Tom's bared chested-ness).  The funny thing is that tonight it's Winston that is running around the house bare chested (gasp!).  Hee-hee!

My Silly Little Hobby...

I would really like to go here someday...

mansionfloorplans.blogspot

One of my hobbies is looking at old architecture.  I love to peruse the floor plans of old buildings, anything from Georgian rowhouses to turn of the century mansions.  A few months ago I came across Biltmore in North Carolina.  I am fascinated with this 'house' -studying the floor plans over and over.  I would like to go and see it someday - not for it's opulence, which it definitely has, but more for all the intricacies of it's architecture.  It is a massive and beautifully built piece of construction.

exquisite-design.com

 One of my favorite features, beside the winding Italian staircase, is the Winter Garden.  This room is totally enclosed in the house and open to the main hall.  I like the lamps that hang from the glass ceiling.  Wouldn't it be cool to have one of these in my house?  Maybe I'd have better luck with keeping my plants alive! 

sarajoaustin.com

The other feature I love about this place is the massive library.  It's kind of two-storied.  Look at all the books!  I especially like the little spiral stair in the corner.  I could live in a room like that!

nps.gov

One room that I really think is 'over-the-top' is the banquet hall.  Although it looks awesome with it's three fireplaces and vaulted ceiling, I think it's a bit much.  But I'd still like to see it.

I don't know if I'll ever make it to North Carolina, and the price for the tickets to visit Biltmore are pretty expensive, but a girl can dream can't she.

Thomas Kinkade print.

Winston's New Suit!

Winston got a new suit!

What a stylish young man!

I found a website called 'blog2print.'  They take all of your blog entries and turn them into a book.  It can be softbound or hardbound cover and it's not 'too' expensive.  I put one together of ALL of my entries up to the end of the year and will be getting it all hardbound.  It came to 155 pages!  It looks really neat on the internet - I hope it's just as good when we get it in person.  I think I'll do it every year.  It's easier than scrapbooking (although Tom will never let me quit my scrapbooks.)  I'm really excited about it, and think it will be a great memory book to look at years from now.

Back in the Saddle...

We're back at it... work and school.  (Except for Preston - lucky kid!).  It's a little bit of a jet lag getting back into waking up early, getting everyone ready to go and catching everyone back up at work.  I'm really proud of my reading group kids.  They are doing great, even though they've had two weeks off.  I thought we'd really have to review like crazy, but we're pretty much caught back up on day two after break.

We have Marcia here, so that helps me out here at home.  I don't have to worry about getting caught back up here.  Preston will go back to school next week.  He's looking forward to some of his new classes.  He also got his new work schedule - still for the athletic dept.  He's looking forward to that, too - and the paycheck.  Poor Tom was so tired when he got up this morning.  I think it's rougher for him to get back into the swing of things, especially when he has to get going so early.

We could sure use some warmer weather.  It's been in the single digits at night, and today it finally got above 20, barely.  My poor chickens are probably bored to death in the coop - but at least they haven't froze yet.  We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow.  I hope that changes, or at least if it does snow I hope it brings warmer weather with it.  That's it for us now - just troopin' along as always.

Welcome 2011!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Back: Rob, Evan, Katie, Marcia, Tracy, Keaton, Tom

Front: Caleb and Winston (Sophia and Preston are missing)

We enjoyed the company of our good friends, Rob and Janelle Drake & Family from Idaho, for New Years Eve and Day.  We had so much fun playing games and visiting and eating, eating, eating!

Rob, Janelle and Caleb - and all the goodies we had spread out on the counter!  YUM!  I think the house favorite were the large pretzels the Drakes brought.  We sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on them and baked them in the oven.  Then we dipped them in warm carmel sauce - a very decadent treat indeed!

We learned a new game - Slap Seven Uno.  What a fun crazy game!

Buddies - Keaton and Evan.  Preston was gone.  He went to a friend's house for New Years Eve.  We missed him, but had fun anyway! 

The other buddies - Winston and Caleb are the best of friends!

Winston, tubing down the back hill!

Winston and Sophia taking a run down the hill!

Keaton sneaking out to the barn in his PJ's!

When the New Year came around we got out the Sparkling Cider, played the New Year song and watched Keaton let off fireworks in the front yard.  We stayed nice and warm in the living room and watched through the window.  Poor Keaton, it was nine degrees outside!  He was a good sport.

I don't usually make New Year Resolutions, but as I pondered the beginning of another year - and examined myself a little bit - I decided that I would like to spend more time reflecting on and depending on the positive things and dwelling less on negative things.  We have been blessed with so much and have so much to be thankful for. 

We had a nice, although small, Union Sunday meeting today with such wonderful messages.  My thoughts were in Mark 9 where Jesus cast out the bad spirit that was in the child.  When his disciples asked him why they weren't able to do that, he said "This only comes from fasting and prayer."  I was just thinking of Christ's spirit.  God gave him power because of his spirit - he had that spirit because of fasting and praying.  If we are to have a Christ-like spirit within us, it takes the same thing.  Fasting - or abstaining from worldly things, worldly thoughts and worldly actions.  AND prayer - that constant, open line to God.  These are two things I really need to improve on in order to be more like Jesus.

Tom shared in the story of Jonah, about how Jonah was fleeing from God and entered the boat.  Because he chose to do that, his choice affected the others on the boat (when the storm came).  It's good to remember that the choices we make do affect those who are with us, even if we don't think it will. 

Keaton shared some versus about Jesus speaking in parables.  He talked about how children like to hear stories.  He had a 5th grade teacher that used stories to teach the kids in his class.  To this day Keaton remembers those stories, and the morals behind them.  To understand the parables that Jesus shared the people had to have a tender, child-like heart - open and willing to learn.  And we are still learning from Jesus' parables today when we read them with a soft and child-like heart.

I'm looking forward to the coming year - and knowing that I can depend on the Lord, knowing that he is in control and knows what is best.  He is THE positive and I want to dwell more on that.