Yard Sale Prep

We are planning a multi-family yard sale this weekend so it is time to clean house and get rid of excess! Today Noah and I started on his toys. We went though everything one by one classifying it as either sell, toss, keep, or give to Jonah. I have no idea how we have accumulated so many toys. Before Noah was even born I said we were going to have a rule in the house that if you get one new toy, then you would have to get rid of one old one. In theory that sounds great, but it obviously is not the easiest rule to enforce. However, Noah is really into earning money and was very willing to part with toys to sell. As I would hold up toys one at a time, Noah would direct into which bin the toys were to be placed. We did come across one problem, many of the toys in the house are toys either from Joe's childhood or toys that Joe purchased in adulthood. About every third toy I would hold up Noah would say "I can't sell that one, that is Daddy's toy." I soon realized that I needed a bin labeled Daddy's toys! In the end we tossed a lot of junk, filled Jonah's toy bin with plenty of "new" toys, gathered a big box of toys to sell, left Noah with plenty of toys of his own, and kept all of Daddy's toys safe until the next time I get the urge to clean out!

Pictures From Joe's 32nd Birthday

Many thanks to my Mom for all the great pictures.
Big Joe and Little Joe loading up on food.

Jonah preferred to eat the birthday cards!

The "big" cousins...Noah, Savannah, and Susannah.

The "little" cousins... Jonah and Christina.

Hard to believe she is only 30 hours older than him!

Jonah loved playing on the floor with Pappy.

Noah just had to help Daddy blow out his candles.

What is it with men and this golf ball?

Christina looking pretty in her pink outfit.

After a hard day of partying, Joe and Jonah take a nap on the sofa.

Snakes, Snakes, And More Snakes!

Two weeks ago Joe killed a big rattlesnake by the pond out back. Last week he killed another one on the path that leads from our house back to his shop. They creep me out, but at least I know that those two won't be bothering me anymore. My concern now is the snake that is living in my Shopper box.
The Shopper (a weekly sales paper) is delivered to a plastic mailbox without a door that is mounted a few feet from the real mailbox. For weeks now I have refused to get the Shopper out of the box because I saw what I thought was the beginning of a bird nest inside the box at the back. For those of you who aren't aware, I sort of have a small bird phobia. I just knew that if I pulled up to that box and rolled down my car window to grab the Shopper, a bird would come flying out of the box and into my car causing me to first pee my pants and then suffer cardiac arrest while the bird flew around trying to peck out my eyes and the eyes of my children.
Joe finally got tired of me asking him to go get the Shopper for me and decided to remove the nest. What he discovered was a nest of some sort along with a very large newly shed snake skin. My skin wants to crawl off just typing those words. So for now, though the threat of a bird is gone, I still will not be getting the Shopper out of the box. Right now I don't even want a Shopper box!
For as long as we have lived here, we have never had a problem with snakes. Now it seems as if they are everywhere. I think it has to do with the fact that the goats in the field next to us have been replaced with cattle. I have heard that snakes will not come near goats for fear of getting stomped. Maybe I should get a goat...that's an idea I have been playing with for a while now anyway, but I'll leave that for another blog.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

Today, My Joseph turned thirty-two years old. I am married to such an old man! We had family over today to celebrate. I cooked burgers, shrimp, and hot dogs on the grill. The grill is usually Joe's department and this was the first time I had manned it all by myself; as my step-mother used to say, the part that wasn't burned was good! Anyway, we enjoyed having everyone together. I would post more but I am exhausted from the day and I think it will have to wait. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to My Joseph, I love you!

On A Serious Note

As some of you already know, Little Joe's Trucking is no longer in operation. The pay rates have not increased nearly enough to counteract the rising fuel prices and we simply can no longer afford to buy fuel to run. This was a very hard decision for Joe to make. Trucking is all he has wanted to do from the time that he was just a boy and is all he has ever known. Joe has found another job for right now and is still providing for our family. It is the first time he has had a boss (except me) since he was 18! I have no doubts that Joe will continue to be able to provide for our family. I just hurt for him at the thought of giving up what he has worked so hard to achieve.

I write this only for you to keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we know where to go from here and that we make the best choices for our family. We are treating this as a temporary situation, waiting to see what will happen next, but by the end of June we have to decide whether we are going to permanently close our business and sell out. This is not the best time to sell as many of the loggers and truckers in the area have already gone under; but at the same time, we really can't afford the fixed costs of a business that is no longer in operation.

I know that God will provide answers for us in His time, and that has nothing to do with any timeline that we have set for ourselves. However, it is one thing to know this and an entirely different thing to live it without experiencing panic attacks! I also know that God has a great plan for our lives and high fuel prices or not, He will see it brought to fruition.

Broken Toys

Sometimes I just don't have time to deal with broken toys so I sort of pretend that I can't fix it and push it off on Joe when he gets home from work. I know, it is an awful thing to do but come on, you probably do it also and just don't admit it. However, I didn't realize how often I use the same excuse until my conversation with Noah today.

Mommy, can you fix this?
Let me see it. It looks like we will have to take the screws out to get it done.
Well go ahead, I need it.
Noah, I can't fix your toy without a screwdriver. You will have to wait until Daddy gets home.
Mom, I need it now.
I don't have a screwdriver and unless you have one hidden away somewhere, you will have to wait until your Daddy gets home.
Wait, I will go get the one that I have hidden under my bed.
Why do you have a screwdriver hidden under your bed?
Well the last time my toy broke you said that I had to wait until Daddy came home unless I had a screwdriver hidden somewhere, so after Daddy fixed it the last time, I hid the screwdriver under my bed!

So today, I fixed the toy. I think I have been busted and unless I can come up with another line, I will be fixing many more toys in the future. When did my child get so smart?

The Strawberry Barn

Noah has been wanting to go Breland's Strawberry Barn and pick his own strawberries since the season opened back in March. Today we finally made it out there. It's a good thing to, because they close the last day of this month. Joe is still hobbling around on his hurt foot, so he and Jonah sat in the shade while Noah and I took a basket into the field and started picking. I thought that Noah would tire quickly and I would end up doing most of the picking, but he really got into it and our basket was soon overflowing. I nearly had to drag him away from the field. This is what I heard all the way back to the barn:

Momma, look at that one...We have to get that one... Oh, we HAVE to get that one...Boy, that is a big berry now... We can fit more in here... Just squish 'em down a little...Trust me, it won't hurt nothin'... Throw out those little ones and just let me get this one big one... Mmmm, I bet these things here are gonna taste good now... Man, do you see how shiny that one is?

We both had a great time and I even remembered to take a few pictures. I don't know if we will get back before the season closes this year, but we will definitely make a return trip next year. We had some of the berries for lunch and in Noah's words, "them berries sure did taste good!"

At first, Noah was not very discriminatory when filling his basket.

"This is the biggest strawberry I ever seen in my whole life."

The pre-picked strawberries...These just wouldn't do for him!