Random Questions

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Fall 08, #2: Laundry

1. Who does the laundry in your house?

2. Are you/or they a sorter? What's your system?

3. Do you fold at the dryer? Dump on the couch? Not fold at all? (Psst, Karen K, I like your system, do share with the class.)

4. Do you have any "laundry quirks"? Things that *can't* go in the dryer, dry in a specific manner, hung on a specific hanger, only get washed by hand--no matter what the care instructions say?

5. Do you have any great tips for stain removal?!? Please share!

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1. Generally, I (Jen) do the laundry, however, if I’m falling behind and Adam is needing something, then he’ll do a load of what he needs or if people are coming over, he has a method to his cleaning madness and laundry is part of it. Yes, Type A personality and very random. =)

2. I am definitely a sorter and Adam is as well, however, we sort differently. When dirty, all things go into the hamper in one big pile. When it’s time to wash, I sort into the washing piles: bleachable whites, non-bleachable whites, dress clothes, colors, light towels, dark towels, sheets (I think that’s about it…although there is usually more than one load of colors and sheets).

3. When the dryer gets done I get to separate yet again because we are a highly un-dryer-able family. For the most part, everything of Kabe’s (right now) can go in the dryer, but non of my or Adam’s knit shirts (except old t-shirts) or blue jeans go in the dryer so we have one of those metal drying racks that sits in our bedroom so a ceiling fan can assist in the drying. The only time they drying rack comes down is if someone is going to look at our bedroom. For clothes that do get folded, I carry them to my bed or the living room floor or couch and sort them into piles. Kabe has to put his own away and Adam’s go onto our bed where he’ll place them on the floor that night when we go to bed and then leave them until he’s ready for the routine cleaning (refer to question 1…=).

4. Pretty much covered this in #3 and #4, except that all Adam’s dress pants are hung specifically so they have a crease and special grip hangers are used.

5. I LOVE Shout! Treated properly, it gets everything out. If I’ve ever had a problem with this not working (I’m having trouble recalling too many times, I know I’ve used Spot Shot (a carpet cleaner) and it worked miracles.

Miscellaneous

It is officially fall. Know how I can tell? Nope, not because of the weather or the trees or the colors or because school started and I have TONS of papers all over my counter from all the work completed at school. Yep, that's it...chaos and busyness has taken over our lives. One night...one...is not filled with some activity, study, dinner, date, event, thing this week. Will every week be like this? Nope. Did we want to be at every activity? You bet! Would we have changed anything...no way! Am I complaining...not meaning to...just stating the facts here.
Next week will be better. =)

Our church is doing a series on finances using the book The ABC's of Financial Freedom by Barry L. Cameron. Small groups and Sunday School classes are also joining in and going through the study as well. Last night our small group completed chapter two of the book. It's a pretty good study and really important, especially given the economy right now.

I'm also involved in my first Beth Moore Bible study! It's Jesus the One and Only. We've only met once so far, but WOW! I am so excited to go through this study with these gals. I love the creativity Beth Moore brings to these Bible stories I've heard over & over. I can't wait to see what's in store.

On another note, I am totally enjoying my extra time with this kid.

Random Questions

Fall 08, #1: Shopping!

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

For those of you just joining in, Random Questions are brought to you by my friend Randa Kay at Just RK. Have I ever mentioned that I love Random Questions?

My answers to these random questions are below the starry line. Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section of my blog or on your own blog, just let us know so we can come and read your answers!

1. How do you shop for groceries? Is it a family event? Always the lady of the house? Or is it the guy's job?
2. Women, does your guy go clothing shopping with you? Guys, what's your feeling about it?
3. Does Daddy have any preference about what the kid(s) wear? Hairstyles/hair length?
4. When you get home from the grocery store, do you rotate your canned items or others that you have duplicates of? (Like if you bought green beans but you still have a can in the pantry, do you take the oldest can out to put in the front to be used first?)
5. What about your parents? How do they shop? Do you see a generation difference?

1. It’s sort of random in our house depending on the need. We often do major trips together, with all three of us going, but if we’re pressed for time one or the other will stop on the way home. Because we both work, we don’t see this as a gender issue.
   
2. We don’t set aside time to actually clothing shop….it just occurs, usually when we least expect it and Adam is frequently there. He is my best critic and is awesome at picking stuff out. I do also like to shop alone though and sometimes with friends…depends on my mood.

3. Adam definitely has an opinion on clothing and hair for Kabe, but we pretty much agree on it, which is great.

4. Food goes into the cupboard, but isn’t usually rotated…by the time we get around to purchasing more stuff, it’s usually bare in there and there isn’t a need to actually rotoate. =)

5. Both of our mom’s are stock-pilers and most-likely a rotaters. Thank the Lord my MIL doesn’t get the internet…she'd most likely shudder at this post. =)

What's up with that?

I am so not a crafty person. Yeah, I like to knit, but that's pretty much where my Martha Stewart ends. In the recent past, I've begun to work on my photography skills as well as the editing that goes along with that, however, I'm still not 'into' the tail end of that as most would expect ... scrap booking. I just don't get. I think it's so cool, I love to look at books other people make, I just don't have enough creativity to wrap my brain around making something even remotely cool enough to call a scrapbook...let alone find the time to cut out paper and glue it to more paper and then glue pictures to it. That was my least favorite part of second grade. Sadly, pre-digital pictures at my house haven't even made it into books...they're still in a big tub, still in the little print packages, filed by date...all still including negatives. I aspire to get them moved to cd someday so I can actually have a hope of doing something with them, but I'm just not ready to second mortgage our house. =)

I have a point. Stick with me.

So, I have all these pictures of Kabe and rarely print them. At Christmas I gave Adam's mom a little photo book because she doesn't even own a camera. My parents (mom especially) takes pictures and loves to scrapbook. I send her pictures occasionally, but Connie doesn't even take pictures...I can't imagine. Last week Adam asked if I would put together some more pictures to send to her. Pictures of Kabe...my specialty!

This got me thinking about a website a friend had told me about where I could digitally put my pictures into pre-fab pages and either use their backgrounds or grab others from their website which then creates a scrapbook that is printed and sent to me (I know...but I didn't really have to be creative!). So I thought I'd try it. I started last night & finished tonight...17 pages mostly of Kabe and it was pretty fun - but sshhhh! Don't tell my crafty friends! I don't have time to really scrapbook!

My little project can be seen at Picaboo.
Enjoy my little bit of craftiness - who knows when it'll occur again. =) And of course, PLEASE, let me know what you think!

Time Flies...

While looking for a picture on some cd's, I came upon this old photo from Easter '01 when Kabe is only six-months-old. Don't you just want to pinch those chubby cheeks?

Boy...time sure does fly.

Practice

Kabe is in a fundamentals basketball program for six weeks here in our little town. Practice started yesterday and despite the fact that he's had virtually no exposure to basketball, it was a pretty good start!




The practice started with talk about key words to the game like respect and teamwork. Then moved on to dribbling as shown in the picture above. In case you've never tried it, dribbling is harder than you think...especially when you don't watch the ball or don't watch the ball and don't use your dominate hand. Props to these 2nd graders!




The boys also took some time to learn how to catch and throw, both while running towards the ball and planting both feet and while standing in a circle, using both hands and pushing off from the chest as well as throwing the ball over someone's head.



Of course, they did take some time to see who could reach above the mats.





Kabe was disappointed that he didn't get to shoot baskets, but once the three of us talked about some of the things he learned, he acknowledged the hour was pretty cool.

Tall Tales

Kabe is having fun in 2nd grade. He really enjoys being creative and writing stories. Here are a couple of the papers he brought home recently. They're a little hard to read so I've written the words underneath just in case. =)

At 2:00 I would want to watch Transformers on flat screen. Then eat cake with it. Then go to sleep.


The very Hungry Second Grader by Kabe.
Once their was a second grader and he saw pizza with turky mayo and hot sauce and he ate it in one chomp! the next day he ate macarone pizza and got sick but when he ate fruit he felt bettr.

Lazy Day

All three of us have been battling some allergy and/or cold stuff. We're not exactly sure what the problem is, but we know we're all congested. Kabe is coughing, my ears are plugged and Adam is losing his voice. We're fun to be around. Therefore, we decided it would be best to be outside on Sunday, so as not to expose people if we are contageous.

Sunday was a lazy day, but it was so beautiful we needed to be outside doing nothing. Adam wanted to work on his Bible study and I wanted to do some reading, Kabe just needed to be out & play so we headed to the park with a blanket.

Kabe's favorite thing at the park is the swings.


This isn't an ordinary swing. It's built to look like a tire, but can spin round and round.


And of course, he needs assistance on this swing for it to be any fun.


It can also swing and spin which is even more fun.


He could swing & spin, spin & swing endlessly.


He also likes regular swings. He can swing normally on them. Only he was being a little daring today.


Even though he knows how to swing on his own, he enjoyed some quality dad-time while Adam pushed him on the swings. Of course, Adam had fun tickling Kabe in the process.


We ran to Curtis Orchard yesterday to get some of our favorite Honeycrisp apples. We took a little extra time to run through the maze and of course, Kabe needed a picture on the train.



Here's Kabe in October '07 (left) and September '08 at the Curtis Orchard Apple. He likes the Illini too! =)

Fall

I'm always a little sad to see summer come to a close, this year it seemed to come so fast our family didn't get to do many of the things we wanted to do. Summer, in my mind, represents a more carefree, laid-back lifestyle, despite the fact that work schedules don't change and activities often increase.

After summer comes fall (duh...=). I love fall. I love the the weather, I love the colors of fall, I love the Holidays, I love the changing of the leaves, I love the sport it brings (Go Illini Football!) And I love seeing these little guys all over the road as I drive to town.





And although I like to see those cute little caterpillar's on the road, I've never much of a butterfly person. I mean, sure, they're pretty and all, but they seem to girl-y and delicate somehow for my taste, just not my thing.




As I was watching the caterpillars slink across the road, then seeing the butterflies flit about, I started to think about their life cycle, and for the first time, I looked at this strange Lepidoptera (hey...I work in entomology...=) and saw something beautiful and miraculous.



I'm such a slow-processor, I'm sure this is old news for many of you, but I had this revelation. The more I thought about these furry, unattractive, woolly worms becoming pupa, going on to become butterflies, the more I began to see the similarities between this process and the plan Jesus has for you & me. Let me explain.
When we're born, we're sort of like the caterpillar in a rapid growth stage. As we go about our business of independence we put on our layers of sin and cloth ourselves in unrighteousness, much like the chrysalis (or pupa). But then, having shed it's previous skins, the adult butterfly breaks free from the chrysalis that binds it, emerging and flying free, much like the freedom we experience in Christ.

When this clicked for me, it excited me and gave me hope. I've been trying to live like Jesus for a really long time and most days, it ain't pretty, but this reminded me that in God's eyes I am, we all are, already beautiful.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
II Corinthians 5:17

The Birthday Bowling Bash!

The Birthday Bowling Bash (aka ... birthday party at the bowling alley) was a lot of fun! Bowling, pizza, pop, cake (Transformers, of course!), balloons, pop, pizza, bowling, pop, pizza, bowling, presents, bowling, pop and a bunch of excited, giggly, fun kids!







Ms. Candis even stopped by to wish Kabe a Happy Birthday.







Thanks Alex, Ben, Joey, Keenan, and Michaela for coming to the party and making it so much fun!

The Low-Key Birthday

September 5th, Kabe's birthday morning, began at 3:30am. He's normally an early riser, but this come-on! Normally when he wakes in the night I take him back to bed & we're all good, but he has this cold / sinus / allergy thing going on, combined with the over-the-top excitement about his birthday....sleep just wouldn't come.



A little before 6am he & I got up to make muffins. He sooooo wanted to open presents, but instead, when daddy got up we opted to have him open the cards he'd received in the mail.




He took cupcakes to school to share with his class, decorated with transformers of course.








Kabe & I met daddy in town to for dinner, he chose Olive Garden, where he opened one of his gifts.











Of course, what else, but a Transformer! None other, than Optimus Prime.








Aunt Robbin, Uncle Chad, Chet & Cody sent balloons....











And also got him a wii Indiana Jones Game ... so cool!










Next it was on to the last gift from us.












Star Wars Legos!

Eight

Eight years ago today, my day started a little after 5:00am, jumping out of bed, to wake my husband to let him know the blessed day had arrived, whether we were ready or not...which we were -- sort of. I mean, yes, the baby room was put together (we had just moved and it was literally the only room put together) and we were more than ready to meet 'it' (sorry, no nicknames here and we didn't know the gender), however, I was a week early, not bad, and my bag wasn't packed in our very boxed, very un-packed apartment. But yes, we were ready and excited to meet this wonderful little blessing. Two hours later we were at the hospital and at 4:36pm Kabriel Michael Schuster had made his entrance. There are so, so many memories since September 5, 2000 and I can't wait to see what the future brings!

For today, here are a few things you should know about Kabe:

He is kind, gentle-hearted and loves to make people laugh.


He loves his dad!


He loves to play with his friends and be active. He has more energy than just about any kid I know!




God created me to be this boy's mommy. Only God could love him more.

My Favorite....

My Favorite Things (not people) in Picture!

I decided to be a little silly today and post five of my favorite things, in no particular order.

Of course, this list is totally random and frivolous. Should I have to choose five things to be left with due to a major catastrophe...this list would definitely change. =)


McDonald's Diet Coke. Need I say more?

My favorite summertime shoes...Chaco's flipflops. If you haven't tried them...give your feet a rest find some. You won't be sorry!


My Crackberry err I mean, my Blackberry! This not just a phone. It's my lifeline, my brain (planner/calendar/social network... aka..Facebook), and much, much more. Yeah, crackberry because of the addition. sad.


Peanut Butter M&M's mixed with Milk Chocolate M&M's. YUM. The only thing better is Milk Chocolate M&M's dipped in Jif Peanut Butter. Yeah, I love Peanut Butter. But it's not on the favorites...the M&M's mix is...because it's fun. Aren't these colors great?!?

I have to have my lip stuff and this is number one on my list. There are lots of different scents/flavors, but Cinnamint is my favorite. My husband bought me some for Christmas a couple years ago and now I have to have. Isn't Adam the best? Oh wait...this is about things, not people. I'll save that for another day. =)


There you have it. Five completely silly and frivolous things I like. That's it for today. Who knows...it could completely change by tomorrow. I'm fickle like that.