Out and About

We are six days into our trip, flying back to Washington tomorrow. Obviously I haven't blogged, due to the fact that every time the laptop is out it's being used by someone else. :)

You can read about our adventures here. I know I'm cheating, but we've got to go now!

A Little Joy ~ A Little Oy

Avram went into church, took out the tallis and yarmulke and dressed himself, and proceeded to pray.

The clergyman entered to start services, saying, "Will all non-Christians please leave." Avram continued davening.

Again the clergyman said, "Will all non-Christians please leave."

Again, nothing.

Finally, the distraught clergyman moved to Avram. "Will all JEWS please leave. "

At this, Avram removed his yarmulke, packed up his tallis, then went to the altar, picked up a statue of the baby Jesus and said, "Come bubbela, they don't want us here anymore."

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Today at Bible study our study leader passed this story around for everyone to read. Everyone loved it. It is so true!!! So many people think of our Saviour as Jesus with blue eyes and brown/blonde hair, wearing a Roman toga... sitting peacefully in some meadow blessing little European children.

When really, it was a man named Yeshua (Joshua in English, did you know?) looking something like this (in the outfit, anyway):

Interesting, isn't it? Just thought I'd post a little controversial post, there. :) Feel free to ask any questions or challenge what I've said. I'd love to hear your opinions!

Story taken from A Little Joy, A Little Oy 2009 Desk Calendar by Andrew McMeel

East Coast Trip Preparations

This week has started off to be a bit busy! We're getting ready for our trip to the east coast that's starting on Sunday night, cleaning and organizing for family who's coming to stay this same weekend, running every morning to get our miles in for a run the boys are participating in and on top of that doing our usual daily doings! Here's what's on my to do list before we go on our trip:

Tuesday:

Run.

Make list of people to send post cards to. Place in labeled Ziplock bag along with stamps.

Decide which clothes to wear on the trip, and get anything in the laundry that needs to be clean for packing.

Wednesday:

Run.

Do thorough cleaning of kitchen.

Pack purse with books, CD player, etc for flight and car rides.

Wipe down the shoes I'll wear on the trip.

Thursday:

Run.

Sweep and mop living and dining room, hallways and stairs.

Pack clothes, shoes and any toiletry items I won't need for the rest of the week.

Friday:

Run.

Help with the general cleanup of the house.

Get beds and rooms ready for company, set up temporary beds for our family's children.

Make dessert for Bible Study.

Saturday:

Family arrives.

Bible study here at our house at one PM.

Shabbat Shalom!

Sunday:

Pack toothbrush/any other toiletry stuff. Have bags ready to go on porch.

Be with the fam.

Leave for the airport at around three PM.

There's a full schedule for ya! I'm not sure how much I'll be posting until I get back, if at all, but you can always check my sidebar for recommended blogs if you're in need of a good read. :)

Love,

An Easy and Free Way to Organize Your Hair Stuff

Lately I've been having problems with keeping my hair accessories under control. It's time to do something about it!

Start by taking all of your hair stuff, separating it into different piles: clips, bands, scrunchies, pins, claw clips, etc. As you're sorting, weed out anything that is broken, stretched or that you don't like/never wear.

Next, organize all your hair bands. Since we didn't have any small plastic baggies, I put most of mine on leftover cardboard pieces that the once-new hair stuff had come on. Then, I strung my thick colored hair bands on binder rings.

I did the same with my small clips. Since I don't wear them a lot I don't have a ton, but the ones I do have I clipped to a piece of cardboard. Clip your large clips (the kind that can hold half or all of your hair) onto a few wide strands of ribbon. If you have any "decorative" pins, slip those on too.

Since I like claw clips, but don't use them too often, I keep them in a large Zip lock bag, stored under my bathroom sink. Easy enough for me. :)

Now it's time to make your Hair Accessories Organization Box. Cut some pieces of sturdy-ish cardboard to snugly fit into your container (or shoe box). If you don't have a lid to put on (like me), you can make the tops a little higher than your box so you can easily see the labels you're going to put on. Make enough separators to label each section of hair stuff, depending on how organized you want to get and how much room you have.

It's time for the fun part! Find some cute wrapping paper (or make your own with paper and markers) and wrap the cardboard squares. Label them, using solid strips of light paper and a dark marker so you can easily see what they say.

Then, place your wrapped cardboard pieces back in the container in the order you want them. Using packing tape, tape edges with long strips of tape. I have a picture here of the tape, but you can't see it very well. I just started a long piece of tape at the bottom, putting half on the container and half on the board, stopping at the top of the container.

Now all there is to do is put your hair stuff in it's correct spots! I had a little room in the front of my box, so I put my brush and a comb in for easy access.

And there you have it, your free and easy way to organize your hair stuff.

A Chance To Meet *You*?

Guess what? In exactly twelve days I am going on a trip.

"Where to?" you ask?

Washington D.C., my friend!

My grandparents, Mom, Active Boy, Baby MIT and I are going on a week-long trip to Washington, Philadelphia, PA; Cape May, NJ; Williamsburg, VA; Charles Town, WV; and Baltimore, MD. I can't wait!

The main reason we're going is to go to our family reunion in Baltimore. Apparently we (from my grandpa on Mom's side) have a lot of family over there, so my grandparents were interested in meeting them; and in turn invited Mom to go, who decided to take my brother and I for the sake of a good homeschool field trip. :)

Now my question is this: do any of you blogger friends live close enough to those cities that we might be able to meet? I would love to get a chance to see you in person!! Please, please comment and tell me you do! I could give you my email address and we could set something up.

With love,

Mother's Day Apron

This year my Happy Mother's Day Gift was this cutesy reversible apron. Mom was thrilled! I won't bore you with the whole story (since it's kind of long), but she picked the materials out herself about two years ago, never knowing I would use them.

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Well! Since you seem to have some time, I might as well tell you what happened...

A while back Mom decided she wanted to sew herself an apron. Now, you must understand, my mother is not one who sews very often, doesn't like patterns and would rather do it her own way. But of course, she found a apron she liked; and to make it, she needed the pattern. So she bought it and the fabric for two aprons and put them away until my grandmother came on her once a month weekend visit.

Well, Gram came and they cut and sewed the first apron with success! The cherry apron looked (and still looks) adorable. Mother Dearest cut out the floral fabric for the second apron... and that's about as far as she got with that.

Now it's been two years and the apron cut outs and pattern have been sitting in a plastic bag... Mom has lost a significant amount of weight, so they'll probably not be used again.

But wait! Her very favorite daughter gets a wonderful idea. Why not size the cutouts down to the size that would fit her, since the patterns for the other sizes are still in the bag, and present to her the finished apron for Mother's Day?

So, the MIT re-cuts the fabric pieces, sews up the apron (with a little help over the phone from Gram on the shoulder straps) and packages it up for her Very Favorite Mom Ever.

Mom receives the gift and is very happy and surprised. She loves it! En fait, even as she sits and reads Hobby Farm Magazine at 8:48 PM, she is wearing it still. :)

Great Giveaway & Fun Blog!

In honor of their 50th post, A Basket of Flowers is having a Blue and Pink Set giveaway! In each set there are three coordinating cards, five magnets, one headband and a cutesy crocheted flower. Hurry and enter! The giveaway ends May 23, only a couple weeks away.

Before this I had never visited Laura and Elizabeth's blog, but now that I've seen it (through Rachel and Jessica), I love love love it! The ladies have a super cute page going, and seem to like a lot of the same things I do. Happy 50th post girls!

A Different Kind of Beauty Pagent

Ever heard of the "Miss Beautiful Morales" contest? No? Well, that's probably because it's in Saudi Arabia. I know Islam is a violent religion if practiced zealously, but some adherents are definitely living closer biblical standards than we in the decadent west.

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Sukaina al-Zayer is an unlikely beauty queen hopeful. She covers her face and body in black robes and an Islamic veil, so no one can tell what she looks like. She also admits she's a little on the plump side.
But at Saudi Arabia's only beauty pageant, the judges don't care about a perfect figure or face. What they're looking for in the quest for "Miss Beautiful Morals" is the contestant who shows the most devotion and respect for her parents.

"The idea of the pageant is to measure the contestants' commitment to Islamic morals... It's an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman's body and looks," said pageant founder Khadra al-Mubarak.

"The winner won't necessarily be pretty," she added. "We care about the beauty of the soul and the morals."

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I can't help but feel a little ashamed of my culture's view of beauty when I read this."

Read the rest of this article here.

** I am not endorsing the Islamic religion. Just giving everyone some thoughts on how lefty our culture has gotten. **

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Well, us girls got back safely from the retreat... and had tons of fun! We enjoyed chit chatting, playing games, eating some delicious food and snacks and chatting some more. I won't tell you too much, as I don't have the pictures yet, but I'll be sure to share more once I get them.

For now, I'll share a little happenin':

Earlier as I jumped out of the front door of the van, Active Boy eagerly jumped down from the side door to help me out. When he saw that I was already on the ground, he said disappointingly,

"Seren! It is an honor to touch your hand. You should wait for me to help you! Next time I'll just have to kiss your hand to make up for this."