Plans

Almost done with my house cleaning, thank goodness. I'm not used to this kind of work! Hah!

I'm having a problem with really brittle finger nails. It's been going on about 6 months now. I'm hoping my friends might have some idea of the problem, because I sure don't. Any time my nails get beyond the end of my finger, they almost immediately crack and break off. And, now, in the last week I have had two nails crack clear down in the nail bed itself, halfway down the fingernail. Oh, that's painful! I don't know what's going on. I'm eating better than I ever have - you'd think that would cause me to have strong, healthy nails. But I'm starting to get really annoyed.

Well, we have our vacation plans made for this year. We had been contemplating a trip to Kentucky to see the Creation museum and then from there, heading up to Michigan so I could attend my FW conference in August. But now that's changed.

In recent years we've managed to take some really nice trips on promotional dimes. I don't feel guilty or embarrassed about it because we probably would not have been able to take the boys places we have w/o them. We've gone to the Wisconsin Dells, Branson, and Lake Okaboji for really low cost, all in return for listening to a sales promo on time shares. Well, at the Home Show the other night we got stopped by salesman offering us the same thing. He claims they aren't a time share company, though, but some service type deal. Anyway, by the time all was said and done, we ended up scoring two two-night, three day trips, as well as tickets to a show in Branson.

We've been wanting to take the boys to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City for awhile now. So what we're going to do - probably in July - is to go down to KC and do that. And then we'll go on Branson. We've heard marvelous things about the Noah show down there. It was actually supposed to end in 2010, but they've extended it through 2011. So, we're going to buy tickets for the boys to see that and then we'll find some other fun things to do down there for a couple of days.

That won't be a long trip, so we're considering the possibility of going to Family Camp for a couple of days and then maybe visiting the zoo in Omaha one weekend.

My thinking is, then, that hopefully, we could visit the Creation Museum in 2012. They are getting started on a to-scale replica of Noah's Ark and it would be neat to visit after that's completed. But that may be a several year project, so it might not work out anyway. Both of us just feel driven to get some more vacations under our family belt since Will graduates in 2013 and I'm not sure he'd ever be able to go with us on another trip, with college and working.

And then, as far as my conference goes, I'm going to look into seeing what it would cost to just fly out there. The thought of that frightens me to death because I have never flown alone. But millions of people do it every day, so I'm sure I'm capable. We got to thinking by the time we'd pay for gas and then stuff for Paul and the boys to do while I'm attending the conference, we might be better off to just have me fly. But I won't know for sure until I check into ticket prices.

I've also arranged for Ben and David to take swimming lessons once a week this summer in Indianola from my friend Megan. So, it's going to be a busy, busy summer. Before it gets here, we have to sit down and figure out what's going on, week by week. Will plans to work at camp again and I'm sure he could get every week in June and July if he wants to. I need to find some activities for Ben and then once we get into August, football starts up and Ben goes back to school. Oh, and we're also going to spend a day at the State Fair that month, too.

I'm reminded of a verse - in James, I think - where we are reminded to "not boast about what tomorrow will bring" since God is the only one who truly knows what is going to happen. So, with that in mind, the above are my summer plans, but, of course, that could all change.

You all know my interest, lately, in eating better. To that end, I have been scouring stores like Trader Joes and the health food section at Hy-Vee. I've come home with a few products made by a company called "Annie." She makes cereal, gummies, crackers, cookies, etc. I have been absolutely delighted with their products. The taste is so, so much better than comparable products. That surprised me since I figured healthy food would have to taste a little more bland. Not Annie's products! They are much better tasting and better for you! Of course, being healthy, they are expensive. But a friend alerted me that Amazon sells Annie's stuff. So I browsed through there the other night and got so excited! The products are still more expensive than buying generic or even name-brand cookies and crackers, but it's a little cheaper than buying them at Hy-Vee or Trader Joes. But you have to buy them in a case. So I think every payday, I'm going to order a couple of different of cases of her stuff until we have a good selection of our own.

And then I found out how to order from Azure, so I am hopeful that will be a new source for me to get a lot of the other stuff I can't get around here, like 50 lb bags of white whole wheat flour, cane sugar, etc. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but more than likely we're going to lose our ordering club for the warehouse in Iowa City that I've been involved with for the past year. Our group is small anyway, and one of our biggest orderers just moved to Missouri! That's still a little up in the air, but I'm not too hopeful at this point.

Well, off to complete my list. Today and Wednesday are the only days this week I get to stay home. Well, Saturday, too, I guess. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for lunch and then I have my moms group in the evening. Thursday evening is Ladies' Bible study at church and I'd really like to make it to that, since I haven't in, oh, a couple of years. And then Friday night is scrapbooking. I need to fit in a visit to our neighbors this week, too.

I can't believe any of you actually enjoy reading this stuff. What a bland and boring blog...