Randomness

A couple weeks ago Jose's computer went to the great apple in the sky. To be honest we were surprised it lasted as long as it did given it needed a new mother board when it was given to us. But now we are down to one computer, mine. I have a tendency to take a million pictures and then each one is precious to me so when I have to delete some I stare at 2 pictures like these

And hitting the delete button is so hard on either one of them. Yeah I know they are almost exactly the same and I even have a preference between the 2 but deleting the other one is hard. 

Something inside of me feels it's cruel to have to delete memories to free up memory. But if I don't we won't be able to function much longer. 

(actually I have been deleting things here and there as sparingly as possible just to make it through, up until now.) 

So I decided instead of leaving all my pictures for just me to enjoy I would post some of the ones that make me smile the most. And no they are not in chronological order. But they are from the past year and a half. Enjoy my randomness

love this face

and this one

Definitely one of the best days of my life.
The day my firstborn was baptized

toe dippin'

My favorite person at my one of my favorite places. The beach.

Logan's first Christmas pageant 

Caleb's 1st birthday

We love you Caleb. Miss you too

Self-portrait Logan loves his sister.

Training our kids early

One of Timothy's (and my) favorite people Ashlynn

One day old and already a mama's girl

He wanted his face painted like a Lego mini figure. lol

I'm not the only person in this house who is wrapped around her finger

She has my eyes

My favorite Pastor

Can you tell she's proud of herself?

So that's kind of like our year in pictures (family only I already transferred all the church pics other places) It's been a busy, hard, but happy and healing year and a half. 

Adventures of a missionary housewife

We have been back in Peru for over a week now so things are getting back to normal. 

Jose and Victor will be spending a lot of time at the church for the next 6 months. They are both finishing up classes and trying to train up people to replace themselves when we leave. 

The days the guys are gone I like to work on projects. 

Today I made Fabric Softener. I don't like paying the price they charge at the store so I've been planning to try it for awhile and I ran out of the store bought stuff today. 

It's super easy and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works. 

Here is the recipe

1/2 baking soda

3 cups WHITE vinegar (don't use anything but white vinegar it seems anything else can stain your clothes)

4 cups of water

essential oils (optional) 

In a large bucket or pitcher pour in baking soda. Slowly add vinegar. You will have to pour in a little at a time and wait for it to stop fizzing before you add more. Once thats all mixed together add water (and a few drops essential oils) and stir. 

Pour in an old fabric softener bottle to store and use just like you would your store bought kind. I did not add the essential oils this time because I wanted to try it without. 

That is probably the easiest thing I have ever done to save money. Bonus: my kids thought the fizzing was the greatest things ever. They kept telling me to do it again. Nothing like entertaining your kids and saving money! Go me. ha

This is my other new hobby. I learned how to crochet so I randomly find cute things I want to make and work on them when the mood strikes me. 

I made this for Timothy because he likes Pirates and monsters. 

Pirates come from veggie tales and monsters come from monsters inc. Unfortunately, they both have very negative connotations and usually look mean or scary so I made a happy pirate monster. I'm pretty pleased with him and myself. 

haha so now you know what I do when I'm alone. I make things. 

Stream of Consciousness...

I should not be blogging. I should be finishing laundry, packing bags, getting rid of stuff, cleaning...You get the picture. Unfortunately when I look at my house right now I see piles of stuff everywhere. It's like one of those shows where you see a bunch of small piles but then the camera zooms in and they are actually alive and taking over the entire space. OK, not really...I mean, they aren't alive. (or are they? they sure seem to reproduce) Add to that 2 wonderful little boys that like to "reorganize" and I feel like I'm losing my mind.

Yesterday I burned a pan of rice. and when I say burned I mean epic burning. The pan and lid and even my little bamboo utensil thingy are burned. The rice was turned into something resembling a tire. My whole house was filled with smoke it was bad. The reason all this could happen without my notice was I thought I turned the burner off but I actually turned it on high then drove down the street to take Jose to work. I was gone maybe MAYBE 20 minutes. yikes! I have learned to take the pan off the burner if I'm going to leave the house. And I'm still being reminded because my house smells like burned rice. Anyone know how to get rid of that smell? Oh well at least I'm moving out in 3 days. I think I will take a break from cooking for a little while. (and Fortune Village & Sushi Hana sing the hallelujah chorus-they love us...is it bad that we are recognized at 2 restaurants in our area?)

I had 2 friends come over today to pick up a couple things. They both left with full cars. I am forcing people to take my stuff. (Me"you want this blender." Them "no, that's OK" Me "No, seriously you WANT this blender") <----insert evil laughter...Ahem. Anyone want to come over? I have lots of stuff left =D