We interupt this important English lesson

...because the elementary age kids have just been freaked out by finding a Garter snake near the slide.....and they need their big brother to come out and dispose of it :)

Prayers Please

We have a showing on our old home this evening.  Please pray for a quick and speedy sale at a decent price (am I asking too much?).  Paying for and taking care of two homes isn't easy.....If our old home sells soon it will be worth it.

A homeschool mom's (almost) first day of school

Taken by 3 year old Logan.

We also have apple trees (apples anyone?  please?) and everyone appeared ready at 8am with an apple for me.

This is why...I am not a bookkeeper

O.K.  Well, I really am the bookkeeper of the family.  Just not a very good one if you ask me.  I handle the bills, etc.  My husband is the accountant.  A tax accountant.  Really.  He gets paid for this stuff.  It's in his brain.  He gets it.  He looks things over things once in a while (at least at tax time) and graciously explains to me the error of my ways :)   Apparently it's not acceptable to consider it a wash if you are under 100 in the expenses  and over 100 in the credits.  It works our mathematically so I can reconcile, but when it comes down to it - it has caused some problems. 

After doing this for 16 years (I took over when I became a stay at home mom) I thought I was finally getting the hang of this.  Until 4 little pieces of mail arrived over the last 3 days that make absolutely no sense to me (or didn't).  It doesn't help that we recently bought a foreclosed house and are in the process of selling our old one.

1.  A late pmt notice for a loan that we have never received a bill for. 
2.  A stmt for said loan that tells me the amount due in the next couple of weeks - yet includes no return envelope, nothing to include along with a check, and get this....my favorite...NO ADDRESS ANYWHERE on this notice.  Not even in the fine print.

(well...I did receive a call from that bank this morning stating that they are new to this, no one is being charged late fees, that that was indeed my billing stmt, and giving me the address to mail my check (although it was on the late pmt notice).  So...none of that was my fault and they are fixing things on their end.  Just in case, I photocopied the information and wrote down the address for future pmts - Quicken will let me know when they are due. :)

3.  A refund check.  This may be an escrow refund - but it doesn't seem big enough.  I really don't know.  I'll have to ask my dh accountant about this one.  The notice does contain a transaction ID.  But, no phone number or anything to ask anyone about this.

4.  This one isn't so confusing.  Just a little unfair I think.  I received the first bill for another loan.  Pmt due date in 3 days.  I don't have a problem mailing a check tomorrow - but I hope there aren't any delays - sheeesh.  Again, Quicken will let me know when the next one is due, so I'll be ready.

Funerals...for the young and the old

This week we attended the funeral for two people.  A 6 year old boy from our parish and my 87 year old grandmother.  The funerals were very different.  But one thing was clear.  Everyone has a purpose.  Everyone has an impact.  God is in charge. 

My grandma lived a long full life leaving 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.  I look at my own kids and marvel at the fact that neither they (nor I) would be here right now if it weren't for her.  She was one of the sweetest, quietest people I ever knew.   Before stopping for a visit, my kids would always remind me to buy her some chocolate covered raisins.   She loved chocolate :)  When she moved to a nursing hom a bit farther away, our trips became less frequent (this I am sad about).  But, my kids enjoyed going to the nursing home and playing piano music for her and she would just watch everyone and smile.  She was hard of hearing, and hard to hear, but her smile said it all.

Peter, age 6, wasn't even supposed to survive.  He was born with Trisomy 18 and his parents had to fight for medical care after his birth - the same medical care a "normal" child would have received without question.  They were told his life wouldn't really amount to anything.  Well, they were wrong.  Peter laughed.  Peter smiled.  Peter had an impact on everyone around him.   His mom started www.prenatalpartnersforlife.org.   so that other families with adverse prenatal diagnosis could receive the love and support they need.   Peter will not be forgotten.  The world is a better place because of him.

...finding out a loved one died...on facebook

I'm not so annoyed about this as I was at first...but I still feel the need to bring this up in my little corner of cyber-space.  I still don't like it.  I've just accepted it.

There was a message on my phone late Saturday from my dad.  No information, just to please call him on his cell phone when I got his message.  My elderly grandmother had been in the hospital for a few days and things weren't looking too good.  So, I presumed that was probably what my dad had called about.  My dad has tact, he would never call and leave a message like that over the phone.  In fact, when my aunt died somewhat tragically a few years ago he called and told my husband.  My dad didn't want to share that over the phone with me.  He wanted to make sure there was someone there who cared about me that would give me the news compassionately since he could not possibly be there.

Back to my grandma.  I don't use facebook very often, but I figured I'd check to see if someone posted something about her.  Sure enough, they did...only about 20-30 minutes after she had passed away.  I don't fault the people who did this.  I am sure that in their grief they were reaching out in their own way.  However, had I not received that call from my dad (giving me the idea to check facebook), and I was just looking at facebook (like my sister had), I would have been even more upset. 

My parents were still grieving themselves (30 minutes after they got the news) when they received a phone call from another family member who was notified by someone else who saw the post on facebook.  The caller was pretty upset wondering why no one called her...and rightly so.  While I don't think my parents should have jumped on the phone immediately (I think grieving first and telling only immediate family members is more important)...I do know that they would have called this person as soon as possible.  And, this person would have compassionately been given the news by someone who cares about both the caller and my grandmother. 

Information moves fast in cyberspace...we need to remember that.  I am not against the post itself (maybe they aren't called posts...see how much I use facebook...I just read other people's stuff once in awhile) I do think a little more thought needs to go in to what people put out there and when.  How many other people find things out in this way?

and...just for the record...I know of no friends or relatives that read my blog who don't already know about my grandma.  I waited a day, watching all the facebook comments to be sure.  And..I am glad I did.  I was a lot more annoyed last night, and this post is really about slowing down and thinking if this should be said?  and should it be said now?