Thankful Tuesday

1. I was able to attend Bible study last Tuesday night.

2. Nadia and Ian had a great week at Camp Good News last week, and it was wonderful to carpool with our neighbor. Oliver enjoyed having Westyn come and swim with us twice last week.

3. Last Friday we stopped at our library's book sale. The kids are always allowed one free book each. Nadia got a Paddington Bear chapter book that she hadn't read before, and Ian let me use his free book for a resource on teaching kids about Shakespeare and his time period. I bought Nadia three cd's of contemporary Christian music.

4. The kids and I enjoyed dinner at Taco Bell (thanks to a gift card) on Friday night.

5. We had a safe trip to Maryland on Saturday morning and back home on Monday night. We were able to visit the Goddard Space Center on Sunday, go to Friendly's for dinner on Saturday night, and go on a Pirate Adventure on

Monday afternoon. Ian said the best part was when he shot a water cannon and hit two other pirates who were in a smaller boat. The kids had their faces painted and had tattoos painted on their arms - ex. an octopus for Oliver. Ian's nametag read "Eagle Eye Ian," Oliver's read "Octopus Oliver," and Nadia's read "Night Owl Nadia." Maurice tried to join us, but the fifth ticket I purchased went unused because he got lost trying to find the ship.

6. This morning we enjoyed seeing Happy Feet 2 for $4 total for the four tickets at the movie theater. Then we did a little shopping at JCPenney since they are closing in seven days. I got myself a pair of earrings for $3 and two dresses for Nadia. One of the dresses was a splurge for me. I rarely spend more than $5 on a dress for Nadia. Many times I pay as little as $1.50. I don't believe I've ever spent more than $10 on a dress for her. One of the dresses I got her today was $24. It was originally $120 so it was 80% off. She certainly didn't *need* another dress, but she really wanted to get it and wear it at Grandpa's

wedding. I told her I'd get it if she used some of money to pay part of the cost. She then asked Grandma later if Grandma would pay for part of the dress. It's very pretty, and since it's long I believe she'll be able to wear it next year as well. All 21 grandkids will be processing down the aisle during the ceremony (each holding one long stemmed flower) so she'll have a pretty dress to wear for this special occasion.

7. After JCP we stopped at the berry farm on the way home and picked about 2.5 pounds of blueberries. Yum! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler today than it has been lately, which made it ideal weather for picking blueberries. It also was better weather for mowing the lawn, although I still got really sweaty this afternoon even though it was only in the 70's.

8. Rosalie called me yesterday to tell me that she spoke to Jessica, the chair at Gratz College. She said Jessica is very excited about having me teach online courses for their master's and doctoral programs. I have no idea when this might actually

happen, but it will be wonderful to earn some extra money at some point through teaching online. I'm hoping it happens at least by next spring so I can earn enough money for us to go to San Diego in October 2018.

9. I got to sit in the class where my brother was the substitute teacher on Sunday morning.

10. I received one of the five employment verification forms thus far, and I was told a second one is in the mail.

11. All five of us attended a Crosscutters game this evening (minor league baseball). They were giving 500 free handstamp vouchers for Knoebels this evening, but Paul couldn't get home from work early enough for us to be one of the first 500 people there this evening. I had gotten the tickets for free, and parking is always free at this stadium. We did spend some money at the concession stands. The kids shared an order of French fries, a slushie, and one cotton candy. Paul had a burger and chips, and I had a soft pretzel. We stayed for the first 5 innings. The score was 4-1

(home team was losing) when we left, and that ended up being the final score so we didn't miss anything by leaving early. We left because it was past Ian and Oliver's bedtimes. The end of August I am planning on taking them to a Little League game during the week of the championship.

12. My aunt gave me some special markers for drinking glasses/mugs to write names on (that can come off if you rub it off with a sponge). She gave me enough to share them with my dad and siblings. I gave my dad two of them, and we used them this weekend. What an awesome invention! I also am enjoying some hand-me down sandals that she gave me while we were in New York that she can't wear any longer due to some foot issues that she has.

13. I did a little grocery shopping on Saturday night for my dad so I could make our Sunday dinner (pot roast, mashed potatoes, etc.). I bought Nadia and I four plums as well. She had asked me last week to buy plums. I hadn't bought any since last summer. Oh they were so good!!! Here's to hoping some grocery store around here will have them on sale for a decent price sometime in the near future as we'd both like to have some more plums!