Rant

Have any of you ever tried any allergy bedding? Karly seems to suffer from allergies year round and I wonder if it isn't partly her mattress. I have seen those mattress covers that zip on like a pillowcase that keep all of the dust mites away from the sleeper. I would love to try one of those for her mattress and her pillow but they are so darn expensive! I don't know why things like that are so expensive. It is the same with the really good carseats. They are cost prohibitive for a lot of families. How about companies with really good products figure out how to make them more affordable to the general public? M'kay?

Repair Woes

You know what is worse than a Philadelphia job search? Trying to find somewhere to fix your van the week of Christmas. Tom has been working on our van all day. It has some sort of problem that we thought was the alternator. It turns out to be some other do-hickey that Tom cannot change out. So off to the dealership it goes tomorrow. I pray that it is not a really expensive fix. I also pray that it is something that our regular mechanic finds out he can change out. I would rather pay him and pay less to get it fixed! We have to get it fixed by Wednesday or we will be staying home for Christmas.

Western Governors University

It is hard to believe that in a couple of years we will be helping our oldest to get ready for college. I have no idea where he is going to decide to go. If he was interested in education, business or technology, I might just steer him toward an online degree. Western Governors University (WGU) is one of the online universities that offers these degrees. They are fully accredited with fairly low tuition. It appears that WGU is on the up and up and not a fly by night online university. I have a cousin who got sucked into one of those and ended up with a worthless degree. This does not seem to be the case with WGU. It would be a perfect fit for someone who has established themselves but would like to go back to school.

Winter is Here

If you live in the midwest, you do not need to consult any web directories to know that winter has cast her cloak upon us. We have been slammed with snow, strong winds, freezing rain and cold temperatures in the past week. We went from the mildness of late fall to the dangerous conditions of winter all in a weeks time. I wish we could do that more gradually. For some reason, it happens this way every year. You would think I would be used to it by now! I do enjoy the winter though. The sparkling snow is so beautiful. It just makes me happy inside.

Finishing Up

Today I will be finishing up my Christmas shopping. This year's shopping has been easier than sending out communion invitations. I have whipped through my list pretty quickly with the help of Amazon. I just love to do some online shopping! The few things that I have left are all things that I need to get locally. Tom and the kids also have some shopping to do. Its nice that they are actually doing it before Christmas and not after. You have no idea how often I have not gotten anything under the tree. Generally the shopping for me is done after the holidays. Oh, well.

Who Needs 'Em

Who needs best weight loss pills when you have to drag 10 gallons of warm water outside to water the chickens in the winter? Come to think of it I wonder how many calories I burn on a winter morning hauling water, breaking ice, spreading around straw, stomping through the snow and filling feeders. All I know is that by the time I finally get back inside I am usually worn out! If we all lived like this all the time, diet pills would not exist. Its too bad everything is so automated in our world today.

Christmas Shopping

Surprisingly I am almost done with my shopping! I am quite sure at this time last year I had not even started. In fact, I think I was probably whining about not being able to shop at all. However, last year we decided to to do something akin to jumping on a franchise opportunity. We started a Christmas club account. That has got to be the best thing we have ever done! Putting away that tiny bit every week really helped with the shopping this year. So I have a few little things to pick up and I can say that I am officially done. Yay!