This Week's Gratitude List

I'm grateful to be eating  April Fools' Day meatloaf cupcakes, while Glen is in China eating crocodile.  (he said it tasted like chewy chicken)...

I'm grateful for an up-to-date AAA membership that could come take care of our flat-as-a-pancake tire that happened the day Glen left town. 

 Oh yeah, and I'm also thankful for Glen's comfy coat that he left behind to keep me warm in all this cold drizzly weather. 


I'm grateful for fun food, like these "mashed potato" cupcakes.  They looked surprisingly realistic and were totally worth the cheat day. 

Which brings me to being grateful for holiday traditions, in general, although it is a little shocking at how many of them revolve around food at our house....

I'm grateful for amazing people that have made Cami's year of homeschool all the more fabulous.  This is a glimpse at her Statesman class, which was 1000% better education than any public school social studies class ever could have been. 

I'm grateful for modern technology, because I love technology, but not as much as Glen, you see, but I still love technology.  Always and forever. 

Oh wait, I guess I got a bit distracted there.   

I'm grateful for the technology that makes it possible for Glen and I to exchange texts while he's in China. 

And I'm also grateful for friends that would never judge me based on the number of fingerprints that happen to be on my phone's screen right now. 



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Eeeeeek!

There's a mouse under our table!






But for my jokester siblings who hacked my blog yesterday, Emma definitely would have won the prize for the best April Fools' joke of the year. Yikes! My heart is still pounding with trepidation.

Stepping Back?

Those of you who are faithful followers of our blog know that we have been having some serious issues with almost every major modern convenience that we have in our house (i.e. fridge, garbage disposal, washer, dryer, phone, computer, forks, knives, butter churns, etc.). I spent hours crying and seriously pondering what might be the cause of all these problems. . . and what potential solutions are available to us. About two weeks ago, Glen and I came up with the perfect solution. Glen was able to find a hundred acres of beautiful mountain property in West Virginia, so we quickly put it under contract. Then, about a week ago, we put our house on the market. Ever since, I have been busy buying overalls, straw hats, hand guns, rifles, ammo, gardening supplies, pink flamingos and gnomes, a metal bathtub (for the front yard), ducktape and as many country musics CDs that we can find. We traded in our minivan for a pickup truck and the Corolla for a 1982 Camaro. Glen, Spencer, and Adam are each under strict directions to grow out a mullet as soon as possible. It may sound crazy, but Glen and I have been discussing moving to a smaller town for quite some time and trying to live off the land. We figure with the number of problems we have with technology, it may make our life a whole lot easier.

We have decided the hills of West Virginia may be the perfect place for our family. Our main goals with our move to West Virginia are:

1. Teach our kids the value of hard work. No more playing the Wii, listening to their ipods, or having any other type of fun.

2. Avoid cleaning -- really what is the point of sweeping up a dirt floor.

3. Grow all of our own food. We have already purchased a happy cow from California named Bessie off craigslist that should be arriving shortly.

4. Save a ton of money, so we can make sure our kids get the best junior high education that money can buy. Our goal is to make sure that each of our kids get at least a 10th grade education.

Wish us luck. We will miss all of you very much! Feel free to come visit anytime -- we will make sure we have a few extra clean hay bales in the barn waiting for you.