weekend fun

On Saturday we decided to have a double dose of fun!  Fist we took our little pumpkin to the Pumpkin Patch at the Agrirama (huh-hem, excuse me, the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village) here in Tifton.

We had a good time...mostly (to be explained in a moment).  Ben loves riding the train there and he had a fantastic time playing in the corn box (like a sandbox, but filled with dried corn kernels).

In case you can't see it, and who could really, Ben is making a corn angel here.
Happily the sand sifter he's laying on looks just like his halo! (Totally unplanned!)

 He completely covered in corn and corn dust when he got out of there!!  Also on the P-Patch menu - a big tractor that was AMAZING and a huge seesaw!

 

So now to the not so much fun part - we were headed to the corn maze when I took a spill on a sandy, pebble infested downhill slope.  I landed on my knee and, of course, injured my poor self.  My scrape had bits of gravel and sand in it and still hurts even now, three days later.  But I mommed-up (which, by the way should totally be the phrase, not manned-up, because if Jeff or Ben had fallen and gotten my kind of injury, no way would we have stayed) and we enjoyed the train ride and more corn box time even though I was bleeding and hobbled.  Ben didn't really want to do the corn maze anyway, so, no big loss there.  :-)

Later that evening we went to a friend's new home to watch the LSU / FL game.  We enjoyed good food (Jeff made some fabulous chili for chili dogs) and our Ben got play with our friends' son, Ben (we call him 'little Ben').  They had fun with the alphabet magnets on the fridge and going up and down the stairs in the backyard!

Sunday we worshiped and relaxed and our weekend came to a close in a peaceful and wonderful way.  It's so nice to have an enjoyable and truly relaxing weekend every once and while!    :-)

how can sick be so cute?

So Ben has had a super crazy cold for the last week now.  It all started with a  fever early Saturday morning and then a cough and sore throat developed on Sunday.  His fever finally went away so he could go back to school on Tuesday - which was very important because his class was taking a field trip to the fire station and it simply would not have done for Ben to have missed that trip!  Anyway, his sore throat and cough persisted a few more days, but it is pretty much gone now.  Where is the cuteness in all of this you ask?  Well, as a result of the sore throat and heinous cough, Ben pretty much lost his voice.  Everytime he spoke he sounded like the tiniest most adorable child sound you can think of.  It was deliciously wonderful to hear.  I know that sound was a result of illness, which is never fun, but it was such a cute, cuddly, adorable sound that it was almost worth it!  Ben even enjoyed his "funny voice" as he kept calling it.  Ahhh, these are the days I hope we will remember. :-)

sweet

Ben climbed into bed with me this morning carrying this little travel pillow he has.  He told me the pillow was his baby, a boy, and asked me to hold him.  He made me so happy with his cuteness and so sad, cause I really would love to have a baby to hold, almost as much as Ben wants a sibling.  Then he went and got another small pillow from his room and brought it to me and told me it was my baby, a girl.  We named her Gracie.  Ben's pillow baby, by the way, was baby daddy.  I'm thinking he might be missing Jeff! ;-)

Both babies were abandoned after about 20 minutes so Ben could have some breakfast.  Ah well, I guess parental nurturing only goes so far in a male 4 year old who's hungry. :-)

random

Ben's Pre-K4 class took a field trip yesterday to the bowling alley.  They are learning about the Netherlands and guess where bowling was invented...  :-)  He had a great time and want Meff and I to take him again soon!

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I have been teaching two computer classes for the homeschool co-op at my church (4th-6th and 7th-12th).  My primary foci for each class have been keyboarding, Microsoft Word, and internet safety.  I only have two classes left and I cannot believe that the entire 6 weeks have almost flown by already!

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Jeff is going out of town this afternoon for a conference he in speaking at in Panama City, FL.  He gets the adeded bonus of seeing his mom and his St. Joe buds while he is there.  I know he is going to do great and have a great time to boot!  Ben and I are staying in Tifton to accomodate Ben's thriving social schedule.  He has a pirate themed birthday party to go to tomrrow as well as the public library's celebration of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which is next week.  Tomorrow is going to be a very piratey day (aaaarrrggghhh!) and if Ben doesn't behave, he may just have to walk the plank!!

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So, does anyone else enjoy the totally awful programming that is BRAVO.  It's awful, I know, but I just eat it up!  Rachel Zoe, the Jersey and NY housewives, Betheny, and on and on...  I know I shouldn't watch, but its just so awful...its like a train wreck you can't help but wrench around to see and then you cannot tear your eyes away from!  Someone help me!  :-)

parenting

I have been doing a lot of thinking about, praying about, reading about and actually living out some serious parenting recently.  Ben is growing up - fast.  I am amazed everyday by how much he has changed/grown and how quickly it is happening.  When he was an infant I could always sense when things were about to change (i.e.: nap schedule adjustments, changing the amount formula or food he needed at each feeding, etc.) and could almost stay one step ahead so that transitions were practically seamless and he, because he was a great baby, pretty much always responded well to my adjustments to his life and we all kept moving forward - happy and satisfied.  We are not so far removed from those days, but I already find myself yearning for the simplicity of those "problems."  :-)

It's obvious to me that Ben is making a pretty big transition right now from being a toddler to being a school-age kid whose starting to see and interact with the world and me in a whole new way.  While I guess I knew this time would come, it's kind of snuck up on me and I find I am not as prepared to deal with the challenges as readily as would like.  Perhaps you experienced parents out there would tell me that this is only the beginning of many, many years of being unprepared for what my child is going to throw at me!  :-)

Through talking with other parents, talking with Jeff, reading most of "Shepherding A Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp (like my awesome sis-in-law, Kim), and, strangely enough, studying the book of Jonah in Sunday School at church, I have learned quite a lot about what I think the goal of my parenting should be.  I believe that my job as Ben's mother is to, as Dr. Tripp put it, shepherd Ben's heart.  I am supposed to love him,  teach him, guide him, protect him, care for him - yes, all of that - but even more so I am supposed to guide him using the Word and the daily example of my word and deeds to live a godly life.  When he does wrong I am supposed to do more thank correct his outward behavior - his heart must be penetrated with God's truth so that he not only sees that WHAT he did was wrong but that his HEART'S MOTIVATIONS for doing it was wrong too.

So what does that look like day in and day out?  I am still parsing that out.  On the one hand I have in the past been very strict, almost heavy handed when it comes to discipline and God does compel parents to discipline their children. On other hand God is gracious and merciful where I am often angry and unforgiving.  So the result thus far has been a lot more and certainly deeper conversations with Ben about God - about His ways, His Word, His expectations - and a whole lot of me apologizing for being cruel where I should be gentle, being permissive where I should stand firm, and being honest with Ben about my own shortcomings so that he knows its okay to fail and to seek forgiveness.  Is it working?  I don't know.  Yes?  Maybe?  Perhaps only time will tell.  I just pray that God can use me in spite of myself to raise Ben up to be a godly man who loves Him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

wanna learn a requiem mass with me?

So I am a member of the Tifton Choral Society and we are doing a Sept 11 Memorial Concert.  We are going to sing Saint Saens' Requiem Mass and Bach's Dona Nobis.  I just found out today that I am singing the alto solos in the Mass and I am freaking out a bit.

So, no promises about the quality of my performance two weeks from now, but if you are in Tifton and available, you should totally come to St. Anne's Episcopal on Sunday afternoon, Sept 11th for our concert.  It should be (mostly) great!  :-) I think the concert begins at 3, but I may not be remembering that right.  I wlil have to get back to you....

blah

Ever just wake up in a bad mood?  Perhaps something that happened right before you went to bed or even something you dreamed about put you in a bad frame of mind and you wake up feeling emotions that you, frankly, can't really explain and can't seem to shake?  Well, that's today for me.  Things have been so unbelievably busy recently that I feel like I have had no down time.  No time for me and Jeff, no time to really play with Ben.  No time to get all my work and/or housework done.  I'm overwhelmed with crap I should be doing and completely underwhelmed by my desire to actually do it.  So, all that to say -- Pity Party at my house!.....ughh, but then I would have to do all that stuff I am too overwhelmed to do, so, never mind.

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Ben started his Pre-K year at First Methodist Preschool and I am so excited for him!  He has really enjoyed his class so far and seems to be making friends (not that I was worried about that) with some of the 10 kids he did not already know.  There are 14 kids in Ben's class total and he already knew three of them from last year, which is always nice - makes the transition a little easier, I think.  He is excited about going to Kindergarten next year and, although it's a year away, he talks about it almost every day.  He has decided that he is very grown up. :-)

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My parents moved to Alabama over the summer into my Great Grandmother's old house.  It's a great house and great property and I know they will be happy there.  We are bummed that they went from being only 2 hours away to now being about 7 hours away, though. (it's really only a 5 1/2 hr drive, but by the time you make a few stops and eat a meal, its seems like 7 is what to expect for total trip time). We have already had a fun visit to Greensboro and hope to go again in the next couple of months.  With it being such a long trip now, it seems like we need at least four days in order to have enough time there and to make the drive worth it, you know?

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Yesterday we went to a Farewell Party for our friend Knox Brown who will be leaving next week to go to grad school at UCLA.  Jeff and he are great buds - kindred intellectual spirits, so to speak - and he will be missed.  I think Jeff wishes he could go to.  This is such an exciting time in Knox's life and its easy to think about how great its going to be and wish for that time back in your own life.  Once you are married and have kids, life changes, whether you like it or not....mostly you do like it, but there are always those moments..... like when you hate your house, your job, yourself, and your life in general.

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My coupons are a disaster from being out of town so much this summer, but my goal this week is to get them back in shape.  I got a new binder to inspire me.  We'll see.....

6/12 couponing redux

Busy, busy!  But I had to share my success today!  I will try to post more "real" information soon!!  :-)


Walgreens
2 bottles Osteo Biflex
2 boxes (5ct) Wal-fex (Walgreens brand Allegra)
3 Nestle Crunch bars
6 Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner
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Total Retail: $71.07
Total Spent: $15.37
79% Saved!!

CVS
4pk Charmin TP
2 boxes (20ct) Motrin PM
1 Shick Hydro 5 razor
1 bottle Nyquil
6 boxes TicTacs
2 Off! Mosquito Repellent Clip ons
2 12-packs Diet Dr. Pepper
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Total Retail: $71.73
Total Spent: $10.48
85% Saved!!!

send me your old, your new. your huddled masses of COUPONS waiting to be used!

And no, I am not even kidding.  If you get a paper on Sundays and you don't use the coupons, I totally want you to mail them to me!  I have become what some might call addicted to couponing.  However, I will try not to talk only about that so...

First let me tell you what Ben has become addicted to:  Star Wars.  He cracks me up.  Half the time he walks around like C3P0 the other half he talks about Darth Vader and the Death Star and Ewoks and Han Solo.  He has seen movies 1, 2, 4, and 6, has the Lego Star Wars Wii game, and has a Star Wars book that we read before bed almost every night.  He doesn't know it yet, but I even bought him some Star Wars bandages at Target yesterday - and yes I had a coupon!...2 actually, (a Target one for a $1 off and a manufacturer one for $1 off) so I only paid $.46 for the box.  Woot!  But, getting back to Ben, he has what I like to call, an obsession.  Jeff frames it in a much nicer way by saying that, like him, Star Wars has captured Ben's imagination.  All I know is my son walks around constantly humming Darth Vador's theme music - dun dun dun duh da dun duh da dun!  It's hilarious to hear him humming that in the background of everything he does.  He even tries to get other people to play Star Wars with him.  I am always Princes Leia (because I'm a girl, as Ben says).  Sometimes though, I do get to have gun so I can help shoot the bad guys!  :-)  Lol!  My little man, he is just growing up so fast.

Ok, back to my addiction!  Yesterday morning I woke up at 6 a.m.  Now for those of you who know me well, you know that is beyond crazy and there must have been an extrememly good reason for it, right?  And the reason is - shopping.  No, I am not kidding.  Me, who 10 years ago hated shopping so much that Jeff did all of our grocery shopping.  I know.  It's crazy.  Well, our Walgreen's opens at 7 a.m., and I was determined to be the first customer through the doors so that I could get all the deals I was hoping to score. And  I so did!!!!  So here is the break down of my Walgreen's awesomeness:

4 Gillette Body Wash
2 Gillette Deodorant
1 Gillette Fusion ProGlide Razor w/ 2 cartridges
1 bag of peppermints $.49
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Total retail price: $39.83
After coupons and RR I paid: $11.35
Register Rewards (RR) I got back: $15.00


So essentially they paid me $3.65 to take those items out of their store.  Crazy, huh?  I ended up using $10 in Register Rewards to buy 4 12-packs of A&W root beer and 7up since they had them on sale 4 for $10. So I got those for FREE!  And I still have $5 RR for my next trip to Walgreen's!  Overall my numbers at Walgreens are:  Retail $51.83  /  Paid $11.35  /  Saved 78%



At 7:30 a.m. I floated out of Walgreen's in a haze of couponing glory and headed on over to CVS for my next battle.  :-)  I'm pretty sure I won, but here is the break down of all the action.

Transaction #1 - using Jeff's card
5 Vitaminwaters
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Total retail: $8.45
After coupons I paid $2.25
Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) I got back: $2

Transaction #2 - using my card
2 gallons milk
1 8ct Excedrin Migraine
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Total retail: $8.57
No coupons
ECBs I got back: $2.99

Transaction #3 - using my card
2 Vitaminwaters
3 Honest Tea
2 Oral-B Pulsar toothbrushes
1 Giant Bottle Crest Mouthwash
1 jumbo pack of Huggies
1 Rimmel Lip Gloss
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Total retail: $40.83
After coupons & ECBs I paid: $4.52

ECBs I got back: $12.50

Transaction #4 - using my card
30 ct Allegra 24 hour
3 snack packs of peanuts
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Total retail: $24.49
After coupons & Ecbs I paid: -$1.01


So overall I did great at CVS!  Retail: $82.34  /  Paid: $14.33  /  Saved 82%   That is just crazy.  Its like I went in to buy Jeff's Allegra and came out with all the other items for free!!!


Man do I love coupons!!  I have to give a big shout out to Jenny at www.southernsavers.com and Collin at www.hip2save.com.  I could not do all this without their super awesome blogs and all their helpful advice.  Also, to my friends Nicole and Missy, without whom I would never have even begun this crazy coupling journey.  In fact Missy likes to remind me that a little more than a year ago I was scoffing and laughing at her for being so coupon obsessed.  Ha!  look at me now.  Now I am the crazy coupon lady.  Oh my!  :-)


So, anyway, by the time I got to church at 8:45 a.m., I was already tired, but I had a big day ahead of me.  Thankfully being at church, worshiping God, fellowship with my family and friends, that always brings refreshment.  So by the time our potluck lunch at church was over, I was ready for the second half of my shopping marathon!  My friend Heather Mayfield and I loaded up in my van and we headed down to Valdosta to shop at Target and Publix.  We left Tifton about 1:15p.m. and got back at about 5:45 p.m.  Not too bad considering we spent 1.5 hours driving.

I had great success at both stores and I am sure you don't really care what I bought, but here are the totals:

Target   retail: $40.39  /  paid: $10.54  /  saved 74%
Publix   retail: $195.53  /  paid: $75.04  /  saved 62%



Well, I am exhausted just looking at all these numbers, but yesterday, while tiring, was truly fun and exhilarating.  Not only did I buy $370.09 worth of stuff for only $111.26  out of pocket (a 70% savings overall!), but I also had a fantastic time with my friend.  And you know, girl time, really is priceless.  Thanks for coming withe me, Mayfield!  :-)

time flies

May has come and almost gone in a blink!  I cannot believe it is almost June.  As is typical with our family, things have been a bit crazy.  We just got home from a visit with Nina (Jeff's mom) in Port St. Joe.  Jeff and Ben went down on Sunday and spent several days fishing and hanging out with Nina while I worked and ran around like a crazy person up here in Tifton.  Both my boys caught fish and Ben even hooked a blue crab with his tiny Lightning McQueen fishing pole!  :-)

On Thursday I left to join them in PSJ.  On my way I stopped in Tallahassee to shop at Target and Publix.  I scored great deals at both places!  At Target I got Jeff's favorite deoderant for $.73 each,  I got my favorite Glade room sprays for $1 each and I got two boxes of Zantac for $.21 each!  Woot!  But my best couponing experience ever was at Publix.  I got 6 bags of Pedigree Dentastix, two bottles of Wishbone salad dressing, and 4 boxes of Ronzoni pasta for...wait for it...$0.00!  It was awesome!!  You just can't do better than free, so I was very, very excited!

Jeff boiled us some shrimp, corn and potatoes for dinner after I got into town.  It was AWSOME!  On Friday, we spent all day in Panama City with the Colravy family.  We had a great time with them at their house and at the beach and then wrapped up our evening at Olive Garden.  It was so great to catch up with our dear friends!  Oh how we love and miss them!

Saturday was hang out with Nina day!  We went to the Farmer's market and to the Piggly Wiggly where I scored some great couponing deals on Crackerfuls and Chex Mix!  Then we hung out at the house.  Jeff made us burgers, onoin rings, and fried green tomatoes for dinner - can you say YUM?!

On Sunday I got to do all my CVS-ing at the brand new CVS in PSJ.  It opened that day!  It was so cool to shop in a brand new fully stocked store!  I got every single deal I was looking for!  I spent $46 for about $200 worth of stuff which included 4 Coke 12 packs, 5 bottles of spray sunscreen, 4 bottles of body wash, two deoderants, 2 bottles of fingernail polish, 2 cans of shaving gel, a box of Advil, a box of Thermacare heat wraps, a pack of gum, a box of q-tips, a box of Always, and other stuff I can't remeber right now!  It was a pretty great trip even if I did do 5 transactions!  Then we all enjoyed Sunday woship at Highland View Baptist Church with Nina.  It was a nice, relaxing day.

We came home on Monday and after unpacking the car for what seemed like an hour, we finally got settled into the house.  Scout welcomes us home with much tail wagging and heavy breathing!!  Thanks to our frined Sheri for feeding her and watering our tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, and cucumbers whole we were gone!

Now that Ben is out of school and Jeff is between semesters we are taking our schedule day-by-day as far as when we work/write, who has Ben when, etc.  Soon, though Jeff will start teaching again for the summer and we will fall back into some sort of rythym.  Poor Ben is likely to go stir crazy if we don't figure out some cool things to do, however.  Any suggestions?

happy easter!

The Lord is risen!  He is risen indeed!


Hope you all have a fantastic day and take time to give glory to the creator, sustainer, and redeemer of all things

$aving the green

So my crazy couponing friends at church gave a little Couponing 101 workshop to the ladies of New Life (and anyone else from the community that wanted to attend).  It was great and I have to say that each week, they seem less and less crazy...   :-)

I have begun by getting coupons from the Sunday paper for the last two weeks and printing off coupons from the internet.  If you, like me, are thinking about starting to coupon, then the most important thing is to begin collecting your coupons.  I have mine organized in a binder using baseball card holders (thanks Nicole and Missy!) and separated into sections like breakfast, freezer section, dairy case, medication, cleaning supplies, hair & beauty, etc., etc...

I have also begun CVS-ing.  At CVS you can earn extra care bucks(ecbs) back on certain purchases.  last week, for example I used some coupons and shopped at CVS specifially targeting the items I could get ECBs for and then simply buying some items that we need and that they had on sale and I had a coupon for.  I bought $120 worth of stuff (regular price retail value) and spent $36.  My friend Missy actually told me that once I get really good at this, I will spend more like $4 for a $100 worth of stuff.  Can't wait for that day!  :-)

So there is a fantastic website that anyone (but especially those of us in the South) can use to help manage the couponing chaos - www.southernsavers.com   Go there.  It is awesome and totally worth your time to look through.


Anyway, all that to say, that if you get the Sunday paper and don't want your coupons, feel free to mail them to me!  I can totally put them to good use!  :-)

frustration

That word just about sums up my attitude toward Ben right now.  It has been a hellashious week and I don't think he could possibly frustrate and push my buttons more.  I am sure he will give it a go, however.  So, to all you moms and dads who have, not acting on this impulse, of course, but have felt the impulse to punch your kid in the face....I am so with you.

supper time

The lasagna I made for dinner just got done and is now cooling! I can barely contain myself!  It's gonna be so good. :-)

playing catch-up

Wow.  Am I super behind with my blogging or what?!  Well here is what has been keeping me busy for the last two months:

Jeff's Graduation:  That's right, folks.  My PhD earning husband got hooded!  The whole family headed up to Athens for Jeff's graduation in mid-December.  I am so proud of him!!  All the Newberrys came as well as my mom, Ted, Kim, and Jonah, Grandmother, and Uncle John.  It was craziness and super awesome fun!  My super cute nephew Jonah is getting so big and he is such a great baby!  It was fun to see him before he is not a baby anymore. :-)

 

Pre-Christmas: After Jeff's graduation we had an early Newberry family Christmas  It was great to hang with the family and have a great time eating and exchanging gifts!  Also, Joe and Ashley came to my Tifton Choral Society Christmas concert, so that was super special!

Mourning The Loss of A Friend:  Our friend Eric Cash passed away on the 18th, the day we came home from Athens, after an 8 month battle with lung cancer.  His funeral was on December 22.  We are still missing him very much and grieving for Erin, Elizabeth and Eliot.  On a wonderful note, Jeff and I became Eliot's godparents on the 19th when he and Elizabeth were baptized at St. Anne's Episcopal.

Illness: I began what ended up being an 8 day long stomach illness the day we left Athens that continued until Christmas day.  It was awful.  Blech!

Christmas Eve:  On Christmas Eve we went to our church's service and it was great.  I love our church family!

Christmas:  My parents came up from Tally for Christmas and enjoyed present opening and our traditional ribeyes on the grill!  Ben played Santa and watching him open his gifts was lots of fun and the steaks were AMAZING!!  My hubby is the grill master!

Boston:  From December 29-January 5 I went to visit my super awesome brother and his family in Boston.  It was so great to see Chip, Shannon, Aurora, and new baby Escher, especially since it had been so long since the last time I had seen them.  Aurora has gotten so big and Escher is such a cutie.  I am a blessed Aunt. :-)  Boston was super cool - literally.  Thankfully I got there post blizzard so while I got to enjoy several feet of snow, it did not actually snow while I was there.  Chip and Shan took such good care of me, got me shoes I could wear it the snow, took me to Salem and got me a lobster, and took me into Boston too.  It was a great trip!

Illness: I got a cold while I was in Boston and it took forever for it to go away!  Also, I got diagnosed with carpal tunnel (yay! :-(  )  so I am wearing a brace on my right hand and getting treatment for that.

PresWIC:  I finished my second term as PresWIC secretary for Central Georgia on January 8th at our meeting in Macon.  It was such a great experience and after a couple years of burn-out recovery, I hope to serve on the Council again.  Working for the ladies of Central Georgia is truly a blessing.

Teaching: A few weeks ago I began teaching a website creation class for the home school co-op that meets at our church.  I have 15 7th-9th graders and after three classes, I can say that they are doing a great job.  We are using a free online website creation site call Weebly.com.  I made a site for our class (heathernewberry.weebly.com) and after discussing with my kids terminology, good and bad design, elements of design, etc. they are now each making their own sites. In a few weeks they will present their sites to the class.  Most of them are really making the most of it and seem to be having a great time. :-)


Illness:  Ben got the flu on MLK day and within a few days gave it to me and Jeff.  It was awesome. :-(  After a week, we were essentially recovered and have now all gotten back to school and work.

Well, as you can see the last few months have been crazy.  I hope yours were not nearly as busy as mine and that you have been much healthier than us too!  Unless providentially hindered, I plan to update a bit more frequently now that things have calmed a bit, but no promises! :-)