For the past year I have been driving a wonderful car. Mainly wonderful because it was free. I like that little word, FREE. A few problems with the car though: freeway driving was just a little scary, my dear husband faithfully changed the spark plugs ONCE A MONTH, I had to add oil every week.
One time one of my student's told his mother that "Mrs. Robinson really needs a new car". This little car has been in our family since 1982, handed down through the generations, starting with my great grandma, who moved to a retirment center years ago and no longer needs it. It will be passed from me to my little brother Dan who is coming home from Mexico in August. It's a good thing he is a mechanic.
I took the liberty of posting a personal add for him a few months ago (in fact he has ignored my attempts to find him a mate despite my success (I will press on no matter what!)) I have something to add to the personal add: Owner of a steel grey 1982 Honda Civic! Bring your own romantic music ladies because there's no radio to distract you from getting lost in his eyes...

Goodbye little grey car, I will miss you.

Extreme car makeover: BEFORE 

Extreme car makeover: AFTER 

Paul works on making a canoe rack for our truck. 

I just attended a Kindergarten Workshop for three days. What? you say. School during summer? Yes, I could actually get paid more if I take classes to further my education, and I need all the help I can get. One of our assignments was to go with our team to Dollar Tree, Big Lots, and Goodwill to find cheap and useful things for our classrooms. Let me tell you the dollar tree is my new favorite place. I also found a giant Clifford and a Dr. Suess game at goodwill. I won some free things as well and got lots of good ideas for my classroom next year.

Before you criticize a co-worker, walk a mile is his shoes. This way, when he gets angry, he'll be a mile away and barefoot.

I love best friends! My friend Sarah emailed me a test to take to see where I stood on the "type A, type b" scale. Turns out I am actually a "type b" personality. I am glad because the actual definition of a "type a" personality is quite scary. I don't think Paul is a "type a" either, though he definitely has some more obsessive tendencies than I. Do you know that he won't drink water from the bathroom sink just because it's in the bathroom? I fill my water glass from the bathroom sink all the time.
Something else I found out: I am of "average" intelligence! Hallelujah!
I will try to post the websites where you can take both the personality tests and the IQ tests. Let me warn you, they are addicting!

Our landlords got a new puppy, Dexter.  

Coming soon: EXTREME CAR MAKEOVER

We have been in Portland for the weekend and inevitably we run into old acquaintances, hear the latest news, etc. Upon hearing some happy news about another couple, Paul exclaimed, "hey, they stole our life." Indeed, at one time our goal was to end up exactly as they are living right now. For two rather "type A" personalities this can be rather maddening. What is more maddening however, is that we can be pretty sure that the life stealers actually stumbled upon our ideal life.
We are planners, list makers, consumer report readers, note takers. We are both first born children. Being this way comes in handy. People think you have it all together, and you usually do. What freedom we can find in stumbling though, in not knowing what the future holds. We are confident beyond a doubt that God has us in his palm.

arial view of our garden 

Anyone want to move to Kansas? They're giving away free land!

http://www.kansasfreeland.com/

I decided to change the format of my blog because my profile and information kept showing up at the bottom of the page. My friend Alysun had the same problem and I noticed that when she changed the format her profile popped back up to the top of the page. How does everyone like it? You can post a comment at the bottom of each post.

Warning: Before you view the pictures I have posted today, Paul asked me to remind you that he is married, and no matter how much you are tempted by his buffness and good looks, he will not answer your letters or phone calls.

Stand back ladies, he's all mine!

This morning Paul and I woke up as usual. As I was going about my morning routine I noticed that the house was strangely quiet. I found Paul outside, still in his pajamas (he calls them sleeping shorts) spraying for bugs. So dedicated! 

Look at that farmer's tan!  

I have a box of canned peaches sitting outside out backdoor on the railing because I have no more room in my cupboards. This morning Paul went out the backdoor (our backdoor opens to the inside of the barn) and there was a baby barn swallow in the box. I put on my garden gloves and took it out and it flew away. Well not really away but to some far corner of the barn where it will learn to divebomb us when we are coming and going to our cars. 

This is a red fox we saw at Mt. Ranier on Wednesday. He was only about three feet away from my car door. Actually he was so close that I was a little scared and I started to roll up my window. 

We did not go to Yosemite after all. We took a day trip to Mt. Ranier and it satisfied out outdoor cravings for a while. We want to go back to Mineral Lake in the town on Mineral, Washington to fish. Actually we would like to live in Mineral, Washington (population 250) someday. Paul and I bought fishing liscenses for the first time this year and so far we have caught one fish and boken one pole. We are about seventy dollars into this (liscenses, poles) and have one tiny little fish. My brother Daniel reminded me that most people don't really fish so that they can eat fish, they fish because it's a great hobby. He said this one time when I complained because I didn't catch anything one day. I guess this is true but I still like to think that I will eat enough fish this summer to come out on top!
So our sister in law, Anna, has inspired us to start our own business. She has started her own making _____(I won't tell because I don't want anyone to copy her idea). Paul is struggling to find a job this summer because the job market around Lewis County just really stinks. We decided to try and sell some of his pictures. We'll see how it goes. He has some really, really good ones and everyone is always encouraging him to sell them. We are in the process of learning how to use photoshop.
I am absolutely loving this summer break thing. Tomorrow we will garage sale (I always missed the good friday sales before school got out) and help out my brother (Pastor Kyle) at a youth group event. It's so nice to have time to do things that you enjoy doing. Before you get jealous remember that before school got out I was working like crazy! I will be working even more like crazy next year with kindergarten AND first grade. So I will enjoy this time now. I think I may be making up for lost blogging so pardon my longwindedness.

Penguin at the Point Defiance Zoo