updates on a few things.

(I'm assuming there are still at least a few people out there reading this blog.  And going on that assumption, I'm going to make another one.  That some of you out there reading this actually care about the fact that I haven't posted anything in a whole week.)

Seems to me that it's about time to post a few updates on things from my post a few weeks back.

on the homefront...

A few of us last Friday on Matt's birthday, at a friend's house.  :)

 The kids & I have been doing better with our Bible time.  It doesn't always happen in the morning, but most weekdays we are sitting down together to pray & read our Bibles together.  Schoolwork-wise, it's not all getting done before lunch.  We're still working on that one.

my art business...

My favorite of my newest paintings.  :)

I've been doing a lot of research on art fairs and have learned a lot.  If you want to read more about that, click here.  I've also been painting more and getting more pieces done... click here to see my latest two.  I just started two more paintings yesterday.

the beach house...

Wow, summer is SUPER-BUSY when it comes to managing our vacation rental!  I feel like I have a phone attached to my head sometimes, what with all the calls I've been making and receiving in regard to guests, housekeeping, advertising, repairs, etc.   And I've been fielding *lots* of emails, as well!

A fun little plaque in our "Sailors Cove" room at the Beach House... Marissa found this at a garage sale up there a few years ago, and it was just perfect for that room. :)  (If you'd like to read it, click on it and it will get bigger.)

We have found someone to take over the housekeeping job.  Thank you, God!!  :)  She is currently still getting accustomed to all the duties and I pray she won't be too overwhelmed by it all.  As it turns out, I didn't even have to post a classified ad... all I did was mention the need on Facebook and a friend told us about someone that we already knew who was interested.  It's cool to see how God answered prayers for both her and us with this job! :)

hoa stuff...

Well, we continue to have meetings with other homeowners in our community.  I did decide to run for the vacant HOA board seat.  We'll see if the board appoints me to fill the vacancy... it's only a few months until elections, but in the meantime, they can't get anywhere with only 4 people on the board.  They are constantly dead-locked without that fifth person to break their ties.

and a couple other things...

pigeons...

Yes, pigeons.  Remember my pigeon post?  Well, later that week we ended up accidentally killing two of the pigeons.  Accidentally.  One of them walked into the garage under the van, and we closed the garage door.  Jesse later discovered it, dead... apparently, the heat in the closed garage was just too much for it.  And the next day, I accidentally backed over a pigeon that was sitting behind the Suburban. 

The young pigeons have learned to fly now, so we haven't had any more mishaps, but I was starting to feel pretty horrible about it all!

gadgets...

The J brothers, showing off our new gadgets.

We recently got a Kindle... the one with 3G, which means we can connect for free to the Internet supposedly anywhere.  We got an amazing deal on it, with leftover credit card points and a couple of Amazon gift cards.  This will be so great when we start back up full-force with school next month, since we use a literature-based curriculum.  I love the feel of the Kindle and being able to read bedtime stories to the kids without having to prop open a book or turn the pages.  Currently, we're reading a Mark Twain book that I had never heard of before I saw it for free in the Kindle store.  So far, we have 61 free things in our Kindle library and haven't had to spend a penny.  :)

This week, we got a free ipod touch!  Yes, you read that right.  FREE!  It was a thank-you gift from a bank for signing up for a new account.  (We only signed up to get the free gift, but we do actually like the bank.)  Oh, my, is that little thing addicting!  Wow. 

I told Matt yesterday that I feel like the earth is going to stop moving and everyone is going to fall off because we have these new electronic devices.  If you know us very well, you do have to admit that it IS really weird.  *We* normally aren't the ones who have the brand new, latest gadgets, and now we've added several in the past two weeks, when you factor in getting a new TV converter box and me upgrading Matt's Tracfone for his birthday gift.

Well, I guess that's about it.  I'm going to sign off for now and get on the phone for a couple of Beach House-related items.  Hope your summer is going well!