*Rain, Rain go away...come again another day*

I love the rain don't get me wrong, and I love that our hills are turning green, and the draught is over, and there will be birds for Mike in October - However my cute husband does not work when it rains and that is not good. He is bored out of his mind which means he is driving me crazy. The kids and dogs have cabin fever as well. Here is the good news: 1. We don't have to water for a while, since our backyard is a mud whole. 2. The sun is out today 3. I grew up with a Dad that didn't work when it rained so it isn't too much of a shock 4. Rainbows always make me feel better 5. God has a plan 6. It won't last forever 7. I have a job that keeps me busy. 8 We can go on a family bike ride today( well the non sick people can) 9 Mike is learning guitar (finally)

I have also discovered (God showing me his plan for us), that my push to move to Oregon is out of the question, I will have to find us a new place to go. Work or no work, Mike doesn't function well in the rain, he is way too much of an outdoorsmen and having to be inside when it is raining is not a good thing. I guess I will just have to go visit the Parker's when they move.

Autism Speaks

One of my best friends has a son with Autism and I admire her strength through her learning process of "what is autism?", how it works, getting diagnosed and what can be done. For those of you parents out there who are blessed with healthy children, be thankful and give praise to God, but if you are so bold- take a stand and see what you can do to help the fight and awareness of Autism.

click on this website and watch the video ( one of my most favorite songs)

The band Five for Fighting will donate .49cents to Autism Speaks for each time the video is viewed -
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

**Going Green**..okay lime green

Mike and I have talked about wanting to "Go Green" in our house... but since we drive a diesel truck, and with no end it sight of a hybrid dually truck - we can only go "LIME" green.

We are starting off with small things - like changing to energy effecient light bulbs, reusable grocery bags, unplugging applicance that we aren't using(like coffee pot or toaster) or not running our heat all night...last night we bundled up and did not turn on the heat...okay I made Mike turn it on when he left for work since my nose was running and freezing. But it is off again this morning.

One thing I did see on Oprah (Mike is not a big fan but I told him just pay attention to the green part), was to have a "Home Energy Audit". I called Edison and they gave me the number of the contractor that they use - (800)278-8585. You need your So Cal Edison bill handy- they come out for free, give you a water saving kit, 6 light bulbs, and do an survey with you to determine usage. Then 2 weeks later they send you a final report. Mine is schedule for Feb 8th - will keep you posted on my results.

We can all do our part to save this wonderful earth God has given to us.

*My little guy*

Soren is sound asleep with his "new/old Buzz", that Matthew and Jacob gave him (thanks Diane..) He still really loves Buzz. Ofcourse he was in my bed and I rolled over and saw how cute he was so I got the camera and took a picture of him. He is in his new feet pj's that look like Buzz but really they are just outer space ones from Mervyns. I wish he could stay like this forever, so sweet and really wanting to cuddle with mommy (oh and Buzz).

Best Birthday gift EVER

What does 3 bags of trash, 3 bags for the goodwill, 3 loads of a laundry and $100.00 of dry cleaning get you.... The best birthday gift ever!

The Wales' family gave me "huggable hangers" from HSN and a coupon to clean out my closet.

Cami came over on Saturday and we tackled the closet. I really thought I had cleaned alot of it out and it would just be transfering clothes to the new hanger system, but boy was I wrong.

Cami "encouraged" me to get rid of the clothes that I did not wear and buy new stuff when I am a different size (smaller let's hope), especially since my closet consisted of clothes from Target, Kohl's and Walmart - I miss the days of shopping at Nordstrom and Macy's.... I'm going to bring back some "quality" to my wardrobe instead of quantity. Oh and poor Mike, he had some shirts on his (very small) side of the closet since we were dating. He now has 1 suit, 2 pairs of nice pants, 1 pair of jeans ( my favorite because his butt looks good in them) 2 pairs of hanging shorts (that means they are nicer then work shorts) and 3 shirts - GQ he is not.

Here is the finished closet - and let me tell you, it is so awesome. It is like a zen garden, if I am stressed out and overwhelmed, I just go in there and get inspired. Next is my craft area...

"What doesn't belong" Organized Chaos

Here is a picture of my work desk at home, it is a mess. Can you see what doesn't belong? Maybe the princess plate or the travel shampoo, or the headband (that no one even wears). I'm pretty sure some organzing guru or feng shui person would tell you that having your desk, where you work should be cleared of un necessary clutter. I promise to post a new desk photo soon. I need to incorporate the "touch it once" philosophy and my life would be that much more organzied.

This weekend I'm going to tackle my closet (you don't even want to see the pictures of that), and my pantry/laundry room, and my craft area/work area. I have been eye spying some really cool craft rooms on different blogs and websites. Need to prune the money tree to make it exactly how I want it... post worthy.

Vacation is over - Back to School

School time again... both kids were excited to get back to school and see their friends and learn (no seriously, they like to learn). Soren found out he was "student of the week" so he is very excited.

I love that my kids love their school, and love to learn. I don't love having to make lunches again and can't wait for Pizza Friday.

Isabella's new "pink" phone

Isabella had her first sleep over this past weekend, just for fun. 10 girls and mom (dad was out of town). They had a great time just hanging out and being 7 year old girls....oh and they did play with Isabella's new phone, and 911 got called (on mistake, since no one fessed up), well ...the sheriff showed up at the house since we didn't respond when they called back. We were upstairs and the girls were being girls and screaming and laughing, so the sheriff had to open the front door and make sure we were okay. It was quite a surprise to come downstairs and see him standing in the doorway saying "we got a 911 call". All the girls came downstairs so he could talk to them and let them know the importance of when to use 911. The girls were a bit scared which was good and hopefully a lesson was learned. It was a good feeling to know we live in a Country that we can call 911 but they now know that a phone is not a toy, even a cute pink phone. Mom should have taken the phone out of her room before the party started - lesson learned for her too!! Isabella was the first to sleep and finally at 2:30am Mom told the other girls to go to sleep.

New Year's at Red Mountain

Mike got his best New Years wish, Soren riding his Honda 50 and Isabella learning to shift gears on her pink warrior Honda 50. Soren was nervous at first but by the time we left he was doing right and left turns. He told us he is ready to sell the Lem quad.

Daddy and Isabella at the White House bar in Randsburg. We rode there on the polaris and Mike met us on his motorcycle.

Isabella and Riley had a blast riding Parker's go-cart through the ditch,

listen closely, it is too cute! Oh and the dogs almost get in the way.

my new blog

Just wanted to make sure this worked. I don't think I do anything special that I need a blog - besides just being a mom/wife, however I do think it would be a nice place to post what is going on in the Oursler household and I'm way too old for "myspace". I do enjoy reading a good blog, so maybe my friends and family will enjoy reading what is going on in our world and hopefully I can tell it with a bit of humor.

Our lives are so busy and as much as we all try to say we are going to slow in the New Year, it never seems to happen. Some multi tasker, overworked person probably created blogging!

Here is a picture of Mike and "the girls", pheasant hunting in South Dakota, opening weekend.

Hopefully I can get this to work all by myself and I don't have to ask my brother- in -law Chris for help.

xxox

caroline