I was looking around at Michael's a few weeks ago and found a new Sugar and Cream yarn -- Stripes! It is so cool. I love the look of it when worked in my dish cloth pattern. Take a look...







The last two don't have their ends tucked in yet. Aren't they pretty colors?!

On the school front...

We are still wrapping up our school year. Both girls will be working on Math through the summer and by the end of this week should be mostly done with the remaining subjects.

On the family front...

We are planning a vacation back to Colorado for the first part of July!!! Yea!!! Family reunion with Bill's family and reconnecting with old friends.

On the business front...

Real Estate is driving Bill crazy, the market is insane. We have started a new business as ACN Representatives. Here is a link to my website if you want to take a look: Margie Murray/ACN It is our plan to build a business that will support our family and allow me to remain at home while Bill is becoming less dependant on Real Estate for our support.

Happy Summer everyone!

Thanks for all of the prayers and concerns. PeeWee has made it through the weekend. He is being spoiled by drinking Gatorade from a syringe and eating high water fruits and veggies. He mostly sleeps all the time but is still sweet as ever when he is awake. I am confident that the dehydration is improving, not sure about the kidney failure.

Saturday was Mikayla's formal. She looked stunning!!!

  Mikayla and her friend Emma departing full of anticipation and excitement.

So pretty!
















My girl is growing up!




Unfortunately, the night was a huge disappointment. This formal was with a group that the girls have neither one done a lot with. They thought that since their small group of close friends were going it would be tons of fun, but it didn't work out that way.

Note: If you plan a formal event, teens like fast music and not The Melting Pot for dinner. :(

Surprise, I am posting again. I wonder if anyone is even still reading.

Things have changed a bit here at Xanga. I posted something a week ago and it never appeared on my public page. Guess I have some techy stuff to re-learn.

Our really good news is that Bill's show of Who Wants to be a Millionaire finally aired this past week. He went to New York on October 8th for filming. Famous names week was this week and Bill Murray won $25,000. Such a blessing!!! We will receive the check for winnings in 10 to 30 days. Although Bill told Meredith he would buy me a real diamond ring to replace the cubic zirconium one he got me for my 50th birthday, we may look at buying a house. Not sure yet.

Mother's are such a special blessing from God and I've been blessed with one of the best. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you so much!!!

I was just thinking that it is hard to believe that it has been over a month since I have made an entry here. But then I thought, considering all that has been happening, it isn't all that hard to believe.

Our snow that I posted pictures of in the last entry was very short lived. Las Vegas did make national and international news with the snow that came through the day after our came because that hit the strip and closed the airport. We are on the very far west side of Vegas and no official weather reading are recorded from here. Thus, our snow didn't count for much but a whole lot of fun for the girls. While many of you are freezing and blanketed in record snows, we are enjoying "spring-like" weather. Today was near 70!

I started a part-time job a couple of weeks before Christmas. I am currently working from 5AM until 9AM (Monday through Friday) at Bruegger's Bagels. Our local franchise is owned by a Christian man that is trying to get his business off the ground and build a future for his autistic son. We have much in common as his wife home schools their two children, he needed mature, dependable help and well...we needed money.

Unfortunately, I completely underestimated the impact of this position on me physically (I'm no spring chicken any more) and my family. Although I try to get to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 getting up at 3:30AM is exhausting. I cannot make it through the day without a nap. I have not had the energy to home school my daughters as I should. Sleep deprivation leaves me foggy brained (no matter how much coffee I consume) and grouchy. Mercedes is not handling the fact that Mom isn't home in the mornings when she gets up at all well. She is acting out almost constantly. While she has always had her "bad days," the bad are begining to far out number the good. Mikayla is struggling with being stuck with the responsibility of managing an out of control younger sister and her countenance is one of anger. It breaks my heart to see this happening. Last Monday, I gave my notice.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to over-see the home schooling of a girl that has moved into our apartment complex. I was all set to help out this Christian, single mom by allowing her daughter to participate in our home school days and make some money doing what I love while being home with my daughters. The girl is Mercedes' age and they would have been great friends. Unfortunately, the mom had a huge, unexpected dental bill and can't pay me until she pays off the dentist and finds an additional job (something she was planning on anyway).

Bill has been working 10 hour days, 7 days a week. The real estate market is really awful. Prices are low but banks are extremely difficult to work with and each sale takes way more work and time to close for smaller commissions. He is frustrated and discouraged.

The holidays came and went without much fanfare this year. I did no special baking and barely managed to get some decorations up. We were unable (both from a work standpoint and financially) to go visit Bill's parents as we had planned. I worked Christmas Eve morning and the day after Christmas as well as New Year's Eve morning and New Year's Day. It didn't seem like much of a special time.

Things are returning to routine at last. I will be working through Tuesday of this coming week (possibly longer) and then we will be able to return our focus to academics. I need routine as much as the girls do.

Mikayla continues with her guitar lessons. She is one of the best music readers her instructor has ever had. She is really playing beautifully and enjoying her music.

Both girls are enjoying 4H. Today their club had a mounted meeting. It was a perfect day for horseback riding.

Until next time (which won't be as long, I promise!) May God Bless Each of you dear readers.

I had all the very best of plans to be posting more. It seemed that we had settled into our routines and blogging time might return. That was, until I got the call....

Monday night while driving to pick Mikayla up from youth group my cell phone rings. "Mom, are you on your way to get me?" Me, "yes, I'm about half way there. Why?" "I just threw up, that's why."

And thus began our night. About 11:30 as I was holding Mikayla's head over her bucket, Mercedes began to cough. Mikayla says, "Mom, Mercedes is sick too." And so it continued, one or the other, or both at the same time, every 5 minutes, until some time after 4AM. It was a l-o-n-g night. Tuesday both girls were running fevers and afraid to even try to swallow tylenol. I was catching sleep as I could to avoid joining the ranks in the infirmary. Wednesday and today I have been a mad-bleaching (read carefully to avoid getting the wrong idea-lol) woman, disinfecting anything I can squirt my bleach solution on. Fevers are gone and food is starting to sound better. We are officially on the mend.

We have cancelled all activities for the week and school is on the back burner until tomorrow. Mikayla has a couple of tests to study for so that she can take them on Monday before Thanksgiving break.

I had checked out from the library (before the plague hit) a DVD on Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton ~ Not for Ourselves Alone. Mikayla is looking at Women Suffrage for History right now. I have been amazed by a few things. First, how few rights women had. A married woman had no right to her own wages, could not own or inherit property and had absolutely no right to custody of her children if her husband divorced her (she could not divorce him). Women were not allowed to speak in public and the only acceptable job for a woman was that of school marm. I was also amazed at how "progressive" the Quakers were. They taught equality of the sexes under God and even had women pastors. One thing that discouraged me was Susan B. Anthony's attitude of mothering being a "lesser cause" than that of women's rights. Perhaps it was because she was never married.

And now for our Blogger Friend School Assignment of this week...

Assignment #110 - Computers Help People Help People (IBM)