Have you heard about Screech's financial problems? Well it seems that Dustin Diamond (of Saved by the Bell fame) is about to lose his house. He is need of $250,000 to keep it.

Not to worry though--he's come up with a plan to keep from becoming homeless. If you send him $15.00 he will send you an autographed t-shirt with a picture of himself on it.

I think this is an excellent plan and since Lewis and I would like to buy a house ourselves within a year or two, I'm thinking of having some t-shirts made myself. I'll let you know when I'm ready to start selling them. If you just want to contribute to the Buy Us A House Fund, without purchasing a t-shirt, donations are currently being accepted.

The t-shirts, by the way won't have Dustin Diamond's picture on them. I'm hoping to see if Steve Erkel will back this project.

This brings to mind one of my favorite t.v. shows--Extreme Makeover-Home Edition. I love that they demolish the house and then build a fabulous mansion for these people. I always cry at the end when they tell the people it's theirs and give them the deed. I'd apply to have my house demolished too, except I can't think of anything I've done recently that was as heroic as losing both legs in the war or taking in 8 children who are HIV positive.

And of course, I can't have my house demolished and rebuilt where it is because we don't own the land it's on. Our house is located on about 1/3 of an acre about 50 yards from a growing Cattle Farm. We bought our little singlewide mobile home after renting one for about a year and a half just after we were married. Our house was formerly owned by a friend whose husband had died about a year earlier from Leukemia. She was getting married again. We rent the land the house is on from her father.

The scenery where we live is lovely. From our back porch you can see about 30 cows grazing in their pastures. There's a small pond and a stand of trees in one pasture and just open field directly behind our house where our landlord grows hay. When it snows (not often), our backyard reminds me of a Currier & Ives Christmas Card. It's very beautiful.

We'd love to put a house on this piece of land. But I don't know if we'd ever be able to buy it. But there's always hope. Maybe you can help--for just pennies a day. . .

A Good Week

So far we are having a good week. We began this week in transition. Marley moved up to the three year old hallway at daycare and Laney moved into Marley's former class--beginning attendance at the same daycare as her sister for the first time in almost a year.

When I returned to work after I had Marley, a friend of ours kept her for us during the day. She was an excellent caregiver and I had planned to take Laney to her too. But things didn't work out for her to continue keeping them and so I found another friend who was able to keep them. That situation worked fine for about a year and then she decided to go back to work. So I found a good daycare to enroll them in.

The hard part of all this is that I work for a church that has a daycare facility under the same roof as my office. Employees of this establishment can enroll their children at half-price. However, until now, my children were too young to be in the program. I enrolled Marley last August when she was old enough to come. The daycare Laney was in is closing mid-summer, so we went ahead and enrolled her now instead of waiting until the school-year begins. So now, after three and a half years, I finally have both my children here.

It's been great so far. We get in the car and drive straight to work. I drop the girls off at their classes with their breakfast and walk to my office. Great daycare--a 4-star center--at half-price, right here where I work! Who could ask for better?

And in spite of my fears and worries about Laney leaving my side at a new place for the first time, she did really well. She walked in and struck up a conversation with one of her teachers and I kissed her forehead and left. Wow!

My husband's supervisor came to him Monday to let him know that his 90 days at the new job are now up and he will be hired on permanently. This means he will be given insurance, sick-leave, vacation and retirement benefits along with a raise.

Bible School is going on at our church this week. The girls seem to really be enjoying it. They come home all wound up and a little fussy, but we've managed to get them to bed at a fairly decent time and they sleep really well.

While they are at Bible School, Lewis and I have been mostly just spending time resting on the couch and watching t.v. I guess I should do some housework, but it's so nice just to relax a little. The only thing is the house is way too quiet. It feels odd to not have the kids climbing on me while I try to enjoy Jeopardy.

Oh, and with the exception of this morning (it was raining) I have gotten up early every day this week and walked for 20-25 minutes. Now, I know I'm not going to suddenly look like a supermodel by doing this little bit of exercise, but some exercise is better than no exercise.

So, all in all, a good week thus far. How's your week going?