The trouble with reserving cabins online is that you don’t really know what you’re getting into until you arrive. We just returned from our Colorado trip, where we stayed in two great cabins. The second one was a bit of a surprise.

When the online listing said the cabin was 5.8 miles outside of Colorado Springs we thought, “Great! Right on the outskirts of town!” What the listing didn’t specify was that the cabin was 5.8 miles straight up a mountain. We were driving up this winding road, and I was looking over the edge of the cliff thinking, “Do people really live up here?”
And oh yes, apparently they do. We kept driving until the road turned to gravel, and then to dirt, and then to dirt with huge bumps in it. All the while I was trying to distract the kids from cranky car-fighting while trying to NOT imagine us careening over the cliff and plummeting to our deaths.(My husband asked if I would like to explain the physics of the car suddenly hurtling off the side of the road and over the edge. No, I would not. But I’m sure it could happen.)

I kept saying, “We’re still not there? Seriously? Haven’t we gone five miles yet?” Time had disappeared. I was thankful I wasn’t pregnant or I’m pretty sure I’d have been jolted into early labor and then we’d have to bump our way back down the mountain to get to the hospital.

Anyway, thirty minutes or so later, we arrived at our cabin, which ended up to be over 100 years old, down in a valley. It came complete with outhouse, tiny stable, miner’s cabin, abandoned mine, and small waterfall.

My husband and I were in a bit of shock at our new accommodations (the kids were delightedly running around; they don’t care much about where they are as long as we feed them).  I saw the quaint little kitchen though and started to warm up. I decided it would be a lovely adventure in simplicity—one tiny bathroom, no tub, teeny kitchen, but
that was all right! It would be like camping out on the prairie! I could cook cornbread in the oven! Too bad there weren’t any prairie chickens.  I was practically Ma Ingalls.

The next morning I decided to make my normal bacon, on foil on a cookie sheet. I put it into the adorable oven and turned it on, then went out on the porch to read. I made sure to set my watch timer since I’m notorious for forgetting the time and ending up with a pan of charred bacon.

Isn’t this a lovely view from the porch? This is where I sat and read.

About ten minutes later I noticed a smell and went into check on the bacon. I was sure it wouldn’t be done because it usually takes about 30 minutes for our oven to heat up and the first batch of bacon to be done.

I opened the oven door and saw clouds of smoke, charred piles of bacon, and flames. The entire pan of bacon was on fire. I slammed the oven door shut and started yelling
for my husband. I was saying, panicked, “What if the cabinets catch on fire?
Can we just let it burn in there? Will it go out?”

He was irritatingly calm about the whole thing.

“This is NOT GOOD!” I kept telling him, trying to impress some urgency upon him.

“I know it’s not good. I didn’t do it!” he said, unhelpfully. Then, “Let’s just put some water on it,” as if discussing a minor irritation, instead of a FIRE.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work!” I said, thinking that this was a grease fire, but not really sure. Did bacon count as grease? It’s not like it’s a big pot of oil (which I’ve also caught on fire).  No, bacon was food, not grease, so water could work, I reasoned. I didn’t discuss any of this inner monologue with my husband, because there was no time, he seemed so certain, and you know, the oven was on fire.

We peeked in the oven, and the fire was bigger, and I was afraid that those old cabinets would get so hot they’d start on fire.  Now this part is a bit fuzzy, because it seems like somehow the cookie sheet of bacon was on the floor when we threw the iced tea (that’s what was handy) on it, but I’m not sure how it got there. Anyway, somehow we threw a glass of iced tea on it and the flames all shot up higher.

Apparently bacon counts as grease. Now we know.

We had the fire extinguisher ready, off the wall, pin pulled out, and at that point blasted it with the fire extinguisher. Thankfully it worked, and immediately put out the flames. Oh my goodness, I don’t know when I’ve been so relieved. I’m so thankful the owners had that fire extinguisher there and it worked.

What if it hadn’t? What if we burned up that 100-year-old house? And then, of course it would have started (another) forest fire, and the fire crews would have taken so long to get there it would literally have set the mountain on fire.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I went outside, shaking, and hugged my wailing 2-year-old. My six-year-old daughter was surprisingly calm (she must take after Daddy), and my eight-year-old son was still asleep in the living room.

“Oh, my gosh,” I kept saying to my husband. “I am SO thankful that fire extinguisher worked!”

He was still calm. He said, “It would have been okay. We could have beaten it out with clothes.” Clothes! Beaten it out with clothes? Are you kidding me? All I could imagine
was the clothing starting on fire and everything getting totally out of control. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have worked, I’m just really glad we didn’t have to find out.

Anyway, we opened windows to clear out dust and fire extinguisher fumes; I didn’t want my kids (one of whom had a cough and was using an inhaler) breathing that stuff. We woke up my son, made sure everything was okay, then left to go to Focus on the Family for the day so things could clear out while we were gone.  We cleaned
everything up that night.

After the fire

It cleaned up nicely.

It took about four hours because if you’ve ever used a fire extinguisher, you know how that dust gets onto every surface, so I had to wipe down all the surfaces, clean the oven, scrub floors, etc. My husband and kids vacuumed and wiped down all the surfaces.

I really didn’t mind though, I was so happy the whole house was still standing. After an awkward call to the owners (“Um, so we set your kitchen on fire this morning, but everything’s fine now!”), I decided I would not touch that stove again! I realized that the old dials were sort of inexact, and I must have had it set on broil instead of bake.

Also, after the fire, we noticed something odd. See it, over on the right side at the bottom?

It was my toddler’s always present Nerf sword. Apparently he had earlier been so charmed by the cute little oven that he thought it the ideal hiding place for his weapon. I’m not sure if that contributed to the fire
or not. But what we learned is, that Nerf swords apparently do well in fires.  Now we know.

See, it survived quite well.

So, I decided I wasn’t really in the mood to be Ma Ingalls anymore. I was afraid of touching the oven again, and not really up for any other adventures.

In fact, I decided what I clearly needed after all that trauma was a pedicure.

It seemed the logical solution.

This is the Broadmoor, which was right at the base of the mountain. Sure, the pedicures at the spa there were twice what they cost in
Tulsa (we looked it up), but how often do you get the chance to go someplace like that?

Well, after inquiring at the spa, and getting to see the lavish surroundings, I decided I didn’t need one after all. I decided I could save $100 and paint my toenails myself. I was awfully tempted though.  You know, to deal with the trauma and all.

We did do some other things on our trip too.  I’ll try to post some pictures but it might
be a few days.  I have to get to the laundry first.

As you hear about those fires near Colorado Springs, please remember to say a prayer for the firemen and people around there.

But just so you know, they weren’t my fault. I promise.

I have to tell you guys about these CDs I listened to today. I went to Wichita to sign books and get to tell the Wilsons thanks for being awesome in person, and also so my daughter could hand out bookmarks. It seemed like maybe not enough reasons to drive six hours, but I still wanted to go.

However, God totally brought the right information my way, and I’m so thankful! I’ve really been praying about my son, trying to figure out how to help him and understand him better. He just seems to have such a hard time with LIFE. He’s very bright, but often frustrated or upset. If you’ve read my book, you’ll see that mentioned a bit, but I didn’t really want to dwell on it because it was only a piece of the picture and I didn’t feel like enough of an expert about it to write too much about it.

But I got the CDs from the other keynote speaker (other than Todd) at the Kansas convention today because they were about attention issues. Actually, she talks about four ‘gates’ to learning that can be blocked. Her name is Diane Craft and she’s in private practice, has done training with college students and teacher in-services, so she really knows what she’s talking about.

She mentions four “learning gates” that can be blocked:

• 1. Visual Processing (reading/eye tracking)
• 2. Writing (hand/eye)
• 3. Auditory Processing
• 4. Attention/ Focus

Oh, and she’s a nutritionist! Which is so awesome that she’s approaching things from having worked with 3,000 kids and how to help them through supplements and therapy to get them off medication where possible. Love that.

So, I thought my son showed several of the symptoms, but his main issues are the Writing one, and then the Attention/Focus one big time. It was like she was describing everything about my son, even things I didn’t know were related: Symptoms Sensory issues (socks drive us nuts, tags in clothes, etc.), attention and focus issues, takes a long time to do his work, easily distracted, LIKE EEYORE, depressed/mood swings, sugar causes foggy brain/spacyness, forgets three step directions, anger issues and I think there were some more.

Anyway, I just kept nodding my head as she went through the list.

Causes / Treatments I would like to do

• 1. Weak myleanation in brain –> DHA fats, so fish 1/week and cod liver oil daily? (need to read her diet plan about how to get this in all my kids. Orange juice?)
• 2. Weak connections between hemispheres –> brain integration / midline exercises (need to read over these on her site & print out) [I think this is like that Brain Balance program.]
• 3. Low serotonin (this is what Ritalin corrects) –> supplements ( Magnesium +?)
• 4. Gut issues (yeast/fungus overgrowth) –> anti fungal (grapefruit seed extract in capsules) and probiotic 3x/day (mixed in with food) for 3 months. (related to moodiness/depression) She gives the details of brands and protocol; I haven’t gotten that far yet.

Basically, I hope to work this summer on a good diet plan for our family (not weight loss, just healthy diet), and this confirmed to me that the whole family might benefit from a GAPS or gluten-free diet, not just me. I still need to research and finish listening to the CDs to figure out my exact plan, but I’m so encouraged to finally know that there is actually something wrong and with some nutritional work and exercises I am confident we’ll see improvements.

I already knew what a huge problem sugar was for my son, I just didn’t understand the chemical reason behind it or know what to do about it other than avoid sugar.

I am going to a Classical Conversations Practicum next week, but I know that for a while, I don’t actually care about the academics right now. I want to help my son get healthier and get a firmer foundation laid for his sweet little brain and body so he can focus better. He tries so hard, and does a good job, but it’s an awful lot of work for him. I’m hopeful some of these things will help.

But, the reason I’m telling you this is, if you are a parent of a child in elementary school that’s struggling or you think they might have some attention/ADHD/visual tracking/anger issues/etc. this is a fantastic CD to get. It’s only $7. Then, you can get one of her other talks (there are 5 more) to see what to do about your child’s specific issues.

http://stores.diannecraft.org/Detail.bok?no=59  This is ordering from her web site, not the exact CD I heard, but it looks like pretty much the same thing, only not crammed into 45 minutes, so probably even better.

Here’s her web site: http://www.dianecraft.org .

Final Review: 2 out of 5 stars (the kids liked it more than I did)

I sort of hated this book. I tried to like it. Other people like the Boxcar Children. I liked the first book.

But this one just went on and on at a snail’s pace with tiny words, boring sentences, no depth or realism to the characters, random stories (a little boy drowning! Rescue him! Now, let’s
play catch!), and odd bits of information that held no relevance to the plot (Make a pie by adding the sugar at the end!).

We had to keep reading it because it’s way overdue at the library and we can’t NOT finish a book, but oh my. And the characters, plot, and situation are totally
unbelievable, even for a children’s book. Charlotte’s Web was about a talking pig and spider, and I totally believed it, you know? The characters rang true, I was in that story world. This one, nope.

I kept feeling like the author was just telling me random information. Even simple words can be deep, beautiful, and meaningful, as evidenced by the brilliant Arnold Lobel. I just felt like this author was not a good writer. She had some good ideas, and the independence of the children appeals to child readers I guess, but the ideas weren’t worked into a story in any cohesive way. I wanted to gouge my eyes out and skip over as much as I could without my kids noticing.

I think I’ll let my kids read the rest of the series on their own. Maybe this was enough to interest them, and the books are clean, sweet little books for kids (other than the whole living on an island all by themselves surrounded by strange grown men issue), but I don’t think I can stomach another one.

There have to be well-written books for kids at this level. Where are they? I’m going to try some in that list recommended by the commenter on this post.

We’ll see.

Sunday and Monday were the kids’ rooms.

Boys’ room: (time = 10 hours, including planning, cleaning, and 2 trips to Target. My husband spent 3 hours putting dresser together with my son’s help.)

I list the problem I needed to solve –> solution

• Not enough storage, clothes crammed into dresser –> Added dresser from Target for more clothes storage since toddler’s outgrowing sharing a dresser with big brother
• Blanket serving as curtain ever since old blinds fell down –> Replaced broken blind; Hung curtain rod and dug curtain out of closet; rehung curtain.
• Random messy papers and drawings taped to walls –>Took down random papers, saved a few but most were trash. Rehung cute cow picture that brought in colors of room (blue, yellow, red).
• Clutter taking over room –> Moved all Legos into closet (Lego workshop area), cleaned up bookcases and “building area”
• Needed reading area –> added beanbag and canvas bin for books from Target
•  Had my son pick up most of the Legos in closet to at least show some floor.

Girl’s room: (time = 1 hour. It wasn’t bad because I just did hers a few months ago and she’s neater.)

• Straightened up, moved toy shelf to make room for beanbag.
• Added beanbag because she wanted one like brother. Will try to have them do reading time in beanbags during rest time. I want them to get in the habit of independent reading.
• Ignored disaster of a closet for now.

Tuesday (today) was kids’ bath and linen closet.

Kids’ bathroom – total time 4 hours

Okay, I wanted to post about how I go about this because I thought it might be interesting to some. Not sure if everyone does this or not. It might be that random degree in environmental design, but I really like to think about the environment of each space. What is the purpose?

Form (or, stuff) follows function. So, for me to know what needs to go into a space I have to think about what we’ll be doing there.

And just so you know, I wasn’t at all in the mood for doing this today, but it had to be done. It’s next. So, I made myself sit down during lunch and think about the kids’ bathroom.

1. What are the purposes of the room? Seems obvious, but I jotted them down in my notebook anyway.

a. Brushing teeth
b. Baths
c. Fixing hair
(d. potty training & potty – this summer)
e. medicine/cleaning supplies storage

So that tells me what needs to be in the room.  Stuff to make those functions as easy as possible.

I had a revelation here, and that was that maybe the reason my daughter’s hair is only fixed about half of the time is we’ve never had a place for her hair stuff to be, it just floats around from room to room and gets lost. So, I realized there’s a whole extra drawer in the kids’ bathroom just holding pens, pencils, and random bits of junk. I decided to make that the hair fixing drawer. It ended up holding brushes, clippies, detangler, etc.

2. Give each drawer, shelf, etc. a purpose. I drew boxes on my notebook paper and jotted down the main function for each space. (I took a picture and hope to go back and add pictures someday to give you a better idea, but I don’t have time to do it today.)

• a. Drawers: Teeth stuff, hair stuff.
• b. Cabinet on left side under sink: storage for extra supplies like toothpaste, soap, etc. Also cleaning supplies the kids use like baby wipes and vinegar spray and paper towels.
• c. Cabinet under sink (middle): trash can, “hamper” for clothes (a plastic box we use for a hamper in there)
• d. Cabinet on right side: diapers, pull-ups, wipes, extra tissues and toilet paper
• e. Above toilet: medicine in boxes with lids, bath supplies, washcloths

So, after I drew my little sketch which took all of 10 minutes, I was ready to go. I had an idea of what I was doing in there, where I was going. I threw away a big trash bag full of half-used sticky, old things, then wiped off the shelves, went for another Target run (it’s so nice to have my dad in town so I can leave during nap time) for organizing boxes, then finished up.

It felt like a lot of work, but I was shocked that it really only took about 4 hours. I spent about $50 on supplies at Target, but you could do it with less certainly. I just wanted organized boxes and we really needed the medicine less accessible. That cabinet was a poisoning waiting to happen.

So, my verdict is: totally worth the afternoon. Must do this every year. That bathroom is so much more functional now; I’m not fighting BandAids dropping from the shelves every time I open the cabinet door. Wonderful.

Linen Closet        Total time = 2 hours (NO trips to Target this time! Woohoo!)

Planned what I needed in there, sketched out a plan (10 minutes), cleaned it out. Labeled, put everything back.

My issue now is I have a big bagful of perfectly good (but old) sheets and towels and blankets. What do I do with them? Who can I give them to? (Or to whom can I give them?) Help! Please comment if you know where I can donate them where they will do the most good.

I think somewhere that helps people get started in apartments of their own could use them, they are very practical, but I doubt Goodwill accepts them. Help! Thanks!

Someone mentioned MEND Crisis Pregnancy. Any others in case they don’t need any right now or all of it?