Update

After several frustrating days of many accidents and only mild success in the potty training arena, I think we may have turned a corner last night. I made a big deal of having Noah show Daddy how he pee's into his little potty chair by standing in front of it. This is his preferred way of going. He ended up using the potty successfully about 4 or 5 times in 2 hours time last night. I think some candy and gum were great incentives for him to go. Although we don't take the kids out to trick or treat, my parents and sister sent some candy home last night with Matt. It was quite a bit, and we were grateful. Daddy told Noah that he could not have any of it unless he used the potty. Well, within a few minutes he was cheering for himself because he had gone. At this point, I don't care if my child eats a pound of candy per day for the next few days, I just want him in the habit of going potty in his potty chair. The candy was a Godsend!

This morning we awoke to no power. It was not just our house or even our street, but several towns were affected. The local school district had to start 2 hours late because they didn't have power at the school. Sometimes its fun to have a little change to our normal routine. I'm grateful that Matt woke up at 6:25 and noticed the clock wasn't working. He was able to take a shower by candlelight and eat breakfast by candlelight before leaving for work on time. About ten minutes after he left the power came on, and I was able to enjoy the morning news. While I don't necessarily crave change, I sometimes do like to change things up a bit. Matt used to laugh at me so much because I really enjoy changing the furniture around in rooms. Its been harder to do in this house, just because of our layout, but I still love trying out new things like that.

As I type, Noah had his first success of the morning....YES!!!! Boy, does that feel good.

In my spare time (notice the sarcasm?), I make jam. I've had a fair amount of success selling it. I usually participate in a couple of craft shows near the holidays, and both my sisters have been amazing at offering to sell it at their work. They each bring in the same amount I make at a craft show! Anyways, my first of 3 sales this year takes place a week from saturday. As of yesterday AM, I had zero jars of jam made! Yes, it was a little frightening. I started making some last night and was only able to make 18 jars because I was much lower on pectin than I thought I was. The next 8 days will find me making an additional 300 plus jars of jam, then decorating the jars with fabric and a handwritten tag, and a sticker on the bottom. Yes, its a lot of work, but its still profitable to me. This year, Lord willing, I hope to make enough to buy new living room furniture in January. It will be the first time ever that we have had a new couch and loveseat. I'm getting excited, but I also don't want to count my chickens before my eggs hatch.

Last, but not least, we have a man coming out tonight to give us an estimate on new windows. Ours must be at least 50 years old, I would guess. They are single layer glass, with individual panes for each little square of the window. They have been falling out and breaking, etc. We were originally going to wait until our next tax return, but a local company is offering 25% off right now, with 0% interest for a year. If the estimate is good, we'll take advantage of the sale, and pay off the windows with our tax return. It will give us new windows through the coldest months of the year, as well. We'll see how it goes tonight....