Sunday Fun.

After a hellacious week of PhD studies, housebuilding,

golf, swimming, running, running, running,

we were so excited to order pizza, flop on the

couch and watch some fun flicks!!!

I can't forget the yummy guac and the

Jr. Mints . . .

Family Sundays . . . gotta have 'em.

Summery Feelings.

As our summer starts to wind down,

we are thinking back to all of the fun

times we have had this summer:

*Golfing.

*Yogurt.

*Swimming.

*Sand Harbor.

*Lake Tahoe.

*T's Tacos.

*Subs.

*Flip flops.

*Watermelon.

*BLUEBERRIES!

*Sunflower seeds.

*TONS of sunflower seeds.

*Warm chocolate chip cookies

straight out of the oven.

*Kids' friends.

*Housebuilding.

*Fried eggs sandwiches.

*Jr. mints.

*Black toe nail polish.

*Scout camp.

*PhD papers.

Here's to thinking ahead to

the 2011-2012 school year!!!

Summer Thunder Storm.

Sudden summer thunder storms in

the high desert are so much fun.

After a hot, hot day, the clouds

began to roll in and all of the sudden

it was lightening, thundering, and

POURING rain. The raindrops were

HUGE and sounded like rocks hitting

the top of the roof. It was so fun to

hear and to see. The temperature

immediately cooled down 30*. We

opened up the doors and just as

quickly as it came, all of the loud

thunder, lightening, and huge

raindrops were gone. It was so calm

and silent. There was not a sound to

be heard outside.

Things I loved about our fun

Friday night thunderstorm:

1. Making shakes.

2. Playing cards.

3. Laughing.

4. Eating popcorn.

5. Winning at cards.

6. Being with our fun boys.

7. Hearing the big raindrops.

8. Cool weather.

9. Whipped cream.

Life-Changing Read.

Change happens. Period.

Take 45 minutes to read a

life-changer, "Who Moved My

Cheese". If you are like me,

life happens at a breakneck pace.

This little dilly is a must to add

to your arsenal when it comes

to handling the ups, downs,

ins, and outs associated with

this thing called life.

Move.with.the.cheese.

I Heart My UPS Man.

Yippee! Guess what arrived straight from

the Restoration Hardware catalog . . .

my Restoration Hardware paint fan deck.

The pages are so rumpled and thin in

my Restoration Hardware catalog from

looking and looking at the paint colors . . .

I could hardly wait for the sample chips

of the paint colors to arrive.

These colors are the palette for our

new home and I couldn't be more

excited!! However, I have to share this

enthusiasm with a bunch of boys and

they . . . they . . . they really do not

care what color the kitchen or great

rooms are AND it is taking everything

for them to grant me a moment to

pick out a color for their new rooms.

Do you know how long I have been

looking at the Restoration Hardware

colors: FOREVER. Do you know how

long it took the boys to pick out the

colors for their bedrooms: ONE MINUTE

and I mean one minute for all

of them TOGETHER.

Man, oh, man, I need a girlie girl

to ooh and aah over these

be-a-utiful colors with me and

pick out colors like cappuccino,

buttermilk, white linen, buttercream,

silver sage, saffron . . . I could go

on and on and on!!

It's Official . . .

I have decided on my dissertation

topic and am working on my

PhD dissertation proposal.

After my comprehensive

exams in October and November,

in January 2012 for 365

days I will be researching . . .

the leadership characteristics

of elementary school

turnaround principals.

I am so excited to study effective

administrators that possess

the traits necessary to forge

into failing schools and

turnaround achievement and

performance efforts in a

limited amount of time.

There will be lots of blood,

sweat, and tears, but we are

really excited and my family

is once again on the bandwagon

as we get ready to embark

on yet another trek of our

PhD journey!!

Do You Think I'm a Square?

Super fun and exciting new project

on the horizon. I have had a ton

of fun planning this one, with a little

help from my Sam and woodcutter

Mike. I cannot wait to have this

all done and hanging up in our

brand spakin' new home.

Brand new cut wood . . . I love it!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Somebody is going to be surprised at

CHRISTmas time!!

I r.u.n. between writing, reading, and

housebuilding to quilt for CHRISTmas!

The "funnest" part of quilting for me

is thinking about the person that you

are making the quilt for. I am

so excited to give this quilt to THIS

very important person . . . 153 days!!

Havin' My Cake and Eatin' it Too.

Yesiree, I am one blessed girl.

10 blessings without even thinking:

1. My amazing family.

2. Awesome husband.

3. Lovin' my boys.

4. Playing cards and laughing

the.entire.time.

5. Laundry.

6. Spicy guac.

7. Laughter.

8. Encouragement.

9. People having patience

with me.

10. Hope.

I sure enjoyed my fun Saturday

with my crew. We worked at the

house. I sat in my new "study" and

read. We even practiced how I would

"yell" for the boys from there . . .

Let me tell you, they are really excited.

We came home and had fun BBQing

and laughing.

How did I get so blessed to have this

awesome crew?

What a lucky.lucky.lucky.girl.

Summer-Must-Haves.

Okay, so we are hooked! We are hooked on

summer livin', staying up way too late or

too early, depending on how you

look at it!! Last night we were all up

at 2:30a.m., except for Mike who was

getting up at 4!

As far as we are concerned,

we are hooked on lime popsicles!

Our record, two boxes in one night!

Pucker up! So far I hold the record for

eating the most sunflower seeds in

one night . . . I ate a whole bag. I was

up drinking water like crazy and my

tongue was a little raw, the next day;

but, yeah, it was so worth it.

Summer.We.love.it.

CHRISTmas in July.

I am getting excited already . . .

There are only 156 days until

CHRISTmas, but who is counting?

Our family was already talking about

CHRISTmas tonight over dinner.

Everyone is getting excited to start

their CHRISTmas lists. When I hear

this kind of talk . . . my sewing

machine kicks into high gear!!!

I already have my list made and

have been working in my little

workshop until the wee hours of

the morning. I am a doctoral student

by day and an elf by night.

Thoughts of CHRISTmas . . .

I.love.it.

Brownies Anyone?

Holy Shhhhhmoke!! I con the boys

into watching America's Got Talent with

me . . . can you see how I bribe them?

Framing. Check.

Mercy, you would think that we were

building a new home or something!

Our framing will be complete upstairs

by tomorrow afternoon. Period.

The electrical is 98% complete. It will

be complete this weekend. Period.

The rough-in plumbing is taking place

as we speak. It will be complete

by this time next week. Period.

Insulation will begin. Sheetrock will

go up . . .

Our framer is also making the.cutest.

grandkid.playroom.EVER. Period.

I cannot wait to show pics of it,

it is difficult to show them when it

is in the framing stages . . . just

picture a treehouselike ceiling and

a rock tunnel to crawl through to

enter the magical playroom.

Packin' it In!

Moving to Somersett is so exciting! We

just cannot wait!! There are a bazillion

reasons why we cannot wait to move

there:

1. Swimming pools.

2. Golf courses.

3. Hiking trails.

4. Tennis courts.

5. A bazillion friends.

6. The Club.

7. The Club House.

8. Not driving 40-80

miles each day.

9. Not spending our

moola on gas.

10. FREEDOM!

Yessiree, we are excited and are

counting the bloody days until we

are outa here!! This rental house is

not that bad, it is just really, really

far from all of our new goings on

at Somersett. The kids are established

there, we are so busy with the house

there, and there are millions of things

to do in Somersett.

Our rental house is 20 miles one way

to Somersett and then we have to go

through four round-a-bouts to get to

our new house and to the golf course.

Life will be so much simpler once we

live there. The kids will be able to ride

their bikes and walk to all of their

bazillions of activities. We are praying

to get a golf cart and then the kids

can just drive themselves to golf.

Hey, this Mom will have time to

work on her PhD!!

Moving.we.heart.it.

Family Fave.

After a busy, busy day of house building,

dissertation proposal writing, and quilt making,

we decided that it was about time to

make one of our family favorite dishes for

dinner: homemade cheese enchiladas.

We love to make a big dinner on Sundays

so that everyone can be here to discuss

their plans for the upcoming week.

During the week, with building the house,

summer, golf, swimming, friends, etc., it

is difficult for everyone to be here

at the very same time for dinner. Sunday

is our family dinner day and we

were excited to make cheese

enchiladas to get the week off to

a great start.

Who's Counting?

144 hours away from home, 31 mosquito bites,

7 merit badges, 60 bucks, and 1 very,

very tired camper.

My sweet Luke is home and I could not be

happier. I am so thankful that he had such

a great time with all of his friends at

Camp Fleishman in Chester, Cali.

Luke is a great scout, helper, and

friend. All of the boys in his troop just

love him! Here's to an amazing week

of scout camp . . . another activity checked

off of our summer to-do list.

I promise, if ANYONE EVER took a pic

of me after a week of camping, I would

not be smiling!!! Thanks for being such

a great sport, Luke!

First stop, In and Out, for two

cheeseburgers and a chocolate shake.

Then Luke will be hitting the showers

with a new bar of soap.

Shortly following will be a long

snuggly nap, I am sure.

Now I am the happy camper!

. . . countin' the minutes!

Luke's scoutmaster sent Mike this pic from

Camp Fleishman. All I can say is hip, hip,

hooray, my sweet little boy will be home

from his week of camping tomorrow.

Besides working my fingers to the bone

on my dissertation proposal, I am

counting the minutes until he arrives.

It will be so great to have all of my

peeps back under one roof. I so hate

it when one is out and about. While

I am sure that he had a wonderful

time camping, it really is all about me!

I.hate.it.when.they.are.gone!!!

House Updates.

Now that the framing is almost complete

and the roof is almost sheeted . . .

It will be time to get crackin' over at

the new digs!!

1. The patio is going up.

2. The roof is going to get dried in.

3. The tiles are going to get stacked

on the roof.

4. The electrical is almost complete.

5. The inside plumbing is getting

installed.

6. The insulation will take place.

7. Sheetrock will begin.

8. Lath and plaster will start

on the outside.

We are getting to the exciting stage.

We will have some ACTION.

New BFF.

During my coursework this semester,

I will be writing Chapter One of my

dissertation: The Proposal. I truly cannot

believe that God has gotten me this

far. It seems like I have been dreaming

of obtaining my PhD since I can

remember and now I am at the point

where I will complete my coursework

this semester, take comps in October,

and begin Chapters Two-Five of

my dissertation in January, hoping to finish

with a big red bow by CHRISTmas 2012.

Pray during this time as there are many,

many aspects of research that I have

yet to grasp and feel that I have a

topic that I am passionate about and

want to spend a year of my life writing

about; however, a dissertation is a very

daunting task and I sometimes cannot

believe that I am "in the thick of it".

Dissertation.Gotta.love.it.

Used to Hate It.

Have you ever started a project, thought

you loved it, then really begin to hate

it about 25% into the project?

Mike even said that he didn't care

for it as much as other quilts that I

have made when he was helping me

lay it out.

Well, that was the case with this big

mama quilt that since I began quilting

it has turned into one of my "favoritist"

projects.

I now love, love, love the fabric and

can hardly wait to get this puppy

bound and finished.

Crazy.projects.I.love.it.

Missin' My Camper.

It always feels a wee bit odd when one

of the Tietjen boys are out of the nest.

Things are a little off and it is hard to

get my mojo going without all of

my favorite peeps around.

Mike took the boys to camp and

said that it is a beautiful Scout

camp complete with a large lake for

swimming, diving, and tons of fun.

The campsites are really nice and

Mike said that there is tons and

tons of dirt, which will be extra special

when he returns home on Saturday. I

will be cleaning it out of EVERYTHING

that he took to camp which will also

smell of the campfires that they have

every night!! I am praying that he is having

a wonderful time and thankful when he

is back home WHERE HE BELONGS!!