House Action.

While my Luke was busy, busy, busy

doing schoolwork, we had some action

at our new house!!! Needless to say,

we are on a mission to get this house

done and our family in!!

Our brand spankin' new metal roof

arrived by the truckloads today.

It took three big loads and a forklift . . .

Anything involving a semi-truck and a

forklift gets us pretty darn excited!!

The guys started sheetrocking the

garage and the upstairs . . .

Those sheetrockers are the fastest

movers on the planet . . . They are

DEFINITELY my kind of people!

We will be painting the garages and

upstairs in no time!! I am so excited,

I have my color charts out at all

moments making the final selections!

Another big bonus to having the

sheetrockers at the house all day

is that Luke and I are learning

Spanish as a second language as we

are working on our schoolwork.

(You know I LOVE multitasking!!)

Hospital Daze.

. . . up at 4a.m. for an early biopsy

procedure for Mike at St. Mary's

Hospital. The scope was supposed

to last 60 minutes and lasted nearly

3 1/2 hours. Needless to say, I was on

pins and needles.

Truly, I have had MUCH better days,

but God is totally in control and we

are so looking forward to giving

Him all of the glory for how He

works in the next several weeks!

In the Pink.

It.is.true. Today the guys began

insulating our garages!!! Tomorrow

they will insulate the upstairs.

We will be rockin' the garages with

sheetrock tomorrow and the upstairs

in the next couple of days . . . I will be

painting upstairs before you know it!!

Our new gas fireplace was

just installed and framed in . . .

Just imagine it with a lovely

mantel and bookcases all round it.

To top it off . . . my moose will be

hung over the fireplace.

The house is wrapped . . .

The roof is almost all dried in . . .

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of

the metal roof parts on Wednesday.

I say we are ready for some

ACTION!!

Back to School Extravaganza!

Today was our ANNUAL BACK TO

SCHOOL EXTRAVAGANZA at

Pinocchio's!

I cannot believe that this is our

bazillionth year of homeschooling and

now we have boys going to Truckee

Meadows Community College and

University of Nevada Reno.

Luke is in the 7th grade. Sam is a

sophomore at TMCC. Zach is a Junior

at UNR. Tim is a Freshman/Grad Student

at UNR. Wow wee!

Who could possibly ask for anything more?

We had so much fun celebrating

together and realize that we are

blessed beyond measure.

We are so very proud of our boys and

all of their accomplishments!

Zach and Gramps were deciding what

yummy delicacy to have to eat . . .

Luke always loves to challenge

his older bros.

I am so very grateful for such a wonderful

husband and am thankful that he is

such a fantastic Dad to our boys.

As always . . .

school surprises await!!!

Notebooks, pencils, and paper . . . Oh, my!

Someone is WAY too happy to start

back to school!!!

A little chocolate helps the first

day jitters.

Luke and I always love to look at the

homeschool books the night before . . .

so we are prepped and ready to roll

the first morning of school!!

Happy, happy FIRST day of school!!

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.

Okay, so if you do not have respect for

this WIRE WHEEL that attaches to

a DRILL MOTOR, than you have not

spent the ENTIRE day working with

one of these! Our crew used one of these

the ENTIRE day today to "rough up"

our exposed beams for our patio.

Our teeth are still a wee bit rattly and

our hands shaky, but it is kind of

like therapy and a total character

building experience . . .

We are getting there! Fun pics

and house action news next week!

Fantastic Friday.

Busy, busy day for the Tietjen clan today as

we are working so, so hard to get

our new home done! The difficulty is that

the home that we are renting while

building is 22 miles one way from our

new home. It is a total drag to drive up

there a bazillion times a day, which is

totally crucial at this point in the process.

Between our trips to Home Depot and

up the check on the workers:

*Mike had 4 skin cancers removed

*Luke had 9 warts on his left hand

removed

(By the way, they use beetle wing

juice in order to attack the

virus in your system that

causes warts.)

*Zach ran templates back and forth

for our exposed beam patio

*Sam played a round of golf

*Luke and I purchased school

supplies

*Tim ran Sam to and from McQueen

High School for the football game

*We got a pizza for $10

*I got a FREE Capriotti's

sandwich

*Put the finishing touches on

my dissertation proposal

*Mike got registered at the

hospital for Tuesday's surgery

*Luke and I picked up Mike's

prep meds for his surgery

*We laughed a lot and had a

great day knowing that we are

going to get into our new

home soon and that God's timing

is always perfect!

Whew!

I celebrated in bed with THREE of

my new favorite pomegranate

popsicles!

Gettin' the Winter Wardrobe.

Betwixt and between all of the

CONSTANT busyness of our home

and lives, it is amazing, but a girl

can ALWAYS daydream about the

next seasons wardrobe . . .

This duck shoes are a must for

my new Reno life, plus it is a

wee bit cooler up in Somersett!

I am getting excited to move into

our new home and cannot wait

for the fun memories there. I

am excited that we get to begin

with one of my very favorites . . .

HALLOWEEN!

We are the Champions!

Sam and Luke are champions

on the course once again! Luke

won for his age group and Sam WON

THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!

Sam's name will go on a plaque inside

the club house!! It was a great day out

on the course and a MARVELOUS ride

home . . . with two winners in the car!!

We are so proud of the boys as they

have worked so hard to be great golfers.

Sam is not even himself as he is just

three weeks out of hernia surgery.

After the club championship, there

was a buffet dinner, dessert, and prizes.

Sam is the boys' CLUB CHAMP

and Ally is the girls' CLUB CHAMP!

Congrats to both great kids!

We love, love, love our new

Somersett and are so excited

to move into our brand new home!

The boys can ride a bike or jump

in THEIR OWN CAR and head

to the golf course!! It will be

a great way of life!!!

Woot! Woot! and CONGRATS to our

amazing CHAMPS!!

Dissertation Proposal.

Oh, snap. It is really happening, I have

been writing, writing, writing in between

building, laundry, meals, chores, and

shopping. My dissertation proposal draft is

due in three weeks. My research study

centers around the traits, qualities, and

strategies employed by transformational

leaders within failing learning settings.

Whew! This is such a process. Just think,

I will be spending the ENTIRE year next

year eating, thinking, and sleeping this

research topic. I am excited about this

process and am headed to Jacksonville

to my last residency in one month to

hone the process.

PhD, here I come!