Once upon a time there was a fair-haired girl named Chicky.
Chicky had a friend named Happy who always had a way of bringing joy to those around him.
One day, Happy became sad when his Papa became sick.
Chicky visited their castle and inquired how she might be of assistance, making special mention of the skills that her mother, Duchess of Knitting, possessed.
“Does she make stuffed animals?” Happy’s mom asked.
“The Duchess is very talented. Your wish is her command,” and she carried the request back home to her very beautiful mother.
The Duchess found the perfect pattern (Frog Prince by Alan Dart) in a magazine she had stowed away (Simply Knitting – March 2009).
The Duchess then visited her local market, picking up some Vanna’s Choice in Olive and Dusty Green (we all know that Vanna’s been around for a very long time) along with some I Love This Yarn in Buttercup and Forest.
She toiled late into the night…several nights, in fact, and produced a work of art even a king would be proud of…
The frog’s crown is a reminder that there is a Great King who rules over the land, keeping watch over His children…
Chicky and the Duchess hope that every time Happy and his Papa look at the frog, they will remember to Fully Rely On God (see the acronym)…especially during this time while Papa is sick.
As the frog has great big eyes that see all, so does our Heavenly Father, who loves each one of us and keeps a close eye on each of His children…
Sunday mornings spent at church provide some of the most uplifting moments of my week.
I find myself drawn closer to the Lord through worship music.
Music soothes my soul, while the words remind me of God’s grace and love for me.
This morning, we sang Chris Tomlin’s Indescribable.
The words, which I am posting below the video, describe how vast God’s love and presence is.
I have often spoken with people who don’t believe in God because they can’t see Him.
My response?
Have you ever seen the wind?
No, but you’ve felt its presence as it blows across your face, and you’ve seen its ripple affect as it floats across water. You’ve witnessed its power during hurricanes and tornadoes.
Such it is with God.
Though you may not see Him in the form of a person, He is present.
I am sure that God knew that we humans would doubt His existence, and so He makes Himself seen in nature.
It is His hand that paints the spots on each leopard, decorates the landscape with fall colors, and puts a song of praise in every creatures’ lungs.
That is why I am overcome with gratefulness when I hear this song…
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God
I have a renewed appreciation for those who work full-time and still manage to keep their homes clean and refrigerators full.
After a busy week of settling into my new subbing assignment and attending two soccer games and a football game, I’ve scarcely had time to wiggle, much less look at my coupons.
Thank goodness for weekends! I finally had a couple of spare hours to get organized and run to the grocery store. I was able to pick up several free items! I’ve posted my favorite deals. If you live near a Publix, maybe these are deals you can take advantage of too! Make sure you visit Southern Savers and Frugal Coupon Living before you head out. These are wonderful web sites that post links to the coupons I used for my deals.
Dove Deodorant
2/$4.00
Used: $2 mfr AND $1/2 Unilever Products Publix coupon from the Green Advantage Buy Flyer Paid: NOTHING!! This was a MONEYMAKER of $1 per stick!!
Cover Girl Lip Gloss
$1.79 ($1.50 off – Advantage Buy)
Used: $2.50/2 mfr AND 2 $1 competitor coupons Paid: NOTHING!! This was a MONEYMAKER of $.92 per stick!!
Tylenol
$3.99
Used: $2 mfr and $3 Publix coupon Paid: NOTHING!! This was a MONEYMAKERof $1.01 per box!!
Herbal Essences Shampoo and Conditioner $2.43 (not on sale)
Used: 2 B1G1 mfr coupons. One coupon I received in the mail after signing up for it through Facebook. The other coupon was in an insert. Paid: NOTHING!!
Publix Reusable Shopping Bag $.99
Used: Coupon for a Free Bag wyb two General Mills products (see purchase below) Paid: NOTHING!!
Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough B1G1 @ $3.19
Used: $1/1 mfr Paid: $.60 each
Cheerios B1G1 @ $3.59
Used: $.55/1 AND $1 competitor coupon (one set for each box) Paid: $.25 per box
Ragu Spaghetti Sauce B1G1 @ 2.59
Used: $1/2 mfr Paid: $.80 per jar
Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Morsels
B1G1 @ $2.50
Life has been hectic with me taking on a two-month subbing gig (yay for me!). Soccer season officially kicked off, and I also attended the football game tonight. As a result, the pictures are few in number. I trust you’ll forgive me. I hope to have some knitting stuff to show you next week.
On to the pictures!
All that's left of my Halloween candy
I paid $.22 per box!!
Samples and a coupon for free shampoo!
I love discovering the coupons that accompany free samples!
I often wonder what the girls discuss during their pre-game huddles. I often pray for them during these times.
I wasn’t sure what to blog about today until I turned on my DVR to watch So You Think You Can Dance.
Have you seen this show?
If you have, you know that on the nights the dancers do their routines, they come out when their names are called and do a very brief dance thing. After all of the dancers come out, Cat Deeley, the host, is introduced. She walks out, and the sea of dancers parts to let her through.
What strikes me about this scene is her genuine affection for the dancers, who she’s been with since auditions and Vegas Week.
Tonight, she made the comment that they were her “little ones,” and this rang a chord for me.
You see, high school soccer season has begun, and Chicky’s first game is tomorrow night.
I am the team’s parent liaison for the second year.
It is a role I cherish because these girls are my “little ones.”
Sure, they are high schoolers. But I’ve been a soccer mom for so long that I truly love the sport and those who play it. I’m in awe of the work the players do to prepare for each game.
Everything I do off the field is for the girls. I see my purpose as enhancing their high school playing experience. I want to ensure that parents can relax when they go to the games, knowing that they have all of the information they need to help their own children be as successful as possible.
I love these kids. They truly are an extension of my own family.
However, I found a way to combat the Monday Blues…laughter.
On Sunday, Rooster introduced me to Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian and one FUNNY guy!
I spent a good part of Sunday evening watching YouTube videos and hee-hawing.
I thought you might need a laugh, so I’ve posted a few of my favorites. Oh, and how lucky are we? I heard that my church will be hosting this talented guy in 2010! I cannot wait!
The lawn mower must have sensed my need to reconnect with my toolbox because it absolutely refused to crank last weekend when Rooster tried to cut the grass.
I’m comfortable enough with the mower to change the oil filter and spark plug. When I removed the spark plug, oil poured out, and I knew I was in trouble…
I remembered over-filling the oil reservoir about a year ago. I guess oil doesn’t “magically” disappear. No wonder you’re supposed to dispose of it carefully!
Realizing that this wasn’t going to be a quick fix, I did what comes naturally and googled the problem. My search led me to believe that the problem was probably the carburetor.
Say what?
As in a part that I know belongs in my car?
Oh boy.
I had no idea what a carburetor does until I found this link, but I had a feeling it was something important.
All I’ve got to say is thank you YouTube! I found this informative video…
After running to Home Depot for parts, I got down to work…
The first thing I needed to do was change the oil. A very knowledgeable associate at Home Depot had assisted me in the selection of a drip pan earlier in the day. He also advised me to use sand or kitty litter to soak up the oil…
$2 - Not bad!
If you have the type of mower in which you need to turn it sideways, make sure you turn it away from the carburetor side. You really do not want oil in your carburetor.
In the end, you’re left with this…
Next it was time to work on the carburetor. The guy in the video directs you to remove the fuel tank, but I opted not to after reading someone’s comment that it wasn’t necessary.
First, to locate the carburetor. It should look like this…
Pretty dirty, eh?
I used a rag and carburetor cleaner to get the dirt off of the outside of the bowl…
Now it was time to select a tool…AR AR AR (Tim the Toolman’s happy grunt)…
Which one would I use to remove the screw from the bottom of the carburetor?
Can you believe that after 20 years of marriage, this is probably the first time these tools have been used?
You would think that all socket wrenches are the same, but I’m here to tell you they aren’t! I tried one but the socket was too long. Thank goodness the Mr. had collected two sets of these babies. I wound up using the one on the left, attaching the 1/2 socket after taking the picture…
As I removed the screw, gasoline started leaking out of the bottom of the carburetor. Thank goodness I had watched the video, because I knew this was normal. I decided that I better put on some gloves…
While the gas was draining from the mower, I had to inspect the screw I had just removed. You wouldn’t think it’s all that important for it to be squeaky clean, but my research made me realize that debris interferes with the carburetor’s ability to mix the gas with air. Even the little holes on the sides must be cleaned! As you can tell from the picture below, mine wasn’t dirty at all…
The little black thing that’s sitting below the hole is the gasket the guy in the video was scraping off. Mine was completely intact, so I didn’t have to replace it.
By this time, the mower had emptied itself of its gas, so I could remove the bowl from the bottom of the carburetor. I was surprised to find that it was fairly clean. Despite this, I sprayed a little carburetor cleaner and gave it a good shine…
Next, I removed the O ring, checking for damage and finding myself once again relieved not to have replace another part…
With the O ring off, I was now free to use compressed air to spray debris off of the rest of the carburetor…
Next, I reattached the O ring and carefully set up the bowl with the shallow end closer to the inner part of the mower…
I used the socket wrench to tighten the screw under the bowl…
Next up was the air filter.
An air filters plays an important role in keeping a lawn mower engine running properly. If a filter is dirty, air cannot move around and out properly. It was obvious that I needed to change mine…
Changing an air filter is so easy that even my friend, Rebecca, could do it. Just take the old filter out of the rubber housing compartment that you’ve just rotated and pulled off of your mower and replace it with the clean one…
Line up the hole with the peg on the mower…
Rotate it to “set” it (notice the directions imprinted on the casing?)…
By now I’d removed the oil, drained the gas, cleaned the carburetor, and changed the air filter. The next part of this task was to change the spark plug…another EASY task!
In the picture below, you’ll see that I had already removed the old spark plug. I don’t know about other mowers, but mine is located on the front of my machine…
To change a spark plug, you need a large socket…
I had to use the larger end of this to fit around my spark plug.
First, screw on the spark plug by hand.
Then, fit the socket over the end of the spark plug (push it in as far as it will go)…
You can use either an Allen Wrench
Or a screwdriver to help turn the socket to tighten the spark plug…
Then, you replace the spark plug wire (it’s covered in rubber and is permanently attached to the mower)…
Yay! Almost done now!
The last thing I needed to do was fill up the oil reservoir with SAE 30 oil…
Here’s where I actually got nervous. You see, some time last year, I managed to put too much oil in, and I’ve been paying the price ever since. So, I poured slowly…
And measured…
And poured and measured again…
I got a little aggravated and pulled out the manual discovering, in the process, that my mower would hold the entire bottle I was pouring (guess that’s why they make them that small). So I dumped the bottle over without any more worries…
Finally, my work was finished!
And then it was time to see if my work had paid off.
I rolled the mower to the driveway, primed it, and pulled the starter cable.
Nothing.
In fact, I felt the cable pull back suddenly, which was how I got started on this little project to begin with.
Oh no.
I tried again, nearly spraining my wrist when it was roughly jerked forward again.
However, at the same time, I heard the mower sputter and saw it spew forth a little smoke.
Good signs.
I half-heartedly tried again, but my wrist and pinkie were hurting.
The Mr. came outside around this time.
Perfect!
He grabbed hold of the starter cable, jerked back once…
AND THE MOWER STARTED!!!
We watched as smoke escaped from a part I don’t know the name of.
We kept the motor running for a minute, and the smoke cleared.
I think it had been burning off leached oil.
I did a little happy dance and turned off the mower. It had rained earlier today, and the grass was wet. Plus, I didn’t want to take away Rooster’s fun (mowing is his job).
After he mows, I’ll prep the machine for the winter by adding fuel stabilizer to the fuel tank to prevent the gas from getting gummy. I’ll also unhook the spark plug wire when we put it away.
I’ve learned a huge lesson through this. Regular maintenance is a must…even on a little ole lawn mower.
