I’ve been a bad blogger this week.

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.

Mondays can be icky.  We all know that.

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!

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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.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and took advantage of a few good deals.  I thought I would share my favorites.

Uncle Ben’s Rice
B1G1 @ $1.49

Used: $1/2 mfr
Paid: $.25 per box

Near East Rice
B1G1 @ $2.19

Used: $1/2 mfr
Paid: $.60 per box

Mueller’s Pasta
B1G1 @ $1.49

Used:  $.55/1 mfr and $1/2
Paid: $.20 per box w/first coupon above and $.25 per box w/second coupon

Green Giant Frozen Vegetables
B1G1 @ $3.49

Used: 1 $.60/three mfr AND 1 $.40/1 mfr AND $4/4 Publix coupon off of four General Mills Products
Paid:  $.50 per item

Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies
$2 each

Used:  $1.25 mfr AND $4/4 Publix coupon off of four General Mills Products
Paid:  NOTHING!!  This was a MONEYMAKER of $1

Departed from this earth since April 2001 but living on in my memories…

Yesterday, while I was pulling out photo albums for Chicky (she’s designing her senior ad for the yearbook), I came across her academic portfolio.  It is a snapshot of some of her best work and assessments from first through third grades.

The first thing I saw when I opened the binder was a self-portrait that Chicky made at the beginning of first grade…

You can see how much she enjoyed soccer way back then, and she had only played one season!!

Now, finding that picture was fun, but the next thing I found was even better.

It was a writing sample from third grade.  I scanned the pictures because it will have more of an impact than my typing the words out (read both pages)…

Page 1

Page 2

You could have heard us laughing all the way down the street.  I couldn’t even get through the first page without stopping several times to catch my breath.

The funnier thing?  I have a picture of Rooster biting his toenails!!  Chicky found it after reading this story.

There was a third page attached to the above story…

You may be wondering what this is.

Well, it’s a graphic organizer.  Students in this day and age are taught different strategies for organizing their ideas during the pre-writing phase.

Given my adoration of everything educational, and my children’s academic success over the years, it was icing on the cake.  We laughed even harder, impressed at Chicky’s thoroughness even in first grade.

Hulk Hogan was on the Today Show this morning, and I prepped myself to half-listen while I did other stuff in the house.

He was there to promote his new book, My Life Outside the Ring.

Now, I’m not a wrestling fan, and I can’t say that I know the man personally, but you’d have to be from Mars to not have heard about his troubles in recent years…the breakup of his marriage, his son’s jail term for his involvement in a car accident, and estrangement from his daughter.

As I listened, I thought, “Yada, yada, yada.”

I’m sorry if this sounds uncaring, but it is so typical of Hollywood stars.

What caught my attention, though, was when Hulk Hogan recounted how Laila Ali, daughter of Mohammed Ali and Hulk’s co-host on American Gladiators, called him and invited him to attend her church.

Say what?

I was surprised for several reasons:

A.  She invited him to church.
B.  He went.
C.  He talked about it on national TV.

He talked about how he learned that joy comes from within, and that it was the Spirit of Christ living in his heart that helped him change his life.

I have a problem with his first statement because it is very New-Agey.  The purest form of joy comes from a gratefulness of what the Lord has done from us…redeeming us from the punishment of hell, not from any “power” within us.

Yet, I also found myself happy that he seems to be going in the right direction…turning toward God rather than away.

He also mentioned that his son is doing well…”walking with Christ.”

When faced with trials, many people turn away from God, seeking self-reliance and other “fixes.”

Hulk Hogan was led in a different direction…the RIGHT direction.

He has a long way to go, and I pray that he will study and pray and that God will illuminate Hulk’s heart to bring a true understanding of what redemption is.

I don’t know…maybe he does understand.  That’s not for me to decide, for only God knows the heart.

The important thing is that Hulk Hogan is in the ring with the Lord now.  They’re tag-teaming, and no opponent will be able to stand against him with God on his side!