This & That

First of all, I must thank all of you that sent me along such kind words and prayers. Especially from my Mama, what a sweetie she is. I so appreciate all of you readers out there. Though I'm feeling like I need to set the record straight.

I may have over dramatized the overall emotions going on in the house. We are not that destitute, the kids are not messed up over things. I come from a sheltered back ground, Jay comes from the complete opposite. So when it comes to parenting we find ourselves in a quandary at times. We tend to be more honest with the kids and give them doses of reality when we feel it is necessary. They are boys, meaning that some day in the very near future they will need to be strong, Godly men, able to work a good job and deal with all that this life throws at them. Also, being men, they will need to lead their wives and children and follow after what God has called for them to do. Being that they are home schooled, I believe, just puts them further into a bubble, without having to deal with a lot of the ugliness that is out there. So a little bit of realistic-ness in their lives, will maybe make them stronger. Plus the fact that they are in a strong and loving environment and both have the comfort and reassurance of their Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, helps all the more.

Oh, also, when the boys and I had our discussion last week one of the scriptures I went over with them was 'not storing up our treasures here on earth, instead, storing them in heaven'... Since Calvin's room is a sort of shrine to all things Indiana Jones, he took it upon himself to take things down, to get his focus back into gear.

I'm sorry that I painted quite a different picture. Sweetie says I need to be careful doing things like that. I stand corrected. But still thankful. :O)

Whew! That was a mouthful, now let me step off my soap box and get you updated on what's been happening in our lives thus far.....

L.T. turned 1 year old last week, the cake was yummy. :o)


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Little Daisy got spayed last week, isn't she just precious? And she now has a middle name...Jay calls her, Daisy Mae....too cute. Puppy training is going so well, we are very thankful.


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Sweetie, came home to this in his desk chair one day. He fixed it right away!
The note says..."Dear Dad, I'm broken. I feel chewed up and spitted out. Please save me. And please, don't let that mean, though very cute, little puppy be near me again. I seriously suck and would like to be back at what I do best. Have you met your boys? They make HUGE messes and I LOVE to eat them (the messes, not the boys). Sincerely, Mr. Oreck Vacuum"

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Boys in Black


We woke up last Sunday morning, to realizin' the boys had no more pants, what with the chilly weather, we're thinking they might need some. So Tuesday turned into shopping day. They got the necessary jeans and church pants, new shoes and tried to tell me their NEED for black sport coats. Instead they got these....still, VERY handsome.


Aren't they great posers??......yeah right, first I got this picture.....



then I got this picture....be afraid, be very afraid.



then after bribing them with something yummy, they finally gave me 'Grandma worthy' pictures. Ah, boys, it's a great life!





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Calvin finally got to go to his first game on Saturday. Too fun to watch. And WAY exhausting, is his conclusion! :o) See that big kid towering over all the others? Yep, that's my boy.

See his scary face? Yep, that's my boy.

Now see this little guy totally taking down another guy, nope that's not my boy, just thought it was funny.

Loved, that their way of tackling was to grab a hold of the guy by the legs and just hang on till the guy lost his balance. Never mind the damage of getting dragged down the field. Such a joyous day, we lost, but we had fun...and Dave and I were very happy there was a snack bar.

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Our whirl wind week was made complete by a great date night and church activities on Sunday. What a blessing our new church family is for all of us. Jay was asked to teach our Sunday School class on Sunday, it was good to see him in that role again. The passages that we are going over in both Sunday School and in regular service are Exodus and Hebrews, they are speaking greatly to us right now.

Love you all and I hope you have a great week. I'm off to do some chores, my bathroom floor needs to be scrubbed, laundry is piled everywhere in the bedroom and my desk is a nightmare. I have NO idea what we're having for dinner and my legs are feeling itchy with all the stubble growing there. And don't even get me started on my hair, scary people, very scary. But the puppy is being trained and the boys are doing their schoolin', there's only so much a girl can do in the course of a day, especially when she spends an hour doing a blog post. Your welcome!

Ugh, The Joy!

First of all, you now what hit the fan last night. Reality set in what with this whole Nation's Financial Catastrophe. We've had to let one employee go this week, and the rest of the company has NO WORK. It's a very sad and scary time. But not unlike things that the company has been through before, I mean after 30 years, it's gone through it's fair share of recessions. Jay decided to let the boys know a little of what was going on, so that their prayer time could be more accurate. They asked a lot of questions and ended up finding out more than they really needed to know.

Then Jay couldn't sleep very good last night, no wonder. He did get a lot done in the 2 hours he was awake, but then with throwing out his back AGAIN while putting socks on, well, he was a grumpy-grumpy man going off to work today. Him throwing out his back after doing it earlier this week, is just another reminder that we really need to be exercising. It's like God is trying to get my attention everyday and I keep NOT listening.

Then, while I'm trying to make breakfast, Dave steps in dog poop outside and brings in all through the house and all over the stool. Did I tell you he was wearing MY SLIPPERS when he was outside??? I was determined to get him to clean it up, trying to teach him to clean it up, and not just make a bigger mess. Not fun!

Then, while trying to get school graded and I found that there are just way too many books this year and I don't have enough room for everything in the one bookcase, so I ask Calvin to please give up one of their bookcases and bring it down for me. Then I give them the small green painted one that is in our closet for them to use instead. It's dark green, it will match perfectly their woodsy outdoor motif upstairs and it's free! A stormy child ensues. He's heard upstairs, stomping, throwing down and being mad. When I finally question him about it, he starts sobbing and complaining that first, 'Dad took away his cool desk and now his bookcase, what's next his bed????' Oh my gosh. The desk thing was from when he was 4!!! 4!!!!

After talking and sharing scripture it comes down to them being all upset about the talk Jay had with them last night. We have a very long and lengthy discussion about it, then I give them an hour to get things put away and cleaned up upstairs while I finished grading.

When I'm done, I go up to see what they've done and Calvin has now taken EVERYTHING down off the walls and shelves and is walking around in a stupor.

David is meanwhile complaining and walking around with a clipboard in hand with today's schedule written on it and keeps moving the times down mumbling that they aren't going to get done with school until 7 tonight if they don't get started on it soon. I grab the clip board and bonk him on the head with it.

After all the moving of furniture, we decided the floor needed to be vacuumed, which it did, because it's been DAYS since it was last done and what a mess it was upstairs. Then ensues more grumbling because they realize the new puppy had chewed through the electrical cord on the regular vacuum so they would have to go get Anaconda the whole house vacuum and get all the right attachments to it. Then we couldn't get the regular head to go into the slot, so it had to be manually held in place. What a pain!!!!

It's finally vacuumed. I have my extra bookcase and the homeschool stuff is all put away, yesterday's work is graded, they are started on their school work.

The upstairs looks very sad. Calvin looks very sad. And Dave is just beside himself with our lateness in getting started on school. It's 10:30 am.

So I'm thankful that my Sweetie has a job to go to today. I'm thankful for motrin for his back. I'm thankful for our new puppy, as sweet as she is. I'm thankful for the extra bookcase. I'm thankful for the opportunity to homeschool. I'm thankful for the time to have a good character lesson today. I'm thankful that we even have an extra vacuum.

I'm just thankful. There are a lot of hurting people out there today, my heart aches for them, my mind is overwhelmed with thinking of them all. We will be prayerful this day, this week, this month, this time in all our lives. HE has the power, not me, and I'm thankful that my life is in HIS hands.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." ......

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

James 1:2-8, 12

What hope we have in HIM!

MEMEMEMEME

Ginny over at Emtpy Nest - Full Life tagged me and complimented me. Thanks Ginny, you're so sweet.

1. Where is your cell phone? In my car.

2. Where is your significant other? In the driveway playing catch with the Davester.

3. Your hair-do color? Dark brown now.

4. Where is your Mother? I think in her car, since I just talked to her an hour ago and she was driving down the hill to take some stuff to Daddy.

5. Where is your Father? At work. :o( He's close to retiring, so deserves it.

6. Your favorite thing? Snuggling with Sweetie

7. Your dream last night? Would have had to of slept to have a dream.

8. Your dream/goal? To successfully raise two Godly boys.

9. The room you're in? The office.

10. Your hobby? Reading, watching movies, napping, blogging.

11. Your fear? Jay or the boys getting sick or dying.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Right here, but definately walking in the will of God.

13. Where were you last night? The Fall Church Picnic and Baptism at the Lake.

14. What you're not? Skinny or serious.

15. One of your wish list items? a pink laptop computer with a pink cordless mouse.

16. Where you grew up? Southern California

17. The last thing you did? Had Dave try on new clothes and shoes that I just got him.

18. What are you wearing? Jean capris and a salmon colored 3/4 sleeved knit top.

19. Your TV? Which one? In the living room....a Toshiba (that is having issues), in the bedroom...an Akai (don't ask, it's from Costco, but it has worked really great), in the sitting room...a Trutech (teeny-tiny one from Target).

20. Your pet? Winston, shiba-inu and terrier mix; Mr. Darcy, black and white cat; and precious sweet perfect Daisy, golden retriever.

21. Your computer? Dell desktop.

22. Your mood? Happy, content.

23. Missing someone? Yes, those I love in Southern California

24. Your car? 2009 White Toyota Camry

25. Something you're not wearing? shoes

26. Favorite store? my Super Target, 6.2 minutes away from my garage.

27. Your summer? Fun and a little melty.

28. Love someone? of course, lots of 'em

29. Your favorite color? pink. on cars, white. in the house, green, red & yellow. I'm also really fond of blue, but don't ever buy anything blue.

30. When is the last time you laughed? When I called Sweetie on the phone, I was in the bedroom just waking up from my nap, he was in here at his desk. He thought it was funny.

31. Last time you cried? About a week ago, reading a part in my book, made me sob.

Now it's your turn....I tag...


Amy at the Adam's Family
Shelley, my cousin
Kathleen, new friend and my hair-do lady
Meg, pin-up girl

Meet My New Baby

You all were SO great in your responses. Thank you so much. After much thinking, it dawned on me that Jay and I had actually been discussing getting another Golden Retriever and were putting it off for Christmas to give it to Calvin. How can I get myself a dog when my son was wanting another Golden? And I KNEW we weren't a Three-Dog Family, no thank you!

We looked into Golden's about 6 months ago and saw that they were REALLY expensive so it got put on hold, of course. So just to amuse myself I researched Golden's in the rescue arena. That's how I found her........


I know, how do you ever get a Doughnut after seeing this cute face????

I surprised Calvin with going right over to the Animal Hospital that was holding her. He had no idea. I went up to the front desk and asked if we could visit 'Dog #42' and they brought her right to us. Calvin was just beside himself.

After an hour of us just cuddling and cooing over her, they asked if we wanted to try taking her home for the weekend for a trial run. YEAH!!!!! I love these rescue people, this one especially. I didn't have to sign my name in blood, I didn't have to use my first born as collateral, I just had to fill out a short application and away we went.

Here are some pictures we took right after we got home, she's a lover, definitely not a fighter. Winston took to her just fine, which was ALWAYS our biggest concern as he can be a bit of a bugger at times.


She's about 4 months old. Not crate trained or house broken yet, so that'll be our job, oh joy!

But she's really not as bad with all that as I had prepared myself for. And what a sweetie she is.


She's great for a bath (did I mention that she isn't crate trained yet). She loves her food. She gives great hugs and kisses and is the softest thing we've ever encountered.

The only draw back was of course, getting her past Sweetie and Dave when they got home. One hug and Jay was a goner. And (drum roll please.....) we're keeping her.


May we introduce the newest member of our little family........Daisy. Yep, that's right, I named her Daisy. And she's mine. And I love her.

Baby

It's come to my attention and begun to convict me that I baby my kids too much. I mean poor Dave I think has grounds to leave the nest early as I am clearly 'exasperating my children'. I'm starting to literally smother my whole family, so I've decided I need a new baby. And since we aren't on the same page with adopting yet, well, I think it's time to get a new puppy. I know, I said it, it's true, it's time. Because I want something I can baby talk to, I want something that WANTS to snuggle with me all the time, I want something that, well, is cuter and cuddlier than, say....this....


No I don't mean that we'd get rid of Winston. Precious hyper Winston. Cat nugget eating Winston. Rodent, bird, large bug eating Winston. How could we part with this guy????


Yes, because Dave would surely be mad at me for life, more than he is for wanting to squeeze his buns all the time.


This cutie-patootie, assures me that he will always be my baby, but I'm starting to have my doubts. Plus, I'm afraid I'm warping him for life. My grandmother's voice is haunting me, with her little lectures to me to stop calling him 'Baby'...she did that when he was two years old....what would she think of me now???? I mean the kid is 10 1/2 and has armpit hair and a mother that is constantly squeezing him. It's not good folks, I'm tellin' ya, it's not good.

So I've found these little treasures from the local shelter. I'm taking votes, please let me know which one looks like it could be my next baby.


This is Q-Tip, she's a Maltese, which I've always wanted. She only has that army crew cut because she was all matted down when they found her, which means that someday soon she'll look normal. One can only hope.


This is Sophie, she's a Shih-Tzu, (notice, Marcie, I spelled it correctly and didn't cuss) anyway, she's cute and would be a perfect cousin to my sister's dog of the same color and breed except that her teeth aren't protruding from her lower jaw. Not that I'm saying anything against my canine nephew, he's adorable.


This here would be Dunkin, he's a Lhapsa-Alpso, (I totally DIDN'T spell that one right). What's best about him is how darn cute his face is and that this is his sister....


and her name is....Doughnut. Get it? Dunkin Doughnut, as in my FAVORITE eating establishment EVER!? I think it's a sign. No, I'm not thinking about getting both, I just think they are too precious.

So cast your votes, soon, preferably before Sweetie gets home tomorrow. That would be great! Thanks!!

Thankful Tuesday

1. Watching a great movie last night, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Too fun, and no groans and eye rolling from my man.


2. The full day of rain we got today. It feels like fall already.


3. It was actually chilly today, my makeup didn't run off my face when I walked outside and my hairdo stayed for at least 1/2 the day. A very nice change.

4. The drive to the Capital Building today with Calvin.


5. Walking the North Carolina History Museum and seeing some amazing exhibits.


6. The Dairy Queen chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream cones we had today.

7. Seeing this face when we got home, even if it was only via email.


8. Napping on the couch after finishing my book.

9. Calvin getting in the car all sweaty and muddy after football practice.

10. Sweetie's voice over the phone tonight.

Half Gone

This is my family for a week. As you can see half of my family is missing. Sweetie took Dave to California with him this time. Mama's not happy. Okay, maybe the picture shows me with a happy face, but let me assure you, it's only temporary.

Even though Calvin and I are like minded in that we love to sleep, eat and watch movies. Life is not just an eating sleeping movie watching vacation here. We actually had five minutes of panic when we couldn't decide what movie to watch next last night. I know, we suffer.

Then this morning when we were actually doing chores, I know, the shock! I was folding laundry and along came some Dave sized clothes. OH the tears! I had to once again go upstairs and hug his pillow. Gone are the memories of his last day with me here and his nagging questions about his trip and the minute by minute count down to when they would leave. The boy couldn't focus on anything and literally hopping around the house. I couldn't wait for him to go, now I'm trying to talk Sweetie into coming home early. I don't think it's going to happen. I will have to embrace the pillow and pint sized undies for another few days.

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ON a different note. Calvin went on a Youth Retreat Weekend Away this weekend, with the kids from church. He had a great time and once again amazed me at how strong he is and confident. Flash back about 24 years and I would have been slurking off to the church office crying and calling my Mama to PLEASE come get me.

We're still relatively new to the church and he doesn't really have a group of good buddies yet so he was one of those loaner kids, the rest of the group was pairing off and getting into their groups and even though everyone was nice and greeting him, no one was pulling him into one of their groups. (oh, the adolescent agony) But he didn't even notice, he was strong, walking around finding all the other loaner kids and forming a whole different group, finding his own seat in a car, making conversation with anyone. The kid is strong and I once again ask myself, where did he come from?????

It was the hardest thing to drive away and leave him to the Lord and not say anything like, "don't you just want to come home with me???". I called Jay on the way home and we both were in awe and taken back by how much we love that kid.

When I went to pick him up yesterday I was so nervous to find out how everything went. He was beaming. He had a great time. Learned lots. Came home with a great attitude towards me and everything else and was so blessed. Again, I was amazed. And so thankful for God making him into the young man he's becoming.

So after mowing the grass and watering the plants and cleaning his room today, I think I'll treat him to lunch and a movie. And for those of you on the West Coast that might see the other half of my family....please send them home, We miss them.

All Things Thankful

1. Hanna came and went and left us all wet and just a little wind blown. Went right over the top of us in the middle of the night. I absolutely love the rain here, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

2. Dinner and card game with some special friends on Saturday night. The best fish tacos I've ever had and laughter that made my tummy hurt...or was that the cabbage from the tacos?

3. A Monday spent at my desk, getting all things on my list done and broadening (is that a word?) my backside, I'm sure. I got all happy with my crossed off 'to-do list' that I saved it and just keep looking at it. So proud I am of myself.

4. Phones. I'm not going to complain about the hours I've spent on hold trying to recitfy our phone issues. The fact that we get horrible cell phone reception here at our house, unless of course you run to the top of the driveway, hello? did you not read about my broadening (is that a word?) backside? And the second line that we had installed not working and no-one in phoneland being able to help us. Then the countless hours it took to get us switched to another phone company and two working phone lines, only to have a few friends not be able to call us and just hearing a message that states our line has been disconnected, not that it wouldn't be past us to not pay our phone bill right now, but NO, I pay my bills and I should have a working phone line. No I'm not going to complain. I'm going to be thankful for a phone line that sometimes works and keeps me from having to send smoke signals to Cathi telling her I need milk.

5. The lecture I gave my boys yesterday on how they'd better pay good attention to their schoolin' lest they grow up to work at a phone company customer service desk where, clearly, the stupid people work.

6. The sweet phone message I got from Sara, she got her present...she's a happy, happy girl. She had to go, she was off to go walking again. Her second walk of the day. It was probably going to be the six mile hike up the mountain. Whatever! Next time I need to send her some sweet tea and bisquits instead.

7. My free pizza coupon that came in the mail yesterday afternoon. If was for a free, large, one-topping pizza and 2-liter bottle of Coke from Dominos. It was a rebate offer from ....something we got....I don't remember. We were so excited, "sounds like dinner to me", remarked Jay. We ordered it online. All piled into the car with our paper plates and napkins. Headed to our Dominos Pizza place, all trotted in to gather our large cheezey pepperoni pizza for free. So happy we were.

This is a Thankful post, so I won't mention that the losers that work at the Dominos would not take our coupon because I had opened it. I won't mention that I had to pay the $11 for my stinkin' one-topping pizza. And "no, I don't want your bottle of coke, if I have to pay for it!" As we walked out of the store, feeling totally defeated, but, dang it, so hungry that we couldn't say no to the pizza....I wanted to ask them if they were friends with the phone company people. No I won't complain, I'll just be thankful that I got pizza for dinner and didn't have to make the fish I had defrosting.

8. The mini-golf game we played last night. Being the golfing family that we are. We enjoy a good game of mini-golf. Except that now Jay has us keep to the rules. We had mulligan's, tutoring in our lining up the ball with the hole, and he would NOT let me just throw my ball into the hole after 7 tries. We had fun though. The mosquitos munched on Jay. Calvin got some weird bad attitude about the whole thing. Dave was makin' it tough for me to beat him. And the music was all 80's, all the time, oh yeah, Mama was a dancin'. So I'm thankful for the mini-gGolf game that turned my Bad Phone & Pizza People Day into a dancin' good time.

9. I'm also thankful that It's 10am here now and I'm still in my P.J.'s. Yes, life is good. What is it about staying in your P.J.'s that makes you all peaceful inside. If anyone comes to the door, my story is that I'm having a sick day.

10. Number 10. Room freshener. SO thankful for room freshener. The chore for the day is to ONCE AGAIN do SOMETHING about the stench that is coming down the stairs from the boys rooms. What is it about boys? I need a Hasmat suit and Costco sized can of room freshener to go up there. But when that stink is starting to come down into the living room....it's not good and Mama ain't happy no more. So today, for number 10....I'm thankful for room freshener.

I'm off to find my can....what are you thankful for today?....check out more thankfulness at Crayola Lady.

Have a Great Day!

Musings of Yesterday & Today....Oh, and some Football

So it's time to post again, I know. But my brain just won't cooperate. I feel completely uninspired. So I decided to start on my Thankful List....

1. I'm finally thankful for my new car. The opportunity to downsize on our car payment, that is a huge blessing. But I was feeling a little sad and mournful, missing the big dream minivan last week, being able to carry all the kids and all my stuff. People often remarked at how I could live out of my car with all the stuff I kept in there....I was a girl scout, always be prepared, right? But I'm all better this week. I had a good pep talk from my sister, thanks Marcie. And a few days of practice drives to get used to the gear shift again. Plus, Sweetie bought me one of those bluetooth things so now I can call my Mama and eat a burrito and change gears all at the same time. So thankful.


2. My walk this morning. Got my carcas out of the house and finally went on a walk. Ran into a neighbor whom the boys have met but I have not, her husband just had a mini stroke late last week, so it was good to be able to ask about him and introduce myself to her. She immediately got all happy and was saying how sweet my boys are to them. Makes a mama proud. Thanks Miss Alva for cheering up my morning. Plus I saw that our neighborhood is not innocent of having some graffiti........

what is this world coming to?

3. The boys spent yesterday afternoon, most of the night and this morning, cleaning their own rooms and rearranging all their furniture. So proud of them and now we can have some room up in the play room for Dad's weight bench and my treadmill. Basically it gets the exercise equipment out of our views, so we don't feel so guilty not using it.

4. The tacos I made tonight for dinner. Yummy!!! Didn't have anything prepared and thawed but started having a very serious taco craving. Then I realized I had no meat, so of course I had to go steal some from Cathi down the street, but she was very gracious about it, especially since she stole my dried sage last week. They were deee-licious!

5. Went to the dentist today. This isn't something I'm thankful for. Just thought if I'd put it down here it might improve my attitude about it. I really disslike the dentist. I mean, REALLY dislike the dentist. I actually cancelled my last appointment because I just didn't have the guts to go, but our dentist is VERY insistent, she calls every week until you finally get your butt in there. My kids LOVE the dentist....whatever! But I am thankful for my teeth, I wouldn't have been able to crunch on my tacos tonight without them. Even though my gums were a little sore, stinkin' little metal pokey thing.

6. Went shopping yesterday. A certain special friend has her birthday in a few days. I love shopping for her, too fun. Then I boxed it up and took it to the post office to ship. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside when I get to send a present to someone. Can't wait for her to get it. Happy Birthday, Sara, miss you!

7. I'm in the middle of a book series that I've had for a few years but just could never get into. Beverly Lewis, Abram's Daughter's series....I'm SO INTO it that I can't seem to put the dang thing down. I find myself going to the bathroom more frequently just to have a chance to read a page. And I'm totally neglecting my family. It's THAT sweet and good.

8. Our Family Pizza & Movie Night, on Friday nights. It's something that our friends down the way started with their own family, and since they won't invite us to their family nights, we started our own. I make pizza from scratch, right down to the dough and sauce, super yummy. Toppings galore. Soda. Family friendly movie. Snuggles on the couch. Happy family. Happy me.

the rest of this list was finished today, because Calvin wanted me to go to his football practice with him...he'll regret that....

9. Thankful for the friends that the boys have here. Too cute that Nick and Johnny are over today and the happy, happy boy noises that are running through my house right now.

10. Tonight is church, Family Worship Night, we forgot to sign up in time for the dinner, but we'll go for the meeting and worship time. I'm really looking forward to it. And once again, thankful for our new church family.


Hope you all are having a very blessed week.


a little bit of football....what a stance.


that's him taking out all the little kids, they go over like dominoes, too fun to watch...


after giving a beat down, the guy gets thirsty...


ah, this is right after I reached up and pinched it, no he's not picked on AT ALL!

I'm sorry, it's his own fault, he wanted me to come to his practice...they are very boring and a mother has to occupy herself somehow.

(next week, Dave at baseball, it's good to be me!)