Howdy

Hi everyone.

This weekend has gone good. Ross is seeming to be doing better. We are just wondering if maybe the patch is a bit too strong. He whines more and gets his feelings hurt real easily. I felt sorry for him when he was here Wed. and the girls didn't want to play with him. He got over it real quick, but it pulls at your heart strings when your child feels left out. Me and him played Mario today and he was sooo happy :)

I get to go get my schoolbooks tomorrow. I'm excited hehe. I love opening new books. Even tho used books are less, I HAVE to have new books. It weird, but it drives me NUTZ to have used books.

Last night I got to have some "honey time" Me and L played cards for about 3 hours. I love playing cards with him~ even if he does beat my butt most of the time hehe.

L had to work a lot this weekend. He had to work all day Sat. and had to work some today. That's one thing about his job... sometimes he doesn't get a weekend.

I've gained 2 pounds this week. UGGG You'd think the 100 degree weather we've had this week would sweat some poundage off hehe

Ross will be turning 6 on Tues.! My baby! Getting so big. He got upset today. He told me "I don't want a new teacher this year!" I said "Mrs Huffman will be around, so you can go visit her" He said "I don't want to visit her. I want her to be my teacher forev...for a little bit longer" (he started to say forever and I think he realized that wouldn't happen hehe)

Be praying for a soldier named Matthew Jackson. I've been writing to him thru e-mail. I know it's busy over there, but I'm kinda worried. I haven't heard anything in over a month. Please pray he is ok. I don't know where he's at and he has a wife, a step-son, step-daughter, and his wife was due to have a baby girl at the beginning of July (she was having some problems at one time ). Since I haven't heard from him since 6-26, I don't know how that went.

Well I guess that's it.

Write ya later.

What's your thoughts?

How do you know when something is a test from God or Satan just hacking at you?

Back on 7-26, I wrote a "pity party" post. In it I mentioned about my problems with tithing. I guess my problems with faith with our money. Well, a day later we had to buy an alternator. Then, this Sun. we had to buy a new battery after getting stranded in Greensboro. Today, I broke down with 3 of the kids and the battery was DEAD. Six days and dead as a doorknob. They tested it and it was bad.

Each time we have had the $ to get whatever fixed. Usually we wouldn't have. I kinda feel as tho the breaking down in Sun. was God saying "See~~ya shoulda been in church instead of here". I don't know if God is saying now "See~~I've prepared it for you to have the $ for fixing the problems on your vehicle." Or maybe Satan trying to get to us by using our $ up to fix the Expedition.

How do you know? How can you figure out what is going on in the spiritual world? Can you ever know?

Write ya later.

Rambling

Hope everyone is doing fine. I've been in a funk lately. L and I got in a disagreement about rules in the house and I blew up at him. Why can't I keep my feelings in check? I hate not getting out of the house. I feel like a hermit or something. Just so hot to get out of the house (especially since the Expedition A/C doesn't work so well). I very much dislike not being able to have "adult" conversations with someone. I hope that having my one class at school will help. I am excited about it. If gas wasn't so much, I would take more than one class at school. I miss those "girl's nights" and just being able to go out with a friend, just to window shop. I have a great best friend, but I understand how she doesn't want to drive to my house (it's a bit away) or me to her house. Other than her, I feel as tho it's me against the world. That everything is on my shoulders and I don't get to take a break from it.

Ok~sorry~Mark is wearing underwear alllll day now! He hasn't had but one accident in the last 4 days. I'm so happy! He's wearing Goodnights at night just cuz I'm kinda worried he's not ready for that yet. I'm gonna try soon.

Ross is going into 1st grade! My boy's growing up. Makes ya realize how much time flies.

The girls have been here all week. Had a pretty good day with them today. Last two days were a little rough (which is when the argument occurred), but I think it's going great. We may even keep them thru this weekend and they also want to come for another week before school starts. It'll be interesting :)

Well, guess that's it for now

Write ya later.

Some things

Here are some things I've done with plastic canvas. Unfortunately, other things that I have taken pictures of, before the digital, didn't come out good. Maybe I can get my dad to take some pictures of the things I have given them. They're my favorite hehe


Some angels. You can make them into ornaments



Some coasters. The one of the bottom right is part of a Safari collection of coasters.



Some sayings to be hung up. The top right one is one Christina made me.

I've learned.....

Got this thru e-mail

I've learned...that life is like a roll of toilet paper.
The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've learned...that we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

I've learned...that money doesn't buy class.

I've learned...that it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.

I've learned...that under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

I've learned...that the Lord didn't do it all in one day.
What makes me think I can?

I've learned...that to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

I've learned...that the less time I have to work , the more things I get done.

What an adventure!

We went to Greensboro yesterday to go to the hunting show. As we are traveling there, we see our battery gauge is going down. We turn off the A/C and it goes back up. A bit later, it's going back down. We get off the exit and the gauge is down. Our battery is dead. All the other gauges are still working. We start looking for a parts store. Of course, it's Sun. and a lot of them are closed. We get caught by every red light. At one light, everything but our tach stops working. Two lights later, NOTHING is working. We thought if we could keep it running, we could find a part store. At one light, there is a gas station and I told L to pull in and keep it going, and I'll ask where a part store is. At that moment, our Expedition dies. L and I get out to push and Ashley climbs in to drive. All of a sudden, a lot of homeless people swarm us to help (it was nice, just spooky). We go in and call a cab for L~the girls and I stay at the gas station. The cab ride cost 11 dollars for a 4 mile trip!!!! So now we have a new alternator and a brand new battery~hopefully nothing else will go wrong with it. I'm just glad that Mark stayed with his paw paw. We were in a BAD part of town.

After all that, we went to the hunting show. It was cool. They always have a place for the kids to shoot bows and air guns.

Ashley shooting a bow~

Emily having help shooting an air gun~

It was definatly a LONG day! Today, I'm just cleaning up and relaxing. And watching my son put on make-up hehe


He got ahold of the girls blush~

Write ya later

Before viewing

Before viewing the pictures of my house, please know it is a mess. I have been rearranging things and cleaning things out. So you know, it always gets messy before it gets clean hehe. It's gonna take forever for this house to look the way I want it. We need more shelves and more cabinets. We hope to one day have a nice clean house. Until then~~this is our wonderful home :)

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Welcome to my house!

Looking up the driveway



Front yard







Our house



Coming in the front door



Looking straight off our back porch



To the right



To the left

Here and there, Odds and ends

A stained glass picture my dad made for us for our first anniversary


A painting I got from my grandma's house after she died. I love it. (Just haven't put it up yet hehe)

An aerial photo done of our property. From the driveway to the left is our property.



Our messy, messy closet. Mostly because of L's hunting stuff and the kids winter clothes.



Our "laundry room" To the right is the backdoor


Looking to the left of the washer and dryer

Living Room/Den/Dining Room

Area when you walk in the house. We have the kids play in here (as you can see from the toys)




We keep our tapes and DVD's in here


Living Room looking from the kitchen




I sit on the couch and L sits on the love seat. He likes to use the recliner and I don't like to sit on the love seat, so we have our own place to sit.


Not much to the dining area, just the table :)

My kitchen

I took these right after L made breakfast, so ignore the dirty pans hehe (Vickie, look on top of my cabinets and you will see why I love how many cabinets you have :) )





Another view of above my cabinets :)



A place where a microwave is SUPOSED to be

My bedroom

Please remember, I've been working on the house to straighten it up. So it's a mess, but I'm working on it!



This is our "parental suite" that I'm working hard on getting cleaned up

Kids rooms

Here is Ross and Mark's rooms. I didn't take any of the girl's room cuz it's a complete mess right now hehe Mark doesn't have a bed, cuz he tore his up. Tore the matteress up and the bed he broke (it was wooden), so he sleeps on a sleeping bag :) Mark's above, Ross' below

I GOT IT!!!!

I got my digital camera! It was a little more than I had planned on spending, but it came with things that I'd end up spending $ on later anyways.

It included:the camera (duh hehe) with 256 MB internal memory, 2 rechargable batteries with the charger, a case, the video hook-up, and the USB cable. I didn't read the things on the box and the guy asked if I wanted a case or batteries. We looked at some cheap cases, but none of them fit. And I figured I had batteries at the house. Well, I got to Chrissy's house and found out that they were both in there. God blessed me.

It was just put onto the floor, cuz I looked at the tag that gave the specifications and it said "256 internal memory" I was like WHOA! I asked the guy if I read that right and he said "Yeah they come with some internal memory .. (looked at the tag) Whoa! Yeah, that's what it says. They've just put this out on the floor" So I was a happy chick today.

I'll be able to post pics soon. I've got a whole house to catch up on :)

Write ya later.

1 Cor. 13/ bloggers paraphrase

My SS teacher sent this to me. I also have added the website at the end.

A Blogger's Version of 1 Corinthians 13
Note: This is not meant to be disrespectful to the biblical text in any way. Just an attempt on my part to remind myself of what this is all about.

If I blog with words that impress greatly and have the most beautiful blog template, but have not love, I am only a bunch of meaningless pixels scattered across the screen. If I have large numbers of readers coming to my blog, and hundreds of comments on every post, but have not love, I am no better than the blogger who has no readers at all. If I can exegete Scripture impressively and convince others of my theological perspective but have not love, I gain nothing.

A loving blogger is patient and kind. Love does not envy other’s site statistics, it does not boast in its own viewpoints, it is not proud of what it writes. Love is not rude to those who comment, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered by disagreements, it keeps no record of wrongs. A loving blogger does not delight in speaking or reading evil but rejoices with speaking the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are blog hosts, their servers will fail; where there is heavy blog traffic, it will be reduced to nothing; where there is impressive writing, it will all be deleted from the file system. For we know in part and we write blog posts in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a beginning blogger, I wrote about trivial subjects, I jumped to conclusions about other viewpoints, I paid no attention to how I talked to others. When I became a mature blogger, I put beginners’ ways behind me.

Now we see but a basic representation of our words as on an old monochrome monitor; then we shall understand all of this theological truth in its fullest. Now I only understand a little bit about which I write; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: site statistics, creative writing and love. But the greatest of these is love.

http://theologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2006/04/bloggers-version-of-1-corinthians-13.html

SOME good news

In my "pity party" I forgot that I did have some good news.

I FINALLY got my toaster oven. I do surveys, get points, get things. I have gotten a DVD player, a book light, and a toaster over now. I am so happy. I've wanted a toaster oven for a while now....finally got it. Cinnamon Toast for breakfast tomorrow :)

I registered for 3 of my classes: Intro. to Criminal Justice, Literature Based Research~both thru internet~ and Forensic Psychology (sounds cool). I have to re-take the Math placement test and if I pass it, I'm hoping to add College Algebra

Jeff (Ross' dad) and his wife, Geri, have welcomed a new baby boy into the world tonight at 11:09 pm. Ross is so excited. Jeff said that Ross looked at the baby and said "Ok. We can keep him" hehe

Ok~just wanted to add some good news on here.

Write ya later.

Tough Day

I have just been in such a weird mood. So much going on in my mind that it's driving me nuts. I cried about 4 times today and I very much dislike crying. This is a "pity party" post. I need this tonight. I apologize if anything sounds ridiculous.

I went to the Dollar Store today. I bought some decals to put on the kids walls. I bought some trucks to put on Mark's. I put them up high enough that he couldn't reach~or so I thought. He is such a destructive child! After having a toy for an hour or so, he'll have it broken. He's had some that he hasn't, but for the most part he tries to. WELL~ L got home and I was SOOO proud about the trucks on Mark's walls, so I take L in to see them. My heart sank when I saw 4 of the decals torn.

I've been working so hard to get this house cleaned up some, but it seems as tho~ one place gets "straightened" then another place gets messed up or L makes a mess in that area, not considering I just cleaned it up.

I have been feeling bad about not being in church. I just hate not going as a family and it's a battle to get L to go. I asked him the other day "If you died tonight, where would you go?" His reply?~"I'm not planning on dieing tonight" I said "Duh! But where would you go?" "I'm not dieing tonight" So aggravating. Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames is coming here in October. I'm taking him to it, even if I have to take him kicking anf screaming. If you haven't ever seen it, it's WONDERFUL. I saw it a LONG time ago, but I figure it's still as good. I'm praying about going to another church, cuz I know he just doesn't enjoy the church I go to. I hate it, I grew up in that church, but I know he'd rather be somewhere else. I've been looking for something that tells me what the different denominations believe. Like~what's the difference between a Baptist and a Church of God or a Wesleyan? My parents went to a WONDERFUL Church of God in Ga. and I would love to have gone there! You felt God in THAT place.

It always seems as tho when L wants something we have the money, but when I finally decide I want something, WHOOPS~there's not enough money. It drives me nutz! When we got our refund back, L spent $800 on things for his boat. I didn't want anything. L just spent some money on bowling ball repairs a couple of months ago.
I have not wanted a camera before now. I was always wanting those pictures that have "mistakes" in them. Well, when we FINALLY had all the kids together and had a family picture, it was messed up. So I said~Ok, I want a digital! L and I talked about it and we decided to get one~Well what do ya know? All of a sudden we don't have money! It's just aggravating (I'm hooked on that word tonight)

Another money thing~My biggest money problem is having problems tithing. I think~"We need that "$X" for X bill." I know I'm SUPPOSED to tithe, but I have a problem with that leap. I've had people tell me "Well, I started tithing and since I have, he's increased my $." Well, if I hear that, then start tithing, thinking "God will give me more $" ~isn't THAT the wrong reason to tithe?

Sorry I've written your eyes off (ya know~I can't TALK your EARS off :)~sorry, trying to add SOME humor)

Write ya later.

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Working on it

My house is "kinda" coming together. I've been working to make it look better. Getting things together to go to GoodWill. Got a new (to me)chest of drawers. I love it.

While I was cleaning out the other chest of drawers, I got a surprise. I kept some blankets in the bottom drawer. Mark had left some cereal in there (long time ago, obviously, since the kind it was we haven't bought in a long time).
While I was pulling the blankets out, I found something black about this big
---------. Then after I got all the blankets out, I found another one. They were baby mice that had died! Now I don't like mice, but it was sad :(. We have a bad mouse problem, but I never thought about that happening! I think we might have finally fixed the mouse problem, but I'm still holding my breath hehe

WELL~we found out the alternator in our Expedition is bad, so we have to get another one. Since we have to do that, I don't get my camera this weekend! I have to wait longer! I was so looking forward to getting it. Oh well.

I think I also got L to agree to get a kitten. I want a pet, but we don't have to time to train a dog right now. I found a couple of kittens that are so cute, online on the animal shelter's website (at left is one of 'em). I can't wait to get it :) It said she also had a sister. I just hope one of 'em are there when we go.

Ross is trying that new patch today and he seems to be doing good. I hope it just stays that way.

Hopefully later I can hang some pictures. I'm ready for this house to look like we have lived in it instead of looking like we just moved in.

Write ya later.

My day

Well...Took Ross to his doc appt. today. She upped his "mood medicine"" again. Hopefully this will help! Also, she changed the way he takes his Ritalin. We are to try him on the patch (sounds like a smoker hehe). She is thinking that since he is on Tegretal ("mood medicine") and his liver has made it's own metabolism, that maybe the liver is cutting out a lot of his Ritalin. This way, thru the patch, it's going straight into the blood stream. I know it takes a while to figure out medicine for people, but I wish we'd find the right combination NOW! It's so frustrating.

We found us some insurance! THANK YOU GOD! If we got insurance thru L's work, it'd be around $800 and something a month. This insurance we got~~$330! Plus we don't have to have referrals. God has blessed us! All we have to wait for right now is it to go thru underwriting. L signed us up for a "discount program" thinking it was insurance, so I'm going to call them up and cancel that.

Please pray for my oldest brother. We suspect he is back on drugs. It's such a shame, cuz he had worked sooo hard at getting clean. Lately, when he's called my mom~he's so loopy. Oh yeah~according to him (in my family~when you say "Braxton says...", we don't tend to believe it) we are to become rich! Supposedly, he's suing this company that caused him to be hurt (he fell into a hole and hurt his back real bad) and he's gonna get millions and split it between my parents, me, and my 2 other brothers. Oh it'd be so nice :) I find myself figuring out what I could do with the $. I just feel bad for my mom. He disappeared for about 5 years~no one knew where he was, hadn't heard from him, or anything. He coulda been dead and us not know. Then he called my mom (part of the 12 steps) and apologized. Then he got hurt, and it's been back to the way he was. My mom's heart is broken :(

Write ya later.

Should children witness childbirth?

Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very, very dark, so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-year-old girl, to hold a flashlight high over her Mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby. Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Heidi pushed and pushed, and after a little while Connor was born. The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Connor began to cry.

The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-year old what she thought about what she had just witnessed. Kathleen quickly responded,

"He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place......... smack his bottom again!"

If you didn't laugh on this one, there's no help for you.

I got this thru e-mail and thought it was hilarious

SO Aggravating!

This is so aggravating! It's hard to just "be myself" on here! I wanted to just be able to say anything that's on my mind, but I keep stopping myself. I'm too worried about whether people will see me as crazy or stupid or condemn me about how I feel about something or that it would seem as I complain too much. I was hoping this blog thing would help me to get everything off my mind and off my chest. Maybe stuff would quit running thru my mind every night. I told myself whenever I started this, that I'd write how I felt~really felt~but I can't seem to do it. It's frustrating. I've got to do something soon, or it's gonna drive me nuts.

Finish This Sentence...

My Home is......

VERY messy. I need a lot of more time to clean out the clutter.

I am listening to....

COPS on TV. I'm a BIG CourTv fan

Maybe I should...

exercise and get off of the couch more :)

I love it when...

I feel as tho I've done a good job~whether it be making a good grade at school or getting our kitchen counter clean :)

My best friend...

Chrissy Maye (Christina~she gets annoyed when I call her Chrissy Maye :) ) We've been friends for about 16 years and I don't know what I'd do without her there for me. Luv you!!

I don't understand...

people that go around with frowns all the time. A smile can make a person's day!

I lost...

a lot of self esteem since I've gained weight and have no energy/desire to get up off the couch.

People say...

Mark is so well behaved. HA~come home with me someday!

The meaning of my blog name is...

from Shakespeare. I once was in a theatre group and we had to say sit on the floor, legs off the floor in front of us, and say/scream this whole thing making sure not to touch the ground and use our diaphram. Sometimes we had to start over. Let me tell ya~that worked the ab muscles!

Love is...

wonderful and unconditional
Right now, somewhere, someone is...

smart and asleep :)

I will always...

be a kid at heart. Life is supposed to be fun!(plus I'm easily amused)

Once upon a time I...

wanted to be a teacher.

I never want to...

lose my sense of humor.

My personal motto is...

patience is a virtue (drives L crazy!)

When I wake up in the morning...

I go potty and then get Mark out of his room

I get annoyed when...

L doesn't hear a word I say. I know it's a man thing, but it drives me absolutely crazy

People always...

judge people tooo much

I sing...

to whatever I can.

Hugs are the best when....

they are given as "2 armed hugs" I can't stand when I'm hugged with just one arm. It seems as tho you'd rather not be hugging me

Today I...

got aggravated with Mark (REALLY bad)Guess I forgot my personal motto hehe

Tomorrow I will...

try and work better on my nerves and not let Mark get on them

I really want...

one more child (I'm crazy right?)

If my girls/boys were born the opposite sex, I would have named them. . .

Deatra LeeAnn. My sister died 3 days before she was born. This was her name. I asked my mom permission to name my daughter that if I ever had a daughter.

I figure everyone's gonna do this, so I won't tag anyone :)

Crazy around here

Been busy around here!
Fri.~I had a surprise party for L (I'm getting on the initial train~tired of typing his name out hehe). He tried his best to ruin it. He wanted to go out to eat, but I convinced him to stay home. Then, he came home from work early! So I had to have the guests stay at my FIL's house (right next door) and I went and picked them up (L thought I was going to Food Lion :)) Came back and he was surprised. It was a wonderful evening. He definitely wasn't expecting it!

The rest of the weekend, we just hung out with the kids. Ever since the girls have come back from staying with my MIL in Fla., they have been so good (especially Ashley). So we have enjoyed them a lot more. In two weeks, we are going to have them for a week. I'm really surprised that they were able to, but happy.

Today~I had to take Ross to have his blood drawn again. He always screams during it, but gets over it quickly. This was the second time Mark has seen this happen to Ross, so he sat there "It's ok Ross. You're doing good" It was so cute.

Tonight I went and took a test at the community college to see if I could take internet courses this fall semester. And......I passed, so I can! It'll help a lot. I won't have to go to the college for a couple of classes. Now I just have to figure out what classes to take and then register.

Hopefully, by next week, I will have a digital camera. I'm hoping! I've seen what I want and it's on sell (just hoping it still is when I go back)

L is still working long hours. He got home around 8pm tonight, just because he had to come home early because of the heat. Oh well. hehe He's working hard for us and I love him for that.

Still having trouble potty training Mark. I just hope he comes around soon.

Write ya later.

My 3 Things list

3 Things that scare me:
Spiders!
Heights
Being in closed areas (VERY claustrophobic! even tight hugs get to me!)

3 People that Make me Laugh:
My hubby
Mark
Myself (I'm easily amused hehe)

3 Things that I LOVE:
Going to school and learning new things
Doing crafts
Sitting in a hammock (even tho I don't have one yet!!!)

3 Things I Don't Understand:
Why people have to be mean to others
Why people can't say a kind word to others
Why my hubby can't understand that our family doesn't have to have a lot of money to have fun and create lasting memories

3 Things on My Desk:
Vaseline (only thing that helps my DRY feet)
cup of tea
My Christian bracelet (I'll have to post it sometime~a cool story to go with it)

3 things I'm Doing Right Now:
Getting onto Mark for jumping on the bed
Trying to ignore the cartoons on TV
Getting onto Mark for turning the TV on and off

3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
goodness..just 3?
Go abroad to some Spanish speaking country
Go back to Gatlinburg Tn (determined to do that in the next 5 years!)
Go on a cruise

3 Things I Can Do:
Dance
Listen/be a good friend
Play piano

3 Things That Describe My Personality:
Good friend
As I mentioned before~easily amused :)
lovable (most of the time hehe)

3 Things I Can't Do:
Keep my house clean (something about 3 foot tall keeps messing it up hehe)
Get my mind to slow down when it's time to go to sleep
Live without my family

3 Things I Should Listen To:
Jesus
My hubby
My "gut"/heart (I do a pretty good job of it)

3 Things I Should Never Listen To:
Satan
My brain (I over analyze too much)
Snobby people

3 of My FAVORITE Foods:
Pizza
Pizza
Did I mention~Pizza :)

3 Things I'd Like To Learn:
A ballroom dance~waltz or something like that
Sign Language (I know some, but want to learn more)
How to QUIT WORRYING

3 Beverages That I Drink Regularly:
the only beverage around our house
Tea
Tea
Tea

3 Shows I Watched As A Kid:
Saved by the Bell
Perry Mason (watched it before nap time while my mom ironed)
Davey and Goliath (anybody remember this?)

3 People I tag:
I don't have anyone to tag :( everyone's done this by now hehe

I want one!

I do not have a digital camera. I am VERY upset about the last pictures I got back from a camera from CVS (one that they give you the film for having your pictures developed by them). Lewis told me tonite that I could get a digital camera. I have been looking tonight on the net about them. The articles I have read say that 4MP is good enough.

What do ya'll have? How many MP? I just want a simple one that will give me good pictures. I don't need anything fancy.

My thoughts...

On going out with kids. Since everyone else is doing it hehe

I try my best not to take Ross out to WalMart that much. (In case you don't remember~he is diagnosed with a significant mood disorder, most likely, bipolar) It is sooo hard to guess at his mood swings. He is one that, once he gets into a temper tantrum, you have to give him an option (like~ "You have to settle down or you can't watch tv when we get home") and then you HAVE to ignore him. It makes it worse to do anything at that time. You have to let him settle down or he might get physical with you.

I most definitely agree that there are many kids that aren't disciplined. I still discipline him~ I just have to go thru a series of questions first 1)pick your battles (like any other parent~ but much more picky). There are things that can just inflame it more and others that help to diffuse the situation; 2) try and figure out "Is this him doing this or is this his disorder? Is he doing this on purpose or does he even realize he is doing it?" Especially if you suspect he's had a seizure~ he doesn't remember anything.

I used to be one of those people, when a kid was having a temper tantrum "Why don't they deal with them!!" But going thru this puts a bigger perspective on it for me. Again~ I do realize that there are many undisciplined kids out there, but the few and far between may be going thru the very frustrations I'm going thru.

Write ya later

Silly Supper Idea

I've done this before in Youth Group at church~it's fun. I'm thinking of doing it for Lewis this weekend (so Christina~don't say anything!)

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to make one of your dinners more intriguing, try having a Silly Supper. It can be messy. It is time consuming. But it is also a great deal of fun.

Decide on a Simple Menu~
Decide on a simple menu with 12 items. Make sure that the utensils are included in the 12 items. Examples:
fork
spoon
knife
napkin
toothpick
beverage
hot dog
hot dog bun
peas
hash browns
Jell-O
ice cream

Assign Items a Name
Assign each of these items a name. The names don't have to have anything to do with the item. Examples:
Stritof Delight
Tempting Bites
Tasty Treats
Sweetheart Special
Spicy Tidbits
etc.
Put the menu with just the special names listed on a poster board or on a handout.
Your mate will need to choose what he/she is going to eat, and in what order. Your partner will be ordering without realizing that part of their order includes their utensils. So don't give that secret away!
Your spouse will realize this frustrating aspect of the Silly Supper menu soon enough when the first course arrives!

In the Kitchen~
After the menu items have been selected, head to the kitchen. Don't let your spouse see you complete your part of the form with the actual items.
Ask your spouse to sit at the table and to be patient. There should be nothing on the table but salt and pepper, butter, mustard, and catsup or whatever condiments are appropriate for the foods you select to serve.

Serving the Silly Supper Dinner~
Clean up is easier if you use paper plates and plastic utensils. The fun starts when you start serving the food. Serve it one course at a time.
The first course is the first four items your spouse listed on the Silly Supper Menu.
Let's say he/she ordered a knife, Jell-O, a hot dog bun, and the beverage. That's all he/she gets. Everything has to be consumed before the second course is served. It's okay to leave the beverage but that's all. When you collect the plate from the first course, also collect the knives, forks, etc.
Don't let your spouse cheat by trying to hide a spoon or something. There is some perverse sense of enjoyment watching someone trying to eat peas with a toothpick or Jell-O with a knife! Keep your camera close by.

Including Others~
Of course, aside from doing this with just one another, you can include your kids, in-laws, and friends.
If you do try to have a Silly Supper for more than 1 or 2 people, make sure you are both doing the serving. It gets too harried for just one person. We (where I got this from) even had a Silly Supper Thanksgiving one year. That was quite an experience.
Have fun!

http://marriage.about.com/cs/havingfun/a/sillysupper.htm

I'm still here.

Hiya. Been busy lately. Let's see~Fri. we went out to Chick-fil-la and let the kids play on the playground afterwards. Mark REFUSED to go down the slide. He got scared a couple of times going up the playground.

Sat. we had an interesting time. There were 6 kids and 4 adults here. We fixed fish from the fishing trip Lewis and Mike (Christina's hubby) went on earlier that day. We had our 4 kids all together (they don't get to do that much since we don't have them on the same weekends) plus Mike and Christina's 2 kids. All the kids did REALLY well. They sat on a sheet in our living room and ate. I'll get the pic from Christina for ya to see. It was so cute. Then everyone played outside with the kids (except Christina and I~ we sat in chairs taking pics of it all). It was a wonderful night of getting together.

Then later, after everyone had left or gone to sleep, I watched some of the UFC fights on PPV. Anyone else watch UFC?

Sun. was just a lazy, lazy day. We cleaned up some from the night before, but mostly caught up on our shows we had taped.

Today, Geri (Ross' step-mom) had a doc's appt. and so I had Ross for a bit. This afternoon, he got ahold of the phone and dialed 911!!! and hug up. They of course called back to make sure everything was ok. Well, I didn't answer. Thankfully they called again and I told them sorry. I asked Ross if he did it, and he said yeah, but he thought he'd hung up in time. So we had a BIG talk!

Got Treasure Hunters tonight. I would love to do this reality show. It'd be so cool.

Some more cool things to see
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/nintendoacapella.html

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/matrixpong.html
**Women blink nearly twice as much as men
**There is a city called Rome on every continent
**The screwdriver was invented before the screw
**The NY phone book had 22 Hitlers before WWII. The NY phone book had 0 Hitlers after WWII
**The lifespan of a tastebud is 10 days

Write ya later .

What trouble they must've gotten in!!

Whooooeeee! I wonder how much work went into fixing that!!!

And so it begins...plus BB7

At 9:30 I got a call....Lewis calling to tell me not to look for him before midnight. He guesses he won't be home til 1-1:30am. UGGG I haven't seen my hunny today!! Then he'll get home, go to sleep, get up and go back to work....UGGGGG

BB7~Whatcha think?? I know one thing~~Quit going after my BB6 people! It's crazy! Go after the person who has already won first! Geez, they don't need to win again. AND he was upset he wasn't nominated...that's so funny.

Ross got his hair cut and now him and Mark REALLY look alike. They have almost the same cut going on.

I did a little cleaning. Not much. Mark was doing EVERYTHING today~he tore his mattress up some more; during nap time, he took his pull up off and decided to pee in his bucket that we use as a toy box; almost broke a mirror....and it goes on! I SO need a break~this is why I went back to school in the first place~so I could have a break hehe

My mom seems to be doing better. I've only really talked to her once since she's been home, but she sounds a lot better. Thanks for all the prayers.

How well do you know your geography? Take this test and find out! Let me know how ya do.
http://reference.aol.com/geography/geography-quiz

**A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate
**February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon
**"Halloween" took place in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois, but almost all the cars in the film had California license plates
**If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes
**If a surgeon in Ancient Egypt lost a patient while performing an operation, his hands were cut off.

Write ya later.

This is Awesome!

This is an awesome video. It's Taylor Hicks' tribute to the soldiers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O-yohHK25g

Howdy

Howdy!

Well, Mon. was ok. Mark was wanting his daddy. He's used to knowing that his daddy is in the room sleeping. Now it's confused him that daddy's not here during the day.

Tues~Mark drove me nutz hehe.He kept getting into things he shouldn't have. Then after his nap, I went in to wake him up (Yes~he actually went to sleep this time hehe), he had tore a hole in his mattress. He had lost his car in it, so then he tried to make it bigger to get it. Now I have to go get him a new mattress. UGGG

Also, we have to go insurance shopping again. The people we had signed up with, something happened with our card, the money wasn't coming out of our account. Couldn't find the paper that Lewis had wrote the phone number on (Mark has done something with it), so no way to call them. The bank can't track it, since they didn't end up taking money out. UGGG So I'm on here looking for a new one.

Lewis has been working a lot of hours. Pretty much like he never left that place. And, they are expecting to work 60 hours next week (I think), but he will be working more than that. Great, money wise, but I hate him not being around!!!

A little explaining about Lewis' job~~He build cabinets, commercial ones~like in hospitals, companies, schools, hotels~also other things if they need it~if a hospital needs a new information desk, they do that. WELL, he also works in the spray room~he puts finishing on them, stains them, and does little things to them (to make them peeerrrtttyy )
The spray room takes up a lot of his time. Before, he was at work from 7:30am til 8,9,10pm~building from 7:30-4:30 spray til 8,9,10pm (and depending on the job that has to get done, even later) So this is how it looks like it's gonna be again. So I might end up complaining some later (just warning ya :) )

Still trying to figure out what I'm gonna major in. Having problems finding a college~near me~with Spanish (either major or minor) with another area I want to study.

**A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court
**Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie
**Porcupines float in water
**Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing
**You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206

Write ya later.

What a weekend!

Can't we ever have just a relaxed weekend????

Fri. was ok. Nothing really happened. Lewis got off work, went got the girls, came home, went back to work til 3AM.

Sat.~it starts getting better. First, I had Reflections of Grace practice. It went real good. I get back home. The rest of them (Lewis, Ashley, Emily) want to go to the fair. So we go to have supper at Wendy's. Took us forever to get Mark to eat. Finally, we get to the fair. Geez, it was hot! I never got to ride a ride with Lewis :( I did get to ride 2 rides with Mark. Poor boy, he wanted to ride some rides his sisters were riding~but he was too short. Ashley met up with a friend of hers and went off with her. Then we got back together with her. Finally left at 10PM

Got home. Our church needed some CD jewel cases for VBS crafts. Well...Lewis had almost 100 of them (technically 98 of them), so I sat on the couch taking the papers out of them til 1:30AM. If you have taken the papers out of your CD case, you know how tough it is sometimes. My poor thumb was sore by the time I finally got thru. Then Lewis remembered he needed to fix something for the family reunion the next day. Got to bed at 2AM, asleep after 3AM.

Sun~Got up at 8:30AM. Got myself ready for church. Then the girls needed their hair washed. So while they did that, I got Mark ready. Finally left the house at 9:20. Got to church. Had a bit of practice for our performance at the 11 o'clock service. Then performed. After church, off to the family reunion. Left and went to the nursing home. Saw Lewis' grandmother (his mom's mom). Went to Food Lion to get pull ups for Mark and get some flowers from the dollar store for the girls to put on MawMaw's grave. Went to MawMaw's grave. Go home.

Now, the day is almost 100 degrees. Our Expedition doesn't have very good A/C. IT decides when it wants to work. So we are soooo looking forward to getting into A/C. We walk into our house and....the house is soooooo hot. You can barely breathe. Lewis looks at the thermostat and it says 84 degrees. We both say "Don't tell me our A/C is broke!" The girls look at our clocks~~our power is out AGAIN!!!! The 3rd!! time in 2 weeks. This is 4PM. I call the 1800 number for Duke Power and they say the power won't be on til........10PM!!!! As good as we can figure it (the way things had been recorded on our DVR), it had been off since 11AM.
So we had to go to my FIL's house. The girls mom came and got them at 6PM and Lewis went to work for a bit longer. At 9:15, I decided to go back home. Inside was terrrrribbbbleeee!! It was 89 degrees. I opened 5 windows. I then went and put Mark to bed. I opened his window and asked him if he still wanted a blanket and he said yes! Not even 5 minutes later, he was gone to la-la land. How, I will never know. At 9:48.....the power came back on (THANK YOU GOD!) I hope this doesn't happen again for a VERY long time!

I'll write about today, tomorrow. Then I'll be caught up :)

**A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in the air is a skein
**The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year
**The electric chair was invented by a dentist (makes you really fear the dentist now hehe)
**The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
**A ten gallon hat holds 3/4 of a gallon

Write ya later