Leigh's Heart

The Attic

2010-05-18T21:55:00.001-05:00

When we bought our house 6 years ago, one of the biggest things we wanted to do was to take in the attic. Our house’s roof has a very very high pitch and the attic is HUGE or huge to us! We had a friend give us a quote on doing it and it was more than we paid for our first house. (You know it had to be bad because we aren’t really old enough to say that!!)

We found another contractor and when he gave us his quote, I almost passed out…it was sooo much cheaper than the first one. Now to be fair, the first quote had us having two bedrooms and baths, and bumping out the roof to add a window. This new quote was for just one big room, closet and bathroom.

To say we are excited is an understatement!! He should be done by the end of next week!! I have been a little stressed trying to pick out some of the things. Thank goodness it’s not much! But I have had fun too! I’ve never had a chance to do this before.

I took some pictures today to show what we’ve done. I didn’t include the before pics….just picture your attic, big open and dark!!

This was probably the hardest decision. The picture above is in the bathroom. The drywall on the bottom will be mirror up to the board, so that angled part will have to be where the light goes. I had the hardest time trying to figure out what kind of light to put there! Should I do the eyeball cans? Or a long fluorescent type? So off to Home Depot I go! I found a track light that has a very lazy *S* shape. I hope it works! I just thought I could move the lights however I needed to with that kind of fixture.

This picture is a view when you walk up the stairs. The bathroom is on the far end. Not very exciting looking but it’s come soooo far!!

This is my next dilemma! How in the world do I paint the stairs? And I don’t mean ME paint them!! But color-wise. I’m not carrying the brown from the room below up to this room. It would be too dark. So do I leave the brown where it is on the right hand side and paint the left the color of the new room? Or paint both the walls the brown and let that be an accent wall?? See on the right hand side where the wires are hanging out? Above that will be a short bookcase. He was going to put a handrail but I found a picture where they put a bookcase there and LOVED it! There’s enough room there to put a chair and lamp and make a reading nook. Gotta love that!

I hope all this made sense and you can get a feel for what we have done. I have more pictures that I took from different angles all around the room, but I didn’t want to bore you!

If you have any advice or ideas, please let me know! I am not a decorator at all! I’m much more of a cook… speaking of which, I have Chocolate Amish Bread in the oven right now! Better go check on it!!

National Honor Society

2010-05-13T13:30:00.001-05:00

I was soooo proud and excited when I found out that Jake had been accepted into the NHS! He has probably 250 kids in his class and he was one of 25(ish) that were inducted this year. What an honor!! His dad and I are VERY VERY proud of the young man he is growing into. Here are some pics from that night.

He looks so grown up!! But I guess he is growing up!

He has decided he is interested in pharmacy as a career. So this summer he is going to hang out with my dad at his drugstore and learn the ropes. Since my dad lives an hour from us, Jake will stay with them some too! Poor daddy!! Think he’s ready for a 16y/o again?!!

This is a great opportunity for Jake. I think he’s excited and nervous. Daddy did say that he had to wear khakis and get a haircut……poor Jake! He loves his hair!

Backyard badminton tournament!

2010-04-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

One of Jonah’s birthday presents was a badminton set. The boys have had a blast playing and decided to have a tournament Saturday (2 weeks ago). Poor Brad had just flown from FL at lunch. The boys let him eat lunch and then started the tournament.

First up was Jake and Brad. Josh was the line judge and Jonah the score keeper. Then we just traded out and everybody played everybody. Jake was the best and I was the worst!!

Here are a lot pictures from the day!

This was a perfect day! To make it up to me for being the WORST badminton player ever, Brad took me to Copeland's for supper. It made me feel better….. ;)

Birthday party pictures, finally!!

2010-04-18T17:05:00.001-05:00

Jonah wanted a scavenger hunt birthday party. Well, I’m not very creative that way, so to Google I went!! Found this site and my problems were solved! YAY! For $19.95 I had the hunt, invitations to print out and all the hints I needed. One part of the hunt was to take photos doing different things and the other part was collecting things. I set the party for 2 hours and we should have done 3. It was easy and fun!

There was a girl team and a boy team. Only 2 of his little girl friends showed up, so one of the older girls filled in. She was a GREAT sport about it.

Here’s some of the girl pictures:

The girls hanging upside down on the hammock, girls showing off their muscles and the girls (with Josh and Bruno) working on the hunt!

Now the boys’ pictures:

The boys showing off their muscles! (The girls were much more creative showing theirs off!) T and Jonah checking the list. Don’t you love how Bruno works his way in the pictures?!

These are the items the had to collect. The blue cards are the girls and the red are the boys (red is Jonah’s fav color!)

The last part of the party, each team had to take foil, toilet tissue and garland and decorate the team leader. The girls made G like a Greek goddess, complete with a necklace, bracelet and rings!! Lovely!! And Jonah was a robot. Too cute!

I wish there was a better way to show/tell you how much fun they had! Jonah said it was the best party ever!

This is the cake. It was soooo delicious!!

And here’s the whole group on the trampoline watching Jonah open his presents.

Thanks for reading this LONG post!! Hope y’all have a great week! Hopefully my next post will be pictures of our badminton tournament we had in our backyard Saturday…..fun fun fun!

Happy Birthday 10th Birthday Jonah!!

2010-04-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

My sweet sweet boys! I LOVE this picture!! Jake was 6, Josh was 3 and Jonah is just 2 days.

Jonah has had a birthday weekend. Starting Friday night, we went to a Japanese steak house. They loved it!!

Then Saturday morning he wanted pancakes with a candle in it!

Saturday afternoon was his party!

Happy Birthday Jonah!! You are an amazing young man! So sure of yourself. So helpful. So smart!! I love you so very much and am very blessed to have you as my son!!

Where to start?

2010-03-02T13:20:00.001-06:00

I left on a jet plane with Laura a LONG LONG time ago! What a trip we had!! It was one of the best trips I have ever been on.

After that trip, a lot happened. My family went to New Orleans and the beach. On the way home from the beach, they threw me out in Shreveport at a bead retreat! Oh what fun!

Then just 3 weeks later, my sweet mother-in-law had a huge hemorrhagic stoke. She had just gone parasailing with our middle son while we were at the beach. Carol, my MIL, was on her way to Austin to see Wicked, with her daughter. She was on the phone with her son (my husband) and her left arm went numb. She is on the interstate going 65 – 70 mph, was able to get off and get to the Wal-mart parking lot. Someone saw her erratic driving and alerted the security guard. Carol was able to press the On-Star button and had them on the phone when the guard got to her. The ambulance came and took her about a block to the hospital.

That hospital didn’t have a neurosurgeon and the hospital I work for was on diversion for any new neuro patients. I called every one I knew to try to keep her here in town, but was not successful. So they found her a bed in a Shreveport hospital.

She had the bleed evacuated the next day and we were told she would wake up soon and taken off the ventilator by Wednesday. This was Saturday.

Wednesday came and went. The next Wednesday came and went. She is still not awake. Every time they would take her off the sedation meds, her blood pressure would shoot up and she would get very agitated. That Thursday she had to have a feeding tube put in and the next day a tracheotomy done. I can’t even tell you the stress we had those 2 weeks. Trying to handle our the boys and their schedules and our jobs and the hospital. I ended up just taking a leave from work and making many trips to Shreveport.

After they put the trach in, we were able to transfer her back to Monroe. She is sedated and not even close to being herself. Even sedated, she had almost constant motion on her right side. We joked that she was going to be Rockette because of all the high kicks she was doing! The left side is totally motionless.

Slowly, they were able to wean her off the sedation meds and off the vent. One morning I walked in and she knew who I was!! She was back! Still paralyzed but she was herself.

We started talking about what to do next with her and the best place for her to rehab was in New Orleans at Touro.

We were down there for 7 weeks. Just me and her! Brad stayed here with the boys and his job. In fact, the day we left for NO, he was in Missouri for work. If you know me, I don’t do anything without Brad. So, I had to pack for Carol and me and figure out what to do with the boys. I never drive anywhere, Brad does. I had to drive to NO and drive in NO!! That itself is a miracle! I was SCARED TO DEATH!

But it was soooo worth it. She was able to have the trach removed and the feeding tube removed. Her left leg started coming to! Before we left to come home, she was walking with a quad cane, slowly but walking!

I have left out a lot of the story. Like how all of our friends took care of my family while I was gone. They cooked 3 nights a week for them. They brought them home from school. They hauled them around. The love we felt is just indescribable. (I’m crying now thinking about it).

I will finish the story later this week. Carol is a true miracle!! She is one amazing woman and what a testimony she has!! God is Good!!

Leaving on a jet plane…..

2009-07-08T15:59:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow morning, my BFF Laura and I are leaving on a jet plane going to the Big Apple!! Woohoo!!

Back in April, we were sitting in Sunday School rocking our bed babies and I made the comment that I really wanted to go see Wicked. Well, Laura’s hubbie went home and found us cheap tickets to NYC. And it just grew from there! We were just going up to see the play and come home. But that wasn’t enough!! We would be in NYC!!! We’d have to see another play, Momma Mia. And we’d have to go to the top of the Empire State building, go to Ground Zero, go to the Statue of Liberty…..our list just grew!

We’ve got 3 full days to sightsee and eat as much cheesecake as we want!! So much for the 10 pounds I just lost!! lol

The weather is just perfect according to weather.com. It’s not supposed to be above 80. Laura and I will probably freeze since it’s been in the 100’s here!!

Wish you could see the smile on my face!!

So proud!

2009-07-06T15:15:00.001-05:00

I know I’m waayy behind so this will probably be long and picture-full!!

Where to start?? I think the first thing was the children’s choir musical. Jonah had a speaking part. He loves to act and sing!

Jonah got to learn how to use a lasso – that was his favorite part! The cutie pie is my niece Callie. I’m proud of her too. She just cut her hair and donated it to locks of love! This is her second time to donate and she’s only 7!!

This gorgeous girl is my niece too, Emma Beth. She’s Callie’s sister. What a sweetie! My dad got to come to the musical too. He was so proud of his grandkids! Emma and Jonah both had speaking parts. Callie sang in the choir. She was too cute. At one point during the song *All Things* while everyone else was doing the motions they were supposed to do, she did cute movements showing off her muscles, showing how strong her God is!

Here’s the whole cast! They were so good! I don’t think any of them forgot any of their lines! I think it was the best one yet! (I say that every year though!!)

Now to Josh! This is the end of school awards. He was a Cub Scholar. He had all A’s and one B every 6 weeks!! Math was a killer!! The others in the picture are his principal (lady in white shirt) and assistant principals. They love Josh. He’s so outgoing and funny! He keeps everyone laughing!!

I don’t have a picture of Jake at the end of school. He’s in high school you know! They’re too cool for that!! But he played soccer, division one and school league, and football. He lettered for school soccer and we ordered that jacket!! What an honor! He has tried out for the division one team again and made it! Oh, back to his grades! He did great for his freshman year! All A’s and one B. Math is not good to my boys!!

Here is Jonah at his end of school awards. He got the trophy for having the longest jump rope record, 3 minutes 14 seconds!! And he got the math award! That’s Mrs. Dee Dee trying to kiss him! She wasn’t his teacher (she wasn’t able to be there that day ): ) so Dee Dee stood in! We love her!!

These are his bestest buddies! What a great group of kids! Smart and cute!! He had such a great year! Third grade rocked!!

This is my baby brother! He is the store director for Super1 in Ruston. He and his store were honored with an award for their partnership in education. They donate a lot of time and money for the children in Ruston. I’m so proud of him!! It is quite an honor for him!!

22 Years!!

2009-06-06T08:06:00.001-05:00

Twenty-two years ago today I married my best friend! He is a wonderful man and I am very blessed to have him. He has worked very hard to take of me so I could stay home to take care of our boys. I think have always been together. We started dating the end of our junior year in high school!! I got him to go out with me by telling him I had a *vette*. He loves cars. Imagine how disappointed he was when he got to my house and found out it was a Che-vette instead of a Corvette!

I pulled out our wedding album to get this picture. I haven’t looked at it in a very long time! Oh the memories! I think my favorite one is while I was getting ready in the back of the church, Daddy came in and said that everything was fine now. I looked at him puzzled. He said that they had found my ring. I had NO idea my ring was lost! Brad had put his keys in the box with my ring so he wouldn’t forget it. When he opened the box to get the keys, unknown to him, he dropped my ring. So when he gets to the church he starts looking for it. His house is 15 minutes from our church. Luckily one of his sweet neighbors went looking for my ring in the GRAVEL driveway. She found it and brought it to him. I’m so glad they didn’t tell me until it was found!!

Some of the memories looking at pictures were sad. Grandparents that are no longer with us. Brad’s dad that is no longer here. But I am so glad that we have the pictures to remember!

We all look so young! (and skinny!!)

Happy Anniversary Brad! I love you! Thanks for sharing your life with me!!

Please pray

2009-05-14T17:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a horrible day in our family. My brother and his wife found out during an ultrasound that their sweet baby boy no longer had a heart beat. We’ve known for a couple of weeks that there were some problems but we were ever so hopeful. She was around 22 weeks. They admitted her and induced labor. Around midnight Christopher Claude was born. Christopher is my brother’s name and Claude was my paternal grandfather’s name.

To say we’re heartbroken is such an understatement. They have 3 precious little girls and to add a boy was just a dream come true for them.

Please pray for them! The only way they are going to get through this is with God guiding them. Thank you!

(this picture is of Chris and Nancy and 2 of their girls. The one in Chris’s hand is a friend of theirs.)

Life in Texas!

2009-04-15T07:57:00.002-05:00

We decided to spend spring break in Dallas again this year. We only have 2 things we HAVE to do. The first is the Great Wolf Lodge and the second is the King Tut exhibit. We are at the Lodge right now and it is WONDERFUL! It's a huge indoor water park. Now the thought of me in a swimsuit is horrible. I did not stick to my diet and exercise plan like my BFF Laura! So I ordered me a swimsuit with a cute little skirt so I would feel more comfortable. So far so good! Now if I only had a tan.....lol

We made our first stop in Longview at the coolest gas station ever! We got out to get gas but not only could you get gas, you could order Sonic while you waited!! A dream come true. We decided to go in and check out the inside. There was a billboard earlier that advertised 25 flavors of beef jerky. In a truckfull of boys, that was very interesting!! Inside was not only the jerky, but a Sonic, a bakery, a BBQ eatery and the normal candy and drinks!! I had no idea gas stations could be so nice!!

Did I mention that both of our mothers are with us?? This should be a very interesting trip!! I hope they can survive us...

I do have some pictures but not many yet. I promise to take more today to show the lodge but I'm telling, pictures will not do it justice! This place is made for kids and more kids!

Well, I just tried to upload the pictures, but I can't seem to do it. Sorry! I'm on Brad's computer and it just doesn't work like mine.

Guess I'll go float in the lazy river instead!!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

2009-04-11T21:34:00.001-05:00

Today Jonah is 9! My baby boy is growing up. Could it be that 9 years ago he was (or it seemed!) always crying? I bounced that baby boy more than the other 2 boys put together! He wouldn’t let me out of his sight! And now he is very independent. Who would have thought??

I love you Jonah!! I’m very proud of the boy you are!

Laura’s Blogiversary!

2009-03-18T15:57:00.001-05:00

My BFF Laura is having a giveaway!! Go check it out!!

If you enter, tell her Leigh sent you!!

A little beading

2009-03-16T21:21:00.001-05:00

Thought I'd better do a little post or y'all (all 3 of you!!) would think I'd gotten lost! What have I been doing you might ask! Well, work, soccer and more soccer!! Jake and Jonah are both playing, so we're doing a lot of soccer! And I still don't understand it!!!

I do have soccer pictures, but they're on the other camera. So instead I have some pictures of a little beading I have done.

The black bracelet was FUN FUN FUN!! I’ll be making more of these in different colors. The coral and turquoise one I made for my mom for her birthday. I got the kit from Melanie Massey (mojoy.blogspot.com). The black one was for mom too. The other one I made for my BFF Laura. She and her family are going to Disney in May to celebrate their daughter’s birthday! I saw this bracelet on one of the websites I shop and had to do one for her in honor of their trip. I also made one for baby girl but haven’t finished it yet. I can’t remember what size to make it!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-28T21:58:00.001-06:00

I've never done a Wordless Wednesday so I'm using that excuse to use words!! I LOVE this picture!! This was taken last fall at a tournament. Jake was one of the new guys and hadn't gotten his uniform yet, that's why he's different from the other orange guy.

He played his last freshman/JV game last night. I think it was his best game yet! I don't think I've seen his foot on the ball more! He was upset because he got a foul that ended up with a penalty kick which let the other team win. But I was still one proud momma!!

I'm also one sad momma.....I signed him up for driver's ed today! When did he grow up????

Happy Birthday Brad!

2009-01-19T11:02:00.001-06:00

Today is my sweetie's birthday!! What a man. There is nothing he can't do. He works very hard at his job (which I still can't tell you what he does! I always say he's a nerd, a cute nerd!!) then he takes care of us (3 boys and me), my mother, his mother and all of his friends. There's not a week that he doesn't have somebody's computer here to work on. He is one of the most giving people I know. Such a big heart!

Thank you Brad for taking such good care of us!! I love you very much!! Happy Birthday!!

The Phone Call

2009-01-10T21:00:00.001-06:00

Today I got the phone call. The one as parents we dread. It wasn't very bad, but bad enough. Jake had a soccer game today in a town that's 2.5 hours away. Brad was out of town. The other 2 boys didn't want to go. I didn't want to go by myself. (it's a hard drive down back roads) Jake told me it was okay if I skipped this one, that he would be ok. So I did.

The coach called around 2 this afternoon saying that Jake had been clipped during the game and was injured. I felt like a horrible mom. I wasn't there for him. Not that I could do anything but get him home faster. But..... Coach said that he had a second degree ankle sprain and it was VERY swollen. He landed on his wrist and was probably fractured. I can't even begin to tell you how horrible I felt.

I finally got to talk to him and he sounded ok. Said he wasn't hurting too bad.

As soon as he got home we went to see the trainer at the high school. We both think his wrist is fractured (for those that don't know, I'm a rad tech) and the ankle is sprained not broken.

He really is ok, just aggravated. He hates being taken care of!! And I'm hovering!!

Here's some pictures of my baby!!

His ankle is already looking less swollen but the wrist is looking worse! We go to the orthopaedic doctor first thing Monday morning. Jake swears he's not getting a cast!! I hope it's so!

Early birthday present!

2008-12-15T21:48:00.001-06:00

I got an early birthday present the other day! Debs had my name in one of my stitching groups. She is so *on the ball* and got it to me EARLY!! We chatted back and forth a little bit and she was able to pick out my favorite things. Pink, purple, hearts and breast cancer awareness!! Just look!!

I just LOVE all of it! Aren't those scissors the cutest!! Her son made the beaded thread counter - how sweet is that?? Thanks again Debs!! You totally spoiled me!

The boys were out of school on Friday for a teacher in-service. I had big plans of spending the day making candy and getting my hair cut and high lighted. Unfortunately, my plans changed. My great uncle died and the visitation and graveside services were Friday afternoon. He was a very sweet man!! He and my paternal grandmother were brother and sister. I have very fond memories of Uncle Ray and Aunt Evelyn.

Here's picture of Jonah and Uncle Ray. Last year, Jonah's class made cards for the veterans at the VA home. They passed out the cards and sang several patriotic songs. Jonah got to give his to Uncle Ray. One of the local TV stations were there filming and Jonah was on TV, along with his class.

We did get some Christmas candy made before I had to go the the funeral home. We made fudge and dipped pretzels. Jonah and I made a gingerbread house. He had a lot of fun with it. I was so impressed - he didn't want it to look just like the box picture.

I didn't take a picture of the finished house! I'll do that and share it later. I'm planning on taking some pictures of some of my favorite Christmas things to show y'all! Hopefully I'll get to that before Christmas is over!!

All of my pictures lately have been of Jonah. I do have 2 other boys!! These pictures are of Josh. This is what he was doing while Jo was decorating the house...

Jake was hiding from my camera that day. But here's a picture of him from Thanksgiving in Little Rock.

Don't you love that old truck??

Christmas Meme

2008-12-12T06:44:00.001-06:00

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate with marshmallows!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Sits them under the tree, though the thought of wrapping them has crossed Santa's mind since the boys LOVE to get up at 4AM....

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on our big tree. Usually red lights on our Coke tree (couldn't find them this year ugh!!) Red lights on the garland on the front door.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I never have.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The Friday after Thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Oyster dressing, my paternal grandmother made the best. I miss her!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. On Christmas Eve, we always went to my paternal grandmothers. I remember spending the late afternoon at her house just bouncing off the walls waiting for my parents to get off of work. It took forever!! She'd try to keep us busy but I know we drove her crazy! Then when they finally got to her house, we had to EAT first before opening presents! Didn't they know what was important??

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was in 2nd grade and a girl that lived behind us told me. I was truly heartbroken!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Now that my grandmother is not here with us, we go to my dad's. We open presents there. It's usually so late when we get back to our house, the boys go straight to bed. We open our presents Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Our tree is full of memories! Nothing matches and there is no rhyme or reason. I'm just grateful now that the boys are taller and there are ornaments at the top of the tree and not just at the bottom! We have Hallmark ornaments that Nannie started for the boys. Now my Aunt Pat does them. I have a couple for my childhood. And of course there's some the boys have made.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! Wish we would have some snow!

12. Can you ice skate? No.

13, Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was little, it was a lifesize ballerina doll that had a crown. When you turned the crown, she would twirl! As a grownup, probably my pink iPod! But then there's my journey necklace, my slide bracelet.....

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering WHY we celebrate and making memories for the boys!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? all of them......lol Cherry cream cheese pie, chocolate pie, oreo pie...

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to my dad's on Christmas Eve, making fudge

17. What tops your tree? A bow this year, the angel that we've put on our tree for 21 years didn't survive. Haven't found just the right thing to replace her.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? is it bad to say both??!!!

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Mary did you know?

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yummy if it's a sweet peppermint

21. What do you want for Christmas? nothing really this year. just to have fun with our families

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? We went to one with some of Brad's co-workers, I think I was the only spouse there. Not much fun!

23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJ’s? We don't dress up. Getting teenagers to wear more than blue jeans is NOT worth the fight in my book! We might stay in our PJ's this year since we won't be going anywhere on Christmas day this year! Maybe I should go get us all new ones!!!!

24. Do you own a Santa hat? No, but maybe I should!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? Family

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T09:22:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving!! We're going to my Mom's for lunch. I called her the other night to find out what she wanted me to bring and she said NOTHING!! So I made a pumpkin roll and red velvet cake balls. Have you seen these cake balls?? I found them here: Bakerella This is my new favorite site!! I want to try everything she has put on her site.

I rolled out the cake balls last night and put them in the fridge overnight. I dipped them this morning and they are just perfect! I never really thought they would look good AND taste good!! It will be lots of fun to experiment with different flavors!!

Tomorrow morning we're going to Little Rock to watch the LSU Tigers and Arkansas Razorback with Brad's family. I hope it's not going to rain!!

Hope y'all have a great day!!

We have a winner!!

2008-11-21T18:23:00.001-06:00

Ashley!!! I'll bring your prize to church Sunday!! I'm in the bed babies during Sunday School then we go to late church. I'll look for you in the hallway!

Thank you all for entering my little giveaway!! It was fun to meet some new blog friends!! I promise to do it again soon!

And thank you Jonah for being my helper!!

One year ago....

2008-11-18T19:44:00.001-06:00

I was inspired by my bff Laura to start a blog! I'm not the writer she is but I thought it would be fun to share pictures of my stitching and beading. It's ended up being about my boys!! Could it be because I'm always doing things with them?? What fun!

Anyway to celebrate, I thought I'd do a little giveaway! I have this little crystal tennis bracelet that I love to make. I wore it to church one Sunday and Laura thought my sweet hubbie had bought me a big diamond bracelet!! HA!!

So, if you'd like to have a *fake* tennis bracelet, leave me a comment!! The drawing will be Friday. I know I don't have but maybe 3 people that read my blog, so your chances are really good!!

Homecoming pictures

2008-10-26T15:15:00.001-05:00

We survived our first homecoming! YEA! It was a very nice night really. Jake's friends came to take pictures around 5. We barely caught the light. I think they turned out pretty good!

Then we went to her house to eat supper. Poor Jake. I thought he was just gonna die right there! He's a lot like his mom and doesn't like crowds. R's brother is a senior and he had a bunch of people there that we didn't know. So I'm hiding in the kitchen and Jake was about to crawl under the recliner!! We kept trying to find a way out!!

We headed to the dance around 8ish. The gym was so pretty! It was a very typical dance where nobody danced!! funny!

Around 10, Jake called and said they were ready to come home. So they came back here. Ate and watched a movie. We ran them off around midnight.

Of course there was some drama that went along with the night but maybe we can forget about that part!!

Here's some pictures.

Lots of catching up!

2008-10-25T08:04:00.001-05:00

Time is just going so fast! I can't believe October is almost over and my Jake is about to be 15. Where did it go? Seems like just yesterday I was praying to have a baby, then we were decorating the nursery. Now he's almost 15 and trying to take driver's ed. I'm going to stop now because the tears are coming!

Let's see, in the past couple of weeks, we've had a soccer tournament (placed 2nd!), a couple of football games and just life!

This weekend is Jake's first homecoming! The game was last night and they won! Tonight is the dance. We've gotten the clothes and he is going to be so handsome! My sweet mother-in-law is going to make the corsage and boutonniere. Jake's girlfriend's dress is black and silver, so we got red roses for the flowers. The GF will come over here around 5 to take pictures. I sweet talked them into doing to pictures here in front of the pond. Then we'll go to her house for dinner. I get to help serve!! After they eat, we'll take them to the dance. When they get tired of dancing, they'll come back here to hang out.

Thursday was Josh's Cub Bowl. At his school, there are two 7th grade teams, red and white. At the Cub Bowl, they mix up the 2 teams and they play each other. It's a lot of fun! We were late for the game because the almost 15 y/o had to add a few songs to his iPod before we left!! I wasn't really worried about because nothing exciting happens at the first of the game. Well, I was wrong! We get there and walk up to *our* spot and Jonah's best friend was saying something about captain. Then his mom said something else about captain and don't worry that she got pictures. I'm a little slow! Josh was one of the team captains that night!!! And I missed it!

Josh has a girlfriend!! She's a cheerleader at his school. So for the Cub Bowl, she painted his number, 81, on her cheek. Well, since they did a big switcheroo, Josh's number got changed to 82. Poor K!! I think she took a little ribbing about it. Her mom and I tried desperately to get a picture of them together that night in their uniforms but it didn't happen.

Now let's talk about soccer! Jake had a tournament two weekends ago. I never thought he would get as much playing time as he does! He does a really good job as a defender. They placed second in the tournament!! I've never seen so many smiles on teenage boys' faces as I did when they put the medal over the heads! Jake is just beaming!!

I have pictures of all this but my card reader is acting up. I'll get my nerdman to work on it and post some pictures.

There's more to catch you up on, but I have to go clean the house to get ready for tonight!

Snickerdoodle Cake

2008-10-04T09:41:00.001-05:00

One of my stitching friends shared this recipe with our group recently. It is delicious!! My mother-in-law makes the best snickerdoodle cookies and I couldn't wait to try this cake. Let me know if you try it!!

Snickerdoodle Cake

Ingredients:

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix

1 cup milk

8 tbsp(1 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350, with rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or a 13x9 cake pan. Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer low speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to medium for 2 minutes. Divide the batter between the two pans, or put it all in the bigger pan. Bake until golden brown, I used the times on the box for the 13x9 pan, they recommend 27-29 minutes for the two pans. Allow to cool completely and frost. Place cake uncovered in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes. Cover the cake with waxed paper and store in the frig for up to 1 week.

Cinnamon Butter cream frosting:

8 tbsp butter, room temperature

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Blend butter with a mixer until fluffy, 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk, vanilla, and cinnamon, and blend on low speed for 1 minute.

Increase to medium speed for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Blend in up to 1 tbsp milk of frosting is too stiff. For cans of frosting, just add cinnamon and I will add a little vanilla extract and blend.

Think PINK!

2008-10-01T13:28:00.001-05:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! And since I do mammograms for a living, I thought I should go PINK for the month! And if you need to, go get a mammogram this month!!

I know I am way past due for a post. We have just been busy! Our oldest son is playing football and soccer (we will never do that again!!) and the middle one is playing football. And the youngest just gets drug wherever!! Poor Jonah!!

Here are pictures!! First is Jake playing soccer (his uniform has yet to come in). Then Josh playing football - he is number 81. Then Jonah with his cousin Gabbie at Brad's work picnic and Jonah climbing the rock wall.

This next picture is for Laura and her followers!! I took this at our church in the cafe one Wednesday night to prove to Laura how natural it looks for her to have TWO children!! She's been teasing us that she is thinking about it......

More beach

2008-07-27T15:01:00.001-05:00

We are home! What a great trip we had. It was very relaxing and I miss the sound of the ocean already. I couldn't get over the difference in how the temperatures feel so differently. Here, 94 is roasting! Down there, it was just hot but not kill you hot. I'm ready to go back!!

The jellyfish were really bad just about the whole time we were down there. And the waves were very rough because of Dolly. The last day, Friday, the boys were finally able to get in the water. I don't have good pictures of that because I thought the big camera was in the room. Little did I know it was in the beach bag. UGH! So all I had with me was my little one and the pictures just aren't that great.

Ok, those that know Brad, notice anything missing?? (besides his shirt!! lol) and what do you think?? I'm still not sure......

Jonah was all worn out! He looks so sweet while he's sleeping!! lol

Jonah being *eaten* by the alligator at Fudpuckers!!

We ate out twice while we were there. Once at Fudpuckers and the other at the Old Bay Steamer. My favorite was definitely Old Bay!

Here's the platter before we started:

See the steam rising up off of it?? This was the best food ever!! Those shrimp were wonderful and the crab legs! Oh my!! I think I have a new favorite!! This huge platter fed the 5 of us and we had leftovers!

And here's the platter afterwards....

There are more pictures on the big camera. If I find some that won't bore you to death, I'll post them!! lol

Beach pictures

2008-07-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

These are pictures from the yesterday (Tuesday). Think the boys are having fun??!! When did Jake and Josh grow up? They look so grownie!

The trip yesterday was very uneventful, just long! We left at 7:30 and got here about 4. The condo is very nice and the complex is small. The beaches here are not crowded at all.

For some reason, everybody got up early and we were on the beach at 8!! Which turned out, was very good. The rain set in around 1 and lasted until 4, so we got a little down time.

We had a sand day today, as Jonah called it. The water was FULL of jelly fish. Nobody got in the water today. I so hope it will be better tomorrow. Otherwise, we might have to find some other entertainment!

Well, I think we're about to watch a movie. The condo has some freebies that come with it, beach chairs and umbrellas, and free movie rentals!!

Beach bound!!

2008-07-21T23:06:00.001-05:00

Hopefully at 7am tomorrow, we will be in our fully loaded, too stuffed, very expensive to drive SUV heading to Florida. There is a condo with our name on it, right on the beach, just waiting for the 5 of us to arrive. I am so ready to be there.

Things around here have been a little stressful with my grandfather-in-law being very sick and some other family drama going on. So there are a couple of us that are ready for that beach chair, umbrella and Vanilla Coke Zero!! And you should see the stack of books I'm bring to read!!

We were thinking back and this will be the first beach trip that we've made since our oldest was 2 or 3. Our middle son was just a baby. We did stop in Destin to play for a morning when we went to Disney a couple of years ago. So the boys are very excited!!

Our condo does have wifi so I should be able to post some pictures from there. If Brad will let me turn my laptop on....lol

Hopefully I'll be tan and smiling soon!! Oh, and this does mean I will miss my class reunion. Will somebody please tell my best friend from high school that I won't be there? She's not going to be happy with me at all.....

Happy 4th!! (late!!)

2008-07-05T09:03:00.001-05:00

Hope y'all had a great day yesterday! We did. Started out going for a walk. My class reunion is at the end of this month and I need to shape up a little bit. Think I can lose 20lbs in a month?? ha!! When I got back from walking, Jake helped me with the flower beds. We put down some pine bark mulch. I HATE pulling weeds and my mom had told me to lay newspaper on top of the ground before I put the mulch down. Unfortunately, we only had enough paper for one side!! Looks really good on one side and very sad on the other. Hopefully I can even it up soon.

Our niece spent the night with us Thursday night. It was fun to have a little girl around! She's 5 and loves all things girly!! She even had a princess nightgown.

Brad and Josh have been working on go-carts this week. Josh loves to ride and the go-cart he's been riding has been giving him fits. So Brad found a new engine for it. Josh helped Brad put it on and he is so proud! It's so easy to crank too. Even I can crank it!!

After we finished with the flower beds, we all took turns riding the go-carts. We even got Anna to ride with me! I think she liked it.

Brad barbequed chicken and sausage for us. I made potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs and angel food cake. We all ate too much. Good thing I went walking!!

Josh's Party

2008-06-21T20:51:00.001-05:00

I hope Josh had fun today. It was a very small party. A lot of his friends were out of town. We all met at the food court in the mall. Everybody got to pick what they wanted to eat for lunch. Then we had cookie cake. Yummy!! After that, it was time for the movie, Kung Fu Panda. It was very cute! I know I'm going to hear lines from it for awhile!!

After we got home from the party, Brad and I decided to go see his grandfather in the hospital. He was very very sick the first part of the week, but seemed to be much better today. He knew Brad and I by name. They hope to move him to the rehab part of the hospital Monday and then hopefully back to the nursing home.

Brad's mom left today to go get our niece who lives in Texas. This is Brad's sister's daughter. Brad's sister and husband are leaving Thursday for Italy for ten days! I would love to sneak in their suitcase!! Jonah is very excited about A coming to stay for a couple of weeks. She is a sweet little girl!!

I tried something new when I did this post. I used Windows Live Writer. It seems to be more user friendly than blogger when drafting a post. But since this is my first post, I reserve the right to change my mind!! It is a woman's prerogative!!

Goodies

2008-06-21T08:03:00.003-05:00

Jennifer sent me these purple goodies for our color exchange. I just had to show her how the pillow looked on our bed! What a great job you did matching! Did you peek in our room??!! Thanks again! I love everything!!

Today we are doing Josh's birthday party. We decided to do something small since most of his friends are out of town. The mall for lunch, a birthday cookie and a movie! Sounds nice and easy and most of all COOL!! The movie he picked out is Kung Fu Panda.

One more picture! I made these key chains for a friend at work. Isn't W precious?? I'll have to make her a new one in August because there will be a sweet baby girl joining their family then!

Stitching and Cooking

2008-06-18T18:58:00.010-05:00

In one of my yahoo groups, we did a color exchange. Here's some pictures of what I made Cheryl. She picked the color teal. I never thought about all the shades of teal! I ended up making most of her goodies. I'm not a good shopper. The strawberry chart and instructions came from Anita's Little Stitches. ( http://www.anitas-stitching-addiction.blogspot.com/ I tried to link to it but it didn't work! sorry!) It was supposed to be done in pastels, but I did it in teal for Cheryl. I think it turned out pretty! And the bookmark was my favorite! That's the prettiest one I've done.

My BFF Laura has been bragging on me and my cooking. Wait til she finds out what I cooked tonight!! This has got to be the EASIEST chicken ever and it's the BEST. All I did was put 4 chicken breast (frozen) in the bottom of my 21 y/o crock pot (it was a wedding present!!) and poured Pace Picante sauce over it. I cooked it on high for 3-4 hours, or you could do it on low all day. Then I took the chicken and shredded it and made quesadillas. Last time I made this I did about 8 breast and froze half of it. Makes for an easy supper when you're tired and don't feel like cooking.

I haven't talked to Jake all week until today. I'm missing him!! His cousin called me today and made him talk to me. Poor Jake. He wasn't feeling very good. Said his lunch wasn't agreeing with him. Hope he feels better soon. He'll be home Friday evening. I can't wait to hear all about his week.

Happy Birthday Josh!!

2008-06-16T20:04:00.004-05:00

Today is our middle son Josh's birthday. Twelve years ago he was born, on Father's Day! Josh always says he was the best Father's Day present ever. The joke was Brad didn't get me anything for Mother's Day that year and I wasn't going to get him anything either. Instead I gave him the best present ever!! Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday he was a sweet little blond headed boy that said he first sentence at 10 months! I think that boy came here talking!!! He is my funny child. Always laughing or making you laugh. Now he is growing up. Going into 7th grade, working out getting ready to play football. He has the biggest heart of anybody I know. We always let the boys pick where they would like to eat their birthday dinner. A favorite place they always pick is the Japanese steak house. He wanted to go there tonight but wouldn't go because his big brother is away at youth camp. He knew Jake would be disappointed if we went without him. What a guy!! I was proud of him.

Here's my favorite picture of him. I know I've shown it before, but I love it!! He's my angel!!

We had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. My dad and his family, my brother and his family, my aunt and mother-in-law were here. We had a house full!! Brad did an awesome job of cooking again!! There was nothing but a few french fries left. Yummy!! We got dad an iPod shuffle. Brad put some music from the 60's on it and he was in heaven!! I hope he had a wonderful day. He deserves it. He's a wonderful father. I know the day was hard on Brad. He misses his dad so much. It's hard to believe he's been gone for 2 years.

It has been a LONG day today. We got up at 4 this morning to have Jake at the church at 5 to leave for camp. UGH!! I'm ready for bed!!

Saturday

2008-06-14T06:41:00.003-05:00

Vacation Bible School was this week at our church. I know Josh and Jonah had a great time! Jake helped with the 4th graders and was totally exhausted every day when he got home!! He told me he was NEVER having kids! lol I didn't help this year because of my work schedule. It was very strange not to be a part of it. Next year, I may schedule off that week!!

My brother called the other night to try to figure out how we wanted to celebrate Father's Day. We ended up volunteering Brad to fry fish and shrimp!! Poor Brad!!

Jake leaves for youth camp early early Monday morning, so I'm sure I'll be washing and packing today. He is so excited about going. I'm kinda sad because I'll miss him. Wonder if I should save the yard mowing for him when he gets home......I've turned him loose this summer with the yard. I hate yard work and gladly gave him the job!! Yesterday he said he mowed and weedeated for 2 hours. I was very impressed!

Stitching wise, I have pictures to show you soon of what I've been doing. It was a color exchange. My partner picked teal. I had a lot of fun with this! You know what color I picked..lol I got my package Thursday!! Jen was my partner and she has pictures on her blog!! I just love all my goodies. I've promised her a picture of the pillow on my quilt. It matches perfectly!!

Our Progressive Dinner

2008-06-07T08:35:00.003-05:00

We couldn't decide where to go for our anniversary. Thought about New Orleans, our favorite place to go because of the food!!, thought about Hot Springs, thought about Jackson and a few other places. We just couldn't decide what to do. How sad is that?? Had a babysitter for the weekend and everything. Guess I was being to practical with gas as expensive as it is. And everywhere we wanted to go, we kept thinking that it would be more fun with the boys!! Pitiful, I know!!

So here is what we decided to do: a progressive dinner!! We have several favorite restaurants here that we like different things. Our first choice was The Warehouse, where we had the Oysters Warehouse, baked oysters covered with special *secret* ingredients like bacon and Parmesan cheese!! I don't like oysters normally but I LOVE these!! Then we went to the next restaurant, the Waterfront Grill. There we had a delicious filet covered in a shrimp sauce. That steak was so tender I cut it with my fork!! Yummy! Now by this point, I'm about to die! We are splitting all of this but still!! Our last restaurant was the Brandy House. They have a wonderful pastry chef and the dessert menu is always different. Tonight our choice was the Disgusting Chocolate. It was a flourless chocolate cake (can you call it a cake since there is no flour??) topped with vanilla bean ice cream and a rich chocolate sauce! It was sinful to say the least. I will be doing some research (googling!!) to try to make this.

We had a wonderful night! This was very fun to do!! Oh, funny story about the oysters. They're served on the half shell on a bed of rock salt. After a little while, we were trying to figure out how many we had eaten so we'd know how many we each had left to eat. There were a dozen, supposedly, to share. So he counted, then I counted, but obviously somebody else didn't count! There were only 11!! I wonder what kind of dozen that is?? Definitely not a baker's dozen!!

I wish I had taken pictures of all this wonderful food!!

Laura, on the media fast, you can't get out that easy!! Steve said that you can't do this at work BUT you can start when you get home......so I think you should join us next Thursday!! lol

Media fast, party and anniversary

2008-06-06T08:04:00.004-05:00

We did it! Our first media fast (no tv, texting, radio, computer) was successful!! Of course it was helped greatly by the fact the we were getting ready for the baseball party at our house. I never really thought about how many times I walk by the computer to *just check my email*!! Then I would have to click on a link then just read this other website. Next thing I know, it's a 30 minutes later (or longer!!). The goal of this was not to make us miserable (!!) but to get us focused. Focused on what is important - God. I'm sure this is going to make a difference in our life!!

On the lighter side, I KNOW Jake stayed up until midnight so he could check his email and this game he plays!! Teenage boys!!

The baseball party was a hit!! Brad did an awesome job with the fish, fries, hushpuppies, cheese sticks and chicken nuggets. Our friend Wayne was able to get us fresh catfish from the catfish farm. Man oh man!! That was some GREAT fish!! Laura, please tell Wayne thank you thank you!!! Brad was finally getting to visit after frying all that food but it was time to start the ice cream. I was brave and got it ready. He is famous for this ice cream and I have NEVER EVER done it. But I wanted him to get to the enjoy the party too, so I did it! It was just as good as his! YEA! I have to tell you, I was nervous!!

Today is our anniversary!! 21 years!! That is just so hard to believe. When did we get that old?? Where has all the time gone?? Sometimes it feels like forever and others, it feels like yesterday. He is a wonderful man and treats me like a princess! It thrills my heart to know he still finds me attractive after 3 children and many extra pounds!! I love you!!

We have talked about sneaking out of town today for the weekend but I'm not sure if we will. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.....lol

Pictures from yesterday will be coming.......but don't hold your breath!!

Wednesday

2008-06-04T07:26:00.003-05:00

Where to start??? Baseball season is over for Jonah! They had an awesome season! We're having the end of season party here Thursday night. My sweet hubby is frying fish, chicken, fries and tots for everybody. Then he's going to make his famous homemade Oreo ice cream!! YUMMY!!

Jake has 2 more games to go, then he's done. I think he's ready to be done. They started off the season great, then fizzled. Some of the guys have just quit doing their best.

Today is Josh's first day doing a full workout program at the junior high. Monday they maxed out. Some of his were great and some not so great. But he's never done weights before.

Yesterday, Jake was a man. One of his friends' mom died and he went 5 hours to the funeral. His friend has lost both parents, her grandfather and an uncle in a 2-3 year period. She is just 14. Brad mentioned to Jake that he should ride down with their youth minister for the funeral. I never thought he would, but he did. We talked about how good it would make his friend feel when she saw some of HER friends there showing their support. I am proud of him!!

Since Jake was with the youth minister for 15 hours yesterday, I asked him if he got some scoop on the youth group. He found out that every Thursday will be a *focus* day. That means NO ELECTRONICS whatsoever. Goodness!! Whatever will he do?? I told him that I would try (keyword there!!) to do it with him. I'll let you know how we do!!

Oh, I wanted to show you an online magazine that I have found! It's called Seasonal Delights. It's full of recipes, decorating ideas, crafts and fun! I think this issue is the best!! I want to try every recipe and I have already made one of the crafts! (It was very easy and fun.) Here's the address:
http://sdquarterly.com/ I tried to make it link but couldn't! Sorry!! Have fun!

Amaryllis, dances and graduation

2008-05-21T22:22:00.003-05:00

Josh had a busy weekend this past weekend. Saturday night was the 6th grade mixer dance. The 3 schools that will join together at the junior high always have a dance so the kids can get to know each other. Yeah right! I don't think there was any mixing!! But they had fun. For Josh, it was the last time he'd be with some of his friends. His whole group of friends are all going to different schools. Since Josh has a sweetie now, he wanted us to pick her up in the convertible!! So we did. Poor thing, you know she had to be terrified!! We know her parents from work and church but still! She did not want me taking any pictures but I finally convinced her to let me take one. And of course it's blurry!!

Then he had graduation Monday!! He looked so handsome and grown!! He received the President's Academic Award. But I have to say, the graduation itself was horrible. Imagine 120 kids in the school cafeteria and all the parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. It was very hot and crowded. There were 6 valedictorians and they all gave short speeches. We could not hear a word of them. I was so disappointed. One of the boys that gave a speech was Josh's best friend and he has a great sense of humor. I wanted to hear his speech, but NO!! Then the other one I really wanted to hear was from a girl that had been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma at the beginning of the year and has gone through chemo and radiation this school year and still maintained a 4.0 (doing her school work at St Judes). It's probably a good thing I couldn't hear it because I would have been crying my eyes out. Speaking of crying, I did not cry at the ceremony at all. I did get a little teary eyed afterwards when it hit me that this part of his life is behind us and he is getting older!! It was sad too to think about not seeing some of his friends and their parents again. The graduation pictures are on Brad's camera. I'll try to post them later.

My sweet MIL gave me this flower a couple of years ago. It just bloomed this year. Guess it had to think about whether it liked me or not!!

Messed up!

2008-05-08T21:57:00.002-05:00

I was just a bragging to my friend Laura the other day that I had put some posts in draft mode so I could just add to them and maybe be better about posting. There is a new post several posts down called New Pendants. It's posting in date order of when I created it. I'll have to do better with my next *draft* post!! Guess y'all get to go hunting for it......LOL

Outrigger Island

2008-05-04T21:44:00.006-05:00

Tonight was the Children's Choir Musical, Outrigger Island. Jonah played the part of Ben, the preacher's son. Josh didn't have a speaking part this time but he did get to play the drums. It was a very good program!! The kids all did great. I was very proud of Jonah. He's only 8 and he did a very good job of learning his lines and then performing them. He even got a couple of laughs from the audience!!

More baseball pics

2008-05-03T09:39:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple more baseball pictures of Jonah. In the group picture, Jonah is the one yawning!! Guess he'd heard enough!! Coach Brad was getting them fired up for the game. Both teams were undefeated until we won!! 30-5!! We play the same team today. Wonder who will win today?? I'll let you know.

New pendants

2008-05-03T09:29:00.003-05:00

Gotta love making pendants!! One of these is for Jonah's student teacher's last day and the other is a birthday present for one of his little girl friends!! I bet I played with different fonts for an hour. Printed them out on white paper for a trial run and then decided to use them anyway. I punched out the letters then used my silver stamp pad to give them a *marbled* look. Unfortunately the pink one kinda blurred but he still wanted to give it to her. Doggone it, now I have to go to Michael's to get more stamp pads in different colors.......

Baseball is still going great! Jonah's Gorillas are still undefeated!! He is really into baseball this year. He is paying attention to the strategy of it. I just love it!

The end of school is $5ing me to the poor house. Every time I turn around somebody wants $5!! Jake is going on a field trip to La Tech to the Chemistry department and the Nanotechnology department. He is VERY interested in the nanotech. Next fall his science teacher is going to take him one Saturday to spend the day in the nano department. If he's mentioned it one time, he has a hundred times!! Josh needs $5 for chik-fil-a for his field day, $5 for his tassel for graduation, and $5 for a ticket to the 6th grade dance (he might need another $5 for his date!!) UGH!!! Good thing I worked 4 days this week!!!

Tomorrow is Jonah's field day. I didn't know it until today. Of course I'm supposed to work. It's from 8:30 - 9:30, so I'm going to call in the morning and see if they'll let me come in a little late.

Jake had a late ball game tonight. It didn't start until 8. I went for a little bit but then left so Jo could get in bed and rest for his busy day tomorrow. Brad is IM'ing me as I type letting me know the score. Right now Jake is up to bat, bases loaded. We're up 10-5!! I'm a little nervous.......and sad that I'm not there. The call now is 1 ball, 1 strike.........My heart can't take this!! Well, he struck out and he was the 3rd out. I know he is MAD. But they did win - 13-7!!!! That makes them the #1 team!!!!

Ok, I'm off to watch Grey's Anatomy and pout!! LOL

The game ball

2008-05-03T09:07:00.000-05:00

Finally a picture of Jo with a game ball for hitting his home run!! Don't you love that smile?!

Wonderful news!

2008-05-01T09:03:00.003-05:00

This is a miracle!! My very dear friend's, Debi, husband has a benign brain tumor. He went yesterday to Dallas for another MRI, to check growth, and to meet with the surgeon and oncologist. Surgery had been scheduled for June 12th. You can imagine the fear they had facing brain surgery. Well, Debi called last night and they've decided that surgery wasn't needed and it could be treated with radiation!!! This is just the best news!! His tumor is around the optic nerve so the loss of vision was very very real. Today they will find out if the treatment can be done in Baton Rouge, where they live, or if it will be in Dallas. The schedule is for the treatment to be for an hour a day for 6 weeks. I just cried and cried when she told me. God is so good!!

Not much going on around here except for baseball!! I think we play every day but Wednesday this week. It's fun though. Jonah has gotten so much better. He even hit a home run (not an over the fence home run but still a home run!!). His team is undefeated so far. Jake's team is doing pretty good too. I think they've only lost one game.

The love bug has hit our house this spring. Josh came home from school with a girlfriend!! You should hear all the advice his big brother is giving him!! I'm so sad my babies are growing up.

The Children's Choir musical is this Sunday. Jonah has a speaking part in the drama. He is soooo excited!! It was a little hard on Josh that he didn't get a part because he has a part in all of the past ones. But he has been very sweet helping Jonah get ready.

I have been selling some of my jewelry. A friend of mine that I work with has a booth in a shop and she has bought some to sell for me. I can't wait to see how it does. I just made a bunch of earrings to add to what I sent her earlier.

I almost forgot about the Josh story!! It's old news but it will be good to put it here to remember when I'm old and senile!! Josh was playing around and fell out of the swing and landed on his back. Of course, he was winded and couldn't breath. That
totally freaked him out. So he started running toward Brad, who was on the patio frying french fries. Apparently Josh passed out when he got to Brad and hit the fryer. He doesn't remember anything but waking up on the ground. He burned his arm in 2 places and on his cheek right under his eye.

We were mostly worried about getting Josh calmed down and getting him breathing again. The next morning he was complaining about his eyeball burning and his vision being blurred. I got him an appointment with Dr Bivens, b/c of course Dr. Stanley (our regular pediatrician) was on vacation. She tested his eyes and all he could see out of the bad eye was the big E. Then she looked for a corneal abrasion and there
was one. She got us an appointment with an opthamologist for the next morning. He checked Josh out and he was fine! The abrasion was totally gone and his vision was just like it was before!! Another miracle. The opthamologist seemed more worried about the wound on his face. His face looks great now. I'm just going to have to be really good about putting sunscreen on it this summer.

What a day!

2008-04-07T21:28:00.002-05:00

I just looked at the date of my last post. Wow! I'm so behind!!

Think I'll just start with today and fill y'all in on some other things later. (Remind me to tell you about Josh and the fish fryer.)

Jake had a track meet in Ruston today. Field events would start at 3 and the running would start at 4. He's a runner so the times worked out great for me since I get off work at 3 and Ruston is about 30 minutes from us.

I leave work at 3, stop by the Sonic to get a diet vanilla coke and hit the road. Ask me what time I got to Ruston?? 4:30!!! UGH!!

First thing that happened was that I got to play *chicken* on the interstate. You know there is always construction on the interstate so when I saw headlights coming toward me on MY side of the road, I really thought it was a state worker. Then as I got closer I saw it was NOT a state worker but some body actually driving the wrong way. It was unreal. Luckily a state trooper saw him and stopped him.

I was listening to the radio and the DJ said it was an elderly man that had gotten turned around somehow and now he was headed in the right direction. Does anything about that scare you?? Shouldn't maybe he be taken off the road??

That really didn't effect my time though. But this did. The traffic comes to a complete and total stop right outside of Ruston. Apparently someone from the eastbound lane has crossed the median and hit a car in the westbound lane (my lane!) The DJ said that it was a severe accident. I haven't heard what happened to the people involved but the vehicles looked horrible.

So I finally make it to the track meet. Jake has just finished his one and only event, the 2 mile run. Yes, I missed it!! So now I get to sit in the bleachers until 7:45 watching other people's kids run. Ask me how much fun I had!!

Luckily the ride home was totally non-eventful!!

Tomorrow I promise to tell you the story of Josh and the fish fryer! Some of you already know it, so act surprised!!

Crawfish Corn Soup

2008-03-08T07:46:00.005-06:00

I made this for supper last night and Laura got to sample it! She sent a little hint that she wanted the recipe. Here you go Laura!!

Crawfish Corn Soup

1/2 stick butter; 1 cup chopped green onions; 1 cup chopped mushrooms, fresh or jar; 1 8oz pkg. cream cheese, softened; 1 can cream of mushroom; 1 can cream of potato; 4 cups half & half or milk; 2 cans corn; 2 cups crawfish tails; salt, pepper, and Tabasco to taste

Lightly saute onion in butter, then add mushrooms. Add cream cheese and melt, but do not boil. Add cream of mushroom and cream of potato. Mix well. Add both cans of corn. Season with salt and pepper. Add crawfish. Cook for 5 or 10 minutes. Add milk (I only used 2 cups of half & half and rest with milk) and a few dashes hot sauce. Simmer - DO NOT BOIL - for a few minutes.

I only used 1 can of corn. Brad's allergic to corn (just slightly!) and I was pushing it with corn anyway!!

Enjoy!

Snow day and Canton

2008-03-08T07:08:00.005-06:00

Guess what happened here yesterday in March in north Louisiana?? SNOW!! The kids got out of school at one because they thought the roads would freeze. But of course it didn't stick at all. But it was so pretty!! We haven't had snow here in YEARS! You could just hear excitement in peoples' voices when they talked about it.

We had a great time in Canton last Saturday. We started off the trip with a stop at Krispy Kreme in Shreveport! YUMMY!! We got to Canton around 11, just in time to eat again. Remember I have a 14 y/0 boy who eats constantly!! We found some barbecue sandwiches and chicken strips for lunch. Then off to shop! I was just in heaven. There was a lot of soldered jewelry and I got some cute ideas. My favorite place was the Fiestaware booth!! She has blemished pieces. Some of them looked like nothing was wrong. The main reason I stopped there was to replace a plate Jake had broken (accidentally). And I ended up with purple salt & pepper shakers, a big red serving bowl and Jake's blue plate.

The boys had fun looking at all the junk in the back. They have said they'd go back with me!! yea! But I think I'm getting too old to do that trip all in one day. We left that morning at 6:30 and got home around 10:30. Jonah and I had gotten up at 4. He had a coughing fit and then we couldn't go back to sleep.

It's still really cold here so I'm hoping for a pajama day today! I'd love to just sit around and read or stitch or solder. We'll see how that pans out!!

Lion paws & ducks

2008-02-29T20:14:00.004-06:00

Here's a picture of the charms I soldered yesterday. I put a *K* on two of them for the girls they were going to. The backs of the others are just blank. Couldn't come up with anything great to put back there. Should have just put the word *lion*. I wish I had made ME one! I'll need one for all the football games next year since Jake and Josh will both be playing. Josh will be a Lion Cub and Jake will be a Lion!! How fun!! Speaking of Jake, he did make the track team! Please tell me how we're going to handle track practice and baseball practice???

Since we moved into this house (4 years ago this weekend!!), we have tried desperately to have ducks on one of the two ponds. One of our dearest friends brought the boys 12 baby ducks for 2 years in a row. The first year we had 6 survive I think. The second year NONE of them did. It was horrible. Last year we had a mallard and hen come back and nest. Something got the eggs though. We were so sad.

We've been noticing another duck couple (maybe the same one??) on the little pond. Then we noticed just the daddy duck. Well today, we walked out on the island in the little pond and the momma duck swam off. Guess who's made her nest on Josh's island??!! The bad news is our dog Bruno was with us and found the nest too. We tried to shoo him off and I hope it was in time. He doesn't go out there unless the boys are with him so I hope he forgets!! This picture is of the daddy duck. The poles lead to Josh's island. I hate that the island's not in the picture. It's not very big, maybe 15ft round and not very pretty, but the boys love it.

I was so disappointed today. My friend Laura and I were supposed to go see The Other Boleyn Girl tonight. But guess where the only place in all of the USA this movie didn't come?? Yep, right here! (I might be exaggerating about being the only place!!) Maybe one of y'all will get to see it and can tell me how wonderful it is! Guess I'll have to wait til it comes out on DVD. Pout pout.

But to help make up for my disappointment, my sweet husband is taking me to Canton, TX for First Monday Trade Days. I'm so excited!! We used to go all the time before we had kids. Then we stopped. I hope the boys won't be too bored but there should be things for them to look at too. Plus the food is really good.

Bike & track

2008-02-26T18:57:00.006-06:00

Today was Awards day at Jonah's school. I was supposed to get to go but one of the techs I work with had called in because her son was sick so I couldn't. Anyway.....My phone rang this afternoon but I couldn't answer it because I had a patient. It was Jo's school. Then a minute later it rang again and it was Brad. I figured something was wrong with back to back calls like that! So I excused myself and stepped out in the hall to answer it. Brad said that Jo had called him because he needed a ride home from school (he usually rides the bus) because he had won a bike at the awards ceremony!! The PTO donates prizes for each 6 weeks and this time it was a boy's bike. Jonah's name was pulled out of the hat for it! He was one happy little boy!! He needed a new bike and we had talked about getting him one for his birthday in April. Guess we'll have to figure out something else to get him!

I'm off of work for the rest of the week!! First on my agenda is cleaning the house and getting the clothes washed and put away. Then I want to work on some Easter things for the house. I started this little kit last night and I'm almost done with it.

We'll see what else I can get into!! I've gotten some cute Easter things to solder too.

Jake tried out for track today at school. He did pretty well, running a mile in 7min20sec. They have a mock track meet Thursday and then they'll let the boys know if they made the team or not.

Last second!

2008-02-23T19:11:00.002-06:00

Josh had his last basketball game of the season today. It was a very exciting game. At half time we were down by 10 points. I just knew it was over!! The other team kept making 3 pointers and I thought there was no way they would recover. But we caught up! Only one point behind. Imagine 6 seconds on clock, one of our team shoots and misses. Josh gets the rebound and shoots and SCORES!! I wish you could have seen his face!! It was priceless. He's only made 4 points this whole season so this was BIG!!!

Jonah wanted to go to the movies today to see Spiderwick. He had read all the books and was just about to have to fit to see it. I wasn't too sure because I'd heard it was scary and I didn't want to freak him out. But he convinced me he could handle it and we went. He loved it! And he didn't get freaked out once! It was funny because he'd lean over and tell me that that part wasn't like that in the book!

The only thing crafty I did today was to make a couple of earrings. My sister had gotten a pretty beaded necklace and wanted earrings to match. I finally remembered to order some beads to try and match it. I used Montana blue AB beads. My mother in law came over for supper tonight and saw them and took them!! Her favorite color is blue. They went immediately in her ears! So I made another pair for Lara. I called her and told her to wear the necklace to church tomorrow so we could see if they match. Hope they do!!

Tomorrow is Brad's grandfather's birthday. He'll be 94!! He is something else. I always thought he was a good looking man. I know what Brad will look like at that age since all the men in that family look the same!!

Friday

2008-02-22T21:15:00.004-06:00

I'm behind again!! Well, Jonah didn't have the flu, thank goodness. He just ran a low temp for 3 days. We watched a lot of movies and just hung out.

The other 2 boys have had a couple of good things happen. Jake and Rachel (his little *friend*!!) tied for 1st place in their category for the Social Studies Fair. Then Josh and his best friend placed 2nd with theirs. YEA!! They both get to go to regionals which is at ULM (our local college) on March 18. The funny thing about Josh's project is ( I really really shouldn't admit this but I will!!) it's the same exact project they entered last year. They got NOTHING with it. This year they placed 2nd. The only thing I can figure is that they were not as nervous and just wowed the judges with their speech. I'm very proud of them!!

We had a great weekend last weekend. Our church was doing DiscipleNow and we were a host home, which meant we had 12 9th grade boys. They were wonderful kids!! I've never seen so much food disappear in my life!! One of the boys made a profession of faith during the weekend!! I was so proud, you'd have thought I was his momma!!

Several of the boys go to the high school where Jake will go next fall. I was so glad to get to talk to them and hear their opinions on it. They love it. I was so nervous about him going to the junior high and he has just loved it. He's a totally different child. Much more outgoing and brave. He's played football and soccer. He's thinking about trying out for track. All this from my little boy who just used to read at recess. Anyway, I was glad to hear good things about the high school. You never hear the good things, just the bad. He's really excited about going. Me, I'm freaking out because he's growing up tooooooo fast. It's just gone by way too fast.

We just watched a really good movie with the boys tonight. It was The Martian Child. John Cusack was in it and he did a wonderful job!! The little boy that was in it is Jonah's age. Wonder if he'll wake up a martian tomorrow?!!

I haven't done any stitching or soldering lately. I think I'm in withdrawals!! My mom's birthday is coming up and I have a couple of things I want to make for her. Guess I should get busy!

We don't really have much planned for the weekend. Josh has his last basketball game in the morning and that's it! I may go look for a chair for the game room. I think I've picked out what I want. It's called a snuggler. Kinda like a chair and a half recliner. Decorating is not my thing!! I wish I had a personal decorator that could make all these decisions for me! I should post a picture of the chair and the room and let y'all decide.......maybe I'll do that! All I know is that I need somewhere to sit while we watch movies. The furniture that was in the room went to my mother-in-law's new house. So I sit in a folding chair while we're in there watching movies.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!!

More flu?

2008-02-05T17:19:00.000-06:00

Jonah woke up with a fever this morning. I called the dr's office and she (the nurse) said that the fever wasn't high enough to be the flu but......she would call in a preventive dose of Tamiflu. Wonder what tomorrow will bring??

More hearts

2008-02-03T18:44:00.001-06:00

Here is what I did this afternoon!! Aren't they fun?? The pictures are of the front and back. I'm going to give them to my little nieces for Valentine's. I'm trying to decide what to string them on. I picked up a couple of options at Michael's yesterday. Some pink suede and ball chain. The ball chain might be easier for the girls since they could just put them on over their necks.

I wish you could have seen me yesterday trying to get those words centered on the heart paper punch!! I think that was the hardest part.

Hearts, fried fish and broken glass

2008-02-02T20:16:00.000-06:00

We had an easy day today. I kinda thought we might go to Canton, TX for First Monday Trade days, but it just didn't work out. I was really the only one who wanted to go (imagine that!!). Brad would have gone with me but the boys were not thrilled about it. So I got up and made (from scratch) pancakes. Then Brad and I headed to look at some chairs for the game room. He was sweet and took me to Michael's. I got a couple of heart paper punches. I'm making some Valentine pendants for my niece's. The idea came from another soldering site. They are soooo cute!!

Spent some time working with my glass cutter today. I think I broke more glass than I did anything!! But I got a couple of sets ready for my new project.

Brad got me a new cell phone this week. I've had my other one almost 3 years. He decided that I needed to join the new technology! It's a Soft Lavender Razor!! I just love it. Jake had to show me how to do several things on it which thrilled him!!

Brad tried out his new super-duper fish fryer tonight. He did some catfish, shrimp, pickles and french fries. Yummy! We did cheat and call my sweet baby brother for his advice. Chris is a wonderful cook. Everything he told us to try was absolutely wonderful! I would have never thought about doing the dill pickles!! Fun fun!!

Ok, I'm off to make a cell phone fob for my new phone!!

Happy Heart Day to me!!

2008-01-30T18:58:00.000-06:00

I got the most wonderful package in the mail today!! My Valentine Exchange!! Jodi had my name and stitched me FOUR wonderful pieces!! A sunflower heart needlecase. I love sunflowers!! A heart ornament. A heart pinkeep/flatfold. A cherub pin. I can't wait to wear my pin tomorrow on my lab coat!! She also sent two skeins of thread. One was a red called Cupid!! How cute!! There was also a bunch of pink and red beads!! Jodi knows me well!! Thanks again Jodi!! I love it all!!

Well, I think my patient is better! He was fever free all day. That Tamiflu is amazing! I remember back in my day, we had the flu for at least week. He is so bored that I think he's going back to school tomorrow. We'll see how he feels in the morning. So far none of the other boys have gotten sick. Knock on wood!

Valentine's Exchange picture

2008-01-28T20:19:00.000-06:00

Here's the front of the ornament I did for a Valentine exchange. The back is just our names and the date. But I can't show you that now!! I'll wait till she receives it.

Flu bug

2008-01-28T17:14:00.001-06:00

Jake woke up this morning with a temp of 102, so off to the doctor we went. We were a work in at 3. I think we finally saw the doctor at 4. Poor Jake. He was so miserable. Blood count was low and the nasal swab ( I swear I saw gray matter on that swab!!) came back positive for Type A. YUCK!! The doctor said he'd probably be out of school till Friday. I think we caught it early enough for the Tamiflu to help so maybe it won't be that long. ha!!

Maybe I can get some stitching in!!

Saturday

2008-01-26T20:04:00.000-06:00

Boy, time flies!! I had no idea it had been this long since I posted. Nothing really exciting going on. I've been working on a Valentine Exchange piece for one of my yahoo groups. I finished it today and I think it turned out cute! I stitched a little cherub and soldered it. It made a cute little ornament. I'll post a picture of it after my partner gets it. Well, maybe I could post a picture before because it doesn't have her name on it!

We had a nice day today. Jonah's best friend Taylor had a birthday party today. Believe it or not, he wanted Brad to take him. Josh went too. So it was just Jake and me here for the morning. We spent a little time cleaning then we played. He played computer and I got out the soldering iron!!

This afternoon, Josh had a basketball game. He has gotten so much better!! His team lost today but made a great come back and almost won. He doesn't play again for a week but will have practice Thursday night.

Basketball practice is getting expensive though! The gym where they practice is behind Sam's, so we'll drop Josh off and then head to Sam's!! I think I'll try a new place this Thursday, like Kohl's!!

Brad and I had a date tonight! He had done some computer work for a friend and they gave him a gift certificate to our favorite place to eat, The Waterfront Grill http://www.waterfrontgrill.com/ Yummy!! The poor boys had a frozen pizza!!

I'll try to post some pictures soon of my latest soldered pieces and of Josh playing ball.

Dentists and Sugar

2008-01-08T18:29:00.000-06:00

I hate dentists!! Well not really the dentist but having dental work done. I have HORRIBLE teeth for somebody that really takes care of their teeth. Let me start at the first of my dental story. While we were in New Orleans for Jake's birthday, which was November 3, I broke a tooth which come to find out was a very old crown. So when we got home, I made an appt to see about getting it fixed. During that appt they reminded me that I had another crown I needed to have done too. OH joy!!

So I have all that done and my gum is too irritated to take the impressions. Make another appt to come back in a week. Ok, do that. Get a phone call a couple of weeks later that the crown maker didn't like that impression, can we do another one. Ok, do that. That was the week before Thanksgiving. OH forgot that during all of that one of the temporary crowns come off... OUCH!! Have to go back in to get it put on.

Today was the day I was going to get my new crowns. I'm so excited I'm going to be DONE!! Well, one of the crowns is a perfect fit. The other one, not so much. Again my gum is too irritated to take another impression so I have to go back NEXT week. I could scream!! And to top it all off, everything they did to me today they did with out deadening my mouth. I was trying to be tough, but I shouldn't have.

Ok, I'm done talking about dentists!! Let's talk about Sugar or Sugah!!! She's the newest member of our family. She is a gorgeous 6 month old kitten.

I just love how her tail is striped!! She's so white and then that tail!! There's also a perfect circle on her side that is striped too.

Here's some pictures of some beading/soldering I've done.

The top 2 pictures are what I made for my sister for her birthday. I was going to make her a 4 strand Mother's bracelet but chickened out. When she opened it she said she was glad it was a 2 strand because she said the 4 would have been too big for her!! So I made the right decision. YEA!!

The next bracelet is one I made for Nannie. It's one of the magnetic bracelets. She was so excited. Her hands are just eaten up with arthritis and can not do any clasps. This one just wraps on itself so it's perfect for her.

The next pendant I made for Jake's girlfriend for Christmas. And the next picture is a Mother's Bracelet I made for money!!

Birthday goodies

2007-12-28T11:31:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-24T23:16:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! We started our celebration yesterday with Christmas at my dad's. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go. Right before we were to leave, I got sick. I was so sad. I really hated to miss it. Aunt Pat always makes crawfish etouffee. It's so good!!

Tonight was Christmas at my mom's. We had a great time!! I was too scared to eat too much. What a waste to get a stomach bug at Christmas!

Tomorrow is at my mother-in-law's.

I've gotten some wonderful things from stitching friends for my birthday. I promise to post pictures soon. They really spoiled me!!

Oh! Thanks for the comments on my new hobby!! I have made one more pendant for Jake's girlfriend. I need to show y'all that too. I'm really hoping Santa is bring me a glass cutter........

Learned something new!!

2007-12-15T21:48:00.000-06:00

I have been waiting on pins and needles to get the supplies in to start a new hobbie. I know, I don't NEED another hobbie but..... I wanted to learn how to do soldered glass ornaments. Well today my kit came in. YEA!! I had so much fun!! They're not perfect but the second was better than the first. I'm definitely going to have to learn how to cut glass though. Or find a cheap supplier!!

Let me know what you think!!

Only Tuesday??

2007-12-11T19:54:00.000-06:00

I know it's been awhile! I'm sorry!! Where does the time go?? I know where most of it went, work! But I LOVE my job. I'm so happy. I feel like a new person almost. To be honest, I'm kinda nervous that I like it too much and it will not last. I've always been the *disposable* employee because I'm not full time. So I'm used to being the one that has to go. But I'm going to think positive and enjoy it while I can.

Jake has already played 2 soccer games this week. He got to play goalie last night. He'd never played that before. He did pretty good. Only like one score through. We still lost though. They won tonight though. Yea!! One more game to go Thursday. Wonder what will take my time then?? OH wait! I know!! Josh is playing basketball and Jake is trying out for the baseball team.

Please don't ask me about Christmas shopping....I'm the worst procrastinator in the world. I do have a lot of it done. But there is still more to do. I'm off this Friday so I should get it done then. I was supposed to be off last Friday but they asked me to come in for part of the day, so I did. See I told you I love my job! I would have NEVER done that before.

I promise to try to update more!!

Jake

2007-12-01T22:14:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd better post a picture of Jake before he got too upset with me about not being on my blog!! He looks so grown up in this picture. Playing soccer this year was kind of a whim for him. One of his friends told him he should play so he tried out and LOVED it. He hasn't played since he was 6 or 7 so we've all been learning about the game. I love seeing how excited he is to play.

Angel Alert!!

2007-12-01T21:40:00.000-06:00

Check out this cutie!!

Josh was Gabriel in our church's children's musical, Angel Alert. I wish you all could have seen him. He did so good!! My heart is just about to bust I'm so proud of him!!

Jonah was in the program too. He sang with the choir then excited out to change into a shepherd. Unfortunately his pictures didn't turn out so great tonight. They'll do the program again tomorrow night so I'll get some then.

Practicing!!

2007-11-26T21:21:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm going to attempt a to post a picture! Hope it works!!

Yea!! I did it! This is from Jonah's first day at school this year. He's in second grade. His teacher is just PRECIOUS!! She calls everybody precious!! She taught Josh in kindergarten then retired. She decided she missed teaching and came back to second grade. I'm so glad she is Jonah's teacher. We just love her!!

Monday

2007-11-26T20:34:00.000-06:00

First day at my new job and I had to leave early!! I made a GREAT impression!! My middle son had the school nurse call me to let me know he had an earache. I asked her if he was ok to stay at school and she said yes. So I told her I would call to get an appointment at the dr's office and would pick him up to go there. I called the office and found out that Josh has never seen this doctor. How could that be?? We've used this doctor for at least 5 years. Anyway the receptionist told me that she could get him in next week but not any sooner b/c he was a NEW patient. Ok, I have 3 boys. One of which just saw this dr last week!! I told her this and it didn't seem to matter. I had to hang up before I got ugly with her!! After I calmed down, I called back and asked what I needed to do to get an appt with this dr. I went through the dance and finally got an appointment for after school. UGH!!

About an hour after all of this, Josh's math teacher called me and said he was crying all through her class. So I found my new boss and told her what was going on. I felt horrible!! What a wonderful way to start my first day. Good news is Josh just has an ear infection and should be good to go to school tomorrow. I would have just died if I had to call in sick tomorrow. I did let the doctor know I was not happy about having trouble getting in today. I know this doctor - we went to college together and are from neighboring home towns. He didn't understand what happened either. He said they routinely see siblings. Guess I just got the one person who didn't know this. He apologized several times and I know he felt bad about it.

I think I'm going to love my new job!! I get to wear pink scrubs!! Next to purple, pink is my favorite color!! It's a totally different job than I've done before. Not like diagnostic x-ray at all. Everybody was really nice and patient with me. I have to learn new people, new routines, new everything!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T08:45:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving!! We're going to my dad's today, my mother-in-law's tomorrow and my mom's Sunday. I'm going to be HUGE!! The best part is I don't have to cook this year!! My MIL said that it was my turn next year so I'm going to enjoy this year!!

Monday I start my new position at the hospital. I'll be doing bone densities at the breast center. I was so nervous about talking to them and wasn't sure what I would do but it's just perfect for me and my family. I'll work Monday through Thursday, 9 to 2:30. I went from not having any hours to work for the month of December to having around 20hrs a week pretty much guaranteed. What a blessing!! I'm really sad about leaving my other department. I just love everybody there. It's going to be a big change but a good one.

Don't eat too much turkey!!

My Monday

2007-11-20T19:33:00.000-06:00

What a day! I was off yesterday so today was my Monday. It was hard to go to work when everybody else in the house was sleeping!! Brad is off of work all week and the boys are out of school. I did have a short day at work because Jake, our oldest son, got braces today. Just on the top. He'll have the bottom ones put on in 4-6 months. He had a little trouble eating supper but I think he'll be fine tomorrow.

When I got home, Brad and the other 2 boys were putting up a *redneck* swing! Only my husband (or his dad) would put it together like he did. I tried to take pictures but it was too dark for my little camera. I'll try again tomorrow when I get home from work. This swing project was one that Brad and his dad wanted to do but didn't get done before he died. I just know that John (my father in law) is just grinning in heaven looking down at it! Brad did it just like he would have!! Like father,like son!! I looked out in the backyard at one point and Brad's riding the tractor through the yard. The next time I saw him, he's on one of the gocarts. The next time I saw him, he had dirt all over him. Something about going around a curve too fast and ROLLING the gocart!! I definitely have FOUR boys!!

I thought tomorrow would be my last day at work for awhile but I may have a chance to do bone densities at the breast center at my hospital. I'm going to try to talk to the director of that department tomorrow. I so need to keep working to pay for these braces on Jake's teeth!!

Well, I thought I was going to post some pictures but I need to set up an account first to put the pictures in! I promise some pics soon!!

First Post!

2007-11-18T19:55:00.001-06:00

Well, I finally did it! We'll see how this goes. Hopefully I can keep up with it. Wish me luck!