Melissa's Idea Garden

Well, another beach trip under our belts. Boy, I had forgotten how crowded the beach becomes in the summer time. The last couple of years we went to Myrtle Beach, we went in late May. Which is great crowd wise, but the very last time, was a bit on the nippy side...

One of the things I have done over the years is to keep a daily record of trips. I have some trips written down in journals, some on my blogs and some I missed writing down for one reason or another. I didn't keep track of this trip daily. I was too worn out most of the time. So instead of a day by day journal, I am going to divide this entry up into sections of things done. Also, if you want to see photos of our trip, I have uploaded them to Flickr. That way I don't fill up my blog with a lot of photos and you get to see more!

Okay, beach time. We were gone for 9 days. We were split up a lot of the times doing different things. But actual on the beach time during that five days for the majority of us occured five times. Two sunrise walks on the beach and three playtimes for 2-3 hours each. Frisbee throwing, shell collecting, and playing in the waves were the preferred past times.

In the spring of 2000 we were looking to move. We had been looking at West Virginia. Great real estate prices, more snow, and an airport nearby so Daniel could get out to travel for work. I was also very pregnant. Katrina was born in April. Around that time, Daniel stumbled on a beautiful 200 year old, 16,000 sq foot plus home, Willow Wall, which was up for sale.

Over a 4-6 week period, Daniel made three trips to Willow Wall. Once on his own with Bruce, once with my father and Uncle Jimmy and lastly with me. This home was beautiful. And the history. We have pictures and videos that we took and made during our forays there. My father told me yesterday that when he and Uncle Jimmy met with Colonel Ivan Harris at 10 a.m., they broke briefly for lunch, then the tour continued on until 3 p.m. Not only was the current owner, Colonel Ivan, in love with this house and its history, he passed that on to my husband. Daniel became driven by his desire to own this house. He read about McNeill's Rangers, and he dreamed of what it would be like to live in this beautiful home with all of its history.

We had fun last week. On Wednesday, we met with some homeschool friends at a nearby park. The kids never get tired of running about or riding their scooters around. Afterwards, one of the homeschool families had invited us to their home for snacks and a tie dye shirt/sock session. I have always wanted to do tie dye, so I was tickled to get to go! All we had to bring were shirts.

We arrived at their home and immediately got to work. First, Ginger told us how to tie up our shirts with rubber bands to get different designs. I chose a polka dot design. Jack, Katrina and Katrina's friend, Kaley, all chose the swirl design. So after we put on the rubber bands, then we put the shirts in a soda ash solution. Ginger didn't say, but I think that was to help the material take the dye better. While the shirts soaked for about 30 minutes, we enjoyed a hotdog, chips and cookies.

Then it was back to shirt making. after the solution had been squeezed out, we began putting dye on. After we had dyed them to our satisfaction, we put them in ziploc bags to bring home. Then Thursday morning, we rinsed them off with the hose, and put them in the wash. They turned our beautifully. I'll have to get my hubby to take a photo of me and the kids this coming weekend so I can show you what it looks like.

You know that I love animals! Well check out this interesting little fellow!

Is that the most interesting thing ever or what? It's body parts remind one of a mole, a pig, a porcupine, and an anteater! And one of his legs resembles a human foot to me! This shy little guy is only found in the rainforests of New Guinea and a few surrounding islands.

One thing that makes him neat is that he is one of three living species of mammals that lays eggs to reproduce (these mammals are called monotremes).

Scientists say they can learn a lot by studying this little guy...when they are able to catch up with him!

We had a lovely visit with Daniel's family this weekend. His mom and stepfather are up from Florida visiting and we had a cookout so everyone could get together and visit. Our guests included my sister-in-law and her family, our two oldest sons and their significant others, Daniel's uncle and aunt, and our next door neighbor. Everyone began arriving around 1 and some stayed as late as 9.

We always are happy when we get to spend these times with Tess and Johnny. None of us are getting any younger and we count each time we are able to see them, a blessing. Their age makes us more aware of their mortality, but you know the same is true for anyone of us that was there. It is so important for us to appreciated the moments we have with those we love, because there are no guarantees that there will be another. Just think how different the world would be if we all thought about that when we were dealing with family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. I think the world would be a nicer place.

My husband and I are looking into other routes to income to support our family. He has been away for the last 18 months. We do see him every other weekend and we did spend a good part of the summer with him last year, but it is just not enough. We want to find someway that he can make a decent income and do it from home. So we have started creating microsites. I will be sharing links to them from time to time here. Stop by, or not, it is up to you. We are trying to choose topics where we can provide useful information to others and possibly pick up some of the advertising dollars that are floating around out there at the same time.

One of the sites we have created is What is Diabetes?. This one held a lot of appeal to me because it is something I needed to learn more about. My great-grandmother had diabetes and one of my father's brothers has diabetes. I have the additional risk factor of being overweight and I have a sweet tooth that won't shut up. So researching the information for the What is Diabetes website made me feel more informed and is prodding me to do something about those pesky risk factors. Stop by if you are so inclined to see why I haven't had as much time to blog as I used to.

I borrowed Fool's Gold from Netflix and it came this week. It's been in my queue for awhile. I didn't have very high expectations of it, but thought it would be a fun romance/adventure movie and I wasn't disappointed. It was actually better than I thought it would be (having low expectations can be a blessing). I can never get over how much Kate Hudson looks like her mother (Goldie Hawn).

At any rate, the story is pretty typical, but everyone seems to be having fun with it. What I enjoyed most watching were the diving scenes since we are taking SCUBA Diving lessons later this month and we have been studying our SCUBA diving manuals.

I give this movie 3 stars for being fun!

First, this movie definitely deserves it's PG-13 movie rating and in my opinion, probably R. The things people say and that others think 13 years are okay to hear, just boggles my mind. But enough about that.

This movie is excellent! A real tear-jerker chick flick. But it would be great if you could get your hubby/significant other to watch it with you. It starts out with a fight scene between a young married couple, followed by them making up, followed by his death. It grabs your attention from the first moment, especially if you are part of a couple because you can relate to what is going on between these too. And the love they obviously have for one another in spite of the tensions is very apparent.

After her husband's death, Holly, played by Hillary Swank, goes into a tailspin of mourning until she receives a gift from her deceased husband. From there, she goes on to receive 10 letters that help her to grieve and to live again. It is a wonderful movie!

I give it 4.5 stars!

This past weekend we went to see Night in the Musuem: Battle of the Smithsonian. I hate sequels...they never quite capture the magic of the first. We enjoyed the movie, and I think the shouting Pharoah, the bobble-head Einsteins, and Amelia Earhart, were definitely wonderful characters. We laughed and we enjoyed the story, but it just didn't capture our hearts the way the first one did.

We give it three stars.

We went to see Race to Witch Mountain at the Dollar Movies this week. I liked the Witch Mountain movies that I watched as a child and so was looking forward to seeing this. This movie stands on its own. There were a couple of nods to the original movie (they ended up in a RV and Ike Eisenmann who played Tony in the original movies, played a sheriff in this one).

The movie was fast paced, fun and kept all of our interest throughout the film. If you take it for what it is...a fun, kid friendly movie, then your family should enjoy this Disney creation!

We gave it 4 stars.

I got this in my email from my Mom today and I liked it so much, I thought I would share it here.

Blue Roses

Why do I always have to be the one that starts to do laundry and there's no
detergent? Well, I guess it was time for me to do my store run, which
included light bulbs, paper towels, trash bags and Clorox. So off I go.

I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies, and headed for the
checkout counter only to be blocked in the narrow aisle by a young man that
appeared to be about sixteen-years-old. I wasn't in a hurry, so I patiently
waited for the boy to realize that I was there. This was when he waved his
hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm over
here."

It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged, and also startled as he
turned and saw me standing so close to him, waiting to squeeze by. His
eyes widened and surprise exploded on his face as I said, "Hey Buddy,
what's your name?"

"My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother," he responded proudly.
"Wow," I said, "that's a cool name; I wish my name was Denny, but my name
is Hal."

"Hal, like Halloween?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered. "How old are you Denny?"

"How old am I now, Mommy?" he asked his mother as she slowly came over from
the next aisle. "You're fifteen-years-old Denny; now be a good boy and let
the man pass by."

I acknowledged her and continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes
about summer, bicycles and school. I watched his brown eyes dance with
excitement because he was the center of someone's attention. He then
abruptly turned and headed toward the toy section.

Denny's mom had a puzzled look on her face and thanked me for taking the
time to talk with her son. She told me that most people wouldn't even look
at him, much less talk to him. I told her that it was my pleasure and then
I said something I have no idea where it came from, other than by the
prompting of the Holy Spirit.

I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow and pink roses in God's
garden, however, "Blue Roses" are very rare and should be appreciated for
their beauty and distinctiveness. You see, Denny is a Blue Rose and if
someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that
rose with their kindness, then they've missed a blessing from God.

She was silent for a second, then with a tear in her eye she asked, "Who
are you?"

Without thinking I said, "Oh, I'm probably just a dandelion but I sure love
living in God's garden."

Please the next time you see a BLUE ROSE don't turn your head and walk off,
take the time to smile and say Hello. Because by the grace of GOD this
mother could be you. This could be your child, grandchild, niece, nephew.
What a difference a moment can mean to that person or their family.

From an old dandelion.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

Yep, it's been a couple of months since the last good clean and as I looked around at the buildup of stuff in the kids rooms and the dirt in the corners, the mood struck last night. It was all I could do to keep myself from starting cleaing right then and there, but I have learned that the rest of the family doesn't appreciate it when I am vacuuming and cleaning under furtniture at 2 in the morning.

So I...what? What did you say? You are still trying to cope with the fact that I only clean once every couple of months? Well, let me tell you, it has taken me my life time and a total of 3 generations for me to get to this point.

My grandmother was a neat freak. The woman literally cleaned (or had my mom clean) up their house every day. Mopping the floors, vacuuming, etc. This was in a house with three people where two worked and one went to school every day. Gee...how dirty could it get? And grandma never stopped. My grandfather passed away on my mother's 20th birthday. I was born a month later and my grandma was alone in her home. Yet, she still cleaned daily.

Back in the early 1970s, I rushed home every day after school so I could watch Star Trek reruns in the afternoon. I loved Star Trek! The handsome Captain Kirk, the witty Dr. McCoy, the logical Mr. Spock (whom my father would fret me by calling squirrel ears). The adventurous journeys, the exotic aliens, the witty comments, and the chemistry among the original cast all kept me mesmerized. The worst punishment I remember from my childhood was I wasn't allowed to watch Star Trek for a whole week because I didn't listen to my babysitter one day!

Little did I know that just an hour away, my future husband was just as aptly watching the show that would launch four decades of great science fiction. He liked the show so much that he asked his mother to take him to the ABC tv station so he could meet the crew. He was sure that the Enterprise was there at the studio and he could get on board if only his mom would take him there.

Over the years, we have watched all of the Star Trek movies and the Star Trek mutations. Our least favorite was The Next Generation series. Captain Picard was just too 'nice'. Probably our favorite was Deep Space Nine. Voyager was also good. We tried watching Enterprise, but at the time, the channel it was on didn't come in very well and we got tired of watching the snowy show, but what we saw of it did look good.

So on to yesterday. We had been waiting in anticipation to see the new Star Trek movie. Some of the early trailers had us concerned about how they were running the storyline and the changes that it looked like were being made, but we were still growing very excited seeing what J.J. Abrams came up with (after all, we love LOST).

We got tickets for us and for the kids and seated ourselves front and center. The next two hours flew by. The action, the characters, the laughs...J.J. Abrams has come up with a hit! Not only has he recreated the show so as to attract a whole new generation of fans, but there was so much about the movie that was put in to appeal to those of us who have followed these characters for years. And while the story centered on Kirk and Spock, the other characters were given much stronger roles than in the usual series. Sulu, the sword expert. Uhura, the communications expert, and Chekov...the whole reason he looked so young was because he was a genius! I loved this movie!

J.J. Abrams could not have done a better job than what he did. We are ready to go see the movie again!

We give this movie two thumbs up!

Early this morning, in the rain, we fetched Plato. It was time to take him to the Vet to get a major trim for the summer. The dog has so much fur on him, that I was sure he had to be miserable. Plus, I was having a hard time getting the frontline spray to get on him really well and get rid of those pesky ticks...

So we got Plato and took a photo so you could see what a wet, light colored dog who likes lying in my rich black potting soil looks like...

I know that I haven't been around much lately. I haven't been blogging or reading blogs. I have been feeling very anti computer in 2009 and not interested in being online more than I have to. I was on Facebook for awhile and it was fun for awhile, now I don't want to go there either. Other things are much more interesting to me these days. So, if you are reading this, I hope you are well. We are well, busy and I'm sure at some point, I'll be back on here more regularly.

I do want to share an experience we recently had. Our youth group has been raising funds so they can go to Go Tell Camp this summer. It is a weeklong bible camp and it costs $250.00 for the week. Throughout the year, we have been raising funds. We sold baked goods at Centerfest in September. Took candle orders in November. Had a chili dinner at the church in February and in April, we did a mission/fundraising project. The youth took one day of their spring break and spent 5 hours working at The Daily Bread.

The Daily Bread is a place in Lynchburg which provides one balanced meal a day for anyone who needs it. People come in and are served. They can eat as much as they want. They can also take breads, rolls and cakes home with them when they leave. There is also a phone where they can make calls from and free books to borrow and clothes and a place to get cleaned up. For the fundraiser, the children asked people to sponsor them for the time worked there. It is one of our most successful fundraisers and it is the one that has the most meaning for the children.

We arrived at 9 am. During our time there, we folded napkins around utensils. Unloaded donated bread and drinks. Set up the tables with condiments and napkins. Swept and vacuumed and got ready for the guests to arrive. Once everyone was seated, it was the children's job to serve them. We took the guests plates. We took their drink orders. We refilled plates and drinks as needed and we carried about a dessert tray for them to choose from. The children did such an awesome job. It was a wonderful reminder to me of how when we give them true responsibility, they will rise to the occasion. I worked at a table with a young man. I was being vigilant, but he always seemed to be a step ahead of me. I would see a new guest had come in and I would turn to get a plate to serve them and see that N would already be on his way with the food. At the table next to them, I beamed as the lady in charge complimented the boys on their clean work station (my son was on that team). I watched girls who might complain about doing dishes at home, clean up after complete strangers to make room for another guest. For an hour and a half, these children worked hard and they each came away feeling like for a little while they had been able to make a difference in someone's life.

I had a special moment as well. There was a guest who didn't have arms. He ate by putting his head to his plate and picking up his food with his mouth. He was very self-sufficient, but I kept an eye on him to see if he needed anything. At one point, I noted that he seemed to be having trouble with his drink. I went to ask if I could help and he said he was trying to knock some food off of his face (rice was part of the meal for the day). I told him I would be happy to wipe his mouth for him, if he would like and he let me. As I did this, I asked if he was a veteran and he told me he had fought in Vietnam. I thanked him for his service to our country, and his response was, "You do what you have to". As I looked into this kind man's face, I couldn't help but think about my own father who also was in the service during the Vietnam War. Dad never got sent overseas due to a clerical error, but this man sitting here relying on the kindness of others could just as easily have been my dad. It broke my heart and it made me glad that I was able to be there and provide some assistance to this man.

I know we all live busy lives, but if we all just did one volunteer thing each month, think of the differences would could make in this world.

I received an email today that sent me to Snopes to learn about a threat I had never even thought of. My children are older and probably wouldn't try to see what hand sanitizer tastes like, but for a younger child who likes to explore, a lick of hand sanitizer could cause them to end up in the hospital. Take a few moments to read this article and be sure to warn friends, family, schools and churches that you are in touch with. These events happened two years ago and I had never heard of them.