Pictures are truly worth a thousand words, aren't they?
Here's the Motley Crew after we have hauled ourselves and belongings off the boat and before we head our separate ways. Jonathan is the tall one in the back. He is 6'4" tall last I checked. From Left to right: Ashley, Joann, Charles, Daniel, Jack, Katrina, Bruce, Ryan, David, Dakota, and Joy
The first two photos will show you the contrast of the views around the lake. Because I was busy piloting, I didn't get the opportunity to take pictures of some of the beautiful homes there, but every year, there is a home tour where several of the lovely homes are opened up by their owners for tours and the money raised goes to fight Multiple Sclerosis.
Beautiful mountains.
Condos
Ryan was enjoying the opportunity to make use of a recently acquired camera.
Katrina...frizzle haired and having a blast!
Charles loves tubing. And from what I understand comes up with the best tricks. Because I wasn't on the speed boat during this part, I didn't get any close up pictures of people having fun and Daniel was too busy piloting.
Well, my internet connection seems to be better today...so I will share some more pictures from our day yesterday.
My sister-in-law, Joy. Turns out she watches LOST too, so we enjoyed talking about it. Though she has watched it from the beginning and knows more than me and had to be careful not to tell me too much.
Jack was all smiles all day long. He loves trips to the lake.
Ashley, our neighbor, enjoying her turn behind the wheel. It is easier to see when standing up.
Captain Jack was thrilled to be given a moment at the helm...Don't worry, I was an arms length away.
Well, today was the big day...I went to meet with Dr. Diminick to get more information about my knee and try to figure out what we could do to help me rejoin the human race...the moving human race that is!
He spoke with me to get the history, then he read the report I had brought him and viewed the CD of my MRI. He said that there is thinning cartilage between my bones which at times causes the bones to just about rub together. Then there is the torn meniscus.
His recommendations were as follows:
We had several things going on last week. Rather than do a day by day, I'm just going to share the events of the week.
All week long (Sunday until Friday night) I was working on reformatting my computer, wiping it, reinstalling programs and files and getting everything working again. I did this in my spare moments. It was mostly easy, except for the fact that it took me four times to get Norton working.
Monday morning, Jack began his week long adventure at Central Virginia Community College. They run a week long program in the summer for rising 6th and up students. Jack chose to participate in the Information Technogolies class. Other classes were Nuclear Engineering, Cooking, CSI, Engineering, Medical...all together, about 20 classes. You chose a class and it was 35.00 for the entire week. Jack learned so much and had such a good time and we look forward to participating again next year. He participated in 2 field trips, learned about MP3 files, Adobe photoshop, movies, blogs, searching the web and computer history. Each day I drove 1/2 hour to town and dropped him off, 1/2 hour home, then went back again at 1:00.
Yep, some of the days were dim...there were moments of panic and shakiness...periods of hair pulling and screaming...times when I was sure that I would never manage to get this all up and running, but in the end, my genius prevailed!
Really, it wasn't that bad...It is a bit scary pushing the button that wipes out your hard drive, but I had all of my files saved on Carbonite and had all my software piled up to load and all I needed was patience and time.
Unfortunately, this week I was short on time because of plenty of other things on the agenda. What took me two days to do when I got my computer a few months ago, took me a week to accomplish this time.
But now the programs are installed, the files are reinstalled, the emails are answered and the blog comments are answered. And it didn't even require a lightning strike!
The only thing I lost was all of my RSS feeds. But I will build them back up...one cool website at a time!
First of all, I want to thank all of my bloggy friends who are still stopping by regularly to say hello. With all of our traveling, and now that we are back home, I have so much to do to get ready for our homeschooling to start back up and just getting the house in order and so forth, that I haven't had time to visit blogs like I would like. But my feeds are still reading and I think things will calm down in another week or so and I can go back to be a more regular visitor. Just don't give up on me!
For the next few days, I will be offline. My computer has never been 'right' since I got it. A bad initial install, I guess. Jack and I got the exact same computers at the exact same time with the exact same programs. I loaded on programs and updates at the same time on both computers. His always went well, mine often ran into glitches (remember my hours with Norton?) As time has passed, things have just gotten worse. I lost my cute little sidebar on my Vista desktop where I had rotating photos and the time of day and a little notepad. I have it set up on my computer so everyone in the family can sign in as themselves...all of those users have stopped working, no one else can log in but me. My sound has stopped working. So, I am going to wipe my computer clean. My files are saved at Carbonite and Plaxo, my install disks are lined up and I am ready to do the dirty deed.
So wish me luck. When I am all settled back in, you will be some of the first to know!
The rest of my birthday went very well yesterday. I received phone calls from my father and my other stepson, Charles. The kids and I dined on ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery for lunch (not a better meal for a birthday!) And I treated myself to a coffee crunch heath cake. Yummy! Daniel arrived about 6:30. The kids and I watched a couple of movies in the afternoon (Sinbad Voyage on the Seven Seas and Opal Dreams). I n the evening we sang Karaoke. All in all a lovely day!
BTW, I can't get to my website right now. I keep getting a message that the internet cannot display my webpage. This is the second time I tried posting this. I am not sure if my web hosting service is having a problem or if it is something else. Let me know, please if you can see my site! Thanks!
In an army hospital at Fort Gordon, Georgia, at 9:17 pm, I came kicking and screaming into the world.
For the next year and a half, my parents lived in Georgia, then Texas, before moving to Lynchburg, VA when my Dad finished his time in the Army. I have been in the Lynchburg, Va area pretty much ever since. We lived in a trailer, and then a house in Forest, VA until I was 9. The trailer is now gone with a huge subdivision in the fields behind where it used to sit. The little brick house still stands. Then we moved to a ranch style home in Lynchburg, but still on the Forest side of town and in Bedford County (though we had a Lynchburg address). We lived there for until I was 15, when we moved about a mile across the road to a home that we had built. When I was 18, I went to the College of William and Mary and spent my summers at home, except for the summer between my junior and senior year when I lived in Williamsburg with a college friend.
I was married 6 days after graduation.We were college sweethearts, but the marriage only lasted a little over a year. Then I returned home to Mom and Dad's. A year later, I met Daniel and moved in with him in a trailer in Moneta. A year after that his kids came to live with us and we moved to a bigger trailer in Body Camp (both of these places still in Bedford County. A year later, we purchased 5 acres of land for 100.00 down and monthly payments in Huddleston (southeastern Bedford County). A year later (after we had chopped down a kazillion trees), we moved into our current home and come this October we will have lived here for 15 years.
Sorry that I haven't been around for a few days. I did get in on the bloggy giveaways carnival with some help from my friend Laura, at Laura Williams' Musings.
We spent most of the weekend enjoying our last weekend in Bloomington and getting packed to come back to Virginia. Daniel says the apartment is really lonely without us there. I can tell you that it was a whole lot emptier after packed our stuff up. I didn't think it was all going into the Xterra, but it did...well, most of it - we will be getting the rest when we go back when Daniel's gig is done. We loaded up Sunday, but unlike when we came home the end of June, we weren't chomping at the bit to get back to Virginia this time.
We didn't leave Bloomington until around 9:30. And we spent the night in West Virginia. When we got to WV, we started running into traffic due to road work that was being done at night. After my third 15 minute wait, I decided we were done and we checked into a Wingate outside of Charleston.
The Wingate was very nice. Those puffy bedspreads must be all the rage these days in newer hotels. I want one for my bed...light, but very warm and comfy. We had a good night's sleep and went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast.
I have heard people talk about Lost and how they can't wait to see the next episode. I never watched the program, though I was intrigued by it. So a couple of weeks ago, when I was at the store looking for movies for us to watch, and realizing there wasn't anything new out that we wanted to see that we hadn't seen already, I spied the first season of Lost.
I thought...what the heck...
Monday, I finally got around to watching the first episode and I am now half way through the first season(12 episodes). What a story! Saeid (no idea how to spell his name) is so cute...and so is Sawyer (love those dimples) and is Kate the lucky one with all these fellows drooling over her. The fourth episode when we find out about Lock's physical problems before the crash, blew me away! And when I thought Charlie was dead, I was not a happy camper as he is one of my favorite characters.
So...here I am...joining the hordes that are addicted to this show....well, at least I am in good company:)
I haven't just been sitting by the pool and lounging on the beach during this trip...I have been busy reading, watching movies and playing video games, but I have also been thinking about returning to the work force. I want to continue homeschooling my children, but I also want to pursue more education for myself with the plan of going back to work, not only to add to our financial solvency, but to broaden my horizons. The kids aren't going to be home forever.
So I have been reading books and perusing websites and talking to people about job possibilities. The tests I have taken point to the following types of careers for me:
Editing (this is a top choice for me, but all indications are that the job market in this area is shrinking)
Nursing (I used to want to be a nurse, but I am not sure I could handle the bodily fluids aspect and I was not very good with remembering things like anatomy when I was in school).
Continue reading "Pinning Down Career Options - Useful links" »
When he returned from Go Tell Camp with his bible under his arm.
Jack had a wonderful time and is already excited about going next year.
I have a bloggy friend, named Nikowa, who writes on her blog, Knowledge House Academy. She is suffering from the untimely loss of her 46 year old mother. This is a situation where like Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole.
Her mother was prescribed too many medications by the same doctor that had interactions and led her mother to take her own life. This is not just something that can happen to celebrities, it can happen to our moms, dads, brothers, sisters, brothers, friends, us.
Please stop by and visit Nikowa. Offer your words of comfort and support. And maybe, her situation can help you or someone you love before it is too late.
Two years ago, I signed up for Netflix. DH prefers to own the movies he watches, but there are lots of movies out there that you don't find at the local stores. Plus the whole idea of having movies arrive at my home in my mailbox and being able to choose from thousands of titles was very enticing to me. I have to say, I am enjoying Netflix, even though Daniel refuses to watch any movie with me that I get from there. It goes against his principle...though he will watch movies I borrow from the library, go figure!
Anyway, we have gotten lots of use out of Netflix. The kids and I have found tons of documentaries that we have used in our homeschool studies. I have introduced them to some of my favorite television shows from when I was a kid (Wonder Woman and Star Trek). I have watched movies I have never heard of and shared some Disney classics with them - The Love Bug, The Cat from Outer Space, The Shaggy Dog (the first one) and more. About 6 months ago, I learned about profiles. I set the kids each up a profile and now they go in and pick the movies they want to watch. I get to set the ratings limits. It's awesome. Now when a movie under my profile goes back to Netflix, it picks the next one in line from my profile. If Jack's movie goes back, then he gets sent the next under his profile. This is awesome and a great time saver. I was going in and having to manipulate my list based on whether I had a movie lined up for me or for the kids and manually move things around. I was soooo happy to find the profiles feature.
Well, I took Kayley and Katrina to Kayley's house about 7 pm last night. Katrina wasn't thrilled about going. She was having a missing mom moment, but I told her she really needed to go because I had a long day ahead on Thursday and that she wouldn't want to be tagging along with me. She called about nine o'clock and said her ankle hurt and that Kayley wanted Katrina to give away one of her Care Bears to her sisters baby and Katrina didn't want to do that. After I talked to her a few moments, she said goodnight and went about her business. Between 7 and 9:30, I did dishes, made a list of things I needed to do, got the trash and recycling together, answered emails and watched a little television. I went to bed about (9:30 and read a book until about 11.
Today I was up at 6. I took Katrina's goggles to her at Kayley's house before driving to Bedford for my knee MRI. I was quickly checked in and after filling out questions about metal in my body and past surgeries, I was ushered back to the MRI trailer. I thought I would have to put on a hospital robe, but I guess because it was my knee, I got to lay down in my street clothes. My knee was placed on a padded thing. I was given headphones that were tuned to the radio station of my choice and was told it would take 25 minutes for the MRI to be complete. During that time I was not to move. I was also given a little bulb thing that I could squeeze if I needed to be brought out of the 'tunnel'. I didn't have to go all the way in, which I was grateful for. I can see how it would be very hard for a claustrophobic person. I listened to the songs and tried to ingore the itch under my nose and the fact that I felt like I was going to sneeze and the fact that my right arm was falling asleep on me.
Katrina and Kayley are busy enjoying their girlfriend time this week. Yesterday we went to the community pool in Lynchburg. They spent three hours having loads of fun. Then we played at the playground in the park for awhile before spending a couple of hours at McDonald's playground. Since pictures are worth a thousand words... I'll show you how much fun they were having (yep, I'm still loving my camera).
Kaylie dancing in the pool
I just realized I haven't blogged in two days! What the heck is up with that???? Where has the time gone? Well, mostly I have been enjoying being at home.
Sunday, we went to church and it was lovely seeing all of our friends that we hadn't seen for a month. It was a special service as we ordained two deacons. There was a meal afterward and we were torn between staying for it and heading home to do some things before going to Roanoke to see Bruce. We ended up coming home.
We drove to Roanoke to see Bruce and Ryan's new place. It is a very nice townhouse with more space than their last apartment. There is a nice little patio, the neighborhood is quiet, and being the computer guys that they are, they both have their computer desks set up so they can work and watch TV at the same time.
Bruce and Ryan had just adopted two kittens, they are real cuties. Rhonda and Abe were adopted from St. Francis of Assisi. They are full of fun. Here are some pictures:
You may have noticed that I didn't blog yesterday.....Well, I want to assure you there is a perfectly good reason for that.
Yesterday, I arose early. I had a lot of paperwork to do as two weeks worth of mail had arrived on Friday from Virginia. There were bills to pay, check books to balance (business and personal) and things to review. After I completed that, I spent time catching up on my blog visiting. Then it was time to head to the movies.
Jack and Katrina went to see Kung Fu Panda, while Daniel and I went to see The Happening...more on that later.
After the movies, we came home and watched Surfs Up. It was one Katrina had been wanting to see and I had been dragging my feet on because it didn't very good...I should have dug my feet in, but I will talk more about that later too.
Continue reading "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho...it's Off to the E.R. we go...." »
As I told you this morning, we headed north to visit two bloggers that I have known for a couple of years....but only via reading their blog posts, their comments on my posts and a few emails sent back and forth. We had a lovely visit with Momanna98 and Abiga.
It was like meeting old friends and getting to know new ones all at the same time. One of the things that was really neat is the fact that we read some of the same blogs! We enjoyed several hours of conversation, a yummy lunch, and watching the children play before we headed back down the road. But don't take my word for it, check out these pictures!
Here is Katrina, Princess C, N, Jack and D having a blast in the pool!
Today I was reading an article in Good Housekeeping about a mom whose son was constantly encouraging her to decrease their families carbon footprint. This mom drives a VW bug and keeps her house at a chilly 62 degrees in the winter time. She recycles. She turns off lights when she leaves the room. But when she went to the carbon calculator it informed her that she was using 12 tons more carbon a year than the average family in the United States.
I wanted to get my own number. I have to say, I was surprised. As you know I was gifted with a SUV this year, not exactly friendly to the environment, but it was a most wonderful gift. My number showed that we are only 6 tons over the national average.
Now, my gripe with this little calculator is this....
Continue reading "ClimateCrisis.net Needs A Better Carbon Calculator" »
Yesterday was a busy weather day here and at our home back in Virginia. We woke up to tornado watches and grey skies. I watched the radar which was showing a line of severe weather headed our way. I took some precautions...I showered, dressed and we each put on our shoes in case we had to head to the shelter. I kept watching the line of storms as they headed towards us. As they hit Bloomington, the reds began to fade into yellows and while we had some rain and thunder, it wasn't bad at all. I felt a little silly about being prepared, but I figure, better to feel a little silly and have nothing happen, than the opposite.
Since the weather was not cooperating for swimming, we decided to go see Prince Caspian. I just want to say the movie was well done and we all really enjoyed it! I wonder which movie they will do next.
Continue reading "Prince Caspian, Tornados and Lightning Shows" »
I was up at 5:15 this morning. What the heck is wrong with me? It is bright here very early and I don't sleep well once the sun comes up. And I didn't sleep well last night which didn't help either. It was one of those nights for restless tossing and turning. Hate that!
So anyway, got up, answered some emails, took a shower, and got the kids up. We left the apartment around 7:30. We wanted to be gone when the maids got here (they arrived at 8:30 last week). We planned to go to McDonald's for breakfast and play in the play place (Katrina picked it out as her choice for our breakfast out). Daniel called when we were there and told me Bloomington had been put under a tornado watch and for me to keep a lookout. He also said, I should try to get my running around done by 11-11:30.
We left McDonald's at 8:30 and drove to State Farm to meet Daniel for a tour. We toured around from about 8:45 to 10:00. The place is huge.
If you go to Google Maps, type in Ireland Grove, Bloomington, IL. You will see the number 28 and to the left of that you will see a body of water. That is the pond next to the State Farm complex. All the buildings to the left of the lake are part of the complex (there is another huge building a couple of miles down the road). Each building is four or five stories tall and several have a floor underground as well. NW, you will see Angler's lake. The apartments we are staying in are south of the lake. And you can zoom in for better views. Google maps is cool.
Yesterday was a hodgepodge of activity. I started out the day by watching Mary, Queen of the Scots. I have been enjoying watching a variety of movies about that time period in English history. The movie had lovely costumes and was well done. After that, the kids and I piddled around for awhile and they took care of their piano/typing practice and did their math. We went up to the Dollar Store and picked up goggles and pool toys.
Word of Advice...the goggles at the Dollar Tree are not worth the 1.00 that the Dollar Tree charges for them. I get lots of great stuff there, but the goggles were not great!
Then we headed to the pool for the afternoon. There's nothing better than getting into an 85 degree pool...until you step out into the 74 degree busy day! Something I thought really cool was the music they were playing at the pool. They were playing country music. People here are laid back, don't seem to be in a hurry, and are very friendly.
Still, we enjoyed our time at the pool and ran into our new friends from the previous day. We found out that it was going to storm on Friday. (BTW, I started this post early this morning, but things got in the way, so here it is 7:16 pm CST and I am finishing that post). Did I mention the pool is only a mile from our apartment? I soooo love that! I have to drive a mile to get to the hard surfaced road!
Yesterday was a quiet day for us. We watched some videos the kids had borrowed from the library. The kids practiced piano and touch typing. We all read some. Katrina worked on her multiplication tables while Jack did a few math problems. Then we played a game of Monopoly.
Jack's strategy is to buy the side of the board with the most expensive properties. My main strategy is to buy the side of the board with the cheapest properties. But I also buy anything else I step on for trading purposes. I am not sure what strategy Katrina has. Jack was out of the game first. He could have one, but he made one mistake. Instead of putting houses on his blue properties the minute he had both of them, he held off, trying to wait until he had enough money to put on hotels. He could have wiped Katrina and I out early on... he says he didn't want the game to end too quickly.
So, after Jack was knocked out, it was between me and Katrina. I probably would have won, though she did have some good properties that she had hotels on. She didn't have as many as me, until she landed on free parking which had grown to over 2500! That and her shrewd purchases led her to the winner's circle.
No, I am not referring to the group, Rolling Thunder, whose major function is educating Americans about MIA-POW issues. This group is also dedicated to helping all American war veterans. I am thankful that this group exists though.
And I am not referring to Garth Brooks' song Thunder Rolls.
But, I did think of Garth Brooks' song last night when I was awakened at 3 a.m. by the flash of lightning and the roar of thunder. I have always liked that song, but never understood how long thunder can roll until last night. At home, in our hilly world, thunder will rumble sometimes for 20 seconds. But last night, the roar of thunder lasted for a minute, I bet. I was pretty sleepy, so I wasn't actually counting. My hypothesis is because the land is flat here that the sound can travel longer without bumping into stuff and diminishing.
I admit to being a tad spooked. While I am not sitting around dwelling on it, the signs for tornado shelters abound here in Bloomington, and one cannot help but be aware.
Last night the children participated in their end of the year piano recital. It is a big deal and we were there for about two hours. I am disappointed because while there, my digital camera slid off of my lap and the batteries popped out. I put them in and took several photos. What I didn't realize is the memory card popped out, so they were taken on the internal memory of the camera. So I have a few pictures (all of Katrina), and the ones of Jack are trapped on my camera. I tried to download and install the driver today, but was unsuccessful. I will try again so you can see the rest of the pictures.
Before we left, my neighbor was visiting and she did a wonderful job with Katrina's hair.
Here she is from the front. And if you look closely, you will see Jack at the piano practicing and talking with their music teacher, Mrs. Booth.
Have you ever noticed how as the day goes along, your hearing seems to get worse?
For example, you watch a movie before going to bed, then you get up in the morning to watch another movie or to watch the news and the volume blasts you out of the house! Is that because over night your hearing gets a break and 'repairs' itself a bit? Or is it because by the end of the day the volume in the house is so loud, you have to turn up the television volume to compensate, but in the morning it is nice, quiet and calm and the volume on the television can also be quiet and calm?
Inquiring minds want to know....
And then there is the whole hearing and aging mystery. When I was younger, I could hear a device my parents had installed in their chimney that emitted high pitched whistles to keep birds away. Now I have a hard time hearing a person talking on my cell phone....
I hope all of you moms are having a wonderful holiday! I hope that your families are giving you a day of pedastel treatment. Fixing your meals, letting you choose what you want to do, rubbing your feet and showering you with flowers.
Yesterday, I received these lovely flowers from my hubby and children. They have a lovely balloon connected.
Today, my children woke up and told me I had to stay in my room with the air filter running to block out sound. About an hour later, they appeared with breakfast and a recording they had made. For breakfast, there were waffles, a cup of chocolate pudding and a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie (which Jack made yesterday and they are awesome!).
The recording was Katrina singing a song she had made up for me telling me how much she loved me and how she would do things for me and how we would always be together. Jack periodically chimed in. Jack played a couple of songs on the piano too.
We went to my mother's church and surprised her for Mother's Day. After church, they had cake and punch to celebrate the day and to show their appreciation of a leaving pastor (from a nearby church). They also gave the mom's tons of roses.
Now I am here with my kiddies watching movies and enjoying a specatularly Happy Mother's Day.
I am very bad about getting people to do what they promised to do. I don't like confrontation.
A couple of weeks ago, we hired a fellow to powerwash our deck and restain it. He came that day and got started. The next day he did the staining and then he was done. I wasn't totally pleased with how it looked. There were these splotches. And the best we can figure is that it is from the paint stripper that he used to take up the old paint - there are these splatter marks, like it was thicker in some places and took away more of the paint than in others. He also wanted to get it done right away and didn't pay any attention to the weather. Even though the stain was dry that afternoon, that night it started raining and rained for the better part of the week. I think it washed some of the stain away.
So we were just going to redo it ourselves, but when I was at Lowe's looking at stain and such, the guy there told me that I should just call the guy and tell him. So I screwed up my courage and did it. I mean afterall, we didn't get what we paid for. So I called him and told him I was unhappy with the way the deck looked and would he please come by so we could figure out what to do. I didn't make any threats or anything. He said he would be by in two days (he was busy with other work right then).
Yesterday he came by as promised and he couldn't believe the way the deck looked. He said he had never seen anything like it and if it had been him, he would have called and said something too. He said he wanted me to be happy with the work he did and he will make it right. We are going to pay for more stain, but he will apply it for no additional charge.
Asking to receive the service you paid for is okay. That is my motto for today.
Yesterday, Nibbles, brother to Ella, beloved hamster of Jack, passed on peacefully yesterday. Now Nibbles is scampering about in hamster heaven, young, happy and whole...chasing little girl hamsters and checking out every hamster wheel he passes.
Nibbles will be placed to rest later today in our pet graveyard. We will find him a lovely box, line it with soft material, give him a few snacks for the journey and say our last good-byes.
Jack loved Nibbles, but says he doesn't want another hamster.
Today, I took Jack and Katrina to the dentist. With Daniel working, we are trying to get all of that normal healt care stuff done. It had been three years since the kids had been to the dentist. We were a bit concerned about Jack's teeth as he has a large gap between his two front teeth.
Well, the good news is that their teeth are in excellent condition. They were both complimented on what a good job they are doing taking care of their teeth. Then I was told that Jack's bite was of concern and that he probably has too much space in his mouth, so on Monday we get to go to the dentist. Several of Jack's friends have braces (is it just me or do more kids seem to have them these days than when we were growing up?). Jack is already listing the things he won't be able to eat if he gets braces....
We are already thinking about the bill...
Hey out there, internets! I have been doing Fabulous Freebies for a couple of weeks. And while it is way fun, I am in a readjustment period. I am spending way too much time blogging and reading RSS feeds. Last week when I was working on the computers and not blogging much, I felt like I was really accomplishing something. The time I spend on the computer doesn't make me feel like that. It does make me feel like I am in connection with the rest of the world. But is virtual connection in my best interest? I am not sure.
When I first returned to bloggy world, my sole purpose was to leave a record for my children and to keep track of stories that I found to be of interest. Then I was involved in a couple of things that increased my readership and that was very exciting. Then I used my blog for money until Google pulled the plug on that and that helped keep us solvent in the fall. Now I find myself spending too much time worrying about how many people are coming by and making sure I go by and visit people's blogs every day and I need to re-evaluate.
If I had been able to continue making money writing posts I would not feel like my obsession with my blog was a bad thing, I would be working. But now that I am not making money with my blog, it needs to be pushed back into its proper spot and I need to spend more time on figuring out a part time job I can take on and still homeschool. Sooooo...I am rambling along to say that while I will be blogging, it will be back to my original intent and while I will visit others, it won't be on a daily basis.
If any of you are still with me and you would like to take over doing the Fabulous Freebies post (either daily or once a week), let me know and I will send you the links and give you the format and a couple of hints.
A few years ago we stocked up on five freezer bags from Sam's. The good insulated ones, not the ones that are more flimsy. These bags cost about 7.00 each and they are a real life saver. When we go to the store, we can use them to keep our groceries cold and frozen while we drive the 30 minutes home (great for hot summer months). These things are awesome! And here's an example of why...
Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning we homeschooled. Then from 12-1 was lunch time. During that time, the mail lady came by with a certified letter pertaining to a matter of our subdivision which led to me having to call an attorney. Also during that time, our new Orkin guy arrived and I had to show him around. Then at 1:00 we left to head into town. I had a mammogram scheduled at 1:45 (fun, fun). When they were done torturing me with what is obviously a MANmade device, we dropped some books off by the library and ran into Walmart. I needed to pick up some ice cream for Katrina's small party tomorrow.
I put the ice cream in one of our handy dandy freezer bags for the 30 minute drive home. I thought about putting it in the front seat because we had been so rushed, and we were in a hurry to get home because my sister-in-law would be arriving in less than an hour and my husband shortly after that, but I thought ....nahhh, I'll remember! (foreshadowing)
So we drove home, listening to Peter Pan in Scarlet on audio CD and me thinking of what I still had to do. We got home, grabbed the mail and hustled inside. It was 3:30 and we had about 1/2 hour before people began to arrive.
Today was my daughter's golden birthday. A term I had never heard until recently. She is 8 and today is April 8th. And it was golden indeed.
We have had the best day and the memory of it will long outlast any of the material aspects of the day. My mom had given Katrina money for her birthday and while we had purchased her some gifts, what she wanted didn't use up all of her birthday budget, so I gave her the rest in cash. Plus she got some other money for her birthday, so she had $133.00 in her pocket and was very excited to spend the day with me shopping.
We were all up by 7:30. I let her open a couple of her gifts today. The rest we are saving until her dad is home this weekend and her friend is over to spend the night. That is when we will have cake and ice cream. She received two autographed books and a lovely pendant made by Zuda Gay We read the two books (watch for reviews in the next day or two). No More Yawing by Paeony Lewis and The Fat Stock Stampede at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo by Dotti Enderle.
Once we got some breakfast and got all of our stuff together, we headed out. Jack decided shopping wasn't what he wanted to do for the day, so he stayed here, did his math, practiced piano and played Civilization.
Here is a picture of Katrina with her present pile.
Here are some photos of Katrina with her two new books:
