Just Stuff...

Hello Friends...

2010-05-14T19:04:00.004-05:00

WOW! I can't believe it's been two whole months since I posted something. The last post was about Morgan leaving for Europe. Well, she's back home, safe and sound! I wanted to post pictures from the trip to share with you all, but honestly...it's just too much for me to do right now. The group took over 2000 photos. I had this grand idea that I would be responsible for collecting all the SD cards and making a DVD for each student. That alone nearly did me in. lol! Seriously!! Anyhow, thank you all for praying for her safe travels. Your prayers helped!

School will be ending soon for the summer break. I will have a senior and a 4th grader next year...well, actually later this year!

There are so many people graduating this year that we know...either from high school or from college. We are also hearing some sad stories for the ones graduating from college. Many of them are having a difficult time finding a job in the field they got their degree in. There was this girl at Home Depot the other day helping me in the paint dept. She was sharing with me that she went to college for five years to get a degree in Leadership/Development. She's been searching for a job since last June. She finally took the job at HD in order to have spending money. So sad!

On a brighter note, my work is good! Business has picked up a LOT! Praise the Lord! In fact, we are actually turning customers away now. Imagaine that!!! Just this time last year, we would have given our service away for free just to say that we had gained a new customer. lol!

We don't have a whole lot going on this weekend! Yay!

It's RAINING MAD here in Dallas! Another yay since we planted over 200 bulbs a couple of weeks ago. I haven't done anything in my backyard since we moved here. We've put flowers out in the front, but nothing in the backyard. Since I won't be getting my pool any time soon, I figured it was time to get over it and have some color out back as well. lol!

Thanks for always e-mailing me and checking in on me and my family! You all are truly a blessing!

Sorry that I stay away so long. I'll try not to stay away so long this time!

Have a great weekend!

The Long Anticipated Trip to... EUROPE!!!!

2010-03-12T21:05:00.001-06:00

Well, after many months of working hard and saving her money, our sweet Morgan finally left for Europe today. She went with her Humanities class for Spring Break to Paris, Rome, and London. She'll be gone for nine days!

She has almost been too much to handle this week with all her excitement! We spent several hours this week just looking for the perfect backpack! Seriously! And after her purchasing four different ones, she ended up borrowing one from a friend! Thank God that her Nana K and Grandad gave her the PERFECT luggage for Christmas or I would have had to put her out of the house by now. lol!

I am very happy for her and that she's getting to tour a part of the world that I may never get to see, but I am worn out, friends!

It must have been the Lord to drop this in my spirit, but on the way back from the airport I mentioned to Dirk that I wanted to turn on Morgan's radio in her room and for praise and worship music to be playing 24/7 while she's gone. We will infuse her room with the Spirit of the Lord until it soaks into the walls and fills the whole room with His Glory!

If you think about it, please say a prayer for her safe travel there and back to Dallas!

I only took about 100 pictures at the airport this morning, but I'll just share a few with ya!

I hope that she will take lots of pictures!!!

Have a great weekend friends!

Daddy Daughter Dance

2010-02-06T09:25:00.000-06:00

Hey peeps!

WOW! It's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that! While we're on the subject... I REALLY would like to keep in touch with all of you, but my computer time is just not what it used to be anymore. A few of you have found me on facebook and I have really enjoyed keeping up with you there. I do get on fb several times a week. SO, for you that are also facebookers, can you send me a friend request? I am NO GOOD at finding anyone on facebook. In fact, when Morgan (my own daughter) set up her account a little while ago, I couldn't even locate her. Go figure!!!

Last night was the first annual Daddy Daughter Dance at Jae's school. I wanted to share several pictures that I took before they left the house.

Although, Jae would only dance with Dirk 3 times, they still had a great time. Dirk told me later that many of the dads were standing against the wall while their daughters danced with their friends instead. One dad even said something like it reminded him of still being in high school... standing against the wall looking. Awwwww...poor dads!

Dirk said the place was packed!!! I think it's great that so many dads tried to participate...even if they were pushed to the wall. lol!

Have a great weekend!

From Our Family To Yours...

2009-12-22T19:33:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I Have a Serious Confession To Make....

2009-10-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

You may not ever think of me the same way after reading my confession about what I did today. And since many of you have told me on more than one occasion what a sweet, thoughtful, sincere, caring, good mother and good wife I am...it makes it even HARDER to write this.

I had to tell Dirk first since it involved another man! I just really can't believe that I did something so unthinkable. I am hoping by writing it out tonight that many of you will pray for me and help me as I seek for forgiveness.

Clearing my throat..........

Okay, here goes.....

Friends, after being married for almost 19 years now, I have never said these words to another man (other than my dad, Dirk's dad, and my Grandpa)!

Auto Zone Guy: "Yes, Mrs. Reeves, we have that part in stock."

Me: "Great! Can you tell me what time y'all close tonight?"

Auto Zone Guy: "Sure, we close at 11pm."

Me: "Great! We'll be by to pick it up before you close."

Auto Zone: "We'll be here."

Me: "Okay, thanks! I LOVE YOU, BABE"

Auto Zone Guy: "Huh?!?"

Me: "Oh, I thought you were my HUSBAND!!"

Auto Zone Guy : lol "Oh, okay. Well, I love you too, babe."

I CAN NOT believe these words came out of my mouth to this, this, this, this stranger!

See, you think of me differently, huh?

I know, I am soooooooooooooo ashamed of myself.

I do have good news though! Dirk has forgiven me!!! I promised him that I would NEVER do it again.

I thought you all would get a kick out of this!! We did!

Hope everyone is doing well and is swine-flu free!

Have a great weekend!

A Picture Post...

2009-10-20T21:20:00.005-05:00

I don't have a lot to talk about in this post... but I've been wanting to share some of my favorite snapshots taken over the last several months. Sorry friends, my snapshots do not include some nice getaway or some scenic area...they are just mainly of ME!!! lol!

Don't worry, I won't write a long story about each photo.

This is me and my coworker, Nell.

Another coworker, Tonya.

This is the girls' first day of school this year. Hmmmm...I hope this isn't one that I've already shared since it was back in August. lol!

No reason. I just like this pic.

Morgan's first day behind the wheel WITHOUT US IN THE CAR....

Me with my niece, Madison.

Morgan and her bestfriend, Tya. I am noticing that ALOT of girls make this silly face when taking their picture. I have attempted this and look totally retarded. Seriously!!! However, I think Morgan and her friend look adorable!

I have some REALLY exciting news to share here!!!

I AM OFF WORK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!!!! Woo hoo! Other than going to lunch with a dear friend tomorrow, I have absolutely nothing planned!!! It was kind of last minute... I have a lot of vacation days accummulated. I really don't take time off unless we're (the family) doing something, but today I thought and decided quickly.... WHY NOT CHILL ALLLLLLLLLLLL BY MYSELF!?!?!?!?

As I was sharing this news with a friend on the phone earlier tonight, Jae overheard me and gave me a look with her mouth wide open. It was almost like she was thinking, "Uh...how can I find a way to stay home with Mom?" Morgan is working tonight, but I am sure when she finds out that I am off, she will think of something that Mom can do for her too.

Anyhoo, I am looking forward to getting caught up with every one of you in blogland during this time off, for sure. Woo hoo! It will feel like old times. Can you tell that I am excited about being off?

Okay, that's all folks!

I hope that everyone is having a GREAT week so far!

My Randomness...

2009-10-04T01:07:00.001-05:00

Well, since my last post was only a month ago, this one will be a bit random so I can share some highlights of what happened in September.

First of all, it is so hard to believe that it's already October!!! Thanksgiving is next month and then Christmas after that! Wait... you already knew that. lol!

So, what's been happening on my side of the world?

To be honest with you, this has not been the greatest year for me. Life is way too busy and there's just a lot of sadness around us involving many people that we care about. Not necessarily with my immediate family, other than the loss of both of our grandfathers earlier this year, but there's been some great sadness with other extended family members and with some very dear friends of ours. I can't go into details on here, but just wanted to share that it's just really been a tough year for me personally.

And the randomness continues...

Remember the trip (Europe) that Morgan signed up for last year to go on with her class for the spring break coming up in March? The trip where she had our blessing to go on if she raised ALL of her money for it? Well, during our last big fundraiser in September, she did it! She has officially raised every penny in order to go. Now she's working on raising her spending money. She'll be gone for nine days!!! We're really excited for her!!!

Some of you have asked how Morgan is doing with her job and with driving. She's doing very well with both. She works 3 days a week usually, one week night and on Saturday and Sunday (after church). She loves having her own money... we LOVE her having her own money. She recently got her own debit card. We have it set up to where she gets a text when her account gets below a certain amount. She came in the other day freaking out that she'd already reached that certain amount. Dirk and I were talking about how interesting it was that she has learned that it really does take a little while to make money and then after you have worked so hard to make the money, it goes sooooooooooooo fast. The fact that she gets a daily reminder of her balance in her account and especially when it drops to a certain amount will be a great thing for her to see. Yes, Morgan, buying donuts and a cup of coffee each day does take away from your money! lol!

We had lots of rain here in September. I thought about complaining more about all the rain we've had, but after after hearing and reading about all the rain and damage in Georgia, there's no comparison.

Jae, our youngest daughter, is doing well. She's at the age where there's not much drama just yet. Whew! Thank God! She signed up to play a lead part in our church's Christmas Program. Since she's a very shy girl in front of one new person, it will be interesting to see her acting in front of the ENTIRE church. lol!

Dirk is doing well. Tomorrow night, we are having dinner with our Bible study group and he made another buttermilk pie tonight. I think my last post mentioned that he was making me one. I will share the recipe with you later. It may be a month before I do, but I promise to share it. Anyhow, I plan on getting up in the morning before going to church and making my dessert. We signed up to bring two. I am making an Italian Cream Cake. Oh, by the way, I won 2nd place with this cake in a contest I entered at our church last month! YEP, it's that good!

I really didn't want this to be a long post, so I'll end with some photos of Morgan's Tea Party I spoke about last month.

Morgan and Jae with their cousins, Katrina and Patricia

Morgan and her cousin, Patricia are 12 days apart. The Tea Party was actually for both girls!

Morgan with her Nana K

It was a very sweet and happy time for Morgan. Thanks again, Nana K for having this!

Friends, I'll try to do better with blogging this month. I do miss you all a great deal!!!

Wow! It's now after 1am and I am still WIDE awake. Hmmmm... I guess I can read some some blogs for awhile.....

Until next time, be blessed friends!

Yep, I'm Still ALIVE!!!

2009-09-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

There's been wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much going on around here. I just realized that it's been almost two weeks since my last update. Don't worry... I won't dare write about everything that's been going on. This will be one of those random sentence or two posts.

My girls went back to school on August 27th. Jaelyn is in 3rd grade and Morgan is a junior! It's so hard to believe that I have a JUNIOR!!!! April, I think of you often knowing that you have a SENIOR this year!!!

Morgan turned 16 on August 29th, got her license on Monday, August 31st and started driving all by herself the same day. I was having a difficult time on Monday with her driving without us there to guide her. I will still continue to be concerned as long as she's out there driving. However, she has done exceptionally well so far. Praise the Lord for calming me down in this area! I think I was not only wearing myself out but also wearing my poor hubby out as well with all my worrying. Mind you... Dirk doesn't worry about anything. Is my hubby the only one in this dept... Worry free!?!??!?! I kid him all the time that he will surely live longer than me.

Do any of you totally forget how old you are? Don't laugh... I'm really serious. For the life of me, I cannot seem to remember my age. I have been telling people ALL year that I am 38. This coming Tuesday is my birthday. Dirk and I were talking earlier this week and he said, "Quick, tell me; how old are you're going to be?" I quickly said, "39!" He just looked at me and shook his head...."Daphine, you're going to be 38." I seem to do this every year! I guess I am just one of those abnormal people. Who in the world would say that they are older, especially when they are no longer a teenager???? Seriously!

Dirk is in the kitchen right now baking a buttermilk pie. Have any of you ever had one of these???? I love me some buttermilk pie!!! He recently mastered a recipe for it and this is the 3rd one he's made in less than two weeks. I took one to work and shared with the ladies there, so we're not totally that ridiculous around here.

We have absolutely nothing going on this Labor Day weekend and I AM SO HAPPY about that!
I can't wait to pop in and see what you all have been up to. Though I am not on as often as I used to be, I do think of you all often.

On my next post..... I'll have to share some pictures of Morgan's Birthday Tea Party that her Nana gave to her. It was a real treat!

Okay......that buttermilk pie is calling my name!

Have a great weekend, all!

Friends Are Telling Me That is Only Gets Worse....

2009-08-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

before it gets better!

What am I talking about now!?!?!?! Teenage Drama......

For the last several months, we've been having a little bit of teenage drama in the boyfriend department going on at our house.

Morgan broke up with her boyfriend back in May. It's not like they were dating or anything. Morgan's not allowed to date until she turns sixteen....which is this month! YIKES!!! We've tried to change our minds on this, but it has only caused more drama if you know what I mean. It's like when you think of your barely sixteen year old dating, it's just scary and doesn't give you a nice, warm feeling inside. Anyhow, back to the boyfriend. After a year-and-a-half relationship, Morgan decided that she didn't want to "date" the same guy all through high school. My first ridiculous thoughts were....What??? Why not???? I dated the same guy the whole time!! Then I came to my senses....yep, I dated the same jerk all through high school and then broke up with him a month or so before I graduated! As you probably figured out by now, his name was not Dirk.

Anyhow, I must be honest in stating that we were not happy with her decision. Why? Because we thought we knew him very well and thought (and still do) that he and his family were just great people. It didn't take long for God to show me (more so than Dirk) that it was time for the relationship to take a rest for whatever reasons there was. It was like He gave me this peace about the whole thing. I felt that we didn't have time nor the energy to get to know some new guy all over again. Let me tell ya, it's been very draining.

We've had lots of suggestions/comments from friends we've shared with. The one comment that really bothers me, but is LIKELY true was that we needed to get used to it because there was probably going to be several guys that she meets during high school and will date. Are you kidding me???? Is this what all the parents before us with teenage daughters were referring to? It was also suggested that we not get so close to the "boyfriend" and his family in the future. Again, are you kidding me? I still can't see just allowing her to go off with some boy we really don't know. I think I know now why God only allowed me to have just one teenage daughter at a time. Though I wouldn't change my mind in being a Mom, this is HARD work!!!!

So you know how I REALLY appreciate all of your comments/suggestions and advice, right? So, tell me, friends with teenagers, are you going through any of this? And for those of you without teenagers yet, did Mom/Dad allow you to just date and go anywhere (legal that is) when you were of their approved dating age? Also, can you also share what is/was the age you allowed your teenager to date and what age were you allowed to date? Seriously, I could really use some feedback on this one.

As always, THANKS!

And The Car We Got Is A.............

2009-08-09T19:41:00.003-05:00

Hey friends!

It's been a while since my last post!!! WOW! Life has been B-U-S-Y!!!!

THANK you all so very much for all your feedback on my last post. You were ALL a huge help in more ways than you know! After looking for the last couple of months, we finally bought a car for Morgan.

I must admit that the car we ended up with would not normally have been our first pick for several reasons. However, there were certain things that were in our favor;

It's a car that is not too small or too big for Morgan to handle.
We didn't have to go over our set budget to buy this car.
In Morgan's favor....it's RED and a bit sporty.
Also in her favor...the insurance....full coverage is VERY affordable.

Let me briefly tell you that the things that we were able to do with this car before purchasing it are remarkable.

Dirk and I went to look at the car first without Morgan. The was the plan all along whenever we actually found a car. We didn't want to take her because....well, we all know how dramatic teenagers can be. Anyhow, Dirk and I went to see the car and just fell in love in love with it. The next morning we took Morgan out to see the car. Before we could even come to a complete stop, she was panicking for us to let her out to see the car.

Okay ready for this? The owner let us have the car for the entire day!!! We test drove it again. Morgan drove it. We asked the owner's permission to take the car to a local mechanic shop. Since it was a used car and we don't know diddley-squat about cars, we felt that we needed to have it checked out by a mechanic. It passed the test of being a good car to buy.

Soooooooooooooooooooo, we bought it!!!

For the most part, we all won. Morgan is a very proud car owner.

We had a couple of friends ask if we were worried about her driving a sports car....
Morgan's personality is not speeding. Though we could be wrong, we're not worried about her speeding. There were a couple of reasons why we first ruled out a sport car....insurance and budget. Well, after checking the insurance before buying it, that excuse was taken away. And since it didn't cause us to go over budget....well, that took away the other excuse.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..... we bought her a Dodge Stealth!!!

What do ya think??????

We Never Dreamed It Would Be This Hard....

2009-07-23T22:15:00.002-05:00

picking out a car for Morgan!!!

She will be turning sixteen next month. She has already taken Driver's Ed and is impatiently waiting to get her license.

I must be honest here.... I am REALLY not doing well here with just the thought of her driving to begin with. She seems to be a good driver when we're in the car with her, but there are so many distractions for these young teenagers. For one thing, her phone is CONSTANTLY going off. We have pretty much threatened her that if she ever texts while driving, there will be HUGE consequences to pay. And how are we going to watch that??? Well, the mobile phone providers have finally gotten it right....we monitor most of the calls that come in and go out and the time of the day/night it is happening. I know that this sounds a bit controlling, but sorry....these days, they (teenagers) just flat out have more things easily accessible to them than we did years ago. I guess we try to justify our control streak by also reminding ourselves that she's still a kid who is still working her way to maturity. I know....pretty lame excuse, huh?

Anyhow, the most recent issue that we're facing is picking out a car for Morgan. Our priorities and her priorities are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!! We want a car that will be safe, the right price (cash only), and a car that she will be proud of. She wants a car that is sporty, red, convertible, shiny and let's not forget.....her words exactly...." that I will look good in." She even said at one time when we were first looking...."the car has got to match my outfits!" PLEEEEEEASE!!! So, as you can see....this has not been an easy task.

We've set a budget that we will not go over and we really don't mind her having a car that she will truly love, BUT....there are way too many disagreements on what her car will be. Oh, and on the rare occassions that we have found a car that we ALL like, it's already sold by the time we call on it.

We actually read an article on the best cars for teenagers. Honda Civic(s) were rated at the top of the list. And if you wanted to spend a little more money, BMW 325 series were rated at the top for luxury cars. We actually considered looking at BMW (1995-1998), but were convinced by friends to stay away from them because when they finally do break down, we could possibly pay more for repairs than what we actually paid for it to start with. And YES, believe it or not, we found a lot of them in the budget and the insurance for Morgan was very, very reasonable. Anyhow, it doesn't matter...because it won't be a BMW for sure.

My first car was a 1978 baby blue Buick Regal. lol! I just loved that car! I was SO proud of it!!! I guess I didn't know any better. To me, that Regal suited me just fine! I was just happy to even have a car even though I had to pay for myself! lol!

So friends, I need some advice...
First, what was your first car? And if you have teenager that is already driving, what was their first car? Was this a hard decision to make in your family? Morgan will be required to pay her own insurance and her own gas. Do you pay for your teenager's gas and insurance? It's okay to be honest with me; Morgan has already made it very clear that no other parents require this from their teenagers. lol! Heck, if we're paying for her car in full, the least she will do is pay for her insurance and gas. Okay, for all of you that are really tripping out on us for making her do this...her insurance and gas should cost her roughly $100 a month. She is making almost $600 a month now and will still make almost $300 when school starts back. Uh......we're thinking for someone who has free rent, free food, and other necessities provided to her can definitely fit these two needs into her budget. lol!

Sorry! I have really talked a spell here. But, all kidding aside....let me know your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions on the above questions. I would love to hear what you all have to say on the subject.

Whew!!! I already feel so much better getting some of this out in writing! WOW! This blogging really is good therapy that way, huh?

Okay....I'm DONE!

test!

2009-07-23T20:45:00.001-05:00

Test!

2009-07-23T20:44:00.002-05:00

A Special Day Spent With a Blogging Friend!!

2009-07-18T20:49:00.002-05:00

After months of planning and anticipation, me and my blogging friend, Heather, were FINALLY able to meet yesterday. It was a very special day!

Ya know, Satan always tries to rear his ugly head. Boy did I have a time trying to get ready and get out of the house to meet Heather yesterday.

The first thing that happened was that I could not find my camera. What!???!?!?! Yep, we have two cameras, a big one and a small one. I wanted to take the small one so it would be a little more discrete. I practically turned the house upside down and still could not find it. After about an hour of looking, I called my neighbor to see if they had a small one that I could just throw in my purse. Luckily, they did and were kind enough to loan it to me.

Second, I attempted to put my makeup on......I had forgotten that I ran completely out of mascara the day before. Unfortunately, the teenager is at Grandma's house this week. So, I couldn't borrow her mascara. Soooooooooooo, I started digging under the bathroom sink to find an old tube. I did. It was awful and was just about dried out.

Third, I wanted to curl my hair and look beautified. My stupid curling iron STOPPED WORKING!!!! I am not kidding you!!!!! I literally had to stop and ask the Lord what did He want me to learn from all of this. So, I had to pull my hair back and put it in a ponytail.

BUT, none of this stopped my special day ahead. I met Heather around noon and we spent the day visiting. We went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch, then we went shopping. Heather introduced me to a neat, neat jewelry store that I've never heard of before. I was amazed at how well she knew the area (actually better than me!!! lol). The jewelry store was called Compass Trading Company. This store was FILLED with all kinds of fun and inexpensive jewelry. I will definitely be going back! Thank you, Heather!!!!!

After our shopping spree, we went back to Heather's mother-in-law's home so that I could meet Ella. Little Ella is just as cute in person as she is in all the pictures I've seen in blogland.

It was just an awesome day spent getting acquainted with a blogland friend in real life. I felt very blessed that we were able to make this happen.

Today is also another special day for Heather, it's her birthday! Happy Birthday, Heather! God bless you my friend! And thanks for being a blessing to me!!!

I wanted to share just a few pictures with you. I am believing that I will have more opportunities to meet more blogging friends.

I hope that you all are enjoying your weekend!

Blessings~

I'm SO EXCITED!!!

2009-07-16T23:50:00.000-05:00

I am really excited thinking about my BIG day tomorrow. I finally get to meet one of my blogging friends; Heather at Family Forever. She's visiting family here in Texas about an hour away from me. Sooooooooooooo, we planned many months ago to get together while she's in town.

We plan on going to lunch and doing some shopping and after that... we'll just have to see what else we can get involved in.

I am REALLY, REALLY excited!!!

Not to worry, I am almost positive that we'll take pictures and post about it.

Until then....................................stay tuned!

I'll be visiting blogs in the morning before I leave. It's late and I have to get my beauty sleep so I can look good tomorrow. lol!

It Was an Honest Attempt...

2009-07-10T00:48:00.001-05:00

After repeatedly hearing from several friends of mine about how much money they save when using coupons at the grocery store, I finally decided that I would give it a try. I had it all planned out. I would just stop and pick up the Sunday paper with alllllllll the coupons in it each week.

One of my "professional coupon shopper friends" also recommended that I clip the coupons for about a month (stock up) and then try going shopping with them. I didn't really understand this, but she's the one who saves anywhere from $100-$200 each week at the store. So, I thought I'd follow her advice.

To be quite honest, I thought I would do even better (lol). I have clipped coupons for almost two months now. Ready for this??? Some of them actually expired because I kept forgetting to take them to the grocery store with me each and every time I've gone in the last few weeks.

I now have not only my coupon clipper friends making fun of me, I have one of my coworkers and my own husband laughing at me. But, wait it gets worse.........

This past weekend, I was really going to do good! I made my grocery list out and made a special attempt to REMEMBER my coupons on my visit. I was soooooooooooo excited! I went through the store picking up what I needed and also the things that I knew I had coupons for........I get to the register......I get my total.....I write my check.....and I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO USE THE STINKING COUPONS THAT I HAD TUCKED AWAY IN MY PURSE!!!! I was so MAD!!!! I asked the cashier how could I correct this and be able to use my coupons. She smiled at me and pointed for me to go the the customer service line. Talk about a lot of work here to save a few bucks! lol!

I did go the customer service line and I did get cash back on the coupon items that I had purchased. So, it all worked out in the end, but my goodness!

I'll definitely give it another try, but I don't know if this coupon clipping is for me or not. lol!

Soooooo, are any of you coupon clippers? Any pointers for me? If so, please don't hesitate to share.

I hope that you've all had a great week! I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Have a great weekend!

Our 4th of July...

2009-07-04T18:40:00.002-05:00

Our plans for the 4th were very low key. We kind of wanted to invite some friends over, but then kind of wanted to just be alone, ya know? My mom had to work and one of my sisters just got back from a month long vacation....so we decided not to do anything together this year.

We allowed the girls to invite friends over. Unfortunately, Jae's little friend (who ended up spending the night last night) got sick at 6:30 this morning with a bad stomach ache and had to go home. Jae was a bit bummed about that.....so she quietly invited her way in with Morgan and Morgan's friend.

It's been a great weekend so far. I took the day off on Thursday, so I've actually had a long weekend. I worked in my flower garden both Thursday and Friday morning. I was out very early both mornings and I am telling you, I thought the heat was going to take me completely out. Oh my goodness! I didn't get completely finished, but it's looking good.

I hope that you have all enjoyed your holiday weekend. Now you know before I sign off and start visiting everyone, I HAVE to leave you with some pictures.

The pictures that we took outside today didn't turn out so good. No matter which way we tried to take them, the sun was wayyyyyyyyyy too bright!

Oh one last thing, I HAVE to share this......
For the last two days I have not even worn makeup. So today, I at least wanted to dress up just a little bit. So, I just put light makeup on and then a dress that I had purchased while on our trip to Jamaica. Ready for this??? When the teenager (Morgan) saw me in it this morning, she said, "Mom, you look really good! I think I will put on my dress too." Two things here... I hardly ever get compliments on my attire from the teenager anymore. She thinks that my style is not only boring, but too much the same all the time. lol! Second, I could not believe that she actually wanted to wear her dress on the same day as me because it's just not cool looking like her mom, especially in front of a friend. lol! She's a real trip!!!

Our menu was also very low key....

We had ribs, smoked sausage, mac and cheese, and a salad. For dessert, we had a good ole' piece of SWEET watermelon. I usually don't buy them because I can never find one that is really, really sweet. Hubby picked this one up this morning while he was out and let me tell ya....it was DELICIOUSLY sweet!!!!

Okay, I'm finally done rambling.....

Happy 4th to all of you!

YES, we like eggs in our salad!!! You couldn't tell that already, huh?

Morgan and her best friend, Tya.
Jae and her best friend, Olivia (taken last night before she got sick)

We normally don't feed Gooch table food often....but we had to let him in on some of the fun today!!! lol!

Have a great week ahead! Be blessed!

Memories of Our Weekend Getaway...

2009-06-26T20:49:00.002-05:00

Hey friends,

It's been a bit of a strange, sad and depressing week to say the least. The passing of two major stars in one day has really gotten me down a bit.

I did want to share pictures of our weekend getaway with our extended family members, though. We had an absolutely great time. Our only complaint was that it went by REALLY fast. The cabin that we stayed in was very nice....clean and FAR AWAY from the city to say the least. It was really relaxing, though. We were surrounded by a lot of trees with a beautiful 300 acre, private lake to swim in. We really enjoyed taking walks on several different paths and just being away from the busyness of every day life.

I know that I have gotten carried away with posting so many pictures, but it was HARD to just pick out a handful, okay? The girls that you will see in the pictures are Morgan and Jae's cousins. You will also see several pictures of Dirk's dad and stepmom....my great inlaws!

I hope that you all have a relaxing weekend ahead. God bless!

Weekend Getaway...

2009-06-19T21:41:00.001-05:00

I know it's been awhile since my last post. I have missed you all very much and plan on visiting you sometime tonight.

I have been contemplating how to continue handling my time on the computer. I really enjoy blogging, but I have found that I am missing out on so many other hobbies that I enjoy as well. Simply stating....there are just not enough hours in the day here lately. I will definitely continue visiting all of you each week; it just won't be as often as before. For the most part, I will be able to visit occasionally during the week, but mostly on the weekend. I really appreciate the emails that some of you have sent checking in on me. So, with all that being said, know that I miss you all during the week when I am not online, but it's just where I am in this season of my life.

Now that we've gotten that cleared away.......

We are heading out of town in the morning to a weekend getaway with extended family members. My in-laws rented a nice big cabin about three hours away from where we live and were kind enough to invite our family out.

I am sure that we will take plenty of pictures for me to post later.

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer. We sure are!!

I can't wait to see what you all have been up to this week!

Have a fabulous weekend!!!

PARIS, ROME......GARAGE SALE!!!!!

2009-06-09T22:40:00.000-05:00

A while back, Morgan came home from school and informed us that her Humanities class was taking a trip. She was just as thrilled as she could be! Guess where this class plans on journeying to?!?!?!?!?! They are going to Europe with stops in Paris and Rome! Now, let me just say right away, Dirk and I were not overjoyed with this news at all! In fact, I was a bit upset that the school would even consider talking about a trip to anywhere like this with the economy the way it is.

Anyhow, we let Morgan know real quick that she had our blessings to go on this trip, BUT....she would have to raise every penny of the money in order to go. That way we would see if she was really committed to going. And friends, we're not talking a few hundred dollars, either. We're talking over four THOUSAND dollars to go on this trip!

The parent information meeting was quite humorous. Don't worry! I would never embarrass my child by venting my frustrations about this trip in front of a group. Some parents, though, didn't seem to mind. To be truthful, it was nice to know that I was not the only parent who was upset that the timing is all wrong for such a trip.

The teacher assured all the parents that there would be lots of fundraisers in order to help the students raise their money. In fact, they needed a volunteer who would be in charge of the fundraiser. Guess who was nominated???? Yep, poor ole me!~ lol!

Since I've been nominated as the fundraiser mom, I have to do it right, right???

Sooooooooooooooooooooo, I had this grand idea that we should have our first fundraiser before school ended in order to encourage the students (and the parents as well). So, I sent out a blast e-mail to all the parents and students, letting them know that our first fundraiser would be a garage sale. Many students were excited and wanted to participate. Others were saying that their parents didn't think that they would make much money at a garage sale. Regardless of how many students were participating, we were definitely having a garage sale!!!!

So, on May 29th & May 30th, WE HAD A GARAGE SALE!!! Morgan and one other student participated.

One thing that Dirk and I did agree to do was to donate things to Morgan's garage sale and she was allowed to keep all the money towards her trip.

Ready for this?

Morgan raked in $1300 towards her trip! The other student made $500!

Friends, talk about inspiration!!!!! The other students (who did not participate) were asking Morgan if I'd be willing to let them have another garage sale in the fall! lol!

Until school starts back up, we're only able to do individual fundraisers over the summer. I've already gotten Morgan started on her second one. I'll let you know how it goes!

Several of you have asked how Morgan's job is going. It is going very well. Her manager has promised her more hours this summer. Yippy! Since Morgan clearly understands that she will have to pay for her trip, she's saving even more money from each paycheck!

I know......we're such mean parents. lol!

I hope that everyone is having a great week so far!

It's All Over Now........

2009-06-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

Today was the girls' last day of school. We're all ready to PARTY around here.!!!!!

For the next three months, there will be:

1. No schedule at all
2. No bedtime routine
3. No discussing homework
4. No e-mailing teachers
5. No rushing to get out the door so early in the mornings
6. Defintely late sleepers around here
7. More work hours for the teenager at her new found job
8. Long weekend visits to Grandma's house
9. Less IRONING to do

Last but not least, there will be more relaxed parents around here because life just won't be so chaotic. lol!!! This comment may not be funny to some, but seriously, it's just stressful trying to keep everyone on a daily routine and a schedule intact.

ANYWHO......

Here's a couple of pictures of the girls that I took before they left for school this morning. I was able to get a picture with Jae, but the teenager thought one taken of her and Jae together was enough. So, I couldn't get her to take a picture with her momma!

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend!

PROM 2009!!!!

2009-06-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

Finally, I have found time to post prom pictures. I had actually intended on posting them last night. HOWEVER, when I went in to edit one of the pictures, I hit the wrong button and TOTALLY DELETED the entire post! After spending so much of my precious time on downloading all the pictures and then accidently deleting them, I was fit to be tied! To say the least, I was extremely upset. So upset that I had to go to bed so I wouldn't think about all my wasted time. I know....I know...get over it already, right?!!?!?!?

Anyhow, I WARNED you that there were a lot of pictures that we had to choose from. Sorry to bore you, but I have posted quite a few of them below. I guess I am a proud momma, huh?

This is when Todd first got to our house to see Morgan all dolled up.

Morgan's group included 24 students total. A couple of the girls were late for pictures. And no, this is not my backyard. Morgan and Todd actually had pictures taken at our house and at another location that included the whole group.

Morgan and Todd trying to dance a bit for the camera~!

We're still missing two couples for picture on the stairway. I guess it worked out well since we almost ran out of room on this beautiful stairway...which was also not my staircase. lol!

Morgan really did have a great time at the prom. She and another girl were the only sophmores invited this year. Morgan has already mentioned that she would like for their group to be a whole lot smaller next year. I quickly agreed as it took wayyyyyyy too long to get everyone's pictures done.

Last thing, other than shopping and stressing out with Morgan all the way leading up to the prom....guess what other part I played a part of?!?!?!? I was also the stylist for Morgan's hair. I actually had someone (a professional stylist) lined up to come to our house to do Morgan's hair. She called me a week before to tell me she'd mischeduled and had a party scheduled in Morgan's spot. With that being said, who do you think she quickly booted?!?!? I think I did a pretty good job with her hair....don't you???

Now that I FINALLY got these posted, I am calling it a night. I will visit you all sometime tomorrow!

You'll Never Believe Me Again...

2009-05-25T21:40:00.001-05:00

I know that I promised prom pictures on my next post! However, today was a very special day...not only was it was Memorial Day and an extra day off work, but it was also our sweet Jaelyn's birthday!!!! She turned eight years old today!!

We've always allowed our girls to have a birthday party to celebrate with their friends, but each birthday (on their special day), they get to choose wherever they want to eat for their birthday dinner.

This year Jae chose Chili's to celebrate her special day! After the last incident that I had there, I wasn't too keen on going. However, it was not my special day, it was Jae's. So, Chili's it was! We had a great visit. I didn't see anyone (a waitress/waiter) blowing their nose this time.

Poor Jae ate so much of her dinner that she couldn't finish her birthday dessert. In fact, she ended up taking only five or six bites of it.

I wanted to share some pictures of her special day with all of you.

I hope that you all enjoyed your holiday weekend! Ours was VERY busy, but we totally enjoyed it!

Have a great week ahead!

Sooooooooooooooo.....What Do Ya'll Think????

2009-05-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

I was way overdue for a new hair do!! I FINALLY went for it.

I even changed the color and got me some highlights going on. Soooooooooooo, what do ya'll think?

Okay, I had to take the second picture of me! lol! The teenager had just gotten home from school and did not want to do me a favor in going back outside for just a minute!!! I didn't do too bad, huh? I am sure if my neighbors behind me saw me out there taking pictures of myself, they are probably thinking one of two things....either I am totally weird or conceited, or perhaps even both. lol!

I am so looking forward to a three day weekend! Woo hoo!

My next post will be the prom pictures!!!! We got the CD from our photographer this week. There are over 500 pictures of Morgan and her group. I've asked Morgan to go through them and pick out a few of her favorite ones to share. I promise not to post too many and bore you. Stay tuned!

That's all for now friends! I hope that you all enjoy this long holiday weekend! I sure plan on it!

Blessings...

Say What???

2009-05-15T20:02:00.000-05:00

I wonder if all counties are doing this?

Each year around this time, we get an appraisal notice from the county stating what our home appraises for now. Most of us know that your "TAXES" are based on the appraised value of our homes, right?

Okay, this year I don't understand this at all. We moved into this home almost two years ago now. We've made no big improvements at all. Yet, the county appraised our home for $20,000 more than it did last year.

Last time I checked....we're in a recession. Homes are not really selling right now. Though we moved to a new city in the last two years, we've lived in the same county for the last 10 years. In our last home, we made ALL kind of improvements including having a pool built and our home still never appraised for $20,000 more from one year to the next. This is ridiculous!

We were talking to our neighbors and the county has done the same thing to them. This is so not fair! Oops! That just sounded like something my girls would say.

Anyhoo, we can definitely protest this new and improved appraisal and probably will, but guess what? You have to pay for that!!!! We feel a bit cheated on this deal.

This is only a great thing if you're trying to sell your home right now and wanted/needed to make more money on it. And since there are so many homes sitting on the market as it is and knowing that most banks aren't loaning money these days, I get even more irritated thinking about this.

Okay, I did just totally vent here....but I still don't feel much better.

I am soooooooooo glad it's the weekend! I've had a really busy week at work and at home. I plan on doing nothing tonight except for visiting your blogs later tonight. I hope to work in the yard ALL day tomorrow. However, I've heard that it's supposed to rain at some point tomorrow. So, we'll see.

I hope that you all have a great weekend and as always, be blessed!

I Shouldn't Have...BUT I DID!!!

2009-05-12T17:46:00.000-05:00

Today at work I played a very mean joke on one of my coworkers. I am glad that she could laugh with me about it and not get ticked off. Seriously!

We got a notice from the building management that several cars have been broken into at our parking garage in the last several weeks. The memo reminded us to keep valuable things out of car and to make sure to lock our cars.

Anyhow, I remembered that I carry my camera in the car and thought that maybe I better take a short break and get it out.

On the way back, this crazy thought came into my head of playing a joke on one of my coworkers. I probably shouldn’t have, but I just couldn’t resist.

I’d taken my cell phone with me just in case someone jumped from out of nowhere. Mind you that my cell phone doesn’t even get a signal in our parking garage. So, I’d be plum out of luck!

Anyhow, as I got back inside the building and on our floor, I took my cell phone out of my pocket and called Tonya's direct line.

Whispering Me: “Tonya, pleeeeeeeeeassssssssssse help me!”

Loud Tonya: “Huh?”

Whispering Me: “Please call management and get someone down here.”

Loud Tonya: “Huh?”

Whispering Me: “I’ve been knocked out and I need help.”

Loud Paniced Tonya: “Okay, Okay, Okay….Okay, Okay….I’m calling someone now.”

Loud Me: Laughing hysterically as I open the office door and walk in.

Tonya: “Girl, I didn’t know what to do!”

I was going to carry on for a minute more, but thought I’d better end it right then.

Okay, Okay….I know. I’m a meanie!!!!

It was hilarious, though! I enjoyed the laugh and I think she did too!

However, she might not be apt to believe me if I ever called in again for someone to help me, huh?

Now on a serious note, it's pretty scary when we have people coming into a parking garage during business hours and breaking into cars. Unfortunately, I believe that we're going to have more and more things like this happen with so many people being in desperate straights.

I hope that you all are having a great week so far!!!

Did Ya'll Hear About This?!?!?!?

2009-05-10T18:39:00.001-05:00

KFC put out a coupon for a free grilled chicken with a choice of two sides which was supposed to be good through May 19th.

One of my coworkers and her hubby went for lunch - the line was literally out the door. She said that there were people all over the place.

Apparently the coupon was posted on this website and you could print and make as MANY copies as you wanted since they couldn't stop you. In fact, if you happen to like KFC, you could have eaten a grilled chicken everyday 3 times a day for FREE! Oh, and get this! It was also mentioned on The Oprah Show too! Yep, talk about the biggest commercial of all time for KFC.

Anyhow, KFC never dreamed that the coupon would turn out to be so overwhelming. Actually, to call it as I see it....it turned out to be a big mess!!!

First of all, the website "supposedly" crashed and you can no longer print this coupon. Uh.....they didn't think about all the folks out there who had already printed multiple and multiple coupons. Sooo, they came back a couple of days later and announced that they would no longer be able to honor the current coupon at all. This is trip! I've never heard of such a thing. Talk about a mess. I'm not really a fan of KFC. I haven't eaten there in years. I can take it or leave it, but I think the people who really really love KFC will remember this in a negative way.

KFC has actually come up with a new way to make up for the inconvenience caused.

Take a look at this short (one minute) clip from the president of KFC and see what he had to say.

Did any of you get to take advantage of this before it ended so abruptly?

Awwwwww...

2009-05-07T22:31:00.000-05:00

Don't my girl look adorable in her uniform?!??!

Thank you all so much for praying and checking back with me this week to see how Morgan's job is going.

She will be starting her second week on Saturday. Get this... they only had to train her for one day. She had it all down, the register and all, on her first day. She was so happy that the manager thought she was bright enough to run the register alone.

After working a full six hours on her first day, her feet were killing her. In fact, she got a blister on her baby toe. Poor thing! Actually we were laughing at her behind her back. She was so tired that she crashed about 10pm ~ mind you this was on a Saturday night.

Anyhow, she gave me permission to not only take a couple of pictures of her in her uniform, but to also share them with you all. She keeps saying that she knows she looks like a dork in the uniform, but she keeps focusing on making a paycheck while wearing it. lol! That's my girl!

Speaking of a paycheck, she already gets her first paycheck tomorrow for the whole 12 hours that she has worked. She can hardly wait!

Again, thank you all for your prayers and for thinking of my girl. I so appreciate it!

Alright friends...take care and as always, be blessed!

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day to you!

I Hope I Never See This Again!!!

2009-05-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

I am really grossed out about now!!!

I had a lunch meeting today at Chili’s. The food was awesome! The coke could have been better, but, hey, do we expect for things to be perfect when we eat out????? Okay, I’ll answer…….YES! YES! And YES!

Fortunately for us, they were extremely dead. It was around 11:30 and there were only three other tables being used in the entire place. I asked the girl who waited on us if the economy had really affected their business. I’d heard, or maybe read, a few weeks ago that most restaurants have been affected by the recession. Anyhow, the waitress said they have been extremely slow since the beginning of the year, but in early March they saw it begin to pick up again. Now that the swine flu has hit, she said that they are hardly busy at all anymore.

Okay, so where am I going with this post??????

Again, the food that we had today was AWESOME! I had the Buffalo Chicken Fajitas with a flat coke. The service was suberb!!!!

So what went wrong???? And do I even dare to share this with you???? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….yep, because it is bothering me to no end.

We’re waiting for a check to come, right? As we’re waiting, I glance over to a certain spot in the restaurant where I see a waitress blowing her nose profusely and then digging in it with the tissue she just finishing blowing into. Okay, I should have turned my head then and looked away, but because I am soooooooooo darn stubborn and wanted to watch whether she was going to go back into the kitchen….I kept watching.

Bad mistake for me! She did something even worse, she proceeded to stick the nasty, dirty, snotty tissue in her pocket and then picked out silverware and napkins and took them to the next table. I just about lost my whole lunch. How nasty!!!

Now my mind starts working in overtime. Okay, come on! Are you just that retarded that you didn’t know any better? You are handling other people’s food, could you not have gone to wash your hands before getting the silverware and napkins? It’s obvious that business is extremely slow, what are ya thinking? Most of us (well, maybe just me) are already freaking out on germs as it is. I don’t need to see stuff like this happening in a restaurant where it involves the waiter or waitress who is also handling my food.

I did make a call to the manager once I got back to the office. She was not only shocked, but she was extremely embarrassed about this incident. She said that they have drilled into the workers head in each of their morning meetings the importance of washing their hands; even more so since the Swine Flu. I described the waitress to her as best I could and she was able to pinpoint exactly who it was. She claimed that she was going to have a long talk with her about this.

I know that there’s so much more that goes on in restaurant kitchen. As picky as I am when it comes to my food (or anything for that matter…lol), it’s better altogether if I don’t see it.

I’ll never forget the time that Dirk and I were dining at a certain steakhouse and we had just placed our order and I got up to go wash my hands. Our waitress came out of the toilet stall, fixed her hair, and WALKED OUT OF THE BATHROOM WITHOUT WASHING HER HANDS! Short story….we left the restaurant, called the manager and explained what happened and have never been back. That’s been six or seven years ago.

Now, I will definitely be going back to Chili’s, but it won’t be anytime soon! Dirk sure hated to hear about this. Gosh, I’ve got to get this out of my mind!!!

TV Dinner to be Served SOON!!!

2009-05-01T18:54:00.000-05:00

My little Jae has no idea what a TV dinner is! Should I be ashamed?!?!?!?! lol!

During dinner last night, Morgan commented on how much her friends love coming to our house because we actually cooked homemade food. Pretty sad if you ask me....not our cooking, but that many of her friends don't get home cooked meals.

Anyhow, Dirk shared with the girls that he was raised on mostly TV dinners and not a whole lot of home cooked meals either. Yep, still pretty sad!

Little Jae innocently said, "Well we've had a TV dinner at our house, haven't we?" I didn't ever recall it, so I looked at Dirk. He said he didn't think so. Jae saw that we were a bit confused and asked again. "Mom, remember that time that the election was on? Well, that night we were eating our dinner while the TV was on? Don't you remember?" Friends, I about fell out of my seat! lol! We normally don't have the TV on while eating dinner but that was obviously a special night (no matter what your political bent) so we had it on that one time. So, my little Jae thought she had summed it up...."We had a TV dinner at our house once."

I really had no idea she didn't know what a TV dinner was, but if we've never had one....it would make sense that she didn't, right?

I guess I'll have to treat her to a real TV dinner before she actually moves out. lol!

Oh, boy! What a trip!

Hey friends, please remember to pray for Morgan tonight and tomorrow if you think about it. She starts her new J-O-B tomorrow at 11:30am!!!!!!!

I will be visiting you all later tonight!

Be blessed and have a FABULOUS weekend!

Working Nine To Five....

2009-04-26T20:27:00.000-05:00

what a way to make a living. This is the only sentence that I can remember of the song right now. lol!

Morgan got a J-O-B!!!!!! Praise the Lord!! She went in for an interview at Braum's and the manager hired her on the spot! She starts this Saturday, May 2nd. She is soooooo excited, but very nervous. She won't actually be working from 9-5. By law, she can only work 6 hours a day. The manager will start her out working only 2 days a week (Saturday and Sunday). It actually works out great. Her schedule will be 11:30-5:30 for both days. She'll still get to sleep in on Saturday and will still be able to attend first service at church on Sunday. So, again....it works out great! She loves the schedule. The manager has already told Morgan that if she proves that she can handle it, she'll increase her hours at the beginning of summer right away. Soooooooooooooooooo, she better prove herself pretty quick is what I'm saying! lol!

I've already starting making my "WANT" list for her first paycheck. I want a manicure and a pedicure. I want to go out to eat. I want a new outfit. I need a new pair of shoes and a purse to match them. Okay, she didn't go for this at ALL!!! So why does it work with her "WANT" list?

In fact, she made it very clear that, after tithing, she will be spending the rest of her first paycheck on herself before adding to her savings with future checks. Can you believe that? Okay, I know....typical teenager for ya!!

Anyhow, we are all very happy for her!

Morgan's prom was last night! She looked beautiful!!! We are waiting for the photographer to get the CD back to us before I can post any pictures of her and her boyfriend. They both looked awesome and I can hardly wait to tell and show you more about their night.

Until then~~~~

Make it a great week ahead friends!

They're HIRING!!!!

2009-04-21T18:35:00.000-05:00

And I hope she gets the job!!!

I shared a while back how Morgan is really ready to go to work. And sorry for all you who disagree....but,we're READY for her to go to work too! Teenagers are EXPENSIVE!!!! I bet that I am not telling some of ya something that you didn't already know! Not only do they totally think that you have an endless bank account, they also feel that you should spend it all on them. lol! Okay, maybe I am exagerating a bit. Morgan is not completely like this, but she does require a LOT! Talking to my friends, their situation is way beyond what Morgan wants/needs. So, I am still thankful for that.

Anyhow, for the past couple of months, we've either called or gone to places seeking employment for her. Keep in mind that she's 15 and there are not too many employers who want to fool with hiring 15 year-olds because of the legal stuff involved.

Yesterday, I thought I'd call a few places to see if they were hiring. Out of about 15 different places, I found TWO places who are willing to hire a 15 year old! Woo hoo!

Hopefully, it will be one of these two places in the NEAR future!

Morgan is soooooooooooooo excited! We're going to go to Sonic later tonight after dinner to fill out an application and she will be going to Braum's tomorrow!

Don't worry, I'll let you know if she actually gets an interview and if she gets one of these jobs!!!

I know we must sound terrible making our 15 year-old daughter work! Hey, I went to work at 14 and I turned out just fine! If you want my opinion, I think I turned out better by HAVING to work and not have everything given to me. Brings me to another fact; my mom was a single parent, she would have never been able to provide for all of my wants.

Pray that the Lord will put Morgan in the right environment. Thanks!

Let Me Ramble For a Minute...

2009-04-17T20:18:00.002-05:00

It's been a long, busy week! I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad it's Friday!

I was going to plant flowers tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain most of the weekend. My yard is looking pretty lonely without any color about now. I am not sure what I am going to plant this year. Last year, I planted Zinnias and they were absolutely beautiful for about two weeks! I still don't know what happened. They ALL died! Yes, I watered them! Hmmmm....maybe I watered them to much. Anyhow, I had to pull up every dead Zinnia up and take them back to Home Depot. For those of you who are not aware, Home Depot and Lowe's will give you replacements or refund your money back on any dead plants, flowers, and trees for one year if you have your receipt and the dead plants. They don't even ask questions of you.

Anyhow, I purchased just plain ole' ....uh...uh....uh...I can't even think of them right now. Darn it! I posted about them at the time last year, but can not think of the name of them to save my life. Wait...maybe I could if my life truly depended on it. Seriously, I can not think of them. I just asked Dirk and he couldn't remember either. I should just go back to the old post to get the name of them, but I don't wanna.

Morgan has prom next Saturday night, so we have to finish buying her accessories this weekend. She picked out such a beautiful dress. It's hot pink! Hot pink is actually a great color on Morgan. I am sure I'll have LOTS of pictures to show ya!

Jae asked me today if I would quit my job and become a teacher at her school?!?!?!? Uh....not! I have so much respect for teachers and how they seem to remain calm at all times (for the most part) with all of the precious and wonderful children. Seriously, teaching is truly a gift and it takes a special person to do this job; it's just not me. Jae then asked if I could be the lady who sits in the front office. I thought this was very sweet of her to even want her Mommy at her school in the first place. Anyhow, I wanted to quickly change the subject so I told her that I didn't think the school was hiring right now. lol! Jae is one of those kiddos who don't forget too much. With that being said, I am sure that this subject will resurface again in the future.

As I've mentioned previously, I don't watch much TV. However, Dirk and I do watch American Idol and Lost. Dirk watches other shows, but this is about all the TV that I can handle. Anyhow, the night is young and we're about to RELAX and watch a few episodes of Lost. I will be back on later tonight to visit you all.

Okay, I know that I was totally rambling here....but I don't ramble too much on my blog. Go ahead and say it, I know what you're thinking....I just seem to ramble a bit on other people's blogs. LOL!

Have a FABULOUS weekend, friends!

2nd Annual Easter Event

2009-04-12T20:45:00.001-05:00

Last year, our church held a special event in our city the day before Easter Sunday. The event was totally free of charge to all families that came out. We had free hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, snow cones, popcorn, and water. We had bounce houses, games, an Easter egg hunt for toddlers thru fifth grade. It was fantastic. Our church is fairly small so to put on something like this was a big deal to all of us. We had roughly 750 people show up last year.

This year, we did the same thing. Last Wednesday night, all of our Primetime (bible study) groups met at the church to stuff 10,000 eggs with candy. It was a great time of fellowship and fun!

The place was packed out! There were people EVERYWHERE! There were all different races present. It gave me a vision of what Heaven is like....all of us together rejoicing and having a good ole' time with our Savior.

Well, we were expecting at least 1000 people to come out. God's vision is always bigger than ours, right? While at service today, someone mentioned to me that there was close to 2000 people there yesterday!!!! It was absolutely amazing!!!!

I got to witness something truly remarkable yesterday, too. As Jae and I were sitting at a table eating, I heard someone being led to the Lord. I quickly got my camera and took a picture of this. I later talked to the guy who led this woman to the Lord and he said that he had just prayed to the Lord for a devine appointment to save someone. WOW!

Look at ALL the kiddos lined up just for the first egg hunt. These pictures only show a small fraction of the kids at just this hunt. We had four hunts with over 1000 kids total. This being said, we've already talked about stuffing around 25,000 eggs next year. Look at this!

I took over 400 pictures, but can't share too many of them without permission. So, you'll get to see just most of my family and me with friends. Sorry! lol!

That's Jae and Morgan with Rovercomer, the Faith Dog. Rovercomer is kind of a mascot at our church. He's a creation of Willie George and Kids on the Move in Tulsa, OK.

I pray that you all had a blessed Easter worshipping our Risen King!!!

Morgan's Modeling Session

2009-04-08T22:22:00.002-05:00

Not too long ago, we ended up signing Morgan up with a modeling agency here in the area. I tell ya, you really have to be careful and check these agents out before signing up with one. We feel comfortable with the agent that we've choosen to represent her.

Anyhow, Morgan had a "Teen Power Shoot" not too long ago. The "Power Shoot" included an eight hour day of changing into four different outfits that they provided, having a makeup artist to do her makeup, a hair stylist and then being photographed by four professional photographers. Whew! What a day it was! Morgan was so excited and nervous all at the same time.

The agency really didn't want the parents to stick around because of the possibility of the teenagers getting nervous while being photographed. Sorry! I wasn't about to just leave my child in the company of ALL strangers just yet. I really like the lady that we are working with at the agency, but still I needed to check things out first. Sooooo, I stuck around for a few hours. Believe it or not, Morgan was perfectly fine with it. In fact, when I told her that I felt comfortable in leaving her alone with the other 15 or so teenagers, she asked me to stay. Imagine that? From a teenager??? lol!

Anyhow, it was an awesome experience for her! She was able to experience how real models have to rush with having to choose an outfit, then running to the next station to get her makeup done or freshened up, then rushing to the next station to get her hair fixed a different way. It was a bit chaotic to say the least. It was tiring me out just watching all of these girls. Okay, one thing that I didn't care for AT ALL and I know that in the real life of modeling this is how it is....but all the photographers were males, right? Well, you had teenagers who would literally strip down to their bra and underwear and change into their next outfit. Morgan was the total odd ball here. She would run alllllllll the way down the long hall to get to the ladies' restroom to change into her next outfit. This is something that I did not care for at all! But then again, I am sure that it's like this in the real world of modeling, right? Hmmmmmmm.....I later asked Morgan if she would be able to do that. She said, "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Hmmmm....will she actually get a choice if she ever goes into real modeling?

Okay, here's a few pictures of Morgan that were taken that day.

Okay, for the most part, I liked all of them except for the last two pictures. She was made to look a bit older and not like a teenager, but I guess that's to be expected.

I hope that everyone is having a great week so far. It's almost friiiiiiiiiiiiiiday!!!!!!

He's Really Not Whipped...

2009-03-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

he's just doing his part around here, too.

Dirk was sharing with me a funny conversation that he had with a friend of his.

Somehow they got on the subject about their morning routine. Sounds weird, two men actually discussing their morning routine, huh? We all know that it's not normal for men to share details, especially with each other. lol!

Anyhow, they were talking and Dirk was saying how Gucci (our puppy) had the family's routine down each morning. Dirk casually mentioned that he'll let Gucci out to do his business, then he'll feed Gucci, then he'll make lunches for everyone and then he'll go make the bed.....
He didn't get much further before the friend interrupted him and shouted...."You do WHAT?" lol! "You make the lunches?!?!!" "You make the bed?!?!" lol! As Dirk was telling me about this, we were both laughing hysterically. The friend went on to say, "Man, you are whipped!"

Dirk said he started to tell him that he didn't know the half of what he assists with around the house, but thought again that it would only confuse the poor friend more.

I really did think this was hilarious! Again, what are the chances that men would actually share such details with each other?

I asked Dirk if he thought this friend ran right home and shared this conversation with his wife. Probably not, huh?

Dirk and I really didn't see it as a BIG deal that he's the one to make lunches and make the bed at our house.

Hey, I have my own routine of things to-d0 in the mornings. I.....I.....I.....I....I wake up the girls. I check the weather on Yahoo to see what the temperature is going to be. I pick out Jae's clothes. I pick out my outfit (which takes some time). I.....I....I have to comb Jae's hair. Oh dear! It sounds like I am trying to justify why my husband is the one to make lunches and make the bed for all these years. Well, we both work outside the home. And it's just part of his responsibility too. Okay......I'm starting to trip out.

In any case, I am sure that we all have something "different" that our spouse helps out with that no other man (other than yours) would do, right?

My hubby is just a sweet and precious kind of guy! He always has been. I think he learned not only a lot from having a wonderful mother who raised him, but he watched a lot of "I Love Lucy" when he was growing up too. He likes to say he learned from Ricky's mistakes.

In any case, (I know I use this phrase a lot) I am so thankful for Dirk and appreciate the fact that he is an abnormal man (in a good way).

I think I will call the wife of this friend of Dirk's and ask her what does he help her with that other men would find abnormal or different. Hmmmmmm.....on the other hand, maybe not!

What Kind Do You Use???

2009-03-27T20:18:00.001-05:00

I need your expertise PLEASE....

For years, I have switched my mascara over and over and over! I have spent anywhere from $5 to $20 on mascara. I have found some that I like, but I've never found one that I just really LOVE.

I like my lashes to appear very long and definitely not matted together. I'm sure that's all of us right??

Anyhow, would you please share with me what kind of mascara you use? I must admit that I do get overwhelmed picking mascara out at the store since there are only a few hundred to choose from.

I recently tried L'oreal Double Extend mascara because it looked fabulous on one of my blogging buddies, Angela. She's such a beautiful woman! Anyhow, after reading her post about it, I ran out the next day and got it. It didn't work for me like it did her beautiful lashes:~(

So all being said, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share what you use that make your lashes work for you.

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend. All of sudden, the temperature has dropped to a whopping 42 degrees here in Dallas!!! It's supposed to be cold all weekend. How crazy is that?!?!?

Be blessed friends!

Dream BIG!!!

2009-03-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Dirk and I were reminded of a dream that we both had a few years ago. Strangely, as the Lord would have it, we were both reminded of this dream a week apart. In fact, the day that I was so focused and consumed with it, I couldn't wait to get home from work to share it with him. I must tell you that we closed the door on this dream almost five years ago because of the financial aspects as well as other responsibilities we had at the time. It's a long story that I hope to share with you all one day.

In any case, at that time (almost five years ago), we left this dream behind. In fact, neither one of us had ever talked about it again until a couple of weeks ago. As I was driving home this particular Friday, I was going over in my head how to bring this dream up to Dirk and trying to make sense out of why had this dream come to me again after all this time, right?

I could hardly let him put his stuff down from the office before I started in with what was on my mind. After getting just a couple of sentences out of what was on my mind, Dirk said, "It's funny that you are talking about this as I was just thinking about the same thing last week!" "WHAT!?!?!?!?" I asked. Yep, isn't this a trip?

Anyhow, I could go on and on, but there's much to tell and I will share the dream one day, but I could never do it in one post. So, in time...I'll share exactly what that dream is. It's BIG and will take the Lord to bring it to fruition.

I wasn't going to share any of this at all just yet, but tonight we were reading a devotional that was clearly meant for us and perhaps many of you. I won't share the whole devotion, but these three sentences spoke volumes to us tonight as to where we are with this dream that the Lord has so clearly reminded us of.

Here's goes:

"God is never intimidated by the size of the enemy or the complexity of a problem. With Him, there are always enough resources to resist the pressures and win your battles. If God has called you to action, then bravely commit what few resources you have to God and rely upon Him to give you the victory."

As I read the last sentence over and over and over, tears of joy flowed down my face. Try applying this to whatever you're going through right now or whatever dream you may have that seems SO BIG and you know that God has called you into action to take that step.

Pretty POWERFUL, huh?

Spring Break 2009...

2009-03-20T21:25:00.000-05:00

We have really enjoyed our Spring Break of not doing much of anything.

If it weren't for the girls wanting to have a couple of days out of the house, we would have totally not gone anywhere.

I would like to share the outing we had yesterday, though. Unfortunately for me, my entire family LOVES Six Flags Over Texas. I am okay with it, but if we only visited the place every three years, I'd be happy. However, I am out voted on this place every time.

We found out very quickly that a LOT of people had the same idea in mind when we ventured out to Six Flags yesterday.

I do believe that they may have reached their capacity yesterday. There were people EVERYWHERE! Get this....they were so crowded that people could have easily gotten in for FREE. We purchased our tickets online to avoid standing in line when we got there. Just driving into the park and getting a parking spot was quite humorous. The main entrance was so backed up with cars coming in that they started redirecting cars to another entrance. I didn't even know that they had another entrance. LOL! Anyhow, when we got to this other entrance, they had many people (employees) out directing traffic, right? At first, we couldn't figure out how they were taking the money for parking until it got to be our turn. Ready??? The parking was free! Yep! We normally buy the season parking which is $45.00 or you pay $15 parking for one day. I wanted to know why the parking was free, right? The employee told us that it was so busy and they were just trying to accomodate the crowd of people and they had no way to take the credit card we offered them at the alternate entrance. Okay.....cool!

So, then we get everything packed up from the car to head inside the park. We're just casually walking along with another few hundred people. We were stopped by another employee standing outside a newly opened entrance to inside the park. The guy said that if we had purchased tickets online and had proof or if we had renewed season passes, then we could walk right inside at the new entrance. Okay, most of us have been to a park like Six Flags before, right? And if you have, you know that there's a process to finally get inside. From the way it looked, you could have shown them an old season pass from last year and/or a blank sheet of paper to get in yesterday. Seriously, it was a trip!

I was glad that they were able to still do a security check through the metal detectors, though. I so wanted to turn back around and come back home after seeing how busy and crowded the place was going to be.

Luckily, it turned out to be okay and not as painful as I thought. The girls had a blast. Jae was still able to ride many rides in the kiddie section and well....Morgan's boyfriend was also visiting Six Flags with his family. So needless to say, the crowd didn't seem to bother them at all!

We found out in advance that the park rents kennels, too. So, we took our Gucci with us.

Here's a few pictures to share with you. I won't bore you with posting pictures of roller coaster rides since I've shared them before. You can only take the same ole' roller coaster pictures so many times. lol!!!

Jae and Hawkgirl striking a pose together.

Jae and Mr. Six. The Six Flags' mascot!

Hmmm....looking at this last picture above, I look like I have just loved dogs my whole life. How about that!?!?!? Also notice how, Gooch has also gotten accustomed to taking photos in this family. He's sitting there like a pro. lol!

Have a great weekend, friends!

Vacation Bound Friends...

2009-03-18T00:45:00.000-05:00

This week the girls are on Spring Break!

Dirk and I have taken the rest of the week off to spend some extra time with them. Well, as much as the teenager will allow. lol!

We just plan on staying in town. We have a couple of family days planned, but that's about it.....very low key. This is my kind of vacation baby! I am actually looking forward to NOT having a full schedule of soooooooooooooooo many things to do.

I feel like a silly teenager.....I CAN STAY UP AS LATE AS I WANNA! And I'm GONNA!

As I am typing, it is just after midnight. Here's what's going on at our house...three of us are chillin' in the gameroom.

One of us is playing NCAA football on Xbox. One of us is blogging. And the last little munchkin of this group is playing the piano at almost 12:30 in the morning. Oh! And the teenager????? She's in the office talking on the phone to her boyfriend! I am quite sure if you read my blog often enough, you have named each person and know exactly who is doing what.

I tell ya, we plan on ENJOYING this for a few days!

I know that many of you are out on Spring Break, too! I hope that you're enjoying your week as well.

Facing My Fears!

2009-03-14T11:21:00.001-05:00

After reading this post, you may label me as the Worst Mom of the Year!

Let's proceed....

I was supposed to be waiting out by the curb for Jae to get off the bus yesterday. It was very cold and rainy! The time for the bus to come came so quickly that I had actually forgotten about it. As soon as I realized that I had missed the bus by a couple of minutes, I go racing out the door barefoot, like an idiot. As my bare feet hit the wet, cold concrete, I wanted to run back in as fast as I had run out. The concrete was so cold that my feet began to cramp up.

So, I had just missed the bus. Fortunately, my neighbor was nice enough to walk Jae across just as I was getting out there. Okay, so there are kiddos everywhere, right? Well, the kiddos weren't the only ones out! Most of you who read my blog know that I recently overcame my fear of dogs, right? Welllllllllllllllll, God does have a very humorous side, ya know? Lo and behold....the test came on so fast!

As I was standing there thanking my neighbor for walking Jae over, all of sudden another neighbor a couple doors down from us started yelling at the top of her lungs, "Come back here! No! Come back!" You've probably guessed by now what was going on.

Here's comes this ferocious little Yorkie, yapping all the way, charging full speed towards us! Okay folks, the first reaction I had was to run like nobody's business like I have done in the past. I must say that, since this was happening so fast, I had completely forgotten about Jae. As I turned to run, it was like the Spirit instantly reminded me, "I have delivered you from this!" So, I turned again to face this ferocious little beast. As I turned around, I was also reminded that I was about to run off and leave my baby girl. Jae was just standing there looking at me. lol! Still with me? Anyhow, as I turned back around to face him and stood still, he immediately stopped running, but was still heading our way at a walk. We have large lots between us. So even though this was all happening so fast, it still took this little monster (oops! sorry!) some time to make it to us.

Anyhoo...when he finally reached us, I was totally okay and just stood there as he walked around us, sniffing the whole time. I calmly asked my neighbor to take him back to his owner.

Geez! With all the excitement, I had completely forgotten about me being barefoot!

As we turned to walk back into the house, Jae was laughing uncontrollably. She said, "Mom, I am proud of you. You didn't run away." lol! Pretty sad for my seven year old to use a parent's comforting words, huh?

The only thing missing from this post and to sum it all up is a video! LOL!

Yep, this laugh was on me....

I hope that you're enjoying your weekend so far!

Do You Prefer Paper or The Real Thing????

2009-03-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my title may have thrown you a bit. lol!

As I was preparing my dinner this evening, I was bummed out that we only had two paper plates left to place on the table. This would mean two family members having paper and the other two having actual real plates to eat off of tonight. Not that we were having company or anything, but I wasn't about to mismatch my dinner table with two different kinds of plates. Soooooooooo, we all had real plates. Imagine that?

Unless we're having company or it's a holiday....it's paper plates allllllllllll the way at our house. Get this......we use paper plates at every meal with CLOTH napkins. Go figure! Weird, huh? Dirk's grandmother (who is now deceased) made us several dozen cloth napkins over the years. We have used cloth napkins for the last 15 years at almost every meal. As I type this, I realize how weird this really is!

And since this really does sound weird, I hesitated taking a picture of what a normal place setting looks like at our house each evening. Oh, well! Since I'm still confident in myself....hehehe...I'm gonna share it anyhow!

It's not like it would take a whole lot of extra time to wash real plates, right? We're already washing the rest of our place setting anyhow. Okay....I'll sign off now before I confuse you more about the (ab)normalacy of our family. LOL!

So, please share, do you use paper plates at your house regularly? You can be honest - it's just us girls here.

I Have Found My Miracle Shower Cleaner!!!

2009-03-07T19:13:00.000-06:00

Thank you all for giving such GREAT advice and suggestions on helping me find my miracle cleaner.

I actually tried several of your suggestions and a couple of them worked....but for my stubborn shower, I was still needing that miracle cleaner. So, I made a trip to the store and just started staring and studying all the products on the cleaning aisle that I had never purchased before. To be quite honest, I thought that I had actually purchased everything that was already out there!

However, I came across a product that I'd never heard of or seen before. It's called Bar Keeper's Friend! Yep! Apparently, this product has been out since 1882. WHAT???? I know, right? Ooops! I just sounded like my teenager. lol!

Anyhow, this stuff is absolutely amazing, friends! I was thinking that it would probably work okay for the most part, but it probably wouldn't be "my miracle cleaner", ya know? I was so wrong!

I sure wish that I would have tried this wayyyyyyyyyyyyy before now!

Bar Keeper's Friend claims that it can remove rust, clean and polish items that are stainless steel, fiberglass, porcelain, glass cook tops, copper, tile, and brass.

Here's the directions from the back of the can: Sprinkle BKF on a thoroughly wet cloth and rub gently. If applying BFK directly to metal, porcelain or plastic, make certain surface is wet-then rub gently until rust or discoloration disappears. Rinse. For difficult stains, rust spots, tarnished surfaces.. make a paste by adding a few drops of water to BFK. Let paste remain on stain no longer than one minute before rubbing. Rinse immediately.

I am telling you that this product left my shower floor spotless. I am AMAZED!!!

Another thing that I tried was a different cleaning brush. It's big, with stiff bristles, which worked great, too. The brush was able to get into the grooves in the "pebbled" surface of the shower floor.

So, for all of you who need a miracle cleaning job done in your shower, too, run out and get a can of this stuff!!! You won't be disappointed. I purchased mine at our local Wal-Mart store.

I hope that you are having a great weekend so far! I am! Praise the Lord!!!!

Update on Gucci!

2009-03-03T22:52:00.001-06:00

I've had some of you comment or send emails asking for an update on Gucc. He's doing very well! He weighs 13 pounds now. He shouldn't get too much bigger than 15 pounds unless he starts to get fat. He is such a cutie! He's a really good puppy, ya know?

He eats very well. He's 95% house trained. Ready for this? I truly can't imagine our home without having him here now. Isn't that something? For someone who was deathly afraid of animals, I've come a longggggggggggggggggggggg way baby!

Isn't he CUTE???

The girls don't like to hear me say this, but..... I believe that I am his favorite.

Exactly What I Needed....to SMILE BIG Again!

2009-02-28T19:51:00.001-06:00

For several months now, my church has been plannning our Womens' Conference. We were told months ago about a very special guest speaker, Thelma Wells, formerly one of the Women of Faith featured speakers. Unfortunately, I never took the opportunity to attend Women of Faith Conferences when they came to town. When I heard that Thelma Wells was coming, I was very excited and had anticipated blogging about it and telling all of my friends about it. However, with so many things that started happening with us these last couple of months, I must be honest and say that I not only didn't make it a priority, I started wondering up until the day before the conference if I was going to attend.

I really didn't have it in me to go, but knew that I REALLY needed to go and so I did! It was today and it was absolutely GOOD for my soul. The worship time was wonderful and Thelma Wells was just a phenominal speaker. WOW!

I really, really, really needed this and was able to not only cry a few times today, but also smile many times as well. The pictures below will prove it.

It was a great time spent amongst not only with other believers, but with the Lord, too.

Here's a short video clip from Thelma Wells and, of course, a few pictures that I took.

And the pictures taken today...

Me and my friend, Judy. We meet at Judy's home each week for our Home Team (Bible Study).

My pastor's wife, Lisa with Thelma.

I love this picture below. We all attend Home Team together, Judy, me, Yolonda and Jill.

We had a two hour break today for lunch. We ate at the Olive Garden. It was a great choice!

The only disappointment that I had was that I didn't get around to inviting any friends outside my church. I know that they would have been as blessed by this conference as I was!

I'm Back....and I've REALLY Missed You All!!!!!

2009-02-26T19:08:00.000-06:00

Hey friends!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all for your emails and comments!!!! You will never know how much your prayers have WORKED in so many ways!!!!

Dirk's grandpa did pass away last Thursday, February 19th. He is a happier man now that he's met his Maker face-to-face. He was such a precious man and a huge part of our lives. We will miss him tremendously.

There's still much to do with his affairs, but we're relying completely on the Lord to pave the way with it all in the days to come!

Well, I must keep this short because I'm off to making my rounds to visit each of you tonight! WOW! I am sure I have missed ALOT! The blogging world just doesn't stop for ya, huh?

You all are the best! I truly, truly, truly mean it!

Thanks so much for your friendship!

Just A Few More Prayers Needed....

2009-02-17T22:46:00.000-06:00

I really don't know where to start in with this post except to just blurt out what has happened.

After just losing my grandfather two weeks ago tomorrow, we have been hit with news earlier today that Dirk's grandfather's health has failed him and it's not likely that he will recover.

He's been in the hospital for a few days now with a bad UT infection and Septis (blood infection). When he was diagnosed a couple of days ago, the doctors were very optimistic that they had caught it very early. However, he's taken a turn for the worse and the antibotic is not working.

We're happy for him, but deeply saddened for us (if that makes sense). He's lived a long, good life of 93 years and has told us more than once that he's ready to go be with the Lord anytime.

I remember visiting Grandpa (Dirk's grandpa) the day that my Grandfather passed away and as I was sitting there in the quietness in his room, I started to cry. Grandpa reached out and patted me on the shoulder and comforted me with words of, "It's okay to cry. It's good to cry." I just thought it was the sweetest thing for him to say to me.

We took our girls to see him Sunday at the hospital, but haven't taken them back again until today. After getting the news today, we shared with them that Grandpa might go anytime. Morgan asked us to take her to see him. So earlier tonight, we did. It was a somber visit to say the least. Morgan is really having a difficult time right now. As Dirk and I were talking later on, I mentioned that I was so proud of Morgan for always wanting to go see Grandpa at the nursing home and how she always took the time to not only talk to him, but would kneel down at the end of each visit and give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I never knew my great-grandfather. It's been a great blessing for our girls to not only know their Great Grandpa, but to also have a relationship with him.

So, if I don't comment or post in a few days, this is what's going on.

With the challenges that we've experienced in the last month, we're anxiously looking forward to when the sun not only shines again....but as a friend shared with me tonight, the sun will be even brighter.

Love to you all.

Suggestions Please...

2009-02-13T21:47:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends,

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo ready for the weekend. In fact, I have a 3-day weekend! We're closed on Monday for President's Day! Yippee!!!!!

Alrighty.... I need some suggestions here.....

Don't worry! This shouldn't put you out too much. LOL!

Okay, I am looking for a super-duper, good, fabulous, wonderful, marvelous, miracle cleaning product that I can use in my shower. I don't like soap scums at all. Who does, right? Anyhow, I am in need of suggestions from what you may use that would work super-duper, good, fabulicious, wonderful, marvelous, and miracle like.

Do you know of anything that would help a sista out??????

Patiently waiting and until then............................

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Rambling...

2009-02-10T19:21:00.000-06:00

Okay, by the time you read the end of my post, you will know that I've truly missed blogging! LOL!

Instead of posting several different posts, I thought I'd combine several different subjects into one. Still with me?

First I want to share something that a very special blogging friend, Michele, sent to me the other day. When I took them out of the envelope, I wished you could have seen the smile on my face. It pleased my heart in such a way that she took time out to send some of her homemade cards to me. THANK YOU, Michele. I LOVE them! You're a real blessing girl!

Didn't Michele do an awesome job in making these?

Alrighty...

Next I have no idea how I received this, but I got an email and a few comments congratulating me on being one of the Internet Cafe’s Top 100 Christian Women’s Blogs of 2008!! The catagory that I was listed under was the All New Flavor Blog which was described as ~ "This blog is less than a year old but already shows such a tremendous capacity to bless. You just can't wait to see where she'll go from here!" Whoa! I am still asking today how did I receive this and who nominated me?? Hmmmm...Anyhow, what a blessing to know that the Lord is using my blog and thankfully alllllllllllllll my rambling to bless others! Thank you to those who nominated me.

Still with me?

Okay, the last thing I want to share is my new hairdo. I wanted some curls/waves of some sort. I was so tired of just the straight look. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, look what I did. I like it just okay. It's different and that's what I wanted, but maybe a little too different for this ole', predictable gal. LOL!

Glad I was able to get some things cleared away here. Thanks for listening/reading. It wasn't that long, huh?

I'm Pressing On...Praise God!

2009-02-08T17:50:00.000-06:00

It's been a very difficult couple of weeks for me, but I have to keep pressing on, right? You all have been such a HUGE blessing to me. It has really meant a lot knowing that even though I haven't been able to keep in contact with you like before, you were still checking in on me. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

There are so many different subjects that I'd like to post about, but since I have MANY blogs to visit tonight, I'll just keep my post brief for now.

Jae recently learned the whole New Testament and for the past week, we have heard her singing it over and over and over and OVER. So, earlier today I asked her if she would share it with you on video. She reluctantly said, "yes".

I must say that I am one proud momma! Listen to this.....

Rest in Peace...

2009-02-03T22:08:00.000-06:00

Thank you so much for your e-mails and comments sent in the last several days. They have meant ALOT!!!

Many of you know the story that I posted about my sick grandfather a week or so ago. I wanted to share that this morning he went peacefully to be with the Lord.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support through this trying time. I know that brighter days are ahead.

I have missed you all so much and will be trying to catch up with you all in the next few days.

Love to you all!

Deeply Saddened Today...

2009-01-29T18:32:00.000-06:00

I am deeply saddened today.

We had one of our faithful, young church members to pass away suddenly and unexpectedly last night . I can't even put into words how sad this is so I will just post a short e-mail that our Pastor sent out to the congregation today. PLEASE pray for this precious family and especially the husband as he prepares to tell their four year old son the news today.

"It is with extreme sorrow that I inform you that last night we lost one of our most beloved church members, Paige Snelgrove. Over the weekend she became ill, and over the last few days her condition worsened. She went to be with the Lord last night. Her husband Scott, a mighty man of God, fought courageously for her as he was by her side every moment. At this point, the medical reasons why she died are unclear, but what is very clear is that she is with Jesus at this moment. Scripture tells us, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." We have great hope and assurance of eternal life because of the work that was done on the cross. Although our hearts are broken and there are many unanswered questions, we choose to trust our Heavenly Father. I fully anticipate that God will use this trial to strengthen our walk with him. Please be in prayer for Scott today as he will be telling his four year old son, Cayden, that his mommy went to be with Jesus."

As the tears flow down my face as I type this, I am very numb and very confused over this. Yet, I will continue to trust that the Lord will use this for good.

Please also pray for my Pastor, Steve, and his wife, Lisa, as they prepare to minister to the body during this difficult, difficult time. The memorial service is Monday, February 2nd.

Please understand that I may not be up to reading and commenting for the next few days, but know that I will be missing you all.

Hangin' with Wonderful Friends...

2009-01-27T21:23:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we were able to spend a wonderful time with friends who we hadn't seen in about three years.

We've been friends with Carlos and Rosie for almost eight years. Morgan (our oldest) and Andre' (their oldest) were in the same Girl Scout Troop for several years together. Morgan and Andre' were the best of friends and it was a very sad day for them both when we switched Morgan to another Troop. They spent many hours on the phone in the beginning, but over time their friendship kind of took a backseat. However, I kept in contact with Rosie either over the phone or by email over the years. We just never had the time to get our families together. I know...pretty sad, huh?

Well, for many reasons, God has brought Andre' and Morgan back together again. Almost two weeks ago now, Andre' became a new student at Morgan's school and they have instantly become friends again. To spare you all the details, we invited Rosie and Carlos over for dinner last Saturday night so we could reconnect with their family.

Of course, I had to grab the camera and take some pictures of our night.

Aren't they just a beautiful family?

Carlos, Maya, Paloma, Rosie and Andre'

Morgan and Andre' Jae and Maya was nice enough to pose for a picture while playing Pac-Man. Yep, I have an arcade Pac-Man game that steals the show everytime new visitors come over. lol!

Rosie and me!

The only regret that I have is that we didn't make it a priority over the years to fellowship with each other more in person. We had forgotten just how much fun we always have when we take the time out to get together.

Do you have friends who live close by or within 20-30 miles of you that you just don't take the time out to fellowship with? Are we just that busy in life? As I was typing all of this up, I realize how sad this sounds that we have literally lived within miles (about 15 ) of each other and haven't seen each other in three years. Hmmmmm......

Okay, make me feel better about this. Am I the only one????

A Man in the Ladies' Restroom!!!

2009-01-25T16:53:00.001-06:00

We were eating at Chili's not too long ago and, unfortunately, had a bit of a scare there.

After placing our order, Jae (my youngest) and I went to the ladies' restroom to wash our hands. We try HARD not use public restrooms normally, but on this particular day, I felt that our hands needed more than my hand sanitizer. lol!

As we were washing our hands, a MAN came out of the last stall. What?!?!?!?! Yes, a man came out of the last stall in the ladies' restroom as big as day!!!!!

With total shock, and a bit frightened, I turned around and asked him why he was in the ladies' restroom. Okay, I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but this man knew as well as I did that his response was a LIE!!! He looks around and says, "Oh, I thought this was the men's restroom." "Okay????", I said. I thought that Jae was going to take off running from the fright on her face. I kind of pushed Jae behind me and then proceeded to the door to show this man that it clearly stated on the door, "Ladies' Restroom." After I showed him the door on his way out, he kept saying, "Oh, I am so sorry, I had no idea. I really thought this was the men's restroom." Yep, WHATEVER!!!!!

I should have followed him to his table (that's if he even had a tbale), but I was so shook up that I went back into the restroom to wash my hands all over again. Apparently, there was another lady in there who had heard the whole thing. She came out shaking all over. She said she had no idea that she was in there alone with this man. It's was a bit scary.

I was walking back to our table when I realized that this man's response was an obvious lie since there are no urinals in the ladies' restrooms. Before I could even tell Dirk and Morgan what had happened, the manager came to our table to apologize. Apparently, the other lady who was in there rushed to advise the manager. I'm glad that she did as, at this point, I had not even thought about advising a manager.

I have never let my girls go to the restroom alone at a young age because of fear of them being abducted or getting lost. It never even entered my mind that I needed to protect them from some moron man being in the ladies' restroom at any time.

Talk about scary! I bet this man was waiting for some young girl to come into the restroom alone. This is probably something that he does frequently. My biggest regret is not following him to see if he was actually eating at Chili's or if he just happened to walk in. Gosh!!!

In years past, I've seen many times when there have been young girls in the restroom alone. We need to be very careful about allowing this.

Freeeeeeeeeeee Makeup....

2009-01-23T21:47:00.001-06:00

NOT!

I don't know if any of you had heard of this news this week, but this past Tuesday, there were major department stores giving away brand-name makeup due to some sort of lawsuit. Yep! They had to give away $175 million in free makeup. They were supposed to give away the makeup for 7 days or until supplies ran out (whichever came first). Stores included; Macy's, Dillard's, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom's, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Well, they sure ran out fast!!!! I went to Macy's and Dillard's on Wednesday and they were supposedly done with the free handouts!!! I could tell that the makeup consultants were tired of explaining this to all the customers - or shall I say all the beggars like me. lol!

Anyhoo, if you're at one of these stores over the weekend, it won't hurt to ask about it.

The temperature is finally dropping here in Dallas. Today we were in the 80's. Tonight it drops into the low 30's with a high of 42 degrees tomorrow. Okay, I know that many of you have a lot colder weather than this. I just thought I'd let you know that we're finally getting some of it, too. The way the weather is here in Texas, though, we'll probably be back in the 80's by Sunday. lol!

Have a great weekend, friends!

Costco or Sam's???

2009-01-21T22:38:00.000-06:00

Okay, don't laugh at us!

After allllllllllllllllllllll these years we finally started off the new year with getting a Costco card. lol! We have many friends and family members who have one of these cards (or one for Sam's). We always thought that you had to buy EVERYTHING in bulk and that it would only be a waste of money for us to invest into getting one.

A friend bought me a brisket from Costco not too long ago. It was excellent. It was pre-cooked so it took just 30 minutes to warm up! After having it, we were SOLD! Soooooooooooooooo, we signed up for a Costco card not too long ago.

We LOVED the store! The only thing is it's so big and you really need a lot time to look through the entire store. I felt a little overwhelmed walking around and seeing all the bargains. Sounds strange, huh? Why would someone get overwhelmed over bargains? lol! We bought some great things on our first visit. Their fruit was splendid and their vegetables lasted us almost 2 weeks without going bad!!! That's my kind of deal!!

Anyhow, now that we have shared with friends that we finally got the Costco card after all these years, some have suggested that we also get the Sam's card.

Do most people really have both Costco and Sam's? Do you?

Okay, I also shop off of friends' and family members' suggestions. If a friend would not have bought us this brisket, I would have never tried it. Better yet, we'd probably never have signed up for the Costco card.

Soooooooo, that being said, what are some of your favorite items from either store that you can share with us?

My Visit...

2009-01-17T20:25:00.000-06:00

First let me THANK all of you for your prayers and for your sincere words of encouragement in regards to my grandfather.

We were able to visit with him last night. As previously mentioned in my last post, I really wasn't looking forward to this visit due to issues among extended family members. Well, during a conversation with my oldest sister, I asked if anyone knew if he was saved. To be quite honest, I am ashamed that I didn't already know the answer to this question.

My deceased grandmother never missed attending church and I know without a doubt where she is spending eternity. However, I've never actually seen my grandfather in a church until my grandmother's funeral many years ago. In any case, I learned that no one knew for sure if he had been saved. Pretty sad, huh? This sounds awful, but now I dreaded the visit even more. It wasn't that I dreaded what I knew needed to take place during the course of our visit, but I dreaded the potential obstacles that stood in our way.

To spare you all the details;
My grandfather was awake during the time we visited. He seemed like he knew who we were. He attempted to carry on a conversation with us. However, it was very difficult to understand what he was saying. After we spent about an hour visiting him, we closed his bedroom door, shutting us off from the rest of the family. Dirk reminded him how much we loved him, but how God loved him more. Dirk talked a few minutes about Jesus. Eventually, Dirk was able to lead him in the salvation prayer and my grandfather accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Though this visit was a little uncomfortable and the tension seemed to be somewhat heavy in the main sitting room, I am thankful that the Lord still used us.

There's not much more to add to this post, as it would only be thoughts I probably shouldn't share at this time and that I will continue to be in prayer about.

God truly is GOOD and we praise Him for He is worthy to be praised.

Unsettling Thoughts Tonight...

2009-01-15T23:29:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I posted about my grandfather being very sick and that he was in the hospital.

Well since that time, he's been in and out of the hospital several more times. Last week, he was released with the news that there's nothing more that can be done for him. My grandfather is 83 years old and has struggled with cancer for the last couple of years now. He stopped eating a few days ago and sleeps most of the day now.

My mom is having a very difficult time with this. I am okay with him passing, but I've had a lot of unsettling thoughts tonight (and most of the day) that I haven't been able to shake. My mom comes from a big family with 11 siblings. Unfortunately, my grandfather's failed health has taken a toll on my extended family members . There are too many opinions, too many people wanting to make decisions, too many people getting upset, too many people causing drama...need I say more? You get the picture, right?

So, my unsettling thoughts are why does this happen with families when death is near and it's so obvious that during a time like this that family should be closer than ever? This is so disturbing to me. I plan on visiting with my grandfather and mom tomorrow. I must admit that I am somewhat dreading the visit since there are so many family members there and all of these issues going on. Believe me, I'll stick out like a sore thumb!

I ask a favor of you to say a prayer on my grandfather's behalf. Pray that he is able to pass this life in peace and also pray that my extended family members can also have peace and patience with one another. Pray that they will be drawn closer together instead of farther apart.

As always, THANKS!

It Finally Happened!!!

2009-01-13T22:55:00.002-06:00

I am several posts behind, but for now I thought this would be the perfect one to share with you tonight.

To those of you who are new readers and who are not aware of my past fear with animals, I have allllllllllllllllllllllmost conquered this fear completely. We got a puppy back in December and as I write this post and look back on the first night that he came home...

I remember the pictures I posted of me wearing gloves because I didn't want to touch him with my bare hands. I remember at times sitting high up because I didn't want Gooch to jump up and touch me. I quickly (later the same night we brought him home) adapted to touching him without the gloves! lol! Unfortunately at times, I have the personality of, "get it all over with at one time." Meaning, once I knew that it was destined for me to be over this fear, I wanted to jump in deep! I wanted to be an instant dog lover! I wanted to be able to walk down the street with my puppy in my bag. Uh...not really! Anyhow, I wanted to be able to sit, hold, and walk our puppy. Right before Christmas, I'd mastered all of these wants except for holding Gooch. I just couldn't get up the nerve to hold him until the day after Christmas! God is sooooooooooooo good! I NEVER dreamed that I would even like a dog ... much less love one.

Hooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwever, I have come to love my Gooch! And guess what? I think that he may like me more than anyone else in our family. LOL! He's at my feet all the time. As I am typing this post, he is lying here on the floor at my feet. It's happening just like some of you said it would. And no, he's still not allowed to lick me. That ain't gonna happen! And that I know!I might eat these words one day, but I don't see it happening in the present, near and far future.

Okay, I wanted to show you proof of me holding him. However, I DO NOT like this picture at all! I am wearing an old granny robe that was given to me by Dirk's grandmother like when we got married (almost 18 years ago). It goes all the way to the floor. I usually wear it in the winter ALOT to keep warm! Jae asked me earlier tonight when I was wearing it if it was one of those cover up blankets that they sell on tv? Yep, it's big, old, covers every part of my body, and keeps me warm. I can totally see why Jae would ask the question!

I have no idea why I feel the need to explain to you why I look so horrible in this picture. lol! I know all you cared about was actually seeing me hold my Gooch.

So...................here goes!

See how excited Gooch looks?

A Careless Mishap!

2009-01-10T22:51:00.000-06:00

A couple of days before Christmas, I did something so careless that it was by the grace of God that I didn't have to face a potential crisis and especially right before Christmas.

I'd planned on making my Italian cream cake for a Christmas lunch. I stopped at the grocery store to buy pecans and a couple of other items. Unfortunately, when I got to the baking aisle, I quickly realized that they were completely sold out of pecans. So, my thinking was if I'm going to have to go another store to buy pecans...just do all my shopping at one store and at one time. Sooooooo, I pushed my buggy to the side and proceeded to walk out the store.

I got to the exit door and then thought that there may be pecans in the produce section. So, I walked over that department. Sure enough, they had a whole pallet of pecans. More expensive than I wanted but, to save time and to keep from making another stop, I took a few minutes to pick out just the right package of pecans. Yep, they all looked the same. lol!

After grabbing a package of the pecans, I walked back to find my buggy that I just casually pushed aside. Not only did I find my buggy, I also found my PURSE that I'd left in the buggy!!! I could not believe that I had done this! Needless to say, this shook me up a bit. I just wanted to sit in the middle of the floor and cry right then. I kept asking myself, "Are you kidding me? Did this really just happen? What was I thinking?" I knew that it was just another way of slowing me down. And believe me, it did! I slowly continued my shopping filled with numbness and confusion.

Looking back, and as I type this, I am thankful again that the Lord had my back, as it really could have been a disaster.

See, I told you that I had a mishap, too! I just had to tell you about Dirk's first. lol!

It's Been Fun!!!

2009-01-08T23:44:00.000-06:00

I've been dreading this post for a few days now, but like they say..."All good things must come to an end."

Stella will be leaving us tomorrow morning. It's been an awesome week with her and we really do hate to see her go. I've gotten really attached to Stitching Stella and I really am beginning to think that I have serious issues. lol!

Thank you Lindsay-ann and Lorrie for creating such a wonderful idea that so many of us have enjoyed. And thank you April for choosing me to show Stella a bit of Texas. You ladies are truly amazing and it's been such a blessing to me getting to know each of you.

Part of the rules of having Stella involved us adding something to her.

We have added a pair of cowgirl boots. Yee haw! Hmmm...Yee haw? That doesn't sound quite right coming from an African American woman. lol! Oh well! Anyhow, we thought it would be great if Stella left Texas kicking up her heels in a pair of boots.

Okay, I spent like wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much time trying to get the perfect picture. It never happened! Unfortunately, the photographer of the family (Morgan) is already in bed and this is the best I could do.

Stella will be all packed up before Jae wakes up in the morning. She wanted to visit with Jae just one last time before leaving. When I took this picture, Jae never even moved. That's a scary thought if someone broke in or if we had a fire. I asked myself the question, "Would she really just sleep through it?"

Morgan was a little bummed that we never got any pictures of her with Stella. She was either not here or when she was, and we remembered it, she had already taken her makeup off. I begged her earlier tonight to just take a picture with no makeup tonight, but she just wouldn't do it. Teenagers!!!!

Stella will be traveling to Maryland to visit my friend, Heather for a few days. I can't wait to read and see pictures of her adventures with Heather. Please be sure to visit Heather's blog next week to keep track of Stella's journey.

Thank you all for reading and keeping up with Stella while she was visiting Texas. It's been fun!

Oh...THANK YOU so very much for praying for Dirk (us) last night. He's still battling what seems to be a cold for sure, but he feels a whole lot better than last night. Praise the Lord!

Prayer Request Please...

2009-01-07T21:33:00.000-06:00

It's been an extremely busy night at our house tonight. I've been a single parent with ALL the cooking, ALL the cleaning, ALL the homework, ALL the laundry, ALL the questions from the girls, and I am a bit tired about now and will be going to bed early. I know...stop whining and deal with it, huh? And I heard you....welcome to the real world, huh?

Truth be known....
My sweet Dirk is sick this evening. He started feeling bad last night. He did go to work today, but he came home feeling pretty rough. We think it's just a cold, but he has been in bed all evening. I can't hardly keep my thoughts together to even post what I wanted to post about. I know...I'm a real mess.

Please pray for him to feel better... like overnight.

Stella will be leaving us on Friday morning. My next post will let you know what I've added to her and where she's going.

Who Shot Stella...I Mean J.R.?

2009-01-05T23:26:00.000-06:00

We had our last outing with Stella over the weekend and let me tell ya, I truly believe that this was the best outing we could have given her while visiting Texas.

We asked ourselves, "What place says 'Dallas' more than any other? Where can we take Stella that could not be essentially re-created in any other locale?"

We took Stella to visit Southfork Ranch! For those of you who are not familiar with this place, it's where the famous TV show, "Dallas" was filmed for thirteen years. We live about nine or ten miles from it. We were hoping to run into J.R. or Sue Ellen, but no such luck.

I have to share with you that the idea of taking Stella to Southfork Ranch was Dirk's idea.

It gets better. At Southfork Ranch, they have daily tours and since this is a famous place, you actually have to pay to be on the property and, of course, to take any pictures close up. We didn't really want a tour, we just wanted to take a few pictures of the place with Stella.

Well, Dirk came up with this grand idea of me going inside and telling them about Stella and how this was for a blog project, right? Wrong! He felt that by me explaining who Stella was and what we were doing that perhaps they would allow us to go on the Southfork property for free.

I, of all people...Ms. confident, calm, brave and ALWAYS telling other people to just ask for what they want and also saying all they can do is say "yes" or "no" COMPLETELY CHICKENED OUT! LOL!!!

Dirk said, "Give me Stella. I'll go in and ask them for you." I about fainted. lol! Isn't he just the coolest husband?

Anyhow, he comes back to the car with a big smile on his face. He said the lady behind the counter got all excited when he explained it to her and that she understood what blogging was all about. She told him that we could park and walk the property without a tour person and take as many pictures as we wanted for FREE! Stella and I were tripping out!

I wanted to take more pictures than we did, but I also didn't want to act like I didn't know any better either....in any other words, I didn't want to take advantage of this FREE opportunity!

So, see in the pictures below Stella's visit to Southfork Ranch where the famous J.R. Ewing lived (on the show that is) for many years!

Look at the smile on Stella's face. It was almost as big as mine.
Or maybe Stella's smile wasn't even close to mine. LOL!
This pic below was actually taken from the street.

This one was taken right slap dab in the middle of J.R. 's front yard. You can hardly see us or Stella at all in the picture. But, hey....we tried!

The picture below is out on the deck where the Ewings gathered many times. I remember many fights in this pool.

Here's a very short clip that I found off Youtube that I enjoyed looking at. This little visit sure brought back a lot of TV memories for me. I am so not a TV person these days...but I did love me some "Dallas".

Stella's visit with our family has been a lot of fun. I think she has enjoyed her stay as well, but all good things must come to an end.

I still have something special to add to Stella's dress before she leaves us and will be adding it and of course, sharing with you in the next couple of days what I added. I will also let you know where Stella is headed to.

Six Flags Over Stella!

2009-01-03T22:53:00.014-06:00

Dirk and I were off work yesterday and it was also the girls' last weekday off from school for the holiday.

The weather was perfect. We had a high of 70 degrees. So, we ventured out to Six Flags Over Texas! Stella could hardly contain her excitement!! In fact, she was more excited than our girls. Stella was also a lot braver than me. The family was able to get me on one kiddie roller coaster and one small adult coaster, but that was about it.

We still had my niece MacKenzie with us since my sister was taking care of Matt after his surgery and all. Jae and MacKenzie started getting very possessive of Stella. Jae sat next to me on the roller coaster and when the ride took off, she kept reminding me to hold on to Stella very tight so we wouldn't lose her. I must admit that I did have thoughts of her flying off in the wind and landing only God knows where. I quickly had to focus on a more positive thought as my stomach was getting upset at just the thought of losing Stella.

Let me tell ya, we are having a BALL with Stella. I am already dreading the thought of her leaving next week. I think that she's really enjoying her stay, but will be exhausted after she leaves Texas.

Check out a few of our pictures that we took while visiting Six Flags! I lost my oldest daughter, Morgan to her boyfriend, Todd all day. Once we checked in, we saw Morgan once every hour or two, but that was about it. lol!

Here's Stella just arriving at Six Flags. I wish you all could have seen the people looking at us. They were entertained. lol!

We stopped at this store to try on hats. They didn't have Stella's size. This guy from behind the counter was all into us trying on hats. He kept saying, " I have some Daffy Duck hats behind the counter if you want to try them on." After he kept insisting to help, I wanted to tell him that it was only for picture taking....leave us alone. Don't worry, I didn't.

I have the best little helpers that anyone could ask for while Stella is visiting. I think that MacKenzie and Jae will be sad when Stella leaves too.
Stella went for a ride on the Teacup ride too. I do not like this ride at all. So, guess who took her? Dirk! He was even nice enough to take pictures while they were riding. Isn't this a trip?

Okay, this was one of two roller coasters I rode and I screamed most of the forty seconds that I was on it. lol!
This is before we took off on the other coaster. This would also explain why I am totally sitting and smiling very calmly.
Jae had her moments too! See the look on her face?
This was taken on a nice quiet boat ride.
Hmmmmm...this was an interesting setup!

Morgan and her boyfriend, Todd.

And you thought Stella had fun yesterday??? You won't believe where she visited today!

I will try to post it early tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to post this earlier today, but after our outing, I had to get my Christmas decorations down ! Goodness!

Stella Pays a Visit to the Hospital

2009-01-02T23:32:00.002-06:00

On New Year's Eve, my nephew, Matthew, was rushed to the hospital due to severe pain in his side. Unfortunately, he had to have emergency appendectomy surgery. After several tests done and a cat scan performed, the doctor had warned my sister and her husband that it looked like Matt's appendix had ruptured which was not good at all. But, praise be to our God that while Matt was in surgery, that was clearly not the case.

We visited Matt at the hospital yesterday and he was completely alert and feeling much better. He was up walking from hall to hall for exercise. I filled Matt in on Stella visiting me from England and how I would really like to get some pictures of Stella with him. He gave me this BIG smile and was happy to do it.

I later warned Stella that there's no telling what she might get into while visiting us. lol!

We did have a pretty awesome outing today that I can hardly wait to share with you, but because Matt was such a sport in agreeing to take a few pictures with Stella, I have to post this first.

What a sport, huh?
Matt is reading the back of Stella to learn more about her. There's not too much writing, he was just curious to read what it said.

Stella is relaxing on a windowsill while Matt was getting some exercise walking down the hall. The hospital still had all their Christmas decorations up. This gingerbread house actually looked better in person than it does in the photo.

Again, Matt is doing much better, but would you say a prayer for him to have a complete and speedy recovery so that he can return to school?

Stay tuned to read all about Stella's big outing today in my next post!

My family is having a ball with her! Morgan even complained and asked why I didn't have any pictures of her and Stella. Who would have ever thought that a teenager would want to be part of this? lol!

Stella Arrives Texas Just in Time...

2009-01-01T09:59:00.001-06:00

to bring in the New Year with us.

Some of you already know about Stella, but many of you who read my blog might not. The idea of Stitching Stella was created by Lindsay-ann and Lorrie. Stella is to visit as many locations around the world as possible in exactly one year. It's a really neat idea and I am so happy to be a part of this and show Stella just a tad bit here in Texas.

Stella started her journey with Lindsay-ann in England. She then travelled on to North Carolina to meet Lorrie and spend a few days there. During the Christmas holiday, she was visiting April in Georgia. These wonderful ladies have really shown Stella a great time so far. I hope that she doesn't get too bored during her visit with us. lol!

I had mentioned to my family a few days ago that we would be having a visitor. Dirk thought this was a neat idea. However, my girls thought that I had fallen off my rocker. lol! They totally don't understand how I can be having this much fun in "blogland". However, when Dirk brought the package in to me yesterday, Jae was right by my side with excitement (like me) as I was opening up the package.

We filled Stella in on our plans for New Year's Eve, which, by the way, weren't big plans. We didn't know anyone who was having a New Year's party. Or maybe they were and we just weren't invited. lol! Anyhow, we just planned on staying home and having our own little party....just the four of us (Morgan was invited to a friend's house for a party, so the four of us included Dirk, myself, Jae and my niece, Mackenzie).

We had a BIG menu for our party. We had Rotel dip, chips, Lil' Smokies and soft drinks. Later, we tried out our new fondue machine, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. During the Christmas holidays, we attended a couple of parties where they had the chocolate fondue fountain. I soooooooo fell in love with dipping strawberries, bananas and marshmallows into chocolate. So, we bought an electric fondue pot. We figured that we would get more use out of ours if we just bought the pot instead of the big ole' fountain machine. Anyhow, I didn't think that melting a bag of chocolate would be so complicated. I am guessing at this point, since our bag of chocolate turned into a big slab of thick mess, that there's a certain type of chocolate you must use for a fondue pot. I'm telling ya, it was melted alright....but it was not the same smooth, rich-looking chocolate that anyone could just dip their whatever in. It was thick and almost dough-like. In fact, we had to use a spoon to pick up each bite. Meaning....take a bite of strawberry then a spoon of chocolate. After doing this about three times, I lost interest. I plan on asking my expert friends today, who have their own machine, what kind of chocolate we're supposed to use. If you know, please let me know.

Sorry, I tend to ramble once I get started on something. Now back to Stella's arrival.

I do believe that Stella was happy that we weren't going out for the evening. She hung out with us a little while in the kitchen and checked out the few decorations that we had.

I told you it was just a few!

Anyhow, she tried taking Gucci's bed for the night, but Gucci (in a nice way) told her that he didn't think so. Look at the expression on his face.

Stella finally took a seat in the living room where Dirk gladly showed her the remote in order to relax.

This is fun! Well, it is for me so far. We'll see how much fun Stella has while visiting us. Don't forget to go check out the other blogs, Lindsay-ann, Lorrie and April to read up on Stella's travelling adventure.

I pray that you all are enjoying this new day of the year. May God continue to bless each of you in 2009!

$250.99 Blockbuster Rental!!!

2008-12-30T19:30:00.000-06:00

On Christmas Day, we had planned to go see a movie late in the afternoon. Surprisingly enough, many families had the same idea in mind. We went to two different theaters and what we wanted to see (Marley and Me) was sold out at both. Sooooooooooo, we came up with this grand idea to rent a movie from Blockbuster. Little did we know that our $0.99 movie rental would end up costing us $250.99! What am I rambling about now?

After watching the movie, Dirk decided to go ahead and take the movie back while he had time and while we were thinking about it.

Well, Morgan's boyfriend (Todd) was also over at the time and he had parked his car in our driveway.

A few things before I go any further.....

.....Todd ususally parks his car out on the street in front of our house, except on this particular night
.....Todd's car is jet black
.....It was also a very dark and cold night
.....Dirk gave me his permission to share this

Anyhoo, as Dirk was backing out of our garage to take the movie back.......(drum roll)

He totally ran right into Todd's nice new car! Needless to say, the night got just a tad bit darker.

There was actually more damage done to our car than Todd's. Dirk was in total shock that this had happened. Actually, we were both in shock!

Breaking the news to Todd was difficult. How do you tell the proud owner of a very nice car that you just smacked into it? In fact, when Dirk delivered the news to Todd and Morgan, they both started laughing. They totally did not believe Dirk for about 30 seconds or so. After seeing that we were not laughing, their laughter came to a sudden halt.

After breaking the news to Todd, then Dirk had to call Todd's parents to break the news to them. I felt so sorry for him.

Todd's parents blew it off. They laughed about it. They came right over to look at the damages and starting laughing and joking about it again. Dirk and I still hadn't mustered up any laughter at this point, but we were SO glad that Todd and his parents were able to laugh and joke about it.

I guess since it wasn't going to cost them a penny....why not laugh about it? We couldn't laugh or make jokes about it until the next day. I've asked several times (now joking, of course)...

"How do you have an accident in your driveway, of of all places?"

Renting "The Nativity Story" was the most expensive movie we've ever seen. lol! Not only did it cost us 99 cents, it also cost us the $250.00 (deductible) to repair our cars.

After paying $250.99 to watch this, I will NEVER complain about the cost of a movie again, whether it be renting from Blockbuster or going to the theater.

Oh, and I had my own mishap during the holiday too...I'll post about it another day.

AND STOP LAUGHING AT US!

Christmas, Christmas and More Christmas

2008-12-28T18:17:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas was great! It was such a blessing being able to spend time with family. Like many of you, we've had so much going on this holiday season.

We were able to attend two beautiful Christmas Eve services at our church. Jae's class performed (sang) in both services. It was real cute. Jae's not like her Momma in any way when it comes to getting in front of a crowd. Meaning, she likes it....I don't.

The girls opened up one gift on Christmas Eve. I get them pj's each year. I'm not sure why I even bother to wrap these two gifts as the girls already know what the gift is before they even open it. Maybe next year, I'll just lay them out under the tree unwrapped on Christmas Eve. It's getting harder and harder to buy a pair of cool pj's for a teenager, ya know? Picking out Jae's pj's is a piece of cake, though. She still thinks I'm a cool Mom no matter what they look like. lol!

Our Christmas morning started about 7am. The girls were so excited. They got one big gift each and a few small gifts. It seems like they were both happy with their gifts.

We were able to stay home until almost noon before heading out to Dirk's Dad's house. It's about an hour away from our home. We had a fabulous lunch and later opened up gifts from each other there. As usual, we had a lot of fun just sitting and enjoying each other's company.

Then on Saturday (yesterday), we had Christmas at our house with my family. If you read my last post, I had mentioned that I would be inviting my Dad this year. Well, I did invite him, but he was not able to make it. As I was sharing with another friend today, I feel that my Dad carries a lot of guilt and shame for not being around when we were younger. He knows that we have all forgiven him, but it's just something that he's still having to deal with after all these years. It's a long story that maybe I'll share one day. Anyhow, we had a wonderful time together.

Friends, I must admit that, although Christmas was truly wonderful...I am glad to see it come to an end. I was also sharing with a friend today that it seems like I've been in a bad mood the entire month of December. It's totally not my character. I have felt totally unorganized the entire month. This is one area of my life (personality) that I wish I could change. In fact, my prayer during service today was that for 2009 that I would not be so bound to a to-do list and a schedule ALL THE TIME. It's good to have both as long as they are under your control and not controlling you. Not sure if this makes sense to you. lol! Simply stating that I just need to relax more with these two things this next year.

I hope that you all had a safe and joyous Christmas. I am REALLY looking forward to reading your blogs to see what you've been up to.

And you know that I can't end mine without showing you a few pictures of the Christmases that we had. Several of you e-mailed me to ask how Gucci was fitting into our Christmas. He fit in just fine. In fact, he was included in everything we did. Our family members were very happy and excited to meet him. You'll definitely see him in the pictures I'm posting. Sorry....there are a lot of pictures, but keep in mind that we celebrated Christmas a total of four different times. One in the previous post and three more below. So, without further ado...

The girls and I sporting our new Christmas pj's. Since I buy the girls pj's each year, Dirk has started a traditional of his own in making sure that I get a pair too. He's so sweet, huh?

Here's Gucci sporting his pj's. lol!
Isnt' he soooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!?!?!?!
Morgan and Jae are reading their Christmas letter from Santa. No, Morgan does not still believe in Santa, but she plays along with it very well for Jae. Santa Dirk takes a lot of time preparing a Christmas letter each year for the girls to read on Christmas morning. The girls have a good time reading it and at the end of the letter, Santa Dirk always reminds them what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. It's really sweet.

Can you tell that I am happy to receive this gift? I look a bit retarded, but oh well! lol!

Jae and Gucci are watching Morgan open her next gift.
Morgan is smiling proudly as she's examining her new phone.
The next set of pictures are taken at my in-laws' house. Sitting on the couch is Dirk's brother, James, and his wife, Shannon.

This is Dirk's dad and his wonderful step-mom, Karen.

Dirk's brother, James, his wife, Shannon and their two girls, Patricia and Katrina.

Okay and finally....the last set of pictures are at our house yesterday ending our Christmas holiday.

This is my sister, Vickie and her husband, Bill and their youngest daughter, Madison.

We had a VERY CASUAL setting yesterday. The adults ate in the living room and the kiddos ate at the table. So, you will see our plates and cups sitting around in some of the pictures.

My sister and her precious family.

God is good! We are truly a blessed family and there's not a day that goes by that we're not reminded of it in some way.

I enjoyed sharing a little bit (okay...maybe a whole lot) of our Christmas holiday with you all.

Now off I go to see what you all have been up to.

New Christmas Traditions

2008-12-21T22:50:00.001-06:00

So yesterday, we celebrated Christmas with Dirk's sister at our house and then we went and had Christmas with Dirk's Grandpa at the nursing home.

I was talking to my sister-in-law about how much our Christmas gatherings have changed on that side of the family. When I first married into the family, Dirk and I would travel from house to house in order to get all our visits in. We would go to Dirk's grandma's house on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas day....ready for this? We would open our gifts to each other starting at 5am. Then we would go to Dirk's mom house in Colleyville, Dirk's dad's house in Burleson, my mom's house in Royse City, and my dad's house in Royse City. Sounds totally CRAZY I know. We both have parents who divorced. So for MANY years, we spent Christmas day driving 200 miles or more.

Well, so many things have changed. Dirk's mom passed away about 10 years ago. Dirk's grandmother passed away 3 years ago. Dirk's grandpa's is now in a nursing home. We will drive to Dirk's dad house on Christmas Day which is "only" an hour from our house. We don't have to show up early like before (9 or 10am). We're having a late lunch so we don't have to rush. Perfect! For the past several years, we celebrate with my mom and my two sisters on a totally different day. This year we celebrate with my mom on the 27th at our house. And for the first time, I have invited my dad to come to our house and celebrate with us at the same time with Mom. I got my mom's permission first. She's fine with it, but it will be a bit weird at first and that's if my dad even shows up. We'll see!

Anyhow back to yesterday's family Christmas gathering, we had a wondeful time. We ate Mexican food at our house, visited for a while, opened up gifts and then we all went to the nursing home to celebrate with Grandpa.

And though our Christmas gathering has scaled down from many family members to just a few, we feel so blessed that we are making new family traditions for us and our children.

I wanted to share a few pictures of yesterday. Look at the happiness on our kids' faces. God just keeps revealing to us all the time that we are truly a blessed family. Katie's husband was not able to join us this year. He works in retail and had to work.

This will probably be my last post until after Christmas.

So, in case I don't post....

I pray that all of you have a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy this time with family!

May God continue to bless all of you!

The girls with Aunt Katie (Dirk's sister)
Bryson, Jaelyn, and Carter

Dirk's Grandpa opening his gifts (with Jae's help).

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!

Busy Weekend Ahead!

2008-12-18T22:45:00.000-06:00

It's going to be an extremely busy, but fun-filled weekend. I am happy to start my weekend with having tomorrow off! Yippee!

Jae's class Christmas party is tomorrow. I will be attending that. School ends for the holiday break at 1pm tomorrow. I have to take Morgan to the mall to finish her Christmas shopping after that.

Dirk and I plan on finishing up our shopping tomorrow night.

We have Christmas with Dirk's sister and her family at our home on Saturday. We have Christmas with Dirk's grandpa at the nursing home on Saturday, also.

We have our Bible Study Class coming over for dinner at our house on Sunday night.

We will be cooking Mexican food for Saturday and Italian food for Sunday.

Lots going on.....but we're looking forward to enjoying our time spent with these special people.

I will try to jump on and read your blogs throughout the weekend!

I am really missing the normal routine in blogging.

Stay warm! It's getting pretty chilly out there!!!!! Brrrr....

Have a fabulous weekend, friends!

Christmas Decorations at Last!!!

2008-12-16T21:45:00.000-06:00

Hey friends!

Well, it's come a time where I am REALLY bombarded with the Christmas holiday. I am way behind with posting. However, I have made an effort to read your blogs daily as I don't want to miss anything and I also miss ya when I don't get to connect with you in some way. lol!

We have a little more Christmas shopping to do and we'll be done. There's just wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too much going on. If I can be honest, I am really not enjoying this holiday season as much as I have in the past. A LOT of it has to do with my personality. I feel like things are totally not organized and completed in a way that I expected in the beginning. I am usually done with my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving comes. I just finished all the decorating that I am going to do this year. Compared to others that I have talked to, I should be more thankful for what I have completed as far as decorating goes.

As I promised, I would like to share some pictures of our decorations with you. There's more that I wanted to take outside and around the house....time has just not allowed me to do so.

Let me also add that until the Christmas holiday is over, I will be posting very little. I will be visiting your blogs as often as time allows, though.

Alrighty...here goes:

Okay, while posting these pictures, I noticed two flaws. My tree didn't have a tree skirt at the time and there's a package of maxi pads in one of the barstools. lol! Whatever!!!!

See what Dirk has to live with?!?!?!?

One Week Ago Today...

2008-12-12T22:01:00.000-06:00

... we brought our Gucci home.

It's been a fun-FILLED week getting used to having a puppy around. Before you ask...No, I am not completely over this huge hurdle yet, but proud to share that I have come a long way, baby!

The girls have told us that this is the best present ever. At least this is the best present for this week! lol! There's been a lot of fighting amongst the girls. In fact, they have fought more since bringing Gucci home than they ever have before. They keep track of whose turn it is next to do different things with Gucci whether it's holding him, carrying him, putting him in the crate, taking him out of the crate, taking him outside to do his business, take him for a walk, etc. There's been alot of aggravation in Morgan's voice with Jae and there have been a lot of tears with Jae. We've already had to make a couple of threats.

Gucci is a very happy (overly excited) little puppy!

I am actually able to walk around the house with him not in his crate. Believe it or not, I can even stand with him right beside me without freaking out. I let him nibble at my sock....but not my bare skin! This brings me to my next statement. It is driving me a bit crazy with all the LICKING going on. Now, that's just nasty (sorry for all you dog lovers). I still need some serious prayer for me to ever allow Gucci to lick on me. I should just see it immediately the way Jae does. She's reminded me several times that Gucci is part of our family and that his germs (licking) are okay. I'm not saying that it will never happen, but I just can't see it in the near future.

I do like him, though. As a matter of fact, one day this week while at work, I was really missing not seeing him. This sounds so weird typing/saying this. God really is a God of miracles.

House training is going great. When Dirk takes him outside to do his business, he usually goes within a couple of minutes, sometimes immediately. I believe it's because he's freezing his hiney off. lol! He loves his crate. At times, he goes into it all on his own. That's his room, his quiet place.

Anyhow, we've taken over 200 pictures, but I'll spare you some time and just share a few of our favorite ones with you.

The picture below is of Dirk's grandpa. We were visiting him at the nursing home.
Gucci is resting quite comfortably in Grandpa's lap.
See! I REALLY am trying!
I seriously think that Dirk has fallen in love with someone else. lol!
Isn't this sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute????

Don't worry! I don't plan on posting about Gucci every week!

Thankful Thursday

2008-12-10T22:55:00.001-06:00

After a very frustrating night of busyness (which is no one's fault but my own) I am truly thankful that it was not only a learning experience for me in the cooking department, but also a reminder to me that I am not Superwoman.

I have this wonderful recipe for Tomato Basil Soup that I've cooked for the office several times before and everyone has always loved it. Before it got cold outside, I was already asked if I'd make it. So, the plan was, as soon as it got cold enough for it, I would make it for all of us.

The issue that I ran into tonight was that, not only did I want to make the soup, but I wanted to make the salad, pick up the special bread that we eat with it, buy soft drinks and make dessert. Hello????? What was I thinking?

The only thing that went well was the soup and buying the bread. I will have to go to a local soup/salad place in the morning to get the salad.

The nightmare was making the dessert. One of the wonderful ladies at the office is very particular about desserts, but she LOVES chocolate. Well, we all like chocolate. So, I figured if I made a chocolate cake I couldn't go wrong. You would think that working a full-time job, coming home to tend to the girls, my turn to also cook dinner would have been enough in itself for me. Common sense would have told me that it was wayyyyyyyyyyy to much for me to try and make a HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE!

Well, after using a recipe (step-by-step) off the internet, it turned out looking and tasting like something from an Easy Bake Oven that a kid would make. Sorry! It looked and tasted like something awful. So, I had to start from scratch with another recipe from the internet. Let me also share that I've never made a homemade chocolate cake. Anyhow, I follow this recipe step-by-step as well. Unlike the other cake...the batter color looked great and it also tasted great. I felt very proud of myself. I hurried to get it in the oven. I was all set to start my soup, right? Before I even realized it, I reset the timer for the soup and forgot that I was already using the timer for my cake. Oh my goodness. I just about wanted to cry! I hate opening the oven when a cake is baking (fear that it'll crack). But, in this case....I didn't have a choice. I stuck a toothpick inside. It was perfect! I took it and was very THANKFUL that it turned out great. I made homemade chocolate cream cheese icing too! It turned out perfect too!

Sorry you had to read so much in order for me to get to the point of this week's Thankful Thursday! lol! I just have so much (too much) to say these days.

Anyhow, since everyone at the office is counting on me to bring lunch...I am thankful that I will be able to pull this off.

I am thankful that God saw my heart and helped me just in time before I crumbled.

I am thankful that I work with a group of awesome ladies who all love the Lord and we can openly talk about God and His Word.

If you read my last post, I am also thankful that my coworkers also trust me to wash my hands while I prepared their lunch.

Happy Thursday, friends!

To read more Thankful Thursday posts, please visit Iris at Grace Alone.

Public Restroom Irritations!

2008-12-09T21:41:00.000-06:00

Please forgive me ahead of time if I offend anyone, but I just have to vent about this and, as my friend Alicia says, I'm just keeping it real. lol!

It really irks me to see women walk out of public restrooms without washing their stupid hands. IT'S NASTY!

I see this allllllllllllllll the time at my place of employment, not with women who I work with...but other women in the building. There's this one lady who works in another suite on my floor. We've really developed this great friendship and we're always complimenting each other's outfit and such. She's a beautiful woman and dresses like she has a million bucks. Compared to her, I dress like someone who just walked out of a Goodwill store. lol! Seriously! Back to the point. Anyhow, I was in the restroom with her not too long ago and she walked out of the stall, freshened her makeup and walked out. Just like that. I was thinking that maybe I was distracting her since we were talking. Nope! Apparently, we were on the same potty schedule during this time because we ended up in there together again later. As I freshened up my makeup, she walks out, looks in the mirror, and walks out. For a split second, I wanted to walk out behind her and ask her if she'd forgotten to do something. However, to keep the peace, I kept my mouth shut. So, what does her wardrobe have to do with this? I just perceive (and obviously I am wrong) that people who look like they care about themselves in what they wear, how they look, and how organized they appear to be might also care about WASHING THEIR HANDS AFTER, ya know?

Next....and maybe I am the weird one. Believe me....I have recognized at times (many) that it's all me. But, does the person on the other end of a phone line really not care about hearing the toilet flushing? I walk in our restroom all the time and will hear whole conversations with different women talking on the phone. It makes me uncomfortable enough that I don't want to flush the toilet in my own stall out of embarrassment for them. I seriously don't get this.

Almost done...here's the kicker!
So yesterday, I walked into the restroom and this woman is in the stall and there's this beautiful nice coat lying on the FLOOR in the stall she's in. My first thought was "NO, I am not seeing this." Second thought, "The coat must not belong to her!" I came out of the stall and waited for a few seconds to see if she came out of the stall with the coat in her hands. She never did. So, I walk back to my suite thinking that this was even more disgusting than a person not washing their hands. I got all the way back to my suite and just couldn't let it go. I hurried back to the restroom to see if the lady was still in there. She was. She was just coming out with her beautiful brown coat on her arms. I tell ya, I was almost sick. Nice looking woman, dressed very nice....she proceeded to wash her hands (Thank the Lord), checked out her makeup and put the coat on. This beats all I've ever seen or wanted to see! Think for a second and let your imagination run wild about what could have been on that floor (and probably was). Okay, maybe not. You'll just end up weird like me.

Can you tell that I'm bothered? This really grosses me out!

Okay....I'm done!

Parenting...Just a Difference of Opinion

2008-12-07T20:58:00.001-06:00

Morgan was recently sharing a conversation with us that took place between her and a friend.

Apparently, Morgan was sharing that she couldn't wait until she turned sixteen because that's when she can go to work. Morgan told her that she was very excited to be able to go to work and earn her own money. We have given Morgan an allowance since she was five, but she's had to earn it by doing her chores.

When Morgan was ten, we taught her how to write checks and keep (add and subtract) a check register. Dirk made up dummy checks on the computer and if we were out shopping and ended up loaning Morgan money to buy something, she would have to write us a check when she got home and then balance her register. We did this for a couple of years. We plan on doing the same with Jaelyn.

Dirk and I both HAD to work as young teenagers. We both went to work when we were fourteen. We truly believe today that it helped us become more independent in life. Morgan doesn't HAVE to work. We feel that her allowance should be enough for the chores she does. However, we're not going to hand her everything on a silver platter and she knows it.

Anyhow, back to their conversation. When Morgan told her friend that she wanted to work, the girl asked if she was stupid, or what? She went on to say that she was definitely not going to work because her parents give her EVERYTHING she wants and also shared the fact that her brother is thirty years old and her parents still paid for everything for him, as well. Morgan told us that she felt sorry for her friend because of this. We were so proud of her for realizing this.

She and Morgan have been friends for a couple years now so we know her. Unfortunately, she suffers from depression, lack of self esteem, and feels that her parents don't even like her most of the time. Do you see what's wrong with this picture?

Her family may have more money than they know what to do with but what does it matter if your child suffers from these issues and feelings inside? Sounds to me that there may be plenty of money but very limited time, which is more important a thousand times over!

I hope that I am not stepping on anyone's toes, but I really HATE hearing stuff like this. I would never knock a parent for not allowing their child to work during school year. The problem that I have is when a parent hands everything to their child and then expects for the same child to leave home and live a proper, independent life when they move out. Go figure!

I too feel sorry for this young girl. Not that she chooses not to work at sixteen or during the school year, but that there are so many issues that are being overlooked.

Whew! I feel better!

For those of you have asked.....we've had a great weekend getting to know our new puppy! I'll post a complete update before the week is out. I'm really doing good! Thanks for your prayers and all your wonderful encouraging comments! I REALLY appreciate them!

Meet Our Newest Addition ~ Gucci Reeves

2008-12-06T00:45:00.001-06:00

It finally happened!!!!!! The girls got their puppy and I am walking out my fear!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

Today was a very long, nerve-racking day for me. I shared on my blog a couple of months ago about my greatest fear of all (animals) and how it was time for me to face this fear head on. Well, we've (actually Dirk) been looking for the "perfect" dog for several months. Yep, I know....no such thing as a perfect dog, right? Anyhow, we ended up with a "Bug", which is half Boston Terrier and half Pug.

We found him online about 5 hours away from us. We had actually planned to go and pick him up tomorrow, but a dear friend of mine volunteered to pick him up for us since she was driving there to do her Christmas shopping. It worked out perfectly!!! Woo hoo!

Without further ado.....Meet Gucci Reeves!

Isnt' this just the cutest picture?

Okay, I hestitated a LOT as to whether I would share this picture. lol! I look retarded. And YES, I am wearing gloves!!! It's part of the germ phobia "weirdness" I have going on. Now listen, this was a BIG thing for me to even let an animal in my house, but I'm doing it! I have to take baby steps with this, all right?
Okay, I am actually a little more relaxed in this picture. Still wearing the gloves.....but I was coming around.
The girls are totally in love with Gucci! We could not get them to calm down for the longest time tonight. They were arguing over who had held him the longest already. There was so much excitement for this poor puppy that he was shaking for the first two hours.
See! I DID it! I am touching Gucci - and without wearing the gloves!
The weekend should be very interesting with accidents happening (we've already had one), with me getting more relaxed, with the girls giving him some space, with Gucci getting familiar with his new home, etc.

I never thought I would live to tell about having a puppy in my house. I am sure that my mom never thought she would live to see it either. Dirk said at one time tonight that he can see that one day I will give a testimony about me being delivered from this. I would love nothing better! I do think that I did very well the first night with Gucci in the house. I am still far from being over my fear of this, but as I am blogging, I am sitting in the same room with our Gucci in his crate. Six months ago, I would have never been able to do this. I'm not sure why it has taken 38 years to deal with this and it's really not important, but I am actually pretty excited about all of this now. Please continue praying for me (us) that things would continue to go as God has intended.

Dirk will be getting up every hour tonight and all weekend to take him out to potty. Lucky Dad! I told Dirk that once I was totally over my fear that I'd love to be the one to take him out. lol!

I'll post again soon how things are going.

Thanks again for praying.

Thankful Thursday

2008-12-03T23:10:00.001-06:00

I am thankful for the time that I was able to spend with family on Thanksgiving day. The day was very peaceful and relaxing.

I am thankful for my job. Several family members and friends have lost their jobs in the last month or so.

I am thankful for my immediate family's good health. Unfortunately, my grandfather is very ill right now and is in the hospital.

I am thankful for our home. It saddens me to think of the homeless people sleeping out in the cold.

I am thankful for our cars. We don't drive fancy cars and they are both a few years old. Other than minor repairs, though, they are very reliable to get us where we need to go.

I am thankful for a dear friend who was able to attend a special church service with me last Sunday night totally unexpectedly. We both know that it was a divine appointment for me to ask her to go when she had only called me to discuss other things. The church service was amazing and it was something that not only I needed, but she needed too!

I am thankful to not only have my laptop back, but that it was covered under warranty. Therefore, it didn't cost us anything!

For more Thankful Thursday posts, please visit Iris at Grace Alone.

A Snippet of Our Christmas Decorations!

2008-12-02T22:15:00.002-06:00

I must officially admit, like so many of you have already, that I am addicted to blogging! As you know from my last post, my laptop is broken and now I am having to blog from a not so comfy spot in the house. I know it sounds ridiculous! They did tell me that the laptop may have to be sent out for repairs which could take six WEEKS! Yikes!!! I am supposed to know for sure tomorrow.

The day after Thanksgiving, we started pulling out our Christmas decorations. I tell ya, I was a bit overwhelmed. To be quite honest, I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed just by looking at the shape my house is in right now. I don't do well with boxes sitting everywhere and things completely out of order.

I started decorating my kitchen bar. It's looks a little festive, but I am not completely happy with it just yet. I also started my mantle, but wasn't happy enough with it to even share at this point. Dirk was able to hang all the outside lights out on Saturday. He did a great job.

Here's a couple of photos of how it's coming. Once I get EVERTHING done, I will post more pictures. I just wanted to fit in with the rest of you who have already shared some of your decorations.

This is a picture of my bar. It still seems to be missing something! So, I am looking at it each day seeing what I can add to it. I couldn't even take a good picture of it. The photographer of the family had to be called in to do it for me. lol!

This is on our front porch. I did end up taking this picture as I couldn't get Morgan to go outside and take it for me. It was a bit cold out trying to take a silly picture! lol!
So, as you can see, I have at least started decorating!

I NOW KNOW HOW OTHERS FEEL....

2008-12-01T22:42:00.000-06:00

WHEN YOUR COMPUTUER IS BROKEN! lol!

Yep, my laptop is broken! I have to take it in tomorrow. I have no idea what is wrong with it, but I can not get it to come on at all. Thank God that it is still under warranty.

I will have very limited access to a computer this week. I am using Dirk's computer now, but it's not as cozy and comfortable in the office or on the computer upstairs as it is in the living room when I am blogging! I've gotten spoiled and I guess too lazy to use the computer in any other place.

What a stinking bummer!!!!!

I will catch up with you all when I can.

Thanksgiving 2008!!!

2008-11-28T20:50:00.001-06:00

As most of you already know, we had Thanksgiving at our house this year. We were initially going to have Mexican food, but the day before we changed our minds to have the traditional Thankgiving Day meal. We're glad we did!

We had a wonderful time with my family (Mom and two sisters and my sister's husband and their 3 children) coming over.

We had lots of food and LOTS of leftovers! Our menu included; ham, turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, macaroni & cheese, brocolli cheese casserole, rolls, sweet potato pie with candied pecans, and Italian Cream Cake.

You know that I have to share a couple of details here...

I have been meaning to make this Italian Cream Cake after seeing it at Kroger many weeks ago. I had picked it up at Kroger to try it out. It looked delicious! However, because I am cheap and after seeing that 2 small pieces (that's how it was packaged) was going to cost me $2.79, I put it back, saying to myself that I'd make it myself for that much. lol! I remember coming home that night and surfing the net to find a recipe for it. I printed it and left it sitting on my dresser for about a month. Anyhow, I decided to make it as one of our desserts for Thanksgiving. It was FABULOUS! Oh my goodness! However, it was not an easy cake to make and it cost me more than $2.79. I didn't mind though as I got a whole cake and everyone loved it!! I will be making it for Christmas too!

I have another fun story to share. It's short I promise. We wanted a Honey Baked Ham! I had a gift certificate for $40.00 that someone had given us two years ago. So, I figure...perfect time to use it, huh? So, I go to pick up the ham on Wednesday afternoon. The line was out to the parking lot. I was so not wanting to stand in such a long line. When I finally got inside the store to place my order, I saw that other customers were giving the cashier $10 coupon. One of the workers walked past me and I thought I would try asking for a coupon. Hey, when it comes to getting the best deal, I have no problem in asking. All they can do is say, "no", right? Anyhow, I asked the worker if she had a coupon that I could use. She said that they would give me one at the register. By this time, I had picked out my ham which was $51.80. I was thinking..."WOW, I am going to get this ham for $1.80." Not to shabby, huh? Anyhow, I got up to the register and the girl gave me a $10.00 coupon to use. Ready for this? I took out my $40.00 gift certificate. The cashier printed the receipt and gave me $5.00 back. I tried to say something and she immediately stopped me with, "Don't ask." So, I walked out of the store a little perplexed. I got to the car and took out the receipt and saw that they had given me an employee price instead of $51.80. The receipt showed $35.00 and with the $40.00 gift certificate that I had, I got $5.00 back. How's that???? I was tripping out!

Anyhow, here's few pictures of our Thanksgiving Day! Oh, one more thing. I had absolutely nothing to decorate my table with. So, I talked the girls into walking the neighborhood to pick up a bag of leaves for me. They not only picked out some really good leaves, they had a fun time doing it and have already asked if we could make a tradtion of them picking up leaves every Thanksgiving now.

This is a picture of Morgan and my oldest sister, Kelly.

Sorry the picture is lopsided! Jae took it for us!

My mom and all the grandkids, Morgan, Jae, Mckenzie, Madison and Matthew.

My sister, Vickie and her husband Bill and their 3 children.

It was such blessing to spend this time together. I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and would love to read all about yours if you'd like to share it.

NOW IT'S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

My To-Do List Is Out of Control!!!!

2008-11-25T20:34:00.002-06:00

Today was an extremely crazy, busy day for me! Usually when I lay down for the night, for the most part, I don't have a problem going to sleep. Last night, after making out my to-do list for today, I could hardly go to sleep while thinking how in the WORLD I was going to accomplish it all. Well, I didn't accomplish it all, but I got some of the important things out of the way.

I worked until noon. I had to drop Jaelyn off at my sister's house. Morgan had an appointment with a modeling agency at 2:30. I had to stand in a very long line to get my driver's license. Morgan had a doctor's appointment at 4:30. We had to meet back up with my sister to pick up Jae. I had to stop at the store and buy some of the ingredients for our meal for Thanksgiving. To say the least, I am a bit tired and will probably go to bed early tonight......around 11 instead of midnight.

Last week, we received a call from a modeling agency for Morgan after they looked at some photos I submitted. During the course of her interview with them, I started having second thoughts about her doing this. I already knew some of the things that were said, but it just seemed more real today. Some of the things that the lady was asking or saying to Morgan were things like;

1. Do you have tough skin for someone to correct the way you look or what you're wearing?
2. Are you mature enough for this?
3. Can you act professional?
4. It's a tough profession to be in, are you ready for that?
5. You have to always watch what you're eating and keep your figure.
6. You have to exercise.
7. It's very competitive.
8. It's not like America's Next Top Model, the jobs are not just given to you. Whatever that means.

There was other stuff said, but the last thing I remember her saying after was, "Do you still want to do this?" lol!

Morgan didn't skip a beat. "Yes, sure", she said.

On the other hand, I was thinking to myself...."FORGET IT!!!"

I honestly tried to talk Morgan out of it when we got in the car, but she is sold out and really wants to give it a try. Sooooooooooo, we'll do the next couple of things that they have asked us to do and see what happens when new assignments start coming in January.

I was happy to get a new license today since mine was stolen last week. I tell ya, I felt like a criminal driving without a license. Wait! I actually was a criminal. I think I've seen more police cars since last Friday (the day after I had no license) than I've seen all this year!!!! At one time, I seriously starting thinking what if I got pulled over for whatever reason? How would I ever get a cop to feel sorry for me having my purse stolen a few days ago, but I didn't think it was important enough to go and get a new license the next day? I realize now that my priorities were messed up. I should not have worried so much about getting my window fixed the next day and should have gotten a new license. Okay, enough! I got it taken care of today! What a bad example that was, though. Okay! I'll stop!

Oh, last thing....we've decided to do the traditional Thanksgiving meal after all instead of Mexican food. Long story. Don't worry, I'll spare ya the details!

Whew! I'm tired after typing all of this. Aren't you glad??? lol!

No, It's a Lion, Not Mickey Mouse!

2008-11-23T20:13:00.002-06:00

Jae recently had a Disney themed singing program at her school. Parents were asked to make their child's costume. Jae was a lion from "The Lion King" and so we had to make her ears and make sure that she was wearing light tan/brown clothing. We used cardboard and felt to make the ears. We used the form that the teacher sent home right? We actually thought they looked really good!

When we got to school the night of the program, I was somewhat embarrassed how big her ears were. lol! Jae never noticed the difference at all! But, let me tell you .....all the other parents apparently did not use the size that the teacher sent home and made teeny tiny ears for their child. Jae's ears were HUGE!!!! Seriously! When they were up on stage, the main thing that I kept focusing on was how we could definitely (along with the other parents, I am sure) see Jae and her ears sticking out above all the kids.

I am glad that Jae never noticed though. lol!

See for yourself!

Hard Lesson Learned ~ Even for Me!!!

2008-11-21T20:31:00.000-06:00

Okay friends, before you read this, please know that I have called myself stupid many times over this recent incident. Well.....I'm not stupid, but this was a STUPID thing that I did!

Like I tell the ladies at the office, I don't change purses very often because I carry too much stuff in one purse to keep changing back and forth. Sadly (but by my own choice), I only own three purses, two black and one brown one. For the last 20 years when I have changed purse to match the outfit I'm wearing, I've ALWAYS left my other one in the car.

Welllllllllllllllllllll, last night changed that!!!!! I was at the mall and lo and behold when I came back out my back window was broken!!!! Yep, some thief broke my window and took my spare purse. I had just changed purses yesterday morning. Unfortunately, I had a little wallet that I failed to throw into the other purse. The little wallet had my debit card, one credit card and my driver's license.

I was freaking out to say the least. I was able to laugh about this today as I was telling my story at the office. And I won't be able to tell it as well here in this post, but I'll try. When I walked up to my van, I only noticed all the glass on the ground and not my broken window at first. I made the comment to myself that I hadn't noticed the glass when I parked and I was only checking my tires to make sure I hadn't gotten myself a flat. Well, as I FINALLY raised my head, I then saw that the glass was from my own back window, DUH!!!

Okay, this was when I started freaking out!!!

I immediately called 911 and then my bank to close both cards. I must say that I was really, really, really upset about this last night. I was more upset with myself as this was a totally stupid thing to even do in the first place. However, after getting over being upset, I was able to look at this as just another example God's grace.

Ready for this? Right beside my spare purse was a very expensive digital camera (Nikon). Apparently, the thief who broke my window and stole my purse was too DUMB to steal our nice camera. Go figure that one out! I was thanking God big time on this!

The first place that the thief went to was a gas station and tried to get gas. Okay, I didn't know this before but now I'm glad to know that our bank really monitors the purchases that are made on our credit card. Anyhow, they tried to get gas at a place we wouldn't normally go to. Apparently when they tried to put it through, the bank immediately called us (we weren't at home to answer, though) to confirm if we were authorizing a suspicious charge. When the bank couldn't reach us, they automatically rejected the charge and sent a message to the gas station stating that credit card was possibly stolen. This is before we ever even called in to report it. How great is that?????? Wait there's more....they went to another gas station and made a purchase using the debit card. Because they were asked for either our pin or zip code, unfortunately they were able to use it. They had our zip code because my license was in there!
Anyhow, by the time I called and closed out both cards, there had only been the one purchase that they got away with. And, by the way, our bank has already put the money back into our account from the debit card. Anyhow, we were informed later that they later tried to make a purchase at Wal-Mart but the debit card was already closed by this time. Wal-mart has the surveillance tape that they will be releasing to the investigator. I hope the the thief was smiling for the camera!!

One last thing, so I was calling 24 hour glass places last night because I so wanted my window repaired immediately (part of my personality). Anyhow, we were looking at $400 to get it replaced. I had arranged with the company to come to my job today to take care of it. I was not even going to bother with the insurance company because I thought I deductible was the norm, at least $500. Well, lo and behold again in this post, I went ahead and called....Ready for this? Our deductible is $200. I had no idea it was that low. My agent who is absolutely wonderful and who has had our business for the last 18 years encouraged me to file a claim. He said it will not affect our standing with them at all because we were rated as exceptional customers. Okay, I really didn't know that they actually rated us, but okay. Sooooooooo, having the window replaced was painless. Well, I wouldn't normally want to spend $200 in this way, but it definitely beats $400.

Okay so all being said, I learned a hard lesson. I will never leave a purse in my car ever again. In fact, I've decided that I will not change purses at all. Just kidding with you ladies who change your purse out daily. lol!

I am able to make light of this now and I still don't like the fact that they now have our address. However, the investigator said that smashing your window and breaking into your car is one thing, but it's not likely that the same thief will break into your home. We're monitored by an alarm company so I have a little more peace about that.

Okay this really is the last thing, but when I was talking to the bank again today, the representative told me something that I have been thinking about all day which is why I am able to make light of this even more. She said that although this is a huge inconvenience for me, they actually had a young lady's mom call in yesterday to report that someone had snatched her daughter's purse from her while she was walking into a store. Sadly, not only did they take her purse, they also took her life.

So again and all being said, this is really minor in comparsion as to what it could have been.

Thank you God!

So sorry for the long post today. I just didn't have it in me last night to post after all my drama!

I've missed you all today and will be visiting you later tonight!

Have a great weekend!

Thankful Thursday ~ An Adoption Miracle

2008-11-20T00:01:00.004-06:00

Today is a very special Thankful Thursday post.

Some of you already know this, but many of you do not. I share this story only as a testimony of God's grace and just one of the great blessings that He has given to our family.

As I reflect back on this very day, 11-20-04 and of what took place, I am still in awe of how awesome our God is.

The story is very long and could never be told in just one post, but I am happy to share with you briefly.

I've had three miscarriages and never understood until about five years ago why a perfectly healthy woman such as myself had to endure such great pain and brokenheartedness. Each miscarriage that I had to face never got easier. Instead, they only caused more confusion in my mind and the same question was asked over and over, "Why me?" After our last miscarriage, we had pretty much given up on completing our dream of having two children. However, the Lord had other plans...better plans than ours of course.

Today, I am especially THANKFUL for our little Jaelyn. It was on this day four years ago that our adoption became finalized. We truly cannot imagine our lives without her. We met Jae when she was 2-1/2 years old and brought her home right before her 3rd birthday. Our adoption journey is a beautiful story that I wrote about in a book called Journeying Through State Adoption , published two years ago.

I am thankful that God played a major part in saving Jae for our family. There are so many details that worked in our favor that could have only been from the Lord.

I am thankful today that the Lord has completely healed me from all the hurt and pain of the miscarriages I had. He has given me total understanding in this area of my life.

I am thankful that He has and continues to use me to bless others with encouraging words when they have experienced miscarriages.

The list of thankfulness in the area are very long and I could go on and on.

Today, I walk down memory lane with a few pictures our first year with Jaelyn.

The Lord is GOOD!

My first Mother's Day with Jae.

This was taken at Dirk's grandma's home. We were celebrating Jae's 3rd birthday!
Jae and I went on a field trip with Morgan's class.

We were in a huge field of flowers. Jae was terrified, but you would never be able to tell from the pictures.

This was taken at the Alamo in San Antonio. This was our first family vacation with Jae.

Jae's first Christmas with us as her new family.

And our little Jaelyn today!

For more Thankful Thursday posts, please visit Iris at Grace Alone.

Lookie, Lookie!!!

2008-11-17T22:56:00.000-06:00

I received an email last Thursday from Jaelyn's teacher advising me that Jae was going to be recognized with an award this past Friday morning.

Mind you that Dirk and I had plans to leave town early Friday morning for our trip, but we wouldn't have missed this for anything.

During the school assembly friday, Jae received the"Exceptional Character" award. I don't know who was more proud, Jae or us!

Look at the proud look on her face from the time she walked to the stage to the time when I was able to take a picture of her holding the award in front of her.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

2008-11-16T23:17:00.000-06:00

Hey friends! WOW! I sure missed you ladies! I guess I really, really do like this blogging stuff! lol! However, I enjoyed getting away with my sweetheart more!

So, here's what I planned.

I planned a weekend getaway for us to go to Fredericksburg to a bed and breakfast. Fredericksburg is roughly five hours from where we live. We have many friends who love bed and breakfasts. We'd never had the experience and so I thought that it would be something fun and different. I was right!! It was fun and wayyyyyyyyyyy different!

We stayed at the place called Trois Estate at Enchanted Rock. And since it was our first time to experience a bed and breakfast, we really didn't know what to expect exactly. Okay, Dirk loved the place. I liked it just okay. It was a very clean place which scored big time in my book. It was just really different and really strange.

The are ten rooms on the property. Every room is built out of stone including the shower and the floors. The owner's home was also located on the property. Get this... the owner's home was underground. Yep, built underground! We were given a tour of the premises by one of the workers. I must say that the owner has a very different/strange collection. In just one building was a whole collection of cap guns. They were all locked away and nicely displayed in beautiful glass tables. There were hundreds of them displayed in glass top tables and glass cases. Seriously, no joke! We were told that this little collection was valued over 2 million dollars and that it is the largest cap gun collection in the world! How ridiculous, huh?

Once we got checked in Friday afternoon and toured the place, we decided to go out and explore the city a little bit. We did a little shopping downtown and then ate at this neat little German restaurant. We had never tried German food before. It was really good. It was also reasonably priced which made the experience even better. The only complaint was that they only took American Express, Discover or personal check. I've never heard of any place not accepting a Visa card before. Since we only had our debit card with the Visa logo on it and a checkbook, Dirk had to write a check for dinner. That was weird!

Saturday morning, we were treated to a wonderful breakfast at Trois. The dining room was the only room that I didn't think was totally weird. Well, except for the glass top tables that had weird things locked away inside them such as; pipes, indian artifacts, fossils, skulls (primate, maybe human!), and straight razors to name a few.

It was soooooooooooooooo relaxing not being on a schedule and not having to take care of anyone for just a little while!!! We had left our girls in very good hands and just didn't have to worry about them at all which was a huge blessing.

Saturday afternoon, we toured the place more on our own and took pictures. We later went into town to do more browsing at different stores, sight seeing around the city and ate out again.
Now that I write this....we did a lot of eating this weekend and WE DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK ANY OF IT!!!

I could share more, but I will share some of the pictures with you all and I am WAY behind of reading your blogs to see what's happening in your world.

All being said, Dirk was very happy with what I'd planned which is all that matters.
He did tell me at the end that I was truly a Ritz Carlton kind of girl. lol!

Anyhow, here are a few pictures of our weekend.

See You Soon

2008-11-14T07:06:00.006-06:00

Remember, I had something special planned for Dirk's Birthday??? Anyhow, we're finally celebrating his 40th b-day this weekend! I will tell you ALLLLLLLLL about it on Sunday!

Have a great weekend friends!

Thankful Thursday ~ Life

2008-11-12T22:41:00.003-06:00

This week our host Iris at Grace Alone has chosen the theme, life ~ physical and spiritual.

Earlier this week, I was reminded of how blessed our family is in that we're all pretty healthy. More specifically, I was thinking that until Morgan was in eighth grade, she never missed a day of school. Jae is now in second grade and just missed her first day this year. I just celebrated my 15th year at my job and have more than 700 hours in sick time accrued. Dirk is the same as being healthy. I am very thankful that other than minor aches and pains, our family has nevered endured a big sickness. Thank you Lord!

As far as my spiritual life. I have been on a strong path the last several months with being in the Word more. I have been able to maintain a consistent study pattern. However, I am far from where I WANT and NEED to be. I grew up in church, but had no idea until later in life what was really required of me to have a close, personal, and intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father. As with any relationship, it's hard work, but so worth it. When I say hard work, I think of the constant disappointments that I have brought to Him; such as broken promises, disobedience, lack of communication, and on and on. I am thankful that my Father is gracious and merciful to not only forgive me when I ask... but remembers it no more.

I truly can't imagine a life of hopeless wandering and without following Jesus!

I've Been Invited...

2008-11-11T19:19:00.002-06:00

and I am totally not afraid to admit 15 things about me.

Here goes:

1. I can't leave home without ALL beds made. Crazy, I know!
2. I sit on the floor in my closet to have my quiet time in the Word.
3. My house must be cleaned (for the robbers) before leaving for a vacation
4. I am severely OCD about some things. I betcha you already figured as much!
5. Germs tend to freak me out.
6. I don't watch much TV. If it were up to me, we wouldn't own any.
7. I love to scrapbook and to blog
8. I weighed 95 pounds when I married. Trust me, I wasn't comfortable with it.
9. I have to wear socks to bed at night, actually a pair of Dirk's sock.
10. I don't ride roller coasters
11. I love to play the arcade game Pac-Man and have one sitting in my gameroom.
12. I MUST have at least one Coke a day
13. I don't do well being unorganized
14. I must have my to-do-list written out each day
15. I collect crosses and hang them up all over my home

Thank you to my new blogging buddies over at Shortybears Place and Speaking from the Heart for tagging me with this.

I am supposed to tag others, but I think that this is fun and whoever is reading and wish to pick up this tag and come along, please do so.

I really enjoyed doing it. Now you know even more strange and interesting things about me. LOL!