God Wanted Us Where?

So, what have we been doing?

2011-07-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

We have allowed this blog to fall horribly behind. It gets to a point that you don't want to post because its been so long, but we need to post to remind ourselves why we've been so busy. There's not enough space or time to write about it all, so I will have to rely on pictures.

Joshua earned his Arrow of Light award and crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. He quickly became active with a local Boy Scout Troop and a week later was visiting Stennis Space Center and camping on the coast. Just a few weeks later he was off to northern Arkansas for Scout Camp for seven days. (Mom did ok).

We have had the opportunity to raise a garden with the help of our neighbors. They graciously offered to plow up some land and to give us a section to give it a try. The boys have been really enjoying it and it is exciting to see so much come from such little seeds. So far we are getting okra, yellow squash, and corn. We have about one more week and the cantaloupes will be ready, and our acorn squash will be behind them.

Now then, our squash is quite prolific, so if you are around and need any please come by! We are eating it like crazy, freezing it, and giving it away, but it keeps on coming! The beef, chicken, squash, pineapple kabobs turned out good, but one can only eat so much. We will have the same issue with the cantaloupes and acorn squash once they are ready.

We have also been busy just working in the yard. We cut a tree on the side of our yard and just a week later a storm came in and took out a large oak next to it. Two trees out really changed that side of the yard. At least it helped me have an excuse to buy a new chainsaw.

We have also had the opportunity to discover a few new places around the area. One of these is Brent's Soda Fountain. It is the old Brent's Drugs founded in 1946 that they kept the soda shop and converted the rest into a burger joint. It is a neat place and the boys really enjoy it.

This past week we had dirt and six pallets of sod delivered to try to get areas that have never seen grass covered. It looks like it will take about two more pallets but it will look really nice once it is all done. Unfortunately, as we were trying to spread dirt and lay sod Friday and Saturday we had thunder storms and torrential down pours. It did make having mud fights with the boys a lot easier.

It has been a really busy summer with both of our jobs and with Kristina going to school as well. She takes her semester finals tomorrow night and will have a break for a few weeks. We are leaving for Pensacola Beach Tuesday for some down time and then we will have one week before the boys start back to school. It's hard to believe that we will have one in middle school. They are growing up so fast.

Hopefully we can keep everyone up to date better going forward. No promises.

I have a blog?

2011-05-07T21:07:00.004-05:00

I was browsing my facebook feed tonight and clicked over to my profile. I noticed the link to my blog and realized I have sort of abandoned it. I guess I should work on that, but life has been busy. As of March I started back to school. Somehow those 115 hours of credit I have from the late 90's don't mean much if I don't have the degree. Working full time and going to school a couple nights a week can be draining, but hopefully it will all be worth it.

In other news my kids are growing up way too fast. I will have a sixth grader in August, and I am not ready for Middle School. I guess I will just have to deal with it.

The picture above is from Easter. We rarely dress up, so we had to get a picture to commemorate the occasion.

Hopefully, I will find a few minutes to blog again within the next five months.

Boys and their toys

2010-12-29T19:06:00.001-06:00

YouTube Video

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Christmas Traditions

2010-12-25T15:28:00.004-06:00

As John and I began putting decorations away, I remembered our longest running Christmas tradition. In 1995, John and I celebrated our first Christmas as husband and wife. To honor this special event, we purchased an engraved ornament. Being young and clueless, we didn't know much about ornaments. We went to the local Wal-mart and picked out an ornament that could be engraved. They didn't have a machine to do the engraving back then, so the nice lady at the jewelry counter free handed it. The next year we discovered the Things Remembered Kiosk in the Denton mall, and they became our place to get ornaments for many years. When we moved to Mississippi, we faced a new challenge. The nearest Things Remembered was in Monroe, LA. Not exactly convenient, but we drove to Monroe to keep with tradition. The next year we discovered New England Ornaments and began ordering online. Much easier than driving to Monroe.
This year we broke from tradition in that we ordered ornaments early. We will not be repeating this next year since John and I ordered the exact same ornament this year as last. In years past we have gotten the ornaments out and reviewed them to be sure we didn't duplicate. Oh well, it makes for a fun memory.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T13:26:00.005-06:00

In 2005, we began the tradition of going to a Hibachi Grill for Christmas Eve dinner. This year was no exception. Even though Jacob complains a lot and insists he doesn't like Hibachi, we press on. This year he discovered some items on the menu that agreed with him, so the complaining was much less. I guess our perseverance paid off.In 2007, we began the tradition of including a family photo with our Christmas card. Here is this year's photo. I love looking at previous year's photos and seeing how much we change year to year.We have several other traditions that are essential. On Christmas eve the kids open one present each, but I get to choose which one. It is always pajamas. Once the boys have their new PJs on, John reads the Christmas story. This year was a little different in that the boys read the story. Jacob read from the book of Matthew and Joshua from the book of Luke. I like this new twist on the tradition.

On Christmas morning, the boys get up to tear into all the loot. Santa isn't a big player around here. He usually leaves a couple of things in the stockings, but we've never really put emphasis on him. This year the boys got lots of bigger kid toys. The go kart and doodlebug are sure to keep me on edge, but the boys love them. They also got DSI XL's and various video games. Jacob asked for Lego's, but not little kid Legos. He wanted Star War Legos with lots of little pieces. I am just hopeful he will keep them picked up and out of the dogs reach. Oscar loves to eat little toys. After the gifts are opened, John makes breakfast. This year he treated us to cinnamon rolls using a recipe from the Pioneer Woman. According to the recipe, it makes 8 servings.She must be serving some hungry people, because the above picture is what we had left after we finished breakfast. I think breakfast may last all day. They were very yummy.

Now to go enjoy more of this lovely day with my family. Merry Christmas.

It has to be close to Christmas when you hear this on the radio

2010-12-11T07:08:00.001-06:00

Finally heard it for the first time this year on Thursday while running some errands. The holiday season must be here.

Trick or Treat

2010-10-30T19:44:00.001-05:00

Joshua didn't have a preference as to what he was going to be for Halloween and Jacob was going to be a baseball player. After watching tv last night we got the idea for Joshua to be a chick magnet and then Jacob decided to be a letter to the Great Pumpkin.

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It's time to get home

2010-10-27T07:52:00.001-05:00

Now on the last day of the trip all I look forward to is getting home. Back just three years ago home time was the rarity and hotel life was the norm. I don't miss those days.

With that said, downtown Tampa is a nice area, especially now while the humidity is low.

Just watch out for the iguanas.

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Waiting to board the plane

2010-10-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

I am at the Jackson airport waiting to go to Tampa for the next few days to attend an industry conference. As I am sitting here I am reminded how much I do not miss the days that I flew out every week. Things are much better now.

I have been working on a couple of "putt-putt" holes for the fall festival coming up at church and here are the results.

Friday night Jacob was able to go to an overnight sleepover birthday party for one of his friends at school. He had a blast, but it was a bit of a stretch for Kristina as we had never met the parents until we dropped him off. It all went well, and it gave us a chance to have an evening with just Joshua. Jacob doesn't like Japanese food, but we love it so we took this opportunity to visit Stix. Joshua decided that he was going to eat with chopsticks and did great.

Now I am going to use the next bit of time that I am in the air to catch up on some reading. I hope the next few days pass quickly.

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More pics

2010-10-21T21:59:00.002-05:00

The post below had to be broken up due to size, so here's the rest.

The boys on their first ride at the fair.

My first tree after being "certified". I learned how to estimate where the top of the tree would fall. I missed by less than 18 inches, I'm happy.

Now I'm working to build two holes of a miniature golf course for our fall festival at church. Pictures to follow later.

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Let's catch up with pictures

2010-10-21T06:26:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since the last update. Since then it has been non-stop with lots of scouting and not a lot of rest. Also in that time frame I have been through chain saw training with the Baptist Men Disaster relief team and we experienced our first ever Mississippi State Fair as well as our annual Merchants Foodservice sales banquet.

Webelos learning new knot tying skills.

One of the best inventions ever-a propane powered coffee pot.

Sunday was our friend Thomas's birthday and this is the cake that Sharon made for him. Only in Mississippi do you find a crawfish boil cake.

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Dressing Up

2010-10-09T12:16:00.003-05:00

Twice a year we get to play dress up. Last night was the first of these events. We attended the annual Sales Banquet for John's company. In December, we will attend my company's Christmas Party. That means I will get to wear the above dress one more time, before it is banished to a life of hanging in the closet.I wanted to include last year's picture, just for fun. I really like last years dress. I may have to convince John we need a fancy date night so I have an excuse to wear it again. It's not that I don't like to dress up, I just don't have many opportunities. We definitely need to change that fact.

Boredom is the Enemy

2010-09-25T20:13:00.004-05:00

Today was a great day in that we had nothing planned. John went to work for a few hours and I cleaned house. When John got home he asked what I wanted to do. My response, clean house and clear the leaves off the back patio. Fall is definitely here, so clearing the leaves has become a regular Saturday task. Anyway, it didn't take long for him to clear the patio, and then boredom set in. We should all know by now what happens when my dear husband gets bored. Presenting, the partially demolished patio. This fun project was originally slated for November, however, we were contemplating delaying it until February to ensure enough reserve funds to cover incidentals. Judging from today's events, this has been moved up to October, possibly September.
A little background on this less than fun project. The previous owner of this wonderful abode built the patio on over the existing roof. There is currently a leak that we believe is at the point where the patio roof joins the old roof. It does not leak in the house, but it does leak on the patio. It is causing the soffits to rot out, so it has to be corrected. Whenever we remove the actual roof from the patio, we will have to put new shingles on at least two sections of the roof. Since we have never shingled before, it should be interesting. But as John says, "I saw it in a cartoon once." The only major challenge today was avoiding the rage of red wasps. Of course, John arose victorious. I just enjoyed sitting on the patio taking it all in. My pink roses are quite pretty.

Happy Birthday my Love

2010-09-21T05:16:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday John. It has been another amazing year. Thank you for all you do. You are a loving and devoted husband, father, and friend. My life is blessed beyond measure because you are the man God called you to be. I'm looking forward to another great year. I love you.

Memaw and the zipline

2010-09-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

I don't know how I have forgotten to post this here, (but to my credit it is already on Facebook and YouTube) but here it is. I give you Memaw riding the Zipline. ------

YouTube Video

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Labor Day

2010-09-06T21:34:00.001-05:00

Once the plumbing was back in working order we made our first trip to the Vicksburg National Park.

After that the boys got to go fishing. Joshua got the first and smallest, Jacob caught the next five, and Joshua finished with about a four pound catfish.

All in all it was a great day.

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Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-06T16:19:00.010-05:00

In honor of the Labor Day weekend, John's parents came to visit. They arrived Saturday around lunch time and left Sunday after church. Once they left, John needed a project to fill the next two days. Boredom gets him into trouble every time. The man cannot just sit still and enjoy some down time. I now present, project number one - clearing the front flower beds. It is true that the front flower beds have been badly neglected. When we bought the house, they were overrun with twisted and mangled shrubs that looked awful. We wasted no time removing the shrubs and planting some mums. Two years later, and that is all we have done. To make matters worse, we have not done any maintenance, so the few remaining mums were surrounded by weeds and in need of pruning. John's solution - till it all up and start fresh, possibly with Azaleas. Sounds good so far. Off we go to till it up. Oops! Apparently, the main water line into our house runs right under the front flower bed. Enter, project number two - replace the broken copper pipe. This was not as simple as it sounded. John has never worked with copper pipe, and he was less than anxious to learn how. So, he cut out the section that was broken, and off we went to Home Depot to review our options. There was a really nice guy in the plumbing section, that offered some helpful tips. We bought 10 foot sections of 3/4" copper tubing, 1/2" copper tubing, and PVC pipe, lots of shark bite connectors and other miscellaneous supplies. Just over $100 later, I was starting to think calling a plumber might have been the smarter option. Once we got home, John hooked everything up, and water shot out of one of the shark bite connections. Because of the angle of one of the connections, the pipe needed to be soldered.
On to plan B - watch online "how to" videos to learn to solder. John watched a few videos, and we made another trip to Home Depot. This time we bought flux, a soldering kit, a small torch and other miscellaneous supplies. Just over $70 later, well over $100 later if you count eating dinner out since we had no water, I was beginning to rethink my decision not to call a plumber. We stopped at Walmart and picked up some bottled water to get us through the evening. John got up first thing Monday morning, and restored the water. He quickly mastered soldering and can now add that skill to his impressive list of talents.

In addition to replacing the pipe, he also installed a main shut off and spliced into the pipe to run water to the faucets in the back yard. The previous owner just had a pipe running from the front faucet and it looked pretty tacky. He did a great job and now we can move on the finishing the original project. Oh wait, since we spent our plant money on plumbing supplies, I guess the flower beds will remain bare. At least John learned some new skills and he definitely stayed busy. No boredom here.

The zipline is down

2010-09-01T21:28:00.001-05:00

Evidently our Sunday night rains brought down a big enough branch to bring down our zipline. The fun part will be stretching it back up.

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Weekend at Roosevelt State Park

2010-08-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

This weekend Kristina's work had a family picnic at Roosevelt state park complete with bounce houses, dunking booths, giant slides, and of course a mechanical bull.

YouTube Video

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Settling In

2010-08-23T17:00:00.002-05:00

June marked two years since we purchased our own piece of paradise in this quaint little town. Mississippi is not where I imagined spending the bulk of my existence, but here we are, and I must admit, it's a great place to be.
Now on to the reason for this foray into blog land. Today, I passed another milestone in the game of life in Mississippi. I established a primary care physician. I know, it's a big step. Since I don't foresee another move in our future, it is probably time to lay down some roots. The fact that my head felt like it might explode helped expedite the doctor visit, but I was going to go for a checkup anyway, at some point, maybe. It's not that I am opposed to going to the doctor, it just takes time. Time that I don't have. Two shots and four prescriptions later, my head still hurts, but it should all be better tomorrow. If I'd know I was that sick, I wouldn't have gone to work this morning. That would have been way more fun than just skipping out a little early. Oh well, you live and learn. I will however take a whole day off in a few weeks. My new PCP is sending me to a plastic surgeon to have a few moles removed. He didn't lecture too much about fair skin and sun exposure, so we should get along just fine. One more reason to love where God has led us.

Before and after

2010-08-06T22:11:00.001-05:00

YouTube Video

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Earthy Sage

2010-07-27T21:34:00.003-05:00

That is the color we chose for the family room. I love it. It looks like it was meant for the room. In addition to the paint, we added new ceiling fans and lights. The lovely floor will stay for now due to budget constraints. The black and white checkered pattern isn't my favorite, but I can live with it. Actually, I am okay with the pattern, I'm just not a fan of vinyl tile. It will be nice to replace it with a better quality material. All in due time. The next step in this fun project will be to get the crown molding and base boards installed on the new wall. We are also replacing all the off white outlets with white outlets. The doors are also getting fresh coats of paint. So far it is going smoothly, so we should have no problem finishing well before out August 6th deadline.

So much for the rest from projects

2010-07-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

So we had decided that we are going to take a break for a while from projects. Let's see how that worked out. Our Sunday school class was trying to decide where to have a class get together with room for kids and bounce houses. We offered ours since we have plenty of room inside and out along with the pool. Obviously this means we need to cram in some projects or it wouldn't be a get together at our house.

We have been wanting to work on updating our "big room" with new paint, some new light fixtures and ceiling fans, and a new tile floor. For this round we will be painting the walls and installing new ceiling fans. The problem is that two walls had a bad case of painted wallpaper and the easiest way to fix it is going to be replacing the drywall.

By doing this we have exposed the plumbing from the kitchen sink and this is the ideal time to fix a couple of other issues we have been wanting to address. The first one is that the sink drain is angled through two cabinets and by doing so wastes a lot of space. We will be replumbing this to flow straight back, which will also make it much easier down the road when we decide to update the kitchen.

The second involves the condensation drain from one of our central air units. The former owner was a creative do it yourselfer (?) and had the water draining to an auto pump that pushed it through a hose, into the attic, and out the side of our house. Not the prettiest solution or the most comforting, especially with the age of the unit and the fact that he is using the light fixture as a mount for the hose.

So, not an extremely exciting summer post, but now you know what our time will be consumed with.

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Good news from the MRI

2010-07-06T19:50:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to drop a quick update to say that my Doctor called this afternoon with the results of my MRI. He said that there was no tear of my rotator cuff or tendons, and that the muscle was healing well. Luckily I have been taking it easy (you know, moving wood, planting trees, pressure washing the patio, gazebo, driveway, etc). Now I feel better that I wasn't causing an injury to get worse. The doctor said to use it, but to continue to favor it until it is back to full strength. I hope to start working out again now, but I will be taking it easier than I would like to for a while.

Now to remember that I am not as young as I sometimes would like to be.

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Summer Fun building forts

2010-07-05T09:39:00.001-05:00

Both of my children have queen size beds, yet they choose to build forts and sleep in the family room. Oh, to be young again.

When's break time

2010-07-04T13:34:00.006-05:00

The last weekend of June was spent planting trees in the front yard. Now it's time to move on to the backyard. Silly me thinking we would take a break for the holiday weekend.The gazebo and fence started the weekend a little weathered. My awesome husband power washed and stained them both. They look wonderful. Just ignore the mess we made of the grass, it'll recover. Wheel barrowing and shoveling pea gravel was my contribution. John was probably doing more than he should with his injured shoulder, but at least he let me do some of the heavy lifting. He went to the doctor on Thursday for his follow up visit and had to have an MRI since it is not healing as fast as the doctor would like. We should have the results on Tuesday of this week. Hopefully it is just a torn muscle that will heal on its own with time. We would like to avoid surgery if possible.

The Mohawks are back

2010-06-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

Now every day is wacky hair day.

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Continuing the clearing of the front yard

2010-06-20T20:23:00.003-05:00

Friday night we got home and started burning the huge pile of branches in the back yard that we hauled there thinking that we would burn it all there. We decided after a few truck and trailer loads that there would be too much to move and decided to burn the rest in the front yard as we cut it. After we got the pile in the back started we lit the front pile and got both of them burnt down, even though the one in the front was burning into Saturday afternoon.

Now the only thing left in the front yard are some pieces of one trunk. I am hoping that someone needs firewood and gets these pieces first. It is amazing how hard it is to give away free firewood when it is 98 degrees outside. The stakes are for our next phase. We cut down 6 trees and are going to plant 12 Crape Myrtles along our driveway. We are still looking and deciding what variety to buy.

And we still need to get the stumps ground out. We have someone that is supposed to come tomorrow to give us an estimate. We got one before I cut the trees down and I am hoping that this one will be less. I cut them all pretty low so that they aren't having to grind any more than necessary.

Here is the better part of four trees. There are two that I drug to the back yard that I will probably cut for myself, and someone already came and filled their truck with a load. If you need some good firewood you really need to come by. Bring a truck and a chainsaw, and someone with strength to help load it. I would help but I did something to my shoulder trying to load the last pieces left in the front yard. I am sure that there will be more about that in a future post.

Look, I can see my house again

2010-06-14T20:26:00.005-05:00

We made lots of progress on the yard today. Hopefully by next weekend the huge piles of debris will be a distant memory.

Catching Up

2010-06-13T18:35:00.002-05:00

Its been over two weeks since we posted anything, so I thought that I would share what we have been up to since summer break started.

Using an infared game camera we found out where our dog food has been going. Rather than try to trap the huge raccoon we moved the food inside. With his size I am pretty sure that he has been here longer than we have.

We made a trip to Texas on Memorial Day weekend for a very quick visit with family and to enjoy the annual "Big Deal" family reunion. Of course Oscar made the ride interesting. We thought several times about how we wish we had sprung for the $85 kennel stay.

We are now working a little on our front yard. We had six trees that were partially dead, poor health, in the wrong spot, or that we just didn't like so we cut them down yesterday. We still have work to do to get all of the debris removed and the stumps cut down to be ready for grinding, but the stressful portion is over. We have power lines on two sides of our front yard and they never met a tree so I consider the day a success.

This was the worst tree. It was huge and rotten through the middle with all of it's branches growing towards the road and the power line. Lots of chain and prayer were used.

Here is the yard with all six down. We will update more as we get time. Our plan is to line the driveway with crepe myrtles approximately every 20 feet, so we will need 10 to make that happen. We may not get all of them right away because we want to buy pretty good sized ones, but we will see.

Joshua and the zip line

2010-05-26T19:41:00.002-05:00

The Zip Line is Active

2010-05-24T21:08:00.005-05:00

Today was a productive day. The flashing and roof made it on the treehouse, and the trap door and ladder were put in.

We still need to put in the railing for the balcony and the ladder to get to the zip line landing, but that shouldn't take long. It will require a trip to Lowes or Home Depot for some long 2x4s, but that should be all. We still need to get some paint to trim out the door and windows, but we are not in a hurry for that, maybe after Memorial Day.

Here Joshua is trying the zip line (with my help getting on). Until we get the ladder built and a step to make it easier for them to get on the trolley it requires some assitance.

And it's Jacob's turn.

Unfortunately with all the fun, Joshua got pulled back too far and caught the edge of the metal roof which required the first change to the design:

Kinda hard to see, but the edges of the metal roof are now protected by a split section of garden hose.

It's been said that the hardest part about bringing up boys is keeping them alive until they're 18 because if the can climb on it they will jump off of it. We may need to alter the phrase to "they will jump off of it or their Dad will build a zip line from it". OK, we may not see that quote taking off, but it does apply here.

Backyard progress

2010-05-17T06:31:00.000-05:00

End of the zip line. 228 feet starting above the treehouse and ending at this tree.

Treehouse so far, still needs paint, roof, balcony, and zip line launch pad. Zip line barely visible above the treehouse.

After three weeks the grass is going strong. Hopefully within the next month the gazebo will be restained.

We are ready for a slow down with baseball winding down in a couple of weeks. At the same time the treehouse should be complete and we can take a break and enjoy everything. That is, until we decide to start redoing our family room.

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Projects never end

2010-05-05T17:44:00.006-05:00

Life would be simpler if we could just take it one project at a time. Not likely to happen. The tree house is still in progress, but is waiting for funding. By the end of May to early June we should have siding purchased. Once the siding is up the roof can go on and the platform for the zip line can be built. Apparently, no tree house is complete without a 250 foot zip line. My heart may not survive, but at least the boys will be having fun.

In addition to the tree house the yard continues to take up way too much time. Our wonderful neighbor, Burt, came over and spread some more dirt to fill in the ruts (see above) from our last dirt moving adventure. Hopefully, the grass will spread quickly and we can have a green front yard. Even without grass, it is looking better thanks to these lovely flowers. I love finding such beautiful surprises. In the midst of these time and money gobblers, we had several days of rain. As we sat in the house, since it was too wet to play (credit Dr. Seuss), John began to ponder a fascinating question. What does the floor under the bar in the family room look like? Being the unsuspecting wife I am, I said, I don't know, we should move it and see. Of course, once you remove the bar, you have to remove the light from over the bar and the chair rail. Okay, now removing the backing from the old wall paper (yes, the previous owners just painted over the wall paper) and painting the family room has been added to the "to do" list. And yes, that is vinyl record wallpaper and blue walls. We may take the easy way out and just replaced the sheet rock. Removing 20 year old (at least) wall paper is not my idea of fun. I found an old picture to show what the room looked like with the bar. We are planning to put a pool table in the room, so it made sense to move out the bar. Okay, so there was plenty of room even with the bar, but we get bored when we don't have something to tear up.

Saturday at the laundry mat

2010-04-24T13:09:00.000-05:00

Some day I will be cool and have a high capacity washer and dryer. Until then an occasional trip to the laundry is necessary to wash the kid's comforters. At least John and the kids are having fun.

-- Post From My iPhone

Fun with tractors and dirt

2010-04-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

So two weeks ago I borrowed a tractor to spread a few loads of dirt and got it all spread, but only after getting it stuck a couple of times and leaving MANY ruts in the yard.

Today I tilled up the entire back yard, raked it out smooth, and seeded it all.

Hopefully within 12 days we will have lots of seedlings popping up.

And once again got a tractor stuck.

-- Post From My iPhone

Coldish

2010-04-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

That's how Jacob described the water. The outside air temp is only 78 degrees, so I won't be swimming today. I think my kids must be tougher than me.

-- Post From My iPhone

The treehouse progresses

2010-04-11T09:50:00.001-05:00

Framed in the garage....

Then moved wall at a time to the tree. Hopefully the door and rope ladder will be done next weekend.

-- Post From My iPhone

Tractors, tillers, & snakes, oh my

2010-04-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

That pretty much sums up the weekend. I love Spring!

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We need a new (insert tool name here)

2010-03-28T14:13:00.007-05:00

I hear that phrase pretty often. It is usually followed by a list of all the projects that could be completed if we just had a certain tool. Our latest addition to John's tool collection is a table saw. Okay, so the circular saw was the newest edition, but the table saw was the fanciest new addition. His last table saw burned up sometime last summer, so he needed a new one. Since we purchased this fine piece of machinery, I have been promised new shelving systems in all the closets. All I have to do now is find the money for the materials. Somewhere behind top soil, sod, and a tree house the closets will be decked out. I can hardly wait. Plus, as an added bonus, John gets a new toy. He is so spoiled.

Tree House Fun

2010-03-28T13:57:00.006-05:00

John began the process of building the kids a tree house. We have lived here for almost two years, and he has been talking about building one since we moved in. We finally decided it was time to get started. As John was plotting his design and calculating materials needed, the April issue of Popular Mechanics arrived. What timing. The photo above is from said issue of Popular Mechanics. As soon as he saw it, John knew that would be our tree house. Our original design had support posts at each of the four corners. He was excited to find this design since it will not require supports to be on the ground. He was dreading mowing around the supports. Anyway, with the design chosen we made some progress this weekend. The floor is complete. John has drawn out the rest of the plans and made a list of supplies, so now we just need to incorporate it into the next couple months budget. Hopefully it will make the cut, but it may get shifted to June. I think Aprils fun money is going for top soil, and May for Sod. So far June is still available. I hope the tree house wins out. If not, the kids are having fun with just the platform. They're pretty easy to please.

Socks the declawed cat

2010-03-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

I had to pick Socks up from the Vet this morning. She is now spayed and declawed. We decided replacing our furniture was pointless unless we declawed the cat. Now the challenge is to keep her from jumping up on everything while her feet heal. So far I'm not doing a very good job. When we got home she ate a little and then started running around trying to get the bandages off her feet. I hope she feels better soon and doesn't have complications.

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15 years later

2010-03-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

I don't have a picture from our wedding to upload with me so I went back a couple more years. Today is fifteen years since I married my best friend and we started this adventure together. I can honestly say this has been a wonderful fifteen years and it continues to get better. I love you Kristina!

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Location:Sunray Dr,Jackson,United States

Class of 2020

2010-02-25T09:55:00.002-06:00

My kids are in fourth grade and second grade. I try to live in the moment and not think too much about where we'll be in the next few years. This morning, I was forced to think ahead. At the end of Jacob's second grade program they held up a banner that said "Class of 2020" as they sang "I'm Proud to Be an American". Wow, class of 2020. It will be here before we know it. That's only ten years away. Joshua is ten. He will be in the class of 2018. When I think how fast the last ten years have flown, it is overwhelming to think how quickly the next ten will pass. Yes, a few tears were shed as I realized how quickly they are growing up.

Guess what time it is

2010-02-23T19:20:00.004-06:00

It's time for a new home improvement project. Like so many of our projects this one started simple enough. We set out to purchase a bed for Joshua's room. He currently has an antique set that belonged to John's great grandparents. It isn't in the greatest shape, so we decided it was time to upgrade. The original plan was to get him a full size bed since we already had a full size mattress set and a nice chest of drawers. That plan didn't materialize. As we were browsing the furniture store, the nice salesman informed us that they had a special going where you could get a free mattress and box spring if you purchased a bedroom set. Did he say free? Wow, we must buy now.

Can you guess what happened next? We caved and bought Joshua a whole new bedroom suit. It is a queen size bed with a dresser, mirror, and night stand. Wait, it gets better. Due to this awesome deal, we decided to go ahead and buy a new master bedroom suit as well. Don't try to make sense of our logic. Just go with it. We rationalized that we could pass our current bedroom suit down to Jacob. Now all three bedrooms will have queen size beds. This will make it easier when we have overnight guests. I realized the holes in the logic, but humor me.

Anyway, at this point we realized that the kids will need new bedding since they are getting bigger beds. Off to Kohl's where bedding was on sale. I love sales. The boys each picked out a comforter set and we made a trek to Lowe's for paint. We chose a paint color that would work with both to make the project a little easier. Now both kids have fresh paint, and the furniture will be delivered this week. I still have to get new curtains and curtain rods. Also, we are going to put a new ceiling fan in Joshua's room. Not too big a project so far. We decided to wait to repaint the master bedroom. I didn't want to rush to pick out bedding and paint. That will most likely be a summer or fall project. Our next slated project involves lots of digging, installing drainage, and laying sod. We are all about the fun.

And another week goes by

2010-02-23T18:44:00.004-06:00

I really have gotten behind on this whole blog thing, so I guess now is as good a time as any to play catch up. On February 15th, my Joshua turned ten. We had a small celebration on his birthday, and then he had a party with friends this past Sunday at Gatti town. Candy Lee sang to him, and then they all danced. After that they dispersed into the game room and everyone did their own thing. Jacob was making me laugh because he only wanted to play the games that gave you tickets. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I would definitely recommend Gatti town for parties. Happy Birthday my handsome Joshua. I love you.

Another reason John is Awesome

2010-02-13T22:16:00.003-06:00

He put the washing machine up on blocks and fixed it. He is the greatest. Yesterday as I attempted to do laundry, it started leaking. It began as a little leak, and quickly became a big leak. I decided to call it a day, since washing one load produced another load of towels from cleaning the mess. Today, my strong, handsome husband came to the rescue. The pump was replaced and we are back in business. A $55 pump was a whole lot easier to handle than a new washing machine, although I wouldn't mind having a new front load washer. John told everyone that I have been washing bricks while he's not home so that I can get one. I guess I'll have to try something else. It's hard to score a new washer when he's so good at fixing the one I got.

Jacob's so funny

2010-02-12T12:33:00.003-06:00

Learning to play

2010-02-12T11:09:00.004-06:00

I must admit, I am not good at just playing. That being said, I was excited about having a day at home today. I was plotting all the things I intended to accomplish. Lots of laundry and ironing, cleaning out closets, mopping floors, sorting through paperwork, filling out Joshua's birthday invites. The list goes on and on.
As the morning progressed, I started all my fun. Around 7 I sent John a picture of the water seeping out from under my washing machine. I told him I would be needing to purchase a front load washing machine this weekend. He didn't go for it. He seems to think that the washer is leaking because of a loose connection. He said he would fix it this weekend. I am still using it. It is only leaking in the front, and it is still washing fine. I only have three load left and then I will be good for a few days. On to the ironing. When I plugged the iron in this morning, it would start to heat up and then it would just start spitting out water and making a mess. It wouldn't stay hot. I decided to take it apart and see if I could figure out the problem. I learned that it is made of really cheap plastic, so it is now in the trash.

As the morning went on I started to think about a sermon I heard this week. The man spoke about God's Will for our lives. He talked about God speaking to us through providential circumstances. I decided God was telling me to go play. He gave me a gift today. I get to spend a day at home with my kids. I get to see their joy as they play in the snow. I get to just slow down and enjoy my blessings. I had no intention of going outside to play, I had too much to do. I am so thankful that God slowed me down and changed my focus. Life is good, ironing can wait.

It's Saturday! (also known as day 13)

2010-02-06T08:49:00.002-06:00

We have become thankful for Saturdays because it means we get to sleep in at least to 7 or 8. Last night was twelve nights of workouts in a row, and I think I'm starting to see some results, but it may just be wishful thinking. Either way it keeps me going.

This afternoon I will get the smoker ready and put on about 115 pounds of meat to cook for the game tomorrow. I don't really have a preference who wins, but we are situated in Saints territory, so that is where most people's allegiance lies. Our house will be one of two watching party locations for our church tomorrow, so we have to get ready for that.

Not a lot more to say this morning, maybe we'll get around to posting some pictures soon. It's just too easy to take them and put them right on facebook.

Happy Birthday Kristina!!

2010-02-02T05:08:00.001-06:00

Today is my wife's birthday. Happy birthday to the one that keeps me on track, keeps me motivated to do better in all areas of my life, and to the one that pours out her love to this entire family without stop. I hope that you have a wonderful day!

I don't say it often enough

2010-01-31T16:27:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned lately how awesome my husband is? I don't say it enough, but I should. He is the greatest. Today, I spent the afternoon at a baby shower. He spent the afternoon cleaning the family room. While vacuuming the love seat he found a cup from Jacob's birthday party stuffed between the cushions. It's only been a week since the party. I guess it's pretty obvious that cleaning house hasn't been a priority for me this week. I am slacking a bit. Thankfully, John is there to pick up my slack. I am truly blessed.

Same resolution, new resolve

2010-01-29T07:35:00.000-06:00

As with every year, I committed to get in shape this year. Unlike the past 8-10 years at five days into the exercise regime I am four days past my next best record. I hesitated putting this online but I figured the more people that know the better the accountability. It also helps that Kristina is doing it all with me so we can keep each other motivated.

We bought the P90X program. It is not easy but you can tell that if you stick with it that you will get results. So far I recommend it, and you can order it online from beachbody.com . After the 90 day program we'll see if I am up to the before/after picture challenge.

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Birthday fun

2010-01-24T15:25:00.006-06:00

We survived our first birthday/slumber party. Jacob thoroughly enjoyed having friends over. They rode the rip rider as well as the bikes, played on the rope swing, played the Wii, made giant paper airplanes, cooked hot dogs in the fire place, had cake and ice cream, and watched a movie. All in all it was a success. We might actually try it again sometime.

8, Already?

2010-01-19T05:19:00.002-06:00

Today my sweet Jacob turns 8. Where did the time go? Happy Birthday my little dare devil. I love you.

All good things must come to an end

2010-01-12T22:20:00.000-06:00

We are now home and settling back into real life. The vacation was fun, but it's good to be home. Mom will be heading back to Texas tomorrow. The boys had a great time with grandma. They are looking forward to the summer when she will be back for another visit. The picture below is from the farewell party on Sunday night. The evening began with a very elegant band playing as we had dinner. Once dessert was over they broke out the 70's and the go-go girls appeared. It was fun. I had taken off the purple wig prior to the picture.

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It's not exactly the frozen scenery from home

2010-01-10T07:58:00.000-06:00

We are still trying to survive here. We have heard that our pool is now frozen over.

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Paradise Island

2010-01-07T09:38:00.000-06:00

We made it!

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Getting closer

2010-01-07T00:14:00.002-06:00

In less than 8 hours, I will be taking off for an adventure. Or so I've planned. We shall see how the plan works. Right now they are predicting the freezing rain to move in around 4am. I just pray we can get to the airport and fly away with no problems. Mom is here, so my kids are in good hands. We went to the grocery store this afternoon, so the frig and pantry are well stocked. I think the kids would enjoy a snow day at home with grandma. I just want to be long gone before the snow day begins.

Homework, for me?

2010-01-05T21:01:00.002-06:00

The second half of the school year is in full swing. The kids each had plenty of homework tonight, plus Tuesday is cub scout night. I have lots of homework from cub scouts. We only have about three months to go, and we have to wrap up all the badge requirements. Sometime before next Tuesday I have to review Jacob's lists to be sure we've done all the Wolf Badge requirements. Since John is the Webelos leader, I will let him worry about Joshua's requirements. Anything that we lack has to be done before the end of February. That is when we have the Blue and Gold Banquet and present the awards. After that it is just fun stuff like earning belt loops and the final camp out. We try to finish up early since baseball season seems to make cub scout meetings more difficult. Anyway, in less than 36 hours I will be flying away, so we will see if I get my homework done. If not, there's always next week. I'm not sure at what point in life I became a procrastinator, but it is pretty ingrained. Once work is over tomorrow, I refuse to think about anything but enjoying a much deserved get away with my husband. I'm so excited, are you?

Monday down

2010-01-04T21:03:00.002-06:00

It gets easier from here right. Just two more days of work and then it's off to Atlantis. I'm getting ready. The fact that it was only 28 degrees when I was driving home made it easier to get excited. It is supposed to be in the teens the next couple of nights. This is just craziness. I strongly dislike being cold. Just a couple more months and spring will bloom again. I am ready.

Back to the Routine

2010-01-03T19:43:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we return to work and school. It has been a fun two weeks, but we must return to the real world. My mom arrives on Wednesday for her week with the boys. John and I fly out early Thursday morning. I am trying to get pumped up for the adventure, but anxiety seems to be my constant companion. I am excited about the trip, but in all honesty I hate to travel. I hate leaving my kids, I hate feeling like I am skipping work, and I hate the hassle of airports and just getting somewhere. At some point I have to get over it and enjoy the journey. Until then I will just stay in knots. Hopefully by the time the plane lands on Nassau Island I will be ready to relax. Welcome to 2010. It's going to be a great year.

Sunday Morning

2010-01-03T09:37:00.000-06:00

Does anyone else have this much fun on Sunday mornings?

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Passport, check

2010-01-02T17:32:00.000-06:00

Our passports arrived today! Now we are ready for the Bahamas! Five more days and Atlantis here we come!

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300, Is that all?

2010-01-02T09:44:00.000-06:00

Wow, after almost a year and a half I am just now at the 300th post. In honor of this, I am making my first mobile post. Thanks to my awesome husband who downloaded the ap and showed me how to use it.

The picture of socks is just a test. I wanted to be sure I understood how to upload a picture. So far this mobile blogging seems super easy.
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Tiara's anyone

2010-01-01T12:23:00.003-06:00

Kristi sent me a text on Wednesday to ask if we wanted tiaras with lights or without. We decided lights might be pretentious and settled for feathers. Thanks for the memories. It was a great night with awesome friends. I just think we may have to separate the John's when we play Taboo. It is scary the way they think alike.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T03:35:00.002-06:00

Ready or not the new year has arrived. I am starting the year with a little insomnia. I am sure it is because my kids aren't home. They are attending a lock in at their daycare. Dependable babysitter for New Years eve, but they must be claimed by 7am New Years day. I have to pick them up by 7am? I am not sure why I thought this was a good idea. Oh well, the alarm and the coffee pot are set. We can all come home and settle down for a long winters nap.
As far as the new year is concerned, I have not yet made any resolutions. I always set out to lose about 20 pounds. I usually do, and then gain it back. Luckily I don't usually gain any extra. I just keep losing and finding the same 20. Maybe this will be the year I lose it for good. One can hope. I also intend to give this little blog more attention. I'm not making promises, just expressing an intention. Anyway, I'm off to a good start. It's only the first day of the year and I already made a post. Just 364 more to go. Happy New Year!

Is it that time already

2009-12-31T07:32:00.003-06:00

Wow, another year has come and gone. I should recap the highlights of 2009, but that will take some time to ponder, so I will just recap the last couple of weeks. Christmas came and went as it always does. The kids were pleased with their loot, and we all enjoyed the extra time away from work and school. We made a quick trip to Texas after the holiday to visit the family and now we are back home. At the moment, John is making donuts and the kids are still snoozing. Tonight we will have a few friends over to ring in the new year.
The new year will bring new opportunities and highlights. A new beginning is always exciting. We will all return to work and school just in time for John and I to take a little vacation to Atlantis Resort on Nassau Island, Bahamas. We are pretty excited about that. My kids will enjoy a week with Grandma, aka, my mom. Once vacation is over we will try to find our new routine. Somehow January always brings a different feel to the daily grind. We are entering the second half of the school year and counting down to summer. Baseball season begins sometime in February or March. Our evenings will no longer be our own. Practice and games will dominate our lives for a few months. Also during the second semester, both the kids will have overnight field trips. John is going on the fourth grade trip to see some war ship, and I am going on the second grade Venture trip to dig for diamonds and visit Indian ruins. As I have said before, we know how to have fun. So here's to a happy and prosperous 2010. Happy New Year!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

2009-12-14T05:46:00.003-06:00

The last several years we have been taking pictures to put in with our Christmas cards, below is the one we picked after several attempts. We started with the dog and cat like last year, but gave up because we were frustrating them and us. We tried several different poses but decided that we liked this one the best. I am obviously not a professional photographer.
Just over a week ago we had our first snow of the season. We were sitting at a restaurant that Friday night with some friends when I said "It's snowing!" to which some said no, until they looked out and saw the huge flakes. They continued to fall all night and below is the result as seen the following morning.

The sun peeking through the treetops.

Our boys trying to be angels.

It's amazing how different everything looks with a blanket of white on top of it and how excited people are to see it coming down. Those people don't have 70+ trucks on the road, but oh well, it still looks nice and this weather didn't bring any bad roads.

We are almost finished with our Christmas shopping, just a couple more small things and waiting for a gift that we ordered to arrive tomorrow. I hope that the next 10 days aren't so crazy that everyone forgets the reason for the season. I hope that we are all bold enough to share it.

Lights, Camera, Christmas!

2009-11-30T18:50:00.003-06:00

We tried again with a borrowed camera for an evening shot of the lights. Nothing fancy, just plain white lights. Maybe someday we will get some color and outdoor decorations. Perhaps we will find some good sales after Christmas for next season.

It really is Fall

2009-11-29T15:27:00.004-06:00

I am just now adjusting to the change from summer to fall, and winter will be here in less than a month. I need to catch up. It feels like time is rushing by and I have no way to slow it down. In spite of time passing too quickly, this has been a wonderful, restful holiday weekend. We were able to get lots done, while still finding time to rest. Tomorrow it is back to the grind. Somehow it doesn't seem as bad knowing that the Christmas break will be here in a matter of weeks. Speaking of Christmas, John got the tree and the outside lights up this weekend. I know it's hard to see the lights in the daylight, but my camera doesn't work well in the dark. The pictures always come out blurry, so this is what I got. Now I just have to get all the shopping out of the way so I can enjoy the season. The kids are going to a "Parent's day out" event next Saturday, so hopefully we can finish the shopping then. We have to go to a wedding at 2 that afternoon, but that still gives us all morning to shop. I think we can get it all done in a couple of hours. It will be fun. I can hardly wait to join the grumpy crowds. What better way to get in the holiday spirit. Just for the record, the only thing I dislike more than shopping, is shopping close to Christmas. I just have to take lots of deep breaths and say lots of prayers. At least the people watching provides a little comic relief.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:25:00.003-06:00

Today was a perfect day. I love spending time with my family with no schedule or obligations. It was great to just relax and enjoy the day.John made beignets for breakfast. What a guy! Once lunch rolled around we enjoyed a fabulous smoked turkey. We spent the afternoon working on projects such as clearing leaves from the front yard and cleaning the chimney. We finished the day with great friends and a fire in the fireplace. We are blessed, and I am thankful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Another week gone by in a blur

2009-11-21T06:30:00.002-06:00

Wow, make that two weeks. This poor blog is not getting much of my attention. I will blame it on Facebook, and life in general. Last weekend we spent time cleaning the house inside and out. John cleaned the roof while I cleaned the gutters. We make a pretty good team. This weekend will most likely be a repeat of the same. Jacob is at a birthday party right now. I will have to go pick him up in a couple of hours. I am sure he is having a blast. How could you not have fun camping with 12 of your closest friends. I just hope my friend Alison is still smiling this morning after a night with all those boys.

I can't believe the holiday season is upon us. The kids are already out of school for Thanksgiving. John and I will work Monday through Wednesday so they will get to enjoy time at daycare. John will work Friday as well, so I plan to stay home and enjoy a day with no obligations. I refuse to shop the day after Thanksgiving. I don't like crowds, and it is way too soon to get ready for Christmas. Shopping the 23rd of December is more my speed.

Since the holiday season is here,we are having a Thanksgiving meal at church Sunday evening. I signed up to bring a vegetable, so I need to decide what vegetable and get to the store. John will most like do the cooking. I will be at an Aloette party tomorrow afternoon. I love Aloette, and getting together with friends. It should be fun.

Okay, speaking of church, I need to update the world on our search for a church home. Back in June, we began attending a church closer to home. We loved it because of all the great friends. However, it soon became obvious that there was a bit of dissension in the church. Fast forward to last month. We joined a group of our 40 closest friends and began the process of planting a new church. We have been meeting for several weeks and things are falling into place. John and I are teaching the nursery age on Sunday mornings. We had 8 0-4 yr olds. How crazy is that. We are currently looking for a volunteer to take the 3-4 yr olds. That would make our class a little easier to manage. We had fun though, and I'm looking forward to seeing all their smiling faces in the morning. We are currently renting space on the college campus here in town. It is great. We have a chapel, a cafeteria, and lots of classrooms at our disposal. We are thankful the Lord led us to this group of friends, and our prayer is that we stay focused on His plan. It is quite an adventure when you decide to go where the Lord leads. We are blessed beyond measure.

It was a long day, but...

2009-11-07T22:38:00.004-06:00

we made it. The painting was done and everything was back in order before the party. We should probably go back and do some touch up, but no guarantees it will happen. Luckily my dear friend Kristi got here early to help set up. She did some last minute cleaning while I took a quick shower. It is such a blessing to have great friends. The baby shower/cookout was a success. John, as always, did a great job on the food. Our friends who are expecting were blessed with lots of gifts for baby Landon. All in all a great day.

Down to the wire

2009-11-06T22:55:00.003-06:00

With less than 24 hours til our house is filled with friends, we are still painting. I have two coats of red on the kitchen walls, and one coat of green on the dining area walls. I think we are about to call it a night. John has a meeting at work tomorrow, so his morning is taken. I will be up bright and early to finish the painting. Then I have to get busy putting things back in order and cleaning. I hope I'm up for the challenge. All the painting is complete in the front room. I just have to put all the books back on the shelves, clear away all the clutter, and clean. Nothing to it. I already need another weekend to recoup from this one and its only Friday.

Saturday is getting close

2009-11-04T16:46:00.004-06:00

As John has mentioned we tend to start our home improvement projects when we really don't have enough time to do them. Since we are having a little shin dig here on Saturday this seemed like the perfect week to strip and stain the dining room floor. John did a great job. The floor looks amazing. If we're staining the floor we should paint the trim and the walls. That is why there is paper all over the newly stained floor. I got the first coat of paint on all the trim today. Hopefully, John can get a second coat on it tonight. The plan is to have paint on the walls by tomorrow night. We are also painting all the trim and walls in the front room. We didn't want to make it too easy to meet the deadline. While we're at it lets finish the fence around the back and run new wiring to the gazebo. The pictures don't do it justice. The fence looks great. It is so nice to have things so open back there. Once Spring rolls around we hope to get the drainage, sod, and flowerbeds completed. I can hardly wait. The back yard is the whole reason we bought this house. I'll post updated pictures of the dining room as it comes together. I am so ready to see some green paint on the walls.

Tamiflu for everyone

2009-11-01T10:28:00.005-06:00

Friday night we were not able to get the floor completely sanded. We made the decision to call it a night and get up early Saturday to go get more sand paper. Saturday I got up before six and started getting everyone ready so we could head to Home Depot. Joshua dutifully got up and dressed. As soon as he walked in the kitchen, I knew he wasn't alright. He was in tears telling me his head hurt. As soon as I touched his face, it was obvious he and I would be staying home. His temp was 103.1. John and Jacob went to run errands. I gave Joshua some Tylenol and put him back in bed. As soon as the doctors office opened, we were there. His flu test came back positive for Type A flu, which is the H1N1. So now the whole family is on Tamiflu. Joshua can't go back to school until Thursday, so John and I are working out plans to shuffle our work schedules. To make things more exciting, Jacob got up this morning saying his stomach hurt. Once he threw up he felt better, so I am hoping it was just a little bug, or too much Halloween.
In addition to the sickness invading our house, we have quite the remodel mess going. John did get the dining floor sanded and stained yesterday. This morning he put the first coat of sealer on it. It is going to have three coats and there has to be a six hour dry time between each coat. While he waits for the first coat to dry he is working on the back fence. The above pictures show where we left things in July. We had to wait until we had a few extra dollars to finish the fence. Those balusters are not cheap. We found an online retailer that sold them for $1.35 each with free shipping, so we ordered enough to complete the project. They run about $21.00 for a box of 10 when purchased at Lowes or Home Depot. We were pretty excited about finding such a bargain. It is going to look really nice once the fence in complete. I guess being stuck at home with sick kids isn't all bad. It is giving us time to knock out some of the projects.

Friday night fun

2009-10-30T20:35:00.004-05:00

I am not sure what normal people do on Friday nights, but it can't be more fun than what we do. Our evening began with John blowing up our last pumpkin. See video in previous post. Once he was done playing with explosives we made dinner. We had left over mashed potatoes, so we decided to make them into patties and fry them. Sounds easy enough. When I was growing up, or as they say in Mississippi, when I was coming up, my grandpa used to make potato pancakes with leftovers. I think he (or more likely my grandma) cooked them like pancakes, without oil. John said his mom used to fry potato patties in oil. We tried it with oil, but I think it was too much oil. It sort of turned into a skillet full of mush. John drained most of the oil off and let is cook some without the oil. In the end they were edible, but definitely not a culinary masterpiece.

Once dinner was over, John began sanding the dining room floor. It didn't take long for him to determine we needed a more aggressive sand paper. Off to Home Depot we went. Now that we are home again, John is sanding the floor. I just took some triple strength Sudafed and once I get some coffee in me I should be up for the long haul. The current plan is to get the floors stained tonight. The stain has to set for at least 8 hours before you seal it, so we want to knock that out tonight. We would like to seal it pretty early in the day tomorrow.

The floor is one of many projects we want to complete this weekend. We still need to paint the trim and walls in the kitchen/dining area and the front living room. Completing the fence around the pool is also on the schedule. No rest for the weary. I am going to need a nap come Monday.

The Pumpkin Is No More

2009-10-30T18:27:00.003-05:00

Everyone needs deadlines

2009-10-28T05:57:00.004-05:00

So we were sitting around and said to ourselves, "hey, we haven't done any projects in a while." We have been wanting to remove the last of the paneling (dining room) from the house and refinish those walls, prime and paint all of the wood trim and built in cabinets in the dining room, living room, and entry way, paint the kitchen, and paint the exterior doors from the dining room and living room. So then we said, "you know, we have 30+ people that will be here in two weeks for a shower we are hosting, what better time than now to start all of these at once? Oh, and while we're at it why don't we completely refinish the hardwood parquet floors in the dining room? How hard can it be?" And then, "and we still have about 200 feet of fence to do in the back yard, that sure would look nice if it was done before everyone is here."

So this is our life. We have less than 1 1/2 weeks to finish. We have barely gotten started. No guarantees this time. Pictures will be added as time allows.

The pumpkin that won't die

2009-10-25T22:03:00.002-05:00

You can't leave him alone

2009-10-22T22:05:00.003-05:00

What happens when my dear husband has a night at home without me? Apparently, panelling is removed from walls. This is a momentous day. Our house is now panelling free. Obviously, it isn't free of ugly wall paper, but we will get there. We need to get busy if we are going to have the dining area back together in the next two weeks. Sounds easy enough. All we have to do is get the walls textured and painted and paint all the trim. In addition, we plan to sand and refinish the floors. Wish us luck. We were starting to miss the excitement of having our house in chaos.

The party never ends

2009-10-12T19:26:00.004-05:00

John and I were sitting in the front room checking out the facebook. He looks up and says "Are those wet spots?" What? Apparently our roof has a leak. It is supposed to rain until Thursday, so who knows what we will find once it dries out enough to get up there and check it out. I would be fine with just ripping out the tray ceiling. Yes I realize that won't fix the roof leak, but I wanted to make sure I got that idea out there. At one time it had a vaulted ceiling. According to the man we bought the house from the tray ceiling was put in because he was losing too much heat and air with the vaulted ceiling. According to one of the neighbors they had problems with moisture (condensation) on the vaulted ceiling and just covered it up. Who knows what we will discover. It should be fun, or maybe the opposite of fun. An adventure to say the least. To make this more interesting, we are hosting a baby shower/bar-b-que (remember where we live) in a couple of weeks. I need the house to be somewhat in order since the guest list includes about 30 adults, plus the children that come along with 15 couples. Nothing like a little pressure. This weekend is already pretty full with the Akela Campout. Hopefully everyone stays well and we get to enjoy the fun. Joshua is running a fever today, but the doctor diagnosed it as a viral infection that needs to run its course. Hopefully, he doesn't share the bug.

Sunday Night

2009-10-11T20:13:00.005-05:00

Here is is, another weekend over. It has been over a week since our last post. We have been caught up in the weekly activities that we haven't had a chance to blog, and nothing particularly picture worthy to post and as I've said before, not everyone reads it for the articles. I am referring to this blog of course.

Here we are dressed and ready for the annual sales banquet for my work that we went to last night. My thanks to Joshua for his photography skills. It isn't often that we get to go out without the kids, and we very rarely get to go out dressed up so it was a treat. Thanks again to Thomas and Sharon for watching the boys last night. We are ready to repay the favor at any time.

After church we went out to lunch with our friends and upon leaving Jacob informed me that his friend Kameron wanted to come over for the afternoon (I think it was mutual). Kameron came over and the three of them played the Rock Band and jacob and Kameron played outside doing very well to avoid the mud. Jacob got to push her as you see, but then had to come get me to push him high. He likes to show off his dare devil skills to impress the ladies (or anyone that will slow down to watch).

While they were playing I started raking out our flowerbeds. Kameron asked if she could do it so I didn't deny her. You see Jacob was too busy playing with his light saber to help. Tu and Brooke, you are doing a wonderful job, she is very polite and a joy to be around.

We all went to get ice cream cones on the way to church tonight, but Joshua was not feeling well and he and Kristina came home while Jacob and I stayed at church. it looks like Joshua will be missing school tomorrow. Hopefully it is just a little bug that will pass quickly.

Time to get ready for bed. I hope that everyone has a great week.

It's Friday, wanna climb a tree?

2009-10-02T17:33:00.004-05:00

This has been a busy week, so I am ready to slow down for a day or two. I'm starting my slow down by catching up on laundry. Tomorrow I will continue relaxing while enjoying Toy Story in 3D. Sunday after church the air show is where you'll find us. Sometime during the weekend, I need to work in some rest and grocery shopping. The kids are working in some play time right now. They have not gotten much home time this week. I have worked later than usual, so we haven't been getting home until close to six. By the time homework and dinner are over, it is time to get showers and go to bed. I don't like it when things are so rushed. I'm ready for a break. On the way home Jacob asked if he could climb a tree when we got home. Joshua asked if I wanted to climb too, but I refrained. I am not sure this poor little tree will survive my boys.

Monday Again

2009-09-28T05:24:00.003-05:00

This weekend has flown by (much like all of them lately). It has been a busy week. This week Jacob was the Student of the Week for his class and he got a nice certificate and a letter from the principal in the mail. The scouting has started back up with both of the boys now in their second year. They seem to really enjoy it and since we meet at our church it is really convenient. We have the fall camp out in just a few weeks.

Most of the time the weekend routine is for me to make breakfast. I typically do waffles, pancakes, or something along these lines. Yesterday was the day and I chose pancakes. I always make everything from scratch, but my recipe is for a very small batch so I end up having to double it. Yesterday I was not paying attention when doing so and going too fast so we could get ready for church and missed on the salt. I didn't miss putting the salt in, I missed on the amount. you wouldn't think that just that little of salt would be so obvious in the finished product, but it was. Good to know.

Yesterday was a special day also. It was the first day that the boys have taken communion since they were baptized. This is much different than the tradition of the church I grew up in as we took it weekly, but I am understanding that our church partakes once a quarter. I also learned that you are supposed to hold the bread until everyone has been served at which time everyone eats at the same time. This is not the way we did it growing up, and would have been helpful to know prior to last night. Maybe we should have sat further back so I could follow by example. Oh well, I am pretty sure that it is what is in the heart and not so much what moment you take it. All the same now I know for next time. I need to see if there are Cliff Notes for church or maybe Baptist for Dummies so I can brush up for the other things before they come up.

Now I am about to go wake the boys up so that we can start another week. Kristina is already gone to work and will probably have a busy day as they have some visitors and new people coming in today. I am hoping that mine is pretty boring. We are already looking forward to next weekend. We are making plans to go to the air show and maybe to the Toy Story 3D double feature. We'll see.

I'm Taking what they giving, cause I'm Working for a livin

2009-09-26T06:52:00.004-05:00

That is the mantra of life right now. It is Saturday morning and I am preparing to go to work. What's up with that? Basically, we have had lots of special projects this week. That means my regular duties have been neglected. I am hoping not to be there all day. I just need to catch up so I don't feel like I am drowning on Monday morning. It is amazing how quickly my job went from working about 20 hours a week to going in on Saturday. It's all good though. I really enjoy what I do. I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

What day is it

2009-09-25T05:13:00.002-05:00

When I woke up I had to really think about what day it was. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was Friday. I am going to work early this week and working late, so my clock is off. Things will level off but for now there is lots going on. I am looking forward to the weekend. Tonight I am playing bunco at a friends, and tomorrow morning I have to clean house. After that I am free to relax. We'll see how that works out. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Birthday

2009-09-21T05:04:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to the greatest guy I know. I am so blessed to be your wife. Thanks for sharing this adventure with me. I love you.

Glad to be home

2009-09-20T20:02:00.008-05:00

We left New Orleans a few minutes after 5 this morning. When we planned this trip we didn't expect to come home so early, but something important came up. Our friends, Reggie and Kristi's son Gunter was being baptized this morning. We knew we couldn't miss it, but we also wanted to have a little get away. It was worth it. John and I enjoyed our time away. As you can tell from our pictures, we are wild and crazy. Sitting by the river enjoying the breeze, strolling through Jackson square while marveling at the majestic cathedral, and hanging out with the crowd at Cafe du Monde enjoying beignets. We really should take some time away more often.

Learning to enjoy

2009-09-16T21:20:00.002-05:00

My sweet husband planned a little get away for this weekend. All is set for us to enjoy two nights in New Orleans. Our friend Jenny will be staying with our dog, oh and the kids. She is an awesome friend. I am trying to prepare. I planned to take the day off work Friday, but as the week progressed it just became more obvious that I have too much on my plate to take a day off. I asked my boss today if I could escape after our 11:00 meeting on Friday. He was okay with it, so hopefully I won't get sidetracked before I can get out of the building. I hope it is a short meeting this week. You never know. Sometimes it goes for half an hour, and other times it's more like 2 hours. John wants to be on the road by noon. I am shooting for 1. We'll see how it goes. I know we need to take more time to get away together, but it is hard for me to do. I feel like I am abandoning my responsibilities. I always worry too much about how things will go at home. I worry about how my kids are behaving. We have lived in Mississippi for two years and we have only left our kids overnight twice. That seems really bad when you write it out. Two times in two years. Wow, my kids are probably needing a break from me. This weekend they will finally get that break. I am sure they are going to have a blast. Aunt Jenny is a lot of fun. They'll probably get by with all kinds of boy stuff. I know, it's good for them, it's good for John and I, so I need to just get over my worry and have fun. Easier said than done.

Routine, what routine

2009-09-15T05:49:00.002-05:00

We have a pretty set routine around this place. In the mornings I leave for work around 6 and John gets the kids ready for the bus. Today, John went to a men's breakfast at 5:30, so I am trying to maneuver this morning thing. This will become our regular Tuesday schedule so I need to adjust. The kids are eating and I am not stressing about getting my report ready for the 8am meeting. Deep breaths. Have I mentioned I need routine?

Experiment gone Right

2009-09-12T23:29:00.003-05:00

John decided to experiment with food this weekend. We have plenty of smoked brisket in our freezer so he wanted to try something new. I now present brisket filled yeast rolls. Add the cheesy potatoes, cheese covered broccoli and spice cake with ice cream and well, I need to not eat for a few days. Everything was delicious.

My Random Morning Thoughts

2009-09-11T05:57:00.002-05:00

Nothing big today, so I thought I would try just random thoughts that have nothing to do with each other.

Fell asleep last night after watching Pink Ployd's "The Wall" movie. The movie is odd, but I get pulled in by the music.

Our dog is very pathetic looking. I think maybe he practices it in the mirror while we are gone.

I wish we could get our dog to sit still so we could vaccuum him, probably a lot less hair would need to be swept up constantly. That or we would have a bald bulldog.

The boys brought home their progress reports yesterday and both have all A's. I am glad that they see the importance of working hard and that they are both enjoying school.

Jacob is being baptized Sunday and we are extremely excited and proud of him. If adults had the spirit that youth have instead of being jaded by life it would be a totally different world.

I need to mow the yard, but I keep hoping it will rain first. The way things are going it won't rain until I am ready to mow.

There are several sites that I glance at daily for quick visual humor. thereifixedit.com is classic and peopleofwalmart.com is also. The first shows ingenuity (maybe a little off the mark though) and the second shows the trophys of people watching.

We are going out of town for two whole nights next weekend. We don't know what we are going to do exactly, but we have a hotel and need the time away together. Thanks to our friend Jenny for agreeing to watch the boys.

We need to do that more often.

We are still loving our new church home. We are making friends and the boys like it there.

We are about two months into our facebook experience. I have learned that some people don't post, but some people post everything.

I also learned that it is mostly the male side that post song quotes and funny movie lines. I am starting to think that the other side isn't as impressed with this as we are. It doesn't stop me.

The boys are brushing their teeth and about ready so it is time to post my Pink Floyd Friday quote and get to the end of the driveway for the bus.

Labor Day

2009-09-07T10:40:00.002-05:00

So far this is a pretty good day. It would be better is John were home, but he had to work today. I got up with him a little after five this morning, but I just couldn't wake up so I went back to bed around seven. I enjoyed a lovely nap until about nine. That makes for a great morning. Now I am trying to motivate myself to complete some projects. I have a couple of things in my sewing chest that need mended. It would be great to mark those little jobs off my list. I should probably sweep all my floors, but that doesn't sound fun at all. So far I have managed to wash all my bedding and clean a couple of ceiling fans. Jacob's bedding is in the dryer right now, so his bed will be made shortly. Joshua already made his bed, so his bedding may or may not get washed today. I have dreams of cleaning some windows today, we will see if that happens. I am hoping for a burst of energy that lasts the whole day long. I guess I should ban myself from the computer for now. My little jobs are much more likely to be completed if I quit sitting around. Have a great holiday.

Mark your Calenders

2009-09-03T05:26:00.002-05:00

Jacob's baptism will be on September 13. Church starts at 10:00a.m. We can hardly wait.

Great end to the weekend

2009-08-31T06:11:00.003-05:00

As mentioned before, we went to church to see Team Impact last night.

Tonight was more special than we ever imagined because tonight Jacob said that he was giving his life to Christ and prayed for Jesus to come into his life. This is our son that put on his Christmas list at school last year that all he wanted was to give his life to Christ. He always has a way of showing Jesus to everyone he meets.

They did the easy stuff like breaking wooden bats and twisting steel rods, then moved onto breaking an aluminum bat.

The boys bought souvenier bats for Team Impact to autograpgh and when Jacob went to have them sign his they gave him the aluminum bat they broke. They autographed it and wrote John 8:32 on it for him.

Finished the night having pizza with our friends from church. A great way to end the day.

Our relaxing Sunday

2009-08-30T15:20:00.004-05:00

We worked hard yesterday getting a lot of projects done so that we could relax between church services today. Above is the result of our "relaxing". These are the two trees that I cut down last week. They are now stacked neatly, ready for use in either the fireplace or our smoker and most importantly, out of the middle of the back yard. The branches are all on the burn pile drying a little more in preparation for the inevitable Saturday fire that will consume them. I had the boys pose both for perspective on the size of some of the logs, the amount that was stacked, and in appreciation for their help (not pictured but much more help than she wanted is my lovely wife). The boys love getting their picture taken, especially when I tell them it will be on the blog.

After finishing the stacking Kristina and I were walking back to the house and both thought at the same time that we needed to jump in the pool. That is the great part about having a pool in your backyard, if you want to take a spontaneous swim fully clothed you have that luxury. Of course the boys ran to join, loving the craziness of swimming with your normal clothes on.

Now we are relaxing while waiting to go back to church for the special service tonight. Team Impact is here at our church nightly from tonight through Wednesday. While in town they will also be visiting several schools. In high school they (or another group like them) came to do their thing when a local congregation hosted them, but of course I didn't go to the church to hear their whole story. One of them gave the morning lesson at church today and it was a good service. They are known for breaking bats, concrete blocks, bending frying pans, and ripping phone books, but they are upfront about the fact that their only purpose in all of that is to bring people into church that would not be receptive to conventional outreach.

Now we are going to finish resting in preparation of going to see really strong guys break stuff in the name of God.

Saturday finally arrived

2009-08-29T08:32:00.005-05:00

I may be on a sugar high all day. John made beignets for breakfast. Cafe du Monde has nothing on him. They were delicious. Now he is putting some sausage on the smoker. This is why I have to work out, the man knows how to cook.

Let's get this party started

2009-08-28T20:36:00.002-05:00

When I finally made it home from work, John and the boys already had everything in order for our Friday night fun. Lucky for me, John put the air mattress in the tent. He is good to me. I don't mind camping, but I need a little padding. I hope everyone has a great weekend.