My smart boy...

Yes, absent again. Sorry, no real reason. Just not in a blogging mood. I do have pictures and stories that I want to share. Maybe during this rainy and dreary week. Something that quickly comes to mind and does not require me downloading any photos is a cute story from last week. Sebastian opened my laptop. He then opened Firefox and used the pull-down history to find the Petfinder site Savannah had been on earlier that day. She was looking for a puppy for grandma. He wanted to look too. Mind you, he did this all on his own. No help from me. He was finding puppies in no time. He kept telling Grandma to come look and to please call about this one and that. Then he asked if we could get a puppy. I told him that we could only get a puppy if he didn't wear diapers anymore. To this he replied, "Mom, it doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!" I told him that it did, INDEED, matter. I told him if he ever wanted me to even think about getting a puppy then he would need to not use diapers anymore. His reply... "You are just trying to fool me!". Yes, my smart boy, I am just trying to fool you! Silly me! Oh, Sebastian, you can find a website all on your own, but you can't use a potty? On the same note with potty training - (hey what else do you want me to talk about?) that very same day I had told him I would give him a hundred kisses if he went poop in the potty. He seemed very interested in this. He went pee in the potty and I gave him 3 kisses. Then later he tried to poop, so I gave him 5 kisses. All of a sudden he is pooping just the tiniest bit in the potty. It seems to be all because he wants those kisses! Who knew that was all he really wanted? Not a toy from the big toy store, not special candy, not underwear - just more and more kisses from his momma. My sweet boy!

People are gonna wonder...

So, my kids are genuine accidents waiting to happen. One is breaking her ankle, the other is skidding on the pavement with his face. Honest, I am NOT ABUSING THEM! I was getting worried to take them out in public. This is how a typical meeting with a stranger goes... Stranger says, "Oh, honey, what happened to your leg?" Savannah proceeds to tell her story for the hundreth time - "Trampoline, landed wrong, crunch, hospital, surgery, full leg cast, stitches out, half cast, no cast, on crutches for 4 more weeks, doesn't really hurt anymore...." Then stranger looks at Sebastian. Stranger, "Hey buddy! What happened to your face?" Sebastian says, "Errrrch, crash! Boom! I cried, I cried, I cried! Running, stroller, zoom! Crash! AHHHHHH!!! I crying! I crying! I hurt my ANKLE! My ANKLE! OH IT HURTS! MY ANKLE IS HURT!" Sebastian also demonstrates the whole incident with great enthusiasm. What you will see him do is run as fast as he can and then he pretends the stroller gets away from him and he crashes. That is pretty much what happened. He was running up the hill pushing his umbrella stroller. He lost his balance and went sliding UP THE HILL with his face. He also got a few dings on his wrists. NOTHING on his ankle. The boy insists he hurt his ankle though. Hmmm... me thinks he is a wee bit jealous of sissy. I am looking forward to a time with no marks, abrasions, bruises on any of my kids.

Half Cast

No cast - still not off of crutches for 3 more weeks though. She was bummed about that. She really thought the cast would come off and she was done. She is having a tough time moving it. She is supposed to move it up and down and side to side 20 times each - 3 times a day. That isn't happening as much as it needs. I am hoping this next week will be better. Oh and I did ask how many screws were in her ankle and if she would sound the alarms at the airport. He said she had 2 screws that would stay in place and she could possibly sound them, but not really something to worry about.

This picture doesn't really give his injury justice. It actually kept looking worse as he would scratch at it and make it bleed each day. Gotta love this child, right?

Beef, It' What's For Dinner...

Last week, I went to Sam's for my usual grocery trip. The difference was this time I bought a case of ground beef. A case contains 80lbs! There are 8 rolls weighing 10lbs each. I think my extended family thought I was a little crazy. The thing is that Tim and I bought a freezer for this house. Our intention was to stock our freezer with great deals. I had been watching the case price per lb on my last few shopping trips. This particular week it was down to a $1.52 a lb. That was a pretty decent savings. When we first moved here, my mom and I also got hams for about half price. We got 5 of them. After thinking about it, we both wished we had gotten 10. We are still a little new to having a deep freezer. My hope is that when we buy things at lower prices we not only save now because of the lower price, but possibly will save more later. With the cost of things increasing each day, this potentially could be even more savings. I could be wrong, but for now at least I know my freezer is packed with ground beef and a couple hams. We have talked about buying a half or quarter cow next year too! Next up - a case of chicken!

This is what it looks like in the rolls. There are 6 of the 8 there.

This is 60lbs rebagged in smaller portions.

This is 13lbs of meatballs cooked and ready to pop in sauce for subs!

Did somebody say naptime?

This is how I found Sebastian when I went in his room to wake him up from his nap. I don't know if he was fighting sleeping or what. I coaxed him into waking up, but the best I got was him turning his head over only to fall back to sleep. Silly boy!

American Idol - Jason Castro er... ummm... John Travolta look alike?

I will admit that one of my favorite things to do is watch American Idol. Especially since the "writer's strike". There isn't a whole lot else to watch. I have been watching AI since the second season. I think this is the best talent season. There are a few that I really enjoy, but for some reason Jason Castro is the one I like the best. He actually wasn't the best performance this past week, but I loved the week before - the video below. I also like Brooke and David Cook. So, a few weeks back I was commenting on Jason Castro's blue eyes. I kept thinking he looked like somebody. My mom comes up with that he looks like John Travolta. YES! That was it! Since then, others have written the same thing. Somebody compared these to videos. Jason definitely has the same quirky face that John Travolta. Maybe I love his performance because I literally watched Grease a hundred time when I was a kid. I memorized every word to every song. I have to say Jason Castro sings WAY BETTER than John Travolta!

Can we fix it? Yes, we can!

This past weekend, Tim was working on the baseboards in the kitchen. Before I knew it, I looked down at my kitchen floor and found a certain little helper. He was just working so hard. When his daddy gave him some scraps of trim and wood, he just beamed with excitement. He took great strides to measure and mark his pieces just so. I love watching him try to be like his daddy. It just gives my heart such joy!

He was concentrating so hard on this piece.

He is using his saw to "cut" the hole for the vent that is there.

What a handsome smile!

Tim II, Grandma's, and Derek's birthday...

Last week we had 3 birthdays! Yes, I said 3 birthdays! This week we have two more! Then we have one more at the end of March. It is a busy month for birthdays. No lack of birthday treats. On Wednesday night, we celebrated Timmy's and my mom's birthday. They actually share the same birthday. I made pizza bread for everyone. Karen made cheese cake for Timmy and I made a German Chocolate cake for my mom. I think it went pretty well considering it was my first attempt at a family birthday party for about 20 people. I guess it was a dry run for cooking this weekend for Tim and Karen's birthdays. It was really nice to have a houseful to celebrate. Derek and Savannah went all out with decorating too. I don't think anyone will ever feel lonely on their birthday in South Carolina. Not a chance!

This is Kameron. They are friends that live around the corner that are really more family! Laurie and I have decided that Kameron and Sebastian will be best friends even if they don't want to!

Timmy, Karen, Jennifer and Derek

Happy Birthday Timmy and Grandma!

My sweetie!

Our surprise gift for Timmy. He has some wierd obsession with The Nightmare Before Christmas!

My mom opening her gifts.

Vilma being silly with her dad.

Me and my firstborn... where did all the time go?

Haley and Jay

Derek's 11th birthday.

A funny post from another blog...

Caution - there are a couple "bad" words in this blog post. Proceed with my warning. If you are woman, you will probably find the humor in this - click here -Wendi Aarons .

Creepy nice...

Yes, that is what people are here - CREEPY NICE! We have noticed something since we have been here. People are nicer. They help you out and they really seem to want to do it. I know it sounds corny that there is some kind of Southern hospitality or something like that. Believe me... I kept thinking it was just a fluke. In the first week or so, a few people were really helpful. They had smiles on their face and seemed to really care about being kind. I shrugged it off. Figured it was just because I was in a new place and noticing things more. Then Savannah broker her ankle. The people were amazing at the hospital. Not ONE of these people from the Urgent Care to the Hospital were the least bit crabby or unkind. When Savannah was going into shock in the waiting room, she began to vomit. I was in the back filling out paperwork. Timmy was with her and taking care of her like a great big brother. Still, there was a mom in there waiting and she quickly came to help him out till I got there. Just so nice. One night, Tim and I were at Lowe's trying to load this incredibly heavy storage cabinet in the trunk of our car. It was just so heavy that I could seem to hold the cart still while Tim pulled it off the cart. The next thing we knew, a man drove up beside us. He jumps out of his car and in his best Southern drawl he says, "Let me help you with that, sir!" Tim was just taken back. He helped him get it in the trunk and then Tim said he could take it from there. It was being a pain and not sliding all the to where it needed to be. The man was like, "No, sir, let me help you get it done." Wow! Creepy nice! Later on that week, I was taking Savannah to the doctor. I had a different somebody hold doors, elevators and one even came running over to open my car door and offered to help me get her in the car. I was in Walmart, trying to reach Sierra Mist on the very top shelf in the way back. A man came over and offered to get it for me. Just like that. I was at 5 Guys and a Burger last week. I walked over to the soda fountain. There were two men filling their drinks. They saw me and they both stepped aside and told me to, "go ahead". I told them I was actually just looking for napkins. The one man told me they had them behind the counter. The next thing I knew they were both going over and asking for napkins for "the lady". Wow! Tim's boss has been just so kind to him. We keep wondering what the deal is with that. I am sorry, but nobody cared if I needed to refill my drink or get napkins in Florida. Nobody cared if my daughter had a cast up to her bottom and I was trying to get her into a car. Nobody cared if we were getting something really heavy from Lowes and needed help loading it. People were busy and in a hurry there. My friends cared. They are wonderful, helpful people. The vast majority of people in Pinellas County were not all that concerned if you needed any help. There are other things that have happened since we have been here. These are really just a few. It seriously happens every time we leave the house and actually, I had a phone call for my sister yesterday. The lady was very nice and chatted with me for quite awhile. I am guessing at some point, I won't be walking away from these small (but big impact) kind acts saying, "Wow, creepy nice!" At some point, it will just feel like home.

The view...

I am sure that South Carolina isn't the most beautiful place on Earth, but there are times when I think it is just so pretty. Yes, I realize, that I lived in the Sunshine State for over 17 years. And many, many parts of Florida were pretty. I do, somewhat, miss everyday having total sunshine. I keep reminding myself that I don't miss it being 90 in March. South Carolina has more cloudy days than Florida. It is cooler than Florida, but really not all that cold. We have only had a handful of days where I was really not liking the cold. I don't even know if it is a handful, maybe 2 or 3 days since we have been here. It does get colder at night. The sun goes down and the temps drop. The good part of that is when it is a little warmer during the day, the evenings and mornings will be great. I have been able to go out walking in the middle of the afternoon. In Florida, I was limited to evenings because it was just too hot in the middle of the day. I do know that the summers in South Carolina are hot. The thing is that we were here in July and it wasn't too bad. Like I said, the mornings and evenings were great. It was just the middle of the afternoon that was bad. I love looking at amazing blue water of the ocean. Florida doesn't really have the pristine look of the islands. Once I saw that kind of water, Florida's water just didn't have that awe inspiring look. I have always loved trees and mountains. We don't really have mountains here in South Carolina, but we have lots of trees and hills. And horses. Really pretty horses! I snapped a few of these pictures so you can see what I see.

These are from my dining room window. It's looking sort kitty corner over my backyard towards the lake. Once the trees go into bloom, we won't have much of a view of the lake. It is really pretty in the winter though. I love coming out in the morning and looking over the lake.

This is at the top of our street coming down to our house. The picture really doesn't give you the feel of it. Not sure why. It is a pretty big hill and the view over the trees is amazing! Maybe I need to zoom more. I will try that sometime this week.

Friday Feast

Feast One Hundred & Eighty One
By fridaysfeast on Uncategorized

Appetizer

Who was the last person you hugged?

Karis, my niece... she hugged me before she went home tonight.

Soup

Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

If by chance you dye your hair much too dark... you can lift some of the color out by washing your hair with Dawn Dishwashing Soap. It doesn't take it all the way out, but after several to many washings - it will lighten. Head and Shoulders also strips some of the color. Ask me how I know this??? Yes, I dyed my hair too dark. I googled for help and came up with this solution. I washed my hair 3 or 4 times the first day with Dawn and Head and Shoulders. I repeated the process over the next few days. I went from gothic to dark brown by doing this.

Salad

What does the color yellow make you think of?

Sunshine. I also think that the basement of the house I grew up in was yellow - a very happy shade of yellow.

Main Course

If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

Probably kids. Although, they don't sit still like a beautiful landscape, mountain or beach do.

Dessert

What was the longest book you ever read?

The last Harry Potter book - 784 pages. I read it in a weekend. I couldn't wait.