Caleb and Tabitha are goin' to the chapel...

This is my niece, Tabitha and her soon to be husband, Caleb. They met when she was 16 - I think that was almost 5 years ago. You know how sometimes you just know that two people are meant to be together? I know this about these two. They remind me of Tim and I when we were younger. I am so happy that we get to be here to see them become husband and wife. I pray they have the wedding of their dreams!

Credit Card Points

I am in Virginia for my niece, Tabi's, wedding. We have a little time to kill before we head on over to the church. I wish I had a picture of Tabi on my computer, but I don't think I do at the moment. Anyway, we are staying at an Econo Lodge. It is not the greatest hotel I have ever stayed in by any means. The carpet seriously needs to be replaced, but on the whole it is clean enough and good enough. Why am I telling you about the Econo Lodge? Here is the thing... when I planned our trip to Williamsburg in the fall of 2006 - I was looking at a Choice Hotel for that trip. While I was booking the hotel, something popped up and asked if I wanted to get a Choice Hotel Visa. It offered me two free nights with the deal. The Visa was linked to my personal bank which made it perfect for me. This made it so I could see our balance every time I checked our online banking. It made it really convenient to pay off our card weekly. We use our VISA for everything - seriously - everything we can. We also pay it off in full about once a week. I never could get to the point of using a Visa for everything if I had to keep the receipts to know how much money to put aside to pay the total when the bill came. I can use Visa for everything if I can check the balance every few days and take it right out of my checking account. The thing with this Visa is that you get points. I know you are saying that your visa has points too. Most do. Frequent flier miles, etc. The thing is that I have found you need a lot of points for airfare, etc. With this one I earn hotel nights. Well, technically, you can use it for other stuff, but hotel nights are the most generous thing they offer - I believe. Since signing up with them - we have not had to pay for a single hotel night anywhere. Last week, when Savannah and I were in Florida - yep - three nights at a Quality Inn were free. This weekend we have two rooms for two nights - FREE! I am still ever the frugal lady though. I generally try to stick to 6000 or 8000 point hotel rooms. They have all been fine. I would say this Econo Lodge teeters on the "fine" category. My family insists it is okay and I love them for their good attitudes. I love knowing that we have about 8-10 free nights just waiting for us to use whenever we can get away. If you want to know more about Choice Hotels Visa - just go to their website - HERE! Okay, I need to get my family ready for the most lovely wedding to take place this year. Yes, there will be pictures - I promise!

Pecans, pecans, pecans...

I am making a bazillion Mexican Wedding Cookies (also called snowball cookies) for my niece's wedding. I somehow volunteered to make 500 cookies to fill 250 adorable wedding boxes. I *think* I am about done baking. My mom, two sisters, and I will fill the boxes today. I would take pictures, but my camera is in Florida. I say PECAN different than my mom. I say pi-ˈkän. Here is the link to HEAR the three different ways to say it. I don't happen to like pecans at all. I tasted one of these cookies and HATED it. Everyone who loves pecans say they taste great. It is really hard to make 500 of something and not be able to tell if they taste good or not. Oh well, I guess I will trust the pecan lovers. At least I wasn't tempted to test one from each batch! Take my poll and tell me how you say PECAN. If you need to listen to the key - the link is above.

SNOWBALL COOKIES

A favorite at Christmas time, pecan-filled cookies are
scrumptious all year 'round.

Prep: 45 min Baking: 18 min

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar


Heat oven to 325°F. Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar
in large mixer bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl occasionally,
until well mixed (2 to 3 minutes).

Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1
inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes
or until very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered
sugar while still warm and again when cool.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Nutrition Facts (1 cookie): Calories 130, Protein 1 g,
Carbohydrate 11 g, Fat 10 g, Cholesterol 15 mg, Sodium 50 mg,
Fiber 0 g
____________________________________________________________

This recipe courtesy of Back of the Box Recipes.
www.backofthebox.com Home Page

This recipe created by Land O'Lakes.

Checking in...

Last week was so incredibly busy. I was hoping I would get a post on here, but in all honestly, I just didn't have that many free moments. Savannah went to the doctor last Tuesday. She was really unhappy to find she had STAPLES for her ankle incision. (Pictures are in my camera with Timmy in Florida.) The doctor wanted to leave them in until today. We are heading there this afternoon. The good news was that she could swim with the staples in place. Whew! A weekend at a hotel in Florida without swimming would not have been a good mix. We left for Florida on Wednesday morning. Not as early as I would have liked, but not too bad. We made great time getting there. I dropped Savannah off with her friend, Serafina. They were so happy to see each other. Next, I went over to my Florida house to meet with our tenant. She is just the sweetest mom. I think if we lived near each other, we could be friends. They have been making some changes to the garage/rec room. So far it looks pretty good. They love my house and want to buy it very soon. They could use prayers to help them get the loan. I, of course, want my house to sell for obvious reasons, but I would also love for this family to be able to buy the house they really love. Finally, I met my friend Linda. I have talked about Linda, Linda, Bo, Binda before. I love this person. She has been such a great friend to me for well, we figured it out - 13 years. She took me to the most wonderful dinner at Carraba's. I had never been there. I told her that we tend to be more of Arby's people! We just talked and talked. Then we went back to her house and talked a little. Sadly, she had to get to bed because of early morning work. I woke up the next morning to an empty house. I occurred to me that I don't think I have EVER woke up in an empty house. I went from my family's home to mine, Tim and Timmy's home. I can't think of a time that nobody was home when I got up in the morning. It was very strange. It was also very relaxing. If you are a mom especially a homeschooling mom that has her kids around her every waking moment, I cannot recommend enough getting a weekend away. It does wonders for your mind, body and soul. I got my shower and ready to leave. Then I went over to my old across the street neighbors. I wanted to make sure Bev was doing well. She has been cleared of breast cancer and is well! God is Good! I had such a nice time visiting with the two of them. I really miss seeing them. I finally picked up Savannah. We met up with some other friends and got on the road to Orlando. We checked into our hotel, had dinner and then Timmy came to shuttle me over to the big convention hotel. It was SO GOOD to see our other friends. I have missed them so much! They are still all the same - full of life and great stories. They make me feel excited just because they are all on the hyper side. I say that with love! I thrive on their energy. I wandered the vendor hall for a little while and then I just went and had a good time talking with friends. Friday was busy, busy. We got to the vendor hall early and shopped. I saw a couple speakers that I enjoyed. I will try to write a separate post about the different speakers I saw. Savannah got to go to the pool with her friends thanks to Herbie (a great homeschool dad) taking her for me. Friday evening I met with my scrapbooking buddies and went to dinner. We had fun minus Betsy flinging nasty calamari at me! I went back to my hotel and called it a night. I knew Saturday was going to be a busy day. Savannah and I were up and over to the speaking ballrooms by 8:30. I am so glad I made myself get there. We listened to Carol Barnier talking about finding the gift in your child. I will add more detail later, but I am so glad I went to this. If I had time for only one speaker, this would have been my choice. She was simply inspiring. Afterward, Savannah and I had a treat. Starbucks hot chocolate. Okay, I had mine with
hazelnut. If you click that link there - you can read about my "chocolate crack". It was so incredibly yummy. We sat in the big overstuffed chairs and enjoyed our treat. Then we made our way to the curriculum hall. I hadn't bought much the day before, so I needed to get myself in gear. Seriously, I didn't need much. I did really well. I didn't break the bank. Savannah hung out with me most of the day. I stopped to meet Timmy at some point. He introduced me to Vhalyn. She is a beautiful young girl that he says he would marry in a minute. He nicely took his sister with him, so I didn't have to put her through anymore vendor hall stress. I finished up my shopping and realized there wasn't really time to go get dinner before graduation. Savannah was okay with a lunchable. I had the most wonderful idea - HAZELNUT HOT CHOCOLATE! Yes, I had TWO CUPS in ONE DAY! I felt so guilty, but I didn't care. It was the best dinner! It was perfect to grab and head to the graduation. Their were 263 homeschoolers graduating. I was emotional last year watching the graduation because my son was graduating. I didn't expect to be emotional this year though. There is just something about seeing 263 kids that their families poured themselves into to get them to that point. The girl that gave the speech had me close to tears. I can't believe how fast Savannah will be standing up there. A few our "our kids" were graduating. After the ceremony, we all met by the pool. The adults sat and talked. The little kids went in the pool. The teens went in the hot tubs. It was a very nice evening until the security kicked us out at 12:15. Party poopers. Savannah and I got back to our hotel around 1:30am. That was one long day. Sunday was to be a long day too. We got up and met Timmy. He took Savannah with him while I ran over to the Keds outlet to get shoes. The traffic was awful! We eventually all met up at Downtown Disney. It was to be the last of our visit with friends. We made our way out of their and headed for SC around 3:30. Finally rolled into the driveway around 10pm. It was a busy trip, but so fun and exciting. I am glad we did it. Savannah did amazing with having to get the hang of walking again so quickly after surgery. It was just an amazing blessing to be given the chance to visit with all of our friends.

More about my dad...

My sister posted a comment below about some of her memories of my dad. I wish my other sister and brother were into computers. They could share as well. Leann, you are right about the Christmas Eve rides. They were the best! My dad took us kids out to do donuts in the snow on Christmas Eve. Oh, ummm... I guess we were supposed to just be looking at lights. Santa would come to the house while we were gone. I loved this time with him and looked forward to it every year. I was also thinking about how on one Mother's Day we went driving around. Hey Jude was playing on the radio. He turned it up really loud. When you got to the NA... NA... NA... NANANA... part - Hey Jude - we all just started singing it as loud as we could. It was so much fun! Every time I hear that part of that song, I feel like I am sitting in the car between my mom and dad singing my lungs out. Good times. I could sit here all day and think of more things. He always went to my softball games. The only reason I played softball was because I knew my dad would come to my practice and games. He would come straight from work to watch me. All dressed in his suit and tie. His mustache. He shaved it once when I was really little. I cried and told him to put it back. He grew it back right away and never shaved it again. Great times. I was a lucky kid.

My dad...

It has been 10 years, today, since my dad passed away. I wondered why my mom was really wanting us all to go to dinner together and then it hit me - what day is it? Sure enough I looked at the calendar and there it was. 10 Years. Where did 10 years go? I have had two babies since then. We have moved twice. 10 Years. It is a long time and in some ways not so long. I told Savannah and Sebastian it had been 10 years today. They never met their grandpa. Timmy was my only then. My dad loved him to pieces. He was "Timmy Boy" to my dad. If there was ever a good reason to have your children while you are young it is so your parents have more years with them. I was pregnant with Savannah when my dad passed away. The very week he was in the hospital, I had my ultrasound that said it looked like she was probably going to be a girl. I remember going to his hospital room and telling him, "We think we have ourselves a girl!" He asked me what we were going to name her. I told him "Savannah". He said that was a "hillbilly name". I know it sounds harsh, but it wasn't. It was his sense of humor. He was really happy we were going to have a brand new baby girl soon. My dad was sick for a really long time before he died. You would have thought we were prepared for him to go home. It was still a surprise to all of us.

I wasn't a daddy's girl when I was growing up. I was (still am) a mommy's girl. My dad was a good dad. He took care of us and made sure we didn't go without. He wasn't mean or angry. Sure, he had a booming voice and many people thought he was scary. I never really thought that about him. He was just dad - with the big voice. I remember being very little and sitting in his lap while he would read the newspaper. He seemed HUGE to me. Great big arms and could hold the whole paper wide open to read it. I remember being older and going to work with him on Saturday morning sometimes. I remember stopping at the Clark's gas station for candy. He brought me out a Hershey's with Almonds Big Block Bar. I was so excited. When my niece, Sarah, was born, we would take her to visit his friends. She was maybe 1 year old at the time. He loved his Sarah Bearah. He had so much pride bringing her to all of his friends' houses. When I got pregnant, it was hard for my dad at first. I was 16 and had chosen to plan to start my family. Some parents would be angry and not help. My dad was angry. Then he helped. He made sure I had everything I needed. On the day that Timmy was born, he was right there. When they wheeled me from the delivery room, my arms felt heavy and I thought I would drop Timmy off the cart. I handed him to my dad. That was the beginning of a wonderful 9 year relationship between my dad and Timmy Boy. He got sick right after that. Oh, what a struggle he had ahead of him. It was a long battle. The following year, we told him we were getting married. He wasn't walking at the time. He got into rehabilitation and he got himself walking with a walker and then a cane. He walked me down the aisle. My scrapbook page says that "Parents are supposed to be proud of their kids on their wedding day, but I was proud of my dad." I was so happy to have him walk me down the aisle.

My kids are all daddy kids. They love me and they have fun with me, but they adore their dad. I loved my dad and I knew he loved me. What really stuck out to me though was the old saying that says something about children feeling loved when their father loves their mother. My dad LOVED my mom. He adored my mom. If there was one thing I could say about my dad it would be how much my mom meant to him. It was a good way to grow up. I hope my dad is proud of who I have become. I hope he has been watching my kids grow up. He would get such a kick out of them. I love you dad!

Absent...

Busy, busy, busy... pre-op appointments on Monday, Savannah's surgery on Tuesday, all day field trip on Wednesday, laundry and more laundry on Thursday, cleaning and cookie baking on Friday. I have all sorts of posts in my head. Some I want to post, others I am not sure I should. Oh and I am having so much fun using my Itunes gift card from my birthday. My refurbished IPOD nano arrived today. Tim gave me a $25 gift card. I am just listening to lots of music. I don't have a busy weekend planned, so I will try to get some of my pictures and thoughts together. Come back tomorrow!

My Oldest...

(Don't ask me why his shirt was so wet!)

I have been thinking about this post for awhile. Tim II wants to join the military. Seems like a simple sentence to write, but probably one of the more difficult ones I have ever written. I never, ever saw him as a kid who would join the military. Don't get me wrong... I respect our military. I have several family members and a few friends that are or were in the military. It is not that I don't think a great deal of them. I just never thought about MY SON joining the military. He is 19 and trying to figure out who he is going to be. I have been so busy taking care of Savannah and Sebastian the last 3 years, that it seems that Tim II just grew up without my permission. Tim II says he wants to be an EMT/Medic. He wants to get training for this. Part of me wants him to just take the courses here and go that route. Part of me suspects a 4 month course in EMT training is just not what you make a career out of. He looked into the volunteer fire department (and was accepted) to get training there. I was pleased and thought that might be the way. Then he came home with the news he really wanted to just join the military. Uggghhhh!!! So, over the last month or so, I have been thinking on this a lot. Somehow my brain latched on to a memory of him riding his bike to school for the first time. He was 7 and in 1st grade. The school was not far by any means. He begged all year to ride his bike. I kept telling him he was too young. Finally at the very end of the school year, I agreed to let him ride with our neighbor kids, Adam and Amber. Amber was several years older than him and I knew she would keep an eye on him. The night before he was going to ride his bike to school, I was so worried. I wanted to tell him that I had changed my mind. My stomach was in knots. I kept seeing him get hit by a car or getting taken by somebody or an alien coming out of the sky to scoop him up. I was a wreck. The next morning came and he got ready for school so quickly. He got his helmet on and was ready to dart out the door. I made him stop so I could snap a picture. I needed to record this astounding event. I was, after all, letting my only child - my little boy - the love of my life - ride his bike to school. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I held my breathe and I let him go. I let him do it and he was fine. He was happy and growing up. So, I have been thinking about that a lot this month. I don't want my son to go away. I want him to live close to me always. I want him to come over for chicken Parmesan. I want him to be there for Sebastian and Savannah's birthdays. I want him to hang out with me the next time I may find myself in a hospital because my kids banged themselves up again - cheering me on and letting me know it will be okay. I want him to be in my daily life. My heart aches that he will leave me someday. I fear he won't come back. That he will meet some wonderful young lady that has family is Arizona or Seattle or some very far away place. He will call me and say he is in love and moving there. My heart will break. I have been his momma since I was 16 years old. I went from a child to having a child. I have spent the last 20 years trying to be the best mom I could be. Now, I am just supposed to let him go. Just like when he was 7 and wanted to ride his bike to school. Only this time, the tears have been coming and I am trying really hard to be supportive. I am just going to have to hold my breathe and let him go.

Tim II can use some prayers...

Hey y'all! (look I am starting talk like I am from the South!) Timmy is headed to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station). I am asking for prayers that he makes wise decisions while he is there. He has clear ideas of what he wants to be offered. We need to pray he has the right test scores and that God puts him on the right path. If you want to say a prayer for his momma - that she can accept this is what he wants to do - that would be great too! I have started and stopped a post about this several times. It is there, I will hit publish at some point.

Strawberry picking...

Last week we went strawberry picking. Timmy, Savannah and I went picking in Florida 6 years ago and had a blast. I have no idea why it has taken us this long to go again. This time we were lucky enough to invite a whole bunch of family along for the fun. It was a perfect day to be out there. I think everyone had a great time!

It is hard working "testing" the quality of these strawberries!

Somebody has got to do it!

Best Buds!
(Okay, they just don't know it yet!)

Derek working very hard to find the best berries.

Laurie, Crystal and Savannah

Karis and Vilma

Who is that pretty girl tasting a berry?

I love this smile! =)

Savannah had the brilliant idea to melt chocolate for the fresh strawberries.

The ups and downs a week can take...

Last week was a draining week. Yes, I remember that I try not to whine on my blog. After all, I just wrote about that like last week. Bare with me. There will be more to this than just a whine, I promise. Last Monday morning, I woke up to our Florida tenants calling us and telling us the house air conditioning was broken again. Ugh! Absolutely not what I wanted to hear. Okay, I can deal with it. I decided to not call the AC place back that was our there last month because we had several problems with them. You are just playing Russian Roulette when you have to find an AC guy in Pinellas County. There are 800 of them and most of them are crooks. I did finally get somebody out there and the price wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't penny candy. It took a few days to get this cleared up. During that time, I was trying to potty train Sebastian. I realize this is not rocket science, but it may very well be the most frustrating thing I have ever tried to do. I am just plain worn out from it. It is one mess after another. Even if I were not potty training (which I may be giving up - read on), Sebastian has been - how does one say - very ACTIVE lately. He is just getting taller and bigger and into so many more things. It is one big mess after another. That brings me to Friday morning. I took Savannah to the doctor for what I thought was her last ankle appointment. The doctor comes in and says we need to schedule surgery. HUH? WHAT? SURGERY? Panic set in. My head was swirling. I don't like my baby girl to have to have anything like surgery done again. Then my brain went to her current insurance is ending at the end of May. Then she will have less coverage and this may be pre-existing, etc. I started rambling to this poor doctor and his nurses. We left the doctor's office waiting for more information to come later. I was in a fog the rest of the day. Tim came home from work. He puts his check on the counter. He was supposed to be a due a pretty substantial raise this week. A raise that would be so needed and so wonderful. I look and the raise it not there. Add to my fog. The weekend continues, mostly okay except for washing my cell phone in the washing machine and then on Saturday night or more appropriately Sunday morning, Tim II calls. He is pretty amped up and he says he just hit a deer going 70 mph on the highway. My heart just raced.

Lots of drama for that past week, huh? More than I prefer. That was the whine part. Make no mistake that I was worn out, crabby, sad, emotional and any other adjective you would like to add in there. Here comes the part that allows me to put all of this on my "no-downer" blog. Let's back up to the AC in Florida... It really does stink that we have had to pay more that what we make in a months rent for repairs on that house in the past 30 days. It stinks, but God somehow made sure we had the money. Nobody had to starve or go without this week to make sure we could tend to that house. Now lets talk about Savannah's surgery. The nurses in this doctor's office were wonderful. They got on the phone with the sometimes frustrating insurance company and got them to approve another surgery. Even though this all happened in the out of state and out of network place. They got it scheduled for next Tuesday instead of the end of the month because we are going to Florida for convention and then to Virginia for Savannah to be in my niece's wedding. They just took care of it for me. The other thing is that Savannah will be fine. She will heal from this. Her doctor is making sure she is getting the best care. He doesn't like the way the screws are affecting her growth plates, so he is taking action. That is way better than saying we will deal with it when it is really a problem affecting her growth. After we left the doctor's office, in my fog, we went to target. There was a car in the parking lot with "PRAY FOR CLAY" on the back window. I have seen this little boy on the news. He has cancer. I have prayed for him. I thought, "Wow... this is just a routine surgery. What are you in a fog about? You need to pray for Clay and get your head screwed on right!" Then we are onto Tim's pay raise. A short while after I noticed his raise wasn't on his check, Tim came out to talk to me. He said his boss forgot to include the raise on his check and he just gave him some cash to cover it this week. He handed me the cash! Okay, what was next? My cell phone. I have insurance - hopefully it will either dry out or I will get a new one. It stinks I have to get all those phone numbers again, but I have already gotten a bunch of emails with number from my friends and family today giving me their numbers. It is nice to wake up and open an email box with notes from these people. Finally, there is the deer hitting Timmy's car. Oh my! I am still just ill over this. I keep thinking what if he hadn't been okay. My sweet niece, Joanna, lost a friend from this very incident. I cried so many times yesterday thinking what if it had been different. I was a mess. It doesn't matter that he is 19 and 220 lbs. He is my baby. Just sitting here thinking of it, is making me cry. Where is the good in this? His car is wrecked. We dropped comp and collision insurance last month. Well... he is safe! He was not hurt! He called me for help! You know what else... he has the MOST AMAZING ATTITUDE! He worked so hard to pay for that car. He paid for every dime of it over these years. It is wrecked. He is still not in a bad mood. He was not crabby or anything. He was just thankful he was okay. I am proud of him. I don't think I would be so together. Heck, I was really, super ticked I washed my cell phone. I mean - I was throwing a mini-tantrum. It was a cell phone, not my car that I had put all my money into for 3 years. Heck, he still owes money to us for parts he had to have put on this winter. Nope. He didn't throw a tantrum. He just accepted it. He is growing up. The other good news is that Tim just bought an old truck. That means we have an extra vehicle for Timmy to drive until we figure out what is next. We had no idea when we bought that truck, we would really be needing it. So, there were lots of ups and downs this week. Each time I was down, I found myself just praying. Praying and praying some more. I didn't know what else to do. God took care of each of these things. No, some aren't exactly the way I would like. I really don't want Savannah to have surgery. I really would like Timmy's car to be just fine. They aren't perfect, but they aren't unimaginable. We can live with them. Somehow, God is working it all out. I am still praying about potty training. I don't have any silver lining story for that one. I bet you were all hoping I was going to to say - POOF! On Friday, Sebastian was fully potty trained. No such luck. I guess God can't answer all of my prayers in a week. Maybe this week?

Birthday pictures...

Yes, I realize my birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I just went to look if I had any pictures to blog about. Surprisingly, I haven't been taking a ton of pictures like usual. I really only had about 2 choices of things to blog about. I am still working on a blog post in my head that I am just not ready to post yet. We are also heading out strawberry picking today, so I KNOW I will have pictures to post about that. My mom had a birthday party for me at her new house. I had a great time. I was sorta nervous about having a birthday party here because there are A LOT of people now. It sorta intimidates me that everyone would be coming over because it was my birthday. It reminded me of when I was in grade school and the music teacher would parade you around the big class sitting in a circle. She would wave your arms in the air while they sang happy birthday. Then she would give you birthday spankings. I was always thrilled when my birthday fell during spring break and I missed that kind of excitement. I know this isn't an exciting post. It is something. It shows all the wonderful people in my life.

Tim took this photo and cropped it.

My mom got Karen a thank you gift.

A portion of the "crew".

My family! =)

Lemonade Stand...

Savannah has been asking if she and Karis could have a lemonade stand all week long. I bought a big thing of Country Time a few weeks back. Then I brought home a baby bottle from church. We are supposed to fill it with spare change that will be donated to the crisis pregnancy center. Somewhere along the line, she decided it would be good to have a lemonade stand to donate the money. Ummm... then she sorta thought maybe half of the money. Silly girl! I am leaving it up to her. I ran out to Walmart to get them some cups today. While I was driving there, I got to remembering having lemonade stands when I was a kid. I have mentioned my best friend, Patty, before. We lived next door to each other from the time we were 2 until we were 18. We were always together. When I was blessed with a baby girl, I almost immediately began wondering if she, too, would find her "Patty". Tim used to joke with me that I was always looking for her "Patty". I did, too. When she was about 3, I started going to homeschool co-ops and park days. If you homeschool and don't have a lot of kids, you have to find other kids. We didn't have a lot of neighborhood kids. The kids that did live there, were gone all the time. I got Savannah in girl scouts to find friends and she did make amazing friends there. I stopped worrying so much. When we decided to move to SC, we originally were thinking about building a house. Then the house next door to Tim's brother came up for sale. It wasn't the house I was dreaming of, but it was NEXT DOOR to family. My mind went right to living next door to Patty. Savannah and Karis have been friends as well as cousins since the day they were born. Debi and I tried to get together a few times a year. We were always talking about "the cousins" year round to keep them connected. The girls would play together and have a great time. They really always got along. Tim II and his cousin Sean (3 months younger) never got along as well as Savannah and Karis did and still do. Moving next door was just icing on the cake. I loved looking out the window this afternoon and see them having a simple lemonade stand. It just gave my heart that warm and fuzzy feeling. I am so glad we moved in next door.

A serious note...

I have debated on posting this, but I think I need to. In case any of you happened to read some rather nasty comments on my blog lately, I thought I might address them. When I started my blog 2 years ago, I wasn't sure what I would be blogging about. I had read some other homeschool moms' blogs and really enjoyed them. I took something away from each one. It may have been a simple recipe or a really inspiring moment of faith. I just knew I liked the whole idea of blogging. I was also still trying to work through some feelings of loss and found that if I blogged, I felt more steady. When I created my blog, I decided that I wanted to highlight "blessings" in my life. I had ran across some blogs where the author spent a good deal of time complaining about something. I am not saying complaining is all bad. Some blogs are specifically meant for that purpose. I am sure I have complained a time or two (or three) on my blog. Honestly, though, I try not to. It is not that I have a "perfect" life. If you followed any of my posts from last year, I would think you would see my life was far from perfect. It was a struggle on some of those days and weeks to keep my hopes up and find a blessing to post about. That is why I call it Crazy Everyday Blessings. It is to try to find a blessing in every. single. day. I posted once about how my blog got its name - click here. That brings me to the comments that have appeared on my blog. I have deleted them because they were hurtful. Not only to me, but to my mom, my sister and my husband. I could have just deleted them and let it go. I actually did that last week. Then I didn't blog for a whole week. I didn't blog because the comments stung. It made me not want to come to my blog and write anything. Tonight, I found another nasty comment. It was mean and was directed at my mom's new home. The new home that my mom loves. The new home that Tim's family - my family has put so much work into. I decided that sometimes when somebody is mean, you have to call them on it. This person that keeps writing nasty things is my brother's mentally ill girlfriend. I say mentally ill because she is indeed mentally unstable. My family has dealt with her for the past decade and it only seems to get worse. She has caused my family so much pain and probably doesn't deserve an ounce of my time. But... for whatever reason... she is reading my blog. So, Linda, I have put my blog on moderation. Your comments will no longer appear. I will not allow you to take a place I have made peaceful for two years and turn it into a sick place. This is a place for blessings. The kind that include an egg hunt with Grandma or a garden with daddy. You are welcome to come here and read and maybe something will inspire you. You are not welcome to post negative and awful things. Linda, please respect that my family has moved far from you and we have asked nothing of you. You are free to live your life, but please leave us alone. Okay, now we can go back to my regularly scheduled Crazy Everyday Blessings.

Earth Day...

I missed posting this on Earth Day by about 15 minutes. I am not what I would call a fanatic about eco-friendly things. I am not into all things organic and healthy. I am learning, but I am not really there. I have respect for those who learn and know and do more about this... I am just not completely to that point. I try to do the simple things that most of us know about. I usually turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I try not to use a bazillion paper towels. I turn off lights when they are not being used. Those are pretty small things. A few girl scout meetings back, Savannah's leader was reading to us about plastic water bottles. She made this one comment that just was like one of those "wow" moments for me. She stated that EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF PLASTIC THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE IS STILL ON THIS PLANET!!! Did you read that? EVERY SINGLE PIECE! Here is the thing... my mom has joked with my kids that she is "older than plastic" meaning she was born before plastic was mainstream. It can take 100 years to break down a piece of plastic. Plastic hasn't been around for 100 years, so all that plastic is still out there. To back up, even before Savannah's scout meeting, I had been thinking about buying reusable water bottles. My reason for this was that we moved to SC and had a filtered water dispenser in our refrigerator. The water tastes great. Nothing like anything you would get from filtered water in Florida. Florida water is icky. When I went to her girl scout meeting, it just motivated me more. Add to that, Savannah needed to commit to a task that help our environment. I looked a few options online. Sigg Bottles were one option, but pricey to get 5 of them. One day I was in Target and found Eddie Bauer bottles over by the camping gear. They were about $6.99 each. They came in an assortment of colors and sizes. I got Tim II the huge one because he fills it for his shift at work. I got Tim, me and Savannah the 22 oz ones. I didn't get Sebastian one because I really wanted to test them out first. Actually, he uses Tim's during the week when we run errands because Tim doesn't take his to work. It has been about a month or so of using them. They are not made of plastic. They don't have the funny taste bottles can get. Best of all they are dishwasher safe. I am absolutely amazed at how well my family adapted to using refillable water bottles. I thought they would still want the convenience of grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge. They all just took to placing their water bottle on the counter by the fridge and filling it as they need it. Even Tim! If he is out working on the garden on the weekend, he fills his bottle! Complete success! I am going to get Sebastian his own too. This is my tip for helping the environment and also saving a little money on bottled water. Next up for me I think will be using my own reusable bags at the grocery store. I already own about 5 totes. There really isn't a good reason that I don't take those with me to the store. I read today that it can take 1000 years for the plastic grocery bags to break down. Paper isn't better because of the amount of trees it cuts down. I think a small step forward is something. I am not ready to compost just yet. (Even though Tim would love it for his garden!)

My new couch...

This is my new couch. It is sorta a birthday present to myself. We only had one living/family room in Florida, but we have two in South Carolina. So, we needed more seating. We were using my mom's furniture while she was living here. For some reason, she thought she needed to take her furniture with her to her new home. The picture doesn't really show how POOFY the couch is. I posted on the Well Trained Mind message board asking if the POOFINESS would go away. It is really comfortable and matches well. It is just, well... POOFY! I ordered it on the computer without seeing it in person. I have 48 hours to decide if I want to keep it. Tim came home for lunch and said he thought it would break in fine. I guess I will believe him and just keep it.

Today is my birthday and Saturday was moving day...

I am 36 today. I sorta feel 36 and I sorta don't. My body feels more like 36 and sometimes I realize that I have learned a whole lot since I was 18, but sometimes I don't really feel all that older than somewhere around 28-30. I just don't really feel like I am old enough to have a 19 year old, 9 year old, 3 year old, a dog, 2 houses, a million responsibilities, etc. I guess I am. I have BIG PLANS for my day. I have been thinking about these plans for a couple days. I want to unpack books. Yep... that is my plan. Back to moving day being on Saturday... my mom and sister moved into their own place. Now I LOVE my mom and my sister. I really, really, really do. They love me and my family too. I am sure they really, really, really do. I also know that we are ALL very happy to have our own homes. I do think it is interesting how God's timing worked it that my mom and sister were here for the duration of Savannah's injury. She was released from using crutches on Friday. (Actually walking is a whole 'nuther post.) She will be off of these crutches as soon as she learns to balance and walk again. It was very helpful to have my mom and sister here to help me with everything because Savannah's injury added a lot of extra stuff. Now I have lots of work to do. I have to do some cleaning because things can get messing when you are pulling tons of boxes and stuff out of every nook and cranny. I have to put two book shelves together. Then I get to unpack and organize my books. To some, that may not sound like a fun thing. I am really excited about it! I packed up these books a whole YEAR ago to get our house ready for sale. I can't wait to look through and find some of my favorites to share with Sebastian (and Savannah because she will still listen to "little kid" stories). I might just bake some chocolate chip cookies too. Just because they sound good and I have been avoiding baking them because I knew I would eat them. We will have a family party on Wednesday night, so today and tonight is free to just unpack stuff. I guess I need to get a shower and get moving if I am going to accomplish all these things I think I am going to accomplish.

FPEA Homeschool Convention

I don't have much to blog about, so this is came to mind. I have written each year about attending the HUGE homeschool convention in Florida. I really wasn't sure if we would continue to go since we moved. The truth is that I don't really NEED to see any curriculum close-up. Sure, I would like to see Math-U-See again, but they do have demos on their website. I am pretty decided on most things for next year. The thing is that we miss our friends and a lot of them will be attending the convention. It makes it easy to visit everyone in one place. So, because of this, Savannah and I will be heading to Florida. Tim II is actually going too, but on his own. He is going to spend a week between the convention and "home". I am using this convention thing to convince Savannah she needs to get up her feet as soon as the doctor says it is okay. I keep reminding her how far it is to walk at the hotel and how she will want to be running around with her friends. My mom and Tim are going to keep Sebastian for me. That will make the whole thing much easier. I am getting excited thinking about a few days with just Savannah, me and our friends. I *may* try to leave a day earlier and go back "home" so Savannah can see her friend Serafina and I can see my friend, Linda Linda Bo Binda (yes, that really is her name). I haven't talked to my mom just yet. Hey, mom, if you are reading this... what do you think? I know - I will owe you much chocolate for watching Sebastian for an extra day. Okay, more than MUCH CHOCOLATE - EXTREME AMOUNTS OF GHIARDELLI CHOCOLATE! If you want to know more about the convention - click here FPEA Homeschool Convention. If you would like to know about Ghiardelli's Ice Cream - the place Savannah and I will consume much ice cream and about the Keds Outlet - the place I replace my beloved tennis shoes - click here Ice Cream and Shoes (what a mix!). Now, I must shower and head out to the mall with my children! AHHHH!!! I need to get some shampoo and conditioner from the the Bath and Body shop. Then I have to go to Sam's - it seems everytime I buy food - they eat it.

Gardening Part 1

It seems as if we have obtained a YARD here in South Carolina. For some that may not seem like such a big thing. If you have lived in Florida for the last 17 years with about 10 feet of distance between the pool and fence, then an acre of land seems huge. One of the things Tim loves is gardening. He is pretty good at it too. I, on the other hand, seem to lack a green thumb. I did try gardening once or twice. I hope to find some pictures of that adventure and maybe I will post about them later this week. I said maybe. Even before we moved, Tim was talking about gardening. Then when we got here, he really started talking and planning a garden. He got quite a few gardening things for his birthday. Somehow a small garden got huge. Then, somehow, I got really excited about it. We planted seeds and watched them grow. I think I went back to childhood because I was like a kid checking to see if anything had sprouted a few times each day. Tim removed a bunch of trees to clear an area for the garden. Last night we started preparing it for the seeds. We actually planted a few of the seedlings too. I can't believe how excited I am about this! It really was a ton of work for Tim with taking out the trees, but he keeps saying that it was a one time thing. I don't think the vegetable garden will save us much money this year because of the start up, but again Tim keeps telling me that is pretty much a one time thing. So... we are officially gardeners. When Savannah was planting the seedlings last night, she said she felt like a pioneer! Silly girl! I am hoping, if all goes well, that I can post pictures as our garden grows. We are planting watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes (2 kinds), cucumbers, cauliflower, radishes, onions, beans (2 kinds), carrots, parsnips, peppers, sunflowers, and a whole bunch of different kinds of corn. I have no idea what will grow well, except that I remember seeing corn in somebody's yard this past summer. Oh, he also got me concord grape plants! If you click here concord grapes, you can read about why and how much I love concord grapes. I am so excited to have some in my own yard.

The planting process begins.

Okay, so our bathroom was our green house. Seriously, we have a large sunny window in our bathroom and it is enough out of the way of everyone. I wanted to take a picture of the plants sprouted in there, but I forgot. Now they are either planted or on the back porch.

Tim's birthday stash (and my curling iron).

Honk! Honk!

I really never much paid any attention to the driving carts in stores until I had a child on crutches for 10 weeks. Amazing how important these little gems become! Most stores have the battery kind. A few just have wheel chairs. We have become quite the experienced motorcart/wheelchair shoppers. Of course we had to take pictures to share on the blog.