Saturday, July 30, 2005

Stir it all up

Dip it all in
Stir it all up
Chomp it all down
And send it to stommmmmmach town.

This is the food mantra invented and chanted by Shayne and now the other kids, whenever they are eating. I'm hearing it now as they eat their PBJ&A in a cup (peanut butter, jelly, and Ambrotose).

Today -- guitar lessons for Shayne, lunch at the Walkers, grocery shopping at Fresh Market & Walmart. The evening is open and will probably be spent lounging around the house and getting an early start on bedtime.

Just thought I'd throw on an entry today while I sat here listening to the kids. Sorry it's not full of excitement and news.

Although there is one TEENY bit of news I would like to talk about.... but since it pertains to a family member that isn't ready for me to publically discuss the issue, I'll just tempt you with the thought that I'll be talking about something exciting in the near future (hopefully!)

One hint... Suzanne came over last night with her sweet Julianna :) That's all I can say!

Oh, and I can say "Happy Anniversary to Donna & Nathan!" 5 years!!!!!! Whoo hoo! We love y'all!

Monday, July 25, 2005

Just Layla


I am now the proud owner of the painting you see to the right. It is by Layla Palmer and her website is www.JustLayla.com and you should DEFINITELY check out her artwork (and BUY SOME!)

The painting depicts the 3 homes Donnie and I have shared since getting married over 12 years ago. The one on the far right was the home he built "for me" while I was a senior in high school. Of course, I didn't move in with him until we were Mister and Missus but I loved being able to tell friends at school that my Friday nights with my boyfriend were being spent picking out carpet or some other task.

The home in the middle is where we moved when Shayne was only 6 months old. It is also Hudson's birthplace. We told the now-owners of that house that if Hudson ever became President or a famous rock-n-roll star that they could turn it into a tourist attraction!

And finally, the home on the left is where we live now. You see Lucy lounging happily in the front yard. Isn't it the greatest?

The painting isn't in my possesion yet but I should get it this week. It will have a happy showcase in our bright yellow kitchen. I can't wait!

Remember, go to www.JustLayla.com and buy her stuff. She also has paintings for sale at ebay -- sells under name "justlayla". OH, she also has a booth at Eastbrook Flea Market (bottom floor).

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Discussions At Home

Things we're talking about these days...

Disney World. Our Christmas trip to Orlando is getting closer and we're all getting very excited!

Dream Home Giveaway. This will be our 3rd attempt to win a Dream Home given away by the local country radio station. I qualified for a key in 1995 but the house was won before I got a chance to try. Donnie qualified for a key in 2003, got a chance to try it in the door, but didn't win. This year I qualified and we're thinking this could be our year :)

Homeschooling. It's becoming a very real option for me to homeschool Shayne her 5th grade year. H.A. and David would stay in K and 3rd at ECS while we give this a trial for a year. I'm looking at a curriculum called "Switched On Schoolhouse" and would love any feedback from others who are familiar with it. I will be spending time this year doing research and going to lots of homeschool activities. We're praying about this a lot.

Friends and family members with needs. We have several who have job and health needs.

Cleaning up this house. We're in a house that has room for everything to have a "home." That's what I wanted when we were in our other house. I was tired of not being able to clean up because there were so many things that didn't have a 'home' to go to so they just sat around cluttering up space. Now we have a 'home' for everything but things still don't get there. It's frustrating. I'm doing some massive cleaning in preparation of the big consignment sale. LOTS of things will be going out the door for that sale.

We haven't discussed Natalee Holloway lately but I just had thoughts of her and her family. So sad.

Speaking of.... It's time to go watch some Fox News before getting some shut-eye. Night night everyone.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Elephants & Kangaroos

It's gone. All gone.

The blog I started a couple of years ago is gone.

I had intentions of printing all of my entries but I never did.

That blog held many very dear entries. It documented a very difficult time in my life and the triumph of Christ leading me through it.

And now it is completely gone.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

I've got to print these pages sometime. Does anyone have any ideas about a way to backup blogs like this other than to print hard copies?

Ugh.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

1 limb down and waiting it out

The wind is WHIPPING big time outside the door as I sit here at my computer. I look over and see the undersides of the leaves and hear a low, human-sounding 'whurrrrr' as the air travels quickly around the corner of our brick house.

LOL....all of that is true but I'm smiling at myself for writing such near-literary sounding descriptions!

We have trees bending in every direction in our front yard but none of them are large enough tht I'm worried about them landing on the house. They're pretty tall, though....taller than the house, but far enough from them that I'm not too concerned. They're being slapped around all over the place so much that I'm unable to tell which direction the wind is blowing. The wind earerli was from north to south but now it seems to start from the south and then swirl around taking the trees in every direction. These trees seem soft and too flexible to snap but since we've already lost one of these limbs, it's certainly possible more will come.

We're waiting for the worst part of our role in the Hurricane Dennis drama. It shouldn't be too bad and hopefully will be done by early morning hours. Of course, we will have rain for several days but the eye of the storm is steadily heading out towards Mississippi. Sorry MS, but I was praying for that!

And I'm in the middle of a confession to God for lack of faith. I'm not sure if my sin of near-faithlessness is even over actually. I have been praying for this Hurricane to not affect us on Monday night because I had a HUGE Mannatech meeting planned with the Senior VP of Sales/Marketing. Talking to him yesterday, I almost begged him to please see about changing his plans so that he could do the meeting Thursday instead. He agreed to try. I moved forward with these changes and even emailed a MASSIVE amount of people and made several phone calls. Now, today as we see the storm's forecast, we're thinking that Monday night should be OK after all. So...we've decided to stick with the original plans. Sigh. LORD, please forgive me for worrying about all this. I trust you that things will be FINE.

Stay safe everyone!