I haven't been on here since I don't know when.  But it's been quite some time.

Things are going alright for us.  We have adjusted to our older son being in a group home.  He is doing wonderfully though and seems very happy there.  We are able to get him and bring him home often since he doesn't live far away from us.  He starts a new school though, next month and might cause some complications with his autism.  We are already praying about that. 

On the homefront, our daughter is going to be working in a beauty salon as an apprentice.  She's been wanting to go to beauty school for awhile now, but the cost is more than she or we can afford so this apprenticeship will really be something doable for her.  Ahhh, we will miss the Starbucks coffee she brings home for her rent.

We will be starting school up next week.  I'd like to try and do a year 'round type school since he needs extra practice in certain areas such as reading comprehension.  He's doing well. He's got an excellent memory on things that he 'wants to remember' that is.  He just celebrated his 11th birthday last month and will be going into 5th grade.  I get a bit more nervous the higher grades we go since things like math get more complicated.  Hey, I'm just trying to remember how to do the fractions and whatnot, it had been so long and we all know math is probably my most hated subject.

We've had a nice summer so far.  My dad came down for a visit and spent Father's day with us, which was nice.  We had a good time with him coming down.  Nathan sure liked his visiting with Papa.  In fact, he got a little something in the mail yesterday from Papa, and he immediately wrote him a short note back.  He sent a magazine page of presidential facts.  Nathan loves facts about the presidents, who was the tallest, who was the oldest elected, who had the most kids, who was the largest, etc.  In fact, he already knew over half of the facts.

We joined a new church as well, a few weeks ago.  It's like going back to our grass roots.  It's a Baptist church and it feels good to sing the hymns that most churches don't sing now.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy praise music the upbeat and uplifting kind, but there's just something about a hymn that really makes your heart joyful.  The most important thing about the church is the pastor unabashedly preaches and teaches repentance and about Jesus Christ being the only way to the Father.  Again, alot of churches nowadays are pulling away from this sort of thing, adopting an almost new age philosophy of God being in everyone. 

I've been doing alot of research the past year on various things relating to the end times, which I believe are here.  I've been looking up information on just about everything relating to the end times and getting into the Word more.  The Bible is so fascinating and the more I read, the more I get to know the Lord and His ways.  My bible is starting to get all highlighted and underlined now with verses that I remember my mom reciting to me all the time.

Time this year has gone by faster than any time I can remember.  It seems the older I get, the faster it goes.  And that old question, where does the time go, really applies.  Once it's gone, it's gone. I and think, what have I done for Him today?

God bless!

I was going through some of my blogs and realized just what a nutjob I really am!  Ha! I think I am an interesting character and I don't even show all of my ummm, uniqueness in my writings.  Pretty scary huh.

I keep forgetting this is a 'homeschool' blog and should talk at least a little about it dont ya think.  We are doing fairly well.  Nathan is in 4th grade and talk about 4th grade math.  OY!  I hated math when I was in school and I still hate it!  Teaching fractions is ooooh sooo fun.  But I AM making myself learn, so now I know how to turn an improper fraction into a mixed fraction and visa versa.  Still trying to figure out how to add fractions with unlike denominators.  I know I can figure it out, but it's like my ADD kicks in and I can't focus on how to do it.  No, I have not been officially diagnosed with it, but I tell ya, sometimes.........how many things can a person think of at one time, eh?

Oops, this is turning into a thing about me, not homeschooling.  Mybad as Nathan would say.  And he says it alot!  Ah, TV commercials, gotta love 'em.

We are going over the American Revolution again which is ok.  Also practicing reading a book (2 chapters at a time) and writing or telling what he's just read about.  I'm surprised I haven't pulled all my hair out yet.  He's just having a hard time with it.  Autism's so fun sometimes.  sigh

Gotta run, but will write later.

God bless!

Well, hard to believe it's February already!  I've been very busy researching online and in my bible about some things that have been bothering me lately and I've had no time for blogging.  I know I always have excuses for not blogging much, but I think that delving into the bible is a pretty good 'reason'. 

I've been loooking up things like the 'Emergent Church', the 'Seeker Friendly Church' as well as Contemplative prayer and Centering prayer.  What I am reading really disturbs me.  I have a new book called Faith Undone by Roger Oakland.  Very good book that gives some good info on the Emergent Church and where and how it got its start.  I am also learning to read and then go to the bible to see if it lines up with scripture.  Right now I see this world as slipping away from Christ and satan is decieving as many people as he can, even Christians.  I feel that we are near the end of times and that Christ is coming back soon for His bride.  I eagerly await His coming, for He is my Blessed Hope.

God bless you who read this!

I know, it's been ages since last posted.  Just so many things going on with my daughter moving back in, my 18 year old son moving out and my husband retiring from the military.  I'll try to get back to blogging here shortly.

11 days ago on December 17th, my mom passed away.  The timing was unexpected, but we knew that she didn't have much time left.  She was on dialysis and she had stage 4 lung cancer, getting that from having cancer on her kidneys about 6 years ago.  She was in stage 4 when they caught it because she hadn't had any symptoms with it.

We had made plans to spend Christmas with my parents and were eagerly looking forward to seeing them just 5 days away.  We left on a Tuesday and they had her funeral on Thursday.  Hers was one of the best funerals I've been to.  I know that sounds odd to you, but truly, it was the way she wanted it.  Our family had a private burial at the gravesite and then we had a memorial celebration, as they called it.  The theme they wanted was "It's Not About Us, It's All About Him".  My mom was a strong and true follower of Christ and she always put Him first in her life.  There were many people who attended who were there because of her witness, her teaching and caring about them.  In fact 5 people were saved during her funeral!!!  We found that awesome and truly wonderful!

I know she is in heaven now, enjoying her well earned time with her Lord and Savior and probably just chatting away with her parents and everyone else who's lives she touched.  Someone sang the song Thank You at the funeral and that truly, truly was exactly what she was like.

I'm so thankful that she is in heaven and spared a long and painful time with her cancer.  I grieve greatly, for I miss her alot.  Every time I want to pick up the phone and tell mom something that's happened, I won't be able to.  Death IS sad and painful, but I think more so for those who don't know Christ.  If one does not know Christ as their personal Savior, they are doomed eternally.  I need to focus on that when I go out and ask God to give me the courage and the words to say so that I can be a witness like my mom was.  She meant so much to me and what she did for me after her death was precious in itself.

My dad gave me every card I had ever sent or given to them.  She had written on each of them about what was going on in our lives, and their lives at the time.  She also said she was praying for us and how proud she was of the kids and of me.  THAT was what I needed to hear, that I wasn't a disappointment to her and that she WAS proud of me.

We spent Christmas with my dad and my brother and his family.  Although we grieved together, we were able to have a good time together.  I am now starting to heal, but I think it will be awhile before I truly can be ok with it all.

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated and I've got alot to say.

We put our son Marcus into a group home on the 10th of this month.  He had some minor medical problems and he's been put on some extra medications and has not been to school in over a week.  He is adjusting to life over there alright.  He only lives 4 miles from us and we go see him a couple of times a week.

We are going to NC for the weekend.  This will be my first outing in 16 months.  I haven't been anywhere except to Atlanta to help my daughter move back here.  That wasn't the funnest day I've had.

Waiting word on my mom.  She has some nodules on her lungs which they believe is cancerous, because she's had cancer on her kidneys before and had them removed.  She is on dialysis because of that.  We are planning to go up to see them for Christmas and will be able to now that Marcus is in his new home.

Have had an emotional week.  Had a prophet in our church last Sunday and he spoke to me, then later came back to my husband and our daughter throughout the church service.  He said some pretty weird stuff and even offended us with something that wasn't true about my husband.  We were upset about it and couldn't figure out what to make of it and we get a call on Tuesday that he had passed away the previous evening.  We knew that in church he wasn't feeling all that great, but he kept pushing himself and prophesied to a good bit of the congregation. (we are a smallish church) And he came back that night and did the same thing (although we didn't go that night).  We felt really bad about it and we are praying for his family, especially his wife who is on dialysis and was the love of his life.

Oh, and I won't say what he told about me, unless it comes true and that would really have to be a miracle from God. 

God bless!

Just wanted to pop in.  I am starting another blog on blogspot though.  I'd like to get a feel for it before I totally turn over to it.  I still like this blog alot, more of a homey, Christian-type feel to it.

It's been a year since the world lost an outstanding person, Steve Irwin.  I still mourn his loss, I guess mainly because I wish I knew beyond any doubt that he would be in heaven.  I don't believe there was another person quite like him.  I believe he did exactly what he was put on this earth to do.  And I pray that the Lord rewards his efforts and I pray I can see him in heaven one day.  God bless Steve's family and their efforts to keep on with his dream of animal conservation. You are missed tremendously!  May God hear my prayers regarding you.

Ahhh, it's August already.  Good ol' August.  Wonderfully hot, and humid August.  My birthday is on Sunday the 5th.  I'll be 41.  Not doing anything special other than church (which IS special in itself).

Got our daughter moved back home safe and sound after a 20 hour day.  We got to Atlanta, had some lunch and went to get the U-Haul truck.  Kristin missed the exit (wasn't sure on directions) soooooo, we ended up driving ALL the way around Atlanta!  So we get the truck (finally) and get her stuff loaded.  And my child, I swear.  She left that apartment looking awful.  Food in the cabinets, the fridge, nothing was cleaned.  Uggghhh! 

Left around 7 that evening and on the way home it stormed.  So we're driving about 35 mph in the blinding rain.  My knuckles turning white gripping the steering wheel, me leaning forward, eyes trying to see the truck in front of me.  Oh yeah, it was fun!!  Got home at 1:30 that morning and crashed.  Then our wonderful stinkin' son Marcus decided he wanted to get me up at 6 o'clock!!!!  Whut!!!!  Anyway, glad we are done with that.

Next I will be taking him to see a doctor so that they (the infamous they) can determine if our son really deserves to be on disability.  lol  Don't ya just love the government.

School starts here on the 20th and we are sending Marcus.  Nathan will continue to be homeschooled and is in 4th grade.  We've been lazy this summer regarding school and need to catch up on reading and a bit of math.  I would like to start school next week maybe. 

Marcus should be moving this month as well.  His home is about 4 miles away so that's a relief to us.  I'll miss my boy, but hopefully the stress I deal with will lessen somewhat.  There are just some days when I am surprised that I made it through another day.

Anyway, he's quiet so I need to see what he's up to.  God bless!

I can't remember the last time I checked and wrote something on here, but I know it's been a long time.  Ok, so I'm a bit lazy and should look, but I'll do that later.  So much has happened in the meantime, besides life just passing me by and I'm just standing there going, huh?  My husband is home from Washington and is now retired from the Air Force.  He works for his own pest control company and he is still playing the guitar (as beautifully as ever) and we are praying for some more doors to be open for that.

Our daughter who lives in Atlanta at present, is moving back in with us.  We are helping her move this Saturday so it's going to be a very loooooong day, considering we have to drive 5 hours to Atlanta, move all her stuff (oh and she gets this truck that does NOT have a ramp on it, what's up with that?) then come back home, all the while trying to keep an 18 year old non verbal autistic  young man happy.

But, at least by going and doing all that on Saturday, I can enjoy watching Shark Week on Sunday evening.  Ok, I was going to put a smiley face here, but my freakin' computer won't let me!  I'll blame it on dh since it's his laptop I'm on.  Ha!  Anyway, looking so forward to Shark Week, oh yeah and having my daughter home too.  Yeah, that too. 

Starting to get ready for school again.  The kids here don't start until August 20th, but I am wanting to start this next week (I'll call that my birthday week)  I'll be getting much,  much older on the 5th of August.  So guess what our first thing in science is going to be about?  Oh I dunno, maybe about sharks! lol

Anyway, more news.....our 18 year old autistic son Marcus is moving out.  He is going to a group home sometime in August.  While this news is wonderful and much, much awaited for, it will be sad not having the 'boo' under the roof at night.  Believe me, I've been through so many emotions since this all started.  Happiness, sadness, etc.  He's just a big part of my life and now it's going to be gone.  I am hoping that this will give me and Nathan a chance to do more things together without having to worry about being home at a particular time waiting for Marc to come home. 

I have been busy refurbishing his furniture.  It was looking pretty bad, so I repainted it.  About killed us with the fumes too.  But hey, we're alive!  And I did ventilate, but dh didn't agree.    Ok, so I probably killed some of my brain cells that are desperately needed. 

Also got Marcus signed up for disability since he's 18 and it will help pay for the home he's going into.  I have to take him to another doctor for more medical proof of his disability. (yet I couldn't bring him into the social security office because he literally screamed his head off as he didn't want to be there--yeah, that's another story in itself).  But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

My main point to all this is that we've waited, having been waiting for some years for a residential home for him and we've prayed and prayed and now it's happening.  Autism awareness is on the rise and that is opening more doors for various homes to open up.  I told the director that it was a God thing, because in the past, there has just flat out been no money for these types of things and now the fountain is just flowing.  So we are praising God in all things big and small.  Every time my husband sells a new account, or gets an extra gig, or something, we are always thanking the Lord.  He has been blessing us, even in the midst of the stress of Keith leaving the military and venturing into the 'real' world, us making alot less money and with all this stuff in our lives coming up.  HE is the one to be thanked, and glorified and praised!  God bless you all, and I'll try to be better about writing.  Either that or I may have to move to blogspot as well.  lol  Lots of people on there I know.

Now I haven't been to my ATM in a few months, but I was just thinking the other day about drive up ATM machines.  Now, can somebody please explain to me WHY they have braille on the little buttons?  I mean, HELLO??  You're blind, ya can't drive!   I can see them having braille on ATM's that are in the malls or other places, you know, OTHER than a DRIVE THROUGH.  What brilliant person thought that one up?? 

You may now continue back to your regular random searching now.  I'm done spouting.  :-)   Maybe next time I'll have something intellectual and inspiring for you.  But don't hold your breath.

Oh, I know.  I haven't posted in over a month and now here I am talking about shopping carts.  What's up with that?  Anyway, am I the only person on the planet (who happens to shop at Walmart) who ALWAYS happens to pick THE cart that squeaks, squeals and is altogether about as easy to drive as an 18 wheeler???  I go to Walmart several times a week and every single durned time, my cart will squeak or something!  Am I the only one this happens to, because I don't hear anyone else's cart making obnoxious noises??  Hmmmpphhh!!

Anyhoo, some wonderful news is that my husband is finally back home for good!  His last week in DC, he took our 9 year old son and they spent 3 days getting in as much touring as possible.  They went everywhere, even got to see President Bush very close up!

Yes, my hubby is retiring from 20 years in the Air Force.  Now he has to actually do manual labor.  He is taking over his father's pest control business, so our house had better be bug free (especially spider free).  Refer to one of my earlier post(s) about those 8 legged creatures.

We are doing fairly well in school.  Nathan is still reading at a 2nd grade level (he is in 3rd).  But he is almost on level with most math (adding, subtraction, multiplying, division).  I don't look forward to fractions.  

He can name every single president, and tell you how tall each of them was.  He can tell some interesting facts about a bunch of them.  He also knows all 50 states and capitals.  His memory is starting to get better, mostly with facts, but that's ok.  We'll work on the hows and whys of historical events instead of just dates. 

Anyway, I'm so glad to have my husband back home after 8 months him being gone.  God blessed us through it all and Keith made several musician friends up there as well.

Wow!  I hadn't realized that I hadn't written in over a month.  What's up with that??  Well, time is passing us by fairly quickly.  My husband will be home for good in just a couple of weeks!  We are all happy about that.  It's been hard on our youngest son, who misses daddy very much.

Our older son Marcus (the severely autistic one) is at a residential place for a few days.  We finally were able to get him into their system.  I admitted him yesterday and will pick him up on Thursday so that he cans spend part of his birthday (Friday) with us when he's not at school.  He will be 18 years old!  I feel so ancient now.  lol  He made the transition very well they tell me and he did sleep there, on the floor like I told them he would. Most people are very surprised when I tell them he sleeps on the floor.  Honestly, he has had a bed in his room ever since he was born.  When he finally was too big for his crib, he started sleeping on either his rocking horse or the floor.  But anyway, I digress.  I am very thankful that he is doing well.  He did NOT do well yesterday when I left.  He pitched quite a fit when I was leaving.  Anyway, this is his first time there and so we are just testing to see how he will do before we actually leave him there while we go on vacation or visit family or something.

Since we didn't have to worry about being back for the bus, I took our younger son to the aquarium this morning.  He had a good time looking at jellyfish, eels, an anaconda, sharks, and even got a hands on experience with a horseshoe crab and some hermit crabs.  I still need to run a few errands, but thought I'd come home and let our dog out and get a load of clothes in the wash (ok, and sneak online too).

3rd grade for Nathan is coming along nicely.  He is about to get a really nice dose of schooling for social studies.   Before his dad comes back for good, he is going up there with him for a few days (DC) and they will check out the Smithsonian, the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and several battlefields.  So while they are gone and on the days Marcus will be in school, I will be by myself.  I don't think I'll know what to do.  lol  But I know Nathan will enjoy being with his daddy and getting out and doing stuff.

Alright, I'll close now.  I think this one is turning into a novel.

No one is sick in our house praise the Lord, but you know, I got to thinking last night about the medications we take for colds, coughs and flu.  For children, they have this yummy grape or fruit flavored medication that makes it really tasty and kids say, mmmm, that tastes good!  That or at least you can get it down their throats without it being spewed back in your face or all over their clothes.

So...........what do we adults get?  Crap! Sorry, but really.  Have you ever had a cough syrup or cold/flu syrup that actually tastes good?  Not only are we sick, but we are being punished by taking some nasty tasting medication that may or may not make us feel better.  That and the 'night time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching head, fever, how the heck did I end up on the kitchen floor' medicine.

There are alot of people out there who can actually make adult medication taste GOOD!  I don't mean acceptable, like ehh, it's ok, but I mean like grape koolaide or something.  What's up with that??

Please, somebody, make our medicine taste better!  Ok, ok, I know there are pills out there but why can't I have the choice of a pill or delicious tasting cough syrup?  Huh?  Is that too much to ask.

I'm just sayin'............

(and Keith, I know you're thinking, 'you're so weird bb')

Happy New Year to all, and hopefully for those who do get sick, pinch your nose and force that stuff down!

It's already 2007!  Hard to believe it!  I never did understand older folks (and by that I mean my age now) when they said that time sure flies by quickly.  It sure didn't fly by that quickly for me when I was young!  But now I understand.............sigh.  But now that also means that my hubby will be home next month!  He's been gone since July last year.

We also took a break from school.  I had wanted to do a couple of days during the public school break since it was longer than 2 weeks, but I didn't.  It's a bit harder for my son to get back into the swing of things when we go that long.  This weekend I need to get prepared for what we are doing the following week.  He has, of course though been learning the names of the presidents.  He does well with 1-18 and we are working on 19-27 now.  Got a book that has some interesting facts on them.  So now (and because of his autism) he wants to know how tall each of the presidents were. (smacking hand against forehead)  I only know a couple, like the shortest (James Madison) and of course Lincoln.  Just found something at Wikipedia, the presidents from height order.  Woohoo.........and I do mean that.....lol

We had an enjoyable Christmas.  Daughter and hubby were home, although hubby had to leave early due to the death of former president Gerald Ford. 

I got an Ipod nano, in green.  So now I can use it when I go on my walks.  fun fun

Our younger one got a Gameboy Advanced, but hasn't played it much.  Maybe if he could wrestle it from Mommy, he could learn to play it. Hee hee

Taking my older son to see his doctor tomorrow morning which is downtown.  In morning traffic. blah.  School starts back tomorrow but because of what time his appt. is we won't get out of there until probably close to 12, so no sense in taking him to school.  I've so enjoyed getting to sleep in too.  Back to getting up at 5:40 now. sigh

I'm also starting to read the bible daily.  I'm doing one of those read the bible in a year things.  I got it off of my daily bible passages from Arcamax.

Well, just wanted to say Happy New Year to anyone out there who's crazy enough to actually read my blog!  May God bless you.

Did I mention how much I do not like this new format???  Where's the smiley's!!!    I give it a thumbs down.  Oh well, enough of my ranting.  That's one of the great things about our country.  You can say how you feel without being thrown into jail or worse.

Not much going on here.  Went shopping for Christmas eve and Christmas day supplies.  Sheeeeeeshh!  Too many people!  I don't do well in crowds anyway.  I believe I have everything I need though.

Had fun today learning about astronauts and the space shuttle and how they live in the space station.  Nathan thought talking about how they go to the toilet was funny.    He's such a goofball.  He did good with the memory matching game though.  Took me 45 clicks and only 35 for him.

Now he's into vehicles, types, companies who made them, etc.  So I have to get into gear and remember some car companies out there and what kinds of cars they make.  It's a funny thing about autism.  He will be saying something and in the middle of his sentence he will see a van and say Van! and continue with whatever he was talking about. He just comes up with the strangest things to talk about.  lol  He thinks it's funny when I call him a nut job.

Well, I'm off to relax now and enjoy some eggnog.  Not 'spiced '

God bless!

Thought I'd be a little diverse here and wish everyone a 'happy holiday' at the same time.  Yeah, ok, so I'm being a little sarcastic about political correctness. 

By the way, I really do not like this new style that the homeschool blogger has chosen.  I miss all those other cute smileys.   Now how am I going to express just the right emotion???

I'm not as busy as I'm sure alot of you are at this time of year.  We don't have parties and kids plays and stuff to go to.  And I have all my shopping done.  Woohoo!  It's been a little less Christmasy since dh isn't here but at the same time I have been blessed for those times when he can come home and that both he and our daughter will be here for Christmas eve and day.  I'm really looking forward to that.

I've been out buying gift cards to various restaurants lately.  I know when Keith retires next year that money will be a bit tighter for awhile anyways, so I thought this might be a good time to get some cards so that when we really want to eat out, but can't afford to, then we'll have them to use.  And I really liked Ruby Tuesday's thing of buying a $25 gift card and getting a free $5 one.  Same for Smokey  Bones, except you can also use theirs at Red Lobster or Olive Garden (one of our favorite places to go).

I actually even have all but 2 of the presents wrapped.  I got my neice a Kareoke machine, so that's going to be interesting to wrap.  I do have to shop for Christmas dinner items and Christmas eve items but otherwise I'm done with everything.  I wanted to homeschool this week, but so far doesn't look like that's happening.  When I have Marcus home, it's a bit more difficult to do so, especially when you have things shoved in your face like DVD's, bowls, etc. (remembering that my 17 yo son is severely autistic as well as non verbal).  They got out of school last week.  The county next to us has school until tomorrow.

I may try to slip in some schooling here and there and maybe count it all as a day's worth.  I'll try to get in each subject so I can count it as a day. I'm thinking about taking a few subjects for next year and getting actual curriculum for it, like for science and social studies.

So that's it for now.  I'll try to write again before Christmas, but if I don't, I pray that you all have a very blessed Christmas and enjoy time with our Lord and with your families.

Merry Christmas!

As you know, this Christmas season is a bit different for me since my daughter and husband are living elsewhere.  But some really blessed news is that our daughter doesn't have to work on Christmas so she will be home for that weekend!  She does have to leave on Christmas day because she works the next day, but it's only a 5 hour drive (4 1/2 for her).  And my husband will be home.  He has the day after Christmas off, so he won't have to leave on Christmas. 
And time is flying for us.  He will be home permanently in another couple of months!  I'm so excited! So is Nathan because he really misses his daddy.
I have ALL my Christmas shopping done now!  I like to get it done in advance since I really hate all those crowds since I don't do really well in crowds, well, except for Disney World.  I can handle them then. 
Well, on to homeschooling talk.  I mean, after all that's the main reason for this blog right?    This past week, I've been talking about the food chain with my son.  For some reason I had forgotten all the extra terms they use, like not only producers, and consumers, but primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, quaterary (something like that) consumers.  Then there's autotrophs which is HELLO? the same thing as a producer!  Where does the madness end! 
Next we are doing the presidents.  He is learning the names by memory and we are slowly going through each of them.  Right now I'm not worried about him memorizing what dates they were presidents (since I have no clue), but just some important facts about them, ok, and the fact that George Washington did NOT have wooden teeth.
My older son has respite today so I think we are going to the movies.  So you all have a blessed day.

Well, it's been a bit since I last posted (and a really goofy one at that).  So I guess I will update those who are so bored that they come to my blog just to see what I have been up to. (and you gotta be really, really bored to do that) 
I had both my husband and my daughter home for Thanksgiving! Yea!  I had the inlaws over as well.  I had taken the week before and done some house cleaning.  I made most of the dinner and my daughter and youngest son helped with the fruit salad, and my daughter kindly helped with the potatoes.  Isn't it amazing how long it takes one to fix a Thanksgiving dinner and then how 'not' long it takes to inhale it.  Next year I might see if anyone is frying turkeys and bribe, I mean ask them nicely if they could fry mine.  5 hours of your oven being on and your house is burning up and there you've lost the 'ambiance' because it's so darn hot you can't have a fireplace.
  I went to a movie with my daughter and her friend on Thanksgiving night while dh stayed at home with the boys.  We saw Happy Feet (ok, I have to confess it was my 3rd time seeing it).  It's really a cute movie and I liked the music. 
After the big day, the husband and daughter stayed until Sunday.  Saturday night we wanted to go to James Island to see this festival of lights.  Man was it packed with cars......and as luck would have it, our car started smoking.....in the middle of said traffic......no where near our home.  
We eventually did get out of there and got home safe and sound.  So on Monday I took it in to Meineke and they said we needed both fans replaced.  Cha-Ching.  So $800 later, our car runs again.  Boy I wish I was a mechanic.  I'd be saving us lots of money.  Of course I can just see me under a car!  
Anyhoo, I might not see dh until Christmas.  And we don't know yet if our daughter will be working then or not.  Fortunately we have gotten most of our Christmas shopping done.  I have my mil and a couple for our daughter and I'm done.  Dh has his dad and me.  I've just asked for one thing and that's an MP3 player.  Nothing big, just hold enough songs so I can play it when I walk.
And yes, I came to that conclusion yesterday that I will MOVE everyday, whether it's walking outside or doing something in the house.  I'm sick and tired of being overweight, my self esteem is..........well, I don't even know where I put it.  I need to be more of an example to our daughter who has weight issues as well.  So today I walked a mile and yesterday did too.  I will be bumping it up a 1/2 mile every couple of weeks.  We'll see how the body takes it. 
Now I need to close and go look up cars for my son.  He is into cars and what types are out there and only knows what I have been teaching him, but I'd like to show him more.
Good night and God bless!  And Merry Christmas!!!

I was thinking earlier today (yeah I know, quite a concept.....me.....actually thinking). Er, well, I was thinking today and as usual, I thought of something goofy and laughed aloud.  And no, I am not a few fries short of a happy meal. But as I was chuckling, I saw something on TV (can't remember what it was) but it made me chuckle because it was just goofy.  Then I thought, can God be goofy?  I mean ok, He made us humans and I know we aren't perfect.  Does He understand our senses of humor and just plain goofiness?  Did being goofy come as a reaction of our sinful nature?  I know it's not sinful to be silly, but being silly seems to be something less than perfect.  God IS perfect, so where does it come from?
By now you're probably wondering why you're still reading this aren't you.  Yeah, admit it.
Anyway, what do we find humorous?  All kinds of things, right.  Someone gets embarassed or hurt, sometimes we can't help but laugh. Well, like TV is set up that way.  Someone trips or something and we find that amusing. Then again, maybe we're just laughing at our human-ness, our own foibles, our imperfectness.  If we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at.  Does that make sense?
Ok, I'm going to regret writing this aren't I.    Well, there are other more serious matters on my mind too, but I'll save those for another post.
  If you really want some good reading, please go to my husband's blog page.  His is HamiltonMill.  You should see his name on my friends list to the right.

Oh yes! It's that dreaded time of year when the kids get hyped up on too much sugar.  I took Nathan trick or treating last night.  He was in a Spiderman costume and of course when one is in a  Spiderman costume you say, "Hey, it's Spiderman!" Well, my son  has it in his head that he is SpiderBOY and he corrected every single person that called him Spiderman. 
And at the first and 3rd houses he was looking at their ceiling fans.  He has a thing for fans and cars now, apparently.  He knows all the cars his dad has ever owned and what number they were.
He had a good time going around our block.  I went with him and he got lots of candy.  And speaking of candy, you know why they give out Tootsie Rolls?  It's a 'filler candy'.  I mean really, who can afford to give away all the really good stuff.   You know, like chocolate candy bars!  So we buy these bags of  Tootsie Rolls just to fool ourselves into thinking, hey, we gave away 'candy' ok. They're fillers I tell ya, fillers.  How much of your child's candy is actually Tootsie Rolls?  Ours was probably 1/4.   I say put a wick in a  Tootsie Roll and use it for a candle because that's what they taste like to me. 
Sorry, if anyone who reads this actually works for the Tootsie Roll company (or whoever makes it).  But come on, really.  Admit it.  Even to yourself.  They taste like W-A-X!
  Oh yeah, and that brings me to another candy 'filler'.  Bottle caps.  Halloween is the ONLY time I see those things thank goodness.  Again, they are used as fillers.  Just so you can say, I bought candy and gave it out to the trick or treaters.
Speaking of, since we went trick or treating, I didn't pass out the dreaded Tootsie Rolls, Bottle caps or anything else.........except to 2 kids after we got home.  The cutest little bug came to our door.  She couldn't have been more than 12 months old.  Adorable!  So she and the other kid she was with got M&M's. Hey!  It was all I had stashed away.
And no.  You won't ever, ever, ever see any Tootsie Rolls stashed away at our house! 

Just to let everyone know (you know, all 2 of you who actually read these blogs of mine)   I didn't write it to have anyone feel sorry for me.  I guess I just needed to vent and gripe.  You know, who knows, the Lord might have other plans for us, like he won't have to work the day after Christmas or something else. 
I do know we have to take the bad with the blessings and praise Him no matter what.  Now I'm off to watch Monster House with my son as I haven't seen it yet.  
  Here's to spending time with Nathan and sipping some hot chocolate with marshmallow cream on it. (blissful sigh)