I'm already tired

Happy Friday!!

It's the weekend and already I am tired from the up coming week and what lay ahead of me.

Here is my schedule...

Saturday - Two baseball games one for R4 and one for R8, get hair cuts in between games for all three boys. Paw-Paw will be here so that means dinner out and a late night.

Sunday - Church and hitting lessons for R8

Monday - Work/School and Practice for R8

Tuesday - Work/School, homework, and game for R8

Wednesday - Work/School, homework, and practice for R8

Thursday - Work/School, practice for R4, umpire duty for Hubs, and game for R8

Friday - Work/School and game for R8

Saturday - Two more baseball games, R4 and R8, and hitting lessons for R8

Sunday - Church and it starts all over again

Whew! I'm tired from just typing it.

Truth is I really love it! I love the ball park and everything about it.

But since it looks like I have a full count (pun intended) I mean full week I am going to take a bloggy break next week.

My schedule isn't allowing me the free time I have in the evenings to hang out on the internet.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great week and I'll see you when I get back provided I don't take up residence in the dugout due to all the time I will have spent at the ball park.

Oh and I need to send a shout out to Tammy, who turned 28 this past week and who's diapers I used to change! Love ya!!!

And to her sister, Christi, who turns 30 on Saturday. Happy birthday!!

I love these girls even if I was their babysitter when I was oh so much younger.

Flat Stanley = Class Project

R8 had another class project due.

The end of the year project.

Project Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley is a story about a boy who is flat boy and travels around world.

3rd grade students send Flat Stanley by mail to family members or friends and ask them to tote around this paper cut out of a boy and take him on an adventure. Then make a journal and take pictures and send him back for the students to give a report.

R8 sent his Flat Stanley to our cousin L in New York.

Let's just say that L gave us our monies worth!

L took him to work with her, on the subway, to Time Square, Central Park, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, to The New York Times, and so many other places. We had so much stuff we had to condense it down.

Here is the finished product.


Here is Flat Stanley meeting Morgan Freeman and Tony Bennett.

They are wax. I thought they were the real people until L told us she took Flat Stanley to the wax museum. But they looked real.

And here a close up of the finished product.


I did tell her to save the journal and all the pictures she took because she will have to do this again when R4 gets to 3rd grade. It just might save her from being so tired.

I have archives?

When we were at the bowling alley on Saturday, I did a lot of people watching.

I hadn't seen so many articles of inappropriate clothing since I spent a few hours in the emergency room back in January.

Let's just say I thought spandex went out in the 80's.

And the pre-bowling footwear. I'm speechless.

So I thought I would run something from the archives. (I have archives??)

It's spring and soon it will be summer and I think we ladies need a little reminder in the sandal wearing department.

This was originally posted June 2008

The Summer Sandal, Open Toed Shoe Pledge.

Raise your right hand and repeat after me....

I promise to always wear sandals that fit my feet. My toes will not hang over the front nor will my heal spill over the back. The sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

I promise to go the the salon at the beginning of the season and have a real pedicure. They are not expensive and worth every penny.

If I do not have time for a pedicure, I promise to sand down the mounds of skin before they harden and turn colors.

I will go polish free or vow to keep my polish fresh, intact and chip-free. (No touch ups or painting just your big toe)

I will NOT wear pantyhose with my sandals.

I will inform those who say it is OK to wear hose with sandals other wise.

If a strap breaks, I will toss the sandal in the trash!

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholls.

I promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure they actually flip and flop. NOT slide or drag my feet.

Good luck in keeping the vow of your pledge, sisters. Please keep this letter as a reminder of the vow you have just taken. If need be we will form a support group.

Happy summer sandal wearing!

Priceless

So this past weekend started off nasty!

The weather that is. It rained all night Friday and all day Saturday.

Both baseball games got canceled.

But we did get to attended a birthday party at the bowling alley that we wouldn't be haven able to if Mother Nature hadn't decided to water her spring flowers.

But Sunday was absolutely beautiful.

After church we spent the entire day hanging around outside.

I even managed to catch some sun. Good thing because my legs were almost the same color as the bases at the ballpark.

But what was the most memorable...

Sitting on the back porch with boys boys eating and spitting sunflower seeds.

The three of us pulled our chairs side by side and just hung out.

Cost of two packages of sunflower seeds...$2.14
Cost of cans of coke...$2.00
Hanging out with your boys on a glorious Sunday afternoon...PRICELESS!!!

Just chillin'

The boys love to climb in my bed and snuggle down to watch movies.

They both tell me there is something comfy about my bed. I must say I have to agree with them.

The missing

Back when I first started blogging, one of the blogs I read often was having spring garden tour and I decided to join.

Hubs and I had just gotten the back yard ready for our Easter party and I was proud to show it off.

Here is one of the pictures of the back yard looking out my back door.



And here is a picture of what it looks like now.



I have to admit it, I miss that swing set.

The boys would swing and slide and play in the fort. I would push them on thoes swings for what seemed like a sweet forever.

But Hurricane Ike took it out and we have decided not to replace it.

They don't really miss it. They have found other things to entertain them, like a big pile of dirt and the water hose.

But I miss seeing them play on it. I miss them seeing who could swing higher. I miss watching them slide down the slide only to climb up backwards and slide down again.

I just miss that old swing set.

I got the picture this time

So y'all remember this post about the SNAKE right?

And remember how Hubs killed it and I forgot to take a picture of the SNAKE?

And how Hubs disposed of it by throwing it in the woods behind our house?

And how he said some animal would come and eat it?

Well guess what, he was wrong! Yes ma'am Hubs was wrong.

The other day R4 and I were walking around the yard, I was actually spraying round up to kill the poison ivy on the fence line that backs up to the woods.

Guess what R4 found in the grass? The DEAD SNAKE!!!

Yes he did and in true great blogger fashion, we both ran into the house, I couldn't leave him out there with a DEAD SNAKE, heavens no, it might come back to life and bite him. But we ran into the house and got the camera.

See...

Thank you God for the rain

The other day when the in-laws where here taking care of the boys because of the Sickness of 2009, they played outside in the puddles left from an earlier rain storm.

My MIL said that R4 was riding his bike at top speed through each and every puddle.

It would splash up his back from the spray made by his back tires.

But at one point he started holding his hands up and saying Thank you God, Thank you God for the rain.

When my MIL told him it was sweet to thank God she wanted to know why he was thanking Him for the rain.

R4 replied, "God let it rain to make the puddles for me to ride my bike in."

So while some of these storms reeked havoc, I say thank you God for letting it rain and making the puddles for my baby to ride his bike in.

Hippty Hoppy Easter's on it's way

Well really Easter has come already.

But since the sickness of 2009 came and paid us a visit, I thought I would tell you about that first because nothing says starting Spring off right like a good illness.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from Saturday.

I hid over 80 eggs in the back yard. The boys went crazy. They even found the gold and silver eggs pretty easily. I guess I didn't hide them as well as I thought.










And here is the a picture of all of the loot the Easter Bunny left for them.



The best hits in the basket...Confetti Eggs...and Tale of Despereaux. If you haven't seen it, it's so cute. It's a great family movie.

I hope everyone recovers from all of the chocolate bunnies as for me I am still eating myself into a Peeps bunny/chick coma.

I can't even come up with a title

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

This Easter will go down in history as the most memorable.

Friday started out fine, no work, no where to be, it was nice.

The boys hunted eggs in the back yard and then dyed some later that afternoon.

I will have some pictures of their creations for you to see tomorrow.

Saturday, we went up to church and had another Easter egg hunt and R8 won a prize, a basket filled to the gills with soccer stuff. He loved it.

Then Saturday night R8 had one of his hitting lessons and after it was over we went to Jason's Deli.

That is where all of the trouble began and the weekend went down hill from there.

Two words...FOOD POISING!

About 11pm I found Hubs on the bathroom floor where he proceeded to stay for the next 8 hours.

The only problem there is he was throwing up every hour on the hour and he would wake me up to come sit by him on the floor.

I was the good wife and sat with him and got him a cold wash cloth and what ever else he needed.

But I didn't get any sleep and that made me one fussy mama.

Hubs finally quit getting sick about 9AM and I had made the decision about that time that we were going to miss church on Easter Sunday.

I haven't missed and Easter Sunday service since we got married. I was heart broken.

But just as soon as I made that decision, the Lord confirmed it, I got sick!

So sick, I had R8 call the in-laws to come and take of them.

Hubs and I were pitiful! But thank goodness for grandparents willing to drive and take care of the boys.

They had so much fun with them, and I am glad because they weren't going to have any fun watching Hubs and I sleep.

I must say I'm feeling better but I think I will stay away from anything that has mayo on it for a long time.

And the winners are

Thank you to all who entered the give away.

I have never had so many comments! And who doesn't love comments?

While I wish all of you could have won, I only have three gift cards to give away.

The winners are...

1 Brooke

5 Beth

15 Lou Cinda

And here is the proof...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5 15 1

Timestamp: 2009-04-10 04:07:45 UTC

If the winners will email me their addresses and which gift card you would prefer, I will get those out in the mail to you next week.

Have a Happy Easter!!

²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

Don't forget to enter

Don't forget to leave me a comment on the original post from Monday for the chance to win.

A Target gift card!

Or a gift card to Starbucks!

Or a gift card to Sonic!

I will close the comments tonight at 8 PM.

Mr. Random Number picker thing will draw three winners for tomorrow!

Things that don't belong in my garage

On Saturday after R4's baseball game we headed home to take care of a few things around the house before R8 had his hitting lessons.

Upon arrival home, Hubs parked the car at the end of the drive way so the boys could play out side while I worked in the kitchen all the while keeping an eye on them.

We started to walk into the garage and Hubs starts telling all of us to wait and hold up.

I ask him whats the problem and he says one word...SNAKE!

I look just in time to see something slither off behind our extra fridge and behind the the rack that holds my brooms and mop.

SNAKES DO NOT BELONG IN MY GARAGE OR ANY WHERE NEAR MY HOUSE FOR THAT THAT MATTER.

I get the kids in the house through the back door and leave Hubs to find our visitor and KILL IT!

Once everyone is settled I put on my Crocs, like that will stop the thing from biting me, and head into the garage to help.

By this point Hubs has moved everything and can't find the freakin' SNAKE.

So I tell him to move the old mattress and box spring leaning up against the wall out of the way.

Yes that would be our old mattress and box spring that had water damage, completely soaked, thanks to Hurricane Ike. I would love to get rid of it but because of health issues the dump won't take it. So what does one do with an old mattress? Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated!

And low and behold the SNAKE is behind them and won't budge.

Hubs positions himself at one end and I get the broom and start to push at it from the other end.

It comes out and slithers right under our shelving unit.

Long story short, Hubs goes on snake watch, complete with lawn chair, a coke, and the offer of one chicken nugget. Oh yeah and a shovel.

He is at it for about 45 minutes and gives up. Saying that the SNAKE is stuck under there and is probably dead from all of the bug spray he used to try and force it out. So he stuffs a towel in the end where it crawled in and comes inside.

WHAT?? IT"S STILL ALIVE??? Hubs you are staying outside until the feakin' thing is DEAD, would have been my normal response.

But I was so exhausted from all the baseball and the fact that R4 woke me up at 6:45 in the morning that I let him come in and fix himself some lunch. And I lay down to take a nap.

I woke up with just enough time to get everyone ready to head out to lessons that I didn't bother worrying about the SNAKE. I was just hoping it would crawl back out the way it crawled in.

We get home, get everyone bathed and watching a movie and I remember I have to go out to the garage for something.

I make Hubs get up go with me. Yes ma'am I'm a chicken. I will say it again, I'm a chicken.

I walk over to where I need to go and then something catches my eye.

There behind our hot water heater slithering out is the freakin' SNAKE!

All calm and cool Hubs grabs one of the boys golf clubs and drags it out and then beats the thing to it's death.

And while I can see blood on the garage floor and know it's dead there is something about a moving SNAKE that just doesn't say dead to me.

But Hubs assures me it's dead and then picks it up with the shovel and throws it into the woods behind our house. Telling me some owl or other animal will come eat it.

I have to say this, in the almost 8 years we have lived in this house I have never seen a SNAKE even near our house let alone in it.

But I can say this, Hubs is one SNAKE killing king!

Oh and if I was even some sort of decent blogger I would have pictures. But sadly I don't.

All I do have is a blood stained garage floor...see.

My favorite catcher

Happy anniversary to me

Today I have been blogging for one year!

Hubs didn't even think I would last a month. Guess I showed him.

So in honor of my anniversary I am giving away some stuff!

Hubs said I should give away a World of Warcraft gift card. Uhh NO!

I will be giving away three things....

A Target gift card. And two others, to either Starbucks or Sonic. Take your pick

So leave me a comment and I will have Mr. Random Number Person pick three winners on Friday!

I will close the comments on Thursday at 8 PM CST

So make sure you tell everyone you know!

Dog dilemma #1

Yes I have a doggie dilemma.

My dog is eating grass!

I googled "why is my dog eating grass" and here is what I found...

Answer: This is an age-old question, one that I have never really seen a clear cut answer to. I think there are many possibilities: they like the taste of grass, they are hungry, they are not feeling well and eating something to see if that helps (kind of like humans do sometimes!).

That really does not help me. I also read that they will throw up after they eat the grass.

On my new carpet!!

My other question is can I train her like I have trained my kids to run for the bathroom?

Memory jar

I have finally made a memory jar from our hurrication.

Yes a hurrication is an unplanned vacation caused by an evacuation due to a hurricane.

Hurricane Ike gave us a hurrication to Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The beaches were beautiful. The boys had so much fun playing in the water, making sand castles, and walking up down the beach collecting sea shells.

I let them keep every shell they found. They even found a sea horse!

I know the out come of Ike was not what I wanted but I tried to make it fun for the boys no matter what lay ahead for us at home.

Yvette at the Charm House had this great idea on her blog a while back and I copied it. Thanks Yvette!

And now we have a cool keep sake of our time in Alabama. And on the back of the tag I wrote a description of our hurrication.

The friends I haven't met

I have some pretty terrific friends here in bloggy world. They are the best!

But my job also gives me the opportunity to make friends that I have never met.

Over the years I have built a working/friendship with some of our vendors and customers.

There are a few that I talk more than just business with.

Take Kim at WCW. She is a vendor but she has also become a great friend. She is always so up beat no matter what is going on.

And Angie at CISD who is a customer of ours. She is so sweet and I try to do my best to take care of her requests.

Yesterday I received word that Angie would be out for a while.

Her boss said that her husband had passed away very suddenly. Details are still sketchy.

All of the arrangements have been made and services have been scheduled but I just can't stop thinking about her and her family.

I talked to her on Monday afternoon and her husband passed away that night.

My heart is breaking for her.

I know the only thing I can do for her right now is pray.

But I feel as if I should be more. If only we lived closer together. I could go do her laundry or mow the grass or something.

But I will continue to pray for peace and comfort.

And Ang, if you are reading this...I love you!! I will be right here!!