One World One Heart 2009

Well, the time has come...to pick a winner. But first I want to say a huge Thank you first of all Lisa for hosting this wonderful event. I have visited so many wonderful new blogs, I started making a list and after about 100, I just could not keep up with all of them. Second of all, I would like to thank each one of you for stopping by and entering.
Now for the big announcement: My wonderful little cross stitch piece will go to...Art of Jan!! And the most amazing part, she also loved in Florida!! Out of all of the people who entered, I pick someone who is within driving distance from me!


So about the late posting, I drew the name early this morning, but with Hubby's birthday, we've had a busy day. We just had some birthday cake, and about to watch a movie.

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*~*I will take comments until the witching h our of Wednesday, February 11 and draw the names on the morning of the 12th. And I have a few extra goodies to giveaway, three to be exact. So I will draw for the grand prize, the cross stitch and then have three more names to draw for some extra surprises! *~*

And I want to thank each of you who have stopped by. I know this has been a busy time in blog land but I hope you will come back and visit again!

Well, I finally got something made for this wonderful event!! I know it's not as creative as some of the beautiful things out there, but since I still don't have all of my art supplies, I had to use what I could find. And this is it! So, without further adieu, Welcome to my OWOH Giveaway! Please leave a comment on this post to be entered in my giveaway. Anyone can win, just make sure I have a way of notifying you to tell you that "You Won!". I will draw the winners' name on February 12th (my Hubby's birthday!!) . Now, about what you are winning:

Every Good Tree Bears Good Fruit

This is a sweet little piece cross stitched by my own two little hands and blessed with my own good intentions that it brings happiness to it's new home! It measures 11" X 5.75". I have strayed from the original pattern by blending some of the thread colors and using some different stitches in place of the normal X stitches. The hearts are done with satin stitches and the bottom checkerboards are done with Algerian Eye stitches.




A beautiful Pear tree sits in the center, surrounded by two little black birds. At the bottom is a verse from Matthew: Every good tree bears good fruit. This piece can either be framed, made into a pillow or wall hanging, or you might have an even better idea! I toyed with the idea of framing, but realized that it would become very country style in a rustic frame while in a more sleek modern frame it would look contemporary. Upon winning, I will discuss what the best options are for that particular person!



I'm so happy to be a part of this wonderful event and I'm excited about meeting/making new friends-the overall reason for the event. And I would like to Thank each of you for stopping by. Good luck!

Vintage Heart Swap

Yeah, I finally made it into a swap before it was closed!! The wonderful Dolly at From My Cherry Heart is hosting her second annual Vintage Heart Swap. I know who my swap partner is & so far, I've picked up a few things. But man, it's still hard for me not to run up to the local crafts store to pick up any little old thing I need! I'm having to make a running "I Need" list for my day planner so that the next time I make it to Pensacola or Mobile, I can run into Michael's or Hobby Lobby & know what I'm looking for. If I don't write it down, I will never remember it, until I get back home that is!!! And in both stores, I get so distracted with all the goodies, I'll completely lose track of what I'm even doing there!!

But I did manage to get a little crafting done the other day. And Dane was right there with me!

And the final product-

Not your most traditional house, but when it's made by your own kid, it's still a masterpiece!!

I did get a book journal made for my reading list for 2009. I'll get some pictures of that. And I have a new friend at Shelfari that wants to trade some ATC's with me! I haven't traded any ATC's in a really long time. I love making & trading them. I am by no means good at making them, but I just find their size so satisfiying.I have a hard time with knowing when something is "completed". I always think it could use "just one more thing." I hosted a Halloween ATC Swap a few years ago. I'm thinking I would like to host another this year. Yes, I know, that's a long way off, but it is coming. Just like Christmas, and Christmas wasn't a joyful to me because I didn't feel ready for it. The move was one thing, but just the overall feel just felt...rushed. Hurried. So I've already picked up a few things. Yeap, that's right. I have a box inside my closet that is hading a few things for the kids & I have seen some beautiful things that I would like to pick up for some family members already. I know Christmas is coming & I'm going to be ready!! LOL!!

Safe & Sound

Finally, it's 2009! My oh my, I pray this year is better than 2008!! LOL!! And I hope all of my friends had a Happy New Year! At least I hope none of you were as sick as I was last week. We went to Mobile for New Year's Eve. Nana & Poppy babysat the two kids so Hubby & I had a nice evening out with some friends. It wasn't anything wild or crazy, just some friends hanging out and some good music, but it was nice to spend some adult time with the hubby! Something I need to try & do more of this year ;0)
Then on New Year's day, my nephew came back to Crestview with us. He is 15 & received a car to drive when he turns 16, but the car doesn't run. So he came home with us so he & Charlie could work on it together over the school holiday. Then that Friday, the 2nd, I became so ill, I spent the whole day either curled up in bed or being sick in the bathroom. Then Gracyn got it. Dane had been sick about a week earlier, so I thought everything was okay! Man, did I feel bad. At some point during the day that I was sick, my nephew (whose name is Charlie also) let the dogs out. Bless his heart, I know he was trying to help, but I don't think he's ever owned a dog before. At about 10:30 that night after my Charlie got home from work, we were talking & I asked he where the dogs were. He said " I haven't seen them since I've been home." Needless to say, we figured out what had happened & immediately rushed to get car keys & start looking. It was about 11 o'clock before we started looking and it was a foggy night. Thankfully, one of the two had gone to the neighbor's house & they were outside. She came straight to us, but the other one, Indy was gone. We stayed out until about 1 o'clock in the morning, & finally gave up. Then I came home & had to go to the bathroom & be sick!

Next morning, I made posters, called the animal shelter which was closed until Monday morning, called the police dispatch & gave them all of our information & even drove to a few businesses along the main road & handed out pictures of him. Nothing. That night we had a really bad thunder storm & I was so worried. Even Dane came to me saying how sad he was that Indy was lost. We actually prayed that Indy was safe somewhere & we would find him. Then on Sunday morning, I was sitting at the computer, looking for a car on Craigslist (long story, but I need a car). I had been sitting there for about an hour when it hit me that there is a posting for lost & found. I thought "No way." And the very second ad was a really bad, dark picture of Indy!!! I immediately called the lady but no answer. And to make the story short, after him escaping again from them, we finally brought him back home!! And he curled up in a little bowl & slept all day! I really think he was happy to be home!! I had been thinking the whole time that he was gone that someone needs to invent a GPS chip along with the mircochip so that you can locate the lost animal!! I know that most animal shelters search for the chip but when the dog (or cat) is lost, it would be nice to have a little becon that can lead you to the animal. Well, everything is better now. My virus-thing seemed to be only 24 house but Gracyn has still been a little sick. We had to take Nephew Charlie home on Tuesday and right now, my Charlie is in Orlando for his new company's End of Year meeting. He should be home later today. Indy-Back Home Safe

Did any of you make any New Year's resolutions? I try to give myself 10 goals to complete each year. Personal goals, things that either make me a better person or help/improve my life or my families life. Then I have a list of all the crafty projects I need to either complete or start. You might remember me talking about them, PUC's. Since turning 40, I think I will aim for 40 PUC's. I have a lot of cross stitch projects that I have started & haven't finished plus a few very special people that I want to stitch something for. I'm still working on the 10 goals. Tweaking them to make sure they are things that I believe I can really achieve this year. I know one is to lose some weight!! I feel that if I could get to a size that I am happy with, I will feel more confident & it would help with the other thing I mentioned about Hubby & me ;0) So, two goals down. Another one is some reading challenges I joined at Shelfari. It's going to be a stretch but I've committed myself to read 72 books this year!! I do have a number of classics & some biographies included in this list. One biography I have is for Abraham Lincoln. I believe he is an important character in our nations history yet I don't feel like I know enough about him. And with his birthday next month, I thought I would give it a try. I am reading book #2 so far, Violin by Anne Rice. It's for my Shelfari reading group play Book Tag and this month's tag is music. I will come back & make a post about all of my goals. Maybe by posting on here for all the world to see it might help me with achieving them!! Then everyone can encourage and/or pester me about getting them done!! LOL

Black Book

I read one time in a scrapbook magazine that you could take all those weird and otherwise useless pictures and turn them into a "Black Book" album, for purposes of blackmailing!! I would never do that to my mother, but I just have to laugh every time I see this picture! If there is a nose around, Gracyn is intent on grabbing it. This is what she did to her grandmother at Thanksgiving!


This is a another funny picture!! On one of our trips home, we met my MIL & SIL for lunch. My niece was with us that day, the cute blonde with pig-tails. This was the greeting they gave my MIL!!


Can't leave hubby out, but since he always seems to take a good picture, this was about the best I could do. This was Dane's birthday party, earlier this year. I might have already posted this one.



I don't think I ever take a good picture, so a decent picture is a treat for me. And right after I finally got a new pair of glasses. I should have been wearing them for the last 12 years, and that was how old my last pair was. It had gotten to where I didn't like driving at night. When I got the job at the Preschool, they had eye insurance, so Hubby & I both got a new prescription & new glasses!!

All of this is giving me the idea to put a quick book put together for a few family members as a cute little gift. I hope you share your "Black Book" nominations! I'd love to see them!

It's My Birthday

eap, the Big 4-0!! (Actually, it was yesterday) but I felt so bad I didn't even make a post. Then one of my best friends, Rachel, called to wish me a Happy Birthday & to tell me to "Update the Blog!!" So here I am, 40 years old, thinking about the things I've done in my life & the things that I wished I'd done. I guess one good thing about having a birthday so late in the year is that it really helps you think about the things that you want to do for the coming year. I've written a few things down in my day planner, but I haven't made an "Official Goals for 2009" yet. Just been reflecting on older goals that I really wanted to achieve but haven't and trying to decide if I need to abandon them, tweak them some or push forward & make them happen. I'll get back to you on that one :0)

I've had a horrible cough. I've coughed so much that I feel like someone has punched me in my chest. And if I eat something a tad bit dry, it just makes it worse. Gracyn was sick last week. Dane has had a little cough. Thank goodness Charlie is okay, but he's been working so much, I don't think he's had time to think about it. If he ever gets an off day, he might get sick then LOL!

I haven't had much of a chance to explore around town. I did discover that the post office & the library are about a half mile from our house! We've already been to the library twice. Gotta have a book to read!!

We still have some stuff at the old house in Tallahassee, some of that being all of our Christmas ornaments! I had one Christmas bin that had lights & a few odd little decorations. So last weekend, we bought a tree & I pulled the lights out. Of course, out of 8 strands of lights, only 4 worked. Since we had no ornaments, I set out to make some. I saved two frozen pizza boxes, turned them inside out, browsed the internet for some pictures, printed them out as patterns then set down to trace & cut out. Ha! That took me a whole day! Then the next day was spent painting. Some other things I don't have yet, all of my paints, so a quick trip to Wal-mart (We don't have any kind of craft store here-Yikes!). We only bought 4 colors (Earlier, right after moving into the new house, I had climbed on top of the kitchen cabinets to place some knick knacks & found a bottle of bright blue paint!) & a pack of glitter paint. Our theme was for Sea Life, so we found pictures of dolphins, seahorses, octopuses, crabs & a shark (Dane loves sharks!)



Sorry that some of the pictures are sideways - Blogger is flipping some of them for some reason :0(

We've also made some snowflakes. I'm still working on painting those, so hopefully we can finish those today & I'll post some pictures. I love making the snowflakes. I'm going to have Dane make one for each of his grandmothers, one for his Aunt & one for his Big Sister.

Hope everyone has a Wonderful day!!

**This is my 40th post** How cool is that!!

The Corn King

Have I ever told you guys how much my son loves corn? A few weeks ago, we were going to grill out so I had purchased some hamburgers, Conecuh sausage(for me!! Love this stuff) and some corn. When I got back from the store, Dane came in to help me with putting groceries away. And this is the reaction to the corn:








I was laughing the whole time taking these pictures. Talk about a great scrapbook page!! I'm really getting the itch to do some scrapbooking & of course, everything is packed up. Maybe it's because it's getting close to the end of the year. I am working on an album for my Mom & Dad for Christmas. I think I will get it finished.

Well, it's official. Charlie got the job with Advance Auto Parts. He is the new store manager in Crestview, Florida. We are driving over today to look for a place to live. We have a few people lined up to show us some houses for rent. And in case you are wondering, it's about an hour & a half from Mobile, so we still aren't too far away from family. I think if we go home for Thanksgiving, it will be the first one in a few years. We usually skip it & go home for Christmas. And with Crestview being a smaller town, the cost of living will be less. It looks like a lot of people end up commuting to Pensacola for work. The more I've thought about it, I think this will be great. Charlie has a new job, we are a short distance from all of our family & friends & only 30 minutes from the beach!! Once we get settled in, I really want to take Dane to the Navel Air Museum. And I can't wait until the Blue Angels have their next air show!! Dane is going to love it!!

Hope everyone has a great Veterans Day. I know there are a lot of sales going on today. I've never been one to do the big sale thing. And the day after Thanksgiving? Nope, this chicky is staying home!!!

Nightmare On Our Street

Greetings & Salutations!! Sorry about the delay. Last week, Dane stayed home from school on Monday & Tuesday due to being a little sick. Not too bad, probably from the change in the weather but he had a little fever. Then on Thursday evening, we left for Mobile & stayed all weekend. So I wasn't able to post.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I didn't get everything done that I wanted, I never seem to !! And I always seem to find more ideas each year & say that I want to do this next year. I just LOVE Halloween. I have a few pictures to share...

Dane & Gracyn. Don't think you can see, but she has a little tee that has a picture of Frankenstein & says "Little Monster"

Our $2.50 jacket & our homemade Frankenstein jug!!

Dane with his cousin, Alyssa, the Princess.

Gracyn's First Halloween



We had a nice trip home. Hectic, but nice. It's always a rush to try & see everyone in just a few short days & then with trick or treating it's was a push to get it all done. And then we rush so just to jump back into the car & sit for 4 hours on the drive home. Hopefully, things will be changing soon. I'm not going to say too much, I think I jinked myself last time when I started talking about the house too soon!! Because...

The buyer has backed out!!!! There was a septic tank inspection on Wednesday & the drainfield test failed. The moron who did the inspection told the buyer (who was present) that it would be $8-$10 thousand dollars to fix!!! We just had one of the drainfields fixed prior to us moving in & when I called those people ,the guy said there was no way it would cost that much to fix. He even doubted there was a problem, but he said there was a number of ways to fix it without it costing so much. But it undoubtably scared the buyer so he is pulling out. When my Realtor told me this, I cried. Yes, I did. This has been a nightmare. But there is a good side. At least now, when we move, we can take our refrigerator with us!!! It was in the original listing as staying. But now we are re-listing the house & taking the refrigerator out. Just keep us in your prayers. With Charlie getting a new job & the house selling fiasco, all prayers would be greatly appreciated.

And speaking of prayers, I pray the the new leader of our country knows what he is doing. No, I didn't vote for him, I'm not going to lie. I really wasn't crazy about either of them although I did like Palin. I just really have my doubts. For once, I hope I am wrong, maybe things will get better.

Charlie is off today & we are having to drive to Albany, GA to deliver some car parts that he sold on Ebay. Might do some sightseeing. Hope everyone has a good Wednesday!!!

Kids

I thought I would take some time today & do a little show & tell of my babies!! Hope you enjoy!







Charlie is off today & we are planning on going to a local church that has a Pumpkin Patch & picking out a pumpkin & taking some more pictures! It's the one thing we have done every year since living in Tallahassee. Hope you have a beautiful weekend!

I (Heart) Tracy Porter

I know I have mentioned my love of all things Tracy Porter before. She has an email subscription that you can sign up for along with a link to her blog. Well, I get the emails, & dang her, if she would just STOP designing all of these beautiful things!!!

Thank goodness I have my own little blog here where I can wish away, because I fell in love with these awesome boots!!

Maybe it's my cowgirl side coming out, but I just think these are fab! If you have never had a chance to check out any of her other stuff or her blog, take a peek. Tracy Porter is definitely on my list of people I would love to meet.

Dane stayed home with me yesterday because Charlie had a job interview. He thinks it went well, but they said they would get back to him within the next few weeks. But Dane & I had a good time making Chicken Salad. I have been craving some for quite awhile, so we made some yesterday & then went on the back deck with Gracyn & had a picnic!! We then worked on his costume some. He is going to be Frankenstein for Halloween & I went to the Goodwill store on Monday to find an old men's jacket. All the clothing is half off on Monday's so we only paid $2.50 for the suite jacket. I tried to dye it black, but it didn't work too well. I did dye one of Dane's white undershirts. It turned out more of a gray color, but I think it's going to be a good mistake. I need to see if I can take the jacket up some in the sides, but I think it being big & hanging off of him will add to the look. I need a little pair of black pants for Gracyn's outfit. I have found some wonderful Halloween sites with all sorts of fun things to make. I might save all of that for another post.

Wanted to mention a really good book I finished.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It is about a young boy named David who lost his mother & is learning to cope with his Father's new wife & the arrival of a new baby brother. Then one night, David hears' his mother voice & follows it to the garden where he falls into a hole & into a totally different world. He discovers a fairy tale world where dead children turn into flowers, trees bleed real blood & wolves walk & talk just like a man. He also befriends a Woodsman who tries to help David discover his way back to his old life. The Woodsman tells him he needs to travel to the King's castle because the King is the only one who can help him. He encounters some fantastic adventure's along the way & eventually arrives at the castle. But throughout his whole time in this new world, he has meet one constant figure, that of the Crooked Man. And when he arrives at the King's castle, he discovers the Crooked Man there & begins to realize that it's not the King but rather the Crooked Man who can release him from this nightmare & return him back to his home. But he has to make some very important decisions first & these decisions will be the deciding fate of how David will spend the rest of his life. ** NOTE: I really loved this book, but it can be very graphic is some parts. If you have ever read any of the original Grimm's fairy tales, you will know that they vary greatly from the Disney-fied versions of today.

The Squeaky Wheel...

I had a talk with our realtor on Thursday. He had the contact info for the person at the Mortgage Insurance company that was holing up the short sale. The realtor said he had talked with him & that they had gotten into a heated discussion & the insurance guy was unwilling to budge on the two options:

1) Sign a promissory note for $18,0000

OR

2) Bring $5,000 cash to closing.

I said that I wanted to call the insurance guy & talk with him. Our conversation went alright, he did ask me how much money we had. I laughed & told him we had no money, but two kids! I then asked him if Charlie could call him & talk. Charlie at least got the guy to come down to a $9,000 note (from the $18K). So all night I tossed & turned worrying about it. On Friday, first thing, I called the insurance guy back to ask some other questions. He seemed a little aggravated that this was still going on. And then in an instant, he said "Your husband wanted to sign a note for the $5,000, so I'm giving you guys that." It's the $5,000 they wanted in cash, but we get to pay it off in a note!! When the insurance guy finally agreed with us, I had to think of a saying my father was fond of: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. I really think that by my realtor calling him, Charlie calling him & then me, he just got aggravated with the whole thing. And then the guy hung up on me!! But I really couldn't care!! We can deal with $5K. And this way we won't have to file bankruptcy! See, they were threatening us that if we didn't take these two options, they would foreclose on us & file a judgment against us for a larger amount. Oh, this has been a nightmare. But wait, there's more!! We are also running about a month behind on my car payment. We received a letter in the mail from them, saying "We are sorry for the disasters that have effected your area & are willing to help out". So I called & talked with a sweet girl named Lori & she postponed our September payment!!! Okay, yes there is one more-you know these come in threes!! Charlie got a phone call & he has a job interview on Tuesday for a District Manager position. The job is for either Mobile, AL or Biloxi, MS. Obviously, we would take Mobile, but we lived in Biloxi for awhile, and I know everybody thinks of Katrina, but Biloxi is a beautiful place. I really felt at home in Biloxi when we lived there. I've never really felt at home in Tallahassee. So he now has two good leads on jobs. The Lord is so good. I just read awhile back the phrase: "Let God surprise you". Well, he's certainly doing that!!

I thank all of you for your kind words & support while we are going through this mess. I hated to post about it, but it was affecting everything & without talking about it, I didn't have much else to say. But I've started doing a few others things, trying to move forward & I hope to have more creative post in the future.

I have been working on stripping an antique vanity that I featured in an earlier post. I have a friend who is planning on having a antique/craft show at her house in November & I would like to have this piece finished by then. I was originally going to paint it black & use a black & white toile, but I've had a different idea. I'm thinking about a "vintage travel theme" & I would like some feedback on this. Please be honest. I'm thinking about painting the vanity either a soft blue or green (think of an old map: see above pic) & then use pages from a vintage atlas to line the drawers. Not sure what kind of handle, made just crystal. Then find a nice lamp & decoupage a shade using vintage travel posters. I also have some vintage suitcases that I could sell. I love getting into themes & I can see this one going for awhile.
What are the new decorating trends? Do you think this one would sell or are there other one's out there now that are more popular? I haven't been to an antique sell or craft show in so long, and I know that the "Shabby Chic" style has faded somewhat. I would love any suggestions that you might have. I hoping to have the vanity finished stripping & sanded today & hopefully will start to prime it. But I must confess, I'm really excited about my "Travel" theme!

Image from Pottery Barn

All Creatures Great & Small

I was so excited yesterday & I really wanted to post, but Dane stayed home from school & we were quite busy. The reason he stayed home was because Charlie had to drive my car to Crestview for a job interview!!!! So I had no way of picking Dane up from school. So he stayed home with me. We had a picnic on the back deck & then spent the day playing with Halloween decorations. We've decided that he will be Frankenstein this year for Halloween. I had a mask from a few years ago that I had picked up of Frank & then a few weeks ago, I went to Target & they have those blasted $1 bins right at the front door. But I found the cutest lap tee for Gracyn with a picture of a cartoonish Frankenstein that says "Little Monster". So Dane will be Big Brother Frankenstein & Gracyn will be little sis' Frank!!

I really don't want to say too much now about the job interview, because I don't want to jink anything. Just that please send prayers our way.

A few weeks back, we had a house showing & I would always pack up the kids & leave the house. Sometimes I really didn't have anywhere in particular to go so I would drive to a nearby neighborhood until the realtor would call to tell me they were done. Well, this day, I drove into a very high-end neighborhood & found a house that I just loved. I think it just recently sold. Very cottage/country looking with wicker furniture on the front porch. And I love the color. A sage green with a creamy white trim. Oh, to have a home to call our own...sigh. Anyway, I took a few pictures & just drove around waiting and then all of the sudden, I see something in the front yard of a house & I just slammed on brakes. I'm telling Dane, "Come look, come look!" Now, remember, we are in the middle of the city, not out in the country.

Yes, wild turkeys!! I couldn't believe it! And then...
They just walked right across the road into a wooded lot.
It was the most amazing thing to see these birds walking around manicured lawns like they were at home. I will say that we have seen a menagerie of animals while living in Tallahassee. We see many hawks, more than I've ever seen living anywhere else. And then there are the foxes that we've seen in our own neighborhood. Again, Dane was with me one night when we came upon a young fox walking down the middle of the road within our subdivision. All of this just brings me back to my old dream of owning a lot of land so that we can enjoy all of God's creatures!! I just love animals! Have you ever seen any animals that were out of their natural habitat but seemed to have adjusted to their new environment? I'd love to hear about it.

Once I find my camera charger (I think I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached- at least that's what my mom always told me!) I'll post some pictures of my Halloween decorations. It's not going to be a lot because we are planning on going home that weekend but I just love it too much not to do anything!!

Short Sale Deficiency

Here I am. Just trying to make some sense out of the craziness that has come & taken over our lives. It's almost too much to even comprehend but I am sure that God has a plan & I just pray that I have the strength & courage to step up to the challenge.

I will try to make a quick update on the house selling situation. We are having to do a short sale ( sell the house for less than we owe on it) The Realtors' said that if it was a good enough offer the bank would accept it & call it even. We were very adamant about this because I could see how in the world the Realtors' were getting paid. They assured us it would all be taken care of by the bank. We got a number of offers, the bast one being almost $5K above the asking price. So we submitted this to the mortgage company & waited. And waited. Now they have come back with a counteroffer.: We sign a no interest promissory note of $18K, payable by $100 per month installments for the next 179 months (BTW that's for the next 15 years!!) Sorry guys, just can't do it. I can not lay my head down every night to go to sleep knowing that I am paying for a house that I no longer live in, until the year 2024!!!
After a few days of me worrying my self sick about this, we finally got an email that they could take $5,000 dollars, due at closing. Uhm, we don't have $5K. If we did, we wouldn't be so far behind on the mortage payments & two months late on my car. So, here we are, waiting again to see what their next offer is.

Charlie has had a few good interviews with two companies. One might be in Pensacola, FLorida & the other maybe Mobile, Alabama.

Dane is loving Kindergaten. He now knows 7 words to spell. And is getting excited about dressing up for Halloween.

Gracyn is getting big. Maybe teething. She has been awfully fussy the last few days & had a fever one day.

I have been trying to sell some stuff on Ebay, I even have a few books listed on Half.com and need to look into Amazon. I figured since I love to read & seem to always sniff out the books at any yard sale/ thrift store, why not see if I can make some money. I've also been trying to purge some things that we no longer need & box up stuff that we can live without for awhile.
I've also started making something for Dane for Christmas. It's a plastic canvas Nativity that I think he will enjoy. He's old enough now to have some understanding of the story & I feel that by having his own set, the story will have more meaning to him. I'll post pictures once I get some of the pieces made. I do need scrap yarn if anyone has any laying around.

I hope that all of my friends are doing good. I will try to make my way through everyone's blogs to see how everything is going. I have missed the interaction, but with all of this weighing on me, I just feel like we are in the Twilight Zone-I'm ready to wake up & have a normal life back LOL!!

Thanks to everyone who has remained with me. I'm sure God has some wonderful things planned ahead for me. I hope to share them with you soon.

Banana Bama

I know this might sound un-American but I've never been one to love Oreo's. I'll eat them when they are put in front of me, but I've never "craved" them or purchased a bag from the store. But one day on my shopping excursion, there was a display for the Banana Split Creme Oreo's. I thought they looked appetizing so I purchased a bag. And boy were they yummy!! No one else in the family even wanted one, so I got to eat the whole bag all by myself ;0) And to make the whole thing ever more unusual, I'm not a big "Banana" person! I walk right by the yellow fruit & won't even give them a second thought. The last few times I bought them was due to Dane asking for some. But I Loved these cookies! I really need to go buy another bag, maybe even two. If you get a chance to try them, let me know. I'd love to hear from anyone to see if they are as good to you as they are to me.

Not too much else going on. We had another appraisal yesterday for our house. It looks like the bank is moving forward with the offer that was made, but still no final answer. Charlie hasn't heard anything back about the job, and I'm planning on having a yard sale on Saturday. I was a little worried about Ike, but I think he;s on his way to Texas. I told Dane we would make some Lemonade to sell at the yard sale. I am going with the idea that we will be moving soon, so I'll sell as much as I can. I would really like to get rid of all these Department 56 houses & accessories that I have. I've tried on Ebay a few times. One day, I hope to sell all of them & buy a Cody Foster cardboard house ~ A Christmas one & a Halloween one!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Finally, it's stopped raining, at least for a little while. But as I'm typing this, it's looking cloudy again. And there is another storm out there, Gustov. The joys of living on the Gulf Coast. But I love it here, don't know if I could live in the snow!!

Fay really dumped a lot of water on us. We had one tree to fall due to the ground being so saturated. You can see how close the tree was to the house. We were thankful that it went into the yard instead of the house. The one good thing I can say, it that because we were inside the whole time, I got a couple of scrapbook pages done for Dane's scrapbook & we made cookies together!



A few weeks ago we went to Mobile for a job interview for Charlie. While there, I got to visit with my best friend, Kimberly. She & her husband own a seafood market & she had to work that day, but we did get to visit for awhile. She has a son, Aidan, who is one month older than Dane.
It was great getting to visit, but I wish we lived closer. We used to do so much fun stuff together! Maybe one day soon, we might get to move back home. I've been thinking how nice it would be to have family to help out. My Mom & Dad would love to watch the two kids. And it would be nice to actually eat dinner together sometimes. I've been praying & I know God knows what's best but sometimes it just so darn hard to be patient! There are a few things going on right now with this, but since it's so up in the air, I'll wait to post anything until I'm a little more sure.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Charlie was off for the weekend but has to work Monday. We went to the local Whatburger for the monthly car show last night. It wasn't a big turn out, but he enjoyed talking cars with the other guys. And Dane was invited to a friends' birthday party at Fun Station, so he had a blast. Now, if I could just sneak off to the local Antique store (and find some extra money from somewhere... LOL!!

Take care this weekend!!

Getting So Big

Due to all the craziness with the house selling & hubby looking for a new job, I postponed enrolling Dane in school because I had no idea where we would be. I would have loved to enroll him in the Kindergarten class at the school where I worked last year, and they even said they would hire me as a substitute again, but the cost for him to go until 1 pm (a full day for that school) & Gracyn going to the crib room was almost $500 a month! And there is no guarantee how much I will work. Good news is they need me to work there all next week for pre-planning where the teachers get their rooms ready for class. They start school in September. And I can take Gracyn with me. So that would be a blessing. But for Dane, I decided to check out the local elementary school. So on Tuesday (yes, a day after school started) Dane & I stopped by there to have a visit. Filled out the necessary paperwork & got a list of records that he needed to have & a supply list. And the poor boy was heart-broken when I told him it was time to go! He want to go to his classroom right then! I told him we had to make sure he had all of his current shots & current physical. So yesterday, Charlie was off & we went by there to drop off the medical information, plus I wanted Charlie to see the school. Again, Dane wanted to know why he couldn't go to class & we had to explain that they would get him a classroom & he could start the next day. All last night he kept asking me if it was tomorrow yet. I told him that he had to go to sleep & when he woke up, it would be time to start school. So this morning, I woke up about 6:45 a.m so I could have a cup of coffee & start packing a lunch. I wasn't up 5 minutes when he walked into the kitchen, saying "Mom, is it time for school yet?" Finally, I got to answer "YES!" He helped me with his lunch & gathering all of his supplies, helped me feed Gracyn while I got dressed & then gave Daddy a kiss bye & we were off! Got there early & meet his new teacher & visited the classroom. The teacher has two fish tanks, a turtle, some kind of lizard & a snake! I already think he is going to love it! So my little boy is now a Kindergartener!

(Not sure what the hand thing is all about)


And not to leave anyone out, here are some pictures of Little Miss.