A new challenge

As I was sitting on my lazy behind watching Property Virgins on HGTV a commercial came on promoting a new free weight loss challenge. It's called, The 50 million pound challenge.
The object is for Americans to sign up for free and utilize the free tools included in the challenge and to reach a goal of 50 million pounds lost total.

I'm ready.

So, I signed up. I'm now a team leader as well for Healthy Women of Pasco. Here is the link, https://www.50millionpounds.com/challenge_teams/my_teams.aspx

Y'all check it out. And send me some love. Feel free to join and create teams in your own area.
I think this is a great way to get out of that rut that so many of us find ourselves in.

Don't you hate it when.....

You remember that you were suppose to remember something but you can't remember what it is you were suppose to remember?

This is my dilemma.

Our family, Mike, Kea, My mother and father, my grandmother and Mike's mom went to Red Lobster last night to celebrate Christmas. We had a good time, with the exception of Dad hurting badly and his stomach being uncooperative. He had to take his food home with him. Anyway, we all had a good time, we made it through dinner. Kea was the life of the party. She was so good! She was dressed up in her beautiful brown dress with sea foam green trimming. She looked like a life-size doll. Her little plaid shoes matched the color of her dress. Oh! I think I just remembered what it was I was suppose to remember to write in my blog! Yea!
Anyway, Kea was a little bored, but handling it well as she began mashing her hands in her fish and mashed potatoes. By the end of the meal she was an avid mashed potato sculptor. Up to her elbows. Ha, good times, good times, I say!
Another exciting event took place at the end of the meal as everyone oooed and awed over Kea's creations in her mashed potatoes. She wanted to go wash her hands and on the way back she put her brakes on and began pulling me back towards the bathroom saying, "poddy, mamma, poddy!". As we approached the table she became more insistent, I thought, "what can it hurt, at least she is getting the concept." So, we went back and you won't believe it! My little girl went pee pee on the poddy! And she insisted we go do it.
Now if we could get her to do that at home I think she would be poddy trained.

From here on out it was just the usual.
We drove home.

Mom gave us Christmas stockings filled with goodies and Mike and I took a very tired, but sweet girl home to go to bed.

We are so excited about tomorrow. Not because of presents or food. But, because it's Kea's first acknowledgable Christmas. It has been such a joy so far to hear her talk about baby Jesus being born, and squealing with delight when she sees Christmas tree lights! We swear she must be my sister's daughter because her favorite things to point out are "nomen"(snowmen). Last I remember my sis was a big Snowman fan. She loves Christmas trees! This morning she took off with one of the five presents under the tree. Mike and I are more excited about Christmas this year because of her, I think, than because it's Christmas. It's just amazing to see her grow and learn!

Santa Claus came to our house the other evening. We have not taught Kea about Santa Claus. So, I was a little bit in a panic trying to think of a way to either explain to "him" our views on the season and send him on his way, or how to explain to Kea who and what "he" was. We certainly didn't want to offend a kind deed the neighbors were doing. Especially since these neighbors need us to show them Christ's love. The Lord was with us. I explained to her that Santa Claus had come to visit her and Jesus who was born on Christmas day asks alot of men and women all over the world to help him spread Christmas cheer and sometimes give presents to men, women, and children all over the world. And Jesus had asked this Santa to come and visit her and give her a gift. Thank you Lord for your help. It is important to us that Kea know the Truth of Christmas and not the facade that the world has pushed upon us.

I get to relax today, my home is clean. This is due to the help of a friend and is a blessing. Because today I can sit around and enjoy just being with Kea and watching t.v. or catching up on reading, or other cleaning projects I can't get to because of the everyday stuff.

I'm off and I leave you with a Christmas wish. That your Christmas may be Christ-filled.

Love you, Bea

Business

I'm sitting here at my dining room table eating a bowl of very healthy cereal and drinking a very unhealthy cup of coffee. The sun is streaming in the back windows and through the sliding glass door, warming my head and upper body. I wish my sister were here. We could be sitting here having our devotions and some sister time. I'm missing my sis. I tried to plan a short weekend trip where we could get together and it just be her and I. It didn't work out. So, here I sit, missing her.

Today is probably going to be a busy day. I have to make a cake for Michael's "Office" Christmas party. It's a microwave cake. A box of cake mix, 3 eggs, a 3.9 oz package of pudding mix and ......um....I think that might be it. Then into the micro it goes. I hope it will turn out o.k. Then it's off to take it to him and go check to see if my paycheck(if you want to call 10 hrs in two weeks a paycheck) is available yet. Next paycheck will be for only 8 hrs. That's o.k. though, because only working 2-8 hrs a week gives me lots of time to get other stuff done and spend time with my family. I love it. With this job I feel like I can have my cake and eat it to! No pun intended.

Mike, the baby, and I are being taken to Red Lobster tonight for Christmas. We are celebrating our Christmas tonight with my parents and Mike's mom. I don't think that's fair. But, I'm not going to get into that rant right now.

I gotta go start my day. Merry Christmas to all!

Will it stop?

Over and over again this happens. Mike has a talk with his employers at the Dade City Ford dealership, and things go well for awhile. They treat him with respect and he works hard for them. Then it happens. They begin demanding higher expectations. They begin putting more and more work on him. 15-30 minutes before time for Mike to get off work they will bring a vehicle back that requires 2 or more hours of detailing and expect him to get it done in the next 15 minutes before he leaves. The same car they knew needed detailing earlier in the day and they could have brought it back before then and it would have been done and sitting there for them already. It's like they play mind games with him. Because he is so quiet and he doesn't respond to them when they are crawling all over him, they think he's stupid. Or ignorant. Or whatever they think. Poor guy, it hurts my heart to see him come home nearly every night looking haggard and downtrodden. He constantly feels he can't do anything right.
Even God doesn't put more on his children then they can handle. And the "bosses" at the dealership certainly are NOT gods last time I checked. They don't do his job and yet they expect him to comply to their demands simply because they are asking him to. They don't ever take the time to go back there and work with him to see what his job actually consists of. They sit in their air conditioned/heated offices and "oversee" the work with a critical and demanding eye. Never rewarding or giving out any positive encouragement to the detailers when a job is done well. They ALWAYS come up with something wrong with a newly detailed vehicle. Expecting miracles from some of the wrecks that come back there for Mike to clean. The worst of the worst. Mike has even found rats in vehicles they were so nasty! And yet, the salesman and managers bring them to Mike and he digs there beauty back up and revives the dead. Not once do these same people come back and say he did a good job. It's always, you could have done better. My opinion. They are all on a high testostorone trip and don't seem to be able to get back down to the real world. God complexes of the highest degree. Thinking just because they wear a button up shirt and tie then they are better than the lowly grease/dirt monkeys back there in the mudholes. I pray one day they will have to switch roles. I know one day these same men are going to find themselves gravelling for a job of any kind and end up working in some dirty, hot, detail department, with the cold wind and rain blowing in their faces as they try and wipe freezing water off of a newly washed vehicle with ice cold frozen fingers numb from the exposure of the cold. This will come. Maybe not soon, but it will come.

Will it stop.

Getting Ready

The Christmas Spirit is making it's rounds. It's taken a little bit longer with me to be possessed. But, it's slowly sinking in.

Today, Michael came home from work and we went to Big Lot's and bought a smallish tree(about 5ft) for G-G(great-grandma to Kea). I should say, I did. Mike sat in the car with his friend from church and Kea.
I then began imagining a tree. Not a perfect, Macy's window worthy tree, just a nice simple, but elegant one. Trying to conj our up images of Grandma's tree from when I was a little girl, I began picking out ornaments and tinsel, and the most demanded tree item for Grandma, garland. 50ft of it. Gold and Silver. The "balls" if you could call them that, were spiked. They were like little round starburst type shapes. They had spikes sticking out all over them. They were very modern, which for some reason made me think of Grandma. She was never one to follow the flow. She liked what she liked. And I thought she would like those spikey Christmas balls. So we threw a jingle bell wreath, some fake snow(which I forgot to use now that I think of it), and to Grandmother's "house"(apartment) we went with sleigh bells jingling and all that jazz.

The Edwinola, where Grandma lives, is decked out with Christmas lights. Beyond what I would have ever imagined a retirement community such as this doing. It is nearly too much. You can see the glow of it out here in the middle of the country!
I watched as my little girls gaze beheld the glory of the sparkle and glitz and saw the reflection of those lights in her sweet eyes. She was so excited and kept yelling "Christmas tree Yights"(no I didn't misspell that's how she says that word). She ran to her G-G's room and knocked on the door then did her little routine of hiding against the wall to jump out at G-G when she answers the door.
Once inside, these two little elves went to work. Unpacking and unwrapping and untangling the goodies.
We began the decorating, the tree is pre-lit(God please bless whomever invented the prelit tree!) so all was needed was the final touches of our starbursts and garland. Kea helped and was so elated to be the one putting decorations on one of her beloved trees that she so enthusiastically points out everywhere we go.
Stepping back and watching G-G's face as she took it all in was wonderful. She sat so proudly, so excited about having Christmas decorations up.
We left G-G's tired but in a good way. So much done, and still so much to do. We are now looking forward to putting up our own tree in our home. I just can't put into words the joy I'm feeling as I watch my little girl take in the wonderment of this precious Holiday. I am praising my Heavenly Father for giving His only Son to us. Not only as an atonement for our sins, but also a reason to celebrate each year a glorious occurrence.
This year Kea seems to understand a little more. She isn't quite there yet but she's getting it. You can see the wheels inside her head turning and thinking and processing it all. I can't wait until she is old enough to understand how to give back. Next year we are going to "adopt" a child off the Angel Tree Project. I'm so curious to see how Kea will do. She already demonstrates compassion and a kind heart. I pray God will use those gifts to reach others for Him, through her.

So the Christmas Spirit is spreading, don't let life get you so busy you can't let it consume you.

Copy cat

That's what I meant to say as I conversed with my sister this morning. I called her to wish her Happy Birthday because I wasn't able to get to a phone yesterday. (our mom had me running her around alllllllll day!)
We were discussing a humorous story about coffee cups and one of her friends brought her a new one for her birthday because the one she was using was a disgrace to the avid coffee drinker.
I was coveting my bosses coffee cup and expressing my desire to find one like it and told my sister, "I would go out and find one like it but I don't want to be a coffee cat!".

I'm still chuckling. I hope it made my sis's day!

Happy Birthday Sis! Hope you enjoyed your new "mug" from your friend and the chuckle from me.

I'm beautiful....

And didn't know it. I look in the mirror and my hair is growing out from the short cut, I'm a bit overweight, my skin is red and ruddy looking(to me). I never feel beautiful.

I go to a photo shoot to assist my photographer ( I am attempting to train with her). We take some preliminary shots to test lighting and such. She gives me this disk with the pics on it and here is some of what I found.

I don't know about anyone else, but these pics make me look hot! And I found out from the photographer that no editing was done on the top pic other than cropping and the only editing on the bottom pic was just putting it in black and white and coloring in the fan. Everything else is 100% me! It really helped my self image and looking at myself through others eyes. It certainly boosted my ego a little.

Love to all!

Life Change

So, I went to church Wed. night. I was convicted as I sat there feeling overwhelmed about so many things. Mostly about time. Feeling I never have any and i can't seem to complete a task even when I try. God spoke to me and said it was my laziness. I'm lazy. Along with being used and abused and taken advantage of. He made it clear to me that if I used my time more wisely and were not lazy then I would have more time to accommodate others needs in addition to ours. Sitting at the computer for many hours a day was not helping matters. The church prayed over me, a friend and another member prayed with me in making our requests known before God. He prayed for specifics and one of them was that I would have wisdom in the use of my time. (what amazes me is that this person didn't know before hand that he was praying for the very thing I was struggling with.)
Thursday morning was spent with God. I had a clear head and it felt as if God was answering prayers and revealing to me exactly what needed to be done. I got up, cut my hubby's hair, got the baby up and dressed, got them both breakfast, and started on the dishes.
Enter, the devil.
Yup, the phone rang. I ignored it and let it go to voicemail. I was on a roll. Nothing was going to stop me, I was going to accomplish much.
10 minutes later the phone rang again. It's the same person calling. I'm thinking o.k., this must be important for them the be calling like this.
Mistake number one. Making an assumption.
Mistake number two. Answering that phone.
Yup, it was someone needing us to tote them someplace. It seems to be a constant around here now. I'm beginning to think the business I need to start is a taxi service company. I've already got clientele. Oh wait, they don't pay!! There is way more to this story regarding all these people calling us to take them places, but I won't go into it with you now. It would take too long.
I hung up the phone and screamed! Yes, I really screamed. A bloodcurdling, keening, "I can't take it anymore" scream. A real one.
As my panic attack began I thought about one of the ladies who prayed with me. She knew about the current situation and so I called her. What a blessing! She taught me a simple way to say "NO".( a word I can't seem to grasp the concept of for some reason even though saying it more often would make my life so much easier).
Find a secretary. Or just an alternate number you can give out, like your cell phone or something. In my case I don't have a cell phone and no one that I know of who would be willing to take a call for me if I did this. She suggested the pastor's cell phone. Yea, like he doesn't have enough people calling him for useless crap all the time and can take on all the people who call me for useless crap! I called him to see what he thought. What better person to get advice from about prioritizing and time scheduling than a pastor?
More great ideas poured in and I am happy to say I can now say "NO" without being riddled with guilt. I was just feeling like the excuse of "I have to do housework" was a lame excuse to give to someone who has no food and wants to be taken to the store where a manager has offered to donate food to them. Never mind to me that I see a habit being formed among other little red flags going up with these people. Yea, I know, put plastic wrap around my head and paint my body white, I'm a sucker!
So, my outgoing message now explains that until the 21st we are not available unless you have a life or death emergency that you feel we need to be involved with in which case you can call the church number at duh, d,duh,d,duh.
So, my kitchen is completely clean from top to bottom. My dining room table is clean but has papers that need sorted. My laundry is being done as I type. My living room, with a little more work, could possibly be in a magazine for looking nice. My bed is made up with clean sheets and Kea has been bathed and is shining. I'm on the right track. I can feel a change. A life change. And it feels good.
Thank God for good friends that He sends your way to help you with just what you need.

Ghosts

There are three of them.
Gray blobs moving effortlessly from one space to the next.
Opening and closing doors.
Leaving indentations on the beds and furniture.
Causing us to awake in the middle of the night with a heavy weight on our chests, feeling as if we are suffocating!
Rattling cabinet doors, moving the curtains, moving things across the floor.
Pulling the sheets from our bed while we sleep.
"Tickling" our feet, they've even left marks from their ire.

There are three of them, reeking havoc on our home.


They are our cats. Annabelle, Gizmo, and Juliette.
This thought struck me how much cats are like "ghostly" apparitions when I was standing in the bathroom putting cream on my face and my bathroom door opened. No one was there and I wasn't touching it. This has happened on more than one occasion causing me to pause and catch my breath sometimes. Only to realize it's one of my girls coming to grace me with her presence.

I love living with my "ghosts".

Today....

"Today we are going crazy, you wanna come?"
That's from Jon and Kate plus 8. I keep hearing that phrase on the commercial advertising their show. I think it's appropriate for most families no matter who, what, where, or how you came from.

Today my tooth hurts really bad. There is no money to go get it pulled. Just like last time. I'm swishing with peroxide and mouthwash extra to see if that will help. It hurts bad. I took one of my vicodins last night around 2 a.m. and didn't even get through the short note I was writing Michael to tell him what I had to do so he would know what was going on if he couldn't wake me up the next day. I needed him to call my work and let them know what happened. When you are hurting badly enough you will do nearly anything to make it stop. Even if it means taking medicine you don't normally take.(yes, it was prescribed to me by my doctor) I don't like to take anything stronger than over the counter meds for this very reason I'm about to tell you.
I barely made it through writing the note to Mike before I was giggling. About what? Only heaven knows. And dizzy. Whew was I dizzy! I had eaten a few crackers but I'm guessing it wasn't enough to help absorb the meds. (And I had only taken half of the pill, I was too apprehensive about taking something that strong anyway to take the whole pill, I can only imagine what shape I would be in if I had taken a whole one) I was on a doctor prescribed high basically. For all of that trouble though the pain never went away, I just didn't care about it anymore and thought it was funny. I tried to go to bed and it only made the pain worse. I decided to go into the living room and sleep in the recliner and on my way I fell over onto the bed. I thought that was funny to and had Michael getting onto me because I was laughing so hard he was afraid I was going to wake the baby up. Needless to say, he helped me to the chair and I settled in for what I was praying would be some restful sleep. Nope. I slept restlessly for about an hour and ended up waking up at 5 am hurting worse than before and with my arms asleep.(at least some part of my body was getting some rest). I dozed from there until time to get ready for work. I somehow managed to get myself there and could hardly talk so my coworker told me to go home. I made tuna salad and wrapped some cookies and left. Mike left for work begging me not to take anymore of the "good" stuff. I of course wouldn't do that while I'm alone caring for my child. I don't like the feeling it gives me. I can't run the risk of my one and only getting hurt, or worse just so I can have pain relief. When she goes down for a nap I'll be able to put some ice on it and try and nap a little. My biggest problem today is the lack of sleep. I think I'm getitng used to the pain.
Anyway, gotta go put punkin to bed. Love to all from my groggy state of mind!

My new utensil drawer

I have a little professional organizer in my home and didn't even know it. Well, that's not quite true because they've attempted at re-organizing my home before and I just won't allow it.

Yesterday, as I was doing the dishes(by hand, yes some people still have that skill) my "little helper" stood beside me on a stool and assisted. She did a pretty good job rewashing everything I washed. With the dishes all done we moved on to bigger housekeeping responsibilities and watched the satellite guy install our new system(yippee). My girl went off to complete whatever tasks that a two year old feel they need to complete at that moment.

As I began supper I opened my silverware drawer to quickly discover what a two year old does! Our utensils were all jumbled up. Someone had given us a free drawer makeover! What a blessing!

Today we went to the Health Department building and was finally able to receive W.I.C. it is a precious commodity now with Mike's hours cut and very little money coming in for things that are needed. We are learning what things are actually "needed" and what things are "wants". You don't NEED certain types of foods. You can live with beans and rice or ramen noodles if you have to. It's not pleasant but it's filling and keeps you from feeling like you are starving to death. I'm learning you can even go without a meal or two if you have to. As long as the baby has food in her tummy. But, praise the Lord the government still assists and we are eligible. I just got home from the store and we now have 2 gallons of milk, a pound of cheese(which we couldn't even afford to buy before wic) a huge box of cereal, oatmeal, eggs, juice, and peanut butter. Praise God. I only had to scrape together about 10 dollars for some bread. We can at least have PB&J sandwiches, or egg sandwiches and grilled cheese. We are praying God will bless us a little bit more financially so we can get some fresh veggies. In the meantime we are being thankful for the canned veggies that are very inexpensive. After getting our checks for W.I.C. I went by the post office hoping against hope that our landlord and his accountant had sent the deposit refund check they owe us. Everyday we check our mail in hopes of that check because it will help get our checking account out of the negative and everyday my heart is let down when it's not there. It is so frustrating to know there is money that could help us and it's rightfully ours but because of other people's actions we can't use it. (grow of frustration) Because they are dragging their feet we are about to lose our bank account and get into trouble with them and be turned over, yet again, to the credit bureau. It seems the harder one tries to get ahead in everything the thicker and stickier the mud gets so you end up further behind than when you started. The whole, "one step forward, two steps back" analogy. This is where our trust in God is truly tested. I think I'm failing right now though.
Another praise though is that a friend of ours sent us a telephone number to one of the "controllers" of Toys for Tots. I called him and explained our situation and he insisted I go down and sign Kea up for toys for tots this year. He explained that the program is normally for chronic needy families but this year he has been seeing alot of families who are in so much need that are normally self sufficient and he knows we are the type of people who will work hard to get back on track and pull out of this slump. He wanted us to be sure she has a good Christmas this year and so I went and signed her up and we are picking up her gifts on December 20th! Praise the Lord for friends who watch out for us!! My other friend is driving me to New Port Richey sometime this month to also register Kea for The Angel Tree Project. I guess it works like an adoption type program. Your child's picture, name, and information of clothes sizes, age, etc. is put on a card and hung on a Christmas tree in a public area or store. A random person looking to donate to charities or help out a needy family for the holidays then picks an "angel" off the tree and buys Christmas presents for them. They then take the gifts to a designated location and drop them off to be ready for pick up by the parents of the child they are being given to. I very nearly did this one year when I used to work in law enforcement. We also used to go out with the deputies who would fill their trunks up with toys and drive through needy neighborhoods passing the toys out. It was always so much fun and often times would make up for the dreariness of the job itself. I never would have believed that I might one day be the mother to a child whose family didn't have the funds to provide for them. My dream is one day to have the ability to budget some money so that Kea can buy presents for a child in need. I think it's even more rewarding than getting presents yourself. Watching the little faces light up to get something they never would dream they would have and seeing the parents faces fill up with gratefulness that their child wasn't left out this time. It's such a heart warming experience. I suggest that everyone do it at least once in their lives and, if possible, make it a habit every year. It certainly has taken a small weight off of our shoulders to know she will have a blessing this Christmas and that God is providing for her. We are definitely going to tell her that the gifts are from God and how he will use people, even complete strangers, to provide for His own children's needs. I do not believe in telling kids that this stuff comes from Santa Claus. First of all you raise your children telling them about Santa Claus, The Easter bunny, The tooth fairy, and all of that and then they grow up to find out they are imaginary characters thought up by people. What happens when you tell your child about Jesus Christ? They grow up to realize you can't see Him or even audibly hear Him. What's to say they aren't automatically going to assume He isn't real either? I don't want to take that chance. Every holiday we have or celebrate will be centered around Jesus Christ and all the grace, mercy, and gifts or provisions He and He alone makes possible for us.

Well, sorry this was so long today. There was a lot to catch up on and alot happened! It's been another good day.

In touch with the real world again

Thanks to a wonderful anniversary present from my sister we are now again in touch with the real world! We have satellite again!
I wasn't missing it too much. I could find whatever I needed to know online through the internet. My husband on the other hand, he was going stir crazy. Especially on Monday and Friday nights. Not getting to watch WWE and RAW(wrestling) was reeking havoc in our home. He was miserable on those nights.

I cannot thank my sister enough! Thank you, thank you. He loves it! Well, he will love it. He hasn't gotten home yet so he doesn't know it's been installed. I can't wait to see him when he comes home and sees it on.

My daughter apparently missed having it as well. She ran to her room and got her pillow and blanket off her bed and through them up on the couch begging me to "hep". I had to arrange her so she could sit on the couch all cuddled in her blanket so she could watch "Orwa" (dora). She is definitely her fathers child.

Well, I'm going to go and wash and dry some clothes and finish up the dishes since I don't have to chase a 2 year old around now!

Love to all.

Fair-haired beauties

I think there is nothing more wonderful to see than my husband holding a gorgeous fair-haired beauty in his arms.


What? I know you are thinking, "Are you nuts?!"

Nope, I'm not.

That fair-haired beauty is our precious little girl and I watched as he carried her away in his arms to take her with him somewhere this morning. It was wonderful. It was sexy. I can't express how much I enjoy watching him interact with her and how she responds. It warms my heart.

Pan-fried biscuits

Yup, that's what I said.

I've discovered how to make biscuits without an oven. Our oven is broke right now and it will cost $350.00 to fix it. Or, buy a new oven. That's gonna be a pain in the rear.

I had bought two packages of frozen biscuits not thinking about the oven not working. We had our mouths all set for some biscuits and gravy. And we had friends over. We tried the oven and held our breath.

Nope. It wouldn't do. Still it would default and shut off.

So, we tried the microwave. Oh, it cooked them. They came out all soft and fluffy. By the time the gravy was finished we picked up the biscuits and they were as hard as hockey pucks!

This morning I took the last little bit of flour we had and made us up some bachelor bread. It's a simple recipe. Just self rising flour, milk, and a little bit of oil. Mix it up and cook it in the pan like a pancake. It comes out fluffy in the middle like a biscuit. It got me thinking. If that is like a biscuit couldn't we make biscuits in the pan? So, I set out to figure out how to make frozen biscuits in a fry pan.
It wasn't very difficult, it only took a couple of tries.
I defrosted them in the microwave just until they began to rise. Then, placed them in the pan and put a lid on them so the heat could be contained like it is in an oven. After a couple of minutes I turned them over and repeated. After my second try they turned out really well. Kind of like little fat mini bachelor breads. Some gravy poured over them and mmmm. It hit the spot!!!

Where is my sweet little girl?

Ohhhhh.

Over the past two weeks my 28 month old angel has grown horns and put them to use!
She screams over the littlest things happening. She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest and pulls away when you are trying to talk to her. She laughs at you when you try and discipline her. She runs from us when we try and put her to bed now. (formerly she would go and crawl into bed and say sweetly, "nigh, nigh").

I'm not sure what to do. Ignoring her doesn't work because she comes and gets in front of you and challenges you. Discipline doesn't seem to work, she just keeps doing what it is she isn't suppose to do.

I'm starting to think I might need "Nanny 911"!


Hope everyone else is having a good day!

I'm going to get some glue and see about reassembling my hair I've pulled out.

How can you better yourself with this?

Someone refuses to take gas money from you when you return their vehicle to them and you know it's sitting on empty. You explain to them that the truck is very, very low in gas and you offer two more times to give them money. Again, they refuse to take the money telling you that "it's o.k. we all take care of each other, don't worry about it." A week later you overhear them bad mouthing you to several other people because you gave them their vehicle back with no gas in it and they didn't know how they were going to get home and they were having to call a friend to give them a ride to work the next day! How do you use this situation to make yourself a better person?

You and a coworker are chatting and having a good time joking about the job you do. You leave for the day with a high spirit and happy heart because you've had a good time and you are counting your blessings for having such great co workers. You are approached the next day by the boss saying the co worker has told her you were complaining about doing your job and wanting to know why more people weren't doing one of the jobs you were hired to do to begin with and you really enjoy doing! What can you do to apply this in your life to make yourself better?

When you leave it in God's hands

This is what happens.

We went to a Martina Mcbride concert and put gas in our truck, ate dinner at the concert, I built a scarecrow with our two year old daughter and watched her take a pony ride at the towns Scarecrow Festival. We bought a gallon of milk, diapers, sugar, butter, a few boxed dinners complete with the meat in them, three bags of frozen veggies, apples, cantaloupe and grapes,and some donuts (buy1 get1free). All of it with no money. Kind of.

I was amazed. When things look dismal and hopeless if you just trust God and truly leave the problem in His hands, He provides. And He even provides things we don't need, like the concert and the festival. God is so good. He knows when we are weary and need a break and an alone date with the hubby. He knows when we need some play time at a festival playing games and riding ponies with our child or children. He knows when you need diapers and milk and you have not a penny to your name. It comes in all forms. He sent ours via free tickets hubby won at work. He sent the gas and money for the festival from reminding Mike about all the change in a jar we had put away. He blessed us through people coming to us and giving from their hearts. We don't don't even know who one of the people were. Sunday morning the pastor came to us and put money in our hand and said that someone in the church gave this to him and told him to give it to us. It was $50.00! We were able to get diapers and some other food. God is so good!
It's so easy to Praise God when we are seeing the results of his Power. But when the times are rough and it doesn't seem like God is there, do we still want to Praise Him? Do we praise Him in the storm as well as in the calm? When Mike found out he was losing his job, and there didn't seem to be any jobs available in the area. When there is no money in the bank, no money in your pockets, and any money you may have coming in from your last paycheck is already allotted to cover a negative balance in the bank or other obligations. You just can't see how it's going to work. Do we praise He then? I have to confess, we didn't Praise Him exactly. We didn't doubt His goodness and abilities though. We evaluated the situation and said, "yup, this is way too big for us". We chose this time to exercise our faith in God. And God blessed us for it. Will we do it again? Do you trust Him enough to leave it in God's hands?

Faith

Faith without works is dead. That's a Bible verse the pastor preached on Wed. night.
We are living by faith right now. Or trying.
You see, hubby lost his job yesterday. His last day of work is either today or Monday.

Fun times these are.

Where do we go from here? What do we do now? There are NO jobs available in this area and everyday you hear of more people being laid off or forced to retire. What will happen if we become homeless? How will we feed, clothe, and bathe KEA? Will she be taken from us? How will I be able to face the world each day?

Two words come to my mind in answer. God and Faith.

Good and Bad

Well, good news and bad news. I'm so busy I can't even come up with anything to say in this blog. Except.

We are moving. Within the next 2 weeks. It's financially better but physically stressful. Oh well, I'm so tired right now I just don't care.

Love to all

Surely one day this will become more interesting and thought provoking.

Ok, Stop.

No more. I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed. Just when you get started on taking care of one thing hanging over your head something else pops up. Just stop already, please.

The Coffee Mug

This is the perfect Day to be in The Coffee Mug.

The sky is grey.
It's drizzling rain.
The freshly laid blacktop is gleaming with colors bleeding together from the reflection of the buildings across the street. Melting together like colors in a watercolor painting.

Cuddled into a booth with a favorite cup of Banana Foster Cappuccino.

Cozy .

Warm.

Comfortable.

Life is good. No worries. No stress.

Just quiet reflection.

Painting pictures in my mind of dreamy, far away places.
Imagining and spinning romantic stories of a couple sitting in the corner with heads together over a steaming latt'e.

Just Bea-ing..........Happy
Content
In love
With my Coffee Mug

Trying to keep in mind.

Today has been a test.

A test of patience. Tolerance. A test. Holding of the temper. Trying not to spew vile emotional negativity all over innocent bystanders as I view my life from afar and wonder "what the h---" and "why is God doing this to us?"

Convincing myself He is in control no matter how it may look at the moment. Convincing myself He is bigger than this and He knows what He's doing and I'm just a minute detail in the over all plan and if I would keep my grimy paws off of what He is doing it just might all turn out to be o.k.

Just like it always does........

Trees say hello

This is a memory I wanted to hold onto so I figured I better write about it and maybe it would stick.
Kea has never seen strong, gusy winds before. So, as we walked out to the truck yesterday to begin our errands, Kea began staring up into the trees. She studied them in wonderment for a moment and then began waving to them. I looked up to see who or what she was waving to and this thought crossed my mind. With the wind blowing the branches of the trees it caused the smaller branches and leaves to wave around giving the appearrance that the trees were waving in a manner of greeting. I thought it was so precious to see my childs innocent face peering up into the tree tops and her little hand waving back to the trees as they told her hello!

Update on life

Things are going great. Staying very busy. This past week and weekend has been overwhelming!

The Lord is blessing us with groceries, nearly more than we can consume! I have a package of ribs in my fridge that I have got to cook today because they've been in there for a day or two now. I don't want to have to throw them out.

Kea is handling all this busy-ness in stride. I haven't noticed any adverse reactions to me having worked two eight hour days.

I'm loving working in a coffee shop. This past week I worked the two eight hour days and then got back up again at 6 a.m. and worked my two hour day. It was three days in a row of having to get up and go to work and it gave me a taste of what it would be like to have a full-time job again. I didn't relish the idea. I hated leaving the baby with someone else to be taken care of. And I was having reservations with some of the decisions the care taker was making concerning her. The home life is different in that family and a little more, well, "aggressive" I guess. They communicate a bit differently in certain situations than hubby and I like to communicate. We don't permit screaming and yelling in anger and such. The care taker's family is a little more lenient in expressing themselves in a heated situation. That always makes me a bit nervous. It has assured me we have made the right choice in keeping kea at home and trying to be a stay at home mom. As much as I love the coffee shop and enjoy the work there, I will not be working any more hours than I have to.

Business is a bit slow. I haven't been able to put much effort into it and that is making it pretty hard to grow my business. You definitely have to be able to put time into it. I'm hoping to get a better organized plan working so I can manage my time better and include time for everything that needs to be done in our lives. I tried contacting a professional organizer. No one returned my call and when I attempted to send an email it was returned saying the mailbox was full. Guess I'll have to do my own research and figure it out by myself. Not something I'm very good at since it seems to be getting worse every day. The clutter and distraction is overwhelming!

Well, I better get back to posting ads. And coming up with some strategies for marketing. Hope all is well with everyone!

Weather

I'm sitting inside with my A.C. on and outside it looks like a winter day. Just the kind of day I love! Overcast and windy. It makes me wish winter were really here already.

I hate summer. It's hot. It's humid. It's sticky. Yuck! I dream of calm and cool temperatures never dipping below 55 or above 75 degrees all year round. Occasionally sunny but mostly overcast.

(sigh) I know I must face it. Although it looks cool and windy outside, I know for a fact it's humid and muggy. The wind helps it some. Not enough.

Here I go.

Coffee

I'm addicted again. In spite of the acid reflux it produces. Who can work in a Coffee shop cafe and NOT drink coffee.
Not me.

I love the smell and I'm having to learn how to mix the coffee drinks and smoothies. I can't help but drink it. I have to practice and we can't just throw it out after I've made it!
That would be a travesty!

The work is very simple. Stock the fridge for the day with items needed to make the sandwiches and salads and such, and put the dishes away. I only work two hours in the morning about two days a week. And then 4 hours in the evening one day a week so far. As I become better at it I will gain more hours. I will not be full-time though. I don't want to lose the "stay at home mom" status. But, God has blessed us with this job and it's perfect and just what we needed for our lifestyle at this time.

I just want to say I love ya sis. I know you are probably the only one who really reads this. Occasionally I hear from Struggles of a Teacher person and that is always a blessing. But, I have been thinking about you today sister. I don't know why but I'm missing you really bad. I wish we lived closer. I miss sharing things with you and being close to you. I miss cuddling together on the couch and drinking coffee and reading magazines. I dream of one day being together and painting things together. Picture type things. Mosaics. Sewing and sipping and dreaming. Going to Islands and staying at remote inns on a picture perfect beach. Lazing around in hammocks with the breeze rocking us and caressing our tanned skin.

All right. I've gotta go. It's gettin' late and hubby doesn't like it when I'm on here too much. Love you bunches. All of you who read this!

I couldn't stand it.

It just wasn't right! So, I went to a local hair salon and had them fix my hair. I know, the other cut didn't look that bad, but I could see the errors. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my hair. You can ask my sister! I'm probably one of her worst clients! :)
Here is the newest cut. I'm liking it more and more everyday. It's getting me lots of attention!

Praising God for His Grace!

When I get rich from this business one of my goals is to hire a professional organizer. I've come to the realization I'm never going to be able to do it. I can't seem to figure out where to put everything. And I don't have the money or innovative insight to be able to buy the neccassary tools needed to become organized. So, I shuffle everything around, can never find what I'm looking for because I've put it somewhere where I could find it to just not be able to find it. Yea, I need an organizer. Wonder where I would find one of those? Can I just look in the yellow pages?
Oh! I've gotta tell you the biggest blessing that happened to us tonight. Another big clue that God does exist for those who doubt it. Mike came home and we decided to go to The Coffee Mug ,where I work part time, and get supper there so I could practice on preparing the drinks and stuff. On the way out I happened to notice an envelope from a mortgage company I had layed up on the bar to shred since I thought it was just another spam letter from some company wanting to get us to mortgage a house we don't have. I opened it just because. It was a check for $2,031.00!!!! Turns out I had a Ginnie Mae account with unclaimed funds in it and they tracked me down and sent them to us! Praise God. I stood there and cried because we needed money so badly. So, we went to eat and I went to pay for the food and my card wouldn't work. It declined it. I was astounded because Michael had just been paid and we have direct deposit. I told the girl I was gonna go to the bank and get the money and bring it back. I figured that Mike's job just didn't get the deposit in yet or something like that. I went ahead and went to the bank and before I put the $2,031. check in I checked the balance and it said we were -$230.60! Hmmm, I deposited the BIG check and withdrew $100 to pay the bill at the shop and get some gas. After we got some milk for the baby and a few things to tide us over till our $119. food stamps kicks in on the 3rd. This is where the blessing comes in to play! I got online and checked out our checking account history to see if Mike's check had even hit the bank yet. It had and the negative was AFTER his check was deposited! Without that "suprise" check from GM we would still be negative and not be able to pay rent, get food, gas, or pay the other bills that were coming in. I'm still not quite sure how we became that negative other than we were paying bills and we just aren't bringing in enough to cover them all. It's obvious God knew what was going to happen and we were clueless and it's so amazing to see how God works!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still in awe of this. It happens to me quite often. Not neccassarily involving money but the money is the most obvious that happens. The other blessings and unexplainable incidents like this that I KNOW are from God is involving the baby. I've seen things happen where she should be in the hospital or really hurt badly and there won't be a mark on her! I am just praising God almighty for being so good to us even when we don't deserve it and I want to give HIM a shout out!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Reviewing

I've decided the haircut looks terrible. I hate it. I did take those long pieces off each side and it looks a little better. I guess I'm going to have to go to the doctor though and find out what kills them now. Last time I had them I just cut and colored my hair and it was fine. I don't know what to do. Natural things don't work. Chemical things don't work. I'm about to shave my head. I mean it! I'm sick of this mess!
I'll send updated pics later because right now its' dark and my camera stinks when it comes to taking pics in anything but high light.

Love to all!

UGH!

Just checking in. Things here are very busy. I now work at a Coffee Shop here in my town. I'm loving it! My business is going well although I haven't been able to put much into it these past few days thanks to getting head lice from one of my Goddaughters! I've treated it twice and they just won't die!!! I think they've become immune to the treatments. After the second treatment and no success I took measures into my own hands. Literally. I cut my hair. I cannot yet afford the cost of driving to Georgia to have the world's best hair stylist, Angela of Hair Studio 101, cut my hair, so I had to do the next best thing. Try and remember how she taught me to cut hair. I don't feel like it turned out so badly. You decide.

Well, they didn't turn out as well as I hoped. Besides, I broke the cardinal rule of picture taking and took it in front of the stupid window. Oops, I don't have time to go redo. This will have to do. Love to all !

Addictions

Why do people with their own addictions feel like they have to suck everyone else down into it with them??????
That's all I'm going to say about it. To say more may incriminate. Not myself, but someone close.
Just suffice to say, I have lost respect for a friend. They are unable to control themselves and when they take people with them they seem to like to watch the misery and foolishness of others enhanced. Through them they feed their own demons, to dump them off on their family to pay the price of their idiocy! Where are they when we are cleaning up the mess!! They are home, creating their own messes. Ruining their own family, slowly.

NO MORE!

OFFICER DOWN!!!!

News
You can make donations and contributions to assist his family in their time of need by visiting www.fmpolice.com and clicking on the Donate icon in lower right corner of the page. Or you can visit Fifth-Third Bank and make the contribution to account number 7432124563.
Thank you for assisting this family and please keep them in your prayers.

Day Off

I decided to try and take a day off. I'm still finding myself working though. I just have so much fun! It's amazing to see how everything works.
Kea has been doing great today. She has taken a really long nap. It's given me the opportunity to wash some clothes and clean up the kitchen. Not that I can't do that when she is awake, it's just a little more difficult because she likes to cuddle and play with me. We have so much fun playing. She has a book that has nothing but pages and pages of pictures of different things and it has the word below the picture of what it is. Everyday it seems like she knows more and more of those words and the pics that go with them.
Poor Mike is working even harder these days. They have fired two of his co-workers leaving only Mike and his boss. It causes them to have to cover the long hours that they previously had split up while the other two were working. In addition to working 6 days a week 10 hours a day, he has gone to my parents house and done yardwork and fixed their dryer. I have the best man in the world! God has blessed us so abundantly!
I'm hearing Kea stirring around so I'm going to say hello for now(you know, the commercial?) Anyway! Love to all who read this!
www.freedomathometeam.com/baddison
www.mybenefitsplus.com/baddison73

A new job!

I've started a new job. It's a work at home business with AmeriPlan®, I am a Benefits and Training Specialist. This means I sign people up for health programs offered through AmeriPlan®. It's so cool. You put the ads out there and people call you to sign up for benefits! I'm having so much fun and I get to meet so many new people. I've learned so much in my training and I've even learned things about myself that I didn't know. Kea is taking it all with a grain of salt. She will come and sit up at the work area in our home and draw on the paper and bring her little miniature laptop and pretend she is "working". It has been such a blessing to be able to help hubby out and still watch her grow and learn on a daily basis. I'm not having to miss out on any of those one-time moments that some working moms end up missing by having to work out of the home. If you want to know more then check out my websites www.freedomathometeam.com/baddison and www.mybenefitsplus.com/baddison73

BabyK is doing great! Her vocabulary seems to grow each day. New words pop up and I'm forever having to figure out what they mean or what she is using them for! It's amazing how she is putting sentences together now. Her daddy was leaving for work yesterday and she went tearing down the hallway yelling," Dahyee, dahyee! I LUB U!" I went to work calling everyone trying to tell them. It was so cute!

Since I've been working it seems like I've been able to keep up with the housecleaning better. I think it's the better management of time that helps me. I've set aside certain hours to work on the business and then I schedule the housecleaning into the other time. I also have a reason to stay home now. Before I began working everyone assumed I could just drop whatever I was doing and run them places or go somewhere, because hey, a stay at home mom has plenty of time on their hands. All we do is sit around and watch soap operas and eat bon-bons! Right?

Well, it's 11:30 pm and I'm getting sleepy. I wish everyone who reads this the very best and pray you will be blessed beyond what you can handle!

She's better

Babyk's better today. Her fever broke last night. She's still being a stinker though and she keeps grabbing her neck and saying ouch. I'm wondering if she has a sore throat. Hmmm.

Right now we are watching Blue's Clue's! We found a clue! Yea!

O.K. on to whatever I was going to talk about. I'm not really sure at this point. I'm kind of all talked out. I'm a member on Cafemom.com and I have such a blast. I've met so many people and made so many new friends. It's great to be members of different groups that have the same interests as you. I'm a member of a photography group, raising girls from 0-5 yrs old, Pasco Florida moms, Recipes group, potty training group for girls, and several more. It has helped because there is so many responses to choose from when you post a question. And so much support when you need it. If you're a mom and reading this then click on www.cafemom.com and check it out. It's free, kind of like myspace but only moms.

Well, I've gotta go start supper so I've gotta make this short. Love to all!

Babyk's sick

We have had a busy weekend. We had to be at Hubby's dad's house Friday morning, then to their friends house by noon, then head over to Orlando by 6pm and we didn't get home until after 11:30pm. Got up Saturday morning and hid all day. Well, until everyone started calling us. Then I ended up having to go practice for praise and worship. I ran into mom and we met her up at the nursing home to visit grandma. After that we went grocery shopping. Got home and while taking BabyK out of the truck I noticed she was burning up! We got inside and took her temp and it was 100.9 degrees(they don't have the little degree sign on a keyboard? what's up with that?) So we started pullin' out the Tylenol and Motrin. It's Sunday evening and her fever broke around 6:30pm. However, hubby just came home from church and we heard her in there sniffling and whining/crying. He took off(cuz he was so disappointed about missing putting her down for the night) and went in to check on her. I walked in to see him with her cuddled up on his chest(she's getting too big for it so it looks kind of awkward). She was burning up again, the sheets were even wet with all the sweat! My poor girl. I hate when she is sick. The crazy thing is, you can't tell when she is sick because she doesn't ever act sick. In spite of a fever when other people would be moaning and groaning she plays and cuddles and gets kind of crazy! Like throwing sunflower seeds all over the place and throwing one of her little plastic dolls hats at my face and nearly taking my eye out!

Tomorrow is catch up day. I'm gonna clean and clean and clean some more. I hope. It sure needs it. Especially the floor. (you know the sunflower seeds and all)

I don't have much to say, I'll try again tomorrow.
Love to all!

Do I want to be a travel agent? A referral specialist for Melaleuca (not going so well), a blogger and get paid for it, a vitamin salesperson? There are just so many choices! Unfortunately all of them require you spend nearly more money than you are promised to make. I am so over it all ready. The legitimate home jobs are all so "impossible" to get into and the ones that are easy are all scams or require you to do hard selling, even though they say you don't have to. Well, there sure are a lot of liars out there!

I'm going on a photo shoot on Sunday. I'm going to be assisting the photographer. That is my "part-time" job for now. It is flexible enough that I don't have to get a daycare provider for BabyK. Usually Hubby is home on the days that people schedule for photographs or weddings and stuff. Now, if business would just pick up so I can start making some money at it! That would be great.

I guess I'm not exercising good faith if I'm worried all the time about working when I know God wants me to be a stay at home mom. It is hard to have faith when you are looking at the bills and they out number the amount of income! That's why I'm getting so desperate for a job of some type that will bring in just a little extra money to help out.

The weather here has been wonderful! I love rainy weather. I'm sitting here lounging on my love seat gazing out the window through the trees at the hazy sky. I love how green the tree leaves look against the darkness of the clouds behind them. The darker the clouds the more beautiful the green. My favorite part is when the thunder comes rolling in and then the rain starts falling. The steady sound makes my eyes so heavy and I just want to close them and disappear into a fairy land under the mushrooms growing in the backyard. I used to imagine there were fairies living under the mushrooms and that they were like little houses because they all grew together to make it look like a village. They were all busy gathering little fruits and veggies and twigs because they would mix together recipes to make their fairy dust that they would sprinkle on us while we were sleeping to give us happy thoughts. No, I'm not on any pain medication! I just like thinking back on stuff that I imagined as a child. Sometimes, I think people would be better off to think as children once-in-awhile. It gives them a little taste of the innocence they lost as they entered adulthood.
I also used to love to take a little lamp in the living room coat closet and hide in there and pretend that I was going to go into the land of Narnia from the book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It never worked for me though. But, I had a great time in that closet playing with my dolls and pretending to be whatever I felt like at the time. As sad as it is, I remember hiding in there pretending to be Anne Frank from The Diary of Anne Frank. I think she still remains one of my few hero's I don't have many because people are just people. Some of them go through extraordinary circumstances in which God gives them the grace and comfort and care they need to get through them. Many of them don't even want to recognize God's gracious hand in it and either blame Him or just give him no credit at all.

Well, back to the land of NOW, I've got to go conquer a load of laundry and dishes.
Love to all,

Stranger Danger? Not in my vocabulary!

So, we are on our way to church this morning and we drive by Able Body, which is a day labor facility. We notice a guy laying in front of the building with his head on a skate board. He appeared to be sleeping. Hubby passed him by and we discussed him and his situation. I suggested we go back and pick him up. So, we did. I try and imagine it from his view as he is laying there on the ground sleeping peacefully. (not sure how to do that with a skateboard for a pillow, but...) He opens his eyes to stare me in the face as I'm bending over him asking him if he is OK. I don't even think he was awake enough to realize what I was saying or what he was doing until after he was in the back of our pickup and on his way down the road. All I could get across to him was there would be air conditioning and food and if he wanted to go back to sleep he could. I just couldn't leave him laying there in that hot sun knowing the day labor place wouldn't open until tomorrow. So, he spent the day with us at church. The preacher took over when it was time for us to leave. He ministered to him and tried to see what else could be done for him. Gave him some pointers and places he could get a job. I don't know where he is now but I certanly hope he isn't sleeping on the front side walk of the day labor place. I've mentioned to hubby about going to see if he went back there since it's only a few blocks from our home. I just keep thinking, "isn't this what Jesus called us to do while we are down here?"
Just to ease everyone's mind, I do not take on these adventures without my hubby's assistance, unless it is clearly what God is telling me to do. I mean CLEARLY. Sometimes you just know.

Yea, the candy thing isn't gonna work. I'll just leave it at that. For many, many reasons. And many thanks to the input from valuable friends. Just a brainstorm I guess. My brain is just getting to the point of desperation from trying to find something, anything I can do at home to be more productive.

Tomorrow I get to clean house, run errands, Oh yea! The truck's fixed! There's no gas in it and not really any money left in the budget for gas right now. But, the truck's fixed!! I've gotta go to my moms house and vacuum. Oh, and find out why in the world YMCA is still taking money from our account when we paid them off already for the whole year.

OK, Good Night!

My Day

Things finally seem to be slowing down. I think it may partly be due to the fact that my truck is broken down. The starter went out. We just picked up the contact kit for it and our mechanic is going to try and have it fixed by tonight or tomorrow.

We are going to a dinner show Friday the 4th of July. That is if the truck is fixed. The show is called Arabian Nights. I upgraded the tickets to VIP so that BabyK will be able to meet the performers and the horses. She's gonna be able to sit on the horses and pet them. We also get free drinks in the VIP lounge. We got our original tickets for free by attending a time share presentation. It wasn't too bad. This particular place didn't do any high pressure selling and especially not, once we informed them of our monthly income. I'm excited to be going.

I'm sitting here watching a show on HGTV. Nothing big, just a $22,000 bathroom makeover. Looking at it, it looks kind of plain. I'm not seeing where they spent that much money. All they did was tear everything out and stick a window in and then stick a pair of double doors on and throw a few "accessories" in it. Then Design on a Dime comes on and for $1000 they take a bedroom and make it look like they spent $22,000 on it. That amazes me.

So, my diet isn't going as well as it was. Not having a truck makes it hard to get to he produce stand and grocery. I really wish they would but a small grocery store down town here within walking distance to us. We would be set then. I get my home cleaning products and snack foods and vitamins and all that from Melaleuca and they are delivered to me, if we just had grocery foods more easily accessible then I would be set. Our Church is within walking distance, Post office, Library, Water dept., all of our other needs are in walking distance, we just need a grocery. We do kind of have one. Tin Can Pams, but I don't think it has fresh fruits and veggies. I know they have meats and frozen foods, I guess I could make due with that. But I need fruits and fresh veggies! The farmer's market was going on every Saturday but we haven't seen it lately.

I'm trying to find something I can do at home. What do y'all think of starting my own homemade candy business? You know, make homemade candy and sell it. Or deliver it. Or make homemade candy care packages, or gift baskets. Maybe making some theme baskets and delivering them?

I don't know. I really need something to do at home that will bring in some type of revenue that doesn't require me having to beg people to sign up or buy. I guess this idea still requires that, but who doesn't want candy? Especially homemade candy!! I'll have to research it more. I don't know that I have the items needed to even make the candy.

Well, BabyK is waking up and I have housework that needs to be done. I love doing housework now that I have this stuff that works. I can't believe how good it is !

Just Life

Still staying pretty busy. Yesterday I did a water aerobics class. I'm sore. In a good way. I was going to try and go again tomorrow but we just don't have money for the gas it takes to go there. I'll keep you updated. I know you will be on the edge of your seat waiting!

We went and met hubby's mom for "dinner" at a local ice cream parlor that's been around since hector was a pup. She got hubby a birthday cake and BabyK dug into it. She had a piece of the cake sitting in front of her and instead of picking it up she jammed her face down into it and tried to eat it with no hands! Go figure, the one time I don't bring the blasted camera! I'm discouraged with this camera anyway because it's a camera/digital recorder. The camera only seems to like to take "good" pics outside.

I'm getting excited about training for photography. I "assisted" on a photo shoot at a high school reunion this past weekend. It wasn't very productive because the crowd seemed to have no interest in "capturing their reunion memories". The next night was spent shooting random photos at a Benefit function in a local bar. Now, I wouldn't normally condone hanging out in a bar on a Sunday evening, you really should either be in church or with your family. However, when it comes to raising money for a much needed cause then I suppose I can make exceptions. It was humorous to me, however, that I found myself walking from my home to the bar carrying an open umbrella to hide myself when cars passed by. I wasn't too out of place because it was storming just a few minutes before. Heaven forbid though that someone from my church passing by on their way home should somehow manage to see me! Imagine, in this small town the talk!
As for training, well, I've only been on these two events. So far, I love it! I know it will be no walk in the park. The owner is going to begin working with me more one on one. I believe God is opening doors to help me be able to bring in a supplement to our income to take some of the pressure off of Hubby. I feel like I've been through every "work at home" scam and gig there is out there. They all promise to help you "work at home" but they never seem to give you the right solution or you end up going in circles. I did find one. Called ChaCha Guide. It was legitimate, but then I failed the stupid testing. Guess I lost my knack for research. It was a timed test and I think that's what killed it for me. I couldn't beat the time. I cried. I was so psyched about getting a real stay at home job and I blew it by not being relaxed and focused. (sigh) Oh well. Anyway, they say when God shuts one door He opens another eventually. It's all in His time.

Love to all!

Pics of party

So, this is pretty much the highlights of the party.

Update

Will it ever stop being busy!!!!

Today is the first day I've gotten to sit down and write in here! I know no one really reads this but my sis, however I still would like to give her something.

Alot has happened. Hope it won't take up half the night for you to read it!

Let's see, we had BabyK's party. We hired a photographer and would you believe she only took 35 pics!!! The majority of them were close ups of baby K.... o.k. I'm good with having pics of my beautiful daughter, but when she asked me what types of pics I would like to have I told her group photos and pics of babyk interacting with family members. She didn't even get a pic of my own mother or hubby's mother!!!!!! Ugh, what the heck did I hire her for. So, we aren't paying her full price. We are giving her 20 bucks and that's it. She was there for 3 hours and only took 35 pics, for pity sakes! I could do better than that!!! Especially when I specifically told you what pics to take!!! Let me clarify this also, this girl is a trainee, she is graduating photography school this year and was working as an assistant to a professional photographer I'm good friends with. The owner of the photography business allowed her to come take pics at this party to give her more training hours and because she thought she was good. She is consistently proving that she is dependable, she did a wedding for the pro photographer and impressed her with her work, but since then the pro says that she is beginning to find some discrepancies. Although she has the book knowledge and learned in the skills of photography, she has no hands on experience and it shows. She doesn't listen to customers wants and she hasn't grasped the concept of over-exposure and under-exposure situations and what to do to keep from having over-exposure outside. Anyway, here a the pics from her that are worth paying for.
/////O.k. maybe not. My add photo icon isn't working!! Ugh, ok I guess I'll try later.

So, we had babyk's party, I think it was great because it was low stress. I just bought some creme cakes in three flavors and told everyone to meet up at Mcdonalds. The family came and we had a good time. It was pleasant.

I got up enough guts to tell our friend that I couldnt' keep their daughter for three days every other week. Of course their were slight reprecussions from his ex. She's angry at me because my friend told her I said I wouldn't do it because the girl was too much too handle. I had to set him straight because that's not what I said. Ugh, I can't stand when you tell people know and tell them the reason and they go and put words in your mouth. I basically said Oh well, I'm not out to make your ex happy, sorry. My life is way to hectic to try and keep people's kids. I don't mind helping out occasionally, but I can't do it on a set or full time schedule. I'm not capable.

I'm in training to become a photographer and manage About Face Photography. I'm also on a couple of people's call list to assist in setting up for weddings and special events. It's not going to pay millions but at least it's flexible enough for me to be able to find a babysitter or for hubby to keep babyk and I can make good money in just a few hours. I've tried all these stupid online jobs and business's and they are all a crock of applesauce!!! I'm so sick of scams and misrepresentations. What a waste of time.

Ok, well my add image icon still isn't working, I'll have to try a different way or something. Hubby is home so I gotta get supper going.

Much love to all!!!

If you're interested in saving some money I found a great company to order home products from.
Go to my website......www.loveworkingfromhome.com/cgi-bin/team.cgi?id=Be4746&action=show

It's been awhile!

www.loveworkingfromhome.com/cgi-bin/team.cgi?id=Be4746&action=show

I'm sorry I haven't been posting anything for awhile. I've been so busy! I've been elected to keep everyone else's kids here lately. I love kids I just don't like keeping them. Plus I've started a new stay at home job.

I got a little off track with my eating healthy kick and I haven't been to the gym in 2 weeks. I'm really disappointed. And feeling crabby, cranky, and not well. I've also lost my ever present sex drive!! I'm tired of not having money, I'm tired of having money and having to spend it on stuff that shouldn't cost so much that you can't afford to pay for it off a regular pay check. I'm tired. I'm tired of not being able to have stuff we would like to have, tired of having to work so hard for such little pay, tired of watching us have to scrimp and scrape just to get milk. I'm tired! I'm tired of my kid not wanting to take a nap because there are always someone else's kids at my house and they won't leave her alone!!!!!!! UGH! Right now I'm grouchy. Grouchy and aggrevated. And TIRED!!!!!!

So, I had Kale for lunch today in a salad of salmon and lettuce and bean sprouts. I've got to get back to the store and get more groceries though because that's the biggest reason I haven't eaten right, I'm out of food.

Gotta go, my kid is screaming because she needs to be napping and she has figured out that if she throws her binky and everything else out of the crib then I have to come in and get it and put it all back......so she's fired up!

O.k. love to all, bye.

Hear me talk!

Picking peas and Fennel seed tea

You should be so proud of me!!! Guess what I'm drinking? No, it's not wine. I made fennel seed tea! I'm so proud of myself. I'm beginning a healthy eating routine from Gillian Mckeith off of BBC America. Her show is called "You are what you eat". I've been watching for awhile and kept hoping to get some recipes but never had any paper when they finally put one on there. So, I signed up for her online membership to create a dietary profile.
I went grocery shopping for the first time today and bought buckwheat flour, pumpkin seeds, sesame seed sticks, raw almonds, and some all natural granola pistachio pineapple bars from my health food/deli store in Zhills. It's called The Secret Garden. I then went to SweetBay with my grocery list from my profile and bought all natural brown grain rice, sardines, tuna, salmon, shrimp, and chicken breasts. Also on my list was fruits and green leafy veggies. I included some whole wheat pasta with flax seed and whole grain oat bran cereal. The all natural kind not the manufactured or processed. I'm so proud of myself. I then stopped by the fruit and veggie stand on the way home and bought bananas, apples, peaches, canalope, tomatos and sweet potatoes. When I got home I made parmesan shrimp with whole wheat pasta and boiled some frozen squash. It was actually very good. I wasn't expecting it to taste good. I guess recipes to make healthy foods have changed a lot over the years. The combination of herbs and spices work wonders! I'm going to try and make a fruit smoothie tomorrow. Only using fruits and no additives. I hope it taste as good as it sounds!!

I've been at my step mother n laws this evening picking black eyed peas. I have to shell them tomorrow. I'm thinking we are having black eyes for dinner tomorrow evening, and maybe even the next evening. It's not an easy job let me tell you.

Well, love ya'll bunches.
Have a blessed night!

Thoughtful Thursday.....on Friday!

To see my name in lights.

That's a thought that crossed my mind just now. I began thinking of the invite I recieved from Java Delights today. The New River Poet Society will be at the shop on June 19th. You can bring your own work and have them read it or read it yourself.
It has made me remember a time when I could sit with paper and pen and pour out my inner thoughts in a poetic flair, I would be proud to have anyone read. Now, I sit to write and the words wisp away like a tendrils of smoke off a newly blown-out candle.
What happens to all of those well thought words? Why can you keep a running commentary in your mind while driving down the road or shopping or whatever, but when you want to put them down they are gone?

My sister came down this past weekend. We went to the Superchick concert. It was great!! What of it I got to see. I was so busy trying to keep up with my four teenage girls I brought with me that I missed most of the Superchick performance. It was around 1 in the morning by the time I got home and I ended up with two of the girls with me. Two giggly, tired, boy crazy girls!! All I heard about for the rest of the evening, after leaving the concert was howwwwww cutttteeeee the keyboardist in Hello Revolution was!!! All in all it was worth it! I'm looking forward to going again sometime.

Sunday, we woke up and got all ready for church. Sister needed to get on the road headed home and packed up. I don't know how in the world I managed to get myself, hubby, babyk, two teenage girls and a nine year old up and ready to go by 9 am, but I did. I felt pretty spiffy about myself!!!

Supermom!!

Sometime later the girls and I pulled into the church parking lot and adjusted our seats accordingly to nap. My phone rang , my sis was in Ocala, Fl. and her car had given up the ghost. I dumped the girls out and took off to get hubby and our mechanic. We proceeded to drive to the other side of Ocala. Took us about 1 and a half hours. Got there and our guy said it was the water pump and timing belt. So, we loaded up sis and niece and headed back to Dade city. The most wonderful mechanic in the world got a friend from church to go back up there with him and tow the car back so he could fix it. Hubby and I then got into our vehicle and headed to Tampa to see my Goddaughter. By now my rear end is becoming numb.
We arrived in Tampa and took baby K swimming and then went out to eat. By this time Baby K had had enough! She wouldn't sit in her seat or eat, or let me do anything. I sat and looked longingly at my steak(just the way I like it, medium rare) and loaded baked potato, my mouth watering. . Needless to say, I didn't get to eat it. It was time to head back. So, another 1 hour drive for the day, now making it our fifth hour on the road for the day. We were becoming exhausted and it was getting late again. It looked like it would be another night getting to bed late.
This is our third night of less than two, to three hours of sleep. We are now at Monday morning.
From here everything gets kind of hazy, I just kind of begin going with the flow. Sister has to get home because of work and yet her car is not running, so I come up with the bright idea, "why don't I just drive you home and hubby and I can bring your car up this weekend!" Sounds good! So we begin planning.
Call the mechanic and line up to pay for the parts, call mom and see if she wants to come with us so I don't have to ride back by myself, re-pack sisters bags, pack mine and baby's bags. Load car. Go pick up G-G(thats grandma who we had plans to take to eat), pick up mom (and hope she is ready), head to give my hubby lunch, then to the auto store to pay for the parts. We ended up going to the wrong store and had to re-think our schedule. We dropped by walgreens for mom then off to eat. By this time it's noon. If we headed out at this time we would get there probably around 8pm. After eating and going to the correct store to pay for the parts and stopping by my house to drop off food for hubby, then taking G-G home we finally got headed to Ga. around 4pm.
Another long night. We drove, and drove, and drove. Finally we arrived around midnight at my sis's house, where babyk became wide awake!!!
Mom and I arrived at the motel and then spend the next two hours trying to go to sleep with a bouncing, giggling, playful girl in my bed with me. This is the fourth night with little sleep. Can it get worse? I hope not because my rope is shredding.
At three a.m. I get up and go get the pack n play(a portable crib for those who don't know) and set it up and throw her in it.( almost literally because at this point I'm exhausted from lack of sleep and her giddiness) Wouldn't you know just as I'm going to sleep and it's coming up on 3:30 a.m. or so I hear banging! Yup, the one place I put her crib and she begins banging on the wall of the person next door. Again, I get up and take care of it. Finally, sleep comes.
We get up Teus. morning, not long after going to sleep and head to breakfast and check out. We begin our journey to Mcrae where my cousin lives. From here things begin to go a little smoother. We get to Mcrae around....you know I don't even know time or space anymore after this. We are soooooo sleepy. But we arrive in Mcrae and go to get lunch at Southern Star. It has really good food. The people there point us in the direction of a motel and we got and book a room for the evening and get checked in. Again my daughter has reached a crescendo of wildness and is running around the room like a banshee!
We decide to go exploring and go see if our cousin's wife and son are home so babyk will have someone to play with before we end up paying damages for the room!

They weren't home.
Away we go back to town. We stop by a dollar store and get babyk some toys(it's apparent I'm only a 2yr old mom because I didn't think to prepare for these moments) so she would have something to occupy her time with than driving me n mom nuts! By the time we get back my cousin is off from work and comes for a visit and we meet up with my other two cousins(now a total of three cousins) back at the Southern Star for supper. MMmmmm, if you ever find yourself in Mcrae, Ga. you must have supper there. It's good.

After supper and visiting and going to a park to see if we could wear out babyk so she would sleep this night we went back to the motel and did just that. Finally, Sleep. Oh, restful, peaceful, sleep!!!!! I love it!!!!!

Wednsday morning we awake refreshed. At least I did. And we head to breakfast. Mom made plans with some other family members from Hawkensville, Ga. to meet us for lunch. Yes, again, at the Southern Star. We had another great meal and it was so good to see family again that I hadn't seen since I was a teenager. It's too bad gas prices are so high you can't visit more frequently.

The rest of the journey is just driving. Nothing major happened other than babyk finding a toy in Cracker Barrel that she absolutely was obsessed with. Of course I couldn't resist getting it for her. A rubber alligator that has a balloon for a belly. She loved it and still is toting it all over with her even thought the balloon is no longer inflated.

So, we are home now. But gearing up to head out at 6am tomorrow! Pray for us!!

Love to all,
B.