A binky free home

I'm sitting here typing this and listening to my daughter pathetically whine and "cry" for her binky.

Yea, funny story. We went to the office where she gets check-ups done sometimes. The were processing our paperwork and the woman behind the desk asked Kea for her binky. Kea gave it to her. Yea, gave it over willingly. The woman took it and told her she wasn't getting it back. Kea said, "ok" and took off, Brutus still in hand. I'm thinking to myself, "yea, ok I'll roll with this".
As we prepared to leave, I looked questionably at the woman who took the binky and she slipped it to me. I put it in the bottom of my purse.
I thought, I'm gonna go with this. Kea's teeth are messed up from this stupid binky and she certainly can't suck on it for the rest of her life, I'm gonna stand firm with this.

So, here we go. She asked for it a couple of times. I just keep reminding her she was very kind and gave it to the lady at the office who needed it really bad. It was o.k. for a little while. But now we are home and trying to take a nap which is a crucial binky moment.

It's going about like I figured it would. But, not as bad as I thought it might. I envisioned a screaming child, distraught and unable to be comforted.

Kids aren't as dumb or naive as we think they are. The crescendo just came and went. It was so-so. She has been in her room for an hour kind of whining, doing the whole fake crying thing. Then it hit. She began really crying. That was hard for me. I very nearly gave in. I went to her and guided her back into the bed, gently reminding her again how kind and compassionate she was by giving her only binky to that lady who needed it. I explained to her how much she helped that lady by giving her the binky and how much it helped her out. I reminded her how she got a sticker for being a big girl and giving her binky away and would she like another sticker. She took another sticker and put it in her "I've been good book". I told her she would get another sticker later after she woke up from her nap. But first she would need to lay down and go to sleep with only Brutus(her plush toy dog). She tearfully told me "ok" and laid down. I haven't heard a peep out of her since and that was 10 minutes ago! Praise the Lord, the first part of the journey is passing.

So, my rant now is binky vs. no binky. After this experience I am a believer in no binky ever. Why start it. Why do we start it? Because we parents are lazy and want instant gratification, not even taking our child's future into consideration. Just because we are tired and don't want to hear the whining and crying of the infant, we stick a fake nipple in their mouth to hush them up so we can have what we want. Not even thinking of later on down the road to when the child is addicted. How are you going to take it away? How is the child going to feel? Why not go ahead and suffer through the crying jags now that they won't really remember than yanking a security "blanket" away from them when they've grown up to depend on it?
If I had to do it over I wouldn't have used a binky for Kea.

I think I found my calling in Christ

Check out my myspace page....
www.myspace.com/honeybea3

I've always wondered how in the world I was going to "spread the gospel to every nation..." when I barely leave my home during the day.

Well, it started by creating a myspace page for our church. www.myspace.com/calvarysblessed

I must admit I'm a little "shy" when it comes to "spreading the gospel". I know I should not be, but I HATE confrontations and those are usually the result of witnessing. That, or questions being hurled at you that have no relation to the current conversation. They are just distractions, which I happen to be easily overcome by.

So, I began posting devotionals on the church's blog in myspace. I then began posting them on my own myspace in the bulletin section but heading them with catchy little phrases so people would open them. This was directly from God though because this morning the thought crossed my mind, I wonder how many people are going to catch on and quit opening my bulletins? The answer was, "When I don't want you to send them anymore I'll stop giving you the catchy titles." Hmph. O.k.

This morning another bulletin/devotional went out and I contintued to pray that God would work through me on myspace.

I then , out of blue mind you, did a search on "Plan of salvation", the results I got were from Chick Publications(they put out gospel tracks) I felt the Holy Spirit moving and thought, "Well, we put all kind of pics and clip art and quirky sayings on our pages, why can't I put this on there?" So I did.

My myspace now has the plan of salvation on it. Thank you Lord for indwelling in me and giving me the inspiration to reach out to millions for YOU!

No Words More Precious Than These.

After a busy evening at church, our small family of three came home and turned up the tunes. 97.5 country, who, on Sunday evenings plays the old, old, country music. (here I tried to link the website and the stupid computer keeps saying the link is broken, it never did that before I got this high falutin' system!)
Anyway, back to the point.
We enjoyed an evening of dancing and talking and playing. And listening to our little girl beginning to sound so grown up. Our efforts and hard work is beginning to pay off with teaching her to respect and use her manners. She is saying "please" and "thank you" nearly by habit now instead of us saying it and her repeating.

What ended up being the icing on the cake was later when we went to put her to bed. She was beginning to be a terror from being tired because it was past her bedtime. We scooped her up and began the ritual.
Put her in the bed, give her binky and brutus(a stuffed dog that a trucker gave her at the flying J, it's beginning to look well-loved.) and pushed the tummy on the glo-seahorse. We folded our hands and tried to convince our over-tired girl to do the same. Well, she was having none of it at the moment so we prayed without her participation.
After the prayer we explained to her that when we are talking to Jesus, or any other person for that matter, that other people should be quiet until they are done and then they can talk.
At the mention of Jesus name she perked up and said, "Jesus?". We said yes, and explained again about how we talk to Jesus and thank Him for dying for us on the cross so we could go to heaven. She then popped up and turned over and pulled her princess netting back and looked up at the bust of Jesus that we have in her room and said, "Jesus?". We told her yes that was a statue of Jesus. She looked again and sweetly looked and at him and said, "nigh,nigh, Jesus!". As tears welled up in my eyes from the joy this precious gift gives to us daily with her child innocence, she nestled down in her little bed as calm as a lake on a quiet mountain morning.
So far, I've heard no other words in my life that I can recall as precious as that.

Yesterday evening at church we had a guest speaker.
He gave a powerful message and it made me stop and think.
Many of us spend the day praying, and we go to church on Sunday, but the rest of the time we never pick up the Bible or study it. He used the analogy of a well-fed person. None of us like to skip meals. Few of us do unless it's an accident. As you look at Americans today you see so many of them obese. If you could open the door to look in on our spirit man how would he look? I am so guilty of not feeding my spirit what it needs. Yes, I go to church on Sundays. I do my devotions in the morning. I pray throughout the day. But, do I study Him? Do I seek and look to Him at each and every decision point of the day? Do I use my time wisely? How much T.V. or computer time to I take in comparison to how often I pick up my Bible and read or study it or even sit and just pray with no other distractions. I don't worship God throughout the week like I do on Sunday in service. And even then the distractions around me take my mind and eyes off Christ and receiving His directions. My daughter being a stinker, someone elses kid being a stinker. So, if I'm only trying to listen on Sunday and don't get anything because of those distractions, and I'm not giving Him much time or attention throughout the day at home how starved and waif-like must my spirit-man appear. No strength to fight a battle if it should arise. My spirit would barely be able to lift their arms to get the armor on!
So in addition to my 50 million pound challenge this year, I am attempting to feed and exercise my spirit man as well as my physical body.
I would challenge you to do the same. Even if you are spiritually healthy and your spirit man looks fit and a little overweight. Why not make him spiritually obese! It would be better for you this way than vice verse!

Rohan

Yesterday was one of the most difficult days I've ever had to experience.

Watching a mother and father let go of the tiny body of their seven year old son as his casket was loaded up and placed into a herse and driven away to be cremated.

Having to take pictures of that tiny swollen face. Even the makeup put on his face could not conceal the bruising and damage from the accident.

No, yesterday is not a day I care to re-live. Yet, when I close my eyes I see his face. I hear the sobbing of the parents and family as they try and wrap their minds around God having a purpose for this tragedy and how it will glorify Him.

The uplifting part is the little boy had made a profession of faith and accepted Jesus Christ our Lord into his life. He will be in heaven. Running down those streets of gold looking for dinosaurs and playing hide-and-go-seek with the Son of God Himself.

It doesn't seem fair for those left behind.

So ends the bittersweet day.

May our heavenly Father enjoy Rohan's presence in heaven as much as he was loved and enjoyed by his family and friends on this earth.

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!!!