the weekend, weather and other stuff....

It feels so good to know that we have nothing scheduled to do this weekend, we can do whatever we want. There is no baseball since it is over, there is no Girl Scouts meetings, trips or anything else and that is such a good thing! I think that we might take our things out of storage finally and get them moved here. All of my trinkets, wall hangings, books, and hope chests are all in storage because we have not had the time to move them here. The kids have at least two boxes from each of their rooms in there as well so they are excited to get there trinkets and things too. As it is right now we do not have even a single picture, painting or anything on the wall. I have so many decorative pictures and paintings that I will have to choose carefully on which ones I want up and which ones will be stored away.

Here lately we have been having thunderstorms almost every night. Sometimes they are a couple of counties around us but we have been hit with a couple of strong ones as well. Sunday night I was home sick while the rest of the family went to church. Around 7 that evening I went to sit out on the front porch and enjoy the light breeze since I hadn't been out of the house all day. While sitting there the breeze suddenly changed to hard fast wind gusts and the sky started darkening, at one point I thought one of the trees in the fence line to my right was going to tumble from the noises it was making. To make a long story short, we were hit with a very severe thunderstorm that left us with no electricity for almost six hours. Last night there were several counties north of us that were hit very hard with storms like the one that hit Sunday and sometime this afternoon they are expecting us to have more severe thunderstorms. I am hoping that our electricity isn't knocked out with the storms coming tonight.

For the first time in a long time, I went to bed last night and went straight to sleep. I didn't wake up at all during the night and I have to say that it feels wonderful to have a good nights sleep! It has been a long time since I have had a good night.

It has been hotter than normal here lately and the humidity will just about take your breath away sometimes. I opened the front door to go out on the porch yesterday morning and it was so hot and thick out there. I am not use to these types of temps this early in the year, normally we don't see them until late July and August. I am dreading August already if this heat is any indication of things to come. I have a routine, each morning after brushing my teeth the first thing I do is go sit on the porch for a bit to plan my day or sometimes just to check out the scenery, each night before bed I go back out there. Sitting on the porch is so relaxing to me and I do a lot of thinking sitting out there sometimes. That is where I go when I am upset, mad or whatever, it is also the place where I steal way to get a few moments alone. Usually when I am out there no one comes out to bother me but sometimes Mr. B or my son will come out there and sit with me.

Alright I am just gabbing now so I am going to sign off and finish up my laundry.Y'all have a wonderful weekend, be safe and take care!

xoxo

baseball, the beach, and home....

Baseball season for us if over as of June 16. My son had a great time playing this year and he finally landed on a team he had been wanting on since he started playing ball five years ago, the Braves. He has been on the Rockies once and the Cubs three years in a row but this year his team was the Braves. My son has loved baseball since he was just a little tiny thing. Mr. B use to play softball so we were always at the field watching him play and we spent many Saturdays watching tournaments. From the time our son Ty could hold a baseball he has been in love with the game and as soon as he could walk, Mr. B has had him out in the yard playing ball.

I remember Ty's first year of tee ball, that kid was like a freak of nature,he could do anything on that field but his best was hitting and throwing. That kid has always been able to smack a ball to the outfield and he can stand back against the fence in left field and put the ball into the first baseman's glove at nothing but he for some reason can't control his pitches that well. This year was his first year of kid pitch and the ages on each team ranged from 9-12. In their third game this year Ty was up to bat and there was this kid that was throwing heat. I mean he was really pitching the ball hard. On his second pitch the ball went astray and struck my son in the right leg a few inches above the ankle, my son is ambidextrous however he bats better left handed but he pitches and catches better right handed, he can write with both hands. My son is 9 & 1/2 and weighs 60 lbs, he was one of the smallest guys in the 9-12 minor leagues this year and when he got hit he didn't even flinch. He just stepped out of the batters box, done a practice swing and stepped back in. Of course if they get hit they automatically go to first base. Regardless of being such a good hitter, for the remainder of the season my son didn't swing the bat. He would step out of the box about the time the ball left the pitchers hand until the last three or four games then he would stay in but he still wouldn't swing that bat, the good thing is that he only struck out once.

With all that being said, I thought I would show you some pics of my son in action. These pics were taken on April 21 the first time Ty got to pitch in an actual game. Like I said previously, my son has a cannon for an arm but he can't control his pitches that well and some of that is probably age right now but this fall/winter we are putting him in pitching and batting lessons so that he will be ready for next year. So here he is after releasing a good pitch.














In this pic he is watching to see where the ball is going. If you look behind him at the kid on second, he was the other smallest guy on our team this year. Him and my son are the exact same height and weight and they became fast friends at the first of the season. Finally he is talking of playing football and basketball this year so I hope he sticks to his word and goes for it!














It is almost that time of year again, beach time! We leave in three weeks and three days and I can't wait. This year we are only staying for a week whereas in the past we have stayed for two weeks. With a brand new house Mr. B nor myself wanted to stay away for more than a week. The pic below is one that I took last year one evening while we were out walking the beach with the kids. I have this pic as the wallpaper on my desktop right now to remind me that beach time is almost upon us and that means that I will have seven days of nothing but rest, relaxation, and fun!














When you are out of state and you think of home what is the first thing you think of? Here is what I think of! The next 6 pics were taken by me this past Saturday, if you have never saw the Great Smoky Mountains you can now say that you have. It has been very hot and humid here lately reaching temps in the 90's where as normally we don't hit the real high temps until late July and August and with the higher temps and humidity it was very hazy.














You can see exactly why they are called the Great SMOKY Mountains. They are beautiful if you ask me and when I am traveling I love re-entering the state and seeing those beautiful mountains, that is how I know I am home.





























This pic is overlooking my hometown, what you can see of it. It was so hazy you couldn't hardly see anything off in the distance.














This pic I took to capture the fire burning near the red tin roof house. I don't know what they were burning but it looked like the house when we first started looking but once we examined it a bit we realized it was like a brush pile or a bonfire.














Here is just another view that was taken a couple of miles down the road.














Saturday was a very eventful day and by the time we arrived home later that evening I had the beginnings of a bad headache. I woke up around two o'clock Sunday morning with a headache that I thought would turn migraine and of course I had nothing in the house to take but Children's chewable Tylenol and I promised myself I wasn't taking those. At three thirty I was up in the master bath chewing slowly on the Children's Tylenol. I am sure I could have won a prize for that if someone had got it on film because I couldn't open my eyes because they light made my head feel like it would explode. I barely peeked to see where the Tylenol was in the medicine cabinet when I went in there. I didn't get to go back to sleep because I was hurting so bad and the Tylenol didn't touch me. Mr. B got up around 7 and I sent him straight to Wal-Mart for some Advil Migraine. When he arrived back home I took three Advil Migraine and went back to bed with the pillow over my head and finally at last, thank God, I slept. All day Sunday I ate Advil Migraine like it was M&M's because that was the only way to keep the worst of the headache off. Yesterday morning I awoke to know exactly what the problem had been the entire time, a sinus infection and a mean one at that. I probably would have known that had my head not been aching so badly that I couldn't think. Just to let you all know, if any of you are concerned (like my eldest child) about the amount of Advil Migraine I took, please know that I rarely take medications. I hate taking medicine of any kind so things have to get bad before I take anything and I was very desperate Sunday.

Yesterday was much better because my head was only a dull ache, nothing to slow me down. Hopefully with my antibiotics that I now have from my doctor, the infection will be gone in a couple of days.

Oh yeah, Friday I went over to visit a friend. I have been friends with this girl since third grade which means that we have been friends for around 22 to 23 years, I even named my second daughter after her because she is named after a town in the Bible and I have always loved the name (Bethany). We had so much fun and all we did was sit around talking and reminiscing about the good ol' days. I have to say that I got into more trouble with this girl than with any of my other friends. When I say trouble I am not talking about the drinking, smoking kind, I am talking about getting chewed out by parents for doing silly things that we knew we weren't supposed to do, like pulling pranks on neighbors, or keeping our parents awake at night when one of us would sleep over at the others house. Throughout school we kept in touch and also for a few years after school then she married and moved two counties north of here. Once that happened we didn't get to see each other for almost five years. We would call one another here and there but it isn't the same as seeing one another.

I also have another friend that I have had since I was three, meaning I have known her for 29 years. We went to school together all the way through. I see her sometimes but not as much as I would like.

So does anyone have any big plans for Independence Day?

cleaning, accounting, and going visiting...

I woke up yesterday morning knowing that I had nothing on my schedule that I had to do so I was going to relax. The first place I went was to the recliner in the living room to watch some tv. I woke up about two hours later and was shocked that I had actually went back to sleep because most times when I wake up I am up for the day. After waking up the second time I couldn't stand sitting there and doing nothing so I got up and went in search of something to do.

I kept busy all day long re-cleaning the entire house over. Mr. B and I just sorted and cleaned all of the clothes out of our closet that we don't wear anymore on Sunday night but yesterday I was back in there re-organizing our clothes. The clothes in our closet are always sorted by casual, dress,p.j.'s and work but yesterday I went a step farther and sorted each of those sections by color. Now all of our clothes are still casual, dress,p.j.'s and work but they are in color groups. I will be back on Mr. B's side of the closet within a week to put them in the right color group because he will hang incoming clothes from the laundry in the wrong spot and more than likely opposite of the way I hang them.

With all of my energy I finally finished a lot of accounting that has been sitting on my desk needing done regarding Mr. B's business then I started in on the accounts that I have at church. Before I knew it the time had slipped by me and it was already midnight. I was tired but I finished everything up before going to bed.

This morning however I am sitting here thinking about calling a friend of mine that lives two counties north west of me and paying her a visit so our kids can play. If I stay home I will re-clean everything again and I don't want to do that! I have been friends with this person since 3rd grade and I haven't saw her since the day before Easter so it is time to catch up.

With that being said, y'all have a wonderful weekend, be safe and take care!

my apologies...

Hey all! Sorry I haven't posted anything new for a few days but I have been busy once again. Sometime tonight I will sit down and do a proper post!

Y'all have a good day!

my travelin' child is back.....

..for a few days anyways. Good Monday morning to ya!

My daughter returned home from Canada yesterday evening and I have never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life! She called around 5:45PM to let me know that they were in Knoxville and would be here in about half an hour so I went to the mall parking lot to wait for the bus to pull in. When I got there the bus had just pulled up and the people were unloading. I walked up looking for my daughter and finally she came down the bus steps. I don't think her feet had even hit the ground when I wrapped my arms around her and told her she could never go that far away from home without me again..heehee!

She had a great time in Canada so last night we got to hear all about her trip and everything she done and saw. Their itinerary was bulging with exciting things to see and do and my daughter didn't miss any of them, she done everything she could. We call my daughter spongy sometimes because she is a very curious person and she, like a sponge soaks up water, soaks up everything coming and going then she can relate it back to you and never miss a thing. She is one of the most curious people I have ever met in my life. When she was just a small child she would kill ya with questions however, unlike most kids, she would only ask you a question one time, she never repeated the same question.

I will be getting her film developed this week and when I do I will post some pics on here. She will be leaving on Saturday to go on a five day camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountains with her troop then after that we will take a break until August then we will start her Cadette year.

Tonight we are taking our youth group from church to see a Smokies baseball game. We are all excited about this because we are all baseball lovers, especially the occupants of my house. Actually every July 4th we have made it a tradition to go watch the Smokies play then stay for their huge fireworks show afterwards but this year they will be out of town on the 4th so I have no clue what we will do, probably fire up the grill and invite friends and family over.

Vacation time is slowly making it's way here. We are only taking a week at the beach this year because I didn't want to be away from the new house for two weeks. We are going to use the other week some other time.

I finally got some good sleep last night and boy did it feel good. I was able to go to bed when I got sleepy and actually go to sleep where as here lately I have been tired and sleepy but sleep has eluded me. I have been taking small power naps during the day when I have the chance though so that has helped.

Well, my dryer is buzzing so I guess it is time for me to go. Y'all have a great day, be safe, and take care!

The weekend...

Good Friday morning to ya, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day even though it is a bit early. I was finally able to get some sleep yesterday and some last night, more than what I have been getting lately. I was lying on my bed watching tv yesterday. I rarely have a day like yesterday when I don't really have anything to do so I was enjoying some of my favorite shows on A&E , Cold Case Files, American Justice..that kind of thing, I love the murder shows , actually what I love about them is how the authorities solve the cases but anyways, I was lying there all relaxed and I got cold so I grabbed an afphgan that my mom made for me to match my new room. The next thing I knew I woke up three hours later. About an hour later there was another Cold Case File coming that I wanted to see so I went back in to my room to watch, this time in a sitting position, before long my sitting became propping on one arm then I was lying down again and I woke up three hours later. The only bad thing about the two long naps is that I couldn't go to sleep until about 4 AM this morning however once I did go to sleep I slept soundly until about 7:30. I can say that I feel much better after getting a few extra z's in.

Last night my sons baseball team played their first tournament game to end the season, we lost by 1 point. We actually gave the game away, we had 7 runs then changed pitchers. The new pitcher walked five people and all five of them made it all the way around to home eventually but the boys had so much fun playing. We will play our last game on Saturday and I have to say that even though I love baseball, I am ready for it to end so that we can have free weekends again.

Remember me telling you about all the guys hosting the big dinner for all the mother's on Mother's Day weekend? Well this time the women are hosting a dinner for the men. We told the men to go fishing and we would fry their catch for them so tonight we are having a huge dinner for the dads. We will be serving them just as they served us and there will be lots of great food there and it will be a fun time of fellowship for us. On Sunday we will be handing out tickets to all dads as they enter church then later in the service we will call out a number and if that number is on their ticket they get to choose between a gift card or a homemade cake/pie.

With all of that being said, I would like to say to all the dads out there.... I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with whatever you want it to be filled with!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

it has been a day...

This morning I got up at 3:44 AM.

Today my daughter Bethany left for Canada with her Girl Scout troop. She woke me up at 3:44AM this morning, which was one minute before I had my alarm set for. We left the house at 4:40AM to go load her on the bus.

This is the first time that any of my children have been this far away from me and not been with a family member. This morning while the girls were loading the bus I kept repeating myself to her troop leader saying things like "make sure Beth is with you or Ms. B at all times" or "don't let her wander from you while you are out sightseeing, you know what a curious mind she has" or "don't let Beth go out without an adult, I don't want her out and about with just another young girl". My daughter hasn't wandered in years but still I just had to add that just in case she decided to wander this time..heehee! Ms. D the troop leader told me to calm down because I knew that they would take care of her, I do know that but still my worrying side kicked in and there was nothing I could do about it.

Beth called this evening to let me know that they had arrived in Erie, PA where they have reservations for the night then they will leave bright and early for Canada in the morning. So by the time that most of you read this my daughter will be on her way to Canada, if not there. If all goes according to plans then they will arrive at Niagra Falls between 10-11AM.
I am very excited for Beth but I miss her so bad. I hope she has a wonderful time but I can't wait for Sunday night because that is when she will return.

As I loosely mentioned in my previous post, sleep is not coming easy for me these days. I hate when I go through these sleepless times because sometimes it lasts for months, sometimes only for a few weeks. So far I am about three weeks into this little sleepless bout and I am over it already. The bad thing is that I can't take over the counter sleep aids because they affect me like a strong prescribed pain pill affects most people. If I take an over the counter sleep aid then you will not see me until the next night because they literally knock me out. With that being said, a prescribed sleep aid is probably out of the question as well.

The sleeplessness is something that I have dealt with for years however normally when this happens it starts by me not being able to go to sleep at night. This time it started out with me sleeping restlessly for a couple nights then not being able to stay asleep then to not being able to go to sleep. I get so tired during the day but if I try to take a nap I will sleep longer than I should which just makes things worse.

This morning after seeing my daughter off I came back home and went back to bed. That was at about 5:30 this morning but I didn't go back to sleep until almost 7. I was determined to get at least a little sleep so I stayed in bed until I finally fell asleep, I woke back up about 9AM. I think I am going to call my doctor in a week or so if I don't start sleeping because as I said, it is really wearing on me.

Well I am going to sign off here and try to get some sleep. Y'all have a good day tomorrow, be safe and take care! xoxo

recap of the past week

hey all! Wow, what week I had! As you know last Monday we started VBS at our church. It was so much fun! I was the music director and I also done the opening ceremonies, the kids were all so well behaved during the week. Monday night Mr. B and I got the biggest surprise. We have been praying for our son Ty to get saved for a while and Monday night he went to the alter and got saved..praise GOD! My son wasn't the only one either, there were three others that night then on Tuesday night there was a 12 yr old girl that got saved then Thursday night there was a 9yr old boy that got saved.

I am sure that most of you know how crazy busy VBS week can be especially if you participate in it but to me it is so worth it. I was in charge of the opening ceremonies which means that each night I welcomed everyone in, ask our Pastor up for opening prayer, lead the pledges, introduced the kids doing skits, sung two songs, then I dismissed them to class. Once the kids were in class I would go help the ladies in the Fellowship Hall who were preparing snacks or I would help the director do things.

Monday night it stormed before and during Bible school, I walked out of the church to go to the F.H. and there was two beautiful, huge rainbows in the sky then on Friday it stormed something awful before Bible school and later that evening there two more rainbows that appeared in the exact same spot as the first two on Monday, all of the kids got a kick out of the rainbows.

Last night my son was baptized at church, that was another blessing! I have to say that right now my cup of blessings is over flowing! I am so tired that I can't sleep but I need to sleep because I haven't had much sleep at all this week , even with that I am happier than I can explain.

Last night we had our VBS Commencement and we had a big crowd. I was so nervous because my allergies chose to really bother me yesterday and my voice was just about gone so when it came time to sing our two songs for opening ceremonies I asked the kids to stand up and help me sing because my throat wasn't doing so good. Those kids sung so beautifully and it was a good thing because my voice went out on the third verse of our last song. I really love working with children and the more I work with them, the more I want to work with them.

As I said earlier in this post, I have not had much sleep this week. I actually haven't been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks but last week was so much worse. I averaged between an hour to three hours a night then on Saturday night I slept for about thirty minutes, woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so after church I came home and took a much needed two hour nap.

Wednesday morning I have to get up at 4 AM and get Bethany ready to go to Niagra Falls, Canada. Her Girl Scouts troop is leaving at 5AM that morning and won't be back until late Sunday night. I am going to miss her so bad but this is a trip that most 11 yr olds do not get the privilege of taking.

So how has everyone been for the past week? I am hoping to have some time this week to go back and read over posts that I missed. I will get around to all of you before this week is out, I promise!

Okay, I am going to sign off now! Y'all have a great day, be safe and take care!

still here...

Hey all ! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days but things have been real busy around here since our church is doing VBS this week. Tonight is our last night and I am glad because we are all worn out. Mr. B has been teaching the teens class all week, I have been the music director and I have had so much fun doing that with the kids, both of my girls have been in almost every skit each night and my son Ty along with our girls will be in the last skit tonight. It has been fun but it is tiring!

We have saw 6 children saved so far, that is right, my church believes in Salvation, we believe that is the only way to Heaven. One of those 6 was my son. He was saved on Monday, thank God! That is a prayer answered and now all three of my children are saved.

Anyways, I thought I would drop a line or two to let you know that I am still alive and well !

Have a great weekend! Be safe, take care, and come back !

finally some relief...

For the past few weeks we have had not one little drop of rain. The temps have been up in the high 80's to low 90's and it has been humid and very dusty. Saturday night I was sitting out on the front porch, which is a ritual for me before I go to bed each night, and all of the sudden it started sprinkling rain. Upon hearing the first few spatters, I got up out of my chair and walked over to the edge of the porch, stuck my hand out and sure enough it was sprinkling. About five minutes later I started hearing this roaring noise to my right that was getting closer by the second, not long after that I couldn't hear myself think over the heavy rain. I was so glad to see that rain! When I awoke yesterday morning the rain had stopped but you could tell that storms were on the way by looking at the dark gray sky.

Yesterday was Homecoming at our church and lucky for everyone there, the storms held off until after the service and most had finished eating. Once it started storming I didn't think it would ever quit! We were preparing to leave for home , all of us were standing in the vestibule waiting on the rain to lighten up a bit but it just kept getting harder and harder. At one point you couldn't see the parking lot across the street and it is only about twenty or thirty yards away. I finally grabbed a big garbage bag (since I forgot my umbrella at home that morning), covered my head and made a run for it, needless to say the lower half of me was dripping wet by the time I got to my van, but it was fun !

Vacation Bible School starts tonight at our church so after we finished eating several of us went back into the church to decorate. This year we are doing the Wild West Witness theme and it is going to be so much fun. All of the kids are so excited, so are the adults. We have backdrops that look like a western town setting in the 1800's. All three of my children will be participating in various skits this week. They have worked so hard on memorizing their lines for the past few months. Mr. B will be teaching the teens class and I will be doing the opening ceremony each night plus I am the music director this year. The week will be a busy one for me but I am looking forward to the fun.

Well I better sign off and get going, I have a lot to do today plus I have an appointment at my hair salon in a bit. Y'all have a good day, be safe, and take care !