take this job and stuff it....

I am just now getting around to posting this even though I promised it would be posted yesterday. I was very busy with getting the kids registered for school yesterday and I had a job interview for the hospital at two o'clock that lasted two hours, things are looking real good for me job wise but I will tell you about that later.

I have worked for my husband for several years now. I have not worked outside of our home for about six years and before that I still took care of all the paperwork for the business. My husbands business started out eleven years ago as a small scale mowing business ,then the business became a remodeling business plus Mr. B became quiet popular for building huge, beautiful, sturdy back decks. A contractor from a neighboring county happened to see one of the decks my husband had built and he decided he had to hire Mr. B to build decks on the new houses in the subdivision he was building.

The first time I ever "quit" on Mr. B was while building a deck for this contractor. It was on a big two-story house that was closing in like three days. We had been having terrible thunderstorms that year and it seemed there was never enough of a break in the rain to get down there and get the deck built. So the day we went down to build it the ground all around the newly built house was very muddy. I had on my regular work boots and on top of those I had on a pair of knee high wading boots. The deck was to go on up on the second story of the house in the back. Now first of all I am afraid of heights, second of all the boards were so water drenched that I couldn't hardly lift them let alone hold them while Mr. B bolted them to the side of the house.

I was very frustrated that day and Mr. B wasn't feeling well but the deck had to be done so there was no room for complaint. Where we were walking through the mud it was making it even more squishy and hard to manage. We picked up a big, heavy board and were trying to get it to the scaffolding when I stepped and sank to me knees in the mud. After many tries I was finally able to get my legs from the mud. I was ready to take a break but Mr. B was all about going on. I walked over to a bucket, sat down and lit a cigarette, opened my bottled water and took a huge drink, then I looked at Mr. B and I said " I quit"! Do it your own self big boy because I am done! Mr. B proceeded to tell me that I couldn't quit on him right then and I wasn't listening to any of it. We argued over it for about twenty minutes when it started thundering and lightning then raining really hard. I ended up helping Mr. B finish that deck a couple days later but that was the last deck I helped him build.

One day about three years ago I was working on the computer to create a more itemized invoice for our clients. Mr. B came in and inquired as to what I was I doing and once I told him he didn't like the idea at all. Actually it wasn't the idea he didn't like but the newly created invoice itself. We had a few intense moments of fellowship over that particular invoice so in the end I decided to create another invoice. The new one wasn't to my liking nor did our clients like it but Mr. B liked it. After some complaints from clients on the new invoice I changed back to the first , more itemized, invoice. Needless to say there were more intense moments of fellowship between Mr. B and I and eventually I got tired of arguing so I took the stack of newly printed invoices and threw them at Mr. B and told him he could take my job, the new invoices, his clients and anything else to do with his lousy business and he could stuff them where the sun don't shine!

After that little eruption Mr. B tried to do all of the paperwork and taxes that go along with running your own business, for about a week. A week was all it took for him to understand what I had to deal with. By the time he talked me back into doing the job once more he had everything so unorganized and messed up that I didn't think I was ever going to get it straightened out. With all of that being said let me tell you that Mr. B is a wonderful business man. However, he has so much on his mind all the time that concerns this job or that or the things he does at church, the things he needs to pick up for each job and so forth that he can't concentrate well on what he is doing which makes doing the paperwork hard for him. He can do it but it takes him three times as long to do it as it takes me. Mr B suffers from adult ADD and because of that when it comes to paperwork he doesn't really have good organizational skills. Now if we were able to move everything to his work van it would be precisely organized but not in our office if he is in charge. Since the day I started doing all of this for him again, I do not argue over invoices or the order of filing or anything else, I just tell Mr. B that it works best for me while I am doing it and as long as I do it then the files will be done in my order and so will everything else. Another stipulation was that Mr. B had to give me a raise for what I do for him and his business. When I say a raise I mean that he had to start giving me an actual weekly pay check because until then he had not done so. He gave me money of course because he and I run our marriage as a partnership therefore everything is equaled and shared in this house. Every week Mr. B writes me a check for the work that I do. All of our money goes to the same place each week/month but it makes me feel better when he gives me that check.

I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking about a job outside of our home. I also mentioned that a friend had called to tell me about an opening at a local hospital. I filled out the application online Friday and within thirty minutes I got a call back. Yesterday I had an interview at 2PM and it went very well. The job is between me and two other women so I am praying that I get it. The job is in medical imaging, if I get it I will be working the front desk in the office where mammograms are done. The actual job title is called a Women's Registrar which means that I greet the patients, put their info in the computer and their insurance info, I collect any film of previous mammograms and turn them over to the lab techs. Basically I will be a highly paid receptionist with a few added duties. The most important fact is that I will have full benefits even though I will be a part-time worker. I am mainly in it because number one the insurance is great plus I am ready to get outside of the house and work a while. My kids are growing up so fast and before I know it they will be grown and going their own way in life and there I will be still working in our home office and not really having my own thing. Everything I do in our office can be done the previous night so that won't bother anything if I do get the new job.

Okay, I need to go for now. I have all of our bed sheets in the washer and they are done.

Y'all have a good day!

I've been tagged and a bit more....

I've been tagged by Kelly!

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

1. Look, read, and learn. **-http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. **-http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! *-http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments. ****-http://chattiekat.com/

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. ***http://chipsquips.com/

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. *-http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/

7. Give link credit where credit is due. *****-http://www.sfsignal.com/

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post.***-http://scifichick.com/

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it's nice to know who is reading! *-http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

10. Make a blogger template unique: change the background colour, or add a background picture to your header.*** http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/

11. Meme time. *http://thedailymeme.com/

12. Always have kind words for those in need whether it be a joke, friendly words, spiritial lifting, or reassurance. http://www.peacefulhush.com/
-End Copy-

Now it is your turn:
this is the part that is hardest for me because I don't usually like to tag others so if you want to do the meme leave me a comment to let me know, have fun!
****************************************************************************
Most of you know that I work at home. My husband owns a hardwood flooring business that he started almost eight years ago and I take care of all the billing, taxes, surfing the net for new products or special offers and most of the errands while he deals with the labor, prices, people and so on. It doesn't sound like much but it keeps me busy throughout most days however, in the past few months I have sorta longed to seek work outside of our home. Something that would be beneficial insurance wise and still give me time with my children. If you are or you know anyone that is self-employed then you know that the insurance is outrageous on top of everything else that you pay. I am not being forced to work, actually Mr. B doesn't care for the idea that much but he can see the plus side of the idea too. I have really thought a lot about this and I have kept my eye open in the papers for part-time work in a hospital. I have even prayed about this. God works in mysterious ways!

Yesterday we had some errands to run, my cell phone was almost dead so I plugged it in to charge here at home and forgot about it when we left. When we arrived back home I had a voice mail (from a friend) regarding an open part-time position at one of the hospitals in Knoxville. The job is working with patients, greeting them and putting them in the system, making sure all info is correct and so on. I would ask that those of you who pray would remember this and pray about it for me.

This is actually a big step for me because I haven't worked outside of our home in almost six years. Six years ago I was working in a local private college when I realized that it wasn't worth it. I was working more hours a week than I was home, most of my money went to day-care for the kids, and I basically didn't have a life that existed outside of that job so I turned in my two week notice and I never looked back. I am not afraid of working outside our home but it is something I will have to get use to because here I am on my own time, if the boss makes me mad I can blister his ears if I feel so inclined to do so..heehee..this has happened a time or two..one day I will tell y'all the story about the day I told my husband to stuff this job.

Okay, I need to go. Y'all have a wonderful weekend, be safe and take care!

vacation is over..

We left Friday evening around 6:30PM coming home. Another bad thunderstorm had settled over us so we decided to head on out and miss the majority of the traffic.

We arrived at the beach last Saturday around noon. Throughout our entire drive it had been overcast and stormy looking but we had not had rain. We stopped to have lunch then went and got the keys for our condo. Once at the condo we unpacked then relaxed for a couple of hours. After that we headed down to the beach for some fun before going grocery shopping and out for dinner. The pic below is my son, about two minutes after this pic was taken it started sprinkling rain and thundering so we headed back to the condo to shower and go out. We hadn't been in the van five minutes when the bottom dropped out and we experienced the worst thunderstorm that I have ever saw at the beach in my fourteen years of going. It stormed all night and into the early morning hours but when we got up the next morning the rain and dark clouds were gone.














If you look really closely in this pic you will see my eldest offspring standing on our balcony. See the center four balconies? Ours is the bottom right one. You can barely make out a white T-shirt, that is C. She had stayed in the condo after lunch to watch some tv and nap a bit. She ended up getting sunburned this year worse than most years...I kept telling her to re-apply the 60spf sunblock but she didn't listen.














This is a view from our balcony, as you can see there is another thunderstorm raining down as I took this pic . There is another pic at the bottom of this post that looks like this one but they were taken on different days, I promise.














I am probably going to die over posting this pic but it was one of my favorites that I took this year. This is my middle child B. We had just went down to the beach after lunch and I didn't realize that my camera had fogged up from the difference in temperature when I snapped this one. I had been joking with B telling her to pose for me and she wasn't liking it a bit. A few minutes later I called her name and when she saw the camera she turned to hide herself. I was still standing there but put the camera down when B spotted something that grabbed her interest, that is when I snapped the pic. She is not going to be happy that I posted this pic but I couldn't help but share it.














I took the next four pics while we were out for a walk on the beach one evening. C, my mom, and my dad had stayed in the condo to rest while Mr. B and I took the other two out for a nice little walk. I made them all stand still so I could get them with the ocean to their backs. Right before this pic my son had got in too much of a hurry and fell in the wateron his back, he tried to pull it off as an accident but I had his number before he done it simply because I told them not to get their clothes soaking wet.














We had to keep an eye on the sky during our walk because another thunderstorm was heading our way. This pic was shot looking over the dunes and rooftops at the oncoming clouds.














You couldn't tell it was going to storm by looking out over the ocean.














Ty wanted a pic by himself with the ocean behind him so he could show all of his friends.














Thursday we took a Shelling and Lighthouse Tour. This is the deserted beach where we got dropped off to search for shells. This place is beautiful and so peaceful, I loved hearing the history on it and all the other land heading out to it .














We had decided that we would leave Friday night so that we wouldn't be sitting in traffic for two or three hours if we left on Saturday. We went out for supper and while eating another bad thunderstorm came. We went back to the condo, finished packing, loaded the van, snapped some pics and left. This pic is of Mr. B and I. I have rain drops all over me, my face is wet from where the wind was blowing the rain back on me and the wind had arranged my hair as it pleased, even Mr. B's hair, what little he has with the short cut, was wind blown and messed up.














This is the last pic that I snapped. We were heading out the door to come home but I had to run back out on the balcony and snap one more pic of the ocean. The wind was blowing like crazy and rain was going everywhere, as you can see.















We had a really great vacation, it went by too fast but don't they always? This year I didn't really take that many pics. Normally I have loads of them but this year I took only 50. We are going back in October while the kids are on their fall break from school because Mr. B and my dad are going to take a deep sea fishing trip. Sometimes you can still swim in October and sometimes you can't but it doesn't matter to us because there is always shopping and staying at the condo and relaxing. I am thinking that maybe I might go on that fishing trip with the guys. I don't know how I will react when land is no longer in sight but I am willing to try anything once.

I was happy to get back home to my bed this year. At home we have one of the very comfy pillow top mattresses so when we got to the condo and slept on the regular firm mattress it was very different and not to our liking.

Thank you all for your comments while I was away and I will try to get around to read your blogs either today or tomorrow.

Take care!

good byes and memes

It is time for our yearly beach vacation, thank goodness, I will be leaving at 4:30 AM tomorrow morning and will not return until next Saturday evening sometime. The pic posted here is one that I took from the balcony of our condo last year. Each year we always reserve a condo that overlooks the pool but this year we decided we wanted a frontal view of the ocean instead of a side view. I have been constantly busy for the past year with building then moving into the new house ,church, Girl Scouts, baseball, fiddle lessons, banjo lesssons, errands for Mr. B and all the things that life throws at you plus some and to be truthful I am ready to fall over from exhaustion.

We are only taking a week this year instead of our usual two weeks because I don't want to be away from our new house that long plus Mr. B just can't take more than a week off right now because his business is booming, thank God!

I have been TAGGED!!!
James tagged me with a meme and even though I normally do not participate in memes I am glad that he tagged me so that my post could be a bit longer today plus I haven't done a meme in so long so it is time! Here goes....

First, the covenant:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Okay, eight random things about me:

1. In my 32 years of life, I have lived in the same county that I was born and raised in.

2. I love going to the beach but I spend a lot of my time at the pool because the salty water and sand irritates my skin sometimes to the extent that I end up with a rash.

3. I love to cook, it relaxes me.

4. When I am sick I always want a bowl of my mom's homemade potato soup and a homemade buscuit. As a child that is all I could keep in my stomach when I was sick and as an adult it just makes the world right again but it has to be my mom's or it doesn't work.

5. I am a clean freak. I have a fear of uncleanliness whether it be my home, my body, my kids bodies, my vehicle. You name it and I want it clean. I take a shower every night before bed then another when I get up in the morning. Sometimes during the day, especially if the humidity is up, I will shower again. I also have to have things organized and in their own place, if those things don't have a "place" then they get thrown out because I can't stand clutter.

6. I believe that all problems can be solved by sitting on a front porch and thinking them through. Anytime that I am tired, mad, upset, sad or if I just need time for me, I head straight for my front porch.

7. You know how a lot of women have a love for shoes? Well I have that love but instead of shoes mine is with automobiles. Growing up I loved my Barbie dolls but I would have picked one of my Hot Wheels over Barbie and her friends any day. A vintage car makes me drool like a brand name hand bag or pair of shoes does most women. If we are out driving while it is dark I can name 9 out of 10 cars just by looking at the head lights or tail lights from a distance.
8. A person can give me lousy directions to anywhere in the United States and I can go right to it without a problem however, I have no sense of direction as far as North, South, East, and West go. I hate driving to Knoxville because I get lost almost every time but send me anywhere else and I will not get lost at all. Weird but true!

Now if I follow the rules I have to tag eight people. Usually I don't tag others but I will make an exception for this one so I tag.... TC, GMan, Jillie, Logo, Jodes, Brad, Shari, & Kaliblue.

Take care while I am gone and know that I will miss all of you!

See ya when I get back!!!

hello...

I am so ready for Saturday to get here so we can leave for the beach. My evenings for the rest of the week are full with meetings at church for various offices I hold there. I am glad that I am busy this week because otherwise it would drive me nuts because the week would pass so slowly.

I will be in and out throughout the week but I promise to visit each of your blogs before I leave and I will also leave a good-bye post as I always do. This year we are only staying for a week when we normally stay two weeks, with the new house I don't want to stay gone for two weeks. We are seriously thinking about going back to the beach in October while the kids are on fall break. The only time we have ever been is during the summer and we want to experience other seasons there.

We have been so dry here lately but last night we received some pretty good storms that brought lots of rain. We have rain in the forecast for everyday but Friday this week. My prayers still go out to all those folks in the West who have been forced from their homes due to flooding.

Y'all take care !

xoxo

checking in.....

I haven't had a lot of free time lately so I haven't been able to get on and browse around blogland or anything else, mainly I have checked my email and that is it. We had a great 4th! We took advantage of the free time that morning and we done some much needed yard work. If you will remember while we were building we had to add more footage to our fill line off of our septic tank, there were two huge mounds of dirt left from doing this. Wednesday morning my dad leveled all that out for us so we now have a normal looking flat yard, we just need to put some grass seed down so that the grass will grow there. I can't wait until the grass grows because the yard has always been a beautiful yard and I am just ready to get the "under construction" look gone. We have yet to install our guttering, we just haven't had time nor have we had time to finish our front walk, that has to be done soon. Right now we are focused on one thing, VACATION! We will do all of the rest when we return.

Late last night I had some free time so I tried to make it around to all of your blogs and comment. I thought once school was out I would have more free time but you know how life comes at you and before you know it things are just as busy as before. I have decided that once the kids get back to school I am going to pick one day a week to run all of my errands and the remaining days I will be at home keeping all of the things up there.

We leave next Saturday for the beach..yay!!! I can't wait! We have a couple of things planned but mainly we are going to relax by the ocean and pool, that is what vacation is for isn't it? When the kids get their fall break in October we are going to take another week long vacation, that is something that we have always talked about doing but we have never planned it therefore something more important has always been put in place of a fall vacation. Mr. B and I need to get away for a few days alone but right now we just can't do it, no time and I don't like to leave the kids. Can you tell I am ready to travel? I start getting all of these ideas in my head of places to go and things to do. I desperately want to see Maine in the fall so maybe that is a trip we can take one year. If Mr. B and I hadn't got out voted we would be on a two week trip out west right now but the kids chose the beach and hey, I can't argue because I love it too!

Okay, I better go now because I have things that are just screaming my name that need to be done. Y'all have a wonderful weekend, be safe, and take care!

just a quickie

Hey y'all ! I have been very busy since Friday and I have not had time to stop in and read your blogs. I am still busy today and will probably remain so for the next few days. We will be leaving for the beach on July 14 so I also have to get things done for that. Right now we are having my mini-van worked on, the air conditioning has been messed up since the first of April and our mechanic has finally discovered the problem, the condenser is busted. Our mechanic, which happens to be Mr. B's brother, will be replacing that today and then recharging the free-on in it so that I can once again have an air conditioner.

Anyways, I just wanted to stop in and let you all know that I am not ignoring your blogs and I will be back to read them as soon as I have the time. Right now I need to go because I have some accounting to do concerning the church accounts that I am in charge of.

Y'all have a wonderful day/week! Be careful, stay safe and God bless you!

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 !

surgery and other things....

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your well wishes regarding my sons surgery. The surgery went very well, my son was asleep for about two hours and fifteen minutes, however they weren't working on him the entire time. The doctor needed more detailed x-rays and such so that took up some time. Once they got the x-rays and were able to look at them, they found that his teeth weren't in bad shape at all. They pulled two teeth, both of which were very loose, one was already capped but the tooth underneath was already through the skin and the other tooth was loose, they could see on the x-ray that the permanent tooth was already past the bone and almost through the skin.

He was in recovery for about forty five minutes before we were allowed back there with him. When we got back there he was still very groggy from the anesthesia and it wasn't long before he became very weepy. The nurses were so good with him that you would have thought he was their child instead of mine..lol. The nurse said that a lot of children cry when they feel sick in their stomach but some cry just because the anesthesia does that, which I knew already since I have been put to sleep before.

Once we got him in the car to come home he cried again because he couldn't sit up. He didn't understand that I was sitting in the backseat next to him so he could put his head in my lap, finally we got him settled and headed home. Once home he slept for almost three hours then he woke up and for about three hours he would vomit if anything hit his stomach ,the nurses had warned me that this might happen. When we had talked with the doctor after surgery she told us that since he didn't have an incision or sutures that he could eat anything he wanted as long as it was fairly soft. I was shocked when we finally got his stomach to calm down because I couldn't believe what stayed on his stomach......mac & cheese! After that the kid wouldn't quit eating for the rest of the evening when he was awake. That night he slept fairly well but when he got up Wednesday he didn't feel too great. The doctor had told us he could resume normal activity on Wed. but he didn't need to be jumping, or getting real hot. All day he just moped around and then around 6 pm he developed a low grade fever and thank goodness I was able to keep that down with over the counter fever reducer. Yesterday he was still somewhat pale but he felt his normal self. The good thing about the entire ordeal is that he had no soreness in his mouth at all, not even from the two pulled teeth, the soreness that he had came from the tubes that were down his throat and nose. .

On top of being very nervous all day and night Tuesday, I didn't sleep well that night so I have been pretty worn out and when you are real busy it is hard to find time to grab a nap but yesterday evening I finally caught some open time and I hit the bed for about two hours. I am glad this surgery deal is over and done with. Now all I have to do is call the orthodontist and set up an appointment to have my youngest daughter's braces put on. She is the only of my children that has to have braces thank goodness! She isn't happy about it either but I told her to remember my teeth before braces then after. I wore braces for almost three years, as a matter of fact I had my braces for almost a year when I found out I was pregnant with my son so my girls remember them on me.

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend! We sure did! Our weekend was filled with cook-outs
and Monday we attended a swimming/surprise birthday/Memorial Day party, it was fun!

Well I need to get off of here and get things going for the day, y'all have a good one!

Sorry

no HNT this week. I am too tired to do anything. Since my sons surgery on Tuesday I have been very, very tired and worn out. I will try to do a post about the surgery tomorrow. Until then...be safe, take care and Happy HNT!!!

movie review and surgery....

Mr. B and I went last week to buy tickets to Pirates 3. This movie wasn't supposed to start until today actually but somehow we ended up getting in on a special early viewing of it at 8pm last night. I don't know if this is something that all cinemas do or what but anyways, the place was packed. They even used one of the theaters that they were playing Shrek the Third in to show this one. I do have some advice if you go see it, don't sit real close to the screen. We got there a bit later than usual but it was still early however the seats were filling fast so we ended up on the second row from the screen. We could see everything but I like to view a screen that size from a good distance.

All that I am going to say is that it is a MUST see for Pirate fans! If I even try to tell a bit about it then I will end up giving away the most surprising/shocking parts. After seeing the way this one ended I think there will be a fourth one, I am hoping anyways.

I probably won't be around Monday since it is a holiday and I definitely won't be around Tuesday because my son is having surgery that day. They are going to do some work on his teeth because they can't do it while he is awake. Everything they give him makes him terribly sick. When he was two he had a bad fall and it busted his mouth and teeth up pretty badly. He ended up with stitches from his top and bottom teeth going through his lip and the inside of his mouth was all cut up, it was horrible. The dentist told us that his baby teeth, what was left of them, would be discolored and would get cavities easily because of being weak from damage. (just to give you an idea of how badly damaged his teeth was after this fall...after going through his lip the remaining pieces of his two upper front teeth had to be literally dug out of his gums). Sure enough everything the dentist told us came to pass, what we didn't expect though was that when his permanent teeth came in there would be a bit of trouble. When he was seven, two years ago, our insurance changed so we had to go to another dentist. The new dentist didn't have any patience after my son got sick on him for the third time even though we warned him of it. The first thing he done was hooked my son to a gas mask and my son spoiled the dentists clothes so to speak. We have been with a new dentist for a little over a year now and they have tried shots in the gum and everything else to do the work that needs to be done but he always gets violently sick.

To look at my sons teeth you would never know that he has problems with them because they are white and beautiful but it is the unseen things that worry the dentist and they are out of options on numbing him so the last resort is the day surgery to get everything at once. I would ask all of you that pray to remember him on Tuesday.

I hope each one of you have a wonderful, fun filled holiday weekend!

Be safe and take care!