I really am alive....

But my body thinks it on it's way out! I am in my second week of working out again! The fun part is I am doing this with Crickette! So we are an encouragement (ha ha) to each other. We are working out with four other women, who have been at this for 6 weeks before us. Our trainer decided that instead of having to swap the weights back and forth, he would just start us out with the rest of them, and doing the same amount of reps as them too...so needless to say I am SORE!!!

I have to admit, things are crazy around here, but I realize everybody has crazy in their lives too!

This past Sunday I went to my first NFL game!! We have friends that go tickets for FREE and took us with them. Just so happened to be seeing the Carolina Panthers - and we know how I LOVE CAM NEWTON!! WOO HOO. I only took 210 pictures on Sunday. Here a few that I posted on FB. Will have to pull others off the camera and share. October is Breast Cancer awareness month and I think it is neat how the players wear pink too! I am supporting my pink streak again!! The firefighters holding the flag all had on pink t-shirts.

The weekend before I got to go to the Auburn/South Carolina Game! That was so much fun. Went with friends from Charlotte. It was a better time for me since Auburn won! You will notice all my friends are not Auburn fans!!

June 2

Ephesians 1:3 (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

As Christians this verse should be very important to us. We should realized that we are blessed beyond measure, but do we act like it? We seem to get down in the mouth so very often about what we don't have but we don't take time to say - WOW - look at what I do have, and WHY we have what we do! First and foremost we are BLESSED because we have LIFE - God choose to let us wake up this morning and live! God knows what we need and when we need it, we may not have what everybody else does, but realize we if we had what everybody else did, we might also have their troubles! Today Thank God for what you have. Know that the greatest gift He has given us was His SON! Be thankful, somebody would love to just be in your shoes. What are you actions showing about how blessed you are?

Having fun with the Cricut!

Just thought I would post what I have been busy doing. I just love my Cricut and I am getting my monies worth out of it. I bought a new program - Cricut Design Studio that helps me in laying out everything and I love it too. But I am seeing that Sure-Cuts-Alot, is a much better program... maybe in the money I save in couponing I can get me one!

Being the Queen of Trying to be Frugal, I am sharing the price with you so that you can realize that you can do this too, without sinking lots of money in a project.

This is a coaster made from 4 x 4 tile. After finishing I put clearcoat on top of it. Price of tiles 24 cents at Lowes. Four of these stacked up are look awesome after finishing off with a ribbon. No need to box it up for a gift. These sell for $15 on Etsy, set of 4 - not sure how much shipping is.

This is on my wall in the kitchen. Not as happy as I should be with it, but for now it will stay. Was learning how to use my program and all the letters are not the same and yes it's hard putting it up even on the walls. I am sure I will get better in time!

This is just a plain plate and I added the letters. It's a wedding gift.

This is an experiment. It's suppose to be a trivet. 6 x 6 tile and then after putting letter on it, I have sprayed many layers of clearcoat on it. I will try it out on Thursday to see if setting something hot on it turns it or messes it up. After testing I will know how well it will be for a gift. I still got 3 more, and I just may have plain tiles for trivets but that will be okay too. Better than placing dish towels on the table and the price was only 48 cents a piece, just add felt to the bottom or you can get the little sticky felt circles or squares. Looks like just a 6 x 6 personalized tile on Etsy is $15 plus shipping.

Not too bad!

Well the top 13 are in..and I must say I didn't do too bad. For sure I got 10 out of 12 and since they added the 13 I got one more. I noted that Haley just might slip in.

I am very sad that Lauren Turner didn't make it in. I really, really liked her!

And just in case you haven't seen the new show on Lifetime, Coming Home - UGH (In a good way)! It will tear you up inside seeing all the stories of the sailors and soldiers coming home to see their families! Of course it comes on after Army Wives, which I am a faithful viewer of! So now Sundays will start off the week of great TV.
Just to show you how addicted I am to TV, these are my shows that I record and somehow find the time to go back and watch:
Sunday:

And soon to record more: Coming Home
Monday:



Tuesday:



Wednesday:


Thursday:



Friday


Other shows that come on nights I can't remember, or are multiple nights, or are upcoming that I love to watch...

American Idol - the Girls

I think the girls were much better last night, hard to pick the six. I liked 8 of them! Hmm...
So here goes...
I think also in the top 5 will be the next three...

Pia Toscano - she has the wow factor. I think she could be the best one.

Karen Rodriguez - she also is a performer. The judges loved her too.

Lauren Turner - There is something about her that I just LOVE!  She is very unique and I think she is going through.

Naima Adedapo - she knows how to work it all, and make herself be rememberd. She did a great job!

Thia Megia - to be that young and have that talent. She is going through too. Now to work on the stage presence and get her in the comfortable zone.

Now number 6 is a toss-up...but I think..

Lauren Alaina - because of her cuteness and how comfortable she is in performing. This is very natural to her, although I think it's going to get nauseating!

The other two that were also noteworthy, so it could very well be one of them...

Kendra Chantelle

Haley Reinhart

As you can tell I liked the girls better than the guys. It's going to be an awesome season for sure. Can't wait to see how my picks were. So what did you think?



American Idol - The Guys

I really want to review each one of the guys, buy only two people got to hear my comments last night and that will be enough! Don't want to offend anybody, so you guess it, not nice on some of them!
So here are my top 6 picks. I went out on a limb last night and said that two of them will be in the top five. They are the first two here!

James Durbin - Now he has the total package. Watching him last night was like being at a concert already. He knows how to perform and make you enjoy it all! He is my favorite!!

Jacob Lusk - Man this guy can sing! Gotta watch the facial expressions but other than that can't find fault at all. He picked the right song also. We will be seeing more of him too!

Scotty McCreery - He will be here because he is the only country guy here. He is adorable. He will probably struggle with the rest of the songs, but Country it is for him. We will probably hear him in years to come on the radio.

Jordan Dorsey - now he didn't pick a song that was right for him last night, but he has a great voice too. I just think he will be in the top 6.

Casey Abrams  - I think people will vote more for him from being on earlier and knowing what he can do. His song was good last night, but I don't think it was the best.

Paul McDonald - not sure why but I think he may be in top 6 too. He is a little quirky, but something about him I think people will like.

Can't wait to see Thursday how I did. There is talent for sure. The only thing I disagreed with last night was the judges. Twice I thought somebody butchered their songs and they just LOVED it. NOT!!! But then that is why I am here, posting to my blog..ha ha . We all have opinions...

Tonight it's the girls! Should be pretty good.



Well hello stranger...

that would be me. Wow, been a while. It's been CRAZY around here.

Last post Valentine's Day - lets just say if there was no day to celebrate, it would be okay. We should treasure those we love every day and not try to show them on just one day. It mean's alot more if something special shows up for no specific reason at all. They don't have to be expensive flowers to mean so much, every grocery store and Wal-mart has them at the front, already it a bag for you and they are under $10.00. I think that seeing wildflowers and stopping on the side of the road and picking them would be okay too. Why heck, I have a bushel of iris' (my favorite flower) out back, and you can cut them and just bring them inside. Sometimes it's the effort.. and I do have a rose bush too...

..., and I gave been busy. After taking him to his new place of residence in Virginia  last month, went on another road trip to get him. We left on Friday, Feb. 18 and drove to Dam Neck (hate saying this, sounds like I am cussing), picked him up, and headed back home. Can I just say that 14 hours in a car is not good for me! But we had a great time and even found us a radio station that will play our request! We had craft night on that Saturday and made beaded rings, I just wasn't in the mood, tore apart two rings and decided after starting on the third one that it could wait till I just wanted to be a little more creative! Maybe it was the movie that I knew I was going to see.

We left at 9:30 on Saturday night to go see I Am Number 4 - can I just say - AWESOME. And I did something that I have not done in a very long time. I yelled out loud - TWICE! Can't beleive I did that. That is so not me! But intense was the word. Loved this movie and very excited to see that there is another one coming out in September - The Power of Number 6.  Paxston found out that there is a book...

On Sunday we left the great town of Chesnee and drove back to Virginia to take Paxston back home. Now I know that the GPS is a great invention, but "INGRID", that is her now given name - seems to take us on different routes every time! I can think of another name to give her that starts with an "I". Gets a little frustrating is all I am gonna say! That's alot of miles in one weekend. And now that gas is skyrocketing, I am not sure when we will go back!

I bought the book I Am Number 4 on Tuesday - finished it on Sunday. Read the first two chapters of the next one this morning. It's going to be awesome too. The movie and the book differ a little bit, but there will not be any disappointment. I cannot comment right now, because others that I know have not read it! I was thinking today of what kind of super powers I would like to have. I would get in so much trouble if I had them that is for sure, I am sure that I would be shooting fireballs all the time, but being invisible would be pretty awesome too, not to mention moving objects with your mind...

So here we are today, Monday, the last day of February. We are in line for some major storms this afternoon. I told Ethan that I may come get him after school because of the weather and that he could miss Bible Club. His reply, "no mom, we only have 3 months left, I don't want to miss anything". So right now I am saying, "Lord could you hold off just a bit?". I do admit that the clouds have been awesome looking today and I know that they could get intense later. I am "one of those" that loves to be standing outside when the storm is on it's way. I love looking at everything. Such power! I do pray for protection of those in the paths, but it is pretty neat to see God show off in His power! I am sure some don't think of it quite like that.

So have a great Monday!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my mom would have been 71 years old. I would have love to have thrown her a party - she loved Birthdays and she knew she was extra special being born on Valentine's Day. 

One of the best times I had was baking her a heart shaped cake (took a round pan and square pan and made the heart by cutting the circle in half and placing on the square) I always made sure it was chocolate icing (her favorite) and then I tape streamers to the ceiling and had the living room decorated when she got home. I always tried to make it special for her, it was more about her that day that what the day was really about, like it should have been. She always made my birthday special for me.

Its been 10 years since I have been able to say it to her. So my heart hurts alot on this day, when everybody else is all ooey, gooey about love, my heart wants to burst from hurt from missing her. So I may not be all cheery today, gushing with happiness, but that is just me. And you are just you.

well hello again

I seem to be letting too much time pass by...but there is no normal in my life so why would I expect anything to be very different.

Feels pretty nice to be a fan of a National Championship team. Not sure when we will get to do this again. Losing too many seniors and with Cam Newton going, it could be a while. It was great while it lasted!

We had an awesome Christmas. All my kids were here, so it was perfect. Ethan got a puppy for Christmas. The response was not what we expected. He comes in and there is the dog with a cute little collar on her neck and a tag that says "To Ethan". Well, Ethan did not see Molly (Crickette's puppy) and he thought that Santa was trying to pull one over on him. He said it was Molly, we said no this is your puppy. He was ready to go back to bed. Chris had to go back and help him to see that this was his dog. When Crickette got Molly up and when Ethan came back and saw two dogs, it all changed. We let him pick out a name. He said He wanted to call her Love, well I told him it needed to sound like it ends with a y so it's easier to learn. So her name is Lovey! He loves to carry her behind his back. This may not last long, since she is growing.

We had a great day. Delievered donuts to a few fire stations, EMT station and police station. That is one of our traditions on Christmas morning. We go get donuts the night before and then take it to them on Christmas morning to say thank you for serving!

Excitement built through the day because it was all setting up for snow! So yes we got snow on Christmas. It was a beautiful site. I am not sure how much but it was covered. We tried to build a snowman but the snow was more powdery than anything, so he got to be short and squatty - sort of like me!

We have enjoyed our time with our sailor. He came home for Christmas for 10 days. It was exciting picking him up from the airport. He was so cute in his uniform. We saw lots of servicemen that day getting ready to go home to families! Paxston got to stay for Christmas, go back to Great Lakes for 10 days and then come back to us for 10 more days before he left for C-school.  Jordan and  I took him back last weekend to Dam Neck Viriginia where he will be stations for the next 185 days. The morning view was pretty! Too bad it was FREEZING cold outside, they said the coldest night of the year so far. We tried pictures on the beach but it was brutal!

So now you are caught up with us. Next weekend is gong to be FABULOUS! It's our weekend trip with 12 other couples going the mountains. Leaving the kids behind!!! The great part about the trip is the house, 3 story log cabin and all weekend the men cook and clean!! AWESOME! We stay up late and play games, one day we go to the outlets and they have the greatest scrapbooking store there! Counting down the days.

I am loving my Cricut. I have put things on two walls.

I also pained a few things on canvas, I did Ethan's name for his wall.

And I painted 3 of these for gifts and wound up selling another.

Have a great rest of the weekend!