Wordless Wednesday

Locked behind the cemetery gate!

This post serves two purposes today. It's an answer to todays Two Peas Blogger challenge.
Share your favorite fall activity...
*I really enjoy walking when the leaves are falling and the air is crisp and cool. Cemeteries are a fav place to walk for me. They're so peaceful :)

I've got two stories today that gave my daughter a bit of a chuckle earlier.
Story #1...
I've not been on here to blog much since school got into full swing. Each week is pretty hectic between med-surg, pharmacology and fundamentals classes, discussion plus clinical. When things start to stress me out, I like to go walking, especially in cemeteries. Yeah, I know that sounds creepy. I've enjoyed working on genealogy for a few years and sometimes people that live out of state will ask for one of their ancestors headstone pics in a nearby cemetery. Walking through a cemetery that I've gotten a request from often serves a dual purpose.

Well... last night was one of those stressful evenings. We have three tests this week.. Mon, Wed & Fri. and I needed a short break. I thought I'd stop at the Sunset cemetery on the edge of town and see if I could locate the requests for someone. You have to drive down a side street which has a few houses and then come to the gate. The sign on the gate stated it would be closed from 7pm - 7am. No problem there I thought. It was open and I knew I had plenty of time to find what I needed. After going through the gate, it's approxately 1/10 mile up the road to the cemetery. After walking the cemetery and finding 8 out of the 9 requested stones, I thought I'd head on home and have some dinner. I went back up the road and in the distance I could see that the gate was across the road. Oh boy!

Following a few phone calls, one of which went to central dispatch (Sheriff's dept), help had arrived! Yippee! No... they didn't have a key. The town cop looked at the padlocked chain and said he couldn't get it and he'd have to locate someone with the required key. Off he goes to the first guys house... he's not at home and his neighbor said he was probably at the Eagles. Great! He goes to another guys house who soon gets there to rescue me. Our sons went to school together so I wondered just how long it'd be before the story got out *grins* With a smile on his face, Greg lifts the chain up and over the wooden post that it was "padlocked and chained" to. Oh wonderful!! I could have left on my own free will 30 minutes ago! Now I feel really idiotic lol.

Moral of the story is ya don't always have to have a man rescue you. I was just happy to be out from behind the cemetery gate. Not quite ready to join those inside :)

Story #2...

My hubby has to be at work at 6am EST, so he leaves a little after 5am. You remember how the time changed this weekend :)Well... I guess he didn't change his alarm clock on his side of the bed. I changed mine as I worked Sunday morning and wanted that extra hour of sleep. The ringing of my cell phone woke me up about 5am this morning. It was hubby asking me if I had turned my clock back. I told him that I had and then as I was waking up, realized that he hadn't. I started giggling and he asked if I was laughing at him and I confirmed that I was. In my defense, I was half asleep and stressed already about the test at 8am that morning. I bet he won't forget to switch the clock next time :)

Most of Indiana used to leave their clocks alone and that's a sore issue with alot of people. They should have left the time change issue alone in my opinion as it had worked for years. The Gov that was most recently elected to office (Not my man Mitch!) rallied for daylight savings time to be observed. It has caused so much discussion. It's all for progress I suppose.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow for the candidate of your choice. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain :)
Have a great day!

West Side Nut Club Fall Festival

It's been awhile since I've blogged anything. With school going on and family life, things are pretty busy for me right now. Classes are still going well and keeping me hopping daily. There isn't much time for fun stuff at this point, but we make time for it whenever we have the chance. Thursdays are always good and has become known as "Mamaw Thursday". I've been trying to pick Jonah up on Thursdays from daycare so Papaw and I can spend some time with him. This also allows his Mommy some alone time. It's a win-win situation :)

Recently we were able to get away for an evening at the annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. It's supposed to be the second largest street festival in the USA according to my sources :) There are over 120 food booths manned by mostly non-profit organizations selling anything from hot dogs, frog legs, brain sandwiches to a kangurrito burrito. They publish a munchie map from which you can select your chosen food and then locate the booths selling that item. The booths open up for the lunch crowds and you wouldn't believe the people that are there in the middle of the day. It's a hopping place! We went on the Saturday evening and purchased corn on the cob followed by blackberry cobbler a la mode. Hubby got some burgoo and I finished Jonah's hot dog and Bishnu tried the shrimp. I tried the deep fried cookie dough but it as way too rich for me after 2 small bites. Chanel was wanting some polish sausage and I'm not sure if she ever got any or not. I'm looking forward to going next year.

Scrappings-n-Bones

**Risk for imbalanced nutrition: less than body requirements secondary to starvation related to unwillingness to eat.**

The 2peas challenge for today is: Do you have a local scrap group? If so how often do you meet and where?
*There are actually three groups that I scrap with from time to time. Each of them meet once a month. I don't get to go to them all each month and one of them I haven't been there for quite a long time due to work schedule conflicts. PC Scrappers meet in Petersburg with the date depending on availability of the building. The Oakland City group meets the first Friday night of each month. SISF (Southern Indiana Scrapbook Friends) meets the third Saturday of the month. Everyone there brings in food, snacks, drinks or dessert depending on the first letter of their last name. The food list rotates each month. I miss getting to go to the scraps and hopefully when school is all done, I'll get to relax a little and scrap again.

We've been working diligently on our skills in fundamentals lab so when the time comes, we'll be prepared to go out into the world as well trained LPN's in July. Ooohhh... shots and restraints :)

Yes, I have a pulse!

School has been keeping me pretty busy, leaving very little time to do anything outside of class. No scrapping, no reading (unless it's nursing related), no photo sessions, and no fun in general lol. Three classes, 2 labs, and one day of clinical=tests, tests, quizzes, quizzes, and paperwork. It will all be worth it when graduation comes around in July. Just have to keep those grades up! We do get a day off next Friday and I'm planning on painting a little and then onto a bit of much needed organization.

I pick Jonah up on Thursdays from childcare and get some Mamaw time with him. I get to do fun things with him like exploring fish noises. Did you know that fish make noises? Well, they do! He amazed his mommy with them last night after the Historical Society meeting. She seemed really impressed :) He's talking so much more now. Seems to be avalanching lol. We were driving around the park to get to the water play area and he saw a red car which prompted a conversation.
It kind of went like this:
Jonah: "Papaws truck."
Me: "It's a car the same color of papaws truck. Papaw is at Uncle Steve's house"
Jonah: "Papaw."
"Doggie."
"Hank."
"Hank needs food."
"Hank needs food."

Kind of neat how he went from thinking about Papaw and then onto feeding Hank. He enjoys feeding Hank when he's visiting our house :)Well off to work tonight and more studying.
Have a great day!

Mums the word...

Classes are in full swing right now and keeping me pretty busy as I knew they would. Things are going well so far and I hope that they continue that way. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I get through 2 semesters and a summer class for my LPN degree. I haven't had time to do much else besides reading and studying except for a few shifts at work. I've always heard that nurses have a rather strange sense of humor and I think it hit me this afternoon on my way home from work. I stopped at a roadside stand to get a couple of mums for the front of the house. The purple asters lured me in as did the red mums. As I picked up the aster, I noticed that there was some fireflies buzzing around it. Upon looking a bit more closely, it hit me. They were mating on my aster! Not just one pair, but at least 10-15 pair! Oh sheesh... can't they get a buggie room? lol. The lady who runs the stand said that they tend to gravitate toward the asters for some reason. Well, I really wanted the purple one, so in my car it went... fireflies and all.
It's a 30 minute ride home and the whole time I'm wondering how many baby fireflies I'll have next spring lol. I debated whether to take pics or not but then I thought, why not. It is a fact of nature that even bugs need to find some buggy lovin' :) I was a bit taken back though while I was snapping a few pics when I noticed there was a threesome going on. Kinky little things aren't they? lol Should I post the pic? Well, maybe another time or unless I get alot of requests for it. I don't see that happening though :) I will try, however, to snap a few pics without the fireflies adorning most of the lovely flowers. I spotted a couple of other colors that I may bring home tomorrow after work. Thanks for putting up with my silliness :)
Enjoy your day!

School has begun

I just wanted to share what's blooming in my flower bed right now. The four o'clocks have been blooming profusely all summer and are the brightest pink. They are the best when it's cooler outside and their blooms are open all the way. I'm thinking I'd like to find some new colors of these for next year. I received a start of them several years ago and they just add that "umph!" to the bed. My other little pretty is the Japanese Iris. It has been blooming pretty much all spring and summer too. The delicate blooms only last for one day, but then another one soon takes it's place. My hubby got too close with the weed wacker and I thought the poor little thing was doomed. Well... she came back in all her glory :) Yippee! I think she's a great addition to the bed. I really am enjoying the geranium. A pretty white with a peek of pink in her middle. What a cutie :) My bed is small, but growing :)

School has started for me, so if you think I've gotten lost, that's why. I'm going to be reading alot over the next 3 semesters (fall/spring/summer). Then hopefully with luck and hard work, I'll have my LPN in July 2009. I'll post next week a bit more about school and the shop hop that drew to a close on the 17th. We had a great time hopping and shopping! More on that later though. I hear that school bell tolling from Vincennes and it's a 45 minute drive yet :)

Happy Friday!

Fonts

I really like fonts. I've downloaded quite a few onto my computer to use either on scrapbook pages or other crafty works of art. This morning I was blog hopping and not sure how I go to where I was... but found a link to this really cute video about fonts. So just for you font freaks, you might want to check out the "Font Conference". Enjoy!

Short post today. I'm actually pulling myself away from the computer and getting some housework and Olympic watchng done before going to my paid job :)
Have a great day!

Olympics

How many of you have been watching the Olympics? We've been watching them every chance we get at our house. Hubby and I watched the opening ceremony at Chanel's house. What a show! It was beautiful and so wonderful. I've been watching alot of the beach volleyball, both men's and women's. The US men's #1 team was great this morning! We've also been watching the swimming events. How great all of the athletes have been doing :) We really started watching the Olympics when I was in the hospital after having Chanel. She was born July 30th, 1984. They were just getting started while we were there. When Bret came along, he wasn't born in an Olympic year (January 22, 1987). Tanner came along on August 19, 1988 and the Olympics were just ending while we were there. So during two hospital stays, the Olympics have kept me entertained... along with some beautiful babies :) It's kind of become a tradition for our family to watch them.

The 2 peas challenge for today is: Share on your blog someone you look at for inspiration. And why you find them inspiring....
*Alot of my friends are inspiration for me without even knowing it. I can be a very indecisive person at times and some of my friends have no qualms about decision making. They consider the options and then it's a done deal. I have to think about it a few times, even the simplest of things lol. I might even change my mind even then :)
*The athletes that train for the Olympics are also an inspiration. The time and sweat that they put into training to be the very best that they can be has to be an inspiration to us all. When I really need to get out and walk off the pounds and then don't because of this reason or that one... look at what all they do each and every day. Wow!

New Zealand update:
Bret and Stacy, along with a couple of friends, drove to Mt. Hutt to go sledding this past weekend. The mountain is lovely with all of the snow. And thanks to Stacy, I swiped another picture from her to put on here. Thanks Stacy!

Shop Hop

A few local scrapbook shops got together for a first ever S. Indiana/N. Kentucky Shop Hop. The girls at The Doodlebug in Jasper got it going and it's looking like fun. It started on Friday the 8th and runs through the 17th. The idea is to purchase a passport for $5 and visit the participating stores. Each store stamps your passport when you visit. The stores are offering a make-n-take and a drawing within their own store. If you visit all 8 stores, you are put into the drawing for the grand prize... a scrapbook weekend retreat for you and a friend at Cropical Paradise.

On Friday I visited two stores that I frequent on a regular basis. The first stop was to The Doodlebug in Jasper. Their store has really grown alot in the last few years and the staff is always so friendly. The make-n-take was a card using the zutter and perfect pearls. Melanie also made refreshments which were very yummy. I then made a trip to Evansville to Schmitt Photo. Their make-n-take was a cute little notepad holder featuring a Hawaiian penguin. I get alot of my prints made at Schmitt.

On Saturday morning, I met up with a few friends for a trip to the Bloomington and Nashville stores. Sandy and her daughter Molly, Mary and I left Washington around 8:30 for the trip. After a few turn-arounds and calling for directions, we made it to our first destination in Bloomington, Bloomin' Scrapbooks & Stamps. They carry alot of items that we can't find in our area and I tried to restrain my spending knowing that I had other stores to visit that day. But I will be back :) They gave us a kit for the make-n-take that we could do on our own time at home. Our next stop was in Nashville, IN. It's a very lovely area with lots of small shops all throughout the town. Of 4 scrapbookers, how many cameras do you think we brought? One! Sheesh. I thought about getting mine out of my car when I met up with them, but no... I was thinking that we wouldn't have time for pictures. Always, always bring your camera lol.

On to Nashville! The first stop in Nashville was to Wishful Thinking. This was a cute little store with a wide variety of stamps and other items for altered projects. The make-n-take we made was a cute little card using a transparency. I also liked this shop and will make a return visit. The next shop in Nashville was to Paper Trix. They also had alot of stamping supplies and many items for altered projects. Their make-n-take was to stamp and then use either Twinkling H2O Watercolors or Spica glitter markers. I used the Spica markers and loved them :)

I'll post pictures of the make-n-takes after I've visited all of the stores. My little digital camera has been hijacked by Chanel lol. My shop hopping continues on Tuesday!

The 2 peas challenge for today is: When you go on vacation and take lots of pics... Do you try to scrap them all or just some?
*I try to scrap some of the best pictures and cover the highlights of the vacation. One way to include alot of pictures on a lo is to use mini pictures, like in a mosiac.

Wordless Wednesday

Words that define us

The two peas challege for today is: Close your eyes, open a dictionary, and point to a word. Does your word mean anything special to you?
*Now this is really weird. I opened the Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary with my eyes closed and selected a word on the right-hand page, first column. The word that my finger was on, was..... lens. How funny! Does that mean it was a good thing that I bought a new lens last week? I'll take it as a positive sign :) The word right below that was lensman: photographer. I think most people that enjoy taking pictures could define themselves as a "lens". It's what we envsion before we even put the camera up to our eye for that shot that makes us a lens.

Have you ever thought about the words that define us? If you had to select 10 words that you feel define you as a person, what would you pick? Now I'm going to have to think about this one...
1. mother
2. giving
3. impatient
4. caring
5. loving
6. understanding
7. photographer
8. learning
9. disorganized
10. flower

Today is my day off and I have a few plans. I had "planned" on getting up by 8:30... that didn't happen. It was almost 10am when I rolled out of bed this morning. It felt really nice too. I've got plans for dishes, laundry and some general cleaning. Not too much, mind you :) It is my day off... I would like to make it to the library for a little dead people searching aka genealogy researching. Once school starts, I won't be able to do much of that.

My work schedule is finally taken care of for when school starts back up on the 18th. I may have upset someone about the new hours... well ok I know that I did. Not that I meant to or anything. This person already has a 40 hour a week job plus covers a few open shifts at the place I work and then waitresses some. The shifts she has been doing are open shifts, which means if someone wants to take them as a permanent shift and it's ok'd by the company, then they are no longer open. Three of the shifts I took were open ones plus the one I already had to make me 32 hours per week. This is plenty with my class schedule. The open ones were all on the weekend which also works better for school and studying. Now it seems I upset this person by "taking her hours", as she stated. I really didn't plan on upsetting her, but she had the opportunity to make them her permanent shifts, but she didn't want that. Why can't life be more simple? lol

Festivals

It's that time of year again... for the Jasper Strassenfest, that is. We spent several hours in Jasper walking around and enjoying the day. They are restoring a passenger train to make runs from Jasper to French Lick. It should be ready to travel in the spring. They did have a short ride available for Strassenfest and we took that opportunity. Joe, Chanel, Jonah and myself climbed aboard the Spirit of Jasper for a ride. They had some stringed instruments for our entertainment whic only added to the rides relaxation. Jonah seemed to really enjoy his adventure on the "choo" and I'm looking forward to when they start making full runs next spring.

Another event that was happening this weekend, which we didn't make it to, was the Zoar Mosquito Fest. This takes place at the small community of Zoar each year. They have a stationary parade where everything is standing still, the skinniest legs contest and wiffle ball tournament. The UMC church serves chicken dinners and there is usually a band for entertainment. It's a great gathering for people in the community.

The two peas challenge for today is: Do you enjoy creating layouts, altered items or cards. I would have to say layouts, but altered items and cards are fun also.

Busy Busy

I had a quite a busy day today. I drove to Owensboro to a camera shop in search of some good quality film to shoot at a couple of weddings. Now, I haven't shot any weddings before, so this could get interesting. And since I haven't taken the plunge into the digital world yet, that just ups the fun factor. The camera shop I used to frequent doesn't do retail any more. He and his wife retired, but they still do camera repair. It was just an hours drive away, which is close in terms of this area. The next closest is the place I went today, and another one in totally the opposite direction. I returned home with a bag full of film and a new lens :) This little Minolta 50mm 1.7 was calling my name.

Today's two peas challenge is: 10 unfinished projects hanging over my head
1. Finish our Caribbean cruise album from 2006
2. Work on and complete Jonah's chipboard car album
3. Work on and complete Jonah's 8x8 baby album
4. Complete cleaning out and organizing the scrapbook/genealogy area
5. Scan and organize old family photos and put on cds
6. Scan and organize pictures of our family
7. Organize photos and negatives using archival materials
8. Get everything ready for a yard sale and then have it
9. Paint scrapbook/genealogy room
10. Make time to relax and enjoy one day doing nothing before school starts

Birthday Girl!

24 years ago today at 4:09pm, a precious baby girl named Chanel entered the world. She's grown up alot in those years and I'm proud of the young woman that she has become. She's a beautiful, loving, thoughtful, smart, considerate, caring, adventurous person. What else could a parent ask for? I didn't really have to worry about the choices that she made throughout school. Her head is screwed on pretty well :) She was, and is, always respectful of others, her parents included. Although, she always seemed to persuade her brother into helping with cleaning up her room... with the promise of helping him when they were done with her room. I think she owes him some serious cleaning time :) When we brought home younger siblings, there wasn't any jealousy. Instead she was a little mother to them. I knew that one day she would make a great mom, which she is. If I could be like someone else, I think I would have to pick my daughter as a role model.


Happy Birthday Chanelly Belly!
**************
The two peas challenge for today is: What is your favorite size to scrap?

I've pretty much done 12x12 los all along. I've got an album or two of 8x8 that I want to do in the near future. I like the roominess of the 12x12 and that you can fit quite abit on there. I do have a couple of 8.5x11 albums going for some people that I work with.

Random musings

4th of July parade
Jonah turned 2 in May and he's growing and maturing by leaps and bounds. One of his favorite people, besides mom and dad, is Papaw. You can tell he thinks the world of him and I think the feeling is quite mutual. He's talking alot more now which is really fun :) Learning two languages slowed has him down a little bit, but just for a short time. He's catching up quickly :) He's such a sweet little boy and we wouldn't trade him for anything. He reminds you that there are good things in this world and it makes everything worthwhile.

News from down under
I've swiped a couple of pics again courtesy of Stacy. Thanks Stacy! She and Bret went to Port Hills near Christchurch. They rode the gondola up and then hiked around quite abit. The area is beautiful from what they said. Bret still hasn't sighted a kiwi yet. The animal... not the fruit :) They did encounter some sheep while hiking that day.




There is so much to see and explore down there. I hope they get the chance to experience as much of it as they can.

Just wasn't meant to be...

... for me to have a good day. This first picture here is from story #2 after I picked up Bret's car. I was awaiting the knights to return with the car trailer. I think my car is stalking me. She looks kinda sad don't you think?

I just knew it was going to be "one of those days". Do you ever get that feeling in the morning and then that's exactly what happens? I was just lounging away checking e-mails and other important stuff and saw that I got my statement from my bank. I open it up and cruise through the various debit charges and there are 3 that I don't recognize. What!! What the heck is this book club for kids and skype?? I print out my statement and start checking this out. First I call the bank and talk to a very helpful guy named Nathan. He gives me a phone number for the book club which I promptly call.

***After the brief conversation and her apologizing profusely, she tells me the books have already been shipped and to just keep them when they arrive. I know some people would, but I wouldn't feel right about that so I tell her that I'll send them back when they arrive. This one was $16.80, which is small from what I've heard about these hacked charges.

***Now onto the other charges, which the hacker into my account needed two of those it seems. $18x2=$36. I found a website for this skype and after awhile find a number to call, but that's just if you bought one of their products. She was kind enough to give me the email addy for customer service. Now I don't know about you all... but if I can't resolve something while talking to an actual human being, then I'm a bit worried about what the outcome will be. So, I send along the e-mail like a good little consumer and start the waiting game with them. The bank assures me that I'll get my money back. That's one card that got cut up so they can't get the rest of my hard earned money.

And if that wasn't entertainment enough for you, the real begins! I was on my way to work, just traveling down the road singing along to the radio and the tachometer reves up pretty high. I let up from the gas and then press down lightly with the same affect. Not good. I get off of the highway and call hubby. Luckily he's with his brother who is a mechanic. After waiting about a 1/2 hour with only one truck pulling over to check on me, they arrive. We get the car back to his garage and the car doctor starts his examination. It's not looking good... sounds like transmission problems to him. Transmission problems=$$$$.

I did, however, take a few pics while relaxing in the car awaiting my knights in a shining red Ford 4x4 to arrive. My views from a stranded car...
To the left... cornfields and a highway
Straight ahead... coal mine buildings
To the right... a trailer and Case equipment
...and off she goes with hubby and his brother...aka the knights in a shining red Ford 4x4

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day :)

I haven't gotten lost :)

It's been awhile since I've posted anything and I really am still alive :) Our ds and his gf arrived safely in Christchurch, NZ but without their luggage. The flight from O'Hare was delayed 2 hours and so they barely made it to their connecting flight in LA. From there it was onto a 12 hour flight to Auckland, NZ and then another couple hours to their final destination of Christchurch. It was 5 days before Bret got his luggage and Stacy received hers a day or so before that. I'm glad that he's a boy scout and used to roughing it lol. They spent the first week or so exploring their new home for the next semester and then checked into their classes. According to Bret, mullets are on the comeback. Ugh! He said alot of people wear their clothes really tight there, tighter than he would be comfortable with. Bret enjoys being "comfy in a 21 year old kinda way" :)
They made it!
Gorgeous
Thanks to Stacy for the pics that I hijacked from her facebook page :)

While I've bee neglecting my blog, I have been traipsing through some cemeteries snapping pictures of headstones for people. I take headstone pics for people that are working on their family history and want copies for their records. One of the sites that I'm registered on is findagrave.com and the other is RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness). Findagrave is mainly requests for headstone pictures, while at RAOGK you search for someone that volunteers in the county in which you're researching. Click on the "making a request" and when it takes you to that page, you'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom to locate a volunteer. Each volunteer has specific things that they will research for you and many ask reimbursement for costs, such as copies and postage.

I tell ya, finding dead people can be very addicting! Actually, believe it or not... I find it to be very relaxing. Sometimes I find myself calling out to a stone that I'm looking for.
"Oh Mr. Sinclair... where are you hiding at?"
And the good thing is that he doesn't talk back to me. If he did, I'd run as fast as my chubby legs will carry me lol.
Until tomorrow :)

Scrapbook supplies

The challenge at 2peas today is..
What scrapping supplies can you not live without and why?
*I don't have to have all the fancy smancy tools if it came right down to it. But I'd like to have some of them :P I guess if I really had to pick a few, it would have to be a good trimmer/cutter, adhesive, scissors, marking pencil, and some good cardstock. These are just the basics and truthfully I could get by with just them if I had to.

Our son and his gf are flying out to New Zealand today for a semester to study abroad. I'm going to try and not cry too much at the airport lol. I'm excited for them and will miss them both greatly while they're gone. It's going to be a long semester until we get to see him again. Please keep them in your thoughts as they travel.

Today...

is Chanel and Bishnu's 1st wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary! Anyone that has gone through a child getting married knows the emotional roller coaster that you go through. You remember everything as it flashes by before during and after the ceremony. From the time they made their entrance into this world, all of the firsts they had, grade school, and then high school. You remember the ups and downs, good times and the not so good ones too. All the while you pray that you are doing things right and that they will become responsible, loving, and caring individuals. You want to have them little again but then you are proud of the young person they have become. I think it's especially hard for parents of the bride. I don't mean to sound sexist by any means, I think it just seems that way. I know that one day when our son gets married, it'll be emotional also. What can I say? I love my kids! It's so hard seeing yout little bird get wings and actually leave the nest. And yes... I cried! Shhh... don't tell anyone lol. That day was beautiful! We had so many people helping us and it turned out wonderful :) I'm posting a few pics from that special day. One of my favorites is of Chanel by the window.

Maggie, Chanel and Breanne


Chanel and her Daddy
******
The challenge at 2peas today is about what you're planning on doing the rest of the summer. Our son and his gf are flying out to New Zealand on Wednesday for a semester of study abroad. I'm so excited for him but will miss him terribly. He's not able to come home alot during the semesters he's been at Purdue, but it's only 3 1/2 hours drive away. I know that when he leaves on Wed, it'll be quite awhile before he'll be back. I'll really be experiencing the empty nest syndrome by December. On an up note, he'll have the whole month of December before classes resume at Purdue :)

Vacation spot

Today's 2pea challenge is to write about our favorite vacation spot. Hubby and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean 2 years ago for our 25th anniversary. One of the ports that we visited was St. Thomas. While on our cruise, I really wanted to snorkel in the beautiful blue toned waters of the Caribbean. We had booked a snokeling excursion over on St. John. The instructor suggested against snorkeling since the water was far from calm. And since we weren't experienced snorkelers, we opted to relax on the beach and swim. It was absolutely beautiful and very peaceful there. The first picture is what we saw from the bus on the way to the beach. The second picture is a shot from down on the beach. We have talked about going back at some point. Maybe not taking a cruise, but to just fly down to one of the islands and stay a few days at each of the islands that make up the VI. You can easily forget everyday worries and relax in the beauty that is the Caribbean.

Of lemons and lemonade

Challenge: Post one of your favorite warm weather recipes.

*This is a simple lemonade recipe that our family has enjoyed for years. It goes fast when we make it :) I use a wear-ever juicer that was my mom's for the oranges and lemons.

*Grandma's Lemonade*
3 oranges
3 lemons
1 C sugar (or less)

Juice the oranges and lemons and put into a 2 qt pitcher. Add sugar and water. Stir.

Yummy!

A few random pics from this weekend.

Yeah for Friday... and paychecks

We get paid every other Thursday where I work and I think that you should be able to count on that little bit of satisfaction knowing that your check will be there. I walked down to the post office to get the mail yesterday... no check. What?? No check! Called this office, that office and this office again. "That" (aka regional) office was slow getting our paychecks mailed out to "this office" and in the mail to the ones that don't pick it up at "this" office, like me. After working midnight-8am this morning, I checked the mail when I pulled into town. And there it was! The little piece of paper that will allow me to put the $$$$'s of gas ($4.09/gallon) into my car so that I can use 1 gallon going to work and 1 gallon to return back home.

I took some random pics on the way home from work this morning with my poor inexpensive little Olympus digital.



These are pics of some receding water from the river near Petersburg.

wild garlic

It's not too late to participate in the WSW stamping boards over at 2Peas. I haven't made any cards the last two days, but going to try and do a few later on this evening or maybe at work tonight.

Challenge~ Do you feel that sometimes you get in over your head with things your creating?
*I know I do! lol There are times when I want to try something new and not quite sure how to do it. I tend to be a little impatient at times and then I get stuck :)