Friday's Feast is Served!

Appetizer: When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite?
Cornflower Blue. I always drew with that color as much as I could.

Soup: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move?
Well since I am currently not working and have recently quit my job, moved with my husband and child so that my husband could take on a new job I don't think that I'll be quitting anytime soon. :) hehehe

Salad: Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total?
85 is my total.

Main Course: Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to?
Yes, but for the life of me all I remember about it is that I got it as a white elephant at a Christmas party and gave it the next year at the next white elephant Christmas party.

Dessert: Name something you need from the store.

Well I guess there are a lot of things that I would "want" from the store but as far as "need"...I can't think of anything.

Travelling Scarf

I am currently participating in a Travelling Scarf KAL (Knit-A-Long). In one of the Yahoo Groups that I am a member of we all started talking about having a scarf that everyone had knitted on and this idea came into being. We started this scarf at the beginning of April. We are knitting 5 1/4" on each scarf and then send it on its merry way and await the next one to arrive. By the end we will all have a very unique scarf that will have a very sentimental meaning to all of us. Here is a picture of my own scarf that I started while at my parents house on Sam's spring break. I took it on my mom's dining table with her Easter decorations. Did this as a reminder of when it all started. The first picture is of the front and the second one is of the back.

Highlights of our Spring Break Trip

Last week I took Sam back up to Springfield, MO, for his Spring Break. We had a wonderful time! We left here on Saturday morning and drove most of the day through a torrential downpour but made it there safe and sound. On our way up we listened to a book on tape. Sam just loves doing this! Which is fine by me because it keeps him occupied and we both get to listen to a story. We listened to book 2 of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Of course I can't wait for book 7 and the 5th movie both being released this summer!


On Sunday we went back to our old church and saw many of our friends. Monday we went to the zoo and had a great day there. We also saw the destruction that happened there when the ice storm hit. You can see it all through town as you drive through but you can really see it when you are at the zoo. You can now see through the different sections of the park that were previously blocked by trees. We all counted the rings of one of the tree stumps that we walked by. It was 40+ years old. It will take quite a while for Springfield to look the same again.

Tuesday my mom took me to go see the movie Because I Said So. My mom and I loved this movie and I had a wonderful time going with her to see it.

Wednesday I got to spend 3+ hours getting my hair done!!! It was a wonderful time and I was spoiled while I was there. Then Sam and I got to go attend the Wednesday afternoon/evening activities at our old church.

Thursday we all spent the day down at Silver Dollar City. It was the first day for their World-Fest Celebration. We got to see the Zunyi Acrobats of China and they were amazing. In fact Sam is still talking about it.

Friday I took Sam to go see the movie Meet The Robinsons.

It is a great movie! I can't wait to see this one again and will probably purchase the DVD once it is released.

Saturday we dyed Easter Eggs and visited with some more family members.

Sunday was Easter. The Easter Bunny visited Sam, we went to church, came home and had a delicious meal with family and friends. Then Sam and his cousins all took turns hiding the plastic eggs out in my parents yard and had fun finding all 39 of them.

Monday we drove back home. It was a great drive with no weather concerns to deal with. We listened to more books on tape.

This time it was some of the Magic Tree House books. Sam loves these books and I hope to one day have the whole set. So far we don't own a single one but it is something I have planned for in the future.

Sam All Dressed Up For Easter

You'll have to turn off my music if you want to hear the music that goes with this Smilebox. Go to the end of my page and hit pause or you can turn it all the way down. Enjoy! (I don't know why it keeps leaving all this extra space. I've tried fixing it several times.)

Make your own | Click to play

Sunday Skies

On a glorious Easter evening I snapped these pictures looking above my parents house.

I'll update more about Easter and our Spring Break in general once I get back home. Sam and I had a wonderful trip here at my parents but we are ready to go back home. I'll be packing us up soon and getting the car ready for us to head out tomorrow morning.

Pictures

Here is Sam riding the old red wagon. He went up and down my parents driveway over and over and over again most of this week along with riding his bike. Just didn't get any pictures of him on the bike.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Dickerson Park Zoo.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from our trip to Silver Dollar City.

Come and Get It!

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: When you travel, which mode of transportation do you prefer?
I would prefer taking a plane but that is not always feasible so I would probably choose driving as my second choice.

Soup: Have you ever met a blogging friend in person?
Not really. The only bloggers that I have met are ones that I have already known. I would however love to meet some of them.

Salad: When was the last time you were really, really tired?
Now. I am on vacation and for the past two nights I really haven't slept. Before this I would have to say this past Christmas when my son was sick with a high fever and an awful cough that kept us all up all night long.

Main Course: If you could have dinner with any one fictional character from a book or movie, who would it be?
There are too many to choose from. I love movies and books and try to read and see movies as much as I can. I don't think I can narrow this one down at all. I guess it would have to be whatever I am currently reading or what I have just viewed. Sooo that would be Diane Keaton (movie) and Eragon (book).

Dessert: Fill in the blank: One day, I hope to see _______________. The world. I just love to travel and want to see it all.

100 Miles by July 1st

I'm off again. I know that I said that I might take a break this week in my walking but once I was here my Mom stated that she wanted to walk every day. So we started off today by doing a short walk but a nice one at that. We walked 2 miles today. I've changed my ticker above and hope to add to it this whole week.

Big thanks to SIL for coming up with this logo!!! If you are interested in joining us go to this site to see where it all started. You don't need to sign up there if you don't want to. Just get out there and MOVE!

Sunday Skies

Don't adjust your screen for this first picture as I just aimed up at the sky and snapped a beautiful blue sky. How gorgeous it is here today. It is in the low 70s with a nice breeze.


Sam and I are in Missouri visiting my parents this week. We got in yesterday afternoon and will be here until April 9th. So far we are having a wonderful time and I'm looking forward to a fun filled week. Andy (hubby) had to stay home and work this week and we do miss him. I'll post as much as I can this week. Brought camera with me so you may see more pictures than actual words. But you never know!

Friday Feast

The Friday Feast Is Served

Appetizer: What are you proud of?
I'm proud of my son. I love to watch him grow and learn every day of his life. Even though there are times/moments where I may get upset or angry he still makes me very proud to call him my son. I'm also very proud of my marriage. We will be married 16 years this August and I'm looking forward to many more years.

Soup: What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize.
I really can't think of anything at this moment.

Salad: Name something you do that is a waste of time.
As much as I like to surf the internet, read my emails and blog I would probably say that some of it (and I do say some) is a waste of time.

Main Course: In what year of your life did you change the most?
That would be 2000. That's the year that we adopted our son. That's when our lives changed dramatically for the better. Never thought that another life would change so much.

Dessert: Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?
Probably anywhere I can find nature. Going outside for me is very tranquil. Especially if I can be all by myself. Which isn't very often so I do cherish those moments.

I DID IT!!!

103 is my number! I have now walked 103 miles! I started this journey back on Jan 8th of this year and I have met the goal of 100 miles by April 1st before April 1st arrived. I'm ready to start again and do another 100 miles by July 1st. Are you ready? Don't you just love the way my counter shows that I have walked 103 miles but says that I have 3 more to go?

Sooooooo close...

and I can't finish it today. I only have 1 more mile until I reach my goal of 100 Miles by April 1st but the weather won't let me go out today. Most of the morning it was sprinkling and I thought I could go out after lunch sometime but noooooo now there is a Tornado Watch for my area with Tornado Warnings all around us. So inside I'll stay. Maybe tomorrow I'll break that 100 mark.

So who else is going to sign up to do 100 Miles by July 1st? I know I am!

Sam and Gilligan

Well I guess that it is about time that we introduce you to our newest family member Gilligan. Gilligan is a dog that is half lab, half border collie. We got Gilligan back in January and have waited to say anything because we wanted to make sure that he was a good fit for everyone. We got Gilligan for two reasons. #1 reason being that our dog Leo is getting older and was depressed. The vet and the groomer both noticed it and suggested that for his well being he needed a friend. #2 reason....Sam. Sam wanted a pet that he could really call his own. All of our other pets we had before we adopted Sam. It has been a great two months with Gilligan and we can really say that he is part of the family. In fact last night was the first night that we let him sleep inside the house with us as he has earned our trust and shouldn't need to sleep in the garage any more. He's only 1 1/2 to 2 years old so he is full of energy which both Leo and Sam need. Here are a few pictures of Sam and Gilligan together. Click on the box below to see the little slideshow.

Make your own | Click to play

Sunday Skies

Well I now have started up my own ring. I would just LOVE to have everyone join me in taking pictures of the skies on Sunday. Hence the title: Sunday Skies. This is my first attempt at running a ring and I hope that it works. So here it is...my Sunday Sky:

Sunday Skies Join List Previous Next Random Previous 5 Next 5 Skip Previous Skip Next Powered by RingSurf

Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

I'm a few days behind in watching this show because I had it recorded but finally sat down and watched it last night for the first time. Has anyone else watched this?? It is such a wonderfully funny show. To watch these adults try to answer these questions which the kids get with no problem at all! If you haven't had a chance to watch it you might want to check it out just once. Only one of the questions gave me some trouble but I did answer it before they revealed the answer on the show. Guess my education payed off and my teachers learnt me good. LOL

iRack - check out this video

Check out this video from YouTube. It is really brilliant! Thanks to Nancy for posting it on the Knit Blue blog earlier.

Thank You Mom

Well a big thank you goes out to my mom. She has identified my plant for me. It is a Wisteria. Here is a link to some information about the Wisteria Vine.

The plant I have here at my house was planted by the owner of the house when the lived here back in the late 80's early 90's. Here is another picture of my plant with a bumblebee in it. Let me tell you when I went out there to take those pictures it was very loud with all the bees around me.

Identify

Just realized that I haven't put anything on here since this past Monday! I do want to share with you some photos of a plant that is outside in our backyard. It is growing up a post that is attached to the covered area to the back room. I guess it could be called a carport but I like to say that it could be the covered patio. Anyway, I don't know what this is. Can someone help identify it? It is in bloom right now and the smell is just wonderfully sweet. Remember that you can click on the pictures to see it bigger.

Thanks for any help that you can lend to me on identifying this one. There are some seed pods hanging off of it and the ones that I have been able to reach and look at are fuzzy with flat round seeds inside of them. Hope that you all had a wonderful week!

Happy Feasting!

Friday's Feast is served!

Appetizer: Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter? Why?
I really like Tom Brokaw. He had always been the face of news for me. He always told the story so that everyone could understand it and in a way that touched your heart. I would still like to read his books some day. For a good video on his career go to here and then scroll down just a bit and on the right hand side you will see a free nine minute video highlighting his career.

Soup: Name 3 foods that are currently in your freezer.
Pizza. Chicken. Broccoli

Salad: If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it?
Hope. Because I think that everyone needs to have a little bit of hope in their lives.

Main Course: What will most likely be the next book you read?
Eragon. I got it for Christmas and it is going on my next trip with me.

Dessert: What's the first thing you notice about the opposite gender?
Probably their smile and or face.

Updated Clock...Soccer...Walking

Thanks to Camera Obscura for the "shout-out" on her blog about the clock that I use here! This is my SIL and I look forward to reading her blog every day. If you haven't noticed I updated my clock on here since Sam has started his spring soccer season. Using the soccer ball clock now in honor of that.

Sam has already had his first practice and will continue to have 3 practices a week! He is used to only having 1 practice a week so this will be a big change for him. His first game will be on April 14. I will know more particulars after this Tuesday's practice. So far we really like his coach. We didn't know what we were going to get in a coach since we just moved here and have only had experience with the coaches in Springfield, MO. Sam will actually get to learn A LOT of skills this year and for that I am happy.

Well as of this morning I only have 15 1/2 miles to go toward the 100 miles before April 1st! I will actually finish above 100 miles! I am currently walking 3 1/2 miles in a little less than an hour. I would love to walk at least 4 miles in that amount of time before April 1st but we'll just have to see about that. I never thought I would be able to get this far with it but now I know that I will. Now to figure out what my next goal will be. Any suggestions???

Need Help

Okay you blog wizards out there...I have buttons on my blog that link to other sites but the ones that I do have is because they provided the code. How do I get other buttons on my blog without any codes. Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide

The Hat!

Well the pictures from this morning of Sam in his hat are finally up! I just knew that you were waiting with baited breath....well weren't you? Okay here they are:
Taken outside while waiting for the bus.
Turning so that I can photograph what the side/back of his hat looks like on his head.
Only Sam can look so serious in such a silly hat!
Is the bus here yet? I can't wait for it to get here so that my mom will stop taking pictures of me!
Okay...one last picture.

Now, I'm off to wait for the bus to drop him back off home. Chow!

Sam's Birthday Party

As requested and promised here is a small scrapbook/slideshow of Sam's birthday party. We took him and 7 of his friends bowling. Then a few of us went back to our house for cake and some fun. Enjoy!

Make your own | Click to play

Friday's Feast is Served!

Appetizer: Name two things that made you smile this week.
Seeing Sam put on his St. Patty's Day hat this morning and actually really liking it! The other would be that Sam came home and announced that he had a great day after having a couple of weeks worth of hard ones. Nothing could have beat the smile on his face or mine.

Soup: Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when ________?
This is a very dangerous question to ask me because I could really go off on this one. But the first one that popped into my mind was those that don't know how to drive in a parking lot. You know the ones that can't follow the arrows or those that can't go to the end of the row but instead cut through all the parking spaces to cut you off to get to that spot you were heading to because you were following the arrows???? Okay, I'm done.

Salad: When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?
Well if I knew the answer to this question I wouldn't have had so much trouble earlier this week trying to go back to sleep. I finally slept the whole night through last night! Will wonders never cease.

Main Course: What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?
Why can't we in general just take time to smell the roses? I have been wondering this lately when I go for my walks. When I see others in the neighborhood taking their walks their heads are usually down or they have such a serious look to their faces. I lately have been holding my head up, looking around and the beautiful area that I live in and am very thankful for life. Sometimes we need to take that time to ourselves and smell the roses.

Dessert: What is your favorite pasta dish?
This one isn't easy as I LOVE pasta dishes! But I would say that I prefer the red sauces over the white ones. My first thought was my dad's spaghetti! I love it and am hoping to have some while we are there over Sam's Spring Break. Hint, Hint, Hint! LOVE YOU DAD!

Happy Feasting!

Sam's St. Patty's Day Hat

Okay...I know that I still need to post about Sam's birthday party and a few other things but I just wanted to share with you my latest finish! It is, of course, for Sam. Tomorrow all of the 1st grade classes are having a St. Patty's Day Hat Contest. This is the hat that I made for him:

I'll post more tomorrow...have a good night! Oh, and of course I'll take a picture of him wearing it before he goes to school. Because you never know how it will look after he gets home!

Reflections

This morning I attended the first session of the bible study that I signed up for at church. It is called, Helping Your Children Know God by Bob Lepine. There will be 7 of us there but only 5 were there today along with our leader. So far I think that I am really going to like this study. On the way home I even was writing in my head what I wanted to put down here for everyone to read. But, of course, once I was home there were phone calls and stuff to do around the house that now I don't remember that much of what I was going to write about. So I'll do my best to remember what I was thinking at the time.

The first session/chapter is Getting to Know God. The first verse that we looked at was Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Here it is if you would like to read it:

5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

WOW! When you look at this you really realize how much you are the teacher for your children to know God! Yes, I did know that but here it is in black and white.

We then were asked: What do you think are the primary things about God that children need to understand? There were some wonderful answers from everyone there from wanting our children to know that God will always love you no matter what to wanting them to know that he is Omnipresent and Omnipotent when they are older.

Then on the way home while reflecting on the whole class the song Made To Love by Toby Mac came on to the radio. What timing! The chorus is:

That I was made to love You
I was made to find You
I was made just for You
Made to adore You
I was made to love and be loved by You
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And You said You’d keep me never would You leave me
I was made to love
And be loved by You

This is really what God wants! Luckily this is one of Sam's favorite songs and will sing it just about anywhere. Here is a short video of Toby Mac explaining this song:


If you would like to hear the whole song here is a video that someone put together using random pictures. The words to the song are on there but some of them are hard to read. But you will get the idea.


And to be able to teach this to our kids...how awesome is that! We go to church tonight and I am so grateful that Sam loves to go. He loves the children's program that they have there. My prayer is that all children were just as excited about church and learning about God as my own son is.

Next week I'm hoping to be able to write some more but this time I'll do it first instead of it fading from my mind. I'm also mainly writing this down here so that it will help me remember what I was feeling and or thinking as I learn how to help my child know God better.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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No Sleep For Me

Well it is currently 4:00 in the morning and I've been awake since 2:00. I tried staying in bed but that didn't work. Got up roughly 30 minutes ago and got on the computer and surfed. That hasn't helped. I'm now going to go and try to either go back to bed or go to the couch to try and catch a few z's before it's time to get Sam up and ready for school.

Hope that everyone else had a great night's sleep!

Icky...Monsters...Spaghetti

Well I didn't get much sleep last night so neither did dear hubby. I feel as though my head is about to blow up like a balloon and float away! I have been blowing my nose until it feels as though either my head will explode or my nose is going to fall off. I have the wonderful itchy, watery, scratchy eyes going on. Not to mention the sneezing fits that I keep having. So far everything that comes out of my nose is still clear so I'm sure I am just having some sort of allergy attack. I think it has to do with the fact that we spent most of the day Friday cleaning up the back yard for Sam's birthday party. Oh well, this too shall pass. BUT for right now...I FEEL ICKY!

I have found something that I want to make (it's super easy) for Sam and I think the he will just LOVE it! Here is a link to the picture.
I saw this on DIYs show Creative Juice. It's called the Monster Cube Chair. And the colors they used are now some of Sam's favorite colors!

I'm currently knitting a hat for Sam that he will wear to school on Friday. They will have a hat contest for their St. Pat's Day party. I am making a Bowl of Spaghetti Hat in a bright lime color. Here is a picture of the hat that is from DIYs show Knitty Gritty.
The hat part is finished. All I have left to make now is the "spaghetti" part of the hat which is just i-cord for roughly 6 feet. Then Sam and I will decorate it with Shamrocks and gold coins. This hat knit up really quickly and will be fun to wear. I can imagine all the different options that you could do with this hat.

Friday Feast

Okay...I know that it's almost 11:00 on a Friday night but I still have time to post what I am hoping to do every Friday. It is called Friday Feast. These questions are emailed to me every Thursday evening and are meant to be thought-provoking and mind-stimulating. We'll see if I pass the test! hehe

So, here is my first go around with the Friday Feast.

Appetizer: What is your usual bedtime? Do you like that, or would you rather it be different?

My usual bedtime is around 10:00. I'm used to it but I really am more of a night owl. I have to get up early in the morning to get my son ready for school so I don't really have a choice in the matter right now.

Soup: When it comes to advice, do you give more or receive more?

I think that I give more to my friends but receive more from my family.

Salad: Describe a memorable meal you've had.

I guess for me that would have to be any family gathering around a holiday. Those are some of the best memories for me.

Main Course: Name a work of fiction that affected the way you think about something.

I read so much fiction that I can't seem to think of just one that has change the way that I think about something.

Dessert: What is your favorite type of fruit juice?

That would have to be a good Concord Grape Juice or a Tomato Juice with a wedge of lime in it. Learned about that on an airplane ride a long time ago. Try it...you just might like it!

Well that's it for the Friday Feast. Andy and I spent most of the day cleaning the house and game room out back. Sam has his birthday party with his friends tomorrow afternoon. So of course you will probably all see picture posted here within the next few days from his party and of course how it went.

Butterfly House

Last Saturday I took Sam over to Home Depot so that he could attend their children's workshop. They made a butterfly house and Sam can't wait to get it painted and sealed so that we can have it up in time for the butterflies to start visiting it.

Make your own | Click to play

Sam's Birthday

Sam's birthday was yesterday. We started the celebration in the morning because our schedules were pretty busy the rest of the day with him having a Tiger Cubs meeting and Andy having an appt. in the evening also. So we had a breakfast birthday party. Sam had birthday pancakes, candle and all! Opened presents, read the cards all while eating breakfast and getting ready for school.

Cupcakes were delivered at school for Sam to share with his friends/classmates.

Once home we couldn't wait to play with all the new toys. But of course we had to do our homework first which proved to be pretty hard for a boy with new toys waiting in the wings to be played with. We got through the homework and got to play with all the new toys.

In the meantime I began to cook more cupcakes to go to his Tiger Cubs meeting that evening. Sam wanted pizza for dinner so that helped me out a lot. All I had to do was pop those in the oven once the cupcakes were done. Easier clean-up!

Andy's appt. had to cancel so Andy was able to go to the Tiger Cubs meeting with us. We all had fun.

Back home after the meeting we worked on cleaning up Sam's room a bit more and rearranged a bookshelf.

I'm cleaning house today trying to get ready for his birthday party on Saturday.

Enjoy the photos below!

Make your own | Click to play

Sam's Tiger Cub Meeting

Last night Sam went to his Tiger Cub meeting. I though you would like to take a look at what he did. Since it was Sam's birthday we brought chocolate cupcakes which were devoured by all.

Author's note on this slide show: Please hit pause and then use the arrow keys to walk you through the slide show as there are also videos for you to watch. Sorry for the low quality on the videos.

Make your own | Click to play

What Happened The Year You Were Born?

In 1967 (the year you were born)

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US President Johnson and Soviet premiere Aleksei Kosygin agree not to let any crisis push them into wore Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first black Supreme Court justice The first home microwave is released by Amana Dave Matthews, Kurt Cobain, Liz Phair, Vin Diesel, Julia Roberts, and Anna Nicole Smith are born St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup Disney's The Jungle Book and The Graduate are the top grossing films One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is published Paul McCartney announces that all four members of the Beatles have "dropped acid" For the first time, Jimi Hendrix sets his guitar on fire during a concert in London Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published The FCC orders that cigarette ads on television, radio and in print must include a warning about the health risks of smoking

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

Finished another scarf

I have finally finished the "Ruffled Scarf". It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I have definitely learned how to do increases in knitting as I started out with 130 stitches on my needles and ended up with over 800! This scarf is going out to someone but I'm not saying who it will be yet. Here are some pictures of it. The first one is of course the whole scarf. The next two pictures are close up shots to show the actual ruffles and then the last two I did by putting them on the scanner to try to show the stitch detail.



Yes, I am still stitching (cross stitching) but I can't show you any pictures on here as it is a model for a designer. I'll be able to post the picture of it once it is released publicly.

Well March has definitely started out like a lion! Had thunderstorms here first thing this morning along with a tornado watch. Now we are currently under a lake wind advisory. I'm hoping that March will go out like a lamb.