I'm Back! Birthday Edition

It has been forever since I blogged, but...

-Today is my birthday!

-I was told to relax and enjoy the whoooooole day!

-So here's my chance to get caught up in the blogosphere.

(And, oh my word- Blogger sure has changed while I was away!  I couldn't even figure out how to move my pictures around the easy way I had used before, so all of these pictures are completely out of order.  Oh, well!)

I've had friends and family tell me how far behind my blog is, and all I could say was, "I've been so busy living, I haven't had time to blog about living!"

And that's the truth!

This boys has kept me on my toes.

It's been in a great way!
But, I am NOT a fan of this growing up thing!

We've been able to spend time with friends.

This night we were enjoying the drive-in movie.

The boys have been busy with karate.

We survived a HOT summer.

This photo was the end of May... hotter weather was ahead!

We spent a week with the grandparents at the beach.

Stayed at our usual place.

Love the fireworks there!

Enjoyed a night with good friends.

The kids had a great time.

But, we sure hated to see one of the families head back to Tennessee.

Began a new school year.

Figured out that using Friday afternoons for Math Bingo was a fantastic motivator for the joys to finish up their work!

Had a quick visit with The Baby brother.

:(

Wish he could have stayed longer.

Love that he has to come to my town for business a few times a year!

My first-born became a teenager.

I cried!

Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of this whole growing up thing???

And my baby turned 11.

How dare he?

Because, in my mind, I'm still only 23!

There's no way I can possibly have an 11-year-old!!!

Aside from crying over my children growing up on me, we did manage to squeeze in a little more during the summer.

We ate our weight in tomatoes straight from the garden.

Have you ever eaten a tomato still warm from the garden?

If you did, you'd become a tomato snob like me, and not dare to eat tomatoes in the off-season.

They just taste like mush once you've eaten true, fresh ones.

These beauties came from our neighbor.

He was always bringing up tomatoes and cucumbers from him garden.

They were incredible!!!

We spent a few days at the beach with Little Miss Priss.

Lord knows, I love that child!

We spent a few more days at the beach with The Godfather and The GodWoman.

We made some serious changes to the house.

I'm loving it!

Superman is awesome, as usual!

I'll eventually get all the before and after pictures together so that I can show you just how many changes we made.

And early in the summer, when we stayed at the beach with the grandparents (but stinkin' Blogger won't let me move these pictures up there without making me pull my hair out) the boys were able to swim with the stingrays at the aquarium.

On that same trip, we celebrated Grammy's birthday.

She's pretty amazing at spoiling the joys, so we had a chance to spoil her back just a little!

Day 188~

It's after 9pm.

My joys are still outside in the pool.

I {heart} summer!

Day 180~

Pretty sky in town tonight!

RAINBOW!

We've had thunder storms every night for nearly two weeks!

I love it!Everything is refreshed after the storms!Who knew the end of the rainbow was found at Jimmy's- Home of the Best Cheeseburger in Town!

Day 101~

Dear North Carolina,

Thank you for naming a town after me!
I'm honored!

Love,

Dana- The Original

Quick Note

My comments keep getting spammed, so I've had to change the comment settings. You can't leave anonymous comments any longer. I'm sorry!

Smile

This made me SMILE today...

such happy colors!

Getting Motivated

Has it really been almost 3 months since I posted?
Well, I'm back!
And feeling motivated!
Thank God for thyroid medicine (long story)!
This is what I'm missing...
This is what I'm motivated to get back into...

Blog Love

In my quest to find my inner homemaking diva, I've run across a few truly fabulous blogs. Down to Earth is quickly becoming my favorite! In fact, I need to add her to my blogroll! She is a wise, older women that shares so many great ideas and thoughts. Her post from today, 'The Secret Life of a Happy Homemaker' really hit home with me! Go check her out! You'll thank me later!

Finding ME

Y'all, I'm still here! I just haven't been myself! But I'm working on it! And I think I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

This threw me for a loop. But you know what? She would be so sad to know that I'm still sad! And since Christmas I've really tried to get back to the old me!

Because you know what? I kinda like the old me!

She's blessed with squeezable children:

She's goofy:

She loves the Tigers:

She likes to cook:

She likes to decorate:

She loves to take pictures:

Did I mention she's goofy:

She has a twisted sense of humor:

And she is head-over-heels, deeply, madly in love with this man:So, I say all of this to simply say: I'm finding me again! And it feels so good to be writing again on here! Let the creative juices flow! I've got a few things going that I can't wait to share with you, so I'll be back later this week! Promise!

But for now, I'm off to take care of my littlest joy

He's got a tummy bug! And he's not his typical goofy self!Bless his heart!

The apple didn't fall far from the tree!

No wonder I refer to him as the child that looks like his daddy, but acts like his mama!

This happy, blessed gal will see you soon! Thanks for sticking around! And thanks for the emails checking on me! I love you guys!

Farmer's Market

How much do you think I paid for all of this produce?Would you believe me if I told you I only paid $20?

Well, I did!
That's it!
That's all!Our homeschool group has a farmer's market co-op. Every month each member pays $20 for a basket of fresh produce from the local state farmer's market. We take turns shopping. This month, I was one of the 3 shoppers. We brought home lots of yummy goodness!

I love having bowls of fresh fruit out in the kitchen. The joys can just grab what they want as they pass thru. The standing snack rule at our house is 'if it's a fruit or veggie- you don't have to ask'. Works for us!

I challenge you to go to the grocery store with $20 and see how far it goes in the produce department!

Are you local? Want to join our co-op? E-mail me! I'll give you all the details!

Now, I'm off to wash, chop, and put up all of these goodies- though the bag of cherries has already been devoured by the littlest joy...

An Idea for You

ROUND TWO: So you've already heard me sing the praises of Troop Care Packages in this post.

But did it inspire you to contact Angel and sponsor a troop?

If so, have you contacted her yet?

I HOPE SO!!!

I know that we've all been busy with Christmas. In fact, I've been so busy that I haven't posted in over three weeks! But now that the holidays are over, please think about sponsoring a soldier this year. What a wonderful New Year's Resolution that would be!

The joys and I have sponsored a new soldier. Our first soldier will be headed home in March, so we can only send packages out to him for another few weeks. We read here of a unit of 84 soldiers that are working such long hours in the field that they often miss their chance to eat. The thought of a hungry soldier makes me sad! As if they aren't under enough pressure, the last thing one of our American soldiers needs is to feel the pang of hunger!

We headed to Sam's and loaded up our buggy with beef jerky, trail mix, fruit cups, peanuts, soup, raisins, crackers, Slim Jims, and gum!

Our local post office was out of the APO Priority shipping boxes (the cheapest way to ship heavy boxes--- and the boxes are provided FREE by the post office) so we had to track down some boxes at a post office in another town. We were told by one of the postal workers to take home more boxes than we needed, so that next time we wouldn't have to wait to mail out our packages. So, if you decide to sponsor a soldier, you may want to pick up extra boxes when you go!

We had enough items to completely fill THREE boxes! Yipee! We also discovered that the small Slim Jims make wonderful packing material ! They can slip into all the little crevices to firm up the package. And what man doesn't eat Slim Jims?

Please consider sponsoring a soldier! In the grand scheme of things, it's such a small sacrifice on our part!

If you'd like to read more from others that have sent packages, go here.

For a list of soldiers and units in need, go here.

To see items you can send, go here.

And last but not least- if you are local, and would like to donate items to go in the packages we are mailing out monthly, then leave me a comment or email me by clicking on the 'contact my web page' link in my profile. We're happy to include your items, letters, and cards!

Vintage Christmas Swap

Several weeks ago I participated in a Vintage Christmas Swap at Foxgloves, Fabric, and Folly. And look at all the amazing goodies I received. My wonderful swap partner was Laura from Decor to Adore. She has fabulous taste!Here's a glimpse...trinket and tidbits... handkerchiefs and lace...sweet, beautiful,crafty goodness...and inside was this shiny bauble...a recipe that I can't wait to try...and this sparkling treasure! Doesn't it make you drool? It makes me!Here are a few pages from a precious journal she made...Ahhh, I think I'm in heaven!