Super Frustrated....

I am completely out of picture space on  my blog....this happened before and I was able to create a new user on my existing blog using a different e-mail address and that solved the problem.  I have tried multiple things including creating a new blog and so far keep hitting a brick wall.  I am probably going to have to create a brand new Google account with another new e-mail address (like a yahoo one or something) and create a whole new blog...I'll just link to it here...wow, I have had a lot to share over the past 5 years.  I managed to fill up a whole blog!  :0)

Catching Up...Quick Takes Style

1.  I completely failed at NaBloPoMo this year....I think I actually took the longest blogging break I've taken in a while.  We went to Georgia for Thanksgiving week this year and I didn't want to say that on my blog before I went in case someone were to read that and come rob my house while I was out of town.  For the week before we went out of town all of my thoughts had to do with going out of town so I just didn't blog.  Oh well.  I'll try again next year.
2.  I have loads of pictures to share from our week in Georgia and I will start getting them posted later this evening.  We had a great week, we drove up on Monday.  Tuesday we got up early, got all pretty and spent the morning taking family pictures.  I've only seen one and it's great.  I can't wait to see the rest.  After pictures Ollie, my dad, Grace, and Joe went hiking around and up Stone Mountain.  Cheryl and I went out to lunch and did some shopping and Hannah and Grammy stayed home and cooked and watched tv.  I doubt Hannah cooked much and I doubt Grammy watched much tv... We spent Wednesday in the North Georgia Mountains.  We went to Amicalola Falls and parked up at the top and then walked down 600 some odd stairs to the bottom.  My knee survived the hike and it felt good to do something "normal," like that.  Thursday was Thanksgiving and we ate lots and lots of really good food!  Later my mom, sister, the girls, and I all went out to join the crazy crowds and shop.  We only did Half-a$$ Black Friday shopping this year though...we didn't go too crazy and only went to 3 stores.  We did stop for sustenance at Steak and Shake while waiting for midnight to arrive.  The craziest fun was at Belk.  They opened at midnight and had all of their boots on sale for $20.  It was a madhouse but we made it in and boots were bought.  We got home at about 1 am and then Ollie and I got up at 5:30 am so we could hit the road and make it home before the kids were scheduled to perform for a local light up.  Thankfully we had an uneventful trip home and got back with a couple of hours to spare before we were off for the Light Up festivities.
3.  Our weekend was busy but great fun.  The kids sang with their theatre group and then with our church pageant kids for the light up Friday night and then with the theatre group again on Saturday night for another local light up.  Sunday we went to church and then had our first dress rehearsal for our Christmas pageant.  Thankfully it went well and I think we're just about ready for our big performance coming up this Sunday!  We got to spend a few hours at home before going back out to see a play at the theatre.  Like I said--busy weekend.  By Monday I was pretty worn out and the house was a mess from a busy weekend with little time to unpack and put away.  So, I declared it a teacher work day and worked allll day.
4.   Last night I asked Ollie to bring the tree in and help me move furniture into our Christmas setup.  I figured we could take our time decorating this week once everything was in the house.  Then, we were all overcome by the burning desire to decorate right that second so we did.  Our living room is now completely decked out in Christmas.  I don't really decorate the whole house, maybe a few decorations or lights here and there around the house but mostly it's all in the living room.  My theme is tacky Christmas and I'm pretty good at it so it's pretty amazing in here.
5.  Back in October when we got out the Fall decorations, I opened the bin they were in and was overcome by a stench of mold.  Almost everything in the bin was ruined by mold and mildew.  I have always stored my decorations in this same bin and never had a problem so I was completely perplexed.  As I took out one ruined item after another (construction paper crafts, photos, frames...) I quickly came to the source of the problem.  The girls packed away all of the fall decorations last year and did such a thorough job that they even packed away the gourds and pumpkins...which then spent a year in a bin in the garage and got good and rotten.  It was a very sad day to say the least... As if that wasn't bad enough...last night we bring in all of the decorations from our neighbor's garage next door and one of the boxes that is full of ornaments (thankfully one of three boxes) was also full of spiders and spider eggs.  Tiny, gross spiders, lots of gross eggs.  And, for some reason all of the various clay ornaments (we had quite a few) all had holes in them and some had disintegrated into dust.  I spent the next half hour or more going through the box ornament by ornament salvaging what I could, dodging and killing spiders and wiping away spider eggs.  I had to throw away about half of them.  Thankfully, only a few of those were special ornaments and none were super special ornaments.  It was crazy though.
6.  Amazingly the spider incident didn't cause me to lose my joy over decorating.  After spending the holiday season confined to my recliner last year I was just so happy to be helping decorate.  I was happy to be right in the middle of the fun and I loved setting out each and every tacky Christmas decoration.  I am so excited to be on my feet this holiday season.  I can't wait to make cookies, do crafts, and go to every holiday event there is.
7.  Unfortunately, we still have to fit in school...I am fondly remembering back in the day when we would take the entire holiday season off.  From Thanksgiving to New Year's we took a break from the academics to do holiday stuff.  We can't do that anymore but I am trying to take a break from some things in order to fit in some holiday fun.
That's it for now....next up....lots of picture posts!

A Poem, Election Coloring, and a Shopping Trip

The big room change-o-rama....last Saturday, Ollie and I spent practically the entire day moving Joe into his own room.  We had this awesome bed for him in our neighbor's garage, it's a bear to move and set up but it's worth it in the end.  So, now Joe is in his own room and the girls have transformed their room into a tween/teen girl's room.  And...all of this inspired Uncle Billy to write another poem...

 We have a Great Nephew named Joe
Who slept two sisters and bro
It was getting too tight
When all slept at night
So he said to my own room I’ll go!

As part of the bargain he struck
To give his new digs much good luck
A new set of sheets
And a poster that greets
But under his bed he can’t duck

This happens when children get taller
The beds and the room seem so smaller
Now all have more room
The girls I assume
Can fix up a fancy tween parlor.

 The girls favorite part of their room is this lamp and mirror and table all set up together.  They now have a place to do hair and makeup.

 I snapped this sweet picture of Joe while he was trying on his suit coat the other night.  I love his smile in this picture.  And, below...Hannah in her latest trade/borrowed dress that is really her friend, Kayla's.

 At the beginning of election night, the kids started coloring in a map as each state was called.  They eventually got bored and no one's map ever got completely colored in.  It was fun while it lasted though and engaged them in the election coverage a little.

 We went shopping today and our big, main goal was to find Christmas dresses for the girls.  They are in a Christmas Tour group with theatre as well as our church's Christmas pageant and they both needed pretty Christmas dresses.  It is very hard to find modest dresses for girls these days, a lot of the choices are too short and/or strapless.  Also, dresses are often expensive.  I was worried about both of these factors and so I prayed that we would be able to find dresses that were $25 or less and that we could all agree on.  Well, prayers were answered and we experienced a Christmas miracle at Ross.  The girls each found very pretty dresses and both were under budget.  I was one really happy momma!

Joe has decided that he likes clothes now and picked out this shirt at Ross.  It's very cute and will work great as his costume shirt when he plays Linus in the Christmas theatre show.  We had a great shopping day today, we shopped till we dropped, leaving at about 10 and not getting home until 4:30.  I dropped into the chair for a short rest, then took a shower and was in my pjs by 6.  It didn't matter that I still had to leave my house...I just had to drop Hannah off somewhere and I wasn't about to put my bra back on.  I did have to go into Julie's house briefly but she was okay with my attire.  I am looking forward to a quiet weekend.  I've cancelled as many plans as I could this weekend to give myself some much needed r and r.  My knee/leg is giving me lots of trouble and I think a day in my recliner is just what the doctor would order.  Time to head there now!

Beef Jerky...and Kangaroo Jerky...and Alligator Jerky...

What you see in the picture above is about 8 different kinds of jerky--alligator, kangaroo, ostrich, turkey, beef, elk, wild boar, and I can't remember what else.  Many years ago when my aunt and uncle went to China, they brought back Yak jerky and my kids haven't forgotten it.  They loved it and were talking about it a few weeks ago so Uncle Billy set out on a search for Yak jerky.  Well, it seems that Yak jerky is a precious commodity and nearly impossible to come by but he did come across a great sampler pack and then sent us the following poem--


Yak Jerky Malarkey by B

There once was a maiden named Hannah
Who live a bit south of Savannah
She asked for some jerky of Yak
But instead got a sampler pack
But we don't always get what we wanna!

She had a young sister named Grace
Who was known for a smile on her face
When told of the jerky
She asked what turkey
Would have jerky sent to his place?

Then there’s the youngest named Joe
Who thinks that Yak jerky is so
Crazy to buy
And why oh why
Would B want to waste all his dough?

B thinks he’s the master of jerky
Since he lived once in Albuquerque
When it comes to Yak
He wants to go back
To Tibet for some jerky that’s quirky!

When the jerky pack reaches Mount Dora
And the carrier brings it to our door(ah)
We’ll all get together
And decide on whether
We know which jerky we prefer(ah)

 So, once the jerky came in we went over for a jerky tasting party/contest.  We had to sample and then guess what kind of jerky we were eating.  I won the contest and my prize was two packages of beef jerky!  :0)  And, the funny song that was in my inbox the next morning--

The Jerky Queen
(Sung to the tune of the ABBA song)

With apologies to:
ANDERSSON, BENNY GORAN BROR / ULVAEUS, BJOERN K. / ANDERSON, STIG / KUNZE, MICHAEL


You can taste, you can guess, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the jerky queen

Wednesday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they have the meat, getting in the swing
You come in looking for the zing
Any choice could be the meat
Night is young and the spices are neat
With a bit of a flair, everything is fine
You're in the mood for a treat
And when you get to eat...
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/abba/dancing+queen_20002554.html ]
You are the jerky queen, smart and sweet, over seventeen
Jerky queen, feel the heat from the kangaroo
You can taste, you can guess, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the jerky queen.

(Et cetera, et cetera, etc, etc. )

Seven Quick Takes

1. I am going to participate in the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) this year.  That's where you blog every day for the month of November.  I can pretty much guarantee that I'll be skipping Sundays though.  My Sundays in November are a little out of control.  I leave for church at about 9:15 and attend church or work in children's ministry which is out by 11:45 or so.  Then, eat a quick lunch and then we have Christmas Pageant rehearsal until about 2:30.  Then we head home for about 2 and a half hours before going back to youth group and finally home for the night at 8:30 or 9. Sunday will most definitely not be a day of rest for me...at least not for the month of November.  Our little Christmas pageant is such a blessing though and will be worth all of the hours that go into it.
2.  This was NOT a restful weekend...we spent all day Saturday and some time yesterday (inbetween church) moving Joe into his own room and cleaning, decluttering, and re-organizing the girls' room.  The rooms are done and Joe has slept in his own room for two nights in a row.  This may not seem like a big deal but he has a lot of unrealistic fears and we were afraid he'd never sleep alone in his room.  :0)  He is being very brave though and we are so proud of him.  The rooms look great, Joe's is neat as a pin and he's being only slightly OCD about where things go.  The girls have had a blast making their room into a tween/teen girls room complete with a One Direction poster on the wall.  Two years ago we built a big 3 kid loft bed in their room and up until this weekend, they have all had their own "room" right under their bed.  We curtained it off for privacy and they had a dresser and shelf space.  Now that the room is all opened up, no curtains, it looks so much bigger.  And, the girls did all of their own work to make it into what they wanted.  I'll post pics eventually.
3.  After such a physically busy weekend my ole' knee is aching this morning.  I plan to try to rest allllll day...until 3:30 when Landon and Dawson get here.  :0)  Of course, my resting will have to include getting dinner in the crock pot and schooling the kiddos, and finishing up the weekend's project.  Maybe my day of rest will be tomorrow....
4.  Auditions for the next theatre show are today.  They are doing a Christmas Follies show that is going to be so funny.  It's set in a Christmas tree farm and the main character is Ebenezer Spruce who is  rooted in the Christmas tree farm.  He's all grumpy about Christmas and teases the Christmas trees waiting for a home.  Then he gets visited by the Rockefeller Tree, the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and the Dollar Tree.  There is lots of great Christmas music and goofy commercials and all that stuff.  Unfortunately, Joe hasn't really practiced for his audition so he will have to do that today too and I know he's going to get all stressed about it.  The kids will all be nervous and then they'll stay up late waiting for parts to be posted.  I love theatre but hate audition day.
5.  I have 7 more Chick-fil-a calendars to sell...anyone local want a few?  They are $6 each as usual.
6.  The Election Unit Study I was going to do was a fail.  It is a 4 week unit study and it wasn't so much about the election as it was about presidents.  So, instead, we have read some kids' books about the election process and watched a few Youtube videos all about the Electoral College.  The kids each filled in a US map with the number of electoral votes per state and the plan is to have them color the states in red and blue as they are announced tomorrow night and keep a running total of electoral votes for each candidate.
7. I'm going to make a big pot of vegetable beef soup for dinner.  This is my dad's recipe and I made it last week and it was soooo good.  I can't wait for dinner tonight.

October is Over!

 Wow!  This month has been so busy!  I think I accomplished my goal of enjoying my crazy life although some days/moments were questionable.  Between a busy theatre schedule, swimming, and soccer our afternoons and evenings have been pretty full.  It's been a good month full of memories but I'm ready to move into November and a slightly less demanding schedule.

I managed to do a puzzle this month, nothing like puzzle therapy.  I have the Trees puzzle below out on the table but haven't had time to even start it.  Maybe this week...

Our weather has been beautiful and Joe and I have enjoyed doing some of his school outside.

I spent about 12 hours this month in the dental chair (above was my view).  It was miserable and I will forever take better care of my teeth!

I started teaching Hannah Algebra 1 out of the same textbook I learned Algebra from.  We are four lessons in and so far so good.  I keep a stack of books for the kids to read, whenever I go to the library or hear about a book I think one of the kids will like, I check it out and add it to this stack.  Unfortunately, most of my suggestions go unread.  I think if we had more time at home the girls would read more.  They do read at least a half hour a day though as part of school.  During this half hour they have to read a book that I have chosen for them, usually historical fiction.  I was going to have Hannah read Jane Eyre and I was going to read it too but I decided to wait a few more months.

I love this dress that Hannah is "trade borrowing" from a friend and below just a cute pic of Joe.  And, at the very bottom a very "tweenie" picture of Grace taking a picture of herself in her new pants.

Florida Theatre Conference

 Hannah and I went up to Gainesville last Thursday night for the Florida Theatre Conference.  We were supposed to leave on Friday morning but there was some misinformation about the college auditions and we had to be there by 8 am on Friday morning for one of the girls to participate in the college audition.  So, Amanda, Dawson, Taylor, Hannah and I left Thursday night after their dress rehearsal and drove up.  We were pretty hyped up by the time we got there and I don't think any of us went to sleep before midnight.

 In spite of the lack of sleep, this little guy was super happy Friday morning.  I spent a good bit of my weekend hanging out with him and he was so happy all weekend.  I think he was loving all of the attention!

 While Taylor went to her audition, the rest of us went to Starbucks for coffee and breakfast.

 We had some time to kill between the audition and meeting up with the rest of the group who was driving up so we went shopping at the mall.  In the middle of our shopping trip, Dawson pooped all over his outfit and we had to buy him a new one.  :0)

 All of the adults hung out at the library Starbucks while the kids were in workshops....

 Everyone was excited on Saturday morning and our room was a revolving door of giggling girls.

This is a great group of kids, we had a fun weekend and their show was great!  They got a lot of good notes from the judges and we were all proud of them!

Halloween 2012

I have lots to catch up on so I think I'll just work backward and start with the last couple of days...

 Tuesday night we went to the local park for a Spooktacular.  There was trick-or-treating and games and later ice cream.  We were babysitting Landon and Dawson and their momma met us there.  I pulled out my old sling for the event and Dawson did just what my kids did when they rode in the sling...went straight to sleep.

 This is what I woke up to....candy trading, my kids favorite thing!

 Last night we went to the home of one of the theatre kids along with some other theatre families.  Hannah and some of the girls were the dancers from Dance Moms and Amanda was Abby Lee, their teacher.

 Grace and  couple of her friends dressed as One Direction.  Grace was Niall and the other two were Harry and Zane.

 We went trick or treating and then ate lots of good food and then kids traded candy.  It was a fun night!