Workin 6 days a week is wearing me out!

So, for the most part, I've been working 6 days a week (with 3 exceptions) for the last 3 months. Praise God for a job, but man! am I tired! We're working on putting in a woodstove. So, at the moment, we're keeping windows closed and running the dryer once or twice a day into the house to keep it warm enough. Along with canning and freezing produce and trying to keep up with cleaning the house, we've not had much time for anything else. The kiddos went back to their real mom a few weeks ago, but they're still able to go to church, which was my major concern. So, Praise God for that!
So, we're going to vote in a month for Prez...does anyone know what the policy is for write-ins? I like Sarah Palin and I'd much rather have her for Prez. Is that possible? Thoughts???? Can we do a mass write in campaign for her? Wouldn't that be cool? Well, I know this one's a short one, but I really don't have much time on here. My cell phone has already kicked me off once. Hope to hear from you soon!

I know, I know, forever and a day...

You've probably stopped checking by now, but I FINALLY got a chance to update this thang. I started a new job last week, so any (none) extra time that I had has now been reduced by 40 hours! I'm working at a small, privately owned financial institution in the area. It's interesting, never done this kind of work before. I'm still learning, but it's kinda fun. It's a laid back environment, which I like too.
I still have 2 kittens if anyone really wants one, I'm giving them away! :-) We're working on keeping up with the garden. We still have tons of lettuces. We have some cucumbers. We fried up our first zucchini the other night. I've been playing bee this last week. Our zucchini plants were dropping their blossoms, so we tried taking a paint brush to the inner parts of the flowers and we now have baby zucchinis!!! This morning I was ecstatic to see 4-5 bees (I don't know what kind, I just know they weren't bumbles.) pollinating the zuccini on their own!!! Yay! We dug up some of the red potatoes that the plants died the other day. We've gotta get out there and finish that up. The rest of the red potatoes and yukon golds are still growing. They may be huge! We have green tomatoes so far. They were a little farther behind because of the cool weather in May. We have some jalapeños, cayennes and hungarian wax peppers. We have some baby bell peppers. Our peas have come and gone, they're now in the freezer. :-) Yum! The cabbage is still growing and we'll have green beans in a few weeks. Hopefully they'll hold off til after the fair! The corn is still getting taller, the melons and pumpkins are still going well too. The garden is huge and going full force. And the weeds are hard to keep up with!
The kiddos came out a couple weeks ago. (The week before I started my job.) They stayed here all week while Fostermom played nurse at the campgrounds. It was fun.
Red, the guinea pig, died the week before that. He was an old man! We'll miss you Red Man!
This last week, we adopted 3 baby (3 days old) chicks from mom-in-law. They are part banny (sp?) chicken. They were the smallest babies I've seen. They're really growin' now and they're eatin' like piggies! Their mom and sibling were killed by a coon one night. So, we took 'em in.
I'm excited to have some new friends, Katie & Olvin. Katie got baptized a week ago, then on Friday of that week got the Holy Ghost! Now Olvin is talking about getting baptized this next week, but he really wants LJ to do the honors. He told Katie that he would've gotten baptized last night if LJ were there! I'm so excited for what God is doing in their lives!
Well y'all, it's the hottest day of the year (or at least it feels like it) so, I'm going to get off here and take a cool shower to hopefully cool off some. It's too hot to do any gardening that we really needed to do tonight, so we'll put it off to Saturday instead. Love y'all! Hopefully I'll be able to update more often.

Playing catch up! Days 5-8

In this post, I have implemented a new photo viewer for the pics, so you can see more pics and it's a whole lot cleaner. So, just click on the links below each day and if you have any problems let me know.

Day 5 - Wednesday
We left Aunt Sandy’s around 9:30am CST and headed for San Antonio, TX. We got there in the early afternoon and dropped off the camper and went into town. First we went to El Mercado and did some shopping. Most of the vendors spoke Spanish. I felt like I was in Mexico. It was pretty neat. I bought a couple hair barrettes that were silver with inlays. They’re pretty. We left there and headed for the Alamo. We found a parking lot and paid $5 for all day parking and walked to the Alamo. When we got there it was 5:25pmCST and the sign said that it closes at 5:30! We had 5 minutes to walk, I mean run around just to see some stuff. Then we were run out of there and we had to go somewhere else. We thought about going to the IMAX to watch the documentary about the Alamo, but it started at 6pm and was 2-3 hours long. We wanted to see the Riverwalk and do supper still. So, we really didn’t have time to do that either. So, from there, we walked (and sweated…it was humid) to the Riverwalk and walked some of it. Then got tired and wanted to go back to camp. We went to the store and got food to make and some Blue Bell ice cream. We all got pints of the flavors that we wanted. I got orange and homemade vanilla mix (tasted like a creamcicle!), Joe got buttered pecan, Dad got peaches and vanilla, Mom got banana pudding and Alison got chocolate chip cookie dough. They were all good! Then we went back to camp and Joe made hamburgers on the grill and as soon as we got our burgers put together, the wind really picked up and sent us packing to the camper. We got slammed by a storm and had to close up the camper for most of the remainder of the night. That poor camper took a beating from the wind. Between storms, we heard sirens and Joe and I went to find them because they were really close. We went to the boat ramps and that’s where we found them. I guess some people went out on the lake and didn’t know about the severe weather warning lights and stayed out on the lake. When they tried to get back to the docks, they fell off the dock and into the lake. There are a lot of water moccasins in that lake! I guess the guys were okay, but the squad was there checking their vitals just in case. So, we went back to camp and tried to sleep through all the wind and storms. It was a tiring night!

Pics from day 5, go to: http://www.photomax.com/web/mem_album_photo_slide_show.php?TrackId=1873425&RandomId=432117199


Day 6 - Thursday
We got up early this morning and packed up because we had to be out of camp by 8am. So, we left San Antonio, TX by 8:00. On the way to Del Rio, TX we saw a sign for the Alamo Village. So, we drove a little off the beaten path and went onto a working ranch to get to the Alamo Village which is the original movie set for the Alamo movie with John Wayne. It was really neat. They had a lot of real Alamo relics and artifacts there too. There were people dressed up and acting as the people in the village. The sheriff took Alison and put her in jail for chewing gum! (And because Mom told him to!!!) We spent quite a bit of time there and took a lot of pictures. We left there and went to the Seminole State Park and went to check in. We were lucky because we pulled in to check in and it was 4:35pm CST, they closed the offices and registers at 4:45pm! At that building, there was a young desert cottontail sitting beside a century plant. It was cute! They had wi-fi, which was nice, but we really didn’t have a lot of time to do any blogging. This campgrounds had no cell phone signal, but did have electricity and water hookups and wi-fi and showers!!! When we popped up the camper, we left the rest of camp setup for later and went on a hike. It was really hot and we took water with us. I took a cold bottle of water and by the time we had walked a mile, what little bit I had left in the bottle was really warm!!! Already!!! We made it to a covered rest stop on the trail and (I can usually walk a lot, but in the desert and beating down sun much closer to the equator, I couldn’t go on) I stayed there in the desert until the fam got back from where they were going. As I sat there, I saw a striped gecko run between brush and cactus…too quick for me to snap a picture. I took a couple pictures of some flowers on small cactus and some other flowers close by. There were, what I think to be millipedes everywhere! They’re big! About 3-5 inches long and ¼ inch in diameter!! Everyone else wanted to make it down to the Rio Grande, but it was a 3.5 miles (one way) hike. It was getting somewhat close to dark and there were really dark clouds with lightning in them coming upon us. So, they really didn’t have enough time to make it all the way. They walked as far as a mile from the actual river and had to turn around. Dad came back for me (he didn’t have to!) and we walked back to the vehicle. As we were walking, I saw (about 100 yards in front of us) a jackrabbit!!! It ran, very quickly, across the trail. At first I didn’t know what it was because it was huge! But it ran like a rabbit runs and the ears are really not proportionate to the body. We also saw some pretty birds along the way, but didn’t get pics either. We got back to the vehicle and waited a few minutes and everyone else caught up with us. We drove back to the camper and Mom & Alison went and took showers while I tried to organize the stuff in the camper. When they got back, I took a shower and Mom made hamburgers and hot dogs and we ate while the wind began beating our poor camper around…again. We cleaned up from supper and got ready for bed. We were all whipped from the hike and thirstier ‘n all get out! The rains came down and the winds blew and the rains poured down and the winds blew harder. Then it calmed down a little for the rest of the night. Mom threw out some old boiled eggs that she had brought that went bad. The skunks loved ‘em! When we got up in the morning, one was finishing off one of the last ones.

Pics from day 6 go to:
http://www.photomax.com/web/mem_album_photo_slide_show.php?TrackId=1873489&RandomId=305622572


Day 7 - Friday
We left Del Rio, TX this morning and on the way toward the Davis Mountains, we stopped by and took pictures of the walls of the Rio Grande. We never did get close enough to see the actual river, but it was pretty nonetheless. Then we stopped in Langtry, TX and went into see Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon. It had the real saloon on the actual site which, now is in the middle of town. They had his walking cane which was intricately carved and they had all kinds of other artifacts. It was really neat. They also had a cactus garden with different kinds of cacti growing. They are really pretty in bloom. I think this trip was the first time I ever saw a cactus out west blooming. They are all so pretty. We got to the Davis Mountain State Park and as soon as we pulled in, there were deer walking all around the campgrounds, even close to the people sitting out in their chairs outside. We left camp to go to the scenic overlooks. We drove up a mountain and walked around up there and took some pretty pictures. For supper, we went to this place that Joe had read about that said they served “Cowboy cuisine” called the Reata. (pronounced Riata). The food didn’t live up to the expense. Don’t get me wrong, it was good food, but really expensive and it wasn’t even REAL cowboy cuisine! It was run by a sissy boy that greeted us when we came in. He was dressed in western clothing, but he was in NO way a cowboy! A real cowboy would’ve beat him down! So, we spent way too much money, then went back to the campgrounds to finish setting up camp, went inside the camper and hooked up the laptop and watched an episode of F-troop, then went to bed. After we turned the lights out we got to laughing about something and Dad told me to snort (as I do sometimes when I really get to laughing), then we heard a real snort…or something that also sounded like an angry dog growling outside down at the campsite next to us. We all hushed and looked out with our flashlights and found that the campers next to us had ignorantly left out 2 coolers and a trashcan full of stuff that smelled like food. So, the javelinas (wild pig-type animals from this area) were enjoying a free meal. They ransacked their camp…mostly got into the coolers, but they started fighting over some of it and one of them threw another into the side of their pop-up camper! Some of them were really fighting over that food! They moseyed down our way, but we hadn’t left anything out except the cactus and ferns that we had accumulated over the trip sitting in buckets and the toolbox under the camper. Joe went out and sat on the picnic table with his video camera trying to get it all on tape (not that good though…it was pitch dark) and I had my window open and I was laying on my stomach looking out. They didn’t really hang around our camp that much, but I saw them and a skunk up close. One javelina came up to the door after Joe came back inside and it stood there looking at Joe and Mom almost as if he were asking them for a handout! They’re so ugly they’re cute! I think it kinda scared the pee out of all of us (except Alison, she fell asleep!!) because we really weren’t expecting that kind of wildlife contact. So, after most of them had passed, Joe, Mom and I ventured out and headed to the bathrooms for one last trip. Because I wasn’t going to go back out after that until daylight! No sireee! Then we did go to bed. The first night we slept in the camper without wind. It did rain a little bit, but it was really just a sprinkle.

Pics from day 7 go to:
http://www.photomax.com/web/mem_album_photo_slide_show.php?TrackId=1873526&RandomId=1926699175

Day 8 - Saturday
We went to leave the Davis Mountains State Park and the javelinas came back for more. They were much calmer this morning. They just walked around the campground sniffin’ around. They really weren’t scared of us at all, like the deer when we got there. We did get to take some good pictures of them in the daylight. Joe tried to take some at night, but they really didn’t take that well. So, we checked out of the campground and Joe bought a walking stick made out of Sotol (a native plant from here) and a small metal tag to nail to his walking stick. He’s going to get one from every state park that we go to from here. He wishes that he would’ve thought about it at the start of the trip. Oh well. This campground is probably all of our favorite so far. It was pretty and we had a lot of contact with a lot of wildlife. We left around 8:30amCST this morning and just drove, and drove and drove….and drove. We took a lot of pretty pictures along the way. For lunch we stopped at a Mexican fast food chain in El Paso, TX called Taco Campana. It was okay, we thought it was going to be much better. The we drove and drove…and drove some more. We finally stopped at a free campground and set up camp. We cooked barbecued chicken on the grill and Mom fried potatoes and we had salad. It was a really good supper. Around 2:30am we all got cold and pulled out the extra blankets. I think it got a little colder than we anticipated. I wished I’d have put my long sleeve t-shirt on instead of the short sleeve one. We slept well, no wind, no rain. Yay!!!

Pics from day 8 go to:
http://www.photomax.com/web/mem_album_photo_slide_show.php?TrackId=1873531&RandomId=252264969

FYI

Just to let y'all know (I'm starting to talk like a Texan!), when we got close to our campgrounds last night, we lost all cell phone signal. So, if you've been trying to get ahold of us, you can't. We all turned our phones off last night. (Thursday night) We're going to get signal on the way to El Paso today, but our next campsite is very primitive...if this one wasn't primitive enough...we actually had electricity this time...this next one won't. So, I don't know when you'll be able to get ahold of us. We need either wi-fi or cell phone signal to get online. So, I'll try to keep y'all up to date on what's goin' on. Keep us in your prayers for travelling mercies. We love y'all! Later!

Day 5 & 6 (Wednesday & Thursday)

Wow! Ok, we have had a lot happen in the last couple days. Yesterday (Wed.) we left Aunt Sandy's in Tomball around 9:30 am and headed toward San Antonio. We got there and dropped off the camper and ran in to see SanAn. First, we went to Pico de Gallo - the most authentic Mexican restaurant in San Antonio for lunch. It was maravilloso!!! Then, we went to El Mercado and bought some cool cultural things. Then we headed over to see the Alamo...that was at 5:25pm, the sign at the gate said that they close at 5:30pm!!!! So, we took (literally) a whirlwind tour of the Alamo in 5 minutes! We ran in and bought a couple things and got run out. After that, we went down the Riverwalk, which was really pretty, then we went back to camp and grilled some burgers. Unfortunately, there were no showers at the campground that we stayed at and with all the walking around in San Antonio we all could've used some clothespins! (Peeeee-yoooo!!!!) We got stormed on off an on throughout the night. The camper was really rockin' from the wind. We had to close the windows because it was raining in and boy did it get stuffy!!! So, not only were we sticky from the sweat left on our bodies from the previous day, but we added to it when there wasn't any air moving around in the camper after we closed it up. So, we woke up this morning - tired. We got up early (before the sun came up...it was still raining.) and closed up camp because we had to be out of there by 8am. (I don't like that rule!) We took off at 8 almost exactly and headed toward Del Rio (right on the border of Mexico). On the way, we stopped at the Alamo Village (which I didn't know existed). It is the set of the Alamo and old San Anton that was built for the movie the Alamo (w/John Wayne). It is still an active movie set and has always been a working ranch. It was really neat! We took quite a few pictures and it was a blast! Then we headed to the campground. We stopped for a quick lunch and went to Wal-mart to get stuff for supper tonight. We made it to the campgrounds at 4:35pm and found out that they close the offices and cash registers at 4:45pm!!! We have really been cutting it close because we didn't make a reservation for this one! When we got here, we put up the camper so it would dry out from last night and left camp setup for later. We went on a hike that leads to the Rio Grande, but it is a 3.5 mile hike (one way) and it was really hot, so I was having problems making it in the heat and there are now...storms coming in from Mexico. Hmmm...I think the storms followed us from Ohio. I just found it funny that the first night we camped, it was really windy, the second night we camped (last night) it stormed and the third night (tonight) it's going to storm again. What fun!! We really ARE having fun though. It's just been not so good sleeping. At least tonight, it's cooler and we TOOK SHOWERS!!! Yay!!! I'm clean and hopefully I'm going to sleep well tonight in spite of the storms. Well, we do have a Wi-Fi connection here but it's getting late and I haven't gone through and uploaded the pictures onto the computer, let alone the internet. So, it's 9pm (10pm at home) and we're tired. I think I'm going to try to sleep now. I'll get you some pics some time soon I hope. I don't know if the next campground has Wi-Fi or not. So, see ya latah!!!

Day 4 - Part 2

The Saturn V from the back...
This is the very top of the Saturn V...you see the triangle part on the far right? That's the control module. Three guys would basically lay in there from start to end of the mission!
The beautiful Texas longhorn...
...and another!
Check the pretty flowers!
Well, that's about it...other than, we stopped at Landry's which is a seafood restaurant in Kemah, which is near Galveston. Awesome food! I had jumbo coconut shrimp with steak fries and onion rings. Then for dessert, we all shared a bananas foster. Wonderful!!! Then we came back to Aunt Sandy's and hung out for a while, then made supper for everyone. David, Debbie & Alex came over about an hour or so after Austin & Robert came home from work. Then we grilled chicken and steak that has been marinading since yesterday. Mom made her roasted potatoes and I made a plantain dish to put over vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was soooooo yummy! Well, Joe's waiting for the computer, so I'd better go. From now until we get to Gallup, NM, I won't have a DSL wi-fi connection, so I probably won't be able to do near as many pictures. So, you'll just have to wait for some of them. I am also starting a 2 week series called "The daily boyfriends of Alison". You'll just have to wait until I get that going... :-) See ya later!

End Day 4 (Tuesday) - Part 1

We went to the NASA Johnson Space Center today in Houston. You know..."Houston, we have a problem," Houston.

Here are pics from there...this (below) is out front of the museum.
This is the original mission control! Where Neil Armstrong's pioneer trip to the moon was controlled. Cool, huh?
This was the Saturn V. Talk about humongous!!! These are just the boosters.
Joe & I beside one of the boosters.
More pics to come...

End of Day 2 (Sunday) - Day 3 (Monday)

Okay, I have discovered that Alison loves to take pictures of herself...this is her trying on Mom's glasses. She said she loves this pic.
Mom wanted a banana, so I reached around to the back of the vehicle to get the bunch of 'em. One of them had a squished tip end which really set Mom off to cackling. Joe said that she probably laid a dozen eggs in about 2-5 minutes!
We kinda just hung out at Aunt Sandy's house on Monday for part of the day. She has a pergola out back and two sky chairs that hang from it. They are really nice. It appears that Alison is sleeping, but if you look closely at the right side of the pic, she is also taking this picture!!!
Mom apparently didn't want her picture taken...
We also went shopping for Tuesday night's supper that we're cooking for the family at a store called Fiesta. A lot of hispanic foods available! Yum!!!
We also went to Joe's cousin, Alex's (he's in kindergarten) t-ball game. The quickest and cutest ballgame that I've ever seen!!!

Random pics thus far...mostly of Alison...

Arkansas has bamboo!
Alison...kissing bamboo?!?!?
I think Alison loves bamboo...
...and tic-tacs!
...and apparently fish???

Day 2 continued...

When we got to the Crater of Diamonds, we paid to get in and went mining for diamonds. I thought I found one or two diamonds…but it was just quartz. So sad… *sniff…sniff* I did find some larger pieces of jasper and some volcanic material that was really pretty too, but no diamond. When Joe and his parents were waiting for Alison and I to come out of the souvenir shop, Joe was standing still by a mining cart at the front door. There was a couple that walked up and were snickering…he said that his wife told him that Joe looked so real standing there (she thought he was a statue/mannequin) and he said “He is.” They were laughing all the way inside. I thought it was funny.

Dad and Alison digging for diamonds...

Me, wishing and hoping that I found a diamond...but didn't.

We left there and went on our way to find some food…target: Sonic. We finally found one in Texarkana that was run by a bunch of teenagers that don’t know how to run a business…Mom could teach them how to make a banana split! I also learned that Texarkana is half in Texas and half in Arkansas, thus the name Tex-Arkana. Duh, Missy! So, after we got done eating while driving…we had a blow out on the camper. The passenger side tire busted and we had to stop and fix it. As the guys were starting to fix it, a car coming the opposite way blew a tire also. I began to wonder if there wasn’t some kind of material that got dropped on the highway, but who knows.

The guys fixing the flat...

We got it fixed and started on our way to find a Wal-mart so we could buy 2 spare tires…just in case. We just got out of there and now we’re stopping for fuel…again. It’s $3.69/gallon…which is really the highest that we’ve paid so far…really it’s average. We’re somewhere in Texas now…not too far inside the border from Arkansas, headed toward Aunt Sandy’s house. We’re staying with her and Uncle Robert for the next 2-3 days. Maybe I’ll actually get to sleep tonight!!!

Day 2 - 5:50 pm CST

Ok, it was a seriously long trip yesterday. We stopped in Nashville at 11:30 CST for lunch at Steak ‘n Shake. We got back on the road and it seemed like Tennessee would never end. We finally crossed over to Arkansas and it seemed like another eternity to get to Hot Springs. We ran into a quick downpour of rain before we got to camp, then it got really windy. When we got to the campgrounds (KOA in Hot Springs), we heard on the radio that there was a tornado in Little Rock (northwest of where we were). So, we were under a tornado watch until 2am. We were so exhausted when we got to camp, we just wanted to crash. Problem was, we had to set up camp still and there was really not any air moving inside the camper and it was humid. Yuck! Mom, Joe and Alison went down the hill to order some pizza because we really didn’t want to spend all the time preparing a meal, cooking over a fire that we had to start and then cleaning up. So, by the time they got back, Dad and I had camp mostly set up and somewhat organized and I was sweating to high heaven. Bleck!!! My head was killing me because I think I have taken after Superhubby and started getting barometric pressure change headaches. The pizza showed up and we sucked it all down in no time, then I required a shower before I went to bed. By the time Alison and I got back from the showers, Mom, Dad and Joe were all crashed already. So, I called my mom to let her know we were still alive and then I crashed…kinda. If you knew me as a child, if we had a tornado watch, I couldn’t fall asleep until it was over. We were sleeping with the windows open in the camper and the wind was picking up a lot and it was moving the trees above us a little too much for my comfort. We laid down around 9:30pm and I really didn’t fall asleep until after midnight. Then I woke up every half an hour to hour because of the wind. I got to the point that I was praying that God would shut me off until morning. So, between the wind and Dad’s snoring, we were all (minus Dad) not sleeping well all night. I woke up around 5:30 and found Mom missing. Joe said he thought that she went to the vehicle to sleep…she did. At 6:30, we woke up again and found Alison missing too…she and Mom had taken off to the restrooms…from there, we got up and started getting things underway. Mom made her famous pancakes on the camper stove (once again, we really didn’t want to mess with a fire…) and we got ready for the day and started packing up camp. We checked out and began driving towards the Crater of Diamonds near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. On the way, Mom found a doughnut place that she has fond memories of, so we stopped and got some. Here's some pics from that...Their sign...
Mom gettin' into them...

Mmmmmm....doughnuts.....

"Eat your hole out Crispy Cream!!!"

We also found this place down the road from there:

Brother Hall...are you keeping something from us???

Day 1 - Road Trip Part 2 (end of day)

We crossed the Mississippi River (Alison was smiling!!!!)
We finally got to the campground around 7 pm CST (8pm - home) and we ordered pizza because we were too tired to cook. We scarfed it down, took showers and tried to crash. This picture (above) is Alison trying to make a bottle whistle.
Here is Dad & Joe showing her how it's done. :-)

God really worked it all out. He arranged for us not to get the campgrounds in Murfreesboro, close to the Crater of Diamonds, but an hour away in Hot Springs was the closest we could get. Last night we found out why...Hot Springs was in a small area in between two strong storms which both had tornado warnings last night. We were under a tornado watch until 2am. There apparently was a lot of tornadic activity around Murfreesboro. Scary...God is good!!!

Day 1 - Road Trip

Mom trying to trip the car passing us by throwing a banana peel out the driver's side window!!!
Dad, Alison & I passing the loooong Tennessee trip by playing Risk on Joe's computer.
Alison really started getting mad at the computer player on Risk. He was really winning!
The only traffic jam that we ran into was 2 miles long. Joe went on Tennessee's website and found the cause before we got there.
Here's the cause!

Day 1 - 9am CST

Superhubby arose this morning at 2:50 and woke me up at 2:58...2 minutes before my alarm was to go off!!!! Don’t you hate that? I finally fell asleep around midnight last night and woke back up at 2, then fell back to sleep. So, I got around 3 hours of sleep. If you know me well, I don’t function on less than 7 hours, so I’m not doing too wonderful in my brain.
Well, we pushed off from the in-laws (I mean out-laws :-) ) at 3:40 am. A 20 minute miracle! We were supposed to leave at 4. Molly and Woody knew we were leaving last night when we took their bed over to the in-laws. Molly had that worried look on her face every time we’d go to take something out to the camper or vehicle and leave her in the house. So, we had to say g’bye to our babies this morning. I miss them already. It’s now 10am for those of you at home and we’re in Tennessee. Mom-in-law said we’re definitely going to make Nashville by noon (especially if it’s home time, not central time).
We’re making really good time, not as good mileage and I actually got a nap in the mix. But only after I curled up in the back of the Explorer with my pillow and blankie. Most of our stuff is packed in the camper, so I slept back here with the food and cooler. I really don’t know how long I slept, but it really wasn’t bad rest. Well, more later.

2 days, 13 hours and 28 minutes!!!!!!!

Ok, so I'm taking a break. I really didn't plan on blogging before sometime on Saturday or Sunday, but I need a break! The yard is finally (mostly) mowed. There are a couple places that I let go because I got tired of being "yelled" at by Superhubby. I unfortunately ran over 2 of his baby hazelnut trees. When he doesn't have them marked well and the grass got taller than they were...it was almost inevitable for lil' miss Missy to do. So, I avoided that area on top of the hill where his raspberries are. We've worked on the garden like locos and still don't have it all done. Last night we worked until we couldn't see anymore. We drug the monstrous charcoal grill out back to the garden and grilled chicken and potatoes and veggies. Finally we packed up all the gardening stuff and when Superhubby got to the grill he needed a flashlight to see the food. :-) We finished planting too many tomatoes and began planting plenty of peppers. I finished planting horrendous amounts of hot peppers today. We still have pumpkins/squash and melons to plant. Hopefully it'll clear up enough on Friday afternoon that Superhubby can come home and plant them. My roses, creeping Jenny and lilac still need planted also. I'd like (I'm afraid it's wishful thinking) to plant some seeds for my climbing flowers to see if they'll come up before we get back, but I don't know if that'll happen. The house is the next thing on the list. Cleaning time!!! Monday night, mom-in-law wanted to close up the camper and have it all ready to go because of the rain that they've been calling for to make sure that it doesn't get rained on and is dry when it's closed up. So, Monday I had all the clothes and stuff that went in the camper all packed up and took it all over. Now, all we need to make sure is packed is the bathroom bag with the last minute essentials, the much needed electronics (ie. laptop for blogging, digital camera and video camera and mp3 players.) Friday night, the dogs' bed is going over to mom-in-law's (they're staying with Superhubby's cousin at her house whilst we are gallyvanting around the country) along with Red the guinea pigster. The kittens are growing up a lot! They all have their eyes open now and they are sooooo cute!! Tillie is getting anxious to go outside, so I'm going to have to make sure that cuz and neighbor lady know to watch that she doesn't leave the house when they come in to feed. Well, while I'm waiting on the storms to arrive, I've got to go get caught up on my cleaning. I'm sure we'll see eachother again soon. Same time, same channel! :-) As Superhubby would say "Lost an old bagel!" (Hasta Luego for those of you who don't speak Joe)

7 Days, 13 hours & 17 minutes!!!!!!

Yeah, m'kay...I'm gettin' anxious! With a million and one things to do before we leave, I just wanna go now! I don't wanna have to do one of those million and one things...waaaaaaaah! Well, on a good note, the front garden is fully planted! Bad note, the back garden isn't even half way planted. :-( We've got all the cucumbers, zucchini, beets, cabbage, greens, potatoes, most onions & lettuces planted. We've got TOO MANY tomato & pepper plants that need planted in the back. The peas are coming up. Half the corn is planted. The pumpkins & melons are still in trays awaiting plantation and Lord knows how many more things need planted before we depart. That's just the veggies. I know I've got a lilac, a rose & some "creeping Jenny" (like creeping phlox) that need planted too. Among all that, the large yard that we have needs mowed, the house needs cleaned & all laundry needs done so I can pack. The good news is, the laundry's almost complete. The bad news is, the house is a wreck! I've assigned myself a room or area a day to get it done by Friday of next week. This includes mowing the front and side yards on my own during the daytime while praying that it doesn't rain on the days that I've allotted for it.
Nuff about all that I need to do...the kitties are getting so much bigger! Two have eyes completely open and the other is half way there. I've started thinking about how much they've grown just over the last week and a half and how much I'm going to miss during the two weeks that I'm going to be gone. I helped Tillie out today by changing the teeny tiny box that she had picked out under the table with a box twice the size. Poor thing had those babies crawling all over her, clawing at her face and everything. The box really was only big enough for her to lay in, let alone add three quickly growing kittens. I think she likes it now that she's checked it all out and everything's kosher. At first she was like "Hey, whadda ya doin'?!?" But after a couple minutes, she settled right in.
Ok, so I renewed my cellphone contract a couple weeks ago and ordered my new phone online. I got it last Saturday. It's a red (dark red, not fire engine red like Donnie's) Motorola Razor. I'm not sure that I like it. But the cheaper phones really aren't worth much anymore. It's definitely an upgrade from the trash Samsung I had before. Even though it was cute, it wasn't by any means practical. This phone is the Razor V3a...nothing like the V3m or V3i. It doesn't have an mp3 player or a micro sd slot *sniff, sniff...* One thing it does have is a camera/videocamera. But that's about it. Yeah, they're cute, but not really what I was looking for. I was trying for the LG AX2800 which is a lot like the Razor, but it actually has an mp3 player and card slot for only $19.00 more. After rebate I got this one for $0.99. The problem was, our service provider is phasing the LG phone out and phasing in the MUCH more expensive one the next step up. So, (in a know-it-all voice) they "didn't have anymore in stock". Even though it was still on the website. "I'm sorry ma'am, I don't know why it's still on our website." I hate that! Oh, well...guess I'm stuck with this phone (cute, but not really what I wanted) for two years. Maybe in two years, there will be an acceptable phone in the "cheap" category for when you renew contract. We'll see.
Speaking of things that I hate...I really dislike those little pieces of skin that decide the hang out over top your cuticles and get caught on things and then bleed like a stuck pig when pulled off accidentally. You have anything like this that you greatly dislike?

Okay...The Official Countdown has already begun!

We're going on vacation not this coming Saturday, but next. That means...
10 DAYS & COUNTING!!!
I will be blogging during our adventures out west. I can't say how often, but I'll hopefully be posting pics too. We're hoping to get one of our cell phones to work as a modem to accomplish this. We're on the race now to get everything done that needs done before we leave, ie: clean the house, mow the yard, get most of the garden planted, clean out the leftovers in the fridge, etc. I'm trying to get caught up on laundry too...not my favorite thing to do. Alison is going with us, she's so pumped about it that she's had a month long countdown going on herself. :-)

The kittens are 9 days old now and one has its eyes open and another is just beginning to open them. They're getting fat, but Tillie has moved them into our bedroom, hidden in a box under a table. She just moved them today.

Well, I'm sorry for such a shorty bloggy, but I've run out of things to say...it's getting late and I'm tired. So, hasta luego amigos!!!

I'm a momma!!!

Nope, not what you think! Ha ha! Sunday morning I woke up and found Tillie (the white cat w/gray patch of hair on her head & one blue & one green eye) had gotten skinnier. We had an inkling that she was prego, but we weren't sure. We brought her in the house 3 months ago when we found she had gone into heat one Sunday night after church. Well, here's the result: She had 4 (3 look almost exactly like her..one of those died in birth and 1 that looks like the male that's been running around lately...a dark gray tiger striped). Aren't they cute?

I'm also pumped (for many reasons, but...) because I have an interview at 1:30 today for a smaller food store that sells meat products & fresh produce. Pray for me, because since I quit teaching, we've been kinda keepin' it tight.

Well, I gotta go fix lunch, Superhubby's home today with a sever headache. I'm going to see if I can get him to eat. Then I'm going to have to get ready to leave for the interview soon. Latah!

Randomness...

Whoops! Over the phone when Mom told me my baby nephew's name that has been picked out, it sounded like Nathan...but it's Mason! Cool name huh? Me likey! Sorry for the mistake all!
The outreach revival that we had was awesome! Really unlike any revival I've ever been a part of. On Saturday we were at the park and had music, drama, puppets, free candy and all kinds of other stuff and it was fun! One of the guys that (at the time I didn't know who he was) I gave a flier to throughout the week sometime turned out to be one that rents off of our good friends. They showed up at the park on Saturday and I got to meet the whole family. They are a Puerto Rican family. The wifey is going to have a baby, if she hasn't already. And they're going to name her Génesis. It is their first child together, so I think it's very appropriate and beautiful! So, we stood around talking on Saturday for a while and they showed up on Sunday to the service. He decided that he wanted to get baptized after I explained it to them (in Spanish...my first). He had, as a child been baptized under the trinity and I told them how getting rebaptized in Jesus name was biblical. So, he and the two kids (around 10-12 yrs old) got baptized. She said that she wanted to, but later. I assume that it was a fear that went along with the pregnancy, but I don't know. We actually baptized somewhere around 16 people just on Sunday. I've heard that 3-4 people also got the Holy Ghost that day. God is amazing! We usually run somewhere around 200 on Sundays and we had somewhere between 400-450 there just for that one service! I'm excited to see how many show back up in the next few services. I fully expect to see the PR family there tonight, but it may depend on work schedules.
Well, we are one month away from VACATION TIME!!! That's right, in one month we are going to take a two week trip out west. Looking forward to the loop through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, (possibly) Utah and Colorado then back home is just too much to bear at this point. It's so close, but there's still a lot to do in preparation. I'm planning on keeping up with my blog throughout the trip so you all can see what we're up to and where we are at the time. Pics and all!!! So, as of right now, we're trying to get the garden started and get all organized for the two weeks of absence here. I'm so excited! Well, gotta go for now. I've got to add my bloggy list back on since I didn't realize it knocked 'em all off when I changed my background pic. Sorry all!
Hasta luego!

Shout, For He has given us this city!

Revival fire fall! Since I've been walking the city streets all week, I've not had time to post about all of the absolutely awesome things that God is doing! Ok, really, revival started on Easter Sunday night. We had one lady (Jackie) get baptized in Jesus name and get the Holy Ghost. The following Sunday night (last week) one man (Terry) did the same. We started revival with the Cook's that same day. All afternoon on Sunday, we walked around town, hanging door hangers and handing out fliers advertising our big community day and giveaway event that is to happen today (and yesterday at the park). I walked the streets some more on Monday afternoon, Tuesday all day, Wednesday all day, Thursday all day and worked on stuff in the office, calling people and gathering a list of names on Friday. During Wednesday night's service, 6 were baptized in Jesus name (one of which got the Holy Ghost) and two others got the Holy Ghost! On Friday, Brother Cook went out talking to people on the street and he found a man that was in need of God and he ended up coming back to the church and getting baptized and received an awesome touch from God! I hope he shows up to the service today! So, since Easter Sunday, 9 have gotten baptized and 5 have received the Holy Ghost! And it's not over yet! The whole church has had an incredible anticipation of today's service. We all feel like it's going to be such a huge outpouring of the Spirit! I can't wait until 2:00 when it all starts!
On a side note, on Tuesday, my brother and sis-in-law told us that they're going to have a boy! I don't remember if I told you before, but at Christmas they told us the good news. So, for now, they have picked out Nathan for a name. She's due in early August. Yay! I'm going to be an auntie!!! :-)
Another side note, the kiddos' verdict came in for the March trial. The court is giving mom and dad another two months to get their act together. So, yet another trial some time in May. Woohoo.....

Dryin' out!

Sorry for such a long lag in between posts, but as I mentioned before, I've been fighting SUPER s--l--o--w connections. So, we're beginning to dry out and so are the phone lines, so, I've got a fast enough connection now to actually do something online. Yay! I'm tellin' ya, we're so very close to finishing the house it's not even funny. I've been working on priming the walls in the kiddos' rooms all week and I'm going back to it as soon as I finish this post. We worked on trimming the girl's room last night, but didn't finish. We did enough that I can move some stuff out of the way so I can finish priming the final wall in that room. Her room is almost done. I started priming the boy's room, but had to stop because of the stuff that we need to get rid of. Speaking of which, is there anyone out there that would like a nice cabinet radio (old fashioned) complete with record player and 8 track to fix up? I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with it, from what I gather, it's minor, but we picked up two and we've already got one in our bedroom. We just don't have room for another, or the time to fix it up. Let me know. We're still running into storage issues. Still selling things on ebay. I finally broke down and TOLD Superhubby that he had to buy a toolbox big enough to fit all his tools in! I'm tired of whatever room we're working in, there's a pile of tools in the middle of it. It used to be my utility room, then it moved to the kids' bathroom and now it's been the boy's room for quite some time now and I'm tripping over tools like crazy! So, we finally went to the tool store and he picked one out. Now, I just have to get him to sit down and organize things into which toolbox he wants what. I'm still fighting the pile o'tools. I may just throw 'em all in the big tool box and make him organize when he gets around to it. I can't get to where I want to paint in that room. Grrr! Last Saturday, Superhubby and his dad worked on the back overhang over the back doors. They're almost done, but we have to go back to the tool store tonight to get another sheet of plywood. We under estimated. :-( Because he's coming back over tomorrow to help finish it. We should be able to do the home inspection and fire inspection in the next few weeks.

Yes, I did have a birthday. Woopee! I'm 28. Two years from 30...whaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I don't know if I can handle it! My wonderful Spanish students threw me a party on Monday night in class. (Muchas gracias!) I wasn't expecting it and me being my prompt (early) self, spoiled the surprize! Oops. Tomorrow night we're going out to eat with the fam. I hope everyone can make it. It'll be fun!

Ok guys, Sunday night, H.O.P. is up for their next "performance" (I hate calling it a performance, but what else can you call it? Suggestions?) and I'm super SUPER nervous!!!! I'm doing a skit, a monologue to be exact and I've never done a speaking part in anything before! After that, we're doing a song that God put on my heart and gave me the choreography to. I pray it is so very powerful! Pray for me, especially that I can remember my lines! :-) I asked my family to come, I hope they do. I could use a little support in this and I really miss seeing them at church. I don't see them very often now, and I miss that. Well all, I really have to go get covered in paint again. Somebody's gotta do it! :-) Later!

Life is against me!

The last three days (Tues - Thurs) have been against me blogging!
It all began from the rain on Mon. & Tues. and I was busier than all get out trying to get things done around here. On top of all the housework that is added on by the drywall dust and added "junk" from other rooms in rooms that they don't belong, I had to work on my piano (on which I feel like I'm slacking) and H.O.P. stuff. Hands of Praise has become my new "burden" that God has blessed me in. It used to be the music department, God would give me songs to sing that I felt would bless others. Now, on top of giving me songs, He's giving me "dramas" or "human videos" and sign-language/dowel movements to go along with the songs. So far "My All" which we did back in the fall and March's song (TBA for surprise purposes) have been given to me by God. We're going to do something like what we did back in the fall/winter with "Everything" (the drama/human video of the girl being attacked by sin and Jesus coming to her rescue). It's the same concept of dramatics, but it is so very powerful! I was listening to the song...I've heard it quite a few times on cd...and all the sudden it just started playing out in my mind. I approached H.O.P. leader and said "Waddaya think?" and he loved it! So, that's what we're working on now. ANYWHO, I had a gob of things to do on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we had so much rain that our yard was a mote and the water was seeping into our phone lines. And you can only imagine what that does to dial-up! I went from a 46kbps connection to a 12kbps connection! Killer! I did NOTHING on line Wednesday.

Thursday was basically the same way, but I was trying to get the rest of my house clean because I have a new student that just started coming out on Thursdays. It's a guy I went to high school with (come to find out, he married a girl I went to college with! Crazy!) He contacted our old Spanish teacher to find out if he could get private lessons because he's working in law enforcement now and she called me and said "Help! I have no time! Can you?" And I said, "Sure, why not?" So, most of my day was spent finishing the clean up from the days before and getting his lesson all squared up in my mind. It went well. It was really weird seeing him all grown up though! 10 yrs post - high school! Wow!

The last couple days I've been working on priming the new drywall and painting over that UGLY bold pinky color that used to be the kiddos' rooms. I'm not even close to being done! I was focusing on the areas around the doors and windows because Superhubby was going to trim them last night. He ran into a problem though, he needed to add a tidbit of drywall because the trim didn't cover all of the gap beside the door. Bummer! More spackling, sanding and priming! Yuck! We did complete the two bathrooms over the last week though! All trim up, all painting done, it's a wonderful feeling! So, now...all we really have to focus on are the two kids' rooms, the soffit work on the roof and anything they may tell us after the first home study visit that we need to do. So, pray for us because the kids' trial is on the 17th, yup, my b-day. I told Superhubby "This could be a really good b-day or a really bad one depending on what happens." Well, toodles!

Let the Hallelujah Chorus Roll!!!

Everyone has been asking me lately, "So, you EVER going to blog again?!?!" Here I am! I'm going to try for once a week until I get more time.
So, Miss...what've you been doing for the last four months? Well, we're STILL working on the house. But there is a very bright light at the end that really isn't that far away. All that's left is to finish the spackling and sanding on the new drywall, priming, painting, trimming around windows, doors and the floor in a few rooms and a bit of work on the roof. Very little compared to before! I had to give up my responsabilities in the music dept. at the church so that we could get more progress much quicker on the house. We've come farther in the last month and a half than we have over the 6 months before! We've worked every Thursday night, all day Saturday and any days that Superhubby has off. I've begun selling things on ebay to get rid of the stuff we don't use anymore and we're trying to clean out the kiddie's rooms. This house really doesn't give us many options for storage. This last weekend, Superhubby didn't go to work because of the bad weather, so we worked all day then too. Saturday we fixed the attic entrance and put some stuff that would keep in an attic environment up there. So, other than that and the hall closets, we really don't have any storage space. Speaking of his job, he did finally get hired on where he was working as a temp since early last year. It became official mid-November.
As far as the kiddos, we may only try for two instead of three because the youngest of the 5 got sent back to his dad last month. We don't want one of them left without any sibs. Well, I've run out of time, hopefully to see you again soon! Hasta luego!