Thanksgiving blessings......

Yesterday was a wonderful time sharing the day with family and friends.  We had an absolutely delicious dinner followed by the taking of family photos.  I thought I would share a slideshow of some of our family.  Hope you enjoy!

A few home remedies......

Thought I would pass along these neat home remedies that I saw in a newspaper article recently.

• Got gas problems?  Take one tsp of olive oil on an empty stomach each morning.  It helps to prevent gas.
• Tummy hurt?  Mix 1/2 tsp of baking soda with 4 oz of warm water and send it down the hatch.  You burp almost instantaneously.
• Got bloating issues?  Take the juice of 1/2 of a lemon and mix it into 1 cup of hot water.
• Blocked up?  Take 2 tsps of apple cider vinegar twice daily and mix it with 8 ozs of water.
• Heartburn problems?  Before you eat, mix the juice of 1/2 lemon along with a pinch of salt and add it into 8oz of water and drink.  After you eat you can also try 1 tsp of honey to take care of that heartburn as well.

Hope one or all of these help if you have those dreaded digestive problems!

Question of the week.......

Well, it looks as if the classic Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life" won as the favorite Christmas movie.

This week I thought I would throw out a poll regarding probably one of the most anticipated days of the year.  I'm not talking about Turkey Day or even Christmas, I'm talking about you guessed it......Black Friday!  So, are you going to brave the pushing, shoving, name calling, kicking, biting (hopefully not!) crowds that are associated with what they say is the busiest shopping day of the year?  I admit that I too have participated in this holiday tradition.  Not the pushing and shoving or even biting part but I have gotten up at a ridiculous time of the morning with way not enough sleep only to arrive seeing that 1000 other people got up even earlier than I did!  All for the sake of a $5.00 mini chopper!  Ok well maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration but I did score a nice shop vac for the hubby last year for only $20 so I guess there is some savings to it.  I myself haven't decided if I am going to brave the early morning rush hour this year.  I am really cutting back on my shopping this year not only due to the economy but something just doesn't seem right about it to me anymore.  Like I said in a previous post it seems that more and more generations are relying on the amount of "stuff" that they have.  I personally think it would be wonderful to get back to the basics of what Christmas truly means.  The celebration of our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus!  I wonder when it was that we allowed the world to turn it into a free for all?  Hmmm, anyway I hope you enjoy and participate in this week's poll.

Mondays.....

Well, here I am again on a Monday waiting on the repairman for my washer!  Twice in one month, how lucky can I be!  I was just able to knock out Mount Fullbright of laundry from the last time of being without a washer for over a week!

I guess it doesn't help matters that I couldn't sleep last night (must have been that 3 hour nap) so I did the next best thing......clean.  You would think with 5 kids I wouldn't have to worry about these things.  I'm seriously thinking about bring back Eva Braun for a return visit.  After waiting all weekend for the kids to get their chores done (miracles do happen don't they?), I had finally had enough of seeing the hurricane a clutter around my living room and decided to tackle it at 11pm.  Three hours later I put quite a dent into it.  Cleaned off the top of the TV, swept the living room, rearranged the dining room table, picked up the clutter off of the end tables, dusted, and even got in another episode of Law & Order.  Whew!  Finally went to bed around 2am, listened to Meg's Ipod for about 30 minutes (still can't seem to find mine), and finally drifted off to la-la land.

With all that I did last night and early this morning you would think that I would be able to sleep in!  Nope!  Was wide awake at 6:30a after 4 hours of sleep so now I can say my hutch is clean, my bedroom has been straighted up, the clothes that are multiplying by the second in my bathroom have been shoved, kicked, and thrown into the corner so the repair guy can get to the washer!  I am now enjoying my THIRD episode of Dora the Explorer that is after watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Special Agent Oso.  Now if only I can talk the Hubby to start putting up Christmas decorations my crazy life will be absolutely perfect! :o)

So that's how they're made!

Ever wonder how a pumpkin pie is made? Well thanks to my s/i/l Becky you finally have the answer! :o)

Keep it Going!!

With their victory last night against Williston, the Lady Dogs are now 6-0 for the season! Even though the game started at a slow pace the Lady Dogs soon picked up tempo with some good passing and crosses. Our Meg even had her first assist for the season! Their next game is against Wakulla on Tuesday. Way to go Ladies!

Question of the week.......

Well it seems that most everyone has jumped on the 2% milk bandwagon myself included. My mind tells me that it's better than whole milk and let's face it, I have never been able to get over the skim milk taste or non-taste!

With the holidays upon us already (I am finding it harder and harder NOT to put up my tree!). I thought I would enter the movie vault with this week's question. What is your favorite holiday movie? Do you prefer the classics? Or do you like the comedies?

Proud Assignment

Last Wednesday Jacob was given a very proud task by the NJROTC at Suwannee High School. He along with a cadet and fellow band member were asked to jointly play taps at the local Veterans Day Memorial service. What a huge honor! Of course he was trying to make it out like it wasn't a "big deal" or anything. But, he didn't have a choice as to whether or not I was going. Even Mamaw came to watch him play. I don't think he liked the fact that I brought my camera though! It was a great morning. Speeches, memorials, a 21 gun salute, and of course taps played military style by echoing off of one another. Jacob truly understood how thankful the veterans were when one older gentleman from the local DAV came up and firmly shook Jacob's hand looking him square in the face and said, "Thank you, you did a wonderful job.". It was then that I think Jake realized how big of a deal it really was. I have included a video shot by a local reporter of the 21 gun salute followed by Jacob and Jenna playing taps. I hope you enjoy.

Household Helpers..........

Here are some more household helpers to add to your filing cabinet. Some are quite unique but simple as well!

• Soap wrappers - Don't throw away that soap wrapper! Place in your dresser drawer to add a nice clean refreshing smell to your clothes!
• If you find some scratches on your wood furniture, try rubbing it with a shelled walnut. You see the scratches disappear right before your eyes!
• Tired of your buttons coming off? Dab a little clear nail polish on the threads. This will harden them and make it harder for the threads to break.
• Are you tired of your fingers being the target when nailing something? Try holding the nail with a wooden clothespin. Even if you miss your finger won't be the target!
• If you have trouble with your shoelaces coming untied. Try rubbing a candle on the shoelace making it less slippery so the knots won't come undone.
• Eggshells make great glass bottle cleaners. Crumble up an eggshell and put it in whatever bottle you are trying to clean. Add some detergent and warm water and shake vigorously then rinse with water.

Hope these work for you! I intend on trying them out around my house as well!

Enjoying this lovely fall weather on a quick trip to Lake City. Isn't it wonderful!

No sympathy here....

You know we had a wonderful weekend just getting away for a few days and visiting with family. But isn't it always the case that the minute you get home harsh reality sets back in? We arrived home around 7:30p and all seemed good. The four "teens" were spending the night at their respective grandparent's homes and the only one we had with us was again "little man". All was good until about 9:30p. I was in the living room catching up on email and such when I started hearing the "noises". I got up to investigate where and who they were coming from when I discovered that dear hubby was hugging the porcelain thrown and a garbage can all at the same time. Not wanting to interrupt a good thing I walked back into our bedroom and decided to wait it out with Adam on the bed. That's when I started hearing the other "noises". I turned to see Adam just sitting there giggling uncontrollably. It seems that he thought the noises that Daddy was making in the bathroom were the funniest he had ever heard! How can you scold a cute little 3 year old sitting there belly laughing while at the same time try and hide a smile yourself because he looks so cute?! Well, it seems that dear hubby heard our entire conversation amongst the waves of nausea. I will have to give him credit, he saw through the agony and was able to kid with Adam as well about his "sick" sense of humor!

This past Saturday the Hubby and I decided to take a quick weekend trip. Our first stop was at "Mule Days" in Calvary, GA. Now for those of you that may never have been there it is a huge flea market/craft fair located in a "don't blink or you'll miss it" town located just over the Fl/GA line north of Tallahassee. I was shocked at the number of people that came to this middle of nowhere place all for the sake of celebrating mules! And when I say mules I mean mules! I have never seen so many in my life! I thoroughly enjoyed all of the vendors and little man especially enjoyed the homemade ice cream. On our "hike" around the venue, we came up on the edge of you guessed it a cotton field. Although Adam really didn't understand or maybe just didn't care what it was, he at least stopped long enough for me to take his pic with his "buddy" for the day! Dad looked like he was enjoying himself too! Our next stop was to see John's brother Grady and his family in Alabama. Even though it was for only one night we had a wonderful time catching up! I even got my s/i/l Kathy on the Blogger bandwagon! She is now the proud owner of her own blog called Feasting at the King's Table. If you have a chance stop by and drop her a comment welcoming her to the world wide web of blogging!

Question of the week.......

Ok, well everyone must have read the same article I did for last week's question or Google must have been onfire with everybody trying to find out the answer! If you chose Wendy's you were correct. Most Professional Chef's actually prefer Wendy's as the favorite fast food restaurant.

This week I thought I would ask a question about one of the staples of the fridge.......milk. When buying groceries and reaching the dairy section, what milk do you reach for? Is it whole, 2%, or skim milk?

Only a woman can relate......

My s/i/l Kathy sent me this in an email and I just had to share! This is a story that one part or another has surely happened to all of the women out there and I knew you all would enjoy it! Please share your comments about your bathroom horror!

Ain't this the truth.!!!

When you visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn , you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.

You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would
turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR! ), yank down your pants, and assume ' The Stance.'

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance.'

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more.

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse.. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail .

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet.. 'Occupied!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious,tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of
course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, 'You just don't KNOW
what kind of diseases you could get..'

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors,so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.

You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?'

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

How thoughtful.....

Wouldn't we all be blessed if ours Husbands were as thoughtful as this one? :o)

Isn't this the truth!

Yuck!

Well here I am again still trying to recover from my washer being out of commission for over a week. Why is it that when you purchase an extended warranty that they fail to tell you "Oh we'll repair it but it will only take an act of congress for the repairman to get there."! I figured out how to remedy this situation. I have decided that the next time this scenario occurs (which with the model washer we have it seems is going to be a common occurrence) I am going to load up every hamper and laundry bag, haul them up to Badcock, and ask the first person I see where the loaner washers are for me to use!

Forget me not......

I remember growing up that my Dad rarely gave money to those standing outside stores, or soliciting at traffic lights because he was unsure of their sincerity. So, you can imagine that I took notice when he would freely give a donation to one certain group every year outside of the grocery store we frequented. They were the Disabled Veterans Association raising money for disabled vets by way of taking donations and in return giving you a homemade "forget me not" which was their way of honoring those fallen comrades. My Dad would proudly display his forget me not on the visor of our car forbiding anyone to remove it until he replaced it with a new one. Even the "old" ones were given a special place in his roll-top desk. These forget me nots have brought on a new meaning to me. My Dad has been gone now almost 4 years and I made a promise to continue his proud support of what I feel is a very noble cause. I still have the very last forget me not that he purchased nearly 5 years ago and it will forever proudly be displayed in my own vehicle no matter how faded it gets. This year I proudly donated my money and walked away with that very special token that has become so special to my heart. If you happen to walk out of a store and see one of our veterans please reach into your pocket and be willing to give a little something to help support the Disabled Veterans Associations' efforts to raise money for the care and support of our hero's. Personally I will be passing my new forget me not on to the next generation in our family. My son Jacob started driving this year and I will be giving him his very first forget me not in his Pop's honor. Hopefully everytime he sees it he will remember what all of our American Serviceman past and present have and are still doing for him so he can live freely. Plus, as long as he has that forget me not attached to his visor, he will always have a part of his Pop riding along with him.

Is it that time already?

Well it looks that it's that time of year again. I was perusing around walmart when much to my dismay there they were putting out the Christmas candy already. Didn't we just do this? An entire year could not have almost gone by. I honestly don't know if I'm ready for this Holiday season. I am already turning gray much quicker than I would like to. Now throw another Black Friday into the mix and I'll have to take permanent stock in Clairol! Seriously, have any of you actually just stood back during the start of a Black Friday and just watched the action? Monday Night Raw has got nothing on the little blue haired ladies at Wally World. I remember seeing two of them get into a knock-down drag out over a can opener. Well ok maybe not a knock-down drag out but it was as close as they could muster with their walkers and canes. If I bought every item that Adam has now famously declared "I wanna buy that!" while watching the commercial on TV, our family would be below the poverty level and living in a cardboard box somewhere but at least would have one heck of a toy chest! This year I think my family along with most others need to go back to basics. When did just getting together with family and friends sharing a fresh baked fruit cake or confection become inadequate? Ok so I would probably agree that fruit cakes should be outlawed in all 50 states but it's the thought that counts huh? How about if we all try and make at least one homemade gift this year? I don't mean recycling the painted pinecone your 3rd grader brings home from school either! I have listed a few sites that have some great ideas for homemade gifts that you and your family can make together this year. Hey, post a comment and give everyone some ideas or let us know what you're planning on making.

• Not made of money
• Holiday gift ideas
• Buy nothing for Christmas
• 101 Homemade gift ideas for Christmas
  

Well just like those tests from chemistry in high school, I squeaked by with a passing grade! Whoo Hoo!

I am sitting in the eye doctors waiting to get the infamous yearly eye exam. I wonder if my age will finally catch up to me this year?!

Go Lady Dogs!

Well as you can see from my previous mobile posts the Varsity and JV Lady Dogs took on Gainesville High this evening in the openers to both seasons at Langford Stadium. I would like to give a shout out to Coach Ross and all of the JV team for a GREAT 7-0 JV win!

I must say this being our first foray into regular season varsity soccer I was quite nervous. I would just like to say the varsity girls held their ground throughout the entire game and pulled it out with a 2-0 win! Kudos to goalie Autumn for some awesome goaltending and also a big great job to Shannon on scoring on two penalty kicks! Meg got to see some playing time which was great especially since they are still trying to slowly get her back up to speed! Overall it was a great presentation of teamwork and perseverance. Go Lady Dogs!

Game just ended and ....... WE WON!

We are at the opening game for the Lady Dogs varsity soccer team. GO Lady Dogs!

Never too old to graduate.....

For the past 2 months my Mom has been dealing with some serious medical issues. Who knew that the tremendous back pain that she had been dealing with was actually a serious case of osteomyelitis of the spine that would require an 8 week course of IV antibiotics. Her venture started with a 3 1/2 week stay as an inpatient and because of the lovely Medicare laws it ended up with another 4 1/2 week stay at a skilled nursing facility. My Mom would be the first to admit that she actually began to like her long "vacation". I will say she plays a mean round of bingo! :o) Just ask Adam, he raked up a quite large collection of quarters from his Mamaw! Well, all good things must come to an end and hence last Friday was her "Graduation Day". I knew nothing of what was about to happen as we walked towards the exit on her way home. Neither of us knew that all of the Department Heads had gathered at the front entrance along with balloons to sing their "going away" song. Mom got to have the center of attention for one last time and I know she enjoyed every moment of it! I would like to send a big thank you to everyone at Surrey Place for their wonderful care they provided to our family!

Question of the week......

Well, it looks like the SEC was the choice as best college conference. GO GATORS!! This week's question go off in a totally different direction. I was reading an article in a magazine recently where they were interviewing professional chefs about certain subjects. One of those subjects was what most chefs choice of fast food restaurant was. I was quite surprised about who the majority winner was. Now here's the question for you.........which one do you think it was?