Archives for May 2011

Hm, let’s see. This weekend was 3+ days and I barely remember what I did 5 minutes ago. let’s see what I can do.

Friday:

Friday evening we ate spaghetti at my mom’s and then we came home and I fell asleep with the girls in their room so that was pretty much it for Friday evening.

Saturday:

Saturday morning the girls asked to go to Chick-fil-a for breakfast and who am I to deny a child? We scarved down some chicken mini’s and a sausage biscuit with some tator tots. Yum-mo.

We hopped over to Lowe’s trying to pick out a green color for their new room to match their new bed set. It ended up being a total flop. It irks me when the colors are so bad in the store that none of the 10 colors I picked looked anything near what we needed.

We then ran over to the pool store, which I expect to do eighty-eleven more times this summer only to find out we had to flock the pool. Which basically means you throw this chemical in, turn off the pump and then wait 1-2 days for everything to sink to the bottom which you then have to painstakingly vacuum. In other words, no pool time until Monday at the earliest. In good news, a radio station was doing a promotion at the store and I managed to spin and win $5 cash, not to mention free cookies for the kids and a Sprite to top it off. Score two for all the unhealthy food on Saturday. Yeesh.

So we spent mid-day at home on Saturday, cleaning up and such. That afternoon the girls were invited to their friend’s semi-birthday party at the pottery place. The little girl had a party with her classmates the week before but still wanted to party with my girls so they had a private little party with them. The girls of course were over the moon, particularly when cake and ice cream time was held at nearby Maggie Moo’s. I wasn’t complaining either. Score three for unhealthy food on Saturday!

Saturday evening when Scott got off we went to Sweet Peppers and enjoyed the outside patio. Are you seeing the trend that I did not feel like doing any cooking this weekend? Dear budget, sorry for ruining you this weekend. We did manage to eat salad and soup to even out all the unhealthy food. We then went BACK to Lowe’s to pick out paint. I still could not find a green I was really happy with so Scott made the decision and went with a color that happened to be called “Lime Green”. Which is EXACTLY what Emma asked for when this all started.

Sunday:

Sunday came and I had nursery at church and then I scooted over to my mom’s church where I had the opportunity to speak to her Sunday School class about the Blood Water Belt. I was nervous, especially since I didn’t prepare much because I thought I was speaking that night instead of morning. Thank goodness my mom had called me Saturday night! Actually though, it went well and really, I think I might have enjoyed it. It really is amazing looking back at what God has done with such a small amount. We now have 91 participants with over $2500 raised and more importantly 2500 people who now have water for a year. Most importantly I think we can all learn that if we would just DO the things God asks us to instead of just agreeing that they are good ideas (or crazy ones), we really could see the miracles.

Sunday afternoon we spent at Carowinds. The water park opened this weekend and the girls were more than ready to get in some water after a few weeks of staring at murky water in our pool. We also got in a few rides. Lexi rode her first big roller coaster and she loved it! I love that my girls are enjoying roller coasters like me and Scott! Scott’s sister came with my niece and Emma ended up staying with them until 9 after Lexi, Heather and I buckled and headed home about 6.

Memorial Day:

Monday morning brought lots of work! We had two cookouts planned for the day and we had some major work to do after gallavanting all weekend. But it all was worth it. We had a nice time and actually got to swim in the pool. Well, this girl didn’t actually swim, more like wade on the steps. Way too cold for me. The girls though spent the entire day in it. We had to beg them to get out about 7:30 last night to get a shower and into bed. I completely failed at the sunscreen and both of them are burned. It’s their first big burn ever. Poor things! One application of SPF 30 was definitely not enough! We’re breaking out the 70 for the rest of the summer! But you know it’s a good day when it all ends with a thick application of aloe. How many great beach days ended with your pajamas sticking to your freshly aloed-skin? Ah, memories.

So last night we finished up painting the green. And boy howdy is it GREEN. It did dry darker than the neon green it was when wet but it is still GREEN. I say it looks fresh. Scott likened it to a green apple. In any case, we were both blinded by the green haze filtering out from the room this morning. In other words, the kids LOVE it.

Coming Up:

So this week is a big week. The girls finish up school on Thursday. Lexi is graduating Kindergarten! Friday night they have a sleepover with their GA group at our previous church where they still go on Wednesday nights. And Saturday, we are helping out at a Volunteer Day for my work.

As for the addition, we are STILL waiting on cabinets and mirror. Holy cow.

Also coming up quickly, next week this time I will be in Vegas with my mom, dad and sister. If you don’t know, my mom owns a business where my sister also works and they earned two free trips to Vegas and I was invited as Heather’s guest. I’m already missing the girls like crazy being gone for 3 days but Scott took off work and they will get in some major Daddy-daughter time. Plus, the Friday we get back we are taking off together with our friends Jake and Jill and their son for Florida for a week! Can. not. wait.

To my dear Lexi, we are not laughing at you but with you. xoxo Mommy

I ran across a blog post yesterday that I just can’t quit thinking about. I submitted my entire small group to a read-through of the entire thing last night because I think it was so powerful.

Here’s the thing. I believe in God and his angels and the light and heaven and all that jazz but when you believe in good vs. evil forces, you can’t deny the evil part. I mean, the core of Christian belief that Christ is saving you. In order to be saved you have to be saved FROM something. There IS evil out there. Some dismiss witchcraft, sorcery and fortune telling as fake and things of which movies are made. But I don’t. I think it’s all as real as everything on the good side. Oh, of course there’s always a fortune teller lying through their teeth to make a few bucks but I really think there is merit to some of this stuff. Now vampires and werewolves…that’s all fiction so don’t expect me to give up on the Twilight series anytime soon.

If you need Biblical proof, just take a look at the story of Moses in Egypt and all the miracles the sorcerers were able to duplicate. Or the story of Jesus taking the demons out of a man and putting them into a herd of pigs. You can’t deny the spiritual realm beyond just the Trinity and Satan.

And that brings me back to this blog post. Since I’m coming from this background of belief, this article about a voodoo priest coming to Christ stopped me in my tracks but particularly two parts. Pretty please read the whole post but these two stuck out to me:

Andre Chansma was the vodou priest who said, “We, as vodou priests, cannot do anything to true Christians; they are protected. Satan only has power over pretend Christians.”

Andre tells these people who still put their faith in Satan’s power that the devil and his evil spirits have only limited power. If they want to experience true power, they need to accept Christ as their Savior.

Does that give you chills like it does me?? A few things to point out:

1 – They can not do anything to Christians! I love this! We are sealed by the Holy Spirit and these voodoo priests and their spells have no hold over us!

2 – Is it not amazing that a voodoo priests KNOWS there is a difference between a real Christian and a pretend Christian? Really makes you double-check your heart!

3 – Satan has power but God WINS. And not just wins, in the future tense, but as Charlie Sheen would say, he is WINNING. Yes, these people who get their source of power from Satan CAN do these things but they are LIMITED. Only in Christ do we have access to unlimited, true power.

Does that make you want to shout like me?? I’ve just been praising God for his power and the confidence and peace we can have in him even in this world that can bombard us with so much evil.

And somehow I just mentioned Twilight, Charlie Sheen and Jesus all in one post. Nice.

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Roles. I had to list them all today for a training exercise at work. Balancing Family and Work, it was entitled. What roles do you have and what responsibilities do each carry, it inquired. The worksheet I was given had half the required slots that I needed to list them all. Sure some of them don’t have daily responsibilities and others need hourly attention while still others, might only need monthly attention. But still, I’m balancing a lot of roles. The training suggested I also list my values and priorities and what I’m doing to show that the things I say are priorities really are. I’ll tell you, as I sat in my gray cubicle 35 miles away from my home where my girls were playing all their after-school activities, the task was daunting. If there haven’t been enough occassions lately that have made me want to throw my laptop in the nearest trash can and run straight home to my babies, I’ll tell you that topped them all.

We’ve had my parents’ pool for the last several years.  They moved to a new house and even though the pool was already over 10 years old, none of us could let it go.  So it’s hobbling along here.  We’ve had holes, bought new liners (yes, liners), gotten splinters on the old deck, bought a new water pump, and brush, and net, and floats and more chemicals that I care to remember.

It’s a lot of work.

But when it’s a Carolina 101 in mid-July you just can’t beat having a pool steps away. So this year’s work has begun.  Last night we took off the now disintegrated cover, which needs added to the to-buy list this year.

This is what we started with.  So green it was almost black.  Lots of algae, some bugs and lots of pieces of the pool cover.

Less than 24 hours later, we’ve gotten this far.

I consider it a win when we can see the bottom.  I’m expecting to be able to swim somewhere between now and oh, August.

I recently discovered Pinterest. I SO wish I would have signed up before we did our addition. It would have been the perfect tool to gather all my design ideas. In any case, I signed up just when I was looking for a way to use my ever increasing jar collection. There’s something about a jar that I love. I just can not throw it away or even throw it in the recycling bin. I just love to have them around. The problem is I’m not crafty enough to figure out what to do with them other than store them in all my cabinets. Thank goodness for crafty bloggers and uh, Pinterest-ers. Make sure to follow the links below the photos to get to more pictures and many times, directions.

 

 

 

Source: farmhouseandchickens.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: storageandglee.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: designspongeonline.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: theblissfullycontentlife.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: alwayswithbutter.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: hiphiphoorayblog.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: yourhomebasedparties.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: blogs.babble.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: bakerella.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

Source: distantbloggers.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

I know technically that’s more than 10 but I’m counting all the food in a jar as one 🙂

I think my favorite is the jars with the straw.  Or that caramel sauce.  Yum!  What’s yours?

Find other Top Ten Tuesday posts over at ohAmanda.com

It’s official!  The shower is DONE!

 

Love how it really finished that side of the room off.  It’ll be fantastic when the cabinet and mirrors are in!

Thursday evening and into Friday evening we were in total yard sale mode.  Ok *I* was in total yard sale mode.  With everyone changing rooms around here as well as the season change, it was time to haul a load of stuff out of here!  I have a love/hate relationship with yard sales.  It all sounds so romantical (and profitable) until you have to organize, price and move everything and then wake up at 5:30 am just so you can haggle with people about 50 cents just so your total can be $63.75 instead of $63.25.  Oh but, give it 6 months and it’s a little bit like childbirth…you forget all the pain and can’t wait to do it again!

Actually, ours turned out well this weekend.  We had a beautiful Saturday morning.  People came steadily until after noon and everyone was on their best behavior.  To boot, we made $177 as well as my parents raking in a few hundred.  I was exhausted afterwards though and since the girls were still off watching their cousin’s skate competition, I crashed at home.

We managed to gather the troops though by dinner time and head out to the local Italian festival around the corner the kids had been begging to go to.  We managed to fit in some rides and eat some yummy Italian food.

Sunday was church and then we were off to Scott’s second home, the local bike shop Tailwind Cycles for their year anniversary celebration.  The kids had a blast playing and of course Scott was in his prime around all his cycling buddies.

(see if you can spot all four of us in that bounce house pic)

Last night we did a whole lot of nothing.  Just family time.  The girls and I worked on a craft I had bought them at Michael’s last week as back up for Heather while we were at the POTC movie.  “It’s like jewel city!” ~ Lexi

Scott played his game and did some small things left from the addition.  I finished up the night by working on our adoption package a little more.  Turns out I’m a horrible paper organizer.  OK, so we all knew that.  But in any case, I have no idea where Lexi’s birth certificate, mine, if I ever had it, is and our marriage license was lost a long time ago in a move.  I had to order each from a different state.  But I loved seeing this in the reason we’d be needing them:

 

 

 

The bad news is this delays turning it in a week or two.   I have to wait on these and I realized my doctor’s appointment was scheduled at the exact same time as Lexi’s Kindergarten graduation so I’m rescheduled a week later.  It will be soon though!

As for an update on the addition, the shower glass is being installed today.  The same guys are measuring for the mirror today, to be installed hopefully later this week.  The cabinets were supposed to show up today. We are *this close* to being done.

This week is the girls’ last full week of school.  All four of us are off on Monday so I’m really looking forward to getting through this week and enjoying a long weekend together!