Happy Sunday

Good Morning!

Woke up this morning and I’m sitting here and sipping my coffee.  Looking out the window at the beautiful blue sky and feeling blessed for this wonderful pretty day.  Temps are pleasant outside, not that bone freezing cold temps we have been having.  Looking forward to spring and seeing the blooms appearing after this harsh cold winter, and listening to the birds singing again.  I love the promise that Spring gives. 

Last night we had a great night out.  Our church had a friendship banquet and such a wonderful time out spent with our church family.  Lots of great food and played some games.   Yesterday I also had the opportunity to meet up with some girl friends from high school, It is such a great time when we get together.   We went to visit a classmate that is in the hospital after a terrible scare with blood clots in the heart.  By all the doctors indications we are blessed he is still with us.  God has really been answering our prayers for him. After the visit, us girls ventured over the the local Mexican restaurant and continued our visit and going down memory lane.  Catching up on each others lives.  Isn’t it awesome when we can take time out of our everyday lives and reconnect with those that we love.  So thankful for the time spent with the “girls” yesterday.

I have a lot going on this upcoming week.  Hubby and I are in the process of buying our own business, and the take over is scheduled for March 1.  So we have been busy finding a new location for the business (it’s a existing business in town) acquiring furniture and needs for the new office.  Plus I have not worked outside the home since Oct. and this week I will start back .  But only going into the office a few days this week to get acclimated to the new routine as well as help with some of the business needs before the move/transition.   (More on all this later once the move is complete)

I don’t plan to make a post on Sundays, unless it is one that I have scheduled because that is my church and family day.  However I thought I would just get online and post a little note.

I hope you have a fabulous and blessed Sunday.

 

Blessings,
Cindy

 

1 John 3:11“[More on Love and Hatred] For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.

Weekly Roundup

Hi ya’ll, here it is Friday and I have been away.  I can’t believe how quickly the weeks pass by.  In a earlier post I commented on struggling the last several weeks.  I am happy to report that I feel like I am on the road to recovery.  Sometimes it feels like when it rains it pours and that was definitely the case for me.  Anyway, this has been a very active week for me.

 

As some of you back in the fall I became a homemaker again after years of working full time. Anyhow, it has been a experience trying to get unemployment started, etc. I mean I have never drawn unemployment before.  So that has been a eye opener because everything is done online.  I remember back in the day when you had to go to a office to apply.   On Wednesday  I had a workshop that I had to attend in order for my benefits to remain.  The workshop was extremely informative.  Things sure have come along way.

 

For the most part this week has been working on finalizing the last minute touches to my son’s rehearsal dinner.  I think I am almost there.  I can’t believe how much work it is to organize and plan one of these events.  But we had what I hope is our final pow wow last night…Earlier in the week my son and I met with the  establishments owner to go over food choices and head count.  We finally got our price from them just for me to call them back this morning to make modifications.  I am sure they are going to love me when this is all over. 

 

So needless to say, I haven’t had alot of free time to be on the computer or reading blogs….however I did find myself back at Jill’s site, if you are a organized person, she has some of the most awesome creative projects for you to try.  Several others caught my eye weeks ago, and I am including some of the information to my “to make” folder.  Do ya’ll have one of those?  Seems my folder keeps getting bigger and bigger and I am not getting anything accomplished. 

 

Check out her Menu planning of the month. Or her managing her blog notebook. But I have to say that this might be one of my favorites, her recipe cards and binder cover.  She has the most adorable recipe cards ever and if I had cards like that to look at, I might want to cook more than I do.  :)

But I am giving you fair warning…don’t go over there unless you have oodles of time to waste.  She pulls you in with all her clever organizing tips and how to’s.  Be forewarned!

 

ColorFest

Hi Ladies, I am trying out a new method of posting my content so that I can schedule it ahead of time. Not sure if this is going to work or not. Hopefully it will, because at the moment I can't get Blogger to schedule a future post. Can you say upsetting? Anyway, I am going to be happy if this works. Thought I would share with you my plans for the upcoming weekend. The weather here is suppose to be unbelievable for the middle of October. It is near 80 today and the sun is shining so pretty outside. Tonight I am heading to DD's football to watch her cheer. I haven't had the opportunity to see her to much this year, so looking forward to it tonight. I am sure the stadium will be packed because the weather is so nice and they are having a fireworks show afterwards.

Tomorrow is the 45 annual colorfest in Thurmont, Md. We go every year. It is so much fun. It will be a day full of yard saling and shopping crafts. You can tell from the picture that this is no small event. It just goes on and on. All the roads leading to Thurmont from my house, set up yard sales. So it is bumper to bumper yard sales all the way to Colorfest. So usually we start out in the morning and don't get to the actual craft area until later in the day. Of course, one of the best things about the event is the food. Can you say tons of junk food. All the things that you love to eat.

This has been a very long week for me, as I am still trying to adjust to my new work schedule so that makes this upcoming three day weekend all the more exciting to me. I can't wait.

Thoughtful Thursday

Hi ya'll. Thought before the weekend rolls around again, I better tell you what I've been up to this week.

This weekend I have been spent trying to keep up with everything at the house so that Michael and I can go away this weekend for a little getaway without having any cares while I am gone. Woo Hoo! Today is Tori's last day at her 'salon' job so she will be coming/moving back home. It will be wonderful to have her back at home. I have really missed her while she was at her dad's. Granted I know she misses her dad, and spending time over at his house is nice but she doesn't see him as much as she would like because of his work schedule. Guess she probably sees him more when he comes to visit with her at our house or they meet for dinner someplace . That way she has his undivided attention. Since Michael and I are going away though, she will go back to her dads for the weekend. At least he should be home and so she will be able to spend some time with him.

Michael and I have been so busy with our work schedules and everything else this summer we didn't even take a vacation. Mainly because we have made trips to Texas to visit with his mom and felt that was more important. Speaking of Texas we are planning to head back out there again over Labor Day. His mom has been having some more issues so please continue to pray for her. We feel truly blessed that she has done as well as she has, but she has been battling and fighting so much lately with fevers, sickness, and complications on top of the new chemo that they have put her on.

Last week, we took Tori to get her Senior pictures made, and we got to view the proofs on Tuesday night. It's hard for me to believe how grown up she looks and is. In a couple of weeks she will be 17 years old. I married her father at 17. I remember feeling quite mature for 17, and thought I was ready for marriage. But I can not imagine Tori wanting to get married at 17. Now I know what my poor parents must have gone through when I mentioned marrying at such a young age. Isn't it amazing how it takes having children of our own to realize what we put our parents through. Most people would say it was a mistake that we married so young but I have never felt that. Even though the marriage ended in divorce, it was a good marriage and still to this day I feel that it was right. I don't think age had anything to do with the divorce.

Really need to close and scoot. Hope you have a blessed rest of the week.
Hug!

I need clever names for titles.....

Here it is another week almost gone, so I thought if I was going to do any posting that I had better get on it. This week has been filled with all kinds of things.  Work has been kinda crazy with some major moving going on.  Of course that makes for a busy day at work, and on top of that, I just got word that my job may be going away in September....so I have been trying to figure out what I should do.  I am pretty calm about this, as I do believe that God will provide one way or another.  He knows what is best for me and He knows this is something that has been on my mind and heart for awhile.  So I just have to leave it up to him to chose my route to take. 

My kids have gotten home from their vacation to the ocean, and they are all back to work.  Tori is leaving tomorrow for cheer camp for four days.  This will be her last cheer camp.  She will start cheer tryouts the middle of August.  And then we are back to football games and school activities.  Since Tori has gotten her license it has made running around and doing errands much easier.  She starts school the end of August.  It's hard to believe that summer is coming to a end already.

Every morning when I drive to work, I notice that it is staying darker longer in the morning.  Usually by the time 5:45 rolled around it was light outside, but in the last several weeks, I have noticed that it is getting lighter later.  Fall is going to be here soon. 

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  I am getting eager for cooler weather, I just don't like cold weather.  Can you ever please me?

* Below post from Homemaking site

Sitting here thinking about how time is flying by. Can't believe it's been as long as it has since I last posted. Not enough hours in the day. Please don't ask me why because quite honestly I am to tired to think. Seems like lately I just go through the motions? Do you ever do that? I feel like I am on autopilot. I do what I have to, and then everything else, just goes by the way side. As fast as time is going, summer will be over.

One thing that I love about the summer months is the yard sales. You can get some great little treasures for so little money. But with that being said, I am getting so excited about fall. It is my favorite season of the year and it will be here before we know it.

I have started getting my fall magazines in the mail and my head is reeling with decorating ideas. Already have my decorating list started. I do this every year so I can implement new ideas, I don't know about you, but I know me, if I don't write it down when I think about it, it will be lost in my sea of thoughts. I typically don't decorate for halloween, I decorate with a harvest theme instead, therefore I can enjoy it from September until Thanksgiving, although I do throw in a few halloween goodies close to the actual day. (Hey when you work full time, you doing good to decorate at all. :) )There is just something about the warms hues of the season, all the deep rich colors,reds, mustards, greens.In reality those are my favorite decorating colors, not just for fall.

Not only do I love the look of my house during this time of the year, but the smells of simmering hot soups and apple cider. Something about the dimmly lit rooms and brisk air outside and curling up with a quilt is appealing to me. Spending time in nature trapsing through pumpkin patchs, and farmers markets picking out gourds, and indian corn. Going to fall festivals and apple harvest where they are making homemade apple butter...mmmmmmm, yummy. Carmel apples, need I go on. Are you ready for fall too? I hope you will share with me some of your favorite things to do for fall and some decorating tips.

Fortunately I live in a wonderful area for these type of events. Every weekend there is so much to do, during that time of year. Michael and I are discussing heading to Vermont, Maine and Boston in October. What a perfect time of year to do that. Hopefully it will happen.

Anyway,enough of this for now, gotta scoot.

Hugs!

Note: Lemonade photo courtesy of Country Sampler Magazine.

2 weeks to go

but who is counting? I am....Feels like I will never get everything together although we have a huge amount of things done. Granted alot of things can't be done until the last minute....but still it keeps your stress level high. Anyway, I think I am okay. Today is one of those days that I need...a day at home.

Last night we went out and did a little bit more shopping and exchaging things. I had my final fitting this past week, so I should be able to go and pick the dress up early next week although I might not get it until Saturday. It should be all pressed and ready to go. Although not sure how it will fare on the airplane to Kentucky. So might have to have it repressed once I get there. Oh well. Has anyone ever taken a wedding dress on a plane or no of anyone who did? How did it go?

Decided to stay home today. Told Michael that I wanted a day to stay home and clean my house, so Tori and I have been up this morning cleaning bathrooms, picking up clutter, dusting, ect. I still need to do my floors this weekend as well as finish up laundry. I have already done three loads this morning, my bed is loaded down, it might take me forever to put it all away. Not to mention all the clothes I have to pack for our trip is on there as well. I have been up since around 4 and it is now 10:30 and I am getting sleepy, but at the same time I can't sit still. Thinking I might have to lay down and grab a nap, but I do want to get over to the tanning bed today to get a little bit more sun. I have gone a couple times already but would like to get in a couple more visits before leaving. Just would like to have a little color on my shoulders and arms for my dress.

I am planning on letting Tori do my makeup for the wedding. I love the way she does her eyes. They look so much better than how I do mine, so she practiced one night this week on me. She did a good job, but I think I will have her go a little heavier on my eye makeup than she originally did. I think she is scared to do mine. :) But I really want the eyes to stand out. This will be the first time that they haven't been hid behind glasses and so I want to enhance them. Granted I don't want to over do it though.

We got our wedding bands this week. Actually I posted a pic of Michael's earlier in the week. In case you missed it, you can see it to the left. His is two toned with silver in the middle holding the 5 diamonds. Encased in yellow gold. It looks so pretty, this picture doesn't do it justice. My wedding band is yellow gold with 4 diamonds in it. At the moment, I don't have a picture of it...but maybe I can get on or find one online to show you.

I found out Thursday at work that the folks I work for are having a potluck for me on the 8th of April. I thought that was sweet. Not necessary but sweet just the same. I only have next week of work, and then I will be there the following week only on Tuesday (8th). Monday the 7th I have to be in court again for the accident I was in last year. Trying to get out of it, because I would rather work than take a day of leave. But the attorney isn't sure she will drop the supeona. Guess we will see. Michael and I will fly out the afternoon on the 9th...so thinking I will take that day off to make sure I have everything done that I need to do, plus try to rest because I know when I get to Kentucky we will be going non-stop.

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Gonna go for now, might be back later. Will try to get by and visit with you this weekend.

Hugs!

Friday's Here and Saturday's Coming!

The weekend is finally here....woohoo! What a wild and busy week this has been. I am so glad that it is finally over. My plans for this weekend is get myself organized and get some of work done on my HSB and my other sites that I am working on. So hoping this is going to be a productive weekend. And I think this is going to be a good weekend for it too. Today was a gray gloomy day. Extremely overcast. The sun never came out. So my little bear with his umbrella and boots is so appropriate for today. Actually I got up this morning to slick roads and debated on trying to drive in myself....but I decided to give it a try and I made it. I was so proud of myself. I hate to drive on icy roads, but the salt trucks were out if full force. They ended up canceling school here today. It started sleeting last night about midnight and continued until about 6 or so this AM, then the rain set in. With the temps getting up to 40 today that help to melt the ice for the drive home. Thinking this weekend we are suppose to get more showers, but we are suppose to get up near 50.

This week I have spent alot of time rededicating myself to reading God's word which I have been doing since the first of the year. I am signed up through a website called Bible In a Year. It is a wonderful resource, they email me the readings and I can chose to read it online or using my bible. Alot of the time at work, I will read it online and then during the weekend, I will read my bible. I am loving it. I also have been reading a new book I purchased this past weekend called " A Woman's Call to Prayer" by Elizabeth George. It's a great book. I found a great devotional, "Making Prayer a Priority" if you have time swing by and read it. Actually there are some wonderful devotions at this site.

Do you see this laundry basket? Can you guess what I am going to be doing? Actaully Michael put my bed sheets in the laundry this morning, so I have to get upstairs and get them back on my bed....but I have several loads to do this weekend. I have been working on a weekly schedule for my chores. I have been breaking down each day of the week with daily chores to keep me better organized throughout my work week. At this point, when I work everyday and get home, I don't feel like doing much....but I think with a list of a few things to do daily, it will cut back on my Saturday chores. Although sometimes I really like to spend a Saturday doing some deep cleaning, which is what I want to do and then incorporate my new plan next week.

I also plan to do some work with my recipes. I have been working on a daily theme for my meals. Monday-chicken, Tuesday-leftovers, Wednesday-Ground Beef, Thursday-Chicken, Friday-go out or leftovers Saturday-try new recipe Sunday-Soup/sandwiches, pizza, etc....that is kinda the game plan for now...so want to get that organized so that I can start implementing that this next week too. I am going to do a major kitchen clean tomorrow, clean oven, clean out the fridge and wipe it down, etc...so that I can start on Monday with a clean slate.

This is just a few of the things that I want to work on this weekend...as well as work on some

of my new blog ideas for my other sites. I have a plan wrote out and outlined, but not sure if I will have time to get to it or not....if not, hoping that next week I can work some more on it in the evenings. I also think Michael is going to work on my taxes this weekend. Woohoo! Wondering how that tax rebate is going to effect me? What are you ladies going to do with your tax rebate? Anything fun? Actually at the moment, I plan to put mine in my savings account. I am trying to get my savings build up good before I start moving next year. I have a goal (amount) set that I would like to have to help off set the moving cost. My intention is to do whatever I can to make sure that we are financially secure, my hope is after I move, I will not have to work, but will be able to stay at home again. If I decide I want to do something part time then I will look into that...but I don't want to feel the need to have to work. I will be working hard to make it possible for us to live off one income. I really need to pray more about that.

Well I am going to go upstairs now and get my bed ready for a cozy nights sleep. Have you ever sprayed your fresh sheets with lavendar spray? I have a wonderful spray that I use on my sheets and it is heavenly. When I lay my head on my pillow, the light scent fills the nostrils and it is the BEST. Nothing better than taking a warm relaxing bath or shower and climbing between freshly washed sheets that smell terrific. Talk about great dreams.
My hope is to get back tomorrow to post my progress and also share more about the other books I got last weekend. Hi I'm Cindy and I'm a Book-a-holic.

Sweet Dreams and God Bless!

Winter Wonderland

Hi everybody....geez another week has almost slipped up and past me by. It has been a busy week but that always seems to be the case with me. The first part of the week were typical work days. Went to work, came home and crashed. Same ole story, same ole song. But yesterday I ended up taking the day off from work because I was going to have to leave work early for my follow up eye appt. Anyhow, I stayed home and worked on training all day for work. Whew, what a relief to have that behind me. Went to my eye appt. and they gave me rave reviews on my eyes...so I am good to go at least for another two months and then they want to see me again for another follow up. Just making sure that the 'flap' has healed completely by then.

Today I worked all day but ended up leaving about a hour early because it was snowing like crazy. It was a long and exhausting drive home, traffic was terrible and there were cars off the roads, just a mess. It took me over three hours to drive home this afternoon. Needless to say when I got home, I was to pooped to pop. Michael and I were the only ones here, so we had some soup and cheese and crackers and called it dinner. :) I am so blessed that he doesn't have to have a big huge meal everyday. I don't think I could physically do it if he did. Although I did get up and clean the kitchen and put out some fresh fruit that I picked up last night while we were out, and put out some big muffins for tomorrow morning breakfast for anyone that cares to partake.


Not sure what tomorrow holds as far as work is concerned. At this point I am going to try to go in if it doesn't do anything else tonight. But if it does, I might end up having to stay home and I really do need to be there if at all possible.



Looking forward to this weekend. I always enjoy three day weekends, but it is going to be very cold in the single digits so thinking we might be hanging around in the house this weekend, which wouldn't be a bad thing because I have quite a bit I could do. Tori has a cheer competition again this Saturday so will definitely go to that. Her last one for her Junior year. It's hard to believe she will be a senior soon.

Guess for now, I am going to run, go visit with Michael for a few more minutes and then I am going to hit the hay and call it a day. I hope you all have a pleasant evening.


Will be around to visit with you soon.

Happy Saturday

Hi ya'll.A little southern hello for you today. This morning I am sitting here sipping my coffee and wondering what I should get into today. My to do list is endless, but I am serching for the motivation to get up and get started. My living room is housing all my Christmas decorations ready to go to the garage for storage, but of course, Michael wants to organize the garage before he puts things back. Believe me it needs it. I am hoping that we can get that accomplished today as the weather man is calling for snow tomorrow, so I would love to get my car back in there before the snow comes. We shall see. It doesn't look promising. Other than working on that, I have several organizational items to accomplish. One of our primary concerns is getting a routine and schedule in place that will help the flow of this household more during the hectic work week. So I will work on some scheduling and planning while Michael is out in the garage.



As most of you know, I work a 40 hour work week plus I have a very long commute each day, making my work week long. Not to mention when I get home I am totally beat. For a while now I have been trying to find more energy, seems like I stay zapped. I miss the energy I have normally had. So seems my weekends are used to catch up since I don't do anything during the week. (Hence the need for the scheduling and orgainizational help of my HMB). All this leads me to a question. Is this normal? Is it age related? I have tried vitamins, supplements and medication over time, but nothing has really helped. I am just looking for some suggestions that might help improve this area of my life. Seems the more I pray about it, the more I notice how tired I am. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated


Update on my eyes....I am one week post op now and for the most parts, still no complaints. Although Thursday and Friday I had some major discomfort with blurriness, dry eyes, and headaches, but know that is part of the healing process. Just using more artifical tears to keep my eyes moist. I am finished with the medicated drops they gave me so now I have to rely on the wetting drops. I have my follow up appt on Wednesday. Just hoping when I go back they will tell me that everything is healing and the flap looks good.


Well ladies, I will scoot so I can get into action for the day. Hope you will have a blessed weekend. I will be around soon.

QUESTION: Does anyone know how to get rid of the border boxes around my images? My border html reads Border="0" . Is there somewhere else I need to change my html? Help!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrreary Cold Wednesday

I can't believe it is already Wednesday(and a Brrrr cold one at that)....only two more days of this week. WooHoo... I am really getting eager for Friday. I can't believe that I will finally have my Lasik eye surgery. I am just praying that it will be okay. Don't want to talk myself out of, this is something that I have waited years to do and it is finally happening.

I worked today. It was my first day back after being off for 12 days. It was hard in some ways to go back but will confess it was nice to get back into my routine. Granted there is always so much more that I would like to do while I am off, but run out of time. I actually will have a three day weekend this weekend, because I have to go to court as a witness for the car accident that I was in back in July. Not sure what is going to happen, but hopefully all this will be behind me soon.

Well ladies, I am going to take me a little nap I came home and slipped into my jammies and going to read a few minutes and rest while I have a quiet house to myself. Hope your having a great day.

Hugs!