Button, Button, Who Has the Button?

Seems like all my kids loved buttons when they were little, especially my third child, Scott. 

Scott enjoying his spaghetti at about 2yrs.

Whenever we were around any electronic equipment that had buttons, he would have that finger out ready to push the buttons. We use to call him Button Man. Funny thing is, he is away at college majoring in engineering. I'm sure he is messing with lots of buttons now.


Speaking of buttons, I am now back in the button mode. Not the kind you push but the kind you have on your clothes. I've made several things with buttons.

A necklace,

earrings, 

more earrings, 

a bracelet,

and today I made some flowers.

Aren't these fun?

Keyboard Issues

How many of you have problems with your coputer? obviously I do! some of my letters do not type. Seems like it is mostly the letters on the left side of my computer.  Do you know how mny times you use certain letters? A lot of them come from the left side. As ou cn see I am not correcting the letters that I actually hit and do not type. The orse letter I have found is the leter "W". Have any of you had this problem with some of your letters not typing, een though you did hit them? Sometimes I have to go back and hit them two, three, or four times before they actually register. I also hv the problem of of my curser moving all around and then I start typing in weird areas. I have to be careful to make sure my curser is not on a advertisement, because randomly, I will be on that web page. I have heard of others having these types of problems. I have noticed tis post isn't too bd. Seems like as the dy goes on, the problems gets orse with certain letters not typing.

IT SURE IS QUIET AROUND HERE!!!

Boy, it sure is quiet around here today. My parents left this morning... EARLY...like 6 a.m. Never understand why they leave so early, as they always stop early; but anyway, that's them. 


Benjamin is at school and won't be home 'til late, he has track practice and them sometimes likes to play tennis afterward. Boy, wish I could have some of that energy.

Benjamin when he was about 4 or 5

Miles got a job. We kept putting it off. He would have little odd jobs, but since we are moving, he didn't think it would be fair for him to start a real job. He finally gave in to all that and is working at the local pizza place. I think he likes it.

Miles when he was about 18

Me? Well, some ole same ole. Get up, weather permitting I walk. Then I clean up, clean house, and wait...for someone to call about the house.

I miss those days when all the kids were home. I had them all day since we homeschooled. I will have to admit, there were times that I was so tired, but for the most part I LOVED having them home. There was never a dull moment! FOR SURE!!!!


Now, it's just Sox and me. I do keep pretty busy; all things considered. It is pretty funny, watching her. She follows me all over, then finally, she gives up and finds a place to crash. *HUGE SIGH*

ROSES ARE RED, YELLOW, PEACH, PINK, SALMON, PURPLE

For Valentine's Day, my husband sent me these pretty roses.

They have now opened up.

I had Realtor over today and the first thing she saw were my pretty roses on the dining table. 

She stopped, and looked, and asked,

"Are those real? Wow, they are gorgeous!"

They really are...

FOTO FRIDAY

We had quite the busy week. My parents came for a visit. I sure love when they come to visit.

Needless to say, I really didn't get much done, except visiting. So, Foto Friday was a slap together thing.

I really wasn't sure what I was going to post, then this evening, I came into my living room and this is what I saw...

At first I thought, "Wow, looks kinda like a fire." Then it dawned on me it was the sunset.

I ran into my room and grabbed the camera and just started clicking away.

So this week's Foto Friday theme is

SUNSET

ooooooo...

aaaaawwwwww....

Times like this makes me wish I had a wide angle...

No editing these pictures...They are beautiful on their own. I do wish I'd had another lens on, but didn't have the time...

The sun was setting

FAST...

Happy Birthday Scotty!

Nineteen years ago today, was a very special day for our family. We had a very special little spirit come to our home.

Scott Charles Carter

Scott was always one of those children who had a smile on his face. He loved music and loved jamin' to the beat. He was a very smart little dude too.

I remember when he was about 2, Scott had locked himself in the bathroom. Luckily, my parents were visiting. I tried to get Scott to unlock the door, but for some reason, it was stuck, and he could not unlock it. We had to wind up taking the doorknob off, and the door was still stuck.

I really don't remember the details, but I do remember having to give Scott a tool of some sort, and my dad talking him through fixing the problem. Scott was so calm, and did exactly as he was told. Soon, he was rescued!  

I remember another time; Scott had had a really bad eye infection, and wound up in the hospital for a week. He had to have eye surgery to drain off the infection.  Scott was turning 4 the next week, so he was pretty young. He was such a good little patient; never complained. Whenever they had to take any blood for lab, he never said a word. He was very popular with the nurses.

Well, Scott is all grown up now, and away at college...we sure miss his smiling face around here...

Happy Birthday,

Scott!!!!!!

My Colorful Frog

I love bright colors. I love to decorate with bright colors. 

I bought this cool frog with some of my Christmas money.

I keep moving him around. First, I had him on the kitchen table.

Then I put him by the TV

Now he sits on top of the piano.

He seems to be hopping all over the house. Not sure where he will wind up next.

Don't you just love the colors?

My Organized Mess

I have a love/hate relationship with moving. I love being able to move to a new place and go through stuff and decorate. I love meeting new people. The reason I hate to move is pretty much the same reason's I love to move. The mess that accumulates and saying good-bye to my friends.


We put quite a few things in storage, thinking it would not be for too long. Five months, later we still sit here. Some of the stuff in storage, I am needing now, but there is no way I am going in there and going through stuff to hunt it down.


Over a five month period, one accumulates a lot of mail...mail that you cannot throw away.

This is my "organized" mess. Kind of an oxymoron isn't it...organized mess?

Believe it our not this is organized, and no one better touch it! I do know where things are. But I do have to admit it is getting out of hand.

Between all the EOB's from my thumb surgery, and Miles' gum surgery, and Ashley's procedure, etc, and then all the bills, moving stuff, tax info, relocation info (I could go on forever), we are getting bombarded with paper work (didn't they say that the computer age would essentially do away with ALL paper work? Ya right...)

So, what should I do? Well, I was inspired with a blog I read the other day. So, I went out, bought me a basket,

I was lucky enough to find one with a lid!

and...

get things organized.

Boy, it sure makes me feel so much better!

P.S. This might not look as nice as the one on the blog, but I really had a hard time finding file folders. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. Go figure. Well, at least I found a basket that had a lid on it.

Honey Glazed Pork

Meat...one should eat sparingly. Most Americans do not, though.

In my opinion, our family eats too much meat, but we eat far less than most Americans.

We rarely eat steak.

We usually eat chicken, fish, some seafood, and mostly venison.

Every once in awhile, I'll bring home some pork.

As most of you, I've gotten on the Pinterest kick. I decided to try one of the many delicious looking recipes this past Sunday. A couple of weeks ago, I had bought some pork chops, and since all my boys were home for dinner, I decided to try this recipe:

Honey Glazed Pork!

Boy were these every good!!!

I had all the ingredients on hand and it was very simple to do.

Because it was a "sweet and sour" dish, I decided to use our last Rice-a-Roni (oriental), as one of the side dishes. 

Then I had to come up with something green.

I had a package of baby spinach with some strawberry vinaigrette, slivered almonds, and  strawberry bits.

And here's our yummy, easy, balanced meal.

By the way, my boys thought I had totally lost my marbles when I started taking pictures of our dinner...well, maybe I have, but It's still fun to make this stuff, take pictures of it, and tell ya'll about it.

SO WHAT'S GOING ON?

This week colleges and universities in Louisiana are out of school. Not just for Monday (Presidents Day), but also Tuesday and Wednesday.

So why? No it is not Spring Break; too early for that.  It actually has something to do with King Cake, beads, parades, and

GREEN,

GOLD,

&

PURPLE.

Tuesday is Fat Tuesday and Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.

It's

MARDI GRAS TIME!!!

Check out my blog from last year about Mardi Gras.

King Cake

My Mardi Gras wreath on my front door

BRIDGES

Recently, we took a trip to Baton Rouge.

In the rain,

the pouring down rain...

As we started going across, I decided to take a picture of the Mississippi River bridge going from Natchez, Mississippi to Videlia, Louisiana. 

Grateful for the safe trip we had...

Foto Friday on Saturday

Sorry about being a day late on the foto friday, but I had to change it up a bit. My original topic will have to wait for a later day. Instead, this week's topic is...............

SHADOWS

Today is a very bright, windy day. I took this picture and this is what it looks like with no editing.

Then.....

I did a bit of editing.

I think it looks pretty cool.

Then, I saw some shadows in my home...

Pretty cool, don't ya think?

I love shadows...

Hope you enjoy!

Home Schooling

In my profile I mention that I home school. Well, that was several years ago. My youngest is now a Junior at our local high school. I look back on those home school years with fond memories.


There are a lot of people out there that do not look too highly of home schoolers. They think that we are all weird and live in some type of compound or something. While there are some of us who are maybe considered "weird", I will have to say that there are just as many "weird" people in the public school system. And, besides, what constitutes someone as being weird? When you think about it, all of us are weird in some sort of way.


Anyway, yes, we home schooled for ten years, and no, we are not weird. In fact, most people who do not know we home schooled, when they find out, are shocked. I really don't know what they expect, but they usually say something like, "Wow, your kids aren't weird, they are normal!" If you ask me, I think they are weird for saying or even thinking that.


Many choose to home school their kids for a number of reasons. Some because of religious, others because of disabilities. The reason we choose home schooling is because of the school system. At the time we were living in an area that felt they had to bus. This was in the 90's not the 60's! When my kids became of age to attend school, they were to be bused across town, passing three schools to get to an inner-city school that, in my opinion, no child should have to attend. It was runned down, and stunk. Yes it smelled awful in that building; not to mention an unsafe environment. There was only on exit in each of the classrooms---FIRE HAZARD! I remember after visiting the school coming home in tears. How was I going to send my precious little five year old on a school bus across town. Nope, not going to happen.


At the time this same community wanted to try something in the school system...year around school. It was actually just a couple of miles from our home, so I looked into it. Eventually, our two oldest attended that school and we all loved it. In fact, it was very popular and there were a lot of families loving this concept. Sadly, it was not to last. You see, the superintendent decided it was not working. Obviously, he did not go to the school to check it out. This school had the highest parent involvement in the county, and the kids were doing so well. But, the school system decided to make it a regular school, and stopped the year round, which meant, that we had to go to our districted schools. This is when it all started....home schooling.


I really didn't know where to begin. I didn't think I knew anyone that home schooled. This was before the internet, so I really couldn't hop online and research. My parents and I did our own investigating. I wrote to the school board to see what I needed to do to pull my kids out. I found out it was not a hard thing to do. All I needed to do was name my school and register it through the state as a private school. Seemed easy.  Now, what to teach. Well, in the county I grew up in ( Brevard County, FL), the school system had a warehouse that they took their old books too. Anyone could just go in there and get them. Free! No questions asked! So, that is what we did. Our oldest was entering the third grade, and our daughter was entering the 2nd grade. I decided to just teach them both third grade level. So, we gathered math, science, social studies, spelling, English, etc, books. We got 2nd grade, third grade, fourth grade level. We had all kinds of stuff...good stuff. Boy, was I lucky!  Come September, I had converted our dining room into the William M. Carter Elementary School, and we were ready.


I will have to say, I was very nervous about this whole thing. Could I really teach my kids? Was I qualified? I remember talking to my mom and she said to me, "Terry, did you pass the third grade!?" I looked at her a little funny and said, "Well, yes!" She then replied, "Well, then, I do believe you can teach it!!!"  I thought about that and you know, she was right!  I never looked back. Everything was forward hoe!


Each day we would get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, clean up our mess, make our beds and be ready for school to start by 8 a.m. Miles and Ashley were the only ones I had at the time. Scott and Benjamin were little, but they sometimes would join us. We had music time where we learned our Articles of Faith to music and other Primary songs. They also started piano lessons. They had a chapter book they were reading, so they always had time to go and read that on their own, in addition to writing in their journals everyday. We also had scripture study each day. They had spelling words each week, worked on their penmanship, studied geography, history, English grammar, reading, math, and science. Many times we were working on some sort of science project. We raised tadpoles, and butterflies, had an ant farm, gathered flowers and plants and labeled them and watched our hermit crabs change shells. One time we were studying pirates, and went to the Maritime museum and saw a Blackbeard display. We also studied kings and castles, and at the end of that unit study, headed to the beach (just 8 miles away) and built a sandcastle.


On Fridays we had all our tests, which made it a short day, so we would use Fridays as our field trip day. Some of the things we did were to see the Battleship North Carolina, Krispie Kreme Donuts, we went to an Indian Pow Wow, the aquarium, etc.  We did a lot of things. Each day, I would type up what we did and at the end of the week, I would send that and some of the paperwork we did to my parents.. My mom actually saved them and put them into a book and gave them to me a few years ago. I love looking back on them.


Our first year of home school was such a joy, that I continued to home school for the next ten years, and enjoyed every minute of it. We had a few ups and downs. The downs were mostly from others who thought I was doing an injustice to my kids by homeschooling, or by some home schoolers that thought we were bad people because of our religion. Boy do I have some stories on that one, but I won't go into that.


So, for any of you who are contemplating home schooling, it is a great thing. If it is the right thing for your family, you can do it; and if you need someone to talk to I have not met a home schooler that would not be thrilled to talk to you, including me. So, if you have any questions...just ask, I have a whole lot of information for ya!!!

Nice Surprise!

The day before Valentine's Day,

I had gone to a neighbor's house to show her how to crochet around a fleece blanket.

When I came home, FedEx had left me a nice package. 

Some beautiful roses were awaiting my arrival...

From my dear husband.

Aren't they pretty? 

Not just one color

But a bunch of different colors;

red, pink, yellow, salmon, light peach

Dark Circles...

This was actually a good day for no dark circles. I was on a cruise and had gotten a little color on my face, and, therefore, they did not show up too much. One does need to be careful to not get too much sun....cancer!

How many of you have issues? We all have issues, but the kind of issues I'm talking about are issues on looking and feeling better. I have several, myself, I need to loose some weight, I wish I had a tan, wish my hair was not so flat, I could go on. A lot of these I can do something about. I can exercise more and eat less. I have learned that as I go through menopause, I have to eat practically nothing, and work out as if I am training for a world class triathlon. As far as the tan goes, I have turned to self tanners. The only problem with those, is I love to swim and go to the beach, and when I use self tanners, I have to stay away from the pool and the ocean. Not good!!! I am probably the most fair person most of you have heard of. Being a natural blonde, my skin is about as light as my hair, and therefore, is pretty transparent...it's pretty gross if you ask me, being able to see all my purple veins, well, not a pretty picture....


anywho....


The one thing that has bugged me for years, is the dark baggie circles under my eyes. I have tried EVERYTHING. I even tried some expensive stuff, and nothing, I mean, NOTHING, works! I have even asked the dermatologist, but all they say is that I have allergies. The only allergies I have are to penicillin and a few other medications, oh and mascara, which I do NOT use. That was a hard one to give up! Very rarely do I have any sinus problems, well maybe when it is really cold, my nose runs, but other than that no...nada! When I do get sick it is usually the throat or chest thing...bronchitis, or strep throat. Those should not cause baggie eyes.


I have been told that I look young for my age. When I take my glasses off, though, I'm sure that changes. My dark circles make me look tired, and therefore, puts some age on me.


So, what have you done about your dark baggie circles; those of you who have been plagued with them? I have tried to cover them up, but actually I think it makes them look worse sometimes. When you cover then up, you also cover up the area around the circles, so basically all you've done is put cover up on the places that need it and places that don't. So, really, it does not change anything except you have lighter area under the eyes. Any hints? Products that have not put you in the poor house that actually work? I'd like to hear what works or does not work for you.


By the way, I don't drink coffee, tea, or sodas of any kind (I just drink lots, and lots of water), I don't smoke or drink any alcohol, ever! I know these are some products that contribute to dark circles. I do sleep on my stomach, and I have heard that can contribute to dark baggie eyes. Lately, I've tried to sleep on my back. I start out ok, but in the middle of the night, I wake up on my stomach, so I am not having much luck with that.

Two Week Challenge

Hurricane Katrina  off the coast of Louisiana, August 2005

I just found this really cool blog, http://bepreparednotscared.blogspot.com/2010/02/two-week-challenge.html . It's a blog about preparedness. We should all be prepared, that is not to say that I think we are all going to die in Dec 2012, or that I am a "doomsdayer." There are all kinds of emergencies that come our way; the loss of a job and weather are just a couple that come to my mind. 

Our church has taught us for many years, that we all need to be prepared. When we lived in coastal North Carolina, we had a 72 hour survival kit. There were times, because of a hurricane, that we had to use it. It was so nice to not be one of the millions who rushed to the store to load up on bread, batteries, and other survival essentials.  We already had it. We never had to evacuate because we lived eight miles inland, but if we did need to, all we had to do is grab our kids, kits, and be on our way. 

This is Hurricane Fran, one of the hurricanes we experienced living in Wilmington, NC

I actually like the challenge that this blogger did. In their church, they were challenged to not go to the store for two weeks! To live off of what they already had. Could you do this? Right now, I think we could. After a week we would be out of milk and other dairy products. We would also not have fresh fruits and veggies, but we have frozen and canned.

When I read this, it ran through my mind to actually do this. Maybe we should. For one thing, we would eat down our canned food, and we would have less to move....hahaha...

Anyway, I do think it is a good challenge.