This week's Foto Friday is

Waiting

This is Sox

She loves her daddy!

When Bill comes home from work,

she is so happy to see him that

she cries

and cries

and cries.

She is too funny!!!

The Swingin' Sista's

Almost exactly 18 years ago I was in a dance recital. Yep, that's me, on the far right. I might look a bit on the heavy side there, but I was six months pregnant with our youngest son.

We lived in Wilmington, NC at the time and my daughter took dance from Miss Terrie at Techniques in Motion. We loved that studio, and still miss it. 

At the time, I hadn't taken any dance classes for a number of years. Terrie had asked if any adults were interested. At first we had several that came, but  the three of us were the ones that stayed. We called ourselves The Swinging Sisters; I think because of the song we did our recital number too.

Fast forward, and now my daughter, Ashley is now a degreed dancer, teaching in a few studios in the Baton Rouge area and teaching yoga. Me? Well, I'm not doing any dancing at the moment. I did take a class while we lived in Indiana about five or so years ago. I just haven't been able to find an adult tap class, that is one that is for older adults like myself.

I'm still looking................................

Do you have a smart phone? Or a dumb phone? 
I have a dumb phone, and I love it. Nope, you are not going to talk me into having a smart phone. I really don't need one. Heck, I'm from the old school. I didn't even own a cell phone 'til I was over 40...and I had kids! My two oldest didn't get their cell phones until they were 18 and leaving home. Now our youngest two, well, they got their cell phones a little earlier, but not much! Anyway, we survived...

I will admit, smart phones look like a fun toy. I don't need an expensive toy that I will get addicted to. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to connect to my kids most any place. I especially love texting. 

I remember when I was going to college and being oh so far away...like a 4 day drive. I only got to talk to my family for a few minutes each Saturday morning, and that's it! When my daughter was away, so very, very far, 

it really didn't seem too far away, as we could talk to each other any time we wanted to; and texting....? yep did a lot of that too!  It was so nice to just get a random text, "It's snowing!"

Now I have a son who is not as far away at school, but still about ten hours. Any time he wants, or I want, we can communicate with each other. 

Did you know sons don't seem to communicate as much as daughters do though :(
Oh well.....

Foto Friday

Rear End

Just last week, I discovered there is a photography club in our area. They meet once a month, and I plan to go to their next meeting.

I also found out that they have a facebook, and weekly challenges. Perfect for my Foto Fridays!

This week, the challenge was 

Rear End.

Of course the first thing I thought of was probably what you thought of too. I really did not want to go there. I like to try to think outside the box. Then I remembered a picture I had taken years ago. I wasn't sure it would count, as the challenge was to get us out taking pictures, but I couldn't resist. Then I remembered our scanner does not work, so I took a picture of the picture. Technically I took the picture this week, right? Well, it still doesn't count, but I shared it any way because it so fits!

Don't you think?

This is actually a picture of my mom and my now 19 year old son when he was just less than two. I just love it!

Well, now, back to the challenge. Rear End. hmmmm. I thought of maybe trying to find a caboose, but the only one I know of that is close is on someone's property, and I'm not sure I can go take a picture of it.

Then I thought of taking some pictures of ducks. You know, ducks out on a pond. Have you ever seen ducks out on the pond when they dunk their heads in and their "rear ends" pop up?

This week has just gotten away from me! I had to make a trip up to Evansville to see a doctor, which took me all day. Then I had to register my youngest son for high school. That took almost all day, since he was a new student. Then our oldest son registered for welding school, and they had him as out of state, so the next day we headed to the college to get that fixed, that took all day. Another day this week, I spent all day at WalMart getting tires, and then having to deal with an eye doctor for my other son's eyes. Tomorrow I will be spending the day in soccer mode. Anyway, you get the picture, this week was pretty much shot!

So, I went with the second thing I thought of...the rear end of a car. As I watched my husband hitch up the trailer for a short trip he had to take to pick something up, I decided to try to get creative. Then as I sat there ready to take the picture, I spotted something, and my idea changed. Yes, I still took a picture of the rear end of the car, but....

of my reflection. 

Then I played around with it....

Pretty cool, don't ya think?

Living/Dining Area

I think our house is going to be a continual work in progress for awhile. Right now, all I want to do is get everything in its proper place.  I've already posted a few pictures of our half bath and laundry area. Now we move on to our living and dining area.

As you enter the front door, to your right is the living room. Before we moved all our stuff in, I was wanting to paint. Actually, I kinda like what is already on the walls. There are a few places we need to do some touch up, but for the most part it looks good. I've always wanted to have a British Caribbean look, and I think I just might be able to accomplish it.

Notice the entry way to the left of the picture...with the butterfly? Those walls are actually green, not turquoise. I really wanted to paint them turquoise, but I noticed, depending on the way the light shines in the entry (during different parts of the day), sometimes it looks green and other times the color I wanted. I think I just might leave it. 

Here's the view from the dining area.

This is an old crate my dad found years ago in the middle of the road. I pretty much stole it.

I love old stuff like this.

Here's the view of the dining area from the living room. Note the two mobiles on either side? I like mobiles and got the one on the left in Mexico (the fish are made of coconuts) and I got the one on the right in the Bahamas.

Here's the view of the dining area from the kitchen.

What do you think of the wallpaper? I hate wallpaper with a passion! I hate everything about it, taking it down, putting it up, and most of the time the looks. This paper has actually grown on me. Funny thing is, everyone that comes into our home has to go touch it. Then they say, "Is this marble?" As soon as they touch it, they know it isn't. It is funny to see everyone's reaction.

Also, in the picture above, check out the dresser. Several years ago, we had some furniture damaged in our master area, and this is one of the replacements. It did not match the rest of our furniture at all, and didn't even look right. The insurance company was suppose to come get the damaged stuff, but never did. It is livable, so we decided to put it back into our bedroom. So what to do with this? Well I think it looks nice as a buffet. What do you think?

Another angle from the dining looking into the living room.

I have these pots hiding around the corner next to the piano. In our old home they sat above our huge bookcase in our bedroom. We had huge ceilings in our old home, not so much in this home, so they do not fit. I think I may use them in the entry on the shelf above our front door. They may be too small, but it is worth a try, right?

There is one thing in this room that has to go, 

but as I said before, first things first. We must put everything in it's place, live with it for awhile, then we can worry about tweaking things.

Slowly, But Surely

This past weekend, during the down time between soccer games, my husband and I did some shopping. Our new living room as no light and we were in the market for some lamps. I've looked all over, but either I don't like the shade and like the bottom, or I like the shade and not the bottom, or they are too pricey. 


While in Lexington, we headed over to Hobby Lobby to look for some maroon beads. I'm still looking to find something to make a school color necklace and earrings. Still couldn't find any, but since we were there, we decided to look at lamps. Score! their lamps were half price. 

Perfect shape, perfect size, perfect color and great price!

And they give off the perfect light. Not too little, not too much.

Oh, and something else I 'd like to share.

I love mobiles. I have purchased a few in Mexico and the Bahamas.  It took me awhile to figure out where to hang them, and I think I found the perfect spot.

We have a decorative wall type think that separates our living room and family room. On the sides are openings.  I decided to put one on each side. You can see one here behind the TV.

The other one is here. They really look nice separating the two spaces.

Our home is getting there...slowly but surely...

Finally, Some Soccer!

We have three boys and one girl. Our girl was always involved in dance. Our boys, well, they had their individual interests, but they did share one interest, and that was and still is soccer.

We first got involved with soccer when we lived in North Carolina. Miles was just six years old. He was by far the smallest on the team. You see, at the time, everyone (except us) held their kids back so they could play sports longer. Instead of an age cut off, they used the grade the child was in as the cut off. So, most of the kids Miles played with were at least a year or so older. Since Miles has a July birthday, he was younger anyway, but then when you start holding kids back, all of the sudden some are almost two years older, and that usually is a big difference in size at that age; but because of that, he usually hung back. Anyway, that is a whole other subject. Back to soccer....

I can remember being at the soccer fields and trying to position myself so that I could view three soccer games that were going on at the same time. Forever all our boys were on different teams. I especially loved the year my husband coached. He coached Miles' team. That was a lot of fun!


When we moved to Indiana, soccer was played in the fall and spring, and many times it was very cold! Nothing like sitting on a wet lawn with temperatures in the 30's or lower, brrrrrrr!


When Miles started attending high school (9th grade), he played varsity. Their team really wasn't all that good, but he enjoyed playing, and he didn't hang back like when he first started playing the game.


I'll have to say, my favorite season to watch any of my boys play, was our last year in Indiana. Scott and Benjamin were on the same team; and they were GOOD! Not only were they good players, but so was the rest of the team. That was a great year!


Then we moved to Louisiana. Soccer? What's that? Are  you kidding me? No soccer? Well, that went over like a lead balloon! Everyone kept telling me that Louisiana was big into football. Well, my answer to that was, so is every place else we lived. Really, so Indiana was not into their Colts? PLA-EEESE! Actually, I found out that they tried to get soccer into the school. The year before we moved there, the kids had put together a petition full of signatures to get soccer into the school.  Long story short....the principal called a meeting and didn't tell anyone. Guess what? No one showed up, and therefore he said there was no interest. Basically, he didn't want soccer. Well, last year was his last, as he retired; and guess what? From what I hear they are getting a soccer team up.  Oh well!


I am really sad that Scott was not able to play high school soccer. He tried to play community soccer, but they were gone every weekend down to South Louisiana. That would mean travel, 3 days in a motel (every weekend for several months), and playing every Sunday. We really didn't see us being able to afford that, not to mention playing on Sunday. I believe the forth commandment says to keep the Sabbath day holy.


Well, Scott did play some the first year (local games), that is until he tore his meniscus. That not only put him out of soccer, but also out of baseball. He was not a happy camper. Then the next year, he decided to just play baseball. His knee started to bother him. We took him to the doctor, and they had to go back in a re-repair his injury. He pretty much had to say good-bye to sports for long while. This has really been hard on him, as he is our baby who always had a ball in his hand. It's been about four years since he first injured himself, and he plays tennis, and a few pick up soccer games now and then.


Well, now we are in Kentucky. Benjamin is starting his last and final year of high school. A Senior. I can't believe my baby is a Senior! His new school has a soccer team and he is able to play varsity! At least we hope so. Paper work is still in the progress to prove he was not recruited. Seriously? Right! I'm sure this school recruited a 17 year old who has not played organized soccer in five years. Anyway....hopefully, they will get things taken care of before their first game on Thursday.


So, wish us luck this season. Luck that Benjamin can start playing the first game. Luck that the team will all be healthy; no injuries. Luck that they will win some games. Heck....luck that they can go to state!


GO MAROOOOONS!!!!!