Picture a day in May, Day 14: Dad

A walk down Memory Lane.  This was my Dad's birthday in 2004.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Five Minute Friday: Deep Breath

I have really enjoyed a blog I stumbled upon called Pitterle Postings, and I have loved reading her Friday posts especially.  Patty is a gifted poet and writer!  She links up to "Five Minute Fridays" over at Gypsy Mama and I have been intrigued...So, I decided to give it a try.  I AM IN NO WAY CLAIMING TO BE A WRITER.  I am a rambler-that is probably why 5 minutes of just typing about a topic interests me.  So, here goes.  (This is the dialogue that went through my head this morning...)



The alarm is going off...already?  Deep Breath...I can do this.  I can get up and start the day...But I really don't want to...REALLY Deep breath.  I'm up, I'm up...Great Jake isn't up.  He is so grumpy when I have to wake him up!  It is such a better start to the day when he wakes me up....Deep breath.  Quick prayer.  Wake the poor boy up even though he was up late last night (late for him at least-the boy needs his sleep-he is only 9 1/2...almost 10 really...Where has this decade gone!?).  FOCUS!  I am starting to doze-WAKE UP!!!  Deep breath.  I am still in bed...Did I put the clothes in the dryer last night?  I hope so otherwise we are wearing unmatched socks again today.  I have got to remember to get dog food today...I wonder if Blogger will be working today...Did I just snore? DEEP BREATH...Aaron should be home soon.  How does he work 3rd shift-full time and go to school full time?  Because he loves us, that's how.  I married a great man.  Deep Breath.  If he can stay up all night for us, I can get my lazy self out of bed and wake up by almost a decade old baby...Where does the time go?  Deep breath...Another day is here...

How fun!  It is like a brain declutter and typing frenzy all in one!  You should try it!!  Link up here and join the fun!

Picture a day in May, Day 13: What we did today...(after we did the stuff we had to do..)

After work and school we headed to the Monroe Mall with my friend from work, Sharlene and her daughter Autumn to check out the animals that we kept hearing so much about.  Customers kept coming into Bi-Lo (local grocery store) and telling us all about the amazing array of animals in a tent in the parking lot.  So we decided that we would take the kiddos and check it out.  Despite the 86 degree weather (yes already...one of the downfalls of living in the South) we had a really fun time.  See for yourself by the next 1,000 pictures I took:

Jake and Autumn riding on a camel. 

Posing with a lion cub. 

The handler smelled a wee bit like alcohol...I'm just sayin'...But seriously look at that sweet baby!!!

Posed with a snake.  I hate snakes...a lot.  For some reason I can survive with out fleeing if they are in a large box and if I can't see it's head.  Did I mention that I hate snakes?...And someone actually choose to pose with this snake rather than the lion cub.  I freaked at that and had to flee...

A sweet Lama.

Feeding the goats and cows.

A kangaroo.  I felt so bad for the animals...What a crappy life...They were adorable though.

The black leopard we were trying to wake up to get a good picture of. We were calling it like a kitty cat...It didn't really work.  You can't see from the picture but it had beautiful leopard spots in different shades of black.

The white tiger was snoozing too.

They both woke up when the lady that smelled like alcohol came over to check them out and make sure they were okay.

And they got to pose with the lion cub again because they couldn't find the first one they took to print for us.

After seeing all the animals we went to CiCi's pizza for dinner. Sharlene and I talked while the kiddos played a few video games.  It was so much fun to get out and do something for the second weekend in a row! (I still haven't posted what we did last Saturday...I will get to it..)  Aaron was at home trying to get some much needed rest.  Last night was his first night off from 3rd shift after a week off (I haven't posted about that either...I will...), so it is going to take some time to get back into the swing of it!

When we got home we showed them how much Sadie has grown and then after they left, some how this happened:

Sadie's first experience with a sprinkler. :)

Needless to say, she loved it.

And so did Jake. 

It was a good day.  I almost forgot!!!!  I also told my boss I had to have the summer off  (...I didn't have the heart to tell him that even in the fall I won't be coming back to work and working 5 days a week like I have been...) and he said he would keep me on the payroll as long as he needed to without working me because he didn't want to lose me.  Cool!  I am going to be down June 8th (Jake's last day of school) and go in once a month to help with tags (pulling tags when sales end and putting up new ones)!  YIPPPEEEE!  The countdown for summer is really on now!  This time we actually know the official last day of school so we really can count down!

Bummer...

I actually got to work early because I couldn't blog. :) Also, my yesterday post just popped back up (I thought it was lost), but without the comments that were there yesterday. Strange...

Simple Pleasures and Picture a day in May, Day 11 &12: Being Spoiled.

This month I have already been very spoiled and that is my simple pleasure today.  The main thing that brings me such pleasure (I LOVVVVVVVE IT!!!!)  is my Mother's Day/34th Redo B-day gift:

I also love, love, love, my little pill case:

The open space is for asprin-I need to get some more.

And my beautiful ring...I realize I could never be a hand model...

My guys spoil me and let me know I am loved.  Thanks Aaron and Jake!
What are your simple pleasures?  Join the fun and let everyone know over at Chocolate on My Cranium!

Picture a day in May, Day 10: Mother's Day recap

This is my picture of the day:

They always make me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day.  See how cute face is that Jake made out of the food he cooked all by himself, except the bacon (or meat candy as Aaron likes to call it), that Daddy cooked? See the cute little gift?  I picked it out for myself at this adorable little store in downtown Monroe and they put it in the cute bag for you-that is their bag!  I gave it to Jake and told him to give it back to me and we could call it a gift from him. :)  We went to a BBQ festival on Saturday (I will post that tomorrow...) and since it was Mother's Day weekend they guys willingly let me check out the little shops I have heard about, live 5 minutes walking distance from, and still haven't been too!.  I will have to take a picture of the awesome ring I got myself  Jake got me for Mother's Day for $6.95 and this adorable little pill case (to put tylenol in your purse. It is perfect because it has 3  little spaces in it. I have been looking for something like it for ages!), for $5.   Here is my sweet Jake that worked so hard on my perfect breakfast:

Here he is sitting with me while I ate my breakfast in bed.  Aaron took a picture from the end of the bed of us, but it was one of those looking up your nose pictures-not my best angle-so we took this one instead.  Aaron was being a P.T.P.P so there aren't any of him.  But he did make a quick lunch after church (I had a pounding headache and they took good care of me by letting me take a 2 hour nap), and my request of his famous, delicious shrimp'n'grits for dinner, so that made up for it. :)  It was a wonderful Mother's Day as usual thanks to my guys! 

I finally finished "Laddie, a true blue story"!

I finally finished Ladie, a True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter and it was so good!  It was much longer than I thought it would be at 564 pages (on Kindles is doesn't tell you the page number it tells you the percentage you have read so I had no idea how long it was!).  Not that it seemed too long, it just the list of books I want to read this month is long, so I anticipated being done quicker.  I was hoping to finish it last night because the last few chapters really answer all the questions that you have through out the story, but at 12:30 I couldn't keep my eyes open in a longer.  After I dropped Jake off I came home and read for about 10 minutes and was done.  I wish there was 564 more pages!

  This book paints such a picture of the farm it took place on that I wish I could live there too...or at least visit in more than just my imagination!  READ THIS BOOK!  You will love it.  It takes place after the Civil War and is about what I would call as close to perfect a family as you could ask for!  It teaches the importance of having God in your life and the joy it brings.  Father even gave up some of his land to build their church on.  It teaches how important family is.  I love this quote that from the book when Shelley (one of 12 children the Stanton family was blessed with) is going through a hard time over a broken heart:  "Of course you do, child," said mother. "Families were made to cling together, and stand by each other in every circumstance of life-joy or sorrow.  Of course you need your family."

This book also teaches about the importance of education.  Little Sister (the little girl who is the narrator is nicknamed this by her beloved older, perfect brother, Laddie) loves to be outside and puts off going to school for 2 years and then has a hard time wearing shoes (she goes barefoot everywhere but church and school), and sitting still in school.  She is truly educated at home and her parents don't push her to go to school until she is ready.  She knows all there is to know about the world around her on the farm and seems to learn even less in school.  Of school she said: "Schoolhouses are made wrong.  If they must be, they should be built in a woods pasture beside a stream, where you could wade, swim, and be comfortable in summer and slide and skate in winter.  The windows should be cut to the floor, and stand wide open, so the birds and butterflies could pass through.  You ought to learn your geography by climbing the hill, walking through a valley, wading creeks, making islands in them, and promonotories, capes, and penisulas along the bank.  You should do your arithmetic sitting under trees adding hickory-nuts, subtracting walnuts, multiplying butternuts, and dividing hazelnuts.  You could use apples for fractions, and tin cups for liquid measure.  You could spell everything in sight and this would teach you the words that are really used in the world."  That sounds like the best kind of school to me! Mother tries to explains to a grumpy neighbor, Mr Pryor, how it is their children seem to have been so well educated.  She explains how they did it by saying: "By educating ourselves before their coming, and with then afterward. Self-control, study, work, joy of life, satisfaction with what we have had, never-ending strife to go higher, and to do better."  At one point in the book Father is talking to Dr. Fenner (the local doctor) and is concerned that Mother doubts she can ever teach Little Sister to sew or become a housewife. To this Dr. Fenner says:  "She isn't cut out for a seamstress or a housewife, Paul.  Tell Ruth not to try to force those things on her.  Turn her loose out of doors: give her good books, and leave her alone.  You won't be disappointed in the woman who evolves."  It seems Little Sister was born early and I spent the whole time I was reading thinking how intelligent and observant she seemed, but not really knowing her age (maybe I just missed it.  It says she put off going to school 2 years..Back then they didn't go until they were 7 right?  Maybe she was 9 when the book starts?  I am going to have to go back and see if I missed it somewhere..). I found myself wondering if she had a learning disability based on the discussion between the Dr. and Father.  I doubt it though. Maybe she is just a late bloomer...She seems SO bright and full of life, but there are parts that make me try to diagnose her with today's childhood issues, rather than just assuming she is just a little different from the other girls in her family.  You have to read this book and let me know what you think!!!   If you read it, you will love it.  It is a true classic! 

Read it and tell me what you think!  I haven't even gone back to reread this so sorry if it makes no sense. I was just too excited to wait.  Now I have to get ready in record time to make it to work!!! :)