Bluebonnets and Haggis

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-15T05:30:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Valentine's Day here at the Casa. I went overboard, as usual. :) Den and I decided that trying to celebrate Valentine's Day out and about with the masses just wasn't our speed. So, we had some good friends over for dinner and just had a really nice evening. Before that, though, I had to send my girlies off to school in their Valentine's Day finest. (Of course)

Summer needs no urging to dress up. She came up with this one all on her own. Might I say we have gotten a LOT of mileage out of this pettiskirt.

Paige, alas, seems to have outgrown cutesy holiday outfits, so she went with pink and wore a heart necklace as a nod to the occasion.

As I mentioned above, I have the teeniest tendency to go overboard. I can't seem to help it, so as long as others benefit from my insanity, I'll just keep on keepin' on. Summer needed a Valentine's card receptacle of some sort for her class celebration. I will throw in here, that I am trying to use up some of my scrapbooking supply stash, so I jump on any chance I get to do so. We were going to decorate a shoe box, but then we ran across this little basket at Walmart and decided that 1.) It was WAY too cute to pass up and 2.) If we packed it away carefully, she could use it again and again. I had the letters and the LOVE sticker in my stash and my mother-in-law sent me the giant flower back around homecoming to make the girls mums. Didn't get around to that one because football/fall soccer season is INSANE around here. For her valentines I was originally planning on doing something else, but the basket turned out so cute and I had all the supplies to make these, so we did these instead.

And now for the GOODIES!!!! I made mini doozies from those icky little Pillsbury holiday cookies, some frosting, and sprinkles. Those cookies are vastly improved by icing and sprinkles. I also made an asssortment of rice krispies treats. These were for the teacher appreciation treats at Summer's school.

We started the day off with cinnamon rolls with pink frosting and strawberries cut into heart shapes (these were not, because the girlies ate all the cut ones before I could get a picture). The girlies each got a chocolate rose from mom and dad.

I made pink cupcakes for our Valentine's Day dinner.

Side and desserts - a big green salad, strawberries and pink yogurt dip, and the cupcakes.

And the main course - heart shaped cheese and pepperoni pizzas, and a thin crust white pizza, because that's what I wanted. The mini-pizza was a cheeseless pepperoni for Paige.

That's all the pictures I got though. Once our company got here, I was having way too much fun to take any more. I tried to get a few of the 4 kids, but they wouldn't be still and pose for me and I didn't feel like chasing them. Happy Valentine's Day!

Oops I Did It Again...

2012-02-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

I had such a great experience couponing at Farm Fresh yesterday, that I decided to try it today at Food Lion, the other grocery store in town. Now, I have noticed in the past, that Food Lion's sales are hit and miss. This was definitely a miss week. There just wasn't a whole lot in there that we needed. I did manage to catch a few good deals, though.

2 boxes Orville Reddenbacher's Natural popcorn - $6.38

2 2-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper 10, on sale 4/$5.00 - $2.50

2 x $1.00/1 box popcorn and 1 2-liter soda coupons - $2.00 (store coupons)

2 x $1.00/1 2-liter soda coupons - $2.00 (manufacturer's coupons)

1 x $1.00/2 boxes popcorn coupon - $1.00 (manufacturer's coupon)

$3.88 for all 4, or $0.97 each

Duncan Hines cake mix, on sale 4/$5.00 - $1.25

1 x $0.35 coupon - $0.35

$0.90 for the cake mix, that will be the base for some Knock You Naked Brownies

2 Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls, on sale 2/$4.00 - $4.00

1 carton eggs - $1.89

1 x $1.00 coupon - $1.00

1 x Free eggs with purchase coupon - $1.89

$3.00 for all 3, or $1.00 each

I had another $1.00 in coupons and I picked up 2 cartons of strawberries that were on sale for $1.88. Between my MVP card discount and my coupons, I saved $18.66 and paid $19.61, another savings of almost 50%. Yay me!

The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame

2012-02-09T09:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I accompanied Summer's 3rd grade class on a field trip to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Let me say, it was one of the best field trips I have ever been on. If you have the chance to take a trip down there, it is definitely worth your time. They offered a very nice balance of teaching the kids about teamwork and simple machine, allowing them to tour and interact with the exhibits, and letting them burn off some energy.

These are Summer's two good friends in her class, Ellie and Jessica. Together I call them The Gigglers. You will probably see a lot of them on here because if it is during school hours, these three are inseparable.

This is the media area of the Hall of Fame. It displays the work of Virginians who have been important to the world of sports reporting, whether it be print, video, radio, or online media. This exhibit was super interactive and the kids even got the chance to record themselves announcing a football game and then hear it played back.

For one phase of the tour, the kids went into a "classroom" where they got a lesson on simple machines and how they are encountered in every day life. The lesson ended with a game show type activity with Acti-Voter controllers that was a lot of fun.

Bryce, Fisher, Jackson, Gabe, and Andrew. The three in the middle are the boy version of the Gigglers. All six of them generally sit at the same table, which makes for a very lively lunch period.

Some love for The Admiral!

There is even a NASCAR exhibit at the museum, whose centerpiece is an actual race car driven by Ricky Rudd (Hands Off Kiddies!). Then the tour guide whipped out a bag of tokens and the kids all got to take a spin on the simulators.

After finishing the tour of the exhibits, it was time for the kids to burn off some of that energy!

Summer managed a six and a half foot vertical jump in skinny jeans!

Climbing the steps of Fed-Ex Field on the elliptical.

Basketball! This guy has the best job in the museum!

A Glimpse of the Madness

2012-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

After watching a couple of episodes of Extreme Couponing on On Demand and since one of our local grocery stores doubles coupons on Wednesdays, I decided I would try out some of their ideas. I sat down last night with Farm Fresh's sale ad and my coupons and started pairing things up. This afternoon I headed out with list and coupons in hand to see how well I could do.

I got everything in the picture above for $111.31! Even better? I saved $109.39 in coupons!!!!!! I could hardly believe it. I mean, seriously? Almost 50%.

Here's some of the highlights.

1 each Johnsonville Brats, Italian Sausage and Breakfast Sausage - $11.07

2 x $1.00 off coupons (1 was $1.00 off with purchase) + 1 x $0.75, all doubled - $5.50

$5.57 for all 3, which comes out to around $1.85 each

4 Progresso Soups, on sale for $1.00 each. (I LOVE their vegetable soups) - $4.00

1 x $1.00/4 coupon, doubled - $2.00

$2.00 for all 4, which comes out to $0.50 each

2 Del Monte Fruit Naturals, on sale for 2/$3.00 - $3.00

1 x $1.00/2 coupon, doubled - $2.00

$1.00 for both, which comes out to $0.50 each

2 Coffee Mate 32 oz. creamers, on sale 2/$6.00 - $6.00

1 x $1.85 coupon and 1 x $1.10 coupon - $2.95

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

$1.05 for both, which comes out to about $0.52 each

2 9 oz. Ken's Salad Dressings (I use them to marinate chicken), on sale for $1.00 each - $2

1 x $1.00/2 coupon, doubled - $2.00

Both were FREE!

2 cans of Blue Diamond Almonds, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

1 x $1.00 coupon + 1 x $0.60 coupon, doubled - $3.20

$1.80 for both, which comes out to $0.90 each

2 Degree deodorants, 1 Dove deodorant, and 1 Dove body wash - $16.98

1 x $.075 coupon + 1 x $1.00 coupon, both doubled, + 1 x $1.50/2 - $5.00

1 x $5.00 coupon at the register - $5.00

$6.98 for all 4, which comes out to about $1.74 each, plus there was a free trial size body wash attached to the large one :-)

2 x Planters Nut-Trition granola bars, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

1 x $1.00 + 1 x $0.75 coupons, doubled - $3.50

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

Farm Fresh paid me $0.50 to buy these

2 Emerald Breakfast on the Go Granola packs, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

1 x $0.75 coupon, doubled - $1.50

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

$1.50 for both, or $0.75 each

2 x Ragu Organic spaghetti sauce - $4.58

1 x $1.00/2 coupon, doubled + 1 Free with Purchase coupon - $4.29

$0.29 for both, or about $0.15 each

Lady and the Tramp DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack - $25.99 (Birthday present for one of Summer's friends)

With purchase, I got a free jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce, a free package of Bread du Jour Italian rolls, and a $1.00 off Johnsonville Italian Sausage coupon, which doubled.

I also had a 1 x $5.00 coupon for the movie, so my total savings on this bundle was $11.29.

3 Yoplait Light 4 packs, on sale 3/$6.00 - $6.00

3 x $0.75 coupons, doubled - $4.50

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

Farm Fresh paid me $0.50 to buy these

2 Starkist Albacore Tuna pouches, on sale 2/$3.00 - $3.00

1 x $0.50 coupon, doubled - $1.00

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

Both were FREE!!!

1 x Solo cups + 1 x Solo bowls, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

1 x $0.75 coupon, doubled - $1.50

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

$1.50 for both, or $0.75 each

4 Palmolive dishwashing liquids, on sale 2/$3.00 - $6.00

2 x $1.00 coupons, doubled - $4.00

2 x $1.00 coupons at the register, doubled - $4.00

Farm Fresh paid me $2.00 to buy these

2 Peanut Butter Cheerios, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

2 Ocean Spray fruit snacks, on sale 2/$5.00 - $5.00

1 gallon milk - $4.29

1 x $1.00 coupon + 2 x $0.50 coupons + 1 x $0.60 coupon, doubled - $5.20

1 x $2.00 coupons + 1 x $4.50 coupon (free milk) at the register - $6.50

$2.59 for everything

2 Nature Valley granola bars, on sale 2/$6 - $6.00

2 Fiber One granola bars, on sale 2/$6 - $6.00 (I know, we eat a LOT of granola bars)

1 gallon milk - $4.29

1 x $0.75 coupon + 2 x $0.40 coupons, doubled - $3.10

1 x $2.00 coupon + 1 x $4.50 coupon (free milk) at the register - $6.50

$6.69 for everything

2 Kraft salad dressings, on sale 2/$5 - $5.00

1 x $0.75 coupon, doubled - $1.50

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

$1.50 for both, or $0.75 each

2 Club Crackers, on sale 2/$6.00 - $6.00

1 x $1.00 coupon, doubled - $2.00

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

$2.00 for both, or $1.00 each

2 Welch's 64 oz. juices, on sale 2/$6.00 - $6.00

2 x $1.00 coupons, doubled - $4.00

1 x $1.00 coupon at the register, doubled - $2.00

Both were FREE!!!

I had an additional $10.00 in coupons, but they didn't pair up for any spectacular deals and this post is long enough, so I'll spare you the details.

So, to recap, I ended up getting 2 bottles of salad dressing, 2 gallons of milk, 2 pouches of tuna, 2 bottles of juice, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and a package of Italian rolls for free, and I actually made $3.00 in overages. WOW!!!! I don't know if I will make this a regular habit, because the planning and shopping were a little time consuming, but it was definitely fun to take my couponing to that next level and save a TON of money.

Weekly Savings Roundup

2012-02-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here's my savings round-up from last week!

Food Lion - I saved $9.20 with my MVP card and $2.15 in coupons for a savings of $11.35

Ulta - I saved $2.00 with my Ulta card and $7.50 in coupons for a savings of $9.50

Commissary - I saved $24.74 in coupons

Rite Aid - This one was a big saver again this week! I saved $56.95 with my Rite Aid card and $41.00 in coupons, for a savings of $97.95! PLUS I got a $20 rebate on Paige's toothbrush that will count toward another week's total.

BX - I saved $3.00 in coupons and I got a $.05 bag credit for a savings of $3.05 BUT I hit their 75% off sale on clothes for the girls and saved $209.96!

Justice - I cashed in my $25 Fun Card for a savings of $25.

That brings my grand total savings for the week to $171.59 and my total squirreled away for next year's vacay to $298.30!!!

File This Under Thrifty

2012-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend Shannon, Facebooked me the other day about some friends of hers that are making their own laundry detergent. You can read about it here. I have to say, I am intrigued. I am kind of a laundry detergent snob. I have tried all the supposedly "eco-friendly" brands and haven't been happy with any of them really. None of them make my clothes smell nice and they aren't soft enough. The savings promised in this blog post is awfully tempting, though, SO I am going to give it a whirl. I'll post about it here if it turns out to be as awesome as promised.

Haggis With A Side of Awesomesauce

2012-02-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

I have been promising this post for a few days now, and I finally have a minute to sit down and write it. It's been a busy week for me. Tuesday was my MRI and I started Physical Therapy yesterday. Hopefully some answers are around the corner. This is not about me however. This... is a post about my guy. :)

I kinda like this guy that God put in my path one day. The nearly 15 years that we have been together have been filled with ups and downs (literally :)). We've been apart a lot, but it makes the time we have together that much better.

He makes me laugh. A LOT. He hates having his picture taken and does everything he can to be a goofball when the camera comes out in hopes that I will give up. HA! Our photo albums are filled with pictures like these. It makes me treasure shots like the one above, where I catch him off guard with a real smile all the more.

He needs the water like he needs food and air. It quiets his soul and gives him peace.

Even when it's 37* with 15 mile an hour winds.

He's an AMAZING father because he's a kid at heart. He has no qualms at all about whipping out a pink tie-dyed plastic shovel and...

Digging some beach chairs in the sand.

He's a modern day Renaissance Man. His bachelor's degree is in Cartography and GIS (essentially mapmaking), but he decided to get his masters in Health Sciences, specifically Emergency Management. This came in the mail last week.

In addition to finishing his Masters (above) and fighting an uphill battle (below), in the last few months he has...

Built a bed because we couldn't find the perfect one.

Painted a picture because he was having Daddy-Daughter night with Paige and that's what she wanted to do.

Refinished our perfectly nice Tres Amigos rustic pine dresser because I thought it didn't go with the new bed. It now looks just like a dresser that I fell in love with at Coastal Accents on the way back from the Outer Banks.

He also can completely rebuild a car from the ground up, can do incredible calculations in his head, and can pretty much handle anything you throw at him.

Oh yeah, and he can fly this....

What I love most about my guy, however, is his compassion, his sense of duty. He walked away from an opportunity to fly the U2 to stay in a staff job for 6 more months because he couldn't leave the A-10 community behind without giving them everything he had. Unfortunately, he walked into a battle that had been lost before he even got to the fight. By now, many of you have seen the article that has rocked the A-10 family. If not, you can read about it here. For the last six months, Den has been fighting this with his heart and soul 24/7, probably pissing off quite a few people along the way (at times, me included). I can not even express how devastated he is. In his mind, this came down on his watch, so, despite everything he worked to save, he failed his A-10 brothers and, even worse, the eighteen year old kid on the ground a world away from home with a gun in his hand. The image in his mind of that kid is what has been driving him and it kills him that everything he had just wasn't enough.

Of course, there are lots more reasons I love my guy. I find new ones every day. He's the best friend I've ever had. He's the axis that keeps our little world spinning. He's totally and completely awesomesauce.

Weekly Breakdown

2012-01-30T03:58:00.000-08:00

This week definitely wasn't as spectacular as last week in the realm of couponing. To make a long story short, I just didn't need as much stuff. :0) Anywho, here's my savings breakdown!

At the Commissary I save $12.40 in coupons. This included a club pack of Rice Krispies that was on sale for $2.99. It had a $1 off store coupon on the box and I had a $1 off manufacturer's coupon, making it 99 cents!

At Rite Aid, I saved $10.00. They had cat and dog food (both of which were on my list) on sale last week 2/$9. I used the $9 in +Up rewards that I got last week for them, which made them free! They also had packs of gum on sale for $1 a piece. I bought three packs of gum and had a coupon for $1/3 packs, so my total at the register for the dog and cat food and 3 packs of gum was $2 and change! AND I got a $20 +Up reward on my receipt, so technically, I MADE money here.

I saved $1.39 at McDonalds with a coupon for a free 4pc. chicken nuggets. I bought a sweet tea as well and combined it with some tasty fruit I had just purchased at the Commissary and had lunch for $1.11.

Finally, I saved $5 in coupons at Target. No spectacular deals this time, just a coupon for $5 off a replacement head for Summer's toothbrush.

Grand total this week was $28.79, bringing my grand total to $126.71 saved up for next year's vacay!

Not Bad For A First Try

2012-01-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

I decided as one of my New Year's resolutions to try my hand at couponing. Not the extreme stuff like you see on TV since our somewhat nomadic lifestyle does not lend well to stockpiling, but just taking the time to go through the sale ads each week and pair items with coupons. Knowing my penchant for going overboard with new projects, I decided to set some ground rules for myself.

1. I will still make out a menu each week and set a grocery list from that menu.

2. I will go through all the coupons that are expiring that week and only use the ones for things we actually need / will use. No buying something just because I have a coupon for it

3. I will only go through the sale ads for stores that are convenient for me to go to. Saving 30 cents a pound on meat is not worth having to go completely out of my way to get it.

4. IF a store is having a really good special on something we actually use (like detergent) then by all means pick some up.

I'm sure there were a few more, but you get the gist of it. I don't want couponing to be inconvenient. I am not looking to make a lifestyle change, just save a little money.

Thanks to a REALLY bad flare up in my hip and the resulting bedrest, last week was my first shot at this. Here's how I did...

I got a $5 rebate check in the mail from some wine I bought
At Rite Aid I saved $33.50 with my rewards card and $13.25 in coupons, PLUS I got $9 in +UP rewards coupons to use on a future purchase.
At my friend Kat's 31 Party, I used my previous hostess discount to get $24.50 off a cross-body bag for Disney World
At Food Lion I save $6.52 with my rewards card and $4 in coupons
I took Paige to lunch on Friday before her dentist appt. at Smoky Bones and saved $10 in coupons
DENNIS saved $1.15 at Taylor's (local hardware store) with his military discount

That makes a grand total of...... $97.92 in coupons and discounts. All of it on stuff that we actually needed and will use within the next month.

Also, I am not counting this with the savings above, since I didn't use a coupon, but I hit Justice's additional 40% off sale and spent $85.27 but save $144.64! And, except for a birthday present and a pair of boots for Summer, it was all spent on clothes for the spring and summer that were WAY marked down, then 40% off the redlines with an additional 40% off for the store wide sale. Saving money is fun!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

2012-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we took advantage of the freakishly warm weather we are having and drove down to the Outer Banks for the day. Our first stop was heaven on earth, aka Duck Donuts. There are no pictures because, sadly, they are closed for the season. After that, we headed to Kitty Hawk to the Wright Brothers museum.

Summer doing her best Greta van Susteren impression

The girlies completed the scavenger hunt and became Junior Rangers.

After we finished up at the museum, we headed over to Mama Kwan's, which has the best fish tacos I have ever tasted AND a really delicious black bean burger. Mmmmm.

After lunch we made a quick stop at Kitty Hawk Kites and then headed for the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge, which, by the way, is now one of my favorite places on earth.

Paige couldn't resist this stretch of smooth sand!

There wasn't enough wind to really get the kite going, but the parachute men took off.

On the way back, we decided to play tourists, so we HAD to stop at the home of Grave Digger for a picture and the girlies and I couldn't pass up the giant pink adirondack chair.

The Best Christmas Present... EVER

2012-01-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

I was so proud of myself this year because for the first time, I was able to get Den a thoughtful, unexpected gift, that he would never have guessed in a million years - an ice cream maker! It's a really nice one that doesn't require any pre-freezing, or anything like that. Just put your ingredients in and turn it on. 60 minutes later you have ice cream. Yay me!

I had nothing on Den though....

The gift he gave me was the most thoughtful, unexpected thing I never could have imagined - a tray of rocks.

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful tray. He made the girls' gifts this year (later post) and we are slowly but surely redecorating our bedroom, so initially I thought that he had made the tray to go with our new bedroom furniture. Actually, initially I thought he was sending me to a spa. It's a little zen-ish don't you think? Look closer, though, do you see the two rocks in there that are wrapped in wire?

Here's a closer look. Turns out, those rocks, in particular were my Christmas present. Those rocks came from what is left of my Nanny's land. He bought it for us to retire on. I can't even put into words the shock, and appreciation, and love that bubbled up in that moment. It is by far, with the exception of my girlies, the greatest thing anyone has ever done for me. It's not just the land, though, it's the knowledge that one day, I am finally going home. I grew up, literally surrounded by family. It's one of the things that I miss most about military life. Don't get me wrong, I have loved every adventure this insane life has taken us on. The girlies, for at least part of their lives, will get to know how it feels to be surrounded by all the craziness that is extended family. That, my friends, is and amazing gift. And speaking of craziness, have I mentioned that my entire family is crazy? Completely bonkers. And I love and miss every single one of them every day. And my sweet husband is, on purpose, going to homestead right in the middle of it. Have I mentioned how much I love him?

My grandparents had the land cleared earlier this year. It was WAY overgrown and full of nasty things like poison ivy and hackberry trees. Oh, and I'm sure a snake or two. These pics are from our trip home this summer. I am so excited. Next year, I am getting a utility pole for Christmas!

Please disregard my shirtless uncle, Darrin, who will one day be our next door neighbor. I should take this opportunity to explain the layout of the land. My great-grandparents' original land has been parceled off and sold/inherited over the years. Imagine a city block. Starting from our property (SO COOL TO SAY THAT!), and working clockwise are, my Uncle Darrin and Aunt Robbin, who live in the original house, then two lots that are non-family. Next to them is my Aunt Ginny, who is actually my mom's aunt, but we've always just called her Aunt Ginny. Then you turn the corner and you have my mom's house and my Aunt Donna's house. Turn another corner and you're at my grandparents' house. Next door to them is another non-family lot, and then you're back to us.

So there you have it - our own little piece of Texas.

Wisdom in Art

2012-01-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Ladies and germs, I introduce... Wisdom In Art. These amazing prints are from an oil series that super-talented artist, Kaci Beeler painted called Austin Desserts. I have been following Kaci on Facebook through her awesome husband Roy, who I have known since I was about 8, for quite some time now. From the time I laid eyes on her artwork I knew that one day I MUST OWN ONE!!! I mean, these are from Austin, people... Austin, where Den and I had our first date. Austin, home of my Longhorns. Austin, that just wants to stay weird.

They are all beautiful prints, how do I choose??????? While I do love blackberry cobbler, and the strawberry tulip cup looks divine....

Cupcakes and Airstream Trailer is singing my song!

Kaci, if you are somehow reading this, please don't sell all of these until I can find the perfect spot in my house for this and convince my husband that I really really do need it. Please, please, please? :)

Den, if YOU are reading this, I really, really do need this!

Melissa's Bagel Dip

2012-01-01T12:42:00.000-08:00

In Tucson, we had the BEST next door neighbors - The Haleys. Melissa makes this dee-lish bagel dip. I made it for our New Year's Eve parties last night and it was a big hit, so I though I would share the recipe here.

Melissa's Bagel Dip

16 oz Mayo (I used fat free)

16 oz sour cream (Fat free again)
2 tbsp dill weed
2 tbsp Accent salt
2 pkgs. Buddig corned beef (Randomly, every store I went to was out of this, so I went to the deli and had some sliced as thin as they could get it)

Plenty of bagels (I used 3 bags of the Pepperidge Farm mini bagels, but Melissa recommends New York Bagels)

Cut the meat into little pieces. Mix all the ingredients together. Cut the bagels into bite size pieces for dipping, make sure you have enough bagels cause the dip goes a long way.

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

I first came across this blog post on Facebook as I was contemplating New Year's Resolutions and it really struck a cord with me, as I'm sure it has with lots of people. You can read the entire post here. I know that I, personally am guilty of a lot of these things.

Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.

Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.

Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.

Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness.

Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.

Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.

Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.

Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.

Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.

Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.

Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.

Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.

Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done.

Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.
Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.

Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

After pondering this list for a few days, though, I think the real point of this article isn't, "here are all the things that you need to change about yourself", but, that you should love and value yourself in spite of these behaviors. I have to admit, that sometimes, I am not that big of a fan of myself. So I guess my New Year's Resolution is going to be....

I resolve to be my own biggest fan!

Oh, and to blog more and do some more scrapbooking (Not because I am WAY behind, and I am, but because I love it and miss doing it)

Shaggedy Shag

2011-12-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

The floors in our house are cold. I don't know if it's inferior insulation, or what. On the rare occasion that we eat dinner at the coffee table, the girls always have to pull out a blanket to sit on. (No food on the couches!) Pair that, with the fact that playing the Kinect that my grandparents got us for Christmas on said hard floor is hard on the ol' joints and Viola..... time to go rug shopping.

I had seen a rug I really like at Home Depot when we first moved here, but we decided not to buy it since our living room was carpeted. Since that was three years ago, of course they didn't have it any more. It was a nice rich chocolate brown with tan, cream, and robin's egg blue woven into the shag. LOVED IT!

After trips to every store we could think of that had rugs, in the rain, with disgruntled girlies (How dare we drag them around rug shopping on their vacation?) we decided to try the Lowes in Hampton. We had already been to the one in Newport News and didn't find squat. I looked at every rug and remnant they had and... nothing. Then, I pulled back one of the sliders that the special order rugs hang on and, like a ray from Heaven, the light fell on the color swatches for one of the rugs. There it was.... My rug from three years ago. I had skimmed past it because the display rug was beige. After doing a little dance of joy, I drug Den and the salesman over and ordered it! PLUS they were running a 20% off special order rugs deal AND we got a 10% off military discount. Oh, and it ships directly to our door for free.

This is the rug we ordered. You can't really see the other colors woven into the shag,

but I promise when it gets here I will take a close-up. It's made by Shaw Living and is the Shaggedy Shag 8x10 area rug in Cocoa Multi.

Since, my new brown, blue, and cream rug no longer matches the red window valances in my great room, I guess I'll be needing new ones :). Oh, and a new kitchen rug since it's all one big room. And maybe some new dish towels......

We took all the Christmas decorations down yesterday and now I can't remember what I had on the mantle, so I will be looking for ideas over the next few days. That's another post for another day.

Surprise!

2011-12-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

After months of telling the girls that they were getting too old for Disney World, we surprised them for Christmas with a Spring Break trip with our awesome travel buddies, the Lindlers.

A Christmas Surprise

2011-12-18T06:34:00.001-08:00

About a month ago, Dennis told me not to make plans for December 17th, that he had plans for us and that we would need to dress up. I said OK and didn't think anything else about it. Little did I know that he had one of the most amazing evenings we've had in a long time up his sleeve.

The original plan was that we would all just wear our Christmas dresses to his surprise. Unfortunately, as with most things involving Christmas this year, it got put on the back burner and promptly forgotten about. Thanks to my Grandmother, who sent this dress for Paige in the mail earlier in the week and having a dress or two left over from cotillion last year that would fit Summer, we still able to get all dolled up for our big night out.

I made Paige take a picture of me since when I was putting together the calendars that I make for our grandparents every year I noticed that there are very few pictures of me. New Year's resolution number 57 I guess.

The first half of our surprise - dinner at The Melting Pot, which really was a surprise, because, like all men, Dennis always says that there is no way he is paying that much money to cook his own food.

The second half of our surprise just about had me in tears. I have been wanting to take the girls to a performance of The Nutcracker since they were born. It was a Bucket List item for me. So when we pulled into the Ferguson Center, I was SO excited. It was everything I hoped it would be. The dancers were superb and both girls sat completely enraptured for the entire 2 hour performance. Afterwards, they both pirouetted there way to the car and danced all around the house. They still are this morning. Happy momma!

Thirty Days of Thankful - Day 2

2011-11-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

You HAD to know this one was coming....

Day 2 - My Flyboy

This is my current favorite picture of Den, that I took at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. I have been in love with my husband since I was 19 years old and today I am so, so thankful that God put him in my path. I could not ask for a better husband and father for my girlies. His pride and devotion to his country and his brothers and sisters in arms inspires me. His steadfast, overwhelming love for his daughters takes my breath away. And for some strange reason or another, he puts up with me too. Hee Hee. Seriously, though, he is everything I never knew that I always wanted and I will give thanks for him every day that I draw breath.

Thirty Days of Thankful - Day 1

2011-11-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

The Thirty Days of Thankful Challenge is rampant on Facebook right now, but I don't feel like it's quite enough just to say, "Today I am thankful for...." without explaining why you are thankful for it. I want there to be more of a back story. I realize that I may be a tad behind since it is already November 7th, so I will be doubling up this week. In theory, I will get two "Thankful" posts a day up here. So... here we go.

Day 1 - Phillippians 4:19-20

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Most of you who know me know that I am not flagrant about my faith. My walk with God is a deeply personal journey and I prefer to keep it that way. Like my walk, this verse is particularly personal to me. The song based off of this verse, Jehovah Jirah, has always been a favorite of mine. My Nanny used to sing it sometimes as she was puttering around the house. Quite recently I have realized that this song, and this verse, have more significance to me that just a happy childhood memory. I will tell you the story of the night that I came to that realization.

Two years ago, and a month after relocating here to Virginia, Dennis was a few days out from heading to Iraq for an Exec tour. I have never really worried about Den when he is deployed. I know that sounds bizarre, but I haven't. This time was different though. I knew he was going to be on the ground. I knew he was probably going to be in convoys. I knew he would probably be going into places that put him at risk. And to be honest, it just freaked me the hell out. One night, after everyone had gone to bed, I pretty much just laid out the couch and very quietly went to pieces. After an hour or so, I went to my bible in search of comfort - anything that would let me know that everything was going to be fine. I prayed that God would give me the words I needed to find peace, and then set my bible down on the table, let it fall open, and closed my eyes and pointed. When I opened my eyes and laid eyes on those words, so familiar to me, it brought on a whole new wave of hysteria. But this one was tinged with relief. Words can not express the comfort I found that night. I KNEW everything was going to be fine.

There have been times since that night where I have gone to bed troubled, praying for God's guidance and woken up in the morning at peace with that song running through my head.

That story having been told, today I am thankful that God has given me reassurance, that He has his own special way of reminding me that He's looking out for me.

New project - Week in Pictures

2011-10-13T18:04:00.001-07:00

Weekends are the craziest around here between cheer, soccer, and trying to cram as much family time as we can in around the girls' social calendars. As I mentoined in my previous post, there is frequently a back story to the pictures that I post that goes untold. Thus, my new project. Every Sunday night (in theory), I will sit down at the computer and pick out my pics from the week that DO have a back story and share them here. Some weeks I take TONS of pictures, and some (rare) weeks I don't take any. Regardless, there is so much more of our lives that can be shared with the people that we love that are often so far away. Since I can't talk to you all on the phone like I would like to, I feel like this is the best way to close the distance between us.

The Craziness That is Fall

2011-10-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and with it comes a whole new level of insanity. This is the first time that I have even thought about the blog since school started. I am hoping to make this more of a priority in the next few weeks. I rely entirely too much on Facebook these days, and it is convenient for getting pics and life in general out to family and friends, but so often, there is a back story that just doesn't make its way to the posts. So... here I am recommitting to the blog for the umpteen-jillionth time. Maybe this time I really will be better about it.

The National Zoo

2011-08-22T14:28:00.001-07:00

Den had a meeting at the Pentagon first thing Monday morning, so we all took advantage of the free hotel room and drove up Sunday morning. The girls have been dying to go to the National Zoo, so we took the Metro on over.

This pretty much sums up our day at the zoo. A huge line of angry red radar blobs spent the majority of the afternoon marching its way through Washington DC.

We managed to squeeze in a few of the outdoor habitats before the rain started. This is a statue of the Sloth Bear that was being, well, sloth-like and I couldn't get a good picture.

This is a Fisher Cat. I had never ever heard of a fisher cat before, but the name IS pretty self-explanatory. They are cats... who fish. Check them out in action here.At this point the panda bears were nowhere to be seen, so we had to settle for this one.

We never did find an actual anteater

Shortly after the tasty snowcones above, the heavens opened up and we very quickly sought shelter in the Ape, Small Mammal, Reptile, and Invertebrate Houses.
Hee hee. Gorilla Yoga

This is an anaconda. If you think he is big, you should have seen his pond mate. I am pretty sure that it must have eaten the anteater and that's why we couldn't find it.
Hands down the fattest iguana I have ever seen
I seem to have a strange fascination with Komodo Dragons. To me they are the great big poisonous labrador retrievers of the reptile kingdom.

Excuse me madam, but your squishy parts are showing.Who doesn't love a good giant octopus?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera!

We finally got a break in the rain and decided that we had better start the hike back to the metro station. We ran across this photo op along the way.

As we were heading back through the park, we ran across a small hidden sign that said Indoor Panda Viewing and low and behold, look who we found! One last shot before we headed for the train
This is not actually from the Zoo. It is from a random rest stop between here and there. Don't you just LOVE it?

Beach Day

2011-08-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Sad but true, the summer is winding down. In a couple of weeks, it will be back to the books - in MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! By some miracle, Paige and her buddies all had a free day, so off to the beach we all went. The girls wore themselve out in the water and we moms got a chance to catch up after a summer full of travels, and baseball, and this, and that. If summer has to end, this was a good way to do it.

Emma, Paige, Lexi, Christy, and Kaylie. This one may be a framer.

And... here it is in color. See what a beautiful day it was? It was 85 degrees and the offshore breeze was wonderful.
They did take breaks from their boogie boards to dig a massive pit in the sand.

Paige and Kaylie

It's a whole pile of trouble!

The waves started picking up after lunch, so they abandoned their boogie boards and jumped around in the waves for about an hour.

And here's their good sides - Paige, Emma, Lexi, Christy. and Kaylie

FAME Camp

2011-08-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

While Paige was wielding a paintbrush, Summer tied on her cheer shoes and went to cheer camp at a nearby Competition Cheer gym with her besties, Ashlyn and Madison. She had a BLAST!!!

Audrey, Madison, Ashlyn, and Summer

I am not real sure what she was doing here, but I liked the way the picture came out.
All week they worked on a dance routine for the parents.

They worked on stunting some.

Getting ready to tumble

Art Classes

2011-08-12T19:02:00.001-07:00

For the last 2 weeks, Paige has been taking some art classes through Poquoson Parks and Rec. She really had a great time, and, although I may be a little biased, I think she may be showing some takent. These were the first formal art classes of any kind that she has taken.

My budding artist - please ignore the bruise on her shoulder - she got it boogie boarding.

The first week, she took a Beginner's Watercolor class. The kids learned how to mix the paints and how the different brushes work. This was her painting from the first day. It's a coral reef.
This class was on color washing, I think.

This is one of my favorites!

This one I am getting matted and framed for my office. The background was done with a water gun!

In this class, the instructor showed them what would happen if they sprinkled salt on their paint while it was still wet. I think it makes kind of a neat effect.

The peacock is still a work in progress. I will have to post about it again when it is finished.

The second week was a Superhero drawing class. The kids were taught about drawing facial expressions and things like that in the first two classes.

Paige's super heroes. Not sure what she is calling them.

I think she was trying her hand at a Japanimation here.

I know that she is planning on adding more details to these drawings and coloring them in. I guess I will blog those along with the peacock.

Cheerleader Boot Camp

2011-08-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

With the tolling of the church bells... cheerleading season has begin. This year Summer had moved up to the next division, the Mighty Mites. I signed on as Team Mom again this year. What can I say. I like spending time with these kids. Plus, after doing it the last 2 seasons, when Coach Barefoot asked, I just couldn't say no.

Week one is Boot Camp around here. Back to Basics fundamentals, for everyone, not just the new girls. Everything is broken down into individual movements and perfected before moving on to the next one. I honestly have to say, that if Coach Barefoot had been coaching when Paige cheered on Mighty Mites I think she would have liked it A LOT better.

The first practice started nice and easy with a sharing circle so the girls could get to know one another. The team is composed of Mighty Mites returners, Mites who have moved up, and quite a few new faces.

Time to get physical. At every practice the girls get a good, thorough conditioning warmup

Time to start cheering!

During the last two practices of the week, Coach Barefoot started introducing stunting. Summer was REALLY hoping that since she was going to be one of the younger girls this year, she might get a shot a being a flyer. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that is going to happen. She's a little disappointed, but is getting over it pretty quickly.

At the end of the week, the girls had several cheers pretty much down. Like this one....

Kiptopeke State Park

2011-08-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

For our final campering trip with the Lindlers before Bryan deploys, we decided to stick close to home. So, we crossed the engineering marvel that is the Cheapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and heated to the Eastern Shore and Kiptopeke State Park. We were a little iffy about the park beforehand. There were a lot of complaints on TripAdvisor about the cleanliness of the place. Wow, were they wrong!!! The campground and beach were immaculate! The campsites were spacious and there was plenty of grass for the kiddos and the dogs. There wasn't much shade in the campsites themselves, which was unfortunate, since we went during the hottest weekend of the year, thus far. The water in the Bay, however, was nice and cool and clear and perfect for paddleboarding. The beach was nice and clean and not super crowded. There was plenty of wildlife around for Paige, which made her much happy. All in all it was a wonderful, relaxing trip.

The calm, cool, Chesapeake Bay

Den and Diesel

Horseshoe Crabs

Look at this sand!

Hermit crabs

We had a beautiful sunset. Paige took these pictures.

Looking down the shore from the boardwalk

As I mentioned above, there wasn't a whole lot of shade, so the boys went to the camp store and then made their own.

Day 2 was for Paddleboarding! Paige took to it like a champ and LOVED it. Now she wants her own SUP.

While Summer was getting her paddleboarding lesson, P put in a little time on the boogie board

Summer's turn!

She decided that this was a much better way to do it.

Kat gave it a go too. I tried it, but chickened out before I actually got to a standing position.

Did I mention the jellyfish?

One of the reasons a SUP is preferrable to a surfboard. LOL.

Yes, Paige is meditating. This pic is a little fuzzy because I was laughing so hard.

Summer decided to take a break from the water and build sandcastles with McKenzie

Then again, maybe this is the way to do it!

One last trip out before dark

Pufferfish. It was amazing how clear the water was.

Bryan and CJ caught us some blue crabs for dessert.

The kids passed the time while we were making dinner with a deck of cards. No video games in sight.

One of the perks of Bryan and Kat's new 5th Wheel? Outside movie night!

Triple T Tour 2011 - Stop 1 - Camp Poppy

2011-07-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

We recently got back from our Triple T Tour. (Tour of Texas with a stop in Tennessee) We try and make this trip as often as we can to see our families. We haven't gotten home as much as we would like to since we've been out in Virginia thanks to our busy schedules during the school year and Den's summer deployments.

Our first and last stops are always Den's dad's house in Tennessee. Up until this year he and Den's stepmom Neda have been in Franklin, TN, which is a suburb of Nashville. Last year, they bought a little lakeside cabin in Sparta. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place. It's always a nice stop at the end of a hectic trip.

The cabin literally sits on the banks of a small lake. We were able to go canoeing and fishing, and the girls fattened up an entire flock of ducks while we were there.

We also managed to get in some pool time at the local YMCA.

Going to Hayes and Neda's cabin is like going to camp. Mostly, because it is located on an old summer camp from the 50's. It turned residential, and kind of got a little run down. It is currently going through a rejuvenation process with the hopes of returning it to its glory days. Hayes is heading up the gargantuan task and is getting some results. They have reclaimed a park area and convinced some of the less tidy residents to clean up their properties. They are slowly but surely clearing the lake of the sea of lily pads that have taken it over.

Summer decided that wearing her sunglasses while roasting marshmallows would keep the smoke out of her eyes. Sound logic, I guess.
This is the park that the restoration group has been working on. They have put in sand volleyball and badminton and are hoping to get a soccer field in place as well. They have also cleared out the huge old bonfire ring on the shore of the lake. Hayes made all the signs for the park.

I have quite a few more pictures from Poppy's house that for some reason have not made it onto my computer yet. I will have to track them down and post them later. Right now I have to get my hiney in gear. Summer has an orthodontist appointment in an hour and a half and here I sit still in my pajamas!

Shenandoah Karaoke

2011-07-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

Shenandoah Valley Campground

2011-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

The Shenandoah Valley Campground is one of our absolute favorite places in all of Virginia. It is a great, small, family owned campground. We went last year for their Halloween festivities and plan to return this fall. The best thing about SVC in the summer, however, is that it is up in the mountains, so it is mucho cooler that down here on the Peninsula. Plus, the river is a' flowin! We spent a good bit of time on the river this trip. It was nice and cool and we only saw one or two snakes, who very much wanted nothing to do with us.

I guess we are official RVers now. We bought our first piece of camper yard art. LOL.

One of the best parts of Shenandoah, is that there is plenty of time to relax!

Friday nights are Karaoke Night at Shenandoah and there is a DJ on Saturday nights. These are Summer's favorite part of the campground. Little miss loves some karaoke and line dancing!

This is Al. He made our camper sign and then wouldn't let us pay for it. Al spent 30 something years in the 101st Airborne. (I think) When he heard that Den and Bryan were both in the Air Force, he absolutely refused to take their money. Al is quite the Jack of All Trades at Shenandoah. During the Karaoke and DJ nights, he makes some of the best funnel cakes I have ever eaten AND homemade pork rinds, which the boys can't seem to get enough of. Then on Sunday morning, Al puts on his pancake making apron and serves up all you can eat pancakes.

There is lots more fun to be had at Shenandoah. There is a small miniature golf course, a pool, which, come to think of it, we have never gotten around to using, and of course, a fishing pond that they stock with rainbow trout twice a year. We didn't catch any this time, but when we were there at Halloween, we caught our limit.

One of the kids' favorite things about the campground are the tame free-range bunnies that live there. You can buy a generous bag of food for 50 cents at the camp store and some of them will come right up to you. This one in particular was none too interested in being friends with me, so I just had to play bunny stalker and take his picture from afar.

We had an amazing time here as always. See you in October!

Chocolate Lovers' Weekend

2011-07-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

Our first adventure this summer took us to Urbanna, VA and the Beth Page Campground. Beth Page is an extremely family friendly campground with lots to do for the kiddies, including a pretty nice water park. Beware, however if you have teenaged daughters. The local boys come out to play and the place is a veritable teenaged meat market. Since we still have a couple of years before we have to worry about that, I will go on to talk about all the fun we had.

Chocolate Lovers' Weekend at Beth Page is just that. All the planned activities have a chocolate theme. We didn't participate in all of them, since relaxing was high on the adults' plan, but the ones we did were a lot of fun.

The water park has a couple of pools, 3 slides, a baby pool, and a splash park area. When we were there, there were plenty of chairs and some shade, although those spots seemed to fill up the fastest. Kids under 14 have to pass a swim test before they are allowed access to the slides.

For some reason, I did not get a whole lot of pictures of our campsite this time around. There was however, a playground just a couple of sites down from us, which was very nice because we could send the kids to play with Paige in charge of the smaller ones while Kat and I made dinner and the hubbies did whatever hubby stuff needed taking care of.

Oh the chocolatey fun that we had... We got in pretty late on the first day, so we pretty much just got settled in and then went to the water park. Day 2 however was spent soaking up some serious chocolate. First off was the chocolate Slip-N-Slide, which consisted of a big tarp that went down a hill and into the river that was coated in chocolate syrup and then had the water turned on it. The kids LOVED it. To tell the truth, I wouldn't have minded giving it a try myself. LOL. In the end we had 4 sticky, messy kids that we then promptly walked over to the beach and sent straight into the water.

That afternoon came what Paige had been waiting for since we first saw the advertisement - the chocolate eating contest. The girl was psyched! The first round was chocolate ice cream and she seriously hoovered the stuff, placing first in her group and moving on to round 2.

Lulu Bean put in a good showing, but I think she was wearing about half of her serving as a beard!

Round 2 was chocolate donuts. Each kid was given 4 donuts and the first to finish went on to the next round. Paige was chowing along at a pretty good clip until she saw that the kids next to her was almost finished. I don't know how she did it, but that girl got all 4 donuts in her mouth at one time. If she had been able to swallow, she would have had it in the bag. Alas, the donuts got the better of her and she came in 2nd.

A Summer Recap

2011-07-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

I really am a bad bad blogger. Unlike my sweet friends Andrea at The Perpetual Tourist and Lauren at Across the Pond, both of whom give me hours of enjoyment keeping up with their sweet families, I can not seem to get my act together. Maybe I'll blame it on how busy I am... or how our ancient (OK, 7 year old) desktop resides upstairs in the kids' playroom... or.... Nope, the fact of the matter is that it simply just slips out of my cross check. I'll make it my Halfway Through The Year's Resolution. Over my next few posts I will recap everyone on what has been going on in Haggisland since the craziness that is summer began.

Also, a note to everyone who I have not managed to tell, we are NOT moving to California this summer as expected. Thanks to some infuriating internal politics that I have only just recently mad emy peace with, our orders have been delayed until after the first of the year. Our tentative plan now is for Dennis to move the girls and I out west at semester break and then he will follow once ACC releases him in February. Stay tuned for more details.....

Happy Birthday Bad Kitty!

2011-03-20T08:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had Summer's birthday party here at the house. This year's theme was Happy Birthday Bad Kitty. Dennis, as usual, made an AMAZING cake.

We kept the party pretty low key and just let the kids run and pay and scream and giggle in the back yard.

Always the fashionista, Summer made good use of the bow off one of her presents.
Kylee decided to lend a helping hand.

The Bed Making Process at Our House

2011-03-20T08:44:00.001-07:00

Step 1: Smooth out and tuck in the fitted sheet.
Step 2: Throw the cat off the bed.
Step 3: Put on the fitted sheet, and tuck it in.
Step 4: Throw the cat off the bed.
Step 5: Add the blankets, comforter, etc.
Step 6: Throw the cat off the bed between each layer.
Step 7: Repeat on the other two beds.

Another Sunny Day, Another Beach Trip

2011-03-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Two warm sunny days in a week!!! This time we stayed closer to home and hit Yorktown Beach. This is actually one of my favorite beaches in the area. It is actually the shoreline for the York River down in the historic part of Yorktown. Just across the street and down a bit is the cave that Cornwallis hid out in during the American Revolution. Double bonus for a closet history geek!

Virginia Beach Oceanfront and the Aquarium

2011-03-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of our first reasonably warm day (in the 70's) to hit the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. The water was WAY too cold to get in, so we chilled out by one of the jetties and watched the surfers in their full winter gear. There was a decent swell that day, so there was lots to see. I must have had my camera on the wrong setting, because the pictures are WAY overexposed, but I managed to salvage a few of my faves.

After the beach, we took advantage of our Aquarium membership and went to see how spring was settling in there.

Watching the Komodo dragon watch them.The crazy dance down the hall of mirrors is always a must.

February

2011-03-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the month of February sick. Three cases of the flu, four ear infections, and two cases of bronchitis had the Hargis girls out of commission. Dennis, thanks to his superior genes (his words - LOL!) managed to stay well, but he had to hold down the fort while I tried not to die!

At the third quarter Awards Ceremony, Paige was recognized for being on the honor roll again.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flu, which led to ear infections and bronchitis. There is a similar picture of me, but it is not fit for human consumption.

Being an adult, I, of course, had the worst of it. This was my arsenal.

I love you Paigie

Paige and her besties

PPS Art Show and Book Fair

2011-03-17T21:25:00.001-07:00

Since it is after midnight and I am getting kinda tired, my next post or two are going to be all about the pictures. My brain is just to sleep deprived to be witty. Darn Spring Forward!

Tonight was Summer's school's Art Show / Book Fair / Relay For Life extravaganza. Here are a few shots from the evening's festivities.

PPS's anti-bullying program is called Bucket Fillers and they learn all about how when you are kind to people you are filling their bucket and when you are unkind, you dip from both their bucket and your own. Their assignment was to design a book cover for a book about Bucket Filling. Unbeknownst to me, it was actually a contest and for the second grade, Summer WON! Yay Lulu! This was her winning design. Please note her spelling of the word bucket. LOL.

Also on display were her Chinese landscape, her diorama of a Taiga Habitat (not pictured), and her Statue of Liberty.

Waggy For Sale

2011-02-07T09:32:00.001-08:00

We have this 1990 Jeep Wagoneer up for sale on ebay if anyone is interested. Auction number 330526200763. It is in great shape and rides like a dream. I love this car, but unfortunately we just have more vehicles than we need, so this one has to go.

January, The Highlights Reel

2011-02-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has beenMONTHS since I have been on here! Bad blogger. Wait. Can I still call myself a blogger if I haven't blogged in months? Hmmm. Since one of my New Year's Resolutions is to be a better blogger / scrapbooker, (drumroll, please...) Here is a recap of the happenings in Haggis Land in January.

2011 started off with a house full of girls.

It snowed, but, as you can see, parking wasn't an issue.

Paige played Rachel Carson in the 5th grade play.

The girls got their summer haircuts a little early this year.

Collectively, we had 2 stomach viruses, a staph infection, 3 bouts of the flu, and a mystery rash. Paige was the winner, winner, chicken dinner of this one, having 3 of the 4 above mentioned ailments.

We took our annual winter trip down to Virginia Beach where we picked up shells and went to the Virginia Aquarium. FYI, it was REALLY cold that day. If I remember correctly it was like 31 degrees with strong winds.

I got an early Valentine's Day present - a beach cruiser of my very own. I can't wait for it to be warm enough to ride it.

We rounded off January with a mini-vacay to Washington DC. I will probably blog about it in more detail later, but I thought I would include it in the highlights reel.

The White House

The Washington Monument

The Lincoln Memorial

The Smithsonian Castle

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The Smithsonial National Air and Space Museum

Oh Where Is My Hairbrush...

2010-10-10T05:03:00.000-07:00

October hit the ground running at our house. The girlies are adjusted into their new school routines. Paige was selected for the Yearbook Committee at her school and is very very excited about it. They had their first meeting this week and she loved it. We may have a budding photographer on our hands! Summer had her first field trip to the Jamestown settlement this past week. I tagged along, because, honestly, if you've never been to Jamestown, you're missing out on something. (My inner history nerd speaking out!). She is very much enjoying the TAG program that she is in. She will also be tested for the Math Express program later this month.

Cheer season is still in full swing. We took on our cross-town rivals, the Back River Panthers, at yesterday's game. Sadly, our Mites team fell 12-0, but out Midgets held on to their 7-0 lead for the win in one of the most exciting games I have seen all season. We have also traveled to Gloucester this month to take on their White Knights and both teams came home with a win. The girls also participated in Poquoson High School's Youth Night at a recent home game. They got to walk across the field during a pre-game ceremony honoring the two Poquoson youth football leagues.

Paige attended her second Junior Cotillion dance last night. The atmosphere seemed much more relaxed this week, as the kids knew what to expect and were much less nervous. Most of them even seemed to have a little fun.

Summer is also tumbling once a week and really enjoys it. Every Wednesday I pick up 4 giggling second graders from school and, if it's my week, drive them to tumbling class, and if it's not, drive them to whomever's week it is to drive.

Paige is also participating in our church's Wednesday night youth program and loving it. Sometime this month, she will also begin acolyte training. I can hardly believe that she is already that old.

Between running the kids around, I have managed to carve out some time for some activities of my own. I am still one of three Team Mom's for Summer's cheer team, a job that I really enjoy. I am serving as this year's President of the Elementary School PTO. I was actually REALLY nervous about addressing the school parents at the recent Back to School Night this past week. Then, the Principal introduced me as Michelle Hargis and I forgot all about it. I joined the Langley OSC this year, but decided against being involved with the board so that I could focus on the commitments I have already made. I DID, however, sign up for OSC Bowling and I love it! We bowl every Tuesday morning. I have to admit, I am a TERRIBLE bowler, but my teammates Stephanie and Chrystal love me anyway.

Dennis will be returning from deployment very soon. I am so very ready for it. Hopefully this will be the last one for our time here at Langley and we can enjoy the area a little more. There is so much to see and do here and I hate that Dennis is missing it. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Anyway, that's our life in a nutshell for the last few weeks. I will try to be a better blogger and not let so much build up so you spend half your morning catching up on the happenings with the Hargises!

2nd Grade Jamestown Field Trip

Poquoson Mites and Midgets Cheerleading

Junior Cotillion of Hampton Roads' Fall Festival

Some Inspiration From Vince Lombardi

2010-10-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

Junior Cotillion

2010-09-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

Paige had her very first Junior Cotillion dance on Saturday. I know, I know, my soccer playing nature girl at a Cotillion? Surprisingly, yes, and she LOVED it, white gloves and all. The theme of this first dance was a Silver Jubilee in honor of Junior Cotillion of Hampton Roads' 25th anniversary. The kids learned some age appropriate dances like the Cha Cha and were taught the proper way to go through a receiving line. That, I might add will definitely come in handy for Paige, as we go through several recieving lines a year at various Air Force functions.

We took these pictures on my friend Tammy's front porch. Aren't her fall decorations gorgeous?

Paige and her girlfriends - Christy, Lexi, Sydney, Paige, Cameron, Kaylie, and Emma

Time for the dancing!

The Poquoson Crew - Back Row: Christy, Sydney, Kyle, Sean, Austin, Collin, Cameron, Paige, Brody, Kaylie, and Lexi. Front Row: Emma, Scott, Patrick, Mason, and Eliza

Cheerleading Pictures

2010-09-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

Hee Hee

2010-09-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hamster On a Piano Eating Popcorn - watch more funny videos

Since this is the Hargis FAMILY website, Paige decided that she wanted to share this video with the world.

Because They Are Just That Cute....

2010-09-08T07:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a second day of school picture!

First Day of School

2010-09-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived the first day of school here at the Hargis house. I can hardly believe that the girls are in fifth and second grade. Paige will be changing classes for the first time this year and will have a great opportunity to make some new friends since she only knows three people in her homeroom! Summer, on the other hand is in hog heaven. She knows ALL the kids in her class and her entire posse is in there with her. I have heard nothing but good things about all of their teachers. I think it's going to be a great year!

Out of Order

2010-08-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Every deployment's drama seems to have a theme to it. Korea was the plumbing. Apparently this one is electronics. My laptop got a horrible virus that completely crashed it the day after Den left. Luke, my favorite computer genius, was able to finally clear it all out and get it up and running again. A few weeks later the charging port broke off the motherboard, effectively making my laptop a very expensive paper weight. Unless I am willing to send my computer and $250 to HP (which I am decidedly not) it will remain that way. So, I think, "Wellllll, it's not that big of a deal. The desk top is a little slow, but it will suffice for now....." 2 weeks later, something corrupted the operating system, rendering it completely useless. When it rains it pours. I took it to Luke on Monday and he is trying to save it for me. God bless a man who works for homemade cookies. Until further notice, I am offline. I saw a mousepad once that said, "A clean house is a sign of a broken computer." My house is spotless.

Surprise!!!

2010-07-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to spend Fourth of July weekend with our great friends the McClintocks. I will post more pics later, but I thought I would share this little video. (I apologize in advance to those who suffer from motion sickness or have no desire to see video of my fingers.) We all agreed to keep our visit a secret from Lexi. Here she is getting her surprise!

Such a Blessing

2010-07-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Most of you have heard me sing the praises of Paige's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Hancock. Being a military wife, she was exactly what Paige needed while Den was deployed. Her daughter, Caroline also ended up becoming one of Summer's besties.

What I haven't talked about is the rest of Paige's class. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I think they were probably the best 4th grade class in the school. Almost the entire class made the honor roll every quarter. They all got along, they were supportive and encouraging of each other, and were all a pleasure to be around.

At the end of the year, Mrs. Hancock sent out the nicest poem with a picture of the class and I just felt like I needed to share it...

I've worked with your flower,
And helped it to grow.
I'm returning it now,
But I want you to know...
This flower is precious
As dear as can be.
Love it...take care of it
And you will see
A bright new bloom
with everyday...
It grows in such a special way.
In September...a bud, Midterm...half-bloom;
Now...a lovely blossom
Comes home to you in June.
Remember this flower
As dear as can be,
Though rightfully yours...
Part...belongs to me!

I Have Not, Actually Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth

2010-07-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

I am a bad, bad blogger. Other than quick posts about my birthday and Paige's, I haven't blogged in over a month. I've been exploring Tampa with the girls and trying to finish up my two classes. For those of you who care about that sort of thing, I did finish, but with less than satisfactory B's in both. Unfortunately there are more distractions to my studies than I would like. That being said, I am thoroughly planning on enjoying my week off before the next one starts.

I wish I had more to say about Den, other than he is doing well. He works long hours in a building that I can not go in, doing a job that he can not tell me anything about, and works with people who I will most likely never meet. What can I say, it is what it is.

The girls are I are thoroughly enjoying our extended vacation. We have been all over Tampa and then some. The girls and I spend a lot of time at the apartment complex we are staying in's pool. We go it on our own during the week and the weekends have been passing by in a blur of family fun, which, since it is raining buckets today, I may actually got up here on the blog.

Our next adventure is taking us to Eglin AFB to see the McClintocks for the Fourth of July. I am especially looking forward to it. They are great friends and the girls, especially Paige, are beside themselves with excitement about seeing Lexi before they head back west to Colorado.

That's all for now. I am going to go and feed the girlies and try and come up with something we can do in the rain!

A Decade of Decadence

2010-06-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Paigie, it's your birthday. Hey Paigie, it's your birthday. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday to You. Happy Birthday dear Paigie. Happy Birthday to Youuuuuuu!

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!!

2010-06-01T08:14:00.001-07:00

I had an awesome 32nd birthday yesterday! The girls and I started off the day with a Memorial Day service at Poquoson City Hall and they got to help lead the pledge of allegiance. Then we had lunch at the Taco Chicken Hut with some great friends from church, the Bardens and the Freemans. After making a quick run to Bed Bath and Beyond and Target for beach towels and pool toys, you guessed it, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Best of all, though, was a DEE-LISH-US birthday dinner over in the 'hood. (Our entire group of friends (except us) that we hang out with on a regular basis all live in the same neighborhood) It was such a great, low key day, and exactly what I needed!

Some of you may know of the problems that had been plaguing me with my Patriot. Mechanically, it was sound enough, but other than that it was just really poorly made. The last straw was when the door moldings started falling off. Absolutely ridiculous. SO, for my birthday, Den bought me this!!! 2010 Ford Fusion. It is fully loaded with everything Ford offers except parallel park assist, and it is getting 30 mpg city and over 40 on the highway! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this car!

I was hoping to have pictures from yesterday to show you, but my camera is on the fritz. Apparently this deployment's issue is going to be electronics. First my computer, now my camera, which has been out of warranty for all of 2 months. Grrr.

Today I Remember My Friend

2010-05-31T04:55:00.000-07:00

Normally, on Memorial Day I would post a moving video and pay tribute to the fallen soldiers whose faces I will never know. Not this year. This year I am honoring my friend, Lt Col. Mike Phillips. I met Mike and his truly amazing wife, Deanna, (I am not kidding, the woman is a force of nature) in Tucson while Den was going through the B-course, and they came to be two of the most peaceful and inspiring influences on my life. I would not have made it throught that first long separation without them. God called Mike home just a few short months ago. I know that he is missed and well remembered today.

A Decade In The Making

2010-05-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

My kid sister is now a Masters of Divinity! It was so awesome to see all her hard work and struggles pay off. Plus, it was a chance to catch up with some of the fam who I have not seen in SOOO long. Congratulations J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may notice mine and the girls' attire for the graduation was definitely less than appropriate. Despite allowing myself PLENTY of time to get to Philly from Virginia, we pulled in to the parking lot right as the intro to Pomp and Circumstance began to play. Thank you Baltimore traffic for causing me to have to wear sweatpants and a tank top to one of the most significant events in my sister's life. Maybe I'll wear pajamas to her wedding.

For the Love of the Game

2010-05-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

Summer decided to try her hand at baseball this year. We were fortunate to have one of her besties, Maddie on the team too. The two girls stuck together and had a great time. I am working on regrouping my pictures into new storage albums, so consider this her highlight reel!

Slacker

2010-05-27T06:24:00.001-07:00

OK, OK, OK, I know I have been a total slacker as of late. We have been busy busy here at Haggis Manor. Baseball and Soccer seasons have come to a close, state testing has begun, after a decade of higher learning, my baby sister is now a Master of Divinity, we shipped Den off to Tampastan, and are trying to get ready to relocate to Tampa for the summer. So, I am going to start with the most recent events in our lives and work backwards until I get through everything or get tired of sharing. Then I will stop.

Down On The Farms

2010-05-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today we took the girls for some fresh air fun. Our first stop was Bluebird Gap Farm in Hampton. Bluebird Gap Farm is a city park that simulates a working farm. We had so much fun. There were tons of animals, including some really cute babies and a nice playground. We even ran into my Bunko buddy, Sarah, her hubby Steve, and their adorable little guys Brady and Eli. We had so much fun. They are trying to get a 4H program off the ground, so that may be right up Paige's alley. We shall see.

I don't know what kind of tree this was, but it was literally CRAWLING with caterpillars. Big ones, small ones, and ones of every color.

These baby goats were so cute. We spent a lot of time feeding them and their momma.

I love how completely blissed out this little guy looks while Den is scratching his ears.

There were about 15 ducklings of various sizes.

Paige made friends with the Shetland pony.

I wonder if she was stuck.

Taking a little break in the shade.

After leaving Bluebird Gap Farm, we headed for the strawberry patch at Wood's Orchards Farm and Market, where we took a hayride out to the patch and then spent about half an hour picking strawberries and eating them straight off the vine. I don't think I've done that since I was a kid.

Sticky sweet Summer.

One last berry for the road.

2010-05-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

Den, are you reading this????? More birthday ideas!!!!

New Moon on Blu-Ray. No, fellow Twi-hards, I do not yet own it.

A vintage apron from Boojiboo's etsy shop. It doesn't have to be this one. Any of them will do.

And finally, the piece de resistance. I repeat, Den, are you reading this? I really really really really really really really would like a Pandora bracelet...and maybe a charm or 2 to go on it.

Petraeus and a Project

2010-05-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't already know, Dennis has been tapped for yet another deployment. Due to his relatively recent return and the generosity of his commanders in going to bat for him, he was spared another trip to the Middle East. He will instead be based out of United States Central Command at Mac Dill AFB. We are very grateful for this "good deal" that we have been given. He will leave Virginia in just a couple of weeks for his 4-ish month deployment. The best news? The girls and I will relocate to Tampa once school is out to spend the summer with him! We are all very excited!

Now, on to the project portion of the title. I am going to start cooking my way through Pioneer Woman's cooking blog ala Julie and Julia! I am always so inspired by her wit and love of butter. I thought this would be a super fun way to pass the time before we reunite with Den in Florida.

She Takes A Lickin' and Keeps On Tickin'

2010-04-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

Many of you know of Summer's dental woes. Her little mouth is just too small for her teeth. A trip to our friendly neighborhood orthodontist confirmed our suspicions. Her top jaw is 20 mm. smaller than her bottom jaw. So, in order to preserve as many of her permanent teeth as we can, we have decided to go ahead and get started with some early orthodontics.

Today marks the end of Phase 1 of Phase 1 - extractions. Last week Dr. Bill the dentist removed one of her eyeteeth which was already loose, and one of her canines that still had a half inch long root! I almost lost it. She was a total trooper. Not even a whimper. She walked out of his office smiling around the bloody gauze hanging out of her mouth for her trip to the treasure box. Today was more of the same, although I handled it better this time by looking out the window instead. Today a top front tooth and her other bottom canine came out. The carbocaine they gave her in her upper lip caused it to really swell and for a while there she looked like she was sprouting a beak. She thought it was HILARIOUS! 5 minutes later she had another mouthful of bloody gauze and skipped to the treasure box. The next phase of Phase 1 starts next week where her orthodontist will place spacers in to preserve the spaces created by the extractions.

Icing her "fat lips". Thank you so much Aunt Syndee for the ice pack!

Still one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen!

What Gave You That Idea?

2010-04-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

I can't help but notice that my birthday is mere weeks away. It seems that when people ask me what I want for my birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas, etc, I can never seem to think of anything. So, I think that from now until my birthday, any time I think of something I am going to blog about it. That being said, here is what I am lusting after at the moment.

A Jen Rusk Flight Suit Bag

I can not tell you how much I love these bags. I have been wanting one for a while, but can't ever justify the moolah for it. Check out this incredibly talented gal's work here.

Reef Ugandal Sandals. I. MUST. HAVE. THESE. I would wear them ever so much. They are made of chrome-free leather and the beads on the strap are handmade by displaced Ugandan women from recycled paper. I <3 these sandals!

The Attack on Femininity

2010-04-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

In October 2006, Megan Meier was found hanging in her bedroom closet.

Prior to her death, she met a boy on MySpace named Josh Evans, and the two quickly hit it off. While she never met Josh in the flesh, Megan grew used to his regular emails, which sent her heart soaring. For the first time in her young life, someone noticed how beautiful, special, and important she was.

Unbeknownst to Megan, Josh was – in fact – a fake character created by Lori Drew, the mother of Megan’s friend. Lori was upset with Megan for starting an argument with her daughter, and turned to cyberspace for revenge. No sooner had “Josh” wooed Megan did he turn on her, stating that “Everybody knows how you are” and “Have a shitty rest of your life.”

Crushed by despair, Megan did the unthinkable. Through the vulnerability of Megan’s heart, her life was ended. She was thirteen years old.

***

Like Megan, Hope Witsell was also found hanging in her bedroom closet last September.

Intent on gaining the attention of a boy in her class, Hope sent him a topless photo via text messaging. She hoped that – through the use of her body – she would gain his approval. She received a broken heart, instead.

Within days, Hope’s picture reached the inboxes of her entire middle school, not to mention the nearby high school. Not only was her body unappreciated by the object of her affection, but it was mocked and disrespected by countless strangers. The blow was felt deep within her soul, and it was too much to bear.

At thirteen years old, she felt it easier to die.

***

These are just two examples of evil attacks on femininity, and by “evil,” I mean the real deal.

While it’s easy to blame such tragedies on depression, drugs or other problems, the issue delves much deeper. One flip through a magazine or the television, and you can see that there’s more at play than teenage angst and Zoloft. Society needs to wake up, and it can start by pulling the wool from over its eyes.

I was born well after the Sexual Revolution, but I’m not too young to see how out-of-hand it’s grown. What was once a sacred sanctuary known as the female body has become an object, and a disrespected one at that. By today’s standards, a woman “owns” her body by barely dressing it, only to give it to someone who never deserved it in the first place.

The worst part is that it’s not her fault.

Maybe her father was absent during her childhood, or perhaps she was sexually abused at an earlier age. These problems are common, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. Add into the mixture an onslaught of pornographic images from the media, and young girls receive the message that their value is determined by a boy’s response to them.

Because of their feminine instinct to love and be loved, they deject themselves.

But are they ever fully satisfied? If the examples of Megan and Hope are any indication, I should say not. These young lives were lost, and for no reason other than they wanted be cherished. Their feminine spirits – given to them by God – were used and abused, and senselessly so.

Evil is real, folks, so stop kidding yourselves. If you don’t, then consider yourself duped. I’m not a prude, and I’m not a Bible thumper either. I’m just an average girl with two, opened eyes, and they’re appalled at what they see around her.

They’re appalled at what they’ve seen happen to her.
***

As some of you already know, I was raped a few years ago. Never before had I felt so dirty, ashamed, and dehumanized. One minute, I was just Tara. I was no one extraordinary, but nevertheless, I was a person. The next minute, I was reduced to a numb, inanimate piece of pulp. I lost all of my value.

There’s a reason why they call rape “soul murder,” and that’s because it is. When sex is consensual, your entire being participates – body, mind, and yes…soul. You and your partner are united in a mutual love for one another, making for a powerful and spiritual experience. When it comes to rape, the soul is uninvolved, but not absent. Like an empty shell, your body takes the beating, and your mind sends the foul message to your inner self.

From there, you’re forever changed.

One cannot separate the soul from sexuality; that’s not how God made us. Through our sexuality, we are uniquely male and female, made in His image and likeness. When we come together in love and intimacy, we experience the bliss of becoming one person. We feel what it’s like to be as close to God as humanly possible. Through our sexuality, our soul is nourished…

But it can also become starved.

***

All around the world, women are being raped. While some suffer the same brutality as I did, many are victimized by their own will, yet at no fault of their own. Through their instinctual desire to be cherished, some women seek love through sex. Needing to feel beautiful, they barely dress their bodies. Wanting to be important to a man, they behave scandalously towards him. In self defense, they lie to themselves, saying that it’s their bodies to do what they want with. Unfortunately, the body isn’t all that’s at play…

The soul is also involved, and it’s become damaged.

What you then have is a viscous and maddening downward spiral, with no signs of an end. Once rejected, a woman’s soul feels the punch, and her esteem dies. Instead of realizing the truth, she furthers her attempt to find love by acting more promiscuously, or dressing even racier.

Still, no dice.

She begins to take the rejection personally, convincing herself that she’s undeserving of love. Something about her isn’t sexy, beautiful or desirable enough, beliefs that can have dire consequences for her life. What she fails to realize is that she was already beautiful to begin with, perfect. In God’s eyes, she is a princess.

In her book, Pure Womanhood, author Crystalina Evert says, “A woman should hide her heart in God, and a man must go there to find it. She should be so hidden in Christ that a man has to see Christ just to see her.”
Can you imagine a world where women knew their worth, and didn’t need men or the media to define it? I mentor teens at my church, and always tell the girls that if they want to stand out in today’s society, they should respect themselves. In doing so, not only will they weed out the boys with little to no regard for them, but they might also teach these young men a little something about valuing women.

The power is in their hands, and in all of ours as well.

I found this essay, written by Tara, a contributor to skirt! Magazine. Read her blog here. As a mother of daughters, this especially touched my heart. It is high time that our society started instilling pride and sense of self in our young women. It is the greatest gift that we can give them.

Poquoson Green Dragons vs. Ft. Eustis Rocket Fire

2010-04-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Dragons had their first away game on Monday night. We traveled up the road to Ft. Eustis to take on the Rocket Fire. After a 20 minute delay and some trash talk from the other team, we got down to play. Ft. Eustis got on the board first, but Poquoson held them to that one goal. Two second half goals put the Dragons on top. Congratulations on another win!

Have Wheels Will Travel

2010-04-17T14:41:00.001-07:00

The great mobility saga continues. Friday I went back to the doctor to have my cast removed, my foot x-rayed, and a new cast put on. Summer accompanied me to my appointment following her dentist drama (more about that in a later post) and decided that my new cast should match her baseball uniform. Thankfully, as it turns out, Paige's soccer team is also green, sparing me any conflict on that front. Anyway, here is my shiny new green cast. If you think to yourself, "Hey, that one looks way bigger than the last one", you would be right.

Anyone who has been on crutches for any length of time, know how uncomfortable they end up being. I can honestly say that I HATE them. When I mentioned this to Dr. Contreras, he put in for a groovy Roll-A-Bout, which essentially is a four wheeled scooter with a platform to rest my leg on. It has been such a Godsend. My life is a lot less frustrating when I don't have to make multiple trips to accomplish even the smallest of tasks. Still the problem remained that I couldn't really carry much at a time. The solution? A cheapy bicycle basket from K-Mart. Laugh if you will (no really, go ahead, I am), but I am a happy girl!

Are You Ready For Some Futbol?

2010-04-17T13:35:00.001-07:00

Opening day for Poquoson soccer saw the U-11 Green Dragons and Storm face off. The score volleyed back and forth during the first three periods of the game, with the final period seeing things really click into place for the Green Dragons. They scored three times during the fourth period, leading them to a 5-2 victory! Congrats Green Dragons!!!! Paige is number 10, by the way. I wasn't able to get any good shots of her today, but there's always next time!

And In The Wood A Fragrance Rare

2010-04-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

And in the wood a fragrance rare

Of wild azaleas fill the air

And richly tangled overhead

We see their blossoms sweet and red

---Spring Scatters Far and Wild by: Dora Goodale

These are the beautiful azaleas that are blooming in our yard right now. I took these pics from inside the house, but I am hoping to get some good pics of the girls with them this weekend.

Jaxx vs. Muck Dogs

2010-04-13T09:58:00.001-07:00

Summer's very first baseball game! Because the game took place during spring break, the teams were a little uneven. We only had 6 players! It was lots of fun to see these budding sluggers try out their skills. Summer is always easy to identify because of her pink helmet. She was thoroughly grossed out by the fact that she would have to wear the helmet that the boys sweat in, so Dennis gave in and bought her her own. Summer had a great game. She scored 3 runs! Next game tomorrow night!

Kenneth Lee Manwell 1938 - 2010

2010-04-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

My great-great uncle passed away in his sleep over the weekend. I wish that I had known him better so that I could tell you the story of his life, but unfortunately, I just didn't know him that well.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream...And The Beach!

2010-04-08T06:08:00.001-07:00

Tuesday I flew solo for the first time since my surgery while Den took the girls down to Sandbridge. They had an A-MAY-ZING time. The water was really cold, but they managed to get wet anyway. They built Mt. Everest, complete with a Yeti, and a sand turtle. They found some HUGE shells. They saw dolphins playing out in the water. The girls made some new friends from North Carolina, and they loaded up on all the classic Hargis beach foods - Pringles, Star Crunches, and Strawberry Soda. Don't ask me how those became Hargis beach foods, they just did. Den forgot to take a camera down with him, so these are just internet photos so you could see what Sandbridge looks like. We are trying to plan a trip down later in the summer with our whole group of friends here. Hopefully we will find a week we will all be in town.

Monday or Tuesday night, we were watching either the travel channel or the food network and we saw a piece on Doumar's Ice Cream, the birthplace of the waffle cone, which just happens to be in Norfolk! Yesterday, after running a couple of errands, we headed back across the bridge to check it out for ourselves. The girls and I had been to Doumar's before, but this was Den's first trip and the first time for all of us to actually go in. Previously we had just used the drive-in.

Once inside we were privileged to actually get to see Al Doumar himself, at 83 years young, hand making the waffle cones on the original waffle iron that the first waffle cone was made on. Doumar's has been in business for 106 years and Al has been making cones for something like 70 of those years. I tried to get the girls to stand with him and take a picture, but they both had a sudden attack of shyness and wouldn't pose for me.

We all had a different flavor of ice cream - vanilla for Den, butter pecan for Paige, chocolate for Summer, and strawberry for me - on the waffle cones we had just watched Al make. Talk about fresh!

Once Al went home for the day, I was able to talk the girls into at least taking a picture with the machine. Thank goodness for small victories, I guess.

You Had Me at Bacon

2010-04-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of our Spring Break "Staycation". Since the day the girls saw the Paula Deen commercial declaring Smithfield the birthplace of bacon the girls have been begging to go there. So, today we decided to make the short trip across the James River and see what Smithfield had to offer. After stopping in a shop and loading up on chocolate covered peanut brittle, sweet potato butter, and sun-ripened strawberry jam, all from local artisans, we popped into Wharf Hill Antiques and I had died and gone to heaven. I could have spent hours and hours there. In fact, I think I will plan a trip back and do just that. LOL. If only I had an unlimited home decor budget.... Anywho, once Den and the kids pulled me kicking and screaming (figuratively) from Wharf Hill, we had a delicious lunch at the Smithfield Gourmet Bakery, where the girls finally got their bacon in the form of grilled bacon sandwiches. Then we drove around for a while looking at the amazing historical homes and businesses that line Main Street and finally stopped at The Christmas Store where I mentally decorated Haggis Manor for the holidays and did all my Christmas shopping. Finally we headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon attemping to enjoy our backyard through the yellow pollen haze. All in all, not a bad start to our spring break.

If we ever find ourselves settling down in Smithfield, we would have to go to church here.

And I would have to live here. Thank you for visiting my dream world.

Low-Key Easter

2010-04-05T15:00:00.001-07:00

After church, we came home and spent the rest of Easter day enjoying the warm sunny day and beautiful back yard that God has blessed us with. We are all about low-key Sundays and this one was pretty much perfect.

Den chilled in the lounge chair and made Easter family phonecalls and hosed down the kids on the trampoline.

The best of the Summer on the trampoline pics.

The best of the Paige on the trampoline pics

For a change of pace, Den tried squirting them from underneath the trampoline.

Mmm, sunshine

Time for the water guns

And here's how I spent my Easter afternoon. Propped up in a lawnchair and taking pics. Love it.

Easter Revisited

2010-04-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

After our wild and crazy Easter morning at Haggis Manor, we headed over to the Side Door Service at Tabernacle UMC, which is our church home here in Virginia. The girls were able to participate in the annuam TUMC Easter Egg Hunt. The youth really outdid themselves this year, hiding over 500 eggs. The little ones had a free for all in the field next to the church and the older kids got sent into the woods for a bit more challenging hunt. After the hunt we settled in to listen to Pastor Brent's message about the empty Easter egg. It was a wonderful sermon.

Look at those cherry blossoms!

We went with non-traditional dresses for Easter this year since we already had these (from Den's Iraq homecoming) and I forgot to get them Easter dresses before my surgery.

Run Paigie!

Frolicking in a field of colorful plastic eggs.

I love this picture. It reminds me of the sasquatch pictures you see on TV.

Paige had a close encounter with a bramble bush.

It took her a while to get free.

Summer got her quota.

My attempt at artistic photography.

Summer trying to walk in the fabulous wedge high heels that she insisted she needed.

Easter Morning

2010-04-04T15:40:00.001-07:00

I know my first post this morning wished everyone a Happy Easter, but I thought I would share the wonderful day that we had. However, we were muchos camera happy today, so there is WAY too much for one post. So...here is how it all began.

No hollow bunnies here, the Easter Bunny brings GOOD chocolate to Haggis Manor!

He also brought more Zsu Zsu pets. Generation 2 featuring the warning sticker that you should keep them away from your hair. Also, please note the time. For those of you who left your reading glasses in your other purse, it says 6:32!!!

Hunting Easter Eggs by the dawn's early light. Oops, wrong holiday.

Who painted this one?

On the hunt.

Found them all. Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T04:05:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter from the Hargises!

If You Have A Weak Constitutuion, Do Not Read This Post!

2010-04-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the great unveiling following my surgery last week. After spending the morning celebrating Easter with Lulu's class, Den and I headed up to base for my post-op appt. Thanks to my obsessive following of Dr. Contreras' instructions, my foot actually looks better than he thought it would. WARNING! The following pictures are kinda gross. I have to go back in 2 weeks for more x-rays and another cast. I think I will let you guys decide what color my next cast should be. Watch for an upcoming poll.

Waiting on the doc.

Bandages are off. Ew.

Cankle!!!

That is one mean, ugly bruise.

Yay! An obnixiously pink cast for the next 2 weeks.

Price Check On Aisle 3, Please.

2010-03-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Since I was able to handle an actual trip out in public last night to go to Lulu Bean's school concert (posting about that later, I promise), Den and I decided that I might be ready for an outing. Where did we go? Wal-Mart! I spent the morning cruising around our local Wal-Mart in one of the handicapper carts. Murphy's law being what it is, I of course ran into my girlfriend Tammy. At least I wasn't still wearing my pajama pants. We finished our trip off with a trip to Sonic for a brown bag special. Heaven! Speaking of Heaven, did you know that Hersheys is now making BUTTERCREAM filled kisses? Yum-O!

Aren't these bruises awful? I think they are from the tourniquet that the doc used during the surgery.

Look, I'm in the automotive department. Who's surprised that a trip to Wal-Mart with the hubs would find me there?

Fat Toes and Other Ramblings

2010-03-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

So these are my fat toes. I couldn't resist the urge to peek just a little. I won't be uncovering any more than these until Dr. Contreras give the OK, though. Aren't they funny? They look like little sausages!

Oh happy day!!! Stephenie Meyer is coming out with a novella! It is the back story of Bree, the young vampire from Eclipse. I can't wait to read it! Click here for more info.

Finally, I am not really a Dancing With The Stars fan. I don't not like it, I just never really got into it. That being said, I may have to vote and vote often this season, because none other than BUZZ ALDRIN, astronaut and American Hero is a competitor! He's not to shabby either, given his age, that is.

I know that I said finally in the last section, but I am watching New Moon for the first time while I am writing this and I can not believe how it ended! AHHHHHHH! How many more days until Eclipse? Wait, let me see if there is a countdown clock online yet. There is! 92 days, 12 hours, 51 minutes, and 30 seconds to go!

One Step Closer

2010-03-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today the Cryo-Cast, which has been providing constant cold therapy since the surgery came off. I feel so much lighter! I am so tempted to peek under the bandages and check out the carnage, but the doctor told be hands off until my post-op on Friday, and I am following his instructions TO THE LETTER. He put the fear in me with stories about failed procedures and surgeries having to be repeated because the patient didn't follow directions. I will do anything to not have to do this again.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

2010-03-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, there's a spider on Paige's bed!!!!!" Actually, no, it was not a spider, it was this little guy - the milkweed assassin bug. Despite its violent sounding name the milkweed assassin bug is actually pretty good to have around the house. They eat aphids, armyworms, stinkbugs, houseflies, etc. I am especially happy to see him since it seems we will have another infestation of stink bugs again this year. Unfortunately, he had to go because their bites are extremely painful to humans and he really had no place in Paige's bed.

Such High Hopes

2010-03-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

I called the doctor this morning begging for stronger painkillers. He put a prescription for dilaudid into the pharmacy. Me, being the masochist that I am immediately googled it to learn everything I could about it. The most common side effect of dilaudid is euphoria. Sadly, I do not feel euphoric. Equallly unfortunate is the fact that after 2 1/2 hours it is wearing off just like the darvocet did. Dang. Maybe it needs time to build up in my system. Now I have to go because Dennis just informed me that he let a bird in the house. Duck and cover people.

If Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body Then I Am Wonder Woman!

2010-03-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

Because I am in so much pain right now and this is pretty much my only outlet for whining, I thought I would share with you some inspirational quotes.

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually, it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
--- Lance Armstrong

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."
--- Kenji Miyazawa
I like this one. What journey can I fuel with this pain? I can feel some kind of deep and spiritual answer to that question lying under the surface, but unfortunately the pain is too bad to focus.

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
--- Unknown
Hmmm, this one seems relevant. How do you separate the two, though?

"Pain is deeper than all thought; laughter is higher than all pain."
--- Elbert Hubbard
Maybe laughter IS the best medicine. The hubs is pretty funny. Maybe I can talk him into doing some standup for me.

Oh, well, pain is only temporary. In a few days the worst of it will be past and I can focus on getting back to normal life. Busy week this week. There should be some pictures and fun stuff to blog about later.

Meet Frankenfoot!

2010-03-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

For those of youhave not already been introduced, meet Frankenfoot. It has been cut open, chiseled, bone grafted, had screws drilled into it, and stitched up. Now it hurts. A LOT. I am lucky, however to have an amazing hubby who is helping me stay on top of the pain by making sure I am getting my meds every 4 hours on the dot and changing out the water in my cryo-cast. More about that later. He's so awesomesauce. I'll be in this lovely device until next Friday when I have my post-op appointment. Then Dr. Contreras will unveil Frankenfoot to the world before re-containing it a cast. Anyone want to come sign me?

This is Frankenfoot.

The little hose coming off of Frankenfoot attaches to....

This modified Igloo cooler filled with ice water that circulates the water through the bladder of the cast, helping with pain and swelling. Genious, right?

Before

2010-03-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the less that catchy title. I am a little preoccupied this morning. I am going in for my foot surgery this morning. This is my farewell to my nice, unscarred, albeit painful left foot. When I come home this afternoon I will be introducing FRANKENFOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome To The World Baby Boy

2010-03-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

Bryson Daniel Hargis

March 25, 2010

Congratulations to Brent, Syndee, Chloe, and Brayden on your new little man to love!!!!

Seven Years of Summi Lulu

2010-03-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that my baby girl turned seven today. Wow how time has flown. In her seven years, Summi has lived in three different states and visited several more. She has been to Korea, Japan, and Guam. She's been through a typhoon and a North Korean missile launch and her picture taken on the subway like she's a rock star. She's discovered that soccer is definitely not her thing and cheerleading definitely is. She's made the honor roll. She decided in Kindergarten that she didn't like being Summer #2 so she started calling herself Lulu at school. She's been overjoyed to have a pet all her own and crushed when it met an untimely end. She's a Daddy's girl and the family princess. She's a total drama queen already. And she's mine (OK, ours). Happy Birthday sweet baby.

Welcome to the world baby Summer! 5 lbs. 8 oz. that turned Daddy to mush on the spot.

6 months old and already a diva!

1 year

2 years

3 years. Are you noticing a trend?

4 years

5 years. No pink this time, but check out her movie-star hair!

6 years

7 years old!

I Do Not Like The Cone of Shame

2010-03-22T09:12:00.001-07:00

Poor Daisy Dog. She always seems to get herself into these things. A bloody gash on the top of her head means a bald spot and the doggy-on-the-mend accessory of the year, the cone of shame.

Party Animals!

2010-03-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today was Summer's birthday party. After watching WAY too many episodes of Ace of Cakes, she decided that for her birthday cake she wanted a monkey sitting on a pile of bananas and holding a sign that said Happy Birthday Summer all made of rice krispy treats. Dennis took on the challenge (that will be a separate post altogether) and we designed a low-key eco-concious party around the cake. We used biodegradable plastic cups and utensils, held the party outside so the kids got plenty of fresh air and beautiful spring sunshine, and sent each child home with a flower that they planted themselves instead of a plastic bag full of more plastic.

Welcome to Summer's Party! (I know, I know. Balloons are not exactly eco-friendly, but to me it just doesn't feel like a birthday party without balloons.)

The much-anticipated monkey cake.

Thank you for all the wonderful presents!

Blowing out the candles

Den and a gaggle of 7 year olds

Opening presents

Amelia and Lauren enjoying the see-saw

Mary Jane's just a swingin'

They made up some crazy game on the trampoline called Dead Man Rising

Summer and Mary Jane

Madi, Summer, and Kyla

Summer and Caroline

MacKenzie and Summer

Self Portrait in Crayon

2010-03-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone by Paigie's artistic endeavors, Summer brought home this self portrait from school. We were totally blown away.

Festival of the Arts

2010-03-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

Every year, Poquoson Elementary School puts on their Festival of the Arts fundraiser. It is a huge event that brings in local artists and is really a great time. This year, Paige and some of her friends were involved in Reader's Theater as well as exhibiting their art.

Kaylie, Sydney, Paige, Summer, and Emma play civic-minded mice.

Narrator #2

Playing Bibi the artist from Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Paige's art on display. I may be a little biased, but I think it was one of the best ones there!

Oh Crappie!

2010-03-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

That's what Den and the girls were fishing for last Sunday while I hosted a yummy Tastefully Simple party here at Haggis Manor. They didn't catch anything with their Barbie rods, but then again, neither did the guy fishing further down the pier with a thousand dollars worth of equipment! How funny would it have been if they had caught something and he didn't?

Rockin' the Barbie rods

Whatcha got there Paige?

What's all over your mouth?

Wanna see?

Moon Pie! The perfect fishing snack.

Love this one of the Lulu

What's so funny?

The fish weren't biting, but the scenery at Sandy Bottom Nature Park sure was nice.

Paigie on the pier

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T05:32:00.000-07:00

May you always walk in sunshine.

May you never want for more.

May Irish angels rest their wings right outside your door.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Hargises!

Eclipse Teaser!!!!!!!!

2010-03-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

New emEclipse/em Trailer!!!

A Wish List

2010-03-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

Summer's birthday is coming up as many of you already know. Over breakfast this morning I asked her what she would like for her birthday. This is what she, being the eclectic mind that she is, spouted off the top of her head.

She would like a locket. It doesn't really matter what kind, but since I am currently over the moon for hand stamped jewelry right now, I went straight to etsy and found this one to use as an example.

Summer will finally be turning 7 this year, and in our house that means that she is now old enough to get her American Girl doll. We are getting her the starter kit for Lanie, which is the current doll of the year. As most of you probably know, there is a ridiculous amount of "stuff" for these dolls and any of that "stuff" will be fine. You can click on the Lanie's name above and it will take you to her section. She also has a Bitty Baby that she got as a Paige-Me-Down and the Bitty Twins, which she saved all her money for and bought for herself last year. You can click on their names as well.

Purple Chucks - They don't have to be hi-tops, as long as they are purple. If they have sparkles, or sequins, or glitter on them, all the better. She probably needs a 2.

Fancy Nancy is still enjoying her reign around here. Summer would like more of her books. You can give me a call and I can let you know which ones she has.

Board Games, especially checkers. Right now she is playing with a set that has definitely seen better days. Several of the pieces have been replaced with poker chips. Again, give me a call and I will let you know what she has.

DS Games - Ditto on the calling.

Wii Games - Give me a call.

Art Supplies - Summer LOVES all kinds of art. She is not real big on things like craft kits and things like that, but she will spend all day drawing and painting on the easel that she got for Christmas. Glitter, sequins, glue, beads, things like that that she can create stuff with are awesome.

Oh Dear Goodness. I Am Thoroughly Disturbed.

2010-03-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

Don't delDrink/del Shave Your Vag And Drive!

Master Bedroom Re-Do: Part 1

2010-03-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my master bedroom. As you may have noticed, it is pink. Den, being the manly man that he is, was not about to sleep in a pink bedroom for any length of time, so the other day we took a trip to Home Depot to remedy the situation. Guess what! Home Depot is clearancing out Ralph Lauren Paint!!!! It was only $14.99 a gallon. That's cheaper than Wal Mart! Anyway, after looking at paint swatches for nearly an hour, I finally settled on a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L shade called Canyon Blue.

The Befores

I like to call this stage outlining.

I have the sweetest, most awesome hub in the world! His love notes will always be there under the paint.

The final product. I can't wait to sleep in the delicious darkness that this color creates in the room.

As you may have noticed, our mattress and box springs are on the floor. There are a couple of reasons behind this.

1. Our old bed was so squeaky and creaky that it started waking us up.

2. Having them on the floor actually feels pretty good on our old aching bones.

So..............

I am hoping that our next step in our bedroom redo will be a new bed. Den really wants a platform bed, but those generally tend to lean toward a modern style, which ours is decidedly not. We shall see what we can find!

Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant

2010-03-06T00:56:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Lt. Col Mike Phillips was called home yesterday at 11:35 in the morning. His fight with esophageal cancer was a long and painful one, but he never wavered in his faith and praise of God's love. Thank you to everyone who prayed without ceasing for Mike and I ask that you continue to pray for Deanna and Elizabeth as they face a new life without him. I am saddened most for them. As for Mike, I can't help but be a little happy for him. There is no more pain, no more needles, no more doctors, only eternal peace and the warmth of God's love. If you are unfamiliar with this amazing family, I encourage you to visit Deanna's blog http://inhishandandholdingontightly.blogspot.com and read their story. It is an inspirational tale of faith and love and commitment like no other.