Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Funny People

Last night a friend surprised me with a ticket to see Jeanne Robertson.


LIVE, in person.


I know, it's not that big a deal if you've seen her before but I hadn't.  Not in person, I mean.
But it was fantastic!   


She was so funny, and she even had a message in her madness.   With life being so stressful sometimes, it is great to be able to find humor in the everyday things we deal with.





Thanks Wanda, it was awesome!


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday Scripture

 

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say
rejoice.

Philippians 4:4



Friday, September 23, 2011

Learning from Andy

When we were growing up, this was the kind of show we watched everyday.


Unfortunately, there's not enough of these on now.


This is my absolute favorite episode, one of those that makes you laugh, and cry, and above all remember what is really important.






Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Encouraging words

This year my daughter has decided to give Cross Country a try at school.  


She is pretty athletic so I try to encourage her to give 100 % to whatever sport she happens to be playing at the time.


But this sport is different, well I should say it is different from the other sports she has done.  


She has a great relationship with her coaches, and her teammates seem to make a point of cheering each other on instead of beating each other down.  This isn't to say her other sports were bad experiences because they weren't, everything she does, she genuinely likes to do.  It's just that this group of kids and coaches have been so encouraging.


I overheard some girls talking about how much better they feel if the coaches encourage them with kindness instead of yelling at them about what they are doing wrong or could even do better.


While everyone wants to succeed, isn't it nice sometimes to just do something because it's fun.  What happen to that in sports?  Everything seems to be so competitive.  Kids should not be stressed about sports.  It is suppose to be fun.  Remember fun?  


I remember when we went for her physical and the Dr. asked her what sport she was doing.  When she said Cross country, the Dr. said how she loved Cross Country because there was such a camaraderie with the kids who ran.  They seemed to encourage each other, really build each other up.


What a difference words can make.  


They have the power to build us up or knock us down.







Monday, September 19, 2011

Anything you can think of. . . .

you can find out how to make it on the Internet.

I decided to give making my own clothes detergent a try, I have to say bloggers make everything look so easy.

And they were right it really was easy.

I used this recipe.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

2 cups Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated – I used Octagon, basically the same thing)


1 cup Washing Soda


1 cup Borax






■Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.


■Use 2 tablespoons per full load.





I was a little skeptical at first.  But I have to say, I couldn't tell any difference in how it cleans my clothes, and I actually like the smell of the soap a little better than any powder detergents I've used. 

I am getting use to using powder again because I was using liquid but other than that I am completely satisfied.

I will say that the recipe above didn't last very long so I have since doubled it and because I didn't want to stand over the grater for so long, I decided to try to put the soap in the blender to shred it up. 

It stuck at first, but then I learned that if I add some dry ingredients (like the Washing soda) it worked fine.

I never ceased to be amazed at what I learn from blogging.


Sunday, September 11, 2011

Friday, September 9, 2011

Ramblings

First, lets talk reality shows.


I have admitted my weakness for Jersey Shore, so that's old news.  But Baby Girl is into several reality shows.


One of which is Keeping up with the Kardashians.  You know Bruce Jenner's family, Khloe and Lamar, and now Kris and Kim, and lets not forget Scott and Kourtney.  There are others, that is only a few of the sisters.


Let me just say, when I think my life is dysfunctional, just cut on the Kardishians.  Really starts putting things in perspective.


She also really likes those teen mom shows.  There are days when I watch an episode with her, just to stress the importance of abstinence, and I can't believe how people act.  When I get like that I start telling her what I don't like about those people on the show and she gets mad and tells me to leave the room.  Which I don't by the way, so she will usually get mad and leave the room herself.  


You know what that means, right.


I get the remote!   HA!


On another note, we had quite a bit of rain, so once again, the patio is stalled.


Really getting tired of waiting for the planets to align so we can finish it, but whatever.


After Mr. Wonderful got back from his fishing trip, he has not stopped talking about going back.  Yea, that means the patio again must wait.  I tried to throw some husband guilt his way, but he was way too focused to pay attention to it.


It is Friday, so that is really good news!!


It has been pretty busy around the house with everyone getting back to school and a normal schedule, so I am looking forward to resting. 


OK, have a great weekend!





Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Thoughts on Thankfulness

This weekend we ended the summer with one last hoorah at the river.


We were very fortunate in the fact that while we had tree's down, no major structural damage, and we didn't have any water damage.  


We saw so much water damage.  Sooo much, people had to replace duct work, flooring, and much of their furniture.  All of which was sitting in the streets.  


We didn't get power until Sunday night, but again we were fortunate.


I am thankful.


Thankful, for generators, so that we were able to clean up in some minimal comfort.


Unfortunately, there are counties down east that don't have a lot of income, and therefore, they will need a lot of help getting things back to the way they were.  While we were outside the Red Cross van came by offering us food and drinks.  While we didn't need any, I know there are people in our area that do.


There is a man who comes by our house and always asks for our cans.  (He collects them for money.)  While he was there he was telling us about the damage to his house from the hurricane. 


He asked my husband if we knew the neighbor across the street.  He said "Yes, I know Luke."


He said "He must be rich, he lets me go through his trash."


When he came in and told us that, I almost cried.  


We are blessed.  


So, he got our cans and anything else we could find around the house.  




This was a community playground with a bathhouse.


All that's left is a pile of rubble where the bathhouse was and the basketball goal.   The bird house actually made it too.




There were lots of picnic tables for enjoying the view, but they were washed away.


But we did manage to find time to have some fun.


The water was amazing on Sunday, AMAZING!!!!


So we took the boat to Oriental, and did a little fishing.


We weren't the only ones who decided to go fishing.


But I bet they weren't trying to get one of these.




Look at that!!!


It's a drum, and they put up quite a fight getting them in.  They were kind of pretty too.  They make a drum noise when you take them out of the water.


Don't worry, it was a catch and release.  We were fishing for a citation size drum, and we got it!!!!




Well, I didn't really care about the fishing part, I just like being on the boat and enjoying the views.


It was a good way to end the summer.


Thankful for everything!