Living on a Farm

Just so we're clear, I do not live on a farm. Nor do I own a dog or cat. However, this morning I find myself cleaning trash out of my yard, yes again. This is becoming a daily occurance. Apparently my trash is better than the neighbors? So, while I am cleaning up my trash I hear the cows moo. Not uncommon since the field beside me is a cow pasture. What I see when I look up is two huge eyes glaring at me from my patio. I'm going to call the cow Bubba, don't know why, he just looks like a Bubba. So anyway, Bubba and I have a little stare down and even tho I am a bit frightened, I refuse to give up any more of my yard to animals that I don't own. After a while of me standing there, hands on hips, staring the enormous cow down, Rusty and Roscoe come to my rescue and chase the cow out of my yard and back into his own field. Rusty and Roscoe are the dogs that seem to think my trash is top shelf. Rusty and Roscoe are my heroes and are welcome to my trash now.

My Grandfather, 80 Years Young

This is Leroy. Leroy is my grandfather. He is an amazing person in every sense of the way.

We celebrated my grandfather's 80th birthday last Sunday, May 23. He was a Command Seargent Major in the US Army, worked for the State of Alabama, he is a devoted husband, a father to 6, a grandfather to 9, and a great grandfather to 10.

 

 

He is also an amazing volunteer. He is active in the Shriner's and Mason's to name a few.

He loves spending time with his family and telling stories of the "good ol days."

He has traveled the world and been in several wars. Even recieving the Purple Heart.

Of all the things my grandfather has done,

and all the things my grandfather is,

The most important role he has played is My Hero. I hope to be just like him when I grow up.

Little Layla Grace

For those that don't know, this is Layla Grace

She is this amazing 2 year old fighting with stage 4 neuroblastoma.

She is a true fighter. If you ever needed any inspiration in how to stay strong, just look at her parents and family. You can follow her blog HERE.

She has touched so many lives through her blog, facebook page, and twitter. I am in awe at how many followers she has and at how many prayers she is recieving daily.

If you would like to help donate to her medical bills you can head on over to her blog, or check out Project Mommyhood. They are currently holding a benifit auction to help Layla and her family. The auction will end tonight (March 6) at Midnight.

Remember...

Knowledge+Funding= Cure

It's Hard Being Such A Good Mother

I am at McDonalds today with my 3 year old. We both felt like we needed a little reward for having 3 snow days and having to share our days with the older kids. So off we go. Now, with my older 3 kids I would have never dreamed of sitting in playland while eating, but this one is such a great little eater that I figured it would be okay. We are sitting there eating while all the other little heathens kids are running around being chased by their mothers and being begged to sit back down and eat.


(Insert feeling of being a superior mom here)

I just politely smile and nod my head like I know how they feel and they in turn give me the look “don’t look at me like that because your kids is sitting still and eating”. We have all been there and KNOW what look I am talking about.

So, our McDonalds has 2 really cool computer games that are touch screen. These are obviously to be used by the older kids who feel it is too cool to play in the tubes, but in the middle of the school day, you now have toddlers fighting over the computers. The BEST part is the mothers that are “bragging” about how much computer time they DON’T let their kids have (oh, and there is this retired dad sitting there and he said (I PROMISE this is exactly what he said) “Oh, I let mine play whatever he wants. He has a gameboy, PS2, and his own computer. I leave the educational crap up to my wife.” (His child was maybe 4) The other mom’s just ignored him after that.

Ok, so picture this. Child A runs and gets on the computer, followed by Child B. Childs A’s mother helps him into the seat while Child B’s mother sits there and talks about how the only computer game her son is allowed to play is Dora. Not to be outdone, Child A’s mother now decides that she has a “no computer unless it is educational” rule and removes Child A from said computer. Child A starts screaming. And I’m not talking a little whine. No! This was a throw yourself down on the floor and scream at the top of his lungs scream. THEN (oh, it gets better) Child A’s mother takes Child A in a football hold and proceeds to inform the manager that “the computers were the worst idea they had and that she was going to have to leave because her child would not stop ‘fussing’ over them.” She comes back into playland where my child is just happily going down the slides, oblivious to the fact that there are computers, and sits her child down and tells Child A “We have to leave since you won’t stop screaming over the computers. You know you are not allowed to play”. Wait a minute here. Child A was on the computers earlier with your help!!!

(Insert another feeling of superior mom here because mine has yet to see said computers and I now get to give them the “oh, I’m sorry for you” look)

Uh, oh. I gave the look and now my son sees the computers. He sits down at the empty chair and starts to touch the screen. He really does not know what he is doing because I believe my computer cost to much and has all my work and school stuff on it so mine has honesty never been allowed to touch mine. Not because of educational reasons, just because I am selfish and don’t want my stuff broke. He is in heaven playing when all of a sudden, Child B shows back up and starts playing. NOW Child B’s mom decides that he can’t play so she removes him also. So, I have my child at the computer and 2 SCREAMING BANSHEES running around because their mom’s are trying to out do each other. At this point mine comes back over to me and tells me (very loudly) “Let’s go! Baby’s won’t stop screaming”.



(Insert superior look again.)

Your Daily Dose of Laughter

There is this Blog that I obsessively stalk read. Every morning, her blog is the first one I check just to make sure I don’t miss a posting. I recommended her blog to my sister and to ALL of my Face book friends. She is GREAT!! I read her post and sometime I laugh out loud (like today's blog posting), sometimes I cry (Because I have had that elderly neighbor too), but most of the time I find myself thinking “OMG, this could be me.” She is so real and honest. Even the other day my sister and I were talking about her "mom's lunch" and all the emailing back and forth trying to schedule and I interrupt her with "OMG! That reminds me, did you see Amy's posting about the school bookroom...." I find I am in LOVE with Amy and I really want to be her when I grow up.


So, today, I ask that all of you take a few minutes to check out Amy Musings, Dramatically Incorrect. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Adult Onset ADHD

I’m one of those people that can never seem to finish a chore. Take this morning for example. I started cleaning the kitchen. I started with the dishes in the sink and once those were all clean I moved on to work on the island. Now, on the island were the clothespins from yesterday’s project. Still not put back together. (I had taken them apart and painted them pink for a valentines craft found here)

So, I stop cleaning and start putting the clothespins back together. Once that is done my youngest wants to take my craft box and put it back in my office. Since I don’t trust him to be in my office by himself, I must follow him upstairs.


Like any good crafter, once I set foot inside my office, I am immediately overwhelmed with all the projects that must be completed. I sit down at my computer and first check email, then read all the new blogs and let’s not forget about face book. Then I realize a few days ago I was supposed to make pillow cases so I start cutting out my fabric, and see some really cute Japanese fabric that I want to make a burp cloth and wash cloths out of. I move on to cutting out my Japanese fabric and actually make the burp cloth, but then I remember I am supposed to be making pillowcases. Japanese fabric gets put aside and I pull my striped fabric back out. I make 1 pillow case and carry it downstairs to put on my bed. My son is taking his nap in my bed so I just lay the pillowcase on the dresser and check the time. Oh my, 4:30. I have to start boiling the eggs for the girls salad tonight for dinner (I made taco soup but the girls don’t eat that, and since we all run restaurants for meal times, they start placing orders.) I run back upstairs to try to finish the other pillowcase in the few minutes I have while the eggs cook, and my 2nd grader starts going thru my fabric and asks me why I have not made the mittens and hats and scarves I started Thursday night? So, I pull my fleece back out and start measuring that when I realize I have eggs on the stove. Run downstairs, take the eggs off the burner, and come back up stairs to finish the scarves and decide to Blog instead.



This all started at 8 AM with me cleaning the kitchen. Does this happen to anyone else?

The "Blizzard" of 2010

For some people, snow is a regular occurrence during the winter. However, if you live in a southern state, the chance of snow is few a far between. A few days ago, the news channels started forecasting "A HUGE WINTER STORM" and it was coming straight for us. OMG!!! Everyone run to the grocery and overstock on everything, oh yah, lets close all the schools too. Seriously, that is what happens down here. Last night around 7PM our director of schools cancelled school for today because of the "forecast" for the winter snow.

This morning we all wake up and there is nothing on the ground. It is 39 outside. Not even cold enough. You should see all the face book comments from this morning. All those irritated mothers whose child is home today and they had to call out of work. WOW!! (This is 7 AM this morning when the comments start)



Fast forward to about 9AM. The Nashville (TN) news stations are reporting that by Saturday AM Nashville and the counties east and west may get around 8", north of Nashville even more. The good thing (as we are told by the weather lady) is that the southern counties that border Alabama will not see much. Hey, guess where I am? Yup, one of those bordering counties, and let me tell you!! By 9AM it had already begun sleeting and there was ice on the roads.



10AM, we have about 1" of snow already and this snow is covering the ice (thank goodness these southern counties won't be getting anything too bad).



11AM, News stations start telling everyone that the roads are getting bad (oh, by the way, Nashville and the northern counties do not have any snow on the ground. I know because face book tells me so.)



NOON, the roads in Maury County (according to the news people, and Maury County is SOUTH of Nashville) are some of the worst that you will encounter.



2PM, this is my backyard (remember, we are one of those counties that border Alabama, my back yard is actually only 45 minutes away from Alabama.) This is about 2" in the yard and it is still snowing. Will be untill early  morning. Good thing the weather lady said we would only get about 2" total for both days.

Is it REALLY this EASY

What have I been doing for 2 weeks? Searching for an easy pillowcase pattern to make to cover the pillows on my bed. ( For some reason, I have seemed to loose pillowcases like others loose socks, and now I find myself with 4 pillows in desperate need of some cases.) So, I have been busy searching my local stores trying to find some that will match my curtains and bedspread, but no luck.

{Back Story}

When we moved into the house I painted my room a light blue and wanted a brown quilt/throw to go over the bed, blue sheets, and I was going to make the curtians out of the City Girl Blue/Brown fabric. Guess how much fabric I bought, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 yards. ***GASP*** Okay, I know what you are thinking, I have no idea why I thought I needed that much fabric, it is not like the entire wall is covered in windows. So, needless to say, because I ended up finding this awsome bedspread at Overstock.com and then matching curtains, I still have ALL that fabric left. Lucky for me, it is in 4 different coordinating patterns.

{Back to the original thought process}

So, anyway, I have all this fabric, no pillowcases, and since I am also currently working on 3 different bedding sets, not alot of time, I needed something easy.

I FOUND IT!!!

Here, at Make It and Love It, Ashley shows us how to make pillowcases. It is sooooooo easy. (Why I didn't just think to do this is beyond me but I am going to blame it on all the snow days we have had out of school). And since tomorrow is a snow day also, I am making me some of these.

~Amanda~

*on a side note, I think Blogger took away Spell Check so if you see any spelling errors, don't blame me, blame Blogger.

Am I a Bad American?

I vote, regularly. I truly believe if you don't vote, you don't get to complain. Because lets face it. We all love to complain about politics. Even if we voted for the party in office, we complain. It is just what we do. Everyone has that "I can do it better" feeling, even if we admit it to no one but ourselves. Just take a moment right now and admit it, I'll wait. ............(this is me waiting)...........

Ok. Now that that is done and we all feel a little better, let me just say that I did not watch the State of the Union tonight. I did not watch his speach on the health care a few months ago either. I do not listen to the talk radio station DJ's (are they even called that anymore?) that think they know EVERYTHING there is about politics and they know all the solutions, nor do I turn on CNN or any other all news broadcast stations.

I read the paper, when I get one. However, we live in a very small southern town so we only get the local paper on Sunday and Wednesday. This small paper maybe has 10 pages and it covers local and state news, church news (usually a full page for this) classified adds, half a page for yard sales, and school athletics (usually 3 pages). We don't discuss much national news. I guess we figure we should take care of our own back yards???

I donate to all the disaster relief efforts when something bad happens, and I donate to the local Good Will. I volunteer when I can. I try to help others. I do not ask for anything in return. I was taught that you should work hard for what you have. You don't get handed things in life, and NOTHING is free. This is how it should be. Remember, I'm not saying don't help someone that is down on their luck. I'm just saying, maybe we should go back to learning our neighbors names and a little about them. Saying "hi" to someone or even "excuse me" when you walk by them in the grocery isle. Lets not try to compete with the other PTO mom's on whose kid is dressed the best or who has the newest minivan or SUV.

With that said. I am sure "we are better off now with THE BAILOUT than we would have been with out it." I'm sorry, Mr. President, but did you get where you are with someone bailing you out of every problem? My father worked for the steel industry several, several years ago. Do you guys remember when that industry went under. It was a huge industry. Unemployment rates started raising and prices started going up, but no one got a government "bail out" and the people of the US do not "own" the steel industry. It's just not around. Now, I know it sounds like I am anti "bail out money" but I am really not. There are places that really do deserve it, but just like everything else, the deserving are being way overshadowed by the selfish.

Welcome to "Generation Bail Out"

That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

What I want to do this year

This year, I have many, many, many plans, that all revolve around my little ones rooms. I have neglected their rooms LONG ENOUGH!! (We moved into the new house on Jan. 9, 2009 and all the rooms are still so bare!!!). I can not wait to transform my girls room into a very girly, flowery room. My youngest will rocket into outer space in his room, and my oldest will be......OK, so have not gotten that planned yet, but will do so quickly. Now, to quit blogging, get some sleep, and get to work in the morning.

Happy New Year Everyone.