LOOKING FOR THE RAINBOW

We have had another busy week and I don't see us slowing down in the immediate future. So with this recent pic made after the storm I am looking for the end, in this case the rainbow. If you look hard enough you can see the rainbow in the middle of the pic.

I have lots of pics to share but not enough time tonight.

BIG NEWS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Katherine made her First Holy Communion today. She looked beautiful and said "I feel like a new woman". I wish I could have been with her but we had other obligations. You can check her pics out at dianneandestil.blogspot.com.

Peace and Good Night

TERMITES

The verdict is in. We have termites!!! I've gotten 2 bids already, one for $1460 and one for $1065. The lesser one, Guarantee Pest Control, Joe knows the owner and is going to give him a call. Say a prayer for us that there is minimum damage to our home and the treatment a success. Peace and Blessings to all.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU DRIVE

Just when I think I have seen it all, our little ole newspaper tells me different. The head line read, Does your car say 'Hey I'm Gay?'. Needless to say I was a little surprised. I am not one that pays much attention to vehicles. I can appreciate well kept cars and love muscle cars but beyond that I am at a loss. I don't think I will ever assume what a person is like by the car they drive but with this much info what's a girl to do?

It seems like there is more than meets the eye. I learned from the article that car makers are marketing aggressively to gay consumers. TV shows are making a difference in what people drive, as in the shows where the main character is gay and drive a certain vehicle.

There is was even a poll seeking to determine the most gay automobile! A web site that list the "Top 10 Gay Cars" and the slogan from Subaru "It's not a choice, It's the way we're built." is a subtle gay-rights message.

Now I have more information than I know what to do with. So, the obvious thing to do was to share with you all.

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel, let's roll baby roll, roll baby roll, all night long.

DREAMS

I was tired yesterday from our big weekend and the fact that I always have to get up early and I am definitely NOT a morning person. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole concept of getting up early and not feeling like you have waisted your day. I just don't feel right if I do it too much.

That said, I go to bed around 11 with Nickelbacks Animal stuck in my head. ( I don't know if that has anything to do with my dreams, but I'm wondering.)

First dream involves my in-laws looking for a house. One of my clients tells me what she thinks is a great house on the water. It was a little ways out from our town but wasn't a problem. The price was right, $90,000 for a 2400 square foot home. So we get there and it is like a futuristic home. It was very spacious but it also had rooms that you had to work to get in. The particular room I'm talking about had a circle cut in the floor before the doorway and you had to climb down in the hole to get to the stairs but if you missed the set in stairs you would fall 3 stories. I thought it was really cool but a little hazardous for the kids.

Second dream involves my extended family at first then turns into me joining Kim in Atlanta but somehow we were at the beach. Only to remind me of a lake that they are lowering to fix the dam. Are you following me? All of the family is at the airport and we have time to kill so I am waiting by the boarding ramp and look down to see money. $20 bill, 5o, it looks like there several in the grass but no one else seems to care to pick them up. Thinking back I guess I took two trips because on the second one It was the same with the money only they were checks! So we get on the plane, I don't remember flying and that is were the story really gets messed up. We are in the hotel but I am by myself I walk past the pool area with family's playing, I am walking in the hall and get stopped by this little man whose hair is VERY thin but 2 feet long. He has is creatively fixed with a visor cap to make it look like more. Then his son comes up and seems like the tallest guy I have seen and his hair is the same as his fathers so the father proceeds to fix his the same. OK, I gotta go. I finally get out to the beach and there is sand everywhere, a few towels but I don't see anyone. By one of the towels is a manequen so I am walking around and realize it is nothing but sand! No water any where it is what I would imagine the ocean would be like dried up minus any living creature and trash. I look to my left and something is making the sand around the edges explode but in a ripple effect and I am scared. Of course I am in the pit of it and am scrambling to get to the top. One at the top I see a little baby whale that someone had put in a bag of water and left it on the beach. It was still alive but they had placed what looked like a power ranger helmet that looked like the whale beside it. Now I feel I need to save the whale and start in. That is the last thing I remember. Crazy!!!!

I guess I needed to go to the bathroom, was thirsty, and worried about the termites that we just found out we have. Ha Ha It is amazing what your mind can do.

FYI

I haven't written about food to much, but I could not resist today. (I thought I was done writing all together but this was to good to pass up.) Written today in our local paper was an article on trans fats. The article went on to say that more people are hurting themselves with products made from saturated fat because of the massive change in manufacturing. It gave the names of the "good" oils but went on to say that although you can fry a chicken in canola or soybean oil you can't make a pie crust with olive oil. This is where I stopped and had to re-read. The thing is I haven't made a pie crust with any thing but olive oil! As you can see my pie crust looks as good as any I have seen and tastes great.

I have to admit I was inspired by the article. I didn't know what I was going to have for dinner until then. Now, I just had to make a crust and have a quiche fill it up. The best one yet!!

I will let you in on the recipe in case you want to give it a try. It is so simple and something I think everyone should know how to do. I know the store bought ones are nice but these are handy if you keep oil and flour around. It takes about 5minutes to prepare.
FOR ONE CRUST
1 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons water
mix well and roll between waxed paper sheets.

double the recipe for 2 crust
ENJOY

Now on a different note. The conversation I had with my son as we were getting ready for the yard sale. I had told them to find things in their rooms that they didn't mind to part with. My son came with 4 books. 2 Junie B. Jones books, a book about Moses and The story of David and Goliath. This is were the conversation begins.

Me, "are you sure you want to get rid of these books?"

Levi, "yes"

Me, "why don't we give them to your catholic school?"

Levi looking very puzzled, "why would I give them to my school, they already know about this stuff. We need to sell them to people that don't know."

Me looking like the light went on in my brain, "OK, good idea."

THE NEW WAY TO FARM

Just enjoy.

We are so blessed to have such a nice place to go. So after all the hard work at home a trip to the farm was in order. Thanks to day light savings time we had 3 hours of day light to ride the dirt bikes. We only have 2 so we have to take turns (Joe and I) Elijah wants to ride constantly. The kids love it! We run around and play, eat our dinner cooked over a fire and top it all off with smores and a ride home. Camping season is coming soon so we will have more good times to share.

A LOOK AROUND

I love the cover of phlox, we have close up pics that are awesome.

These pictures were to hard to pass up when I thought about our weekend. Saturday started out early so we had plenty of time to do what we wanted (and needed) to do. Joe had been wanting to work on the pond for a while but the weather has not cooperated. So with nothing on the agenda he set to work.

Of course I couldn't pass up being outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. There wasn't anything I could do to help Joe, and wanting to be outside with him I decided we needed to have a garage sale! I got rid of some of the kid stuff, hamster cages and various other things that were clogging the attic. The only thing that I would have kept were the arrow heads that Joe had made. I talked him into letting me put them in it. He wanted $2 a piece for them which for the time had in them, wasn't a bad price. Being a garage sale I knew no one would pay that and ask if he would take 50 cents for them. So, guess what was the big sale of the day. Some guy offered me $15 for all of them!!! We walked away from the day almost $65 richer, cleaned out our house, and got to spend time with the family!

I love to take pictures of our landscaping! It is always changing thanks to Joe's wonderful design. When I first bought the house we had the pines up by the house, the railing with the balls (I never can remember what those things are called) set in them and nothing else. As you can see in 9 years we have been busy. It is a labor of love, to grow such ever changing beauty for us and others to enjoy. The people that walk by tend to stop and tell us how much they like what we have done. I would have never done any thing like this if it wasn't for Joe and Mom encouraging me. I guess that's the good thing about life, live and learn. You can do anything if you want to bad enough.

Working on the pond, Naomi posing as usual :)
One of "the balls"
These miniature iris are so pretty, that's was prompted me to pull out the camera.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SADIE

8 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!! We hope you have a great day! Wish we could be with you to sing Happy Birthday. This picture is made at Joe's parents house Christmas. Sadie was in charge of the entertainment so she put on a show for us.
WE MISS YOU! Hope to see you this summer, so you better get working on some new material!

MY FAMILY (some of them)

Photo shoot. She is a poser! I was trying to help her out but she had her OWN ideas. Look # 2. I can't look at this without laughing. I tried to get her to do something different with her arm but it only got worse from here. Like I said she has her own ideas and is not easily swayed.
Levi creating his look. He didn't name it yet, I'm sure that is to come...
Working out back putting our new landscape lights together. The look great and add a lot to our landscape. I can't wait to see them in action. They need three sunny days to charge and with our weather lately I don't know when we will see them!
I thought you all might want to see a real picture of Joe. This is what he looks like to me when he does something I want him to do without to much prodding. Do you like the glow he radiates? Cute!!!

TODAY, I shoulda known....

I should have known when I stepped into the doctors office and the first thing I pick up was a outdoor furniture catalog. With the most interesting pieces in it that I had to bring it home (with permission, of course) to show Joe for future project reference.

I should have known when the doctor walks in and takes a closer look at my purse, touches and says its nice.

I should have known when he picks the braid up in my hair, looks at the feather and laughs (ask how old I am). I answer with a laugh and ask if he thought that was too old for feathers and fringe? "Oh, no" he said. "I just have never seen anything like that before."

I should have known when Naomi's teacher was telling me how happy she was with her. How smart she was, how she likes to participate in class, how she gets off the bus saying "look at my hair, look what I'm wearing, look what my momma did to my nails." Thank you for stopping by.

I should have known when went to the boys school to help with lunch and she had to wear the ballerina dress and shoes she was going to be the center of attention.

I should have know when we came home and she wanted to play outside that the application of sunscreen was going to turn into a photo shoot.

I should have know playing out in the garage would provide the opportunity to change her clothes three more times!

I should have know my son would get in on this too.

I should have known it was just going to be one of those days when people notice. All of my life I have tried to be part of the crowd but because of my personality I have always been a little different. Not necessarily in a bad way (I know that's debatable to some) but the way I finish my look is different. Of course you could say that about a lot of people now days and I think that is OK.
I'm glad my kids feel free to express themselves. I hope they keep it up and grow it in a positive way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIMBERLY

my best friend! We have known each other since high school. In all of those years we have never had a fight. That is pretty amazing to make it out of high school alone on that record.

She has so many good qualities, too many to list, but I will try. She is open to new ideas, fun, pretty, nice, smart,hard working, giving, loving and really cares about the world and the people in it. Those are only a few that came to mind. You can tell my kids love her and she feels the same about them. She treats them as her own!
These pics are taken on our family vacation last year. We had a great time and look forward to seeing her again.
Have a great day, wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

SPECIAL DAYS

Better late than never. A saying that I have lived by most of my life (but have really tried to do better and be prompt). Some habits die harder than others. So, here it is. Easter morning..... Mom checking out Naomi's Easter basket. It looks like she is holding the flower petal but it is really a piece of candy corn. She was looking for the jelly beans but the Easter bunny cut back this year on the sugar. Sorry, Mom!
Levi fresh from the bed. He looks like he had a hard night, very cute indeed!






This is a pic of my best friend in the whole wide world!! For the last two years I have been able to take a trip to Atlanta by myself to visit her. This year, sad to say I wasn't able to go. We always enjoy being around each other even if we aren't doing anything, just spending time living. So when we figured out we would be in the same town at the same time a date was set. Well, because everyone wanted to see her and we had such little time I didn't get to really talk with her. So another visit is order for us.
In the little time we did have, she gave me two huge boxes of clothes and a spiritual tool box. Those of you who have read my older post have heard of those before! I felt like it was Christmas with all of the goodies. I now have a great new wardrobe and the tools to follow my dreams. (I'm still searching) :)


This is my new wardrobe. I can't wait for warmer weather!!!
MY TOOLBOX I tried several times to get a good picture of it and this was the best. If you click on it you can get a better look. The artwork is original and incorporates what the toolbox is about. Inside there are instructions, a rich velvet cloth, rune stone, soap, candles, oil, incense, seeds and endless possibilities. I am very impressed with her original idea and hope that everyone gets a chance to own one (or two).......The web-site is under construction but when It is available I will post it. I see this as something beautiful, a daily reminder that in order to receive you have to ask for what we need. I know we all get busy but when we surround ourselves with things that have meaning it brings it into perspective. This comes at a perfect time to celebrate living.

Last, I wanted to talk about the trip to my aunt and uncles house. I haven't seen them in over a year. My uncle has ALS and has been bed ridden for as long. My mom and dad have been doing everything they can to help and I felt like I needed to do something to. I have offered my hair cutting services before but my aunt finally took me up on it. I knew what to expect but It is always so sad to see your family in situations like this. I didn't know what to say to my uncle, I know he was in pain when we first got there and maybe didn't like all of the commotion. So I tried to stay in the background. I felt like I really helped my aunt feel better about herself even though she is tired and not herself. I can't imagine what life for her must be like....

I know she is a good person and will be rewarded in life. It may not feel like it now, she is only doing what comes natural. My uncle is so blessed to have the people he has care for him. My mom spends so many hours there I'm sure she has lost count. I pray that I will never need care like does but If I do, I hope I am blessed as well.

Time to close, so much comes to mind. Life is short, live like you were dying.

WHAT'S HAPPENING

I have wanted to write for a while but just haven't had the chance. I still don't but wanted to share a little of what's going on. (I will try to write in more detail later)....
This was taken last night, Naomi posing as usual. She and Joe had been out side to check out the frost damage. It looks like the tulip made it so she had to bring it in to share. I love fresh flowers and it only takes one. Levi's proud of his new shirt and it seems to make him look really tough!!
It's amazing what a little food and some rest will do for you. The kids were turned on and wanted me to capture everything. Needless to say I will spare you the many more pics we took. They were interesting though.
OK, maybe just one. You know the part about "a little food"? Well I think Levi had a little too much food over the Easter weekend at Meme and Pops. Must be all that candy.
So, I will be back soon with more to share. I hope you enjoyed the show. Click on pics to get a larger image.

Gone to see the family....post when I get a chance!

HOT TUBBIN!!!

This is one of the best things to do at Aunt Kathy's! It is open all year round and can make a good day even better. I didn't realize at the time Chris was asking me how much it cost. I think that is so cute... we have had it for over 18 years and REALLY got our money out of it! So don't worry Chris, just enjoy it while you can.

BIG SUPRIZE

It's still fairly early and I have already spent waaaay more money that I ever thought I would on some thing most people will never even know about (consider yourselves out in blogger land some of the few).

I'm talking about my teeth. Any one who has ever had much dental work knows what I'm taking about. I, myself am still in shock. I have dental insurance but it seems insurances never seem to pay as much as you think they will. I'll let you know....

I went last week for a routine cleaning to a new dentist and after a little discussion he thought I should get a bite guard. It seems that my teeth have shifted later in life and he thinks I might be grinding them at night (due to all the stress in my life :) I didn't realize I had) It would be for a small fee of course but It was something I was willing to try. After having fairly straight teeth all of my life I don't want to take a chance on them getting worse. You know all that stress isn't going to go away ;) So I was committed to that. They ask me to bring in my ex-rays from my old dentist and upon looking at them and a little further inspection my new dentist let me know I was going to run into some serious problems and soon. One of my molars was cracked, not once but 4 times! I knew it wasn't right but he explained my options. Fix it now while I still had something to work with or be the emergency call later. I know what it's like to be at someones mercy so I made the decision to become a lot lighter in my pocket!

I hope I made the right decision, the anaesthegia is wearing off and I can really feel the work that has been done. I think tooth pain is one of the worst. I don't have much to compare it to but I know I don't like it.

NOW I KNOW WHAT PEOPLE MEAN WHEN THEY SAY A SMILE IS WORTH A MILLION BUCKS!

EMILY'S BIG DAY

Now that I got the pics loaded in I am scared to try and change them so bear with the mix up. My favorite is the last one!
We have started a tradition of Emily's birthday at my house. It started a few years back with the idea because it is so close to spring break that it would be a perfect time for my brothers family to get away. The kids are great together and if the weather is nice there is plenty to do outside!
So, we started the day off by singing Happy Birthday to Emily (what a great way to start your day!). Fixed a big breakfast, and headed to the dress shop. The kids acted great! (thankfully) and we were able to get Katherine a first communion dress and then spend the rest of the time on Emily. It was so much fun having the girls try on all the different clothes! So much better than shopping for myself. (She loooved everything) I had in mind to buy her a Easter dress and Meme and Pop gave her money to spend with no restrictions. Of course the toys were right by the clothes and they were looked at ( and a great distraction for the other kids) but she settled on an outfit from them too.
Once we got back home we had dinner and THE CAKE. It was strawberry with strawberry icing! Pink, her favorite.
Next was play, get a haircut, take a shower and watch a movie. What more could you ask for! gather round and sing

hot tubbin'
Easter dress/birthday dress
stylin'
can you tell I'm excited?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY !!!!