I Love Fall!!

Cody's teacher is at it again. Here's the latest poem.

I LOVE FALL

I love fall! Fall is exciting.

It's apples and cider.

It's an airborne spider.

It's pumpkins in bins.

It's burrs on dog's chins.

It's wind blowing leaves.

It's chilly red knees.

It's nuts on the ground.

It's a dry crisp sound.

It's green leaves turning.

And the smell of them burning.

It's clouds in the sky.

It's Fall. That's why......

I LOVE FALL!!

-Author Unknown

Isn't it though? This poem just sums it up. I do love fall. I like the baking and the apple crisps. The smell is out of this world. I love to walk out the front door, coffee in hand, and just smell the leaves and all the fall-y things.

Homeschooling is going great. Cody is top of his class. He scored first in the state and his school on an online game that preps them for the OAT tests. He's never got anything less than 100% and his teacher is still thinking about the advanced learner program for him. All is good. Life is good. I love my husband SOooooooo much. We have really "connected" as of late and it's wonderful to have "that" type of a marriage.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 CUPS OF COFFEE

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the openAreas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee. From under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided,"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - family, children, health,Friends, and Favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else --the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued,"there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.The same goes for life.If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal."Take care of the golf balls first --the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked". It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."


Cody's teacher sent us this today and it wasn't until I had cried for the better part of the afternoon did I get it, to it's fullest intent.

Homeschooling and so forth

So Monday will mark the start of our third week at school! So far it has been amazing for.....well me. Not so much for Cody and it breaks my heart and is frustrating all at the same time. He is doing AWESOME as far as the work goes. He's gotten 100% on the many (I'm talking like 20-30 tests in two weeks) assessments that we do! He's paying attention and sitting through the day perfectly. However, if you ask him, he hates it. He wants to be around the other children. I completely understand, I just don't know what else to do. I'm terrified to send him back to a b&m school where the same problems from last year will undoubtedly carry over to this year. I'm at my wit's end here.

Here are a couple of pictures of him doing his science experiment.

Working hard on his science experiment!

Measuring very carefully I'm surprised his tongue isn't hanging out.

Tasting the secret formula! Kool-aid with no sugar=pucker power!

So disgusting. I had agreed fully aware of what I was getting myself into that I too would taste it. I was afraid he wouldn't have tasted it otherwise. Now I don't blame him. I thought I would puke. Mom tasted it as well. So disgusting

nothing like being late

First and foremost, let me say this, my kids did not take to the beach like I thought they would. Austin spazzed everytime we got near the ocean. Cody took until Thursday to come around to it. It was crazy! We had a beautiful condo (thanks Uncle Rob & NeNe) on the 17th floor. This somehow was like a stature thing according to Cody. He kept saying over and over we are only 1 floor from the penthouse! Kids are so funny like that. I'm so glad we decided to go down a day early and stay part of the way. There is no way Austin could have made the whole trip down there.



That being said, Mom and Dad, bought a portable dvd player for the trip with dual screens. However, the second screen was green the whole time. So frustrating. Anyway, we had a blast at Mytle Beach. We stayed on North Beach and although there were a lot of people it wasn't overly crowded. There was plenty of beach room and I didn't spaz about the boys. Austin was okay in the sand and one of the many many pools at the resort. I was so ecstatic when Dad and Eric decided to surprise us and come down Thursday night. I was having fun but I was postively having a blast once Eric got there. Our schedule was as follows:

1. Wake-up


2. Go to beach


3. Go up to the resort eat lunch in condo


4. Go to beach


5. Go up to resort get showers and dressed for exploring, dinner, and putt putt


6. get home late at night and start over

This is what we did pretty much everyday! It was awesome. So much fun to be had and so much was had!

As soon as we got back, we got a new surprise, hence calico kitten named Heidi. She was named as such for the simple fact that she hides at any given notice.

Geesh

It's been forever since I last blogged. That's not like me, I usually have alot to say, if not too much.

We had an interesting day yesterday. Yesterday was my little cousin's birthday party. It was supposed to be at a park, but, with the rain they moved it (thankfully). So we are on our way and driving through some torrential downpours. We flip on the Waverly radio stations and they come across with a thunderstorm warning. You know the ones, take shelter, could be hail, blah blah blah. So we drive along and we start looking at the trees and the wind was kickin'. Flip the radio back on (we are in this little town called Idaho), tornado warning in Pike County including towns of Waverly, Piketon, Idaho, blah blah blah. GREAT!!!! We were hydroplaning everywhere and at times couldn't see the hood of the car. We lived. I am so so so afraid of tornadoes but, I remained amazingly calm yesterday.

We got there and everything was okay. It was fun. Pizza, rain, pools, floods, birthday cake, and presents!

We had a huge yard sale a couple of weekends ago and I raised enough money to pay for my hubby's contacts and give me all the vacation money I needed. It was great! I was so glad to get all my vacation money together. I was really nervous that I wouldn't get enough gathered. We should have a good vacation now. Speaking of which, in 7 days!!!! I am going to be packing starting tonight or tomorrow. Just some things not all though.

Well other than that we are working on our boat and our garden and the house. We're boring I know! lol

Down to 5

As sad as is it is, my last blog was about chickens and this one will be too! Our little town was hit by some pretty ferocious storms Saturday night. We left the house and went to my Grandma's because she has a basement. I'm petrified of tornadoes and that's pretty much what they said we were about to get so we hightailed it out of here. We got there before the storm cut loose and I must say I have never seen hail like that before. It damaged the truck, not real bad or anything, and it damaged Mom and Dad's house with about 20-30 holes in the siding. It also picked up the chicken coop, flipped it, and turned it on it's roof! In the process it killed one of our hens. It was so sad. They are getting so big and yet when she was laying there dead she seemed so tiny. Cody is super upset about it. I mean to the effect that every time we go out the door he says no one mention the chicken. He is totally not realizing he's the only one mentioning it.

Well it's going to get out one way or the other so I might as well just put it out there. My mom is not going to get better. She will always have good days and bad days, but, it will never really be any better than this. That being said, we had a sit down and talked things out and we are just going to stay here forever. We would eventually end up with the house and things one day anyway. We might as well just start living in here too. Therefore, HUGE yard sale soon.

Speaking of yard sales!!! This weekend we accidentally found a community rummage sale that benefited the youth league! Um, hello!!!! They gave you bags and you filled them with whatever you wanted for $1!!! I found a ton of stuff for Cody, nothing for Austin or Eric, and me a few things. I was so excited. I got a Bass sweater with the tags still on it and a brand new pair of swim trunks for Cody! Those two items just by themselves I would have paid over $1 for. Then we stopped at a yard sale on our way home and I hit the jackpot for Mom. I wanted to go back today but I didn't make it there.

The whole house is cleaned and I did 3 loads of laundry today. We went to Giovanni's for supper and then drove around the lake and campgrounds. It was a nice day. I had a splendid day with Eric yesterday and he went fourwheeling today and had a blast. I love him so much. He always knows exactly what to say and do to make me feel better, he always knows how to make me laugh, and he is a wonderful father.

Sorry no pictures again the stinking camera is on the fritz again.

we are now chicken farmers....yeaaahh

Today started just like any other day. I hit the snooze button twice because somehow that makes me having to get out of bed okay 12 minutes later...lol. Then I commenced to getting Cody ready for his tedious day at school. Eric called me and said that they had no work and he was on his way home...boo (need money)...yay (Eric was coming home). I have missed him terribly the past week and a half. I loved him being on layoff. I didn't love the financial hardship of it but I loved spending all day everyday with him. By everyday, I mean when he wasn't working on something. lol. Anyway so we decide to go do our Mother's Day shopping and some running around town. We made a grocery list, and a list of everything we wanted to do. Suffice it to say it all got done, but, we went to 4 of the 5 places twice, and one of them, three times....lol. We started off by going to storage to pay this months rent, then we went to gas station. Someone has nicotine issues (that's me). Then we went back home because we forgot his paycheck from last week...lol. Then we went to the bank and deposited it and paid our rent at the same time. Then we headed to TSC. Okay, this is how this went down. Austin was a little fussy (didn't want to sit in the cart) and Eric takes him towards these heat lamps. Yep it was Chick Days at TSC and we are oohing and ahhing over these baby chickens and baby ducks. And I say (half joking) let's get them a chick. And Eric says okay but you have to call your parents and ask them...lol. I get out the old cellular and make the call and Mom says okay get 2....lol. So we talk to the sales associate and she says you have to buy 4 to get them to survive. So we decide we'll come back later. She also told us that out of this one tub they were all females and would lay good eggs. So, that's what we do. We leave there and hit up Menard's. Mom wanted hanging baskets and Cathy wanted a bathtub (she got a gift card towards her bath tub...lol). So we leave Menard's and go to the Sprint (it is important that you know that it is 11 am). Oh yeah, by the way, we let Cody skip school today...shame on us. I pay the cell phone bill to the tune of $180. Yeah it was a little behind by the way. That pays the entire bill though...so whatever. Then we decide to go to IHOP. We ate and blah blah...that's all I can say cause it was neither good nor bad. We went to Wal-Mart next and got everything on the list and then some. It wasn't my fault. They had reduced ALOT of their infants and kids clothing to $1. I mean this is summer clothing to people. So I bought a ton of stuff for Austin. They only had 2 shirts left for Cody so I snagged those and I bought Miss Kylie McCoy Hatfield 4 things. Anyway we ran into Jessi and Sophie and hung out a little bit. Then we had to go back to Menards. Mom and Dad called and sent us to buy a screen door for the back porch. The one on there now is a piece of crap that is over 12 years old. So Eric runs in cause Austin fell asleep in line at Wal-Mart. Then we went BACK to TSC and bought these chicks. Eric's Mom said we needed 6. Now why she would tell Eric that I'll never know....she should have known what was going to happen next. Yep you guessed it. We ended up with 6 chickens....lol. Oh well, the more the merrier I suppose. So we got the feeder, the feed, the bedding, the chickens, the waterer, and an info sheet on how to raise these chicks. We know for a fact that we got 2 girls no matter what, we're pretty sure the loud one is going to be a rooster. They are cute though. Anyway, so we leave there and go BACK to Menard's for the third time for a tub and a heat lamp (stupid TSC was out). Anyway, we go trekking back in there and when it was all said and done we spent about $80 getting things set up for freakin chickens. So much for saving money this week. lol. Oh well it was worth it, to see Cody THAT happy. We head home.

This whole time I think I receive 5 phone calls from Sprint and a stupid company that keeps calling me about a vehicle warranty....don't have a vehicle in my name STOP calling me. Any vehicle that we do have is SO NOT under warranty anymore...lmao. So we finally make it home and are sitting on the back porch eating supper and my stupid cell phone goes off again and it is sprint again saying that they are going to shut off our phones. It's 7 o'clock now and there is no reason why they haven't posted my payment when I went into the store to pay it and had to pay an extra $5 just because I gave their EMPLOYEES something to do other than talk about employees that were off today. Anyway, I'm mad by now and I call the number back and they told me to call this other number, it's out of service and I'm screaming pay your own phone bill and leave me the hell alone at this point....lol. So I finally get ahold of someone and it's all I can do to understand him. I'm not convinced that he was even in the United States. Anyway I told him to make the phone calls stop and he says but you just pay a little while ago right and I say Uh NO, that was at 11 o'clock this morning it's now 7 p.m. Plenty of time to post the stupid payment. He says blah blah is that all I can help you with and I say NO as a matter of fact I have blocked all text messages from my phone yet Sprint keeps sending them to me and then when I receive them you guys keep charging me for standard text messaging rates. Block the freaking texts from EVERYONE, not just everyone besides Sprint. Ugh I was so mad. He said they shouldn't charge me for it but if it's on my next bill to call back. Yay!!!!! lol

Anyway so that was how my day was. Very busy and eventful. Did I mention that I am going on the second real vacation in my life this summer? Nope I didn't I just checked. We are going to North Myrtle Beach. We are staying at the Baywatch. I am so excited. Eric and Dad are not going to go. Eric has NO desire to go to a beach. So they are going to work and me and Mom and the boys are going to go with my Aunt Renee, Uncle Rob, and Nathan!!!! I'm soo super stoked. MY mother's day present is going to be a tanning package....can't wait for that. Then at least I will have a honey glow by July. I hope.....lol. That also gives me time to lose weight and save up enough money to really enjoy ourselves. WOOOO HOOOO