Family Adventures Family Adventures When my children are grown and gone, I hope that they will look back on their childhood and remember the sound of their mother's laughter. Sometimes that is easier said than done. 
Articles
hair
2007-10-27 20:50:00 hair Originally uploaded by marshamlow Thanks for the nice comments about our hair. Funny story: Often people ask us, where did Lily get her hair color? Looking at Jeff's dark brown hair and my dark blond/light brown hair and Lily's white blond hair. Jeff always answers politely with information about our genealogy and I always have a smart remark. I usually say, "the milk man." I think this is a little embarrassing to Jeff, but isn't it sort of an implication of my infidelity to ask such a question in the first place? I always think rude question, rude answer. PS, Angel- I have to blow dry my hair too. Or it looks horrid, see slide show of fall muster below. Not so much to straighten but to add a bit of volumn.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Hair
The Why Girl
2007-10-27 15:50:00 Here are some recent shots of the girl who asks, why? Why can't I play in the street? Why can't we take the dog to the store? Why is it Saturday? Why, why, why - all day long. And one of my new haircut. Have a good weekend.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Daily , Girl
Fall Muster
2007-10-26 15:34:00 Over this past weekend we went to our first Fall Muster. The paper said it was between 9AM and 5:30PM. It worked out best for us to go first thing in the morning, and at 8AM we were all buckled into our car and driving down the road. We arrived right at 9AM ready to see a Civil War re-enactment. We were excited to see things get blown up. We had read that they had added several cannons to the battle.However, we were soon to discover that the battle did not occur from 9-5. In fact there was nothing going on at 9AM. No food being sold, no battles being fought... It turns out that during the Fall Muster, a bunch of people (more than 100) get together. They dress in Civil War period costumes. Men, women, and children; they all spend the weekend out at the re-enactment site. They spend the night, they re-enact a weekend in the life of the soliders who fought in the civil war. It is not just the battles. They slept under white canvas tents, they were cooking breakfast over an ... More About: Adventures
Thursday Thirteen # 11
2007-10-25 16:21:00 I have been trying to lose weight for 20 years, every year I seem to gain about 5 lbs over the course of the year instead of losing. Except this last year, I remained the same, and the year before I lost 15 lbs. I have tried many different diets (only free ones). Read many diet books (from the library). I feel like I should be a weight loss expert by now, except for the fact that I still need to lose weight. Here are some of the things I have learned...If I remove treats from my day to day life, I need to replace them with some other type of reward or I feel punished. Books, magazines, shopping, calling a friend, I have tried a lot of things, but it is hard to find something to replace afternoon cookies.If I give up sugar, flour, potato, and white rice for two weeks - I no longer have any hunger pains or cravings, ever. But those two weeks - require a padded room.I hate breakfast, gagging it down sucks, all the skinny people I know in my real life do not eat breakfast.I have... More About: Thirteen , Thursday
One Sweet Treat to Read
2007-10-24 16:27:00 Lynn from A Tired Mama has given me this awesome award. It is so cute. I can't wait to pass it on. This award was created by the obviously creative and talented Trista from the blog The Pumpkin Patch, she wants all of us to pass this award on to our favorite readers. All of my readers hold a special place in my heart, I have decided to pass this award on to the following people because of how much they have given to me and in hopes of brightening their day.Mrs. Grumpy: AKA Laura is my newest blogging buddy. Laura's writing is phenomenal and everyday she helps me to realize what is important in my life and where my focus should be. Laura recently and unexpectedly lost her beloved husband Leonard and she is sharing herself so completely as she bravely faces one challenge after another. Laura is simply the kindest and bravest person there is. She doesn't quite know that about herself but all her readers, we know it. For Laura, when you next see your husband, remember how much you lo... More About: Blogging , Sweet , Read , Treat
sticky fingers
2007-10-20 15:43:00 Lily and I have just been so busy lately. Nothing really exciting to say about it all. We go here and there, we have fun everywhere. She has been spectacularly well behaved lately. Except when she is over tired or hungry. Other than the WHY phase we are going through, she is going through the make-believe phase. The make-believe phase is my favorite! We play school, house, have tea parties, take trips to the moon, it is so much more fun than doing puzzles and building things with blocks. In order to keep peace and harmony in our home, Lily and I play together everyday for a couple of hours in the morning. She usually picks what we do, except that I buy a lot of educational crap and try to convince her that doing those things would be so much fun. Like, workbooks, I call them game books and we go through our game books learning our numbers and letters. That is what I mean when I say Lily is obsessed with something, I mean that everyday for ages she will choose to do the sa... More About: Daily , Fingers , Icky , Tick
Why I'll Never Be a RockStar
2007-10-18 14:46:00 We were having a terribly busy but fun day. I had been running around since 7AM. Right after putting the chicken in the oven I remember a few things I really needed at the store, I left Mandy in charge of the oven and Lily and I buzzed up to the store for a quick pick up. Just as I pulled into the parking lot a really great song came on the radio. As I turned off the car, in the middle of the song, I had an overwhelming desire to finish the song. I hummed it softly under my breath. But, the diva in me took over and I began to really belt out a couple of lines. I put my all into the song, I sang with feeling, with flavor. I really love to sing. I was really having a good day. Very busy, but things were going well, I was getting things done, no snags. The song just errupted out of me like a volcano. Lily: Mom, what are you doing?Me: Singing.Lily: Can you stop it, please.The thing is that I love to sing. I sing along with the radio. I sing that song in my head. I sing... More About: Daily , Rockstar
What Kind of Reader Are You?
2007-10-18 12:44:00 I got this one from Katya:What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.Dedicated Reader Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm Book Snob Fad Reader Non-Reader What Kind of Reader Are You?Create Your Own QuizI follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Reading
Get Over It
2007-10-17 16:17:00 This morning Mandy sent me a text message from school. It seems that she forgot to bring the receipt showing she had paid to take the PSAT test and they would not allow her to take the test without the receipt. I called her to ask if I could bring her the receipt or if it was too late. It was too late. She was beside herself, ready to cry. I actually cried, but I waited until we were done talking. She had paid for this test with her own money, money that she had worked very hard to earn. She is also not such a hot test taker and she has been working very hard at practicing for this test, and she really understands how important taking this test is in regard to her college future. She was just devastated.At that moment I didn't really think it was necessary for me to get mad at her or tell her all the things she already knew. I thought it was important to tell her: there is nothing more she can do about it, she needs to let it go, she needs to get over it. We will figure ... More About: Daily , Over It
An Award for the Spirit of Christmas
2007-10-15 17:43:00 The dear and sweet Lynn from A Tired Mama has given me An Award For The Spirit of Christmas and I am passing this award on to: Shelia, Marion, Luckzmom, Katya, and Natalie.To pick up your award go to Santa's Community Blog: The Spirit of Christmas AwardThe award is given to bloggers who have the spirit of Christmas, that is to say that they show kindness toward others. If you know of a blogger who has this type of spirit, why not stop on by Santa's blog and pick up this award and pass it on to one of your blogging buddies.Did I ever tell you that Christmas is celebrated in Japan? Santa, trees, decorations and presents -none of the Christ aspect. It bothers me more than I can say when people say that you cannot celebrate Christmas without Christ. I say that Christmas is about kindness, love, sharing, and the joy of giving.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Meme
Are Your Buns Warm and Buttery?
2007-10-15 15:36:00 The first time I met Jeff's family was shortly after we were married. Jeff has two sisters and a brother, they are all married with kids and this makes for a big family. A big loud family. When we got into town we immediately hooked up with Jeff's older sister and her husband at a restaurant for lunch. It was one of those steak restaurants with a salad bar and the all you can eat, 'hot and buttery buns' on the table. Jeff was so happy, 'hot and buttery buns' are his thing.Later, we met up with Jeff's older brother, his older brother's family, and his younger sister, and her family; at another restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was a buffet that came with an unlimited supply of 'hot and buttery buns' brought to your table. Jeff was so happy. We all had a lovely evening.Let me back up here for a minute. Jeff was stationed in Italy, he had not been home or seen his family in a couple of years. So they were not only meeting me, his new wife, and Mandy his new dau... More About: Memories
The Martians are Coming
2007-10-14 15:57:00 I believe that Lily has conspired with Martians to such my brain out my ear. Here is an example of a typical conversation between Lily and I.Lily:What does WHY start with?Mommy:The word WHY starts with the letter W. The word WHY is spelled W-H-Y. Can you spell the word WHY?Lily:W-H-Y. What does WHY start with?Mommy:WHY starts with W. There is a word WHY and a letter Y. The word WHY starts with W and ends with Y.Lily:What does WHY start with?Mommy:I already told you what WHY starts with, what does WHY start with?Lily:WHY starts with W, Why does WHY start with W?Mommy:WHY is a word which is spelled W-H-Y, therefore it starts with W. Just like the word YOU starts with Y, the word YOU is spelled Y-O-U. Can you spell the word YOU?Lily:Y-O-U, what does WHY start withMommy:WHY starts with W.Lily:Why does WHY start with W?....This conversation circled for about an hour. No matter how hard I tried I could not get her to stop asking me what WHY starts with and why does WHY start with... More About: Daily
Dancing Lady
2007-10-14 00:01:00 Sorry I have been away so long. I have been so busy. Mostly with school work. I am trying to figure out how to write a script to make a questionnaire, it will ask you your opinions on the upcoming election and then tell you which of the candidates most closely reflects your thinking. Sounds easy right. Well, I don't know as much about computer programming as I think I do. The biggest problem is that my teacher wants us to use a PERL script and I haven't taking a PERL programming class yet. I could write a java program to do the programming bit, but I don't know how to get java on a web page. I am a wicked good java programmer, or at least the first two semesters of java, I still have three to go. I guess the problem is I bit off more than I can chew. So now I am retracing my steps and simply doing the bare minimum that the teacher asks us to do. How boring is that? I am going to ask people which of the candidates they are planning to vote for, a simple poll. I will g... More About: Dancing , Blogging , Lady
NaBloPoMo
2007-10-08 16:36:00 Did you happen to see the little widget on the bottom of the left column of my blog? November is National Blog Posting Month. Post every day for the month of November. That's all you have to do. Last year I did not join in on the fun, but many of my favorite bloggers did, and this year I am going to give it a try as well. Last year there were more than 2000 participants and this year there are 947 people already signed up. It is a great way to meet new bloggers and have a lot of fun. Plus, there are prizes.You can read more about it here at Fussy.org. Or go directly to the NaBloPoMo.com to sign up.And don't forget to add me as your friend!How to find something interesting to say everyday for an entire month is quite a challenge. Some ideas that others have had is to attempt to write that book, just wing it, research a topic you are interested in learning more about and post your findings, photos count, video counts...I am going to try to take this opportunity to write more a... More About: Blogging
An accomplishment
2007-10-07 23:43:00 I have been diagnosed with Anemia, I have had it before, but after taking the iron for a few days I am feeling my old self again. I am in good spirits and actually accomplishing things around the house.About a month ago, or longer, Jeff and I bought some paint. We need to paint our house, should have had the previous owners do it. I was just so excited to get this house and Jeff refused to budge on price, I negotiated down the things they needed to do before we moved in. I got my house and a butt load of work. So today I painted the post that the mailbox sits on. I scrubbed the mail box clean and I planted 20 baby spider plants around the base of the mailbox pole. Lily helped me. We ended up getting paint all over Lily. I rushed her into the house to get her washed before it dried in her hair.She ran her paint smeared fingers through...my new curtains, the walls, her eyes, her hair, the couch. She also painted the little reflective disks on the side of the mailbox and the l... More About: Daily
good to be bad
2007-10-06 20:06:00 Lily's favorite thing to do these days is to learn to spell new words. She is always asking me, what does ---- start with, what does ----- start with? She knows how to spell lost of words, she also knows lots of words that start with each letter of the alphabet. It is just something fun we do to pass the time.But, lately her favorite game to play is something she made up called, wrong letter. She tells me, Alligator starts with Z and I laugh and say Zebra starts with A. She laughs and says Goat starts with W and I respond Watermelon starts with G. She will do this for ages. I tell myself this is a good thing because we are having fun and she is learning. I am trying to see if she will see the patterns in how I answer her or if she will pick up and add some patterns into her game. So far I do not think she sees the patterns.My only worry is that when she goes to school she will answer all the questions intentionally wrong to be funny. Oh well, she has found a way to combin... More About: Family , Daily , Good
yucky, sad, nasty, stinky, dirty...
2007-10-05 16:15:00 For as long as I can remember Lily has been a very observant little back seat driver. She keeps careful track of which streets we use to get to each destination. I can remember when she was just two, she once started crying because I had told her we were going to gymnastics and we turned down a different street, to mail a letter before going to gymnastics. Lily is always talking about our journey, this is the road with Wal-Mart, this is the road with the water, I don't like this road, etc. A few months ago I decided to take a new route to Lowes, and Lily was furious with me, as she always is when I don't take the path that she is expecting. I thought to myself that perhaps I should teach her the names of all the streets, so that she would be better equipped to tell me off when I went the wrong way.It took me about a week. Jeff drove her somewhere and came home utterly amazed that she told him which way to turn and the name of every street along the way. At the stop sign plea... More About: Daily , Dirty , Nasty , Inky
Thursday Thirteen #10
2007-10-04 15:15:00 I am addicted to politics. So much so that for my final project in my web design class I am building a web site all about the upcoming presidential election. For research purposes for my final project I am going to list thirteen issues that are being debated by the presidential candidates. I am wondering which of the following issues is the most important to you? Of the following issues, which one do you feel that the next president needs to be in agreement with you in order to get your vote. Pick one, if you want you can also write your thoughts on that issue, but sometimes sharing our political opinions is a bit touchy, so that is not required.IraqUniversal Health careSocial SecurityEducationCrimePovertyBorders/Immi grationOvercrowded PrisonsTax CutsFEMAHomeland SecurityEnvironmentUnemployment/jobs going overseasHappy TT. Join the fun, more Thursday Thirteen s are located here....I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog.
ProBlogger Birthday Bash
2007-10-03 15:46:00 PROBLOGGER is giving away $54,000 in cash and prizes between now an Monday. Click this logo to enter. I also want to take this opportunity to say that problogger.net is one of my favorite blogs, stop by and enter to win some prizes, but also be sure to bookmark this site so that you can add it to your daily read.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Blogging , Birthday , Bash
Custody: Women Rule, men drool
2007-10-03 14:12:00 The other day Jeff made a comment about the Britney Spears - Keven Federline custody battle, at the time he was under the impression that Britney had gotten custody of their kids. Now I think she lost custody? I don't really pay attention to these things but Jeff feels that men tend to get the short end of the stick in custody battles, and I agree. I however, think this is a good thing, he thinks this is wrong.All things being equal, meaning both parents are stable honorable people, women tend to be the care givers, they tend to put the kid's before their own. Isn't that the most sexist comment I have ever made? In our family, I am the primary care giver. I gave up working, to care for the kids and Jeff. Before that I always put the family before my jobs. I would only apply for jobs that fit into my role as parent, meaning good hours, health insurance, and ability to call in sick for kids. Which meant crappy, low wages, no advancement opportunity, doing things I hated. ... More About: Women , Daily , Feminism , Custody , Rule
BookWormsRus October books choices
2007-10-02 15:58:00 For Kim...The Road by Cormac McCarthy A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. They sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they were wearing, a cart of scavenged food-and each other.The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, The Road is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.The Space Between U... More About: Books , Reading , Choices , October
Blog Carnival
2007-10-01 16:26:00 I am participating in another blog carnival. My friend Naomi, from Diary from England, who I met at blog village is hosting the England goes Gonzo blog carnival. Which kicks off today. Blog carnivals are an excellent way to meet new bloggers, find interesting things to read, and have a lot of fun. Blog village is the my favorite blog community, the best place to list your blog and find great blogs to read.Click here to go to the carnival.Click here to join blogvillage.Click here to read, Harry Potter in London, my submission to the England goes Gonzo blog carnival.Click here to read, Baby Elephant, my submission to a previous carnival, and my favorite blog post ever.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Carnival , Blogging , Blog Carnival
I'm Going Pink For October
2007-09-30 21:29:00 October is breast cancer awareness month. To remind you and me to go get our boobs squeezed I have turned my blog pink for October. Join the fun and turn your blog pink too.For more information go to Pink For OctoberI follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: October , Going , Goin
Between, Georgia
2007-09-29 01:56:00 Written by Joshilyn Jackson - Between, Georgia is the story of Nonny who was born in the small town of Between. Nonny's biological mother conceled her pregnacy and gave birth to her at the home of her mother's least favorite family the Fretts. The Fretts adopt Nonny and when her biological grandmother finds out the animonsity between the families only increases.The Frett family has money, the keep a clean house, and are respected members of the community. The Crabtree family, Nonny's biological family are poor, dirty and live life on the fringes of society. Hey. this could be my story. I enjoyed the rich descriptions used in the story. The neighborhood which was walking distance from the house where Nonny grew up, the houses surrounding her biological family home, had burned out houses, abandoned houses, the inside of the home was also described in vivid details. The squalor of poverty and knowing this is where you come from. Having those people want you to acknowledge your conne... More About: Reading , Ween
Book Worms R US
2007-09-28 16:55:00 In September we read two books, Flirting with Forty and Between, Georgia. The discussion for Flirting with Forty is taking place at Kim's blog, Wheaties2bk, and can be found here.I think I was the only one to participate in that discussion. There is no reason you can't still swing by and leave your thoughts. I also wrote a general book review and impressions about Flirting with Forty on my blog here. I enjoyed Flirting with Forty very much and the discussion about women and happiness that ensued.Now it is time to discuss Between, Georgia. I am hoping that we can have more of a discussion than we have in the past. I guess we all come to the book club for different reasons. Most of us come to get recommendations for new reads, and that is fine. But, I really enjoy the discussion part and that seems to have been lacking. In an effort to get more of a discussion going, I am going to host the discussion for Between in a little bit different way. I am going to post my review o... More About: Reading , Book , Worms
Harry Potter in London
2007-09-28 15:56:00 Mandy and I are huge Harry Potter fans. When the first movie was coming out we found ourselves living in Italy and not speaking any Italian. It was November 2001. We managed to convince Jeff that it would be a good idea to spend our Thanksgiving weekend traveling to London to see London, but really to see Harry Potter in English.I was able to book our family a flight from a town less than an hour from our house, directly into London for less the $200 round trip for all three of us. Thank you Ryan. This airline is fabulous, it is like nothing I had ever seen before. You buy your tickets online, that is the only way. You are given a e-ticket. There are no seat assignments, you show up and sit where you want, like a bus. People pile onto the plane and sit down, the plane leaves. Takes about five mintues. They don't give you anything like food or water, instead they sell you stuff the whole flight. Water bottles are about $10 bucks. Just kidding, I don't remember how much... More About: Carnival
Moving, not all it is cracked up to be
2007-09-26 16:32:00 Last night was the last home game of the season for Mandy's volleyball team. The stands were packed - every hit, every miss, was reflected by the entire crowd, with a cheer or a gasp. We were one, the parents, the players, and the boy fans who come to cheer for the girls. Those boys are so cute, with their cheers and their songs. What a hoot to see the boys in the stands cheering on the girls. The score would volley back and forth like the ball. We were up and then they were up. Every hit and every miss counted. Our girls were smoking hot. After a season of losses, a season of fans watching players watch the ball hit the ground, the girls were finally putting some effort into their game. Doing the one-two-three, hit-set-spike. They were spiking it into the empty places on the other side of the net. It was like magic. Especially since we have not won a game all season. All season. The stands are always full, we parents invest our hearts in every game and we lose,... More About: Family , Moving , Cracked
To do list
2007-09-25 13:36:00 Why yes Lorelei, I am enjoying having my husband home.We decided to give preschool a try. We thought we found one, but spoke to director yesterday and found out that she does not want to take on any more kids right now. Back to the drawing board.I joined Twitter. You can follow what I am doing or thinking at twitter or on my sidebar, I added a widget. Fun.My class is so much fun. We are learning about how to add things like a drop down menu, a guest book, or address from to a web page right now. My little brain is jumping up and down with excitement.I got a new haircut, something very different. I am quite pleased.Gotta go to the dentist, I am one of those babies who is not good with the dentist.Re-starting my exercise plan. Walking three days this week for thirty minutes, or riding the exercise bike in my bedroom. Three thirty minute workouts. Do you have a exercise goal for this week?I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Daily , List , Spuds , To Do
Must See Youtube
2007-09-22 21:58:00 Check this video out over at Special K Family. It made me laugh. Have a great weekend.I follow comments. Leave a comment and I will come visit your blog. More About: Youtube
Evacuation kit
More articles from this author:2007-09-22 02:23:00 All day I have been preparing for a hurricane. Now it appears we are just going to have a good storm. I am new to tropical weather terminology but I am pretty certain that is what is going on. Today at the Wal-Mart, which is usually pretty quiet at 10AM, it was totally packed, all the parking spaces were filled all the shopping carts gone, the lines were half way down the isles.While I was standing in line, buying my emergency food supplies, I couldn't help but notice what the other people had in their buggies (shopping carts to you Yankees). I saw a lot of salsa, chips, beer, water, dog food, and paper towels. I didn't get any of those things, I am thinking I am not prepared. I almost got out of line.I filled the car with gas, got some money, planed my escape route. Now I have to take with me two kids, a cat, a dog, extra gas, important papers, and....What would you bring if you had to evacuate and you only had a little bit of room left in your tiny little car? I was thin... More About: Daily , Evacuation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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