Sickening...

Exxon Mobil profit rises on soaring prices

While some people (conservative republicans who have sold their souls to capitalism) scream at the top of their lungs that Exxon-Mobil is justified in their billion dollar profits... I just don't buy it. Much like the pensions that have been widdled away to pay off company debts, while greedy-CEO's who can't get by on less than $10 million a year get pay raises... tell me how that helps everyone???

The flip side to the whole rising gas price problem is that perhaps, we as Americans will stop being the wasteful society that we have become. We are obviously thinking twice about taking our gas-guzzling SUV's on a road trip this summer, and even getting to work is becoming a financial burden on many people, and these are our working class people who don't have stockpiles of extra funds to finance their trips to work every month. Will local governments do more to get the ball rolling on implementing more public transportation? Will more people USE the public transportation that is available to them? I'd always get sick to my stomach driving to work in Raleigh, NC seeing miles and miles of backed-up traffic heading into the Research Triangle Park.. so many people going in the same direction, and there is even public transportation available around the area, yet so few people used it! Maybe the rising gas prices will help our American mindset switch over to more of a 'waste not, want not' philosophy in regards to the way we spend our money and how we conserve energy. Although, I understand that is my naivete showing through there... like THAT will ever happen here in this country full of wasteful mindless spenders!

I'm all up for governmental control of the gasoline/fuel industry.. it's getting ridiculous. If electricity isn't a commodity up for being bought and sold by people who have no idea what exactly what it takes to create those 60kw of juice coming through your lightbulb, then I am all up for governmental control/regulation of the oil market. With the oil companies profits skyrocketing on top of the rising prices due to higher standards for emissions imposed by the government, as well as all the taxing that is done to gas... the government needs to step in and do something before we have a class of people who can't get to work because they can't afford to drive!

Here is an interesting article (from 2005) I stumbled across this morning:

Taxing America Clean?

Other happenings...

Last night I had a hard time sleeping. I noticed my throat felt raw when I went to bed last night, and I remember waking up a few times during the night snoring. I still have a raw throat this morning and bit of a headache, so I got up around 5 or so to get some tea (Earl Grey!!) and do some computer work on some pictures I need to print. Hopefully, I'm not coming down with anything. I will try to get my floors mopped in a hurry today and I can lay down and rest while Aiden is sleeping.

Galen comes to stay with us this evening. Matt's mom will be out of town today and tomorrow, so Matt is going to pick him up from school this afternoon after Galen's track practice and he will spend the night, and then he and Matt will get up super early to get him to his school on time (about 45 mins - 1 hour away!). I like having Galen over. He's a fun kid, and for being a 'little punk' teenager, he does really well with Aiden and helps to keep him entertained. Aiden loves playing with him too! He loves his Uncle Galen! :-)

Tomorrow we will meet up with a friend of mine who had her baby a couple months ago. Of course I will be taking the camera and of course I will be taking more pictures. I need to call her today to finalize plans for tomorrow.

We just had another little thundershower. We have gotten so much rain over the past few days. The rain is much needed and luckily we are not getting deluged, but we are having nice soaking showers.

I suppose that is all for now. I think I will get another cup of hot tea.. it's chilly here this morning and the hot tea feels wonderful on my raw throat.

Here is verse to think about today...

If you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even "sinners" do that.
Luke 6:33

Have a wonderful Thursday, and continue being a blessing to ALL others! :-)

The Cleaning Schedule Part IV... Thursday's Goals

Today is my last NECESSARY day of cleaning. Today I mop floors, wash laundry as needed, and iron as needed. It's nice to get all of the cleaning out of the way in 4 or 5 days and leave the weekends free for relaxation and doing fun things together as a family. My husband works 4 days/week so I try to get all of the household work done in 4 days so that leaves us our 3 day weekend to not worry too much about what has to be done around the house. Although, now that spring is here and the grass is growing, that means more yardwork on the weekends for Matt, but that works nicely because we let Aiden play outside, and help with the work if he wants, while Daddy is working in the yard (unless if it is mowing or something like that of course!)

Today, I mop my kitchen tile, bathroom tile, the laundry room, and our wood floors in the living room and hallway. For the tile and linoleum I normally use diluted Lysol all-purpose cleaner followed by a hot water rinse. Then I use white vinegar and water on the tiles to clear up any dried water spots. My tile is a dark green color and it is glossy, so spots show up like a neon sign on my floor! The vinegar/water solution takes care of that problem, and leaves the house with that fresh vinegar clean smell! Reminds me of dying easter eggs :-)

I then move onto the wood floors where I normally just go over them with the vinegar/water solution. If the floors are starting to look a little dull, I will go over them with Murphy's Oil Soap. I only do this once in a while as I believe the oil can buildup on the wood surface if you use it too much.

While I am waiting for my floors to dry, I work on any ironing that needs to be done. I only iron when Aiden is in bed; I don't want him underfoot while I have a HOT iron out! And throughout the day I am washing/drying/folding any laundry that needs attention. I've made a rule for myself that I don't start another load of laundry unless the previous loads are folded and put away. Otherwise, I tend to end up with a mountain of clean, dry laundry on my couch that grows and grows and grows and grows and ... you get the idea!

And with that, I have completed my cleaning goals of the week, and I take the weekends off! On the weekends, I just do regular maintenance, such as keeping up with the dirty dishes, and puttings things away, and the occasional load of laundry. But other than that, my workweek is finished! :-)

Natural Entertainment!

God put on a nice light show for us last night! We had some thunderstorms move through the area in the earlier parts of the evening, so Matt and I decided to sit on our front porch and watch the lightning. Eventually the rain started pouring on us and blowing in on the porch sideways, so we went inside. I love to look at lightning, but I get scared too easily. If the crack of the thunder is too loud, I get so worked up and scared!! Just like I did when I was a little kid. It's funny the things we don't seem to outgrow. Aiden isn't fazed in the least by the thunder. When he hears it, he looks at me with a look on his face of "What's that Mama?" and I just tell him it's the air pushing together loudly causing the thunder. Then he says "Thunder!"

Speaking of Aiden and thunder, we had some LOUD cracks of thunder last night with the storms after Aiden had gone to sleep, but he slept right through it all! Aiden took a nap on our bed yesterday afternoon so I used the opportunity to get pictures of him asleep. Now my quiet little camera shutter would cause him to twitch and every so often open his eyes! The kid who can sleep through a thunderstorm can't sleep through mommy snapping photographs of him while he sleeps. By the way, check out MY PHOTOBLOG, for those pictures and more!

Today is supposed to be a cool and rainy day. I will cook a ham and bean soup in the crockpot, and accomplish my cleaning goals for today, and I imagine we will just hang tight here in the house. Today would be a good day for a kid friendly movie... I just have to think about what I would like to watch that Aiden would enjoy too!

The website I mentioned has been fixed to include all of her many articles on cleaning and tips for organization. Her new site is: http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/

Well, I should close now and finish my morning internet rounds. Have a blessed Wednesday! We're halfway through the week!

The cleaning Schedule Part III... Wednesday's Goals

So, I'm doing great staying on track this week for getting the house clean. Since I do all the cleaning in FOUR DAYS I am almost through this week! Woohoo!!

Wednesday is my day to vacuum and take care of the bathrooms. I vacuum my rugs and carpeted floors in the morning while Aiden is up. He enjoys helping me push the vacuum around from room to room. When I finish one area, I'll say "Next room, please!" Aiden enthusiastically obliges while pushing the vacuum to the next room on the vacuum circuit, calling out "Next room, Next room!" He's helped me vacuum so many times now and I go in the same order each time, he knows exactly where to go each and everytime! I normally move smaller furniture out of the way to vacuum, but larger items remain in place. I don't work myself crazy by getting out the attachment to clean the corners and edges of the carpet perfectly, but as soon as I notice an area that needs attention, I do go ahead and tend to it.

Bathrooms are cleaned while Aiden is in bed for his afternoon nap. The cleaning chemicals put out some vapors and I don't want Aiden underfoot smelling those. I like to use Tilex on shower curtains as it removes and prevents any mildew from forming on them. Some people say to just through them in the wash if they start getting icky... but when I can use Tilex once a week and they stay perfectly clean, I'd rather not undo the curtain from the rings. That's a pain in the neck. I spray the shower curtain and shower itself down with Tilex and let that sit. When I've done that I put some bowl cleaner in the toilets and I let that sit. While all that is sitting, I use some Soft Scrub on the sinks and fixtures. Once the sink is clean, I make sure the counters are cleaned and things are put away. Then I attack the bathtub. I rinse off the Tilex, and then I go to work scrubbing. I normally use full strenght all-purpose Lysol cleaner to clean the tub and shower wall. If I notice lots of water build-up, I will use Soft Scrub on the entire tub and shower surface. Once the tub is clean and rinsed, I move on to the toilet clean the inside of the bowl. Then I take a handy-dandy Clorox wipe and wipe down the seats and exterior of the toilet. And, voila! The bathrooms are clean!

The Cleaning Schedule Part II... Tuesday's Goals

Since I decided to put a link to that website yesterday that offers all of the tips to keeping your house clean and running smoothly, she had to up and change her website address. She moved her blog over here to the Blogger.com site and now most of her wonderful articles on cleaning and organization are gone! I certainly hope she has them backed up and that she will find a way to get them back up on her site.

So, today's goals for the house are dusting and wiping down countertops, doorknobs, light switch plates, and tables. I also clean all mirrors and glass cabinet doors in the house, as well as TV screens and computer monitors. For laundry, I make sure bath and kitchen towels are clean, and then of course any extra laundry that needs to be done. I call today my 'easy' day because this work seems to go rather quickly for me, so that leaves me more time to get other things done, either here around the house, or taking a break and getting Aiden to a park to do some much needed climbing and sliding!

For laundry, I try to get a load of bath towels or the kitchen towels in the washer when I first get up in the morning. I just make sure that all of these are washed, dried and folded by the end of the day. And then I work on the extra laundry as time permits throughout the day.

For dusting, I have a duster on a long extension pole so I can make sure to get the corners of the ceiling in all the rooms and to clean off the ceiling fan blades. It's important to keep those clean as the blades act like a magnet when they collect dust. It builds up SO quickly. The rest of the dusting is done with just a little hand held duster. Dusting... what else can be said about dusting? Not much, dusting is self explanatory. If you haven't dusted in quite a while, it might be beneficial to pull out your vacuum after you dust and vacuum up the dust bunnies that now are most certainly flying around your house.

For doing the wipedowns, first I go through the house with a container of those Clorox wipes and wipe down the lightswitches and doorknobs. Then I go through the house again and clean the glass and mirrors in the house, including TV screens and computer monitors. If I notice a window is particularly dirty, I clean it now too. I don't clean all the windows at once.. I just clean them as needed and this seems to work pretty well. I then make sure all of my tables, end tables, bathroom counters, kitchen counters are clean and free of clutter, and then those get wiped down. I mainly just use vinegar and water for that, except for the kitchen counter I use Clorox Clean-up. It's one of my favorite cleaning products! And with that, the goals for Tuesday are completed!!

One thing I need to get back in the habit of is making sure the floors get swept EVERYDAY! We have hardwood and tile in most of the house, so any dirt that comes in on our shoes gets spread all around, and you feel it on your bare feet when you walk... eeeewwww. I do try to make sure I have most if not all dishes clean or in the dishwasher before I go to bed, but I don't make myself crazy over having it done. The evening is the only time we are all together as a family, so most times I prefer spending time all together playing instead of working in the kitchen cleaning, especially if it's not that big of a mess... that is what tomorrow morning is for! :-)

Well, so much for my little guy sleeping in as late as he did yesterday! It's already 7am and I hear him making noise in his room. I was going to get some laundry folded while I waited for him to wake up, but I guess I will now fold laundry while he plays after breakfast!

Uh-oh, he wants his mama in a bad way... must close! Happy Tuesday!

The Cleaning Schedule... Monday's Goals

I originally attempted to post this around 7:30am today, but Blogger seemed to be having some issues. Hopefully things will work smoothly again now.

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Since this week I have NO PLANS all week long, I will take this week to make sure my house gets a very thorough cleaning. We've all been so busy recently that I've only been doing the necessary stuff to get by with keeping my house decent, but certainly not presentable at all times! I'm mainly doing this to help keep me more accountable to insure I get my goals accomplished for today, and hopefully it will inspire others to get more organized with their household duties. This cleaning schedule is one of the many tools that can be used to insure you are blessing your family. A clean home is a happy home, and happy are those who are in it!

I had orginally called each task on my cleaning schedule a 'chore.' I thought about that, and the word 'chore' has such a negative connotation, I have decided to call the tasks 'goals.' A goal is something you work towards. When you achieve a goal, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. The word 'chore' just evokes the feeling of drudgery and burdensome. If I think about the work I do as a goal to help keep my family blessed, and also if I think of each goal I am working towards as a blessing in itself ("Thank you God that I have towels to fold!"), I find I am much happier working my way through the daily to-do list! It's all in your mindset.. think that you are blessed, and you will be blessed! :-)

The inspiration to devise my own cleaning schedule came from this site:
http://genuineprofit.lifewithchrist.org/
On the left hand side, a link to the master cleaning schedule, as well as more in-depth day-specific cleaning guides, will be found under the "Organization" section. While I am not able to fully agree with all of her ideas and beliefs, this woman offers many helpful tips for household organization.

So, here is a TO DO LIST of GOALS for Monday:

1. Bedding Laundry - Since Aiden is still in bed, I have the sheets from our bed washing right now. I'll wash and dry his as soon as he wakes up so they will be ready for his afternoon nap. I TRY to get the bedding all done before lunchtime, but sometimes my dryer seems to take forever to get some things dry, especially king size sheets with extra extra deep pockets! But I normally am not far off from my goal.

2. Kitchen - Mondays are my days to attack the messes that were left in the kitchen from the weekend. Our kitchen counter is a catch-all place for anything we walk in the door with, so I make sure what is on the counter that shouldn't be there, goes to it's correct place. I make sure all the dishes are clean, or at least loaded in the dishwasher which is waiting for a full load before I run it. I do a quick wipe down on appliance surfaces as well. I also pick one appliance a week to clean thoroughly, inside and out. This week I will do the microwave, next week the stove top, the following week, the refrigerator, etc. This might vary from week to week depending on how dirty and appliance is or how full the refrigerator is. I like to let the contents in the fridge dwindle down a little bit before I give it a good cleaning.

3. Additional laundry - Once the bedding laundry is all finished, I will get any other CLOTHES laundry started. With a husband who does all sorts of work outside, and work on his truck, and a toddler boy who enjoys playing in the dirt, we end up wtih tons of laundry to get done, and it is an ongoing task, keeping the laundry from piling up too much.

4. Project - I try to spend about 15-30 minutes a day on a certain project I want to get done around the house. I think my project today, and probably the entire week, will be going through my closet and getting some clothes together to take to Goodwill.

Throughout the day, I have Aiden 'help out' with whatever task I am doing. He enjoys helping me move items from the washer to the dryer. I also let him help fold some laundry. Whatever I do during the day, I try to keep him BUSY. An idle toddler leads to a cranky toddler, and even little toddlers want to feel needed and useful! So, yes, I put my toddler to work for me! We talk about the colors of clothes we are folding. We count the number of socks we pull out of the dryer. I just try and keep him busy, doing things with me throughout the day.

The most important thing to remember is to not get bogged down in your cleaning work. Only doing a few tasks each day on its assigned day makes sure you stay on track for the week, while also working in some relaxation and fun time for you and your family.

My cappucino is gone, and I believe my sheets are nearly finished in the washer. I must close now and get started on my goals for today.

Set some goals for yourself today, and be a blessing to others!

I had the 'blahs' yesterday...

I don't know why I did, but all day long I was just in a very blah mood. I just couldn't get motivated for much at all.. I DID get the floor mopped and more laundry put away. We played a decent bit outside once the fog lifted and the sun came out. Aiden ate a popcicle outside, so I snapped some pictures, but none of those came out very well... that didn't help my mood. Matt got home, and he saw I was just bummed out, so he asked if I wanted to go out for dinner. We went to House of Pizza here in town and I had a HUMONGOUS Greek salad, with some pepperocinis and super salty olives! It was delicious. We also got a pizza, but we didn't eat much of it, so we brought it home. Getting out of the house really helped my mood. I felt MUCH better after dinner.

Today is better.. I always feel better when Matt is at home. If the rain holds off, we are going over to a friend's house to help him get some trees down in their yard (as Matt is quite the tree-taker-downer now!). I want to get to Barnes & Noble and go look at some photography books, so hopefully we can do that today.

It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow, but be clear for Sunday. I always like it when it is sunny on Sunday. It's the day of sun, the day of rest, the day of worship, so it should be sunny!

Have a wonderful Friday and great weekend.

Psalm 118:24

24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

New Recipe

Another one from Allrecipes.

Cheesy Ham and Asparagus Bake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell peppers
1 (10 oz) package frozen cut asparagus, thawed
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp dried tarragon
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

**NOTE** I didn't use as many eggs as it calls for! I hope it turns out ok. And I substited Mrs. Dash for the tarragon. I also used fresh asparagus, and part of a package of frozen bell peppers and onions.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2. Mix the ham, onion, red bell peppers, and asparagus in the praperd baking dish. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, flour, Parmesan, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Pour over the ham mixture.

3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Continue baking 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

A late night with Yankee Doodle Dandy

As I was lying in bed last night before going to sleep, I was flipping through the million and one channels we have through our cable. I came across one of my favorite movies Yankee Doodle Dandy. It's a life-story of the Broadway legend George M. Cohan. Apparently several liberties were taken with the screenplay, to make his life a little bit more dramatic for the big screen, but the film did capture Cohan's spirit, liveliness, and sincere devotion to the United States.

Watching all the patriotic flag waving, and listening to those old Cohan songs, such as Over There and Yankee Doodle Dandy can make one realize just how blessed we are here in the United States. My how times have changed since the days of the World Wars! I started thinking about all the people nowdays who bash the President, or American-born citizens who are so disgruntled with the state of affairs in our country they would rather live somewhere other than the U.S. When did our immense pride for our country get tossed out like yesterdays garbage? I understand there are many problems in our country that need attention, but is it really so bad as needing to disown the U.S.? No other country in this world offers more freedoms and more opportunities than ours. Instead of having our own citizens focusing only what is going wrong, perhaps we should all take some time to pay attention to what is going RIGHT, and once again, be proud of being a citizen in the U.S.

Off my patriotic soap box... We have a gloomy start to our Wednesday. It is raining as I type and there are some rumbles of thunder. Today is a busy cleaning day, which is nice since today is calling for showers off and on all day. I need to vacuum the carpets and rugs and clean the bathrooms, and of course do more laundry.

I still need to figure out dinner for tonight. We ate a few slices of our huge 10lb ham... I imagine we will be eating quite a bit of ham for the next little bit. I should look up some ham recipes and get creative with what is left. Aiden ate some of the asparagus I sauted last night. He enjoys biting the tops off and moving on to the next piece. At least he's eating ASPARAGUS of all things!

Oh and I have a couple of EXTREMELY ripe bananas, so I was planning on making some banana nut bread today too! I've set myself up for a busy day, so I better get started on it. Aiden is finally waking up.. he has been sleeping so much recently, but I am in no way, shape, or form complaining! I know he's a growing little boy who needs tons of rest.

Now, to let my day begin... Happy Wednesday!

The Right Side of the Bed!

What a day we had yesterday. I was in prayer most of the day asking for God's guidance on how to handle Aiden. Aiden was the perfect embodiment of the 'terrible two's' yesterday, yes, even though he is not quite two years yet. Yesterday was just constant willful disobedience. Aiden's anger from not being able to do exactly what he wanted resulted in throwing what was near him, hitting what was near him, hitting me... boy was he testing me. I've had a rough time finding something to be consistent as far as disciplining him. Yesterday spanking was the answer, although I really feel horrible doing it. Luckily for us, spanking as a form of punishment is pretty much the exception, as I try to create a safe and constructive environment for him to learn and explore, within boundaries of course. Through all of the tantrums and disciplining and teaching, I'm gradually finding out what I have been told from more experienced mothers... parenting and mothering doesn't get any easier as our children get older, it just gets DIFFERENT.

Today is a different story. He is my usual sweet little boy this morning. He ate his breakfast without protest. He LOVED me singing "Where is Thumbkin?" to him while he ate. He's playing in the floor right now, pushing cars and watching Blues Clues. He took an incredibly long nap yesterday (over 3 hours!!) and he slept late this morning after sleeping solidly last night, so maybe he is catching up on some much needed rest. Hopefully as we get back into our routine and he gets caught up on his rest, he will be back to his normal sweet little self. It really pays getting up on the right side of the bed.

What is on the agenda for today? Let's see.. I will do my usual Tuesday chores which includes dusting and wiping down counters and stuff like that. Maybe I can get some ironing done while Aiden is napping since today is MUCH cooler than yesterday. It's not even 60 degrees outside now; it was down in the low 50's last night, perfect sleeping weather! Dinner for tonight will be our ham that we bought for Easter that we ended up not cooking, along with some asparagus and some wild rice. And of course we need to spend some time outside as the weather will be absolutlely wonderful!

Blues Clues is over, and Aiden is now requesting mommy's attention. I think we will play an indoor game of "Get You!!" (AKA run around the house hollaring 'GET YOU' as you try to grab hold of the other person... hahahaha, Aiden LOVES it!)

Happy Tuesday!

Monday Monday

After a super busy weekend and our beach trip last week, it's nice to get back to "normal" life again. I believe Aiden is glad too. He's been going non-stop for the past week.

Friday we went on an adventure to pick up some lumber, telephone poles, and some paving stones for Matt's mom. Everything went smoothly for the most part, aside from trying to find a large gray deck and a bear sign... I think Matt enjoyed using his truck.

Saturday ended up being our day for running errands. We went to a couple grocery stores, Lowe's, and Sam's. We ate lunch at Backyard Burger which was nice. We hadn't been there in quite some time. Saturday evening, Matt kept Aiden outside and they played together while I caught up on cleaning the house. I went on a cleaning blitz and did almost every bit of my weekly cleaning in the matter of a couple hours! I was determined to start my week off with a clean house!

We had a nice visit with family yesterday for Easter Sunday. The weather was quite warm, but we survived. Aiden hunted Easter eggs and seemed to enjoy finding them and putting them in his basket. I have some pictures posted on the photoblog; here is the link: Easter Sunday 2006

Today would've been Matt's grandfather's 84th birthday... Happy Birthday Pa!

Well, Aiden is waking up from his afternoon nap. I will give him a snack then he and I will go to the YMCA.

Until next time...

Love

Today, many of us are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is a time where we ponder the many different ideas the Easter holiday brings to mind. We remember the new life that we are able to have because Jesus willingly gave up His. We remember the pain He went through as he was beaten and ridiculed while he made his way through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. We remember the crown of thorns that was placed upon his head and the spikes driven through his feet and hands. We remember the incredible despair Mary must have felt as she watched her first born Son give up His life so that she and others can have eternal life. After remembering all that Jesus did for us, and all the pain that He felt as He took the weight of the world's sins on His shoulders, we ultimately remember how much love it took for God to give up His only Son, Jesus Christ.

Remember today, and everyday, how much God loves each and everyone of us, and how we ought to love others. Keep the love of the Lord in your heart each and every day and share it with those around you. This is the best witness of God's love that you can share.

Back from the Beach

We made it back home yesterday afternoon. I've got pictures uploaded to the photoblog of our beach trip. Here's the link:
http://cats-photos.blogspot.com/2006/04/back-from-beach.html

The weather was too chilly and windy to really enjoy the beach, but we had a good time. Aiden finally decided he liked the pool (which was heated, by the way) right as we were needing to leave for lunch our last full day there. We went and played putt-putt after lunch that day and had a fun time. I LOVE putt-putt. We had an enjoyable trip back home without much frustration (other than looking for a pizza place in Lancaster, SC... there are no Pizza Hut's anywhere in that town.. we settled for Pizza Inn).

It's good to be home and settling back into the normal groove of things. I do have a photoshoot this morning.. I hope it goes well. I always get so nervous when I am purposely taking pictures of other people or their children!

Have a good Thursday!

Off to Myrtle

I am taking a break in the middle of my last minute packing to do this entry... Aiden and I are heading to the beach in the morning with my parents and my nephew. I'm excited to have the new camera and I can't wait to take pictures. We will be back sometime on Wednesday.

Now back to packing... there is SOOO much to take when you are packing for a toddler. They certainly are HIGH maintenance!

Friday Figuring...

Just some random things I have thinking about/figuring on over the past 24 hours...

What exactly IS an imitation blueberry?

Dental floss can, in fact, cut skin, most recently the index finger on my right hand.

Is it better to have 2 people lost, or to be alone and lost?

New camera toys are fun!

Key Lime Pie is the BEST!


Busy day today! We're going to Charlotte to have lunch with my friend Christy. Then we are going to do some pictures of her daughter at a park downtown. Then we are going shopping for a camera bag at the larger camera stores down there.

TGIF! Thank Goodness It's Friday!! :)

To the park we go!

Today we will be meeting up with several women and their little ones at a park for a little "bring your own picnic" and playdate for the kids. I always enjoy these get togethers. It's nice to sit and talk with other women who are also mothers, and of course it's something different for the kids. We will try to hit Coldstone afterwards for a bit of ice cream delight!

I must close and get Mr. Fancy Pants up and get him his breakfast. And I need to pack our lunches, and maybe even TAKE A SHOWER. It's funny, I used to not leave the house to go anywhere without having a shower, but now it's not that big of a deal to me. So many things change once you have a baby!

Stuff..

We had a nice visit with my parents yesterday. We went for a drive after lunch to show them where Matt's mom's property was, and how much of it she has!! Aiden took a little cat-nap on the way home and we kept him awake when we got home. He was in bed around 7pm and I am pretty certain he was asleep by 8! He woke up once around 10:30 crying, but I got him back to sleep and he hasn't made a peep since then... and it's 6:30 now. Hopefully we're getting him better adjusted to this annoying time change!

This Sunday, Aiden and I will be going with my parents and my nephew to Myrtle Beach, SC. It will be nice to get away, and it's nice to have my mom and dad there to help out with Aiden on these little getaways. I hope the weather cooperates so Aiden can get out on the beach. I know the water will still be super cold, but he LOVED playing in the sand when we went to Isle of Palms last fall.

Matt ordered the external flash unit for my camera Monday night. I'm hoping it is here by Friday before I go on my trip. I started reading up on using an external flash last night... it looks like it has a bit of a learning curve, but I can't wait to figure it all out! We bought a diffuser to use with it too. It's been so exciting getting all these new toys!

I woke up early this morning to start some laundry and get in some computer time before Mr. Aiden decides to get up. I'm going to try to get as much done as I can around the house today so I don't have to worry about it the next few days as I have plans for tomorrow and Friday. I definitely need to get all of the laundry washed today so I can have time to iron what needs to be ironed by Saturday.

My cappucino is almost gone, so I should close, and hit all my other internet rounds before I need to get up out of my comfy desk chair.

Happy Wednesday!

Gramma and Poppa

Today Gramma and Poppa are coming for a visit. This is coming at a good time. I think we will just try to skip naptime today for Aiden since they will get here around 12:30pm, and hopefully he will get in bed and GO TO SLEEP earlier. His little body is still set to Standard Time. I really don't like the time change. We don't 'add' daylight to our days, we just add it to society's normal wakeful hours. I say we all just get up earlier! Just kidding... I just see the time changes as too much of a nuisance now instead of being beneficial. I find it hard to go to sleep when it is still light outside, and I think Aiden does too!

Word Cloud #2

Here is Word Cloud #2:



Here is Word Cloud #1 from a couple weeks ago:

My Slogan

From Sloganizer.net

Stormy Weather

I woke up a time or two to rumbles of thunder during the night, and this morning I woke up to more thunder and some bright flashes of lightning, shortly followed by the sound of hail pounding on the roof. The storm didn't last very long and now the birds are out singing and it looks as if the clouds might be trying to break up now.

On today's agenda is laundry and cleaning the kitchen and doing a deep clean of the refrigerator. The refrigerator deep clean came just in time as a package of meat I was thawing in the meat keeper leaked everywhere... YUCK!

I'll work on uploading pictures this morning while Aiden watches his daily Blues Clues episode.

Oh, and some more exciting news, and I can't believe I didn't put this in my Saturday night entry, but Aiden pooped on the potty for the first time Saturday night! It was bathtime, and I noticed him get very still in the bathtub (odd for him) so I asked him if he had to go potty. He said "poo" and willingly got out of the bathtub and sat on his potty chair and proceeded to do his business until he was done. He sat very patiently and seemed to know what he was supposed to do. When he was finished he even pointed at the toilet paper! We've already had a peepee success on the potty but it was nice to see another form of potty success. :)

OK, off to upload pictures in the photoblog, and then its off to work I go, doing my Monday chores!

Happy Monday!

Busy Busy Busy!!

We've been a busy family the past few days. The new camera came on Wednesday, so of course that took up free time that I had, and I might add I procrastinated doing things I should not have, like packing for our overnight trip to Asheville on Thursday evening! I ended up getting everything packed and dinner on the table (which included a London Broil I might add!) by the time Matt made it home from work. We were able to leave our house around 6:30pm which was nice.

We stopped at the Best Buy in Asheville before going to Klay & Arianne's, so Matt could surprise me! He bought me a 2GB Sandisk Compact Flash Card for the new camera. It holds like a bazillion pictures! OK, really it holds between 500-600 depending on the compression on the image file. But anyway, WAAAAY better than the 124 I could get on the 256MB card for the old G2. It is NICE! I love my husband!!

All went well Thursday night, except for turning in rather late. Aiden really had no problems going to sleep in a strange place. We brought him to bed with us, and he went to sleep in a flash. After he had been snoozing for a while, I moved him into his pack 'n play. He only made one sound that night, and that was when the power jolted on for just a minute and the TV turned on. The next morning we learned that their had been a car accident on the road outside the apartments that had hit a power pole and blown a transformer! That was probably the culprit for our phantom TV menace!

Matt got the car to the shop Friday morning and my mom went to pick him up, then they swung by Klay's to get Aiden and me. We headed down to Greenville, SC to visit with my grandmother for her birthday. She turned 88 on Wednesday. We had a nice visit and ate lots of food and sampled her many birthday cakes!

When we made it back to Asheville, my mom dropped us off with the car, which was finished (and apparently the reason for the oil leak was found... a loose bolt.. go figure!). My mom returned to Brevard, and Matt, Aiden and I, went out to Asiana (a Chinese buffet in Asheville) with Klay and Arianne, and my brother and his son. We had an enjoyable meal and stuffed ourselves silly! We then hit the road and made our way home. We got in shortly after 10pm. LONG DAY!

Matt played lumberjack again this morning and cut down yet another tree! This feat brought out the spectators! This tree was actually leaning slightly over our house (luckily only over the garage!), so Matt cabled the tree to the BIG truck and put some tension on it to make sure it fell the right direction. A neighbor stayed in the truck to make sure tension remained on the cable as Matt notched the tree. He then began to make his back cut and our neighbor drove forward slowly as Matt continued to cut. The tree then fell exactly as we all hoped.. AWAY from the house. Thank you Lord for protecting our house and giving us the intelligence to land this tree where it needed to go!

So, Matt worked on cutting up the tree all afternoon, while I piddled around the house. Aiden napped for 3 1/2 hours today, but as soon as he woke up, we went to the park to meet up with a lady from Hickory Mommies, and of course her husband and son were included in the fun time at the park.

Tonight we turn our clocks forward. That means, according to Daylight Savings Time, it is 10pm! I should get off here and get settled down before going to bed for the night. Matt and I are going to veg out on the couch and watch some TV. I'll be sure to post NEW CAMERA pics as soon as possible.

I'm Guilty!!!

Of Blog Neglect! But I do have a great excuse! A new camera and an overnight trip on Thursday have kept me busy. As soon as I get caught up on some things around the house (here we go again with 'catch-up'), I will update on the past few days, and add pictures to the photoblog.

It's beautiful here today. Gorgeous sunshine this morning and it rained during the night so everything is nice and refreshed looking. Our windows are open allowing the fresh clean spring air to fill our house. I don't even mind sneezing because of it! Leaves are definitely on their way and so many pinks and purples are everywhere now. Thank you Lord, for giving us spring!

Happy Saturday!