Sandra I'm assuming Eli had his regular baby shots.
Boys left at 4:15 this afternoon. We had a great time and they helped me get some furniture moved which was a big help. I'm busy with my antique booths. Sales have been good which is a very good thing but now new to get it restocked. I put a chest in the day before the boys got here and it sold the next day. The boys helped me take a chest down yesterday and it sold today! Need some furniture to put my stuff on! I got a whole pallet of boxes in Mon. and stopped by the antique mall this afternoon after I left the airport and got it all open. I let the big stuff there but bought home the small stuff to price. So busy working on that tonight!
Don't think it's hot in Brazil Sandra. Very nice weather right now.
The plane crash gave me a start for a few minutes until I figured out where the plane was coming from. I thought my son was coming in from Brazil this weekend and knew he would be flying into San Francisco. Then also found out later from the kids that he had to also go to St Louis and had decided to just go on there before going home and get all the traveling done at one time. They are going to Hawaii next week so imagine he was trying to get as much business as he can taken care of before then. The boys are flying into San Francisco tonight and they are hoping they will be able to see the wreckage. Not sure I would want to see it.
July SIZZLES right along!
I hope that things are going good for the VBC. They are doing something remarkable!!
Marilyn, Sandra is right be careful!
I just got through watering and I'm dead. Ashley & I left at 7:30AM this morning to take the Terrain to the GMC dealership to be detailed and walked across the parking lot to pick up the HHR from having a $600.00 master cylinder installed. Then we drove 40 miles to the DMV in Livingston b/c it's usually fast but today they only had 4 people working and about 100 people to be processed. It took 3 hrs. for every individual there and we got out around 12:30PM. Then we ran back another 40 miles to have lunch with my GF that loss her sister and the funeral was yesterday. One of my employee's called me and the mobile home that I had evicted the renters from my park last Tuesday and were suppose to be out by 2:30 Wed. finally got out yesterday and tore my mobile home up. She was bagging up the trash to be hauled up and the tenant showed up and ripped some pictures out of Wanda's hands and twisted her arm. Her arm was swelling and needed to go the ER. I called the sheriff and in the mean time we found 2 large bags of white powder. We flushed it down the toilet and figured that was really what he was after. So now the sheriff is involved and we had to press charges. I'm taking a bath and calling it a day. Maybe the devil won't test me so much tomorrow.
Don't worry, ladies. I plan on staying inside today! :)
Jeri: That is awful what the tenants did to your MH. :( shouldn't you have saved the white powder for the sheriff??? Congrats on having a teen-age driver in the house! (I think! :D)
Genna hasn't said anything about the weather in Brazil. I suppose if it was terribly hot, she would have mentioned it.
Charlotte: you are really busy with your booth, but the good thing is that your furniture is selling! :) I am sure you and the twins had a good time while they were at your place. It is good they were able to help you out with moving some of the furniture to your booth.
Marilyn I called the sheriff and he said the unit was left open and all the tenant has to say is someone else squatted in the unit overnight and it was their drugs. He was the one to actually flush it. Believe me I tried!!! I'm going to talk to the constable about the damage today. I have pictures and the sheriff saw it also. My insurance will not pay for vandalism if it's done by the tenants and I'm sure it was.
I'm here! Nope, hadn't ran away! Was just plum tired yesterday from an all day long activity.
Brought a pooch to the vet for her annual shots and while waiting for her turn, God provided some comic relief.
.
Looking out the window, there was an old man going to the back of his car telling his baby to get out. He kept pleading with the pooch and even lied saying they're home! When he tried to grab it.. it scooted to the other side. Poor guy had to walk around and tried grabbing it from there. Yes that pooch then went the opposite end!
I had a good laugh when I saw that "baby" was a huge St. Bernard!!! The man was about my height!
Kel helped the man as the vet techs were all busy. Never get a pooch bigger than you!
When I got home, it was plant.. plant.. plant. Someone here on DG is a great enabler! She's the first to introduce to me there are more DL's than the ditch lily! Thought I couldn't plant yesterday, but consulted the Farmers ALmanac and it said it's the best day for planting! Managed to plant 3/4s of the loot and will have to pot the others till the time is right or Kel's free to do the digging.
Sandra.. God bless you and Jerry and your garden!! Eli is lucky to hang around you, he's getting a full education on gardening!
Marilyn, praise God that He showed you another avenue to serve Him, via the Methodist way! Aren't most famours old Christian authors, Methodists? You'd be a treasure in your new church as you're a very wonderful teacher! Yes, don't take chances with the heat you're having!
How wonderful of Genna to scout the slums for VBS!! Yes, bring His children to Him.. start them right.
Charlotte, I'm into antique Boucher jewelry. No room here for furniture!.
You had had a very eventful day yesterday Jeri! I'd flush down the white stuffs too, if I had tenants like that.
Thank God we're living in a civilized country, and the law is on your side.
May you have a calmer day today!
Before I leave the room, may I ask for prayers? "Abbisgranma" (Marion) has a daughter in the Dominican Republic right now, and Chantal's predicted to reach there in the afternoon.
I know she's worried sick and communications is bad.
Please pray for Kimberly's safety and that she's evacuated safely soon. Pretty sure the airports are closed.
Time for me to water the plants and sing to my new babies!
Have a blessed day everyone.
This message was edited Jul 10, 2013 10:24 AM
Genna said in a post that the temps where she is are what our early morning temps are in the daytime. Think it gets in the low 50's at night. So it is actually much cooler than here. Sort of like San Francisco weather. She's going to be in for a heat shock when she gets back.
Jeri I was thinking the same thing Marilyn said about the white powder!
It's hot but just think how much cooler it is now than it was this time last year! We've had a much milder summer so far. I was so glad we had half way decent weather while the boys were here. They could tell a big difference from past years. We were able to spend 2 hours out digging for crystals and then sat out under a big tree afterward and had a late picnic lunch. It was in the low nineties the whole time they were here. I think 93 was the high.
Off to work!
Did you find anything good at the mines, Charlotte? I am so intrigued by places like that !
Eli and I went out as soon as he finished his breakfast to put some Miracle Grow on the tomatoes and angel trumpets. He has done really well with this round of shots. We came inside a little before 11. He loves being outside, just like his Granny !
His Auntie Amanda got this car for him for his birthday. I saw him " working" on it this morning and just had to snap a picture to send her. It runs on a battery, he will ride it a little bit, but he likes to stand beside it and push the button, funny boy !
Little boys and their toys! :D
They found a lot of crystals and several large rocks that were covered in crystals! They took home their best crystals and left the rest for me. I'm getting quite a colle too ! LOL
Cute picture of Eli!
How do they know at that age how to do that? You put a hot wheel in their hands and they automatically say vroom vroom!!!
It's built in to them, Jeri! LOL
I thought the heat last year had wiped out pretty much all of my phlox, it did get the white, but had a good bit of purple to survive
Eli also has a new trick, he wanted to move the stripe of sunshine on the floor, when he couldn't make it do anything, he just stood on his head
Eli is too cute!!
Thanks, Jeri !
Hi folks...been MIA, but on vacation last week.
Eli is so cute! I'll bet he will be a real handful if he isn't already!
Jeri, I can't believe the meanness within some people! Hope everything gets settled.
Hi Marilyn, I'm glad you and everyone are keeping busy early in the day outside. It is so hot and humid now up in the day you can't stand to be outside very long. Plus the thunderstorms! Who's building the ark?
Glad you heard from Genna too. I saw she posted a quick note on FB today. I'm sure they are busy.
We had a great time up in the North Carolina mountains before going on to Greenville SC. And that's a great city too. Saw loads of daylilies blooming in the median of the highways up there. Thought it must be the state flower or something, LOL.
I bet that was very pretty, did you get any pictures?
Sure did. Will try to find some time to post some this weekend.
Sounds like you had a really good time Elaine!
Eli is so cute. He's at a really cute ate. Love to watch them learn all the new stuff.
We got a pretty good rain last night and then again late this afternoon. My poor flowers have been neglected this summer. I need to get out and pull that dreadful weed that is popping up all over my yard!! Easy to pull up but it is every where. Also need to do a lot of deadheading and thinning some stuff out. Also need to use some Miracle Grow! Oh well ...... one of these days!!!
I've been busy painting stuff for my booths all day today. Going to be spending a lot of time with it the next few weeks. I'm finally getting another booth next to my green one - across the aisle from my big double booth. I have a small booth in another location in the mall and I'm going to give it up now that I'm getting another on the same aisle as my others. It is larger than the small one I'm giving up. That will give me 4 booths on the first aisle. Two on the right and two on the left. One wall in the new booth needs some work on the pegboard on one wall and I also want support beams running across the top of it so I can hang things from it. I have someone that's going to do that for me. But then I'm going to repaint it all and also repaint the booth I already have next to it. Get them both the same color. Going to use a neutral grayish color. It's a color I just painted the small booth I'm gong to give up and things really show up good with it. Need to start getting things stocked for Christmas! More boxes coming the first of the week!
Eli always looks so happy. Mr. Personality Plus!! Has he been feeling better? Your bed is sure looking good!!!
The Central Thruway is open next door to my house and it now takes 3 minutes to get from Greenwell Springs Rd. to Choctaw Rd. This use to take about 15 minutes depending on traffic. They still have a lot of work to do on the bridge next to my house but TG they have finally finished hammering those 20' concrete pilings!!!
Welcome home Elaine!! I glad that you and Earl enjoyed yourselves!!! Can't wait for the pictures, been a while since we have been up that way!!
Ahh, Sandra, that is such a cute photo of Eli! I remember when my kids and grandkids did that. I don't have any that little any more--they are all either grown-up or growing up much too fast! Have you ever given Eli a flashlight to play with? My oldest grandson, Christopher, now 28, was fascinated with flashlights, especially when I showed him how to put his hand over the light and make his hand turn red! LOL
Elaine: sounds like a fun vacation! I've been to Holden Beach, N.C. on two occasions but never to the N.C. mountains nor to S. C.
Charlotte, I am going to try to make it to see your booths the next time I am in central AR. I'll be down there on the 23rd or 24th when I bring the g'kids back home but don't know if I will have the time to stop by the booths. It depends on whether I stay overnight and on whether or not Al is with me. He does like to "plunk around" flea markets, though, so maybe he would like to see your booths, too. :)
I wish you ladies would share some of your rain with us. We had an inch of rain the night of July 4th but nothing since. :( We water the flower beds but not the lawn. We have to be careful not to run our well dry when we are watering.
We have a HUGE Mimosa tree in our front yard and it is making a mess on our lawn and in our flower beds. The blooms are pretty on the tree but when they fall, it is making a HUGE mess. Al uses his leaf vacuum to get the blooms off the lawn but the mulch in the flower beds is covered with the dead blooms! The first photo was taken on July 3rd and shows the mess that the dead blooms make. Elaine, that is one of the penstemons you gave me behind the shasta daisy. The penstemons have already bloomed. The lilies next to the old garden gate were just beautiful this season but the blooms have all faded and dropped off now.
The second photo was taken just before sunrise on July 3rd. This is the view from our front door. You can tell how dry it has been by the color of the grass. The grass did "green-up" after our rain on the 4th but it is starting to turn brown again. The bushes on the left and the right of the moonflower plant are blueberries. They will be coming out of the flower bed this fall because they aren't very productive. We only got a couple hand fulls of berries and they weren't sweet and also had pits in the middle. This is the first year they have had berries on them but the birds got most of them. Sandra had told me to buy a rubber snake to put on top of the bushes to keep the birds away but Wal-Mart was completely out of rubber snakes when I went to buy some! LOL
P.S. the Mimosa tree is coming down this fall. :)
This message was edited Jul 12, 2013 7:00 AM
This message was edited Jul 12, 2013 7:03 AM
No I haven't given him a flashlight. I will surely let him play with a small one. His Daddy came this morning and got him for the week end. He was all smiles when he saw his Dad, that makes me feel a lot better about him going, when he is smiling. Amanda and her girls are coming today and we are going blueberry picking, the weather has cooled here dramatically It was 66 when I got up at 7:30. We got a rain when the cold front came through yesterday afternoon. I think today and tomorrow are cooler before it et hot again, I hope to get the yard mowed tomorrow.
Charlotte, you just can't let that drive for business go, and if I felt like it I would be right there with you working! I hope you sell a bunch of stuff this week end.
Jeri, you need to travel more, come this way when you do!!
I used to give my grandsons flashlights too. When they would come visit I would give them small ones to play with and in their little goodies bags for halloween, easter, etc I would put a small one in the bag. They also like those glow in the dark sticks. You can get them now really cheap. The dollar store usually has them. They have a box of several bracelets for a dollar. You've probably already given him those.
I have a bunch of rocks I bought a number of years ago. Very unusual looking rocks. I thought I might make jewelry with them but haven't. Anyway the kids always enjoyed looking through my rock collection. I would always let them pick out one or two that they could keep. He's still too young for rocks but something he will enjoy later. He can be your rock/crystal hunting buddy!
When Eli gets a little older I bet he will enjoy playing with some of your jewelry stuff. My grandsons always enjoyed playing with mine. I would give them some inexpensive beads, feathers, cord, etc and they would make things. Boys wear jewelry too. They have always loved all the "junk" I have.
Yes Sandra that drive is still with me! Not anything like it used to be but I do enjoy the challenge. Like setting goals and seeing if I can reach them!
Charlotte, I don't have any jewelry making things anymore. I can't use the pliers and cutters since I broke my wrist. I packed it all up and gave it to my step daughter that loves jewelry. I was going to do some embroidery on pillowcases, I made a few burp cloths while Cayla was expecting Eli, by hand and embroidered his name on one of them, that was pretty easy on my wrist, but there is no time for any of that stuff--I still have my thread and patterns and pillowslips, that I bought at the thrive store , brand new, for .75 each. Just got to have a little creative outlet. I could not work with the clay anymore either. That wrist. Still gives me a lot of problems, but is much better since the surgery.
I like that rock hunting idea, did you see his FB picture Cayla put up he was gnawing on a rock? When I take him out in his stroller, I give him some big rocks to play with, he loves them.
All kids love rocks - even some adult kids!! The special rocks I have I got when I was out calling on businesses for the US Chamber. I called on a company that sold rocks wholesale (fools gold, agates, etc.. All kinds!! I talked them into letting me buy some. I was like a kid in a candy store. I bought a bunch because I knew I probably wouldn't get that opportunity again!! LOL
I have to have a creative outlet too. I did embroidery on pillow cases back when I was 19 or 20. Then I learned to knit, then to crochet, then to crewel, then to needlepoint, then to make jewelry and on and on! I've always made things. I'm the one that always does the craft things with kids. Richard's daughter doesn't do any of that kind of thing and when his granddaughter was younger (she's only 9 now) I would teach her how to make jewelry, etc. His daughter doesn't like messes at home and as everyone knows I don't mind messes - create a lot of them myself! She wouldn't let her use glue at home because it would make a mess. I would just put a plastic cloth on the floor and set up a card table on top of it and put paper on the card table and we would glue and paint away! His daughter knew she was lacking in that area and felt her daughter needed to learn to do some things so she asked me if I would teach her some things to do, I've worn my wrists and thumbs out but they're still going!! I just don't have any strength in my hands any more. Jake thinks I have some real treasures in my garage! LOL He thinks all the stuff his family has in their garage is just junk but mine are real treasures! He loves to go and look around in the stuff.
Now I'm painting all the time - another repetitive motion thing!
Charlotte, my daughter was the same way with her sons--she didn't like them to make messes or to get dirty. They loved to come to my house because I would always let them play in the dirt and "get as dirty as the ground"! ROFL It was nothing that a good bath wouldn't take care of. :D I don't know where my daughter came by her obsession for cleanliness when it came to her kids because God knows that although I was a good housekeeper I wasn't obsessive about it. My kids were allowed to play like kids should play!
Something else I would do for my grandkids when they were smaller was to keep one of those large buckets of those plastic beads that you put on a form and then iron till the tops melted together. You can get them at Hobby Lobby. My grandkids would sit for hours making different shapes of all colors with those forms and the beads. I would do the ironing, though, because I didn't want them to burn themselves. After they are ironed you turn them over and tap them and they come right off the form. I still have several of the shapes they made with those beads.
Charity and Faith are spending the week end at a friends house, they both posted pictures on FB with their hair done and makeup on. I shared them on my FB page. I know they all grow up and they are both very smart but in a way it makes me sad to see them so grown up. We also packed up the last of the bottles this week, no more bottles for Eli, he is doing great with his cup. That was a relief, but sad too !
grandchildren are so great, that the best thing about getting older!!!
Grandchildren are great but like your own children they do grow up fast!!! It seems like such a sort time ago that Jake, Justin and Clint were just wee little tots. Jake tricked me into taking him down this HUGE slide when he was around 2. Then I ended up going through the maze at Chuckie Cheese with Clint and Justin because they were afraid to go by themselves and Jake was in pre school. They must have been about 2 also. Trust me you don't want to go through the maze at Chuckie Cheese!! Lots of fond memories but now its also fun to see what fine young men all three of them have turned out to be. All three good christian men with good wholesome friends and very good manners. Justin and Clint just have one more year in high school and then they are off to college.
Marilyn I never bought the bead things your talking about. But Hobby Lobby also had some kind of peanut looking things that would stick together when you moisten the edges and could make things out of them. I bought all the grandkids those including Sarah.
I think Richard's daughter takes after him! He does not like to get dirty. I guess I'm a kid at heart because it doesn't bother me to get dirt on me from head to toe. Richard was a little shocked when we first got married when I would get out in the yard and end up getting so dirty!
Me too Charlotte, I can remember going to play with one of my friends as a child we had playhouses outside we played in. Just in case someone young or from the city is reading I must describe our playhouses. We were allowed to have a couple of bricks to pu an old board on top of. We used jar lids for pans and would cook mud pies in our make believe ovens. We all had one under the shade tree. Gunny would give me the ends and strings from her string beans and they would cook in a jar lid too. This particular friend would never get anything on her, her Mom would make me wash up at the water hose before I could come inside for lunch.
I can't stay clean, always getting something on me.
Well you should see me now! I've been painting tonight and have on my paint clothes. If I get some paint on my hand I just wipe it on my pants or shirt! I have paint on both arms - pumice stone will get it off! I know I have some in my hair. That's harder to get out. My hairdresser gets on me on the time about the paint in my hair! She tells me to put a shower cap on when I'm painting but I never think about it.
When my son was 9 or 10 I was doing a really thorough housecleaning (the kind that I didn't do that often) and found several boxes of mud under his bed! I had noticed some dirt missing in my front flower bed but didn't think too much about it. Well he had filled cardboard boxes with dirt and make ponds in the dirt which then turned it into mud and had those those little plastic/metal soldiers placed all over it. He had put it under his bed thinking that I would probably not be looking under it. We still laugh about that every once in a while.
This talk of mud made me think of a picture I have of Jeff. He was probably just about 18 months old and he is sitting in the dirt playing with jar lid rings and has dirt all over his face. He would look at the picture when he was 2 or 3 and get really upset about the poor baby in the dirt!!! LOL Obviously I sat him in the dirt and gave him the jar lids to play with. Guess I've always liked dirt!
This message was edited Jul 13, 2013 8:46 PM
All this talk about getting dirty sure brings back memories, both mine and with the grands. I always tell my kids to pack some old clothes and shoes for them when they come to stay at our house because we always end up getting dirty somehow...fishing, making stepping stones, making secret gardens, painting, whatever, we've done lots of it, both inside and out. Both the girls and the boys have played in the playhouse, which was really an elevated shelter they had to climb to. We made mud pies when I was a kid and colored them with poke salad berries and let them 'bake' in the sun. Stole some flour from Mother's flour bin to help them stick together when we could. I'm sure she caught on but she never said anything.
Ahhh, mud pies! I made many of them when I was a youngster! LOL I had "playhouses" much like yours, Sandra, but a couple of houses down from us there was a real playhouse in the back yard of the house where my friend lived. We spent many happy hours in there playing "house".
Charlotte, I am a messy painter, too. I always wear old clothes when I paint because I, too, wipe my hands on my shirt or pants.
Some kind of critter, most likely an armadillo is tearing up my big flower bed out front. GRRRRR! for the last few mornings whenever I go outside to check on the flowers, I have found the beds in a big mess and plants dug up, etc. I am very frustrated! We just planted some new plants we bought at Lowe's the other day and this morning, the beautiful rudbeckia we bought was laying on its side--it had been dug up! Fortunately, it didn't appear to be damaged so I re-planted it and hope it will do okay. The critter has eaten a couple of the calla lily bulbs, though. :(( Somebody suggested a product called Deer Away because it keeps not only the deer but squirrels and other small animals away. Have any of you used it?
Never used anything like deer away. I have lots of critters but they really don't do any damage to my plants. There are tons of squirrels. They are an irritation but don't have my plants other than digging bulbs and replanting them!!! When I first moved here they kept digging up whatever I planted in my planters on the first porch. I finally got some chicken wire and stuck down in the planter after I planted my plants. That ended the digging in my planters. I haven't kept the wire in the planters in years but for some reason they never get in there anymore. Maybe the word passed down the generations!!! LOL
What I am really aggravated about is something eating my tomatoes! I didn't have any problem like that last year. But this year something keeps eating big plugs out of tomatoes that are close to the ground. I've thrown away I don't know how many. Then there is some worm/bug that keeps getting into others. I picked a whole bunch today but I threw away almost as many as I picked! The tomato plants just don't look as good this year either. It's just been a funky year for plants.
I agree that it has been a funky year for plants, Charlotte. None of my flowers are blooming like they should be this time of year. The oriental lilies and the Shasta Daisy are the only plants that have really bloomed good, except for the husker's red penstemon. The coneflowers and rudbeckia have not done much at all. Hopefully, they will do better once it cools off some. We also desperately need rain although we have been keeping the flower beds watered. Our lawn is really looking bad, though. :(
Marilyn, are you sure it isn't squirrels? They will dig up bulbs for sure. I had to put hardware cloth or a piece of some kind of wire fencing down over my new bulbs held down with metal stakes to keep the squirrels from eating them. I've used that deer repellent with some success but it really smells bad. It works for a while but you have to re-spray after about 2-4 weeks, depending on the rain.
The rain delayed my vegetable garden something awful. But the hydrangeas, coneflowers and several others things have been beautiful this year.
The blackberry lilies have started blooming. The last four pictures I took just before we went on vacation. The blue toned lacecap hydrangea is one that I have had for 5-6 years but this was the first year it bloomed.
My coneflowers and rudbeckia are blooming like crazy. But my zinnias are just sitting there doing nothing! Just a strange year. It has been a really mild summer here so far. Much cooler than normal. It was around 90 all last week and the same is forecast for this week. I have some impatiens coming back but not nearly the amount I normally do. They like the hot weather to germinate.
At our community garden we had several trees cut down when we started it. The guy that initiated the whole project had them leave one tree trunk as he planned to do a tree carving. He finally got it done. I was amazed at the results!! He said he has never done a carving before. Pretty darn good I think!! The third garden picture is of my garden box. Also a few pictures of some things I have blooming.
Forgot to mention there is a bee hive behind the fence. The bee expert with the UofA Agriculture Dept put it there and maintains it.
This message was edited Jul 14, 2013 9:35 PM
The community garden is really looking good, Charlotte. I think your friend did an excellent job on his wood carving! Your blooms are pretty, too.
Elaine, your blooms are also very pretty. The huskers red penstemon you gave me is doing quite well and also the cannas. One of the cannas is blooming now, too. :)
.The 1st photo is the "David" phlox which I bought at Dabney's last fall. The 2nd & 3rd photos show the moonflower. The 4th photo is the hibiscus which bloomed this morning. It is just a "common" variety--nothing fancy--but I think it is pretty. The 5th photo shows some of the damage done by the critter that is messing up the flower bed. We bought some new soaker hoses but haven't covered them yet. We will wait until we are sure that the critter is not coming back.
Whoops, the 1st photo is the moonflower bush. The "David" phlox is the 2nd plant.
This message was edited Jul 16, 2013 2:52 PM
HELLO EVERYONE!!! I have managed to get caught up on this thread! ^_^ We got up about 3am (CDT) on Sunday morning headed back home and I finally got to my house about 12:30 Sunday night - well, Monday morning I guess. It was a long day! We had a wonderful trip though. Jessica and I were not pleased with the "head man" on the trip - and we probably will not return with them - but we loved the people that we met in Brazil and made lots of new friends.
While I was in Brazil, I did get notification that I my job will be eliminated. They told me June 1, 2014, but now they are saying that is not a firm date - could be sooner. So, I am trying to look at options. Please keep me in your prayers because obviously God is wanting us to do something different or change locations............. and I just need to be able to hear His voice to know which direction He is leading us. There is a possibility that I can transfer jobs, but no guarantees. Really don't have any info about any specifics yet. The thing that upsets me the most is that I really don't want to leave my house and all the work I have done in my yard............ and my beloved pets that we have buried there. I know that sounds crazy. But I really love where we live - and of course, we worked so hard on building our house......but I know that God knows best and I am trying HARD to be a faithful servant and go willingly. They even told me I could move to Brazil and teach English.....LOL.....and I have considered it, but I just don't think I could leave my kids!! I have considered trying to go back to school to become a nurse or some technician in the medical field..........I have always had a love for medicine - and I know I can't do med school, but maybe nursing or ultrasound technology, or something. I figured nursing would be in demand, good pay, and offer flexibility for working part time later on. While on the trip, I had really decided that is what God wanted me to do....(become a nurse) .... but now, they are saying there is a chance I could transfer to Magnet Cove (I had thought they filled the position in May) but it is still open. Back in May, I was told that I would have to take a 1/3 cut in pay - but now my boss is telling me that he thinks I will be allowed to transfer on a lateral move which would mean no cut in pay. I have NOT heard from his boss about this yet - so I do not have an "offer".
Ya'lls conversations about the dirt had me rolling......I had a college professor who used to say "it ain't nothing a little soap won't wash off" and he was referring to cow manure etc while we were out in farm classes and pregnancy testing cows! :) I have always been an outside person - and unfortunately, my house shows it. Right now it is a total wreck and I am trying to get it cleaned up! Usually when it gets this dirty is when someone shows up unexpected! I couldn't even LET them in at present..............so I hope to make some progress tonight. I have been swamped at work of course, and left late both nights so althought I have managed to sort thru mail and get some junk thrown away, I still have a long way to go...and the floors haven't been vacuumed or cleaned since i have been gone!! Maybe tonight!! Not to mention I have catch all rooms that need to be cleaned out and closets, etc that need to be cleaned out. Have lots to do quickly if we are going to have to put the house up for sale!! I have been trying to work that direction since Leigh went to LR - but I have a long way to go. At least we did manage to finish the far end of my foundation bed before I left for Brazil............... I had planned to add several more plants this fall, and some bulbs, but at least the edging and mulch are in place. I have two small areas that I have to finish..... one is a place where we have to rework the edging, but maybe I can get those done this weekend. We also have to replace all the porch posts on the house. Had planned to do fiberglass this time - a few at a time, but if we are moving, we will probably do a lesser expensive wooden post. I just need to make a list and get going on it!
I did not manage to finish Alex's bed and headboard before I left - so I WILL do that this weekend! All we lack are the 14 buttons on the headboard. We have the buttons covered, but we didn't have a needle or anything that could be used to reach all the way thru the headboard to attach the buttons. Of course there was NOTHING to be had in Camden - so Leigh brought me one home from Hancock's. He brought it home on the 3rd, but we just didn't get it all done. I spent almost 3 hrs extra in town on July 4th getting that phone! I got a good deal - but I thought it would take about 30 minutes to get a phone.... instead it was 2 hrs ++ We went into town a little before 12 - to do lab at work, go by walmart for some last minute things for the trip, by the dollar tree for some items we wanted to take on the trip, and by radio shack to get a phone. Thankfully, we went to Radio shack first, and they were out of iphones 4s and 5's! So, the girl drove halfway to El Dorado to meet someone from the El Dorado store with one. We went to Dollar Tree and Walmart while she was gone, and then went back to Radio Shack. I left home thinking I would be back about 2, or 2:30. It was after 6!! Got me way off schedule on packing,etc so the headboard just didn't get finished! It was after 1 before I went to bed, and I considered trying it then, but I was afraid I would just mess it up. Figured it would be safer to wait......
Gotta get back at it............... just wanted to say hello to everyone and let you know we got home safely.
Glad you had a good trip and home again safely !
Elaine I love that blackberry lilly. I'm gonna have to check into that one!!!
Charlotte & Marilyn your plants are all looking wonderful!!!
(((Genna))))!!! I know that your head must be spinning. Your thoughts seem to be in the right direction even if your heart isn't 100% there yet!!! I'm with Sandra and can't wait for all the details of your trip when your able to catch your breath.
Glad you made it back safely Genna. While you've got some decisions to make, it seems you have a while to think about it and check into the options. Wouldn't Magnet Cove be a long way to drive every day!!
Seems like your mission trip is a little different from the one the kids do. The one that go on is all members of their church and just for teenagers 16 and up (boys and girls) and young adults. Their youth pastor leads the group and about 4 other adults go along to drive the vans. I think they said 35 will be going. They rent vans and drive so they can carry equipment they will need for building and other projects. They said they will built one house while they are there. A very basic structure. They raise money for the trip but I think the money they raise is for supplies, etc for the house they will build. My son pays for each of them an amount that would be a lot more than what the cost of transportation etc would be. They work through a church in the town they are going and use the church as their headquarters - sleep, etc. They basically camp out while they are there and eat the very same food as the people they are helping. They do know spanish well enough that they can carry on a conversation with the kids they work with. They do a sports camp in addition to building a house. It's the same kids they go to church with and also to church camp with and they have all really build very close friendships.
I'm sure you have lots of experiences to share with us about your trip.