Have I Told You ... (kind of)

Have I Told you...

This isn't going to be my typical Wednesday post. I've been a crazy mess the last couple weeks and haven't been in my usual upbeat writing mood!
I lost a very dear friend of mine on Nov.11, 2011. She went too early and it was a complete shock to say the least. She has been a friend for many years and also a sister in Christ. Which does give me some comfort that we will meet again one day in the presence of Our Lord!
There are still so many unanswered questions and I am seeking prayer and comfort, that we may never have the answers we seek. She was a great friend, mother, sister....
She had her trials and struggles but always kept a positive outlook and had an amazing way of making anyone around her smile. She had a contagious laugh and no one could be in a bad mood around her. Her wonderful spirit and love of life is so greatly missed. The life of the party and the first one to come to you with open arms. She was so devoted to her children and always striving to do better for them and herself.
With this said, I continue to pray for comfort for her husband, children, family and friends.
Until we meet again....
Chillin' with Jesus!

Barbara L. Vanover         

      

DIY, Demo and the Hubs!

So, guess who decided to start demolition on our bathroom @ noon on a Sunday?!?! Oh, and with only us here(no "manly" help)!
Yup, my darling, wonderful, go get em', last minute, no planning things out, who needs instructions hubby!
I think he was secretly punishing me for oversleeping yesterday and missing church!
I can just see his little brain spinning!
(" Sooo...she made such a fuss about setting all the clocks back, made me watch a chic flick, and then SHE  oversleeps!.. Guess I'll have to get some free labor out of her today!")
Anywho, it did need done for so many reasons. Safety first, of course!
I'm sure I have mentioned over the last...oh, year or so that we literally had our shower held up with duct tape! Well, anyone who ever doubted me....there are pictures coming as my proof!
This is still a neverending long process and I will try to keep everyone posted on the process.
As embarrassing as this is...please hold all the LOLs to yourselves :)
Here it is!
Phase 1: demolition!!(by the way, it was pretty fun!)

Sean "prepping" the tub. (actually, this is where I went over "my" instructions)

Roo recreating how she yanked the towel bar loose!

This is where the biggest leak was at.

All the yuckiness of the demo. It was SO bad!

Roo pulling the tiles off. It was her favorite part!

Mama bear getting a few swings in too!

2 walls gone!

The ceiling

oh look, Sean thinks this is a new tool box!

I cannot wait to start phase 2. New drywall and WATERPROOF boards!!! 

Have I Told You ...

Have I Told You.....

Wow?!!? Really?!?! Where has 2011 gone? This year has flown by, literally!!

It has been a blessed, crazy, traumatic, big/ HUGE changes year for so many of us!

Here are just a few of the things that have been going on around our little space lately!

Aside from the new babies, new jobs, DIY projects, sports, school, church......

I'm sure most of my followers know how crazy "life" can be!!

We went to Gatlinburg a few weekends ago.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with Long John Silver, LOL! I was actually taking a picture of the amazing mountain view!

I'm not so sure why Bug looks so calm and innocent, but no children were hurt during this event! Roo looks terrified!

On to cupcakes for Roo's class party! BTW, I do NOT bake! It was a fun experience for us both!

Carved our pumpkins up. Bug went with a non-traditional carving. There is a fish on the other side.

Little E's first Halloween.

Have I Told You ...

I've been running out of ideas for my regular Wednesday post lately. Of course I have had a lot of things on my mind and a lot going on around here. Somewhere along with all my regular craziness Autumn has crept up on us here in Ohio. One day it was 77-80 degrees even after the sun had gone down and today we have a high of 63 and I noticed leaves falling in the morning breeze. We even smelt firewood burning in the air last night as we were driving home from Bug's volleyball game. With that said here is your Have I Told You... post!
Today I'm going to tell you my 10 favorite things about Fall or Autumn.
 However you say it is fine. I prefer Autumn.

1. I love all the wonderful scents and smells that start changing and coming out in Autumn. Pumpkin spice or the spiced cider are my 2 favorites!

2. The smell of hay! I don't know why!?!? It must be all those summers spent at Granny's farm in Kentucky. It is one of those rare sweet smells that can bring with it a wave of bittersweet memories.

3. The sound of crunchy leaves! Oh and of course the smell of them. What is with all the scents? Is it just me? Maybe I have some weird undiagnosed scent fetish?!?!!

4. The colors of Autumn are amazing! My favorite color is Orange, but when mixed with all the greens, browns, golds and wine reds, I love it even more.

5. I LOVE,  LOVE,  LOVE my coffee. Most of you already know this fact. I get even crazier about it when they start having the Pumpkin latte advertised! It is amazing!

6. And not to overkill the buzz but it goes great with a slice of Pumpkin pie!! With extra whipped topping of course! Still slightly warm if you would please!

7. Here I go again with my nose! I cannot deny my love of campfires! The snuggling with loved ones, the stories and laughter, roasting anything we can put on a stick! and THE SMELL of the wood burning!

8. Afterwards,  or if there is no campfire I love to walk into my kitchen and....yes, you guessed it. SMELL a big ole' pot of homemade chili cooking on the stove top!

9. Probably before I eat a bowl of that chili up above I am no doubt in my fuzzy jammies and fuzzy slippers! Ok, I won't lie to you. I actually wear these pretty much year round, but they do get more attention in the Autumn.

10. I don't know if I love these because they are so stinkin' cute or because if you buy the "good" ones they are made with real hay. Anywho, these are my #10 thing that I love about Autumn! Scarecrow people!

What do you love about Autumn? What would your top 10 be? And please tell me there are more people out there with the scent fetish???

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two "teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

Uprising

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

YR

Teaser from pg 101

He got that faraway look in his eye, like people back in Italy did when they talked about going to America. Bella and Rocco were already in America, and they still had to look far away for any hope.

I am about half way through this book and so far it is a really good read. Very well written and I like all the characters.

What are your teasers? what are you reading?

Book blogs I love: buttons

Good Morning.
I wanted to let everyone following know, I have added a scrolling box to my other blog A Novel Experience. I wanted everyone to know which blogs I follow and which book blogs are my favorite. each blog is so unique and personal to that author. It is always nice to see how different they can be, even when they are basically on the same topic.
 There are a few that I am following that do not have buttons, so if you add one later please let me know so that I can add it.
 Please take my button as well. Who doesn't want new followers and some free advertisement!?
Please remember the buttons I post on A Novel Experience will only be related to book blogs.
Hope you all will check out some of my favorites and also keep following.
Happy Blogging!

Have I Told You ...

Have I told you that I/we have been busy? Well.... no more than usual. I thought I would give you a few of the top things we have been up to this past week.
1. Elijah came home( Sept 11) The girls were so excited to have their new cousin home!

2. Girl Scouts every other Tuesday now. Yesterday the girls made bookmarks. Sorry I didn't get a pic of the finished product!

3. We decorated for Fall/Autumn/Halloween  however you want to say it! :)

 So, these are the top 3 things that have been keeping us busy lately. Of course there are plenty more things I could list. Like, Bug's volleyball 5 days a week, school, watching Boogie's, all the little things Elijah needs some extra attention for, the daily routine stuff, my new book review blog and working on that, also trying to read some in between. Not to mention the reading homework Roo has had this week and trying to get her motivated to get it done. All in a days time! No rest for the Momma!

Happy Blogging!

Book Blog Debut!!

Who's SUPER excited?!?!?!? ME
I have done it!!! Yea(patting my own back)
My book review blog has an official Title and URL! WoooHoo!
So, Hop on over to A Novel Experience
Grab my new button, follow, comment, share!
I am so excited! I have so many books I cannot wait to write about.
I'm off to read some more now!
Happy Blogging!
P.S. It may take me a few days, but I plan on adding all of my "Blogs I follow/love" buttons to my new blog also.

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two "teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!


This weeks teaser is from:

House


By Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker(my fave)


pg 148~  She'd whispered a thousand such prayers since stepping foot into this black space. She even tried to dredge up something from the Book of Common Prayer, which contained a few sentiments she'd memorized, oh, so long ago, but those words eluded her.


I am truly loving this book so far. This is honestly the first book by Frank Peretti I have read, but being a die hard Ted Dekker fan, I knew I would love it. I am a little more than half way through it now and I cannot put it down. I will definitely be adding more of Peretti's books to my to-read list.

The votes are in!

I had a total of 5 votes for the title of my upcoming book review blog. 1 of those votes was from myself(making sure the poll worked).
And the winning title is.....

A Novel Experience

As soon as I get the blog running, I will post a link and URL to the new blog!

I want to thank all my regular followers for being so supportive on my book review blog quest. I know I have been in and out and not as consistent as I wish to be. Please continue following and I will do my best to do the same. Again, thank you!

Vote for Book Blog Title!~

The Poll is up!

I wanted everyone to know that with the help of a fellow book lover and blogger, I have finally got a poll added to my blog. 

Please take a minute to vote for your favorite blog title. I am leaving the poll up until September 20, 2011. So don't forget to stop and vote! 

Thank you for stopping by and I will keep everyone updated and of course have a post for the big reveal and new blog addy/URL.

Have I Told You ...

Happy Wednesday!
All I can say about today is that even with all the rain and the temp dropping 20 degrees it is still WAY better than yesterday.
 Yesterday was......stressful. But all my "babies" keep me sane and smiling (most of the time).
I woke up yesterday to the glorious smell of coffee! Yea! :) smiles for Mommy! Then as I'm wiping the crust out of  my eyes(yes, I do that too) and fumbling through the fridge I start to panic!!
NO CREAMER!!.... "What?, Wait, it has to be in here...." Nope, none, nada!!
Ok, so LOTS of sugar and plain old 1% dairy milk....
Just for one day I can deal with this, right?! Every addict has withdrawals so EVERYONE should be treating me like the Queen!
Next, I hear the infamous Bobcat start up! Yes, my neighbors are having a hot tub/closed in porch added to their backyard. They are using our driveway as access to their yard. So, needless to say no one gets any peace between 7am and whenever they decide to take a break or leave for the day!
On to my afternoon. Kids at school, animals fed, bills paid, Boogies semi-napping, Sis doing laundry and getting ready to head out to hospital......
Then as the phone rings, chaos enters!!!
phone ringing, Sis yelling( as she runs upstairs) that the washer has overflowed and is running into playroom, as I get up to go to her, Boogies wakes up vomiting! For the next hour or so it is total mayhem!
Cleaning babies, mopping floors, picking up soaking wet clothes,.....and the stinking phone is still ringing. Did I mention I was also baking...yes, me... baking during all of this craziness. Roo's Girl Scout meetings started back up last night and guess who had to bring snack for 20+ girls on the first night?!?!!
But like I said, my babies keep me sane! And for a show and tell here is what we did to wind down. Boogies got  a new toy over the weekend for here and Roo couldn't wait to show him and play along.
How could anyone not smile and feel completely blessed looking at these faces?!?! I love that they can make any day completely worth all our "chaos"!
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Boogie's new toy

New blog...in progress

Happy Sunday,
I just wanted to let everyone know how the new blog is slowly progressing. I have been attempting to make a DIY background. By attempting I mean I have browsed tutorials, flipped through several blogs, help sites and collected patterns, clip arts and images trying to some how figure out this whole creative layering. Through this treacherous process, I have screamed, reloaded, re sized, cropped, saved, bookmarked, searched...... you get the idea. It is not going so well for me. Although it is taking longer than I expected to get it up and going I have been getting in some good reads. So, by the time I actually have a "book blog", I will have a TON to write about!
Also, I am still working on my unique blog title. I have gotten some great ideas both on here and through Facebook(I use networkedblogs also). So, until the next update here is a follow up/updated Title list:

1. Passion for Pages~ 3 votes
2. A Novel Affair~ 2 votes
3. A(nother) Novel Affair~suggested by a friend
4. The Story Keeper~ suggested by friend (I like this one)
5. Diary of a Mad Book Lover~cute!
6.The Musing of a Bookworm~2 votes
7. A Novel Experience~ Liking this one a lot
8. As The Story Unfolds...
9. Read, Review, Restock
10. Tales of a Book -A -Holic
I really wish I knew how to add a voting poll on here, but alas another techy aspect I lack.
Please keep the comments coming and I promise to keep everyone updated as "my story of a book blog" unfolds! :) Hey, I kind of like that one too! Hmmmm......

What do you think? 

This is my actual bookcase! Well, one of them...

New Blog! I need opinions

I have been struggling, working on this blog for over a year now. I love sharing all my personal life experiences and daily chaos, with a little of everything thrown into the mix, but I want to start a separate blog just for my books. One of my many  passions is reading, anything! I have joked that I even read product labels and the phone book purely for entertainment. I have been searching and researching TONS of wonderful book review blogs lately and even joined/follow a few. Now I want that! I want to share my love and opinion on whatever it is I read. Also, I tend to forget who wrote what book or what the title of something really good I read was. So it will also be a book diary for myself.
Me being well.....me, I want it to have a really catchy title.Now, by catchy I mean something witty and unique, and not including my name in the title e.g. Trema's readings. It just sounds so limited and down the road I may want to host guest posts or review something my daughter has read.So, I don't want people to think it is limited from the beginning. Also, that reminds me. I will be doing many genres, including YA and JR so I want a name that is appropriate and doesn't scare off any younger readers. Here is a quick list of blog names my daughter and I came up with one night. I am stumped and cannot get those creative juices going today. Let me know what you think. Any comments, suggestions, changes are appreciated. I really want to know what you think and will take any help you give.

1.Pages for Pleasure
2. Log on Library
3.Library Reads
4. Passion for Pages
5.A Novel Affair(this was my favorite until I googled the words and found 4 other book blogs with this title)
6. A Read a Day
7. I Read This....
8. Just Keep Reading
9. Got Books?(corny, I know)
10.Shall we read...

Have I Told You ...

Happy Wednesday!
Have I Told You...
 That we have a garden. Yes, us. To our great amazement it is actually growing real food that is not only beautiful but actually edible!!
Mission accomplished! We don't have a huge yard, but as I've said before I am a girl that can work with the minimal and I am never afraid of improvising. So, here you have it. our own little piece of Earth.

Mark 4:26-28 And he said, So, is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 
 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up, he knoweth not how.
 For the Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

after planting

The plants are growing so well

The fruits of our labor, Amen!

Look at the size of this zucchini. No miracle grow was used!!

Happy Wednesday! Happy Blogging! Happy Gardening!