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         

      

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???

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!

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

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!

Have I Told You ...

That my Roo absolutely loves her Play-Doh! She loves all the colors and I love all the creative ideas she comes up with.( mostly food related). I'm not sure where she gets that from? (insert sarcasm). Today Bug is off to the amusement park with family friends, so Roo & I have the whole house to ourselves. She thinks it's a mini-vacation. When I asked her what she wanted to do while I got some housework done, she asked for her Play-doh, that now is a limited hobby due to having Boogie's being mobile. It was the perfect day to open the windows, air out the house and really try to get things ready/done/accomplished. We are seriously on a time crunch now with Elijah due home soon and school starting back next week. Mommy can only accomplish so much in a day alone!
 While she is entertained I have accomplished 2 loads of laundry, dishes, made beds, gave the dog a bath, cleaned up kitchen, edited some photos, made lunch, and reset the On Demand 30 minute shows 3 times. Hey, Play-Doh can only keep you busy for so long!
PS.. I am feeling much better now that the cat dander is slowly leaving my lungs!! Maybe that cheap Walgreens brand allergy medicine isn't so bad after all!!

    Those little hands at work!

She does have quite a collection

"Black"berry pancakes! I told you she was creative!

Laying down on the job!

sorry this one is a little blurry. It is mac and cheese!

The mac and cheese is now my "cheesy heart cookie"!

After all that work a popsicle was requested to help her "relax"!

Have I Told You ...

Welcome Wednesday! This past week I've really been trying to get back into writing. I even made a list of topics I would like to write about. so as I've hopped around thinking of topics to write about I've been thinking about all the things I love, like, interested in, etc. So for today's 20 of me I'll give you 20 of my favorites.
1. Scents ~ sweet pea, vanilla, lavender, and orange. not all together mind you
2. Cookie~ oatmeal raisin
3. Season~ Spring
4. Sound~ children laughing or rain
5. Hobby~  reading,.... I know who would have thunk it?!?
6. TV show~ Criminal Minds
7. Coffee creamer~ vanilla caramel or mocha
8. Favorite book(other than The Bible KJV) would be Finding Grace by Donna VanLiere, it is amazingly inspirational!
9. Restaurant~ Olive Garden or Chinese buffet
10. Song~ Blessed Assurance (I prefer Randy Travis version)
11. Phrase~ I love your whole guts! (yea, we do say things like this in my house)
12. Food~ any kind of pasta
13. Color~ Orange
14. Time of day~ morning, I love the sun rising, when the house is still quiet.
15. Nail Polish~ any shade of pink(only on my toenails)
16. Pillow~ yes, I have a favorite pillow that is all mine! It is a feather pillow
17. Disney movie~ Aladdin or The Lion King
18. Movie~ Coal Miner's Daughter
19. Apartment~ When we lived in Forest Park(everything was new and it was huge), neighborhood was another story!
20.  Website~ I admit it's Facebook!
Hope everyone enjoyed and keep blogging!

Have I Told You ...

Wednesday already? Wow this week has actually gone pretty quickly. So short and sweet here they are.
20 of me
1. I love orange kool-aid. It's my favorite flavor
2. we finally have most of the girls "new" bedroom finished
3. I will hopefully be starting Elijah's room Friday
4. Someone besides me really needs to pick up the slack on the litter box
5. I can hear 2 different TV's on with the same show, but can't figure out why the girls must watch them in separate rooms
6. I could really go for some good Mexican food right now
7. I am reading a good book that I am dying to finish today or tomorrow
8. I miss a lot of my old friends lately
9. I just finished Elijah's first load of laundry :)
10. Bradley is finally taking a nap
11. It is a gorgeous day out. Nice breeze, not humid or raining!
12. I'm hoping to have so much more done before the girls go back to school
13. I am excited about going to church tonight
14.There aren't enough hours in my day to accomplish half of what I would like to
15. I have 2 new pen pals from a christian website I found!
16. I'm convinced the dog and cat are working on a conspiracy against my sanity this week
17. Juliette has been my big helper this week while Bradley is teething
18. Caralyne has VOLUNTARILY made her bed everyday this week  :)
19. Sean made dinner on Monday and it was pretty good!
20. I should really get another load of laundry done and take a break from the computer.

I apologize for this one being so random. I suppose I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things for now. Happy Blogging and God's Blessings Always!

Have I Told You Lately....

20's of me is taking on a bit of a change, just for today.
Today, I will post my 20 wishes, dreams, goals,wants, needs, prayers....
These are just off the top of my head. So they are in no particular order of priority or anything.
Here it goes!
 
1. I want to be debt free!(in my own magical world!)
2. I want more kids
3. I pray for peace(and quiet)
4. I want to be naturally tan
5. I need to get into shape(physically and mentally)
6. I want the dog to stop using my living room as a bathroom!
7. I want more quality family time
8. I pray for a new bathroom!
9. I pray our car holds out one more year!
10. I pray for my childrens' safety and health
11. I want Hoarder's to come on at 9pm instead of 10pm.
12. I wish I kept in touch with more old friends
13. I wish coffee and creamer were sugar and fat free!
14. I dream of traveling, but hate to fly!
15. I wish I could open up more easily
16. I pray for a mild winter
17. I wish my daughters enjoyed reading more
18. I wish Applebee's delivered!!
19.  I wish I knew what God has in store for my family(kinda)
20. I pray I can let go of this control/worry thing and have peace of mind!
Ok now I want comments! What are some of your dreams, goals, prayers!
 Anything?

 I need reassurance that I'm not the only one that goes through all these crazy "thinking" spells!
funny or serious! What do you want/wish/pray?

Have I Told You Lately....

Yup, I am here. On a WEDNESDAY!! And the 20's of me are back too!!

Here we go!
1. We got fish this week. 8 mollies and 1 algae eater!
2. we have had the tank for over 5yrs. and kept saying we were going to get more(after the last ones died)
3. I haven't cooked a hot dinner in over a week(it's just been that kind of week)
4.I'm babysitting 2 of the cutest little boys(Sean's cousin's) they are 4yrs. and 11 months
5. I'm still waiting to win the lottery!
6. My brother and Mom are going to be in a documentary featuring local bluegrass and gospel bands
7.I hate coupons and all the stupid ads that come in my Sunday paper
8. I don't care how many times Lindsey Lohan goes to jail this month!
9.I think Norton should be lifetime free with purchase of any computer
10. I don't need you to remind me 15 times a day that my subscribtion is about to expire and my computer is at risk!
11. The symbol for iron is Fe (just saying,.... you never know when you may need it)
12. my favorite number is 349, because I was born at 3:49pm
13. Caralyne was born on 5/10, weighed 5lbs. 10oz. and My Mom's address is 510
14. Sean thinks that baby chipmunks grow up to be squirrels!(I cannot convince him they are 2 different animals?!!!?) He's special!
15. There is no meaning, origin or coat of arms found on google for my last name.
16. my name means dizzy in Polish, accent in French or some weird African plant that looks like pot! (I'm serious, google it!)
17. Why is Renee more popular when Renae is obviously the more logical pronunciation?!?!?
18. I have been summoned to the living room. My divine powers are requested. meaning, the movie is over, I want another one put in!
19. I finally get to go to church on a Wednesday!
20. My God is an awesome God!!!

Have I Told You

I know I skipped last weeks Wednesday post, but I also skipped Tuesday's and the rest of the week. Not by choice. It has been one crazy week around here. We have gotten some bad news in the family, I started babysitting, VBS is going on at almost every church around here, and my biggest reason for being absent on here is my crazy phone and internet service! I was without a phone for almost 4 weeks on and off and the internet was going in and out also. I think it is finally fixed. So now I am trying to play catch up on here.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.
Happy blogging!


Have I Told You....
I got a lot of comments on doing the 20 of me's, so I think I will stick with that for today
1. Both my daughters' names are French, (Caralyne's we went with a twist and unique spelling)
2. I took 4 years of French from 8-11 grade
3. I took senior English in 9th grade
4. I have never had a mani or pedi
5. The first time I dyed my hair was at 14 and it turned out orange! (no ash blondes for me)
6. My natural hair color is dirty blonde with red tints
7. I have freckles, lots of freckles!! and so do my girls!
8. I make my bed everyday! but my girls do not :(
9. I despise Justin Beiber! Can't wait until this fad is over!
10. My eyes are different colors. one green, one blue/grey(and I love when people ask me if I know this!)
11. Caralyne was born 18 days before her due date, but I was listed as only 36wks gestation
12. Juliette was born 5 days late.
13. I have had anemia since I was 6.
14. In 3rd grade I missed 37 days of school because of it.
15. Both my grandfathers were killed.
16. I never met either of them
17. I  read about 150-200 pages a day of whatever book I'm reading, depending on my schedule
18. I keep a book diary of every book I read, with author and a star system of how much I liked it
19. I have read 6 books since June 1, 2010
20. I am now going to finish #7, The Telling~ Beverly Lewis
What are the 20 of You??

Have I Told You...

Welcome Wednesday!
Today I just want to really put myself out there. So here are just a few of the "me" things.
1. I was born in 1980! On April 15, yes I'm a tax baby that turned the big 3-0 this year!
2. I was born and raised in Ohio(spending my summers in Kentucky), so I'm really a country girl at heart.
3. I have been drunk a big total of 5 times in my whole life, Not that I am proud of that at ALL.
4. I haven't had a drink(alcohol) in almost 2 yrs.
5. I am a Christian SAHM
6. I actually met my hubby at age 15. He was 20
7. I started dating him at 16
8. I married him at 17
9. Had our first daughter, Juliette at 18
10. We have only been on 1 vacation alone since our honeymoon in 13 years.(Gatlinburg in 08')
11. I had to withdrawl from school 3 months and 3 credits before I graduated HS. (it's a long story)
12. I earned my GED in 2003 after our second daughter was born
13.I love to learn new things
14. I have broken the same 3 fingers, 3 times in my life
15. I have a horrible voice but secretly love to sing!
16. My biggest fear is driving. I've never had a license but have had my temps 6 times
17. I haven't seen my Dad since I was 18
18. I dream of having more children, but cannot
19. I drink way too much coffe and it is catching up with me
20. I obviously read more than I write. And sometimes wish it was the other way around

I hope this gives you a little insight to the real me. Any comments are appreciated. Any questions are welcome. I am learning to embrace who I am and not hide from it! As my youngest would say
 " That's just the way God made me!!"

Have I Told You...

Wow! Wednesday already! 1 more day of school for the kids.

 Lately I have really been trying to appreciate and thank The Lord for all the things I have in my life, big and small. I think it is important to take a good long look at things from time to time and not forget what is important. I have noticed the weather is more enjoyable and with Sean being home in the evening we really have gotten out more. Even if it's just playing around in the yard or getting the kids more involved in what we are doing. Mainly trying to fix up our home and yard. I think it is important for children to learn chores and to see with their own eyes how hard work pays off. And to learn the beauty in all the things our God has given us. I'm a sucker for nature anyway!

So today I want to thank God for the rainbow!
RAINBOW: rain'bow[-boh] n arch of prismatic colors in sky.

Genesis 9:12-13
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the Earth.

So here are a few pictures I found that just caught my attention and I thought they were pretty neat!