Where have I been???

This is where we have been most of this week. This is from this morning. That is my girl pitching. THEY WON! Yea! They beat a team that was undefeated until today. That was a lot of fun. It really helped their moral!

Yesterday was the last day of school and we took Coco for ice cream. We now have a third grader! She is growing up way to fast!

More ball games and practices. We have been at the ball field 4 days out of 6 this week and we will be there probably 3-4 days next week.

Since we were in Florida on Mothers Day we took my mom (Mimi) to Mimi's Cafe for lunch today. She had never been there before. She loved it, she ordered the Chicken Pot Pie which was almost to pretty to eat. I had my usual Grilled Liver yum yum and it is only 4 points for all of it. We won't talk about the mashed potatoes and gravy.

After lunch we went to TJ Maxx and boy did I find some bargains. I found a King size mattress pad for $20.00, a shower curtain for $5.00 and a long rug for the bath for $15.00

I came home and clean the bathroom from top to bottom and put up all the new stuff. It looks like a new room. I will post a photo of it tomorrow.

I also found some brown patten leather espadrilles. They are adorable!

We have had a great day, Scott got started on cleaning our little pool so hopefully we can be playing in it by next weekend. He got more of my plants in the ground too.

It is a good day when you can look around and see what you have accomplished.

I am looking forward to church tomorrow. I haven't been in 4 weeks. Thursday I went to our local daycare to sign Colby up for summer and I saw 1 of my little Sunday schoolers. She didn't recognize me at first because I had gotten a shorter hair cut and I am wearing my contacts more. When I told her I was Ms. Pam she ran into my arms and had the biggest smile on her face. It made my day. She is a twin so I had to go out to see the other and she calls me Ms. Ham. They were so excited to see me and kept giving me lots of hugs and lots of questions. Can't to see them all tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday!

My Favorite Things at home

Kellys Korner is hosting a post your favorite room at her blog (see her in my side bar under Fabulous People). I don't have a photo of a complete room but I do have some of my favorite things. I will have to get some photos this weekend. This first photo is my wall of crosses. Love them.
This is really lopsided and I don't know why I took the picture that way. This is my hutch. It was a old 70's wood look and I sanded it down, painted it cream and my FIL put a antique glaze on it. Isn't it pretty for FREE! That makes it even prettier in my book.

And my wall of C's. I love these too!

This is a little antique table in my living room. I really like how it is decorated.

That it for me right now. Go check out Kellys blog for some beautiful decorating.

ENLIGHTENED

I took Colby to ball practice and while she was doing that I sat in the car and worked on my bible study. I am doing Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer. There were a couple of things the Lord drew me to and I wanted to share them with ya'll.

The first one was an example that she gave and it really got me to thinking about our society.
#1
Rebecca was reared in a home where all the women were divorced. In her family, divorcing for trival reasons and remarrying was the norm. As a result, she learned to think this was normal and acceptable. She struggles with thoughts of divorce in her own marriage because of the tradition of her family. Like Rebecca our conscience can be shaped in a way that is not pleasing to the Lord. This can hinder our ability to clearly hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.

As a child that was not reared in a Christian home this example really hit home and made me think about my childhood and past experiences that I wish I could change but more than that it made me realize how much we have to pay attention to what we watch on tv, what books we choose to read or what music we listen to. It is so easy to become immune to what society says is ok when it is not pleasing to God. I like that phrase.

#2
Priscilla describes the Holy Spirit as our control tower. She asks "How do we begin focusing on the control tower within? We begin our day surrendering ourselves to Him and asking Him to heighten our spiritual senses to see and hear Him throughout the day. Then, as we do the mundane tasks that consume our lives, we purposefully turn our awareness inward and say God, what do you think?

Romans 8:5, NLT
Those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

God led me to these 2 things today and both were needed to remind me that I need to go to Him more and rely on the Spirit that dwells within me.

I finished the tiling tonight. Scott called me Tool Man Taylor. I don't think anyone will be hiring me to do it for them but it does enable me to have access to my window and not have a yucky curtain up to cover it.

now I am on the look out for a desk and shelf. I have decided to put a small desk by the bar in the dining room and a shelf on the wall going out to the back yard. I need a place to pay bills and more storage. I will have to hit the yard sales this weekend. I want a old desk like I had when I was a child. Nothing fancy b/c I could antique it like i did my Hutch. I will have to show ya'll a picture of it. I will work on that.

Did any of you watch the news tonight? I was listening as I was writing this and Meals on Wheels is reducing their meals by 2 a week I think hopefully not per day. One older lady they interviewed said she has oatmeal that she can use. What is wrong with this picture. I know that gas prices are up and the economy is in trouble but can't we take care of our elders. I can think of a few programs that could be reduced and some really young people that could get off there duff and go to work instead of using the system. I will get off my soap box. It just made me sad for those that rely on this for their meals. Their donations are down and that is part of the reason for the reduction. If you can give a few dollars to this organization it would help lots of people.

Happy Wednesday
Blessings,
Pam

REST

I think I am finally caught up on my rest. Saturday I woke up at 9:15 am and today it was 9:37am. And I took a 2 hour nap today. Oh it felt good. Scott and Colby have been at Roaring River all weekend so I had the house all to myself. I didn't get everything done that I had planned but I did get the bathroom grouted and privacy film put on the bathroom window. I have to go to Lowes to have some tile cut to put around the window.

I also got lots of flowers planted in the yard. Scott has to plant a new rose bush and a hydrangea(sp) bush. With the hydrangea the soil has to be acidic. Does anyone know how to do that?? If it isn't the flowers won't keep their blue color and I want the blue.

Saturday night I went to Diana's wedding. It was beautiful and the vows were so beautiful. I wish all weddings would use those vows. I can't tell you what they were but the pastor used more than normal. They are Hispanic and so they had a interpretor so we had time to really listen to the vows. The reception was very nice too. They had Johnny Carino's and Las Palmas cater and the food was great. They are off to Jamaica today. Hope they have a great time after all the work of planning the wedding.

Scott and Colby got home this afternoon exhausted. Scott went to bed at 6:30 tonight and Colby is kind of dragging around. She needs her bath and put to bed.

We have no big plans for memorial day except dinner at the in-laws for my SIL birthday. I hope to get a family photo with Mamie while we are there. She is 94 years old and we know we won't have her for many more years. She is quite the little woman. I just love her.

Everyone enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Blessings
Pam

This is how we spent our last night in Destin. Eating crab legs. Yum Yum The photos are my SIL and MIL and Me. We all ordered 1.5 lbs each and it took us awhile to finish but they were so worth it. We love crab legs. Cant ya tell! The guys finished about 30 minutes before us and had to take the kiddos outside to wait for us.

I wasn't stopping to fix a silly bra strap! ha ha

This is us on the front porch of our beach house. We always hate saying goodbye.

We stopped here on our way home. I think it is really cool but some people are obsessed. I saw one older woman with tattoes of Elvis on each arm. No offense to anyone but that seemed a little over the top. We did listen to a cd I bought all the way home. He was dreamy back in the 50's! But as Colby said not as dreamy as my Dad.


We also went to Neely's Barbeque in Memphis. They have a show on Food Network. Have ya'll seen it? Well that is why we wanted to go. It was the biggest let down. The place was a hole in the wall and dirty. I have never received such bad service at any other restaurant. Our waiter took our orders, brought us our drinks and we never saw him again. There were probably 3 to 4 other tables with people when we walked in and then it began to fill up. 2 large tables began getting their food before us and when we finally got ours it was just for half of us. One of the Neely brothers came over to see if we had everything and I told him Sandy and I still didn't have our food and Scott needed more sauce. They finally brought ours and it was cold. The sauce Scott got was in a tiny little container. They don't put the BBQ sauce on the table. I plan to write a letter of complaint to them and to Food Network.

I have to go scrap grout out of the bathroom tub area so that I can regrout and replace some tiles tomorrow morning.

I had a great day today, will post about it tomorrow!

MORE

To begin tonight I want everyone to please pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. Their 5 year old daughter was killed last night in a freak accident. My heart breaks for them. I can't imagine what they are going through.

These are some of us posing for pictures at the beach and at the house. First time I convinced Scott to wear pink. Doesn't he look good.

Colby and I in front of the pool. I am not sure about this new camera. Most of my photos turned out really dark in the face.

Sunset on the beach.

Isn't she lovely! The first time I took photos of her on this beach she was only 3 years old and so much smaller. Where did the time go.

I can't seem to get caught up on rest since coming home from Florida. I don't know what the deal is. I kinda think it might be all the eating out we have done for the past 2 weeks. So i am off to bed early tonight.

Have a great Friday!

Vacation

Here are some more photos from our trip. This first one is us eating at Jimmy Buffet's Margaretaville(sp) in Panama City. Inside the restaurant you can sit in these boats that are built in for tables. It is so cool. I had the best Cheeseburger in Paradise that I have ever had.

This is where we had the most fun all week. At Gulf World so that Colby could swim with the Dolphins. We also stayed for the Dolphin show.

This is my little 7 year old hanging on to a 560 lb. dolphin riding around in a swimming pool. It was so cute to watch her little pony tail bobbing and her little feet sticking up out of the water. She was so brave and the first to volunteer to do whatever they asked. I'm so glad that she has the spirit of adventure and not afraid to try new things.

Before they let them swim with them they got to pose for photos with the dolphin kissing their cheek and holding hands as Colby is doing below. They have these dolphins trained so well. They also would play splash with them.

They had other animals around the park also. A large variety of birds and reptiles. I thought this one was beautiful.

I sure wish we had another week there. I would really like to buy a beach house and rent it out all year so we could go when we want to. I know I am dreaming. I should look at some shacks on Beaver Lake, that would be more feasible for us.

I had to go back to work today. I am so tired of having nothing to do. It is really hard to sit at a desk for 8 hours when you have about 2 hours worth of work to do. Everyone please go buy a new home or how about a second home on the lake... Yeah that is a great idea.

Do any of you watch Jon & Kate plus 8? TLC is having a marathon of the show tonight. I can't imagine having twins and then sextuplets (is that what they are called?). Colby loves to watch it to.

Have a Terrific Thursday!

I'm Back

This is the house we rented. It was so charming. This one had lots of personal touches that the other houses we've stayed in didn't have. Personal photos and stuff just make it more homey to me. My SIL realized that the area of Crystal Shores that we stay in have street names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I thought that was pretty cool.

This is the pool area. It was the smallest pool I have ever seen but it served the purpose for us and the kids. The weather wasn't the best all week. The water was super cold in the pool and the ocean. Colby got up Monday and was in the pool before 7am. The rest of the week she chickened out because it was too cold early in the morning.

This is looking into the living room from the pool area. It had a wall of glass doors that completely opened up to the pool. I loved that and then we had a door from our room that opened up to the pool. All the doors had alarms on them so if a child went out you would know it. The owners live in Minnesota and have 18 month old twins so the alarms were put in for them. Another plus for the renters.

This is our beach. Isn't it beautiful. I just love the beauty of the emerald green water. There was some really big waves while we were there. It was busier than usual. We saw lots of college age kids (and heard them too) around town and at the beach. We had a wonderful trip and I have lots to share but it is getting late.

My uncle Cecil went to be with the Lord Saturday night. The funeral is tomorrow and please pray for his wife Thelma and sons Nick, Don, and Brian. He was a wonderful uncle to me as I was growing up and will be missed. I went to the visitation today and he looked so good and peaceful just like he did before he got sick. No more pain or suffering and someday we will be with him again with our Glorious Father.

Good night everyone. Have a great Tuesday

Greetings from the Big Sis

Hello Fellow Bloggers, I am Pam big Sis, Tammy Lou, I am not very good at this yet, I love to read all you guys wonderful blogs, Yes I have to get my own started I think is could be just to much fun!!!!! I have talked to the vacationister everyday and they are having a wonderful time, my neice Colby gets to swim with the dolphins today....I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday....I did my Granddaughter Kaylee was dedicated on Sunday, we had a wonderful church service. Our mom got to come and I think she enjoyed herself. I am not very great on the computer I don't have alot of patience I think these buttons just need to know what I am thinking I am going to do and say UH! I hope everyone has a great Tuesday !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings from the Big Sis

DREAMING OF SUN AND SAND

We are off to the beach. Bags are packed. 2 cameras ready. Snacks and Sprite Zero loaded up. Friends are watching the house and animals. I think that is it. If not we can get it when we get there. To bad we aren't 21 anymore when we could throw the bikini, cutoffs and flip flops in a bag and go. Now I have to take a zillion outfits and shoes to match and Colby does to. If I get to buy anything I will have to ship it home b/c there is no more room in our trunk. I will have a SUV before I go back next year.

I won't get to blog from the beach so my lovely and talented sister Tammy Lou will be updating the blog for me. Maybe this will give her the push she needs to start her own blog.

Update on my friends and family:

Uncle Cecil is not doing well. The doctors have told them it will be a few days and he will pass away. I am sad about that but I keep thinking about the party in heaven when he gets there. Can you imagine getting to sit at the feet of Jesus or see Moses or David or I could go on and on. I don't want to leave my people just yet but what a wonderful feeling to know that someday I am gonna meet all of them. Praise the Lord.

Beth went in on Wednesday for test results and they gave her the first Chemo treatment. She had the MRI yesterday and they found cancer in both breasts. Please pray for guidance and strength for her. I know that it would be horrible just trying to work yourself through the first weeks of this. Fear, anger, confusion, worry, devastation, she is probably feeling all these and more.

Stacy is in Kansas today to see how her medication is working for the Graves disease. As I told ya'll before she will have radio active treatment in July if nothing happens before then.

Thank all of you who are praying. Please keep them lifted up to him. You might say one for us for the next week while we are traveling.

I will be back to blogging soon.

Blessings,
Pam

These are the Yellow Box shoes Scott bought for Colby and I. Aren't they the cutest things. Can't wait to wear them in Florida next week. Such a great father and husband. We are very blessed.

This is my niece Reagan. Look at that dimple. She is a doll. She is 8 months old

This is her sister Riley she is 2.5 years old and full of mischeif and my Colby girl. 2 beauties.

This is Riley wearing my beads. She kept wanting to take pictures with my camera.

This is Diana the girl we had the shower for at work last week. She is getting married in a few weeks.

This is the table scape I put together in our conference room for the shower. You can't really see but the cake balls aren't the prettiest, but everyone loved them. I loved how the "E" turned out. She can hang that anywhere in her home after they are married. Her new last name will begin with "E".

Update on my friend Beth. The cancer is contained to her breast and lymph nodes. Answered prayer that it hasn't spread. She went in today to get the test results and the doctor started her on her first round of chemo. She will have a double mastectomy. Do you know of a book or poem that talks about losing your breasts? I want something that will lift her up and tell her that she is not defined by her breasts or her hair. If you know of something please send it my way. Please continue to pray for her.

My uncle is also in the hospital tonight not expected to make it. He had a stroke 3.5 years ago and has been bedridden since that time. His body is getting tired and shutting down. His wife is a saint in my eyes. They have a large farm that she has taken care of while taking care of him at home. She has taken the best care of him. She is just awesome. So please pray for comfort and peace for the whole family. Even though he has been sick for so long I know she is not ready to let him go.

It sounds like we are in for another storm tonight. I just heard rumbles of thunder and I think we are under a tornado watch or warning. I can never keep track of which means what. But I better get to bed now in case I have to get up to go to the cellar. I am glad we have it but b/c we have it we feel the need to go to it. All our neighbors are glad we have it too. A couple of years ago we had 12-13 (can't remember exactly) people in it. We were packed that night.

Pray it is just a thunder storm and no one is hurt or any damage tonight.

Blessings

Pam

Works For Me Wednesday

Or rather what doesn't work for this weeks post. I don't have time to read all that to get the fancy WFMW banner but here is what doesn't work for me.

Don't allow those vacuum sales people into your home just b/c you think you can get the stain removed during their demonstration. Yes I did this. I knew I wasn't going to buy the thing but he was a nice kid and I did have a stain I wanted cleaned. We thought he was going to spend the night. He initially told me it would take 15-20 minutes. 2 hours later I had to tell him to leave and he didn't have a car. His supervisor was somewhere in the neighborhood in someone else's home. The poor kid had to stand out on the curb for another 30 minutes and he didn't even make the sale. I know I am gullible but no more I have become a rebel when people come to the door.

For more WFMW head over to www.rocksinmydryer.com

Blessings
Pam

Have I told ya'll how sweet my man is? Well let me tell you he proved it tonight. I had mentioned a few times that I would like a pair of Yellowbox Flip Flops but I'm a tight wad and wouldn't pay $30 bucks for flip flops. He came in tonight with 2 wrapped boxes, 1 for me and 1 for Colby and guess what they were!!

MATCHING YELLOW BOX FLIP FLOPS

What a man what a mighty good man! Can ya'll believe that? He is just too good to me. Now I feel guilty for griping about the wet towel left on the bed (even though it was twice in one day but whos counting). The flip flops are black & white stripe with a red patent leather type strip in the middle. SO SO CUTE. I would post a picture but my camera is currently be charged. I will do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the grade school musical at Colbys school. I can't wait to go see it and come tell ya'll about it. Also this week is Teacher Appreciation Week so remember your childs teacher, they are leading our babies into knowledge or something like that. I made Colbys teacher a basket of goodies. I took a little red/white basket from Hobby Lobby (my 2nd home) and I put in 12oz coke and a water, single serving size bag of Doritos and Cheetos, M&Ms, Hershey Bar, and a pack of gum. I stuck a ruler in the middle with ribbons tied on it. It was really cute , I got the idea from a local gift shop that was selling them for 24.95 and it cost me probably less than $5 and she loved it or so she said. It is the thought that counts anyways.

Have a terrific Tuesday

Blessings

Pam

What a day. I didn't even set down until 8:30. I have been washing clothes and getting some things packed. Since we are going to be renting a house in Florida I told Scott that we were going to use rubbermaid tub instead of suitcases. I think we can get by with 1 and a couple of my tote bags. When we get there we can buy another tub to bring all our new stuff home. Doesn't that sound like a great idea? He didn't think buying another tub was what we need to do. He always tells me we don't need to shop while were there but once we get there he changes his tune. I will just send him deep sea fishing and I'll go shopping!

Have ya'll heard of Makin Room. It is a online consignment shop in Northwest Arkansas. I found it in the free kids magazine. Go to http://www.makinroom.com/ . Might be better than a garage sale.

Have a great Monday.
Blessings
Pam

UMMM

Colby was in our bedroom and I had the fan on. She asked why I always had it on and I told her that I needed it to sleep and it keeps the room cool. She says

"You don't need it, it costs us more electricity".

Next thing you know she will tell me to stop using paper towels or something. She keeps me on my toes. I will have to remember this when she is wasting our resources! Hey maybe that work we did on Using resources wisely in Girl Scouts really did sink in.

The bridal shower at work was really fun today. We did a lingerie shower and gave each guest a color and they had to buy the gift in that color. She got so many beautiful things. I wish I could have had a shower like that when I got married. Anyhoo while she was opening gifts I wrote down all the things she said and at the end I read it all back and told her this is what you will say on your wedding night. It was hilarious. Have you ever did that for a wedding or baby shower. Try it, it comes out with some crazy things.

I made the cake balls from Kelly's Korner and they were very yummy and everyone loved them. I did chocolate on chocolate. I forgot to take photos while I made them but I did get some at the party today.

Update on my friends. Beth got her test results today and she does have cancer. They are going to start with radiation to shrink it and then do a complete mastectomy. We are going down to see them tomorrow after the baby dedication. I got her the book by Jeana Floyd "An uninvited guest" it is a beautiful little book about Jeana's battle with breast cancer. I hope it will lift her spirits.

Stacy does have Grave's disease. They are going to treat her with radio active dye on July 1st. She has to wait b/c she just had some other dye test and they have to wait for that to be out of her system. When she does this in July she will be limited to a few minutes at a time with her girls b/c of the danger of them being affected by the radioactivity. This she says will go on for about 2 weeks. There is a lot of stuff she has to do so that she doesn't contaminate anyone else with the radio active stuff. Like flushing the toilet twice each time and cleaning it after each use. She won't even be allowed to sleep with husband. That is some strong stuff.

So please keep praying for these girls. I want to question Why is this happening to such young women, but I know that God is in control of everything and his ways are not our ways. As in my favorite verse He has a plan for us. We just have to keep remembering that. Whatever happens to any of us God is in control!

Blessings,
Pam

PRAYER REQUESTS

Hi blogging buddies. I need to request prayer for a couple of friends.

I received a call from my cousin Stacy this morning and she was scrambling to get to Kansas by 3:45 today b/c her doctor wanted her there for more tests. When I talked to her they were pretty sure she had Grave's disease which is a thyroid thing. Please pray for healing, strength, wisdom and knowledge for her and the doctors. Stacy is married to my cousin Kevin and they have the 2 girls I claim as my own. I know that she is scared and worried so just lift her up in prayer.

When we got home tonight Scott got a call from his best friend Vance and his wife Beth has breast cancer. Beth is in her early 30's with 2 beautiful little girls. We don't know everything yet but at this point they are planning chemo treatments. Please pray for healing and strength for her too. I know there are so many in the world fighting this dreadful evil thing but it really makes you think about your own future and all the people cancer affects.

We had our girl scout meeting tonight and we had fun. We finished up our Travel Right Try-it and planned for May and June. We usually end in May but we have so much we want to do it is probably going to be July before we break for summer. These girls are growing up so fast. Sunny made me a precious little book about how she loved girl scouts and me. That is when you know all the time and effort you put into something is worth it. To know that the sacrifices I make to be their leader is making a difference in their lives.

Thank you in advance for your prayers.