UPDATE ON THE VENTING

I didn't get to call the Mom today. I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a truck. Went to work, made a doctors appointment and struggled through the day until it was time for my appointment. He says I have a viral infection that acts like the flu, but my flu test was negative. Yeah! Doc says the good thing is this is shorter lived than the actual flu. So I came straight home, took some of the medicine he gave me for congestion and cough and went to bed. I just took another dose so if this post is all wiggly woggly, blame it on the cough meds!

I didn't call the mom today but Coco gave me a run down of her day. The little girl was ringing our doorbell at 7:15 again, we didn't answer it because I was driving Coco to school. I know that is mean but obviously I wasn't feeling like my sweet self this morning. Anyhoo, Coco tells me that the little girl was in the principals office again today. She has already been kicked off the bus and she has only been riding it maybe 3 weeks. So we made a unanimous decision that Coco will not be playing with this girl. She will however be nice and if it she has to give her a reason then she will tell her that I said she can't play with her because she gets in to much trouble and I don't want Coco to be involved in that sort of stuff.

When I do call the mom, I plan to tell her some of the things that I know she has asked Coco to do so that maybe she will pay more attention to what her child is doing. If she even cares. If things keep going the way they have, we will have to go to more drastic measures. Just for the child's own safety. I do feel sorry for the child, today when I was coming home she was riding her bike down in the neighborhood where supposedly she isn't supposed to be and the parents were no where to be seen! Do they not watch the news and see things like the woman that was just found after 18 years from being nabbed on the way to the school bus........

I'm getting sleepy now!
Blessings,
Pam

VENTING

We are having some issues with a little girl that just moved into our neighborhood. She rings my doorbell a million times a day beginning at 7:15am. She has asked Coco to do inappropriate things, goes all over the neighborhood with no boundaries whatsoever! She has came home on the bus twice now with no one at home to meet her so she comes to our house. Scott is not comfortable babysitting her when she calls her mom and the mom tells her she won't be home until 6pm (the bus comes at 3:45) but the mom doesn't ask if we can keep her she just leaves her here. We have been upset with this but have waited for the right time to say something. I think tonight the right time has come. She joined my Girl Scout troop and when I got to our meeting place the child was there with no parent anywhere to be found. Apparently the mom dropped her off without checking to see if a adult was there. Then when the meeting was over she tells me she doesn't know if her mom is coming. I told her to go call her mom. The mom tells her she is busy, so I have to take her home.

I haven't called the mom yet because I am so frustrated and I don't want to say something out of anger. I also think the little girl might be playing both of us to fit what she wants. Like maybe telling her mom that we invited her or offered to bring her home. I hope that is the case and the mom is not just a deadbeat! I can't imagine a mother would leave a 9 year old to take care of herself or expect other people to babysit!

The hard thing is this child is in Coco's class, lives 3 doors down and how can I keep them apart. Coco doesn't really care for her because she has lied to her and she sees how she disobeys, but when she wants to play and that is the only child around, she wants to play with her.

I feel sorry for the child! She can't help how she is being raised but what can I do. On one hand I know that Coco and our family can be a good influence but at what risk? As the Bible says birds of a feather flock together! I don't want that influence on Coco.

I will have to call the mom tomorrow because if nothing else, I can't have her leaving the child at the Girl Scout meeting when no one else is there. Please pray that God will give the words and they will be taken well.

Blessings,
Pam

I Love Fall

Oh I am loving our weather here in Arkansas. The temps stayed in the 70's today and it is expected that way all week.

This just made me want to jump into my Fall decorating. Coco and I went to the local pumpkin patch after work today and came home with 6+ pumpkins for the porch and a few for her.

All I need now is a Mum and this little chair on the porch will be set. It is a old chair I found in my mom's storage building this past summer. I thought about painting it but I kind of like the old character it has. Looks like it has been around for awhile.

This is my updated Fall wreath. I couldn't get a good photo of it against the glass door so I took a couple. I was trying to stay out of the photo in the glare of the door.

A couple of the pumpkins we picked up. My summer plants are still going strong and I hate to dump them out but it is time for Mums. I found that the pumpkin patch is much cheaper than Walmart. All these were $4.00 each except for the white one in the first photo, I think it was $6.00.

I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby at lunch today for a few pumpkins. All the fall stuff is 50% off this week. I will show you our after photo of this project when we are finished. Coco was excited to help.

Now if I can get Scott to stop long enough to move the honkin TV I will be able to get all my other Fall decor out for the house. He moved my hope chest into the living room to set the TV on and that is where I store most of my Fall / Halloween decor.

Blessings,

Pam

WEDNESDAY

I am so excited I have had 3 inquiries on the house today! Our neighbors have a friend and a family member that want to live in our area so they are going to tell them about it. I had a realtor call and she dropped off her card. She asked if we would consider paying buyers commission and I told her no but we would be buying another house so that may work into something. The other was a friend with a family member looking in our area but she is looking for something in a lower price range.

Our neighbors gave us some good feedback. In their opinion our house is a much better buy than the newer houses that went up in about 2 weeks or another newer neighborhood that has had major drainage issues since it was built so that made me feel optimistic with our older home.

I posted stuff on craigslist for the first time tonight. I have a 32 inch Sanyo tv, a playstation 2 +6 games and the house. It was too easy. Now I am trying to think of other things I can sell. Isn't that awful. I need to put a ad for the house in the newspaper and get some flyers out. I am also thinking about a open house sometime soon. These are usually held for the Realtors but it might be worth a afternoon to get people in.

Has anyone sold a home without a realtor?? Any tips or suggestions? Should I do a open house?

Ok now on to DWTS. I was glad to see Macy Gray and Hamilton go. What is the deal with Gray, does she ever smile and what was up with her rhythm or rather the lack of rhythm! I don't have anything to say about Hamilton except he is pretty!!!!
I cried last night when Kelly Osbourne danced and the way she talked about not being graceful or a lady. I thought she did a wonderful job and I loved it when she ran to hug her daddy. I am not a fan of Ozzy but I thought he is a Daddy to that girl just like mine or yours. She is my favorite for now. We'll see what the next few weeks bring. I have to say this IF YOU WATCH THE SHOW PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO VOTE, IT IS FREE AND SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE!!!! I wish my Mama was reading this. She never votes and I tell her to every week!

Blessings,
Pam

FOR SALE BY OWNER

Sorry I have been such a slacker, but really I haven't been slacking at all. I have had a 4 day weekend to get the house ready for sale.

We were super busy with stuff on Saturday and Sunday, so all I did was get 2 loads of totes to the storage building. I am trying to declutter so that the house doesn't seem to be busting at the seams. Which it is and that is why we need to move.

I touched up trim work today and painted my closet doors ( we put them up several years ago and have never painted them), that is pathetic!!!

I made a list of all the things I want to do so that Scott can help when he has the time.

I put the FOR SALE BY OWNER sign out this afternoon. When I looked outside when it was time for Coco to come home, I found her pretending to demolish the sign. She doesn't want to move.

Just a few minutes ago we had a looker!!! I got so excited and I think Coco was in the window making faces at them. They didn't come to the door but I hope they wrote down the number to call us for a appointment.

If we could sell this right off the bat I would be so HAPPY!!!!

The other house that I want is still on the market as far as I know so I am praying it all works out that we can sell and buy that one. I know if it is in his will he will lead us to the right place.
But it wouldn't hurt for a little pray to go his way for us to sell fast and that no one buys the other one. he he he

I have Girl Scouts tonight and we are making fall photo frames. Should be a fun time.

Oh and the 2nd night of Dancing with the Stars. Did anyone watch last night? Who is your favorite? I'm holding out to see the ladies tonight. Donnie Osmond did a great job but he is a little to LOOK AT ME, for my tastes!

Blessings,
Pam

A FEW MORE

I have narrowed the photos down from over 1000 to just over 700. I still have some editing to do but I wanted to weed out the blurry, blah ones first.

I want to make sure that the photos tell the story of the day. I was thinking about the wedding today and thought of so many different shots I wish we would have gotten. The wedding was at Magnolia Gardens in Springdale. This was my first time there and it is gorgeous. Lots of different places to take pictures from the most formal to the country hoedown with the big red barn. I am wishing we would have taken some by the barn before it got to dark.

Here a couple more. They need some work but I wanted Ashley to get a peek.

A beautiful couple.

I wonder if she was a Daddy's girl???

These guys were hams!

Blessings,

Pam

A WEDDING STORY

I got a call a few weeks ago from cousin asking if I would photograph a wedding for her friend. I was happy to do it but let them know I am not a professional!

The wedding was last night and it was a beautiful event. The couple were so sweet and fun. They have to precious little girls too! I took over 1000 pictures but hopefully I can get a couple hundred really good ones for them.

I definitely learned lots of things by doing this.
1. I need a flash and a backup battery
2. The wedding party needs to be ready at least 2 hours before the wedding.
3. I need to practice using the tripod
4. I need to practice practice practice
5. A photographer earns their money.

My sister helped me (Thank you Tammy Lou) and we went from 4:30 to 9:30. We left the wedding and went to Zaxby's. After sitting down to eat I was tired. When I went to bed last night every bone in my body was hurting. I guess from the tension and running around, up and down.

Below are a couple of the shots I got. I need to do some fixing before I print and make cd's for the bride.

This one will be so beautiful in black and white. This little girl is only 6 weeks old.

Mommy and baby.

With the grooms parents.

It will take me awhile to edit and pick out the best ones for them. I need a quick lesson in Photoshop!

Lots of fun and I wish them a long loving marriage!

SO COOL!

I haven't had the time or energy lately to blog, but I have missed you guys.

Are y'all struggling with fatigue lately? It seems like all the girls at the office and even Scott have been tired all the time. It must be the weather, I can't seem to get enough sleep. I could probably use some real exercise too!

I have wanted to post these photos for a couple of weeks. I think I told you about Scott getting a hunting camera that attaches to a tree in the deer woods. He bought it while we were in Branson. Below are a few shots that he got from this camera.

Isn't that the coolest thing! Apparently the camera is quiet and is motion censored. To bad it doesn't have sound, then we could answer the age old question of "Does a tree make a sound when it falls in the forest"..... ha ha ha

We just finished watching Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior on Disney. Such a cute show or movie or whatever it is. Coco has seen it several times but this was my first. I am more of the Zach and Cody fan. Speaking of them, they are going to be at the Rogers Sam's club on Saturday.

Off to dreamland!

Blessings,

Pam

NOTES FROM BETH MOORE SIMULCAST

I promised that I would share my notes from the simulcast with Beth Moore.

She spoke on Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. NIV

She gave us 7 points for this one verse.

1. Nothing dictates our lives like our desires.
What is my hearts desire?
What do I want my life's legacy to be?
These are some hard questions. I go through life just a going on and on and on, I have never stopped to really deep down think about my hearts desires. I want the same thing everyone else wants, health, happiness, my daughter to love the Lord, for her to have a great life, a long loving marriage. So I am meditating on this for a while.

2. Beneath the desires of our hearts is the heart of our desires.
Am I wanting something just to hide something else? God will not say no flippantly to your hearts desire unless it brings glory to him or it is your destiny. What is present in the absence of his answer to your prayer? God knows us way better than we know ourselves.
This is where the faith and trust come in. So hard but so necessary.

Beth always brings scripture to life for me. She digs deep and requires it of you too. That is why I love her studies. I will share more tomorrow .

I have a prayer request. My uncle past away unexpectedly on Sunday night. Please pray for acceptance and peace for our family and especially his 2 sons as they make all the arrangements for his funeral and the life of living without their Daddy.

Blessings,
Pam