Here I Am....Will You Send Me An Angel...

I've just recently heard a song by the group Scorpions...it's called "Send Me An Angel", I don't know what it is, but I'm captivated by it, the melody is so haunting. I've never really listened to a lot of "rock" groups so to speak, but once in a while, I hear something from them that just stops me in my tracks. The lyrics to the song are incredible. "Here I am, in the land of the morning star, would you send me an angel" Could the "land of the Morning Star" be a reference to the middle east? The "Angel" could be a requests for prayers or comfort from God. This song could easily be interpreted as a comfort song for the soldiers right now even though it was written a while ago...I dunno, maybe that's just me. Songs are powerful tools to show our emotions when we just don't feel like talking. Again...this could just be me. I really wish I had a MP3 player so that I could listen to music while I'm at school during my break. I'm sure it would get used a LOT!

Speaking of school, I start tomorrow!! I finally decided to load up my backpack on wheels....IT'S NOT BIG ENOUGH!!! I still don't even have my Algebra book in there and it's busting at the seams....*sigh* I went to Ebags.com and found one that would be perfect, only thing is the price, it's not quite so perfect...$80. Personally, "I" think it's worth it because I'm gonna be there all day w/ all my books to haul around. Last year, my classes were broken up between 2 different buildings, so I could easily use 2 different bags. Hauling 2 would be rather annoying this year since I'm only going to be at the main campus.

I'm sad because I'm going to miss ALL of Emily's basketball games. I've heard comments from 2 family members that actually kind of hurt my feelings....yes, it's well known around here how much I detest basketball, but I LOVE my kids and want to be there to support and cheer for them, I respect and support what they like to do. I've been going to basketball games since Jon started playing. No, I don't like the game, but hey, even I know when the ref's are in need of new glasses!!!! I will, however, be able to make it to Alex's football games. I think their team is gonna do VERY well this year! (As well as the Varsity team) I'll keep y'all updated on the scores I'm sure ;)

I just thought of something, lol, "Yes Sarah, I'm listening to something other than "Phantom of the Opera" right now" :) ("Every Breath You Take" by The Police right now)

This pic is of me at the race down at Michigan International Speedway, of course, I'm in front of Ryan Newman's car :)

I do believe that I'm gonna quit for today for I have to go to that lovely place where whites get white and brights get bright....ok, it's not that great, but someone's gotta do the laundry.

Y'all send an Angel to someone today.
Love Ya :)

Algebra....yuck

I'm so envious of people that understand math. I would gladly give up half of my skills to understand math. Monday starts a new season of anxiety. It's amazing to me how people can look me straight in the eye and tell me how easy it all is and how I'll "catch on" to it easy enough. My reply is still....."I'd rather give birth!" I really should be careful with my words though ;) I just hope that my math teacher is very understanding and helpful. I looked her up on that ratemyprofessor.com site, she had a pretty high ranking. I guess all I can do is my best.

YAYYYYYYY, I finally have my Phantom of the Opera DVD back!! I had completely forgotten that I had lent it out to Isaiah, we've been tearing the house apart for a couple of weeks now looking for it! He brought it to Alex's football game last night, I was so excited! Guess what we're watching as I blog.......YUP!!!! It's awesome, the chadelier is coming down now as I type....ahhhhhh, the suspense of it all. Of course, I'll have to listen to the cd in a little while as I bake. (Yes Sarah, I'm a pathetic, lost in the opera, soul!!)

Speaking of Alex's football game, they did GREAT last night! They played Oscoda, which is either ranked A or B, I'm not quite sure. They beat them 41 - 0. Alex didn't score last night, but it was amazing to see how much faster he is this year compared to last year. When they gave the ball to Jaron to run, Alex came from 10 yards behind, passed him and then blocked for him. And they think Jaron is fast!! You know what would be awesome?!?! A Kelly/Lutz relay team this year in track!! Could you imagine?! I wonder if Mr. Loga can be bribed or at the very least blackmaled, muwahahahahaha!!! Seriously, Alex, Ben, Justin, and Brandon.....that would be a fantastic relay team! Now, the question is, can we talk Ben into participating in track? Hmmmmm.

Well, looks like I have to cut this short for today, maybe I'll come back later, edit and add.

Y'all dream and think happy thoughts,
Love Ya :)

Big Dogs vs. Little Dogs

What is it about bigger dogs that most people like? Is it the security that they seem to offer? Yes, big dogs do offer a lot of security! And then there's Abby....(my black lab type of dog) how many ways can we say "stupid"? I would really like to take her to obediance school, I think it would help my shoulders out a lot when I have her on the leash! I think she would make a great sled dog. When I was growing up, we always had Toy Poodles...no, not a stuffed animal...just a nice little lap size dog. I loved my poodle, her name was Puff. She was named this because when she was a teenie puppy, she looked just like a little puff ball. Little dogs offer a different kind of security, they just kind of sit on your lap and love you for who you are (and when you're gonna feed them next, lol), they expect nothing from you except your unconditional love, they offer up that excitement when they see you come home. *sigh* We won't even go into the topic of cats!! Don't get me wrong, I love my cats, but Sweetie is the type of cat that loves you when it's good for her, not until then!

Well, Phantom of the Opera found its way back into the cd player :) we listened to it twice yesterday, once already today. I'm sure as soon as I finish up here, I'll be making my way into the kitchen to work on Orange Marmalade and the cd player will be blasting "The Phantom" again!!!!!!! We did listen to a couple of other cd's but, "The Phantom" always seemed to win its place back into our ears.

I was very sad yesterday...lots of different reasons, but one imparticular was that a friend of mine from chat lost her 4 year old son. He was born with a bad heart, I can't remember the exact complication, but in his 4 years of life he went through more than any one person should in their entire lifetime. He died in his mother's arms suddenly this past Thursday and they laid him to rest on Sunday. I can't imagine the pain that Jenn is going through, I pray that I never have to. My thought and prayers are with her and her family. It's amazing the way some people say that you don't really know the people you meet in chat, but if that's so, why is my heart breaking for her and why am I crying real tears?

I have to stop for now, I can't write anymore.

Y'all BE SAFE!
Love Ya :)

What a weekend!

The title says it all...whew...what a weekend! The weekend started off with a fun run though of the draft for my fantasy football league. I went into this not knowing what exactly to do, but I think that I ended up with a pretty good team, DEFINATELY a couple of better choices than a couple of people on our league made *snickering*. Anywho...Saturday morning we left for Brooklyn...as in Michigan...to go and watch the NASCAR Busch race, it was so hot and humid there, ugh! While we were watching the qualifying rounds for the cup race it started to rain...there were only about 5 cars left to qualify, if it didn't stop raining and let them finishe qualifying then the starting order of the race would go by points and poor Joe Nemechek would have lost the position that he just earned (he hit the wall later on all by himself later in the race). To make things short, they finished qualifying and Joe kept his pole position. Ryan Newman qualified 5th :) With all the rain they got saturday morning at the track, they didn't get to qualify for the Busch race and lined up according points which put Ryan to the back of the field, 39th. He (Ryan) made his way all the way up to the front of the pack and ended up winning the race!!! WOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I just wish he could have done as well on Sunday at he cup race. That race was just rediculous, the finish came down to who had enough gas to finish the race, yes, I know, it's a gamble that Ryan made before and won, but, who on earth would think that Jeremy Mayfield would win????????NOT ME!!! If anyone, I thought Stewart had a good chance to pull off another win. Oh well, there's always next year.

From sitting out in the sun for 2 days in a row I think it's safe for you to assume that yes, I did get another sunburn...that makes what? 4 burns this summer alone...more than I've had in the last few years altogether! My lips got burnt so bad that they're blistering as we speak, it's not a very pleasant feeling either. SO, it turns out that I have blisters on my toes from walking so much to blisters on my lips from too much sun. Oh, and for all you people that say, "You should have worn sunblock" I DID!! I even reapplied half way through the race, especially on my face because I could feel the sun burning me. I think next year I'm just gonna wear a sombraro :)

There's so many people leaving soon and it makes me terribly sad :( I've had such an enjoyable summer getting to know Sarah better that I don't want her to leave to go back to college. I don't think she's even gonna think twice about going back to Maize and Blue country though ;) BethAnne will be leaving to go to...well...she's going to that "other" place in Michigan, (love ya BethAnne), Hannah already left to go for training for her mission trip to Argentina, another friend of mine leaves tomorrow for Iraq, my thoughts and prayers definately go with you!!! With all of you.

I start school in one week. I'm happy to be going, it'll take my mind off of things, even if it is only for 2 days a week.

Did I mention that my lips hurt? I think I need to go to the store and get some stuff for them.

I think I'm gonna get going now, I can't think of anything else to talk about that wouldn't be depressing or sad.

Y'all take care, be safe and call someone special,
Love Ya :)

The Decisions of Youth....

What is it that kids are thinking when they make the choices they make? I mean, I remember being young and understand how unfair some circumstances may seem....HOWEVER!!!!.......when someone is "giving" you a truck and another is offering to pay for your Driver's Training AND insurance on said truck and all you have to do is play football...and you even have to question it? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING????????????????????? "I" would even play football!!! I just don't understand. Driver's Ed is $237, Insurance...well, considering you're 16, insurance could be a few times the cost of learning to drive and that's only for 6 months.....I think you better start to think a little bit more ;)

OK, now that I've vented a little bit about that I think I can go on to something else. This morning started out with me flipping eggs again, I seem to be serving as entertainment as well as breakfast. It's all good though, at least they think I'm good for something for a short period of time. I was even told this morning that I ruined perfectly good strawberry jam by adding raspberries to it....this person didn't even TRY my jam so I think they need to keep quiet. In a while, I'm gonna go out and pick a LOT of choke cherries since there are a lot of trees around here and they're all FULL! I just love the free fruit, it makes the jam making process even more enjoyable. Did you know that the bark, leaves and pits of the choke cherry tree and fruit have the chemical that produces cyanide? No worries though, because once the fruit is cooked, all harmful chemicals are diminished. WHEW!!!! I think Choke Cherry jelly is gonna be very pretty in the jars, they're such a beautiful red!! I'm sure I'll let ya know.

Tomorrow is gonna be lovely! 3 kids are going to go to Grandma's house...woo hooooo..it's gonna be so quiet tomorrow evening. I'll be able to concentrate on the draft process for my fantasy football league. I really have NO idea what the heck I'm doing yet with that league or why I even signed up for it. Oh well, I guess I'll just have fun, perhaps even learn a little. Did I mention that the race at MIS is this weekend? YAYYYYY...

What is it about bananas that's so enjoyable? Hmmmmm. I guess banana bread is a good start, potassium, yellow, exotic, well, you get the idea, maybe.

Fall is creeping up on us here in Michigan. It's starting to get dark earlier now, the mornings are getting to be very cool too. I don't mind, I think fall is my favorite season.

AC/DC is enjoyable sometimes. It reminds me of being a teenager. Makes me think about my brother too, he used to play it all the time. Especially the "Back in Black" album. My favorite AC/DC album is "Who Made Who" which happens to be the sountrack for the movie "Maximum Overdrive". Guess what Sarah!?!?! I'll bet that's gonna be in my CD player later on ;)

*sigh* I guess it's laundry day....at least it shouldn't be too hot in the laundramat today, I don't think it's but 70 degrees outside right now, although, they say it's supposed to get up into the 80's. We'll see.

Time for me to quit for today. Too much to do to get ready for the weekend, I better get busy.

Y'all take the time to enjoy a banana today,
Love Ya :)

What's Next?

I have finished Blueberry jam, Strawberry/Raspberry jam, and Black Sweet Cherry jam, what should I do next? I was thinking that I should do my one batch of Orange Marmalade. I'm the only one in my house that eats it which is why I would only make one batch, but it's all good. I can't make my Apple and Crab Apple jelly until after the first frost, same for Grape jelly so I have to figure out what IS in season and get busy while I'm still in the jamming mood. I was pretty bummed for a while last night because it looked like I was gonna end up with Cherry syrup instead of jam, but this morning ALL of my jars were sealed and nicely thickened.

Do the kids really like baling, stacking and unstacking the hay and straw? Sure, they're gonna make some good money by the time they're done, but I just hope that they're not getting used simply because they can't find anybody else to work. I don't think Ben and Alex have a problem, but is it too long a time for Em to be doing that? She hasn't complained, nor do I think she will simply because she doesn't wanna look weak in front of her brothers and Kyle. (Kyle may as well be one of her brothers, lol) She's been stacking and unloading right along side the guys, but yesterday, she was out there all day, they didn't even get home until after dark. I dunno, I guess I shouldn't say anything until she comes to me first. She's tough.

I think Em thinks I'm an egg flipping genius :) She's been doing a great job cooking eggs for the two younger siblings and herself, but she still has a little trouble flipping the eggs. She just ran out into the kitchen to watch me to see how I flip them (Ben wanted some eggs but can't yet make them himself....yet), she was waiting for me to pick up the spatula, however, I don't use a spatula, lol, she was standing there with her mouth hanging open when I flipped them in the pan!!!! "How...did...you...do...that???" was her question. Ahhhh, I love it when they think you're special for something to me that seems so mundane ;) Her and Alex used to think it was great that I could crack eggs with one hand, but they both can do it now. I guess I'm a good teacher in some respects. Egg flipping is something that I don't really wanna have them trying right now though, lol, that could be quite messy!!!!!!!!!

I'm bored now, I guess I'll go and figure out my next jamming conquest.

Y'all have a great day and eat a PBJ (w/fresh jam of course)
Love Ya :)

The Cost of Books!?!?!

Wow! I got up early this morning (6:30 AM) to go down to Delta and get my books for school and to try to sell my psych book from last semester back to the bookstore. Upon arriving, we had to drive around to the other side of the school because they were redoing the road on the one side of the school. No biggie, just park on the other side of the school. Ok, I guess it would be helpful to have actually been in that side of the school to know where I was and which way I had to go to get to where I wanted to be....yes, I know, Delta isn't that big, but even the wonderful lady that saw my confusion admitted that the reconstruction of that wing was confusing for her at first(I found my way out perfectly btw). When we got down to the book buy back room, they informed me that they were no longer buying back that version of psych book because it was outdated...I guess I have a good reference book for my next psych class. Anywho....I bought 3 text books, one of them being a paperback, 2 workbooks, and a packet for Child Psych and the total came to $322.03. I still have to go back for my Algebra book because they didn't have it in stock. She figured that it would be about $100 for that book too. Oh yeah, the Spanish text book was used too!! My Child Psych book is the most expensive one so far at $99.10.

I got 2 more batches of blueberry jam done last night. I think I have enough blueberries left for one more batch of jam and a blueberry pie. I have to make some strawberry jam and then black cherry. If I put my mind to it, I should be able to get it done today, we'll see how distracted I get though :)

I'm still in shock from yesterday, actually a little disappointed. I asked Alex if he wanted to go and play tennis with me, he said, "No, I don't wanna, I don't feel like it." He said he bought the extra racket for me so that I would go and play tennis with him and then when I ask, he says no!!!!!!!!! I talked to Arthur later yesterday evening and he said he would have gone and played tennis with me, so would his ma. I guess I know who to ask from now on :(

Christen has been complaining about her mouth burning when she eats. Hmmmm, she just came over and showed me where it hurts, seems that she has a lovely little cankar sore....those things really suck! I've only ever had 2 in my life, other people in this household seem to have them ALL the time, I guess most of the kids didn't inherit the better genes ;)

WOOO HOOOOOOOOOO, 5 days till I leave for Michigan International Speedway!! Busch race on Saturday, Nextel Cup race on Sunday! I have to be sure that my bike is all ready to go! I just hope that I don't end up with a shin splint like I did last year from riding and walking so much. That was not an enjoyable month or more after the race, especially since I had Fencing class, that was a bit painful. All in all though, I guess it was worth it, I mean, c'mon, it was for the RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I have to finish for now, I have to find the cankar sore stuff to numb up Christen's mouth so she can eat.

Y'all find the time to smile today,
Love Ya :)

Aging Sucks!

I think my title is quite self explanatory. Sure, with age comes wisdom, but it also comes with little aches and pains that just don't go away. When they first start you think, oh, I must of pulled something...but, that pull just never goes away. When you're young, you tend to roll your eyes at "older" people that complain about arthritis....well, that is until you're the one that's doing all the aching!!!! I'm so tired of my neck constantly being out of place, and now between my shoulders. I know that the main problem for this is easy to remedy. GET RID OF THE WATERBED!!!!!! The day I went to the chiropractor I felt great, until about 10 minutes after I went to bed, hmmmm, yup, I'm 99.9% sure that if I got a regular mattress, a lot of my "aging" aches and pains would be alleviated!(sp) I would miss the warmth of climbing into a waterbed, but heck, I'll just get an electric blanket if I miss it that much!

I wish I could find the enjoyment that I once had in online racing. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy it, but now it seems like such a chore to just get in there. I was VERY happy when I got in there to race last night, but circumstances and a sucky race changed that. I ended up blowing a camshaft which finished my race, however, I think that had a lot to do with a stupid wreck that caught me. Oh well, there's always next week. I guess I better enjoy it while I can because once I start school, I'm not sure just how much racing I'm gonna do.

Alex has decided to learn guitar. We ordered a guitar for him from Ebay yesterday morning. Now, he keeps bugging me by asking me,"How long will it take to get here?" , "Did they ship it express?", "Did they ship it already?" OYE!! I think he finally got the clue that I didn't want to hear another question when the look I have him burned a hole in the wall behind him!

Well, since I got my new running shoes yesterday, does that mean I need to start running? Yeah, I thought so. I think I'll start by walking the first part, then jog the way back home. Hopefully, someone will come along and find my body after I die trying, lol. I've lost another 4 lbs and it feels good. I want to keep it off, along with taking off another 15 or so.

There's no milk this morning, which means that a couple of kids are really griping at me to fix them some eggs, so, I think I need to take a lil break right now and go do that........well, that was fun. I was gonna make them yolk eggs, but one of the yolks broke in the pan, so, they got scrambled :) I don't think they really care though because they're happily eating! (which means they're quiet ;) )

I think we'll go to the park today and play some tennis. Ok, so it won't really be like I'm playing "real" tennis, but it is good exercise to get out there and pretend isn't it? Alex will be happy to go too, so, it's all good! And on that note, I'm gonna finish for now, I'll let ya know how tennis went!

Y'all have fun,
Love Ya :)

Fantasy Football and Banana Bread

Hmmmm, what could Fantasy Football and Banana Bread possibly have in common? Well, that's been my morning so far. I'm listening to my favorite online radio and the morning show is talking about fantasy football and while they're talking about football I'm sitting here eating "fresh" banana bread. (best batch I've made yet if I do say so myself!!!) Now, the question is, should I actually try fantasy football? Am I really qualified enough to make a fool of myself? Ok, no need to answer that last question!!!!!!!

You really have to love the tenacity of little kids. Christen and D were so happy to help with dinner, they wanted to help shuck the corn...well, I sit there thinking, "WOO HOOO, I don't have to do it!!" OH MY! well, they did it, finally got it done after 2 hours, lol. I did keep telling them how good a job they were doing, and they did do a fine job ;)

What is it about The Phantom of the Opera that I can't get enough of? I am so addicted to the soundtrack that I'll probably have to go and buy a new copy of it pretty soon because I've worn out the first one! I also need to find the movie in the VHS format, which I'll probably have to do online because nobody seems to want to carry VHS anymore, they're all into DVD. This wouldn't be so much a problem except for the fact that the little tv in my room has a built in video player. I guess I could always buy a small DVD player for my room, but, even so, I still want "Phantom" on VHS ;) (thank you Ross for bringing Phantom to my attention!!) Today I think I'll stray a little from Phantom and listen to the cd that I burned the day before yesterday. Sarah and I found a bunch of Rockapella songs and decided to make a cd for each of us :), we did however opt to delete the Michael Jackson medely. (a very good option!)

Why did I forget to buy dish soap yesterday???????????? Now there's a huge pile-up in the kitchen....OYE! Mind you, it doesn't take but one day for there to be a huge pile-up of dishes in this house, especially when there are 2 extra people here. I guess a trip to the store better be one of the first things on my to-do list for today!

I hope it doesn't rain anymore today, well, at least not until it's time to go and do laundry. I want to go for a moped ride today. I really need to get a helmet with a shield...those little bugs sure do hurt when you're going top speed and I really don't need the extra protein from them flying into my mouth! It's bad enough picking them out of my hair! At least they're just little bugs and not June bugs!

I'm out of ideas now, so, I think I'll go and find stuff to write about tomorrow.

Y'all enjoy the day and give someone a hug today!
Love Ya :)

Bacon and French Toast

Well, yesterday was Emily's big "I'm a teenager now" birthday. She had 2 of her friends spend the day and night which was a little loud at times!! I had the pleasure of free entertainment with all 3 girls dancing to "Love Shack" that was interesting, lol. This morning Em decided to make French Toast and Bacon for breakfast, I wish it were for lunch because right now, it smells good, but I just don't think I could eat it, especially the bacon......

Ok, so my last post didn't seem to be a big deal to some people, well pooey on you :p The way I had it explained to me at first on how to post a pic in here seemed like Greek and that's one language I've not yet taken!!! (psssssssst, Ben, rethink your future career on writing instruction manuals!!) Thank you again Sarah :) and I would also like to thank Sarah for the following 2 pics she took at one of our bon fires...
Christen and Lyne

Dominic and Lyne

Waking up this morning wasn't very nice...it was 6 AM and Jon had just taken the dog out, she decided it was a good time to start barking non-stop! Of course, I asked him to bring her back in then put my earplugs in and went back to sleep for another 3 hours. I guess those earplugs work pretty good! The strange thing is, I heard a music box playing when I woke up. Could I have heard it or was I in the middle of a dream? I did have earplugs in after all. Those kinds of dreams are strange. They're actually a little unsettling because you "know" you heard something but did you really? *sigh* one of lifes unanswered questions.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWW, ok, that was just sickening!! I just looked out into the kitchen and one of the girls just dipped her bacon into her syrup.....*gag*....that's just nastyyyyyyy, syrup belongs on the french toast or pancakes, NOT MEAT!!!!

I'm a little excited for Monday to come, I'm finally gonna go to Delta and get my books for school!!!!!!!! WOO HOOOO, I love to sit and skim through my books before I actually have to go to classes. I think that Spanish is gonna be my favorite class this fall. I'm actually starting to think about my winter classes. It's entirely possible to start planning that far ahead. I really would like to take some computer classes that way I won't have to ask for help to post a simple pic.

I think I'm gonna be busy in a couple of minutes here so I better end this post now.

Y'all have fun and stay cool,
Love Ya :)

I learned a new trick :)

I'm sitting here with Sarah right now and she's gonna teach me a new trick, it's called....posting pictures!!!! Woo hoooooo, I'm excited...so, here we go....this is gonna be a pic of me with "Demon" the bug I brought back from Florida...

Well, here we go...wish me luck ;)

P.S..Demon is the one on the rock :p

Jam Session

Well, after going blueberry picking Saturday morning, I've finally started making jam. Last night I finished 2 batches and still have about 7 or more to go. I always dread the start of this time of year, but once I get going into it, it's not so bad, I actually enjoy it. It's a great feeling to look at everything you've finished making and knowing how much better it is for your family. One of my favorite things about making jam is the anticipation of the "pop", I sit there and wait to hear the little popping noise, happy because now I know it's sealed and ready to go!! I need to get up to my ma's house and pick all the Chokecherries from her trees up there, I really want to try to make jelly from those. I had it once when I was little, a longgggggg time ago, but I do remember liking it. It's always fun to find the fruit that you don't have to pay much for, if anything, it really cuts the cost of the jam/jelly down. I know I have Chokecherry trees around here, but I need 4 lbs of them and anyone that knows what I'm talking about knows that a Chokecherry is smaller than a pea. My ma has a big tree behind her garage and a few smaller ones all around. Where I grew up in Frederic, there was a HUGE Chokecherry tree right next to my house, ahhhhhhhhh, the memories of climbing that tree will be with me forever I hope. I don't think there were many trees around that place that I didn't climb, much to my ma's dismay!! (she's very afraid of heights) I'm not sure why my ma being afraid of heights was supposed to have anything to do with me climbing trees, I guess she just thought she may have to rescue me or something. HAHAHA, I never needed rescuing, I was the perpetual tomboy....maybe that's why I enjoy making jam and baking so much now, I never did the "girly" things when I was little. I was more into torturing little critters.....muwahahahahaha. Ok, change of subject before I get into trouble for my childhood!!!

It is official, we have new neighbors. I had mixed feelings about having new neighbors, wondering if they would be really snobby and complain about everything that goes on back here, would they complain about our kids, dog, and cats? As it turns out Ken and Sandy are very nice :) I feel really sorry for them though because there's a LOT of work that needs to be done to get the house down there ready to move into. I'm pretty sure they're up to the task, they've been taking care of houses for a while now. They have 9 rental houses up in Tawas and Ken is a retired plumbing and heating man, so, there shouldn't be anything they can't handle! They've been really nice to the kids when they see them too.

Tomorrow is the big birthday day...Em is walking around trying to make all kinds of plans for the day, baking w/ her friends (she asked to make her own birthday cake), bonfire, funland, sleepover....OYE!! a gaggle of giggling girls. I just hope her main gift gets here on time, I got an email from the place and they say projected delivery is the 11th, but maybe, just maybe they'll get it here tomorrow. Either way, I don't think she'll care if it gets here tomorrow or Thursday, she's gonna be thrilled with it! It's the ONLY thing she wanted, so, she better like it. (nahhh, I did get her a couple other things to go along with it). I don't know what to get the birthday boy though, well, I have a few hours left to decide, lol. At the very least, I do know I have to bake a cherry pie ;)

I'm thinking that I need to get out into the kitchen and resume my jam session, maybe I'll even throw in some AC/DC and make it a double jam session.

Y'all make the most of your day and stay safe,
Love Ya :)

Smileys to the Extreme :)

Ok, so maybe liking smileys as much as I do is a little juvenile, do I really care? No! Do I care if people think that I'm acting childish because I painted my toenails yellow and drew smiley faces on my big toe nails? Heck No!!! Although, I do have to say that yellow polish on toe nails is a little, ummmm, unnatural, lol, but it's all good :)

I still think that I need to get a job at WalMart so that I can get those awesome smiley pins for free. I wonder how long you have to work there before you can actually start getting them....it would definately be worth working there, free pins and a paycheck, then I could get myself a cell phone that works everywhere, or at the very least, works!

Emily is fighting a strong campaign right now for what she wants for her birthday. At first she wanted basketball shoes, a folder, and a pinata. NOW, she says the ONLY thing she wants is an authentic "Jennie Finch" softball jersey. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if it didn't cost $119.oo. I was given the ok to get it for her, but dang, I dunno. It's healthy for kids to have a sports hero like that but at what cost? I think it's rediculous how much they can get away with charging for things, especially when kids are involved. Right now on ebay, there are a few different autographed Finch jerseys, one has the buy it now option set at $249.00. WOW!! Isn't it amazing just how much a little bit of Sharpie can bring the price of something wayyyyyyyyyyyyy up!! (Hey Ross, ya better hold on to that work of art you wore to Cedar Point, you have a million dollars worth of Sharpie there bud!!) So, here lies the question, do I get her the shirt she wants? I'm at a loss!


I can't believe it's already the 5th of August, this month is going by too fast :(

Tomorrow starts blueberry season here. I'll probably be getting up around 7 AM to go and pick, have to get there before all of Arenac and Iosco counties get there! **mental note....get my cooler back so I can use it tomorrow** A fresh blueberry pie does sound good too. Not to mention, fresh blueberry jam too. Mmmmm, blueberry cobbler. **another mental note....don't forget the wagon!**

Today has been a lovely respite from the heat, it's actually only in the 70's. Of course the heat is supposed to come back tomorrow. At least I should be done picking berries before the heat really kicks up.

I'm out of thoughts for now, I think I may go for a moped ride since I just got it back today :)

Y'all have a GREAT day and be safe,
Love ya :)