Prayers for our friend, Sixmaybemore (Tamri)!

A little over a year ago one of our TMMO friends, Sixmaybemore, was burned out of her home. She, her husband, and their 6 children lost everything in the fire, except their lives. She's gone through a year of pure Hell, and she's done it with such humor and grace!
Last night, her family was burned out of their home AGAIN (see her blog linked from mine). If they didn't lose everythng this time, they came close. It's still too new and too raw for us to know. What I do know is that they were home this time, and that thankfully everyone got out of the house. That's the good news, and Tamri's one to find the good news in most everything. They haven't finished settling with State Farm from the first fire, and now this. The first fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring in their (rental) kitchen. This fire was caused by a hole in the fireplace and faulty venting in their (rental) attic. This is a family who follows all the rules, has tried so hard to follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps, and have been slapped down yet again.

My heart is so heavy for this family right now. Please say a prayer for them, MANY prayers for them, as they know now the long road ahead of them.

Take THAT, Mr. Oil Man!!

So this is our answer to the horrible gas prices we're facing. True, it's not much of an answer and it won't make a HUGE difference in our gas budget, but any little bit helps! We bought Mabry a scooter to ride around town, to/from school, etc. It gets around 80 mpg or so, and will go up to around 55-60 mph. It's perfect for puttering around our small town!

We took it to the colliseum parking lot today to play around on it, practice driving it, and in general staying upright and within the lines! While going straight, it's a blast! It's those danged ol' curves we've gotta watch out for! I got ambitious (and probably overly confident) and actually took it on the road....once! I soon figured out that you shouldn't try waving on it (funny thing happens when you take your hand off the accelerator!), you should go slower around sharp curves because staying on your side of the line is a LOT harder in a turn, and that when turning around, you should give yourself plenty of turning room (that ditch got to me a lot sooner than I expected!).

We're going to take it out often and let Mabry practice many, many times before setting her free on it. We'll also teach Pete to ride it, and hopefully we'll be able to sell Sparky so we can buy a scooter for Pete. He's already picked his out, and it's a whole lot different from Mabry's!

Anybody know anybody who needs a great work truck?

The Color Game

So Mabry has introduced our family to a new game called "The Color Game". In this game, whenever someone burps or passes gas everyone must call out a color. The last person to call out a color has to make an animal noise. So in the middle of the conversation at dinner the other night, Pete calls out, "Blue". Now, no one "heard" the reason, but we all know WHY he said it. So Ryan calls out "Orange", Mabry calls out "Yellow", I call out "Purple", and because Patrick was the last one, he says, "Mooooooo"! LOL. I'm not sure the people at the restaurant understood the game, but their looks sure were entertaining!
It works best in larger groups, of course, so we can't wait to start this game at Thanksgiving! :)

TAGGED!!! Now it's YOUR turn!

Thanks, Laine for tagging me and making me actually have to THINK! That's probably my least favorite activity!!!
Favorite person (outside family)? The Domino's Delivery Person
Favorite food? Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby Ice Cream
Quirks about you? No matter what's going on, I schedule my weekend activities around nap time!
How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? Well, Mabry said I'm forgiving, loving, and merciful, but she was being a smart aleck!
Any regrets in life? That we didn't find Dave Ramsey and his plan sooner...YEARS sooner!
Favorite Charity/ Cause? St. Jude and The American Cancer Society
Favorite Blog recently? Tamri cracks me up! Her life is one challenge after another and yet she just keeps on finding the humor in all of it!
Something you can’t get enough of? Peace and quiet! :)
Worst job you’ve ever had? Working as a property manager in Savannah, GA. The stress of that job put me in the hospital!
What job would you pay NOT to have? Sucking out sewer tanks
If you could be a fly on the wall, where? The men's locker room at the gym? :)*
Favorite Bible verse right now? "Love One Another" I don't know what verse that is, but it's the only one I know by heart and I say it to my kids all the time!
Guilty Pleasure? Soaking in the hot tub!
Got any confessions? Who, me?
If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? I would have this excess skin removed and a boob lift. Hey, you said spending it on ME, so I'm taking it literally! :)
Favorite thing about your house? The open floorplan
Least favorite thing about your house? The neighborhood!
One thing you are bad at? Finishing projects
One thing you’re good at? Starting projects
If you could change something about your circumstances, what? I'd have more saved for college, and a paid off house!
What makes you feel sexy? My t-shirt and boxers
Who is your real life hero? Probably my coworker, Von. She is the most spirit-filled person I know and she refuses to gossip no matter how I try to prod her!
What is the hardest part of your job? Staying on top of the tiny little details, both at work AND at home!
When are you most relaxed? Definitely at the beach
What stresses you out? Unexpected changes in schedules send me over the edge! I need at least 2-3 days notice if the kids want to do something or go somewhere, and God help them if it changes before they leave!
What can you not live without? Air conditioning
Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? I didn't read the article, but I don't really think there's anything narcissistic about people who blog. I think it's an excellent way to write down your thoughts, keep abreast of what's going on in other people's lives and lets others keep up with what's going on in yours.
Why do you blog? Because my sister Laine challenged me to!
Who are you tagging?
New/Newer bloggers : Meghan (and I'd love to tag Laura if she'd ever start a blog!!!)
Bloggy friends : Tamri and Peacebug (as soon as she gets her blog up!)
Bloggers you’d like to get to know better - I'm still too new to this to know many bloggers.
Bloggers who you don't think will respond, but you hope will --See above
Rules:
1. Answer the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category.New/ newer bloggers (since we want to share the love and send them traffic)Bloggy friendsBloggers you’d like to get to know betterBloggers you don’t think will respond, but you hope will

A Perfect Day!!!

Happy Birthday to ME! I had such a wonderful day today! I started the day off by sleeping late ('til 5 a.m!) and going to workout at the gym. I had a couple of quiet hours at home before going to get my hair done, then Patrick and Mabry took me to lunch for Mexican food. YUM!!! I really tried to behave, and even ordered a tossed salad to go with my grilled chicken quesadilla, but they never brought the salad. Oh darn!

After lunch, I went shopping for some new clothes. I had told myself I wouldn't buy any new clothes until late June or early July, but I caved. I found such cute outfits and they FIT and I just couldn't help myself! After a short little fashion show for Mabry at home, I went for a full hour-long massage, compliments of Patrick. Now, I've had high-dollar massages before, but none were as thorough as this $55 one! Holy smokes, we're re-working the budget in June to fit in a visit for Patrick and I each month!

From the massage I went straight to the chiropractor, and I'm happy to say she seems to finally be making progress on my back! She's a tiny little thing no bigger than a cricket, but she sure can adjust my big ol' self!

Upon arriving home, Ryan, Pete, and Pete's friends Cameron, Miranda, Caitlyn, Jack and Jack's little sister Sydney serenaded me with a beautiful birthday song. Jack played the "drums" on Pete's truck, Sparky. We all came inside and ate some of the beautiful cake Mabry made (pictured above; the side reads "Your Da Bomb"...did she really mis-spell "your"?!), and it was SO good. I have no problem having desert before dinner!

Oh my goodness, I mustn't forget to tell you about the TWO sweet olive bushes Patrick bought me! I love the smell of sweet olive; it always reminds me of home and Daddy. We've got to find the perfect spot in which to plant them. I can't wait for them to bloom!!!

All in all, it was the perfect day....yeah, it was all about me, but I figure once a year ain't gonna hurt! :)

Musicians Surround Us!

And I LOVE it!!! I love that my kids got their musical talents from my mom!
This past weekend was May Fair at the park, and the High School Jazz band played a concert. Pete plays bass in the jazz band, and baritone in the symphonic band and tuba in the marching band. I'm convinced that boy can play anything he puts his hands on!! There's no video linked to this because I couldn't get Youtube to play nice!
Mabry has the voice of an angel, and we love to hear her sing! She can also play a little piano, but doesn't play nearly as much as she sings. She's destined for greatness, that one! :)
Ryan plays trombone and he can really rock that thang! Recently they had the Jr. High Jazz Concert where he won Most Outstanding Jazz Band Member. They gave him a quick solo part, which you can see here:

New Parenting Technique

Well, when one thing doesn't work you just keep trying 'til you find something that does. We've been trying and trying and trying to get Ryan to understand about PDA (Public Displays of Affection). Seems when he and his GF get together they can't keep their hands off each other, and this is a small town where people talk! So since talking to the boy didn't work, we decided to show him. Last night was Awards Night at his school, with all his friends there...and his dad and I, showing him what PDA is! LOL...yeah, I think he gets it now.

Staking Tomatoes

"Have you ever grown tomtaoes? You have to keep the plants up with a cage or stake so the tomatoes don't sit on the ground. If they do, they rot. You spend all this time preparing the soil, planting, weeding, watering, working, and then you lose the fruit of your hard work 'cause the tomatoes rotted on the ground without a tomato stake. " These words are from one of my Dave Ramsey friends, making an analogy between tomatoes and parenting. She hit the nail on the head with this one. My kids need staking! They need us to be their stakes so they don't rot on the ground. This is not going to be an easy feat; it's going to be hard and very time consuming!

I believe our experiment will start with Ryan and his girlfriend, who seem to be moving way too fast! I don't know exactly how we'll work this, but the plan is to be with them as much as possible when they're together. Less time alone means...well....less time alone! So by being with them, we will act as their "stakes" and hold them up out of the dirt. :)* Think it'll work? I wonder if we can convince Ryan to pay for mine and Patrick's tickets when we go with them to the movies?

In other news I finally got my mini-garden planted last weekend. Patrick and the kids surprised me by building me a planter box since I can't do much on my knees anymore. I planted tomatoes (they're not staked yet but they will be when the time comes....just like my kids!), zuchini squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, and various herbs. Take a good look at the picture, y'all. This will likely be the last time you see them GREEN. This is my third attempt at starting a garden; the 2 previous attempts ended up in the trash in the form of 30 peat pods that had sprouted beautifully, only to have me kill them all overnight! Hmmm.....maybe there's a thought for my kids!