A Little Time off

We are leaving today to go down east for a nice relaxing get away.

Yeah, right!

Actually, we are hoping to be able to get some sun and fun both in while we are away. I am sure I will have some interesting blogging stuff for when I get back so enjoy your week, and I hope I have a lot of pictures.

The Little Girl

This is another one of my daughters stories written in one of her classes.
I was asking her why her stories seem to be, ummm, well, troubled. Her answer was "Mom, it was a really, boring class." So there you have it.
Here's the latest story.


Once upon a time there was a little girl. She was always sad because her dad was an alcoholic and her mother did drugs. She didn't get to go to school because her dad wouldn't let her. So she didn't know how to read. One time she tried to run away, but when her dad found out he would beat her until she passed out. She would wake up with bruises all over her. When she tried to tell her mom, she wouldn't do anything because she was scared of him too. Sometimes people would see bruises, but they didn't do anything. Then one day her mother died, and it made her dad even meaner. He gave her black eyes and one time he broke her arm. So one day the girl got tired of it and she ran away. She stole some of her dads money and left. She stopped at a store and bought food and matches. She lived in the woods, in a tree. Then one day she got a letter from her father. It said that if he could find her he'd make sure she got hurt or killed. The girl didn't know what to do, but then she saw a police car drive by and she ran up to it. She showed them the letter and they arrested her dad. He was hanged. So from then on she was safe and she went to live with her aunt. The end.

OK, here we go again.
Same disclosure, no drugs at our house, and dad isn't an alcoholic, nor does he beat her.
I like my wine, but not more than my kids! Plus, believe me when I say, I am not afraid of him! You did see my mothers day post didn't you. Also, I was a little wary of even putting this up because it may have some people thinking we are bad parents but, if you know me then you know I am not. And if you don't know me ask around, you'll see.

Thoughts on this story.
Why is it always the mom who is on drugs? Men do drugs.
I noticed no one has names in this story. Just mom and dad, and little girl.
Something about these stories are starting to depress me, can't mom just take the little girl and start over somewhere? Did she have to die?

I love my kids!

I love that she went to live in a tree in the woods. Brian's winter. A book she had to read in 4th grade where the little boy was in a plane crash in the Canadian mountains and he had to survive alone in the woods. He lived in a tree. She has threatened to run away and live in the woods, but that was because I was going to make her wear a dress. No bruises involved!
What I really love is that she gets tree mail, just like on Survivor!
The woods must also be near a pretty busy highway to flag down a policeman like that. She is a lucky girl!

What A Bargain!!!

OK, while doing my weekend shopping, I came across a buggy of sale items.

Please LOOK at that price, people.
$4.24!!!!




Now, if this were not my FAVORITE brand of wine, I probably wouldn't have thought that much about it. BUT, it is, and it is GREAT!







Normally, $8.99 a bottle, on sale for $4.24.
Dave would definitely approve!


I will admit this isn't my favorite kind, I am partial to blush, myself, but for the price, I will take it. SOLD!!!
If you haven't tried Duplin wines then you simply must!!










PS. Sherri, I know what you are thinking but it was the FL on 119, and I got every bottle in the buggy.
Stop it, there were only 3.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.









Dads on vacation.










One Cool Dad!

Get it, it's cold, HA! HA! HA!
















I hope everyone has a great Fathers Day!!

My Buddy!

The other day I got an email from a really good friend of mine that I haven't seen in a while.

I guess it may sound a little odd that we are such good friends and yet we haven't seen each other in a while, but I changed jobs and she didn't. She and I worked together at my very first job ever, Winn Dixie and then we both went to work at a bank. We have always, always, always had a great time together wherever we were. I have already told you the embarrassing bathroom story that involved her but oh, there were soooo many more.

When we first started working together at the bank, she was downstairs and I was upstairs. We had a girl leave on maternity leave and she was chosen for the move up. We sat right across from each other with our typewriters facing each other. She was the secretary to the Mortgage loan officer and I was the secretary to the Consumer loan officer. There were only 7 of us total upstairs so we all pretty much helped each other if one was more overworked than the other. It was really a pretty good place to work, we did get called down for laughing or just being too loud at times. But we really didn't care. Once we were sitting at our desks, working away, and my friend stops typing and looks over at me and says, "You know, I read that you can get a nasty infection, if you don't use lubrication." Then she just starts typing like it's no big thing. Keep in mind there is another lady sitting out with us who is about 25 years our senior. I just stared at her, and slowly looked over at the other lady who looked as shocked as I was by the statement. She never said another word about it, we just laughed it off. What a hoot!
We eventually were separated from each other. She stayed out front while I was moved to another office with my boss. I hated it, so I would go sit out there with her and we would talk until someone told me I had to go back to my office. One day, a really cute guy came in to get a car loan. I mean he was tall, with dark wavy hair, dark complexion, just dang good looking. Except for one thing. . . he was wearing overalls, with no shirt. OK, I know, that isn't so bad, I mean he is good looking, but then he was carrying a man purse.
I couldn't take it.

I tried, I mean really tried not to laugh.

It was so hard. I MEAN HARD!!

Then she did it. . .
She kept calling my office telling me to pick up the phone. I picked it up the first time, and she said, I like your boyfriend's pocketbook.
I hung up immediately.

She called again.

I ignored her, but she would call again, and again, until I would answer only to torture me with those pocketbook comments. I couldn't wait for him to leave so I could roll around on the floor laughing. We have had so much fun together. I want to hang out with her again. I need a good laugh, in the last week and a half, all 3 of our vehicles have died. Where is the justice? I don't have enough envelopes for all these disasters, but I will continue to give thanks in everything.
Even this, because it could be worse.

God's Bounty

See men work!



















See Garden grow!
















Reaping the Bounty!

Some People just don't like change!

This summer my schedule at work changes to me only working a few days a week, so after reading all of the smart things people out in the blog world do, then I have sat down and made myself a list of all the "projects" I want to tackle this summer.

I started on Sunday afternoon, I had decided to change the bookcases and mantle decor around. It has been the same since we moved in 14 years ago so I was thinking it might be time for a change. So I just did it. I took everything off the bookshelves and everything off the mantle and started over. I decided on a picture over the mantle (what I had before was an arrangement that my good friend had made for me when we first moved in), it was a great piece, I am keeping it but I just wanted to change it up. Now, there are 2 dear heads that unless I file for divorce, they will probably stay up until he moves them into the bedroom.

I just rearranged the bookcases, and moved pictures around. But it does look better if I do say so myself. I should have taken a picture. But I didn't. Anyway, my daughter and son walked in from youth group while I was taking everything down and my daughter immediately told me to stop she hated it already. What was I doing changing everything around? I, of course, told her that since her dad and I made the house payments, I could do what I wanted to the house. She persisted, but finally gave in to the fact that I wasn't changing it back. Why is that? Why does it matter to her what the living room looks like? In reality, it wasn't that different. But the thought of change is difficult for her. My son on the other hand is like the polar opposite, he could care less what it looks like. Do you think it could be a man thing? Hmmmm, maybe.

I still have some other projects to do, like paint a dresser that we have had 4ever! I also want to paint my kitchen cabinets. I will definitely take pictures of that.

Captain Tory!

Another Story from my daughters classwork.


There once was a man named Tory and he was the Captain of the Pearl Harbor. He built it when he was a kid. When he was building it he lost one of his legs from birds pecking it off. So he had to whittle a leg out of a tree. Captain Tory was a hobo, so he had to live in Pearl Harbor. Sometimes he would get lost in it because it was so big. When he got older he went to war with the Pearl Harbor. He got people to fight with him. They fought many times over many battles. Then one day Captain Troy woke up getting ready to fight, but he couldn't find his leg. He started hopping around looking for it everywhere. Then accidentally, he fell down some of the stairs and started rolling until he hit something and fell in the water. One of his crew pulled him out by his leg because he was about to drown. Then, all of a sudden, they heard a gunshot. It hit Captain Tory in his arm. All of his men started running out getting ready for war. Captain Tory hopped up getting ready to fire. People were shooting cannon balls all over the place, and one knocked somebodys head off. Then all of a sudden someone shot a firecracker at the boat and it blew up. It killed Captain Troy and all of his crew. Nobody could ever find his leg.

Here is another story from my wonderfully imaginative daughter. Just a few of my thoughts on this story.
Tory? I don't know where she came up with that name.
Now, we have a very close friend who only has one leg, but it's not wooden. That must be from all those Pirates of the Carribean movies.
Pearl Harbor, that name must have stuck out from a previous history class. Also relates to Pirates of the Carribean movie, only that was the Black Pearl.
The man who got his head knocked off with the cannon ball? I really don't remember the name of the movie that was from, but I know I saw it on a movie!
Final note, Captain Tory was a hobo. If you ask my kids what they are going to be when they grow up, this is always the first answer that comes out of their mouth. What good parenting skills I must have.

Strictest Parents

CMT has a new show that has been coming on called "Strictest Parents". When I get home from work in the afternoons, this is usually what my kids are watching so I will sometimes sit down and watch it with them. If you haven't seen the show it's kind of like The Nanny, for teenagers. They take two kids, a boy and a girl, and send them to a house that has really strict parents.

After watching this show a few times, I realized the strict parents weren't really all that strict, they just expected to be treated with respect. Oooooohhhh, what a concept, treating adults with respect. Who thought of that one?

The amazing part is the way the teenagers react to someone else who isn't their parent. At first they usually try the same thing that they did at home, like back talking, or cursing at them, yelling, you know stuff like that. The difference comes when they realize the strict parents just don't put up with the crap. They usually conform to the rules and actually enjoy themselves. There are a few rebels who will refuse and they leave the "strict" house. They learned nothing. But the ones who stay have all gone away better for the experience.

You know they aren't that different, the strict parents all have kids, and the only difference in their family and the troubled teens family is usually just rules. The teens coming in have not been subject to consequences for their actions, so they continue with the bad behavior that the parents can no longer handle. One girl who kept cursing in the house had to clean the toilet with a toothbrush as one of the consequences. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be cursing if I kept getting chores given to me for doing it.

I have to say the families that I have seen that take those kids in all love Jesus. They try to impress on the kids that they are worthy of love, because you can see that some of them just don't feel like it. That is part of the reason for their rebellion. But when they are shown a little attention, and respect themselves they are new people. Their whole appearance changes, they are happier kids.

My kids don't really like me to watch shows like that with them because I usually cry because I think it is so sweet, then when they start arguing, I try to be like the strict parents, telling them that we don't yell in our house, or talk disrespectful. They will get mad, then head off to their rooms. I go into the kitchen and have a nice relaxing glass of wine. TV is great!

All joking aside, it really is a good show. It's amazing to see how someones attitude will change, when you treat them like you would like to be treated.

Good $ense

I told you on Friday that I was going to be taking a financial class last weekend so I thought I would tell you a little bit about that today. I missed Friday nite due to the 8th grade graduation, which by the way was absolutely the sweetest thing. I almost cried. But I didn't because I knew if I did she would make fun of me so I really tried to hold it in.

So, moving on to the Freed-Up class. It was really a good class! It is a lot like the Dave Ramsey thing, only they suggest that the "Emergency Fund" is 3 months of expenses, where as Dave sets it at $1000. Another thing that is a little different is that they emphasize saving something every month. They don't say how much you should save, but they just say any amount to start with, just to get you in the habit. They had some examples of what you get if you save $100 a month for 2years and it was like $70,000, now that was at a 10% interest rate, which we all know is unheard of but you get the principal of the thing. My son just started his first job, aaaaahhhhh! This is one thing that I am going to make him do. If he would save $100 a month, which really he can save more because he still lives at home, but he is 17 and thinks I know nothing so hey. If he would just do that then it will instill in him the habit (I hope) of saving. I have to say when I first started working, I didn't save, I moved out and bought my first car, brand new even! Mind you it was a straight drive, and I didn't even know how to drive a straight drive, but my best friend did, so she drove it off the lot, and we proceeded to a parking lot so I could learn to drive it. Which I did. Man, I was crazy back then. Hee! Hee!

The plan also says you should use the snowball effect when paying off your bills and to start with the smallest and work your way to the highest. Another thing they say is to chart it out so you can see when things will be paid off. I think seeing it, makes it feel like it is really possible, not so far away. Some large bills will take a while but sometimes seeing it on paper and knowing when it will be paid off helps you stick to the plan.

You have the option of what type of system you want to use like the envelope system, or a written system. I chose envelope because I started out with that from what I learned from Dave, and it really seems to work for me, if I know I can only spend $150 for groceries and that's all that I have in my envelope then I am more likely to stick to it, than if I was using my debit card.

We have really tried to cut back on groceries, I have started making menus for 2 weeks, then I make my grocery list from the menu. That helps me to get exactly what I need. We also planted a garden this year and I am hoping to get some produce from that to put up for the winter. I am actually going to try canning. I hope I don't blow the house up! My mom used to do it when we were growing up so I think I can do it.

What do you do to tighten your budget?

Bob

Once upon a time there was a man named Bob, and he was married to a lady. One night Bob heard a noise so he went downstairs to look. He saw his wife taking drugs, so he went back to bed. That morning he threw the drugs away. Later on she asked him if he saw anything in a bag. Bob said no. Then he told his wife that he saw her taking drugs, he told her to stop, and if she didn't stop he would leave her. But he didn't want to. She said she would stop. But later on Bob kept noticing that she was acting weird and her eyes were really red, so he went all around the house looking for her drugs. He was throwing things around, and then he picked up the couch and he found it. When she got home Bob showed it to her and he left. They got a divorce later on, and Bob's wife was put into a mental institution.


Let me start off by saying NO ONE IN OUR HOUSE DOES DRUGS! My husband is not named Bob. This is a paper that my daughter wrote at school, for a Language arts class I think, she seems to have quite the imagination. Although, I know, this scenario is all to real for some people, she has not been exposed to this. I couldn't help but ask her where this idea came from, she didn't really have an answer of course, just the usual, I don't know. I think she is watching too much television. That is why I try to encourage reading at my house. She likes to read too, so maybe I should be monitoring that also.
I have a few questions though, why is the wife unnamed?
I also am assuming there are no kids because they are not mentioned.
Bob must have been pretty strong to pick up a couch.
Bob loved his wife, whatever her name was.
Bob should have got a clue, when the lady asked if he had seen anything in a bag? I suppose it could have been some candy or something.
It makes me sad that "the lady" didn't love herself enough to stop taking drugs. Because then she ended up in the mental institution.

I just thought it was an interesting little story for a 14 year old. She has a few more that I am going to share with you also. They get better, and more diverse, I have a ghost story, a real life memory, and a fantasy.

Friday!

It's Friday, once again! I have to say, this week went by pretty quick. Tonight and tomorrow I will be attending a finance class, so I can learn how to manage the little bit of money that we do have, just a little bit better.
Not that I can't already manage my money, I just want to learn how to stretch it a little more. One thing I've learned about recently, from all the amazing blogs I read, is how much you can do with someone elses junk. It amazes me what some people think of.
My daughter also has another ball tournament this weekend. This one in the Raleigh/Durham area. I think this will be the last tournament for them, but I'm not really sure.
Tonight is the 8th grade reception at my daughters school, so I plan to take a lot of pictures of her all dressed up. If you know her, you know she hates to dress up. She doesn't really want to go tonight, but I insisted because this is her last year at this school and it's special. And she's going to go and have fun, whether she likes it or not!
That is the great thing about parenting, finally getting to be the boss!
We offered to take her out to eat, to kind of celebrate, but she isn't really interested. Teenagers! I am sure she realizes that we are going anyway.
I will post pictures soon.

First

The other day my friend asked me "What would be your idea of a perfect date?"

Now, we don't really go out very much, not just the two of us, we pretty much always have the kids with us, or friends. So that got me thinking about what is my idea of a perfect date. My first response was I like to go out to eat, because we don't really do that very often, especially alone. And I love to go to the movies, but Mr. Wonderful doesn't really like the movies unless there is a lot of guns and action, and maybe a little brief nudity. What man doesn't like that? But honestly, I couldn't really think of anything that was a show stopper as far as dates go.

Then I thought back over my dating years and I have to say there were a few that stuck out in my mind, but I must say my most memorable date was when a guy I was dating took me to the Golf course after they closed, and we walked around the golf course. Sounds cheesy, I know but it did stick out in my mind. He was a sweet guy.

Another one was going to the park with a guy and swinging on the swings. And no, we weren't 7!! We went to the movies first, and I later heard that he saved something from all of his dates. In that case the movie tickets. Isn't that cute for a guy? I was pretty shocked when I heard that about him because he was a big burly guy. Just a good case of not judging a book by it's cover, hmmm?

I also have a few that stick out because they were not quite as good. Let's start with the blind date, set up by a co-worker. That should have been my first clue shouldn't it? Blind date, noooo, ladies you always need to at the very least talk to the guy on the phone. Keep in mind this was before Internet so I wasn't really worrying about wackos at that time. But when he came to pick me up, he was a perfect gentleman. Couldn't have been any nicer. I also couldn't help but notice how long he was talking to my sister when he got there. Definitely put a damper on the evening. All I could think about was he probably wishes my sister was sitting here. Then we went to a play, and out to eat. It was OK, but you know how some people are always talking about the person that you have in common, and that's all they want to talk about. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's kind of how it was.

While the guy who took me to the golf course was memorable to begin with, later on, he took me out to eat and told me I was embarrassing him because I was laughing too loud.

That was a big mistake. Things got a lot louder before they got quieter.

Now Mr. Wonderful and I had our first date at a party, that was great. It was a Halloween party and it started at my sisters house and moved to a dance club that was having a costume contest. My sister was dressed up like ET, and she couldn't see out of her mask so we had to lead her around.

During the actual contest, my brother got into a fight and was thrown out, so I had to send Mr. Wonderful back in to get my sister, who couldn't see. What a great impression, huh? But he must have liked it because he's stuck around for almost 21 years now. Never a dull moment around our house I can assure you.

NC History Lesson

Today, I thought I would give you a mental picture of where the River, (that we vacate to on occasion), actually is. Here in the wonderful state of NC, down toward the east end, there is a historical town of Bath.

Bath, is actually one of the haunts of Blackbeard, the legendary Pirate. It is said that he married a local girl from Bath. It is also the oldest town in NC. It is really a pretty little town, lots of old houses and the waterfront is absolutely gorgeous.

But, of course, keeping with reality, our little house is on the other side of the river. Kind of like the kid from across the tracks. If you know what I mean. But while it is not the grandest of homes, it is just right for us. We can see the water from our window, but we have trees right beside us, kind of like being back in the woods.

Anyway, we are also very close to the Aurora Phosphate Mines. This is a huge mining operation that is one of the main sources of income for most of the county. It is really an interesting mine, it has provided the Smithsonian with a lot of fossils from prehistoric sharks and ocean life. In Aurora, there is a fossil museum where you can see many of the fossils found in the mine. It really is neat!

*The Phosphate Mine.



My daughter is one of the best sharks teeth finders you can imagine, she has found a fossil of a sharks tooth that was as big as the palm of her hand. I can search for hours and find what looks like a cat tooth. I'm not quite so lucky. I have some pictures of the Phosphate Mine, and a bad picture of Bath, because we were all the way on the other side, and I couldn't really focus on it. It was probably the heat, or maybe not. Anyway, it is really pretty.






There are a lot of little places where you can beach your boat and just relax. We did that too, that was nice because it gave us the chance to get in the water. We had just been fishing and seen a school of skates, so please believe that I was only getting like knee deep. And I like to be able to see the bottom, because I have seen porpoises, snakes, skates, and I have heard stories of alligators. But, I've never seen those, but they are always in the back of my mind. Beaufort County is also home to black bears. I have never seen one of those either, but people in our development have told stories of both bears and gators.

If I were to ever encounter such an animal then you would definitely be hearing about that one!