happy st. patty's day

Here's to St. Patrick's Day!!! I'm not Irish and I don't drink green beer, but here is to the one's that are and do. Happy St. Patty's Day! Hope you have much luck-of-the-Irish!

By the way, I see spring! Yay!!!

two monkeys jumpin' on the bed!

Click on video BELOW to see the monkeys in action.

why we love children: saturday comics

We need brightness here in Music City. It is cold, dreary, and wet. Here are some funnies to hopefully brighten your day as they have mine (thanks mom!). If this doesn't brighten your day, then go back to bed and forget about it.


1) NUDITY I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, 'Mom, that lady isn't wearing a seat belt!'

2) OPINIONS On the first day of school, a first-grader handed his teacher a note from his mother. The note read, 'The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents.'

3) KETCHUP A woman was trying hard to get the ketchup out of the jar. During her struggle the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter to answer the phone. 'Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now. She's hitting the bottle.'

4) MORE NUDITY A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, 'What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a little boy before?'

5 ) POLICE # 1 While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about 6 years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, 'Are you a cop? Yes,' I answered and continued writing the report. 'My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?' 'Yes, that's right,' I told her. 'Well, then,' she said as she extended her foot toward me, 'would you please tie my shoe?'

6) POLICE # 2 It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. 'Is that a dog you got back there?' he asked. 'It sure is,' I replied. Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, 'What'd he do?'

7) ELDERLY While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my 4-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, 'The tooth fairy will never believe this!'

8) DRESS-UP A little girl was watching her parents dress for a party. When she saw her dad donning his tuxedo, she warned, 'Daddy, you shouldn't wear that suit.' 'And why not, darling?' 'You know that it always gives you a headache the next morning.'

9) DEATH While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son, and into the hole he goes.' (I want this line used at my funeral!)

10) SCHOOL A little girl had just finished her first week of school. 'I'm just wasting my time,' she said to her mother. 'I can't read, I can't write, and they won't let me talk!'

11) BIBLE A little boy opened the big family Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. 'Mama, look what I found,' the boy called out. 'What have you got there, dear?' With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, 'I think it's Adam's underwear!'

Have a wonderful and funny Saturday!

The photo above is of Cameron at 9 months.

busy girl

I haven't posted in awhile and I hate hate hate it when this much time goes between posts. Ahhhh...The hand gun class took a lot out of me - very tiring it was! It was lovely out that day though. It was 75 and sunny. I even got a little sun. I passed, btw.

I’ve been stitching a little here and there, but not as much as I’d like. I've started a cleaning regime just like my stitching rotation. A couple weeks ago I tore up my crafting/sewing area. It took me days and days to install two different sized wire shelves. I didn't even use a leveler, which my DH was completely surprised by and confused as to how I did it. I just eyeballed it and used a little clear cup of water as my leveler. (I didn't know where he put the actual leveler, so what's a girl to do...I improvised of course.) Finally the shelves are up, but nothing is on them.

Right now I’m going through my quilting/finishing fabrics and getting those organized, which is taking longer than I thought it would. I’m slowly getting my area “together”; finally! I just can’t work in a mess, you know. I have to have some order or I'll go nuts, and in this case nothing is getting done: NADA!!! I have so many thoughts whirling around in my mind and I can't act on them. Ugh! I don’t have a lot of stitching progress to show right now. I'm hoping by next week I'll have something worth bragging about - it's worth mentioning but not worth showing.

I punched a little last night and stitched a teeny tiny bit this afternoon, but I’ve been cleaning my house as if the Queen were coming and that’s taken me away from my stitching time. I’ve also been updating my mom’s master inventory list. She has quite the stash and I need to get it done for her so I’ve been working on that in the mornings mostly. I’m having some medical issues with my spine and neck. I’m in a bit of pain and discomfort and dealing with it is a top priority most days, but I manage to work around it.

Cameron still isn’t talking and I keep my fingers crossed hoping that one day he’ll just start talking - sound familiar to anyone? He’s been doing this jumping thing lately~so cute! He jumps in one place or runs and then jumps and yells “O-LAY!” but it sounds like ‘oyay' (his brother taught him this). Jose is struggling in school right now. He turns 12 at the end of May and I think this is part of it. He’s changing so much now and his attitude gets vile at times. He's a tween for sure and I don't know how to handle the pre-teen and teenage years. I'm just not ready for this yet!

The agenda tomorrow is to clean the kitchen and wash half the laundry - easy enough! The stitching agenda is my Christmas ornament. Of course, I also have my and mom's RR to stitch on and continue organizing my crafting area. I've been taking photos of my progress, so I'll post those at some point when there looks to be more light at the end of the tunnel. Jose's spring break starts Friday so he's excited that tomorrow is his last day for at least a week.

bang! bang!

Tomorrow I'm off to a hillbilly town over an hour west from Nashville to take my handgun carry permit class. I took the class in 2006 and passed, but never went and actually got my license to carry a weapon. In Tennessee after passing the qualifications you have 6 months to apply for the carry permit through the federal government and I didn't do that. I had a miscarriage during the six month period and lets face it, got depressed. Getting my carry permit wasn't at the top of my list so the six months expired and I could no longer get it.

Well, tomorrow is the day I go back and retake my test which lasts all day long. My DH has his carry permit along with a dozen other tactical and defense type qualifications under his belt. He is merely going with me to watch (and he's taking pictures too :( ~ he loves this stuff! Ever since DH became a United States citizen he has wanted to exhaust all his rights under the Constitution, and I don't blame him. It took at least 7 years of hard work and a ton of money to become a citizen.

Anyway, thankfully I already know how to handle a gun. I'm just retaking the class because 'its the law' in order for me to get a carry permit. I'll be shooting a Taurus PT 24/7 9 mm, which I love. It's a mean gun, easy to control, and comfortable. This is a photo of that gun. I'll probably go down to a revolver or a smaller caliber once I can carry because the Taurus is a big gun for a petite girl like myself. However, I like that this weapon holds 17+1 round which means if I should ever need to defend myself (Lord blessing that I won't ever have to) I have 18 tries. LOL (I know, no laughing matter really.) That being true and I am a good shot, it won't take that many to wound a person.

Let's switch gears! I have no photos to show of my stitching progress. There is some but not a whole lot. I've been trying to catch up on house cleaning, which I am being successful at. The laundry is complete, the house is dusted, the kitchen is clean, and tomorrow I shoot a pistol all day. Sunday resumes bed linens, towels and bathroom cleaning. So I can't say that this week has been wasteful. I started my block on Shores and it is difficult getting used to 40 ct linen - OMG! It's so pretty though. I've been reorganizing my craft area. I've installed 1 large wire shelf and am half way through with installing the second smaller shelf. I did something really neat with that white shelf I bought at the antique mall, but I'll show you that later.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend. I'll talk soon!

current cleaning rotation

I have postponed housework and need to get back on board around here. Since my current rotation for stitching is coming along splendidly I decided to do the same thing for housework. I figure if I feel so accomplished with my needlework why not feel the same way about my home. I've been so busy organizing, crafting and chasing after Cameron I have neglected my home. I do pick up each room everyday because it's just part of the routine around here and Cameron is in on it. Nothing is ever left just sitting around waiting to be moved or picked up. But the housework of dusting and so forth need tending. Here's the Current Cleaning Rotation:

Sunday ~ bathroom, wash towels, wash sheets, sweep
Monday ~ day of rest
Tuesday ~ day of rest
Wednesday ~ sweep/vacuum, collect trash, mop
Thursday ~ kitchen, 1/2 laundry
Friday ~ 1/2 laundry, dust, sweep
Saturday ~ filing, office work

I think for now this will do ~ looks promising enough. :D