Learning to drive

Let me start this entry by saying, I have a husband who loves cars and has a short attention span. We've had more vehicles in our almost 7 years of marriage than I had when single. Anyway, with a son soon to be 16 years old in the family the search is on for the "perfect" vehicle for him to drive. Needless to say my idea of the right car and my husband's idea are two completely different ideas. I had it in my head that we'd get him a small little S-10 truck and that's what we discussed and I assumed had agreed on. Nothing fancy and nothing super charged. The first purchase was a spur of the moment, gotta have it, what a deal truck. A Ford Z71 with lift kit and glass packs. Guess what, I didn't have a say in that purchase...go figure. lol Well, the son didn't like it. Didn't fit his "image". Brad doesn't consider himself a MossyOak seat cover, tool kit in the back, deer stickers in the window kinda guy. He's cooler than that. Give him anything with skate stickers and he's happy. So David decided to sell the truck. It was going to need a good bit of work anyway. We traded our F150 in for a little Ford Focus due to gas prices and that's what David's been driving. Nice little car and Brad likes it. But wait, the plot thickins. A week or so ago David's boss bought an '02' Jeep Sahara for his son but wasn't really happy with it. He couldn't get his money back so my adorable husband with the motor fettish made a deal with him. We are now the proud owners of a Jeep. David has decided that Brad really needs to learn to drive the little Focus first. What it boils down to is "Dad wants to look cool in the jeep". But we'll keep that our little secret. ;o) Anyway, so now we still have that massive bubba truck, a Ford Focus, a Jeep Sahara, and of course my little Sebring. I say all that to say, David is teaching me how to drive the jeep. Both the Focus and the Jeep are 5 speeds and I don't know how to drive those. I've spent most of the day in the driveway going from 1st to go forward to reverse to back it back in. Its David's way of teaching me the "feel" of the clutch. Its working because I took it( with him grasping white knuckled onto the dash) around the neighborhood. My heart was pounding but I did pretty good I think. At least I didn't kill it. I have a key to Focus and I'm going practice again tomorrow in the driveway. I promised I wouldn't take it out on the road. I'm 33 years old and I feel 15 again. I guess thats a good thing in away. Ahh well, another day...until the next.

Holiday blessings

I think this holiday season has been the toughest yet. Money is so tight and getting into the Christmas spirit just wasn't easy this year. I didn't even get my Christmas tree up. What a Scrooge am I! We went to my parent's house to celebrate as we do each year but this year was very special. My cousin invited a gentleman to join us for Christmas which was different but neat. As we sat in the den opening gifts and talking, my youngest sister Meg got up and left the room to get one more gift. She brought in a book and gave it to my mother. This book held all of my grandfather's ( her father's) military records. It was a very touching gift. Then my little sister handed my mother another package. We all waited with bated breath as she opened it. In a case sat all of my grandfather's metals he had earned while in the Marines. Needless to say we all cried. Then my father put a CD in the stereo. It was recording of his father singing "Cheer Up Ye Saints of God" in his best Irish brogue. Again, we all cried and reminisced. Needless to say, I went from having no Christmas spirit to being filled with a different kind of spirit. I could feel the presence of God in our midst and it was a warm feeling. A feeling that all was well and that life is precious. Thank you Lord for giving up little reminders of how much You love us. Merry Christmas to all!!

Veteran's Day

Today in the little town of Gadsden,AL was the annual Veteran's Day parade. Everytime I go to this parade it makes me tear up. My grandfather was a Marine and I can almost see him standing amongst the onlookers waving his American flag. It also takes me back to my school days when I marched with the EB Erwin Pride of the Northeast. I always whined when it was time for a parade because they were usually during a time where the weather was either burning up or freezing cold. There never seemed to be that happy medium. Today's parade was no different. November 5th and it was close to 80 degrees. Some things never change. I really did enjoy parades because the attention was momentarily on you, at least thats how it felt back then. Looking back I realize it had nothing to do with me. Everytime we marched it was to entertain or honor someone or something. I told my son on the way home that he had done a wonderful job and had honored many people today. He looked at me with that "sure, whatever you say" look and it struck me that he didn't "get it" yet. I stress yet because I know that someday he will get it and it will be a revelation to him just like it was me and he'll cherish the memories he has of marching band and what he's done. Its funny how when you're a child, the holidays you enjoy the most are Christmas, Easter, and Halloween because they usually mean you'll get something. As we grow older our holiday preferences change. Mine has grown into days like Veteran's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and so on. I still enjoy Christmas and Thanksgiving but for different reasons than I once did. Even with all that is happening around us I realize that its only because of my savior, the Lord Jesus Christ that I'm even worthy of being here. And with all the turmoil in the world, He's still control of ALL things. Thank you Lord for taking care of all things...

Bright and Sunny day

Isn't the weather gorgeous!! I love fall! It seems like overnight the leaves have started changing and with the bright blue sky, they are even more amazing. God is so creative!

I have a project today. I'm going to put away alot of the summer clothing in big Rubber Made tubs and make room for the winter clothing. As you can see by the photo I have a big job ahead of me. For some reason when they added onto this house and made this the master bedroom, they didn't add closet space. All we have is a small pocket closet for the hanging items. The other "draw back" is that my husband won't tell me what to get rid of and what to keep, so we still have clothes from 1980 something hanging in the closet. My son's room on the other hand has a HUGE closet that spans the length of his room. Our is house is 70+ years old so there's no telling the logic behind why they did what they did back then. Soooo, I'm going to clean this bedroom within an inch of its life today. I'd really like to see the top of my dresser sometime before the turn of the year. I didn't photograph the other side of the room because well...I figured you'd get the picture. Trust me, its just as bad as what you see here. My next project is to sand down all the dressers and bedside tables and paint. But as I am prone to do, I think too far into the future and then never accomplish anything. I'm taking this one day at a time and I'm going to be THRILLED with what progress I do make. I'm not going to dwell on what I didn't get done, only what I did. I think that may be my new motto. Be happy with the moment! As I get older, time flies by faster and faster and I realize that I wish my life away. Wow, that could be a whole other blog so I'll save it for another day and not bore you with that today. But don't worry, its not far from my mind so I'm sure it'll come up sooner or later. See what you have to look forward to? hehe Well, I'm off to start my adventure...wish me luck!

Weekend with the family

We're back! A whole 24 hours in GA with my sister. I wish we could have stayed longer but that would have required boarding our 2 dogs. They don't mind it so much but my wallet does. Their house is so cute! I know I have it in me to make my house as cute but I just don't seem to have the motivation. I told her I'd pay her to come spend a weekend with me and let her do what she wanted to to my house. She just laughs because she knows I have it in me too. I just need to get on it and just DO IT!! **sigh** On a different note, we had a great time with their judgement house! They did such a great job and the Lord answered a big prayer. I took a few pictures but of course Brad (the one with the hat and long hair) didn't cooperate and so he looks like he's on some serious drugs. He refuses to smile and I either end up getting the side of his head or a goofy look. My brother-in-law's brother was there and he and Brad are two peas in a pod. I think I'm going to post the pictures anyway just to let the world see what I'm up against. :o) Jen has two cats, Emma and Cole. Two beautiful cats that don't like my kitten. It was comical really. They would sniff, touch noses, and then hissssssss. Didn't seem to bother Smidgen in the least. I think she enjoyed ruffling their feathers. She played and flipped, ate their food, teased and acted like she owned the place. We came home to minimal mess, which was nice. The dogs were good girls so I let them run for a while when we got home. So here I sit typing on this thing...oh guess what, I came home to a ladybug infestation. There were hundreds of ladys bugs on the bedroom window when I walked in. The vaccum cleaner took care of most of them but where in the world did they all come from and why MY bedroom?? Who knows...
If your reading this...be gentle, my spelling is okay but my use of commas leaves little to be desired. lol Just put the commas where you want. It won't offend me in the least.

Getting Started

I've been hesitant to start blogging. I always enjoy reading the blogs of others but the idea of putting my thoughts out for others to see intimidates me a bit. There's a pressure to be "perfect" in presenting my thoughts that causes me to pause. I laugh because I call myself a "closet perfectionist". I tend to shy away or put things off if I think there's the slightest possibility that they won't turn out just right. For instance, I was lying in bed this morning looking around the room thinking I wanted to rearrange the furniture. But first I want to paint, put new blinds in the windows, put up window treatments, get rid of the stacks of clothes that I have no room for in the drawers or closet. By the time I thought about that, the idea of moving the furniture around seemed overwhelming, and it wouldn't have looked right without all of the above. So, here I sit writing about it instead of doing it. Doesn't that seem much more "doable"? Its my last full day off of work before I go back tomorrow night. I really need to wash clothes, make the bed, put the beef stew in the crock pot, and finish a few things...so what I'm going to do is put a load in the washer and read my book. That's a compromise, right?