Superior

Hi everyone. Just had to share a couple of photos I took last night at the middle school science fair. That light blue ribbon on the left side of Jonathan's display says "Superior." We are so proud of him! He came in second place, but his science teacher said it's so subjective that it could have easily been just a toss of the coin between Jonathan's and first place. He soooo wanted the first place though, which was a medal. Oh well. This was his first year, and perhaps this will motivate him to shoot for first place next year! And that's Matthew's head at the bottom of the photo. LOL!

Don't you love the letters on Jonathan's display? They were cut using our Cricut electronic die cut machine. The atoms were stamped using white acrylic paint and my $1 foam stamp picked up at Michael's. This next photo was taken in the school's computer room. I just had to snap this one of Jonathan and some of his friends. The girl to the right with the darker hair is his girlfriend (yes...I know they're only 12.) Okay...gotta run get ready for our Creek Crop! Have a marvelous weekend!

Some of my thoughts today

Don't you love my new mug? I got it for just 5 bucks at Lifeway bookstore yesterday. I went in to get a couple of devotional books to do with each of my sons before bedtime. And I saw this mug, on sale no less, and had to have it! I'm learning a lot about trust and fear these days. Through my study of the book of Esther with Beth Moore, I have discovered that I often am motivated by fear. Too often I ask myself, "Well, what if this happens?" Or..."If I do this, suppose that happens." And I become my own biggest obstacle in accomplishing things God put me here to do. I am learning that if I just trust God when he keeps my worst fears from happening, then it's a conditional trust that isn't worth much. I need to trust Him even IF my worst fears come true. IF is an acronym for "I Fear." Hopefully this new found thinking will take root in my heart, and I won't forget this lesson. Anyway, I think it was providence that I came across this mug after doing the lesson on fear. Cool, huh?

On other fronts, I am getting ready for our monthly crop at church. Last month we had 15 ladies, and we'll soon outgrow our little room. But I'm so thankful that our church lets us do this. We have great fun.

Oh, and Sally, our dog, is doing okay, I guess. Her stomach seems a little upset from the meds, and her leg is still swollen at the wound site, but the vet did take the drainage tube out, and he seemed optimistic. He said the only other option would be to surgically remove that cystic area. Hoping that isn't necessary, and that the antibiotics do the job. My grandparents had to have their dog, Buster, (age 14 1/2) put to sleep this weekend. They are crushed, but he was doing very poorly and is so much better off now. I know he'll be missed though.

Enjoying today because I don't have to rush to pick up Matthew from school. We are taking a month to a month and a half off from therapy. I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed with everything, so I just asked for the time off. Both his OT and speech therapist feel that he's doing so well, the time off won't hurt. So tonight, we are going to Jonathan's school to see his and other science projects displayed in the gymnasium. His project was about static electricity. It was quite cool, actually. Hope he does well.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

One sick puppy

Well, at 11 years old, she's not exactly a puppy. Sally, our Lab/Pointer mix, had to be taken to the vet again today. I took her a week and a half ago due to some lameness in her left hind leg, and a cyst type lump on the same thigh. The vet drew fluid from it, looked at it under a microscope and sent her home with arthritis meds. Well, yesterday afternoon, I noticed this dime sized cyst was now almost as big around as the door knob, and worse...it hurt her for me to touch it. So I took her in today and they kept her. She has an abscess...which I believe got infected from her last vet visit (they shaved over the cyst and nicked it...then did a needle aspiration.) At any rate, here is a picture of Sally after $274 dollars and a lot of humiliation for Sally, wearing that E-collar, as they called it. She hates it, but she has a drainage tube that MUST stay in until Monday. Yep...I'm stuck here to take care of the dog this weekend. The wound has to be flushed out with saline daily. She has to be given antibiotics and pain pills, and then on Monday we go back to have the drainage tube removed. Realize...she is an outdoor dog.

This weekend...she's a laundry room dog. She can't get dirt in that wound for at least a week.

I seldom take a good photo of my dog without those horrible colored eyes. Hers are actually brown. But you get the idea.
Wish us (and her) luck!

Reality shows, the zoo, and a chicken recipe (long post)

On this rainy day in SC, just thought I'd share some more zoo photos, and my thoughts on a couple of reality shows I'm keeping track of. My 81 year old grandmother and I both watch The Bachelor, and then we chat about it within the next day or so. Interesting episode this past week. I was surprised, as many were, that Jillian was sent packing. Now I'm more convinced than ever that he will pick Molly. Lots of folks think it will be Melissa, but I don't. It's usually who you don't think he'll pick. He seemed really into Molly in the earlier episodes, but not so much lately. I think that's creative editing...so that we think he won't pick her. Well, we'll find out in a few weeks. I'm just wondering what Deanna's role is in all this.
Did you watch American Idol last night? Only a few were impressive. And some of those 12 couldn't carry a tune in a bucket once they got a band behind them. Hoping for some better stuff tonight.
Sorry, but this is not a photo of the Bachelor. THIS is my handsome hubby!



This is the waterfall at Chimp Island.

Nice zoom on the flamingo!

Wow he has long eyelashes, doesn't he?

In the scrapbooking world, this is called a perfect visual triangle! LOL!

Jonathan certainly was into the zoo spirit of things...making a beak out of dried leaves!

A massive hand for sure....

...that belongs to this big guy!

And finally, a dash of color!

Not that these birds remind me of chicken or anything, but I wanted to share another recipe with you. Sorry I don't have a photo to go with it.
Last night I got raves from my family for this dish.
I actually took a recipe that I got from our church cookbook that was meant for a crock pot. I changed it up and made it my own.

Kim's Creamy Chicken

1 Four-pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
black pepper,
1/2-1/4 c reduced fat sour cream
1 can of cheddar cheese soup (condensed kind)
1 can of cream of chicken soup

I simply sprinkled garlic salt and black pepper on chicken pieces, spread each piece with sour cream and laid them into a casserole dish that had been sprayed with Pam. I then mixed the two cans of soup in a bowl and poured them over the chicken. I baked it in the oven for 30-35 minutes. I started out at 350 degrees, but after 15 minutes, I increased it to 375. At any rate....the chicken turns out moist and has the best gravy with it. It is awesome with rice and a green vegetable. Even my kids LOVED this chicken. Let me know if you try it!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

My grandfather, affectionately called, "Papa Johnny," turns 85 today! Happy Birthday, Papa! We love you!

Papa is the one who I got my love of picture-taking from. (In fact, he's given me 3 of his OLD cameras!)

I remember growing up visiting my grandparents weekly, sometimes more often. He took pictures of us a lot! And when I go back home, I LOVE to rummage through the boxes of old photos he has! Love my Papa!

President's Day Fun

Had a great Monday. The kids were out of school, and I called my friend Linda at the last minute on Sunday and asked her if she wanted to go out for lunch and take the kids to the zoo. And she did! We had a lot of fun. After enjoying lunch at Lizard's Thicket, we explored the zoo.

I must say, although not professional, I don't think I've ever gotten zoo pictures I'm this happy with. I Love my 55-250 zoom lens. Lotsa fun! I'll post a few pix today and a few tomorrow.

This photo turned out pretty good despite looking through glass!

That female lion was looking right at me!

Look at the teeth on that bear!!!

Give me a kiss, sweety! :0

That's a big hunk of gorilla! Huh?!

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Below is a photo of the box Matthew and I made to hold his Valentines from school. I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you?

I hope you and your family enjoy this day together! Have a great LONG weekend (no school here on Monday! ) YEAH!

Springy

The ground hog from Georgia (Beauregard) said we'd have an early spring. Do ya think he may have been right? Loving the weather today....feeling spring-like!

Farewell Q-tip!

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that we never found the original owner for this fuzzy little guy chewing on Mr. Potato Head. The good news is that he has now been placed in a wonderful, new loving home! Thanks, Amanda!

Yall will never believe how I found him a home. I was in a gift shop overhearing a conversation about dogs and just happened to hear her say she was looking for a Westie and planned to raise them. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I said, "Hey! Do you want one for free!" After she picked her jaw off the floor we talked. That night she came to look at him. The rest is history. Q-tip will be staying indoors and spoiled by this family who has 2 little girls! I heard from Amanda today, and she just LOVEs him! So I am happy that everyone involved is happy...including Q-tip. I'll miss you little guy!

And what about the pit bull pup? Well, right now, he makes our lonely lab mix happy! We'll play it by ear.

It's Tough Being a Woman in a Mean World......

Hi. Can I just say AGAIN that I am so enjoying the Beth Moore Bible study I am currently doing? I just had to share this.

If you've never read the book of Esther (or even if you have), you should get a contemporary version of the Bible or get a study Bible (like Life Application Bible) and go through it again....slowly. I realize that there's a lot I have missed. For example....

When Haman and King Xerxes ordered the total annihilation of the Jews, they sat down and had a drink together as the message was being delivered throughout the province. Now if you've ever done a Beth Moore study, she doesn't just give you facts. She brings it home! Below is a quote from part of the study that resonated with me in a personal way.

"We've each been hurt by someone, but no one on earth has hurt us more than those who seem callous to it. We're acquainted with trying to deal with the wrongdoing of others while they go on with life, oblivious to our pain. We fight an urge to corner them in a public place and scream, 'Don't you get it?' If they won't judge themselves, the fleshly part of us would gladly enlist a group to help us judge them. The situation becomes even more complicated when you sense that very person who helped your life to fall apart wonders why you can't get it together."

Does anyone relate to what she's saying? Sister....I sure do! That kind of hurt takes a while to work through. Glad to know we have a God who understands and from whom NOTHING is hidden!

Okay...just thought I'd share and highly recommend this study! Have a great week!

Catching Up

Wow! Life has been busy. I was so tired last night and actually went to bed by 9:30. I slept sooooooo good!

I realized this morning that I've been behind in posting my Project 365 photos. So I have decided that this might be the norm rather than the exception. From now on I will only post Project 365 Layouts, and you can find them HERE on my newest blog. I will continue to update on family stuff and post various photos here, but for a long time, I've been wanting to start a blog about scrapbooking. I think it will work out better that way.

This week has found us doing the usual stuff. I cleaned house on Monday, went to Bible study on Tuesday, did the therapy rounds on Wednesday, and worked on my blog Thursday. Thankfully, baseball season is about to start up. Although it's a busy time of year, it gets me out of my rut, and I LOVE IT! Hopefully, Jonathan and Matthew will have good coaches and be on good teams. Matthew will begin his third year of T-ball, and Jonathan will play his second year on the little league majors. Should be exciting!

Below are some 365 photos I took that shows other stuff we've been up to this week. Every night, Matthew and I read together. Here he's reading a book for a test. Sometimes we read for fun, and most nights we read a Bible story (also fun). And that's Ed helping Jonathan work on his science project. It's about static electricity...so cool!

Hope you all have a great weekend...and don't forget to check out my other blog!

Our weekend

It has been a fun but busy weekend. Ed is at church right now, probably wondering why his wife and kids didn't show up. I have no excuse. I knew today was going to be crowded, and I don't do crowds too well (not sure what that means for me as of yet). And Jonathan's class in the middle school group wasn't meeting today, and he didn't want to go. Although they were going to have tail-gating after church and inflatables for the kids, we opted out. Matthew went to a birthday party at one of those inflatable, bouncy places yesterday, so I figured he'd had enough of that....though later, almost 10:30, he asks..."Can we go to church? I want to play on those blow-up thingys." Well...it was too late, and I feel bad that I didn't force the issue and just go. I really gotta step outside my comfort zone sometimes. Well, for now, I will choose to look at the postive side: I gave up two seats for visitors (mine and Jonathan's).
Friday night, we had dinner with my good friend, Lauri. She is an awesome cook, and we enjoyed seeing her house for the first time. Thanks for a great time, Lauri! You rock!

Yesterday, Ed was a saint. He spent the better half of the day taking Matthew to birthday parties. He had been invited to one at 11 AM and one at 1PM. While they were gone, Jonathan and I went to the movies. I LOVED the movie, New in Town. It didn't get great reviews, but I enjoyed it, especially getting to spend time with Jonathan. It would be great to go see with your scrapbooking girlfriends! Yep...there are scrapbooking scenes in it! COOL! Check out this link.

Yesterday afternoon, we played in the backyard with the dogs. Sort of concerned about our dog, Sally. She's between 10 and 11 years old, and she has a lump of sorts on her left hindquarter. And though she will run and walk on it, she won't put all her weight on that leg when standing still. She also is very slow getting up from lying down. Gotta call the vet.
Sally...isn't she a beauty?
I took the opportunity to get some photos of the dogs. Obviously, we haven't made much headway in finding these dogs a home. To make matters worse, we've named the dogs. (Yep...I guess they've grown on me a little.) The pit bull has been called Fay (instead of FH for Fat Head that Ed wanted to call her!), and the Westie has been dubbed Q-tip! Here are some snapshots I took of them playing yesterday while we enjoyed what was left of the sunshine.