Dakota Thunder Air Show 2009 photos

Here are the Thunderbirds coming closer...

and closer...

and closer

So close that you can see the Thunderbird design on the underneath side of the jets! Talk about awesome! The kids and I had a blast watching the jets flying past the house!

I can't begin to tell you what a thrill it was to be able to watch this from the deck in our backyard. Not having to brave the hoards of people flocking to the base was a relief!

I've had many a civilian friend tell me that they think that the B-1 Bomber is one sexy looking aircraft. To tell you the honest truth, I ahve to agree with them!

The B-1 Bomber with wings swept forward

and a parachutist- he was actually at the beginning of the airshow.

Quote of the Day

When motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race.
-Margaret Sanger

Celebrating our Military at Ellsworth AFB, SD

Today is our big AIR SHOW -Dakota Thunder 2009 at Ellsworth AFB, SD- check out the link to see the schedule of events, who will be there and so forth. This is going to be one awesome military open house! It's free to the public so please come out!

Quote of the Day

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), Speech, September 22, 1936

Thunder Birds

Tomorrow is the kick off for the Dakota Thunder Airshow. For the better part of the day I've been watching the Air Force Thunder birds practicing from my front yard and later on the deck in my backyard. Here's some of the many photo's I've taken- enjoy!

Quote of the Day

We can't form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The last day of school

It's the day I've been waiting for since my husband left for his new assignment in England...the last day of school in the Douglas School System. From today up until we physically leave South Dakota every moment will be focused upon our move to the UK.

Today was bittersweet, seeing my daughter receiving academic awards for the last time from this school and knowing that this is her last day in school with all of her friends. I love you Hannah and I hope that you are not too sad today.

Quote of the Day

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
-William Butler Yeats

Things that amaze me

It continues to amaze me how a couple with no children or a family that has 1 child can put out 5 to 10 times more trash than than a family that has of 3, 4 or even 6 children. It kills me to see my neighbors being so wasteful. I see all kinds of things being tossed out on the curbside that could be donated to various charities. I hate seeing waste, it bugs me to no end to see my neighbors tossing out things that are perfectly good that others could use. If Mother Theresa were here she's have something to say about this- you can bet on it!

I physically can not make myself throw away good usable items into the trash, truly I can't do it. I know in my heart that there's always someone out there that could use it, so I donate the items to charity. Be it clothing, housewares, furniture, electronics, outdoor items and yes even food. If it's in good clean usable condition I donate it. When did we (America) become such a disposable throw away society? We really do need to sit down and rethink our priorities and help those that are less fortunate than ourselves.

As I drove down the street on my way to taking my daughter to school this morning I saw a huge stack of patio chairs in one neighbors trash pile and I thought to myself- Wow, what a waste! My daughter said the same thing out loud. I told her that it's a sin to be so wasteful and she agreed. My thoughts instantly turned to those that are on a fixed incomes, elderly retired folks would probably like a set of lawn chairs so they can sit outside and enjoy the fine day we're having. Maybe a single mom with kids on a tight budget would enjoy some lawn chairs too, so that she may sit out of doors watching her children play. It's little acts of kindness that really do show who we are inside.

Quote of the Day

Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life.
-James Cromwell

just putz-en around

Today is about putz-en around, getting little things done. Making labels for my quilts and the best part....getting to cuddle up underneath of them while sewing on the labels. It's no wonder why I love quilting!

There's also the addressing our "We've Moved" cards and post cards. These are for those folks whom we do not have e-mail addresses for. And for those that we do have e-mail addresses for, they'll get that information sent electronically (what's e-mail all about but to save time and money right?).

For those out there wondering..yes, I finally managed to make a couple of spa appointments for myself. My 1 hour Swedish massage is later on this week and the facial, manicure and pedicure are next week. I can't believe that I'm finally taking time out for myself!

Quote of the Day

I'm only as strong as the coffee I drink, the hairspray I use and the friends I have.
-Unknown
so true, so true, oh so very true!

28 days and counting

Moving forward....that's been my goal ever since we knew we were going to be stationed in England. I've gotten so much done in preparation of this move. With only 28 more days left here in the USA, I find myself looking down my list and finding only a couple more things to get done. Besides Hannah's last orthodontic appointment and her podiatry appointment, I really do need to make that day spa appointment- I finally feel truly worthy of pampering myself for a day.

Today is Memorial Day - a Federal Holiday, no school for the kids and we have nothing planned. I just may take them to lunch at Pizza Hut (they love pizza from the hut ).

I've got a couple more things to set up before the move...the next big one being helping my daughter set up her "End of the School Year Big Bash" (that's what she's calling it). She wants to have a bunch of her teenage girlfriends here sometime this week for a slumber party, I say- bring it on!

Quilt show preparations...I'm making labels for my quilts and will get them sewn on this week. I'll have to turn in the quilts very soon so they can be on display at the quilt show. I can hardly wait to see all of the beautiful quilts on display. There will be vendors from many nearby states, I look forward to seeing what kinds of goodies they have for sale. last year I was able to find that seriously cool sea turtle batik fabric I had been searching for. You can be sure that I will be taking TONS of pictures at this event!

It's 9 am, time for me to get out of my jammies and to see what's going on in the world around. Actually I've been up for hours, it's just that I was too lazy to get dressed, LOL!

Memorial Day Trivia

Memorial day was first celebrated on May 30, 1868. It was observed by placing flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers during the first national celebration.
Gen. James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which around 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there.


***

Since the late 1950’s on the Thursday just before Memorial day, around 1200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery.

***

On Memorial Day, the flag should be at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.

***

Moina Michael came up with an idea of wearing red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need.

***

In the year 2000 the National Moment of Remembrance Resolution passed. At 3pm on Memorial Day all Americans are asked to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect by pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps.

***

The south refused to honor the dead on Memorial Day until after World War I when the meaning of Memorial Day changed from honoring civil war dead to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

Quote of the Day

I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.
George W. Bush, Press Conference, White House, Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Is it Sunday already?

I can't believe how quickly this past week went by. Of course the time will go quicker now that I'm down to less than a month to go on the move. The more items I'm able to check off of my "to do" list the less burdened I feel.

I've got...

* my cat scheduled with her last 2 veterinary appointments

* us booked into a hotel for our last few nights of lodging here in South Dakota

* my cat is scheduled to fly out to London on the 22nd of June

Now for me to have this house sold. One thing at a time and it will happen before I know it!

Quote of the Day

America will never run... And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders.
-President George W. Bush

Send Handmade Cards

I've been making my own greeting cards since before my daughter Hannah was born. There's something so personal when you give a friend or a loved one a card that you've made yourself. It shows that you've taken the time to give them something extra special, that you've put a piece of yourself into it just for them.



I'm always thrilled when my friends give me cards that they've made. I know some of the best card makers around these parts! Peggy (you've seen her stuff on her blog) is an amazingly patient teacher! Her card ideas are stepping stones for us to leap off of...she's opened my eyes to so many wonderful ideas! Sarah is always willing to try something new and different she has the heart of a true artist. :-) Ellen and Donna, I've been so impressed with their and from the first day I met them! Their stuff is fantastic! Full of glitz, glamour and oh so very sophisticated- they've always got me ooh and aaahing over their work! So any time any of them gives me a card, first I put it on display for a while then I tuck it into a little album that I've made.



But I'm soon to get involved in something else...it's making Cards for Hero's. Please click on the link that's hidden in the name for more information. I plan on getting the spouses group together to make cards for this fantastic organization! IF you want to participate click on the link and they'll tell you how you can!

Quote of the Day

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

One month from today...

...my entire family (cat included) will be on our way to London. Just thinking about the journey makes me a wee bit nervous. I've got some things here to take care of (like using that darn gift Spa Day certificate) and scheduling my mammogram. But those little emergencies that seem to keep popping up with my kids keeps putting the kibosh on things. So now it's time for me to schedule it before something else happens. The last day of school is next week- I can't believe how quickly it's coming. My husband will be flying back to help me with the final stages of our move (Thank you Lord).

Now for me to wake my sleepy kids for the 3rd time...maybe they should have some of my coffee ;-) That would perk them right up!

My Boy Andrew

It feels as if it's a dream- I don't know how or when exactly it happened, but I've somehow managed to get my son excited about attending school in England this September. Believe it or not...my boy ironed his own dress shirt, came to me and asked me to take some pictures of him in one of his new suits. This by the way is a "natural" smile. I wish that I had better lighting in the house in the evening but alas it is what it is (a picture with a shadow). This is the kind of smile I had been missing for so many months.

Quote of the Day

I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions and individual makes to her or his fellow human being.
-Margaret Mead

My farewell

I had a remarkable day with my girlfriends. These ladies knew what I needed…I needed to get away from my house and the stress of waiting around for something to happen with that couple that want to buy it. I had the BEST time up in Hill City with them. We ate at the best restaurant in town (lunch was seriously FAB), went shopping and through them found this wonderful clothing boutique (my only regret is that I wish that I would have found it sooner! There is nothing like trying clothes on and having them ALL fit like they were tailor made for you!

I give thanks to the Lord for the Friends I have made here in the Black Hills. Peggy, Sarah, Donna and Ellen are the most wonderful friends anyone could ever have! Our day in Hill City was fabulous! We had lunch at the famous Alpine Inn, the food there is simply delicious!

I took this picture of one of the trees that was covered in blossoms right outside of the restaurant

Go check out Peggy's Blog for more pictures from our day together. And by the way...I did buy the hat, LOL! Oh my gosh we laughed and laughed all day long!

My girlfriends gave me a beautiful Black Hills Gold necklace, I burst into tears when I opened the jewelry box- they spent way too much and I appreciate the gift and treasure those ladies ever so much! To know that they think of me in such a way brings tears of joy to my eyes. I am truly blessed with friends like them.

And who can you take a group shot with and make "bunny ears" behind them when they least suspect it?

Quote of the Day

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
-Albert Einstein

one week from today...

my children will be done with school for the summer and I can get started on seriously getting things together for the move! I now feel as if the clock has started ticking!

Portmeirion my next kitchen obsession

I adore flowers. It's no wonder why I gravitated towards Portmeirion tableware (that's dishes for we Americans). The tulip pattern below is new for 2009, and the purple lily is a collectors special edition. I've been paying close attention to the American Dollar to the British Pound conversion rates. When I see something here state side I check out the price and see how much it would cost me in Great Britain, if the price comes out better over there, then I buy it there- if not, then I buy it here.

I have a handful of Portmeirion pieces, and buy them when the "price is right". I came across a few pieces the other day at TJ Maxx that had been marked down making them a "good buy". This is my special treat to myself for remembering our time in England. I bet you're wondering how so when I started collecting pieces here state side...I only did so after we got our orders. I've admired this tableware collection for over 11 years! I remember when my girlfriend Maria (back when we were stationed in Texas) bought her 8 place settings, she had a friend of her husband's pick it up when he was TDy at RAF Lakenheath. Here's the thing with Maria... those dishes are on display only as she has never let anyone get near them with a fork! And then there's my girlfriend Jane (in VA who is of British heritage and has herself been stationed at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath) who also has Botanical Garden, BUT, Jane, unlike Maria, actually uses hers as every day dinnerware...making everyday dining feel special.

...a post from the sleep deprived

What is it with my children? Why do they think that they need to wake me up when they wake up in the middle of the night? As my daughter Hannah wakes me up and tells me how she "just" remembered how she forgot 2 assignments at school yesterday. She's totally freaking out at 1:30 in the morning about this...I try to gently remind her that she has an A+ average and that she can miss an assignment or two and she'll still get to "graduate" from the 8th grade. Oh my word she was going on and on and on about it so then I made the comment...now you get a taste of what I go though, if it's not me thinking about the move, it's the house or shipping the cat or you, your brother and/or your Dad having things that you need me to do. I let her know that I wake up thinking about things I need to get done by a certain date, things that I want to do but no longer have time for, things I might have to do and of course my favorite things I don't want to do.

So today I am very much sleep deprived.

The paper crafting group Ladies are taking me to Hill City today for lunch and some general milling around. I let the kids and the realtor know that I’m not going to be “available” today. It’s been in the 90’s for the past 2 days and today it’s supposed to be in the low 70’s with some wind and rain…I say, bring it on! It's been nice to be warm, but it was just a little too warm for me!

My life has once again become a series of little emergencies…Hannah noticed last night that a bracket popped off her braces, I told her that she needed to pick a day that she could afford to miss some school and she freaked out with that. Her reply, “I can’t afford to miss any school, I've got projects due, I've got to be in the class to hand in my assignments”. Her next orthodontic appointment is on June 2nd, I wonder if it can wait until then. My girlfriends and I have had this trip to Hill City planned for over a month, I’m not about to cancel it! I've still got to make an appointment for my mammogram, make my spa day appointment (I've a gift certificate to use), finish my quilts for the quilt show and about 1001 other things to get done before the 28th of this month. There are days when there’s not enough time in the day to get everything done that I want to, then there are days when there’s not enough caffeine in the world for me to get the work done.

Quote of the Day

The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any.
- Katharine Whitehorn

It's Tuesday Gromit

Waiting...I'm not very patient when it comes to waiting for thing to happen. So the thing I was waiting on yesterday was postponed until today- ugh!

I suppose that I could drive into town and do some errands while I'm waiting for a phone call. I'll write later and spill the beans.

Quote of the Day

There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."
- Jerry Seinfeld

Sew what?

Since the house is impeccably clean and tidy I'm going to use today to sew. With only 2 weeks left until the Quilt Show I want to have my hand sewing done and the quilts ready to go. I have the 1 errand to do today (buy milk), other than that I've got the entire day to myself. I dare say that life is good!

If you're local and are reading my blog- please introduce yourself. Do you plan on going to the Black Hills Quilters Guild Quilt Show? It's going to be fantastic! And in August you must plan to go to the Central States Fair with your family and see all of the wonderful things people have made- the hand crafted items are simply lovely to look at!

Ps- I've got a secret...it may not end up being anything but I'll know more by 3 pm

Quote of the Day

What small potatoes we all are, as compared to what we might be!
-Charles Dudley Warner

10-Year-Old California Girl Battles Breast Cancer

10-Year-Old California Girl Battles Breast Cancer

For those of us that have daughters and those that have granddaughters, Breast Cancer Awareness is important. Please pop over to Fox News and read this story...breast cancer at 10 years old, who would have ever of thought it. I'm once again having a talk with my daughter about it.

My Sunday...

What can I say about today...

*I helped my son rearrange his bedroom and now it feels much larger.

*Working as a team, we got the house ready to show today.

*Got a call from my realtor letting me know that the open house went well, now to wait and see if anyone makes an offer.

*Took the kids clothes shopping- Andrew to get some suits for school this fall and Hannah to get a swimsuit. Not a very fair trade there BUT her time will come for school uniforms later on this summer and of course there's shoe shopping in our future, and I know how my girl LOVES shoes!

*Had lunch out with my kids at our favorite Chinese restaurant. As always the food was excellent and so was the service!

Now it's time to relax with a cup of tea and my latest book.

Quote of the Day

Some folks are wise and some are otherwise.
-Tobias Smollett

the love of reading books

I love to read, and of course I have my handful of favorite authors. But what I've been reading these past few days is an off shoot of Jane Austen's' work. I just finished reading a book by Amanda Grange "Captain Wentworth's Diary", I had read "Mr. Darcy's Diary" and it was excellent and I had no doubt that this own would be the same. Let me tell you that I was not disappointed in it at all! If you have read the book "Persuasion" by Jane Austen, then this books by Amanda Grange fills in some gaps and is a perfect accompaniment. My next book is "Mr. Knightley's Diary" and is an off shoot from Jane Austen's wonderful book "Emma". I'm waiting a couple more weeks until I order my next 2 books...Colonel Brandon's Diary and Edmund Bertram's Diary- I want to save these for the plane ride over to England, but if I order them now, I know that I'll read them now, LOL!

I've started to make my summer reading list and I can hardly wait to see what wonderful book shops await me in England next month!

Donate Donate Donate

I'm doing it again...going through things in my home and pulling them out and putting them into the bags marked "donations". Here I have been donating so much over the past few months and I'm going at it again. This time it's clothing. I went though my sons entire bedroom and used a few of those bin like containers by Rubbermaid. I organized his closet and drawers, got ALL of the junk off of the floor and out from underneath of his bed. Now to vacuum and dust in there...I'll vacuum but I refuse to dust!

So anyway...I came across clothing that I know he's outgrown. So from there I went to Hannah and asked her is she any clothing that she no longer is interested in having...she brought out an outfit that she got over a year ago. I was surprised to see that she still had it in her closet. I've gone through this latest batch of clothing and decided to give away some more sweaters and even some summer clothing.

In the kitchen...oh my gosh who of us doesn't have at least a zillion of those Glad company plastic containers that lunch meats come in? I'm culling the herd and am keeping 4 of them, the rest will be either given away, donated or recycled. Those plastic containers are handy for all kinds of things, but I don't need so many of them. I'm saying goodbye to my electric can opener. I don't use it, I prefer to use my hand crank can opener. So off it goes and a few other little things.

I recently donated a great number of items to the food bank- our Post Office is having a food drive this week and I dropped off several plastic bags of food items there on Thursday. here's something to make you laugh... I had recently shipped off ALL of my round and rectangular cake pans, my Angel Food Cake pan, some spring form pans and my simple bunt cake pans to England. So there I am organizing the pantry for the open house tomorrow (yes another open house) and there's all of these cake mixes...and nothing to bake them in, LOL! So off to the food bank they go! There was all kinds of stuff that I sent to the food bank, but I did have to laugh at myself for shipping my Angel food cake pan off and not realizing that I had 4 boxes of Angel food cake mix- oops! Well I look at it this way, my stupidity is another persons gain and I'm glad to be able to help others.

I've got to get myself ready for the day, then later on I'll drive downtown to drop off my latest batch of items for donation, pick up my Mary Engelbreit quilt from the Professional Quilter (she called yesterday and it's ready) and maybe I'll have lunch downtown too!

Quote of the Day

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.
-Mother Theresa

Getting my teenage son Organized

The road to organization is a long and lonely one when you have teenagers. Last night I decided that I'm going to gut and organize my sons room before this next open house. This morning I was at Target at 8am when they opened their doors for business (man oh man am I going to miss that store). I bought at least a dozen of those plastic tub like containers with lids (got to love the fact they were on sale dirt cheap too). I'm going to cram all of his junk into them and then store them out in the garage. My boy is a pig, it's just junk everywhere I look in that room. I am going in there with my camera and I'm going to take some before and after pictures of his room. It's more for myself to see the before and after of my hard work than to embarrass him -although that's not such a bad idea.

You may not see me for hours...if you don't hear from me by 3pm call out search and rescue I could have been swallowed up by a black hole in the universe that was hiding in my sons room :-o

Quote of the Day

The great law of culture is: Let each become all that he was created capable of being.
-Thomas Carlyle

At Peggy & Buds ranch

Here's the new colt and his very protective mother, aren't they are both beautiful? Thanks Peggy for letting snap some photo's of this precious mother and child.

B-1 Bomber flyovers

All this week B-1 bombers are training around the clock. Here are some pictures that I took the other day...

WARNING...this IS an Enabler Alert!

Have you seen this deal over at Provocraft? It's 2 Cricut cartridges PLUS a Cricut Jukebox and the pens for $99.99 plus shipping. It is quite the deal if I do say so myself! With that said, yes of course I ordered one! The question now is...are your ordering one?

Have you been to Peg's blog?

The one thing that keeps me feeling inspired is checking out new paper crafts at my friend Peggy's Blog. She's been having this fill in the space contest- long story short I won a $40 Stampin Up shopping spree with her! WoooHoo!!!

I want to thank Peggy for the awesome time I had with her and the wonderful ladies that make up our paper crafting group. Talk about having FUN! I've got to take pictures of what we made...talk about having unique and fun ways using those new Sizzix dies that are Stampin Up exclusives! I adore containers, and the little boxes and bags we've been making are just a hoot! I've decided that Hannah and I need to make one of those paper chest of drawers for her nightstand- it is just too darn sweet! Thanks Peg for the inspiration! Want to see the matchbox drawer...Click HERE

Quote of the Day

from my old Alma mater...

Let me tell you the secret

that has led me to my goal.

My Strength lies solely in my tenacity.

-Louis Pasteur

making sense of the utterly ridiculous

You know that happiness is fleeting right? I have to laugh at the series of events that continue to give me grief and stress me out. I'm working on shipping my cat over to the UK...I called the airline that we're flying on and they gave me a number to call for cargo- which in turn gave me 2 different pet shipping companies to call. Well one company never returned my phone call and the 2nd company....well they are why I'm writing today.

After leaving the initial phone call with the company and finally getting a return call 2 days later (there was nothing speedy in that returned phone call). I give the information to the lady on the phone, she says that she will e-mail me some forms and that I am to scan them in and send them back to her. One of those forms is a contract that required a $75 non-refundable processing fee. I immediately write her back letting her know that we are a military family doing a PCS (permanent change of station aka moving) to England and that I do not feel comfortable signing a contract when I don't even know how much the charge will be. She e-mails me back letting me know that's fine and she will have an estimate for me Monday morning. Monday comes and goes and so does most of Tuesday. I call her and let her know that I'm still waiting, she tells me that she sent me the estimate, I let her know that I do not have it. Then she replies "Oh you're right, I haven't done that yet". Are you ready for the estimate? I almost crapped my pants! $1,600.00
Okay here's what's what...I can get a round trip ticket to London flying out of Rapid City, SD for 2 people and still have more than $300 left over! Needless to say I'm NOT going with that company! I'm now searching for ways to get my cat shipped over there w/o someone seriously padding their wallet!

So that being said, is that the most utterly ridiculous thing you've ever hear of or what?

Quote of the Day

It isn't the mountian ahead that wears you out- it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
-Robert W. Service

waking up blissfully happy!

Usually when I "wake up" my mind is full of things that I've got to get done. But this morning it wasn't that way, it was full of creative ideas and I am blissfully happy!

Quote of the Day

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
-Gilda Radner

Science & Math Fair

It just dawned on me that I never told you all how the Science & Math Fair went. Here's Hannah's exhibit it's on the Maillard Reaction and she used a Classic New York Cheesecake as her example. Not one tidbit was left, every single little scrap of cheesecake was nibbled up!

The event was a huge success, tons of parents,teachers and children came to the event. Everyone had a great time!

I've got moving on my mind

I'm excited about the prospects that today brings with it. There's something about a fresh new start for the beginning of the week. Hmmmm, I just might be back to liking Mondays again :-)

I've managed to get 2 more large (18x18x16) boxes packed and ready to ship off to England full of things we're going to need...or what I'm going to need in the kitchen and in other rooms in our summer cottage. With 1 month 1 week and 4 days to go until we leave I still have plenty of things to do around here, there's still a lot more that I need to get ready for the movers to pack and other items that I'll pack and send to myself.

It's beginning to get hard for me to concentrate on things other than issues and topics that pertain to our move. I'm ready to throw in the towel and tell the moving company to come and pack it all up now and lets just go and be done with it and I'll sort it all out on the other end. I'm getting down to the little nit picky things like which dishes and other items to put into long term permanent storage, and what goes into crate #1 (we get access to items in it in late August) and then what goes into the rest of the crates (the stuff we won't see until November). It makes me feel dizzy just thinking about it.

Quote of the Day

You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
-Betty Ford

Happy Mother's Day

To my friends that have children with fur and those that have the human variety- I wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day!

Things on my mind...

I awoke several times during the night- having so much on my mind all of the time tends to do that to me. I'm checking things off of my "to do" list now that I'm down to 6 weeks (give or take a day).

I've contacted a couple of pet shipping companies and am waiting to hear back from them on the estimates. I have this sinking feeling that it's going to be very expensive. So one company calls me back and they e-mail me a contract for me to fill out and they want me to give them a $75 non-refundable deposit before they give me an estimate...um, I really don't feel comfortable doing that and I let the person know that in an e-mail. There are companies that (and I hate to say it but it's true) take advantage of military families, especially ones that are moving overseas with pets.

I've got to make a newsletter for the subdivision, informing them that I'm moving and that we need to elect a new person to be HOA president not to mention that we also need to elect an entire new board-eek! I need to announce the date of the neighborhood garage sale and get the ad put into the newspaper.

Yesterday was spent organizing items in the bathrooms. Preparing things for shipping. You see, moving companies want their clients to have things like Bath and Body works foaming hand soap, body wash,body lotions etc. in Ziploc baggies before they will pack them up. I don't want to wait until the last minute to get these simple yet time consuming tasks done- so I did it yesterday. To be perfectly honest, it took me a lot longer than I thought it would.

Things we'll need more than 1 of (especially when the kids and I get there) are sheets and bedding, towels, pillows, hangers, dinnerware and cookware. I've started shipping off boxes with those kinds of things in them. Okay so I've not sent any dishes...this is my excuse for starting my Portmeirion dishware collection (I only have 1 complete place setting, 4 cups and saucers and 4 mugs), hehehe (that's my sneaky laugh). And don't you just love how I used the word "only"? LOL! Portmeirion is going to be my "thing" that I will have in our home which I will remember our time spent living in England. Then again I do plan on adding to my Spode Christmas Tree place settings...maybe just maybe I will finally get myself that sauce boat after nearly 14 plus years of wanting it, LOL!

I'm pulling out more stuff to donate to the woman's shelter and to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. Looking back, I find it amazing how much stuff I've already donated/given away and how much more I'm now willing to part with. I want to be 100% ready when the moving company truck pulls up in front of our house and packs up of belongings. I want us to have our suitcases packed and ready to go to the airport. I want things to go as smoothly as possible without any of those nasty last minute hiccups.

Quote of the Day

Heavenly Father, thank You for the unique personalities that You have given to each and every child. Help me to discover each talent and gift with which You have blessed my children, and may I learn how to best cultivate each of the blossoms You have planted within their souls. Amen.
-Kim Boyce

Give Love Every Day

Love unconditionally, that's my motto. I love my children if they are having good days or bad. I try to encourage them to be the best persons that they can be, granted there have been some really rough days around here (due to our overseas move). But through it all I know that the Lord will help my children to adapt to their new school, to make new friends and to enjoy every moment in their new host country.

I put my foot down with my sons friends yesterday. Right as they entered our house I let them know that I will not tolerate them being disrespectful to me in any way and that they are not to talk negativly about our move in any way, shape, or form or they will no longer be welcome in our home- end of story. I got a yes ma'am out of all them and that was it. My boy is so torn between his friends and this move. It's sad that his best friend has been such a snot about our move- and has been putting all kinds of crap notions into our sons head. I let my son and his 2 friends know that I will win out and the only losers in all of this will be them. Today, my son is a nice happy young man and is not angry. It seems as if my being perfectly frank with them all has (maybe) started to sink in. With only 1 month, 1 week and 6 days until we leave I'm wanting to get on with preparing for this move. It's been rough and I know that I'm not totally out of the woods yet, so keep me and my family in your prayers.

Today I have happy and content children. I let them sleep in and relax. It's Mother's Day weekend, I have no plans on showing my house this weekend, it's family time for the 3 of us. I'm going to make those yummy ultimate cinnamon rolls (these are way better than cinnabon cinnamon rolls) -Terri if you're reading this...you are going to LOVE these! When I get to England I promise that I will teach you how to make these delicious treats for your tea shop :-)

Quote of the Day

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.
-Gail Lumet Buckley

a girl and her shoes

I've been asked about the shoes I bought the other day, so here they are...

These are my Liz Claiborne mules, believe it or not, but they are truly comfortable!
And of course my Clark's Black suede sandals- another pair of truly comfortable yet stylish shoes. These have a small heal to them and a built in arch support...worth every penny!

Don't you love that waffle weave pattern in my skin? I was wearing my Old Navy ankle socks in my Crocs before I took these pictures and they left quite the imprint in my skin, LOL!

As you see, my feet are not pretty my big toes are mishapped (have been since birth). I've had surgery on both feet and there are numerous scars on each foot, maybe a few more on my left foot than my right. The last surgery left the toes on my left foot curly a bit and that is really starting to bug me but alas there's nothing I can do about that now is there. No matter what I always have my toe nails painted a bright cheery shade of pink. I have always been embarrassed about how my feet look then last year I said to heck with it! There are people with uglier feet than mine wearing cute strappy sandals and that was it for me! I let myself get my first pedicure last year and my feet have been happy ever since! Trust me when I say I'd do a pedicure over a manicure any day! Pedicures are the one indulgence I hope to be able to do for myself once I get to England! Which reminds me...I have a gift certificate to use!

AFJROTC Awards Banquet

There's my boy, he's the tall one in the back. He and the rest of this group are on the drill team.

Here you see his AFJROTC group receiving the "best unit" award again. I hope that all of the parents that were there last night are as proud of this group of kids as I was. They do an awful lot of community service work; the food drives, coat drives and clothing drives not to mention picking up trash on the side of the road, visiting nursing homes and bringing care packages to veterans to putting together items for the local women's shelter and numerous other charity things they do for our local community.

Way to go Douglas High School Air Force JROTC!