You know you're from West Virginia when....

Your state is misspelled on your shirt! LOL That's ALMOST as bad as VP Quail's "potatoe" screw up.

The sweetest thing...

is a smiling dirty face! I have so many pictures of my boys with faces so dirty all you can see are their teeth and their eyes shining through. This little boy happens to be very special to me AND he was born on my birthday! His mom is THE BEST at making scrapbook pages (at least in my eyes). I'm awe struck looking at them.

I have some other friends that will soon have a little one of their own and they will learn just how cute these little faces can get beneath a layer of spaghetti or chocolate pudding :O)

Most of the pictures of my kids when they were young enough to be in a highchair were taken before I had a digital camera but this one must have been scanned. It's the only one on my computer. This is Riley covered in something sticky. He rubbed it all in his hair! I have several pictures of Jared covered in spaghetti sauce or chocolate pudding hehehe I guess I'll save those and the bathtub pictures for the first girlfriend!


Riley AKA Spike

We all need a tree

I received this story in an email. I thought it was a good one to share.

We all need a tree

I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.

When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation.. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh,that's my trouble tree," he replied "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house
With my wife and the children... So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again." "Funny thing is," he smiled," when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

Hmmm I feel the need to add...

I just reread my last post and started laughing. Not because of the dream and the CAT (that's scary!) but because I use ALL more than I should. Sometimes I will tell my husband that ALL of the kids were outside and I only have two... but I guess when they are ALL over the place it sure seems like there are a lot more of them than two. Anyway, I guess ALL to me can be two or three since I only dated 3 guys. The first turned out to be a little crazy...or a lot crazy (depending on whether he took his medication that day, the second made a fast error and didn't last past two weeks and the third ended up being my husband. I have now been married for 15 years! Those blue eyes are the only ones I really need but I still LOVE blue eyes. I have always had this infatuation with the color of blue, especially that clear blue the sky can be. So even though blue eyes make me weak in the knees it doesn't mean I'll go crazy and run off with some stranger. I've heard that eyes are the windows to the soul but God chose the tent of the glass :O) Sometimes the color is so stunning I can't see past the window pane.

Whooh, What a day!

First of all I had this crazy nightmare that melded two of my worst weaknesses/issues together in the oddest way. Your mind is like a little brother sometimes - taunting, evil, and stupid all at the same time. Maybe I should cut out the midnight snack or something.

Well anyway, my first issue is that I'm allergic to cats. Well most cats. I went to a thrift type store the other day to see if they had a coffee table I could redo and I found these cool shirts that my oldest son would like. They looked new and were only $3 each. I bought him 3 of them. I remember feeling a little itchy there and I felt like I had something in my eye just before I left. The next morning I woke up with my eye all red and irritated. I finally got a fine dark hair out of my eye and it started to get better.

Next issue....well weakness...or both. I LOVE blue eyes. If I see someone with those awesome sky-blue eyes my knees buckle and I can't keep my head long enough to form a sentence. I think I should call a therapist. Yes, my husband has blue eyes and so did all the guys that I dated. I even had a dog with blue eyes. After a while I get used to it and act normal until the next set of blue eyes walk my way *sighs like I'm high*

So, this odd dream was about this CAT with blue eyes LOL Talk about mixed up. It kept following me everywhere I went...at the grocery store (where I was buying ice cream and frozen french fries LOL) and then in sears! It followed me home (I was walking) and then I felt bad for it and let it in my house. That's when I started the wild sneezing and turning red and bumpy but I couldn't run it off or even take my eyes off of this cat with the gorgeous blue eyes. Is that the most retarded thing you have ever heard????????????????? I think I've lost my mind.

Funny thing is, about 30 minutes before my alarm went off I rolled over to check the time and couldn't open my left eye and could barely open the other eye. My eyes were swollen shut! I think there had to be cat hair on those shirts and when I was doing laundry last night I handled them. It's a good thing I knew right where the benedryl was because I couldn't see anything. I took one and it knocked me out cold. I vaguely remember thinking about the kids needing to be woken up for school and then deciding that I needed their services for today. I woke up a couple hours later and fumbled into Jared's room to wake him up. He instantly came to my rescue like I knew he would. I barely explained what the problem was and he went and started the laundry. He is washing everything! Riley helped me a lot too by bringing me things or helping me when I couldn't see. Now it's about 3pm and I feel a lot better. The swelling has gone down and I can see. My eye is just a little scratchy feeling. I just wish I could quit feeling freaked out from that crazy dream I had!

I am going to go meet a friend at the literacy council's used book store (Forget me not used books) and see if I can't get my mind off of that!

Where's Waldo?

And everyone else? Look at the left side under "check this out!" and click on my guestmap. Please place a pin on the map for me.

A soldier's memorial

Please go and read this story link I think I will enlist the help of my two boys for this challenge. Even if they no longer need anything from Alaska it would be good to them to feel they could help in some way. We will get out shovels out later this afternoon and send out a package. My youngest son Riley has always loved rocks. In the summertime you'll find them in all his pockets, his dresser, and in little piles around his room. I'm sure he has a few he wouldn't mind sharing and would love to help in this mission. I can't wait to tell the boys. Jared especially is interested in helping out. He wore a yellow band around his arm in support of the troops until it finally broke one day. I'll have to see if I can find him another one.