Array of Sunshine

pink and green scene dot com!!!!

2010-02-20T03:10:00.000-08:00

Bloggin' Buddies... I am out of my mind with joy right now. I feel like I just won the lottery. Seriously. I am too stunned to even use exclamation points.

I have a pink and green kitchen. It originally was supposed to be pink and black, with apple green accents. But the green is pretty dominant, since all of my counter-top appliances, curtains, rugs and table cloth are apple green. So now I just say my kitchen is pink and green with some black thrown in.

Anyways!! I found the most awesome resource EVER for people who like pink and green!! http://www.pinkandgreenscene.com/

It. Is. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm heading back over there, but I thought I'd share my joy with you all really quick. I'm on the hunt for new rugs. Let's see what I can find! EEEK! So excited!!!

Blog at ya later!

A Refuge In Times Of Trouble

2010-02-07T23:14:00.001-08:00

I sometimes feel like I must be the most dim-witted person on the planet. I say that because I exasperate even myself at times with how long it takes me to come to my senses, or to realize that I'm going about something the wrong way. Case in point:

Guy and I have been praying over a situation for months now. We both go from troubled to hurt to mad to discouraged to confused, to hurt to mad to... you get the picture. I personally have taken this matter to the Lord over and over again- pouring out my heart, asking Him for direction and grace and strength and a miracle. And I trust God to perform it. I know that it will all work out in His time and in His way. But in the "right now", it still hurts and is still troubling. And it consumed me. When it's time to pray, it's almost all I pray about. I just tell the Lord all about it, over and over. I tell Him how upset I am, and ask Him once more to fix it.

And last night in prayer, I realized that although I've asked God countless times to intervene in this situation, I've never fully laid it at His feet and left it there. I go to Him and beg Him to help- I hold out the problem, if you will, before Him and complain or lament over it, and then when my time of prayer ends, I keep a hold on it- carrying it around with me.

Then I thought, How is He supposed to fix it, if I won't let Him have it? It would be like a child coming to their parent, crying and holding out a broken toy or cut finger or something, and then all of the sudden they have to go do something else. The child runs off, not giving the parent a chance to fix the problem. And then after a while, the child is upset over the problem and runs back, crying and pleading for help, only to repeat the scenario again.

Thankfully, I realized that this is essentially what I myself have been doing, and I gave the situation to God with confidence that He will take care of it. I felt such a release after "casting my care on Him" and I wondered why it had taken me so long to do so. I continued praying and thanking God in advance for working it all out.

Continuing in prayer, I remembered the words of a preacher who prophesied over my husband and I while we were still in our first year of marriage. We were visiting one of Guy's brothers, who lived in Leavenworth at the time, and we went to church up there, where an evangelist was preaching his last night of revival. After the preaching, Guy and I knelt down and prayed at the pew. The evangelist came over and prayed for us, telling us that God had spoke to him and wanted to tell us something. I wish I could remember the exact wording, but I can't. But I remember he told us "God has great things he wants to do for you, but you will go through some hard times first. Make God your refuge." That was the gist of it.

I've thought about the words of that preacher several times in the last 13 years, but last night, they seemed to ring truer than ever before. I suppose it's because we are living right in the thick of those words. God has spoken things to our hearts, showed us our future, given us promises we never imagined. On the road to the promises of God, though, we are having to deal with some things that are hard. However, the Lord is my refuge and I'm trusting Him to work it out! I am doing my best to lean on Him, and not on my own understanding. Trying my hardest to keep a right attitude and not let bitterness creep in. His ways are much higher than ours. I have quoted Psalms 121:1 often, both in prayer and while going through out my day- I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

If you're going through a rough time, remember that he will never leave you. He rolled back the waters of the mighty Red Sea, and He said "I'm gonna lead you, just put your trust in me." There is a reason, a purpose, for what I am going through and for what you may be facing in your own life. He will not forsake us!!

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. ~Psalm 9:9-10

Childhood Memories

2010-01-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and there is a lovely blanket of snow everywhere I look. I hope that there isn't a kid in town that's sitting inside playing video games when there is so much adventure waiting outside.

A friend of mine commented earlier that she was going "hillbilly sledding", where a four wheeler or truck pulls you around on an old car hood. I got that warm fuzzy feeling in my heart when she said that, because it brought back so many memories. And I thought I'd share a couple. Hope you indulge me a little, as I go back down memory lane. :)

My mom and dad divorced when I was about 5 years old, and growing up- I lived back and forth between them. It was like day and night. If it hadn't been for me missing my little brothers so much- I would have never lived with my mom. My dad was the best! And so almost ( not all, but certainly a majority) of my GOOD memories were made when I lived with my dad in Parsons.

We lived out in the country, and so Josh and I had to catch a bus to school. My dad was a crane operator for Beachners, a company who builds bridges, and he had to be at work very early, so that meant we had to get up very early. In the winter, we would trudge through the snowy field that was between our little pink house and my aunt's house- where Dad would go to work with my uncle, and me and Josh would wait for the school bus. Dad would "blaze the trail" through the snow, and Josh and I would follow behind, trying our hardest to walk in the boot prints that Dad made. The snow was so deep and cold, and we were half asleep most of the time. We'd get to Aunt Candy's house, and it would feel so good coming into the warm house that smelled like coffee. Me and Josh would go get settled in the living room, hoping to catch a few more winks before the bus came. And Dad and Uncle Ted and Aunt Candy would sit at the table and drink coffee and talk. The soft murmuring would lull me back to sleep usually, and I'd sleep until my aunt would wake my cousins up for school. I don't know why walking in my dad's big boot prints through the snow every morning means so much to me, but it does. :) Probably because he himself means so much to me.

We would also go sledding on a car hood, pulled by either three wheelers or a pick up truck. It was a lot of fun, but I liked sledding down the hill by my aunt's house even more than I liked the car hood sledding. Aunt Candy lives right by a lake. You can walk right out of her house, down the hill, and you're at the dock! It's pretty great. And us kids thought that it was SUPER great to sled down. We never worried about sledding into the lake. Until it happened! At the top of the hill there were steps made out of rock. And we normally just walked down the steps, put the sled on the hill and let it fly. But one day, we had the great idea to start at the VERY top. We thought it would be cool to sled down the steps too. And my youngest brother Jimmy, who was only about 3 or 4 years old, was the first to go down the hill, steps and all! Being the youngest, he was also the lightest of us kids. Which I'm sure is the reason that he flew down that hill like a speeding bullet and landed in the frozen lake. If my memory serves correctly, I think he even slid on some lake ice before it gave way. My older cousin was babysitting us at the time, and we ran up the hill hollering for her, abandoning my little brother, who was still in Lake Parsons. Don't worry, the water at the bottom of the hill is only knee deep or so, so he didn't drown. Somehow, he got out (probably on his own, since we had freaked out and ran for help) and I remember being worried that he would get frost bite. Jody ran a warm bath for him, and by the next day, he was as good as new. And so, except for that one bad experience, sledding down Aunt Candy's hill was loads of fun. :) Needless to say, we didn't sled down the steps again. Not that day, anyways. Hehe!

Blog at ya later!

My new nephew Bradley

2010-01-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy Bloggin' Buddies! :)

This past Tuesday, my sister in law, Valerie, gave birth to a beautiful, robust baby boy named Bradley James. Congratulations, Jimmy and Valerie!! I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that my little brothers are now adults and have children of their own!

Valerie went into the hospital early Tuesday morning, and around noon, we got word that the baby was coming "any time now!" So, that evening, Guy and I went up to visit, expecting to get a peek at the baby before I had to go to piano lessons.

We walked into the room and it was evident that Bradley had yet to make his world debut. I blurted, "He's STILL not made an appearance?!?" Poor Valerie!! But we were assured that it really would be "anytime now"- for real this time! So we went to the waiting room for a little bit, but then I had to leave to go to my lessons.

Not long after we left, Bradley arrived. Wouldn't ya know it?? ;-)

So Wednesday afternoon, we stopped by and met him. :) He was bundled up in a blanket not making a peep. I got to hold him and get a few pictures.
This baby has got some huge feet, too! I spotted a piece of paper with his footprints in ink, and they were ginormous! I was shocked at how big they were. LOL

blog at ya later! :)

Oral Surgery= one loopy husband!

2010-01-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin' buddies! :)

Life in our home has been kind of turned upside down this week. My husband has been on vacation, and it has been wonderful having him all to myself this week. EXCEPT... that he had 5 teeth removed this past Wednesday. All of his wisdom teeth, plus one more. Ouch!!

We drove down to Bartlesville early in the afternoon, and both of us were pretty naive about how serious the "surgery" would be. I mean, we both knew that he was going to be completely knocked out for it all, and they had given him a nerve pill to take a few hours prior to the surgery. He didn't take the nerve pill- he wasn't nervous. And we both knew that it was ME who would be driving home, because he would still be too loopy.

But neither of us knew just how loopy he would be. We were both sitting in the waiting room and then they called him back. About 45 minutes later, a lady stuck her head out the door and said that the dentist would like to talk to me. So I hurriedly put my John Grisham book back into my purse and followed her into a small conference room to wait for the oral surgeon. I caught a glimpse of my husband as I was led to the conference room, and my heart about stopped. He. Looked. AWFUL!!! He looked like he was dying, folks. I've never seen him look so bad. He was "awake" but certainly not alert, sitting in a wheel chair, slumped over, mouth full of gauze, with his glazed eyes peeking out from under heavy eyelids...I was so scared.

And because I was so scared, when the doctor came in to speak with me about how to care for Guy once we were home, I barely heard him talking to me. And I certainly wasn't able to RETAIN any of it! I nodded my head at the appropriate times, but all I could hear was a loud swishing sound in my ears. The sound of fear? Anyways, when the doctor said that they would roll him out a certain door in the wheelchair, I did catch that. So I pulled the car around the building and up to the wheel chair ramp. A lady wheeled him down and he was able to stand and get into the car. But he still looked so awful that I almost burst out crying!!! I thanked her, and we started on our way home.

Mind you, I don't drive. Remember??? The accident???? So I'm nervous to be driving in more traffic than I'm used to, I'm nervous about getting pulled over, and I'm freaking out because there is a ZOMBIE buckled in next to me! =-O

All the way back to Kansas, I kept sneaking glances at him. Sometimes, his eyes were open. Sometimes not. When they were open, I would ask if he knew me. Did he know who HE was? I kept asking him these stupid ridiculous questions because he looked... retarded. I don't say that in a mean way either. I was truly worried that something went wrong and that he would forever be mentally handicapped! So please don't judge me. But when I asked him, he would nod yes. I was silently crying, wondering if he'd ever be the same again. That is how bad he looked.

Yes, I know. He had 5 teeth surgically cut out of his mouth. How was he supposed to look??? Again, I was naive and unprepared. I suppose that I expected him to look just like he did when he left me in the waiting room.

So, we make it back to Indy and I had to stop at Wal-Mart to fill his prescriptions- one for pain and an antibiotic. The paper the doctor sent with me said not to leave him unattended for the first 24 hours. But I had to get his meds. So I looked at the zombie, still buckled in and sleeping, and I did exactly what the paper said not to. I left him unattended. I practically ran into Wal-Mart, grabbed a cart and bolted for the pharmacy. It was like Supermarket Sweep. I dropped off the prescriptions, and zoomed off to the other side of the store to stock up on "liquid" foods.

I raced down the soup aisle, barely slowing down to grab his 2 favorite soups- Chicken and Stars, and Broccoli Cheese. I careened around corners, running for the butterscotch pudding mix. The clock was ticking, and while my eyes swept the shelves for INSTANT pudding mix, I was panicking that the zombie might wake up disoriented and try to walk across the parking lot, getting himself killed. The fear catapulted me down the aisle, where I paused to get some applesauce.

I rushed back to the pharmacy, and wouldn't you know it? I wound up waiting 30 minutes for the meds!! I was tapping my foot, sighing loudly, I even shot a couple of people dirty looks as they walked by me with their medicine in hand. I was making it worse than it was, but didn't realize it. I was still worried that the zombie would wake up and not know where he was. As I stood there in line at the pharmacy, I imagined him getting "loose" and falling. Or walking out in front of a car. And it would be MY fault! Because it was ME who left him unattended! I swiped at my eyes, quickly brushing away tears. I wanted to go check on him, but then what would happen to my cart? I worried that they would restock everything, and I'd have to do the supermarket sweep again.

So, finally, I got the medicine. But my waiting STILL wasn't over, because I had to wait in a long check out line. My patience was wearing as thin as the melted ice cream in my cart.

An hour after entering the store, I exited it and hurried to the car. Guy was still asleep, still buckled in and not even aware that I had been gone. He woke up as I forcefully threw the shopping bags into the backseat.

As I yanked on my seat belt and revved the engine several times- out of frustration, I knew that he would be just fine and no serious damage was done. Because he frowned at me, shook his head, and put his hands up in the "stop" position. " Stop revving the engine!" he seemed to say. And then I DID burst into tears. And he motioned for me to calm down, the frown replaced with that gentle concern of his that I love so much.

He still couldn't talk. And he went right back to sleep as I drove home. I called my pastors wife, crying and asked him how long he would be like that. And by "that", I mean mouth stuffed with gauze, non-verbal, and loopy. "How long till he looks and acts normal?" I asked. She laughed and assured me that he would be fine. It WAS a surgery after all. She calmed me down and told me not to expect him to talk for a few days. And that if he did talk, it would sound... well, just like someone talking with a mouth full of gauze!

And then she said what I absolutely needed to hear. She said "You're going to have to be his nurse for a few days." And that changed everything. I was able to put emotion aside, pull myself together, and concentrate on doing just that. Being his nurse. Making sure that he was comfortable. Helping him get up and down the stairs. Bringing him his pain pills and food. It was fun for me! I changed his gauze out every 30 minutes, timed how long the ice packs had been on each jaw, and assured him that he would be fine. See? I did good! SO good in fact, that late the night of his surgery, he was talking. Talking normal! And looking normal! The bleeding had stopped and so we stopped putting gauze in his mouth. :)

It's now 3 days after his surgery and he is doing great! He's able to manage the pain mostly with Aleve. He doesn't like taking the prescription pain pill if he doesn't have to, because it is so strong.

The whole ordeal did make me wonder is I was TOO dependant on my husband. He has voiced that concern himself a few times through the years.

He's Superman in my eyes. Strong, steady, compassionate, loving, smart, funny, handsome. He's my best friend. The one person that I completely trust. I'm so thankful that he is feeling better!!

I love you Guy!! xoxoxo :)

2010- a year full of promise

2010-01-09T00:32:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!

I apologize, as usual, for my lengthy absence from blogging. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and rang in the new year with a bang!

An awful lot has happened since my last post. For starters, my friend Lisa- whom I blogged about last ( but then deleted the post, since the slide-show was slowing my computer down. Sorry!), has had her baby. Yes, Emelia Sorah was born 2 and a half months early and Lisa and Emme have had quite a time of it. But I am happy to report that they are both doing very well. :) Emme is a little doll, almost literally, as she can indeed wear doll sized clothing. And Lisa is an excellent mother. Congratulations Rusty and Lisa!!

Remember how I said I took pictures at a wedding back in October? Well, if you can believe it- I am STILL trying to edit those pictures!! Lucky for me, the bride and groom are family and have been BEYOND patient as I try to make the pictures look good. It's a very difficult task though, since I failed to take decent pictures. Oh, I got some passable photos of the bride and groom outside, and the rest of the bridal party... but it's the ceremony- you know, the IMPORTANT part of the whole thing- that the pictures look horrible. And that's not me being putting on faux modesty. That's the truth. I am just so glad that there was another lady there taking pictures as well, even if I was a little bristly about it at the time. I can only hope that hers turned out better than mine.

Anyways, I had promised a few pictures, so here are a few that are passable. Not pro, my any means. But passable. When Lisa moves, I should probably change my logo from Captured Moments to Souped Up Snapshots. I need to quit moaning about not being any good and get out there and shoot more! Trial and error. But enough babbling. Here they are:

The groom and his guys were so fun to shoot. They posed easier, were more relaxed, and were willing to take this last picture for me! ;^D They were great!

We have had a LOT of snow in my neck of the woods over the last couple of weeks, and though it is very cold, and slick at times- it is also beautiful. I love when we pull in the drive way and the sun is shining on the snow, making it sparkle. It's so pretty that it looks fake. :) I made a snow angel about a week ago, and it's still out in the yard, too!! A neighbor had loaned us his snow shovel, so when I was done with it, I took it back to his house and shoveled some of his sidewalk off for him, as a "thank you". Guy was in our drive way watching me shovel the snow, and warning me to be careful not to "over do it". So when I walked back across the street to our house, I pretended to stumble and fell to the ground, hollering for Guy to call an ambulance. I was just kidding with him, and he had me figured out. ;) But since I was already covered in snow, from my "collapse", I decided to go ahead and make a snow angel.

I am on cloud 9 right now, because Guy is on vacation this week!! We aren't going to do anything extravagant, but tomorrow we are going to see some friends in Missouri. I am very excited to see them! And then Wednesday, Guy has to go have dental surgery done in Bartlesville. He is having all of his wisdom teeth pulled, and they are knocking him out for the procedure. So Wednesday night, we get to stay in Bartlesville! I wish it was under other circumstances, but I am happy to stay at Hotel Phillips nonetheless. We have stayed there a few times, when we wanted to just get out of town for a night or two. It's in "old town", and it is an old hotel with a lot of charm. I love the feel and look of the hotel. I heard that they are closing their doors soon, and that makes me very sad. Here is their website though: http://www.hotel-phillips.com/

Friday we are going to Tulsa to "double date" with some friends of ours. I finally get to eat at P.F. Chang's!! Guy doesn't like Chinese food, so I've never eaten there. But since our friends and I love Chinese, he is outnumbered. Woot! Woot! And besides, he will probably just get egg drop soup, because of his teeth. Or lack of. :) I also want to go to Garden Ridge while we are in T-town.

So my week is looking pretty good. :) Hope you all have a great week, too!

Blog at ya later!
~Suni

Disappearing Act

2009-11-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! Yes, I know. I know. It's been a LOOOONG time! I sort of disappeared for a while, didn't I?! I looked at the date of my last blog entry and was SHOCKED to discover it has been almost 2 months. Wow...

I have been plenty busy though, so can I use that as an excuse? Haha! As I write, I realize how much I miss it!

Let's see. What's been going?...

Well, I guess I'll start by saying that I did get to that wedding in Arkansas. It was... interesting. I didn't do good at all on the pictures, but I'm not beating myself up over it considering the sheer amount of chaos that was taking place from beginning to end. I am still attempting to make the pictures look good, which is a tall order- but if and when I get that done, I hope to maybe post one. However, there are no promises. Because we all know how I am about promising pictures and then not posting them! LOL!! ;)

I have also started piano lessons and I'm really enjoying the challenge. I've got an AMAZING teacher!! I couldn't ask for anyone better, as she "gets me". She is great, and one of the reasons I feel that way is because she pushes me pretty hard. At least I think so. ;) And yet, it's as if she knows exactly how much to put on me, and how to get into this thick head of mine. It's so fun and fulfilling to hear music and know that I am the one making it! I'm no where close to being good, but it's fun to plunk around on the keyboard and sing. :) I'm grateful for a husband who spoils me rotten and allows me the lessons. Although, in all fairness, he pretty much told me I need to take them. It's also wonderful, because once I learn more, I will be able to put down the music to the songs I write. I've written several songs, and I always have the melody in my head, but I've also always had to sing it to a friend and have her pick it out on the piano for me. Hopefully, eventually, I will be able to do that myself! :)

Neewollah came and went with out much fan fair from our house. I worked at our church's peanut brittle stand during the festival, but we didn't ride any rides or play any games. I wasn't that into it this year. I did make sure to get some cheesecake-on-a-stick though! :) I couldn't pass that up. LOL.

Last weekend, I was in Branson at a conference/retreat for Christian women. The ladies from my church have been going since they started the conference, because my pastor's wife and her 3 sisters are the ones that put it on. But this year was the first year that I decided to go. I'm very glad I did! The main speaker was a lady that lives in Burbank California, and she had been through some of the same experiences that I've been through. It was eye-opening to realize that God can use anybody. To see where she is today, and to hear how God turned her life around and Ordered Her Steps... she has an amazing story. And I was ministered to so strongly through her testimony. It was a fun time! Even though the fire alarm at the hotel went off at 3 in the morning! Haha! Apparently, it was a false alarm or something. I was told that I sat straight up in bed, my hair sticking up and a scowl on my face and demanded " What IS it?!" LOL, I happen to love my sleep and I'm not a happy camper when it's interrupted. :)

Speaking of sleep, it's almost 1 am and I have church in the morning, so I'm going to wrap this up. I will try not to be gone so long next time! ;)

Blog at ya later!

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

2009-09-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! =)

I am so excited that Fall is here! It smells and feels like Fall, and today I some some leaves chasing each other down the street. My heart smiled and I smiled.

It was a big deal to me when I was a little girl to see leaves somersaulting down the street with the help of a fall breeze. I imagined the leaves being alive, and racing down the street. I would even single one of them out and silently cheer it on! :)

I got out my little collection of fall decor this past week and set it up in various places around the house. And a friend of mine surprised me at church last week by giving me another little scarecrow man! He's a cutie too! The gift was actually from Stacie's little boy, *wink-wink*! After some thought, I named the lil' fella Odie. Thank you Stacie and Lil' Mann!! :) I was hoping to have pictures of my Fall decorations, but I haven't taken any yet. I promise, as soon as I do- I will post them on the blog!

Remember how I said a couple of months back that I had planted a garden? Well, I wasn't having any luck with it. Oh, the seeds did just fine when I had them in their little seedling trays on the back porch! But once I moved them outside to the garden beds, they stopped growing and basically disappeared. We had one marigold plant come up, one scraggly little lettuce plant, and a broccoli plant that has actually gotten quite big, but I have yet to see broccoli on it. Sooo... I was delighted to see another plant shoot up recently, and then fairly quickly start growing tiny little peppers on it!! I thought maybe it was the jalapeno plant, but Guy thinks that it is the banana pepper plant. I could care less WHAT pepper plant it is- I'm just glad to see the little things growing!! They look so cute right now too! I makes me think that maybe I'll try again next year, after all. ;D

I'm sad that September is almost over. My wedding anniversary was the 6th and our "dating anniversary" was the 21st. But even so, I'm looking forward to October too. I have a lot going on this coming up month, including a wedding to shoot in Arkansas. I'm excited for that, I've known the bride since she was a baby. And Arkansas in October should be beautiful. Very exciting!! The only down side is that my photography side kick, Lisa, will be in California during that time. (Her sister is getting married.) Guy is going with me though, and hopefully a pal of ours is going to keep Guy company while I do my job. The wedding should be interesting to shoot- the bride wanted a 50's theme. Yeah. You read that right. lol! Wish me luck!

I'm going to try and get some sleep now, so blog at ya later! :)

School Memories

2009-09-14T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! =-)

I hope everyone is well. I am so excited that Fall is fast approaching! I'm ready to get out the pumpkins and scarecrows and decorate!!

School is also in full swing, and there are several little cuties that walk by my house with their giant backpacks every morning and afternoon.

Just today, I was telling a cousin on Facebook of a memory I had of my third grade year. And that got me thinking of all my other memories of school. So I tried to think of a memory of every year of school. I didn't get very far in, and I thought I'm gonna blog about it! LOL- so that's what I'm doing... here's a list of the most vivid memory from each school year. There is one year, second grade, that I have NO memory of. I don't even know who my teacher was!! Weird. Anyways, here goes:

Kindergarten- Mrs. Beard, my teacher, had an old upright piano in the class room and she would play it. I also remember LOVING the smell of our plastic painting aprons. LOL!! This discovery was the start of a long love affair with the smell of plastic! What joy I found in sniffing a brand new trapper keeper year after year!

First Grade- Mrs. Katzer. I wasn't thrilled with 1st grade at all. I had to sit in a corner a lot and try to memorize math flash cards. I hated Mrs. Katzer and thought she hated me too, to make me do those flash cards even during recess!

Second Grade- I seriously do not remember anything about second grade. Sort of scary, actually. I know I was miserable though.

Third Grade- Mrs. Tromsness, Galesburg elementary! I LOVED third grade almost as much as kindergarten! My class room had a great big wooden fort in the room, with a small book shelf and bed on the bottom and stairs that led to a square platform with railing around it. Mrs. Tromsness let all of us girls bring our dolls and set them up in the fort one day. She was an awesome teacher!!! She also brought an incubator to the class around Easter time and we each had our own egg. Mine hatched first, and I won a chocolate bunny. =-)

Fourth Grade- Mr. Folgers. Weirdo. I got chicken pox this year and started speech because I couldn't say my "R's". LOL

Fifth Grade- Mrs. McKeller. I discovered writing. And how much I enjoyed it!!! We were given an assignment- we could either write a poem or an essay type paper on... something. can't remember what. But I opted for the poem and got my first A+! lol!!!

Sixth Grade- Mrs. Dice. I have two awesome memories of 6th grade. One was that after lunch, we would all lay on the floor and she would read to us from the book Gone Away Lake. And It. Was. Awesome!!!! Love that book to this day. The other great memory was that I had my own book made- Sunny's Pearls. It was for a young authors contest at Pit State. Mrs. Dice encouraged and helped me along with my writing and so my little book of poems was created. My teacher, along with the librarian and another girl in my class who did illustrations for it, really helped me and the outcome was a beautiful white satin hardback book with a string of fake pearls running down the front cover!!! I got to go to Pit State and attend the conference and I won in my age category!!! =) (also, I finally conquered how to say my "R's" in 6th grade. yeah. it took that long!)

Seventh Grade- I went to live with my dad and was introduced to things like toothpaste and a hair brush! Seriously. My dad's girlfriend taught me hygiene and for that, I am eternally grateful! It paid off, too- got my first boyfriend in 7th grade. LOL

Eighth Grade- I was on the phone with the boyfriend mentioned in 7th grade memory. He was breaking up with me. I was boo-hooing to a friend of his and then the ex boyfriend accidentally shot the friend I was on the phone with. Yeah, with a gun. It was an accident, but one that left Klint partially blind and with a limp to this day. It sounded like a screen door slamming shut when the gun went off. My dad had to take me to the police station so I could give my statement and stuff. Crazy!

Ninth Grade- I think I must have woke up at 4 a.m on my first day of high school. I remember it like it was.. this morning! I had laid out my outfit the night before and was ready for school before the roosters crowed! Flowery printed Capri pants, pink top, and smelling like Tropical scented Teen Spirit deodorant!! Elk Valley High School. LOL

Tenth Grade- I got in church this year! I remember going to school dressed different and plastering flyer's for revival all over the halls!!

Eleventh Grade- I began dating Guy. :)

Twelfth Grade- I got a wild hair and started skipping school like crazy!!!! I wasn't doing anything BAD, I would just go back home and chill out. LOL. I barely graduated though, because I had soooo many days to make up. We lived in the country in the middle of what I call a "commune". All of the neighbors were either related to me, or friends of my family. So I had to wait until I KNEW they were all gone to work, and then I'd go home. :) And I was the GOOD kid out of us four.

That's it. There's my vivid school memories! Anyone else wanna chime in??? =)

Motocross Pics

2009-08-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! :)

I finally uploaded the pictures from the motocross to my lappie, so I thought I'd share a few. It was the event that was rained out Monday night and we went back Tuesday night! It was pretty cool, though I got bored about half way through. LOL! If you've seen one bike do a flip in the air, you've seen 'em all do a flip in the air! ;D

Not much is new. The hubby has been sick the last several days. I really think it came from sitting out in the rain at the fair that night. But, thankfully- HOPEFULLY, he's on the mend!

I am miffed that he's had to go to work sick everyday for the last week, and yet one of his co-workers has had SEVERAL days off because of "exhaustion". Are you serious, Mr. Boss Man?? You will run another mans route so he can get some R&R, but Guy can't take a day off to go to the doctor or just stay in bed while I force feed him clove tea?!? Phooey on you!!! Double Standards irritate me! Really really irritate me.

Okay, I got that off my chest. All better now! :D lol!

Here are those pics:
Blog at ya later!! :)

~Suni

Making Memories

2009-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! :)

It's Fair and Rodeo week in my neck of the woods, and tonight was the motocross event. The sky was looking pretty dark, but we thought we'd chance it and drive over to the fairgrounds with a group of 6 of our friends. But, of course, as soon as we got out on the highway, it started to rain! We drove on anyways, and bought our tickets, thinking that it might clear up. After all, it was just a light rain. But did it clear up? Not so much.

It started raining steadier and heavier once we got seated, and lightning was streaking the sky pretty regularly. I was feeling uneasy, since we were sitting about 15 feet up, on metal bleachers. We had umbrellas, but the rain was still getting ridiculous. And the lightning was scary.

We grabbed our stadium seats and pops, and headed down to the ticket booth to ask about getting a refund on our tickets, since they hadn't started it yet. But they ended up cancelling the whole event and rescheduling it for tomorrow evening. And because they rescheduled, they weren't giving refunds. Grrr!

We all decided to go to the coffee house in Dearing to hang out and dry off. A big mug of soup sounded GREAT! So off we went, to Kings. I just love that place!!

It turns out, I had more fun there then I think I would have at the fairgrounds!! A couple of our friends are visiting from California and they are so fun to be with. Rocky and Jon, along with the others, kept me laughing the whole time. It may have been raining, but it sure didn't dampen our spirits!!

If you've ever been to Kings Coffee Co., they have a small stage area with a nice keyboard and some bongos and some little other instruments. Jon Blatto had me in tears laughing so hard!!! He asked if he could play the piano and the workers said to go for it. He got up there and started playing BEAUTIFULLY!!! The thing that's so hilarious though, is that Jon doesn't know music at all- he doesn't know chords or keys- he just sits down and... plays! Without knowing what he's doing. It struck me SOOO funny that this tall, funny young man could sit down at the piano and play like Elton John or something, not knowing a thing about sheet music or lead sheets. I was almost on the floor laughing. It really was funny. Maybe you had to be there- but, trust me, it was incredibly funny! :) And Jon really did play great. It was sort of like light jazz. Very beautiful music!

The coffee house has live music on the weekends, and so they have a tip jar set up by the piano. Some man went up and dropped a dollar in while Jon was playing- which started me laughing again. So then our group lined up and each put a dollar in the tip jar. Jon almost made back the money he was out from the motocross ticket, which he won't get to use. He is heading back to California in the morning. :(

We were getting ready to leave, and was standing outside the coffee shop talking and all of the sudden, there were several trucks flying up to the rural fire house across the street. The men jumped out and ran inside, leaving us to wonder what and where the emergency was. Since there was nothing else going on, we followed the fire truck back to Coffeyville- to an old warehouse that was in flames. We watched them fight the fire and get it under control, and I realized that it was the same building that I had just taken some senior pictures at a few weeks ago. It was a really neat old warehouse, and I was sad that it was engulfed in flames. I don't know how it happened, but I hope everything turns out okay and there was no injuries!!

We came on home, and that brings me to right here/ right now. It was such a fun and interesting night that I knew I had to blog about it. :) I'm sad that Rocky and Jon are leaving tomorrow. Things are always funner when they're around! As Jon said tonight, as we were all walking to our cars at the fair, "We're making memories!"

Have you made any great memories lately?

Blog at ya later!!

~Suni

It's A Great Day To Be Alive!

2009-08-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

Good morning! I'm in a very chipper mood this morning. Probably to the point to where it would annoy people. :) Lucky for me- and them- I'm all by myself.

I got Guy off to work this morning and put on some old records to listen to. I've done a tiny bit of housework, but the bulk of it still needs to be done. I'll try to get as much as I can accomplished before noon.

Today is Divide Day for the local buying club that I'm a member of, and I volunteered to help unload the semi-truck. It's supposed to be there at 1:30. I'm sooo excited to get the things I ordered!! Last month, I bought a couple of boxes of Morning star Farms Chicken Grillers- which are vegan grilled chicken patties. And they were SOOOOO YUMMY!!!! Those 2 boxes did not last long at all. And since they don't carry them at my local grocery stores, I went ahead and ordered a whole case of them this time around! I know what I'm having for supper! Served on a whole wheat bun with black bean salsa... mmmMMM! Good stuff, Maynard!

I also ordered some barley and- brace yourself- ...buckwheat groats. I've been wanting to incorporate more grains into our diet and I bought a book a while back called Cooking With Grains, and it sang the praises of buckwheat. So I bought, like, 1o pounds of the stuff! And I have NO idea what to do with it. The book I mentioned only has one recipe for buckwheat- Kashi. Or Kasha. Or something like that. LOL! Soooo... if you have any buckwheat recipes, please send them my way! Supposedly it's a VERY good grain. Extremely nutritious and all that jazz. We shall see.

So that's what my afternoon looks like- working at the Divide. Which means I need to work double time this morning to get things done.

Before I end this post though, I want to let everyone know that my husband did a WONDERFUL job, delivering the message last night at church. I'm so proud of him. He preached what God gave him, and we had Holy Ghost church. I needed that message, and I'm thankful for it. God is so good!!

Blog at ya later! :)

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

2009-08-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

Good morning, bloggin' buddies!

Guy just left for Chanute. Wednesday's are supposed to be a day off for him, but never really are. He goes up to his stores and re-stocks the shelves since he doesn't bring bread in on Wednesdays. Sometimes I go with him, and sometimes not. Today was a "sometimes not", as I'm feeling sort of lazy. Normally, I would go wonder around Wal-Mart while he's in there working ( I love Chanute's Wal-Mart! SOO much better than ours.), but today I just didn't have the energy to walk around the store for half an hour. :P

Guy's been pretty uptight this week, too. Maybe uptight isn't the right word. He's been very serious and even a tad bit worried. He's such a laid back person, and it's been quite a contrast the last week or so. He's not unpleasant, just....uptight. LOL!

The reason being is that he's preaching tonight at our mid-week service. It's puzzling to me because he has preached many times, and though he always takes it very serious, he's never been quite this... well, bothered is the word that comes to mind. I don't know what God gave him for this service, but he is struggling with it.

Last night, I could see that he was troubled and I felt helpless. Is it growing pains, perhaps? A test, maybe? I know that what I'm about to say is taboo- you don't "talk about it" in our circle of friends, it's hush-hush. But Guy has felt a call to the ministry for years. Even so, the last few months his relationship with the Lord has soared to another level. In the last 4 months, he has grown spiritually and deepened his consecration- more so than he has in years past. It's been beyond amazing as God has drawn us closer to Him.

And since Guy feels a call to a specific area of the ministry, I'm wondering if God is testing him. I've never seen Guy struggle so much with what God has given him to preach. I asked him, "Do you feel like it's going to offend people? Is that why you're bothered?" No, he said, that wasn't it. I'll tell you what, bloggin' buddies, I don't know what he's going to preach, but I'm sort of scared to go to church tonight! LOL! :)

He DID tell me that he feels 3 different directions for the service. Everything I could think to tell him, he already knows- "Just let God have His way"." Just follow the Holy Ghost and you can't go wrong". I know I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Not in a million years, not for a million dollars!! I'm thankful that I'm the wife! That title alone has it's own set of responsibilities. And the main one, right now, is prayer.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the Potter, we are the clay. Mold us and make us after Thy will, while we are waiting, yielded and still!

New Favorite Quote

2009-08-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

If God brings you to it... He'll see you through it. :)

Orange Neighbor

2009-07-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days, I've been thinking about a very special lady. I don't know what spurred it. But my mind has been going down memory lane to a certain orange house caddy corner to 501 S. 6th St. in Neodesha.

That was my address, growing up in Neodesha. And like I said, caddy corner to my place was a little orange house and in it lived a little sweet elderly lady named Beulah Sumner. But she wasn't Beulah Sumner to us kids. Or even Mrs. Sumner. No, to me and my brothers ( and then eventually ALL the neighbors kids!), she was Orange Neighbor.

Bless her heart, she never corrected us for not calling her by her name. She must have got a kick out of hearing all of us kids calling her Orange Neighbor.

We moved onto 6th St. the summer before I started the first grade. Looking back now, I had probably just accomplished learning my colors and was very proud of the fact. That may have something to do with the dear old ladies title. ;)

My earliest memory of Mrs. Sumner is of my brothers and I playing out in the front yard and her car came down the street and she turned to go into her driveway. I sprang up off the grass and started flailing my arms wildly, yelling "HI ORANGE NEIGHBOR!! HI ORANGE NEIGHBOR!!" And then my younger brothers followed suit and started doing it too. I can only imagine what she was thinking! Hahahaha!!

And so began our relationship with Orange Neighbor. We would often go visit her (pester her more likely) and her two small Terrier dogs.

You could often find my brothers and I at Orange Neighbors house in the evenings, sprawled out on her living room floor, eating vanilla wafers and watching Hee-Haw with her. She would send us home with church bulletins to color on and read. She always had so many church bulletins!!

Orange Neighbor, Mrs. Sumner, was really and truly an angel in disguise for me and my brothers. At times, there were SEVERAL people living in our house, and food could get very very scarce. She always seemed to sense when the cupboards were bare and she would bring over a meal. And of course, she let us snack away while we were over visiting her. I'm appalled to think that we probably asked her outright " You got anything for us to eat, Orange Neighbor?"
LOL- I'm SURE that happened, if I didn't ask it- trust me- my brother Bobby would have!

She was also someone that I knew I could confide in. We were neighbors from the time I was 6 years old until I was 11 or 12. And during those years, I was usually an unhappy little girl. My dad and mom divorced soon after we moved into that house. And then my mom remarried a horrible man who came to live with us, a man who had- and STILL has- no business being around children. My sorrows were many and my friends were few. But I always had Orange Neighbor. I knew I could go over there and call my Aunt Candy if I needed to. I could get a hold of my dad if things got too bad. Orange Neighbor was my lifeline at times. I still love her DEARLY for that!

My husband and I went back to visit her after we were married. I hadn't seen her in over 10 years, and I was worried that she might not live there anymore. But after ringing the doorbell and waiting several minutes, the door opened and there she was! Her little dogs were not there to greet me, but she was. I could tell that she didn't remember me, but she invited us in anyways. I explained who I was, telling her that I used to be her neighbor. Her memory had faded, naturally, and I found myself almost desperate to make her realize who I was. "It's me, Orange Neighbor. Sunshine. From across the street." I pointed out the window to my old home, now vacant and run down. I'm not sure if it was me saying Orange Neighbor, or if it was me pointing to my old house, but her eyes lit up as she finally realized who I was. "Oh! You're the little girl from over there! With all the brothers!" She was so happy to know who I was, but I was even happier. We talked about me and my brothers, about vanilla wafers and Hee-Haw. She asked about my dad, and I asked about the rest of the neighbors. She was confused, and a few times she forgot who I was again. We kept the visit short, as not to wear her out- but also because it saddened me to see her that way. I gave her a gentle hug and said goodbye with tears in my eyes.

A few years later, I read in the paper that she had died. I meant to go to the funeral, but didn't make it. I'm so glad that Guy took me back there, so that I really could say goodbye to Orange Neighbor.

Mind if I ramble a bit?

2009-07-30T01:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I really am trying to get into the swing of blogging again. As a friend said though, facebook is just easier. And I've been spending a lot of time reading what others are up to on that wonderful website.

I sorta got out of my routine when a dear friend moved out of town. Out of state, really. Noel was my side kick here in Indy and we would run the roads together as we frequented the downtown stores and our favorite watering hole- Ane Mae's. We were in the habit of going there in the mornings for a smoothie or coffee drink and now it's weird going in there without her. :( She's the one who introduced me to facebook, so my absence on blogspot should be blamed on her! LOL

We have been having some really nice weather in my neck of the woods. Not at all what you would expect a late July in Kansas to feel like! It's been almost like autumn, which has me longing all the more for that blessed season! It's no secret that I absolutely LOVE Fall! I am ready for pumpkins and scarecrows and bittersweet berries and mums and sweatshirts and... I could go on and on. But I wont or I will start pouting, wishing it would hurry up and get here already!

Guy and I have a newer car now. We were driving a 1993 Escort station wagon for years, and that poor thing was on it's last leg. It had no air conditioning, the heater would only work when I gave the underside of the glove box a real good kick, and we had been pulled over by the highway patrol because the ol' thing was so loud! Not to mention that the door also leaked on the drivers side. If we went through an automatic car wash, Guy had to wear a trash sack over his shoulder or get soaked. But Quicksilver was a good car for us for many years. ( You all should know by now that I name our cars)

And speaking of that, we've had the new wheels for about 3 weeks now and I was trying and trying to come up with a fitting name. It's a little 4 door deep red Kia Spectra. I had contemplated several names, none of which sounded right. And then it came to me. Ruby. Our new cars name is Ruby. :) I love it! Guy humored me when I named Quicksilver and didn't guffaw too much. But when I announced that the new car was named Ruby, he rolled his eyes. LOL! It will grow on him though. I recall a few times that he was trying to persuade the old station wagon to get with the program and he'd pat the steering wheel and say " Come on, Quickie, ol' boy, you can do it." Let's hope, though, that Ruby will run good and not need that kind of coddling.

The garden that I put out early summer is JUST NOW showing some progress. I have some lettuce that is coming up nice, and the broccoli is really giving it's best shot. And a lone pepper plant is actually doing very good. None of my herbs made it, and not even my tomatoes did anything! I'm not sure I will do the box method again. I was pretty disappointed in it all. I spent a pretty penny on seeds and all for 3 struggling mismatched plants. So much for saving money by growing my own veggies. Of course, to be completely honest, I didn't know what I was doing and I really was hoping it would all just pop up out of the ground nice and big and delicious with no effort on my part, besides planting. Boy, that last sentence there could preach!

I may not be having luck with my real life garden, but there's a game on Facebook that I am addicted too! LOL!! Okay, I wouldn't go that far. ... Okay, yes I would. :D It's called Farmtown, and I am living vicariously through my little overall clad avatar. She has her own farm and is doing VERY well. LOL!!! It's just a game, I know, but I sure do love planting fields and buying barns and animals and having fruit trees and houses and pets. It's pretty cool. And I spend more time playing that crazy game than I should. For about an hour and a half a day, I'm consumed with it. Isn't that terrible? I justify it though by thinking, Well, there are people who play golf everyday for that long, or play basketball or read a story or talk on the phone or... Yeah. I'm very good in the justifying department. Ha!

And now comes some news that I've dreaded telling you Bloggin' Buddies. My "diet" has once again flown out the window. I have AGAIN fallen off the Weight Watchers wagon. *sigh* I'm the heaviest I've ever been and it's just gotten to be a vicious cycle. I weigh myself, get extremely down in the dumps and then eat my way out of the pit of sadness that I'm in, only to do it all over again. However, I DO KNOW that I'm capable of shedding pounds. I've done it. It CAN be done. I just stopped planning. That was my downfall. I quit making my WW muffins and cookies and I quit buying my low fat low cal items at the store. And I quit riding my bike regularly and going to the gym. And to the meetings that a group of us were having. So, I failed. And have no one to blame but myself. And I've been enjoying the burgers and fries too much to pick my self up and get back in the saddle again. But if I don't do something soon, there won't be a saddle big enough for this here gal! ;) I think I need to read John 3:30 every morning, noon, and night. I've done my fair share of snickering over that scripture, but maybe it's time to tape it to my fridge and pantry door!

Well, that's all I've got right now. The alarm is going off in the next room meaning it's time to get my husband up and at 'em for work.

Blog at ya later! :)
~Suni

The neighbor boy

2009-07-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

There's a boy that lives next door to us, and every time he sees Guy or I, he literally RUNS the other way. I can't understand what his problem is. We are quiet, normal looking neighbors! But you would think, by watching Sky run for his life when our car pulls in, that we were members of Hell's Angels or something.

On one hand, it's annoying and even a little insulting. If he's out in his back yard, playing with the dog that WE gave him, and he hears our back door open- he practically breaks his neck trying to dive into his garage or back door. I am truly puzzled by it.

But then on the other hand, I've been known to have fun with it- knowing he's hiding in his garage, I'll come on outside and just putter around the yard, keeping the kid holed up in there for 10 or 15 minutes just for my own humor. :) And then I'll go back inside and shut the door. Watching through the window, I'll see his garage door creep open and he will peek out to make sure that I'm really gone.

And speaking of the dog, I had to plan an ambush just to be able to ask him if he wanted the puppy. We had two puppies and Sky and his mom would come over and pet them through their fence. But only if Guy and I was inside. And I could tell he wanted one of them. So, for DAYS, I would run outside if I saw him out there, but he'd hear the door and take off sprinting around the corner of his house. Finally, one day he was riding his bike up and down in the alley that runs behind our houses. I had to wait until he was riding away from our house and then I ran and hid behind the garage. I didn't want to scare him, but I knew if he saw me, he would ride away and maybe NEVER come home! So as he was riding back by my garage, I jumped out and said "Sky! Do you want one of the puppies?" He was startled, but at least I was finally able to talk to the kid. He mumbled that he would ask his mom and then he took off. 2 days or so later, there was a note on our door from his mom, saying that they would love one of the puppies.

The boy is probably in junior high now, but he's still very... skittish? Is that the right word? Yesterday, Guy and I pulled into the driveway after church and there was Sky, out in his back yard. But then he saw us and I REALLY did think he was going to break his neck as he ran up onto his back porch and into the house. He even fell a little going up the stairs! And once he was inside, he hurriedly opened the back door and yanked his dog inside too!! Are you kidding me?!?

I just do NOT get it...

Rethinking the whole "Professional" Title...

2009-07-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I hope everyone is enjoying these summer months!! :)

Last Saturday, Lisa and I took some senior pictures for a young lady in our church. We went over to the next town, to the Brown Mansion and had a lot of fun snapping pictures, both indoors and out.

It's funny to think that not long ago, I was considering myself to be a professional photographer. I am now realizing how ridiculous it was of me to think that. I have so much to learn that it ain't even funny!!

I thought, Oh! I took a class! Now I'm professional!

And then I thought, Oh! Look at me!! I have a DSLR camera! I'm a professional!

...Not even close!!!

True, I love to take pictures. And I love posing people. And I even enjoy editing and playing around in Photo shop. But I'm an amature, to say the least.

It started to dawn on me when I realized that if the lighting isn't JUST right, my pictures flop. And most of the time, they are somewhat blurry- making sharpening one of my first chores.

A truly professional photographer probably doesn't have to bother with adjusting the sharpness of almost every single picture.

I HAVE been paying more attention to composition though.

What I really need is a GOOD photography class, complete with some photo shop training. Neither of which my local community college offers.

In the mean time, I guess I'll just keep trying to learn by trial and error... and having fun in the process! :)

Where To Begin...

2009-05-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! It's been a loooooong time! I'm sorry!

I don't even know where to start on updating you all, so I'll just jump right in! :)

We have a new farmers market in town now on Saturday mornings, and last week I started selling apple dumplings there! Why I came up with apple dumplings, I still don't know. But that's the idea that came to me and I just went with it. Please keep in mind that I had never made an apple dumpling in my life before last week! So I was feeling quite stressed come last Friday evening. Lucky for me though, I have a group of FANTASTIC friends who came to my rescue and helped me every step of the way. They peeled and cored almost 40 apples, made dough, mixed the sugar and spices together, made the sauce for the dumplings, helped clean up.... they just really were there for me in my hour of need! I was so touched by it, it was one of those moments when you really know who your friends are! So here's a shout out to them! Thanks so much Heidi, Lisa, Mark, Marissa, Ariel, Zach, and Rusty!! You all ROCK!! ;D

So after we finally got them baked and in their bowls it was after 2 am. Yes, we got started late. And Heidi helped me sell them Saturday morning. She was such a blessing! I did well, selling almost all of them! Yay!!! I'm hoping the dumplings will become popular and people will want to come downtown on Saturday mornings just for a " Market Time Apple Dumpling"! :)

My friend Noel was also there to cheer me on, and she took some pictures so I could share them with you all! Here are a few of them. We were setting up our stand. This was the first week, and out table looked pretty frumpy! I'm surprised people even bought from us with such an ugly looking set up! LOL

* I had pictures right here, but they wont show up now- sorry! :( *

I got pretty spoiled having all of that help last week! It was really nice! I'm planning on making my table look much better this weekend and Heidi has offered to sit with me again. If you live close by, you should really come to the Farmers' Market in historic downtown Indy! They have live music, and several unique vendors. It's a very nice atmosphere! At least come buy a dumpling from me! ;)

I've also been LOVING my new bike!!! I look for excuses to ride it, and I always have so much fun on it! My birthday is next week, and my husband is going to buy me a basket for it, once I decide which kind I want. I make frequent trips to the stores on my bike and right now, I just have to loop the sacks over the handlebars, but then the sacks swing into the front tire. So a basket is going to make it just perfect! I can't wait!!

A couple of weeks ago, me and a couple of my friends went for a bike ride and we ended up going all over town! It was a lot of fun though. We rode out to the park first and I thought I was going to die trying to ride up some of those hills! But it sure was fun coming down the other side of them! LOL! :O) We made several stops on our biking adventure, popping in on different friends along the route. It was NOT my idea to just pop in on our friends, but they were all very gracious about it, offering us drinks, Popsicles, even dinner at David and Stacie's!! :) Talk about hospitality! Here's a picture that Lisa took of us, as we were getting ready to ride off to our next destination:

In other news, my electric has been acting up again, so we had to have the electric box and some wiring replaced on the outside of the house. Now my stove and fridge will keep working when I need it to! :) The only negative thing out of the deal- well, besides an unexpected electrician bill- was that the guys who worked on the box also trampled my peonies!! :( ... to be more precise, they trampled the only peony bush that had survived being transplanted from our old yard! I was very sad when I noticed all of the stems laying down, broken off at the ground. What kind of jerks do that?! I was NOT happy about it.

Hmm. What else has been going on??...

We have been having AWESOME church! My husband has become a completely different man in the last few months, because of his prayer life! He has always been a good christian, but lately he's in another dimension! It's an inspiration to me, and such a joy, as his wife, to see what God is doing in him.

And the other night, I was praying upstairs in my home, and I was praying that God would use me to bring people to salvation, and something very special happened to me! While I was praying, I could see some of my family coming to the Lord. I could see a niece and nephew praying in the altar and receiving the Holy Ghost. I saw one of my brothers and sister in law praying and being baptized in the wonderful name of Jesus! God showed me several people that I know and they were all giving their lives to Jesus. And as I knelt there and just wept because of what God was showing me, He spoke to my heart and said "This is what I want to do through you. These people need me." It was an answer to prayer, as we have all been praying for revival in our church. I want to be yielded to God, and sensitive to His voice. I know where God brought me from, and I know that there are others that are in the same place that I once was. It's my desire, my burden, to reach those people! God did it for me, and I know He can do it for them!! So many people think that as long as they believe in Jesus, then they're saved. But there's more to it than that. Have YOU obeyed Acts 2:38? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

God is so good!! Blog at ya later! :)

2009-05-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I hope ya'll are doing good!!

I am in the middle of a cleaning frenzy right now, and I took a break to rest my feet and feed my face. :D It's lunch time!

I guess you could say I'm getting a late start on spring cleaning. I'm by no means the world's greatest house keeper. But I do try to keep it somewhat tidy. And no matter how hard I try, there are certain things that I just always miss. Cobwebs are a big one. I'm not joking when I say that I am very blind to cobwebs. I just don't see 'em.

And we have a house guest staying the weekend with us, so I've been really trying to clean areas that I would ordinarily ignore. Like anything higher than my head. We have really high ceilings and when you pair that with my blindness to cobwebs... it's a bad combination! It's been raining dust bunnies in my house, as I work at cleaning the cobwebs and ceiling fan blades through out the house.

Guy has also stepped it up and has started on some small but forgotten repairs around the house. Earlier today, I walked to the hardware store for a new toilet supply line that he said he needed.

The thing about our hardware store downtown though, is that it doesn't just have nuts and bolts and hammers and toilet supply lines. It also has candles, and pretty stationery and picture frames and A CLEARANCE RACK FULL OF THOSE THINGS, AND MORE!

SO... what started out as walking in the store to buy a 3 dollar necessity for the toilet quickly turned into me leisurely browsing the clearance racks, and leaving the store with almost 20 dollars worth on NON- necessity's!

I have a feeling that my dear husband wont be sending me on anymore errands to the hardware store! ;)

I'm thinking that we need to have house guests more often though- the house is cleaner than usual, the upstairs toilet is finally getting fixed, and it smells really good in here... thanks to that clearance rack! :D

Blog at ya later! Have a great weekend!

2009-05-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!

This past week has just been a roller coaster ride for me. Joy, sorrow, fear... you name it, and guarantee you that I felt it at some point in the last several days.

Last Wednesday, my husband preached at church, and he did a wonderful job of letting God speak through him. It was an amazing service, right in line with the kind of fantastic church services that we've been having lately. I've watched Guy over the last 2 months or so, as he has really dug in and consecrated himself to the Lord more than ever before. There is no greater joy or pride, in my opinion, than seeing and hearing your husband fervently praying in the Holy Ghost, drawing closer to God. I am a very blessed woman to have a husband who is such a Godly leader and example in our home.

And although Guy preached his heart out and it was a wonderful service, there was also sorrow all around, as it was announced that a very dear preacher of the Gospel had died earlier that day. My pastors brother in law, Paul Blatto, had been battling cancer for many months and we had all been praying for his healing. Bro. Blatto was the pastor of a church in Lamont, California at the time, but for years before he became a pastor, he and his family evangelized. They would come to our church often, and he would preach for us. His sermons always strengthened me, and the messages were always something I needed to hear. For that reason, I highly esteemed Bro. Blatto. He was a very humble man, and his love for God was evident to all who met him. His family is precious to me, an extension of my own church family. My heart breaks for his wife and sons. I can only hope that all of Heaven will appreciate the caliber of man that recently joined them.

So Wednesday was bittersweet for me. And then Thursday afternoon, Lisa and I did Mommy 'n Me pictures for Mothers Day. I just now, as I write this, realized why maybe I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be to take the pictures- I was emotionally drained from Wednesday! Anyways, Lisa and I both just felt like we weren't really bringing our A game. It wasn't clicking like it normally does. Neither of us felt creative and the babies were fussier than normal, and... it just didn't go all that well! LOL!! I was just as cranky as the little ones, too, though I tried not to let it show. The pictures turned out very mediocre and I probably wont even post them to the Captured Moments blog, because I just wasn't pleased with them, even after 20 hours of editing! However, I will share a few with you all! I picked my favorites out of all of them and here they are:

Ariel & Gracelyn

Rachel & Mikayla

Stacie & Elliot
Megan & Albany

These pictures are the ones that turned out the best. But the other ones? Not so good. So that was my disappointment for Thursday. And then FRIDAY, a huge storm ripped through the area. It was very intense! There was at least one death that I know of, in a small town near by, and lots of damage all around. Our pear tree got struck by lightning and split down the middle, with a large part of it falling on utility lines. That tree is about 20 feet or so from the house. A friend of ours showed me where the lightning snaked its way down the tree. There are burn marks through out the trunk, and large sections where the wood was charred! On the other side of the house, a HUGE portion of another tree broke off and smashed into our neighbors house, damaging her roof and siding. What a mess! The large tree limbs completely covered the ground between our house and the neighbors. If the wind had been blowing in a different direction, it could have done even more damage than it did. It could have either come down on her house harder and smashed more roof in. Or it could have fell our way, smashing our roof in.

Craziness all around! So then Guy came home Friday afternoon, and we went and picked up my bike at the bike shop. :D

I gave it a good test drive Saturday evening, and I love it!!! Coasting down a hill, the wind in my hair... it was exhilarating! :) It was a good way to end the evening, after being cooped up in the house editing pictures all day.

And then came Sunday. Mothers Day. That was hard on me for a couple of reasons. For one, I don't exactly have a warm fuzzy relationship with my mother. And then also, I still am NOT a mother. So those things were weighing on my heart and mind Sunday morning and afternoon, into the evening.

With our pastor in California for Bro. Blatto's funeral, Guy taught the adult class Sunday morning. He did a great job, and I felt an excitement like never before as the Word of God was being taught. I can't even describe how great it was. Another young preacher preached Sunday night, and it was some Holy Ghost church, let me tell ya!!!! I REALLY needed to hear what Zach Nelson preached Sunday night. After everything bogging me down all week, I needed church like we had last night! It was amazing. 'Nuff said!

So that brings us to today! The storms are gone and sun is shining. I rode my bike uptown earlier today to get some things from the store, and it only took me a few minutes to get there. :)

I'm no longer stressed out, and I'm looking forward to a new day and a new week!

These past several days has brought to mind a saying I've heard often. Don't tell God how big the storm is. Tell the storm how big God is!

Blog at ya later! ;)

Mystery Flowers

2009-05-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!!:D

I hope everyone is well! I have been enjoying the sunshine here in our neck of the woods for the past couple of days. It's been warm and and sunny, pretty much perfect! :)

I've taken advantage of the nice weather and got some extra walking in each morning. A friend and I walk uptown occasionally, but it's very leisurely. So yesterday I started out on a nice brisk walk as the sun was coming up. I walked a good 3 miles on a VERY hilly street and really got my blood pumpin'! I walked out to the park, around the oval and back home. It's amazing to me how I can feel like I'm about to drop dead one second, and then the next second, I feel like I'm on top of the world because I accomplished what I set out to do! I need to walk that route EVERY day!! It's a tough street! LOL

Today was my husbands "half day" at work, and I tagged along with him and did some grocery shopping while he did his job. On the way home from Chanute, where he works, I was telling him that I want to spruce up our yard. Make it look nice with flowers and bird baths and stuff like that.

I told him how that I had read in the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens that a woman in Alaska saved herself a lot of money by collecting river rock and native stones, rather than spending an arm and a leg buying a ton of rock at a home improvement store. And that she would go out in the country and dig up wild flowers, rather than buy pricey flowers at the nursery. And I told him that that's what I wanted to do!

As I was explaining all this to him, he pointed off in the distance and said " Flowers like that?" I looked to where he was pointing and saw many pretty purple flowers on on the side of a country road. I was so pleased that he was actually paying attention to my ramblings, but I was even more pleased when he turned the car around and drove down the gravel road so we could dig some up!! The flowers were growing on both sides of the road and they were very VERY nice looking. They pulled out of the ground easily, thanks to all the recent rain, and they had nice long roots attached. We pulled out two nice big clumps and put them in the trunk.

When we got home, Guy got the shovel out and we planted them on either sides of the front porch. They are pretty tall, and I just love them!! They look similar to lilacs and have a lovely smell to them. I don't know what they are though. I don't think that they're lilacs, because they grow individually, and lilacs are a bush. So for now, it remains a mystery. I watered them really good, and I sure hope they don't die!!

We also went ahead and made the rock borders for what will eventually be two nice flower beds! I have it all planned out in my head. I want there to be tiny gravel or mulch across the bottom and then potted plants and flowers in each bed, with little statues. I wonder where I could find FREE little bitty gravel at?? Hmmm, that's something to think about. I could save up and buy it, but free is always better!! :)

I took some pictures of the flowers and my little flower bed borders! It's not even close to being done yet, but it's a start! I really appreciate my brother-in-law Doug giving us all that rock!!!

Purple Mystery Flowers ( any ideas on what it is? It's not supposed to droop over like that either, they were thirsty!)
See the flowers beds on both sides of the porch? It will look better when it's done. I'm going to transplant the Iris's that's growing along one side of the side walk. I'd like to put Tulips there instead. Or that Plhox stuff. Not sure yet! :)

Business is picking up for Captured Moments!

2009-05-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! :)

Lisa and I are gearing up for a photo shoot this week! Thursday, we are taking Mommy 'n Me pictures, in honor of Mother's Day. Our friend, Megan, has graciously offered to let us use her house again, with all of her fantastic natural light. She has huge windows throughout her home, which creates beautiful lighting.

We also set up another maternity session, so that was really exciting! I had placed a reminder up on the church bulletin board for the Mommy 'n Me pics, and an expecting mother asked us to do some maternity pictures for her. She's due in the fall, so we have plenty of time to find the best locations for her.

I'm very thankful that our friends let us practice on them, LOL! It seems that each time Lisa and I do pictures, we learn more. We are honing our craft!! ;D

2009-05-01T04:52:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day!

10 more days

2009-04-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

After many, MANY setbacks- I only have 10 more days until I get my new bike!! I've been assured that it's "for real", this time!! WOO-HOO!

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

2009-04-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, Bloggin' Buddies!

I just put together a hearty soup and it's heating up in the crock pot. It was originally heating on the stove, but then the electrical messed up and now the stove isn't working. Neither is my fridge. It's done this before, right in the middle of cooking, and I flipped out and panicked. I called my husband and screamed into the phone for him to hurry and get home because the stove and fridge wasn't working. And then the very INSTANT that he stepped through the back door, it all started working again. So, I figure that as long as I keep the fridge shut, everything will be fine until he gets home to determine what's wrong.

I'm just glad I have a slow cooker! And that I had already fried the hamburger before the stove stopped working!! Supper will be later than planned, but that's life.

Here's my recipe for the soup. I posted pictures of my crazy pantry the other day, so as you can imagine- I had everything on hand to make it. ;) LOL

Hamburger Vegetable Soup
(according to Suni)

Fry up one pound of hamburger seasoned with onion salt & garlic powder . I always buy the leanest ground beef at Wal-Mart, because it doesn't cook down like the other stuff.
Put the cooked hamburger in a large pot and add:
1 can of Veg-All, drained
1 can of cut green beans, drained
1 can of sweet corn, partially drained
1 can of sliced Italian style stewed tomatoes with the liquid
and a big 46 oz. can of tomato juice.
~
I season the soup with additional garlic powder, onion salt, parsley, oregano, and salt & pepper.
~
Stir together really well, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until Guy get's home. :) usually, half an hour to 45 minutes.

~
This recipe make A LOT of soup, which is great because we can eat on it for a few days, meaning less cooking for me! Yay!!! LOL

Tornado Season

2009-04-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hi! :)

The tornado watch is almost over for us here in my neck of the woods, and I couldn't be more relieved. I love the idea of being all tough and brave when it comes to large storms, but it's all a bluff for me.

Since my high school days, when the movie Twister came out, I've talked about how cool it would be to chase tornadoes. But really I'm a total scaredy-pants when it comes to storms producing more than just a little bit of thunder. This dawned on me a few years back when my husband and I was racing along in our car to the nearest storm shelter as the tornado sirens were blaring all over town. My husband told me to look in the rear view mirror, and we both watched in amazement as a funnel dropped down from the clouds. The tornado was touching down outside of town, about 12 miles away. And even though we were only a block or two from safety, I threw myself to the floorboard and let out a wail almost as loud as the sirens going off.

My husband is convinced that a tornado would never actually hit our town, because we live in a valley and there are lakes on either side of us. But I'm of the opinion that those crazy storms are going to land where ever they please, valley or no valley! The tornado I mentioned actually tore up the campgrounds right by the lake, so that theory just doesn't hold water for me.

I do think that there is an eerie beauty to the storms, but then again, I've never had to sift through what was once my home, in the aftermath of a tornado. I'm fortunate to have a basement and I keep camping chairs and a flashlight down there, just in case. I also have a "tornado bag" by the basement door. I filled it with bottled water, canned beans, a can opener ( which I keep taking out to use and forget to put it back in!) extra batteries, and a hammer. Oh yeah, and a roll of toilet paper. That way, if a tornado rips through my town, and I'm in the basement and the house collapses, hopefully I can stay alive until I can get out. Or would the house fall into the basement and kill me anyways?!? Oh, great! And here I thought I was safe down there!!!

Well, I may not know if the basement will hold up to it's end of the bargain during a tornado, but I do know that God is the Master of the wind, and in Him is all the protection I need!

Camping Fever

2009-04-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Howdy Bloggin' Buddies!! :D

I have been enjoying the FANTASTIC weather the last two days, have you?! It's like summer outside right now, and I couldn't be happier. I'm ready to say goodbye to April Showers and hello to May Flowers! I realize there is still several more days in April, but it seriously feels like we skipped right over May and are in June right now!!

This weather is camping weather! It's warm and gorgeous during the day and not too cold/not too hot during the night. I LOVE CAMPING!!! I've loved it since I was a little girl. My dad's side of the family used to camp a lot when I was younger, and those camping trips are some of my happiest childhood memories. Falling asleep in a tent with my cousins, listening to the grown-ups laughing and talking loudly, with Alabama and George Strait singing me to sleep. Then waking up to birds chirping and the smell of coffee brewing on the camp stove, listening to my dad and uncles talking and preparing for their big day of fishing.

Aunt Candy is a camping culinary genius! I wish I had even half of her ability to put out a spread fit for a king just on a Coleman stove and open fire! I give it my best shot though, and I can cook up some pretty mean chicken fajitas with the help of a huge cast iron skillet. :D I still can't fillet a fish to save my neck though. And I wish I could do a decent job of it. I used to watch my dad and Uncle Ted just zip through a whole mess of fish, filleting them like it was the easiest thing in the world to do!! Of course, back then I was more interested in jumping into the lake or relaxing on the hammock- not taking notes on how to cut up a stinky slimy fish! LOL

I'm lucky to have two really good campgrounds on either side of my town. When given the choice though, I prefer Big Hill. I just like their campgrounds and lake better.

Last year, a bunch of us from church camped out at Big Hill and it was so much fun. We are already in the planning stage of this years big camp-out. We had a perfect site, with lots of room for several tents and a pop-up camper that a friend borrowed from her dad. It was a blast!! I can't wait to do it again! :D

Alright, I'm getting off of the computer now to go enjoy this weather! Blog at ya later!!

Writers Block

2009-04-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I've haven't been in the mood lately to write, and I hate that because I really like blogging and sharing my life with you all!

After much rain the clouds rolled on Eastward and it was so nice out Monday! Guy came home from work the other day and shared with me an "old wives tale" that I thought was interesting. He said that he had heard from his boss that if it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain every Sunday for the following SIX weeks! So far, it's held true. But it's only a week after Easter. LOL- we shall see!

As nice as today was, I spent my day cooped up in the house. I absolutely HAD to do something about my pantry! It was a disaster area, complete with an avalanche any time I tried to get something out of there. So I spent some time taking things out, throwing plenty away, and re-stocking the shelves. I had stuff in there I forgot I had bought. And over 90 % of what I tossed out had never even been opened! I just bought it, stashed it and forgot about it for a few years!! That's awful! :(

I'm glad I took care of it though. Here's a before and after picture. My pantry is actually an old staircase that a previous home owner boarded up and turned into a storage area. So, hey, I did the best I could with what I had! LOL

Before----------------------------After

It still looks very cluttered, but I know where everything is now. It's really the bottom half anyways that gets so piled up and crazy. *sigh* I should really buy some wire racks or lazy susans or something, I suppose.

On other news, I STILL haven't gotten my garden plants in the ground yet! Some of them are doing really great and some of them are not doing to good at all. They really need to be planted, but I'm waiting on Guy to get me some peat moss and vermiculite to finish filling the boxes with. It's a frustrating wait!

I'll let you know how it all turns out! :)

Blog at ya later!
~Suni

Home Sweet Home

2009-04-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

My "barn" :)
It needs soooo much work!!

Lilacs

2009-04-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

My lilacs are blooming and I shot a few pictures of the blooms early this morning :)

Takin' Care Of Business

2009-04-14T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll! I hope everyone had a happy, hoppy Easter! :D

Lisa and I have a set a date to take "Mommy-n-Me" pictures on May 7th and we're really looking forward to it! I posted some of the Easter Baby pics that we took, but you haven't heard "the rest of the story", as the late Paul Harvey would say. We had quite a fiasco trying to get those baby pictures printed off. Here's the lowdown...

I took my CD of the pictures out to Wal-Mart on Sunday afternoon to have a print made off for each of the mothers. The man working in the photo lab wasn't very willing to give me the pictures, saying that they were professional, and he "wasn't going to let me have them". At first, I thought he was joking around, but he wasn't! I informed him that I was the photographer and he backed off, saying he wasn't going to argue with me about it. He let me have my pictures and I went on my way.

And THEN. I got a phone call yesterday afternoon from a very upset Megan, who's house we took the pictures at. I had given each of the mothers a CD and she had taken hers out to Wal-Mart to have prints made off. I didn't even think about her having the same trouble as I did. But she actually had more trouble than me!

Megan told me that the photo lab workers weren't letting her have the pictures and, worse, they wouldn't even hold them for her until Lisa or I could get out there to sign a copyright release! They literally shredded Megan's pictures with her standing right there! I was FURIOUS! I hung up with Megan and called the store to speak with a manager.

After explaining the situation, the manager took my name and number and said she'd look into how to make things easier for us when we came in. I told her that the photo lab workers were extremely rude, and I had been called a liar on one occasion, because the employee didn't think I was telling the truth about taking my pictures!

Lisa and I talked, and we decided the best thing to do was to go out there together and try to settle it once and for all. We both agreed that at this point in our business- with us not even making money yet- that it would be cheaper to have them printed at Wal-Mart, rather than having to buy a good quality photo printer and paper and ink.

So we, along with two of our "customers" a.k.a. Mom's of the Easter babies, converged on the photo lab Monday evening. The same man who I dealt with Sunday was working, and I explained to him our dilemma. He was nice enough, but the manager I had spoken with on the phone had also came back there. We were told to use Wal-Marts copyright release forms for every photography client we send to Wal-Mart.

We may end up just printing everything else off ourselves- just Lisa and I. But even still, I don't want to be heckled and called a liar every time I bring a decent looking picture in there! Yes, it makes me feel good to know that our pictures look professional, but the joy is quickly replaced with anger when I'm treated rudely, or worse- when one of Captured Moment's clients are treated poorly!

Apart from that, our little photo enterprise is going well! From the Easter pictures, we have two more ladies who want us to take pictures of their children. Once lady has 3 kids and the other has a little baby!! Oh boy!! I'm sort of nervous! LOL

I'll keep you updated!

Bunnies And Candy And Eggs, Oh My!

2009-04-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, Bloggin' Buddies!!! :)

I'm in between church services right now, and I thought that it would be a good time to update my blog. I really should be sleeping, I've been pretty cranky lately. LOL

A lot has been going on and I have some neat pictures to share! It all started a few weeks ago, when Lisa Sorah, who's my photo side-kick, and I got the idea to take Easter pictures of the babies in our church. So last Thursday we made an afternoon of it and had soooo much fun!! Lisa's sister-in-law, who we are both friends with, has a huge wonderful bay window in her breakfast nook, and that's where we set up our "studio", allowing us beautiful natural light to work with.

From 1 pm to about 5 pm, we took pictures as the mommy's showed up at Megan's house. The mother's got to talk "parent stuff" while we were taking pictures, and Lisa and I got to talk "photo stuff" in between shots. LOL! A few of the ladies even brought over finger foods, and Megan was sweet to put out drinks and little bitty cupcakes for all of us. It was a blast!

One thing that I am particularly proud of is that I didn't go bananas when I took my first decent picture. I have a bad habit of looking at the picture screen on the back of the cameras and then I get so excited that I start taking terrible pictures, due to camera shake and lack of concentration. I think I've mentioned that before, haven't I? LOL! ;)

This time, I tried to stay calm and it really helped me. The babies were absolutely wonderful to work with. And as ALWAYS, having Lisa by my side snapping pictures too, really helped me! She sees things that I don't and vice-versa. I feel privileged to work with such a talented lady!

The mamma's don't know it yet, but I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon, and had a 4x6 of each child printed off and framed- as an Easter gift of sorts from Captured Moments Photography. ;D

We also had a church potluck this afternoon, and Lisa and I partnered up on that as well. Let me tell you- we put out quite a spread!! I baked a ham and Guy was sweet enough to put together the 24 Hour Salad. And Lisa made my favorite side dish in the whole wide world- COMPANY POTATOES!! They're the ones made with hash browns and sour cream and crushed cornflakes on top. My description makes them sound quite disgusting, but trust me- they are goooood! She also made dinner rolls and peanut butter cookies. Yum! It was all very good.

My garden seeds have really taken off! I can't even put the plastic dome on top of it anymore because the plants are too tall. I think the only thing that hasn't come up yet is the bell peppers and parsley. Everything else is growing well. Yay!!! :)

I also got a wonderful surprise this past Saturday when my youngest brother and sis-in-law dropped in for a moment and gave me new school pictures of Kayla and Matthew. Thanks,Dianne!! ;D

I hope everyone had a great Easter! I'll post those pictures now and blog at ya later!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

My Crops

2009-04-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of the veggies and herbs that are going into my garden!

Sweet Spanish Yellow Utah Jumbo Onion
Sweet Banana Pepper
California Wonder Pepper (Bell Peppers)
Jalapeno Pepper
Broccoli
Roma Tomato VF ( whatever VF means)
Marigolds ( to plant by the tomatoes)
Cucumber
Straightneck Yellow Squash
Zucchini Squash
Romaine Lettuce
Salad Bowl Lettuce
Sweet Corn
Pole Beans
Chives
Broad leaf Sage
Lettuce Leaf Basil
Cilantro
Thyme
Italian Parsley
Rosemary
Oregano
~~~~
Also, how cute is this song?! LOL- I love it!!

How does your garden grow?

2009-04-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I am one happy person!

After much nagging on my part, Guy built me the frames for my square foot gardens! Yay!!

And earlier today, I started almost all of my plants in a seedling tray/ little bitty greenhouse! Yay!!! :)

Here are some pictures I took of my fledgling vegetable and herb crop!

I also bought a gallon of raw farm milk tonight, and am searching for ideas to use the cream in. Any ideas?

Keep The Dream Alive

2009-03-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

A friend and I have been talking lately about how much we daydream. I confess, I've had some pretty grand dreams in my time! LOL

Anyways, this certain friend emailed me earlier and said something to the effect of " If i lived without dreams, I think I would shrivel up and die! Yes, dreaming is great!"

I smiled when I read that, because I agree. Dreaming is a wonderful thing. And what's even better than dreaming is actually watching and realizing those dreams come true.

I'm feeling especially thankful and somewhat awed as it hits me once more how blessed I am. It's funny how even the most ordinary and simple things can awaken the realization of just how good things really are.

For me, it was finding a few old cassette tapes earlier this afternoon. They are dusty and worn and the writing on them has faded through the years. But seeing those wonderful old tapes stirred me and took me back to about 15 years ago.

I was a starry-eyed young lady of 16 years old. Most people thought I was too young to know my own heart. But my hopes and dreams revolved around marrying Guy Ray House. I would daydream about being Mrs. House, and cooking and sewing and having a family with him. It was always my dream to turn a house into a home for us.

And so as I dreamed countless hours away, I got busy making a hope chest and planning a wedding in my mind. And that brings me to the tapes I found today!

I made those tapes off when Guy and I were only dreaming of having a life and home together. I remember that while I was making those tapes, I was dreaming of having a home of my own and listening to that music and my home being a peaceful, Godly dwelling where love abounds and God can be glorified.

And I'm actually choked up right now, because as I write this, I'm playing one of the tapes and I look around me and I see that dreams do come true. There was a time that I wondered if I would ever get to marry Guy. I wondered if I'd ever have a home of my own in which I could truly say, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And I can see how blessed I am- how God has kept me and has been faithful to me over the years. And I'm so thankful!!!

There was a time in my life when all I could do is cry out to God, and pray with all my heart for the chance to be able to even go to church without it being a fight! I spent hours on my knees, as a teenage girl, praying for a husband who loved the Lord and for a home where the presence of the Lord dwelt.

And God heard those cries, He saw my dreams. And He has answered those prayers and made my dreams come true!!

*The title of this post comes from a sermon I heard all those years ago. It was during a trying time, when I was wondering about my future. And an awesome preacher, Bro. Paul Blatto, came to our church and preached a message titled " Keep the dream alive". That message, along with many prayers, carried me through and enabled me to keep the dream alive.

2009-03-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!

Whew! It's been crazy around the House home, here lately! It seems we've had more company here the last month than we get in a years time! LOL!

Things are going really good for us though, and I hope all is well for ya'll too.

I am attempting, once again, to get back on my diet!! We came home from vacation a couple of weeks ago and since then, I've been eating like we're still vacationing! It's terrible, I know. I am determined to make it just one week on Weight Watchers! If I can get over that hump, it will be much easier to stick to it. So here it is Monday, Day 1!! Wish me luck! :)

We bought Wii Fitness a few days ago, and I am absolutely in love with it! As a matter of fact, I got up at 6:30 yesterday morning and did some aerobics for an hour before church. YAY for me! LOL! It's such fun that it barely feels like exercise. But I know it's helping, because I come away from it all sweaty and sore.

Last night, we had the youth group over to our house after church and I popped a bunch of popcorn and set out cookies and pop and they all got to play the Wii. It was pretty hysterical watching Heidi try to Hula Hoop really fast! :)

Guy turned 39 on the 21st, and we had a small party for him. I made strawberry shortcake for everyone and we sat and visited. Very low key. It was nice though! His nephew, Angus, came for a visit last week and it was wonderful getting to see him again. Guy was thrilled to get to visit with him here at the house for a bit. He's living in Lawrence KS, and is studying to become an organic farmer. I was extremely impressed with his knowledge and enthusiasm concerning living "green". It's something I've been trying to work on myself; buying more organic foods and recycling and stuff.

I've just about got my bicycle paid off- 3 weeks to go!! I am soooo excited to get it! My friend Noel has a bike almost exactly like the one I'm getting, and this morning she gave me lessons on shifting the gears on it. A bike with gears is foreign to me, I've only ridden a one speed bike in the past. You know, the kind everyone had when they were kids- you just jump on and go!

So, here we are, out in the street and I'm scared to even get ON the bike, because the seat is so high off the ground. I was afraid of falling!! My bike riding skills are sort of rusty since it's been so long since I owned one. I got it going though and was pedaling along. The whole time I was soooo scared I was going to crash though, so I was yelling and screaming and PRAYING the entire time!! It must have been a sight to see, LOL!

There Noel was, jogging beside me as I sporadically weaved left and right, trying to keep the bike from falling over. :) Who knows what the neighbors thought! I was screaming " I'M GONNA FALL! I'M GONNA FALL! AAH!! HELP ME JESUS! I'M GONNA FALL! OH NO! AAH!!!" over and over. At the top of my lungs. And, thankfully, I didn't fall at all! At one point, Noel was holding the bike and running beside me like I was a 5 year old!! LOLLLL! So funny! But I survived and in the midst of my crazy panic, I actually retained most of what she was trying to teach me. :)

I know there's much more I could go on about, but I don't have time right now, so I'll blog at ya later!! :)

Yay! Wii did it!!

2009-03-14T03:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I know- long time, no blog... right?!?

Sorry, I've been super-duper busy and to be honest, this week was sort of boring. Until last night anyways. :)

I think I mentioned that while we were on vacation, I was introduced to the Nintendo Wii. Guy played it at his brothers house, and we both fell in love with it! And it's basically all that my hubby has talked about since getting home. Can you guess where this is leading? LOL

Yep. My dear hubby came home from work yesterday with a Wii. And last night, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a monitor for it. It was an early birthday present of sorts, since Guy's b.day is the 21st of this month. He's always so persistent to spoil me, and it feels good to see him splurge for himself once in a great moon.

Although, after over an hour of him playing the boxing game that came with Wii Sports, I was kinda sick of hearing " One, Two, Three, Four, Five... FIGHT!" over and over and over and over. *sigh* Maybe I'm just pouting because he hogged it?? Could be! Hopefully, next week we can get another remote, allowing us to play each other. (Even though, I can predict the future right now and tell you that he will beat the socks off of me at all the games, and I'll get mad and stomp off, being the sore loser that I always am when he beats me! LOL)

I took some pictures to email my brother-in-law, so I thought I'd post a few for you all to see, too! They're sort of blurry and kind of dark, but you get to see Guy in action!

I did get to play the bowling game a little bit and I kept getting "spares", whatever those are! LOL

I gotta get some housework done, so I'll blog at ya later! Thanks for stopping by!! :)

Home At Last!

2009-03-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!! We made it home yesterday!

It's always good to get away for a bit, but I am a self-confessed homebody, and by the end of the week, I was ready to head for Indy!

We started the trip Monday morning, about 2 hours later than planned, after some unforeseen problems getting the rental car.

After stopping in Olathe at the Great Mall of the Great Plains we went to a new shopping center called The Legends to eat lunch with Neil, Karrie, Karrie's daughter Amber, and Amber's adorable baby Mia. After filling up on BBQ, we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and walked around. That place is HUGE!! We didn't even get through all of it.

The only negative thing about the trip is that I was sick the entire time. So we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do. I felt so bad for my husband, as though I was ruining his vacation, but he's so sweet and assured me I didn't.

One evening, we went over to Neil and Karrie's and Guy and Neil played the Wii. Karrie and I were both sick so we just watched, but I had a blast from the sidelines. It's a very cool game system, and Guy is determined to get one. LOL

After spending a few days in K.C., we headed out to Western KS to the hometown of Bob Dole, Russel KS, to see my relatives. I was looking forward to seeing my cousins, but they had left a few days before we got there. I got to see my Uncle Jim, who I hadn't seen in a long time and his wife, Aunt Von. Also my Aunt Lorre and her husband Rob. We stayed the night in a nice hotel, courtesy of Aunt Lorre, in the Bob Dole suite. It was pretty fancy with it's own living room with french doors leading to a huge bedroom with a fireplace and hot tub!! Very nice!!

After saying goodbye to everyone Friday morning, we headed for Wichita. Guy wanted to stop at Burlington Coat Factory. He got a handsome new suit for church while we were in K.C and he needed some shirts and shoes to go with it. We were successful in our search for shoes and shirts and he looked mighty spiffy this morning in church!! :)

I also did a little bit of shopping myself while on vacation. At the Great Plains Mall, I bought some Bath and Body Works sprays and lotions at their awesome outlet price. Big bottles of body spray are only $4.00 at the outlet mall, but in Bartlesville, the same bottle cost $11.00! I was very happy with my savings! I also bought a cute clutch purse for under $5.00, that was regularly priced $25.00. It had some fabric pulling away from the seam, but it can easily be fixed. Woot-Woot for bargains!!!

I managed to have fun during the trip, despite being sick, and I was so very glad to have my hubby to myself for the whole week! I got spoiled having him around that much! LOL

I took alot of pictures and I'm going to put them on a slide show. I took several pictures of old farm houses that are falling apart. I love old houses and old barns and stuff. Do you ever look at an old dilapidated house and wonder about it's history? I do. I wonder who lived there. What went on inside those walls, the memories it holds. So because of my fascination with old homes, many of my pictures are of old barns and houses as we were speeding by at 70 miles an hour. LOL! I also took several pictures of windmills, and the new wind turbines out in Western KS. I found the sight of both kinds standing side by side to be pretty cool. I also love the silhouettes that bare trees make, so I took several pics of bare trees outlined against the prairie and sky. You can see all my pictures by going to my Flickr page until I get the slide show done. It's at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arrayofsunshine/

I'll blog at ya later! :)

Have A Great Week!

2009-03-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

We're heading up north tomorrow morning, if all goes right. Check back in a week to see what I have to say about our trip! :)

Go Figure, I'm Sick!

2009-02-28T02:01:00.000-08:00

Well. As I write this, it's 4 am and I'm sick. I get this awful-yucky-chest sickness a whole lot more often than I'd prefer! My chest will fill up with phlegm, and I'll get a horrible cough that makes my chest hurt. And then it takes several days, normally a good week, to get my lungs clear again. I hate it. And I don't understand why I'm so susceptible to it! I don't smoke, I'm not around chemicals or out in the weather sucking in tons of frigid air. I just don't get it.

So, I've been knocking back cup after cup of clove tea trying to get well. I can't get sick!!! I just can't!! Not only are we leaving Monday for vacation, but Sunday night is our yearly communion service at church!! Of all the times to be sick. *sigh*

Okay, I'll quit whining about it...

I've been making lists for everything pertaining to our trip. And tonight ( well, actually last night), I went to the store and bought extra toothpaste, tooth brush covers, ... just stuff we'll need while we're away.

We were going to come back home on Thursday, but plans have changed, and we're going to take a detour out to Western Kansas to see some of my family too. Well, we're going to Russell to see my Uncle Jim and Aunt Von. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get to see one, if not both!, of my cousins I haven't seen since we were all kids!!

My Uncle Jim's ex-wife, who I still call Aunt Lorre, works at a hotel over in that area, and they all pitched in and are putting us up in her fancy hotel for the night! Woot! Woot! They are all friends still- my uncle, his ex wife and his new wife. I find that odd. But only because it seems uncommon. I'm glad they can all get along! And I'm really glad the room they got us has a hot tub!!! LOL

So now we're coming home on Friday. I'm so happy to get to see everyone!!! Neil and Karrie, Uncle Jim and my 2 aunts (lol!), and hopefully my cousins and their families!!

I'm feeling better just thinking about it!!! :)

I'll be taking tons of pictures so I'll have plenty to post when I get home.

I want to try this photography technique I saw a couple of years ago, while we're at Union Station. The picture I saw was of a man, all alone, in the middle of Grand Central Station. Obviously- because it's Grand Central Station- he wasn't alone at all. But the film only captured him because he was the only was standing or sitting still. I loved that picture when I saw it and understood how the picture was made.

So, I emailed Mr. Nick Wright, a friend and photographer extraordinaire, to ask him how I could accomplish a similar picture myself. He explained it to me and I tried out his instructions and it worked! I'm anxious to do it again up in K.C.!

I set the ISO on the camera to it's lowest setting, and set the shutter speed to 5 seconds. That's a pretty long time for the shutter to stay open and the camera needs to be perfectly still, so I sat the camera on the kitchen table. Then I had Guy walk in circles in front of the camera, in the kitchen, and took the picture. And even though he's right in front of the lens the whole time, he didn't show up in the finished image!! So cool! It's because he was constantly moving. I did it again, with him just standing there- and it showed him in the picture. Again, so cool!!

Well, now it's 4:30 am and, speaking of Guy, he's up and around now, getting ready for work.

I'll blog at ya next week!

2009-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the price of vacuum cleaners these days!

I've been looking online for a sweeper, and I'm being slightly picky about it. I don't want a Bissel, and I don't want a bagless. The last 2 cleaners we've owned were both of those things and they were JUNK. Pure junk.

It's very frustrating. I must be really naive, because I thought I could find a good sturdy upright vacuum cleaner for about $40.00. Yeah. Right.

2009-02-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Yippee! It's almost Friday!!

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I hope you all are well!

My mind is sort of bogged down right now with the preparations for our trip next week. Just the normal stuff- what to pack, figuring out how much we can REALLY afford to spend, what we need to take when we go pick up our rental car. Just stuff like that.

A friend of ours has agreed to house-sit and take care of our little inside dog while we're away, so I atleast have that part covered. And the boy that lives next door is going to feed and water our outside dog.

Heidi, a friend of ours, is the one that's going to stay here at our house while we're gone. I tried to convince her that not only is our house haunted, but that the ghost has an infatuation with bluegrass music. LOL! I really do think that the house is haunted, but the bluegrass?? I totally made that part up! :)

And she totally didn't fall for it! So now, I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to make the CD player kick on at 3 in the morning. Because that's what I told her happens. LOL

Aside from that very un-constructive planning, I've also been learning how to stamp. My friend Noel has a ton of cute rubber stamps and several tools to make your own greeting cards with. It's so much fun to learn! She came over this morning and I made a card, but the two previous cards I had made turned out better. Here's some pictures of one of our stamping get-togethers:

Noel is sitting at the table.

Also, while I'm putting up pictures, here is one of the tulips that Guy gave me for Valentines Day

Aren't they pretty?!

Another new thing in my life, is the discovery of Facebook. Oh sure, I'd heard of it. But thought that it was just some website that is just full of teenagers. And then Noel talked me into creating an account with Facebook. And now I'm hooked. LOL

I have, to date, reconnected with 2 aunts, an uncle, and a cousin. And it's sooo fun! I don't know anything about Myspace, but I've heard alot of comments lately about how Facebook is better than Myspace. I dunno. I know that I like Facebook alot! :)

As a matter of fact, on our way home from K.C., we're going to make a detour to Russell KS, where my uncle lives and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I will also get to see my cousin Jed, who I haven't seen in almost 20 years. Yay! He has pictures of himself and his family on Facebook, and it is beyond crazy to see him all grown up. Jed is the same age as my youngest brother, Jimmy. And it was hard for me to watch my own brothers grow up and get older. I get sort of weepy thinking that they aren't little boys anymore. So I have no idea how I'll react when I see Jed- all grown up with kids of his own. It's very wierd to me.

I've always been sort of motherly with my brothers. I guess when Jimmy,who's 5 years yonger than me, was born, I adopted him as my own baby. I would drag him around and dress him and play like he was my own little baby. So the story goes. :) And since Jed, and his younger brother Travis was always with my brothers, they were more like little brothers too, instead of cousins. So I'm really looking forward to seeing him again, and meeting his wife and kids! :)

I've been trying to get my house in order before we leave. I'm not doing a very good job of it. LOL! I still have the whole upstairs to clean, and some of the downstairs left to clean too. I'm sure Heidi will have people over, and we're fine with that, but I don't want the house to be disgusting.

If I had thought it through, I would have warned her what she was in for when I asked her to house-sit. My description would've went something like this:

"Now Heidi, I'm warning you, my house is filthy!
There's cobwebs that evade me,
carpets that haven't been vaccumed since the sweeper broke 2 years ago,
smudged windows and mirrors,
dust on every available suface,
soap scum in the shower,
piles of bills and junk mail on the hall table,
photography props taking up half the upstairs bedroom,
dryer lint blanketing the walls, floor and ceiling of the laundry room, due to poor ventilation of the dryer,
and a front and back porch that you must approach much like a land mine-
meaning, be careful where you step, or you'll hear a big bang as you fall through!
But, don't be frightened off, Heidi!
The bright spot is that, if there's a 50 % chance or more of rain,
you can take advantage of the waterfalls and swimming pool in the front room!
So bring your swimsuit, just in case the weather turns bad! "

Yeah. I think it's better I don't warn her. LOL

Fortunately, she wont have all of that to contend with. I'm busy checking those chores off my list. There will still be cobwebs- I promise, it's like they just dissapear when I get out the Swiffer and then reappear when I've put it away!

And the dust will still be everywhere, I can dust until I see myself in the tables, and then 2 seconds later, another layer of dust. Grrr!

But the rest of the list should be taken care of by then. Well, except for the leaky front room. And the porches. :)

Okay, well, I better get back to my list making!

Blog at ya later!! :)

Hotwire.com rocks! Seriously!

2009-02-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!

My husband gets his 7 days of freedom from "the man" next week, and we're taking a little trip upstate to the Kansas City area.

Tonight, I FINALLY reserved our room and rental car! We had wanted to stay at a certain hotel just a few blocks from family, but we found a room on Hotwire.com for almost half the price and decided to go with that one instead. And, while I was thrilled at the price- we were both sort of disappointed in the location of the hotel- once we found out where it was!

See, with Hotwire, you pick the general area- for us, I typed in my brother-in-law's zip code. That brought up hotels in the KC airport/Platte City area. I was thinking, " Um, Okay. It seems a little far, but we'll see." The website showed us a list of options- 2 star hotel, 3 star hotel, and up to 5 stars. We chose 3 star after consulting our jet-setting friend Rusty, who travels alot and knows all about Hotwire. But the thing is- it shows you very general information. It doesn't even let you know where you'll be staying until you've already booked the room and paid for it. For us, that was scary! LOL! We like to know all the details up front. It was a very suspenseful experience!

So after putting the money on my re loadable prepaid credit card, we crossed our fingers, held our breath and I pressed the "Book Now" button. No turning back, either, after you hit that button. It's a done deal! Signed, Sealed, Delivered- It's yours!!

My first reaction, after seeing where we were staying was, " Oh great! A Holiday Inn right by the airport!! " I could imagine jets flying right past my window all night long. I was mad. Very mad! To add insult to injury, I saw that they didn't even have a complimentary breakfast.

NO COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST?!? Well, needless to say, I was seeing RED after that!! All they offer is a stupid coffeemaker ( yuck!) and newspaper (yawn!) They can't even bother to offer stale donuts or honeybuns, like Super 8 does?? Would it kill them to have an apple juice machine or two??? Nothing get's me worked up like food does. Or, more precisely, the lack of.

I was kicking myself for pushing that button. I even tried to call Rusty and bawl him out for suggesting Hotwire, but then... I saw the price of the room. It was an awesome price! Sooo great! Even cheaper than the Econolodge, right there in Lansing!! So now, I'm happy with Hotwire! Yes, we'll have to drive further to get to Lansing, but come on... for fifty bucks cheaper per night- it's worth it! :D

Watch it, pal! I SHOOT people when the mood strikes!!

2009-02-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

W.W.F.F.!!! (woot! woot! for fridays)

2009-02-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! Wow, what a week! So glad it's almost over. Soooo glad!!

I wanted to do a some catching up as far as pictures goes. I have several pictures on my Kodak that I can't download (or is it upload??) to the computer. They go all the way back to before Christmas. I planned on uploading the pictures I took of the blankets I made for my nieces and nephews, some pictures of the craft items that Neil and Karrie made and sent down for us... just pictures leading up to Valentines Day!

I took pics of the tulips that Guy gave me, on the Kodak. I'll have to take more with the Canon before the poor flowers die, which I'm sure they will. Given my past performance in horticulture.
I had also taken some pictures of another Canon EOS that a friend gave me. It was an honor that I feel unworthy of, for Nick to give me such a wonderful camera and lens. I will certainly post pictures of all of this I've listed, when I can figure out why the Kodak wont upload pictures.

In 2 weeks, we'll be heading to K.C for a few days to visit family. I'm excited!! Yay!! Guy's brother Neil and his gf, Karrie, came to visit us back in October. And we haven't been up their way in years and years. It will be good to see them again! Karrie is such a dear, Neil found himself a keeper!! ;)

I've been really trying to stick to my diet. It hasn't been the easiest thing, but I'm working hard at it. It may not be a big deal to most, but I'm EXTREMELY proud of myself tonight. It's Friday, so of course, the paychecks here and all I could think about this evening was PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA! lol

The last couple of days have dealt me more stress than normal, and I'm an emotional eater. And normally, under stress, I will eat the house down around me. But I didn't do that this time!! Woo-Hoo!!

But anyways, back to my victory report. Tonight, I was sooo hungry and all I could think about was pizza. I almost called it in, and at the last minute didn't do it. Instead, I walked to the freezer and got out my Weight Watchers frozen meal and had that instead. With 2 of my blueberry muffins. :)

I'm a lucky gal! My hubby, Guy, would be happy if I fed him cereal and Campbell's soup for every meal. And he knows how important, yet hard (VERY hard!), this diet is for me. And instead of expecting me to fix him a full fledged dinner every night, he is happy with sandwich stuff and a cupboard full of hearty soups. It's a win-win situation! He's got a pantry full of soup ( like I said, he loves soup- don't think I'm a terrible wife!) and I have a freezer full of WW meals. See? Win-Win! :)

Well, it's late and I have more cleaning to do before I go to bed. So, Blog at ya later!!

Suni

Okay, so here's the deal...

2009-02-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

I am starting over tomorow. That means I'm going to exercise every single day and start sticking to my diet. Again.

How many times have I said that??? I know, I know! It's just sooo hard!! It's not easy getting out of my comfort zone. I could think of a gazillion excuses and blame my lack of effort on many things, but the bottom line is this: I've just been lazy. It's easier to justify why I CAN'T go to the gym, than it is to round up my gym clothes and just go! It's easier to call for pizza delivery or go through Mickey D's than it is to thaw something out and actually cook! Isn't that awful?!? Soooo lazy lately.

But all that's changing. For reals this time... Hey! Don't give me that look!! ;)

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

sshhh! It's a secret...

2009-02-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the candy bouquet and card that I made for my hunny! He knows that I was going to make him a candy bouquet, but he hasn't seen it.
.

Rockin' Robin

2009-02-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

This little fella was singing me a song this morning as I took out the trash! So cute!!

He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song
All the little birdies on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Rockin' robin, tweet tweet tweet
Rockin' robin' tweet tweetly-tweet
Blow rockin' robin
'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Every little swallow, every chick-a-dee
Every little bird in the tall oak tree
The wise old owl, the big black crow
Flappin' their wings singing go bird go

Rockin' robin, tweet tweet tweet
Rockin' robin' tweet tweetly-tweet
Blow rockin' robin
'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight
Yeah yeah

Pretty little raven at the bird-band stand
Told them how to do the bob and it was grand
They started going steady and bless my soul
He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriol

He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song
All the little birdies on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Rockin' robin, tweet tweet tweet
Rockin' robin' tweet tweetly-tweet
Blow rockin' robin
'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight

Pretty little raven at the bird-band stand
Told them how to do the bop and it was grand
They started going steady and bless my soul
He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriol

He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song
All the little birdies on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Rockin' robin, tweet tweet tweet
Rockin' robin' tweet tweetly-tweet
Blow rockin' robin

'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight

A Hundred Miles An Hour

2009-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

That's what I feel like life has been like lately!

Hi there! :)

I have been so busy and all I want at this very moment is just time. Where I don't have to be somewhere, where I don't have something pressing to do. I just want a breather. But then, isn't that what we all want?? LOL

My dear husband is sooo sick right now and it hurts me that I can't do anything to make him better. Oh, I've tried. Bringing him juice, fluffing his pillow, caressing his fevered forehead. Poor thing!! I hate feeling so helpless when the love of my life is suffering!

I'm not being all mushy just because Valentines Day is this weekend, either. He already knows what I'm getting him. Or making him, to be more specific. He figured me out pretty quick when he came home before I had the flower pot and hoard of candy stashed away. I'm making him a candy bouquet. It's quite cute and quite yummy. And I enjoy trying my hand at "crafting".

Speaking of crafting, I went to a friends house last night and she taught me how to do some stamping. It was soooo fun to learn! I still have alot to learn, but with her help, I made my Guy a homemade Valentine's card. And it looks pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself!! Noel has all manner of stamping items and she taught me something called "dry embossing". At least I think that's what it's called. Maybe I'm wrong though. In any case, it's very neat!! And I'm glad I was able to keep her company during the storms while her hubby was at a meeting where he works.

Oh! And I rode Noel's bike the other day and absolutely fell in LOVE with it! And then Guy put one just like hers on layaway for me!! Yay!! It was more money than I ever thought I'd spend on a bike, so it'll probably take until May to pay it off, but I'm sooo excited about it! And besides, May is when the weather starts getting really nice and it'll be funner to ride then. Here is a picture I found online of my new bike. This is exactly like mine:

Isn't it just adorable?!?! I LOVE IT!!! And you all know that I have to name it. Because I name everything. Hmmm. Any ideas??

That's all I have for now- gotta get busy again

Blog at ya later!

2 Pound Victory!

2009-02-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

Hooray! I weighed myself this morning, and I've lost almost 2 pounds without even trying!!( So close to 2 pounds that I'm calling it) I really needed that encouragement. I tend to be very negative about myself and so I'm always surprised when I actually accomplish something. LOL :)

I also bought a fitness video to use at home, when I can't go to the gym to work out. I haven't used it yet, but one of my best friends bought it and she said it's a great workout and very motivational! I'm excited to see what all the buzz is about!!

As always, I'll keep you updated! ;)

Blog at ya later!!

p.s.- that means that I am now back under my starting weight! Yes!!!

Unbelievable!

2009-02-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe I'm just being cranky because I'm super tired. Or because I've gained weight when I was supposed to be losing it. But I am sooo OVER certain people right now! Can I vent?? Can I?!

See, here's the deal. I'm a member of Freecycle. It's a wonderful little organization. Well, actually, it's a nation wide thing, not really so little at all. But that's completely beside the point.

More and more, lately, I've seen people wanting some pretty outrageous things. And by outrageous, I mean that they want these things for free. And sometimes they don't even want to go to the trouble of picking them up- they want them hand delivered to their front door.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Granted, the whole purpose of Freecycle is that things are indeed free. But some people are downright greedy!!

For example, I've seen several posts lately where people are needing a queen or king size bed. Um, excuse me. But unless you are cramming 5 or 6 kids in the bed, no one NEEDS a king size bed!! Would it be nice? Of course! But my husband and I slept on a twin size bed for a very long time before we were able to upgrade to a full size. We made it work. I wouldn't recommend it, but we did it. And yet, people are begging for FREE queen and king size beds, under the pretense that they NEED them. That irritates me.

Today, I went to Freecyle and someone had wrote the following:

Wanted: Bread Maker, Magic Bullet Blender, Food Processor
We are trying to save money by making more meals at home, but need some more equipment.

Are you kidding me?! You don't NEED those things to make meals at home! They are asking for unnecessary kitchen gadgets that, combined, would cost about two hundred dollars new. And they want them for free. Oh, excuse me, they need them for free! I find that highly irritating!!

But as ridiculous as those posts are, nothing beats the lady who posted on Freecyle wanting a car to "putt around town in" . Yes, she wanted somebody to GIVE her a car so she could drive a few blocks to see her mom!

I'm losing faith in Freecycle. Why the moderators put these listings through is beyond me.

I myself have given away a fair share of items and have received some nice things also. But I never posted that I needed a record player. I didn't insist that the curtain rods I wanted be brand new and delivered in shrink wrap!

Maybe I should pay more attention to what my husband says. He thinks Freecycle is a big scam. And by the way it's going, he may not be too far from the truth!

Okay, gripe session over. Thanks for lending an ear, :)

Diet Update

2009-02-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

Not good, bloggin' buddies... Not good at all!

I have been obsessed with weighing myself all through out the day, and my weight differs each time I get on the scale. But...

As of right now, I weigh more than when I started my diet about a month ago!

I have no one to blame but me, but I'm not even going to come down too hard on myself. I know exactly where I went wrong ( all the Arby's and Pizza Hut and chocolate), and I know how to fix it.

Ugh, I'm so mad at myself for being so weak when it comes to food!! I have perfectly healthy food sitting in my kitchen, and I'll look at it and think That just doesn't suit my fancy right now. A Big Mac sounds really good though! And so it goes.

How in the world do I re-program my brain? My taste buds? I've eaten terribly for so many years that I go into withdrawals if I don't get my fix of grease and starch. Is this normal? I can eat salad until it's coming out my ears, but I'm not satisfied. I'm such a gluten!! *sob,SOB*

Tomorrow's a new day, a new week. And I'm going to push myself to succeed in losing weight. I want to be healthy and energetic. I can do this. Right?!?

33 Miles- my new favorite band!

2009-02-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of the music group 33 miles? They are soooo good! I'm addicted to their music at this point. I love Project Playlist for that reason. If I hear a great tune on the radio, I can search for it on Project Playlist and create a compilation of songs by any artist on the website. If you haven't already, ch-ch-check it out! :)

Who Woulda Thunk It??

2009-02-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

I just made biscuits and gravy for supper, and I made it healthy, too. And the best part is- it was actually good!!

I made whole wheat drop biscuits, using skim milk. They weren't very pretty, but they were pretty tasty!

The sausage gravy I made didn't actually have sausage in it at all. It was a soy product that was fashioned after the unhealthy pork product. I was skeptical, to say the least. Aside from my tried and true Boca Burgers, I haven't had much luck in the "fake meat" department. The soy lunch meat and soy chicken strips were disgusting. ( Of course, now I wonder why I bought those things in the first place when I can buy the real deal and it's not unhealthy at all!)

Anyways, the sausage style Gimme Lean ( no, I'm not getting paid to endorse this- LOL) is pretty great. I fried up half the roll that it came in- it's packaged like normal sausage- and it smelled like sausage of all things! Imagine that! Hahaha! And so after I browned it, I ate a tiny piece of it, worried that I would be repulsed. But instead of repulsion, my eyebrows shot up in pleasant surprise at how good it was. It looked like sausage, smelled like sausage, had the same texture as sausage and tasted BETTER than most sausage I've had!! Who woulda thunk it?!

And unlike the gross chicken and lunch meat (that wasn't really either of those things), this sausage was actually a good alternative and makes sense if your watching what you eat. It has NO fat at all, and normal sausage is loaded with the stuff. The calories are low and my fake sausage even has fiber! A considerable amount, too!

Oh, but back to the gravy! I fried up the "sausage" added whole wheat flour, salt and pepper and then skim milk. And just a little bit of chicken bouillon granules. Because that's how I roll. I tried it months ago when I made real sausage gravy and it really added a little extra yumminess to it. So I've kept doing it when I make my sausage gravy. If you cook, you should try it sometime!

Guy was out getting a haircut when I was making supper. He came in the back door and saw the biscuits sitting on the counter and thought that they were little hunks of meatloaf. Thanks, honey. He was washing his hands and I told him not to splash water on the biscuits, and in a surprised voice he asked:
Guy- " Biscuits?!"
Me- " Yeah, what'd you think they were?"
Guy- " Umm...Biscuits!"
Me- " No, really, what did you think they were?"
Guy- " Little meatloaf balls."

I'm happy to report that he liked the meatloaf balls/biscuits. And he even liked the gravy, knowing there was fake sausage in it!

Who woulda thunk it??

Diet Update

2009-02-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! Sorry it's been awhile since I wrote...

I'm feeling better after a few days of chest cold and asthma. I can breathe again!! Yay!

I've been doing, ah, just sort of so-so on my diet. Last week wasn't so great as far as eating better goes, but I got more exercise in. And then THIS week, I've been eating great- staying within my points limit, and actually staying under my points a few days! But because I've been sick, I haven't worked out. I've been pretty immobile the last few days. But for the second week in a row, I missed my weekly meeting with the other gals who are trying to shed the pounds. Last week, it was icy, and this week I just didn't feel up to getting out of the house. And then the ladies at the meeting called me on speaker phone to say hello! And to sort of update me on everybody's progress. Someone said that since I wasn't there, they put down that I gained 2 pounds. They were just joking. I think. I informed them that I had probably gained a lot more than that! LOL

So after the phone call from my comrade's, I was feeling pretty lousey for not working out lately. After a lot of whining about it to my dear husband, he agreed to coach me for a bit on the Total Gym upstairs. Let me just say, we've owned that thing for over 5 years and have hardly ever used it.

Well, that changed tonight! That Total Gym Kicked.My.Rear! I had it on the lowest setting and was still about to cry 2 minutes into the workout. But I did it! All 18 exercises, working muscles I forgot I owned. And as much as it hurt during the workout, I felt awesome afterwards! I then coached Guy as he went through the routine too. The workout we use is called The Dan Issacson Total Body Workout. It's only supposed to take 30 minutes to do, but it took us a little longer to change out the equipment on it and figure out what we were supposed to be doing for some of the exercises. But it's all good. I think we were up there for an hour and 15 minutes. Not too bad. What's funny though is that I was complaining during the workout but felt fine afterward. Guy, on the other hand, was completely collected during the exercises but then started whining worse than me after he was done!! LOL

I better not laugh at him too soon though. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow!

Blog at ya later!
Suni

The American Father

2009-01-29T00:49:00.000-08:00

A bit of a chest cold has led to a bout of insomnia for me- so here it is, almost 3am, and I have decided to do some deep cleaning. Well, okay, maybe not deep cleaning. But then again- the mountain of clothes in the laundry room is indeed pretty deep. So I'll stick with calling it deep cleaning.

Anyhoo, I was clearing off the table up in the laundry room, the one that was originally placed in there for the purpose of folding clothes on, but has now become a catch-all table. At the bottom of a jumbled up pile of clothes hangers ( that will probably take me an hour to untangle) I found a piece of paper.

It was a poem that my husband wrote. When did he write it? I don't know. Why did he write it? I don't know. I'm thinking it must've been a Father's Day project for church, judging by what he penned. It's a really good poem so I thought I'd share it.

The American Father
This country was founded on liberty
By men of old from across the sea.
In search of freedom, to America they came
Not knowing their hardships would bring them fame.
A God-founded country was their legacy,
They paid the price for you and me.
It seems these days, those kind of men are all gone,
But here is something for you to ponder on.
Look around at the men in God's house,
This is what America is really about.
Men who will teach their children wrong from right,
Who will labor in prayer through out the night.
These father may not be fighting for Democracy,
But in the eyes of God and their children, they'll go down in history.

Written by G. H.

Isn't that good!? I don't even remember him writing it, but woo-hoo!

I know that Guy wasn't downplaying men who have fought for our country and for our freedom. My own father-in-law was a Purple Heart recipient.

I just wanted to show off my honey's writing skills, I guess! LOL

I got much more work to do, so I'll blog at ya later!!

From the Shepherd to the sheep

2009-01-26T14:18:00.001-08:00

The adult bible classes on Sunday mornings have been outstanding lately!! I mean, they're always good. But our pastor has been teaching about Calvary for the last few weeks and I seriously can't get enough! The lessons are so rich, and so insightful and... there aren't even words for how great it's been.

That's not to dismiss the other services, our pastor is always annointed of God, and his preaching is always great, but I am personally getting sooo much out of the incredible teaching on Sunday mornings.

My pastor doesn't read this- he wouldn't even know what a blog is, so I'm not saying this for his benefit.

I just wanted to share with you a couple of things that I have got out of these Sunday Morning lessons:

Our pastor taught that Jesus hung on the cross for 6 hours, half the time it was light and half the time darkness had covered the earth. But even during the dark hours that Jesus was on the cross, the will of God was being fulfilled.

That lets me to know that when things seem dark, when situations seem impossible and there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel, God is still in control, He's still working on my behalf, and His plan for me is still in action.

Isn't that awesome?!

R.I.P. Big Red

2009-01-26T12:34:00.001-08:00

We were at Jump Start getting gas the other day, and the place was packed with very new and very nice SUV's and sports cars. And what just boggled my mind is that almost every single one of those vehicles had a teenager driving them! High school kids driving brand new cars. Lots of them! Was there some doctor's and lawyer's kids convention in town that I didn't hear about?! I couldn't believe my eyes.

My first car was a huge red boat that I had to share with my brother Josh, who's a year younger than me. Big Red was about as long as a football field and as old as Methuselah! Very embarrassing, but we didn't complain. Well, not too much anyways.

It was so ugly, that when the motor locked up on it, while I was driving home from school, my dad thought that I did it on purpose! I'm so sure, Dad...

By that time, I was used to it's ugliness, and Josh and I were making plans to (as they say nowadays) pimp it up. Or out. Or however that saying goes. We were going to spruce it up as much as our McDonald's wages would allow!

Yep, we had grand ideas for Big Red. New stereo, new rims, new seat covers over the sticky old vinyl upholstery.

And besides, I couldn't even get my school locker to lock right- but I'm gonna lock up a motor on purpose?!

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

2009-01-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin' Buddies!

Well, I can't post pictures of my bike yet, because my dear husband BROKE IT! He got the new seat put on it yesterday, and then he noticed that the handle bars were a little loose. SO, he went to tighten something down and the handlebars broke.

Oh, thank you soooo much for fixing the seat and then braking the handlebars, honey! I rrrrreally appreciate it! LOL - I joke, I joke!

So now, he has to squeeze in time to go to the bike shop and get a new whatever-it-was that he broke. Bummer...

Pecan Panic

2009-01-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's chilly willy outside!!

How crazy am I? We have 12 pecan trees surrounding our house, and there have been hundreds upon hundreds of pecans laying all over the yard, the driveway, in the bed of the truck- for MONTHS!
For MONTHS, we have ran over them with the car as we pull in or out of the driveway.
For MONTHS, I've slipped on sooo many of the stupid things walking up the sidewalk.
And not once was I interested in picking them up. Until, of course, it gets down to below freezing.

All of the sudden, I am eagerly out there on my hands and knees, scooping up pecans and scouring every square inch of ground, with a runny nose and frozen fingers.

Why this dramatic change of heart? Because they're 6 stinkin' dollars a pound at the store!

Fake ham & chicken please, but no more fake cheese!

2009-01-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!

Ugh! It's already Friday, and I have NOT been eating right this week! I've exercised a little more than last week, but not enough, I'm sure of that. I still have 4 days to do better though, before our next meeting. No sweat, right?!? *nervous laugh* Okay, let's change the subject...

I am now a member of a local buying club, which I'm very excited about! We actually met last night, and there are 30 of us. Here's how it works, according to me:

As a member, I am given access to an online catalog from which to order a huge variety of things. What I personally like about the club is that we are buying direct- not from the stores that hike up the prices before it gets to us. The catalog offers so many things: household items, frozen foods, like berries and fish. Bulk amounts of flour, oats, dry beans, and sugar, to name a few. They offer juices, canned goods, rice, bagels, organic soups... just soooo many things! Many of the items are not available at my local grocery stores. That's another great thing about it!

Like the assortment of vegan products. I am in NO way a vegetarian, but some vegan products have lower WW points than the real deal. Sure, I can- and do- get my Boca Burgers at Wallie World, but I ordered some other "meatless" chicken and deli ham from the club because the price was better. I've tried the "ham", and it's actually not bad. I haven't had any of the grilled "chicken" strips yet, although I did eat what I thought would be something like string cheese. I thought wrong. It's a cheese substitute called Muncheeze and it comes in little sticks like string cheese and it is DISGUSTING! And I bought two packs of the stuff! I'll post on the clubs website, and see if anyone is interested in taking it off my hands. I know at least one other person bought it. *shudder*

Anyways, yesterday was what is called "Divide Day". A semi truck comes to the activity center where we meet and everyone gets busy doing their jobs. Several people unload the truck, taking the boxes inside. ( I'm one of those people) There are other members inside that group the boxes together according to what's in them. There are invoices laid out all over the floor, with the member's names and what they ordered. And unless the item is something that people are splitting (sharing), the items have the members names on it. So, for instance, my fake chicken strips had little stickers with my name on them. So someone would see that, and go find my invoice on the floor, and put it down by my invoice. I barely ordered anything this time, but there were others that had mountains of stuff next to their invoices. Of course, we only order once a month.

I've already started ordering for next month. There's this fake pasta that's made out of tofu- I ordered a whole case of the stuff. I've never tried it, but it's only 1 weight watcher point for the entire bag of noodles! Hopefully it doesn't make me wanna gag, like the fake cheese! LOL

Blog at ya later!

2009-01-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I have some not so good news. The 8 pounds I lost last week? Yeah. I kinda sorta gained 4 of them back. *sigh*

I was extremely down in the dumps over it, and then I learned that Week 2 of dieting is always bad. That was encouraging, knowing that I'm not alone.

It didn't help any that I barely exercised after that 8 pound loss last week.

But you know what? Gaining this week has helped me understand and appreciate consistency. I have to be consistent with my food choices AND exercise!

To gain 4 pounds in one week is awful, but I can't and WONT let it happen again!

Wish me luck as I face this coming week!

I did make an awesome meatloaf recipe today that was Weight Watchers friendly:

Meatloaf
1 C. ground chuck
1 box of herb flavored stuffing mix
1/2 cup of ketchup
and 1 cup of water.
Mix it all up good, and place meat in muffin pan
Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes
( I baked it for 45)

*It says it makes 6 muffins, but I filled all 12 holes up very full. Maybe I had a little over a pound of hamburger.

Guy also dug my bike out and got the tires aired up and in good working condition. He tested it out for me, and it was a pretty funny site seeing him pedaling down the street on a purple bike. LOL! He was very sweet to do that for me though! We also went and bought me a different seat and a bike cable to lock it up with. Pretty exciting stuff! He promised he'd put my new seat on tomorrow.

I'll have to take a picture of me on my bike once I get it cleaned up a bit more.

Blog at ya later!!

I'm such a weirdo...

2009-01-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

I walked by the kitchen sink the other day, and instead of WASHING the dirty dishes, like normal folks, I commenced to taking pictures of them.

I can't explain it, but the water droplets on the pink plate against the metallic sink just looked really... COOL!

I probably spent a good 10 minutes taking pictures of this plastic plate and butter knife.

Yes, I'm weird. But no shame. It was worth it, because I totally LOVE this picture!!

Juneau, Juneau, Whatcha gonna do-eee-oh?...

2009-01-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

...Juneau, Juneau, Where ya gonna go-eee-oh??

Hi Bloggin' Buddies! I hope you had a good weekend!

I just got inside from putting my dog Juneau back on his cable. From time to time, he will get loose and we can't understand how. His collar is still on him, it's just that the little clip thing that connects his cable to his collar has somehow been opened. As though someone just walked up to him and let him off the cable. Wierd. I know that a cable might seem cruel to some people, and ideally we would love to have a fence for him- or better yet- a huge field in the country for him to run free in. But as it is, we have a "run" going from the garage to the house and he has plenty of room to run back and forth on. His brother, who we gave to the neighbor when they were puppies, runs back and forth and they play with each other through the fence.

Juneau is normally pretty content to just be able to race his brother up and down that fence, growling and barking if he happens to come in last. But now that he's had a taste of real freedom, he keeps trying to get off the cable again. That brat.

Fortunately, our neighbor saw that he was loose and put him in her fenced back yard with Neptune, Juneua's brother. So I didn't have to chase him for several blocks, all I had to do was take his leash and go get him from next door.

It's time to go see if he's made another break for it.

Blog at ya later!

2009-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it!!

I LOST 8 POUNDS!!!!

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!

Just think, if I hadn't gorged myself over the weekend, I coulda lost 10...

Oh well- I'll take what I can get!

Woo-Hooooooooo! Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm scared, I'm scared, I'M SCARED!!!!!

2009-01-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

I'm biting my fingernails... I'm sweating bullets... I'm breathing rapidly, as my eyes dart to the clock every few seconds.

Tonight is the dreaded Weigh In. Tonight! And I'm FREAKING OOOOUUUUT!

I did good all week long!

*sob, sniffle,sob*

I stuck to my guns, and watched what I ate, and went to the gym and...

Then came the Fiesta. *hanging my head in shame*

I even did good up UNTIL the party! I only ate some toast that day, as I tried to be smart and sensible and save up my points for some rice and tacos and guacamole!

But one taco turned into 5 tacos. A little guacamole would have turned into me all but eating the zip-lock bag it was stored in, if I hadn't sent it home with Lisa. And the rice!

*sob, SOB, SNIFFLE*

I went hogwild on the rice! Oh sure, not when everyone was here. But AFTERWARDS, I tiptoed to the kitchen in complete darkness, snatched it from the fridge and pigged out on it.

That just opened the floodgates! I raided the kitchen like a refugee- inhaling swiss rolls without tasting them. Cramming oatmeal pies into my mouth before I even had the wrappers all the way off.

And in 3 hours, I will pay dearly. In 3 hours, the awful truth will become clear. How much did I gain? *sigh*

All of that hard work last week- watching what I ate, going to the gym... all for this.

WILL I EVER LEARN??

Fiesta Friday!

2009-01-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

Hola, Bloggin' Buddies!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! :)

Last night, my husband and I hosted a get-together for the youth group and their youth leaders, Rusty and Lisa. It was a lot of fun, although I ate WAY too much food! LOL

Chicken tacos + rice+ chips and salsa + Lisa's AWESOME guacamole= not so great for a dieting food addict!

I tried to create a very festive atmosphere and hung up decorations and had Mexican music playing the whole time. As Rusty said last night, "Taco's just taste better with that music playing."

I tried to take lots of pictures but, once again, my camera is not making me very proud to own it. Most of the pictures turned out extremely blurry and some were so bad that I had to delete them. grrrr!

But here's the pictures that I took:

To see more pictures, go to Lisa's blog- http://rustynandlisa.blogspot.com/

My Diet, Fiesta Planning, And More

2009-01-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
This week has been so busy and it's not over yet. If you read my blog, you know that I started eating better this last Monday. And I've stuck to it! I've even been to the fitness center every day this week, and I'm going again a little later this afternoon. Woo-Hoo!

The first day I went to Creating Women's Fitness, with my friend Heidi, I was pretty apprehensive and basically just watched as she showed me each machine and how to use it. I walked some on a treadmill and then we left. The treadmills are in a separate room, and I really thought, Oh, I'll just use the treadmill when I come here, and not get on the other machines. I'm a shy person, until I warm up to someone and get to know them a bit more. And so, that first day, I just sort of hid in a corner and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. LOL

BUT, on the second day, Tuesday, I thought, Well, I AM paying to use all the machines, and there are only a few ladies here... I'll try the circuit!

The circuit consists of about 8 machines positioned in a circle, with these square bouncy boards between every machine that you jog on or march on, or do jumping jacks on, or... you get the idea. Every 10 seconds, or so it seems, you move to whatever is to the left of you. To me it seems like I just get on the machine and figure it out and it's time to switch again! LOL

But I gamely tried it and found that it was fun! And quite hilarious at times, because I tried to do some actual aerobics on the square bouncy things and couldn't keep the timing right and I looked like a complete moron! Hahaha! I also rode 2 miles on the exercise bikes. Yay!!

Yesterday I was feeling pretty low-key, so I just walked the treadmill the whole time. I walked 2 miles, uphill both ways! I'm not just stealing our grandparents phrase there, either!LOL! I had the treadmill set on an incline. :)

Aside from all the "getting fit" news, I'm also trying to get my house ready for a party tomorrow night. My friend and photography partner, Lisa, asked me to host a dinner for the youth group. Lisa and her husband Rusty are the youth leaders. I happily agreed, and so we are having a Spanish themed meal and FIESTA!! I'm making tacos and Spanish Rice and we'll have chips and salsa. I'm thinking of having a contest to see who can handle the HOTTEST salsa. I have a feeling that Lisa would win it, hands down. LOL! She's crazy for spicy food!

I'm still unsure of what games to have. I'm open to suggestions, if you want to leave a comment! Another friend loaned me the most ADORABLE donkey pinata, but there is no way that I'm letting anyone hit that little fella with a ball bat! He's just for decoration!! I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and post some this weekend on the blog.

I need to get busy getting stuff marked off of my To Do list, so I'll blog at ya later!!

Suni

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!!

2009-01-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin buddies!

Well, I'm officially back on the wagon! My diet is, once again, off to a good start. We went to the store yesterday and bought groceries. Instead of buying Hostess cakes, we bought grapes. Instead of buying Oreos, we bought fresh vegetables to snack on. Instead of buying food service size cans of Chef Boyardee, we bought lean chicken and beef! LOL

I think it will be much easier this time around, because I'm not fighting the battle of bulge alone. A group of us ladies from church are going to start having weekly meetings, Weight Watchers style, complete with weigh-in's ( YIKES!!), recipe tips, and just overall support for each other. The fact that others are trying to make this change, right along beside me, pleases me to no end!

Our first meeting is tomorrow night. I'm going to the gym this evening with Heidi, and then I'm helping make peanut brittle at 7 tonight. Kind of ironic, huh? Haha! I love our peanut brittle, so I'm kinda worried that any progress I might make at the gym may very well be for nothing later tonight, when I'm munching on a gazillion little pieces of candy! All those tiny crumbs can really add up! LOL

Blog at ya later!

I need a dose of ol' fashioned will power!

2009-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I really need more than just a dose. I need a WHOLE LOT! And I have none. Zip. Numero Cero!

Here's why: I just found out that I can shop at my favorite clothing store online. Oh, they've had a website since I discovered them, but it was one of those lame websites. You know, the ones that are happy to share with you where their actual stores are located, but you can't do any damage to the checking account right away because you can't buy from them online! Yeah. Pretty lame website.

But not any more!! Now a lady can shop to her plus-size heart's content while sitting at home, rapidly moving up to the next dress size by stuffing her face with Doritos while adding clothes to her shopping cart!

WHAT?!?! NO! Of course I'm not talking about me!!! LOL

No, really. I haven't been shopping OR stuffing my face. But I want to shop so bad that it's about to drive me to the Doritos! Help!!!

See, I know that several months ago, I was bound and determined to start shedding the pounds. But I fell of the wagon, people. I fell HARD. And now, with that failure staring me in the face, it's hard to get back up and brush myself off.

I've never been that girl who is constantly worried about her thighs. Her hips. Her bum. Her stomach. It just never crossed my mind to care. Even in high school, and I was fairly thin back then, I didn't obsess over my size or weight. I was completely oblivious to stuff like that. And I didn't hear other girls talking about it either. Oh yeah, wait! That's because I had no friends!! How could I forget?!

Now I have GREAT friends, but no will power to my name!

I had decided, about 3 months ago. that I am not buying another piece of clothing until I start to really lose weight. When my current clothes are literally falling off of me, I'll go on a little shopping spree. But not until then.

But now, after seeing all of the fabulous clothes at even more fabulous sale prices, I'm wavering in that decision! And the STUPID thing is this: I'm trying to justify it by telling myself to buy the clothes- just in a much smaller size. My goal size. Which, I might add, is still plus size. Because at least I'm being realistic about THAT! I'm sure I will always be a double digit gal. My goal is to get down to a size 14. I really do think it's possible, even though it's going to be a long journey getting there.

Okay, I'm done rambling now. But, while I'm hanging on to my self control by a thread, does anyone know where I can take a class on self discipline??

I Can't Explain It...

2009-01-03T00:37:00.000-08:00

...but for some reason, I am LOVING this old music!

First Judy Garland. And now I can't get enough Bing Crosby. Seriously. His voice practically puts me in a trance, it's so... there aren't words! I just love it!!I wonder what era (?) he's from. Was he part of the famed "rat pack"?? Before them? After them? I dunno. I just know that I'm head over heels in LOVE with his songs. The style. The voice. The music. It's amazing!!

Before Christmas, my husband kept asking me what I wanted. And I couldn't really think of anything. He spoils me on a daily basis, so I have need of nothing! But if I had known about Mr. Bing Crosby before Dec. 25th, I would have asked for every album put out by the guy!

Some people... sigh

2009-01-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin' buddies!!

Happy New Year! Wow. It's hard to believe it's 2009.

Guy and I were uptown this afternoon paying some bills and he overheard something so stupid while he was in the insurance office paying our car insurance, that I had to share it with you!

He was, like I said, paying our insurance, and I saw a pretty rough looking fella go into the building after Guy did. When Guy came out and got in the car, he shook his head and said, " I couldn't get out of THERE fast enough!" I laughed and asked how come.

He told me that the man that went in there after him was telling the secretary that he had been in a fire recently. The lady was properly shocked and said "That's terrible! What happened?" And the man said, " Oh, it was my own stupidity. I went to a party and got wasted. There was a big bonfire, and I was so drunk and stoned, that I fell into the fire."

The secretary asked him, " Well, did you learn your lesson?"

And the man answered back " Oh yeah! I know to never get near a bonfire again!"

It's so nice outside!

2008-12-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

Today has been such a nice day!

I even let my dog, Juneau, take me for a walk! Because that's what ends up happening, he walks me instead of the other way around. I guess I should walk him more often, but he's so heavy that he just winds up dragging me around the neighborhood. We walked/ jogged about 10 blocks today. At one point, there was a group of teenagers walking toward us, and I thought- Uh-Oh, what's Juneau going to do?! But the kids asked if they could pet him and so he happily slobbered all over them, basking in the attention.

A friend came over for a visit this morning and taught me to make spring rolls. They're raw vegetables wrapped in a clear i-don't-know-what made out of tapioca flour. She cut up carrots, bell peppers, and cucumbers, and also had some sprouts- that were very good!- and some sort of noodle thingies that you cook until they turn clear. I'm talking VERY clear! In the bowl, the noodle thingies looked sort of like ice. They are flavorless, and used for texture.

We made 3 different sauces to dip the spring rolls in and I liked 2 of them. Both of the sauces that I liked had ground up peanuts in them. It was alot of fun, even if I did sort of gag on the clear wrapper a little bit. LOL

My husband surprised me with a dishwasher a few days ago, so it made clean up a real breeze!

I need to get to the post office to mail off some belated Christmas gifts, I'm terrible about mailing things! I have a stack of stuff on my desk that has been waiting to go to the post office for months now! Isn't there some sort of service that one of those delivery services offer, like UPS or Fed Ex, that will come to your house to pick stuff up?? I think I should look into that. Otherwise, it'll be Easter before I get the stuff mailed off. I'm really that bad!

Have a great week!
Blog at ya later!

Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!

2008-12-27T03:51:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking that I wish I knew how to make black and white pictures look pretty.
I've played around with the colors while editing, but anytime I try to mix it up a bit in the b&w department, the pictures always look weird, not nice. And so it seems like I just leave them be, and the subjects in my photos look this sort of ashen gray, not artsy or pretty at all.

It's storming outside pretty bad, and I hate storms. Well, let me rephrase- I don't like being ALONE when it's storming. So I keep singing this song out loud.

I'm sort of obsessed with this Judy Garland song right now! I can't help but smile when I hear it. And tap my feet. And snap my fingers. And shimmy my shoulders. Hahaha! The song sort of gets on my husbands nerves because I've played it so much. I need to copy it off an a cassette tape and sneak it into the tape player of his bread truck and crank the volume to max. LOL- he wouldn't need a triple shot caffeine cappuccino THAT morning, after starting his truck up!

blog at ya later!

2008-12-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My first baby photo shoot

2008-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago, a young mother from my church asked me to take some Christmas pictures of her daughter. My photo side kick, Lisa, has been out of town and I very hesitantly agreed to try to take the pics without Lisa.

We set up a day, and I wondered and wondered and wondered what in the world I was going to do for props, poses, etc. All the wondering and stressing was for nothing though, because I happened to be very sick with that stomach virus the day I was supposed to take Gracelyn's pictures. I thought Oh, that's too bad, but I'm sort of relieved.

Then yesteday, I took my camera to church to have someone snap a quick informal picture of Guy and I for Christmas cards. There was also a baby dedication and a Sunday School program going on that morning. I was glad to have my camera there to take pictures with. After church was out, I said hello to the mom that I had to cancel on. I told her I felt bad and would be willing to take pictures of her daughter when ever she was ready for me to. So she said, "Okay, we're ready now, can you do them here at the church?"

Huh??

I told her that I could try, and immediately my mind started racing, trying to figure out how I was going to manage taking pictures of a baby with 30 people standing around and no place to really take the pics where they would look decent. She suggested the rocking chair in the foyer where mothers take their fussy babies. I didn't really like the look of it, so I went into the supply room, where there is all sorts of material and netting used for banquets and such. I grabbed some stuff, including Christmas ornaments and tinsel (no idea why they were in there, but great for me!!)and went back out to the foyer.

I proceeded to take pictures with several people breathing down my neck and taking pictures themselves of the baby. Me and the baby were not amused! Finally, everyone, except the mother, wandered off to talk to other people and I was able to finish with the rocking chair. Not many of those pictures turned out because I was so nervous and there was 5 different flashes going off behind me, messing up my lighting. Grrr!

Then the mother wanted a picture of both of them together, with a specific pose in mind. I needed to find somewhere else to take them though, because the light in the foyer was not good at all. So I set up shop in front of the glass double doors and laid white sheets down on the floor, with more sheets hanging off the bulletin board. It looked pretty hilarious! But those doors allowed WONDERFUL lighting to come through and give me the pictures I wanted!

It goes to show that with a little creativity and a room full of party supplies, you can pull off decent pictures!LOL

To see the rest of them, go to www.twocamerateam.blogspot.com

In the Kitchen... Blueberry Buckle

2008-12-17T21:00:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

Okay, so I'm feeling somewhat better after a very rough 3 days of yucky-tummy-stuff.

And I was sort of climbing the walls, so I decided to bake something for Guy to take to work for him and the others to share . (I do that from time to time)

So I decided to make Blueberry Buckle. I've never made it and I had the ingredients on hand so I thought Hmm, why not?!

I even picked a recipe that not only had step by step instructions-but it also had pictures for each step! Can't go wrong that way, can you? Well... actually... apparently... if anyone can, it's ME!!

So, as the cake is in the oven baking, I can't help but wonder- Why did my batter look so different from the nice little picture on the recipe?!? Their recipe batter looked like actual blueberry batter. Mine looked more like the Purple People Eater got trapped in a blender! Yikes!! Here's the pictures for proof:

On the left, obviously, is the normal batter. To the right is the wierd blue-ish purple glob that's baking right now...

I have no idea why that happened. I did use frozen berries, but the recipe said that fresh OR frozen could be used. Would that have something to do with it? Hmm.

The recipe also said that the batter should be the consistency of thick pancake batter, and that it should pour into the pan. Um, mine was not about to pour. In fact, it was so thick that it would hardly release from the spoon as I tried to transfer it from the mixing bowl to the pan.

There was a crumb mixture that went on top of it, which thankfully covered up the batter, and then this is what it looked like right after I popped it in the oven:

... I gotta say, it's smelling REALLY good- Oh! The timer just went off! Let's see what it looks like done!

Yeah? I guess it looks okay. Sort of boring though. So I made a blueberry syrup and cooked it down and poured it over the cake...

Now I wish I'd have just left it alone. Isn't that just the way?!

LOL

Blog at ya later, Suni

Has the bug got ya yet?

2008-12-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin buddies! I am so sick right now with this horrible stomach virus going around! Uck! Has it hit your house yet? I pray that it doesn't, cuz it is no fun, let me tell ya! For me, it started this afternoon. I'm miserable... :(

Guy called me this afternoon about 3-ish, and told me that his bread truck was broke down just this side of Thayer. Poor thing! It's been barely above single digits, temperature wise, and he's out there stranded on the highway! I called him at 6, thinking he'd be in the office by then, but- nope! He was just then on his way back to town. Brrr! I'm glad we bought him those ear muffs and gloves a couple of weeks ago!

I know I said I was going to start a short story here on the blog, but I gotta tell ya, the creative juices just aint flowing! They're as "gelled up" as the diesel fuel in Guy's bread truck!! I'm still going to do it, I just have to get it jumpstarted.

I've been slackin' in all sorts of areas. We still haven't bought the stuff to make Christmas gifts, the tree STILL isn't up (and probably wont be this year), and we haven't done Christmas cards yet. And there's only 10 days 'till Christmas!!! LOL

Blog at ya later!
Suni

Trying to get into the "Holiday Spirit"

2008-12-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Do you have your Christmas tree up?
The cards mailed out?
Have you at least started, if not finished, your gift buying?

I must confess that my answer is "no" ... to all of the above!

I'm tryin' to get into the holiday mood, but it just aint happening.

Thoughts about the economy have my mind preoccupied, and I'm getting over another round of sickness, so I haven't put much thought or energy into Christmas.

I redecorated my blog and added one of my very favorite Christmas songs, thinking that would help boost my Christmas cheer, but not so much.

We are planning on putting up our tree this Wednesday, and I'm not even looking forward to it. It means rearranging the front room and finding a place in a different room to put our recliner. Boy, do I sound like Scrooge or what?!

I'm making homemade gifts this year, and that is one thing that I AM looking forward to! I'm still trying to decide for sure what to make the brothers and nephews, but I already know what I'm doing for the sister in laws, moms, and nieces. I haven't bought any of the supplies yet, though! But that's okay, I do my best work under pressure! LOL

I'll post pictures when we get the tree up and decorated...

Blog at ya later,
Suni

My Other Blog

2008-12-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

I just started another blog for the photography that Lisa and I do. It's at http://www.twocamerateam.blogspot.com/

Come on over and visit Captured Moments by Suni & Lisa!!

It's still very new, so there isn't much there yet, but I will be updating as we do pictures together. We really are a great team! I love working with her!!

You can also get to it by scrolling down on this page to my blog list and clicking on Captured Moments Photography.

Hmmm, what to name it...

2008-12-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Help me figure out what to name the story!!

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You

2008-12-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!!

Okay, so my friend Lisa has a mom ( no, really?! Ha!) and her mom lives in California and she, along with Lisa's grandma, co-owns the most ADORABLE little sandwich and pastry shop! (I've only seen pictures, but I'm in love with the place!) It has been a major longtime dream of mine to own something like that.

Oh, the hours I've spent daydreaming about a cheerful little place to serve coffee, and pie, and soup,and sandwiches! I envisioned whole walls with shelves full of old rare books. Overstuffed chairs and baskets of magazines, along with a good variety of current newspapers. A huge world map on the wall. A glass pastry cabinet full of decadent goodies that can only truly be enjoyed with a cup of piping hot coffee or tea to wash them down with. *sigh*... Can you see it, people? Can you?!?

The sound of spoons tinkling against cups, the smell of coffee in the air, the whir of an espresso machine. And music playing softly, to encourage the low hum conversation.

The older crowd would come in bright and early, and I would serve them coffee and hear about how good the old days were. The college crowd would stay late, and I would bring espresso over to their study groups and learn of the latest conspiracy theories.

So, where am I going with all of this?? Well- let me tell you! I had mentioned to Lisa, months ago, that I thought it would be fun to write a book, loosely based on her mom's little eatery. And since I will probably never actually realize my dream of being a coffee barista of sorts, I will live out my little hazelnut-infused fantasy through an ongoing short story here on my blog! Fun, right?!?

So, be watching for it!! Oh! I am soooo excited! I haven't put much thought into it yet, but I'm not worried. It will all come together perfectly. I hope. Okay, I'm a little worried. But only because I started another story a very very long time ago and I'm still not done with it. But that story kind of took on a life of it's own.

Imagine my story being a car. I started out on a journey to get from Point A to Point B. And it was supposed to be a pretty easy trip. But then I thought, Oh, what if I had this happen? , and BAM- that was the first detour on my little trip. But then, several more "detours" came along and suddenly, my car (which, remember, is really my book) is way off course, in the middle of the desert, out of gas! And I have no idea how to get it back on the right highway to the orginal destination. Does that make sense?

But this story, the one I'm going to be posting here, will be different! Once a week, there will be an "installment". How's that sound? I can't wait! It's going to take place in a coffee shop, and there has to be some girl named Artemis. Because I'm on this kick where that I love that name right now. I know. It's a very weird name. I think that's why I like it. It's perfect for fiction! Anyways, I'm totally open to suggestions. Send them my way! We can make this a group project!

Blog at ya later,
Suni

Drinking From My Saucer

2008-11-30T00:14:00.000-08:00

The song that automatically plays on my blog is called

Drinking From My Saucer

& it is a WONDERFUL song!!

I encourage you to listen to the whole thing!

The lyrics I've posted are as Michael Combs sings them.

My husband makes fun of his voice, but I happen to love it! LOL

Well, okay, maybe he doesn't make fun of him, he just likes to imitate him!

Blog at ya later!

I've never made a fortune-
It's probably too late now.
Oh, but I don't worry about that much,
'Cause I'm happy anyhow.
As I go along life's journey,
I'm reaping better than I've sown.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Aint got a lot of riches
Sometimes the going's rough.
But I've got a friend in Jesus,
and that makes me rich enough.
I thank God for all His blessings on me,
and the mercy that He's bestowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Oh sure, I've been through some storms.
And, yes, I'm sure there were times when my- well my faith must have got a little thin
But you know what is seemed like? One day all at once, those dark clouds broke
And that 'ol sun, she started shining again!
So Lord, help me not to grumble and complain
About the tough rows I have hoed.
I'm drinking from my saucer
'Cause my cup has overflowed

And if I should go on living,
If the way gets steep and rough
I wont ask for other blessings
'Cause I'm already blessed enough
May I never be too busy, oh Lord,
to help another bear his load
And I'll keep drinking from my saucer Lord,
'Cause my cup has overflowed!"

Thankful

2008-11-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Bloggin Buddies!

Wow! Has this week flown by or what?! Did you eat way too much on Thursday?

Thanksgiving has come and gone and yet I am still counting all the blessings in my life. We had a Thanksgiving service at church on Tuesday evening, and everyone stood up and said what they're thankful for.

My husband bragged on God for answering prayers concerning finances. When he first started talking, he explained how he had asked God for a certain dollar amount each year, and how God had answered his prayer, giving him even more than what he had prayed for. At the beginning, I was sort of embarrassed and worrying that people might think that my husband was bragging on himself- which he would never do- but then I realized that he was really bragging on God for being our Provider, so I calmed down. LOL

While another lady was testifying about God's goodness, something she said really popped out at me. She said " I don't know why God chose me, or why He kept me." Those words are so true for my life as well. I'm thankful that when I was heading down the wrong path, God drew me to Him.

God has been a father to me, in a very true sense of the word. He has loved me unconditionally, has corrected me when I need it, has held me in His arms as I pour my heart out to Him. He has been patient and long suffering, never wavering in His faithfulness to me. There are so many times, when things look bleak, and I just need my Father. I am so thankful that I can call out to Him, and ask Him to hold me, and I can feel His loving embrace wrap around me- sheltering me from the current storm in my life. I'm thankful that He is REAL to me. He's not just a name, or a cross pendant dangling from a chain, or a fish on the back of a car. He is everything to me. My life would be empty, meaningless with out the Lord.

There are times when I struggle and I have to really pray and work at keeping Him number one in my life. The cares of this world are many, and it's easy to get bogged down. It's easy, if we aren't careful, to let material things or even other people take priority over a relationship with God. I've been there many times, and I am so very thankful that God brings it to my attention and I can correct it.

God has been sooooo good to me! Just like the old songs says, "He's done so much for me, I can not tell it all!"

I was asked to sing at our Thanksgiving service and the song I sang is one that God gave to me a few years ago. It is basically my personal testimony wrapped into a song. I thought I'd share the lyrics with you, so you might have a better understanding of why I love Him like I do...

A girl of fifteen years,

Full of heartache and fears

Searched for answers, yet she found then not.

Aimlessly she roamed, looking for the unknown

Something to fill the void inside her heart.

She knew there had to be more than she felt

And she found it at the altar where she knelt.

It was the precious grace of God

That led her to Calvary.

It was the precious grace of God,

Not by her strength or her ability.

When she couldn't find her way

God wrapped her in His grace,

He gave her a place where she belonged

He saw what she could be,

through His love and His mercy

And through the precious grace of God.

There've been times I left that place

of God's amazing grace.

I had foolishly forgot what God had done.

For you see I was that girl,

without a hope in this world,

'Till Gods grace came through and the victory was won.

And it's not happenstance that we are in this place.

No, we are here because of God's amazing grace.

It is the precious grace of God

that led us to Calvary.

It is the precious grace of God,

not by our strength, or our ability.

When we couldn't find our way,

Gos wrapped us in His grace,

He gave us a place where we belong

And He sees what we can be

through His love and His mercy

And through the precious grace of God.

My New Bed!

2008-11-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

Yippeeeeee!

My new bed finally came! I have had so much fun putting together my "new" little bedroom.

I have company coming over tomorrow and I can't even find the kitchen table or countertops because they're so loaded down with stuff right now. But instead of cleaning the kitchen, which it desperately needs, I've been playing decorator the last couple of hours.

I have a lot less cutesie decorating stuff than I do rooms in my house so, in most of the rooms, the walls are sort of bare. But I took almost all of the stuff off the walls in the hallway upstairs and hung it in my bedroom, transforming it into an actual grown-ups bedroom! I love it!! To me, it looks like an old ladies bedroom- I can't really explain it. I can't wait until Guy gets home... it should be interesting. The reason all that stuff was hanging upstairs in the first place is because he didn't like it. LOL

Oh well! It looks adorable and very cozy. Here's some pictures I took of it:

We got the matching bedspread and curtains at a thrift store in Chanute. The pretty green quilt was a gift for our 10 year wedding annivarsary. Guy bought me the desk at an auction- it's my "bill paying" station. The little fake woodstove is a space heater that keeps us nice and toasty at night.

Okay, now get out! I'm taking a nap!! LOL ... I wish. I've got way too much to do, so I'll blog at ya later!

Suni

Real Friendship In Action

2008-11-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!

I am pretty excited right now as I wait for our new mattress set to be delivered! We've had a new fancy-shmancy QUEEN SIZE mattress set on layaway for months now, and we finally got it paid off this last week! Woo-Hoo!!!

It's turning out to be a pretty good day for me. After a WHOLE LOTTA stress last night, that is.

I spent hours upon hours trying to set up an Ebay Seller's Account so that I could sell my beloved camera. I was only doing so because I thought that I needed more megapixels to print off nice sized photos. And so I was going to sell my 6 mp Canon and eventually save up enough to buy a newer camera with more megapixels. But after many hours of dealing with a very slow computer and different forms to fill out for Ebay, I was mad! I was getting no where fast, so I emailed a friend, just to vent I guess.

I finally gave up on Ebay, and just slammed my computer shut at about 5:30 this morning. I had had enough! I went to bed and planned on getting in a short nap before having to get up and get things ready for the new bed. I woke up to my phone ringing, and it was my friend Noel. She was like " Did you get my one zillion messages I left for you?" Huh??

Come to find out, while I was snoozing away, she and her husband had been acting as my guardian angels! Nick told me that I didn't need to sell my camera after all! Yee-Haw!!! I was so relieved to hear that!

I listened to my phone messages and read my emails, and was so touched by how they had my back, as the young'ns would say!

So instead of doing what I NEED to be doing- getting things moved around and cleaned up, I opted to do a little "thank you project" instead!! LOL

Thanks again Nick and Noel!!!

FYI, Nick did tell me that Wal-Mart had a point if I were to be using a point and shoot camera, not an SLR. So while it's pretty hilarious that he's calling them out as liars, he was also fair about it... you just don't hear that part! LOL

Blog at ya later,

Suni

From the Shepherd to the Sheep...

2008-11-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

Wednesday evening Bible Study:

"God sends no one away empty, except those that are full of themselves."

Help!! My Hands Are Burning!

2008-11-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin buddies!

Okay, so just for the record: if you ever come to my house and happen to eat off of one of my dishes, or drink out of one of my cups- rest assured that they are very clean. And have had a nice sanitization process applied to them. ( Is sanitization even a word?!?) This process involves washing and rinsing said dishes in SCALDING HOT water.

I had to take on the duty of family dishwasher at a young age. So young in fact, that I had to stand on a chair to reach the sink. And it wasn't a "being Mommy's cute little helper" kinda thing. It was a " Do these dishes or I'll bust your rear" kinda thing. I'm not looking for sympathy here, folks. Truly I'm not. I'm laying the foundation for my story.

See, on top of having to wash all the dishes for a family of 5 (and most times more, depending on who was living with us at the time), I had to wash them in very hot water. I'm talking so hot that when Grandma came in to help, she was like " My Goodness! Add some cold water to that!" And we all know that grandmas wash in pretty hot water to start with!!

What I hated to wash most of all was the pots and pans (that's a given!) and the cups. Why cups you ask? Because we had those stupid colored ALUMINUM cups that would get hotter than the sun when I washed them!!! It was awful; me standing on a wobbly chair tossing the cup from one hand to the other while attempting to wash the thing, when it felt like molten lava in my hands. I hated those cups.

The one bright spot in washing dishes as a little girl was when my brother Josh would help me. Eventually we were no longer standing on chairs, but kneeling on them. We were still too short to stand at the sink with no chairs, but too tall to stand up on the chairs. Anyways, we would make up songs while we washed dishes! Time flew when Josh helped me do the dishes!

I remember one of the songs we made up was called "Welcome to America". I think that I had just learned about the Mayflower or something in school. That song ROCKED! It had a couple of verses, the chorus and a cool little add-in. All I can remember of it now is part of the chorus:

Welcome to America, how do you do?

Welcome to America, we all welcome you!

Immigrants of every nation, come and join the fun

(something, something, something, something) There's room for everyone"

And at the end of the song, I would sing the chorus again, with Josh reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in the background. ( Boy, was we delusional back then!) But we were so proud of ourselves. We were like "Yeah! Nashville, here we come!" The day after we made the song up, I was at a neighbor girls house, and I sang it to her. I was like " And we made that UP!" I'll never forget her response. She looked me in the eye and said " No you didn't. I heard that song on the radio yesterday." *sigh* Jealousy is such an awful thing.

So, anyways. I always thought to myself, When I grow up and have my own house, I'm washing dishes in cold water, not hot! And as I got older, I would think, okay maybe not cold, but not this hot for sure! Because, you see, my mom would come by and check the water temperature. If it wasn't still near the boiling stage, she would tell me to add more hot water.

And the weird thing is that now that I AM grown up, and DO have my own house, I still found myself tossing the dishes quickly from one hand to the other, and dropping them and screaming in pain from the heat. Obviously, it's not intentional. It's just that when I go to adjust the water temperature, I don't think it's hot enough until my hands have first degree burns on them!

Awhile back, I saw some of those old aluminum cups on EBay, and was like "Oh, lookie here, Guy! I think it would be cool to have these. You know, sort of nostalgic!" He was like " Do you really think that's a good idea? Remember what it was like washing them?" I quickly changed my mind!

Another comparison...

2008-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin buddies!

I just blogged about two similar pictures, and I have another one for you. However, these two pictures don't look alike in my opinion. It's more of an "in person" kinda thing! LOL

There's a man named Gary who recently ran for, and won, the position of District Court Judge, here in my neck of the woods. All through his campaign, he would put ads in the paper with his picture. And the picture looked VERY similar to my husband, Guy! So much so, that people who worked with my husband and people we go to church with, was asking Guy if Gary was an uncle, brother, dad... they looked so alike, and shared the same last name that people figured that they MUST be related!

I wish I could have found the picture that I was looking for- the one that was in the newspapers. But I couldn't. Anyways, it's been sort of a joke between Guy and I and even between him and his coworkers, about him having his face everywhere, as Gary ran for judge.

So, when it came time to actually vote, we both voted for Gary to win, if for nothing else, because of the name.

And then, about a week or so ago, we were eating at a local Mexican restaurant and a lady approached our booth table. She started gushing about finally meeting Gary, and how she had heard so much about him and she congratulated MY HUSBAND on winning the election!! I about choked on a tortilla chip! It was hysterical!

My husband is a "low talker", meaning he MUMBLES alot, and doesn't speak up like he should. Don't even get me started on that. Anyways, when the nice lady came up to Guy and asked if he was Gary, he did in fact say "No, I'm Guy" but I can see where she would not have heard him right. Because he's a low talker. (And I never even hear him right!!) So she thought that he said he was Gary. Poor thing. That's when she started falling all over herself complimenting him.

I was eating chips and salsa, enjoying the show, wondering when Guy was going to set the record straight.

He got all red and finally spoke up and let her know (in the right sound decibel) that he was Guy, not Gary. Then SHE got all red, and looked confused. "But you look just like him!" she said. I nodded, trying to make her feel better, "Yes, he DOES look just like him. And they both have the same last name. Lots of people think that too."

" Well, I did wonder why Gary would be dressed like THAT ", she said as she looked at Guy's work uniform. She must have been doing the old I Feel Stupid So I'm Going To Make You Feel Stupid Too routine. LOL Anyways, I got a good laugh out of it all, and Guy felt terrible for, as he put it, leading her on. If he would just TALK LOUDER, he could avoid things like that!

Here's a picture of both of them- but like I said, this picture does NOT do justice to the similarities!

The top one is the honorable judge Gary. The bottom one is the honorable ordinary person, Guy. What do you think?

Later,

Suni

Quaker Oats Man vs Rev. Henry Kane

2008-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin buddies!!!

Okay, so yesterday I was emailing a friend, and I was telling on myself for being scared of... the Quaker Oatmeal man. LOL

And I then I started wondering if my fear was even substantiated! And so I did a lil' bit of "Google-ing" and, yes, I stand by my belief that the man on the Quaker Oatmeal box looks strikingly similar to the very scary man Rev. Henry Kane, from the very scary movie Poltergeist. Here's part of the email that started this whole train of thought yesterday:

I don't know why, but the Quaker Oatmeal man on the box has always creeped me out. Actually I do know why- I watched the movie Poltergeist when I was little and there was a man in the movie that made me think of the Quaker Oats guy, and so now I relate the two of them. Ha! Anyways...

At work, the laundry room, pantry, and offices were down in the basement. And I was the only one who worked there on that shift. SO, when I went down stairs, the pantry door was at the bottom of the stairs and, you guessed it, the stupid oatmeal boxes were always on the top shelf, in front of the door, with the creepy oatmeal man looking at me. Sounds stupid, I know. And it IS stupid, but I was always scared to go down there. Not just because of that, but that sure didn't help!!! Ha! One time, I told my friend Carrie, who worked there with me, about it and she kept bringing me empty Quaker Oats boxes.

SO- after that email, I wondered if the two men REALLY looked alike, or if I just thought that as a kid. I googled images of both of them- Here they are, what do YOU think??

And both of the pictures have circles around the men! And I didn't even do that!! Yeah, pretty creep, right?!

I must have been like 7 or 8 when I saw that movie, and I now I shake my head as I think about how I put the two of them together like that. The broad rimmed hats, white shirts, black coats, gray hair... they're practically TWINS!! So is it really any wonder that for the last 23 years, I've been scared of the Quaker Oats man?!

Funny enough, I happen to love oatmeal. Just not the container it comes in...

Blog at ya later,
Suni

Atheism

2008-11-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
— Brennan Manning

My souped up blog...

2008-11-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hi bloggin' buddies!

I'm feeling MUCH better after being sick! :)

Today was Guy's half day of work, and it was nice having him home. I had planned on going to Chanute with him this morning, but after realizing that he was leaving the house at 7am, I quickly changed my mind. My sleeping schedule has been off for a while now, and it's sort of messed us both up. Normally, I would get up at like 3:30 am, get Guy's things rounded up, and then wake him up and see him off to work. And then I stay up and we go to bed really early. Like 7pm early. But lately, I've been staying up alot later and not getting up with him and then I end up sleeping until 8 or 9. I don't like it that way, I like it better when I'm up and around when he leaves for work. And it also helps him to get to work earlier, because he doesn't hit snooze fifty million times. lol

So, I decided that even if I have to take Tylenol PM to get to sleep, I'm going to try to get back to our old schedule.

My friend Noel and I went to a really neat (or at least I thought so) seminar or class or whatever on soup earlier today. It was at one of the senior citizen apartment buildings. We had decided to go nice and early, so we would get a prime seat... in the back. :) We both wanted to get there before the place filled up. And I thought that we had gotten there plenty early, about 15 minutes early. But we walked in and the room was already full of people! It was really funny after the shock wore off. LOL We looked at each other and was like " Well, so much for coming early!" Ha!

There was a nice loooong presentation on Gifts In A Jar. It was quite lengthy, but informative- and at times- amusing. The lady who did that part must be a retired teacher because she kept saying things like, " And can anyone tell me what's in this jar? ... That's right!" And so on and so forth. I thought it was funny. :D And there was some really neat ideas too.

And then there was a nice presentation on Soup. The origin of soup, different types of soup, the proper way to eat it, etc. I almost laughed out loud when the lady said that it's not proper to crunch up your saltines and throw them in the soup. I pictured my husband, who crunches up almost a whole sleeve of crackers for one bowl of soup! And he's the one who got me started doing that too. :) Proper or not, it's mighty gooood!

They had several tables set out in the big room with different soups on them and each cook told about their soup. And then came the fun part- tasting all of them! Mmmm!! There was around 7 or 8 different soups, and I tried all of them except the Catfish Chowder. Catfish=Yuck.
There was a corn and potato chowder, a gumbo, catfish chowder, pozole, a fruit soup, and my favorite... African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans. It was soooo good! And I don't even like sweet potatoes! Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested:

2 tsp. olive oil

1 and a half C. chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

4 C. (1/2 inch) peeled, cubed sweet potato - about 1 and a half pounds

1 and a half cups cooked small red beans

1 and a half cups of veg. broth

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 C water

1 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger

half a tsp. salt

half a tsp. ground cumin

one fourth tsp. black pepper

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 (4.5 oz) can of chopped green chilies, drained

3 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

3 Tbsp. chopped dry roasted peanuts

6 lime wedges

1. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

2. Add onion & garlic. Cover & cook 5 min. or until tender

3.Place onion mixture in a 5 quart electric slow cooker.

4. Add sweet potato and next 10 ingredients (through chilies).

5. Cover ad cook on low for 8 hours or until veggies are tender.

6. Spoon 1 C. cooking liquid into a small bowl.

7. Add peanut butter and stir well with a whisk.

8. Stir peanut butter mixture into stew.

9. Top with peanut and serve with lime wedges.

THE END

So there you go! A new soup recipe to try on the cold blustery nights ahead.

Blog at ya later,

Suni

Oh Me Of Little Faith

2008-11-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

Oh. my. word.

I feel extremely stupid right now.

Guess who just left my house? None other than a fire truck and ambulance. And I feel like a complete moron.

Here's the deal. I've been sick since late Friday night with a bad head cold. And then today I decided to make some chili for supper tonight. So I'm in the kitchen listening to my talk radio, chopping up peppers and mushrooms and onions. And I started feeling weird. REALLY weird . My stomach was queasy and I felt like I was going to pass out. I couldn't focus and I sliced my thumb with the knife, mistaking it for a piece of onion. So I thought, " Well, maybe I'm just too warm, I'll turn down the furnace and open the back door to cool off."

And so I did both of those things and went back to chopping veggies. But I felt so weird that I couldn't even concentrate. I tried to read the recipe again and had a hard time reading it. I had taken some medicine about 30 minutes before I started working in the kitchen, and so I thought, " It's the stupid medicine making me feel like this." But then another thought popped into my mind- " What if it's Carbon Monoxide?!?"

We have an old floor furnace that my husband and a couple of guys got working last year. When we moved into the house, the gas company red-tagged it as unsafe, because of something to do with the ventilation. So the first winter in the house, we used electric space heaters. But the space heaters constantly popped the fuses. So last fall, my husband was determined to fix the floor furnace. Except that after he and his buddies "fixed" it, he didn't call the gas company to come check it out and give the okay. So technically, the furnace is still red-tagged. And after seeing some of the things that the guys were hauling down to the basement to fix the furnace with, I became somewhat nervous. Like for instance, they took down some sort of spray foam- which to me, seems like it would be kind of, oh I don't know... FLAMMABLE? And then they took down some kind of gook stuff that is supposed to be used on car mufflers. Not floor furnaces. Can you see why I didn't have much faith in their furnace fixing skills??

And of course that word "Ventilation" was being thrown around, and how "the only way to properly ventilate it would be to cut out these floor joices, and run the pipe up this-a-way" and then it was decided that to do that "would be too much trouble." So they devised their own way of doing it, knowing full well that the gas company would never approve their method. But they were confident that it would be vented just as well, and that it would be completely safe. I on the other hand, was not so confident. Last winter, I spent alot of time fretting about the noises the furnace made, and even more time worrying about the thing catching fire from the spray foam and muffler gook that they used somewhere down there. But it got us through last winter safe and sound. Or should I say, safe and warm.

But just as soon as Guy lit the pilot light this year, my old fears crept in. I was scared of explosions in the basement, and carbon monoxide filling the house because they didn't ventilate it right. As a matter of fact, if I was a betting kind of gal, up until an hour ago, I would have bet someone a hundred dollars that our basement was full of CO2. I was completely sure of it.

So, when I started feeling extremely sick in the kitchen, where the basement door is located, how could carbon monoxide poisoning NOT have entered my mind??

I called my husband and told him that I was thinking about having the fire department come out and do a CO2 reading in the house. He responded by voicing his concern that they might make us turn off the floor furnace. Nothing from his end of the line about being concerned for ME, oh no, just the stupid furnace. I hung up on him.
And then called the fire department.

This is basically how the conversation went with the fire department:

Them- "Fire Department, this is Phil speaking" (I think his name was Phil...?)

Me- "Um, yes, do you guys come to people's homes and do carbon monoxide tests?"

Them- " Yes we do"

Me- "Um, well um, I feel kinda stupid, but um, well um, I was wondering, I mean, I feel really dumb, but you see, my husband and his friends fixed our, um, furnace and now I, um, feel really sick and I'm wondering if, um, it might be carbon monoxide. um."

Phil then asked for my address and said that he would send a truck out immediately, and for me to go outside and wait. After I scooped up my dog, who was NOT happy about going out into the freezing rain, I waited on the front porch. I prayed, " Oh Lord, please don't let them come flying up to house with lights on and sirens blaring!" I felt stupid enough already! I called Guy back and told him that the fire department was on their way to our house, and he again assured me that they would make us turn off the floor furnace. Whatever.

The fire truck pulled up to the house with no lights or sirens, thank God for answering that prayer! Two nice firemen questioned me about my symptoms and one of them went in to do the test. He came back shortly and said that there didn't seem to be any CO2 on the main floor. He asked about the water heater and I told him that it was in the basement. He went down in the basement and came back up shortly after. He said that everything checked out okay down there, but they were concerned that by opening the back door like I did, I might have flushed the CO2 out of the house before they got there.

After a few minutes, and alot of bugging me about having the ambulance come check me out, one of them went back down in the basement while the other fireman called for an ambulance to come over. I guess they were extra paranoid because they had just been to another house 3 hours before, and the people were put in the hospital due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The fireman came back up from the basement and said that the "readings" were good, that the furnace looked fine and the water heater looked good as well. One of them mentioned calling the gas company anyways, just to have them come check out the furnace for themselves, and my heart stopped. But then the other fireman said that it wasn't necessary, since their wasn't CO2 down there. Thank You Jesus!!!

The ambulance pulled up, with lights on but no sirens. I wanted to die. People were driving by really slow, staring at me. I had just learned that I called the fire department for no reason and I was sitting out on the front porch in the cold and rain, already sick as it was. And I had a shivering wet dog whining to go back inside.

The EMT's took my vital signs and started freaking out because my blood pressure was, as they put it, " extremely high!" Well, duh. I was a bundle of nerves, with a fire truck and ambulance in front of my house. Okay, that, and the fact that I really had convinced my self that there was dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in my house. I finally convinced them that I was just nervous and felt extremely stupid, and that's why my BP was so high.

They all packed up and assured me that it was not dumb to call them, but to dial 911 next time. Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen!

And so now I feel stupid because there was a big fuss made over nothing, my ears hurt worse from sitting outside in the wind, I'm embarrassed because it's not like I really had time to "spruce up the place" before the firemen walked all through my messy house, and I feel guilty for not having faith in my husband's furnace fixing skills. What a relief, though, to know that there wasn't any carbon monoxide in the basement.

But yet I wonder, " Maybe the furnace should have been RUNNING when they checked it. I had turned it down before they came."

Hmmm, maybe I'll call them back over here.

Laundry Blues

2008-11-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

The thing I love most about washing laundry is...

running out of soap!

I don't know who took the top picture, but I sure do like it!

Leaf me alone!

2008-11-04T02:40:00.000-08:00

Lisa, getting leaves out of Rachel's hair and trying to fix her curls! :)

Rachel's hair was full of foliage!

meeting myself coming and going!

2008-11-03T21:59:00.000-08:00

Helloooooo Bloggin' buddies!! It's been awhile, huh?

I've had a busy two weeks or so, and you're about to hear some of the highlights. LOL

Before I forget, let me say that I had lost 7 or 8 pounds at the beginning of this whirlwind, 14 days ago or so. And then Neewollah came. And with that came concession stands full of yummy food just calling my name. Things like chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick, huge corn dogs, and ginormous cinnamon rolls. I tried to be good. I really did. But alas, weakling that I am, I gave in and pigged out along with everybody else! So I probably gained back the 7 pounds and then some. Because I gotta admit, I've been extremely lazy and have not been sticking to my diet since then. I know, I know- shame on me!! But I am determined to start again tomorrow!

(That's what I said yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the...)

Neewollah didn't just bring the carnival to town- it also brought my brother-in-law Neil and his girlfriend Kerrie! ( I'm really freaking out right now because I feel like I misspelled her name- sorry if I did!!) They put up with my husband and I in our big ol' falling down around our ears house, along with pigeons right above them and squirrels in the walls. I don't know how they did it, but I'm glad they stayed with us. I looove Kerrie! ( Again, I really feel like I'm not spelling it right and I feel stupid because Neil totally reads my blog. SORRY!!!) Anyways...

I can't wait for them to visit our neck of the woods again! It was weird though, having my husband and his brother in the same room. I've been telling Guy for more than a year now that when he smiles, he looks like Neil. And then he visits us, and they talk the same, have the same sense of humor, and have some of the same mannerisms. Yeah, pretty crazy. We had a birthday party for another one of Guy's brothers, Doug, while everyone was here. Here's a couple of pictures:

I can't make them any bigger on here, I don't know why, but it frustrates me! These are the only pictures that downloaded onto my computer. My mother-in-law isn't going to be too thrilled about that! She's been calling non-stop, wanting a copy of the picture I took of her and her sons. It, along with a few others, wouldn't transfer over and I deleted them before I knew it would be a problem. The top picture is obviously Doug's birthday cake, and the bottom one is Neil and... his girlfriend. I refuse to spell it wrong again and feel even worse about it. LOL

So after Neewollah packed up and left town, I just couldn't seem to get back into the routine. Everything seemed a little "off".

I got to watch my two nephews from Altamont and what should have been a fun time nearly ended up with a trip to the emergency room. And it wasn't even one of the kids. It was my husband who about broke his neck. Here's the rundown:

Okay, are me and my 3 younger brothers the only ones who used to ride down the stairs in a big box?? We did it day in and day out for years! So, my nephew James- who's like 6 or 7- wants to ride down the stairs after I tell him how fun it is. But he was too scared to try it. He even tried to put his little 3 year old brother in the big plastic toy box and send him flying down as a "test" to see if it was safe. We managed to stop that before it even happened though. So then "Uncle Guy" stepped up and very hesitantly agreed to ride down first, to show James that no harm would come his way. That it was completely safe. That there was nothing to be scared about.

...Wrong!...

James and I gave Guy a nice shove and then, like 2 seconds later, the big toy box hits the landing at the bottom, catapulting Guy head first into the wall. Ouch! He was at the bottom of the stairs writhing in pain, moaning and holding his head. The kids start flipping out and I run down to the bottom and try to get Guy to sit up, but he said that one side of his body was numb. It took a few minutes to get him to sit up and let me help him to his chair. It was a fiasco, let me tell ya!

I asked him if he needed to go to the hospital, but he kept saying no. About then, my brother Josh and his wife show up to get the kids. For some reason, it was all MY fault, and I keep getting the evil eye from my sister in law. You'd think she would just be glad it wasn't James or Ben with a concussion! But whatever. Guy survived. He's just fine now.

Hmmm. What else?

It's not like the past two weeks there's been something big happening everyday, it's just a lot of little things that's been keeping me preoccupied.

Yesterday, Lisa and I took some maternity pictures for a friend of ours who's due to have a baby girl in 2 weeks. I know, we're cutting it close!! And tomorrow, we're going to do some more with her and her husband. It was a lot of fun- taking pictures always is! We went to the park and zoo, and then out to the Elk City lake. Rachel, the expecting momma, was so easy to work with and such a good sport! We had that poor lady down on the ground so many times! She didn't get too wore out over it all either! We haven't edited them yet, but here's a few of my faves so far:

Lisa took the top two pictures (Oh, I Looooove them!) and I took the bottom two pics. Fun!

Okay, I need to get to bed. I promise not to stay gone so long from blogging! lol

Until later,

Suni

Just for lol's!

2008-10-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

I think this hilarious, but I'm kinda stupid that way! LOL

Windows 95... woo-hoo!

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I'll write soon!

Array of Sunshine

pink and green scene dot com!!!!

A Refuge In Times Of Trouble

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. ~Psalm 9:9-10

Childhood Memories

My new nephew Bradley

Oral Surgery= one loopy husband!

2010- a year full of promise

Disappearing Act

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

School Memories

Motocross Pics

Making Memories

It's A Great Day To Be Alive!

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

New Favorite Quote

Orange Neighbor

Mind if I ramble a bit?

The neighbor boy

Rethinking the whole "Professional" Title...

Where To Begin...

Mystery Flowers

Business is picking up for Captured Moments!

10 more days

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Tornado Season

Camping Fever

Writers Block

Home Sweet Home

Lilacs

Takin' Care Of Business

Bunnies And Candy And Eggs, Oh My!

Happy Easter!

My Crops

How does your garden grow?

Keep The Dream Alive

Yay! Wii did it!!

Home At Last!

Have A Great Week!

Go Figure, I'm Sick!

Hotwire.com rocks! Seriously!

Watch it, pal! I SHOOT people when the mood strikes!!

W.W.F.F.!!! (woot! woot! for fridays)

Okay, so here's the deal...

Happy Valentines Day!

sshhh! It's a secret...

Rockin' Robin

A Hundred Miles An Hour

2 Pound Victory!

Unbelievable!

Diet Update

33 Miles- my new favorite band!

Who Woulda Thunk It??

Diet Update

The American Father

From the Shepherd to the sheep

R.I.P. Big Red

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Pecan Panic

Fake ham & chicken please, but no more fake cheese!

I'm such a weirdo...

Juneau, Juneau, Whatcha gonna do-eee-oh?...

I'm scared, I'm scared, I'M SCARED!!!!!

Fiesta Friday!

My Diet, Fiesta Planning, And More

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!!

I need a dose of ol' fashioned will power!

I Can't Explain It...

Some people... *sigh*

It's so nice outside!

Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!

My first baby photo shoot

In the Kitchen... Blueberry Buckle

Has the bug got ya yet?

Trying to get into the "Holiday Spirit"

My Other Blog

Hmmm, what to name it...

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You

Drinking From My Saucer

Thankful

Some people... sigh