Chit Chat, photos and updates

Good morning everyone :)

I'm sure you're quite shocked to see a post from me, well, I thought it was time to get my butt in here and say hi, have a little chat, tell you what I've been up to or what I have coming up etc.  I do hope you're ready for a post filled with pictures and lots of babbling.

It's cloudy and rainy here today, we have a huge storm headed our way which is supposed to bring hail, winds and even some tornadoes.  I'll be praying that it's not as bad and that the tornadoes stay nice and far from our area.

It's 7:24 am and I'm still in bed.  I need to be up soon and start my cleaning and normal daily chores, but for now, it's still kind of dark and with this rainy weather, one does not really want to get up and do much.  As I sat here, I figured that it was the perfect moment to come and have a little chat.

So grab a cup of coffee and sit down with me for a bit.

Now, what has been happening the past few weeks?  Nothing exciting, nothing that bears mentioning, just normal living and going about our business.

The kids are growing fast, Nick is about to turn 13 years old, can you believe that?  I feel as if just last week I was sharing photos on my blog of him as a little toddler running around in his diapers, and now here he is about to enter the teen years.  When this happens, I will no longer have little ones and I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

Jasmine is about to turn 17, she just took her ACT test yesterday.  If you're not aware what it is, it is the National College Admissions test.  Fingers crossed!!!

She is about to finish her Junior year, and then next year it's Senior year, graduating and all that fun stuff.  I am definitely not ready for that.  We're looking at doing Concurrent Enrollment this coming year, so I've been trying to figure that all out, contact the local colleges etc.  Oh my word, I knew this day would come but now that it's staring me down I just want to run in the opposite direction.

Spring is in full force!!!!

My yards are covered in Grape Hyacinths, the birds are chirping away happily, the weather has warmed up considerably and the days are longer.

We've been working hard on the yards, we have the family reunion coming up in May and last year we didn't have a chance to really do anything with the house.  This year, we are trying to pretty the outside up, put in some plants, an area for a fire pit etc.

Above, I have Blackberries and Blueberries growing, and below, some of my favorite flowers, Hyacinths and Daffodils.

They boys have been hard at work too.  We've been laying down some edging leading towards the fire pit area.

Power tools and boys go hand in hand right?

We've been watching tons of movies, like I said in my Happy Homemaker Monday, mainly because our internet service went out last week Thursday and we were without until Monday night.

It's always quite funny watching all the kids with no wifi, they literally don't know what to do with themselves.  Makes me think of when I was their age and had no internet at all, I didn't need it, I didn't have cellphones or tablets or laptops or any of that junk, and I still managed to have a good childhood.

Kids seem to be so obsessed with all of this stuff that they can't seem to function without.

Anyway, we watched quite a few movies.  The one that stands out the most to me was The Green Inferno.  If you haven't watched it and like stories to do with the tribes of the Amazon, cannibalism etc, then you will enjoy it.  It was quite shocking in some parts but overall a very good movie.

Everest was another that needs to be watched, what a wonderful movie.

We also watched The Night Before (a comedy), it was pretty funny.  Robert The Doll was a waste of time, the girls picked it because it looked quite scary, but we ended up laughing through it because of how ridiculous it was.

Last night I watched Cleveland Abduction.  I picked up Michelle Knight's book on Saturday and read it in one day, it was such a wonderful book, hard to get through at some points because of the horrible things that monster did to the girls, but Michelle is such an inspiration.  I wanted to watch the movie, and though it was ok, it was nothing like the book, but then again they seldom are.  If you really want an insight perspective into what happened, do read the book, there is so much in there that was left out of the movie itself.

I've also started watching Orange is the New Black.  Now, as a Christian I will tell you that I held off watching it for a very long time and mainly because I thought it was going to be all just women with women and that kind of stuff.  It's not, I mean there are some scenes in there about it, but it's mainly about these women and how they have to adapt to prison life, what they do to survive and make it through their long sentences.  I'm enjoying it.

Book wise, like I said above, I read Finding Me by Michelle Knight.

I also picked up The All Girl's Filling Station Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  Love her, she's so funny.

And The King's Curse by Phillipa Gregory.  So excited to read this one, love the author and love anything Tudor and King Henry VIII.

Those 3 I got at Booksamillion, they were on the sale racks and were $6 and $5 each.  Cheap and I can't pass up a good book.

From the library, I have The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas, I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella, The wind through the keyhole by Stephen King and Innocence by Dean Koontz.

So yes, lots of good reads.  I go through stages where I don't read anything for months and then suddenly the urge kicks in and I'm just soaking in as many books as I can.  I will let you know what I think of these as I get through them.

This weekend we are planning to head to a Renaissance Fair.  You know how much my family and I love it and we haven't been to one since Arizona, so we're itching to go.  My brother and his family have never been to one so it will be a nice thing for them to experience.  I'm quite looking forward to it, even though we'll have to drive about an hour and a half out.

I also need to start birthday shopping, Nick's birthday is on the 11th of April and Jasmine's is on the 25th.  The week of the 11th though, both kids will be doing their end of year testing, so it will be quite a few busy 3 days.

Nick doesn't want a birthday party, matter of fact if he could just get by with no fuss whatsoever, he would be ecstatic, but I'm thinking I may take him to laser tag which I know he loves.

We are throwing a little party, get together for Jasmine though, she's turning 17 and we haven't done anything for either of them in many years, now that we are closer to family we would love to do something special for them.

Anyway, that is basically what I've been up to the past few weeks, nothing exciting, but I do wish I had more time to come in and update, especially now that the kids are getting bigger and will be out of our house in the blink of an eye.

I hope you've all been doing well, thank you again for always coming in and saying hi and leaving comments, it really does mean a lot. 

It's now 8:30 and I really need to get out of this bed, dressed and my day started.  Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone, and I'll see you all back here soon.

Rain, schedules and some chit chat!

It started this morning and is still going, the pitter patter of rain drops pouring from the skies.

Sometimes just a drizzle, other times strong and powerful, followed by lightning and loud roaring thunder.

The house has been so dark all day, I've had to light lamps and some candles in the living rooms and kitchen, and I've opened the windows and let the fresh air flow all through.  Don't worry, I made sure the windows open were not letting in rain :)

I got laundry done, I got the usual housework going and I also worked on a new menu plan.  I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, was actually supposed to go today but this storm that moved in was quite bad this afternoon and I would have to wait until hubby got home from work to be able to go back out to base and really didn't want to go out in that.

He picked up a few things on the way home, but I will go and do the whole shopping tomorrow and then I'll get a grocery haul up for you.


I've really been enjoying my morning routine lately, it's changed a bit from what it used to be.  I still get up at 5:30am with hubby to make him coffee before he goes to work and I'll usually enjoy a cup with him too.

When we lived in Idaho and he was working as the Nestle Merchandiser at the base commissary, he never had to be up early so I kinda got used to sleeping in until about 8:30 each morning, but since moving here he is back on a normal schedule, or rather, a schedule reminiscent of he one he had when he was still active duty in the Air Force.

But, with the move and the stress and everything that was going on, I would get up with him at 5:30 and then after he left, I would go back to sleep on the couch with Lola.  I stopped doing that a month ago, I now don't go back to sleep at all but rather take the quiet morning hours to have some me time.


After he leaves for work, I gather the dogs up and my coffee cup and head back to the bedroom. I climb into bed with Lola, Bella is not allowed on the bed anymore because as she's gotten older she's having a harder time controlling her bodily functions, but she stays on her bed right next to our bed and she loves it.

I then enjoy the rest of my coffee and catch up on computer work, emails, blogging, and watch my Portuguese soaps from the night before and any new Youtube vlogs that have been posted.

At about 7:30am I go back to the kitchen for a new cup of coffee and some breakfast, it's either toast, or cereal, or oatmeal.  This morning though I fancied some toast and fried eggs and that is what I had.

I come back to bed and finish any work I have and then by 8am I'm up for the day, getting dressed and getting housework started.


This morning, I got dressed and then opened all the windows, blinds and curtains to really enjoy the rain, and I wasn't the only one happy to see those big raindrops coming down.



The Robins were so ecstatic, it was such a joy watching them in the rain, they sat in the puddles, flapped their wings, shoved their heads in the water and just flew around, back again, jumped, ran, flew, and continued this ritual over and over.



I could spend hours outside with my camera during a rain storm, just snapping away and watching nature and smelling that rain scent.  Such a simple thing but something that makes me happy.

So the rest of the day I got all my housework out of the way, I'm still busy with laundry, it just never ending and honestly, the one chore that I dislike immensely.

Since I haven't been able to make it to the grocery store this week, the main reason being that since my husband switched contracting companies, their pay was delayed, I've had to make do with what we had in the pantry and fridge/freezer.

For dinner tonight I used a pound of ground beef and some hamburger buns from the freezer to make some homemade sloppy joes, and served up some crinkle cut home fries with it.  These simple meals seem to be the ones my husband and kids enjoy the most, thank goodness.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to make it to the commissary, actually, not hopefully, I HAVE to go as we're definitely running short on food and I just can't put it off anymore.

I'm going to finish up my menu plan and my grocery list right now, catch up on the shows on my DVR list and then try to get some sleep while the rain is still coming down.  I love sleeping to the sound of rain.

Anyway, I hope you've all had a good week so far, I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday again, my word, though I am looking forward to the weekend.

Have a great night everyone and thank you for stopping by.