TACKLE IT TUESDAY!!! September 12th

Oh boy, what am I tackling today?!?!?!

My computer, I didn't get a chance to yesterday but it's driving me insane. You know how it is, you install this and then that and then a little bit of so and so, and before you know it you have errors coming out the wazoo.

One method I've used many times, consists of 5 steps.

1. Find your files

2. Organize your files

3. Backup your files

4. Delete what you don't need

5. Backup your files again, this way if you need to restore your computer, you will have everything neatly organized already.

So while this is not an exciting project to tackle, it's an important one especially since I've been getting the "blue screen of death" for the past few days.

What are YOU tackling today??? Go on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and add your name to the list if you want to play along.

I'm not judgemental....really....

I try hard not to judge others, because honestly, I wouldn't like being judged myself. I don't think it's our place to do that, am I right???

But sitting in my car this morning, waiting for the bell to ring so Jasmine could go in, we were both sitting there wondering why some women would allow themselves to be seen in public, a certain way.

I'm not conceited and I definitely don't think I'm pretty or sexy or anything, but I do like to make myself presentable, at least.

You know there's something wrong when a 7 year old turns her nose down at some things. Just in the 10 minutes we were there, we saw a lady wearing a robe, one with her hair sticking out in all directions while rubbing her eyes, one in pj's and slippers, one with a t-shirt and shorts SO short that Jasmine asked me why she was only wearing a shirt and underwear.

I don't know these ladies, and I'm sure they have excuses for the way they looked, but come on, shouldn't you get up a little earlier so that you can at LEAST brush your hair or throw on some sweatpants??? That's all I'm saying to that!!!

I'm not even going to point out that my template is YET again different. I got up this morning and low and behold, everything was gone....I don't know if it's my computer or the beta blogger or what it is, but I'm going to be working on my computer today and making sure everything is fixed, hopefully this is the last time you see a change, at least until Christmas.

Last night I sat up and watched 9/11, the documentary that was on CBS, and hence my post earlier this morning, honoring the firefighters.

It was the first time that I had gotten a look INSIDE the events, what it was like to be in tower 1, when the second one came tumbling down. What it was like to be standing there and then hearing the rumbling sound, looking up and seeing the second tower quickly falling to the ground, people running, screaming and then darkness, dust and quiet. THAT is what got to me the most, the deafening silence.

If you didn't get a chance to watch it last night, I suggest you do when you get a chance, it's just extraordinary and gives you an insight into the last moments for the victims of 9/11. I know I'll NEVER be the same since that day.

My MIL starts chemotherapy today, so if you get a chance just say a little prayer that she does well with it and most importantly that the chemotherapy is able to shrink down the cancer. I'm still feeling a calm about the whole situation, and I'm thankful to God that I am.

The peace of God . . . will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:7

You know that when we keep our minds on God, God will keep our mind's at peace. He's done that for me through this and through so many ups and downs.

I'm having a bit of a struggle in my marriage right now. The stubbornness in me seems to peak when I have a disagreement with my husband, and instead of letting it go, I seem to want to yell and complain and whine about it all, even to the point of deliberately picking a fight with him just to get the LAST WORD.

This weekend was no different, we were at each other's throats, but by Sunday morning, I woke up and before getting out of bed, I called out to God...asking Him to guide me through this day, to set mouth guards on my lips and to help me do and say what is right. Within a few minutes I started thinking about all the wonderful things my husband does for me and for us as a family, I thought about the times he takes the kids to the park, takes out the trash without me nagging, offers to help me clean the house and watches the kids every night for about an hour, so that I can take my shower, lay in bed and read or watch a little bit of TV.

THAT is who I married and THAT is what I need to concentrate on. We all have our bad days and the Lord knows I'm not perfect, by no means. I just need to remember to stay calm and choose my battles, some things are NOT worth fighting about.

Before I head out, I want to point you in the direction of my food blog, I've uploaded the recipe for my soup and I'm also participating in the Menu Plan Monday feature, hosted by Laura at "I'm an Organizing Junkie". Along with my menus for this week, you'll also find the recipe for tonight's dinner "Tortellini Alfredo". Enjoy :)

Hope you're all having a wonderful Monday, God bless!!!




Tortellini Alfredo, Garlic Bread and a Salad. For dessert I'm making Chocolate Mousse.






General Hospital *New*
Montel Williams (9/11 - Five Years Later) *New*
Everybody Loves Raymond *Repeat*





Sweeping and Mopping
Cleaning House
Fixing Computer

Honoring the NYC Firefighters!!!

As I sat in bed last night, watching the 9/11 documentary, my heart broke yet again. It takes only the images of what happened that day, to take me right back to those moments, the fear, the confusion and the pain of watching this unfold on TV.

Through the documentary, I got to learn a lot about the NY Firefighters, their bravery and courage and the danger they all put themselves in on that fateful day. Ask any survivor who escaped down the staircases of the towers, and they will tell you how at that moment, while they fled, terrified for their lives, they were met with so many firefighters determined to climb those same stairs toward the burning inferno.

The loss of life was staggering, in all 343 firefighters were identified among the dead or reported missing.



Watching that documentary yesterday, I was in awe of these true heroes. A lump remained in my throat throughout the whole 2 hours, tears ran down my face as I listened to the firefighters talking amongst themselves about the horrors they witnessed at that moment.

They don't consider themselves to be heroes, but we all know that they are. Describing what it was like those first few hours after the towers collapsed, these firefighters gave their all. Some survived and so many more lost their lives doing what they loved, helping others. They didn't for one minute consider the possibility that they might not make it out alive, and when people rushed from the scene, they rushed towards it.

My heart goes out to all the families who lost a loved one on that day, and to the firefighters who worked tirelessly, my deepest gratitude.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!!!

Come right on in everyone.......

I have some coffee and some German Chocolate Cake for you, I'm sure that will entice you to sit for a bit and visit. I hope!!! PLEASE, don't run away because the template has changed again....I'm having NO luck with my computer, I keep getting the blue screen of death, and when I finally fix the errors and get back into the computer, most of my stuff is not accessible. I was trying to change a color on the template I had yesterday and the computer crashed.....next thing I know, it's all gone AGAIN!!!

So here we are, another template, and I'm leaving this one as plain as it is, I've already backed it up on disk, so if it messes up again I can reinstall it and not have to worry about changing too much stuff. Welcome, to the PLAIN Diary of a SAHM, bet you never thought you would see the day huh??? LOL

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, clear skies and 63 degrees, it really does feel wonderful outside.

Well, last night we pulled out the telescopes and were able to get some good sightings of the moon and some of it's craters. My camera wasn't cooperating very well, I did get some shots but they're not that great. BUT, I figured you all would want to see it anyway, so here you go....

Even though the moon ones are a little blurry, you can see the craters and THAT is one of my favorite things to look at. Isn't it amazing??? I've always been interested in space, so to be able to see these marvels with my own eyes is incredible.

I was sitting at breakfast thinking about my favorite things to do, and one popped into my mind. It's camping, yes, a lot of people go camping during the summer, but unfortunately we didn't get to this year.

Back in South Africa we did a lot of it, maybe not a LOT, because my dad is the type that hates paper plates and cups, so it got a little annoying having to take REAL dishes and silverware for him...some camping THAT was LOL......but certainly a few times which became ingrained in my mind. When I think of being out in nature and roughing it out, I instantly go to the Kruger National Park.

I've mentioned it before and I think I shared some stories of our family trips to the Park, but for me one of my favorites was camping right next to the fence. You are literally separated from Lions and Elephants, by this metal fence. Nothing like hearing a roar, waking up and staring at big bright eyes across the fence. Scary yes, but thrilling nonetheless.

When you find yourself that close to nature, you can't help but thank God for the beauty he has bestowed upon us, it's just stunning, look at that sunset!
One thing that I enjoy doing with the kids, is going to the South African National Parks website and enjoying their live webcam, it's the closest to the animals we're going to get, so I'm sharing the link with you all, your kids might enjoy it too.

I don't have much planned for today, want to finish the laundry and put it away, make a quick run through the living room, my little tornadoes (Jazzy and Nic) have been hard at work. They make sure that whatever they do, is done to the best of their ability, now while that may be something I really want them to use in the real world, I'm not sure I want it to THAT extent.

Reminds me of one time that I asked Jasmine (who was 3 years old), what she was doing, and she innocently replied "I'm concentrating" and I asked "concentrating on what", to which she quickly replied "I'm concentrating on making a mess". WEll honey, I appreciate that LOL

So anyway, I'm going to clean up a little and then probably try to wrestle the TV away from the kids, I miss just lazying around on the weekends, being able to enjoy whatever comes on.

I leave you with a picture of Lola....she's just so adorable and we always catch her napping or relaxing, in the weirdest places. How about a soccer ball pillow that she dragged into the kitchen to lay by me while I fixed dinner???

I have an Onion and Potato soup in the works. It's a soup that I remember eating while growing up, my greatgrandmother would make it quite often, so would grandma and my stepmom too. Brings back wonderful memories. You can go check out my food blog later for the recipe, and in the meantime go see the one I posted for Pizza Loaf....Jasmine fixed dinner last night :)





The Path to 9/11 - 7pm (my time) on ABC
Flip this House - A&E
60 Minutes - CBS






Making Soup
Finishing Laundry
Reading

Stars, Planets and Moons!!!

I was thinking about all that I did this summer and all that didn't get done. I think the biggest one for me was using our telescopes. We're avid star gazers and each have our own telescopes and accessories etc. Something we LOVE and want to get more into, is Astrophotography. It's not an easy task, I mean I can grab my camera and just shoot a picture of the night sky, but chances are I won't see anything.

I've researched astrophotography sites, we've bought the different filters and the LPI camera, and last year we started snapping pictures. I would then load them on my computer and take them to Photoshop to clean them up, fix them etc. I don't alter any of the pictures, all I do is brighten them and remove noise etc, so that we see what the real effect. We got some really good ones, at least for amateur astrophotographers that we are. LOL

Here are my favorites:

The Night Sky, look at all those gorgeous colors.

Saturn, you can actually see half of it's rings, this is by far one of my favorites.

Jupiter surrounded by nebulae and beautiful stars


Another shot of Jupiter, showing 4 of it's moons


Here's one of the moon, still my favorite thing to photograph


And last but not least, the sun, you can even see a sun spot on the right

Knowing that soon it will be too cold to venture out with telescopes in tow, we've decided that today we're going to enjoy the sky and maybe grab some more neat photos. The kids are excited and so are we, it's a family event for us, believe me, even the little ones have their own telescopes. Obviously nothing expensive or major, but at least they don't fight over whose turn it is.

Within the next two weeks, we're also planning a weekend trip to the Bruneau Dunes. They have the cutest little cabins for real cheap, and they're situated just a walks away from the Observatory, which is open every friday and saturday night. There's a public program followed by observing through their HUGE 25" Telescope like THIS one. You have to climb stairs to get to top just to be able to view the sky through this enormous telescope, and the views??? Oh man, they're nothing short of stunning.

So anyway, that's what we'll be doing later today, so if we get good shots, I'll definitely be posting them in tomorrow's post.

I have laundry drying right now, and I have to get things ready for dinner too, I'm making a Pizza Loaf and I'll post the recipe later.

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone :)





Pizza Loaf and right now I have the wonderful aroma of German Chocolate Cake baking in the oven.



 

• The Night Sky
  

 

• Finishing Laundry
• Baking a cake
• Starting Dinner
• Getting Telescopes ready for viewing