August 2005 Archives

This weekend has been long. I am sorry if I have not made it around to your journals yet. Thank you all for the lovely comments on the previous post. Yes, I know I am very blessed to have the life I lead now but it wasn't always so. I don't take one minute of my time with Steven for granted and neither do the children. We love him completely, totally, beyond what I can put into words. If you leave my journal with one thing let it be this: Love your spouse and your children as if today is the last day you will have to love them. Love each other well for in the end all that counts is how much you loved and were loved. Now for the update: Gracie has a problem with nose bleeds every so often. We don't know what sets them off or when they will happen. We may go for a week with a nose bleed in the middle of the night and then months of nothing. Friday night she had a mild nose bleed. Saturday she had 3 or 4 which prompted us to agree we should see a doctor ASAP. Saturday night on the porch in the rockers she had a huge nose bleed. She said she felt the pop in her nostril and then it just poured. It hurt to the point she had tears. Saturday middle of the night another nose bleed. Sunday morning a small nose bleed, then another, then a huge one that lasted 30 minutes and she passed huge clots. Off we rushed to the local Medical Center/Hospital. Outside a huge sign read NO EMERGENCY ROOM ... WTF? By this time her nose has stopped bleeding and we decide to go back home. She seems fine. We are home 30 minutes and another huge nose bleed and clots the size of your thumb. In the truck we go to the hospital in the next county. This ER is a triage. Most service is first come first served. We saw some gruesome looking people waiting in pain and injured and they were not taken right in -first come first serve! After two and a half hours we were no were near to be seen by a doctor. Gracie's nose had stopped bleeding and we decided to take her home. It is 6pm and so far so good. I have the a/c cranked down low and she is not allowed to jump around and play rough. She is on the sofa upstairs in their TV room with a cold drink and a remote for the TV. I will be making an appointment tomorrow with an ENT to check her sinus. My sister had terrible nose bleeds as a child and ended up having to have the capillaries in her nose cauterized. I seriously think it may come to this with Gracie. In other news - children had told me they had everything clean and everything in its place upstairs. I go up and begin looking in closets and under beds and find huge messes. They have spent most of Saturday and Sunday cleaning. I mean deep cleaning. Every bed was stripped and every stitch washed. Floors have been mopped. Furniture is dusted. I doubt they will ever tell me something is clean and I find it is not. They do not like it when I stand over them and inspect every single thing. I know: I am a mean momma. So be it. Upstairs is clean. I have read three books this week: The Secret Life of Bees - This is a great book. If you have not read it you must obtain a copy and devour it for yourself. You will not be disappointed. I read The Mermaid Chair a while back by the same author and enjoy it as much. You really must read these. Miracle - Short read. This one doesn't take much concentration. Simple story. Quick romance. This is one for keeping in the bathroom and just reading a page or two at a time. You won't get lost or loose the story line. The Good Wife Strikes Back - This book is for someone more in a very late 40's - early 50's state of life ending one era and begining again, discovering a new self heading toward 60. I found that it took over two thirds of the book to get to the point and then it was lost and muddled in memories that had NOTHING to do with the current scene of the book. It is first person by an English wife and I struggled through it finding pieces and parts of other books and movies pulled into it. It almost made me feel as if I were reading something from a junior Red Hat Ladies reading list. Don't waste your money on this one. With tomorrow beginning the first whole week of back to school I have planned and prepared for my current project. In order to have a safe nursery we are moving Gracie out of her bedroom and into the bedroom opposite of Colby. It has direct access to the bathroom and it also is nearest the stairs, front and back. The reasoning is I don't think a toddler would be safe in that room with a bathroom and 2 staircases nearby. Gracie has wanted that room since we moved into this house. So now she is getting it. I have purchased the paint and will begin painting her room tomorrow (I hope). I have my white cast iron bed I brought up from Georgia ready to go in. I have ordered her a new set of mattresses. I have purchased beautiful bedding of white and cream with pink and raspberry roses -very pale and dainty. I need to find a large rug for that room. I have 2 weeks to finish up the big stuff before her mattress arrive. I am a woman on a mission with a deadline. I want to give you a tip. I know alot of people have a real problem shopping at Walmart. I on the other hand am all about getting the biggest bang for my buck. When we have replaced mattresses for beds I have ordered them from Walmart.com. I have purchased Simmons Beauty Rest luxury mattress sets for far less than buying them in a local store. The freight is usually around $50 and they bring the mattresses to the bedroom and unwrap them and put them in place. Seriously, be frugal and look for deals and you can purchase name brand top of the line items for discount prices. Steven and I went to Lowes Saturday morning and we found they were putting most of the summer patio furniture pieces on clearance. I bought three tables and two lounge chairs for my pool area for next summer at below 50% off the regular retail price. We have stored them in the pool house (tobacco barn) until next spring. I really hate to pay retail for anything. Last week our pool was dug. I have lots of photos of the process. This week the iron work should be done and ready for the gunite to be blown. I really hope we will get a week or two of use out of it before cold weather sets in. And how was your weekend?

School days, school days,
Dear old golden rule days.
'Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic,
Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick.
I was your queen in calico,
You were my bashful barefoot beau,
And I wrote on your slate,
'I love you, Joe,'
When we were a couple of kids. Colby's first day of college was Tuesday. She was nervous sick having not been in classroom since 6th grade. She isn't comfortable driving alone and Steven and I took her to school. She needed to check the bookstore for her psych book as it had not been in stock previously. This is what she told me later that evening when the house was quiet and we waited for Steven come home from work - "Dad waited while I purchased my book. He carried my books and walked me to class." That is the first time in her life someone other then I walked her into school on the first day. Yes, I know she is 18 but she didn't mind. She let him walk her in because she knew it would make him feel better -if not herself. I can't even begin to tell you how excited Steven was to take her to school. He took the morning off to do so. The women in his office thought it was the sweetest thing they had ever heard. Wednesday was Gracie's first day of second grade. Again Steven took the morning off so he could be with her and walk her to class. He carried her bookbag and walked her down the long hallway. Her teacher is a very nice young woman. I think she will have a good experience in this class. Yesterday wasn't the most perfect day for Gracie. Just before lunch she was physically ill and I was called by the nurse to come pick her up. So we had a half of a first day. Her teacher gave all of the students a ziplock bag containing the following: 1 cotton ball 1 hershey's chocolate kiss 1 sticker 1 penny 1 star 1 tissue 1 band-aid 1 eraser 1 Life Saver A little note tucked in read: The cotton ball is to remind you that this room is full of kind words and warm feelings. The chocolate kiss is to comfort you when you are feeling sad. The sticker is to remind you that we will stick together and help each other. The penny is to remind you that you are valuable and special. The star is to remind you to shine and always try your best. The tissue is to remind you to dry someone's tears. The band-aid is to reminf you to heal hurt feelings in your friends and yourself. The eraser is to remind you that evryone makes mistakes and that it is okay. The Life Saver is to remind you that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to. I wonder how many children in that class will grasp the true meaning of those items and learn to trust and respect their teacher and classmates. Today is my first day at home all alone. Everyone is gone to school or working. What will I do to fill my time? I went to the bookstore yesterday and picked up something to fill my time (other than chores): The Secret Life of Bees, The Good Wife Strikes Back, and True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters. Cup of coffee anyone? Put your feet up and we can sit in the quiet still of this morning and lose ourselves in another world. What are you currently reading?

I asked Steven to write 100 things about me. Things to show you my personality and he did write 100 things but I think he was very kind in many ways and didn't really write the bad stuff. I am no where near being perfect. I wake up grumpy -really really grouchy. I am quick to flare a temper. I hold grudges for a very long time. I do have bad habits. I make lots of lists in an attempt to be organized but sometimes I forget the list. I nag and drive a point into the ground. When I am angry and it finally comes out of my mouth I beat the subject to death and beyond. I remember things from a long time past and at times I will throw them up in a heart beat. I am quick to point out faults but I also point out my own. I piss Steven off alot but he rarely says anything about it. He gets really pissed at me when I ask him to complete a chore and I see him doing so completely ass backwards to my way of thinking so I offer a simple solution and he snaps like a rabid dog and could easily bite my head off. Which pisses me off and we walk around pissed. LOL So here is Steven's list of 100 things about me. NON-adjective things about Angie - in no particular order by Steven 1. Feeds me salad 2. Cooks dinner 3. Raises children 4. Provides opinions 5. Mows lawns 6. Cuts big weeds 7. Organizes the house 8. Puts papers into piles 9. Writes HTML in notepad 10. Cooks excellent food 11. Sneaks in chicken livers 12. Packs my lunch 13. Tells me to take my vitamins 14. Tells me what’s on her mind 15. Raises our children 16. Negotiates well 17. Prefers rural life 18. Gave up everything to be with me 19. Likes my coffee 20. Likes to read 21. Keeps up with current events 22. Teases her family 23. Makes our bed 24. Used to drive a bus 25. Is an award winning author 26. Enjoys history 27. Likes tequila 28. Enjoys eating at a good restaurants 29. Watches sci-fi 30. Drinks diet cokes 31. Drives Fords 32. Was on her own at 17 33. Is a natural born leader 34. Sands/scrapes her feet 35. Prefers going barefoot 36. Likes shoes 37. Can rebuild parts of buses 38. Loves tomatoes 39. Enjoys gardening 40. Likes chocolate 41. Is a beer snob 42. Has great social etiquette 43. Tells me to go to bed 44. Tells me to pick my stuff up 45. Washes my clothes 46. Takes off my boots 47. Sets out my clothes 48. Cuts my hair 49. Healed my ulcer 50. Makes my to-do list 51. Kicks me in the rear when I need it 52. Sneaks in chicken livers into dinner 53. Knows the Bible 54. Is a spiritual person 55. Is highly intelligent 56. Throws away perfectly good socks that happen to have holes in them 57. Snores when she sleeps 58. Appreciates antique things 59. Drives better than I do 60. Is an amateur photographer 61. Enjoys writing 62. Loves to sit in a bath 63. Gets a headache when drinks (some labels of) red wine 64. Sleeps with several pillows 65. Wants me to spray deodorizer after using the bathroom 66. Says I’m gross when I fart 67. Gives me a kiss every morning 68. Cans food 69. Makes great jams 70. Enjoys having slimy lotion rubbed into her feet 71. Likes good writing pens 72. Controls the remote 73. Has some hairpieces (Toni-thingies) that look like groundhog pelts 74. Enjoys creating memories for our children 75. Farts in her sleep, an rarely-rarely-rarely ever while awake 76. Asked me to make this list 77. Likes her new laptop 78. Knows how to drive a tractor 79. Has tossed hay 80. Likes line-drying laundry 81. Is allergic to many things (like gold) 82. Can get pretty hairy legs 83. Plucks my ear hair 84. Doesn’t like Stargate Atlantis 85. Likes Gone With The Wind 86. Says it’s the “War of Northern Aggression� 87. Is a good backgammon player 88. Can make soap from milk 89. Can’t touch type very well 90. Enjoys hot and sour soup 91. Has more computers than she knows what to do with 92. Knows how to fold shirts with two hand motions 93. Tells me when the interweb-thingie is down 94. Plans her tasks well 95. Doesn’t sleep well lately 96. Has a pretty popular blog 97. Troubleshoots well 98. Is very regular 99. Likes being in her pajamas 100. Loves me

I can remember being twelve years old and dreaming of the day I would turn sixteen because that is the age when most girls are allowed to start dating. At sixteen it seemed that eighteen was the magic number because that means you are legally an adult and you can move out and go to college and be all grownup and cool. Then it was twenty-one because finally you have reached the legal drinking age and everyone knows at twenty-one you celebrate with friends by partying into oblivion. After that you don't hear women dreaming of being 30 or older -unless they are set to recieve a bajillion dollar trust. When my mother hit the big five-oh (50) she cried all day long. No one could console her. Nothing made her feel better. I found this to be the most ridiculous and immature behavior I have ever witnessed. Why in the hell was she upset about being 50? One of my aunts behaved similarly when she turned forty. I did not understand it then and I do not understand it now. Later my mother said turning fifty was this milestone that marked being old. I asked her who told her at the age of fifty a woman suddenly became old? Fifty is the new thirty. Fifty is the beginning of middle age. Fifty isn't old. In a year and a half my mother will be sixty years old. Only the Lord in heaven knows how she will react. If it is marked with another decade crying fit let's just say I am glad to be six hundred miles away from her. Yesterday Colby says to me, "Tomorrow is your birthday. Knowing that you are going to be thirty-nine don't you feel old?" I am like my grandmother I will never be old. When I am seventy-eight I still will not be old. Old is a state mind not a magic number marking time. Do I want to be twenty again? Hell, no. Passing through twenty once was enough. I don't ever want to be that dumb again. Do I want to be thirty again? Sweet Jesus, no. It was when I was thirty that the scales fell from my eyes. That was a tough year building up to a divorce and starting out on my own again but this time with two kids and not much of anything else. Today I am 39. I am better now than I have ever been in my entire life. In the past thirty-nine years I have: - Survived many forms of childhood abuse. - Been on my own since the age of 17. - Paid my own way in this life. - Given birth at age 20. - Survived a 14 year marriage. - Been a surrogate mother carrying 5 embryos resulting in one birth. - Been a surrogate carrying 7 embryos and miscarrying triplets. - Given birth at age 31. - Survived the dissolving of the 14 year marriage. - Lost 70 pounds but gained it back. - Been to Mexico. - Spent the better part of a month in Europe. - Discovered who I am and who I want to be. - Begun to see grey hair. - Married for the second time in my life. - Become 'with child' for the final time in my life. - Moved 600 miles away from every thing and every person I have ever known without ever second guessing the reason why. - I have loved. - I have been loved. - Done things I am proud of - Equally done things I am ashamed of. - No regrets about the past. I think most people ask the question of doing things over or doing things differently. I have heard a majority say they would change things in their past or would have followed a different path in life. I wouldn't change a thing. Everything has worked to make me who I am. I LIKE who I am. I LOVE me. Changing one thing in the past would make me someone else. The road to thirty-nine has been long. For a while every step a struggle uphill to reach a summit then getting to coast downhill only to trudge right back up the next mountain top. Right now I am not sure if I am climbing or coasting. Most days it feels like I am coasting then something changes and I feel like I am climbing. This pregnancy is a climb. Someone needs to to tell us older women how hard it can be physically to be pregnant at thirty-nine. Sure lots of celebrities are having children at this age but those are the women who have servants and attendants and lots of money to make the journey more tolerable. My marriage is a combination of coasting and climbing. Steven lets me coast a bit while he climbs for us and then it is my turn. Sometimes we both have to climb. Sometimes we both get to coast. It is a wild ride. I don't want it to ever stop. Many of my personal relationships are a climb. Over the past year and a half I have stopped trying to reach a summit and have quit. No more. The end. Life is too short to have to work that hard to make other people happy. I learned along time ago that having to kiss ass to please people wasn't something I could do. I did it for a while to appease the powers that be but no more of that. I don't like the taste of shit. I have bid farewell to those people who think their shit doesn't stink and they are better than and look down their nose at most of the people around them. This applies to some family members as well. Getting Colby to this point in life has been a climb. Now I have to force myself to sit back and let her climb on her own. I am still holding the safety net but I know she has to climb this next part on her own. I did all the climbing in the past alone and without a safety net. For the first time in my life I know that when I am climbing that if I should fall Steven has the safety net and will catch me. Today I am standing on the summit of 39. Looking behind me even the hardest most despairing moments don't look nearly as big as they appeared at the time. Perhaps in being overwelmed I made mountains out of molehills. Looking in front of me I see a bright future full of dreams. The road paved with peaks and valleys. Those high and low places are going to keep making me better every day. I am not afraid of them. I have been through the fire before and came out whole. My future holds the birth of a baby, a daughter who will set out on her own before I am ready, another who will reach teen status. Up the road is a husband's dreams of grandchildren and retirement and a sports car for grandma. I am standing at the summit of thirty-nine. I have on a full body harness and am strapped in. I have no idea where the road leads. I can't even guess where it stops. I do know one thing. Life isn't about a destination. Life is a journey. I don't know where I am going but I am trying to enjoy the ride. To all of you thirty-somethings out there. Stop fretting about aging. It gets better every year. Don't fight it. Go with it. Aging gracefully is an art. Pick your media. Choose your pallette. I am opening a gallery and putting on a one woman show.

2005 Christmas Baskets Contents and Ideas Theme: My Favorite Things Leffe Blonde - On order. Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout - Delivered to my door yesterday. Pickapeppa Sauce Excellent on steak! On order. Lawry's Seasoned Pepper I have to start collecting this because there is usually only a couple on the shelf at a time when I go to the grocery store. Dark Chocolate Tim Tams from Australia. Easily ordered to arrive within a weeks time. Far too hot right now to order these and keep them. This will wait till the very last when the weather is cooler. White House Historical Asso. 2005 Christmas Ornament These are gorgeous ornaments. Living this close to the nations capitol it makes my family in Ga. feel special to get something commemorative from D.C. I have every single ornament they have made since the 1980's. I LOVE these ornaments. On Order. ***Update - on MommaK's advice I am ordering this too. Head Country BBQ Sauce I also forgot about stroopwafels. I will also add these to the baskets that will have coffee. Right now I am leaning toward the theme "My Favorite Things". To introduce others to really good products I have discovered since being 600 miles farther north than the rest of my family. I still may change my mind and create more personal baskets for each family. I might go with my theme and add a few things for the individual in the family. I would like each individual family to have personal things tucked in. My sister and her family are complete opposite of Steven's brother and his family. It is the same for his parents and my mother. For my sister there will be books and gourmet coffee. For her husband I have no idea yet. For my neice and nephew there will be a gift card for movie rentals and novelty popcorn on the cob. The kids also will have other larger gifts. (Individual ears can be purchased here.) For Steven's brother there will be a few Yuenling. For his wife there will be decadent dessert. For their three boys there will be the popcorn on the cob and an age appropriate movie (they are all under 5). The boys also have other gifts. Steven's parents will get more gourmet type additions. Exotic tea for his mother - black tapioca pearls, jasmine, etc. His father is a nuclear physicist so there might be a book, perhaps a biography of a scientist and nuts and candy. My mother will be getting a completely different basket. There is a hair spray she uses that I can buy up here for half the price she pays in Georgia. There will be other beauty products we know she uses religously. There will be gourmet coffee and specialty teas. No sweets. She won't eat them lest her size 4 body gain a pound. Perhaps a book and photos of the girls from this past year. I am just now beginning to collect things and one never knows for sure between now and October what I might find to tuck inside each basket. Things I want to get in a Christmas basket Dutch Cocoa Belgian Chocolate Madagascar Vanilla
Music Meme I was tagged by Kate - A Daily Dose Of Power. “List ten songs that you are currently digging … it doesn’t matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they’re no good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they’re listening to. I am not going to tag anyone this time. 1. Into The Mystic - Van Morrison 2. Why Georgia Why - John Mayer live version 3. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf 4. I Can't Drive 55 - Chris LeDuex 5. Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett 6. Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse 7. Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles 8. Desperately - George Strait 9. Blackwater - Doobie Brothers 10. In The Summertime - Jerry Mungo

I need therapy after yesterday's back to school retailing. 3 girls 2 malls 8.5 hours 1 pair flat black boots 1 pair brown bowling style shoes 1 pair girls black dress shoes 1 pair women's black dress shoes 1 pair women's pink converse 12 pair jeans 3 jean jackets 8 sweat/lounge suits with shirts 1 black pant suit 3 dress shirts 4 bras with matching panties 24 pair panties in 3 sizes 7 girl's sport/training bras 4 sets pj's 3 maternity gowns various earrings various lip glosses various hair do-dads various Paul Mitchell hair products 1 new perfume with free bracelets 2 bathrobes 2 jean capris 1 dressy capri 3 jean shorts 10 pull over shirts 2 front button shirts 4 thermal shirts 2 girl's dresses 1 school bag 1 pink lunch box More stuff I can't remember 1 trip to Costco They shopped. I was there to drop the cash. I want to be a kid again with me as a momma! Honestly, it was needed. We have gone through the summer in shorts and tshirts and very little else. We do not buy J.'s school clothes. I do make sure she has things she wants here in her closet. Plus I can't buy for 2 and not buy anything for the third. Gracie has outgrown every pair of pants and jeans she owns. The hems hit her legs about mid shin. I did not realize she had grown that much in the past few months. Colby is going to college and needed a more dressy look included with her normal casual look. I treated her to her first real shopping spree. She chose the things she wanted and I added a few things to the pile. Last week we went shopping for atheletic shoes. We got Adidas. Adidas was a hot brand when I was in high school. It proves the old addage everything old is new again. Adidas is also the new owner of Reebok. I have always loved back to school shopping (not the bills though). Back to school shopping means excitement and chattering, bright eyes and constant changes as to what will be worn the first day. I see what my kids gravitate toward. I see things they want (and it gives me ideas for Christmas). I love to look into a school classroom on the first day seeing all those children in crisp new clothes ready to learn all the amazing things the teacher has planned for them. I am tired, my feet hurt and I have three smiling just as tired girls upstairs trying on their new fashions.

Q: "Why is American beer served cold?" Steven and I are not drinkers. We do have a glass of wine with or after supper in the winter when that little touch of the vine gives you a little added warmth as you sit by the fire. I do enjoy margaritas in the summer by the pool but my pool isn't built yet! I am not an expert on beer or wine. Until a little over a year ago I did not even drink wine save for a very rare glass of a sweet white dessert wine or an even rarer glass of champange. Then one day I had a glass of a red marriage wine from Australia and found my tongue for red wine. Several years before I discovered wine I had an opportunity to visit Europe. While there I learned we Americans are swilling beer that is disgusting in comparison to the beer available in Europe. In the Netherlands I finally found a beer I could drink that did not leave me feeling thirsty or as if something had taken a dump in my mouth later. Every popular brand of American beer leaves me feeling as if I need to run a gardenhose down my throat and turn it on for a half hour to quench my thirst. Why is that? That beer was Leffe Blonde. A true abby beer from Belgium. Delicious! As time passed and I tested and tasted other beer from Europe and England I found the darker the beer the better I liked it. While we were on vacation we had lunch at a little pub type restaurant and Steven ordered one of the beers on the menu of "80 International Beers". He ordered the one I wanted to taste. I did NOT drink a beer. Don't send me email about drinking while pregnant. I said TASTE. I had one swallow that swished on my tongue because I wanted to discover the flavors. At least two bottles of beer will be included in each basket I make for Christmas this year. One will be the Leffe Blond and the second will be Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout. This is a most incredibly smooth beer. It is so dark that light does not pass through the glass. The head forms and is the most beautiful creamy head that is almost like silk on your tongue. You will want to drink this beer cool but not icey cold. You want to sip and savour and enjoy every tiny bit of it in your mouth. I promise you this is a beer that deserves to be given a fair chance. You MUST acquire and test this one out. It is not a beer you want to drink every day. It is not really a beer you have with a meal. You might enjoy it with a dark chocolate dessert. Beer and chocolate are excellent pairings! (I am thinking this beer might be excellent in a recipe I have for a chocolate cake made with a dark stout. When my shipment arrives I plan to try it. If it turns out the way I hope I might also add it to my cake-in-jar gift list.) This is one of those you pour on a crisp evening, sit by the fire with a good book or movie in your most comfortable jammies and simply enjoy and relax. How will you do that? Especially those of us who do not live in Europe or England or near a big import house. Let me tell you how! Order your import beer online! The shipping charges suck but for a treat every once in a while and to taste great beer from around the world. I find it is worth the effort and shipping cost. I do not buy beer in cans. I use one of the two following online sellers depending on which one is offering the bottled beer: Liquid Solutions and Vintage Cellar. These are the first of several things to go into my Christmas basket this year. And yes, I have begun thinking and preparing for Christmas. Hate me. I am usually finished with all of my shopping by the first of October. My house is always decorated the weekend following Thanksgiving. It is my most favorite time of the year. So you start thinking about great beers and Christmas and How To Pour Beer and I am going to figure out how to get THIS for my Christmas baskets. A: "So you can tell it from urine." -David Moulton ******************The electricians were in my house all day long. They got here at 6:50 am and left at 5pm. I have great lights! I have 3 prong recepticals to plug things into! I did not have internet or electricity or our network for many hours yesterday. Photos to come later. I have to catch up on everything I missed yesterday. (Recipe for the stout cake is under the cut.)

1. I am 39 (in 7 days). 2. I met my husband on the internet through MSN chat. We were both divorced. We married 11 months after we met online and 8 months after we met face to face. We moved in together 2 months after meeting face to face. I packed up my kids and moved from the only home I have ever known and started a new life. I moved from Georgia on a farm to Northern Virginia in a townhouse. We bought the house we live in now in January. It is our little farm of 10 acres complete with red barns and a big white farm house. 3. I have 2 daughters: Colby, age 18, and Gracie, age 7. I have one step-daughter (Steven's daughter): J., age 10 -she does not live with us full time. I am now pregnant with our child, due early February. I was also a surrogate in the mid-90's. Yes, we keep in touch, the child knows me well. It was invetro transfer of embryos of the parents. None of my biological material was used to in creating this child. I was a vessel through which God performed a miracle. 4. My house was built in 1909. We never intend to sell it or move away from it. We intend for this to be the last place we call home. The house is in great shape. We knew when we bought it we would have to do some things to make it our home. Actually for a house of this age we have gotten off very easily. 5. Things we needed to do: insulate the downstairs, paint, strip the floors upstairs and the front and back stair cases, install a fireplace insert (in progress), rewire the cellar and the hot water heater, rebuild the front steps and add railings to the front porch, replace the 1909 era light fixures (in progress), install a french drain near the cellar wall (in que for the landscape work). 6. Things we want to do: add ceiling fans to all the bedrooms and the study (in progress), replace the kitchen cabinets, replace the double back door, build a swimming pool (in que waiting for the builder to get started), restore the barns and replace the white fences with new white fences, add recessed task lighting in the kitchen (in progess), a ceiling fan (in progress) and 2 hanging lights (in progress), install outdoor flood lights (in progress). 7. This is the first time in my life I have been a full time stay at home mom. 8. The first time I was married for 14 years and never intended to ever be divorced. The last years of my marriage I lived a lie and pretended everything was good. I will never do that again. 9. This is the first time in my life I have ever been spoiled. At times it is very uncomfortable to accept being spoiled. It is exactly the same for Steven. We are learning together. 10. My oldest is starting college and I am having a baby. How strange there will be nearly 19 years between my oldest and my youngest child. 11. I am a type of earth mother but I am not a holistic, organic guru hippy leftover mother. I like to garden and preserve what I grow. I like to sew and am good at it. I like to cook. I put a full meal on the table every evening. I have it down to a science. When Steven walks in the door almost every day the last dishes are going on the table and the kids are ready for supper. I have far too many interests and not enough time to indulge in them all. 12. My husband commutes to work. He leaves at 4am. I get up with him and make sure he has a lunch to take with him and I say I love you, bye and watch him pull away. Sometimes I go back to bed. 13. My husband is not used to being pampered. In his previous marriage he worked full time, came home and did all the chores and cooking, took care of his daughter and step-son, went to grad. school and earned his masters in computer science. He also has a degree in bio-engineering. It took a while for him to understand that a wife being home all day should do dishes, laundry and general things around the house and that children should not be in daycare 12 hours a day when there is a mother at home doing nothing. Sometimes I think I have spoiled him to the point of no return. LOL Since marrying this is the first time J. has not been a daycare. 14. My husband is 36: 2 years and 11 months younger than I am. 15. I talk to my mother on the phone every day. I talk to my sister sometimes. I am the oldest. We have never gotten along well. We get along better when we are far apart. 16. I wish you all could be my neighbors because the neighbors we have now suck. We have been told by more than one person that we are very much disliked by most people around us. It seems several people wanted to buy this house but none of them could afford it. We can't even get local people to do work for us. Not even yard work. I have met 2 neighbors. One is drunk everytime we see them and I choose not to invite a friendship. One is old, like 74 years old and only visits over the fence when she wants too. The mailman is nice. 17. The church we have visited and thought about joining is small -a country church and close to home. The people there arevery nice too. They are also very poor. I feel guilty taking my children to church in nice clothes with clean faces and many of the other children are dirty and have old clothes. I have no clothes that are hand-me-downs to pass on. I sometimes worry if we offered something through the church anonymously we might get taken advantage of. We are not rich but I was raised to dress my children well and to make sure their faces and hands are clean and their hair is brushed when we leave the house. I am baptist. My guilt is that of a catholic. 18. Steven is my best friend, my husband, my lover, my champion, my biggest fan and a million other things. He supports me in everything I do. No questions asked. 19. I love history. I love genealogy. I am trying to get my certification as a genealogist, a research specialist and a records specialist. It is very slow going. 20. All of the furniture in my house, except 1 bedroom suite and Steven's desk is cherry. I will be replacing that bedroom suite sometime before the baby is born. I will replace his desk when I find the perfect desk. 21. Steven never questions anything I spend on our home. We have a comfortable home. I want our home to be a haven, the place he comes to at the end of the day and he is sheltered from the outside world and worries. I want the same for our children. For some a home is their castle. For me, my home is a sanctuary for my family. 22. My house is clean. Many days it is messy. I spend more time with the girls than I do making sure nothing is ever out of place. 23. Steven and I watch Sci-Fi every night. We sit together, we watch TV, we talk, sometimes we are on the laptops together. 24. We don't have to talk to communicate. Many thoughts are unspoken, like we channel them or something spooky like that. 25. I used to smoke. I have quit and restarted many times. I never have smoked when I was pregnant. 26. When I suspected I was pregnant I stopped smoking, gave up coffee and diet coke with lime -cold turkey - all at once. I think this might be why the morning sickness was so very bad for about 2 weeks. I was really going through detox on top of it. 27. My success has led Steven to trying to stop smoking. He has not smoked a cigarette this week. Pray for him. He is having a VERY bad time of it. He started smoking again yesterday. 28. People, especially women, who complain about their life, who seem to constantly whine, those who claim to have no control over their children, piss me off. BIG TIME. I want to scream at them, "Get off your ass and take comtrol of your life. You don't have to live a shit life. Live the life you want. But no one is going to give it to you. You have to work for it and change and make it happen. FOR. YOUR. SELF." Amen. 29. I love chocolate and shoes. I don't eat choclate often and I don't wear shoes if i don't have to. 30. This is my home. I love it here. Sometimes I get homesick for Georgia and my momma. I know it bothers Steven when I say, "Back home ... blah blah blah..." 31. Colby could have gone to any school she wanted. She chose to stay here and go to a local school. The reason she did so was because she was worried when the baby came it would not know her as a sister but only as a transit person who came and went on holidays. She broke my heart and made me cry like a baby. Have you ever seen a more loving girl? I have raised an incredible young woman if I do say so myself. 32. The first boy I ever kissed, the first boy I was in puppy love with, the first boy I ever dated ... seeing him still makes my stomach flutter. This confirms that you never get over the first one. 33. I love George Strait. OMG that mans boyish smile. He makes me want to swoon. Steven knows this. It doesn't bother him that I have this desire for another man. He has his own. 2 words. Raquel Welch. 'Nuff said.(I think Fantastic Voyage made a real impression on my geek hubby as an impressionable geek boy.) 34. My favorite sandwich in all the world of sandwiches is tomato and mayonnaise on white bread but only if the tomatoes are home grown. Grocery store tomatoes suck. 35. I am the oldest child of 2. I am the oldest grandchild of 13. My daughter is the oldest child of soon-to-be 4. She is the oldest grandchild of 6. She is the oldest great grandchild of 10. 36. I am 3 years younger than my uncle. My grandmother married at age 12. She had 6 children. My mother is the Oldest girl, but the second child. 37. The electricians are in my house right now. They are wiring and screwing and hanging fans, etc. The younger guy (I swear the cutest little hottie you ever seen as an electrician) he has plumbers crack. I am shocked to find plumbers crack exist in men who are not middle age nor over weight. Colby was like "Ewwww" but she never said it out loud. I could see it on her face. She is my child. I know how and what she thinks. LOL 38. I have a Nikon D70 on my wish list. I also have a gazebo on there too. The kids hope I get the gazebo next. They could care less about a camera. 39. My birthday is in 7 days. I was born on my grandmother's birthday. She passed away last Septemeber. This will be the first birthday in my entire life that I will not be able to call her as soon as I wake up and sing happy birthday to her.

I have had various work crews in and out of my house this week. We knew when we bought the house there would be several things we needed to do and a few things we wanted to do. We saved our pennies and looked around trying to be frugal these past 6 months. The sale of the townhouse allowed us to replenish our nest egg we dipped into to buy the house and has allowed us to make the larger improvement. This house is solidly built. It is not drafty like many old houses yet in the winter this house is cold. The furnace is new and burns fuel oil. This past winter, from January 25th to April we used 450 gallons of fuel oil and 2 quarter ton loads of firewood to heat the downstairs with. The upstairs is heated by an electric heat pump. The house was warm. The electric bill was never more then $175/month. Which I think was okay. We have had higher bills at the townhouse. The kitchen at the back of the house is completely separated from the rest of the house and requires its own source of heat. We have a wood stove that we heat with, and boy does it heat. After a few hours it will run you out of there. So here's the thing. I don't mind carrying in firewood. Colby and I brought in the majority of the firewood we used. It was really good exercise. However an open fireplace is not energy efficient and this winter I am pregnant. I don't think in the dead of January snow I will be able to haul in 5 or 6 loads of wood a day. So I began researching fireplace inserts with blowers to make the use of the fireplace and the wood as efficient as possible. Based on my research we purchased a Quadra Fire 4100i wood burning insert. It is solid cast iron and gauranteed to last for the next few decades. There is only one dealer within a 150 mile radius of us so we had to order it from a place in Northern Virginia and go pick it up. It has been sitting on the back of the truck in the barn for a couple weeks. It is so heavy we could not get off the truck. We knew this before we even purchased it. This model of insert is efficient. When fully loaded with the capacity it is built for the wood will burn 10 - 12 hours! I opted for the black cast iron accent pieces. We do not need the gold bling-bling look. We ordered it back in June and got it for several hundred dollars less than the MSRP. I did say frugal :-) When we bought the house we required the former owners to have several inspections done and to have the fireplace and the wood stove cleaned and inspected. On the day of closing we were given the receipt for the work. The living room fireplace was cleaned and the receipt had written on it "in good working condition." We used this fireplace this past winter. This week I had a chimney sweep come and clean both the fireplace and the woodstove, inspect the flues and install chimney caps. When he climbed up on the roof and looked into the large chimney he said there had been several fires in the chimney in the past years and the liners where cracked and broken and we couldn't use the fireplace until it was repaired. WTF?? Talking to a great many other companies it is a general concensus that either the inspection before closing was a complete and total lie or lightening hit the fireplace chimney -most likely while we were on vacation. We had a problem with birds getting into the wood stove chimney in the kitchen. When they started cleaning it out they got half of a 5 gallon bucket of birds out of that thing. I told Steven we had more than one bird in there. He said this year was the absolute worst he had ever seen. Nearly every chimney they cleaned had birds in it. So while Susie has been battling bats I was battling black birds and robins. So now we have to add $3000 to the budget and have the chimney repaired because otherwise the house could burn down. People money does not grow on trees! I have sucked it up, scheduled the work, but I am angry as hell. I do not believe lightening hit our house. I believe the company that inspected the chimney lied. The day the initial inspection took place it was snowing and ice was on the ground. The top of the house was covered in a sheet of ice and snow. I don't think the man went up on the roof. My house has a hipped roof, he would have slid right off. There is no recourse for inspections gone wrong. Take this as a lesson. Check out the person inspecting any part of a house you are considering buying. If they pass an inspection on a part of the house and later that same area fails to pass inspection there is no warranty or insurance to repair the damage. It comes out of your pocket and no one elses. The work being done to the chimney has a written lifetime warranty. I am taking that piece of paper and putting it in the safe deposit box -it is now like gold to me. This morning I am waiting on the electrician. We are having the upstairs outlets changed from the old 2 prong outlets to 3 prong outlets, gfci's in the bathroom, 8 ceiling fans hung, hanging lights and pot lights put in the kitchen, outdoor outlets added to the front porch and a flood light added at the back door. I have had boxes piled in my living room and my dining room for 2 weeks waiting to be installed. I am excited about this work today! You might ask, "Why isn't Steven hanging the fans and changing the outlets?" That would be a good question and a great Do-It-Yourself project. However, we have to have EVERYTHING rewired to do this. My house is wired in many areas with the old knob and post ceramic elements and fabric covered wiring. Cool huh? The first electricity in these parts was around 1920. That is when my house was first wired. The new work can only be done by a licensed and bonded electrician. No frugal way out on this one.

Steven, Colby, Gracie and I had dentist appointments yesterday. Mine was simple. Back when I was so morning sick and had trouble brushing my teeth and the taste of the stuff they clean your teeth with and the water touching the back of my mouth made me gag the dentist and the hygienist decided to clean my teeth in quadrants. It is about all I can sit through without becoming completely ill. I have the lower left side to go. Sounds silly I know but you imagine gagging over and over and you'd hope the dentist would do the same for you. Steven, on the other hand, was not so simple. The past years since his divorce and until we married last summer, Steven would grind his teeth at night. It sounded like he was crushing rocks. He would wake up with his jaw sore from the grinding all night. I had asked him on several occasions what his dentist had to say about the damage to his teeth and he said, "Nothing. He has never mentioned it." I found this hard to believe. I was very sure his teeth must be ground down to nubs. Well, the first trip to our all new family dentist and he asks Steven, "Do you grind your teeth at night?" Steven told him that I said he did -and very badly. The dentist (whom we like!!) told him that at the rate he was going his teeth would not last 20 years. He had worn the point of his canine down until it is flat. He has broken the enamel on 9 ofhis teeth and that is why his mouth is sensitive to hot and cold. He took a full set of x-rays and the panaoramic view and found more. Two of his teeth were chipped. One had a pit from brushing too hard and he had torn away his gum from some of his teeth in the process. One place was to the point the dentist was sure it would cause a cavity to form and he would need to have it filled as well. The dentist did all the repairs yesterdays! He resurfaced 9 teeth, fixed the chips and filled the one tiny spot. Thank heaven for dental insurance because if I had had to write the check for the total amount they might have had to call the EMT's to bring me some oxygen! When he walked out from the back exam room I was shocked -frightened for a moment. One side of his face was red. His eye looked droopy, the corner of his mouth was hanging and he looked like hell. I swear I thought he had had a stroke! However, that is just how his face reacts to all the novocaine. As it wore off his face began to return to normal. Poor Colby. I know she wishes she had stayed home. She had her cleaning but also was told her wisdom have to come out. Yes, she is getting oral surgery next month. Then a trip to the orthodontist to see if he reccommends braces. Next was Gracie's turn. She is getting oral surgery, too. But it is simple. She has 2 little baby teeth that are not coming out on their own but are in the way of 2 permanent teeth trying to come in. So the baby teeth have to go. Once again can we all say thank heavens for a thing like dental insurance! Pork Roast in a Crockpot 1 pork shoulder or boston butt roast 1 large onion, chopped 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper Place in crockpot the pork and the onion. Cover with water. Set on low and cook 8 - 10 hours. Remove the roast when cooked -it should be just falling from the bone. Set aside. Place some of the broth and the onion in a saucepan on the stove top and adding white rice (measure the broth and cook the rice in the broth according to cook directions on the package). When the rice is done taste it. Rice always needs salt. This rice should be a little wet, not drowning in broth, not soupy, but moist and delicious. Slice some of the pork roast, dish up a serving of rice and a steamed vegetable. The rest of the roast, using 2 forks shred the meat. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and pack each cup full of the roast. OR before filling the cups mix with some of your favorite BBQ sauce then pack in the cups. Freeze until solid. Put all of the cups in a large freezer bag, lable and date. Each cup is the perfect serving for a BBQ sandwich. Simply remove the number of BBQ cups you need and thaw. Remove paper cup. Heat till piping hot and pack onto a nice bun. I would serve the sandwiches with slaw, bread and butter pickles, chips and nice big glass of iced tea. My recipes are simple. They are not gourmet. They don't take a lot of skill to prepare and come out great every time. Steven likes simple foods. I do too. Sometimes we venture into more exotic or complicated food, things I need a recipe to follow but most things I cook off the top of my head, sort of instictively, like my grandma and my momma. Any of you who prepare these recipes I sure would appreciate some feedback on what you think. I know we like them but other people may have ideas to make them even better.

Subtitle: Good meals for a teacher who is going back to school very soon and will be so very tired when she comes home from work but still needs to eat a good supper and feed her handsome husband. Everyone can prepare these but Mistress Mary asked for this. These are comfort food meals that can be frozen after the initial prep or cooked completely and the leftovers frozen. If you spend 1 Saturday a month preping you can put 30 days of meals in the freezer and do only minimal work to put a nice well made supper on the table every evening. If you are cooking for 2 and not an entire family most recipes will make 3 or 4 meals -unless your husband is a big eater. Boys sure do eat alot. If you prefer to spread it out you can always put one meal in the freezer for later as you prepare the evening meal for that day. Well packaged foods will keep 6 months to 1 year in the freezer. It is a real treat to have the major portion of 10 - 15 meals already in freezer just waiting for the finishing touches of cooking. It really helps to be organized before you start meals that you plan to freeze for later. Keep in your pantry a variety of ziplock bags and the disposable containers -which are reusable. For soups and stews that are completely cooked you can freeze those in single serving size dishes or 1 large dish. Casseroles are best frozen as 1 dish. Many things can be prepped and placed in gallon and quart size bags and then all the bags for a meal placed inside a larger 2 gallon bag and labled. Remember you don't have to throw out those 2 gallon bags when you cook the meal. Turn them inside out and run through the dishwasher and use them again. You are only using them to bundle bags of ingredients for a meal not to actually put the raw food in. I also like to cook in a crockpot. I prefer the crockpots with the removable ceraminc dish. This way you can prepare the recipe the night before and put it in the refrigerator. The next morning you take it out, set it on the cooking base, set it to low and go to work. When you come home you have a wonderful meal ready and it takes only minimal effort to set the table, lay out some bread or toss a salad to accompany your crockpot dish. Thinking of back to school has put me in mind of fall which makes me want to cook heavier meals for those cool evenings. I hope this first batch of meals appeals to your appetite. Beef Stew in a Crockpot 6 - 8 servings 1 lb stew beef 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 2 tbsp A1 steak sauce 1 tsp salt 1 tsp garlic powder 3 cups potatoes, cut into bite size pieces 2 cups carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 medium onion, chopped 1 bay leaf 1 can whole tomatoes water or broth Mix the beef, worcestshire sauce, A1 steak sauce, salt and garlic powder. Coating the beef well. Set aside. Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Put in the potatoes, then the carrots, pour the meat mixture next, the can of tomatoes, the onions, cover with water or broth, then lay the bay leaf on top. Replace the cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove the bay leaf. Stir the stew to mix ingredients. Keep a few boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix on hand and bake up corn muffins to go with the beef stew. A nice pot of white rice would be good too. Put the leftovers in a freezer container, label, date, and freeze. You can also freeze any leftover corn muffins too. Leftovers make 1 or 2 meals to put in the freezer. Lasagne in a Crockpot 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 1 medium onion chopped 2 cans Hunts or Delmonte spaghetti sauce (yes, this is cheating) 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese 12 American cheese slices 2 lbs pasta, I use rotini -the corkscrew pasta Add the pasta to boiling salted water and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and run cold water over the pasta to cool and stop the cooking process. Set aside to drain well. Brown the hamburger and the onion in a skillet. Drain well. Set aside to cool. When cooled add the pasta, hamburger mixture and sauce in a large pan combining well. Divide in half. Place each half in a 1 gallon freezer bag. Place 2 cups of the mozzarella in a small freezer bag as well as 6 cheese slices. In a 2 gallon freezer bag place 1 each of these bags all inside. Lable: "Crockpot Lasagne". Place in your freezer. This is 2 separate lasagne meals stashed for later. When ready to cook, thaw 1 of the meals in the refrigerator. Spray the crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Add one half the meat and pasta mixture, layer on 3 of the cheese slices and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with the other half. Cook on low for 2 hours. Serve with a nice green salad and bread. Shredded Roast Beef Sandwiches 1 3-4lbs roast beef - I like a chuck roast 3 medium onions sliced thinly 1 8oz can tomato sauce 1/4 cup soy sauce (I use a Phillipine soy sauce not kikoman and the other grocery store brands, they are too over powering for my taste) 1 - 2 cloves garlic, crushed 3/4 cup water Spray the crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Add the onions in the bottom, the roast and pour over the other ingredients. Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours. Remove the roast from the pot. Remove the onions. Drain the broth and put it in the freezer to cool so that the fat will rise and you can skim it off. Using 2 forks shred the beef. Mix it with the broth and onions. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups and pack each one full of the beef and onion mixture. Freeze until solid. Place the cups in a large freezer bag. Lable and date the bag. Each muffin cup is 1 serving for a sandwich. Take out the number of servings you need for a meal. Thaw and remove the paper cup. Reheat the meat until it is piping hot. Fill a fresh bun with the beef and onion filling, add a slice of your favorite cheese. Serve with chips or fries or a steamed vegetable. Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole 5 boneless chicken breasts, boiled 1 can cream of chicken soup 8 ounces sour cream 2 cans artichoke hearts, drained 4 cups Ritz crackers 1 stick butter, melted 1 tablespoon poppy seeds 2 8x8 Glad Ovenware with lids Cut chicken breasts up into small chunks. Coat a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray or butter. Mix together chicken, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Pour half of this mixture into each of the Glad Ovenware pans and spread evenly. Crush crackers and mix with melted butter. Spoon cracker mixture over each pan of chicken mixture. Sprinkle poppy seeds on top. Put the lid on pan, lable and place in the freezer. When you are ready to cook, thaw the casserole in the refrigerator. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. This is an excellent casserole to serve with a salad made of baby spinach leaves and dressed with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. You can also freeze the butter and crackers separately and add them to the top of the casserole the day you decide to bake it. Stuffed Bell Peppers 4 fresh bell peppers 1 lbs ground beef 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 clove crushed garlic 1 1/2 cup long grain rice 1 15oz can diced tomatoes 1 tsp Italian seasoning 1 8oz can tomato sauce Cut the tops from the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes. Rinse. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in the peppers and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and drain well. Brown the beef, onion and garlic. Drain. Cook the rice half of the recommended cooking time in boiling salted water. Drain the diced tomatoes making sure you reserve the juice. In a large dish mix the beef, rice, tomatoes and italian seasoning until well combined. Stuff into the bell peppers. Mix the tomato sauce, the juice from the diced tomatoes and another 1 tsp italian seasoning. Place 2 peppers in a freezer bad. Place half the sauce mix into a quart freezer bag. Place both bags into a 2 gallon size freezer bag. Lable and date the bag. Place in the freezer. When ready to cook thaw in the refrigerator. Place the 2 peppers in a baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. You can also top the peppers with grated cheese near the end of the cooking time. Meatloaf 2 lbs ground beef 1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs 2 eggs 3/4 cup water 1/3 cup ketchup Mix all ingredients. Shape into 2 loaves. Wrap in heavy duty Reynolds aluminum foil. Lable and date. Place in the freezer. When you are ready to cook, thaw in the refrigerator. Place wrapped meatloaf on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. While the meatloaf is baking peel 1 potato for each person eating supper and add 1 potato for the pot. Dice and boil until soft. Drain. To the hot potatoes add a dollop of butter, a nice spoonful of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste and a splash of milk and mash well. Steam a green veggie in the microwave. Usually a serving for 4 of any frozen green vegetable will cook to perfection in 7 minutes in a glass dish with a cover. The great thing about meatloaf is that you can cook it the night before and reheat the package the next evening for supper and it will taste freshly baked. Georgia Style Po' Boy 1 lb large shrimp Hoagie Rolls or a loaf of french bread cut into nice sandwich size lengths Tartar Sauce Lettuce Tomato Roll the shrimp in Zaterains southern seafood breader. Fry shrimp as directed. Split the rolls for each person and spread tartar sauce (or mayonnaise) on both sides. Fill with a layer of shredded lettuce and sliced tomato. sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Stuff the sandwich full of the hot fried shrimp. Serve with fries and slaw -see my recipe below that I have posted before. Coleslaw 1/2 head small cabbage, shredded 1/4 - 1/2 small onion finely chopped 1/2 cup dill pickle relish 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp vinegar Salt and pepper Duke's Mayonnaise Mix the sugar with the vinegar and pour over the cabbage. Mix well. Add pickles, onion, salt and pepper. Mix well. Use the maynnaise sparingly but start out with a good heaping spoonful. If you need more add it. This part is really how creamy you like your slaw. I don't buy those prepared mixes for slaw. I don't think the cabbage tastes the same in comparison to a fresh head you have shredded yourself. Sometimes I add carrot, sometimes I don't. The carrot doesn't really add anything but color. I also have a large electric roaster. It will hold 4 whole chickens at once. When I cook chicken I always do 4 and put 3 and the broth in the freezer. At a later time if I want to make chicken salad I already have the fully cooked chicken in the freezer. I just thaw and pick the meat from the bone. If I want chicken stew I thaw the chicken and broth add vegetables and simmer. If the kids want fajitas I thaw the chicken, pick the meat and prepare the meal. It saves heaps of time having the chickens fully cooked and in the freezer. I hope this makes you all hungry. I hope this makes it easier for you to eat well when you go back to work, Mary.

Yet. It will be in 11 days. Steven asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I gave him a very honest answer of "I don't know." I was sick and just not in the mood for much of anything. I struggled to do the things I had to do every day and that is about all I did. Last week he asked me if I wanted a new laptop or a new camera for my birthday. I told him either one would be nice. He asked me which camera. I told him the Nikon D-70. I had to keep telling him about 30 times before he understood no other camera would suit me. I have no idea why he questions me to the point of grilling when I choose something I want. Yes, it is a big ticket item but I am no fool and I do my homework before making large purchases. He asked me which laptop I wanted. I told him I would have to look around. Initially I wanted the IBM Thinkpad R-51. As I continued to look and research and talk to developers and getting their opinions I thought we should take a look at Dell and Steven suggested Toshiba. So we looked. I decided on the Toshiba P35 series. 17" monitor on a laptop!! Now that is some real estate! I think he was really impressed with my choice. He has never mentioned wanting a new laptop or a new machine of any kind at all. He came home from work last night with my birthday present. He bought himself one too. Tosheba Satellite P35-S605 with 17" monitor. Kate, the convection on my oven is very quiet. It shuts off if you open the door and it starts when you close it. You can barely hear it running. It really does help things bake quicker and also much more evenly. I made a peach and cherry cobbler last night also and it turned out perfectly.

Last night for supper we made pizza and a big green salad. Pizza dough is so easy to make and will make your kids thinks you can walk on water. Try this pizza and you will never want take-out pizza again. Pizza Dough 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 3/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Combine yeast with warm water. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix just until dough comes together. Turn the mix out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 1 minute. Shape into a ball. Place in a well-oiled bowl. Turn to coat with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until dough has doubled. The dough is ready to use or you can punch it down and allow it to rise a 2nd time. Pizza Sauce 1 can Hunts tomato sauce 1-2 cloves garlic crushed 1 tbsp chopped basil Simmer on the stove top to allow the flavors to mingle and to allow the garlic to loose the raw taste. It is time to make pizza! Our two youngest only eat cheese and pepperoni. Sometimes Gracie will request black olive be added. We more grown up pizza eaters try to eat more healthy. We like our pizza with marinated artichoke hearts, smoked sundried tomatoes, chopped spinach and fresh mozzerella cheese very thinly sliced. You may prefer other toppings but I try to make a more vegetarian pizza because Steven doesn't need a lot of greasey meat toppings. Using fresh cheese also keeps the top of the pizza from developing grease drips -you know what I mean. I do not like greasey pizza. This recipe makes 2 fourteen inch pizzas or you can make 4 seven inch individual pizzas. Roll out the dough for your pizza. Place it on your pizza pan (you can sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pan before you put the dough on to eliminate sticking -we use a brush of olive oil becauce we like a crisp crust). Add your toppings. Bake a very hot, pre-heated oven until the crust is done. We bake at 550°. This is the maximum setting on our oven and since we have the new oven with convection I did use the convection. The crust came out perfect in less than 15 minutes. It was delicious! For the salad it was a mix of baby spinach leaves, romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, a sprinkle of parsley flakes, a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. To make the pizza really economical with the more gourmet toppings I usually go to a place like Sam's or Costco and purchase the big jars of artichoke hearts in oil and oil packed sun dried tomatoes. I also get the giant bags of pepperoni. I break them up into small freezer bags just enough for pizza and freeze them. If you keep a few packages of yeast on hand you can make pizza anytime. You never have to make a shopping list and a special trip to the store to have a great pizza. One last thought. If you use the dough to make 4 seven inch pizzas you can cook those outside on your grill. Just brush with olive oil so the dough won't stick. Pop the rolled out dough onto the grill, turn after a couple minutes -watch closely so it doesn't burn. After it has been turned, add your toppings and let the cheese melt. It is a great pizza as well. Oh and one more thing. Your pizza doesn't have to be perfectly round to taste good. Free style shapes are great too!

My dear husband, seeing me toil and sweat in the heat of the kitchen, went out Saturday and bought an a/c for the kitchen. It is heaven to work in the kitchen now. It is so nice and cool even with the stove and ovens on. It is so nice that this is what I put up this weekend - 3 quarts cherries in heavy syrup 2 pints blueberries in heavy syrup 3 1/2 pints blueberry jam 1 pint strawberry jam 4 1/2 pints Strawberry jam 8 quarts creamed corn 2 quarts green beans 3 quarts yellow squash 6 quart fresh baby spinach 1/2 bushel peaches I have really been blessed the past month in a huge way. We replaced the old washer and dryer that was left in the house with the Bosch Nexxt Premium series "laundry system". I love this washer and dryer. It uses half the water and detergent plus I swear the clothes are cleaner than ever. The only thing about it that I hate is the buzzer on the drier. You can't turn it off completely and the lint trap causes it to shut off and then beep until I go empty the trap. I would prefer it just run the cycle and let me empty it at the next load. Sometimes it is not even full when it buzzes and shuts the drier down. Other than that I love everything about these machines. They even have a less wrinkle/reduce ironing setting. This is great! I have tested it. I won't have to iron every single one of Steven's shirt this fall and winter! Yayyyyy!!! We also replaced the stove that was part and parcel of the house. It was an aweful thing and ugly. Nothing regulated, everything in the oven burned if you didn't watch it like a hawk. Sometime the eyes might come on and sometimes not. Sometimes they even came on and went full blaze high and would not turn down. I did not get the gas stove I wanted initially. I instead chose an electric stove with ceramic eyes. Simply because we needed a stove and I am not ready to have half the kitchen ripped out just for the sake of a gas stove. I don't have time to be out of commission in the kitchen. Even though it is not my first choice in a stove I am really getting to like it. All of the eyes work as a large and small eye. The double ovens are convection -which I love. The lower oven also doubles as a warming drawer. I am really glad I was put in a place where I needed to decide and not lollygag over a model. I like this stove it just takes some getting used to. One day in the future I will get the gas stove that I want. For now I have this stove. For the record: in order to have a gas stove in this house we will have to have the gas company bring out a tank, run gas lines and drill through the hardwood floors of the kitchen. I am not ready for the mess or the expense right now. It makes me sweat just thinking about it. We also have replaced our microwave. I chose this one. It is not installed yet. The electrician has to put in some wiring and outlets first. That will take place this week. The end is in sight!! The plumber is here to see if he can straighten out our mess of pipes and to fix the leaky copper and iron pipes. I have to go but I'll be back later.

The week before vacation I had to decide what to do with all the produce from the garden. There was only one real answer. Freeze it or can it. I made a giant stock pot of vegetable soup using all of the fresh veggies that came out of the garden. You can find the recipe here. Yeild: 12 quarts. I stewed all the tomatoes that came out of the garden the weekend before. Yeild: 12 quarts. I canned the whole tomatoes that came out of the garden the Thursday before. Yeild: 7 quarts. Everything else I sent to work with Steven to hand out to anyone at work who would take a bag. He took about 20lbs of tomatoes and gave them away. I just could not do any more with them. I was tired and still battling morning sickness. When we came back from vacation Steven and I picked a 23 quart stock pot full. Tuesday Colby picked 2 grocery bags full. This time I made spaghetti sauce and canned it in quart jars. I was in the middle of scalding the tomatoes so that I could peel and seed them when I remember to get the camera and show y'all the process. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Put in the tomatoes and leave for 1 - 2 minutes. I had 3 pots like this one to scald 30lbs of tomatoes. Using a slotted spoon remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and submerged them in a pan of ice water. You will have to add ice as the hot tomatoes cause the ice to melt quickly -as you can see in the photo my ice disappeared fast. Not only because of the hot tomatoes but because the kitchen at the back of the house is not air conditioned. It was over 100 degrees yesterday. Add to that steaming hot pots and you can imagine how hot my kitchen was. Once the tomatoes are cooled (just a couple minutes) the skins will slip right off. Cutting them in half and giving them a good squeeze and the seeds will come right out. Squeezing also yeilds plenty of juice. I always save this to a pan and strain out any seeds that might slip through the collander. This is the clear liquid that seeps out of fresh ripe tomatoes and is known not as tomato juice but tomato water. I'll show you why at the end. This is the first pot of scalded tomatoes cut and seeded. This is a 16 quart stock pot and when Colby and I finished it was 3/4 full of tomato meat. On medium heat we cooked the tomatoes until they started to extrude more juice. To the pot we added our own favorite ingredients for spaghetti sauce: 2 cups chopped onion (I only use sweet vidalia onions from Ga.) 8-10 cloves garlic, crushed 5 tbsp finely chopped basil 1 tbsp finely chopped oregano 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper The sauce mixture simmered for approxiamtely one hour. During that time the jars ran through the dishwasher to sterilize. The sauce was ladled into the hot jars right out of the dishwasher. Lids and rings were then screwed on hand tight. The juice that came from the dripping tomatoes and the squeezing and straining of the seeds was brought to a boil and then poured into hot jars with lids and rings applied. The jars went into the pressure canner where they were processed for 35 minutes at 10psi. After processing the jars were removed from the canner and left to cool. This morning the jars were cold to the touch and the lids had sealed. The tomato juice had separated so that you can see the real juice of a tomato, commonly known as tomato water. Shaking it will recombine the bits of tomato pulp and you can drink it or you can use it to poach fish in or to add to stock for soup or sauce. Many many useful things to do with tomato water. The juice of the tomatoes in my jars in no way tastes like the tomato juice you buy in bottles at the store. Mine is not thick. It is not salty. It is not filled with preservatives or color additives. Tomato juice in its purest form is a delicious and refreshing drink by itself but you should try adding a dash of hotsauce and some vodka -the best Bloody. Mary. Ever. Cost Analysis Tomatoes from garden $0 Quart jars in stock $0 Herbs from garden $0 Spices in stock $0 Yeild: 5 quarts spaghetti sauce and 2 quarts tomato juice Total cost $0 Being a frugal housewife pays off in so many ways! -This winter we have our own fresh spaghetti sauce to enjoy. -My kids will not be eating any preservatives or chemical additives. -My sauce is 100% organic. -The children learn a lesson of gardening, providing for yourself and NOT relying on commerically grown foods. -They also get a lesson in food preservation. -Steven gets to see my canner in action and how just turning the knob on the stove regulates the pressure in the canner. -Shows him I can indeed adjust and keep that canner at 10lbs psi with little to no effort. (For the longest time Steven could not understand how I could regulate the the canner without different weighted vent regulator knobs.) The weekend that I made the soup I also put a bushel of fresh white corn (Silver Queen) in the freezer. We ended up with 30 gallon bags of corn-on-the-cob. My kids love fresh corn and having summer goodness in the dead of winter sure is better than Green Giant nibblers. I am hoping this weekend to get 1 more bushel of corn to cream. Wish me luck!

The last couple of days have gotten away from me -just zipped right by in a flurry of errands and chores. Monday - Coordinated the work to be done by the plumber, the electrician, the chimney sweep and the landscaper. It seems they all need work next week so every single one of them will be in my house at some point between the 8th and the 11th. The contract for the pool was signed and the guy was late for our appointment which put me an hour behind my errands of returning rental DVD's and a quick stop at the landscapers business. Tuesday - OB appointment which takes up most of a morning. A trip to the grocery store because my husband requested Reese Cup ice cream. Also he worked all day monday, all night and all day tuesday. I didn't see him until later afternoon!! Wednesday - MORE errands - Stand in line at the tax office and purchase the county sticker for the 2nd truck Steven bought just before we left on vacation, then stand in line to get the current dog license. Stand in line at the bank waiting to make a deposit because the drive thru line was 9 cars long and I thought it would be quicker to run inside. Go to the lawyers office and make an appointment to finish our business with him. Go to the courthouse and get a plat of our property then drive to the other end of county because no one in this one horse town has a fax machine for public use except one little tiny pharmacy on the other end of the county and fax the paper I got from the courthouse to the pool builders so they can begin rounding up all the building permits and such for the pool. Take Colby for her registration process which was far quicker than any other chore on our list. Gracie starts back to school on the 24th and I have to round up school supplies and get school clothes together. I really hate the end of summer. I like having children home. I hate getting up and sending them off to school for so many hours a day. I get lonely without them. This year even Colby will be gone. :-( I will be home all alone. Right by myself. What will I do all winter long? On top of all of that I have tried to catch up on my reading. I have read almost half of you all. I will finish and leave comments - hopefully today or tomorrow. If I haven't gotten to you, I will. You know you have read too many journals when you dream about people from those journals at night. For instance, last night ... I was in an old minivan on my way to visit Susie Sunshine. During the road trip north the van aged and as I passed a car dealership I decided to stop and trade it in. They were not open and I decided to sleep in the van until they did. When I woke up the mail man had come by and left my mail on the seat beside me with a note I should not sleep with the windows down and the doors unlocked. So, I am trading in my car when I look at the newspaper that was in my mail. The article was about a car saleman who dressed like a member of KISS. This was the dealership I was at! I decided not to buy a car from him and checked into a motel. It was a dumpy little place but the only motel between Virginia and Michigan. I had no choice. The car salesman came to my motel room and tried to get me to test drive a car he had but I refused and finally he left. About that time Susie walks in and stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips and says, "Never buy anything from a man who uses face paint instead of concealer." Does anyone want to explain this dream?

Our vacation was exactly that -a vacation. We went to a quiet, noncrowded beach and stayed there. We went out one time on the very hottest day when it was 114 degrees because the kids could not stay on the beach in that heat. We found air conditioned entertainment and had lunch out. Other than that we did nothing but sit on the beach, swim in the pool, eat, sleep and watch some TV. Steven really needed this vacation away from everyone, just us. We had not even considered going anywhere at all this year. At the last minute I asked him to lets take the kids to the beach. I got online found a quiet reasonably priced house and off we went. I can't even begin to tell you the stress that was showing on Steven's face and in his body especially over the last month. His job is not physically challenging but it is filled with stress and mental fatigue in the extreme sense of those words. Had we stayed home he would have spent the days working in the yard which in many ways is good. It gives him great physical release of stress but it does nothing to recharge his tired body. Steven needed to do nothing but eat and sleep and that is the main reason I really pushed taking the kids to the beach. No internet access so he couldn't do any work while we were away. Cell phones turned off so no one at work could call and ask a million questions. No one knowing the phone number to where we were staying. Completely cut off from this part of our life was a great thing. When you scroll down and look at the photos you will see he did indeed need a vacation. This is what our days looked like:

7:00am Kids wake 7:30am Big Family Breakfast 8:00am On the beach or in the pool 10:00am Snack then switch from beach to pool or pool to beach 12:30pm Dinner 1:00pm Naptime 4:00pm Kids on beach or pool and their pre-supper snack. You know all that fun builds a HUGE appetite. 6:00pm Steven wakes from his nap - Big Family Supper 7:00pm Kids ready for the pool, Steven and I sitting pool side with camera and DVD cam. 10:00pm In from pool, dessert, kids to bed. 11:00pm Steven and I to bed

This is how each day began and ended. These two should be wrinkled still from all the time they spent submerged in liquid. This lovely construction is the sand castle and the moat that held a crab the kids caught. Three girls, surf and sand. Do you know how many shots we have of them facing the other way? Most of my photos are butt shots. This handsome thing is my sweet husband. He slept late each morning. Had breakfast. Went to the beach or the pool. Had lunch. Slept ALL afternoon (1pm until 6pm) causing the children to remark, "All Dad does is sleep and eat." Then an evening sitting until after dark poolside while the babies swam some more. He really needed this vacation. The dark circles left his eyes about day 5. This is what afternoon nap time looks like. Children must nap if they want to swim until 10:30pm. The oldest bathing beauty very happy to be on vacation. Gracie was hesitant last year about being in the water above her waist. She did not trust herself or anyone else. She would get out of the pool and sit on the side if anyone tried to help her learn to float or swim. She refused to put her face in the water. She would not jump in. She had to slowly ease into the water often stopping at the steps and sitting down. This summer she has learned to trust herself. She learned to swim with her face in the water. The first day she was very hesitant. By the third day she was swimming like a little fish. I was so proud of her accomplishment in the way only a mother understands her child and her child's fears. She overcome one of her greatest fears of all time. I was proud but you should have seen Colby beaming at Gracie's success. Anyone looking on might have thought Gracie was Colby's child.

We are back from many great days at the beach. I will have photos soon. I have almost no morning sickness at all -just odd little bouts now and again. I will post plenty as soon as I have the photos downloaded, the laundry caught up on and the electrician, chimney sweep and pool man out of my hair later today.