Bloggerview

So here’s the deal. My new blog friend Linda wrote a post answering random questions that someone asked of her. She then posted her answers and said she’ll send interview questions to others, if they post the answers. Here are her questions for me, and my answers. . .

1. When did you know that you were supposed to adopt?

Honestly, I do not know the exact date. God has been putting people, and their journeys in my path. He has been working on opening my eyes, and my families eyes about orphans for a while.
Tim & I have talked about it ever since our friend's The Oatsvall's brought Emily home from China. Well, I guess mostly I've talked about it, and God has worked more on Tim about it :o). This past summer, Tim finally let his guard down. As we walked by Izzy C. (another child in our church adopted from China) Tim asked me when we were going to get our little girl. Well, you just can't take that back :o) We contacted our social worker, found an agency, and here we are 2 pieces of paper away from completing our dossier--Praying for G.G.

2. What were you known for in high school?

I'd probably say swimming. My high school had a swim team for the first time my freshman year. I ended up swimming all four years of high school.

3. If money were no object, where would you visit, and why?

We would take a trip to Spain in the fall. We have had a foreign exchange student living with us since the end of July '08. I am already dreading her going home, and she doesn't leave until the first week of June. We have fallen in love with her. I would love to be able to go visit her, and meet her family.

4. What is your favorite "mom" memory with your kids?

This is a tough one. There are sooooooooo many.

5. What is your most cherished item?

Family photos. I have not done a very good job of keeping them organized, or making albums. I have some of them in large under-the-bed totes, but one of my favorite things to do is get out old pictures. It's fun to think about "back in the day."

That was fun :o)

If you’d like to participate in this little “ask me anything” assignment, here are the rules for anyone else who wants to be interviewed…



1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions, or leave you a comment on your blog w/the questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

On your marks. Get set. Go! Come on. You know you want to do it :oP

Never Argue With A Woman :o)

A friend sent me this via email. I thought it was quite funny:

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?" "Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, "Isn't that obvious?") "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading" "Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up." "For reading a book," she replies, "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her again, "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading" "Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up." "If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment." "Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think. Send this to four women who are thinkers. If you receive this, you know you're intelligent.

A Nice Cold Pepsi & a Hershey Bar :o)

After cleaning all day, I am finally done. :o)

Now I will enjoy a nice cold pepsi, and a hershey bar.

Cleaning. . . . . . UGH!!!!!

Anyone else get tired of cleaning? It has been a while since I did a deep down house cleaning. I got started this morning, and 3 hours later--- I am no where near done. . . UGH. I wish it didn't take so long. Thought I would take a quick break, and bore you w/a goofy post :o)

How Much Does A Hamster Cost?

Well when it gets stuck in your air vent & dies, and you have to call someone to come clean the duct work it's a whopping $650.00.

Maybe It's Not Spring

So, yesterday I was excited that it was so nice outside.

Today it's FREEZING :0P

Come on warm weather--we're waiting for you.

Good Friday

Hello, and Good Friday to you. :0) Most of the people I know of that read my blog, probably already know this. The Johnson's adoption was granted from the Malawi courts. Here is a picture I copied from Crystal's blog.

There is still other paper work that has to be processed, before Crystal can return to the U.S. w/Savannah. Please continue to pray for this family.

I received an email from Lordes :0) She said she is excited. She has checked out our family via this blog. She checked out our church here. She checked out the town here. She checked out her school here. Isn't technology cool :0)

Well we are starting out spring break week pretty well. The temp. here today was 70. It was a sunny, beautiful day. Tim took the boys to the greenway to ride bikes. They stopped at the Mexican restaurant just off the trail, and ate lunch. Fun times for the boys.

I took advantage of the alone time to get some Easter shopping done. Fun times for the mom :0)

There are 3 services planned for Easter @ church. Hope you all are making plans to attend.

No big plans for this week, we'll just decide as we go along. It'll be nice to have some down time. If anyone has any simple, fun, close place to go ideas--let me know :0)

I've Been Tagged for the First Time :0)

My new friend Andie tagged me. I have never been tagged before, but I'll do my best to play along. I hope those that I tagged will play along, too. :0)

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Kentucky Fried Chicken (1st job :0)
2. Part Sorter @ Nissan (I actually worked for a sub-contractor-not Nissan)
3. Telephone Sales Rep. @ Ingram Book
3. Nurse

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Dirty Dancing
2. Goonies
3. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
4. Pretty Woman

Four places I have lived:
1. Warwick, RI
2. West Warwick, RI
3. Murfreesboro, TN
4. Smyrna, TN

Four shows that I watch:
1. Biggest Loser
2. Deal or No Deal
3. ER
4. CSI


Four places I have been:
1. Maine
2. Canada
3. Mexico
4. California

Four people who email me regularly:
1. Darby K.
2. Jamie B.
3. Kristi B.
4. Agnes R.

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Anything Mexican :0)
2. Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies
3. Peanut Butter & Fluff sandwich
4. Anything with Caramel in it :0)


Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Taking a nap
2. On a date w/my husband
3. Shopping
4. Somewhere warm

Four things I'm looking forward to in the next 12 months:
1. Weekend Camping Trips
2. Mexico Missions Trip
3. Summer
4. Working on being debt free

Four Goals for the New Year:
1. Read the Bible every day
2. Be debt free (except our house)
3. Not yell @ my kids so much
4. Take a vacation-other than camping :0)

Four gifts I got for Christmas:
1. Purse
2. Camera
3. Book about Mexico
4. Picture frame w/pics of me & my friends

Four places I want to visit:
1. Any warm beach
2. Vera Cruz, Mexico
3. Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
4. Alaska

Four things I wish I could be better at:
1. Reading my Bible every day
2. Parenting
3. Managing money
4. Communicating with my sisters

Four Things You Don't Know About Me:
1. I was born in Rhode Island
2. I think my feet are really ugly
3. I'm always cold
4. I don't like to shave

Four Things I Can Cook Without a Recipe:
1. Mexican Spaghetti
2. Meatloaf
3. Ham/Corn Chowder
4. Chicken Pot Pie

Four Musicians/Groups I Really Like:
1. Tina Hutchinson
2. Casting Crowns
3. Rascal Flatts
4. Kenny Chesney

The FOUR people I tag are:
1. Lisa S.
2. Jeanne S.
3. Tiffany V.
4. Gwen O.

Painting, Tile, & Shingles-- Oh MY :0)

Ever have 50 projects going at one time? We are in the middle of many here.

A few weeks back we had a dishwasher leak, which ruined our laminant floor. We replaced the dishwasher, and found out our floor had been discontinued. We decided to just wait & tile the kitchen later. I put a throw rug over the ugly spot. Not really all that big of a deal.

A week later, our roof leaked, and ruined another spot on the other side of the room. UGH! This time I called the insurance co. Turns out we have at some point had hail damage on our 4 year old roof. They are replaceing the roof & floor :0)

I'm not sure when the roofers will be here, after the storms last night they may be really busy.

We started on the floor yesterday. Well my best friend Darby's husband started on the floor yesterday. There is a stove in the play room & a refrigerator in the living room :0)

Last week I had started pulling 14 year old wall paper off our master bath, so I've been slacking on that since we are now doing the kitchen. (did I mention I also work night shift? :0) We have all the wallpaper off, I've painted the trim, and now I just need to prime & paint the walls.

Anyway my goal for tonight is to paint the trim in the kitchen--so I don't have to worry about getting paint on my new tile. Then, tomorrow I will prime the bathroom walls, so hopefully I can paint them Friday. Maybe by the end of next week my house won't look like the crazy mess it does right now.

I am not complaining--I'm excited about the new looks. I also am thankful to have a house to do projects to. I think about all the people last night that have a lot more repairs to do than I. I was at work last night, and it got a little hairy. I worked at MTMC, and when the tornado siren went off at the college--it sent chills through me. I called Tim, and woke him up at 2:00am to tell him to check on the Smyrna weather & get downstairs--he was thrilled to hear my sweet voice @ 2am ;) Thankfully it turned out to just be heavy wind, and rain in our area.

Don't forget to pray for the people whos lives are upside down right now.

Off to paint :0)

The Computer Is Not My Friend

So twice in the last couple of weeks I have had problems w/my computer. 1st all but one of my USB ports was fried. My nice computer tech neighbor came & fixed it right up. I get caught up on computer stuff, and then BAM--it's messed up again. The boys were playing on funbrain, and Coy says the computer "just shut off." When I went to try to turn it back on, it made a really bad noise, like some one stuck a pokemon card in the hard drive as it tried to start up. Then it just made two little sick beep sounds, and had a black screen. UGLY. I was having horrible thoughts of how I have just lost all the stuff I haven't saved to disks--like lots of my pictures. How bad that we have come to rely on digital stuff. At least I have. I thought my computer was completely fried. It really sounded bad. Anyway, it turns out it wasn't a big deal at all. My nice computer tech neighbor came over this morning, and in about two seconds pushed a couple of buttons, and wiggled a couple of plugs, and here I am. I will be spending the rest of the afternoon making disks of all my pictures :0) Will try to post something that you all might actually want to read, soon. Like pics of the boys :0)

Finally Back On

I was on the computer this weekend, attempting to get some pictures from my cameras internal memory. I took some pics of Seth w/the tree before I realized that I did not have my SD card in. Anyway long story made really short-- I somehow messed up all but one of the 7 USB ports on my computer. First, I thought my mouse had just gone bad. I bought I new one , and it didn't fix it. Fortunately, one of my neighbors is a computer tech guy @ Vandy. He was kind enough to walk me through diagnosing my problem over the phone, and then called Dell to tell them what I needed. Thankfully it was still covered by warranty. The part came today, and he came & fixed it for me. Yeah. I am glad to be back on, even though most of you probably didn't even realize I was not on. I am now going to reattempt to get those pics off my camera. Hopefully I will not mess my whole computer up again. I'll be sure to post them, if I can get it all to work. I guess that is enough BLAH BLAH BLAH for now. Later :0)

Black Friday Shopping Spree :0)

Just wanted to see how many of you did the whole Black Friday Shopping thing. For the past three years, my neighbor Jamie & I have partnered up. It is so much more fun to go as a team :0) This year, my niece Amanda came w/us. I think we have maybe found a way to out shop a teenager. . . Make her get up at 3:30 am. :0) It was a really fun day, and I got some really good deals. I am pretty much done w/my Christmas shopping. Of course I said this year I was going to have better self control, and not buy the boys so much stuff. Well I probably still got too much, but it is SOOO much fun. We started at Wally World, by 5am we were in line paying for all our bargains. At Wally World I also shopped for another neighbor who was out of town-- did I mention how much more fun it is to spend someone elses $ :-) We made a quick pit stop @ Dunkin Donuts-- Yum Yum, and headed on to Target. Well, we got there about 5:45. The store was to open @ 6. The line went from the stores front door to the opposite end of the shopping center. For those of you familiar w/the boro, All the way down past Dress Barn to The Hibbets sports store. It was CRAZY. We waited in the car until the line started moving @ 6, and then headed in. Got some really good deals there, too. We walked on over to Toys R Us, shopped there, and then finished up @ Kohls. I usually come home and take a nap, but I didn't get the opportunity. Instead of napping we started to decorate the yard. Nothing like untangling some lights :0) We finished out the day taking the boys to see the Bee Movie. It was really cute. I would recommend it.

I meant to post this the other day, but time flies when you are having fun. . . Tim won a car. It's a Nissan QX56 Infiniti. The Mac Daddy of SUV's :0) It's white w/chrome accent, fully loaded, all leather interior. He played a football game at work, and was one of four to win . . . We only get to keep it for the weekend, but it is really nice. The boys think it is COOL. When we were leaving the movie last night, Tim went to get the car. I walke outside with the boys, and Coy starts saying "yeah that's our ride." All pimp daddy like. :0) It definitely stands out.







Well I am going to go finish up w/the outside lights, so blog @ ya later :0)

What's been happening . . .

Well, as usual, we have stayed quite busy around here.
Last Friday night, the boys helped me make corn casserole, and chocolate cake for Room @ the Inn. It is a ministry of our church: http://fbcsmyrna.org/ We took our part of the meal to church, and shared it w/homeless men from the Nashville area. It was a humbling experience. The boys were playing around w/the guys, and played some checkers. Talked about school/life. It was something I'd like to do more often. Fortunately/Unfortunately--there are so many people that want to participate, there are no other spots for us to sign up for :-( I told the coordinator to call me if any came available.
After church, we went to Emily's 9th birthday party. She was kind enough to save the pinata, until the boys got there. That is there favorite part of birthdays. I hear Emily is wearing out the "Troy" slippers I found her. :0) Got to wish my niece, Halie, a Happy Birthday on Sunday. She is in RI. Unfortunately, we don't get to visit often, and don't get to talk much either. We are going to try to start writing. I talked to the boys about it, and they are excited to have pen pals. Carlie and Halie :-)
I ended up working Saturday, because they had cancelled me on Tuesday. Tim also had to work, so the kids hung out w/Grandma. Tim has been working a lot of overtime. Don't get me wrong it is a good time of year for extra $, but he hates working extra. It makes him slightly cranky :0). They are working again tomorrow :-( Thankfully, I will be off. I worked my usual Sunday night/Tuesday night this week.
Wednesday night, the boys & I went to church. Seth's class sang a couple Christmas songs. We haven't been going regularly on Wednesdays, so I didn't have him perform. He wouldn't have liked it. He's kind of shy about stuff like that. Anyway, after the kids sang, everyone helped pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan's Purse sends shoe boxes, or shoebox size totes w/small toys, school supplies, soap, washcloths, toothpaste, etc. all over the world to children that would otherwise not have anything for Christmas. During VBS this summer, the kids made "Jesus Loves You" Bears. One went into each box. It started out a little crazy--the boys get a little over excited in crowds, and I had not slept very much, :0). It turned out to be a nice experience.
There are so many needs, not only this time of year, but they just seem to be pointed out more during this season. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed. I really want the boys to serve. Not JUST out of obedience, but because they see how much need there is, and WANT to make a difference. I want to make a difference, and pray that God keeps me on track.
This morning, Seth & I headed off to Coy's school for awards day. He got perfect attendance. He got a gift certificate to Fazoli's & free ice cream from the cafeteria at school. Pretty good motivation to show up everyday :-)
Winding down the week . . . Tim was kind enough last night to tuck the boys in by himself, so I could go hang out w/Darby & Kristi for a little while. We had some YUMMY dessert--just because :0). It was the highlight of my week. :0)
That about sums it up. Need to get back to cleaning. . . FUN--FUN Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

What's In Your Back Yard?

The other day, I got home from taking Seth to school. The dog was in the backyard barking like crazy. I went outside to find a rooster on top of the swing set :-) Yes I saved the rooster from the dog. Altough it was quite difficult to get the dog to choose a bone over a bird :-)

Finally a Post :-)

Ok, so maybe I'm not such a good blogger. I thought I would love to get on & post stories. I love to talk about my kids, and they absolutely provide plenty of material. I don't know why I haven't been better about posting. I am going to try to start making more of an effort to post. I know you all are just dying to hear about my life happenings. What better time to start than right now.

Since posting pictures from Mexico, we have been non-stop.

The week after I returned I worked my usual two nights, and also taught 2 CPR classes on my off night. I was wiped by the weekend, and caught a little cold. The cold only lasted a couple of days though. Now all is well, and returning to somewhat "normal." If there is such a thing. :-)

Seth has finished baseball. His team went 10-0. Seth learned so much about baseball this season. His coach was always so positive. They are going to celebrate their season w/ a party at The Snappy Tomato. It is a new pizza buffet place here in Smyrna. It is really good. We tried it out the other day :-)

Coy finished his first six weeks of school. He is doing well. I have been a little unsure of his teacher this year, but so far, things are going fine. The PTO sponsored a movie night last night, so I spent all day yesterday at the school popping popcorn. I have a new appreciation for movie theater workers :-) We sat on our bean bags on the gym floor, and watched Meet the Robinsons. It was a fun time.

Tim has been working a lot of overtime. He doesn't like to work extra, and I really don't blame him. Thankfully, they cancelled todays overtime, and he has this Thursday & Friday off :-)
We are planning a nice little weekend get away. My in-laws, and my mom have agreed to watch the boys. We are going to go to Chattanooga, and spend a couple of nights. :-) I reserved a dinner cruise Friday night. I saw a few other things on line that looked like they might be fun. If any of you have a suggestion as to something you've done, and loved in Chattanooga--I'd love to hear about it.

Well that about catches us up. Until the next post :-)