I wasn't abducted!

I've been back home since Monday, but I've been so busy. I started to make an entry on Tuesday, but ran out of time and deleted it.  St. Louis is absolutely gorgeous.  We had the best time.  It was in the 60's the whole time which was a wonderful treat after the 90's we've been having in Florida.  I loved the arch.  It was great and the view is beautiful.  Downtown St. Louis was nice and the b-b-q was really good, but my favorite part was when we discovered historic St. Charles about 20 miles west of St. Louis.  We happened to be driving around and saw a sign for a Cracker Barrell and I told Robert that I would like to go there for breakfast in the morning.  So we did and across the street there was a sign for historic St. Charles.  I told him that I would like to drive through there and check it out after breakfast.  Well, check it out we did and we ended up spending the whole day there!  It is absolutely incredible.  I am a  "little shops" person.  I love to go into little shops and cafe's.  This place is loaded with them.  Go to their website and check it out.  www.mainstreetstcharles.com . 

Well, the kids did great while we were gone.  Wes watched the farm and Robert was really proud of the good job he did.  Katie did a great job of keeping things clean and feeding everybody.  We left her in charge of the money and she still had some left over. (That's why we left her in charge!)  So, all in all it was wonderful and I can't wait to go again.  Our next trip is a biggy.  We are all going to Vermont for Christmas.  We have a cabin reserved for an entire week.  We are all so excited.  Well, I have to run.  I have Bible study this morning and it is my turn to bring breakfast.  I made a sausage and spinach quiche with feta and mushrooms, fruit salad and a pumpkin and cream cheese roll.  MMMMmmmmm can't wait to dig in!  Have a great day y'all!

Getting ready to go!

I am so phyched!  We leave bright and early in the morning.  We are leaving all 3 kids home alone.  Yikes!  Wes is 21 and Katie is 19 after all, but we don't go away and leave them on their own too much and I'm worried about the "free-at-last" syndrome.  I have warned them a hundred time what they can and can't do, where they can and can't go and who can and can't come over.  I am not too naive to know that as soon as we pull out of the drive-way they will do whatever the heck they want, especially since we are going to be 1,500 miles away!  Scary flashbacks of "Risky Business" keep running through my brain!  I guess this is the time when the rubber meets the road, either we did a good job raising them or we really bombed. . .unlucky for me there is a lot of gray area between the two spectrums!  OMG I'm not gonna get an ounce of sleep.  I guess I could always threaten them that next time I'll have their granny come and stay with them if things don't go well this time.  Ha Haa Haaa!  That would get them!  They can only handle her in small doses...really small.  I can't handle her at all; I want to blow my brains out when she comes to visit. She called me at work today and asked for the kids cell phone numbers. . .ha ha ha. . I gave them to her!!!!  She is gonna check up on them for us.  (LMAO! They are gonna be mad when they find out!)  Anyway. . .I have to finish my laundry so I can have some clean clothes to pack.  I don't need much for just 3 days, but I don't know what the weather is gonna be.  Tomorrow is supposed to be scattered thunderstorms, Sunday partly sunny and Monday (we head home in the morning) sunny.  Here it is in the 80's still everyday, but I think it is 70's in the day and 60's at night.  MMMmmm sounds good to me!  Well, I just spend 10 minutes rambling on and on about nothing!  You guys have a beautiful weekend. . .I'll get back to ya on Monday!

Thank God a long week is coming to an end!

What a long stinking week this has been!  I guess when you have great weekend plans it really makes the time go by slower than usual.  I have great weekend plans.

My hubby and I are flying to St. Louis for my birthday.  Yeah!  You might wonder why St. Louis?  Well, why not?  I don't know a living soul in St. Louis, or Missouri for that matter!  Like many of you, I get emails from lots of travel agencies (Orbitz, Cheaptickets, expedia etc...) Well, back in June, I got an email for $88 round trip tickets from Tampa to 6 different cities.  I had been to most of the other cities, so I called my hubby and asked him where he would like to go (I was already thinking St. Louis) and he said St Louis!  So, I booked it. . .and now we are about to take off.  We have reservations at the Mayfair hotel down in the historic district. I figured that since our plane tickets were so cheap that why not splurge on a hotel.  I will be incommunicado all weekend!  I promise to take lots of pictures and post them for you all to see.  If I don't get back on here before Saturday, I hope you all have a great weekend!

The long awaited pictures

I figured out how to make journal entries from work!  Yippee!!!  Most of my digital pictures are on my super fast work computer, so now I can send pics as soon as I get them.  Many of these pictures are from summer, but since I haven't put any pictures in my journal since last Christmas, they are new to you all.  Hope you all enjoy them.  I will write more later.

Too pooped to write

I wish I had the energy to write about my day, but I am so tired.  It is only 10:30, but I am heading directly to bed when I sign off.  Sunday's are very busy in my family as we start and end with church.  I also had 2 meetings in between today.  Whew!  I was never so happy to get out of my high heels after being in them for 12 hours!  Monday is my busy day at work, so it will be about this time when I get a chance to write.  You all have a great Monday.  Don't forget to count your blessings!

Notice anything missing?

Thank you dear friends. . .I have been empowered.  I removed my stupid counter all together.  I am not going to measure my worth by a number! (Even if if was almost 6,000!)  I will measure my worth by all the wonderful people that enjoy reading my journal.

Well, I just came from Wal*Mart.  I really don't know what possesses me to go there.  I hate it.  Really I do.  If it weren't so darned convenient!  One stop shopping.  The worst part of it is, and pleeeeeeeeeeeeze don't anyone take this the wrong way, but living in a farming community, we are totally inundated with illegals, and their favorite evening hang-out is Wal*Mart.  Ugg, I hate to even read back over that because I don't dislike them individually (that sounds bad too, sorry). . .ummm what I'm trying so hard to say is, they seem to swarm Wal*Mart in large family groups of at least 10.  Babies are screaming, I am surrounded by Espanola, I feel like shouting "Does anybody speak english anymore!"  This sounds bad too, but our Wal*Mart is filthy dirty.  I am not blaming the hispanics, but the management is really dropping the ball!  I feel like driving the extra 10 miles to the Wal*Mart in the next town. . .but this one is so convenient.  OK, I'll shut up!  Sorry, I just had to share.  Don't hate me.

Hey, who reset my counter?

Ok, I am aggravated now.  My counter --------------> was up to almost 6,000 hits and now it is down to 2!  What's going on?  Does anyone know if it can be reset?  I took pride in having such a big number!  If anyone knows anything I can do please let me know.

A Glorious Saturday!!!!

Hello everyone!  It is an abolutely perfect Florida day! I had choir practice this morning.  I really wasn't too excited about it, but once I got there it was actually fun.  We have a huge regional conference coming up in October that my church is hosting.  I am a part of the "conference choir" and even have a solo!  For anyone out there who is familiar with christian authors and music, Dr. Henry Blackaby (author of "Experiencing God") will be leading the conference.  We are going to perform the musical called "Experiencing God" that is unbelievable!  The conference choir will be a 250 voice choir from all over our area.  Anyway, enough about that.

I have to tell you all something funny that my Katie said to me today.  You all know how kids say the "darnest things", well she really isn't a kid anymore at 19, but every now and then they come out with something noteworthy.  I'll set it up for you:

My hubby is a farmer (daaaa, like I don't mention that in EVERY entry!) and he is crabby a lot from working dawn till dusk in the FL heat.  So, the kids asked him why he is so grouchy one day and pleasant the next.  He told them that he is much more pleasant the day after their mama (that's me!) "gives it up!"  WHAT?!  So, Katie says to me today, "mom, you need to "give it up" a little more and then dad will be happier.  Come on mom, take a hit for the team!"  I thought my teeth would fall out (and they are NOT dentures!).  I told her that I felt like 4 times a week was plenty! (I was fibbing just a bit).  I thought her teeth were gonna fall out!  Then she has the nerve to say, "7 mom.  It's got to be 7 times a week."  I don't think so!!  Anyway, I just had to share my funny for the day.  I may write again later, after I've put my hubby in a pleasant mood.  Woo hoo!

I may be a little slow. . .

Ok y'all.  I may be a little slow, but I have been turned on to the most awesome place and it is a complete shock to me!  I never knew places like this existed.  There is a company called "Let's Eat." (my kinda place already!)  Check out their website: www.letseatdinner.com.  No, really. . .go check it out!   Here's the deal:   You go on their site and register for a time to go there, then you choose 8 to 12 dinners from their monthly menu.  When you go to your appointment they have 12 stations set up, one for each menu item. (They only take 10 appointments at a time) You go to your first station where you will find a recipe, all of the ingredients (pre-chopped) and all of your utensils.  You follow the recipe and put the whole thing together then put a lid on it, pop an premade label with cooking instructions on it and put it in the fridge. (They provide the heavy-duty aluminum pans and lids) Then you go to your next station and do the same.  You make all of your 8 to 12 meals, get them out of the fridge, put them in a cooler and take them home.  Pop them all in the freezer and then you have dinner for 8 to 12 nights!  They do all the shopping, chopping and mopping!  No more buying a whole can of coconut milk for a recipe calling for a 1/4 of a cup and then putting it in the fridge until 3 months later when you see it way in the back, laying on it's side cemented to the shelf in a nasty sticky puddle (yes, you may assume that this has happened to me, more than once!)  Nope, they do all the work for you.  And what does this cost you might ask?  Well, let me tell you. . . only $149 for 8 meals and $199 for 12.  Now you might think this is a little steep, but I'm not talking about spaghetti here!  I'm talking Chicken Piccata, Beef Burgundy, real gourmet stuff! If you were to go to the store to buy ingredients for 8 gourmet meals you would spend way more than $149!!!  I can't do a cook-out with hamburgers and hot dogs for under $50!  If you haven't already done so, go check out their site.  It is a franchise, so there could be one in your area.   I haven't gone yet, but am planning to go in October.  I'm bringing my girls and I am sure we will have a ball.  Think about a group of girls going together to make dinners for the family of a sick friend or someone who just had a baby.  What a great time!  And I forgot to mention that if you go in the morning they serve pastries and coffee, and if you go in the afternoon they serve appetizers and wine!   Anyone living in the Tampa area email me and we will go together!  Yippee!

(I just read back over this and it sounds like a corny commercial for this company, but I promise I don't work for them, I have never even been there!  I just love the idea of it so much that I am all excited to try it out. . .promise!)

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Holy crap y'all!  I am astonished at having 8 comments today!  I thought for sure my re-entry into J-land would go unnoticed.  what a pleasant surprise.   Anyway, I would like to add some recent pics, but my old home computer is on dial-up (we live waaaay out in the country, can't get high speed here) and it is such a pain in the patootie.  My office computer is lightning fast and I use it for all of my digital pics (I have one of those scan thingys that you pop your memory card into and up pop your pictures on the screen).  We don't have AOL at work, so I can't add pics into my journal from there. . .so I will have to use some that are on a CD, if I can find them. 

I have had a stinking headache all afternoon, and so I took a darvocet at about 5:00 pm.  It is 8:40 now and I am still buzzing from it.  I get migraines occasionally and so the doc gives me darvocet and Maxalt for them.  This wasn't a migraine but I didn't have anything else with me, so I grabbed the "darvies" as my hubby calls them.   He doesn't really mind because if I am still buzzing at bed time then he takes full advantage. . .and I really don't care! 

Katie is sick tonight.  She just finished puking.  Wes is doing homework and poor Bets is doing all the grunt work.  Robert keeps saying, "hey Bets, come get this pile of clothes out of the hallway", "hey Bets, get me a glass of ice water", "hey Bets, go check the air, it's hot in here" and on and on.  I'm buzzing, so I get to play on the computer... not really, I am about to get up and do a load of clothes. I can hear my bed calling me though, it won't be long now!   You all have a great night.  I will be back again tomorrow!

I'm Back!!!

Hello J-Land!  I have probably lost all of my friends since it has been almost a year!  What a year it has been though. 

Updates:  Me~ I am still working full time at my church.  I am so very, very happy there.  I am the "Education Assistant" which doesn't tell you much, but it is very involved.  I can't even begin to tell all of the little things and unless you understand all of the behind the scenes nuts and bolts of running a church then it wouldn't make sence anyways.  The best part of my job is being the web site administrator.  In April of last year I designed our church website.  With the help of a techie (he did all the html and technical parts) I created a pretty darn nice website!  Here is the linky incase anyone wants to check it out: www.fbcpc.com. 

Robert (AKA Farmer Brown)~  He is still working his butt off as a farmer.  Sunup to sundown.  I love him to peices, but he has been a grouch lately as he is trying to lose 50 pounds!  It has been raining every day for weeks now and he is sick and tired of it.

Wes~ He is 21 and living at home while going to community college. He is working as much as he can at the farm to make some spending money.  We made him buy all of his books for school this fall and that took a couple of paychecks!  He is in love with the same girl, Katy who goes to Florida State, about 5 hours away. 

Katie~  The girl is about to kill us.  She came home yesterday with another tatoo! (her 2nd) She is 19 and she has her own car and money, so she doesn't feel the need to ask us if she can get a tatoo, she just does it! She too is going to community college and living at home.  She has a job at an athletic club and Robert is making her quit tomorrow.  She has gone down hill since she started working there, smoking and getting tatoos.  She rarely has time for church anymore and we have all noticed the change.  We are really hoping for a turn around soon.

Betsy~ My sweet girl.  She is a junior this year.  She is getting straight A's and with the exception of her constant sarcastic comments is not a bit of trouble.   She is doing really well with her guitar lessons and she is totally hooked on her ipod.  No boyfriend, but she does have a crush.

That's about it for the update.  If I get any comments or interest from my fellow J-landers, I will go back to keeping up with my journal.  I do miss it.  We have a family website at myfamily.com and although it isn't as good as a journal, all of my extended family goes on it everyday.  The main reason I quit keeping up with this journal is that some of my family members found it and were reading it everyday.  I felt like I was being watched!  I hope I can have a little privacy now that they don't know I have come back. 

Well, if any of my buddies read this, let me know!