Happy Thanksgiving!

To all of my bloggy friends.....Happy Thanksgiving! Marissa has been making a paper chain with links that have some thing she is thankful for written on each link. It inspired me to make a list of things that I am grateful for....

So here they are, in no particular order except for number one and number two!

1. Jesus Christ
2. my salvation
3. my family
4. my husband, who loves me
5. my home
6. our car and truck
7. my friends
8. Jamie's two good jobs
9. my friends
10. our pets
11. my Church
12. my health
13. my computer
14. BLOGGING---it is such a way to vent and relieve stress!
15. coupon clipping--once again, a great stress reliever for me
16. those super soft fuzzy socks
17. my cozy bed
18. chocolate
19. scrapbooking
20. bubble baths
21. Gold Canyon candles
22. Cracker Barrel
23. books and magazines
24. my freedom
25. my rights as an American
26. my pastor and his family
27. high speed internet
28. my child's school, and the great opportunities it has opened for her
29. fresh air to breathe
30 Dasani water

See? I told you it was random! I promise there is no particular order on my list, I just jotted down things as they came to mind. There is no way I could list things in order of importance, there are so many things that I am blessed with and people that I dearly love.

So happy Thanksgiving my friends....I am blessed to have each of you in my life.

Bloggin'

Just so you know, Marissa has been bloggin' again! Go see her latest post and vote on her poll. She loves that!

Twas The Weekend Before Thanksgiving....

Our Church is hosting it's annual Thanksgiving tomorrow night and I am so excited. My friend Sheila bought one of the turkeys and I am cooking it. It is roasting as I type....and it smells good!
We have been at our Church now for 3 Thanksgivings, and I enjoy this dinner so much every year. The food, the friends, the warm and cozy feelings just delight me. It is sort of the official kickoff to the holidays in my book.

This year I am especially excited because my parents are driving up to go with us. That makes it even better!

I better go dig out some elastic waist pants from somewhere because I intend to enjoy myself tomorrow!

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing tomorrow night, know that I will be thanking God for each of you tomorrow night at 6:00 as we bow our heads in prayer of thanksgiving to our God on High.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!!

BRRRRRRRRR! It was so cold here this morning! Last week it was in the eighties, this morning at was 26 degrees!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I felt so bad putting my baby on the bus this morning while it was still dark outside and it was so cold! She was bundled up in 2 shirts, a long skirt, knee highs, knee high boots, her puffy coat (aka The Purple Marshmallow) a scarf and gloves. She was not about to wear a hat, but tonight when we left for church she voluntarily bundled up and slapped the hat on her head and headed out the door.

It is supposed to be cold here all week, and although I do not relish the idea of the heating bill, I have to admit I like cold weather. I wish we got snow here once in a while, but I really do love a nice crisp cold snap. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up...it is hard to feel "fallish" when it is 80 degrees outside!

Don't forget!

Don't forget to check out my new blog, "I'm Not Cheap, I'm Thrifty!" I have listed some promotions going on as well as my latest coupon savings. Follow the link at the right and let me know what you think!
Is this a pitiful ploy to get more readers over to the Thrifty blog? You bet it is! It's kinda lonely over there......and you guys really want to follow the links posted there to great blogs like The Centisble Sawyer and Keeper of The Cheerios and Wanting What You Have. ALL of these ladies ROCK THE HOUSE!

Kids in Nebraska

Have you seen the news story about people dropping off their kids in Nebraska? Apparently, if you have decided that you don't want your child or are unable to care for the child you have, you can just go drop it off and the state will take care of it for you. No fouls, no penalties, no problems for you.

Originally, this law was created to prevent Moms from putting their newborns in dumpsters or alleyways when they can't raise them. We have all seen horror stories like that on Law and Order, CSI, and even in our local paper. However, no age limit was ever set to limit when and how the kids can be dropped off and people are driving from all over the country to dump their kids off on in Nebraska. Now the lawmakers are trying to change this law to add an age limit on the children that can be abandoned.

My question is.....what are these parents thinking???? Can someone truly be in their right mind and just casually take your kid for a leisurely drive and then dump them off at the hospital and squeal away from the curb? What is this doing to the kids? And what about the kids who hear this on the news (nationwide or worldwide)....what are they thinking? Are they wondering if their parents will drop them off someday and never return? What is this telling them about their worth?

I believe that the sanctity of life disappeared in 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled in Roe vs. Wade that a woman can abort her unborn child. What does it say about our society now when abortions can be performed up until the 9th month of pregnancy? Call it "partial birth abortion" if you want, it is murder plain and simple! If you are not familiar with the practice of partial birth abortion, I urge you to read up and make your voice heard! Warning: the details are scary, horrific and disturbing to the point of terrifying. However, it is a real part of our world and we must be knowledgeable about these things before we can change them.

I know that life begins at conception. God says in Psalm 139:13 "Before I knit you together in your mother's womb, I knew you". The Bible also said in Psalm 22:10 "From my mother's womb you have been my God". And what about in Jeremiah 29:11 when God tells us that He has plans for us????? If God recognizes us as human beings with thoughts, feelings, abilities, a future and a spirit before we are born, then why can't society?

It is time for us to stand up and say that life matters. It is time for people to realize that life begins at conception, not at birth. I mean really, how many people do you know that have come to you and proudly announced that they are carrying at fetus and they will let you know when they are 12 weeks along and you can now join them in referring to "it" as a baby? So come on America, wake up and smell the coffee. We have allowed our government to tell us that life is a disposable commodity and that we have a choice in whether or not a BABY should have the right to be born. Is there no value in life anymore?

For those of us who battle with infertility this is a very touchy subject. An interesting sidenote, as of the last news story, none of the children abandoned in Nebraska since this story broke have been infants.

I know that there are cases where parents truly cannot care for their children, but surely there is a better alternative than tossing them out on the hospital steps. I know of several people who would be delighted to have the awesome opportunity to raise one of these discarded children and show them that they are one of God's most beautiful creation because that is what they truly are.

There's sumfin wrong here.....

We have known for a while that our kitty Julio was, shall we say....."special"???? I mean, I have never had a cat that drinks out of the toilet, likes his tummy rubbed, sleeps with his head hanging off the bed, eats cotton balls, loves Chinese food and Subway sandwiches (especially the olives) and doesn't meow. He is odd, granted, but we love him. He needs us.

But this kind of takes the cake. Riss had such a good time with him Sunday night and as soon as I regained composure and stopped laughing I grabbed a few pics.

What do you think?



Anyone know a good kitty therapist????

FREE STUFF!

One of the blogs I follow listed this freebie and I had to check it out. It's true.....it really works! I love it when that happens!
Go to Walgreens.com and upload your favorite digital photo. ON the checkout page select that you want it in 8x10 size, and then enter coupon code "freepic".
You will be directed to pick a store to pick up your print at, and you will see that it is 100% totally FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be picking up my freebie today after 10AM. WOOHOO!
It's like early Christmas for a scrapbooker like me :)
And be sure to check out my money saver blog at www.notcheapthrifty.blogspot.com. Follow the blog links listed. This one came from "The Centsible Sawyer" and all of these ladies have great ideas! Happy shopping! :)

Time for the Fair!

Have I mentioned I have LOST my Halloween pictures? So ok, if I post them after Christmas you guys will forgive me right????

In the mean time, here are some pictures from our trip to the fair last weekend. We had looked forward to it for a while!

First of all, I just have to say how beautiful I think my daughter is, even when she is sporting her Daddy's ballcap! (She was holding this for him while he rode a ride she was NOT ABOUT to get on! Some sort of flip you upside down thing....not for her!)

I guess we all go to the fair for different things, but I go for the sausage dogs! Yes, I know how bad they are for me, but seriously...is one a year THAT bad?????

I also really love the lights.....ooooo....aaaahhhhhh.....

Of course my crew loves the rides. I get sick just riding in a car, so I can't handle any rides at all. Except the Merry Go Round, which noone will ride with me anymore...it has been deemed a "baby" ride by my child....




Another one of my favorite parts is the shows. We watched this one this year where Galaxy Girl climbed to the top of a 12 story pole and did tricks...even a handstand and hanging by one knee. I got so nervous watching her I had to walk off. But I loved it when she teamed up with her cute partners for that whole wheel of death motorcycle thing where they ride around in that wheel. That was too cool!
Galaxy girl has a website too, www.galaxyofthrills.com. This chick was awesome! Nuts, but awesome!


David wasn't feeling well enough to go with us, but Kathy went and had a great time. She is one cool Grandma to ride all the stuff she rides! And check out her new hairdo! She is one hot mama!

Yard Sale

We are having a yard sale at my house this Saturday from 7am-1pm. We have tons of clothes, kitchen items, toys, and interesting odds and ends. Come see what we have and BUY SOME THINGS!!!!!

Email me for directions if you need them!

I've Been Tagged By Cecile!

It goes like this....

1. Go to your pictures
2. Upload the 4th picture in the 4th folder
3. Post it on your blog
4. Tag 4 of your blogger buddies

Now seeing as my husband rearranges my picture folders about a week ago, this should be interesting.....

WHEW! At least it was a good picture! This is my dear friend Debbie and her adorable family from our trip to the mountains about 3 weeks ago. She let us tag along for fun! The pic was taken in front of Amicolola Falls, which is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi.
Cool huh?
Ok so now it's your turn.....
I tag:
1. Jamie D.
2. April
3. Miranda
4. Stephanie

New blog to follow

Hi everyone,
I have started a new blog, called "I'm Not Cheap, I'm Thrifty". You can click the link on my blog list or go to it directly at www.notcheapthrifty.blogspot.com. I plan to post some money saving ideas and tips and stuff over there. In these unsure economic times I have found some great money saving advice on other people's blogs and I have posted links to them on the Thrifty blog as well.

Please check it out! Let me know what you think!

This makes how many?????

My bloggy buddy Miranda over at Keeper of The Cheerios blog posted a day or so ago that she was posting her 1ooth blog entry. WOW! That is so awesome! I had no idea a person could track how many posts they had! So out of curiosity, I checked to see if there was a way to see how many times I have posted since I started blogging back in February of this year. Yup...right over there by the little blog archive it totals it up for me, even breaks it down by the number of posts per month. I was SHOCKED to see that I have posted 129 times! (This makes 130 I guess) I further learned that apparently October has been a rather slow month, only 7 posts so far, while March hopped along briskly with 22 posts.

So what in the world do I find to ramble about? This blog started when I worked at Savannah Scrapbooking, as a way to show layouts and connect with other scrappers. Now it has become a site to share, vent, show off, mention, nag, whine, complain, inspire, describe, brag and just about any other PG rated verb you can find.

So tell me, which of my posts did you connect with the most? Which one surprised you? Which is your all time fave????

Also, I am considering trying to print out the most important (read:noteworthy, as in worth remembering in future years) posts of the past year and bind them into sort of a year in review album for my Mom this Christmas. Any suggestions? Thoughts? Comments? Send 'em on in! I need some new material!

And by the way, go visit The Keeper of The Cheerios...it's a great blog with super recipes and good advice. Say hi to Miranda for me!

New layouts!

Granted, they have been a little while coming, but here they are! NEW LAYOUTS! I have yet to remember to photograph the layouts in daylight, so they always look a little dark, and somehow, even though I have them on an easel they always come pout crooked. But you get the idea. Somedays I feel a little dark and crooked too! Hope you like them!
This first layout was kind of a fluke. I was just playing around and managed to snag a shot of just my daughter's eyes. I almost deleted it before I realized what a genius I was LOL! I want to add the lyrics to the song "In My daughter's Eye's" by Martina McBride, maybe behind the pic as hidden journaling.

The next layout is a bit of a departure from my regular choice of colors, but I like it none the less. The journaling is worth the eyestrain...it tells the story of my 74 year old Mom learning to text message.

This one is the story of Marissa catching her first fish. She has fished since she was about 2, but I was too afraid to let her have a real hook on her line after seeing my sister get impaled by one in her head when I was a kid and her PaPa David get a hook through the skin across his kneecap (it was one of those nasty ones with 3 prongs and he had to go to the ER to get it cut out) so we just put the weight and bobber on her line. That worked fine, she was happy to cast and play in the water until she caught on not long ago. (Boy was my face red)Anyway, here she is, with her first catch.

Next comes a couple of cute pics of my fur babies when they were still tiny and silly!

Now here is one about one of my nieces, on her way to becoming a doctor at LSU School of Medicine.

And last but not least, a story about Krispy Kreme. Hey, you knew food was coming in here some place right???? I have no idea why she bit the donut on both sides, but whatever.......


Hope you enjoyed these! Have a great weekend!

Beware of NetZero and their "Customer Service"!!!

I just read a post from my blogger friend Miranda about someone using her info to get service from NetZero and how NetZero responded to her claim of fraud. You won't believe it! Read her story and PROTECT yourself from these crooks!
www.keeperofthecheerios.com or follow my blog link to "Miranda's Blog".

Pumpkin Patch

I saved the best for last. While we were on our trip last weekend we went to Burt's Pumpkin Farm in Dawsonville. Jamie and I took Riss there a few years ago and we had so much fun! I was thrilled with the opportunity to go back!
They have hundreds, maybe even thousands of pumpkins....from the traditional orange to a golden color, to white and even light teal!






Of course the gourds and Indian corn were beautiful too.




We enjoyed the hayride through the mountains, even going through a little stream!




You know how you can take 500 shots in an afternoon and finally find the one shot that you just LOVE and it made it all worthwhile? Well, this is the one for me. I think we brought home the prettiest pumpkin in the patch!

From The Mountains.....

We headed out last Friday afternoon and booked it up to Amicolola State Park in Dawsonville. We got checked into our cabin, which was at the top of the waterfall. We had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms so there was plenty of room for all of us. The girls quickly claimed the room on one end of the cabin, and the adults took the two bedrooms on the other end.

Saturday morning we headed over to Helen and to Cleveland to visit the Cabbage Patch Hospital. We found out two very important things.....one, they are building a NEW Cabbage Patch Hospital due to open next year so we were happy to take a last look at our old one. Next. Helen hosts Oktoberfest ALL MONTH LONG so it was nuts. I urge you to avoid Helen at all costs during October unless you enjoy rowdy drunks, loud Harleys with obnoxious people riding them that feel the need to rev the engine constantly and cause the bike to backfire RELENTLESSLY while waiting in traffic, crowded sidewalks, long lines at restaurants, and the general RUDENESS of people who DO enjoy those types of activities.



Moving on....
We did enjoy the winery and the antique mall on the outskirts of Helen, and of course Debbie and I found a scrapbook shop :)










Later that night we built a campfire and made smores, while the girls played with the marshmallow shooters their Dads bought in Helen. I have to say the campfire was probably my favorite time. even if eveyone did make fun of my redneck shoes.





Sunday we went to the falls, ate in the lodge restaurant, saw a nature show about birds of prey, and in general hung around the park until campfire time again.





While we were at the park, we did one of Marissa's favorite things of all....we let her complete the Junior Ranger study and earn her badge. The naturalist we worked with was GREAT and he taught Marissa a lot!



Monday we headed home, happy and content after our weekend away but at least one of us was VERY tired!