Superbowl Sunday

Hope everyone enjoys this Superbowl Sunday.

Around here we're pulling for those Arizona Cardinals.

There are a couple of reasons why.....

Reason #1. Hometown boy.

JJ Arrington #28 is from our hometown and actually went to the same high school I went to.

Go Knights!!

My cousin was best friends with his sister, Janetta, so of course we have to cheer for him.

Reason #2. Kurt Warner.

That's all I have to say about him.

Have a great Sunday & enjoy those commercials.

Thank you, Thank you.

I just love blog awards and I've been awarded two of them lately.

Two. I'm so excited (and unworthy).

Let's start by telling you about the one I received back in December.

I know - December - I'm such a slacker.

This one comes from my friend Wendy over at Freeul.

Y'all should definitely go over & check her out - she's fun and crazy.

Apparently there are some rules that go along with accepting this award.

1. Say one nice thing to a man in your life:

I live with two great men (ok 1 great man and 1 great man to be) so I guess I should address this to them. To R and B, I am so blessed to have you in my life. You both help me grow and learn everyday and I just want you to know how much you're loved.

2. List six ways to measure success in my life.

1. I am a Christian and a child of God's - there is no other standard by which I measure, but these others are important to me also.

2. That my children also are saved by His grace and have a loving relationship with Him.

3. That my family always know how much they are loved.

4. That we succeed at homeschooling.

5. That we have a wonderful extended family.

6. That our marriage continues to be an example and standard for our children one day.

3. Assign this award to 5 other blogs:

1. Rae @ My Life on the East Coast

2. Wendi @ Because Wendi Said So

3. Jerri Lynn @ Southern Sassyness

4. Les @ Our Complete Family

5. Tarahbyte @ Eyeglasses & Endzones

The second award came to me just the other day from Tardevil over at Confessions of a 40-Something Mama Queen.

This award originally was started by "Wibeche" from Norway.

Wow. I'm getting international acclaim (sort of ).

Even though I don't really know what it says, I'm going with the translation

that Tar had on her blog.....

"This is an award for being a wonderful Mom.

You do fantastic work.

Be proud of your accomplishments."

I am passing this award along to the following fantastic moms

1. Darlene from Darlene's Days

(she might already have this - she's won everything)

2. Susie Harris from Bienvenue

3. Wendy from Freeul

4. Ang from Davisix

5. Jodie from The Minniear Family

Well, that concludes today's awards ceremony.

Congrats to all the awardee's.

(I could have given out a lot more, but I would have been here all day, so if you would like one of these.....please feel free to take it).

Thanks ladies (and gentlemen) for reading - hope you're all staying warm & dry.

NCSU loses great coach

As most of you know we're from NC and my son and husband both love NC State University athletics. I happen to be a diehard Tarheel fan.

They are definite rivals on the court and on the field but today

all fans are joined together in mourning the loss of

NC State's women's basketball coach Kay Yow.

She has been a warrior in fighting breast cancer for over 20 years but

that fight ended this morning.

She was 66 years old.

This is not the first time NC State athletics has been affected

by cancer's touch. You may remember their men's basketball

coach Jim Valvano who passed away from cancer in 1993.

Let's join together in saying a prayer for anyone who is or has been

touched by this vicious disease and please don't put off

getting mammograms - early detection is key.

I've been transformed....

Do you ever have days when you feel like this.....

You know the ones I'm talking about.

The kind of days when all you do is fuss at your lovely children because they don't want to do anything but play(and you need them to work).

The kind of days when you walk around your house

and have to step over toys and barbies and balls and shoes

because no one will pick anything up and put it where it belongs.

The kind of days where when your loving husband who

is leaving for work (not to return until late tonight)

tells you to "get in a better mood".

Better mood?

Better mood????

Excuse me, but maybe I wouldn't have to do my

Wicked Witch of the South(because I'm in SC) impersonation if everybody would

help a mom out now and then.

It's a little tiring being the resident cook, nurse, chauffeur, teacher,

dry cleaner, maid, secretary, janitor, accountant, and CEO.

As you've probably guessed......today is one of those days.

Please excuse me while I go cast a spell on these people

and maybe I won't have to call out the flying monkeys.

I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday.

It's Inauguration Day

I'm always very sentimental when it comes to endings and new beginnings.

Today is no different.

It's a very important day in our country's history.

A day for Change.

We've heard a lot about that in the last year.

Change.

Well, America, the change you wanted is here and I pray that it is for the better.

The Bible teaches us that we are to honor our leaders, so based on that

I support our new President.

I'll definitely be saying a few prayers on his behalf and hope that our economic

problems improve.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Inauguration Day.

Watch that coverage and embrace the leaders that God has put in place.

Prayers Needed

There are some new babies in blogland that need our prayers.

Harper Brown Stamps
Kelly from Kelly's Korner had Harper Friday. She has pneumonia and has been flown to the NICU in Tulsa. They also think she may have some heart issues.

Brayden Paul Wiley

Her friend, Jenna had Brayden earlier in the week. He's also having trouble breathing and was airlifted to the NICU in Little Rock.

Please lift these families up in prayer as they go through these difficult times.

(Just click on their names above to read about their progress.)

Southern Living Goodness

I don't know about you but around this time every year I kind of get a little blue.

It's cold outside. The excitement of the holidays are over and my home usually feels a little empty after being dolled up for Christmas.

We've been in this house for almost 5 months now.

I have a long list of things I want to do here.

My problem is that I'm impatient.

I want all of my projects done yesterday.

I read this post over at The Inspired Room last night and she is so right.

Now I'm looking at my blank spaces in a whole new light.

So, while I'm waiting for the right inspiration to coordinate with the budget and the calendar,

I'll leave you with this lovely room that I fell in love with

while browsing through my favorite magazine.....Southern Living.

Enjoy & have a great weekend.

(I just love that coffee table.)

(Look at those rectangle dishes mixed in with the pictures - lovely.)

(Dishes, dishes everywhere.)(Cozy dining area. Just look at that symmetry - a girl after my own heart.)

(A close up of the console table she uses as a sideboard.)

Simply beautiful.

Delayed

I told you I was back up & running.

And I was.

I still am.

However, I can't seem to locate the specific USB cord that goes with my camera.

Does anyone know what that means?

That's right.

I can't get any of the pictures that are currently stuck inside my camera posted onto my blog.

Never fear.

I have put my oldest child on the case.

Since it was last seen in his room, I have asked him to go on a search.

This could take a while.

But hopefully, I'll be able to show you what's been floating around in my head soon.

For now I think I'll make some hot chocolate, light the fireplace & try to stay warm.

Playing catch up.

Good news, good news.

Thanks to my sweet hubby and this:

I'm back up and running.

(Yay, cheers, shouts of joy!)

Now I have a few posts that I have to catch up on.

I'll just take one at a time so please be patient when you see this one that

dates back to New Year's weekend.

We had a wonderful visit from our friends The Minniear's.

Long story short, the menfolk work for the same company and we met when

we both moved to the Sandhills area of NC.

We all became fast friends & enjoyed doing things together (all the time).

Well, fast forward to the summer of 2007 (I think) and they up & moved .

To Indiana.

It's been a while since we've been able to coordinate a visit, but they

were going to be in the general vicinity of the southeast & decided to drop by.

Here are some pictures of our time together enjoying the Wii, playing with cameras,

and figuring out what to do with Jodie's kitchen windows.

Thanks guys for a great couple of days.

We hope it won't be so long between visits next time.

Check those calendars.

Special Note:

Head over to Inspired Kara's.....the girl has lost her mind

and is giving away a $50 Etsy shopping spree.

I'm so out of the loop.

Hey everyone.

Just a quick note (on hubby's laptop) to let y'all know that I've been busy...but not too busy to check in with you.

The truth is....I'm having computer issues.

(Gasp.)

I know. It's very frustrating.

I can't check in on Kelly to see if the baby has arrived yet.

I can't tell Ang to hang in there - it will get better.

I can't go check to see how Chatting at the Sky is doing in the polls

(much less vote once a day).

and

I was a little later than I would have liked to have been entering

the giveaway that Carrie is having.

So, I guess I'll just continue to be patient & fit my blogging in when I can

(while hubby's getting ready for work & is not attached to this thing).

Hope everyone is doing great and hopefully after today, things will get back to normal.

Now excuse me, I have to go call my blogaholics anonymous counselor.

Homeschool Daze in session

We have officially gotten under way.
After months of planning, Edwards Christian Academy is now in session.

It's actually been better than I expected.
There have been a couple of grumbles from a certain 5th grader (I won't name any names)
but for the most part they've done their work without complaint.

Here are a few pictures from Monday.
Today went a little smoother now that everyone sort of knows
how things will be.

We also had our first official library day and got lots of information
from the helpful librarian who gave us a quick tour.

Just thought I'd show you why my blog has been neglected lately.
I do get a few minutes to myself every now & then, so if I haven't been by recently......I will be soon.

(Sorry about the crooked pictures - I don't have time to figure that one out.)

Snail Shells

Hope 2009 is getting off to a wonderful start for everyone.

Ours has been great, so far but busy.

We just had a wonderful visit from friends that had moved to Indiana

about a year and a half ago.

It was so good to see them again.

(More about that visit in another post.)

For now, I'd like to brag about another friend of mine.

This one goes way back to Junior High school times and even though

we haven't seen each other in years we still keep in touch a little

with Christmas cards and Facebook.

Her name is Marley Ungaro and she is one of the most talented artists I've ever seen.

We all knew in high school that she was great at drawing and painting

but to see her, as an adult using her talent for God's glory is just wonderful.

She's been selling her art, calendars, note cards, etc. for a while now but

this past year, she got together with another talented lady, Jennifer Johnson

and they decided to do a children's book.

The Proper Use of One's Shell

Written by Jennifer Johnson & Illustrated by Marley Ungaro

(Marley's on the left.)

Just to give you a little summary.....

The Proper Use of One's Shell is a tale of a snail's journey to find

her purpose and the proper use of her outer shell through self-discovery

and a compassionate mentor, a sunflower. The book's purpose is to

impact the theme that God has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecc. 3:11),

and He has gifted us each perfectly and for a purpose.

To read more about the book and to keep up with it's growth,

please visit:

Proper Use Project or Mungaro

I think it's really sweet that they donate 10% of sales to Room to Read.

If you need a birthday gift for a child or just want to add to your children's library

please go visit these ladies and help support fellow mom's.