"Show & Tell" Saturday

CUPS!

I've been excited about this day and just waiting for this chance, so here we go!....

TA - DA!!

This is my absolute favorite mug in all the world. And I have lots! It was purchased at Disney World a couple of years ago, for me by my dear hubby. I had admired it earlier that day, and when he went out shopping by himself that night, he picked it up and surprised me with it. How cool is that...

It has Disney characters all over it, of course, and one of the features I love best is that is has "Mom" going down the handle:

I always, ever and only drink coffee from this mug! I'm a coffee drinker. Pure and simple. And every time I sip from this mug, I can close my eyes and go back to a wonderful, magical trip that my family and I shared....and I don't think it gets too much better than that!

Oh, and just for fun, here is a picture I took on our most recent trip to Disney World.....

The Wall of Mugs!

(cue choir of angels!...lol!)

Friday Funnies

I don't have a whole slew of giggles for ya today but I do have a few quotes from my kids through the years that I wrote down so that I would never forget them. Leave it to children to say it like it is!

From my 7-yr. old son just yesterday:
I was working on a cross-stitch project and had been struggling with the floss and the particular needle I was using. He could hear my sighs of frustration so when I finally yelled "Oh for the love of Pete!" he replied "Who's Pete?" I chuckled and said "Oh he's no one, it's just an expression. I'm having a problem with my thread, that's all." His response?......"Well, it's not Pete's fault!"

From my 12-yr. old son, several years ago when he was probably 6 or 7:
Driving through one of NH's small cities, we passed by a Pizzeria Uno restaurant. He promptly thought aloud, "Pizzeria Uno.....Hmm, I wonder when they're going to make a "Dos"?"

From the 7-yr. old, last summer while wrestling with his oldest brother:
The oldest said (in fun), "I'm gonna beat the living daylights out of ya!" to which the 7-yr. old replied with some confusion, "I don't have any daylights!"

From the 9-yr. old recently:
Our kitchen has a built-in pantry with double-doors. It's not a walk-in but has rather deep shelves. The snacks are on the middle shelf where the boys can get something when they want it, but sometimes they have to reach back to see what all is there. With my back to the pantry as I was doing dishes, I suddenly heard a muffled voice exclaim "Hey!....now I know what it's like to be a snack!" I turned to find my middle son leaning into the back of the pantry as far he could, with the doors closed around on his back.....!

And finally, the sweetest one ever:

From the 7-yr. old when he was 4:
At bedtime my sweet little boy gave me a hug and said "You're the best mamma ever!" I told him that was very sweet to say and that I loved being his mamma. To which he replied: "And I love being your boy."


Have a fantastic Friday everyone!

My resolve....

...has been hardened.

I hate cold weather.

I spent a glorious weekend in Florida recently and absolutely did not want to come back! Hubby said he'd send the kids to me via FedEx!...lol! My "welcome home" to NH was a doozy of a snowstorm yesterday. Yay.

I took some pictures in Florida (of course!), which I'm posting here for you to enjoy!

These are from Heritage Village in Seminole, FL. It's a collection of restored buildings from all over the state that are of historic significance or interest.

In and near St. Petersburg...

And finally, some scenes from The Pier in St. Petersburg (the pelicans were EVERY where!)...

The ship is a replica of the HMS "Bounty" and is the actual ship used in the '60s film "Mutiny on the Bounty" !

I made a humorous discovery yesterday. 99% of my wintertime photos are taken from inside my porch or standing just barely outside on the landing!! lol! Gee, wonder why that is?!

Actually there is a lot of beauty in the winter outdoors, if one can brave the cold. I'm also usually concerned about my camera in that weather, and of course the battery won't last very long in extreme temperatures.

I took these pictures yesterday during the snow storm (yes, from the porch...). The birds were quite busy staying warm!

This guy spent much of last winter hanging around our yard. It's a Barred Owl. It was such a treat to have an owl so close for so long!

I really enjoy watching the birds and will be participating in the annual winter Bird Count next month. If you are into birds at all it's a great way to help, and you can get more info and sign up at: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

Countdown to Florida!!

No, not moving. Yet. But this coming weekend I am going to visit my dad for a few days and with the temperatures we've had in NH, I am even more excited about this trip! It's just me going, too, so it'll be a little Mom's retreat.

DH and I had a weekend to ourselves this past weekend. The boys went to my MIL for an overnight and we got to go out to dinner! We were supposed to go to Vermont to our favorite antique place yesterday but it snowed so that was right out. I can't wait to live where there's no snow to ruin my plans!!

Today the kids are off from school for MLK day. After the extended time off with the ice storm, lots of us are wondering why these little days off aren't cancelled in favor of NOT being in school until July! Of course if we move before the end of the school year, as I expect we will, my kids will be transferring and it won't apply to them anyway, so I'm not stressing it right now.

Speaking of school, my younger two seem to want to home school again. I am definitely open to that after we move, if possible. I wrote an article for The Old Schoolhouse magazine's new e-book on the subject. I wrote it almost a year ago and the book was just recently published, so it was kind of funny to get my copy and read my chapter, now that I have all the kids in school again. Well, life is like that sometimes and you've got to learn to go with the flow.

Wow, this blog entry is full of all manner of topics, isn't it?! We went from a trip to Florida to home schooling. Someone needs to show me how to put a list of topics in my sidebar there so I can be a little more bl-organized!! ha ha!

Blog envy

The more time I spend on Blogger, browsing blogs and visiting my friend's blogs, the more I realize how lacking I am in HTML skills. I like my blog ok, but it's so.....basic. lol! I love of some of your customized backgrounds. There are some beautiful and very unique blogs out there! I think that's the key: unique. A blog is very personal, so to just have a blog that anyone else out there could also have, just isn't right. If anyone has a link to some blog helps (beyond this site) that may be useful, feel free to comment with them!

Love...what does it mean to you?

This came to my in-box earlier today. It is too precious not to share. I hope you enjoy!

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What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . ..

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it. Touching words from the mouth of babes. A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.. See what you think.



'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' .....Rebecca- age 8


'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' .....Billy - age 4


'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' .....Karl - age 5


'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' .....Chrissy - age 6


'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' .....Terri - age 4


'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' .....Danny - age 7


'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss' .....Emily - age 8


'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' .....Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)


'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' .....Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)


'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' ....Noelle - age 7


'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' .....Tommy - age 6


'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' .....Cindy - age 8


'My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' .....Clare - age 6


'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' .....Elaine-age 5


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' .....Chris - age 7


'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' .....Mary Ann - age 4


'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' .....Lauren - age 4


'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image ) .....Karen - age 7


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.' .....Mark - age 6


'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.' .....Jessica - age 8


And the final one The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'


When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Heavenly Father, please bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! And may their life be full of Your peace as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with You.

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May we never forget what a precious treasure our children are.....!

Clutter, clutter everywhere....

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate clutter. I think most people do, but we just have such a habit of collecting it that it often seems out of control and then you get to the point of not wanting to tackle it, so you put it off and put it off and it snowballs and....

...well, you get the point!

We have lived in this house for six years now. I am amazed - amazed!! - at how much "stuff" a person can accumulate in that span of time. I am starting to look at our house and our stuff in terms of having to pack it up and move it somewhere, which puts a whole new spin on it. A high cupboard, a dark closet corner, and my all-time favorite ~the kitchen junk drawer~! I wish I knew where we were going as I begin this monumental task, but basically I'm looking at the task with the view of down-sizing. I will assume that we will not have as much room as we do now. It is also a 100% certainty that in Florida, we will not have a basement.

Oh my basement, how I love thee.... What manner of treasures forgotten do you hold safely against your strong concrete walls...faithfully protecting against moth and rust...always at the ready when a need calls.

It's also freezing cold down there right now and it does not beckon me to spend time weeding junk out of boxes!

I am dreading the purging of the kids' toys most of all. Too. Much. Stuff. And they tend to be pack-rats. I may buy each boy a large plastic storage bin. If you can fit it in there, you can bring it along. Consider carefully and make some choices!

Oh this is going to be an adventure in itself, this purging & decluttering...

Eating Healthy & Losing Weight - Part 2

I was inspired by Kim at http://homesteadersheart.blogspot.com/ to turn a new leaf in the new year with my health and eating habits. As I've thought about it over the last few days and tried to make some small, beginning changes, I've decided the best approach for me is going to be Paul McKenna's approach. He was on TLC last spring here in the U.S. with a mini-series called "I Can Make You Thin" and when I stuck with his program, it worked.

What's different with this plan is that it teaches you how to eat. That may sound overly simplistic, but we in the Western world are so conditioned to eating wrong that we don't even realize that we're doing it. One of our biggest faults is eating by sight. We feel guilty if we don't "clean our plate" and end up eating more food than our bodies need. If you sit down with a plate of food that, looking at it, you think is a "normal" portion, but eat one bite at a time with your eyes closed, you will find that your body (stomach) sends a clear signal that it's full before you "clean your plate!"

The biggest feature in this plan is that no food is excluded. For health reasons I am obviously not going to exist on a diet of doughnuts just because I love them. But I am allowed to have one if I want to. By allowing me to choose any food I want when I am hungry, I am eliminating the inevitable craving for "forbidden" foods that so often leads to binging and falling off the wagon.

My personal battle will be with "picking." Eating out of boredom. I find I do that a LOT late in the day, and when I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner. Must. Stop.

So, I'll update here once a week to post on my progress. Feel free to comment as I would love the encouragement!

Fuzzy Disney Math

You know, when you want something badly enough - something that you have some control over the outcome - you can usually find ways of making it happen. It might not make a lot of sense to other people, or, perhaps, even to you. But when you look at that something long enough...turn it sideways and look at it some more....flip it over and look even more....eventually you start to figure things in your head that do make sense.

That's where Fuzzy Disney Math comes in.

I'm a Disney Nut. My license plate on my van even says so. I have a whole lanyard of collector's pins hanging from my rear-view window, to remind me of my Favorite Place every time I drive somewhere. I stream Disney park and resort music from Live365.com nearly every day. I spend ridiculous amounts of time on The DIS Discussion boards, talking with complete strangers (and some not-so-stranger anymore!) about all things Disney. It just never gets old to me. Ever.

So I'm chatting away today with some of my DIS friends and as usual someone out there is planning a trip. A trip they really hadn't planned on taking this year. But they got a too-good-to-pass-it-up pin code, and a trip is born. The domino effect kicks in and I start thinking about how much I'd love a solo trip someday (yes my friends you have to be a bonafide Disney Nut to want to go there by yourself). Next thing you know, I'm on the official Disney web site pricing out said solo trip.

The grand total isn't so bad, in the big picture. But it's insane to even think I could possiby go there this year. Even if it isn't until the fall and I have plenty of time to gather the deposit and save for the balance.

Can you see the Fuzzy Disney Math here??!

I know lots of people who just cannot wrap their brains around a solo trip to Disney. But I can't wait for one. I love having time to myself. I'm comfortable with myself and don't always feel the need to have someone else around to talk to and such. It's not that I don't want my family around; that's not it at all. It's that a solo trip would afford me the chance to see Disney World entirely on my own schedule, see what I want to see without taking a vote on it, ride something 10 times in a row if I so choose! And to be honest, the chance to slow down and take in all the details. Hard to do with three active children in tow....! And those same active children have been to Disney World three times in their brief lives, just so you know.

And before you think I've left out my poor hubby, be advised that he and I are planning a special Disney trip for our 20th anniversary in three years!

So, there you have it. I'm looking at taking a solo trip to Disney World. This year.

Eating Healthy & Losing Weight

I found this post this morning on a fellow blogger's site, and thought it would be a good idea to follow along!

Homesteaders Heart: Eating Healthy & Losing Weight- Let's take baby steps!



Kim is always full of great ideas for practical living and this promises to be no different. I'm excited to have something reasonable to attain to as far as my health and weight in the new year.


Now, if I could just motivate myself to get to that Decluttering Project...!

Welcome 2009!

So it's finally here!

And I just read a very depressing article on our local new's web site re: the economy in NH for the coming year.

Blar....

Well, that's where I need to be like Peter in the boat, watching Jesus come to him on the water. As long as Peter fixed his eyes on his savior, he walked on the water. As soon as he took his gaze off Christ and focused on the waves and the storm around him, fear overtook him and he began to sink.

I don't know what this year will bring, but I need to remember where to keep my focus. There may be a storm brewing all around me, but it doesn't have to swamp me.