Update

I have not been "inspired" to post lately so here are some random things going on in my life since the last time I posted.

1. The suitor came and spent a week here a couple of weeks ago. It was nice but it rained most of the time that he was here & that stunk.
2. We had VBS this past week at church. It was good. I did hear a good joke (twice) that was funny - There was this old man that loved his money so much that as he got old, he went to the bank & took all his money out, put it in a suit case & stuck it in the attic above his bed. He said this was so he could grab it on the way up to heaven. Well one day the man died & the wife sent someone up to the attic to look for the suit case & sure enough it was still there. The wife said, "I knew it, he should have put it in the basement!" Ha, Ha - VBS was about heavenly treasure.
3. I have seen Shrek 3, Spiderman 3 & Knocked Up recently. I will see Ocean's 13 & 300 this weekend (300 is still on the cheap theater here). Knocked Up I thought was pretty funny!
4. Work is still good, a good time in the market for me.
5. Had someone almost buy one of the houses but we could not agree on price.
6. I have put a for sale by owner sign in my yard. May move to Ozark we will see what happens.
7. Putting final touches on things for the reunion.
8. Helped my cousin find a house to move here & helping them with jobs.
9. Boys are with Shannon this next week in Indiana. I've already cried missing them.
10.My veggie garden is coming along & I actually was a success in having roses this year. But not a success at getting pictures of them yet.

Are you Emo?

I had my first experience with one of my children saying a slang word that I did not know what it meant. Cody was telling me about a girl that is Emo.

I've seen kids like this at the mall. I did not know that is the name for them. I am so happy that I learned this. You learn something new every day.

Vroom, Vroom

Brayden learned how to ride his bike this week without training wheels. I hate to brag, but I think the is a genius. I took the training wheels off on Monday, he practiced for like 10 minutes. Then on Tuesday, he tried 3 times & he was off like a flash, riding like a pro.

More About Cody

Cody has been working on a project with his class for the past two years. They have finally seen the project to completion. Last Wednesday he and some other classmates spoke about the project to the school board. The news was there & interviewed him. Check it out at this link:

http://www.ozarksfirst.com/content/news/archive?sid=5f4efe9ae9cecd0f291bb79fe1629b10&archive_stories_page=4 His story is called The Spineless Webquest and aired Wed May 16th.

He has gone 2 times to the capital to speak about this bill. He has learned a lot & I'm super proud of him.

Cody

I’ve had a pretty busy couple of weeks lately with Cody or I guess Cody’s weeks have been pretty busy. He was in the school play. He had practice every Monday after school for a couple of months. He had a speaking part in the first production. The school did 2 productions. So the Suitor and I went to the first production, that was cut short & they cut out Cody’s speaking part because it was held during the school day & they ran out of time. But they are to add a 3rd production, and Cody will have his speaking part. It is in a production of Treasure Island & he is a pirate. He would make his Uncle proud.

Last week he had 2 field trips. Monday he went to the Springfield Cardinals game. Then on Thursday we went to a band concert at Exotic Animal Paradise. They were supposed to perform and then go on a hayride to see the animals. Well right when we got there, the tractor/trailer had an accident & rolled over. So, the park closed down the rest of the day. The news was there & everything. So we performed and then took them to the mall. Then when we got back to school the students got in trouble & questioned because one of them or two of them as the case may be, prank called the Principal & left her nasty messages.

But the best part of the day was when we were on the bus, my bus was parked next to the other bus. The bus driver of my bus kept trying to call the other bus driver, but he was too busy picking his nose to answer. We both looked over & got totally grossed out, and she gave up & just took off.

Brayden had a field trip yesterday too, to see Space Station at the IMAX. The rest of the day got cut short due to weather. And Cody went on ANOTHER field trip to the bowling alley!

Next week Brayden gets a Field Day and a Beach Day and Cody gets to speak in front of the school board Wednesday. He will be speaking about a bill that his class got passed in the state. He made 2 trips to the capital and now he gets to make the presentation to the board next week! PLUS they both have baseball. But so far no practices because of rain.

Amazing Human Tricks

What else can I say about this? Can you do a weird trick? If so what? I am double jointed in my arm so I can twist it around & I can flip my tongue over but nothing too abnormal or interesting.

The Neti Pot

Dr Oz was on Oprah again Thursday. He has very interesting topics when he is on. Well this show was no different & it was very helpful too. But the most intriguing part of the show was the Neti Pot shown in action below & a blurb from the show. But the Neti Pot is a nose bidet. For more info click HERE

Before you try pouring water into your nostril, Dr. Oz offers some neti pot pointers.

First, mix warm water with a quarter teaspoon of salt."You never want to wash [human] tissue without having saltwater in them," he says. "Your own cells like it more."Dr. Oz says washing out your sinuses with regular water can be irritating. Cold water may make you feel like you're drowning in a pool.

Amy, an audience member who suffers from sinusitis, demonstrates the proper way to use a neti pot. "I thought it would feel like drowning, but it feels good," she says.It may look strange, but Dr. Oz says this treatment may be more effective than medication. "The [ear, nose and throat] doctors who are specialists in this area will often say this is a better treatment than a lot of the other drugs that we try to offer folks, because it mechanically cleans out the problem," he says.

Neti pots are available at health food stores and most drug stores.

Have you ever used a Neti Pot? Have you ever seen a Neti Pot before?

Hello recycling car

I parked next to this car the other day & I have several questions for the driver of this car:

Why do you have so many papers in this car?

How do you drive with papers falling in your lap?

Are you taking those somewhere?

How long did it take you to load those papers in your car?

OR how long did it take you to accumulate those papers in your car?

How long will you keep those papers in your car?

Where did you get all of those papers?

Do you ever have passengers? If so where do they sit?

Inquiring minds want to know. If you could, what would you ask the driver of this car?

Sunday

The Suitor says that in the past 6 months we have had 6 jobs: investors, loan officers, lawn care professionals, marketing gurus, investment consultants and most recently realtors. A couple of months ago The Suitor and I bought real estate together. Not having an exact plan about the homes except to sell them. During the winter we sat on the homes and did not do a whole lot to market them. Since March, we have spent countless hours marketing & brainstorming on what to do with these homes. Sell them, rent them, lease them on a contract for deed? all possibilities.

This has not always been a fun process for the two of us, but so far we are still talking to each other and actually able to laugh still during the process.

This past Sunday we held our first open house. It went ok – we had our first and only looker. One of the houses that we have, we refer to as the “big house” is the one that we held the open house in. It was too big for the people looking and most of the people that call on it. BUT we are not discouraged to the contrary we are encouraged by the one looker. So we move forward to next Sunday – our next open house!

Anyone want to relocate to Ozark, MO?

Recreational Hazards

This past weekend was just full of excitement. But let’s concentrate on one day at a time here. On Saturday The Suitor and I went bowling. He explained to me about how these girls next to us were doing these fancy bowling moves where they started swinging the ball before they even started walking and in some smooth long motion release the ball at the line. Contrary to us walking to the line and then starting our release of the ball.

In an effort to improve my not so great score, I tried this technique. The results are below. As I swung to release the ball, I hit myself in the leg with the ball. Apparently pretty hard. It hurts as bad as it looks. On a brighter note, The Suitor would like it to be know that he bowled one of his best games ever. I'm going to blame my poor score on fact that it was dark in there & only black lights were on.

Where do I sign up for a league??

Next post : SUNDAY!

What the ---?

So there is this guy on my radio station that has this segment called What the Fotsch? Fotsch being his last name, which I do not find the name of the segment clever at all. In reality it makes no sense. ANYWAY, the segment used to be on in the afternoon at the same time that I picked up the boys from school and after hearing this 3 or 4 times I avoided that station at that time. I hate the segment because all he does is chose something small and insignificant to complain about. I do not think that I have ever really heard a legitimate "complaint" on his segment.

To make it even better, now he is on in the morning and seems to have multiple 5 minute segments to whining about life. Not only does he whine and complain about the littlest things he seems so judgmental of people that are "annoying" him. What a way to start the morning on such a negative note.

But that is what I get for listening to the main stream radio - so to complaining about every little thing in life "what the (insert last name here)?"

Life

I have nothing TOO exciting to post about but here are some highlights since the last time I posted.

1. Cody turned 12
2. We went to see Meet the Robinsons which I really liked & compared to Premonition which I also saw recently & Meet the Robinsons is better
3. Cody has been sick
4. Brayden has been sick
5. Cody started doing scripture reading at our new church of Union Hill Church of Christ
6. I'm working more & business is starting to pick up for me.
7. My poison ivy did not go away & I was not on the medicine long enough, so spots are still breaking through, but I am not going to do anything about it.
8. Cody mowed his first lawn last weekend. He said it was harder than he thought.
9. I got my hair highlighted & it's ok but I have decided not worth the money
10. We went to mom's for Easter & had a nice meal, the boys colored eggs nothing too eventful.
11. I drove 3.5 hours to Kansas City today for a 3 hour meeting and then drove back in the same day another 3.5 hours!

That's it in a nutshell.

I love a good deal!

So I had to buy a mower this weekend. Mainly for the investment properties that The Suitor and I own. I’m not expert on mowers but I knew that I wanted a self propelled with that mulched & bagged. Easy start would be nice. So we headed off to mower shop. We went to the usual places Lowes, Home Depot and Sears. We found the one that we wanted at Sears.

After mowing all 4 lawns, the mower seemed to be having some problems. So we took it back. Well while looking around and being my nosey self, I realized that at 6 PM Sears was having a sale – 10% off. But they had a coupon for the weekend for 20% off that no one told us about the day before. It was 4:30 at this time. So we returned the new/old mower and hung out until 6 PM and got a new mower (upgraded even) for $70 LESS than the day before!! NOW that’s a good shopping day!

Workshop Weekend

Went to Tulsa this past weekend to hang out with Mr.T and some old friends. Had a good time catching up with all. I had lunch with some friends from church that I grew up with. Also our youth minister from the day.

This is Ericka and I. She and I have been friends since 4th grade. We used to live by eachother and walked to school together every day until 8th grade when I moved. We have stayed in contact off and on since then.

This is another friend from youth group days Jeff. His wife Cheri & their almost 1 year old twin girls. They have had a rough year with the girls but they are doing great now & looking so cute!! This was my first time to see them & they are adorable!!

Random

I have poison ivy again. 2nd time in my life & I hate it. I tried to just wait it out, but I went & got a shot today & oral shots. I asked the doctor when I should & should not go to the doctor. He said based on my condition that I should always go to the doctor. Mine is really bad, blisters and leaking and gross.

But for a more random story, I was heading to Tulsa today for the workshop. I tried to make it to Joplin to get gas, but I did not. I had to exit 19 exits from the one that I wanted to, because my light came on. So I had to stop at this random small gas station/town. The gas was really expensive. So I decided just to get $10 worth. As I am leaving I see my dad sitting in the car. My mom apparently was using the restroom. They had just left Joplin. So bizarre.

One time when Cody was a baby, I locked him in the car with my keys. I was at a Target in Tulsa. Cody was on a heart monitor too. I was freaking out & starting to run back into the store. As I was running in, I was thinking that I wish my mom was there because she would know what to do & she's locked her keys in her car several times. And who comes walking out of the store? My mom. I will never forget that. I was so happy to see her!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá 'le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially Paddy's Day or St. Patty's Day, is the feast day which annually celebrates Saint Patrick (385-461), the patron saint of Ireland, on March 17, the day on which Saint Patrick died.
The day is the national holiday of the Irish people. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In Great Britain, the United States, Australia and the rest of Canada, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday.
It became a feast day in the Roman Catholic Church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding, as a member of the commission for the reform of the Breviary [1] in the early part of the 17th century.

Wedding Extra

This picture is up by the request of Katie. This is the man with the hawk. NOT falcon - HAWK. He was very nice & let the boys hold the hawk.

He even sang a special song for the Lord & Lady.

Bridal Party

Introducing Lord & Lady

My brother got married this weekend. This is his Medieval Wedding. Many things taken from Lord of the Rings to my understanding. The first picture is of me with my cute little nephew (my brother's baby). Then a picture of my parents with their grandkids. The top right picture is groom and baby. The bottom two show some customs of the time. The first, the best man is laying down the sword for the bride & groom to cross over. The 2nd is the groom/Lord cutting the bread with his sword for his Lady.

Although themed, the wedding was very nice. The weather was great & everyone did a really fab job putting the wedding together. My new sister-in-law's mom made all the bride's maids' dresses & the wedding dress. She did a fab job.

The reception was really great too. We had a 9 course meal. The 9 courses included:
1. Veggies - carrots & celery
2. Deviled eggs
3. Bread & cheese
4. Salad
5. Rabbit Stew
6. Main course of Pork Loin & barley
7. Fruit
8. Cake
9. Mead & sparkling cider

Mead is a wine of the times made out of honey apprently. Kind of tasted like sweet beer.

After the reception, we did pictures & then there were Bride's "games". Most of the family left before the festivities which included me. I am sorry now that I left. I should have stayed for the sword fighting.

Happenings

The boys started Spring Break today. And on their first official day of SB 2007 we headed south to Oklahoma for my brother's wedding. His medieval wedding that is. The boys will be in the wedding, so they will be dressed in theme. I made their pants and Sara (my soon to be sister-in-law) made the cloaks. I the "conformist" sister that I am, will not be dressed in theme, but instead will go in my current century White House Black Market dress.

We will be heading home after the wedding feast tomorrow, so we came into Tulsa early enough today to meet with my friend Sommer, she has the pictures. We went to the park, did some shopping and ate at PF Changs. All in all a good day. Made it an early night so the boys are plenty rested for the festivities tomorrow.