My Wonderful Kids

School is going good for the kids. This week is their first full week after going only two days last week.
Kaitlyn was a little upset because she didnt make it on the yearbook team but I told her not to worry about that she always has next year. She is already on saftey patrol and is waiting to hear whether or not she will be inducted into the Elementary Honors Society.
Tyler didnt make it to sign up for football so after he settle into school some we are going to put him in karate.

They are both growing up so fast it seems.

This Saturday coming up, Tyler and one of his friends decided that it would be great to have a yard sale. I decided to let them do it in our driveway and so they are really excited. I told them this was their deal and that I was going to just be outside reading a book and making sure that no one takes advantage of them. A kid run yard sale, I think is a great idea and will teach them a lot.
Of course, Tyler has been going through the house seeing what items I can donate.

Kait wanted to be a part of the yard sale with the guys but they dont want her to be a part of it. A guy thing or something. Thats okay. She is setting up a concession stand off the side of their yard sale. I got her 3 cases of different cokes and fruit punch and also a case of water. She is very excited about that. It gives her a chance to earn a little money too.

Of course they have made signs which they will put up this afternoon and Tyler's friend will be bringing all his stuff to put in the garage tomorrow. Friday night he will spend the night so they can get up early and set everything up Saturday morning. They have decided together to start the yard sale at 9am and end it at 4pm.

This will be interesting and fun to watch them run their own yard sale and Kait her concession stand. I hope that they get some nice sales and make a little extra money.

Kids First Day Back To School

WOOHOO !!!!!!!!!!!

The kids are back in school, the kids are back in school, Hi Oh Am Merry Oh, the kids are back in school.

The morning started at 5:30. It was dark. The alarm clock played its happy tune. I stirred under my covers. I opened my eyes quickly remembering that there was somthing great about today. This was the day, this is the day. I jump from the bed and shake my husband. Wake up, wake up I yelled to him.
Normally, I am not a morning person but this morning would be an exception.

As I walk to the rooms of my sleeping children, another burst of energy hits me. Whats this, I havent even had my morning cup of joe yet.

My husband jumps on them while they are sleeping, not leaving their rooms until they are out of bed. Meanwhile, I am downstairs whipping up a breakfast fit for a king. Toasted double fiber whole wheat bread, two eggs runny, spicy beef sausage patties.

Then at 6:30, we walk my son to the bus to catch the 6:40 bus to school. Then at 7:30 we walk our daughter to the bus stop to catch the 7:40 bus to school.

Then, a movie clip came to mind. Braveheart. I could here the popular movie line.

FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

And yes, we are now free, at least until 2:45pm when my son gets home from school.

School Starts Thursday, July 30th

The kids are very upset about the fact that school will start in 4 days. Last night we decided to make them go to bed at 9pm to try and get a sleep schedule back in order which made the kids even unhappier. Tyler is a night owl and spent his summer up all night and even most times saying good morning to his dad when he gets up for work.



This week will be busy. Last night I went and bought all the school supplies on the horribly long school list. Sad thing is that I know that isn't all especially for Tyler. Not only is there a generic supply list, each teacher has their own supply list which we don't get until we go to open house.



Today we are going school clothes shopping when Magd gets home from work. I can't say that is all that fun. The kids are at the age where they are particular which is fine so long as we can find what they are looking for. Kait is a little more difficult this year because she is not in girls clothes anymore and she doesnt quite fit into juniors. That makes clothes shopping a challenge and needless to say a bit more interesting.



Tuesday is open house at the schools. Kait is still in the elementary school and so her open house is from 3:30-5:30. Tyler is in middle school and his open house is from 4:00-6:00. Ironically, everything hinges on what time Magd will leave work which I have made a point to remind him about every day because I need him to be home to take us to open house.



Thursday is the glorius first day of school. AHHHHHHHHHHHH can you hear the angels singing.

Of course this will mean that Tyler and I have to get up at 5:45 am and then Kait gets up at 6:00am. Once the buses leave the neighborhood, woohoo, I am a free woman. Well as free as I can be without a vehicle.

The good thing is that I will be able to start working on my distance running. My goal is to be able to run 7 miles by next year for the Peachtree City Road Race. Anyway, we will see how that goes.
The plus is that I have quit smoking now for 2 months and I feel great so it will be something that is permanent. Secondly, I am working on losing weight and getting into shape. So, in a way, training for the road race will help me work harder on those things.

Anyway, the count down is on for school and I am ready!!!!! even if the kids are not lol

Back From Vacation

We came back from vacation on Thursday. We had so much fun during that week. There was a lot of swimming in the river for the kids and we played games together. My dad and I got a lot of fly fishing done. For the first time ever when on vacation, I caught the first fish on the trip. We didnt catch many trout, 3 nice size ones and a couple minnows lol.

I had a great birthday. My mom and dad gave me one of dad's plaques that I love that has John 3:16 scrolled inside of it. My mom got me $25 worth of flies for fishing and they got me a nice triple chocolate cake for my birthday. Also on the day of my birthday, my dad and I spent several hours in Smoky Mountain Park fly fishing and checking out fishing holes. We did quite a bit of climbing and lots of fishing. It was so much fun. We didnt catch anything that day but we got to spend a lot of time together and that was the best part.

My husband surprized me with a birthday present too. He is sometimes not real good about stuff like that. He gave me a Tennesse Vols Shirt and a Jersey plus two journals and he even signed the birthday card this year. lol

I have discovered how much my kids are growing up. While camping. we needed some stuff from Walmart so we all went there. Kaitlyn and my mom were walking around the store together when Kait had a young guy walk up to her and say " Hey Baby ".
Then we went to a store that was selling handmade fudge. Tyler was getting flirted with by the girl behind the counter. She kept working on getting his attention and giving me free fudge.
Lastly, in the camp ground, the day before we left, a camper pulled in a couple of spaces over from us and there were two young girls. The youngest, I say is around Tyler's age, blond hair and cute, kept walking by the camp site we were in and checking out Tyler. Tyler was impressed with her too and got the courage up to talk to her. ( Only saying Hi and then another time asking her if she was having fun.)

It was a great time together and we didnt get a lot of rain when we were there however the night before we were leaving, it stormed a lot for a couple of hours in the veru early moring hours.

Dad and I had a very close call with a skunk and I still dont know how we didnt get sprayed. I guess our angels had a little something to do with that.
It was after midnight and dad went to the back of the camper to empty some tanks. I walked around to the back and was talking to him. I caught the glimpse of something beside us between the back tires on the camper. I looked under the camper and there was a skunk. It took off running and dad and I were laughing and thanking God for not getting skunked lol.

Anyway it was a great vacation and as with any great vacation, it goes by faster than it should and ends before you know it. We always have next year.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to Everyone!!!!

Tonight we are going to take the kids somewhere for fireworks, we just aren't sure where yet. Normally, we go to a shopping center outside of Stone Mountain and watch the fireworks there because Stone Mountain gets so packed that it would take us hours to get out of there after the show. We have lived here in Georgia 7 years and we have always done that so I guess it is like tradition.
However this year we might change that. There is a huge church that was built about a year ago that is 5 minutes from our house and they are doing a fireworks show between 9-10pm. My husband says we leave it up to the kids where they want to go because it is for them that we go see the fireworks.

So I guess we will wait and see. Tyler spent the night with his friends last night so he wont be home until this afternoon. Tyler has been gone more the last 2 weeks than he has been home.
Poor Kait hasn't gone anywhere. Most of her friends are out of town or doing other things. Last night I kind of spoiled her a bit. We went to the store and I got her 3 teen magazines that she loves. Then I bought vanialla yogurt ice cream and pina colada mixer and we made pina colada smoothies.

The count down is on, 4 more days and we go camping. The kids and I are so excited and we cant wait.

I also realized last night that it has been a month since I quit smoking. YIPPIE!!!!!!!

Anyway, I wish everyone a safe and wonderful July 4th.

Just A Little Update

The past couple of days have been fun. Tyler has two friends that have stayed over two nights in a row. They are good kids and everyone seems to be having fun. They have been playing a lot of playstation and watching tv plus bugging me.
One of Tyler's friends calls me grandma, lol crazy huh !?! But I guess that is payback for calling him a princess.
Either way, everyone is having fun.

I cant believe that June is almost over. Time is flying by so quickly. July brings lots of things. July 4th, we go to a shopping center close to Stone Mountain and watch the fireworks. July 8th, we head to Tennessee and see the folks and get everything together and go for our week long camping trip. July 14th is my birthday and July 19th is my 8 year wedding anniversary. The kids go back to school July 30th I think so we will have the dreaded school shopping the week before.
Yup, lots going on that month.

Anyway guess I will have to cut this short, everyone is waking up, yes at 1:10 in the afternoon, so I need to make breakfast or lunch. ( All 4 kids were up when my husband went to work at 4am this morning)

Halfway Through The Week

Last night was my daughter's award ceremony at her school and she recieved a certificate for the Honor Roll. She had maintained a 90 or above average in all her classes for the year. GOOOO Kaitlyn !!!!!!!!

Only 6 days of school and then they are out for the summer. YEA !!!!!

Kait was teacher for the day for about 30 minutes in her class yesterday. All the kids got to take a turn teaching about something they like. Kait taught her class about calligraphy, something that her Grandma showed her. Kait and my mom are very close and Kait loves to learn things from her. My mom is very artistic and I love it that she can pass some of her skills on to my daughter who loves art.

Tyler had a " guy" issue yesterday that mom just wasnt able to help with, so I called the one person that I knew Tyler would open up to and that was his Poppy. My dad and Tyler have a very special relationship and they are very close.

Tyler had is first shootdown from a girl and not just any girl but one that he has had a crush on since third grade. ( He is now in the 6th grade so he has been carrying this flame for awhile now.)

He took it hard and the only person that could help him get through this and give him advice and listen was his Poppy. Tyler says that his Poppy always tells him things in a way that makes him laugh and feel better and yesterday was no exception. Tyler got some advice from Poppy that he is putting into action today so we shall see what happens.

I think we can all remember a time when we were younger that we got shot down or broken hearted over a relationship or hopes of one. Just another learning process or fact of life that we all had to go through at one point or another in our life. My little boy is growing up and I thank God that he has his Poppy there to help guide him.

I have always felt so blessed that my kids have very good and close relationships with my mom and dad. It is something special that they share and it makes me very proud that they have such special bonds.

Breast Health Update

On Monday, I went and did all the pre-op stuff for the surgery on Friday. I found out that I have to be at the Breast Center on Friday at 8am where they will insert a wire into the breast. The purpose of the wire is to guide the surgeon to the tumor because it is deep in the breast. It makes it easier for the surgeon to find the tumor and remove it. Doctors use an ultrasound to locate the tumor and then numb the breast and use a needle to insert the wire. The procedure is called a Wire LOC.

After the wire is inserted then I will be taken to the main hospital and will go to day surgery where they will put in an iv and get things ready for the surgery. The surgey takes place at 10:30 am and is slated to last 45 minutes. Hopefully, all goes well and I will be home before the kids get out of school.

Right now, I will admit that I am little nervous. I am not worried about the tumor being cancer or anything like that, am just nervous about having to do all this. The surgery itself doesnt bother me, its the wire thing. To me this week is flying by fast and it is coming too quickly but I know that it is something I need to get taken care of so I am working on not being a weenie.

Our Mockingbird Family

In the front of our house, we have a line of bushes that covers the front windows and a tree that grows near the front porch. Towards the upper part of the tree is a nest that was built four years ago by a pair of mockingbirds and each year they return and lay their eggs. Once the babies are old enough to leave the nest but not yet ready to fly, they use the bushes in the front of the house as a good place to hide and move around. It is something we look forward to each year. My cats love it when the little baby birds are in the bushes because it gives them something to stare at and I think imagine a tasty buffet as they are looking through the windows.

Anyway, this year is no exception and the pair has layed their eggs and they have hatched within the last week and a half. When we are outside, we like to watch the adult mockingbirds feeding their young and listening to the babies as they anxiously await their yummy array of bugs. The adult mockingbirds seem used to us and they will sometimes land in front of us to nab a beetle or bug in the driveway.

Yesterday, my son left with his friends and went to Stone Mountain and my daughter was entertaining herself with games on my computer. I decided to walk outside as I could hear the distant rumble of thunder.

In the distance was an omnious group of storm clouds and the wind had picked up outside. I sat in my driveway watching the adult mockingbirds taking turns catching bugs in the front yard and feeding their young. I love listening to the baby birds and am amazed at how often the adult birds are flying away and coming back to feed their young.

Once it started sprinkling I moved to the front porch to watch the baby birds and see if I could count how many were in the nest. The best I can see is five baby mockingbirds. The adult mockingbirds did not seem bothered that I was on the porch and continued their routine of catching the bugs and feeding the babies.

The storm clouds moved in quickly and it started pouring rain. I watched as one of the adult mockingbirds flew to the nest and carefully covered the little babies to shield them from the hard pouring rain.

I stayed on the porch for awhile and got to thinking about how special it is to be able to witness this protection and love from a mockingbird to her young. Some people believe that animals dont have feelings or souls. That everything that they do is a part of their nature. They live and die and that it is the end of it. I choose to disagree because I believe that God created everything and in doing so all living creatures were given a soul. The book of Genesis is pretty clear about this.
In watching how this mockingbird protected her young, it made me think about how there are people in this life that dont have that kind of natural instinct when it comes to caring for their young. Let's face it, being a parent means having heart and wisdom. It means that we sacrifice ourselves sometimes to protect what is so dear to us and that we protect our young in all situations that put them in peril.
Just like the baby birds will sometime leave the nest and move to the bushes in the front of the house, our children will move forward in different points in their lives. I am realizing how much my children are growing up now and needing a little more wiggle room. On Friday, my husband and I went to my daughter's field day at school. I have gone to her field day every year that she had been in school and havent missed a year yet. Kait is in the 4th grade now and when we went there, she was busy with her friends and trying to keep up with them. It used to be that she didnt want to leave my side but now she is running around with her friends and I realized that she is growing up a lot more.
My son is in the 6th grade . The past two nights he has been at a friends house and been out and about doing things with them.
I look at it as now my baby birds are in the bushes now and they are moving towards the day when they will fly away. Yes, they still have a ways to go before that happens but they are learning to stretch their wings a little bit now.

Been Awhile

I know I haven't written in a while but I have a couple of things I have been working on. First of all the store is doing great. April has been a really good month for us and so far we have sold 4 plaques. I am so excited about that. I also recently discovered since I started the Mother's Day Sale that I could extend my sales to Paypal shoppers. It was much easier than I thought and so hopefully I opened up the potential for more sales using Paypal.

I also started using twitter as of today. I still don't know what the hell I am doing there but I will figure it out. Twitter allows you to send tweets and you have the opportunity to join twibes. Yea, like I said, still learning all about it. I promote through many different places and I noticed recently that a lot of my fellow sellers on ecrater are using twitter. After asking a few questions about it, I decided that it can't hurt to try it.
So if you use twitter and want to follow the store and me, heres the address
http://twitter.com/PoppysWoodwork

The kids have been busy this week taking the county test at school, the CRCT. They have a test every single day this week.

My husband's mother is still going through chemo. She is doing okay but doesn't want to eat and is really tired all the time, so please keep her in your prayers.

Me, I have a major project going on and once I get closer to completion, I will share it with everyone. So when I am not online updating sites and all, I spend my time working on this project.

What happened to Spring ?

The weather is crazy and I can't wait for it to be Spring. Today, we are in the 50's and under wind advisory until 2am. Then tonight, we are supposed to be in the 30's. Not just that, they are talking about snow flurries here in Atlanta. Tuesday, the highs are 45 and the low is 29. Ugh !!!!

I am excited that my hubby is coming back from Egypt Friday night.
His mom is going into the hospital today to start chemo again. I hope that everything turns out the way they hope. I am happy that my hubby got to go and spend time with his mom. I know that it doesn't make things any easier for him and a part of me is sure that he is torn between coming home and leaving his mom.

My husband was excited yesterday because his niece gave birth to a baby boy. I would try and spell his name but I am sure I would misspell it horribly.

Kids are upset because Spring Break for them is now over and they had to go back to school today. Um, wish I could share their pain lol. We had a lot of fun over Spring Break together and they were very happy so that is all that is important.

Busy Week

This past week the kids were out for Spring Break. We stayed busy playing games and driving here and there. On Tuesday, we went to my husband's cousins house in Calhoun. He took the kids and I out to dinner and then we went to the movies and saw " Race to Witch Mountain". That was an excellent movie.
On Wedensday, we drove back home. Thursday, we had plans to go to a place called the Yellow River Game Ranch, however, rain and storms kept us home.
On Friday, I took my two kids plus two of their friends to the game ranch. It is an amazing place. 24 acres of open area, where the deer run free and will walk up to you and let you feed and pet them. Squirrels come and take peanuts from your hand and we even had a few climb up our pants legs to get peanuts from us. Wild cats, bobcats, several types of fox, black bears, coyotes, buffalo, were just some of the animals you could see in special pins. Goats, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and so much more ran freely in the game ranch and would come up to you to feed and pet them. We had so much fun that we walked through it a second time.
Last night, the two friends of the kids stayed over and they all played playstation and shot pool down in the garage.
I am guessing that they stayed up all night because right now it is 12:15 in the afternoon and none of the three boys are moving.
I learned that mom isn't so cool when friends are over. LOL is okay though, I was happy to see all of them having fun. I stayed up really late playing Monopoly on Pogo.

Poppy's Scroll Saw Woodwork is having a special Easter sale this weekend only. Check out the blog and store for more information.

Tuesday

We are working on getting everything ready for Magd's trip to Egypt. Turns out he will not be coming home until the 10th. Last night he recieved a phone call from his brother and one of the doctors there wanted to try and put Magd's mom on chemo and radition again. Magd called a friend of his who is a doctor in Panama City and discussed this with him. His friend told him that because the cancer attacked and took over the liver, there wasn't much left that could be done.
I hate it that he is going through this but I am happy that he is getting to go and see her.

Kids are on the count down for Spring Break. They are so excited about no school for a week. I am happy that is coming also. We can spend time together playing games and doing whatever else we can come up with.

The store has gotten some new additions added to it the past few days, I hope you will check out the blog for the store and get updated.
http://www.poppysscrollsawwoodwork.blogspot.com

Today, I have to get some cleaning done and get some things ready for Magd leaving tomorrow. Magd's cousin is coming in tonight and going with us to take Magd to the airport in the morning. ( I can get to the airport but I always get lost coming home, no sense of direction ) One doesn't know how big Atlanta is until you drive around it a couple of times. lol
The lawn guy is coming this morning, first cut of the season. Yea !!!
Have a great day everyone.

Rainy Day

This weekend has been loaded with rain and today is no exception. I walked my son to his bus stop this morning and one of his friends came and joined us under the huge umbrella I had. My daughter and I lucked out when it was her turn to go to the bus stop because it was only sprinkling just a little bit.

This week is report card week so the kids have early release Tues- Thurs. We have a parent conference with my daughter's teacher on Thursday to get her report card. She is a really good student and generally gets all A's.

We took my son off of grounding this weekend because he got really good grades on his exams last week and he had no missing assignmants the last several weeks. So needless to say, the PS2 got a nice workout this weekend.

We are up to $128 on our Wii money. We still have a ways to go but we are closer than we were a couple of weeks ago.

My husband gets 2 days off this week on Thursday and Friday so he is excited about that. His store had a mystery shopper a couple of days ago and got a 100 which is excellent.

Saturday, Some Good News

My husband called me this morning with what we consider good news. The last several months, due to the economy, my husband has had to work 6 days a week. He is salaried, so his job enforced that with all salaried workers.
My husband drives 1 and 1/2 hours everyday to and from work. He only has Thursdays off which wasn't enough time for him to catch up on his sleep or get a break from his job. He gets up at 3:30am every morning and sometimes doesn't get home until 7pm at night. It catches up quickly. Today though he informed me that his work is going to stop the 6 days a week at the end of this month. Yippie!!!!!! He will get Thurdays and Fridays off again.

This is how I feel today. Like a little hummingbird stuck inside the feeder. I don't know why really, I slept good last night. I think it is partly because it is rough having just one vehicle and sometimes I feel trapped in the house.

I guess too I am running out of ideas to get the store seen. I guess right now it is a waiting game to see how all the things that I have been doing are working. I know that there is a lot more traffic coming to the store and to the website, I guess I am just waiting for that first sale.

I don't know, I guess it is other things too. Doesn't matter really.

Kids have 21 more days of school left before spring break. This year for spring break we are going to see my grandparents in Florida. Since my other grandfather died, it has been plaguing my mind that I should go see and them. Family is so important and we shouldn't miss out on the chances we can to see them and make more memories.

I am updating sites today for the store. I didn't get my writing done for yesterday with hubpages or helium. I guess I will do that in the next day or so.

If you get a chance, check out the stores website http://www.poppysscrollsawwoodwork.com/
I am working on coming up with some other ideas for that site. Also check out the blog for the store. I am not sure how to increase followers for that site yet but I have a couple of ideas in mind. http://www.poppysscrollsawwoodwork.blogspot.com/

Snow and Ice

Yesterday we started with the snow around 12pm.

It didn't stop until 10pm last night.

Around 4pm we lost power for 6 hours. So we had to move the kids matresses down stairs and crank up the fireplace.

We got our power turned back on around 11pm last night thank goodness, though it was a lot of fun the whole family down stairs laughing and playing around.

We did have a crazy incident yesterday around 2 or so. My son, Tyler, who just seems to get his self in a real pickle every now and then added to his list of not so great achievements.

In our kitchen, we have a window that doesn't have a screen. We use that window to give our dog treats and all. He decided that it was a great idea to lean out of that window and try and catch snowflakes. My son is twelve years old and weighs 130 pds. He isn't fat by any means, he is really muscular. Anyway, the weight of his body in the window must have been too much. The window part that you lift up and open broke lose from the track and shattered on my son, wedging his body half out of the window. I was upstairs talking on the phone to my Grandma when I heard the glass shattering. When I came down, I found him stuck, two panes of glass shattered across the floor, and he was bleeding from a cut on his arm and several small cuts from tiny shards. It took me about 10 minutes to get him unwedged from the broken part of the window and get a good look at his arm. Luckily, it wasn't a super deep cut and though if I took him to the doctor he would have probably gotten 4 or five stitches, I fixed it with steri strips. My emergency room experience sure does come in handy and my son seems to be the one who keeps my skills up to date.

So, after getting all the glass cleaned up, I spent the next bit of time trying to cover the window that was broken in the kitchen. And then the power went out.

It was a really fun day.

Snow Snow Snow

It just started snowing here around 12:15pm.

The kids are so excited. In this picture, it had only been snowing for about 10 minutes, now at 12:40 pm the ground is covered even more.

The weather channel says that we should get anywhere from 2-4 inches.

Here it is big, fat snow flakes. It is a wet snow and it is perfect for the snowball fights my kids have already started.

Of course, the kids are even more excited about the possibility of no school tomorrow.

I will update more pictures on here as the snow continues. My husband is so excited about it that he keeps calling me from work to update me on how much snow they are getting where he is at. He works 1 and 1/2 hours from where we live.

Papa

Joseph A. Kalish Jr
( Papa )





On February 15, 2009, my Papa passed away in Ocala, Fla.
Papa was a great man who will be missed so very much. He was the father to 6 sons, one of which passed away at birth, and two daughters. He had 17 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.

Today, at 8:30 am, they are having a service for him in Ocala but later he will be buried in Ohio. I feel sad that I couldn't be there for the service this morning but I will be there when he is buried in Ohio.

My family spent last week with my Nana and all of my dads family. My Nana is an amazing, strong loving woman who I love dearly. She and Papa were married 61 years.

When I think about my Papa, I think about all the times when I was younger that he and I would stand in his driveway and stare at the stars. He was always looking at the night sky and talking about all the possibilities of what existed out there. He is the reason I stare at the stars even now at my age and often wonder what else is out there too.

Papa was really wonderful with my kids especially Tyler. Tyler has always been very inquisitive and asks lots of questions about anything and everything. Papa always enjoyed sitting with Tyler and sharing with him what he knew. He never lost patience with Tyler and always took the time to listen.

Papa liked the things that were unexplained. My husband always remembers the first time Papa met him. My husband is from Egypt and my Papa shared with my husband his theory about how the pyramids were built and what they meant.

Papa never met a stranger and he touched everyone who he met. He was very active and involved in everything.

I can imagine Papa right now sitting with Jesus and talking about all the wonders of the world.

Papa, you will be missed dearly and you will always be loved so very much.

Happy Valentines To Everyone

Yesterday, I had a hell of a time getting a newlsetter out for the store. It is one of those projects that just seemed to be going nowhere from the start.
The first newsletter I had completed, was lost due to an error on my part. The second newsletter I messed up the template for it and had to start over again. Finally on the third attempt, I got the newsletter the way I wanted but because of the program I couldn't send it. I finally had to print the newsletter, scan it to my computer and then post it in Poppy's Scroll Saw Blog.
Ugh, the picture above describes exactly how I felt.





Happy Valentines Day To Everyone !!!!!




I hope you are having a good Valentines Day. We gave our kids their gifts last night. Tyler got a chocolate apple with a gummy worm inside and a heart box full of Hershey's Kisses. Kaitlyn got a chocolate frog with a gummy bug inside and a heart box with Reese's Peanut Butter Candies inside. Needless to say, lol, sugar high kids last night.


I took my daughter to the Valentines Jag Jam. She had a lot of fun dancing and running around with her girlfriends. I was the wall flower through most of it until I saw one my of my friends there. The best way to describe this dance was chaos at its best. Nothing greater than kids from kindergarden to fifth grade running around, laughing, dancing, squealing, and make huge conga lines that ran over anyone in their way. It was fun. Really.

I hope everyone has a great day and here's my little Valentines gift for you.

I wish I was here

I wish I was at the beach somewhere, kicked back and relaxing. To me there is no better place to be, with the warm sun and the sound of waves slapping the hot sands of a beach.

I haven't written in awhile because I have been working on other things but now I should be able to keep up with writing better.

Today is my kids last day of school for a week. Next week school is out for intercession. Normally every year the kids get 2 weeks for vacation. This year the school decided to split up those weeks so they added a week off in February.

I don't think my son will be enjoying it because he is failing one subject in school and missing assignmants in all the rest. For some reason, he has decided he doesn't need to do or turn in school work, thus his grades are now scraping the bottom of the failing barrel.

Tonight, my daughter might be going to her first dance. The Valentine's Jag Jam. That is going to depend on what time my husband gets home from work. The school requires that she is escorted by a parent so that will be me. lol. That should be a lot of fun.

We recently discovered that our truck doesn't have a blown engiine as we were told by the mechanics we orgianlly had the truck looked over by. Instead of having to pay for a whole new engine, we had the truck towed back to our house and it has been sitting in the driveway ever since. A friend of ours came over and looked at the truck a discovered the the headgasket may be cracked or the cylinder. Anyway, we are waiting to find out when it can be fixed and how much it will cost. I hate having only one vehicle now.

Today, we have updated Poppy's Scroll Saw Woodwork Blog. There is an interview there with Poppy about his interests, how he became involved with scroll saw woodwork, and what his favorite pieces are that he has done. Check out the blog for all the details.

Way tooooooo Cold

It is way to cold. Right now it is 17 with a windchill of 3. YUCK!!!!

My kids were begging me to stay home and they were very creative in their reasons for wanting to do so.

1. It's inhumane to send us to school when it is so cold.
2. There is no heat in the school.
3. They are going to freeze to death.
4. They will get sick from it being so cold.

And the list goes on and on.
I won though. lol.

I wanted to let everyone know that they should check out Poppy's Scroll Saw Blog and his store.
The Valentine's coupon is only available for 3 more days. So don't miss out and lose your chance to get 10% off at checkout for google shoppers.