Enjoying the Journey

So I met the famous blogging celebrity Pioneer Woman last Friday night! My totally rockin, cool husband was listening to the radio and heard her interview. He then heard that she was in the Charlotte area and decided that we should pack up the kiddos and head on down to Southpark for the evening.


This is P-Dub, Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman answering questions from the crowd. She shared the depths of her soul by discussing spanks, boxers vs briefs, portion sizes, and sweating. Who needs to answer thought provoking, soul searching questions about life, when you can read all about her here?

We waited for over 5 hours until our group was called. Too bad my eyes aren't looking forward, you might have seen exhaustion and a look of "what was I thinking" in them. Instead of eyes, focus on the cheeks of my youngest? They are so squeezable!

Cory told the kids that this was a Mother's Day present for me. There involvement in the gift was that they were not allowed to complain during the whole time that we were there. Surprisingly they really didn't.

The long anticipated picture of Simon, myself and the famous Pioneer Woman, signing my own personal copy of her cookbook!!!

Posted in: Too Darn Funny on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at at 9:39 AM 3 comments    

CJ and I love to try to take lots of pictures of all the fun times in our house. Especially since we've had such an awesome opportunity in hosting college girls. So one night, we decided to take pictures of everyone wearing funky pajamas, or something along those lines.



Clearly, some of us, got the look down...



While others of us, just didn't quite know how to capture the camera correctly. (You'll notice that there isn't a picture of me in here...I, ahem, happened to be one of those people....)

Then of course, there is always the one that can pull off a good picture even in his pajamas!!! Go ahead... say it, he's cute. I know...

And here is the group of us...in our pajamas.... all smiling at once! WOW! Now aren't we just a cute little family!

Posted in: Family, House Mates, Too Darn Funny on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at at 7:16 PM 1 comments    

So, um, maybe all my crying and heart wrenching wasn't just a bad day after all.... Funny little story for you.

Last week, I ran out of a particular medication that I was on. I had already called the place where I get it from, and they too were out. So, knowing that in the next week or so, the situation would resolve itself, I went without the medication.

Friday night, I had this huge allergy attack. Seasonal allergies can make me feel miserable sometimes, so when I woke up the next morning feeling dizzy, I quickly assumed that it had something to do with the congestion in my head from the previous evening.

As the day progressed, I began feeling a bit woozy at times and awfully tired. Sunday I laid down for "a minute" and an hour and half later I woke up with a start. Still, I wasn't quite putting two and two together. I just assumed I was over tired from much of my life (which I was ... I really was).

And then Monday came along. I'm crying over random things and all the issues of my heart are becoming bigger and bigger. Still dizzy. Still light headed. Still exhausted. And realizing that I was having very vivid and colorful dreams....but still clueless.

Until Tuesday came and as I was sitting in class, I couldn't get a deep breath in. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I calmly walked out of the class and went to my husbands office (btw - loving the fact that my class is on the same property as where CJ works!! Quick lunches and kisses and talks with little interruptions in the middle of the day... luxurious!).

Finally, after 5 days of craziness, I realized that I might be having a reaction to the lack of medication my body was used to. I called the doctors office, who saw me immediately. They confirmed that my body was in a bit of a withdrawal (its a medication that you need to step down in order to go off of ). It seems as though every one of my symptoms had to do with that darn little pill I wasn't taking.

Blessedly, they gave me samples and sent me home to rest.

Guess what??? I'm feeling remarkably better today. Not nearly as emotional, dizziness is gone, crying has died down again, and heart issues look a little bit more realistic. I have joy again too, despite the circumstances in my heart.

Whew....that was an interesting ride!

Posted in: Too Darn Funny on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 at at 8:23 PM 4 comments    

This morning I woke up ........ on the floor. I'm not quite sure what the details included as to how I made it down there. We did have a huge thunderstorm that included losing all electricity for some hours. Of course the loss of light, brought a certain little 4 year old into our room for a secured nights sleep.

And so sometime in the middle of the night, I think I got a bit cramped with CJ's normal flamingo stance of sleep patterns and crawled down to the floor to sleep next to the warm thumb sucking, Z man. I think that is what happened.

The funny thing was, CJ, who woke up after a crash from Diesel's, the cat, mid night romping, to find his bride not in bed with him.

CJ: Bec - where are you?

Me: here.

CJ: Are you .... on .... the ... floor?

Me: (mumbled but sort of surprised too.....) yea, yea I am.

CJ: Why?

Me: I don't know. I just am.

CJ: Well... get back into bed.

Me: No, not yet. (snore)

I'm feeling a bit more sore this morning. I'm definitely dragging. I'm hoping for a cup of coffee and some Aleve. Oh, no ... I'm beginning to sound like my father.

Posted in: CJ, Smiles, Too Darn Funny, Z Man on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 at at 7:54 AM 2 comments    

Diesel (the cat) ate one of the butterflies for lunch yesterday. But shh...don't tell the kids. They haven't fully noticed it yet. It turns out one of the girls (living with us) found the said butterfly dec*pitated. Pour little guy!

We got 8 more cocoons in the mail today. My MIL is the one who is sending them to me. She planted milkweed to attract caterpillars. Then she captures the cocoons to give out to fascinated family members.

I'm passing on some of my bounty to a couple other homeschooling families around here.

So, far we are still hanging onto the turtle. But CJ left me a very concerned note this morning, worried that he was dead too. Jonah must have been sleeping... because I found him quite active this morning when Diesel was continuing his efforts in friendship.

Maybe when we are done exploring the turtle, we should pass him on to another family too.

Hmm... which gets me to thinking.... can I pass my cat on for a bit? Or how about the kids? Just for an afternoon or two or four....

Posted in: homeschool, Smiles, Too Darn Funny on Thursday, September 04, 2008 at at 1:17 PM 0 comments    

I am thinking of renaming my blog to "It's NEVER a Dull Moment in this House!" Okay, I'm not seriously going to rename it that, but if you would go through my archives or if you happen to receive our bi monthly newsletters, you would find that I tend to say that phrase alot. Because, well... its just true.

The fact is, having an interesting home is part of my make up. If I didn't get to enjoy people, personalities, kids, color, animals, food, and more my life would be sad. And frankly, I think I'd be depressed.

I'll have pictures soon, to prove the following. I just need to wrestle the camera away from my husband right now. He's in the middle of an intensive internship and his end project will include a picture display (or something along those lines).

So - what's the title have to do with this post?

Well - let's see. Right now, I am feeding the following in our home

7 people
1 cat
2 butterflies
random hummingbirds
and....

a turtle.

Oh the fun! We found a box turtle in the parking lot of our church. And because everything is a teachable moment in my mind, I persuaded my dear husband to bring it home with us. Currently, Jonah (named by the kids of course) the turtle lives in our upstairs bath tub. He is fed a healthy diet of green leaf lettuce, dandelion stems, grass and water.

He is quite comforted by the crazy sounds of our house, which include many loud romps to the bathroom by the kids and their friends. Diesel, the cat, has chosen to make friends with him, a decision that was not talked over in detail with Jonah. But, I think that the butterflies are relieved that Diesel chose the turtle over them! The hummingbirds are excited beyond words, as they were a bit tired of having the cat jump at the window when they were trying to drink. The nerve of that cat....

Who knows what will be next in our house. Unfortunately rodents tend to not really make it in our home, as I have a fetish with mousetraps. But large bugs, if kept whole when they die do make great lessons to teach on. Snakes are a definite no for me as well. I guess we could always trap one of the local bunnies that enjoyed the cabbage we grew in our garden this year!

Never a dull moment in our house..... never!

Posted in: homeschool, Smiles, Too Darn Funny on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 at at 11:34 AM 4 comments    

Overheard conversation between father and son this morning....

Z-man - Daddy, I just saw a dragonfly.

Daddy - Cool. What did it look like?

Z-man - well...it had wings. One here. One here. One here. One here. (pointing too the different areas of the body)

Seizing a great teaching opportunity .....
Daddy - So, Z-man how many wings total?

Z-man - Daddy, turtles don't have wings!

Me ..... giggle.

Posted in: Smiles, Too Darn Funny, Z Man, Z-man on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at at 2:57 PM 0 comments    

That I absolutely love this man!!!

Apparently, she finds him appealing too!

Oh my goodness!!!

What do you think? Can I take her on?

Yeah, its in the papers now, buddy!!!

Aaahh.... but in the end, he's all mine!! All mine, I tell ya!

Posted in: CJ, Smiles, Too Darn Funny on Sunday, April 06, 2008 at at 7:39 PM 5 comments    

Posted in: A Little Out There...or just random, Too Darn Funny on Friday, January 18, 2008 at at 10:15 AM 5 comments    

75 more banannas just crossed the threshold of my house!!! 75!!!



Dear God,
When the Israelites kept getting their manna, they began to complain.
Variety seemed to be the problem. Just so You know, I wasn't complaining last week, when I wrote this or this.... Oh, and by the way, thanks for the potatoes, green chili pepper, regular pepper, and limes. We're making salsa today too!!

Love,
Your daughter

Posted in: going bananas, Too Darn Funny on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at at 1:30 PM 6 comments    

There is so much to tell you all, I could write a book. I could begin with my FABULOUS weekend full of little trips, beyond excellent conversations, and the best of all.... friends. I could also tell you about the mother and son duo preaching/teaching, that EJ and I did this past Tuesday. Or maybe I could tell you about how I was supposed to be on tv, for ummmm.... NASCAR week.Okay...wait, I need to laugh for minute!

Still, back to the point of this post.

Instead of all that I think I will share about how the Lord provides for us. It's called the banana. Lots and lots of bananas.

I don't quite know how it happens or where it all comes from, but once in awhile a student comes to the school bearing a TON of food, usually bananas. And somehow in the midst of all his school, work, studies, etc, my husband realized that it was smart to take whatever was left over and bring it home. It's the lure of banana bread, I'm tellin ya!

We get bananas all. the. time. Usually they are just as you see them above. A little on the rotten side. Best for baking!

Now, friends, there are probably 50 or more bananas in that picture. I had already used 6 of them for smoothies that morning.

This time around, we weren't just blessed (and I mean that... word in its fullest) with the manna of bananas, but we were given a HUGE box of onions. This picture is after I spent the time going through them all, getting rid of the extra skin and packaging them up. Because, bananas are one thing, but what in the world am I going to do with 200 onions (no exaggeration!). So, I organized, cleaned them up, took what I need and am in the process of farming them out to the staff.

We also were given 6 limes and 5 pomegranates.

So, I made pomegranate juice. It looks much prettier then it tastes. Need to hone in on my pomegranate juice making.

Are you all laughing yet? Because honestly, I am! How in the world did I become Miss Betty Crocker?!!!

Truthfully when I saw all the bananas (again) I thought ugh... more bananas? And then I had this swift thought about the fact that we have been praying for the Lord to provide for our needs. He is! Isn't He?!!! So, I am thankful for our manna, the banana.

Here are some banana chocolate chip muffins I made yesterday! Now doesn't that just make your mouth water?

BTW -don't worry, I will be posting about this past weekend, my brush with stardom, and my 5 year old preacher in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Posted in: Giving Thanks, going bananas, Smiles, Too Darn Funny on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at at 1:11 PM 6 comments    

4 girls, 1 man, and 2 boys. That's what we have living in this house. The honeymoon period has ended a bit and the real truth of who we all are is beginning to show. Apparently there is a bit of a battle going on in the house for any sort of sweets. Bake a batch of cookies or two and they are usually gone in less then 24 hours. Want some ice cream, sure if you are there fast enough!

So today a kind family visited us for dinner and blessed our home with this....


8 boxes of Dove chocolate cookies and a bag full of M & M's snack bags! Where to begin, where to begin?!!! Let's start with 8 grams of fat in 3 cookies. Hmmm... that took me out of the equation of who gets what.

But certainly, not her! No, M, is our mischievous sweetaholic in this house. When you go around the room and discuss who ate the most cookies, brownies, or general treats.... inevitably M guiltily raises her hand to confession. Now, where it all goes to, I can't figure that out! Since she is about as big as my pinky....



Pride certainly will not get in the way of her chocolate. No siree...

Of course cuteness is always a factor. Miss K, here was puttin on the charm after she and the rest of her roomies scored their own box of cookies and three packs of M&M's.

Don't you worry, CJ certainly got his own box as well as his own packs of M&M's. Of course, there is plenty to still go around. The left overs are sitting in the pantry, waiting for their inevitable consumption.

Care to guess how many days it will take for the rest to be gone???

Posted in: House Mates, House Parenting, Too Darn Funny on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at at 9:50 PM 5 comments    

Posted in: Too Darn Funny on Friday, August 10, 2007 at at 9:14 AM 3 comments    

Yesterday I went to a Homeschoolers book fair. While there, I attended two of the many offered, classes.

The first one, was 7 Steps on How to Choose A Curriculm. This of course, was a definete for me, because while I am deeply grateful to the pioneers of homeschooling out there, choosing a curriculm has brought me close to tears. And for those of you out there that aren't homeschooling, I challenge you to just order the Rainbow Catalog (which is great for any parent who desires to teach even a little at home). Take one look at that catalog (weighing at least 2 pounds and looks like the phone book for NEW YORK CITY!) and you will see why the homeschooling curriculm explosion has made my head spin.

Moving on...

The second class I took was called An EKG of Your Heart. This class was to help encourage you as you either continued on with homeschooling OR are in the process of just beginning. Another absolute that I needed as I am still struggling with doubt and pressure of not being able to live up to this challenge, called homeschooling.

I had a bit of trouble paying attention to the guest speaker during this class though. She opened with explaining that she was a writer, a speaker for Proverbs 31 Ministries, and that she was a blogger for Faith Lifts. Her name was Marybeth Whalen. I immediately recognized her and then chuckled to myself that in my warped little world I was seriously excited to meet someone outside of my little circle, who not only blogs but happens to be part of those career bloggers!

Just laugh at me... cuz, I am!

I did introduce myself in a very goofy, stupid, way...."I blog too!" Duh. Everyone does. Then said, "wow, you wrote a book?" Of which she answered kindly and then moved on to the next person, who actually had a real question for her to answer.

That my friends, was my bloggyville celebrity encounter.

I am wondering... do you think that there is someone out there that would be tickled if they met, On Fire For Him??? lol...

Posted in: Smiles, Too Darn Funny on Sunday, July 15, 2007 at at 1:41 PM 4 comments    

Posted in: Too Darn Funny on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at at 11:15 AM 5 comments