How Many??

How many people do I actually know off my blog roll. Good question. How many of them actually know I exist would be another question as well. Well, let's see. I will go down the list and tell you who I actually know and whether or not we have actually met. :-)

*Wyld and the Crazies - He's my husband. LOL!! Direct connection there.

*Those Wacky Boyettes - I used to work with Sarah at the same school a few years ago, so yes, I know her and I have met her little girl and we swam at their house a few times. I plan on meeting baby Paul too, on our next trip to Dallas, whenever that is. LOL!!

*Bohemian Sherryle - I go to church with her and we were once in the same home school group.

*We're Blessed - We were in the same home school group and our girls love to play together. Can't wait for that next play date!! :-)

*West Texas Country Life - Although I can not read her blog right now, we were in a home school group together and now we are in another together. Anna loves playing with her kids at their house.

*Peppermint Patti - We were in the same home school group for a while.

*Funk Squared - My newest blogging buddy and long time friend. We worked together once upon a time, a long time ago. Her little girl was the flower girl at our wedding when she was just 2. :-)

Now here is where it gets complicated...

*Hannah Daze - She is my husband's cousin. Our girls have played together a few times and I met her once when Hannah was a baby.

*My Ebenezer - Again, my husband's cousin (may be a second cousin, I'm not quite sure.) I've never personally met her, but I do read her blog. She may have met my daughter on a trip that way once. I didn't go, so I have no idea!!

After that, I have no "real" connection to anyone on my blog list. I love to read their blogs and that's that. I am pretty sure that most of them don't even know I exist. Its okay though, its fun to read about other's life. They are quite interesting. Anyhow, I am sure it doesn't really matter. Just thought I would share. LOL.

Tag 4 Folder/Picture

A friend of mine tagged me and now I have to tag some more people! LOL Here are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer.

2.Select the 4th picture.

3.Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing...etc!)

Ok, So we didn't have a fourth folder right now because they are all backed up already and off the computer, but we did have a third folder, so I picked the third folder and the fourth picture. Does that count? In any case, it is a picture from New Years at a friends house. The kids were playing fooseball. Don't ask me who all the kids were though. LOL!!

I Tag:

1) Those Wacky Boyette's

2) Wyld and Crazies

(although his should be the same as we're on the same computer. LOL!!)

3) Hannah Daze

4) You Could Always Adopt

May He Rest in Peace

We have had a tragedy tonight at our house. Anna's beloved pet fish she called Tiger has passed on. He was a very pretty red Betta. Anna is beside herself with emotions. She just can't understand why he died. She wants him back. Tiger was given the proper burial in the toilet that ended with a flush, but as soon as she looked where his tank once stood, a flood of emotions came through again. She will make it through this, its just going to be hard for her. That fish lasted a long time. I was quite impressed. Now, can we make it through the night without crying all night. My poor baby, her hear hurts. (There is a new pet coming, but not for a few weeks.) I hope she can sleep. God Bless her sweet heart.

How Short is Too Short??

Well, on Sunday I decided to go in for a hair cut. Yes, I said a hair cut.

Apparently, I didn't do a good job conveying what I wanted, and the girl started to cut anyways. UGH!! Mistake number one made!!

The girl kept cutting and pretty soon I realized that she completely missed what I had asked for!! AACK!! Mistake number two!!

Mistake number three....she cut the back of my hair beautifully and left the top and sides to stick out, which I couldn't tell while I was there. I loved the way she cut the back though, I just didn't know what to do with the rest of it. I also couldn't tell what it "really" looked like because it was wet.

I went home and looked in the mirror and pretty much decided that I had clown hair. Yes, you read that right clown hair. You know the way their hair basically sticks out all over. That is what I looked like. I actually cried about my hair several times. I was devastated that I looked that way. I couldn't fix it and I felt bad going back to her, so I cried some more. I was very upset. You have no idea what its like to have clown hair, unless you have been there. (Sorry, no pictures, just the description.)

My mom felt bad and said that it looked like she only gave me half a hair cut. (My mom is a person who knows how to cut hair, but hasn't done it in years due to health issues and such.) She agreed that the back looked good, but the rest should have been cut to match it. We all knew that. I begged my momma to fix it and she did fix it Monday morning. The resulting hair cut it short. YES, short. VERY short. But, I don't look like a clown anymore!! YEAH!! Thanks Mom!! Here is a picture showing the result of my mom's fix.

This is much easier to deal with, but not what I had planned to begin with, but since hair dresser number one REALLY messed up my hair (she will NEVER touch my hair again), this is what had to be done. I am not sure I want to see it growing out. That is going to be a horrible stage, but yes, I will grow it back out to where I wanted it and NEVER see that lady again. My mom did a good job with what was left!!

Anyways, I said it was short. I can't really do anything with it, that's how short we are. About an inch on all sides. Now, any ideas for growing it back out gracefully??

P.S. Oh yeah...Anna got a hair cut too. We had 3 inches taken off the back and she asked for bangs. Can you believe I gave in and let her get bangs again? I wonder how long they will take to grow out this time.

Still Here

Ok, ok, so I have been slack at posting. I promise I have good intentions. Really I do. Its been a busy few days. Jeremy's birthday was Wednesday, Anna went to the doctor on Friday and the dentist yesterday, and I worked in between.

Jeremy's birthday was okay. Kind of rushed through a cake and a crummy rendition of Happy Birthday. I feel bad, but I had to head off to work pretty quick after he got home and wanted to do something to make him feel special. Unfortunately, it might have been better to do nothing as I am quite sure that he didn't feel special that day. A rushed birthday song and some cake may not have been the best laid plan, but it is what it is.

Anna had a doctor check up on Friday. She is healthy besides the fact that she has severe allergies. So, on top of daily Zyr*tec, she is now taking Nas*onex. Yes, a nasal spray. She is doing quite well with it and reminds me every morning that she needs her medicine. Good girl, because Mommy's memory is shot.

Anna went to the dentist yesterday. She has good teeth, but much over-crowding. She will need braces when she gets older. Every time we go, the dentist tells me this. I sure hope by then he will figure out a way to pay for it too. LOL!! Those things are expensive. Anna also got a new Col*gate toothbrush with dolphins on it. She gets a new toothbrush every time, but I think this was by far her favorite. Now, how do you MAKE them take x-rays of her teeth. She has a horrible gag reflex and gags even when someone else blows their nose. So, since she gags, they don't make her take x-rays. It hasn't been done in over two years. Apparently its not important, but they do "try" every time she goes in. At some point they have got to do this, right? Ugh!! Can't wait till I see a new set.

There is one tidbit of information I am leaving out, but I believe it deserves a post of its own, so you must wait. LOL!! Sorry, I have had some excitement in my life too and I will show you the results of it tomorrow, if I remember to get back on. So, now that I am keeping you in suspense, please come back tomorrow to read the other news. LOL!! Love you all. (All 10 of my faithful readers.) Take care and God bless you.

No Car Again

Well, I am officially stranded again!! LOL!! I have been driving my father-in-law's truck for about 6 weeks or so and today was the last day for a while. We were in the parking lot where we were buying Jeremy's birthday gift and when I went to back out of my spot, I noticed something very strange....the brakes were going all the way to the floor. GASP!! That scared me to death. I looked up and sure enough on the dash are two lights for the brakes. AAAACK!! Talk about scary. Needless to say, the brake line was rusted in two. Good gravy!! I am so glad that it didn't happen when I was going down the highway or anything. That could have been really bad. So anyhow, I am back to no car. I will have to learn to drive Jeremy's car, but there goes our gas. YIKES!! I hope we can get a schedule figured out. I also hope that I can have the patience to learn to drive his car.
**
Here are some good words for myself: "I think I can! I think I can!"

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Well, I know it is late and my poor husband won't get this until tomorrow, but I wanted to wish him a very Happy Birthday. I am sure you don't want everyone to know your age, so I won't tell, but I hope you had a good one. I love you. Hope you enjoy your new CD's.

Love,

Anna and Nicole

P.S. That was a glass of sparkling red grape juice.

Now, Where Were We?

This is what Anna said in all of about 10-15 minutes at lunch yesterday. See if you can follow it. She was jumping from one conversation or thought in her head to another rather quickly.

*"I went on vacation for a long time to Auntie Tashia's."
*"They brought us muffins from the muffin man."
*"Ms. Shawna taught us in class a long time ago at the old church."
*"We had blueberry muffins."
*"Auntie Tashia loves me."
*"Is that your list."
*"Do you have my hospital bracelet from when I was a baby?"
*"Are you having more cereal?"
*"What about when I was sick, did you keep that bracelet?"
*"I meant rice mom."
*"Do you still have some of Matthew's things?"
*"We had good muffins mom."
*"Ms. Shawna is nice."
*"I miss Auntie Tashia."
*"Can I go on vacation again?"
*"Are we going to Six Flags?"
*"Did you have homework when you were a kid?"
*"You cried for a long time mom."
*"I love you mom."

See, even I had a hard time following exactly what she was talking about at the time. It was too funny. She would take a bite and open her mouth and we were on the next topic. Another bite and she was back to an old topic. All this was in about 10 minutes. Sometimes I could answer and other times I was like what are you talking about? Good grief. She remembers EVERYTHING!! We just don't hear about it until months or years later.

Just One???

Why is it that people want to know if we are "ONLY having just one" child. What do you mean by just one? It was never my plan nor intention to have just one child, but that is what God has blessed us with and we are happy with that. God gave us our one child willingly and freely. She is a beautiful little girl and I am proud to be her mommy. So, if you ask me if we are having "just one" the answer is yes. For now or maybe for always. God gave us our special little gift. If and when he sees fit for us to parent another child, then we will, but for now, we have one.
One beautiful little girl.
One smart girl.
One Mommy's girl.
One Daddy's girl.
One happy girl.
One funny girl.
One girl who steals a lot of hearts.
One girl who means the world to us.
Yes, ONE!!
God made our ONE little girl for us to love and care for and that is just what we are going to do the best that we know how. ONE!!!

New Phone

Well, it was time. Time for a new phone. My old cell phone would turn off at random on its own and also dial out numbers while in my purse. It was weird. I am sure that because of how old it is, it didn't help anything. Jeremy had a little extra money left over after his last check and said lets get you a new phone. (This was before one of our DVD players gave out on us this weekend. - Completely different story!!) Anyhow, so I said okay after making sure that it wasn't going to effect our budget any and off we went. I was trying to decide between two phones. This one, the Blackberry Curve and this one, the LG VU. Go ahead, go check out the links. You know you want to.

It was a hard decision, especially with a guy trying to sell me on the Blackberry. I decided finally on the LG VU and so far, I love it. It is different and all with a touch screen, but I really like it. Now, if I can just figure out all the little gadgets on it. So far so good though. I am really enjoying it. (If you get cut off from our phone call, now you know why!!) Thank you honey for the new phone. I know you will get yours in April, as soon as your eligible to upgrade!! :-)

P.S. Yes, this does mean I have a working phone, but not a working car. I got the truck back as my father-in-law never got it sold this weekend. (Another story on its own as well.)

Engine Trouble!!

AACK!! Before Christmas, my car started making an awful knocking noise. We figured it was the timing chain and parked it over break. Yesterday I had the "brilliant" idea to try and "fix" my car. The oil needed to be changed, so I took it to the oil change place and let them listen to the noise. I had two mechanics listen and they both said, no, not timing chain, but probably the lifters, which are of course in the engine. They said it would be okay to drive, so I took my car home. I took it to my brother's house a little later and let him and a friend over the phone listen in. They both said lifters, so I again took it home and waited a little while to go out again. I called several mechanics to get quotes on replacing the lifters and by the third one, he says, your car is too new for lifters. You have cam shafts and gears, but NOT lifters. So, he said he would listen to the noise, so I had the brilliant idea to take my car over to him and let him listen. WRONG IDEA!!!!! I got on the Loop and my car went kaboom!! Literally. I could not drive over 40 miles per hour, so I exited to the access road. UGH!! By then, everyone could hear my car had issues and sounded like it was going to blow up at any minute. When i stopped for that first light, 40 was no more. My car would only go 20-25 miles per hour. I took it slowly to my mother-in-laws house to rest peacefully in their back yard again and I was terrified it would plain stop before I got there. I re-borrowed my father-in-laws truck for the rest of the week and called my brother back to let him know what had happened to my car. His first question was, "Did you try to re-start it?" UHM, NOPE!! I was late for church at this point and I parked it and left. UGH!! So, in the long and short of it all, my engine is really screwed up. We must wait until income tax to even get it looked at. We are going to the diagnostic test and have them tell me what all is wrong. If it is more than the car is worth, then we will sell the car as is. If it is not too bad, then we will fix it. No telling what's wrong for a few more months at least though. UGH!! So, as a result, on Sunday I get to learn to drive my husband's car on Sunday afternoon. It is a standard. I have driven it on the highway quite a bit, but I am not very good at driving in town because I always stall out at the street lights and stop signs. So, Sunday we practice. I hope I can get it figured out. LOL!! (The reasoning for my learning is my father-in-law sold the truck I have been driving for a month. He listed it on Craigslist on the third and has a buyer for it this weekend. - This in itself is another story and is enough to make me mad. He knew full well I was driving it, but whatever.) Anyhow, so that's the long and short story of my car. Pray for me Sunday as I figure out my husband's car. I need it. Thanks all and God Bless! Hope your week is going well. Two days left!!

My Secret...

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Yes, the disease that eventually disfigures people's hands. That's what I have. It is a painful disease that I must live with everyday. You can learn more about it here. Here is a quote from their website that tells a little bit about it.

Rheumatoid Arthritis
What is it?
Rheumatoid arthritis (rue-ma-TOYD arth-write-tis) is a chronic disease, mainly characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the joints. It can lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progresses in three stages. The first stage is the swelling of the synovial lining, causing pain, warmth, stiffness, redness and swelling around the joint. Second is the rapid division and growth of cells, or pannus, which causes the synovium to thicken. In the third stage, the inflamed cells release enzymes that may digest bone and cartilage, often causing the involved joint to lose its shape and alignment, more pain, and loss of movement.Because it is a chronic disease, RA continues
indefinitely and may not go away. Frequent flares in disease activity can occur. RA is a systemic disease, which means it can affect other organs in the body. Early diagnosis and treatment of RA is critical if you want to continue living a productive lifestyle. Studies have shown that early aggressive treatment of RA can limit joint damage, which in turn limits loss of movement, decreased ability to work, higher medical costs and potential surgery. RA affects 1.3 million Americans.Currently, the cause of RA is unknown, although there are several theories. And while there is no cure, it is easier than ever to control RA through the use of new drugs, exercise, joint protection techniques and self-management techniques. While there is no good time to have rheumatoid arthritis, advancements in research and drug development mean that more people with RA are living happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

There you have it. My secret is out. Now you know why I move like I am a teenager some days and other days, I move like I am 70. I hope this explains a little about me. They have just re-diagnosed me with it right after Christmas. He (The Doctor) started me on medication right away and I will not know for about another week or so if it is going to work or if we need to switch. Just thought i would share. I know God is going to get me through the day-to-day and he will continue to do so. So, I guess that's all. Just was sharing. God Bless you all.

WOW!

My new improved lessons plans prove to be lengthy. :-) I added quite a bit of extra math work in every day in an attempt to have Anna grasp the concepts she is missing. Not enough to frustrate, but enough. We also did a complete lesson in History, instead of breaking it down into days. It took a little longer, but was nicer to have the whole lesson done in one day instead of 2 or 3. It made us go a little longer, but still under two hours. Not bad. Anna liked doing it too. I think she missed it. Yeah for our routine coming back!! Yeah!! Now she is in the living room playing with her toys and the debate over lunch begins. LOL!! At least we have food and can have that debate today. I am very grateful for that. Hope you all are having a good day, oh and our ice is pretty much melted. Yeah that too. Take care.

Baby, it's cold outside!!

At least for a little while. I was awakened to the sound of the doorbell at 6:35am. Yes, 6:35 in the morning. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on and so I went and peeked through the blinds first. There stood my husband freezing. I opened the door and saw what he needed. There was a nice layer of ice over almost everything and Loop traffic was slowed to a crawl. UGH! ICE!! I do not like ice. Snow I can handle, but ice, not so much. I can drive it, but I do not like the loss of control you can get on it. In any case, that's what we have this morning is ice. Jeremy called me a little while ago and he made it in to work okay. He said it is very slick all the way down, but at least he made it in. I am glad for that. We on the other hand will not be heading out until absolutely necessary today. I need to go get mom's medicine and pay the rent before work, so I will do so then. I highly doubt we will venture out before then. Anyhow, I guess I am glad we have lots of stuff to do at home still. It will keep us busy. We are even going "back to school" today, so it will keep us busy. Have a good day all and stay warm. God bless!!

A Little Personal

Not much new on the blogging front. I am ready to start back to school on Monday and get back into the swing of things...of course I need to finish my lesson plans first, but I still have tomorrow to write them. In a few weeks, Anna and I will venture into a new world. I have scheduled us to make out very own Lapbook. LOL!! We got to a certain lesson in Science (while I was writing Lesson Plans) and it said to take a field trip to the zoo. LOL!! What Zoo?? I live in a place with no zoo. We are big enough for a zoo, but there just isn't one. How sad for our kiddos! so, next time we head up to Dallas, if the weather cooperates, we are going to the zoo!! In the mean time, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to do a Lapbook on a Wild Animal. Anna picked a lion. I am not completely surprised by this as she has a fascination with the Lion King. Anyways, I am starting to find the little things I need to put in the book, so when we are ready, we can study it and make the book. I hope I can get it all figured out!! It will be fun and educational at the same time.

My other goal is to spend more time with other kids. Maybe do play dates of sorts. She is with me a lot during the day and I think it will be better served for her to have others to hang out with and all, so I am trying to figure out how to work all that in. I feel very much like an outsider in a lot of the homeschool groups because we are homeschooling by the seat of our pants, literally. I do not have the luxury of staying home full-time with Anna as we do not bring in very much. Think of working lower to middle class. That's us!! :-) We actually would qualify for some help from the government, but we would have to sell J's car. Are you kidding me. There's only three payments left!! Three!! YES!! I am very excited about that and we will feel so much better without that payment, even though we plan to put half of it back in a savings account for another car one day or repairs to the two we've got. We will have quite a bit in extra money. Now, do I make him pay the car insurance? LOL!! Anyhow, I veered off the reason for this paragraph. Let's see if I can't get back. I want Anna to spend time learning how to interact with other children appropriately, so I am trying to decide how to fit that in. Do we join other groups that we are no completely comfortable with? Do we just keep trudging and pray that God opens up some friends to us? I want her to have other people in her life. I want her life to be full. We do have some good people we interact with, but we need to take it on a more personal level. I pledge to get my house clean and allow more people to come visit and play. I may not have a big space, but it is ours and I remember always having people at our house growing up, so that's what I am going to do. we are going to invite others over. That way I can know I am doing my best for my little girl.

Ok, I think that's about as personal as I can get on here without telling my life story and this is long enough. I am continuing to pray about this situation and that God will lead us where he wants. Have a good day everyone and may God richly bless you all.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year Everyone!! May God bring you His best in 2009. I think someone had our church coined the phrase "Let your light shine in 2009." Pretty nifty little phrase, if I do say so myself. She was very clever. We all need to let our light shine this year. Anyhow, I hope your year is filled with good things and lots of happy times. God bless you all!