Mother's Day and memories

WOW!! It's been a long time since I "journaled" here!! Today was Mother's Day and it was a very snowy day here in Central NY!! I don't love waking up to white ground on the 9th of May, that's for sure but fortunately it doesn't stick around when it does snow this late in the spring... So, we went to church and participated in the annual Deacon's Scholarship Pie Auction. It's funny to watch people bid those pies up to $40 and $50 dollars. It's for a good cause and everyone has a great time!! This year, my oldest brother is going to Italy for work purposed so he couldn't be here with us. My other brother and his family came to my parents house, my mom cooked - what's wrong with that picture???? - and I helped as much as i could when I got home from church. My husband's truck lost it's brakes last night, fortunately he was able to limp it to our house (the one we don't live in yet) so he beelined out of church and got to work on fixing that. We had a nice family meal, conversation, and dessert. When my brother's family left, I took Bob to our house to get his truck and he stayed to do a few more things. We've been building our house for almost a year and living at my parents for almost a year and a half, so he is anxious to get it done and live there!! I am too but I do admit it would be nice to see him a little more than we currently do... He worked til 9 tonight but that is 2 and a half hours earlier than last night. My husband is nothing if he's not dedicated when he starts a project!!

Yesterday, we went to store after store in New Hartford. I was trying so hard to find my mom a great gift for Mother's Day. Just that afternoon she was dusting some things off and told me the problem with knick-knacks is that there's no way to keep them dust free!! So I was careful not to buy anything like that. My brother has an amazing green house and he always does some nice baskets up for her so I didn't really want to go the flower route. Then I thought about a printer for her laptop because when we move out, she will have to come to my house to get anything she wants printed... I actually had one in the cart but then I didn't know if she'd rather pick one out herself - maybe she'd want a copier, scanner, fax machine.... So after going into Home Depot, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Pier 1, Walmart, Michaels, and Joann Fabrics, I went home with nothing - except complaining kids, that is!! I decided that we would give her something she really wants - when we move out, I heard her tell my dad that she'd like our rooms painted. They haven't been painted since they built the house almost 19 years ago!! So we are going to paint the bedrooms, hallway, foyer, and maybe 2 of the bathrooms!! Not sure if that's an ideal Mother's Day gift but it seemed to work for her. I also got her a collage of photos from our day at EPCOT this year. That is still at Walgreen's though since I haven't been to Syracuse to get it...

My mother's day gift was a phone call from Matthew :) He's in the Navy and couldn't be home, I'm just glad he remembered to call lol!! I told Austin and Andrew that all I want from them is to get along, and they are trying very hard!!!

I have to note this here as a remembrance too - the other night we did dinner at my in-laws for Mother's Day and on the way there, Andrew asked, "will we be home by 8:30, 7:30 central???" He watches the Disney channel and a new show was coming on and that is how they advertised it, it was so cute, one of those things I dont' want to forget!!! :)


On a very sad note, this is the 2nd anniversary of a very bad accident here in town that killed a teenager. A very special young lady in my life was very close to him and she still misses him terribly. Several of the kids go to the tree that the car hit, as a memorial for Ryan. She posted on facebook tonight that she thought the tree was supposed to be to remember Ryan, not to gossip about others... I give her so much credit for being able to speak her mind and to speak up for what is right. She is a great young lady and I am very proud to know her!! I should mention that no drugs or alcohol were involved in this accident, it took place on a hilly street in town where kids have always tried to get "air". My son was a senior that year and had gone all through school with the driver. It hit too close to home and made me wish all the more that there could be more in our area for kids to do. I don't have a solution but won't give up hope that I, or someone, will come up with one..

Working and playing Weekend!!

We are getting ever so close to the time where we will be able to move into our house. Bob the Builder was bound and determined to get our lawn in this weekend. So Saturday he rented a tiller - he wanted to hire someone for 4 times as much as the cost of the tiller but I don't trust the person and not so nicely put my foot down about it. He then got a bit upset and said that the kids and I better be there to help. I don't think he thought that we would show up but we did. Guess what he did??? He sent us home - said there wasn't anything we could do - this was about noon, after the boys soccer game (I'll get to that later). I played along and went home but at around 3, we went back - he didn't expect us to show up either ;) I actually learned how to drive the tractor!! I have never driven a lawn mower in my life!! That is coming from a girl whose daddy worked for and owned his own Agway store for most of life so far lol!! It was actually a lot of fun and if I can convince him to let me mow the lawn this summer, I'm thinking I just might do that :) Anyway, I have issues with my left hand so I didn't pick up that many rocks myself but the boys did 4 wagon loads of rocks!! I was extremely impressed. Austin asked me if picking up the rocks would give him stamina - where does a 9 year old come up with that question?? - I told him of course so he would keep working lol!! Daddy was impressed too!! So much so that he sent us home before the job was done!! It was getting dark and they were beat.

Yesterday was also their first spring soccer game of the year. Andy is finally in the U10 - I moved him up a little early to keep my life somewhat simpler. The fields aren't together and daddy is too busy to count on being at games and I HATE leaving either one of them alone at a game. Last fall, I was back and forth between fields and it was a nightmare!! Don't have to worry about that for a year and a half again!! Andy was nervous playing on the big field and with a real ref but he loved it and did great - he even had an assist!!! Austin said he had one too but I guess I missed that... All in all, it was a great game - we aren't sure if they won or tied but in AYSO they aren't supposed to keep score anyway. They had a lot of fun and that's all that matters!!

Today Bob the Builder got the lawn seeded while our awesome neighbor brought his roller over and rolled the dirt smooth for us. The neighbors that we are gaining by our move are incredible and I can't wait to pay them back for their kindness!!!

EARTH DAY

The best part of homeschooling is the ability to take time to do things when you want to :) All week long we have been talking about our Earth and celebrating the fact that it is Earth Week. We were at the park recently and the tennis court had about 15 empty soda and water bottles all around it. I encouraged the boys to help me gather them up and put them in the barrel that was RIGHT THERE!! They didn't want to at first but after they did it and looked at the park again, they were very pleased with how much better "they" made it look. Ever since, we have been picking up any trash we see laying on the ground. Yesterday we went around to several of the parks here in town and I'm pleased to say that most of them were very well kept. We did find a bunch of cans in one of them though and we collected them up to take to The Disney Store this morning. If you brought in 6 cans or water bottles, they gave you a Make A Wave hat. We all brought in 6 cans and each got a hat (they are youth sized so I won't get much wear out of mine).. They had their aluminum water bottles on sale too so we each got one to save on buying water bottles. Austin and I got Save Planet Earth with my favorite LGM from Toy STory on it and Andy and daddy got Muppets. They are awesome!! The water stays cold in them forever too!!

When I got home this afternoon, I also found out that I won an Earth Day Contest and we won another hat like we got today and a Make A Wave T-shirt, both signed by Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas. We're thinking we will display them in our Disney Room at our new house..

I hope that this Earth Day everyone was inspired to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - I will quote the Grateful Dead (one of my most favorite bands) here and say, The future's here, we are it, we are on our own!!! Happy Earth Day!!

Disney giveaway!!

Tomorrow is Earth Day - Make a Wave - make a change!!!!

We have some exciting news!

Disney has given us some Earth Day Items to giveaway on the site to promote the Friends for Change / Disney Store – Earth Day Celebration.

We are giving away a Autographed Friends for Change – Make a Wave Hat & T-Shirt to one lucky fan. Two of my favorite Disney Artist – Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas have signed these items just for you in time for Earth Day!

“Make a Wave” T-shirt is Made from 100% organic cotton- it’s a kids medium.

How to Enter:

1. Goto the Chip and Co Facebook Page and become a Fan if you are not already
2. On our Facebook Page you must type in the Share Box - “Happy Earth Day”
   

For a Bonus Entry:

1. Tweet about the giveaway (Click the Retweet Button next to the Picture above)

For a Third Entry:

1. Share this post on your Website or Blog and link to it via the comment section below.

No purchase necessary.

Giveaway ends at noon on Earth Day – Thursday April 22nd, 2010!

I will pick one person at random from all 3 Entry locations. I will announce and contact the winner via Chip and Co Facebook Page and in this article. The winner will have 3 days to get back to me for delivery details.

Valid for US residents and addresses only.

Today was a great day!!! We started our morning out by volunteering at the Great Swamp Conservancy in Canastota. They want to reopen a trail that they kind of, let go. So our Co-op met there and we raked and chopped, cleared and blazed a new trail!! The kids really loved it!! They've asked if we can go back and do more - it was real labor and they're asking for more!!

For lunch, we met Matthew (my oldest son, he's home on leave for a few days from the Navy) and his girlfriend Melissa at Recovery in Verona. It was my first time there and I'm not impressed. The pizza that we ordered seemed microwaved - YUCK!! The service was slower than slow and they were not busy - can't imagine what it's like when there are people waiting for tables!! I even had to wait over 10 minutes to pay the bill!!! After that, I took the boys to the grocery store and we got ice cream and rootbeer and I treated them to rootbeer floats!! They loved today lol!!! Then we had to get on to the schoolwork.

Matt and Melissa came back for dinner and we had a fairly quiet evening. I've been searching for more online deals and I think I have a few but I'm having internet connection issues tonight and not having luck checking if they are valid or not..

On a sad note, we are praying tonight for a husband and wife that were killed on a motorcycle in our area. They were 39 and 37 - not sure if they had children or not but my heart is breaking for their families. Life is very fragile - we should never take it for granted....

I don't think that I am very good at this blogging thing but I guess if nothing else, it will serve as a journal of sorts for me.. Yesterday was a good day - my boys wanted to go shopping, for very selfish reasons. They had each purchased a used video game at Game Stop and you have 7 days to return the game. It's kind of nice because they can try a game and if they don't like it, you don't have to lose a bunch of money.. So Austin knew right away, before we even got home (they brought their DS's with them) that he hated his game. Sidenote - I told him it seemed like a stupid game but he had to have it!! Andrew liked his game but needed my help to play it and I am just not into Spiderman. So they had to get to Game Stop before Monday to get their money back. Andrew told me he loved to shop with me so I figured I'd test him and we'd go to Kohl's first. I had a coupon for 15% off your total purchase, even sale items. I got a new shirt to wear to church, it was $36 marked down to $10 and I got the additional 15% off that price. I got the boys a slip-n-slide too that was on sale for $8.99 and then got 15% off that. So I was happy!! The boys on the other hand, not so much. I knew he was making up how much he loved to shop with me so I tested him a little bit ;) We went to two different Game Stops and neither had a game that they wanted and that I agreed to based on the price. The Wii game they really wanted, I thought was overpriced. I promised that we would come home and get one on ebay cheaper. Well, I was wrong... There were only 2 listed and they were both starting bids of $50 and $68 - a whole lot more than the one we saw that morning. I thought I was in trouble. I told Andrew to call Game Nutz. Game Nutz is a store here in Sherrill that is just like Game Stop only with a local owner. He has a second shop in Canastota but they don't have nearly the inventory that the Sherrill store has. As luck would have it, he had one copy of the game Andrew wanted, the cost $22.99 used. I thought that was better than $50 or $70 so I told them to get their wallets and we'd go get it. Then I had a thought - I told them to go through their games and see if they have any that they never play. We could take them and just see how much he'd offer them. They found about 6 games but a couple of them didn't have the booklets inside. I know we have them and that you get more for the game if you have the book, so we took 3 with us. The guy checked them all out and told the boys he could give them $20 cash or trade them even for the game they wanted - since the game was 23, that was a no-brainer lol!! I highly recommend Game Nutz - it's a great store and the employees are super nice. It's a local guy trying to make a go of it and the selection is incredible for what looks like a tiny store.

Today at church, we named our new Christian Education Director - Kathy Bruno. I am extremely involved in my church - my church family is more like a family to me than some of our real relatives!! I am so excited to start working with Kathy that I'm creating things for her to do lol!! Better not tell her that!! I know there are a lot of things that we can be doing and having a CE director again will make it easier!! I was also blown away by a couple different people in church today. Two different people, came up to be out of the blue, and said when we move into our house, they want to help us. One of them just finished Chemotherapy not too long ago. The kindness overwhelms me - I just can't believe it!!!

We also started taking sign ups for an at home bible study - it's a marriage series. We didn't have a huge turn out but we are up to about 7 couples right now and I'm excited about that. It is open to everyone, whether they attend our church or not, so if you're interested let me know and I will get you the details. Here is a link to our first study:
http://www.shopfamilylife.com/hmb-building-up-your-spouse.html

Today is my brother's birthday so we are going to celebrate with a BBQ - God has provided us with a beautiful sunny day and I can't wait to take more of it in!!! It is also our dog Gizmo's 13th birthday. We have to get to the store to pick up some Frosty Paws for her!! She loves those things!!!

Drama and Deals

Last night I attended the Oneida High School Drama Dept presentation of "South Pacific". I was blown away by the talent of those kids. The singing and acting are amazing!!! One of the girls from our church had one of the leads, Bloody Mary, and to see her up there in that role - I can't even put it into words... The accent that she pulled off, even while singing, was unbelievable!! There is one more show tonight and I believe tickets are still available - if you're in the Oneida area, you should go - you won't be disappointed!!! Best $8 I've spent for entertainment in a very long time!!


I was just at Snapfish and they have a spin to win game - you get 3 spins. All 3 of my spins landed on the one unlucky wedge - what are the odds of that?? I'd say it's rigged....If there were 3 or 4 of that wedge, I wouldn't question it but since there was one and it slowly stopped on that one each time - well.... I did get 10 free prints as a consolation prize and they are offering free shipping for their birthday right now. I am an avid picture taker. I don't have enough pictures of my oldest since we weren't really into the digital age until he was at the age where he didn't want to have his picture taken so my other two boys are suffering the consequences of me having to scramble for pictures of their brother for his graduation. That won't happen to them. Therefore, I am always on the lookout for photo deals. Walgreens is my main source. This week alone I've rec'd 20 free prints, several collages for 80% off, a free 8 x 10, and today they are offering 20 prints for 20 cents. Snapfish photos can also be picked up at a Walgreen's so be on the lookout for their deals as well and you won't have to pay to ship them. You have 30 days to pick up your prints. I have mine printed at the store near my chiropractor and I pick them up when I have an appointment.