Christmas in September??!!

I was at Sams club today and I know stores start early with their Christmas sales, but September?! They had a display in the front of the store with a big tv and christmas songs playing for everyone in the checkout to hear. I cant take it!!! I want to put a stop to earlier and earlier Christmas sales. Dont get me wrong, I love Christmas but not until after Thanksgiving or maybe even a week or so before Thanksgiving. But September? Give me a break Sams club, you are on my bad list. If I didnt love your deals so much I would protest your store.

The Queen mother

I am starting to get the big head. My middle daughter, Alisha has been voted to be on homecoming court for Queen. This is a new area for me but I think that I could learn to like to be royalty. The other day Tom's prison band went to our church youth group to lead the service and we were enjoying a home cooked meal that one of our friends had prepared for them. All of the sudden one of the men called me the first lady. Everyone started calling me that. I guess that makes Tom the president, but only of the prison. So maybe that isnt an honor after all. Oh well, I kinda liked it. First Lady and now maybe Queen mother. I should get some new clothes and a few pieces of Jewelry. I am very proud of Alisha. If anyone deserves to be Queen of Appalachian State University it is her. She is definitely a faithful appalachian student. She is a trusting, loyal friend. A very beautiful girl inside and out. She loves Jesus! I think she will represent her school wonderfully. I really thank Jesus for giving her this opportunity. (And I really would like to be the Queen mother.)

help Tom is tearing out a wall for real

We are no longer just talking about tearing out a wall. It is gone! Tom started this week and now our house upstairs looks like a house being built that is not done. There are joists up but no wall. Next he is going to pull the wiring up to the attic so he can cut the joists out. He is going to put can lighting in the ceiling and then do some drywall to remove a door. Then fix the ceiling where he took out the wall, then replace the carpet where the wall was. I think it will be nice when it's done. I just think Tom isnt happy unless he's tearing something out or changing something in our house. I love that he likes these projects but he becomes a little obsessive about the project and that is all he wants to do. I think he will go slower this time. But then I dont want him to go too slow cause I cant wait until the room is done. It will be a loft at the top of our stairs. It is going to be very nice. I hope we will love it. It's almost like getting a new house. Without all the moving!

being a mom

Being a mom is one of the funnest things I can think of being. Does that make sense. I had all three girls come home this weekend and Andrew and Matt. I just love being around my kids and their husband and boyfriend. Maybe I'm boring but to me there is nothing better than sitting around the table together reminising about past fun times or talking about what's happening now or what our plans are for the future. We just have a really good time together. Sometimes I laugh so hard I almost pee my pants. ( pardon the expression) But it's true. Well if laughter is good medicine then we should be a pretty healthy family. I think laughing about silly things really is healthy for a person. We all have serious times enough, lets make light of things now and again.

I am so proud of my girls. Sheila, thanks for being who you are. You are so beautifully unique. ( and very chic with your new haircut),I am glad that you took a stand early in life about who you were in Christ. You are so much fun when you arent sleepy. Thanks for choosing Andrew. I love him just like he's my own. He is so fun and it just seems like he's always been a part of our family. Alisha, thanks for being so loving and for not having the" B "factor as your sisters call it. I think you are an amzing girl for God. I hope we can call you queen Alisha after this month. You certainly look like a beauty queen. I think that Matt is a very cute and nice boyfriend. He has been fun to be around and I think he is very talented. I want him to put on another concert for us with the real violin. I appreciate that you have high standards and stick to them. Emily, I think that you are such an amazing cute girl. You are very smart and also have an incredibly high standard. You know what you want and are very determined when you choose to be. I know God has great things in store for you, take time to listen to Him. I know I will love your future boyfriend too. I cant wait until I meet him.

So anyway. I had a great weekend. I had my yardsale and I think it went very well. I got rid of alot of stuff and made some money. We sold Emiy's car to Alisha and Emily's friend from college and she is so excited about it. I pray that car will bless her for many years by getting her from point A to point B without any problems. I just feel blessed. Tom's Bills won so he is really happy. We had a great service at church and I feel full of life. God is so good to me.

teaching

I teach 2nd grade on wednesday night at my church. I have done it for many years and we just started back up for the 2006-2007 year. It is always so interesting to see the character of the classes because each year is different. I teach with my best friend Wanda and we have got this down to a science. Kids are so fun to watch and evaluate. We had 25 students tonight and it was really a good class. We always start with the rules. No talking without raising your hand. 3 strikes and your out to Pastor Melvin! which means your parents are going to find out you have misbehaved. (not usually a good thing) Then we have a lesson and some games and craft or fun lesson thing to do. I usually have a hard time picking what I will do, because there is so much to choose from and we only have 60 minutes. I do love teaching. I have Colby Neimeyer in my class this year. She was the flower girl in Sheila's wedding. I gave each of the kids a chance to share 1 thing about themselves and she said, " I was the flower girl in your daughters wedding." Well after that every girl wanted to share that they were in someone's wedding. Arent kids great? I think that this will be an interesting class and hopefully they will love me and Ms. Wanda and they will learn more about the Lord.

a fun picture

hiking with my girls, andrew and matt

(Emily, you should be able to comment now!)

having a yard sale

I am planning for a yard sale in the next week. I have done many in the past but kinda got to the place where I thought and Tom thought that it was too much work to take all the things you dont want anymore and put a price on them and then let people come to your house and start looking through all your stuff and try to get you to take less for it. Plus they always want to buy what you are not selling in your garage. BUT we have been cleaning out and organizing our house since Emily went to college. (I guess you would call this our empty nester projects) We have some big ticket items that I think will do well in a yard sale. We have 2 desks, bed sets, lots of miscellaneous stuff that I took out of the attice, etc. It's amazing how this thing can snowball. We just bought a new desk so I have to sell 2 old ones. Does that make sense?? Now I want to sell our family room sofa and love seat and my dishes that I have had for years. All of the sudden I just want to change everything and get a bunch of new. That is dangerous because you never sell your old for what the new will cost. YIKES help me somebody! I was going to have this sale this saturday but Sheila (My firstborn) has invited us to come to her sweet little town's festival. She really wants us to come so I will prolong the agony of this yard sale to another day. Hopefully it wont be raining next week. I have to get this stuff out of my garage, cause that is one of our next projects!!! Clean and organize the garage. Isnt life fun?

getting a cold

I dont like it when I am getting a cold. I cant be like Tom who is just sick for maybe one day or two. When I get a cold it lasts for a good week(or should I say bad) week. First I start to feel a little tired then I get some congestion, then my throat feels tight and then I either need to blow or cant blow my nose because it is running like crazy or all stuffed up. Then my ears feel stopped up and then I have drainage down my throat and start to cough like crazy and feel like I am gagging. It is a miserable feeling. I wish I could see in my body to see what those little nasty germs are doing to me to cause that miserable stuff to happen. Anyhow, I hope it wont ruin a fun Labor day weekend. My Emily is home and Matt and Alisha are coming tomorrow. Sheila and Andrew have their own life this weekend. We will miss them. We are having steak and shrimp. I hope that I can taste it with my cold.