I think I can, I think I can, I KNOW I can...

My husband knows I can.
My family knows I can.
My friends knows I can.

I think I can.

I am officially starting my photo service.
I'm a bit clueless on the business part at this point
(Thank God I have friends talented in this area),
but I know one thing.
I love what I do.
I love that people believe in me.
A friend of mine encouraged me to take the leap.
She encouraged me that there is room for me, so start making my way.
(Thanks Michelle xoxo)
God has opened so many doors so far, so I'm hoping its the right direction.
I think I can
I think I can
I think I can...
I KNOW I can...

Must...have...Coffee.

So is kicking one habit and starting another bad?
I've gone from kicking the habit of never having breakfast, to trying to eat something. Something about kick starting your Metabolism and weight loss...some craziness like that. But the thing that is a must, is my COFFEE. I was in a hurry this morning(shocker) and had a terrible headache when I left to run errands. I went to bed early last night, so as I'm driving, feeling as if a 2x4 was being beaten on the side of my head, I realized. NO COFFEE! Had I become that much of a Bean drinker, that my head punishes me for not having it!?
Ok Head, you win. I shall never forget my coffee in the mornings. You come first. Just promise to never punish me like you did this morning...It kinda hurts.

The harvest is PLLENNNTY!

I really wish I could take credit for all these yummy fruits and vegetables, and say I worked my hands to the bone, pulling weeds and such. But the credit goes to my very domestic Mother in law. She prepares this mammoth garden and fills it with all kinds of goodies. This is just a very small sampling of what we get out of it. We have cukes, squishy squashes, zuchinni whinni, "antelopes", H2Omelons, The great pumpkins, greener beaners, green peppas, 6 different breeds of tomatoes toMAtoes, califlower, broccoli, and green lettuce. The stuff that comes up every year that she doesn't worry about are the peaches, apples, black berries, mulberries, raspberries, Snauzeberries(what movie!!??), and concord grapes.
We just started freezing the tomaters this week. So far I have 12 quarts in the freezer and 4 quarts of tomato juice. I also froze corn, blueberries(went to a farm for those) and green peppers. HOW DOMESTIC AM I!?
So the last week, we have been doing all things tomotoes. BLT's, Bruchetta, Spaghetti, Salsa, and Gazpacho. Even my dog Herby is getting in on the fun(he loves tomatoes.)
What have you harvested this month?
Do you have a garden?
Share share share friends...
That's the only way I get to snoop into your life...lol!
Have a great weekend : )

Just a small town girl....

This is the place where it all happened.

Home of the Hot Dogs (yes, im not joking)

Home of the Famous Hot Dog Festival (why not?)

Home of the movie “Blue Chips” with Shaq and Nick Nolte (Don’t worry, I didn’t see it either)

Home of the…well... little ole me!

Join me as I take you through Corn Town USA…

Our first stop is where it all started for me. This is my home that I lived in for 17 years. See the window right of the door. That was my room. This house was built in the 60's, and it was white painted paneling. In the 80's my dad turned this house around to what you see now. He sold the house in '95 Still makes me sad. He was an amazing craftsman. Minus the Cmas lights still hanging in the middle of AUG.

Now you see it....

Now you don't. This was my old elementary James Whitcomb Riley. The last oldest standing elementary in Ffort. This was torn down a couple of years ago. This school was exactly 2 blocks from my home. Those were the days where your mom let you walk to school as a kindergartner, with no worry's.

How times have changed.

This is the 6th grade Volleyball team at Riley.

We were the Riley Poets...

Makes you shake in your shoes, doesn't it?

Can you find me? : )

Number 31 was my bestie, 1st through HS and we played all through till we grad. Miss you Ann!

My middle school... My class was the first to come into this school. The second week we were there, they had to shut us down because of a pipe busted and flooded the main floor of the brand new school... The funny thing was...We were the "prototype for other schools to follow." WE felt special.

This Zit-like form of a monstrosity was my High school.

The best and the worse 4 years of my life.

Home of the Hot Dogs. I played Volleyball and ran Track here...

We were called the

LADY DOGS...

nice.

I learned to drive in this parking lot...Good times with my mom,

when I wasn't scaring her to death.

My social life wasn't much, which kept me out of trouble, but here is a few of the regular stops...

The STRIP.

Place to see and be seen. what do you do? you drive back and forth , up and down the road. Flip off a few, race, steal someones boyfriend...Not that I did any of those things.





Milky Way.

The only reason to ever go back to Frankfort.

My church. Where I learned what real sacrifice meant.



The END...





So whats up with the town you grew up in.

Its Show and Tell time...

Share on your blog and let me know that you did so I can check it out!



Until Later Friends...

So many to post, so little time...

There has been so much going on this week that I haven't been able to share anything with you!
I"m sure you are all waiting with bated breath to see what exciting things we have been up to...
OK... well just humor me.

Lets start with Sat.
Some friends of mine heard about this crazy little thing my sister and I do called

"Tour De Goodwill"

( yes you have to say it in your frenchy voice, or it just sounds silly).

We started this little diddy when my sister opened my eyes to Goodwills in INDY. OH ME OH MY! My life changed forever. People in Indy have no idea what they are giving at Goodwill...but thats ok...their ignorance is my treasure! So there are rules to the "Tour De Goodwill"(say it Frenchie) Anywhoo, Heres the dealio, yo.

1. You have one hour in a GW, so set your goal of how many Goodwills we need to hit...(we've done 6, before totally being broke)
2. You have to have a spending budget in place..ours is usually set between $50-$75.
3.You must show each other what is being purchased so we can honestly say " you know, that would look better on me..you should give that to me. serious."
4. Bring a snack and bottled water...There aint no stopping for food until we are done
5.Leave nothing behind...
6.My personal favorite...LEAVE THE KIDS AND HUBBY AT HOME.


So heres some of the goods from that day...
(Going Clockwise)
The top LH picture is my straighter..my CHI straighter...my "$100.00+ straighter that I paid 2.99 for!"
The next one is me and friends Pam and Janet. These girls are in their 50's and they are just the BO-Diddly Bomb! I hope I dress and look as good as they do(they got carded at ABEES! seriously!? I didnt buy a drink, but the guys told me he would have never put me at 29* ; )
The next 2 are of GWill...those are just for effect.
The next picture is of the bed in a bad set (2 pillow cases, 2 shams, fitted sheet, sheet, comforter, and bed ruffles for $20!!!!! This is going into Cam's room.. We both love bright cherry colors! The polka dot set is Casi's. Same stuff in the bag. same price. Same awesome person who found the good deal!
The next pic is an old Polaroid. I love this camera. It just says Nostalgic. Next to it were the flash cubes people used to use on the 110 cameras...memba them??? bought both, paid $5.
The yellow purse..yeah, couldn't leave a GW without a purse...2.99
The last and most favorite picture is me and my bestie...my sister shelly. She met us with us and like usual took a normal day and turned into something special..love you Birdy!!!

Ok, so my next post, will be about my hometown of Frankfort...or like us natives call it...Frankfort...lol

Sailing Away....

My daughters fear: riding her bike without training wheels...

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. {Mark Twain}

No regrets. I really try to live my life without them, but to my dismay, I have some.
The older I get, I am learning that it is not the inability of doing it that holds me back, but the FEAR that rears its ugly head, to once again beat me into believing that what I want to accomplish cant be done and even more so...that it cannot be done..BY ME.
Why is it that fear is so powerful? Why is fear the one thing that can actually paralyze us where we stand? Can you imagine what we could accomplish if fear wasn't a factor?
What exactly are we afraid of? Opinions? Failure? Hatred? Opportunity? Open Doors?

Mine is failure and opinion.
What's yours?

Funky coool. must. have.one.

My baby needs some pizazzz!
I think this may be the trick.

Check out some of the other funk-ti-fied products here....http://www.myfunkycamera.com/store/Default.asp

OHH! They have Polka! yummy!

They grow 'em big in the country...

So I was looking outside my door after my cats when this monstrous creature basically lowered himself to eye level. If you think the picture is creepy, you should see this thing in real life. Its at least an inch long. I'm getting the Willy's just thinking about the dumb thing.
Ive been able to see all kinds of creatures since we have been out in the country, but that is the most disgusting. And my husband had the nerve to ask me if I killed it...ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I'm lucky the thing didn't whisk me away to his nest or web or HELL.

So enjoy the picture...what!!?? Don't tell me you didn't think I wasn't going to take a picture of it...Besides, The spider cooperated better than my kids.

Tick Tock

How do you do it? How do you find the time to read all the great blogs you subscribe too. I have so many that I love to follow, but its taking me all week to get through them all!!!

So when is the best time for you?

Insane In the Membrane....

Not the most flattering picture, but kinda howI feel right now...

Have you ever tried to do a list in your head and the longer it gets, the crazier you become?

I'm insane, so here is my to-do-list(with my theme song.."this is the list that never ends, it goes on and on my friend.......that's it, end of song.. )

So drum roll please: (ratat atatatat atatt raaattt) thats my drum roll...kinda sad.

numero uno: figure out the girls curriculum. Yeah did I mention that Im going into the crazy world of homeschooling...again. this time im alittle more sure of myself, and it helps that they have had a year of school so im not starting at ground zero.


deux: pick tomaters and can, freeze, whatever you do with the dumb vegetable..or is it a fruit.


thres:work on my curriculum for the girls group im starting at our church. Gotta represent to the boss, so gotta get my gear.


FORE!: sign up at the Y. The girls are doing Gym and Swim, and I figure, that would be a great time to get some gym time in...then I also noticed they have kickboxing again..YAY! Im going to kick some *)^%*%^!!!


Fivers: pick out paint for my bathroom and my kids room...i love fresh paint!


Seis: Go antique shopping with friends on Thursday. I havent done this in a while, esp without kids...I wonder what goodies ill find.


Lucky Numero Sleven: Edit pictures from my senior picture session. Theres a ton! But I love it.


So this isnt all, but it seriously could go on and on and on and on and on....

Polaroid is dead!

According to another blog, Polaroid is dead, gone, kah-put! Something about the environment and some other mumbo-jumbo. But check out this BIDDY-COOL site called www.rollip.com.

You can make Polaroids out of your normal pics! YA!

So unless you find a 'Roid somewhere with the sheets to make your original shots, this is the cheaper and more modern way to do things!

Beach of a wedding...

This is Tara, My gorgeous niece.
She got hitched this past weekend at Sand Key, FL.
This is her with the "shell girls" AKA the Cornell cuties...(i would have been a part of the picture, but someone had to capture the moment!)
This is her Bridesmaids. This is just before the downpour. I thnk its cute.

The shell girls...just to darn cute for their own good.
Sand Key...see the clouds??

Scoping out the beach. It was gorgeous, then it stormed. But it did clear everyone off the beach, including the 2 weddings that were going to be on the beach besides her. It turned out to be a very good day for a white wedding(name the singer and we will be rock idols forever(I just gave you a huge hint!)

More to come as soon as the Bride gives me the OK!

Too old for dolls...I think not!

Love the Blythe dolls...
Must have one.
Check out the site..Her photography is yummy-licious!
http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/thompson_familylife/2009/06/blythe-headband-tiny-bazaar-shop-update.html

Sweet Home Alabama

So its 330 am and we just reached our hotel for the night. We had a wonderful day in Pensacola, FL! I can't believe how much we fit in today and it only cost us $40! Plus alittle gas!

I wanted the day before we returned home from vacation to be memorable. So, my idea was to hot Gulf Shores and head home, but according to the Holiday Inn reservation specialist, she insisted that we save ourself the drive and hit the beach in Pens. So glad we took her advice, we loved it!

We went first to Naval Aviation Museum. If you dont know, I LOVE history, and so does Bert(aka Rob..before we dated, I called him Bert, since everyone shortened his name to Rob...I thought it was enduring...he thought different....ANYWAY....we were told to check this place out. I thought.,..snore...But the kids go ga-ga over anything that has wings, so we decided to give it a whirl.

Completely facinating. I could have spent ALL day reading everything. The inner history nerd with corrective shoes and zits was totally coming out! After an insightful and mind you...educational field trip(yep, I went off the deep end), we were starving. We hit a little dive off of Gulf view Road and It was FAB!

Then it was off to the beach. We weren't planning to stay long b/c the boss wanted to be on the road, but when he saw the site that stood before us, our best laid plans didn't have a chance in you know where! After we hit the beach and try to uncover all the sand that crept in places I dont even want to describe...we began the long trek home. I am ready. I need my bed, I need my space...I need to move down here, so that I dont have a 12hour trip home!

Birds of a feather...

Wednesday of our vacation was spent visiting with a good friend of mine. She brought her kids to play in the pool and we caught up on our life. Its been 8 years since we last saw each other but it was like it was yesterday. I havent laughed like I did today in LONG time! We both have the same twisted humor and well, we are just crazy...Cant wait till November when she's on my turf. Enjoy the pics from today....

Best VACA ever!!!!!

The girls and their so cute travel bags...They were ready...

And totally psyched!

Being able to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of life in Laffy is just wonderful. The girls have thoroughly enjoyed having a pool at their disposal. With the freedom of having a pool so close, comes rules...as you can see, they are waiting for someone to be out at the pool before they can get in. Patience is not their FORTE, but i cant blame them!
On Tuesday, we ventured to Merritt island to the wildlife reserve. It is unsupervised and pretty much an enter at your own risk refuge. We saw all kinds of wildlife, which I love!

Our first stop was the manatees. I loved seeing them in their own environment and they were happy to entertain us with their flips and flaps and showing off their baby mana's to us. We saw other`wildlife such as gators and herrings, but i wont bore you with the details.



And then we hit the beach!

Me and My fav. guy! Cracks me up! Love him madly!
More vacationing to do...more pics to come later!!!!