Friday with Friends: Fourth of July

When I was growing up, the 4th always meant time with the family at the lake. And not just any lake, it was our lake and lakehouse. We would go to the lake and spend all day swimming, wake boarding (well for us it was cabinet door boarding and if you fell off you had to wait until the cabinet door floating back up to the top!!), eating, fishing, eating Bluebell Bullets, visiting, volleyball and at the end of the day, fireworks. Sometimes it was fireworks at the lake, or fireworks at the baseball field and sometimes it was both. The best part of the whole celebration was being with family and those we consider family. At the end of the night, we were all ready to go home to get some sleep and depending on what day the 4th was on, start it all over again!

Nowadays, so much of the time we don't really do anything for the 4th. We may go to the inlaws to eat and swim but my family doesn't get together like that anymore. It is so sad to me that we aren't able to get together and have the fun that we used to. Our family is too spread out and now there are inlaws and others who want your time. We don't even go to our lake anymore because it is so hard to keep up with it. My grandmother's nephew has been working on it so maybe one day we will be able to use it again. Another problem is the trespassers who come and vandalize. . . .so sad. But, even though things have changed and we don't get together and celebrate like we used to, I have some of the best memories a girl could want for past celebrations and thinking about what I was going to write about for this Friday with Friends segment has brought a smile to my face and thinking that maybe I will start trying to bring back some of the family traditions or start new ones! I can't wait to find out what others will be writing about!!
If you want to read more memories, check out Jennifer's blog here.

Happy Father's Day

Today we spent the day with my Dad for Father's Day. It was a nice relaxing day. Church this morning then my sister cooked lunch, we went on a drive and then to church this evening. Hope that you got to spend the day with your Dad.

A Lovestory

Today is my parent's 41st anniversary. Last year my sisters and I had a celebration for them. If you don't remember, you can go here to read about it. This anniversary is of course another first. It has been a difficult day for my Dad but thankfully my sister RAW and my "other" sister LEH took care of him (Mr. Giggles and I had to travel out of state for a wedding). I you have time and want to read the short version of my parents lovestory, you can go here.

Mrs. H's mom was in town this weekend and I missed her. Hi Mrs. H's Mom, I am sorry we missed you. Hope you can come back and visit soon!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was good, we ate too much, sat in the car too long and sweated! This is going to be a busy week for me so you probably won't hear much from me. I will be stopping by and checking on y'all.

China Patterns

Today over at Kellyskorner: Show Us Your Life is on china patterns. When we got married I wanted something that was simple and would go with everything. We chose Mikasa Italian Countryside. It is white, nothing fancy but goes with everything. Our everyday dishes are black and are octagonal (I think). We chose them because our kitchen is white with black and white countertops and floor. They are cute but you can't let them air dry because they streak really bad. What we actually eat off of are some plates that my husband had when we got married (multicolored melamine) but they are starting to look well used. BUT what we really usually eat off of is paperplates because #1 there are only the two of us and #2 we don't have a dishwasher and I loathe washing dishes. My plan is to use all of our dishes more often once we move into a new (different) house.

Red Letter Day

What a surprise I got this morning when I looked at my blog and saw that I had a comment on my last post. I clicked on it to see which bloggy friend had stopped by and what they had to say. I was so excited when I saw the my comment was from Mrs. H's mom (if you read my blog a lot, you know that I have left Mrs. H's mom notes at the end of my posts). Mrs. H (from Heritage Schoolhouse) and Mrs. H's mom are sweet ladies and I am lucky to have them both in my life.
And to add to the greatness of the day, I had a very sweet note from Jennifer. So a huge thank you to both for making me smile this morning and for your encouraging words.

Hi Mrs. H's mom! :)

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was my Dad's 65th birthday. We hope that he enjoyed his day. We went to see Marmaduke which was hilarious. Lunch at a good restaurant (he had 4 girls with him for lunch!) and then a "surprise" at his elder and deacons meeting last night with his favorite cake. . . .pineapple upside down cake (I had never made one before and it tasted so good). Tonight after church he opened his gifts (no, I still don't have his - can't decide what to do). I hope he enjoyed his special day. I have always loved my Dad but the love has just multiplied over the last 11 months or maybe it has just strengthened.
This has been a super difficult week for me. The tears have flowed almost as much as the rain has fallen (5.8 inches since yesterday). I don't know the reason but it has just been hard. It may be because are just weeks away from the day our world changed so drastically.
Mom and Dad would have celebrated their 41st anniversary this Sunday. I am so glad that we had a party for them last year. Mom was so surprised about the party and Dad (he knew about it) was surprised by the people who came. It was such a great day.
Well, that is all for tonight. Jennifer~ thank you for the hug, I needed that!

Hi Mrs. H's mom. Hope to see you soon.

Headache

Today I woke up with a headache and it took me a while to figure out why. It was the headache you get when you cry yourself to sleep which is what I did last night. I was missing my Mom and worrying about the future. Three months and it isn't any easier. Oh, I may not cry as much everyday but I miss her just as much. Today I found some stars that Mr. Giggles and I got while on vacation last year that I could not wait to show Mom. Well, I never got to show her, I never even told her about them because when we got home, our lives changed forever. I finally got them put up but there was no joy in doing it because she and I didn't get to talk about where to put them or how to hang them. I had to decide by myself. I really need my Mom's arms around me, telling me that things will be ok. I MISS HER SO STINKING MUCH. I can't. . . . .even begin to put it into words anymore.

Blah

Do you ever have a day when all seems to be going well and then one little thing happens and then you feel really overwhelmed? I don't like days like that but today has been like that. Maybe I am just in a funk or something, I don't know.

Weekly Menu
Monday: baked ziti, corn, cheesy garlic toast
Tuesday: baked potatoes
Wednesday: fend for yourself
Thursday: fishsticks and potato salad
Friday: rehearsal dinner - Mr. Giggles cousin is getting married
Saturday: who knows. . . .wedding @ 7 pm

Something Fun

Friday with Friends is a new blog hop that Jennifer is hosting on her blog. Today the "discussion" is about school and favorite teachers. Although I wasn't a star student in school, I liked school for the most part. I had wonderful teachers at almost every point in my school life. There were a few I didn't care for but I think that is typical. I think that my all time favorite teacher was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Cress. She is one of the reasons that I went back to school to become a teacher. She made learning fun and she helped us "new" school kids feel comfortable with our new adventure. Her classroom had a loft in it were we could go read after our work was completed. I loved her class and she was a great teacher.

I went to school in the same district as my grandparents and my Mom (there were other family members that also attended school in the district. I attended school in the same district from K to 12th grade. I am currently looking for a teaching job in the same district. My dad has taught in the district for over 30 years, my sister RAW teaches in the district in the town next to ours, and my husband is the business manager in a small district in a little town not far away.

Teachers Rock!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the 3.8 inches of rain and the high temp. of 73 we had today. We have already been terribly hot and haven't had rain (we were already over 5 inches behind) but today was wonderful. I enjoyed listening to the rain as I went to sleep last night and watching it today as it fell. . . . .all day long!

Wordless Wednesday

Three Months

Three months ago God took her home and it still hurts as much today as it did then. We miss you so much Mom.