Hosted by Peggy @ The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…the squirrels are chit chatting away frustrated that Marbles has chased them away from the bird feeders and up into the tree (again).

I am thankful that…we will be able to screen in our back patio. It will prevent the dogs from dragging in all the dirt from the backyard and as the weather cools we will be able to sit out there without the mosquitoes sucking all the blood out of us.

From the kitchen…not much going on in there this weekend. I did make hamburgers but other than that it was mainly sandwiches and frozen pizza. My kind of weekend!!

I am creating…a positive reinforcement strategy for the little ones that I counsel.

From the learning rooms…I am concerned about being able to complete the 7th and 8th grade unit work by next Fall. Foolish I know to be worrying about this now. However, when I increased the unit work, Miss Sam was not able to pay as close attention to detail and learning as when I scheduled the work out into smaller increments. Needless to say, we are indeed back to the amount of work that she is able to accomplish with a high rate of accuracy and retention.

I am going…crazy thinking about the various photography projects I want to start on. There is a very small festival in November that I would like to participate in.

I am reading…Play Dirty by Sandra Brown. I have always enjoyed Sandra Brown’s novels. I impulsively picked this one up at the grocery store - which you absolutely know was overpriced -because of my desperation to have something to read. I just could not get into Memoirs of  a Boy Soldier. Too distressing for me. Play Dirty however has really caught my attention. Sandra Brown never disappoints.

I am hoping…that screening in the back patio really will help with the destruction of the yard area that surrounds it. It will re-route the dogs to the pavement (sidewalk) area when running in and out.

Around the house…nasty, nasty, nasty. When my house is like this on Monday morning I know I enjoyed my weekend. On Saturday I went with a friend to a ‘penny social’ where I won a Poker set and she won a set of margarita glasses (you know where this is going…and what we will be doing next weekend). Then on Sunday Mr. John and I went on a photo field trip. You can check out one of the great shots I captured here. So that explains the lack of culinary treats from the kitchen and why the house is just nasty. Nasty I tell you, nasty.

One of My Favorite Things…putting this in my coffee every morning. Yep. It has caused me to fall off the wagon. Still decaf but still coffee.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

• Exam Two is scheduled for this week so it will be an easy week at the college (at least for me the professor that is - grin)
• Riding lessons and youth group for Miss Sam (can you hear the pride?)
• Implementing some behavioral modification techniques in the classrooms I have been called in to help.
• Hair appointment - yippee! Although I dream about not having to spend this $70 a month - I just can’t bear the aggravation of letting the gray grow out.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing…

31 Days of Autumn ~ Day 13

A stop at the local produce stand.

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God is the One who gives seed to the farmer and bread for food. He will give you all the seed you need and make it grow so there will be a great harvest from your goodness.

2 Corinthians 9:10

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Crazy Sam (no, NOT my daughter) has a great Saturday meme called Saturday Nine. Every Saturday she posts nine questions…sometimes there is a theme….other times the questions are unrelated. There was a time when I had quite an aversion to memes. Now however, I feel as though memes are great writing prompts. Especially if your blog works as more of a journal than a commentary.

Today’s questions are:

1. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?  A letter????? Actually I can’t remember when I wrote a letter. However, I did just recently mail a card to my long time blogging friend and kindred spirit Miss Kris from Shelter from the Storm.

2. Can you change the oil on a car? No. I am so very old school on a number of points - I don’t change the oil in the car, I don’t mow lawns, and I don’t take out the trash. Ewwwww.

3. Name three things you have on you at all times. Hmmm. This is a difficult question. Is it meant to be literal or figurative???? I would imagine it is meant to be literal - like when you are standing in the shower - what is it that you always have on. I don’t have three things on me at all times - only two - that would be my earrings and my toenail polish. Some would ask - but what about your wedding band, don’t you wear that at all times? Nope. I never wear it. Haven’t since I was pregnant with Miss Sam. But I do believe in always having pretty polished toes - it makes me feel all giggly inside when I look down and my toes are all shiny and pretty.

4. What’s your life motto? When asked this question I always think back to my response in my high school yearbook (circa 1972): A life unplanned is a better life, always has been, always will be. However, one of my favorite quotes that I reiterate in my classes every semester is: If you don’t know where you are going you will end up someplace else. Go figure, I never said I was NOT a complicated person.

5. What’s a word that you say a lot? It’s not a word, it’s a phrase - ‘love you’.

6. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping. Mr. John had ‘dog duty’ last night and I was able to FINALLY get a good night’s sleep.

7. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? I really want to let my gray grow out.

8. Who is your worst enemy? Myself.

9. What does your watch look like? It is gold and silver, hangs like a bracelet (I can’t stand anything tight on my wrists or fingers - perhaps that explains the wedding band issue) and was on sale at Bealls (of course).

31 Days of Autumn ~ Day 11

I went through all our bins of fall decorations and donated three huge bins, two big plastic ghosts and a huge plastic pumpkin to my dear friend who teaches first grade (she can use them in her classroom). Yet of all the decorations that we had the “Witch is In/Out” sign is the one that Miss Sam said we “definitely had to keep”. That falls under the category of ‘Things That Make You Go…Hmmmmm’. I will post a photo of the second most important item tomorrow.

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A memorable moment…Miss Sam experienced an asthma attack late one evening this week. After she was finished with her breathing treatment I went and got a pillow and a quilt and prepared to spend the night with her. This has been our ‘usual’ routine when an asthma attack has been particularly bad. This is the conversation that followed:

• Sam: Are you sure you’re okay with sleeping here tonight? (She keeps a floor fan and ceiling fan blasting cool air directly on her - it drives me crazy).
• Me: Yes, I’m fine baby. Just go to sleep.

A few minutes later:

• Sam: Are you ready to go back to your bed yet?
• Me: Are you ready for me to go back to my bed? (usually I sleep in her room for the remainder of the night).
• Sam: Yes.

WHAT???!!!!!!

So you may think that my little girl no longer needing her mommy to sleep with her through a rough night is what I would consider the memorable moment. It was a moment, and although it made me a little sad, it was memorable. However, the real memorable moment came the next morning when she said “Mom, thank you for comforting me last night”.  My reply, “It’s okay sweetie, that’s what moms do”. It was a moment that spoke volumes to me as a mom who quite often doubts her ‘mommy’ abilities.

I am grateful….for albuterol and nebulizers.

I laugh…at my daughter’s obsession with and perfect imitation of Snoopy and his sopwith camel (curse you Red Baron). Coming home from her youth group the other evening she once again had me laughing so hard I almost peed me pants. If you are unsure of what I am talking about just rent a copy of It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. It is one of our valued traditions to watch this every, every year. However, this year our daughter beat us to it by watching it on You Tube….ahhhh….the digital generation.

I remember: To get a visual of how long this obsession has been going on, here is a photo of Miss Sam when she was three years old. She is on her sopwith camel (the laundry hamper) and she IS the number one flying ace.

I love…the blogging community. I had written about my love of the Life Application Bible Studies and my dismay that they are no longer being published which has found me scouring the internet and ebay for the remaining chapters I have yet to study. Because of a comment left by Esthermay from The Heart of a Pastor’s Wife, I learned that there was a bible that contained ALL of these studies (duh!!!).

Something new….needless to say I went right out and purchased the Life Application Study Bible ( I needed a new bible anyway). I absolutely love. love. love it. I love it even more because instead of paying $39.99 for it I paid $22.99. Go me!! And go Borders for sending me those awesome 30% off coupons and adding Borders rewards to my Borders card!

I will celebrate…the weekend. It has been a crazy day. Taking Snickers to the groomers, dropping Miss Sam off at the school where she is a mentor, running to Walmart at the last minute because Miss Sam noticed two big rips in the jeans I had thrown on in the wee dark hours of the morning, counseling two clients, picking Miss Sam up, picking Snickers up, stopping by the market to pick up the fixins’ for lunch and dinner and then…finally…..home sweet home. Yes indeedy, I will celebrate that it is FINALLY the beginning of the weekend!

A joyful picture from this week…My 31 Days of Autumn: Day Ten photo:

Hope you join in the fun of the Joyful Journal and bless us with this week’s blessings in your life!!

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Much to my amazement, I did make last week’s recipe Zesty Slow Cooking Barbeque Chicken. It was awesome!!!! The best barbeque I have ever had ~ and I’m a Georgia girl and I KNOW barbeque. I did change it up a little bit once it was all cooked. I added an additional 1/4 cup of brown sugar (I like my barbeque sweet) and I thickened it up as it was a bit too saucy for me. Here is the end result:

I served it with my homemade barbeque beans and Bisquick biscuits. Do you know I am the only one in my family who ate it??????? I live with some gourmet challenged individuals.

The recipe for this week is one I found over at Abiding Branch:

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 large can evaporated milk
1 16oz can pumpkin
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

1 box yellow cake mix
Pecans
2 sticks of margarine

Directions:

Mix the above (except the cake mix, pecans, margarine) and pour into an ungreased 9×13 inch pan. Sprinkle 1 box yellow cake mix over the top. Melt 2 sticks of margarine and pour over top. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake one hour at 350 degrees. Serve warm with cool whip or ice cream.

31 Days of Autumn ~ Day 9

I don’t know about you, but there is something about this Scarecrow’s expression that just cracks me up when paired with how his (her) hands are positioned. Like he (she) could be saying “You just won’t believe the crazy human that snapped my photo today thinking that I was ‘all that’.”

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Oh how I dream that this was my backyard. Alas, it is not. I took this photo at the Cedar Key Seafood Festival.

Be sure to visit Diary of a Stay at Home Mom ~ she is the one that got me hooked started on the 31 Days of Autumn. She also has some great fall recipes over there. And speaking of recipes. Linda from 2nd Cup of Coffee also has a Fall cooking meme called Fall Into Flavor. I love this time of year!!

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Thanks to Miriam Pauline, I was able to finally locate one of my favorite memes, In Other Words. The quote this week is from one of my favorite authors. As a teenager finding comfort between the pages of books, Edith Wharton was by far one of my favorite authors.

There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

~ Edith Wharton ~

I am not much for group Bible studies anymore. For one thing, especially if it is a Beth Moore Bible Study, I just can’t keep up. Don’t get me wrong. I believe that Beth Moore has an incredible gift. However, she is so out of my league when it comes to what I yearn to grasp from God’s Word. Therefore, through many years of trial and error with Bible studies, I have found one that works for me. It can be used either as a group or an individual Bible study. I love doing it on my own, at my own pace. It’s the Life Application Bible Studies. Of course, the series became discontinued before I was able to work my way through the New Testament, so I am still on the hunt for a few remaining books (but that’s a post for another day).

Anyway, what all this has to do with today’s quote is that I have started studying John. According to John 1:8 (NLT):

John himself was not the light; he was only a witness to the light.

To expand on that, the Life Application Bible Study goes on to say:

We, like John the Baptist, are not the source of God’s light; we merely reflect that light. Jesus Christ is the true Light; he helps us see our way to God and shows us how to walk along that way. But Christ has chosen to reflect his light through his followers to an unbelieving world, perhaps because unbelievers are not able to bear the full blazing glory of his light firsthand. The word witness indicates our role as reflectors of Christ’s light. We are never to present ourselves as the light to others, but are always to point them to Christ, the Light.

To view the wonderful writings of other In Other Words participants hosted this week by Bonnie of Ink It Blog click here.

31 Days of Autumn ~ Day 7

As seen on my front porch.

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Hosted by Peggy @ The Simple Woman

Outside My Window…Well, it was dark outside when I started but in between making a pot of coffee, putting in a load of laundry, playing fetch with the dog, filling the bird feeders and setting my husband’s work badge outside so he can swing by and get it, it is now light out. A bit overcast but I love it like that

I am thankful that…I have everything I need.

From the kitchen…guess.

I am wearing…my old. old. old. Kathy Ireland robe. But I am excited about getting dressed this morning and wearing my new jeans and shoes. I switched to boot cut jeans the last time I bought jeans and forgot this time and automatically regressed back to my straight leg jeans. Are straight leg jeans still cool?

I am creating…inventory for my photography business. I captured this ‘nut’ at Saturday’s Peanut Festival. Might make a good business card (grin).

From the learning rooms…Miss Sam is diligently working through her Life Pac curriculum units. However, her learning highlights for her have been how to put a You Tube video onto Movie Maker and ‘overwrite’ the words/music with her own. Is that illegal? Seems to me that would be illegal. She is only experimenting and not posting it on the world wide web. Hmmm. I wonder. Another learning highlight for her is in the area of her art. She has been working on her anime art and her characters for her stories.

I am going…to categorize all the photos I just had developed at Walgreen’s (they had their .10 deal going on last week) so that I can catch up on all of Miss Sam’s scrapbooks. I may begin to keep digital scrapbooks. Still working on learning the new program I bought about a year ago!!

I am reading…nothing. We went to the library in the bigger city last week when Miss Sam had a dental appointment there and I checked out about 5 books that looked interesting. Yet none of them have been able to hold my attention. A colleague of mine loaned me a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. I heard it was good but sad. Perhaps I will give it a shot.

I am hoping…that I am equipped to handle the new counseling task that has been assigned me. The increase in referrals for a particular pre-school has prompted a course of action that includes that I go in and work with the entire class (to include the teachers). I guess this would fall under the category of ‘group therapy’.

Around the house…oh I just don’t want to go there this morning. I had too much fun this weekend.

One of My Favorite Things…I have been searching for a unique bird house for the back yard for over a year. My persistence paid off this weekend when I found this treasure at the Peanut Festival.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Trying to adapt to the huge increase in my client load. Thank goodness it’s an easy teaching week for me - I will be showing an awesome video about learning disabilities and then have the exam review.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing…Fall decorating Florida style (grin)…

31 Days of Autumn ~ Day 6

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