~We have a winner~

Attention ladies!!!!

I am pleased to announce that we have a winner for my $25.00 gift certificate giveaway to The Vintage Pearl!!!!

I am so excited, I must say the response I had was HUGE, so thanks to all of you who played along.

And the lucky lady who will walk away with $25.00 to spend is..........

......................................hmmmmmmm....................................

did you hear how pretty the weather is going to be this weekend in North Carolina?

Did I tell you guys that we went and picked out Kyle suit for the 8th grade social this past Saturday? No, I forgot to tell you. Well, we started out a TJ MAXX, and..........

....what?

what did you say?

oh, I was suppose to be announcing the winner for my giveaway????

oh, that's right, where was I???

let's see....let me dig WWWAAAAAYYYYYYYY down to the bottom of my blue plastic bowl full of names here (yep, cheap plastic bowl, I roll large ya'll)


{{{{{{drum roll please}}}}}}}}


And the lucky lady is........

Becky @ http://www.becky-inthetrenches.blogspot.com/


Ya-HOO.... Congrats girlie...... You deserve it!!! I can't wait to see what you pick out.

Please send me an email to claim your gift certificate.

Words you don't want to hear

Me "Kyle are you getting ready?"
.....silence......
Me "Kyle!" (this time with a firmer tone in my voice)
.....silence......

I then decide it would be a good idea to lay my curling iron down and go see where he has wondered off to when he is suppose to be in the bathroom getting ready for school.
The light is out in his bathroom...hmmmm..I stand a listen...silence again...no TV noise...no cell phone vibrating...no music....nothing????

Me "Kyle!"

Kyle "ma'am"

Me "where are you? You need to be getting ready for school!"

Kyle " I AM! I'm ironing my shirt"

........everything in the world comes to a screeching halt!
I bet all of you felt it...right???...about 6:40 this morning...yep, thought so!...............

Welcome to my mornings!

Fun #10 picture game

I saw this game on another person's blog last week...don't remember who...or where...cause I stalk so many...hehehehe!

But I thought it was a cute idea. All you have to do it go into My Documents, open up your saved pictures and pick your 10th picture. Then do a short post with the picture and tell us the story behind it...who...when ...where...why....ya know...the normal stuff.

If you want to play along let me know so I can drop in and check yours out!

This is a picture of Kyle(of course). It was taken 2 summers ago at Top Sail Beach. Kyle and Chris where digging in the sand to find sand fiddlers(I guess the fish love them, but I think they are GROSS!) and away he ran to show me the "big catch of the day"

SEEEEEEE MOM!!!!!!

Boy he sure has grown alot! He doesn't even look anywhere close to this anymore...{{{tear}}}

So now it's your turn to show me your #10 picture......I'm waiting...{{tapping foot}}

Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Don't forget to register for my giveaway....times a waisten' ladies!!!!
It ends Wednesday so time is running out!

Here how to enter...

Just leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Become a follower or already be one (1 entry)
Visit The Vintage Pearl and tell me your favorite piece (3 entries)
Blog about my giveaway (5 entries)

Good luck! I will announce the winner on April 1st!!!!

~Always Remember~

~Whenever God closes a door, he always opens a window. And when the window is shut and you think there is no other way out, look for the small crack with the light shining through. You just have to fall to your knees to fit through it~

Why I need a "Teen" Sitter!!!

Some of you with small children have not reached the point in life where your kids are old enough to be left alone and you still have to find a sitter or after school care, but let me tell ya...it is wonderful....or so I thought!

Kyle had an "early out" school day yesterday, which means that school lets out at 12:30 for some stupid reason I have yet to figure out.

Anyhow, back to my story. When I get home I failed to notice(BAD MOM) that Kyle had the back tire off his 4 wheeler! I know, I know...how in the world does a mom miss seeing something like that, well let me just cover myself by saying that I park my truck in the first bay of the garage and the 4 wheeler was in the 3rd bay hiding between the boat and Chris's truck...so there!

I must say that after the initial shock wore off I was very impressed! Now keep in mind Kyle is 13 years old is about 5'4 and weighs 93 lbs soaking wet. So I was a tad perplexed as to how this child was strong enough to lift the 4 wheeler high enough to place it on a cinder block and a 4X4 block of wood....not to mention loosen and remove the bolts(which I was later told were technically called LUGNUTS...whatever!) and then remove the back tire all by his self, shoot I get worn out just thinking about it!

Without thinking, the first words out of my mouth were "does your dad know about this?"

and after that the conversation when like this....

Kyle" no"

Me "well why did you take the tire off?"

Kyle "my barring was stripped"

Me "your who, was what?"

Kyle" the barring, ya know in the shaft (takes his hand and wiggles this metal thing at me) this right hear...see?????"

me "oh, I guess"

Kyle " so I had to take the tire off so I could check it out and see if it was just stripped or broke"

Me "well how in the world did you get the 4 wheeler jacked up on the cinder block and get the tire off all by yourself?"

*****Note to self: this is not a good question to ask a child with ADD & ADHD*******

**I think I should have changed clothes, made popcorn and settled in with a warm blanket first**

***also keep in mind that this is no small 4 wheeler but a HUGE Honda 350****

Kyle " well I had to back it in, then got the cinder block in the right position, then I had to use the lift jack and ........................

after that, everything I heard seemed to be spoken in pig Latin cause I didn't understand a word that came out of that child's mouth!

I swear if I would have had the camera to take a picture of it you guys would not believe your eyes!!!!!! This boy had the 4 wheeler(and not the smaller version of one) just perfect,all lined up and centered on the block, tool kit out, lug nuts removed, tire off, and rigged up extension cords with lights...the whole nine yards!

When you leave Kyle unattended you never know what is going to happen. Don't get me wrong, he is a good kid, he just loves to work on things and get muddy. I guess he is just being a boy.

I don't know about you guys, but I now terrified of him getting a truck in 2 years!!!!! I can just picture coming home one day to a huge 4X4 truck all taken apart and up on block in my yard....good Lord, what will the neighbors think!

New York City here I come.....again!

Yep...I am heading back to the Big Apple....again.....this will be my 4th time in a year....whew!

Anyway, I thought I would mention this to my North Carolina blog friends to see if any of you would like to hop on the bus and join me....hmmmm....maybe???

If so, just shoot me an email or leave me a comment with your email address and I can give you more details about the trip. Trust me, if you go, you will have a wonderful time...its a BLAST!

Oh, just in case, here are a few quick details on the trip.

We will leave on Friday night at 10pm May 14th from Smithfield, NC. Arrive in NYC around 8am Saturday morning. You can shop, sight see or take in a show...do what ever you want to do all day...as long as your little hinney is back on the bus at 10pm Sat. night. The cost is only $85.00 per person and well worth it!

So, if you want to join in on the fun let me know!!!!!

Why didn't I think of this?????

This cartoon just tickles me to death!!!!!!

You know I am all about saving some money and since I will be turning 35 this year and things have already started heading south for early retirement I will have to run this idea by "my girls" and see what they think.......

..........who knows maybe I will start a new fashion trend on the beach!

BIG SECRET-Update

So I have left you guys to ponder and wonder all weekend what my big secret is all about.

First off, lets get one thing straight right from the get go shall we???

I AM NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!!

whew....now that I have said that, I can move on to the real news.

In honor of my 1 year Blogversary(can you believe I have been doing this for almost a year???) I wanted to do something neat, maybe a giveaway of some sort...but just what should I do????

Then it hit me...why not do this????

That's right girlie's!!!! I am hosting a giveaway!!!!! I have feel in love with everything on her site and I just love the piece I had her design from a giveaway I won. I get so many complements from people when I wear it.

So now it's YOUR turn!!!!!

The lucky winner will win a $25.00 gift certificate courtesy of Erin @ www.thevintagepearl.com.
You can spend it any way you choose. She has so many beautiful items it will be hard for the winner to decide....TRUST ME!


I will make it very simple for you to win. Here is all you need to do.

1. Comment on this post & leave me your email address (1 entry)

For EXTRA chances...and we all loves those.....

2. Be a follower or become a new one (1 entry)
3. Visit The Vintage Pearl and let me know your favorite piece (3 entries)
4. Blog about my giveaway (5 entries)

Please post each entry under a separate comment so I can keep track of them.

I wish you all the best of luck!!!!!

The winner will be announced on April 1st....
but I promise it won't be a joke!

~I HAVE A SECRET~

....now that I have your undivided attention......let me start by saying I have BIG, HUGE, exciting, earth shaking news!!!!!

{{cheers, whoops & hollers from the crowd}}



.....okay, well mabe not that big.......



I am so excited I could almost pee my pants!!!!!



But ya know what?



the only bad part is.....................



...........................................



........................................



.......................................



I just can't tell you yet!!!!!!!!!



{{boos, hisses and mean faces from the crowd}}



But stay tuned, I promise I will tell you soon....I've never been good at keeping secrets!!!!

Not a good morning!

If the rest of the day is going to be as bad as this morning has been I am calling it quits and going back to bed, pull the covers over my head and not come back out.......EVER!

At 7:43 this morning as I was almost pulling into work I get a text message from Kyle. First off that is not a good sign since his skinny little butt should be already on the bus and heading toward school.

The message says, just as Kyle typed it "mine as well go ahead and b grounded"

hmmmmmm.....that's an interesting text...............

Mt first thought is that he missed the bus and that I will have to turn back around and driver 30 mins back home gpick him up and drive him to school...... instead I text him back and asked "why?"

A minute or two later a new text comes in and says:

"I let Chevy in the house for like 5 mins while I got ready and I told him to stay on the tile while I went to get my shoes and when I came back I was lookin at the tv while I was walkin and he was on the hardwood and I bumped into him and he slid and scratched the hardwood"

At that moment my heart starts to pound hard in my chest and I am sure I had smoke coming out of my ears! He knows better than to let a 115lb Chocolate Lab in the house!!!!!! I am sure I now have a huge crater dug out of my hardwood the size of the Grand Canyon!

But being the great mother I am all I ask is "r u on the bus!?"

Kyle "yea, am I in trouble?"

Me "turn your ph off and we will tlk about this ltr!"

As I head into my office still fuming I get another text.

"so am I in trouble"

let just say I didn't respond to that one and at this point he is much safer in the public school system than to be within arms reach of me!

2010 Census

Have any of seen this thing yet???

Ours came in the mail last night and Chris decided he would go ahead and "knock it out" while I was finishing up cooking supper......

.......BAD IDEA..........

For those of you that don't know, the hubs has very little patience at times, but I wasn't gonna argue with him and decided I would let him go ahead and play 20 questions with the government......hehehe!

Q#1 How many people live in yout house as of April 1st 2010?

Chris "well first off it's not even halfway through March!"

Q#2 Which type of home to you reside in ?

Chris " well why in the world does it matter if I live in a house, trailer, hotel room or cardboard box!"

Q#3 What is your phone number?

well folks this is when things started to get ugly....Chris was not happy about putting our phone number on the from. He hates telemarketers, political calls and not to mention we have a non published number due to his job and having people call our house with threats (yep, we have even had people pull up in our driveway to confront him more than once for stopping someone in their family)

Next the form wants the names, birthday, age and race of every person living in the house.....(at this point I thank God that we aren't Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger with 19 kids!!!)

This is when Chris gets ticked again....if you remember back to an earlier post of mine Kyle brought home a form from school requesting the parents to complete the childs race and sign and return it to the school. Well Kyle forgot to give the form to us and had to have silent lunch. Chris saw red to say the least and added a nice little note to the bottom of the form when he signed it that said Kyle is still as white as he was on the first day of school when we filled out the first 50 billion forms and he was pretty sure he was going to stay that way all the way through 12th grade....let me just say it wasn't pretty folks!

When he finished the cenus I told him to leave it on the counter so I could "check over his work" before sealing it up and mailing it. It was so funny to look at each question and you could tell by the sloppiness of each X he made on the blocks that he was getting more irritated. The first question there was a nice nea perfect X....by question 4 the X was sloppy,misshaped and had grown to the size of my finger nail.

So if you haven't completed your 2010 Cenus...good luck to you and I hope you have plenty of patience!!!

My North Carolina Life

WOW!

Has it been that long already????

It sure doesn't seem like 13 years have gone by, and so quickly they have faded into a memory pushed back in the file cabinet(somewhere in the dusty back corner of my brain).

...but if my fingers have done the math correctly(and I did recount twice and carried my one) it has been 13 years since we packed up the truck and car(complete with crib, highchair, enough clothes to get us all by for a few weeks and a zip lock bag full of passies) and hit the road to move here to North Carolina.

Kyle was a mere 7 months old and as long as I kept the passies coming every time he threw one toward the back window or onto the floorboard he was a "happy camper". Our move happened fast by Army standards...Chris was given an Honorable Discharge a going away dinner and a plaque and we were off to begin our new life in NC.....all the while praying the Army would not screw anything up while packing an moving the rest of our belongings(I tend have a slight OCD when it comes to packing. I like to do it myself, that way it is done right & I know where everything is...for instance...MY SHOES?!?...but more on that later)

I thought moving to NC would not be any different than coming from Georgia or South Carolina but boy was I wrong! The small one stop light town we moved to was a HUGE shock to me....not to mention the town had no Daycare Centers, only "at home" childcare...hmmmmm????

I have learned so many things since I have been here.....

Like how fast I learned to drive with one hand at the top of the steering wheel, because everyone you pass coming the other direction is going to wave at you.

Or how you need to allow extra time for tractors, plows and combines when you go anywhere.

That the trunk of a car is called the "boot"

How every sentence ends with "Sir" or "Ma'am"

They will have a Pig Piggin at the drop of hat(birth, death, graduation, marriage,homecoming)...if it happens to ya...a pig is gonna die!

That everyone older than you is addressed as "Mrs. So & So or Mr. So & So"

And that the Volunteer Fire Dept. whistle will wake you and your toddler out of a dead sleep at all hours of the night...and then blow again at noon to signal the farmers it was time for lunch!

Also, you could come home on any given day to find that "some kind neighbor" has left you a watermellon, a basket full of corn or even a bottle of homemade wine!

I have to say, that after living here for 13 years I still learn new things all time time about "life down South". I love it here, it has become my home. I will always be a "Kentucky Girl" at heart, but there is no doubt,that the remainder of my life will be lived out here in North Carolina.

Oh, and if your wondering about my shoes???? I finally found them while putting up the Christmas decorations....yep...they had packed my shoes with the Christmas stuff...now why did I never think to look in that box?????

Warming it up

Nothing like a new page layout that brings a little water & sand your way, huh?
Can't wait til I can head on down to the beach, set out my chair, grease up with oil and soak up the sun rays....ahhhhhhh........

Letter to the teacher

To Kyle's Teacher(no names will be mentioned here)

I understand you are concerned with Kyle's diarrhea of the mouth (which is what we call his never ending ramblings around our house) during your class time. However, what I don't understand and agree with is the fact that you never gave him a verbal warning to stop his behavior. Instead, you move him to another seating area and proceed to complete a written write-up that is to be sent home and signed by me and returned to you for his file. Any logical and half way intelligent person would review the form for errors before neatly folding it and placing it in a sealed envelope(complete with scotch tape and your initails over the seal to deter any grubby hands from tampering with the eveidence!). Let me just state for the record...not that I am trying to do your job, but next time, you may want to fill in the blank where it says DATE and if it's not too much trouble, sign the BIG fat blank at the bottom where it reads TEACHERS SIGNATURE!!!!

Oh, and by the way, you may want to bring it someones attention that if the parent is required to sign the form it would be great if there was a space provided for that too...just sayin. But until then, I just scratched my initials at the bottom. And do I get any extra credit for adding the date too?

Signed,
Love seeing my tax dollars at work

well now that's just GROSS!!!!!

I would love to say that Chevy was the one who drug this little finding up from the woods...but nope....it was Kyle. I swear that boy can find the most gross things and bring them home for "show & tell"...pay no attention that my son's hair is so long he looks like Cousin It!

He was so excited to show us his treasure. If you look close you can still see some of the deers skin stuck to the skull....{{{gag}}

Now he has to show me all it's teeth...nice Kyle! And Chevy has to show his too!

And now he tells me to get a close-up of the hair still attached around his eye....{{{double gag}}}

Now, go put it back in the woods where you found it (cause I'm pretty sure Santa is missing a reindeer)and come back to the house so I can hose you down with bleach!!

I swear that boy will pick anything up!