Innocent Church Boys

Zach and some of his friends

The concealed weapon

Taking aim

Zach as back up

Ha Ha! Gotchya!

Getting Wood

Zach and Brittany went outside to get wood for the fireplace yesterday. They are pretty good at it too. They have to bundle up, and they put on gloves so they won't get any slivers in their hands. Yesterday, Sierra sneaked out the door in her pajamas, BARE feet, and one glove. Of course, I just had to take a picture. Don't you just love the little piece of wood? Her black glove kind of blends in with it. I hope the kid doesn't die of pneumonia.

Family Fun

Last night, we did something different for family fun. We made our own Superman movie. Brittany and Sierra were the maidens in distress. Zach was Superman. It will make some great footage to show to their future girlfriend and boyfriends. :)

We're getting there!

The old and the nasty

the new and improved, but not yet done

It’s been over a month and we are still remodeling our bathroom. The tile is down, and we are trying to get the old wall paper down. That is the hardest wall paper I’ve ever had to take down. Spencer got irritated and decided to work on another aspect of the room…putting back the molding that goes around the door. The new tile caused the floor to be raised 3/8 inch which meant that Spencer had to cut the molding around the door a little shorter than it used to be. I saw him out there measuring a miter cut and asked him why he just didn’t cut a straight cut off the bottom of the door post. His reply, “Well, how am I supposed to measure that?” Smart little me showed him how, and guess what?????? It fit perfectly!!!! I’m glad too, because I was under the threat of my husband's "wrath" if it didn’t turn out right. Well, his wrath wouldn't have been so bad anyway.

One day, I'll have a picture of the finished product....I hope!

Winter Has Finally Arrived!

After being extremely spoiled with weather in the 70's all the way into January, we have finally received our jolt of winter weather. Being from the Rio Grande Valley, I miss the 70's, but I am enjoying the switch too. Now, if only we could just get a little snow to go with the cool temperatures everyone would be happy. Around here, snow means no work, no school, and all play for a day or two. That's the way I like it too, enough snow to have some fun then it goes away!

Painting

We have painted almost every inch of our house both inside and out. Well, inside anyway. We've been working on the outside for about a year and a half. Maybe that's what you call procrastinating. Okay, so it's not maybe procrastinating.......it IS procrastinating. We were doing great until we got to the hard stuff. You know the trim? I'm about ready to call a few house paintingcompanies for some estimates. :) No, I'm sure we'll get it done on our own sometime before we sell this house in the next ten years.

Greeting Cards

How do you choose cards for people? Do you buy them at Wal-Mart, a party store, or a pharmacy? Do you use printable greeting cards? For me, it varies. I have gone to Wal-Mart quite often and I have also gone to a party store. When I've had ink in my printer I've printed off cards, but the best success for me has been cards from CVS and Walgreen.

Are you Irish

My family has deep Irish roots. Is that not obvious when you hear my maiden name, McKinley. My brother and sister-in-law are so proud of being Irish that they have named their children Irish names. I also have a friend whose last name is Irish. They are extremely proud of their heritage, and decorate their house for St. Patrick's day. So for all you proud Irish people out there, check out these Irish gifts.

Businesss Cards

Do any of you out there use business cards? This web site for business card printing was sent to me recently. I took a look at the cards, and they had some pretty nice looking ones out there. However, I was not able to figure out how to order from the company. In other words, the site was not user friendly. :) My mom also found some business cards that you can get for free. I don't know how nice they look compared to the ones above, but who can beat free?

Truck accessories

We live in the land of the red necks. That's about as point blank as I can put it. I mean, where else do you find a jacked up mini van driving around town. There is also this truck that's been jacked up to about 50 feet tall that drives around too, but at least it's a TRUCK! We even have a trucker's toy store in town just for the purpose of catering to people's red neck truck needs. Ok, so maybe chrome rims and window tinting aren't so bad, but some stuff is just..............
So, I'm sent this website for a transfer tank for your truck. Will some red neck please enlighten me as to the purpose of these things. All I could find was that they are used for safe transport in the bed of your truck of nonflammable liquids. Why? Are you going to put your Kool aid for the day in there? :) J/K

The Outer Banks

A really popular vacation spot here in NC is called the Outer Banks. It takes us about three hours to get there, and I've really enjoyed the times I've been able to go. History was my minor in college, and there is so much history to see when you get to the Outer Banks North Carolina.

When you drive over the long bridge to the island and see all the woods, you realize how very strong our forefathers were. You see, this is the location of the "Lost Colony" founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. How would you like to come to a place of nothing but trees to live? No houses, no water wells, no paths, no roads, no stores. I really don't think I could have survived. We are so pampered here. Not only do the Outer Banks boast of being the location of the Lost Colony, but it is also the home of Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers flew their first plane. There are many famous light houses in the Outer Banks location-two which are pictured above. The one on the left is Cape Hatteras lighthouse and the other is the Bodie Island lighthouse. I personally have been to the second one, but I have never yet made it to the first one. There are also wild horses on the Outer Banks, and aquarium, a huge sand dune called Jockey's Ridge that you can hand glide off of, the Elizabethan Gardens, and of course the beaches. Oh, don't let me forget the bear hunting on the way there! One day, we would like to rent a beach house up there and spend a little time exploring.

I would mention a good little church to attend in the town of Manteo right as you cross over the bridge onto the Outer Banks, but I can't remember the name.

Hoodia

Hoodia. What in the world is that?! Come to find out, it's just one more diet pill out on the market. Where in the world do they get names for things like this? Do they come from some chemical found in the pill? Are they named after the person who invented the drug? Who knows, but the name hoodia takes the cake for me.


At least the weblink above offers more than just a pill. It looked like it had some really interesting workout videos to offer too.








Photo courtesy of: Lab88

I was planning on doing a post on favorite and not so favorite past times. Then, I got this assignment which has to do with one of my favorite past times...Real Estate. I love looking at houses. I don't know if it's just a woman thing or if it is because I like to see what I would like to have built for our own family one day. Anyway, this link was sent to me for Cary NC Real Estate. Now, housing in the Raleigh area is not exactly cheap, but it's still fun to look at.

What's That Mess

It’s Pine Needles from our Christmas tree! That’s right. I got tired off our Christmas tree being in the living room half way into January, so I dragged it out. When Spencer walked in, he said, “An easier way would have been to put a garbage bag over the tree before you took it out.” You know what, I didn’t mind cleaning up the mess. The tree is out of my house, FINALLY!

Have I been boring you?

Why paid blogging?
I have a problem. It’s called back pain. It was very severe for me. I had a sharp pain in between my shoulder blades that became more pronounced when I played the piano for long period of times (ie. Choir practices and church services) The pain began to climb up one side of my neck and became so severe that I was getting headaches. My mother-in-law set up some appointments for me at my chiropractor, and the pain has subsided quite a bit. However, I am not completely straightened out yet. I am doing the paid blogging to pay for my chiropractic expenses. I am happy to say that I have made enough money in two days to pay for two visits. Yeah! So bare with me for a while as I make money to take care of myself.

Disney World, Get Ready!

We are planning on trying to go to Disney World again February a year from now. We had a wonderful time the last time we went, but our kids will be a little older this time and I know they will not forget their visit. We rented a three bedroom condo while we were there, but there are also nice houses you can rent too. Of course, staying right on the Disney property would be really nice too. There are a few sites that I am keeping tabs on to see what the best deal is that we can get when we go back. One is called Mouse Savers and another one has Disney Vacation Rentals.

Zach left us with two unforgettable memories the last time we went. He has just turned three years a few days earlier, and we did not know how much he would comprehend. However, when we were waiting for the ferry to take us across the water to the Magic Kingdom, he broke out singing, "It's a Small World". We were all like "AAHHH, how cute. It was so sweet to see him with Mickey too. He gave Mickey the biggest hug in the world which we were fortunate enough to capture on camera.

Medication

When I lived in the wonderful Rio Grande Valley of Texas, I would go to Mexico on my lunch break to buy perscription medicine. I could buy a bigger bottle of medicine for $9.00 in Mexico than I could get in the US for $30.00. That is a major markup! No wonder so many people buy medication from internet sites (ex: Generic Ultram) and other countries! I know that the stuff I got from Mexico was the exact same stuff as what I got in the US. The bottle was identicle as well as the company it was made by. Now why do things have to be so expensive here?

Diet Pills

Speaking of diets etc., I was sent a link for a diet review of a diet pill. Do you actually know anyone that has used diet pills? Do they work? Would you use them. I know one person who is absolutely against them, but I also know some people who are willing to try anything to lose weight.

What do you think?

Diets, Dieting, and Eating Healthfully

Have you ever noticed that there is a constant market for getting skinnier??? You see commercials for all kinds of ways to lose weight. There are commercials for exercise machines, testimonials from people who have been to weight loss centers, trials for free diet pills, etc, etc, etc. I know from personal experience that the South Beach Diet works well. Some people are very against low carb diets, but to me, this is a healthful diet because it is low carb and low fat. Not only that, but it also lets you eat a limited amount of healthful carbs for the first two weeks unlike the Atkins diet. That's what getting skinnier is all about anyway........eating healthfully and exercising. What most of us need to do is just change our bad habits and a lot of our weight issues would disappear. Now only to change our habits!

What do you think about these?

I know a lot of my friends have had or are going to have babies recently. I always thought that these cribs such as the Emily Crib pictured above were really cool, but we never got serious about getting one because we knew that we were going to have more than one kid. What's the point in having to buy three or four cribs just so you can have a bed for every kid. I guess we could have just bought beds for all the kids and then just not worry about buying one for the last baby, but.........

Anyway, our children are happily bedded in their own beds and bunk beds, and the crib is safely stored in the attic. I'm sure we will be getting it out again one day, but eventually it will probably end up in a yard sale.

So, have any of you used this kind of crib. Why or why not. And if you did, did you, or did you not like it?

I seldom go into Christian Book stores. About the only time I make into one is when I want to buy a Bible. Other than that, I get disgusted trying to find what I am looking for. I can't ever find any new offeratory books, I can't ever find any music I want to listen to, and I don't want to spend that much money on books that I don't have time to read any more. I usually end up in the Christian gifts section thinking I wish I had enough money for that pretty painting, but if I did, I don't think I'd spend it on a painting. Just call me cheap.......Spencer always does.

We Need One of These

We bought our house about four years ago and it needed some work. It still does for that matter. The mailbox was propped up by a stick, the address numbers did not show up because they had been painted over, the outside colors were burgandy and dark grey, and the whole inside needed to be updated. We've come a long way on updating our house, and do not have nearly so far to go as we used to. The inside looks much better than it used to, and the outside is looking better too. We have a new mailbox, and have changed the colors of the outside. However, we still have the painted over numbers that need to be replaced. Maybe we should just get a house marker instead!

I'm going to have to get a better picture of the updated outside when spring gets here. A winter yard doesn't help things look so great.

Child's Play

"Lie down, Moira!" my little girl commanded her cousin. Of course Moira didn't want to lie down! Sierra, however, wanted to be the "doctor" for the night and finally persuaded Moira to be the patient. When Moira finally got still, Sierra held one of Brittany's or Zach's stethoscopes to her chest and checked her out for a while. I finally had to tell Sierra to let her cousin up. Sierra then COMMANDED, Get UPPP! Let me tell you, Peter's daughter, Moira, was happy to comply.

Guess who the next patient was. Yep, me.

Presenting a Paid Post

I'm getting paid for this one as you will be able to tell I'm sure. It kind of reminds me of college speech classes where I had to do a sales presentation for a grade. I don't think this is for a grade though. :)
I don't know how many of my readers can use this, but here is a site for presentation folder printing. I've seen some churches have such a folder which they give out to visitors presenting information about their ministries and programs. It would also be great to use on a church visitation program. Wouldn't that look really professional! Of course, different businesses make great use of these too.

If You Send Snail Mail

I was given a website where you can order return address labels, so I decided to check it out. I have to admit, they have some pretty nice looking labels and a large variety of options to choose from. For some odd reason, :) I especially liked the ones pertaining to music (notice image at the beginning of this post). Prices start at 150 labels for $9.95. Check out their website at http://www.returnaddresslabelsonline.com

Some New Things

My sister, Revka, has exposed me to some of the neat things of the blogging world. One thing is money making. She is with a group that sends her assignments to write about, and pays her for her work. The company is just starting up, but she has already made a decent amount in just a couple of weeks. I signed up to do the same thing, and should be posting some new stuff for the company in a little while. However, I would rather not have that stuff on my personal blog, so I started another blog just for the purpose of working for this company. However, I have to get the new blog established and higher up in recognition on different search engines before I can post stuff on that blog. That means for a short time some stuff for the company will be posted up here. If you would like to look at my new blog, it is http://letmetellyouabout.blogspot.com
For those of you looking for stuff to do with your preschooler, my sister Revka also started a new blog with you in mind. Her URL is http:///littlefunlittlelearning.blogspot.com/ I'll also soon be adding these links to my page permanently.

Photo Stitch

I got a new camera for Christmas! Thank you, Papa and Mema. It has this really cool feature on it called photo stitch. Photo Stitch allows you to take several pictures and "stitch" them together to make a panoramic scene like this one of the playground in our backyard.

What's That Smell???

As I was sitting here trying to think of something to write, the inspiration came to me in the form of a strange smell. I noticed something odd, but was caught up in the process of thinking as well as trying to motivate my dear children to do their cursive writing for school. Zach was slowly walking around looking for his book, when he innocently asked, "Mom what's that hole in the carpet?" I quickly walked over to take a look only to find that when I had let Zach stir up the fire in our wood burning stove, a red hot wood chip had somehow escaped onto the carpet. So that was that strange smell. Oh well, we need new carpet in our den anyway! That's a better way of looking at it than getting mad right. Now just to tell Spencer.

WARNING!!!

Paintballing without a helmet could be hazardous to your health.