The Keating Keepup!

2009-02-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't keep up very well with the Keepup! But here are a few pics taken since the holidays! We had some cold weather and had to "Plug In" our kitties outside! They really enjoy their person heating pads, as you can see by Simba's contented look in his personal stuffed chair!

Alice visited from St. Louis. Some of us got together for pizza at Mellow Mushroom and had a catch up session while she was here!

Mr. T. continues to grow. Here he is enjoying the sink in the laundry room. He has also checked out the washer and dryer! But this is a favorite spot!

Rich had a birthday! 59 and counting! We had Butterscotch Pie in celebration.

James David also had a birthday! We celebrated his with cake!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

We have been having uninvited guests for dinner in the evening. The possum family visits our outside cat dishes every night, looking for food. We've fed an array of animals over the holidays - birds, possums, raccoons, squirrels, etc. They all ate well on Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day (day after Christmas) we had Fish & Chips, English tea, Spotted Dick (steamed pudding) with sauce, Kipling tarts and shortbread. We opened poppers. Next year I think we will make our own. These were unremarkable in spite of their cool outside appearance.

The kittens were thrilled with Christmas. Here, Mr. T. "helped" me decorate a wreath.

Tiger Lilly was enthralled with all the wrapping paper!

Rich, the recycler, found another use for his wrapping paper. Pope Richard?

Damien got a bigger kick out of pretending to open Becca's Victoria Secret bag - she received a lotion set from there.

I was sick so much between Thanksgiving and Christmas that Becca had to help wrap most of the gifts, so she didn't have too many surprises since she wrapped some of her own gifts too!

Tony, displaying a game he received from Pappa.

Here is Tony's display of his nutcracker collection. We put them all together on the piano this year. He has received more since this was taken!

Mr. T. enjoyed all the nutcrackers and Christmas cards displayed on the piano. He liked to rearrange thing daily.

Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!
Blessings to you all!

Catching Up with KeepUp!

2008-12-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Like Simba, I have been on the go lately! Then, bugs and viruses slowed me down! Between the two, I have not posted in a while! Here's a little catchup!

Here's a picture of my Thanksgiving table. I've been looking for a ceramic turkey as a centerpiece, but haven't found one I could afford. My mom brought me this metal one on a recent visit. She's had it for a while. After her visit, she found a couple of turkeys on sale, so we might just swap turkeys ever year or two.

We celebrated mom's birthday! Betty Jo Clark was 76 on November 15th. We had dinner and cake at my house the day before. We went out to Macaroni Grill over the weekend where we celebrated again and mom got a solo of "Happy Birthday" in Italian from a very talented lady who worked there.

Here's mom and Becca in the kitchen (my trash can and mop handles
appear in so many of my pictures! argh!
Richard and Mom. Since we weren't getting together for Thanksgiving or Christmas, we decided to celebrate all holidays while they were here. Mom wore her Christmas sweater and passed out gifts and dinner was Turkey and dressing with all the usual holiday fixings!

Mom, opening cards and gifts while Tony goofs off and James David enjoys cake. We were tired of turkey, so ate Wendy's before cake and ice cream!

Here's my dad and niece Erin. I think dad was tired of being blinded by the camera flash. Damien was taking most of the pictures and he got carried away with the camera!

This is a picture of Damien's 7th grade band. He is in the middle, about 2/3rd of the way up.

Here's a better shot - 6th person in on this row. This was their second concert this year and first one in formal wear. They did very well.

Here's Damien with his trumpet after the concert. He is joining pep band next semester. He is getting better after forced practice (I remember those days!) and if he continues to enjoy band in high school we will get him a better trumpet.

This is Tony's 15th birthday. He asked for a Three Musketeers cake! I made a chocolate cake and chopped up mini candies and put them in the center between layers and then more minis all around the top and sides. I used low sugar icing with all that candy! It was good, but I had to leave off the candy - too sweet!

Tony asked for gift cards to several book stores and he has since bought a few books and is saving the rest for a new book coming out in a series that he enjoys. James David and Erin came over to enjoy Lasagna and cake/ice cream with us. Rich was sick with a cold.

Lilly is holding watch for santa! We put up a very small tree this year. Figured with two cats that were celebrating their first Christmas, a big tree might be dangerous! They tore up the first box we put the tree up on and they won't leave the white tree spread alone - they've pulled it off the box almost every day. They have knocked over the tree twice. We had to move all the balls off the bottom and they still attack the bead garland, but boy, do they love the tree!!

Mr. T. has also helped decorate. Here, he is in the middle of a wreath I was trying to make for the back door. He also likes to knock the nutcrackers off the piano. We gave up on putting any packages out. - They tried to open them!

Finally, here's T under the tree. He likes to nap there several hours every day. Lilly takes her turn too and I sometimes find them both there! Rich says we should leave it up year round for them and decorate it according to each holiday - New year's, valentines, Easter, July 4th, etc.!

The kids are out of school tomorrow. I am almost over my cold! Let the holidays begin! Love to you all!

Mr. T.

2008-11-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

We got a new kitten about 10 days ago. We all had a rough time after we lost Teddy and we missed him terribly. We had room for a new kitten and knew we would love one, so I started a search for another kitten that was a Maine Coon mix because we found out how smart and loving they are. We wanted another male and a younger kitten than Teddy so he would adjust to our household and our other kitten, Tiger Lilly, who was almost 8 months old. So, introducing Mr. T.!! As you can see, he is happy to be a part of our family!

Mr. T. is officially Thadeus Pierre Keating. He was 3 months old when we got him, but a little small for his age - in fact he was terribly skinny. Still, he took a regal picture!. While he is similar to Teddy, he definitely has his own personality. Physically, he has bigger ears, a longer tail and longer fur than Teddy. His eyes are the strangest color of green - almost aqua. Teddy had yellow eyes and was fat and had a high pitched voice. Mr. T. has a 'cracked' voice and he really likes to talk!
He has taken up with everyone and is certainly a lap cat! Every naptime, he seeks out someone to sleep on or with! And, after only a week, Lilly was completely taken with him. She went from hissing to smelling, to licking, to playing to loving him in just under a week!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:42:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween! We didn't have many trick o' treaters this year, but these are a few of the one we did have!
Now, we wish we had doubled and tripled their candy!
I guess there weren't too many houses handing out treats this year - has the economy problems hit Halloween? I was happy to fill up my gas tank for under $20 today.

Rebecca's friend canceled her party, so Hunter came over to help us celebrate here. Rebecca had to dress him up.....

All the kids decorated luminaries for our driveway. Of course, a scary theme.

Rebecca in her pumpkin shirt and black lipstick. She helped the others roast marshmallows over a little grill and make smores.

Tony greeted everyone at the porch. I told him not to scare the little kids too much - they would be afraid of Santa come Christmas time!! The porch had a rug with bubblewrap under it that popped when they walked across. We also had scary music/sounds playing. Damien handed out candy - he was inside the door and didnt wear a costume. He had dressed up as someone from the "70s" for school that day.

We had our usual Spooky dinner! Here are our bloody fingers! (White asparagus with a little ketchup).

Here we have bloody worms! (Spaghetti).

And here bloody eyeballs... (meatballs with olives).
A new treat this year was "mummies" (Weiners wrapped in dinner rolls).

We also had "ghosts" (Meringue cookies - they didnt get dry enough and were rather sticky).

And that was our nice, scary dinner with a few extras. Wish you were here to enjoy all our left over candy!

Goodbye to Family Pet- Tribute to Teddy

2008-10-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

Our black male cat, Theodore Bear Keating, was hit and killed by a car last week. He was only 7 months old, but big - 8 1/2 lbs. He would have been a big c at at full grown. We all took it hard - the first time the kids can remember losing a pet - but especially me because he had picked me to be his person and went everywhere I went. He was the only male cat out of four in our house (he does have a big brother who lives outside). He was bundle of love and I've never had a cat like him. I hope that some day we will be lucky enough to have a cat with his personality.

Here he is with Rich at about 4 weeks - just after we found him and his sisters in the woods behind our house.

This is how he liked to sleep - tucked in the corner of my chair in my lap. He was maybe 3 months old here. Already big!

Another baby picture - before his eyes turned YELLOW!

Here he is with his sister, Tiger Lilly. She loved Teddy, as you can see. She misses him too.

Teddy had the shiniest hair - hard to capture in a picture. I said it looked like Elvis' hair.

Below is a picture of Lilly and Teddy, drinking together. She wanted to drink, eat, sleep, potty only when he did. She is finally getting in the habit of making her own schedule without him and starting to eat a little more.

This was the last picture we took of him just two days before he died. I had come upstairs to do a little reading and he decided to take a nap on my magazine. He is sleeping with his own little "Teddy Bear". We buried it and his toys and a snack with him. We also put in a dozen dried roses. Teddy loved roses and tried to eat them every time I received or bought some. I had a bowl of dried roses on display and he would steal one and carry it around. They all went with him. The boys helped Rich bury him in the back yard near the woods.

Everyone should have the pleasure and enjoyment of a loving pet. May each of you be blessed with the unconditional love of a pet in your lifetime!

Happy Birthday Damien!

2008-10-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Our youngest, Damien, turned 13! Wow, how time flies! Seems like yesterday he was crawling around in diapers. They grow up so fast!

Since his birthday is in October and relatively near Halloween, he usually has a Halloween cake. This year it was a black cat! Everyone wanted the candy corn around the edge.

Blowing out 13 candles takes effort!

He was excited about his presents! Big brother, in the background, can't wait until his birthday in December!

More Fall Decorations

2008-09-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

The kids are wondering 'why all the decorations?" Since I've had to slow my pace because of my knee injury, I've had more time for the crafts and art I used to do pre-kids. I've re-purposed some of the things I have to decorate for Fall. It is so nice to have some "Fall-ish" weather! I'm talking mid 70s instead of 90s! Cool nights instead of it never getting below 80! The leaves haven't turned. There's no nip in the air, but it is getting closer to Fall! I took a jar that Damien won a few years ago in a race and filled it with cheese popcorn (the jar had been filled with M&Ms. The kids ate 2 bags of the cheese corn and are eye-ing this!) Do you recognize the two little pitchers I bought recently at a yard sale? We filled these with un-popped corn and added an Indian corn pick in each one. The candle was on sale at Target for $1. The leaves are silk.

This is a little scarecrow wreath I got at Eckerd's a few years ago. I miss Eckerd's! They were owned by Penny's and had great decorating items for a drug store! We did nothing but hang this on the back door.

I made these little cone shaped decorations from Dollar Tree items. A roll of brown wrapping paper with little gold stars (you can use brown paper bags too) and a fall pick with a bit of twine tied around. I hung these on the shutters on the front of the house.

Finally, my last Fall wreath! This one is made of pumpkins and a crow plus more of the stinky leaves I bought and a feather pick. It is hanging by the front door of the house on the porch. My front door has a full glass screen door so it is difficult to hang things on the actual door. I have a wreath of red berries hanging there. It is small, flat and matches the color of the door, so it stays up year round and I decorate the wall next to the door. Guess I am done for a while with decorating. We'll bring out some of our Halloween stuff in a week or so. The kids love to do this decorating. Then we'll trade out for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Last year I let Becca do all the Christmas decorating. She enjoys picking through all our stuff and deciding what to put out and what to use on the tiny tree we put up!

Homecoming 2008

2008-09-20T20:49:00.001-07:00

Collins Hill High School had their annual Homecoming this week. The football game was Friday night and Homecoming Dance was Saturday night. Here is Becca and her date, Hunter.

This was Becca's 3rd year for Homecoming. She was looking forward to a good time dancing! Hunter just moved here from Ohio. They both had a great time!

This was Tony's first Homecoming Dance. He invited his friend, Tatiana. It was also her first dance. They are both Freshmen. They have been friends since 4th grade.

They had a great time too! They said the dance was a lot of fun. I had a wonderful time chauffeuring. Damien accompanied me for the drive. He was checking out just what you did when you went to Homecoming, in anticipation for his first one in a couple of years!

Fall Decorating

2008-09-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

I've been in the mood for fall - all the summer heat is getting pretty tiring! So, when fall decorations started appearing in the stores, I thought I'd re-purpose a couple of things into a new fall wreath. My brother made some grapevine wreaths a few years ago. Mom gave me two. I had decorated this one with silk magnolias and some blue flower and ribbon that was navy with gold suns and moons on it. It went well with our country blue house. Here, Lily and Teddy are supervising as I start taking it all apart and cleaning the vines of all the dust and cobwebs.
I also had a HUGE vase of grapevines (silk) and fall foliage -pussy willows, sea grass, etc. It sat on one side of the mantel. I decided to use some of this for the wreath. I moved it to the kitchen so I could get the dust off (it's been a while since it had a good dusting!) Rich and all 3 kids came in that afternoon and asked where it had came from! Three years it has sat in the living room on the mantel! Guess it is time to change some things around!

Here's the vine with the grape leaves added. It's looking better!

After studying it for a while, I decided it needed a little more "fall" stuff. So on a visit to Michael's craft store, I picked up some fall colored leaves and a few picks of fall gourds, etc. and added it to the wreath. Here it is on the front door inside. Problem is, the leaves were sprayed with something and they smell! Musty!!! I let them air out overnight. I sprayed them with Lysol! They STILL smell! Right now, the wreath is airing on the back porch carport. If they don't improve, I guess this will become an outdoor wreath!! I have one more vine wreath - maybe I can make it with some foliage that dosent smell!

Gwinnett Braves Mascot Name

2008-09-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Our new Baseball team and local paper, Gwinnett Post held a contest to name the new Mascot for the Gwinnett Braves.
The name was announced at a press release at Lawrenceville Elementary School on Monday.
Rich was one of three finalists for the naming of the new Mascot for the Gwinnett Braves.
The new mascot is a Groundhog.

The winning name was "Chopper". Rich's entry was "Pop-up". Still, it was good to be in the top three names out of over 4,000 entries!
Well, here is the mascot again - I put it in twice and can't get the little rodent off the screen! We had a good time and Rich got an official Gwinnett Braves baseball cap and tee-shirt.

Yard Sale Siren

2008-09-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

The call of the yard sale beckoned me last week! I rarely go to the sales. We seem to have them year round here because of the warm weather. Each Thursday and Friday, the handmade signs sprout up on all the corners and intersections. But, I already have too much stuff, so I usually ignore them. But this sign kept calling to me. So, when I had to pick up Damien early from school, I dropped by. It was almost the end of the first day, but I still found some good bargains! These little cream pitchers were only $1 for both. The scalloped one has a chip on the base, but is still usable. I think they are old, they do not have seams like pressed glass.

The lady having the sale said her mother had recently passed away. Her mother was an artist. I think her dad was re-locating and together they were holding the sale. this was a small watercolor that her mom had painted.

Here is another watercolor, same size as the first. $5 each.

I thought the purples and greens in the paintings would look good in my master bath, which is also purple and green. Here they are hanging on the wall. Tony helped me clean them and hang them.
They also had a lot of old linens. I got this 50s style table cloth for $1 and napkins for .50c. We started using cloth napkins this year in an effort to "go green" and not waste so much paper. It turns out that cloth napkins are closely related to socks! They go to the laundry, but then somehow disappear and never make it back to the napkin basket we keep on the table. I don't know why this happens. I have a feeling that somewhere in my attic there is a squirrel with a great sock and napkin collection!
Here is a handmade mirror that I purchased for $12.50. It is about 3 ft. wide and has blue leaded glass worked all around it. It is wired so I can hang it either way.

I also got a huge 9 x 12 blue wool rug with carved floral pattern all around for $35. It is still rolled up until I can move things around and get it on the floor. It just about gave us a hernia and ruptured discs, trying to get it in the house!

Overall, it was a good sale. I also bought some pen and ink drawings of cats and wooded landscapes for .25c each. I like to think that the artist's spirit called out to all fellow artists to come and buy her lovely stuff and that I heard that call. I have not had the urge to go to another sale, but her daughter said she was going to have another one in November, because her mother loved Christmas and had a ton of decorations and several trees each year. I'm going to make a point to go back early on the day of that sale to see what other treasurers I can find!

Bucket List

2008-09-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we received the movie "The Bucket List" from Netflix. The kids were a little disappointed. They are always in hopes of a kid or teen oriented movie. But, there was nothing else for them to do (yeah, right!), so they sat down and watched it with me. It was a pretty good movie.

It must have touched something inside of my youngest (he is 12, soon to be 13 in a few weeks). He watched the movie two more times on his own! It gave him serious pause for thought. A few nights later, he came to me (when I was on the phone, of course) with his own bucket list. I was surprised at how much thought he had put into it. I told him we would keep it and he could update it every year, crossing off things he had accomplished and adding more things he wanted to do.

I thought I'd share it (and a few of my comments and explanations) with all of you!

THE BUCKET LIST
Do til I Die (means before he dies)
1. Help a good friend for good.
2. Skydiving (this was in the movie)
3. Draw a good Picture
4. Win the lottery (me too!)
5. Go out with a grin and a kiss!
6. Get married and have kids
7. Be a good trumpet player
8. Shoot a gun at plates (I think he means skeet shooting)
9. Drive in a Hummer or a F 150 (his favorite vehicles)
10. Walk on the wall of China (me too! especially after seeing pics of Debbie & Kenny's visit there!)
11. Have very good friends. (He has already checked this off)
12. Be at least 15 yrs old or older before dying. (15 seems really old to a 12 yr old! What does that make me?)
13. Sing a very good song to a lover. (I TOLD my husband that the girl friend thing was starting!)
14. Never forget Nana or Papa, even at 75 yrs old.
15. Pass all of my schools very good. (I think he means classes or grades)
16. Kiss the hottest girl I see in school. (See comment on #13!!!!)
17. Kiss the hottest girl out of school. (I think this was also a goal in the movie, but anyway, see comment on #13!!!!!)
18. Never stop loving monkeys. (He collects stuffed monkeys)
19. Laugh until I (we) cry!
20. Be the best skateboarder on my block.
21. Look at a very good place (I think this is also in the movie - to view something magnificent.)
22. Never drink at all.
23. Never smoke.
24. Try to be a math teacher.
25. Never forget best friends forever (then names all friends)
26. Never forget Ivy, Bitzy, Teddy, Lilly, etc. (names all of our pets).
Last: Kick the Bucket!!!

I hope that we are giving him all the tools and all the support that he needs to reach and accomplish all of his goals throughout his life! Nana

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” ~Elizabeth Stone

Grab Bag Catch Up!

2008-09-02T13:30:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of rain last week from the tropical storm that came up from Florida. Afterwards, there was a huge double rainbow! It was beautiful! By the time I hurried home and got the camera out, it was almost gone. You might be able to see a tiny bit of it just above the trees in this picture.

The sun started coming out while it was still raining, making the whole yard misty and foggy!

It had rained so much that our huge Dogwood tree was soaked and bent toward the ground. We had a small stream running through the yard! Exciting for drought ridden Georgia!

I was telling a friend through email that Rich often brings me flowers for no reason. We must have some sort of mental connection, because that afternoon he brought me two bunches of Gerber Daisies! They've lasted all week -probably because I've had to keep them on the kitchen counter, away from the cats!

I read a recipe called Chicken Noodle Casserole. I started craving homemade chicken noodle soup or chicken and dumplings! So, I decided to put all the stock veggies in the crock pot and then add some chicken. Tonight, I'll make homemade dumplings (like thin noodles), using the stock from all these goodies!

Eye wear!

2008-08-23T17:56:00.001-07:00

The boys have new eye wear this year! They had to switch. Damien went from reading glasses to full time wear. He actually has bifocals to help him both read and see in the distance. The glasses darken to sunglasses outside, which he thinks is cool, but he is having to adjust to wearing them all the time!

Tony went from wearing glasses all the time to just reading glasses. He has to adjust to remembering to take them off and on and to not leave them on a desk or table somewhere in a classroom!! Their motto is "On the face or in the case!"

Lilly Loves Teddy & Our Family of Cats

2008-08-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is Ivy. She's 10 years old. We got her when we bought our house. Our other cat had been killed by a stray dog at our rental house when we first moved here. We rescued her from the pound back in 1998. Her cage tag had a code that indicated it was her last day before she was to be put to sleep. She was about 3 months old and bow legged! She is not a lap cat - has always cried when she is picked up. But she loves to be petted and will sneak up and sleep on you at night. She loves to eat - anything!! We say that she takes on different nationality personas, depending on the food! Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, etc. She also loves junk food like Cheetos. We have to be careful now that she is older to not give her too many people snacks - she has kitty special diet food and snacks instead!

This is Bitzy - she's seven years old. My mom gave her to us in 2001 when we went to Kentucky to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. She's a little camera shy, but a very pretty cat. She is adjusting to the new kittens. They want to be friends, but she only tolerates them.

This is Liger (Momma Kitty). She's part Maine Coon, but she has a very sweet face. She lives outside with her older son. She's a sweet, but chubby cat!

This is Simba - he's also part Maine Coon. I believe his father is all Maine Coon. He has more of a "Lion" face which is more typical of Maine Coons. They get to be BIG cats!! Sometimes up to 35 lbs!! Simba is a hefty 15 lbs and is only 1 1/2 years old. He's a big baby, though!! He wishes he could be inside with the kittens. He like you to hold him! He will lay on his back and purr and make muffins in the air while you brush his belly! He loves to play with his little brother and sister when they come outside. They will soon big almost as big as he is!

This is Theodore Bear (Teddy) and Tiger Lilly. Teddy is already 8 lbs at 6 months old. Lilly is a dainty 6.5 lbs. Our kittens were in a happy mood a few days ago! It's nice having two cats that get along after 7 years of our two calico cats hating each other!! Ivy lives downstairs, Bitzy lives upstairs!!! These two are litter mates, and very happily get along. They also love the two outdoor cats . But we have cats everywhere!!! The last of them - Lilly - was spayed this week. She also had a belly button hernia (common in cats) and that was fixed. We rescued several cats after a neighbor moved and abandoned them. The kittens were born about a month later by one of the rescued cats. Kittens are so cute, but there are too many of them and 100s are put to sleep everyday at local pounds. Just two feral (wild) cats can reproduce and after seven years they and their offspring can produce over 480,000 cats!! A cat can easily live to be 20 years old. Kittens can go into "heat" as early as 5 months and often have 3 heats a year. Cats are wonderful pets and very easy to take care of, provided they are fixed! We love all our cats - they are very lucky and very spoiled!!

Party Italian Cous Cous

2008-08-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

We had our usual monthly potluck and I brought Italian Couscous. It made a lot!! Wish everyone was here to enjoy some with us! This was originally a pasta recipe, but I had couscous on hand, so I used that instead and, as usual, changed around a few ingredients.

3 cups couscous, cooked as directed on package (you can use less if don't have a crowd) While it is cooling prepare the following ingredients and then add them to couscous and mix lightly:

1 box fresh cherry or grape tomatoes washed. If you use the larger ones, half them.
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup SMOKED mozzarella cheese - gives it a nice flavor - diced
1 Tablespoon fresh garlic, minced. (I use the kind already chopped and in a jar).
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/2 roasted red pepper, diced

Dressing:
1 cup low fat salad dressing
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup rice wine seasoned vinegar (or another favorite vinegar you might have)
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce (like Tabasco)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
Other optional spices: turmeric, Mediterranean blend, dried basil, coriander - add a pinch or two if you like

Blend all dressing ingredients. Mix into the couscous/veggies/cheese. Serve immediately at room temp. or chill until ready to serve. Makes enough for at least 20 side servings. Enjoy!

Job & Braces

2008-08-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Becca got her first "real" job this summer - cashier at Kroger. Here she is after a LONG couple of days! School started Monday and she went straight to work afterwards. She had Tues. off from work, but on Wednesday she had braces put on her top teeth, then headed to her other job - babysitting at the church. She gets up at 5AM, the bus comes a little after 6AM and school starts at 7AM!!! Too early for me! School is out at 2PM and then it's off to work until 8PM several nights. Luckily, it's not every school night! This is what she looks like coming off a long shift! They wanted her to stay until 1AM!!! Crazy!

Here are the new braces. Might be hard to see, but they are Hot Pink. Just on the top for now. Her teeth are straight, but she had a baby tooth that didn't come out and the impacted tooth under it is pushing toward her front teeth and could damage them if it is not corrected. All that has caused a slight overbite and her left side bite to be off a tiny bit. She will get an expander in the roof of her mouth next month, then bottom braces, later, to correct the bite. If she is lucky, she will only have to wear them for a year and a half. If the baby tooth doesn't loosen up, it will have to be pulled and then possibly a tiny surgery to move the adult tooth in the correct position to "come on down"!!

I'm an ol' pro at braces. I've gone through this with two step daughters, but started my career as a witness to "braces wearers", when I would go to appointments with my best friend in high school! I remember spending a lot of time in dental waiting rooms. I also remember the muscles it took for the two of us to turn the steering wheel of her car in order to parallel park when we got there and again to get out of the parking spot when we left!!

Blueberry Season

2008-07-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's been blueberry season here for quite a while. There is a little corner of property down the street that used to be part of a farm. The state/county bought this triangle for whatever they need little random pieces of property for - transformers, weigh stations, etc. But they only needed a tiny section and they have left the rest - about 1/2 acre of blueberries. Everyone in this area who knows, comes to pick free blueberries. When I first moved here, I thought people were going fishing in a small creek nearby - I always saw the cars parked along side the road at this spot.

We've had more rain this year and the blueberries are more plentiful - unlike last year. The bushes have a lot of little bushes coming up all around them. We are thinking of digging up a few and trying to have 3 or 4 bushes in our back yard. Not sure if it will work, or if we'll still be living here by the time they would be big enough to have enough berries for a pie, but we might try anyway. The little bushes are all getting trampled and choked out by the big, untrimmed bushes anyway.

Here's a recipe for Baked Blueberry French Toast. It is modified from a friend's recipe - I've tried to take some of the calories out and add a few ingredients that we like. It's a good "company" recipe or a nice holiday recipe because you can make it the night before and pop it in the oven the next morning. Amounts of ingredients are flexible - put more of what you like, less of what you don't like! Happy Blueberry Season!

1 cup Blueberries, washed
3 or 4 slices of French bread, toasted (or any bread you'd like to use)
4 oz fat free creme cheese
2-3 Tablespoons of light butter
2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup lowfat or fatfree milk
dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sugar - 1/4 cup or to your taste (you can also use Splenda or other substitute)

Tear toasted bread in bite sized pieces and place in baking dish. Add blueberries. Cut cream cheese in chunks, or spoon the soft kind around the dish. Cut butter and place around the dish. Add salt, cinnamon and sugar to the beaten eggs and milk. Pour over the dish. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes. This will give 4 of us a nice serving. Double or Triple for a crowd.

PS - I forgot to mention, yesterday, that we use a little maple syrup over the finished product (or sugar free syrup) - just like you use for regular French toast!

16th Anniversary

2008-07-25T21:18:00.001-07:00

We are celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary this weekend. Rich brought me some beautiful sunflowers yesterday. Had to display them on top of the TV because the cats found them very tasty!!! We are wondering if we can save some of the seeds and try to grown some next year.
Rich couldn't do with one flower arrangement - he brought me two! These were a pretty spring mix, but the cats wanted to eat them too, so they had to go on the kitchen counter!

The boys made us a special truck as a gift - it has our initials and #16 on the top.

I gave Rich a new piece for his model train set up. It is a Halloween train station that lights up and flashes and has spooky music. "All aboard for the Phantom Station - the end of the line!" It will be cool to display at during Halloween. We had a nice dinner and I made Rich's favorite - Chocolate Pie. We will continue our celebration tomorrow and go see "Mamma Mia" and listen to all the old ABBA music!

Growing Kittens!!

2008-07-25T21:11:00.001-07:00

I realized today that the kittens were almost as big as our grown cats!!! Theodore Bear (Teddy) likes to lay on my table next to my chair - he suns under the light! I have given up trying to put anything on the table - it just ends up on the floor.
Tiger Lilly likes to sit on the floor near Rich - he is her person! She thinks that she is camouflaged if she lays near the couch cover!

Finally Rain!!

2008-07-25T21:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, it does rain in Georgia!!! Just not much or often! But we finally had a LONG downpour a couple of days ago and our gutters couldn't dispose of it fast enough, so it poured off the front porch in sheets!
The water ran down the street so fast that our drive entrance caused it to fly up and pour over like a waterfall or like water going over a rock in a river rapids.

Coming of Age

2008-07-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

Tony took the Coming of Age class at church this year. It teaches him about all religions and how to get along with others. He has a mentor (Chris, shown with him at the COA dinner). They did service projects together - Atlanta Food Bank - and Tony hung out with Chris, who plays in the band at church.

Tony is reading a statement about what he learned and got from his COA class. Each child got a chance to stand up and speak to the group. They talked about their experiences. Tony got to do an overnight trip where he spend the night in a cave and had a 4 hour spelunking adventure through the caves. He also got to do an overnight ropes course where he walked across ropes and did a 75 foot zip line jump!

There was a celebration at church for all COA graduates. They had to do community service hours, church service hours, plus several retreats. Participants were allowed to join the church and sign the church book if they wished after completing the course.

Birthday Girl!

2008-07-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our niece, Erin, celebrated her birthday with us last week! She's the beauty of the family and we love her very much! (Her ol' man ain't bad either!) Happy Birthday Erin!!!!

Food Fear Factor

2008-07-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

The boys went to a library function - Food Fear Factor - where they competed for prizes! They had six rounds of competition. First round they ate spaghetti-os with syrup and chocolate on them. Second they had lime Jello with olives. Next was a strange baby food mixture - I think it was lasagna and another sweet food. Then they at baby food meat with raisins. Following that was chocolate covered larva and crickets. Finally, the last dish was a timed event - plate licked clean - of a mixture of all the first 5 foods! Yum!! Damien bowed out of the last round. Tony ate up and won a certificate to a restaurant. One poor kid barfed in his plate on the last round. Everyone had a pretty good time, except for the barf-ers- poor things!

July 4

2008-07-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

We had a fireworks battle on our front drive. The boys built ships and forts, etc. and had fireworks all set in them to go off. Pappa supervised and all had fun setting them off!

Trip

2008-07-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

We went to Southern GA over spring break this year. Becca looked at Columbus U. and Valdosta St. U. as possible schools. Stopped in Plains, GA to see where J. Carter lived. Had a nice country lunch there. Stopped at the Fish & Pig on the way home - another nice meal! Here's some pics!

Hot Kitties!

2008-07-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's HOT! 97 in the shade! Trying to get this to work! Here's a pic!