Friday Flower Fix & Weekend

Ok, before I get into todays (late) post...let me sit down and take a breath for a minute....................

I have been ripping and running ALL day today. I took Jayla to school this morning, came home, laid back down for about 45 minutes, then I was up and out again. Today, the kindergarten classes at Jayla's school went on a fieldtrip to the North Georgia State Fair. So, me along with about 5 other moms from our class tagged along. I've never been to the fair before and had been wanting to go. My friend, Stacey, has been several times and warned me that it might be pretty boring and stinky, lol. Well, let's put it this way, I didn't have "the time of my life", but it was fun. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a good time. None of the rides were running, as the time of day that we went is mainly for school/daycare field trips.

After waiting in line for quite a while, it was finally our turn to take a "hayride" (minus the hay) to the first attraction. The first attraction was the "stinky" part of the trip. There were several animals for the kids to look at. There were turkeys, goats, a zebra, donkey's, a giant yellow snake, ostrichs, parrotts, minature horses...OH MY!!! :-)

After that the kids had their picture made with a clown, they toured the crafts displays, then took a picture in front of a big ole green tractor, (remember, I'm the class photographer? :-D). After the photo stops, we headed into the second stinky part of the tour. This time, we saw horses, cows, ducks, emus (not sure I spelled that right), and chickens (NOTE: chickens look a LOT better when they are plucked, fried, placed between a warm hamburger bun with a slice of pickle and placed in a white bag with Chick Fil A written on it...but that's just me.) Oh, the kids also got to feed some goats...YUCK!!! Can you say "Pass the Purell hand sanitizer?!?!) Then it was on to the highlight of the entire field trip.....Mayfield icecream sandwiches and apple juice :-D.

Welp, that was about it for the field trip. The kids were exhausted and getting a little hot and hungry. So,we headed back to the entrance and onto the bus they went. After dropping off one of the moms back at the school, I was off to run my errands. Then back to the school to pick Jayla up. What a day!!

So, what have you guys got planned for the weekend? You're not gonna believe it...we've got soccer...hee hee. Jayla has a 9am game, AGAIN. Then the Stingrays have their team pictures followed by their game at noon. Other than that, I think that's all we've got going on this weekend. Well, I thank you all for your patience....here's your flower fix for the day.

Have a beautiful weekend and I'll be talkin' to ya soon!! Toodles!

It's all in the numbers (at least that's what Cheryl says)

Hello everyone. I was over at Cheryl's blog today and once again, her blog was chockful of fun. This time, she asked that we answer several questions about ourselves that had numbers in the answers. So check this out:

By the Numbers

1. Age I was when I first walked: in my late teens, I think, lol. Just kidding. Uh, 11 months old I think is what I was told.

2. Age of my very first memory: I would have to say 2 years old. I remember going to Montreal, Canada with my family for the Worlds Fair. And Lou Rawls was the entertainment.

3. Number of stitches I've had in my life: Over 20...right across my stomach (from an operation I had when I was 6 years old) And then your "standard issue" 2 or 3 in that "special area" after birthing my first child....guess she was in a hurry to get here, lol.

4. Number of broken bones I've had in my life: 2. I broke my toe when I was 17 and my ankle about 2 years ago.

5. Number of cars I've owned: 8

6. Number of countries I've visited: Uhhh, is Mobile, Alabama a country? Ok, ok...I guess not. 2, I guess (Montreal, Canada & Jamaica)

7. The age I was when I moved out of my parents' house: 21...right into my own apartment with my very own Avacado green kitchen countertops and burnt orange kitchen sink.

8. Number of ex-boyfriends in my past: 5 or 6...but I'd rather not dwell on my unhappy past. lol

9. Number of televisions in my house: 3

10. Number of days old I am right now: 14,922 (Cheryl suggested that you...go HERE, to this really cool site,to find out how many days you've been around!)

Now wasn't that fun? I've said it before...I LOVE doing stuff like this. And I'm sure, as long as Cheryl is around, I'll never be at a loss of questions to answer, lol. Love ya Cheryl. Now, it's ya'lls turn. Feel free to answer these in my comments or leave me a comment stating that you're gonna answer them on your own blog. Have fun!!

Inspired to INSPIRED...

Happy Monday everyone!

Can you believe it's already Monday again? The weekend was a blur to me...ok, all of last week is pretty much a blur.

But my quick recap of the weekend goes a little something like this:

~The Lil' Stingrays had their pictures made. Can't wait til those come back. I'll be sure to share when they do.

~I'll say that the Lil' Stingrays won their game...even though at this level they don't keep score; in my mind (and in Jayla's) they won, lol.

~Had a nice brunch at Steak N' Shake between games.

~The Big Stingrays played AWESOME and won 5 - 2!

~The rest of the weekend was spent watching football and soccer and napping.

Well, that's about all I've got for today. Oh, I did my Taebo workout this morning too. Aren't ya'll proud of me?

Here's your inspiration:

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the REAL things after all."

Have a beautiful week.

Friday Flower Fix & Weekend

Happy Friday...it IS Friday, isn't it??? These days, I don't know whether I'm coming or going. But the calendar says it's Friday...so that's what I'm going with.

Before I go any further, I'd like to wish you all a happy FALL/AUTUMN. Again, looking at the calendar, I see that Fall doesn't officially begin until Sunday, the 23rd. But Happy Fall anyhow!!! :-) So here's your FFFF (Fall Friday Flower Fix) Aren't these pretty? I apologize if I've shared these before, as I try and delete the photos as I post them here. But it feels like I've seen these before. ANYWAY...they just scream Fall to me, so I thought they'd do (possibly again...lol).

I have something else I'd like to share with you too. I frequent a site called Roots Scrapbooking. And once a month, they have a featured designer. I was the FD back in February of this year. That was WAY cool for me. I was welcomed with such wonderful comments from people. This month, Tina Cockburn was the FD. And let me just say, she rocks! If you keep up with the scrapbook magazines on the market, she has been in several of them. Anyway, as part of Tina being featured, she suggested a challenge to us readers, to "scraplift" a layout and post it on the site. Tina offered a RAK to who she chose as the winner. Well guess what? I WON!!! Check out the scrapbooking stash she sent me:

What fun stuff!

So, what have you guys got planned for the weekend? Not only do we have the regular 2 soccer games tomorrow (weather permitting), Jayla also has team pictures. And get this...we have to be at the field at 8am for their 8:15 pictures. ARGH!!! That sure is early to get a bunch of 5,6 & 7 year olds to smile. Oh well, I hope everyone gets enough sleep so that they'll be in a good mood for pictures. Hmmm, I'd better go to bed now, lol.

Alrighty, that's all I've got for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Oh, and before I go, let's all congratulate JUDE on the birth of her new baby!!! CONGRATS!!!

MOMsense

This is too cute. I'm SURE there's a way to add this as an actual video. But I'm kinda slow today and can't quite figure it out. So just do it the old fashioned way...CLICK on the link :-).

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlY8STkhopc

Inspired to INSPIRED - Weekend recap

"An open home, an open heart...here grows a bountiful harvest."

~~~

Happy Monday everyone. Where did the weekend go?

Well, as I predicted, Jayla's soccer game got cancelled on Saturday due to the soggy fields.

Probably for the best though. I think she's getting over a little cold. When she got up on Saturday morning, she said she didn't feel much like playing in the game. So, not 5 minutes after we told her that it was alright if she didn't play, we got a recorded message from the head coach stating that the 9am game had been cancelled. However, all other games would begin an hour later than scheduled. When we told Jayla that her game had been cancelled, she got upset. Well, wait a minute...didn't you JUST tell us that you didn't want to play anyway? This little girl is too much. She proceeds to tell us that, even though SHE didn't feel like playing, she still wanted to "support" her teammates.

Well, we all know what that means...now we're gonna have a make up game; probably on a Friday evening. Oh well, that's the nature of the soccer beast.

The Stingrays had their game as scheduled. And the weather was GORGEOUS! It was probably in the high 70's and there was a wonderful breeze blowing. Still warm enough to wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt. PERFECT soccer playing weather.

Ok, the parents thought it was perfect soccer playing weather...probably because we didn't have to play. The boys, on the other hand, weren't quite as convinced. They didn't play near as well as they did last weekend. We lost 5 - 2. Could be because they were only able to practice one day last week. I dunno...I'm just trying to find them an excuse. But I'm sure no excuse will do, because my husband...their coach, is gonna run them like crazy at practice tonight. Poor Stingrays!

Alright, that's all I've got with regards to my weekend. However, I do have a question for you guys. I realize that most of my readers are women...so this is for you.

Is it just me or are car dealerships/repair shops STILL in the business of trying to get over on women? YES...I am still having issues with my van. And YES, the "guys" at the dealership still think I'm making stuff up. Remember a month or so ago I had about $2300 worth of work done? Well, like you, I thought that was gonna be it. But Nooooo, my hubby had to take the van to get some MORE work done on it this past Friday. To the toon of $650!!! Ok, I won't go into any details here. But I will say this, I plan to write Mr. Nissan a nice little nasty letter. Which leads me to my next questions...Do you guys write to a company when you're not satisfied with their service? If so, what do you expect to be done to satisfy you? When you write to a company, how much info do you or should you give, to get your point accross?

ARGH!!! Now I'm ticked off again. More on this later...once I get my thoughts together...

I've been a scrappin fool...

Alright, before we go any further, for those of you who have ZERO interest in scrapbooking, this would be a great place to stop reading. But before you go, leave a comment just to say hi :-). I love to see that people stop by to see me.

Ok, now for you readers who have an appreciation for the hobby of scrapbooking...continue on :-). Well, I've been on a roll here lately and have popped out quite a few LO's. Sure, it has taken me several weeks to complete these, as I'm just anal like that. But in my own defense, when you have a subject as beautiful as my Jayla is, these things can't be rushed...lol. (What a bunch of ka-ka, huh?) Ok, the part about Jayla being beautiful wasn't the ka-ka part, cuz there's truth in EVERY part of that...but me just being slow and anal and mojoLESS was the ka-ka part. But anyway, they are now done and I LOVE them.

These are more shots from the photo shoot that Jayla did back in April. If you've been keeping up with my layouts, the most recent ones I posted are from that same shoot.

OK, ok...I can tell when I've talked up something enough. So without further ado, here's my most recent work.

This first one is entitled: Lovely Day
I was driving down the street a few weeks ago and the song "Lovely Day", by Bill Withers came on the radio. This is one of my all time favs. As the song played, it made me think about Jayla and how she just brightens my day. Part of the lyrics say, "Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be...a Lovely Day!" And to me, that perfectly describes how I feel about my little princess...Every single day.

This next one is entitled: Girly Girl
Not much needs to be said about this one. Jayla IS a girly girl...or a Girls Girl :-).

This one is entitled: Feisty Fairy
I simply love these shots. At first, she wasn't too happy about having to wear the little tu-tu. I think she said it was a little too tight around her waist. So we fixed that for her and the rest is "Feisty" :-). I just love the funky socks, the "old skool" sneakers and the expressions on her face. Once the "fairy" part of the shoot was over, Jayla was disappointed, she was NOW having a good time wearing the tu-tu.

Well, that's all I've got for now. But before I sign off for the evening, I want to give acknowledgement and a BIG OLE appreciation shout out to my friends over at Cherry Berry Studio. Cynthia and Lisa, ya'll ROCK and you sure know how to work a camera (you too Theresa). You guys are the best and I can't thank you enough.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Tales of a Kindergartner

Hello all. I realize that I've already kinda done a post today. But I didn't know school pictures would be back today. :-) Would you just look at this little beauty?

She has been begging me since the first day of school to wear this little jumper to school. I kept telling her "NO!" because I knew I wanted her to wear it for picture day :-). And I'm glad I did. She looks SO cute. I'm sure I've told you before that this kid LOVES the camera. Just look at that proud grin.

I haven't given many updates on how kindergarten is going for Jayla, as there's not much to tell. The reason there's not much to tell is because she absolutely LOVES it. And that, to be honest, is an understatement. It's everything she can do not to jump out of the car in the mornings and run in the building. She's SO proud that she can walk ALL THE WAY to her class by herself like a big girl (I walked her to class the first week of school).

School lets out at 2:15 and I'm in the carpool line by 1:40 at the latest :-). I just HAVE to make sure I get the exact same spot every afternoon...as Jayla HAS to wave at me as she walks from the main building to the gym, which is where the car riders congregate until their names are called.

Friday's are hard for Jayla :-). As soon as she hops in the van on Fridays, she says, "So, mom, HOW many more days until I get to go back to school again?" And when I reply, "Only 2, honey." I hear this huge sigh from the backseat. She thinks that's too long to wait to get back to school. So I'm sure you've figured out by now that she was NOT feeling the long Labor Day weekend...LOL. Maybe I should go ahead and get her ready for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, huh? :-)

I am so glad that Jayla enjoys school so much. She has even asked me if I'd be "one of those moms" that comes to her class to visit sometimes. Can you believe it? She actually WANTS me at her school. So needless to say, I have signed up to be a volunteer in her class. Starting in October, I will volunteer in Jayla's class every Monday morning. I am also heading up the production of the classroom scrapbook. As well as being the class photographer. So that means, I get to go on more fieldtrips. Can't wait!!

I sure hope that Jayla continues to have a love for school and learning. Her teacher sends me emails every once in a while to tell me what a joy it is to have Jayla in her class. Jayla has a monopoly on the "green stars" in her class :-). If you get a green star, that means you had a GREAT day. Since school began last month, she has only had one "yellow" star...which means you had a GOOD day. Which is still pretty awesome in my book.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures I took of Jayla on picture day. You know, just in case the professional ones didn't come out well :-). Enjoy.

That's it for today...I hope :-). Thank you for your time and for reading about my sweet little pride & joy. If anything changes with regards to how she loves school...I'll let you know. :-) Have a great weekend!

Friday Flower Fix (on Thursday) & weekend plans

But first, a special word from our sponsor: I am SUCH a ding dong!!! Here I call myself being proactive and typing up this post LAST NIGHT. So that it would be available for you all to read this morning. And not until NOW...here it is, 7:43pm...that I notice that I forgot to post it! ARGH!!! Sorry!!! Ok, now, back to our regularly scheduled post...(from YESTERDAY!) UGH!

~~~~

Hey ya'll.

I know, I know...it's not Friday yet. Well, you know that tomorrow I have an appt with Mr. "slave driver" Banks, lol. And I've also got a few errands to run in the morning. So I thought it would be best to post tonight and not make ya'll have to wait on me. I hear ya'll tapping your fingers on your tables when I'm late posting the flower fix...I HEAR YA!!!

SOOOO, with that being said, here's your fix:

Ok, by no means am I a cat person. But this picture is just cute, isn't it? (Those are cats, aren't they?) And wait, are those Christmas flowers? Oh, I dunno... they're pretty anyways. :-)

So, what have ya'll got planned for the weekend? I know you're gonna be shocked...we've got soccer :-). Well, we're supposed to anyway. The forecast calls for a 40% chance of scattered showers. Those kidders :-). Anyway, we'll see. I will say this though, if in fact Jayla DOES play on Saturday, I'm not looking forward to her 9a.m game. YES...I said, 9a.m...like in the MORNING, a.m....sheesh!!! Ok, ok...I'll stop complaining. It's only the 2nd game of the season! (which more than likely, we'll have to make up). Anyhoo...I don't think we have anything else planned...I mean, what else is there if there's no soccer???

Speaking of soccer/sports...I'm gonna take after my friend, Cheryl here for a minute. And throw in a few questions for ya'll...sports related of course.

1. Did you play sports as a kid? If so, what did you play? Well, back "then" this wasn't really considered a sport. But nowadays it is...I was a cheerleader. STOP LAUGHING!!! I was! I cheered for the Midway Packers. And we wore an icky green and white checkered skirt, goldenrod bloomers, a long sleeve goldenrod shirt with a flyguy collar, golden rod kneesocks, a white vest with a big ole green & goldenrod "P" on the front AND the standard issue black & white saddle oxfords. (I'll have to see if I can find a picture for ya). Funny note about the cheerleading. I was the ONLY black on a squad of 12 cheerleaders...and the football team that we cheered for was all black...except for one guy...LOL. Oh, I also played volleyball for 1/2 a season in high school. My mom made me drop off the team because the shorts were too short...LOL.

2. If you did play sports, were you forced to play or did you actually want to play? At first I was forced by my mother. She said I was a little "plump" and needed to do something to stay active. But then, she got tired of taking me to practice twice a week and games on Saturdays. So that's when my "want" to cheer kicked in.

3. What sport did you always WANT to play or be involved in, but you couldn't/didn't, for one reason or another? Even though I was a cheerleader, I always wanted to be one in highschool. My "Packers" days were at a local recreation center. So whoever paid, "played". I tried out a couple times for the highschool squad, but I never made it. Probably for the best though, I never could get those jumps right :-).

Well, that's all I've got for today. I hope you have a chance to answer these questions. I'd love to see what your future could've been...you know, besides a blogger :-). Ya'll have a great weekend.

Thanks Gretchen!

Hello all. Well, I'm jumping on the "list" bandwagon again. I "borrowed" this one from Gretchen.

One Word Meme--answer the following questions with just one word. (NOTE: I'm not sure how some of these can be answered with ONE word. But I'm gonna try)

1. Where is your mobile phone? In the van
2. Relationship? married
3. Your hair? A MESS!
4. Work? SAHM
5. Your sister(s)?Kimmy
6. Your favorite thing? LOVE
7. Your dream last night? Weird (as always)
8. Your favorite drink? Dr. Pepper
9. Your dream car? Tahoe
10. The room you’re in? Playroom
11. Your shoes? Nikes
12. Your fears? Failure
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Debt free
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Family
15. What are you not good at? Organizing
16. Muffin? blueberry
17. Wish list item? patience
18. Where you grew up? Georgia
19. The last thing you did? Taebo
20. What are you wearing?Work out gear
21. What are you not wearing? Glasses
22. Your pet? Trae (Dog)
23. Your computer? ON
24. Your life? Amazing
25. Your mood? Happy
26. Missing? Markell
27. What are you thinking about? Finances
28. Your car? Quest
29. Your kitchen? YELLOW
30. Your summer? HOT!!
31. Your favorite color? Purple
32. Last time you laughed? At Taebo
33. Last time you cried? At Taebo :-)
34. School? OVER
35. Love? LORD, Hubby, Kids, Chocolate

Now wasn't that fun? If anyone want to join in, feel free to do so. Have a groovy day!

Inspired to INSPIRE...

"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."

Have a beautiful day and Be Inspired...I AM!!

GOOOOOAL!!!!

Alright yall, get ready...soccer season is in full affect! We've finally gotten a few practices under our belts, now that the rain has finally subsided. And today was the first game of the 2007 Fall Season.

You know I couldn't let the season start without getting a few pictures (more to follow). But I thought this was a cute shot of our soccer star having "Coach Daddy" help her put on her super fast cleats.

Here are a few more "before the game" shots.

She's a mess, isn't she? This kid loves to pose...even with a soccer ball in hand :-).

OPENING DAY: Let me start by saying the forecast for opening day was HOT!!! Jayla's game was at 10:30 this morning and we baked under full sun...real nice like! I think it was in the high 80's by the time we got started.

Once again, the Lil Stingrays are about 11 strong, 9 of which are girls. This season, they all moved up to the U8 league, so now the rules are a little different. Score is still not kept at this level, but they are now actually playing real positions, such as goalie. And they do throw ins, corner kicks and goal kicks. I was amazed at how they all got the hang of it so quickly. Could be because just about all of them have been on a soccer field for one reason or another, since they were babies/toddlers. So they have an idea of what all that means.

Here's Jayla and Coach Daddy kicking around a few before game time.

I love this picture of Jayla. She looks so focused and determined. Look at her hands. This pic was taken as each player approached the goal before the kick off of the game. They had to dribble the ball twice and take a shot. What form!

Here, Jayla is checking out the competition on the next field. In U8, they play 5v5, so they split the teams up between 2 fields. The field next to the one Jayla is on started a few seconds beforehand, so Jayla was checking out the flow of the game :-).

Time for a much needed water break.

I LOVE this picture. This is Jayla and the head coaches daughter, Ashlee. These two beauties have been playing together since they were 2 and playing soccer together since age 3. Ashlee played goalie for the first time today...she's following in her brothers footsteps. He plays goalie for the Stingrays. The girls had just given eachother a high-five right before the game started.

Jayla scored her first goal of the season today in the 2nd half. You should hear this girl cheer when she or someone on her team scores. And in the midst of her cheering, she runs to her daddy, gives him a high-five, a big hug and tells him she loves him :-). Then she looks over at me on the sidelines to make sure I saw that she scored.

I was all ready for opening day today too. Check out me and Jayla's matching foot wear :-). You see, I also made myself some fashionable soccer ear wear...lol. I know, I'm such a soccer nerd mom. :-)

This last shot is another super sweet one. The cute blonde, Gracie, has also been a team mate of Jayla and Ashlee's since they were toddlers. Gracie's brother also plays on the Stingrays. The girls are sitting on the bleachers after their game eating snacks and watching their brothers play their first game of the season.

And speaking of the boys/Stingrays, they played AWESOME today. Boy, I sure wish Markell had been there. The boys beat their opponents 8 - 0 today! What a way to start off the season.

Well, it's on now!!! I absolutely LOVE soccer season. Sure, I complain about the heat, the rain and cold sometimes. But it's all so worth it. The kids also love it...I think THAT's what makes it so fun. I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted on both teams' standings. So far...so good!!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I'm back, Friday Flower Fix, Sympathy

Happy Friday Ya'll!!!

I can't believe it's been an entire week since I've updated my BLOG. And it's not even because I've been crazy busy or anything. I guess I just haven't had much to write about. However, I do have a little update for you.

Remember in my post last Friday, I mentioned that my mother and her husband were gonna be in town? Well, they made it and we had a really nice time together...talking, laughing and eating. One of my favorite combinations (other than the #1 at Chick Fil A...lol). My sister and Markell came too. It was so nice to see him. He's getting so tall! He brought his new friend over with them too. He was a cute little kid too. Markell thought it was pretty funny that his room was empty...and somehow, he still managed to have a good time in there jumping around...and shaking the chandelier in the dining room below :-). He says that school is going, "Ok" (try to imagine how a 12 year old would say, "ok", lol) Anyway, he looks great and seems to be doing well.

OK...now on to the flower fix. Before I share the picture, I have something to say. Every week, the flowers that I choose, I choose for you guys, my readers. I try and pick something that I think will possibly brighten your day and something that you'll enjoy. Today will actually be no different...other than, these are more for me than for you. (I'll explain after the flowers)

Alrighty, about the flowers. I chose these particular flowers for ME. Why, you ask? Because I think someone is trying to kill me. And I thought it would best if I saved my family the trouble of picking out flowers for my grave. Funny thing about this is, I KNOW who's trying to kill me. It's this man. Remember him? I'm not sure what my problem is, I keep putting myself in harms way. Now I have an idea how a drug addict feels. You are drawn to the drug...it calls your name...it makes your friends call you to remind you to "take it". ARGH!!!

Please people, don't cry for me or my family. I've lived a beautiful life. Almost 41 years to be exact. I had just always hoped that my end wouldn't come this way. "This way" being, while wearing shorts, a tank top, sneakers, carrying a HUGE water bottle and sweating like a pro football team in training. I guess I should just make the best of the time I have left and continue trying to look my best in the process. Hmmm, maybe knowing that I only have 100 more years to live isn't so bad. I'll just take it day by day...or should I say, MonDAY by WednesDAY by FriDAY???

Please send cards and flowers to.....:-). Be Inspired ya'll....I AM!!! Have a beautiful weekend!