Fly on the Wall-May 2017

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 9 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado                  

Menopausal Mother                     http://www.menopausalmom.com/

Searching for Sanity                 http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com

Spatulas on Parade                    http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/

A Little Piece of Peace                 http://little-piece-of-peace.blogspot.com

Never Ever Give Up Hope                   http://batteredhope.blogspot.com

Bookworm in the Kitchen                http://www.bookwormkitchen.com/  

Not That Sarah Michelle                  http://notthatsarahmichelle.blogspot.com

I officially closed my homeschool this month. I took Boo to the college and she is now going through their High School Equivalency Program. Let me tell you, it is such a relief to be finished with the stress. I don't have any regrets, but I was just burned out by it all. I don't know how people with more than two kids keep doing it year after year. They should be awarded a medal!

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I called our insurance company to find out how much our insurance will go up when we add Clone of Bob so that he can get his license. I was so angry that I called another company for a second quote and their number was even higher than our current company! The rate is going to more than triple!!!! It's not quite as much as my car payment, but it's not far from it either!

We were given the advice by two different agents to buy a cheap car and add it to the insurance with liability only. Supposedly, this would bring our rates down because Clone of Bob would be "attached" to the liability-only car. Now we're pulling our hair out scrimping and saving and trying to find a decent, cheap, used car. Clone of Bob is saving, too, which will help, but it's still a very frustrating process. 

One thing about it...I won't have to take him to work anymore. I've been doing it for months and it would be nice if I didn't have to do it anymore. 

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I've got a new project...I have not decided exactly what I am going to do with it yet. I'd seriously love to restore it, but everyone that I've shown it to thinks I should just clean it up and leave it be. 

I plan to gently clean it up and see what happens...I'll be sure to post an update once I'm done. A tutorial if I end up redoing it. 

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I learned not to read a book while also watching the TV show based on said book. I got kinda frustrated the other night when I saw an ad for "James Patterson's Zoo" on CBS. I started whining to DH that I hadn't even had a chance to read the book yet! He pointed out that the upcoming season wasn't even the first one. This was news to me. Honestly. 

So, the next morning I found the book on my library's electronic app and borrowed it. I got 135 pages into it and decided to see if the show was on the CBS All Access app since the book was turning out to be pretty interesting. When I found that it wasn't there, I was then on a quest to find the series. I found it on Netflix and I was so excited that I watched the first episode and I hadn't even finished the book!

Needless to say, the TV series starts way different from the book and decided that I needed to finish the darn book before I watched any more episodes and got thoroughly ticked off. 

Does it drive you bonkers when they make major changes to a book for the movie? I can't count the number of times I was ready to tear my hair out after watching a movie based on a book. 

Fly on the Wall-January 2017

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 9 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

2016 ended in a good way for us, which takes the sting out of the bad. 

I graduated from college again. Maybe with two associate's degrees I can find my dream job. 

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Bob and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary with a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Carnival Magic! This trip was wonderful! We went with another family (who have cruised before, so we weren't completely clueless) and plan to go again in 2020; that's how much we enjoyed ourselves!

This particular cruise left Port Canaveral and went to Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos. 

The scenery was breathtaking!

Rough seas the first few days, but made for nice pictures (even if I was feeling very green).

  

From the aft (back) of the ship.

From the top of Paradise Point in St. Thomas, USVI. It was a scary gondola ride, but it was totally worth the view!

We all fell in love with Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos. Unfortunately, we didn't stay off the ship for very long because I had a terrible headache that day and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed for a while. 

 The kids did NOT want to get out of the water in Grand Turk. We are keeping our eye on future cruises, hoping to book one that goes back to Grand Turk so that we can enjoy it more fully.

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Bob and I finished part of our latest project:

That wall was plain, and we had a lot of wood left over (still do, despite all we put on the wall), so Bob decided to cover a wall in the den (you can tell by the mess that this is the kids' hang out) with wood before we build the wall-to-wall shelving he has planned for it. I'm happy with it, but I would have preferred a reddish color and I got outvoted. So, guess what? That wall-to-wall shelving unit is going a reddish color! Take that Bob and kiddos!

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado 

Searching forSanity  

Go MamaO   

Spatulas onParade  

A Little Piece of Peace  

Never Ever Give UpHope  

Dinosaur SuperheroMommy  

ClutteredGenius  

Fly on the Wall- November 2015

I had planned to participate in Fly on the Wall this month, but due to personal reasons, I've had to bow out. However, you can read the other great posts by clicking on the links below!

Baking In A Tornado

Spatulas on Parade

Follow me home 

Menopausal Mother

Never Ever Give Up Hope

The Momisodes

Someone Else’s Genius

Southern Belle Charm

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

The Angrivated Mom

Go Mama O

Fly on the Wall-October 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 14 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado

Spatulas on Parade

Follow me home

Menopausal Mother

Never Ever Give Up Hope

The Momisodes

Someone Else’s Genius

Cluttered Genius

Southern Belle Charm

Go Mama O

Searching forSanity

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

Nichole Mom of 8

Not much went on this month...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Clone of Bob was doing really well with the driving, but he was starting to get too comfortable. And while he has never driven with his dad, he was driving like him. Bob has never had an accident, but he still scares me. I finally had to tell Clone of Bob that if he wanted to be allowed to take his driving exam next summer, he can't scare me AT ALL while driving. He can't even make me nervous. I have to say that the ploy worked!

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Back in March, Bob and I bought a new set of dinnerware. It was a complete, 8-place setting set. Taking them out of the box, one of the smaller plates chipped. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed to start with. As time went on I began to hate the set more and more. The bowls wouldn't stack, the plates kept on chipping, and the mugs were too tiny to use at all. 

I had finally had enough of the set and decided to review it on the website of the store that I bought it at. That day I got an email from them stating that I could return the set, even if I didn't have the receipt, as long as I had bought it within the last 365 days. Holy cow! I had never had a company initiate a return before. Needless to say, I was mighty impressed.

I called the store the next day and verified that I could bring the set back. I had the receipt, but not the box. It was no problem, so we went to take them back. I had used a 20% off coupon on the original purchase. When I did an exchange (new comforter sets for the kids), they gave me the 20% off the new purchase as well (plus the 15% off coupon I had brought with me)!! 

The pictures aren't great, but here's what we got in place of those dishes:

Annndd...that's it. How exciting, not, lol! 

Fly on the Wall- September 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 16 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado

Spatulas on Parade

                      Follow me home                         

Menopausal Mother

Never Ever Give Up Hope

Just A Little Nutty

The Momisodes

Someone Else’s Genius

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

The Angrivated Mom

Nichole Mom of 8

Searching for Sanity

ClutteredGenius

Southern Belle Charm

Go Mama O

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I've decided to go back to college. Yes, I just graduated last year with my associates degree in medical office administration. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get a job. My area just isn't doing a lot of hiring in the medical field unless you're a nurse or a medical assistant. Not to mention that I homeschool, so I need to work from home, or just part-time. It makes finding a job that fits those requirements difficult no matter where you are.

I figured out that I was only 11 classes shy of my office administration degree. If I finish that, I can work in almost ANY office, not just medical. Plus, I still have 3 years of homeschooling left, so I have to kill some time before I can go work full-time somewhere anyway.

I was so burned out when I graduated. I thought I'd never go back to school! Here I am going back to school. At least I'm excited and not dreading it.

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Who are you when you're hungry? Clone of Bob claims he chose this Snickers because it was the funniest. I don't think he thought it was all that funny when I posted it to Facebook!

He actually needs one that reads "King Kong". Boo said that she needed one that said "Hangry".

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Clone of Bob is doing really well with his driving. My mom and brother got a new (2016) car and took the kids on a trip over Labor Day weekend. They traveled about 4 hours away to my uncle's house. Anyway, he must be doing good since they let him drive that brand new car about 5 hours total: 2 hours up and 3 hours home. 

Bob wasn't crazy about the idea of Clone of Bob driving a car that new, but he's never ridden with his son in the car. He's left all of the training to me, which is fine, but he doesn't know how good the kid is doing.

Boo will get to start drivers' ed in the spring, after she turns 15 years old. I hope that by then Clone of Bob will have most of his required hours in so that they aren't fighting over who is going to drive. That's what stinks about having your kids so close in age. 

Fly on the Wall- July 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 13 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking In A Tornado

Spatulas on Parade

Follow me home 

Menopausal Mother

Never Ever Give Up Hope

Just A Little Nutty

The Momisodes

Someone Else’s Genius

Sanity Waiting to Happen

Southern Belle Charm

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

The Angrivated Mom

My lily finally flowered! This means that it's probably safe for me to dig up and pot the others that I have. I have too many for pots, but I plan to give the rest away. Simplicity is what I need right now. With heat indexes in the triple digits, I don't need to be weeding out flower beds.

It doesn't seem as bright this year as it was last year, but it's still brighter than the regular orange day lilies I have on the side of the house.

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Bob and I have been accumulating a bunch of stuff around here. No, the front yard wasn't covered in cars, but the back yard was looking really messy. We decided to haul off all of the stuff that had metal in it that we could. I swear the man played too much Tetris as a kid. Let's just say that he was determined that we were taking it all to the recycling center in one trip.

Yes, that's a go-cart upside-down on top of everything else. He strapped it all down really good and we took off. It's about a 6 mile or so drive, but we made it without mishap. It was kind of scary and everyone was passing us as quickly as possible on the highway, but I really couldn't blame them.

The kids thought it was really cool when they used a claw to empty out that trailer. On the back of the trailer was a washer, dryer, and dishwasher. The guy got all three at once with that claw. That was pretty cool. 

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Last month I mentioned going library hopping and checking out 29 books. I'm happy to report that I made it though 24 of them, and a week later checked out another 23 from a different library.

A few months ago I made a list of the series books I had been reading and decided to try to finish them before going into new ones. It didn't work out as planned as I've been adding to the list and it's now up to 30+ pages in Word. However, I can say that making that list is helping me figure out my lists for the library and I am catching up on the series I had started as well as starting new ones.

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Clone of Bob got his permit and I have to say that he's really not a bad driver. He's a little nervous, which is understandable, and he goes the speed limit, which is smart. He did good with his driver's ed teacher and he's been with me a couple of times and hasn't scared me yet. 

Fly on the Wall- June 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 18 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking in a Tornado
Spatulas on Parade
Follow Me Home
Menopausal Mother
Stacy Sews and Schools
Battered Hope
Just a Little Nutty
The Momisodes
Someone Else's Genius
Disneyland in Kentucky
Juicebox confession
Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
Sanity Waiting to Happen
Southern Belle Charm
The Sadder But Wiser Girl
Searching for Sanity
Go Mama O
People Don't Eat Enough Fudge


This past month has been exciting. Well, for me anyway; others might find it boring.

One of my best friends and her family came to visit for a weekend. We didn't do a lot, but we had some good times just hanging out. The kids wanted to make s'mores, so Bob built me a fire pit. It took a whole 30 minutes to make, and $0 since we had everything he used on hand.

Bob admitted that he should have done it a long time ago. It was so nice to sit around the fire and talk. The kids really had fun burning all of the papers that needed to be burned since my shredder died.

We plan on leaving that in the yard. All Bob did was mark an even circle with paint then put the first layer of bricks facing one way and then the next three rows facing another way. He then put a bunch of sand in the bottom of it and the fire stayed contained without a problem.

The kids made their s'mores and even got a little creative and used the fancy chocolate.

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Before I found out my friends were coming to visit, I went library hopping. Usually I visit one library at a time (we have 7 or 8 in our system, but only three are a reasonable drive). I decided to do something I hadn't done since the price of gas started skyrocketing. I went to a library in one town, then hit a connecting road and went to the one in the next town. I was really tempted to keep going and hit the third library, but the kids were hungry and ready to go home.

Anyway, when Bob got home he noticed the pile of books on my dresser and here was our ridiculous conversation:

Bob: What's all this?!
Me: *shrugs* Library books
Bob: Why so many?
Me: I went to two libraries.
Bob: I know you did that, but there's an awful lot of books here.
Me: There's only 29 and I've got six weeks to read them.
Bob: I think you have a problem.

I don't think I have a problem; do you?

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We took a trip to the beach a couple of weeks ago as well. We decided to take Milo so he wouldn't be home alone all day. That was a mistake since he wouldn't go into the water once he realized that the water moved.

That's as close as he got to the water and once we brought him up onto dry sand, he wouldn't go closer again. He preferred to hang out on the sheet I laid out on the beach.

He's wet because we were trying to keep the poor boy cool. Black dogs + bright sun don't mix. He let us bring the ocean water to him, but he wouldn't go to it. We figured out that the next time we go and we take him, we'll have to get one of those pop up shade tents. It's probably smart to get one anyway since I burn so easily.

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Clone of Bob started taking Driver's Ed this week. Goodness it makes me feel old. It's also very scary. I'm not worried about Clone of Bob's driving so much. He already yells at drivers who drive stupidly, but I'm worried about the people who drive stupidly. There have been so many reports on teens getting into serious accidents! However, if he gets a job, I don't want to have to drive him everywhere, so I guess I have to learn to let go and hope that everything will be fine.

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I'm starting to worry about the orange lily. The plant came up and grew great, but still no flowers. I wonder if potting it was a good idea. However, I should be able to start digging up the flowers on the side of the house. I haven't looked yet, but Bob told me it was an explosion of color over there, so I should be able to see which ones I want and get them dug up. Pictures to follow next month, I hope!

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I thought about making cherry cookie bars with my other bag of cherry chips. It's been way too hot to turn on my oven though. A 106 degree heat index is ridiculous! That may have to wait until the fall.

Fly on the Wall- May 2015

It's that time again! Time for Fly on the Wall!

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 17 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

Baking in a Tornado

Spatulas on Parade

Follow Me Home

Menopausal Mother

Stacy Sews and Schools

Battered Hope

Just a Little Nutty

The Momisodes

Someone Else's Genius

Disneyland in Kentucky

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

Juicebox confession

Searching for Sanity

Southern Belle Charm

Sanity Waiting to Happen

People Don't Eat Enough Fudge

I was really hoping that my orange day lily would have bloomed before now so that I could include the pic with this installment of Fly on the Wall. Maybe next month. None of my day lilies are blooming quite yet.

I was so excited to start my flower potting project/experiment, but then I remembered that I don't know which plant is what color. I can't move anything until I know what colors I have. I know I have a whole bunch of orange tiger lilies and I don't plan to pot them. I'm going to stick them somewhere in the ground and let them roam free, since they're doing that in my flower bed anyway. I know Bob is kind of frustrated with me over this since I bought 10 bags of soil and 6 pots already. They're all sitting there waiting to be used. 

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We started fostering dogs for our local SPCA back at the end of March. The first dog we had, Ginger, was a sweetie, but only stayed about a week. She was adopted quickly, which is great. Then they brought me Lonna. Oh my word! What a sweetie! Who wouldn't want this dog who loves to give hugs? I've been tempted to adopt her, but then we really wouldn't have the space to foster more dogs. I love fostering, honestly.

We briefly had a puppy, Louise. Milo, our black lab, will not tolerate other dogs in the house (as mentioned here), so we had to play musical dogs while Louise stayed with us, which was about a week. She was a nice reminder that I don't want a puppy for ourselves, no matter how darn cute they are. 

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I played around with a cookie recipe. I found some cherry chips on clearance at Walmart after Christmas last year and put them in the freezer. In my opinion, cherry is a good flavor for the warmer weather. They turned out really good!

Ingredients:
1 Package of sugar cookie mix (dry, like Betty Crocker).
Ingredients necessary for package of cookie mix (egg, butter)
1 Tsp. Almond Extract (optional)
1 Pack of Black Cherry Kool-Aid (dry without sugar)
1 (10 oz.) bag cherry chips (I haven't tried to find these since Christmas; I hope they can be found somewhere)

Directions:
Put dry cookie mix into a bowl and add Kool-aid and mix.
Mix together wet ingredients (egg, butter, almond extract)
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, blending well. 
Stir in cherry chips.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a minute or so then transfer to paper towels or paper bags (what my grandmother used to use) and allow to cool. 
They taste better when you eat them cold than warm for some reason.

Fly on the Wall- February 2015

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 14 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

Buzz around, see what you think, then click on these links for a peek into some other homes:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                      Baking In A Tornado

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/               Spatulas on Parade

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                  Follow me home

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/           Stacy Sews and Schools

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                       Battered Hope

http://www.justalittlenutty.com/                          Just A Little Nutty

http://themomisodes.com                                  The Momisodes

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                  Someone Else’s Genius

http://www.juiceboxconfession.com                    Juicebox Confession       

http://dinoheromommy.com/                              Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://www.menopausalmom.com/                     Menopausal Mother

http://gndisney.wordpress.com                          Disneyland in Kentucky

http://www.gomamao.com                                 Go Mama O

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I don't know why or what was going on the other night, but I smacked Bob in the middle of his forehead with my elbow while we were sleeping. I don't know if I was dreaming, or if I flung my arm while I was rolling over, or if my arm had been stuck in the sheets and blankets and when I got it free it hit him in the head. 

Bob suggested that maybe, since he had to have been laying on his back, that he was snoring and I was trying to shut him up. Whatever it was, I can't help fall into laughter every time we talk about it.

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I did get a new washer and dryer. It wasn't an emergency that we get a new set, but we just knew that the emergency was coming any time now. 

A week or so ago I was getting ready to take the puppy outside for a short walk when I noticed that my washer was finished. I set it to spin again since my dryer had been taking forever to dry loads of clothes...70 minutes per load if I was lucky and this was just a regular washer and dryer. When I came back inside I got miffed, thinking that the puppy piddled on the floor before we even made it outside. Then I realized that the puddle was way too big to be puppy piddle. My washer had spewed.

Bob tore part of it apart and couldn't see anything wrong with it except for the fact that it wasn't completely level. He leveled it and we prayed that it would hold out a while longer. 

Then the dryer wasn't even drying a load of clothes at 70 minutes anymore. So, we started researching HE washers and dryers. If I had to get a new set, I was getting an HE one! I wanted front loaders, but the set that I got (Samsung top loader) was more within our budget. 

Yeah, I need a step stool to get the clothes out of the bottom.

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We ended up finding a new home for the puppy (just a couple of days ago). He was a sweet guy and all, but our indoor dog, Milo, just would NOT accept him. The problem was escalating. Milo didn't hurt the puppy at all, but scared him (and us) plenty of times. We have decided that there will be no new dogs as long as Milo is alive. He's family, and we have accepted the fact that he just doesn't like other dogs. 

Both of the cats and Milo are back to their normal, happy selves. I didn't realize that they were all so upset by the new creature.

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I had a cooking fail the other night that I was, thankfully, able to salvage. I bought Chicken Helper Chicken Carbonara. That stuff smelled horrible while it was cooking. It smelled like old, stinky, rotten cheese. I kept going and finished it, hoping that it would be better once it was done. Um, no...it was awful. I like cheese, but not that. Boo eats just about anything and even she said that she couldn't eat it. 

So, I pulled all of the chicken out of the goop and rinsed it off. Then I shredded it and put it into a frying pan with some taco seasoning and water. I put it over Doritos (Cool Ranch, it was all I had in the house) and topped it with cheddar cheese. It tasted great! The taco seasoning covered up the awful Chicken Helper taste.

Thanks for visiting!!