tadaaaaa!

Go down to the "cooking scaredy cat" post and start there!


They said they were good. I think they were good. guess they were good:)

just kidding....i'm goin for it........

I"m a cooking scaredy cat. seriously i have a problem.

don't laugh but it took me days to actually get out my ingrediants and actually make to items for the "christmas boxes". why? i don't know. scared that i'm gonna fail..... that's it. scared that i'm gonna waste all the ingrediants cause i didn't read the recipe close enough. remember when Lucy and Ethel were baking bread and Lucy mistook a crumb for a 1 and used 14 cakes of yeast instead of 4 cakes? hahahahaahaaa gotta love me some lucy.

well i finally got around to doing to baking and all turned out well. now i'm on to my next baking adventure.....

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.....they look scrumdiddlyumptious. Melissa baked them last week for her neighbors and i have yet to find out how they turned out...hint hint wink wink....

well i finally got all the ingrediants. went so far as to get the pot out of the cabinet didn't even have the door shut and put it back. all the ingrediants are sitting on my counter staring at me saying..."scaredy cat scaredy cat". i hesitate to make them tonight b/c i'm going to take them to my neighbors so i don't want them sitting around getting all hard and stale.

ok i'm gonna do it. i'm gonna get all our washing and packing done tonight....wake up bright and early and do it. yes, that's what i'm gonna do.

tune in tomorrow to find out if it was a success or disaster.................

Such Goins On, Such Goins On!

Our Christmas Boxes......from the mess to the finished product And Gingerbread Time.....



Gingerbread Time....

to the right to the right look to the right and participate.

Look over to the right of my blog page....i want to know who's following my blog...help a girl out and follow me!

Missed it by tttthhhaaatttt much...maybe

Well, update on the House of Sick. Mattie woke up around 2 am with "it". My husband whom i love more than life itself let me go to bed and he stayed up w/ her. she "got sick" every hour until 8 am. I got up around 645 am to releive him. I feel soooo sorry for Mattie. Today was "Polar Express Day" at school. we bought her a new pair of Hannny Montannny pj's just especially for today. they got to wear there pj's, slippers, and house coat to school and they were gonna watch the movie. we spent about 3 hours making goodies to take to her class so they could munch as they watched the movie. well, those "goodies" were not taken to school and neither was Mattie. she helped me make 'em so i didn't think it wise to infect her class right here at christmas. i also was supposed to help a friend clean two houses and watch one of my other friends little girl - Melissa THE photographer - while she did a bridal shoot...but all the above got shot to heck.

and i'm pretty made about it.

little brother is feeling better so now he's back to his usual impish self and mattie isn't putting up w/ it.

to my fellow moms out there w/ sickness in the house....i feel your pain.

oh and all those christmas goodie boxes are on hold till after new years. i can't afford to infect my friends, mail lady, and ups guy.

darn it all.

We is baaaaddd sick

Brian and Ryder have a bad stomach virus. Please pray that they continue to recover and that me and Mattie do not get sick. I haven't washed so many loads of towels and blankets and pj's and sprayed so much lysol in my life. i hate the smell of lysol but it if keeps me and mattie from getting this mess i won't be hatin' ..... I LOVE YOU LYSOL!

Family Christmas Craft Ideas....Kid Friendly!

Gingerbread House Kit
*Wal-Mart $9.96
*We did this cute craft last night as a family (this isn't our gb house but similar:)). Took pictures w/ our new camara....will post soon.


Snowy Balloon Ornaments
Go to www.marthastewart.com homepage, find the "Christmas Ideas" on that page, then click on "handmade ornaments", then thumbnail view and you'll find Snowy Balloon Ornaments.


Old Fashioned Salt Dough Homemade Ornaments
2 cups flour
2 cups salt
1 cup water

Begin by stirring this mixture, and when it becomes to firm to stir, then knead it a bit with your hands. The resulting dough should feel moist and smooth, but not stick to your hands. (Knead in a tiny bit more flour if it's sticking to your hands.). . . And if you like, take some smaller balls of this dough and color them with food coloring. If the food coloring makes the dough a little too sticky, just knead in a tiny bit more flour. (Note: if you don't like the food coloring approach, then you can always paint your ornaments after you bake them.)

I recommend that you store the dough in an airtight container, so it won't dry out.

Now, get a cookie sheet, and your favorite holiday cookie cutters. And also, you'll need something to roll out your dough with. You can use your rolling pin, but since we'll be working on our cookie sheet, you might want to use something smaller.

Roll some dough out to a 1/4" thickness. We're going to make our ornament on the cookie sheet, so roll this dough out on the sheet, right where you want the finished cookie to be. Press a cookie cutter into the dough.

And then, pull away all the dough from around the cutter. You can re-roll this to make new ornaments, over and over. Then, remove the cutter.
Now you can decorate your ornament however you like. The salt dough sticks to itself beautifully, so you can press different colors of dough onto your cut-out.

If you roll your dough thinner, like 1/8", then you can stack cut-outs of different colors onto each other. (Your finished ornaments should be no more than 1/4" thick.)As a last step, make a hole in the top of your ornament, for hanging. You can use a drinking straw for this.

. . . Or, a toothpick. (Just make sure to twirl that toothpick around a little, so your hole is large enough for a bit of ribbon to pass through.)

Make as many ornaments as you like on the cookie sheet. And preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Bake your ornaments until they are hard. The baking time will vary, but start with 20 minutes, and then keep checking them every 10 minutes after that. They're done when they feel hard all over, but don't let them get brown.

After your ornaments have cooled, seal them all over with some varnish. I like the spray-on kind best for this salt dough. Water-based, brush-on varnish has a tendency to re-soften the surface of your ornament.

And as I mentioned before, at this stage, you can also paint your ornament, or add some glitter, if you like.
When the varnish is dry, poke a 6" piece of narrow ribbon through the hole in the top of each ornament, and tie the ends in a knot. Now they're tree-ready!

I'm a winner i'm a winner of the dirtiest sink!!!!

My super cool sis had a blog give away! she challenged her blog readers to send pics of their sinks as is first thing yesterday morning. sadly i won the "dirtiest sink award". BUT i won this super cool timer from the Container Store!! the goal of this challenge was to encourage us to clean our sinks and keep it clean. i did just that and have pretty much kept it clean... pretty much.

yay me!!!!

things that make ya go hhhhmmmm.

*your children actin like a fool in front of, well, anyone.
*asking your 3 year old what he's eating after he has just walked out of the kitchen w a sucker hangin out of his mouth and he answers, "nothin".
*members of your family that start makin rediculous decisions based on feelings. feelings are fickle my friend.
*people that wear clothes that fit in all the wrong places.
*credit cards.
*sittin on the couch all day watchin the boob tube, playin on the pooter, wastin the day away.
*forever friends when ya dont deserve 'em.
*my beautiful husband that loves me. doesnt matter what i do or dont do, say or dont say.
*my family and kids that love me even in all my "me"ness.
*Gods neverending love for me.

Where are they going....

In an earlier post i was telling about how our family is going to do Christmas Goodie Boxes this year, for who i wasn't sure. Well, Brian and i were talking and since our church is giving all members goodie bags....the staff and spouses baked different items and bagged them up to be passed out to all the families of our church today (Brian and i made up 920 chocolate covered peanut clusters)....we thought it would be a great idea to give out our boxes to "them". "Them" being...Mattie's bus driver and her different teachers at school, the mail lady, the UPS guy, and some of our neighbors whom, sad to say, we've never met. My goal for the above activity to be accomplished is next week.

As far as the "12 Days of Christmas family", i just dont know who we're gonna do it for. we want to pick a family "in need". in order to get this done before we leave on the 23rd to "go home for Christmas" we gotta decide ASAP. so still not sure 'bout all that.

God has a weird sense of humor.

not able to get into details but our hopes were dashed last night. we had thought that some really awesome things were happening in our family....not brian, steph, mattie, and ryder family...but other family. seems God was just joking. i'm trying to not let it ruin my holiday but it's hard. i'm not blaming God. i'm just mad. mad that something really neat could have happened but it looks like it's not going to. not wanting to give satan ANY crredit but he had a little to do w/ this too, i think.

Christmas Goodie Gift Box...this is what i'm putting in it:)

Chocolate Covered Peanuts

Almond Bark - Chocolate flavored
Jar of Salted Peanuts
melt 1 square of almond bark in micro...(at a time b/c if you melt too much it will harden before you have used it all) CAREFUL NOT TO SCORCH!!! add as many peanuts to the melted chocolate as you like...less peanuts means more chocolatety taste! repeat process till you have used all your peanuts.

Tiger Butter

1 lb. Almond Bark - vanilla flavored
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter - crunchy or smooth
6 oz. chocolate chips - not the cheap kind...won't work!

melt bark and mix in peanut butter. spread in a medium sized cake pan. Melt choc chips and pour over the peanut butter layer. spread till smooth. You may leave it in two seperate layers or, w/ a butter knife, drag it through the two layers from one end of the pan to the other to make it swirl together. Do blend too much. Refrigerate just till i's solid. Using a butter knife, cut in to small pieces and store in an airtight container away from heat.

Spicy Pecans

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. Worceshire sauce
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
3 c. pecans

Combine first five ingredients in large bowl, stirring well. Add pecans, stirring; coat well. spread evenly in 13x9x2 inch pan. bake, uncovered, at 300* for 20 min, stirring after 10 minutes. let cool completely. store in airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pecans
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/4 C. firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. pecans

Can also add:
1 Tbsp pecan praline flavored coffee 1/4 tsp. red pepper

Melt butter in large skillet. Add brown sugar and stir. Add remaining ingredients excetp pecans. stir well. add pecans; coat well. spread pecans on greased cookie sheet. bake at 325* for 15 min. stir every 5 minutes. cool completely and break nuts apart.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Bag of pretzels (mini)
Almond bark - vanilla and chocolate
Christmas sprinkles

melt 1 square (at a time b/c if you melt too much it will harden before you have used it all) of almond bark in microwave- DO NOT SCORCH. dip pretzel in either flavored bark, let cool, then drizzle other flavor over pretzel and sprinkle w/ sugar sprinkles while still warm so it will stick to bark.

Our family pics are ready for viewing...woooohoooo!

Go to

www.melissabreedlove.com
click on client proofing
click on Britt Family


She did a most excellently awesome job!!!!!

Cute Christmas ?aire...

1. What's your favorite Christmas carol?
Joy to the World, Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful....

2. Is your tree up AND decorated?
Yep!

3. Is all of your shopping/creating gifts done?
sorta...waiting on our family pictures to be online so we can proof!!! Go Melissa Breedlove - you're AWESOME!

4. What is your most treasured family tradition?
decorating the inside of the house for Christmas w/ the kids. Brian is in charge of the outside...and we're still waiting:)

5. Will you go to a candle light service during the Christmas season?
not sure

6. Staying home for Christmas Day morning or will you be visiting family?
Family

7. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas Day...well mom always let me and Connie open one on Christmas Eve and we carry on that tradition:)

who wants to play? If you're game, i added the last 2 ?'s and it would be neat to see what ? you have to add.....

Stephanieness...

**Brian emptied the dishwasher, put up the clean dishes, put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher...and turned it on. All during his lunch hour. This isn't my husband...Brian is a hottie.

Last night Brian ordered our new digital camera from Best Buy w/ a free big memory card w/ free shipping all for $124. Thank you Jesus. Ours was stolen this summer while of vacation.


i get really irritated when little kids tell my kids that Santa isn't real. Thats fine that we all believe differently but they should tell their kids not to ruin it for those that believe...believing in the spirit of Santa...giving. i'm not interested in anyones opinion on this matter...we agree to disagree.

I bought these really cool Martha Stewart compartment cookie boxes that you can put goodies in at walmart. it looks similar to this. the kids and i are gonna fill the compartments w/ choc covered peanuts and pretzels, spicy pecans, and tiger butter. these items are very easy to make and kid friendly.

Christmas Time....The most wonderful time of year!

if only this were a pic of louisiana.

I love Christmas time. and it sure feels like Christmas right now....love the cold weather. at the moment my house is a wreck. the kids and i cleaned up before we messed up yesterday after church. every year it happens. my house gets wrecked out for a few days while we're trying to decorate. i'm babysitting 3 days this week so i gotta get lots done in between working. PRAISE the LORD for the extra money. He provides. we have friends from texas coming in saturday for the Christmas Festival in Natchitoches, so i gotta get all me decoratin in this week. i have a secret sis reveal party 2nite. oh and i've been a crappy secret sis so i'll never do it again. i'm gonne have to apologize for my laziness. i'll make it up to her during the Christmas season - she's even my neighbor how sad is that - sad sad sad. we have church wednesday and a staff party on friday night. so i basically have this afternoon and evening till 7pm, tomorrow, wednesday, and thursday night to get my act together.

since i'm so tired of not having a digital camara...i'm getting one this week.

Thanksgiving was good. hope all had a thankful thanksgiving. everyone raved over my chicken n dressing. i thought it was good but everyone else did too. i thought it was so good i gained a little over the holiday. back to the straight and narrow. i've lost 20lbs. so i'm thinkin i can lose 10 more.

Meeeeechawn and her kiddos are coming back to the holy land. not sure if joel is coming. anywoo, her family is soooo excited i'm sure. will definitely have to get together. they will be in the states till the end of february.

our family pictures will be online at the end of the week...can't wait.

random post

since i've been at home a lot more lately i've been watching a lot of tv unfortunately. here are a few of my new boob tube shows...

BBC...
"How Clean is Your House"
"Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" - lots of cursing...lots of bleeping
"You are what you eat" - some times

HGTV...
"Design on a Dime"
"My parents house"
"Carter Can"
"Decorating Cents"

Food Network
"Good Eats"
"Paula Deen" - when i'm in the mood
"unwrapped"
"The Secret Life of"
"Barefood Contessa"
NOT Rachel Ray...can't take it.

135.5 lbs...."do i hear a what what! throw your hands in the air and wave 'em like ya just don't care"

the scale reads.....135.5 lbs. blood, sweat, and tears. my latest journey started in march or april. my beginning weight was 155 lbs. after a series of ups and downs i finally started a consistant downward roll. don't ask me what i do cause i just do not eat. well, i eat but not much. low low calorie. but i give my metabolism a booste and eat whatever every few days. i lose more after my day or two of "whateverness". i don't exercise. should though but i don't. i also drink 2 to 3 bottles of my secret potion....'crystal light...peach mango'. it puts my hungar at bay. no lectures on eating healthy please....this is how i do it. like that statement is gonna stop any of my friends w opinions!!! ok ok ok michawn...meredith...i know it's not healthy but it works for me.hahahahaha

family pictures are today. will put a link to them as soon as possible.

Maw Maw Sue

Brian's mother found out yesterday that cancer has returned for the 3rd time in her eye. this is the same eye that was taken out 2 months ago. the cancer is in the optical nerve. there is contreversy between us and the doctor...him saying he mentioned this at the last visit ....don't think so. we would have remembered that. who knows. all we know is that she has to take 5 radiation treatments. crazy. never know. you just never know what the Lord has in store...

The Britt's Christmas '08 - thinking of others

I always think of these neat things i would like to do for someone or that our family would like to do but that's as far as they go....in my head. So i thought that if i put them on my blog it would be more permanent, ya know? Anyway, here they are....

* bake goodies - easy and simple goodies - to be given to neighbors and friends...bake together!
* actually send out Christmas cards - we take family pictures on Monday!
* help the kids make simple gifts for friends and family - craft stores have easy things that kids can do.
* "12 Days of Christmas" - this is where you do something special for or gives something special to a family - friends or not - for 12 days in December.

so now its out there!!! Let's get to it!!!!!!

4 am ramblings

It's 4am and i can't sleep. i fell asleep on the couch after Brian had tried to convince me to come to bed earlier in the evening. i explained that i wasn't tired and wanted to watch tv. well i shortly fell asleep on the couch forgetting i had stayed up bc i wanted to read the next chapter in Ree Drummonds book "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". her blog is on my blog roll - "confessions of a pioneer woman". It is the best blog!!! she has everything from cooking to photography to book writing to everyday life on a ranch in rural america. i try to read it weekly. she's got me hooked right now on whats going to happen next in her retelling of her and Marlboro Man's love saga. love it! anywoo, i woke up around 245am ish got in bed but kept hearing sounds...tossing and turning...then i finally gave up sleep around 330ish got outta bed, turned the boob tube on, logged on the the internet and here i am.

i was thinking back to why i quit posting a few weeks ago. i go thru bouts (sp?) of "there's nothing going on in my life so why blog". and in reallity we are so stinkin busy in the evenings that ryder man and i just hang out at home during the day. mattie rides the bus to and from school so i really don't have a need to get out of the house. we are saving up for christmas, annual ski trip, and plane tickets to get us from lousyana to florida later in january to get on a christian cruise boat w/ brock and auny - free by the way!!!! so i have no need to go about town. and yeah we waited till october to start saving. one word...STUUUUUUUpid. we have 3 deer at Dowlings Deer Processing...2 were given to us and 1 Brian killed on Friday. needless to say we are stocked up on venison for a while. we love deer meat. so that little bill is gonna cost over $200 which i wasn't expecting but it'll be worth it in the end.

well, im not tired but i know i'll regret all this when the sun rises....i'll have more to share later...

want to know what i did?

Thanks to my sister, i've been on a "get rid of the junk" kick for a while now. Ryder's closet was redicalus (ya gotta say it like my dad who also calls Oprah...Ofrah and Al Denson ...Al Dennison-old school christian artist..."will you be the one to take His light into a darkended worldddddd? tell me will you be the one?"). There was so much stuff in his closet that i would literally open the door throw something in and close it real fast. seriously. so after going to Connie's to help her get reorganized. and let me say this, she is VERY organized. EVERYTHING has a place. down to her crafty stuff and gift bags. too cool. mia and jules and i were cleaning their room and all i had to do was give them something and they knew exactly where to put everything. so after being around all that organization i came home and started organizing - takin it slow mind you - my home. back to ryder's closet...my mother-in-law was here for a couple of days so i took advantage of the extra help and just dove in. i started pulling everything out and put it in our bedroom. i should have taken a picture but it would have been too embarrassing and i'm serious about that. i was watching hgtv organization shows in between unloading the closet so that gave me even more encouragement and inspiration. well, ryder now has a nice organized closet. i repurposed (that's a neacy nash from Clean House phrase) his dresser that was in two pieces. now the drawer part holds his imfamous blue jeans and if you know him, which i think only connie does out of my readers, he has to wear blue jeans with buttons and zippers. he's tries to talk me into cutting the sleeves off of every t-shirt he owns but i have to talk him out of it. he has a pair of camo shorts that i have to peel off of him to wash. we have regular melt downs if he cant wear his camo shorts or blue jeans. remember they have to have button up and have zippers, oh and pockets. you think i'm kidding. occasionally i say "this is rediculous" and make him wear other stuff. stress occasionally. but we refuse to let him tell us what he's wearing so he doesn't have as much control as i'm letting on....ANYWOO....back to my story. the shelf part of the dresser w/ doors holds sheets, blankets, and toys. his shoes are on a little shelf that sits on the floor, all his shirts are on a hanger and toys that used to clutter up his bedroom floor now sit on the shelf in the closet and the shelf in his room. sue and i "flipped" his room which now gives him more floor space. chasing another rabbit...today we are going through his toys and he's picking out the ones that he doesn't play w/ and giving them to "toys for tots". i'm trying to instill (sp?) the spirit of giving and i believe he understands. ok well all the stuff that was in his closet is now junking up my already junked up bedroom so yesterday ryder and i pulled everything....everything out of my room and under our bed that wasn't a part of our bedroom set. our room kind of echoes now. our backporch now holds all the junk and i get to go through it this week. i feel like just tossing it in the back of brian's dads truck and taking in to the dump but there's some good stuff amidst the junk so i'm going to go through everthing. i'll take some pictures for yall later.

on another note....i've been battling weight gain...loss...gain...loss for 3 years now. i know that some may think its vain of me because i'm not that big but when all the weight sits on my gut and i get mistaken for a pg mom it gets a little upsetting. last year i got down into the lower 140's gained back up to the 150's (let me interject here... i cant stand it when other people "down" the weight that you think is too much for you. for example some would say, "i'd kill to be 140". well that's you and your situation. don't put me down or make me feel like my weight isn't an issue bc it is to me) now that that's off my chest. and i must say i've been guilty of doing that myself just last week.) well, in the spring i started on my weight loss journey again and got down to 141. then through the summer august and september i gained back up to 146. i was sick about it. too many caramel fraps w/ extra caramel and whip cream. so i just cut back and lost 4lbs then gained 2 lbs. so basically i was 146..141..143..and now i stepped on the scale this morning and it read under 140. i'm thinking i'm 139.5 but i'll take it. i'm sooo excited. i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. saying all that to say that hopefully my battle/journey will encourage some of those that read my blog to "keep on keepin on" if you are battling w/ your weight.

how's that for a post!

March against Abortion, Brock, and Halloween!

i just made two ping pong balls disappear!

enough already

i've been AWOL for a while. not sure why. i'm here. i'm alive. just haven't felt the need to blog, facebook, or "compute". maybe i'll change my mind soon. not sure. so till then..

Road Trip!! and Report Cards

I'm leaving in just a few minutes to go on a road trip w/ a friend from church. I'm excited.. just me and a friend getting away!!! Brian has the kids till tomorrow night. he'll be fine i'm sure. i'm not worried at all. it'll be good for him, right. yeah it will:)


Mattie made 99's in all subjects. She's on the A Honor Roll for the 1st 6 weeks. Can i get a "oh yeah" from the crowd-ya gotta say it like Peggy Hill off of the tv show "king of the hill"! wow. that's about all i can say. oh and THANK YOU JESUS!

haircuts!

Dad....













Son...

An apology

I had to apologize to Mattie Monday night. She immediately forgave me and said, "Thats ok". immediately. not a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades...immediately. it's a very freeing experience to have to ask your child for their forgiveness and admit you were wrong. if only i could do as she did. yesterday, Ryder and i were in the car and he kept saying i did something the i didn't do so i explained to him in a rather loud voice that i didn't do it. he said, 'stop yelling at me mom'. later he did something and told me he was sorry...out of the blue and on his own. i immediately felt convicted and said i was sorry for 'yelling' at him.

if only we as adults could follow in their footsteps....hhhmmmm.

pumpkins and Christmas trees...

There's only 3 more months till Christmas!!! Better start shopping now! ok ok ok "stephanie", you're saying, "can we at least get through halloween and Thanksgiving first!"

i just love fall and i love Christmas. These next few months are my fav. We are going to be taking family pictures sometime in October. We haven't taken family pictures since mattie was 1 1/2 years old....so sad i know. my mom and mominlaw are ready to kill me. brian is sooooo excited words can't express how he feels about this....SARCASM!!! i have a goal...a weight loss goal...i've kinda regressed during september. not too bad but i gotta get things under control again. my goal for the family pictures is...130lbs. it wont be too hard. i'm 143lbs right now. i've gained about 3 lbs. but thats not too bad. These family pictures are going to be Christmas gifts. a friend i go to church w/ is going to take them.

anywoo, just thought i'd remind everyone that's the "gift giving season" is fast approaching:)

Fireproof The Movie!

opens tonight...go see it.

Why is it that....

first this is not a husband/man bashing post, it is a legit..."too legit too legit to quit hey hey"..sorry had to get that out...question. Why is it that we have to tell the men in our lives just exactly what we want them to do. how many times have i heard him say this, "why didn't you tell me to....or ask me to...".

am i the only woman that has this issue going on in her life?....

Thank You!..."i'm just sayin"... and Matt girl

THANK YOU to all my friends that have given me words of encouragement through this hard time. continue to pray for my family...especially...Gary-Steven's dad...Diane-his mom...Danny-his older bro...Michael-his middle bro...paulandjana-they helped raise those boys through the high school years...my grandaddy...and all steven's friends-they loved him very much and were greatly affected by his love for them and his friendship to them...erinandgirls-his wife, two step daughters and the little one that is on the way.(Michele...erin is KC Ashebrenner Deal's little sister. by the way KC and Joey Deal are married w/ kiddos if you didn't know already)


"i'm just sayin"
that's my new phrase i say ALL the time..."i'm just sayin". i usually say that after i've pured forth words of 'know it allness' when talking to brian about something.


Our Matt girl is making straight 100's!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm just sayin and that's all i'm gonna say. well,i'll add this...she's making straight 100's.

Steven Wilhelm Richie

My cousin! I love him and miss him!

this picture was taken of him was when he was fishin w/ our uncle paul a few weeks ago. see paul doesn't really feel like our uncle, he's more like our cousin. he's just 4 yrs older than me so he seems more like a cousin. anywoo, paul and steven had been fishin all day and he hadn't caught "the big one" and was disappointed. so he threw his rod out one more time and brought this big sucker in. paul said he was so excited.

memories. they're good for the soul. i have a lot of regrets when it comes to steven. i've had his cell number for almost a year and not once did i call him. course he didn't call me either:). but this loss has caused me to take stock of some things in my life. i'm going to stay better connected w/ my family and friends. our next breath is not promised.

i left the funeral w/ one question in my mind.....what will be said of me at mine. i know i know how morbid can u get stephanie. but seriously what will be said of me and my life, my witness, my friendship. it's a very sobering thought.

why?

i went to the funeral of my 29 year old cousin yesterday and i'm pretty mad about it. Steven had battled w/ an addiction to drugs and alcohol since jr. high/high school up until the past few years. steven had lived a life of second chances. he lived w/ many different people and families through out his life. see his mom and dad split when he was about in the 5th or 6th grade. his mom left he and his two brothers. she moved away. their dad worked out of town so they pretty much raised themselves for a while. He was in and out of jail different times in his adult life. almost went to prison. my grandfather and uncle paul had a hand in him not going to prison. about three years ago he got saved. and as he put it he got saved from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. see steven had many many many friends. everybody loved him. he was easy to love. when he got saved he started witnessing to all his friends. memorizing and quoting scripture to them. asking them what he could pray for them about. he had just gotten married this past year to a very sweet girl that loved him and he loved her. he had just started a business power washing oil rigs. his business cards had just come in. his wife is expecting their first baby, a girl. he was just starting life. he was on fire for the Lord and the Lord took him. why? he had so much to still do. i don't understand.

when the family walked into the church for the funeral i was blown away by the amount of people that were in that church. it was full. it was overwhelming. the pastor that did the funeral laid out the plan of salvation. told anyone there that he would be available to anyone who wanted to get saved. there were praise songs played. preaching. his brothers read a letter from a good friend that is in jail who steven had witnessed to and i believe led to the Lord. the letter just told about how much steven loved the Lord and how much he meant to this guy.

what saddens me the most is that he's gone. he'll never see his little girl. he won't get to live the life that he deserved. well i guess none of us deserve anything but you know what i mean. i just don't get it.

Is this really happening in America...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...

You probably won't here much of this in the mainstream media, but thank God for Fox News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVYW-_0jVU

God help us...My friends this man is evil. no other word could better describe him. You better begin and end you day in a prayer that God spares America from this evil man and his evil evil evil evil beliefs.

1. How can you go to a church for over 10 years and be under a man that "preaches" hate and NOT believe it. you can't.
2. How can you start your political career at a man's house who is a KNOWN terrorist...Bill Ayers
3. How can your wife say she has "never been proud of America till now" and not apologize for that horrible remark... our hope to
God not "First Lady" and i use that term loosely.

Here just watch this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIlS0_rArks

i ususally do not watch videos on other peoples blogs but please watch this and pray my friends, pray.

Life after "work outside the home"

So far i haven't had a "normal" week. if there's such a thing. The first week i was "home", i was cleaning house w/out the kids. the second week my sis and nieces came to visit!! then last week we took Brian's mom to Tennessee for eye surgery. she had cancer in her eye twice in the past 10 years. the two rounds of radiation have caused her to loose total site out of it. her eye had been really hurting her a lot, so they removed it. she had a "false eye" made out of coral put in. in october she will get her "contact" that covers the whole front part of the eye that looks just like her "good" eye. she has been here at the house recovering quickly i might add. for those who don't know our "living situation" Brian's mom was invited to come live w/ us last november. uuummmm she stayed for a couple of months then started going back and forth between our house and her mothers house. her mom is 83 yrs old and elderly. she would come on sunday, keep ryder mondays and tuesdays then go back to her moms. well that worked out good. then she just kind of started staying w/ her mom all the time. she'll come stay a few days then leave. frustrating. the kids are confused. we just tell them she had to go stay w/ MawMaw GG to take care of her. i kinda feel sorry for her b/c she doesn't have a place to call her own. but then i think about the reason why she doesn't have a place to call her own and don't feel sorry for her. who knows what's going on. i don't ask. she'll probably leave in a few days. just have to wait and see. then this week the hurricane came through. the Governor cancelled school for most of louisiana on tuesday and wednesday so mattie's been home. maybe next week will be "normal"....i need a schedule. connie and i were supposed to "write one up" while she was here but that didn't happen. i guess i can work on that.

oh and Mattie is having a most excellent year. her teacher is very nice and she's doing really good. When i dropped Mattie off on her first day, her teacher met us at the door w/ a huge smile, shook my hand and introduced herself. said she was excited mattie was in her class. THANK YOU JESUS! her teacher last year was, well lets just say in can't describe her using the same words i used for this year's teacher. we all went as a famiy to tennesse for Sue's surgery. when she went back her class and teacher missed her and let her know it. her teacher wrote a note in her "agenda" book saying she was glad she was back. when mattie was sick last year and out of school for FIVE days, she came home after her first day back and said, "mama my teacher didn't say hi to me or say she missed me or was glad i was back". sad huh. some teachers just don't get it.

God is Good

New Orleans was spared! but many other counties/parishes were hard hit down south. we lost power for maybe 5 hours. mostly in the middle of the night. some were asking in the comments from the previous post were we live...north on I20 between Monroe and Schreveport. Gov. Bobby Jindal(or Jendal) redeemed the Louisiana "state government" reputation by his quick response and obvious preparedness.

Other Tropical Storms/Hurricanes already on the radar...
Hanna...probably will hit the East Coast this weekend
Ike...who knows...the last radar had him headed for that space between Cuba and Florida...

He's here....almost.

Well, it's not lookin good. Keep New Orleans in your prayers. Keep louisiana in your prayers and as you can see by the map much of texas too. seeing as though all of my readers, minus michawn and auny- of course they have family in both states, live in louisiana and texas we can all pray for each other.

Gustav...not lookin good peoples...not lookin good at all.

metal fans and fingers bad combonation...

this is not an actual picture of her finger but close...
Connie sliced her finger this morning trying to turn off our old antique fan....3 stitches....fun. seeing as though we don't have a camera i can't show yall a picture of it. it's not too bad but bad enough...sorry sis:)

Great weekend....great week ahead!

We had an awesome time w/ my parents and sis and her family! of all the days in AUGUST for it to be 80 degrees...Ryders bday party was a swim party and it was cloudy and chilly. but fun was had by all!

my sister, mia, and jules are staying w/ us for a few days. Mia is missin Mattie b/c her first full day was today. Her teacher is very nice and seems to be very approachable. Shook my hand and introduced herself to me personally. very different than last year's experience. Mattie is very excited about the new year, new teacher, and her room is even on a new hall!!!


well, gotta go turn a dining room table into a tent...goin old school...forget those pre-made tents that fold up and barely fit 1 child let alone 3!

cleaning, watching movies, cleaning, watching olympics

that's pretty much what i've been doing this week! Sue, my mominlaw, has the kids for a few days and i've totally taken advantage of this time! it's sooo much easier to clean and organize w/out having to go behind and clean up after the kids.

anywoo, brian and i have gotten to just chill in the evenings and watch movies...and not disney, spongebob, icarly, drake/josh! aaahh so nice.

when they get back, mattie starts her first 1/2 day of 1st grade on friday and my family comes in for ryder's 3rd birthday party that'll be on saturday! that's why i've been cleaning:) new bed times start thursday night...can't wait. i know all my friends already have their kids bedtimes set but things have been a little crazy the past 1 1/2 years. by the time we would get home, we'd want to spend as much time as we could w/ each other so that would lead to late bedtimes. it'll be a different story now:)

better get back to cleanin! oh gotta put my next movie in...

Vaca '08...Pop-Up Camper Style

Lake Ouachita
Lake Greeson


The Good The Bad and The Ugly....those are nice descriptive words for our vaca!

The Good...
1. Spent quality time w/ my niece...Mia!!! She did everything we did...sweat, sweat, sweat! and didn't complain unlike her aunt.
2. Spent quality time as a family.
3. Spent time at the lake.
4. Got away!
5. Learned things about myself.
6. Ryder started putting his head under water! Started going under to his nose then on the last day went all the way under!
7. Ate steak and baked potato all while camping...mini bbq pit and a microwave!
8. AIR CONDITIONING in the camper!!!!!
9. took a boat ride to a island and brian, mia, and mattie went snorkeling.
10.Overall we had a good time. just wish i had evidence of it.

The Bad...
1. Started the trip off 2 1/2 hours late.
2. Got to the site at midnight and sat up our camper at midnight. all while we hushing and threatening 3 little turkeys that were laughing and giggling and hanging out the car windows as we were trying to sat up the camper in 15 minutes instead of the 30 min it usually takes...at midnight and NOT wake up the whole camp.
3. sat up the camper WITHOUT a flashlight or a knife. but we had scissors.
4. decided after 1 day we wanted to move onto another lake WITHOUT reservations in the SUMMER.
5. drove around for 2 hours looking for another lake that wasn't full up.
6. oh and the lakes were like bath water temperature.

The Ugly...
*Left my keys at the first campsite.
*LEFT OUR $300 DIGITAL SONY CAMERA WITH ALL OUR VACATION PICTURES ON IT AT THE SWIM BEACH - this is the camara we had just found after it had been missing for 3 months.
*lost my temper too much and too quickly.