I Am Sad

Some times I just feel sad.
I know about the hope I have in Christ and all that, just some times I feel sad.
Like right now.
Not sure why.
But I do.
Some times the natural changes in life usher in new, wonderful seasons and when they do I can be saddened by the leaving of the old.

Bible Study

In 1 week I am going to go back through the study "A Woman After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George. I know it's VERY last minute but if you have the workbook and are looking for some accountability please join me. If you have the book I will have a plan for you to follow as well.

Here's what we'll do:
a.) Each Monday check in here at Thus Far With God and leave a comment saying you did all 5 days of homework
b.) share a scripture that spoke to you or type out "This weeks verse to remember", listed at the begining of each week.

Here's what you'll receive:
a.) a habit of spending time daily in God's Word
b.) encouragement as a wife, mother, friend
c.) friendships! a blog can do things like that
d.) much more

I will give you time to either get a book or pray about joining this, so meet back here on Monday November 2, 2009 and introduce yourself. Please read the introduction on page 5-6. Since we won't be watching the video, the "video notes" area will remain empty.

So that's it. Local ladies if you know of anyone who was in the study when we did it almost 2 years ago let them know. To my friends from far away, please join me if it works out for you.

I can be e-mailed at vintagesheet (at) yahoo dot com

Vaughan and Branden's Latest Video

Day Off

Being a mom is hard work.
The monotonous day-in, day-out mixed with the lively ever changing life with other people, for me teenagers! Not that I don't love them, I do; it's just some days I want need a break.

So that's what I did today.
I was exhausted anyway and took a 1-hour morning nap and then again the the early afternoon a 2-hour nap. The other time I was a wake, I just laid around.

I did get up to cook and do dishes, we do have to eat.

I even took the night off from youth group.
I don't like to do that, but some days I need a break for all things teen.

Now a little office work, then...
early
to
bed!

Now I Round Up to 40

When I turned 25 my brother Scott, who is 4 years older than me, told me that now my age rounds up to 30. Well I didn't mind that and my 30's have been great! So when i realized I'd be 35, I often still see myself as a 20 year old, I realized I round up to 40 now! That's fine with me: BRING IT!!

My birthday can take on many different faces. Most often I get a few days of celebrating in, mostly because I plan all the events around here so I can plan what I want and when I want it. Monday was my 35th birthday, but you know it started before Monday.

Saturday night we went out to eat with the boys and we laughed like crazy! Nights that that remind me how much I just adore my family.

Sunday we went to the shooting range with my father-in-law. I shot a few new guns and hit the bulleye!!

Monday my mom, grandmother and father-in-law came over for cake and presents. Presents were fun! I got money, money, money, which I have already spent some on fabric and patterns- *smile* and from my mom: thread!!

cake by Sea Pea Cakes by Jamie

Friday Randomness

We had a fun week this week, mainly because we went bowling!
I've been busy sewing and cleaning and am now designating today laundry day!
Steve is feeling much better and back at it,.
Here are some pics form bowling:

See all the strikes I got! And they were all on a real lane, not one with bumpers!

Then I woke one morning this week to find this:

Please tell me, how does this happen? How does an electrical outlet get totally destroyed and no one know how? I can't even find the outlet plate? I can blame a lot of my sewing "issues" on the cat but this one?? I don't think the cat could have managed.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend, look for the silver lining, and oh yeah if you've read this far check out the new faces of Thus Far.

You'll see I've added links to all my blogs (I am ADHD on blogging), I hope you are inspired to sew, dig your hands in some dirt and I really hope you'll share some of your recipes with me.

Monday's Menu

Click here to see my menu this week.

Fun Friday!

Seems as though Steve is either ober-super tired or he has the flu.
Whichever it is he has been getting some well needed sleep over the past 2 days.

The cat has 5 kittens and has moved them to 2 different parts of my bedroom; apparently they are getting too big to deal with all 5 at a time. She keeps 3 in one spot and 2 in another, alternating feeding them. I wonder if my friend Allison does this, she has 5 kids, does she manage them in groups of 2 and 3? hmmm

I'm letting Justin sleep until he wakes up, it's 10:34 right now.
I figure I sleep in, he can too. I rolled out of bed to squint my way to drop Vaughan and Branden off at school then headed right back to bed.
I love Fridays, I may do this every Friday?

Here's how mine has played out so far:
I was up in time to get coffee on and watch Regis and Kelly. That's 9am for those of you non-Regis and Kelly watchers.

After that I headed for my garden and time with God, creation is amazing!

Now spending time in my cyber-life, checking blogs, updating my own blog, drifting around FB. Speaking of FB I found a long-lost friend on FB, actually she found me! We lived 6 houses apart on Altus Air Force Base over 10 years ago, we share memories and a love for scrapbooking.

So that's been my lazy Friday.
Now waiting for a friend to stop by, I think I have a project in the works for us!

Have a great Friday and stop back by- a new Thus Far is in the works and I will need your input!

Toodles!


PS Justin just woke up, it's 10:45am

New England Trip: Day Five

Wanna catch up?
Day one
Day two
Day three
Day four

Day five was my last day. I woke up and faced the fact it was time to head home. I was sad. I mean I did miss my family but vacation is always hard to leave. While I was moving slow the rest of the house was not. Lexi had school pictures and so the getting ready for school process took a little longer than usual.
Here they are in the bathroom.


One last picture before we say goodbye.

Now onto airplane pictures.
Am I the only one who is still fascinated by the view from an airplane? Perhaps it's my love for maps? Whatever the reason, I took a few pictures that I wanted to share.

I just can't help think of the Simpson's when I see a nuclear power plant.
Local New Smyrna people, can you make out this aerial of NSB?

Lastly the clouds were like perfect puffs of cotton.

The I arrived in Florida.

Where the sun shone brightly, the leaves remained green and the heat didn't realize I was ready for cooler weather.

Where my hottie met me drove me home to this wonderful, crazy, testosterone filled place called home.
Ahh, my pillow, my bed, my boys- love being home.

Kids Having Kids Part IV

*originally posted Oct 6, 2008

Steve and I got a good laugh tonight when we heard Vaughan say to his friend on the phone, "Back when my mom and dad use to collect Pokemon cards."

We busted out laughing, kids having kids.



PS for the record: I use to have this rare Holgraphic Charizard.

New England trip: Day Four

To catch up on our trip
Day one
Day two
Day three

Day three was a roadtrip day.
It was an: over the river, into Vermont and through the woods, the Adirondacks to be exact, to Nana's house we went, kind of roadtrip.
My dad picked me and all my stuff up and we made the 3 hour roadtrip across teh Green Mountain State to my grandparents in upstate New York.


On the trip we pass through Whitehall, NY. There are some things that just just stick with you and the armory in Whithall, NY is one of those memories. Isn't this building neat? Whitehall also claims to be the birthplace of the US Navy!

My grandparents live on Schroon Lake and as a teenager I spent my summers at camp on an island on that same lake. While my dad was getting some gas in the truck I dashed across to the public beach and a perfect view of "The Island". You can see it on the left side of this picture. I am now dreaming of sending my boys there this summer.

Speaking of the lake, I had to take a picture of my favorite place at Nana's house: her porch and this view:

Grandparents don't change much, at least in my eyes.

Sure they slow down a little and the warm spots on their backs from their heating pads make hugging them even warmer; but there is just something about my Nana and Grampa that is timeless, classic and peaceful.

It was on this trip that I saw where my love for rocks and Coke bottles came from. One of my favorite things at Nana's house has always been her rocks and her Coke bottles, funny it took me 35 years to realize I share this love with her.

The steps to my Nana's house always leads to warm food, a sofa to nap on and am earful of old school advice.

We left that evening with a bit of sadness in our goodbyes and a little water in our eyes.

I wasn't sure where I would be staying that night so as we got closer to town I decided it would be back to my sister-in-laws. They were super surprised to see me and I just can't get enough time with my niece "Lulu" and her mom for that matter.

And then, only in New England, only with a team called the Boston Red Sox can a Southern Girl, notice I now claim both my northern and southern hertitage equally, open a freezer in a small town in new Hampshire and find this:

Yes, you saw it here: Red Sox Ice Cream! And it may be the best ice cream I have ever had!

I love this place!

New England Trip: Day Three

To see the first 2 days click the links:
Day One
Day Two

Wow! I woke up on day three and was thrilled that I wasn't headed home to Florida. See, I've made the NH trip several times this past year. Each and every time waking up on day three to head back home.

Steve was going home on day three so I still made an airport trip. After coffee with my dad, and dropping Steve at the airport, I had a grand idea to head home via a little roadtrip. Since I hadn't been to Keene, NH since Yo! MTV Raps was there in the early 90's I decided to leave Manchester and head toward Keene.

Let me tell you, and if you've made that trip you know this, the distance on the map looks way shorter than the actual driving distance, especially when you take back roads through New Boston. It was a good though, I followed signs towards historic markers, found an Air Force base in the hills of New Hampshire and also ran into this sign:
If you are above the age of 30 and don't know or hang with any teenagers you may not know that the Journey song, "Don't Stop Believin' " has made a comeback. Chances are you will find this sign on my son's Facebook soon.

Driving out of Keene on Route 10 I hit the brakes after passing the Christmas House. Not sure if it's even still called that but this house, or I think it's an event rental place, has beautiful landscaping and architecture of the Victorian era. Here I am with the house and the car of my roadtrip 2009!

Still headed north, like 3 hours later, I pulled over to take in this site:

I know you think I've lost my mind taking pictures of a big ole something or other, well for those of you who have never seen snow these are the barns (for lack of a better word) where all the sand and salt are held. When a snow or ice storm comes the trucks come here to get loaded with the sprinkly goodness that melts all the snow and gives those Yankee tires traction on the roads.

Farther north in the town of Goshen I decided to pull into this old cemetery.

The oldest birthdate I found was 1815. A lot of history in this little town, stuff that would probably shock me, thrill me and make me cry. Something about an old cemetery makes me yearn for the "olden" days. If you live in the area swing in and take a look around and while you do think about this little unknown fact: two of my/our classmates, Jim and Guy, use to dig grave holes when the spot was unreachable by a bobcat. Yep, Jim told me all about it- he's my brother-in-law now!

Barns. If you don't know yet, I love old barns. This one is in North Newport (by the green steel bridge) with it's steeple, circle window, star (at the very top) and long transum window make my heart skip a beat. Old barns I love you!

My favorite thing about any New England trip is that ALL ROADS LEAD TO FAMILY.

So it isn't a surprise I made it back with these crazy kids:

We had a spa night, we soaked our feet, did our nails, waxed our faces and laughed until we peed ourselves, OK so maybe I was the only one peeing herself but we all had fun!

My nephew is awesome! He wanted to be a part of the festivities so bad that I pulled him up a little chair and he ran the buttons for the foot soak. Poor kid, learning to wait on the females in this family already, I am spoiled and... he's a keeper! Auntie Shell loves you little Nicoli (said with a Greek accent please).

That night I went back to homebase at my mother-in-laws and slept like a baby. There really is no place like home.

New England Trip: Day Two

For Day One of our trip go here.

Day two was the wedding day! We woke up and relaxed around Steve's mom's place.

Here's the view we sat and stared at for hours.
Peaceful and quiet.

Since the wedding wasn't until 4pm we decided to go to a local 4th & 5th grade football game our friends Trevor and John were coaching. Steve spent many a Saturday on these fields.

When I saw this girls t-shirt I realized I haven't heard this saying outside of Newport. Best Line Wins! How I could have forgotten that chant I don't know, it was on these fields that I chanted it every fall. Here's a sight I don't see here in the south: ski jumping jumps. Across the football field you can see the openings in the trees for our schools 2 smallest ski jumps.

Steve and Trev after the game.

When I am in town going from point A to point B is never that simple. I like to make stops at points C, D, E and F along the way. So our trip from football game to getting ready for the wedding took us by the Little Red Schoolhouse. I actually looked out onto this historic sight from my bedroom window.

Old schoolhouses are all over the country but this one is special. Sarah Josepha Hale taught here. Sarah was not only one of the fist female educators in our country but she penned the famous nursery rhyme Mary Had A Little Lamb.

As I circled the schoolhouse I realized Sarah would have looked out the back window of her school at this beautiful barn.

About a half mile down the road is a spot called Pollards Mills. Many small New England towns were settled as mill towns. The water currents in the river made a great place to harness it's power to run mills.

This spot was a popular swimming place, we always knew it was dangerous, people died there and we all knew it! Although signs like this were not around.

Finally it was wedding time!

Here Steve and I are on the front lawn of the church.

Trinity Church is an historic church and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day!

Steve's dad, bottom left and his brothers and sister.

Kristen and Martin. I put my camera down for a lot of this wedding and realized this is the best shot of the bride and groom. The food was wonderful, the setting incredible and the family, fun and dancing a blast!

Here is Matt, the bride's little brother and his fiance Michelle. Yep, when they get married in July there will be two of us: two Michelle S.

Did I mention the dancing was the kind of dancing you wanna do all night! The band was great, playing their own rendition of music spanning all decades and genres.

Steve and his cousin Melissa.

Steve and his cousin Kristen.

As you can imagine we stayed until the musicians were gone. The reason we made the trip north was over, but well worth it!

Makes us miss "home", if only we could eat drink and be merry every night of the week with our family from afar!