Memories

This week, my wonderful Hubby made me 2 podcast. His podcasts for me are like a mix-tape. Each usually has a theme & he makes them when he's away from me. This week the theme was Memories. He would play a song & then recall a memory of an event or person. Some were about me, some about other people.

This got me thinking about some of my memories from different parts of my life. I have some good & bad memories from school time as well as memories from college & early married life. I wonder if the other people involved in the events in my memories even remember them.

I wonder if my neighborhood friends (Kim, Matt, Meagan, Adam & Sarah) remember all the fun we had riding bikes during the summer. We'd leave & be gone hours just riding around the countryside. Or if Kim & Meagan remember writing stories together.

I wonder if my band buddies (Don, Steve, Scot & others) remember all the fun we had during basketball games before & after the band played.

I wonder if Paula & Christi remember the fun we had being managers for the girls basketball team all during highschool.

I wonder if Steve, Ben, Scot, Danny and others remember all the fun we had at the fair every year. I wonder if Frankie, Randy, Daryl & others remember the fun we had showing goats.

I wonder if Cassie, Kim, Christina, Jeff, Doug & others remember all the fun we had at Schroon Lake. Wet sleeping bags because they fell in the lake, walking up the hill to get to cabins from the boat or freezing during the polar bear swim.

I wonder if my Hope Baptist youth group remembers the fun we had at GreenLake leading the conference and tubing down the hills (and wiping out!). Do my "little girls"(Christi, Megan & others)  remember hanging out with me in church & fighting over who was going to sit by me?

I wonder if Paula, Brent, Kevin & others remember playing basketball at lunchtime during high school. We skipped lunch many days so we could hangout on the basketball court.

I wonder if Danny, TJ & Don remember all the fun we had hanging out. Do they remember going hiking at Anderson falls? Does Danny remember coming over to pick up my bro, Scot & I so we could go get milkshakes? Does Don remember talking on the phone many nights till 1am?

I wonder if my Hubby, Michael & Kerry remember walking across the Purdue Mall singing the Unknown Soldier loudly late at night. Does Michael remember meeting for lunch at the dorms?

I wonder if my fellow Foundies (Hubby, Michael, Jeanna, Jo-Bear, Kerry, Big Ed, Chris & lots of others) remember hanging out till all hours of the night studying (or not studying). Do they remember cost suppers? Do they remember Howie making breakfast (all morning long) during finals?

I wonder if Jeanna remembers me living with her so I wouldn't have to stay in a bad situation at the dorms?

I wonder if Hubby, Jeff, Scooter & Jeri remember the dance at University church and that only a few people showed up but we still had fun. I wonder if anyone remembers the dances at the Found.

I wonder if Hubby remembers the night I knew I was going to marry him. It was the night He sat me down under the tree by the dorm & played "our song" for me for the 1st time.

I wonder if anyone else remembers these things and others as fondly as I do. I don't want to go back to the past, but I do have warm spots in my heart for people & times from my past. Some of these people have stayed my friends, others I've just recently reconnected with because of Facebook. Yet others I rarely see & if I do, don't seem to care anymore.

Do you have fond memories of your past? Do any involve me? If so, I'd love to hear them.....

A Surprise for Jamie

Last year, we cleaned out our spare room & let Jamie have it for a bedroom so all 3 kids could have their own room.

Because it was a room we planned on using for storage when we moved in, my Dad had built shelves on 2 walls. As you can see to the right, it gave us a lot of shelves, but it didn't make for a very nice room. So, I moved school stuff off the shelves & put all her books on one section. I emptied the other section for her stuff. I then put any other books we wouldn't need frequently on the other 2 sections.

Then today, my Dad & I installed white board (like you use in bathrooms) to the front of the other 2 sections. So now Jamie has a big wall to create on. I found a border at United Art & Education that I love to cover the seams.

I also bought her washable dry erase markers. I put her name in the middle.

I wrote Provers 31:30 on one side.

I wrote her favorite verse, John 3:16 on the other side.

This is a close up of the border. It has 4 pictures & verses that go across.

These verses are then repeated.

I love the pictures.

And the verses.

Then there are 4 more pictures that are repeated on the sides.

I love these & hope Jamie will too.

I can't wait for her to see her surprise when she gets home from her Grandparents tomorrow. I hope she really likes it.

Project living room update

It took over 2 weeks, but project living room is pretty much done. Hubby has a few boxes yet to go through before we can put them in the "hole". But I finally have it set up the way I like it & most stuff has found a home.

View from the kitchen. The TV is sitting on the bottom half of the old projector TV with the top board of it nailed to it

This is the fireplace, game chairs & drum set.

Couch is now in the same half of the room as the TV. First time we've done that since we moved in here 8 1/2 yrs ago.

Looking through the "window" into the back half of the living room which is now the computer area.

Hubby's computer desk. As you can tell he still has a few boxes to go through.

Behind Hubby's desk, he has a big book shelf & 2 small shelves to put all his CDs & DVDs & other computer stuff.

This is the kids' computer area. The 2 girls' desks are on the left & the boy's is straight in front of you. This way Hubby can monitor their computer use.

This is the front entry way. My china hutch is full of elephants that I've collected since I was a teenager.

This is our reading area. Excuse the mess of the book shelf. The kids tend to stick books in anyway they can get them to fit.

This is the front coat closet. My Dad cut a hole & put a door on it so we could use the area under the stairs.

As you can see, the area or "hole" is being used to store boxes. There is enough room in the front of the area for us to go if we have a tornado.

We even utilized the small area under the bottom steps to put old TiVos & computers.

This is another view of Hubby's area.

This is looking at the "living" room area from the computer area.

As you can see, my living room is full of tech, but we love it. I'll never have a fancy living room, but that's ok. This works for us. I'm loving the new set up & the new wall color. Hope you all enjoyed this little tour!

Independence Day

Since my wonderful Hubby was home all week, we went to Kokomo after church on the 3rd & stayed in a hotel Sunday & Monday nights. We visited with Hubby's parents & swam in the hotel pool. Just a little time away. We didn't go see fireworks which disappointed the kids a little.




We went to a park with Grandma, Grandpa & Uncle Neal & let the kids play for awhile. Jamie at the top of the playground.

Jessica climbing to the top. 

 Daddy pushing David.

 All 3 swinging.

Grandma getting ready to swing Jessica.

Grandpa & Uncle Neal

Then we went swimming at the hotel. This pool was pretty shallow, only 5 feet. Here's Jamie in the pool.

David in mid-jump. He kept trying to do belly flops.

 All my kids enjoying the pool!

And lastly, Jessica learned to float by herself. She'd always had to have us help her get laid out. But figured out how to do it on her own!

We had a great time on our little getaway. Then on Wednesday, the kids & I went to Hope for the day because Hubby had webinars all day. We went to see Mamaw Beeker. Then we just hung out at my parents.It was a great time. I helped Dad in the garden & came home with Zucchini, Yellow Squash & a mess of green beans.

We spent rest of the week running errands & working on getting the downstairs put back in order. I will take pictures of my living room tomorrow & post them soon. I'm really liking the new setup & the new color.

So how did you spend your Holiday week??

How did I live before the internet/cell phones?

This week I haven't had internet/wifi at home because I've been painting. So, I've been using my iPhone. Well, this morning I woke up to no cell service or home phone service. Normally, not a big deal. But since my internet isn't hooked back up & running, I was basically cut off from the tech world.

Ahhhhhh........... I couldn't handle it. I felt so isolated. So I am very thankful my phone service is back up! I'm at McDonald's now letting the kids play so I can surf & blog & just be online. I was having internet withdrawal. Isn't that crazy?? I mean, I lived half my life without internet & most of my life without an iPhone. But now I'm so lost without it.

I think for me, just know it wasn't working, even if I didn't want to use it, was what bugged me.  I like the security of knowing I could get ahold of someone if I needed to. If Hubby was home, I might have felt differently.

So, could you survive without internet or cell phones? I know I couldn't!!