help me, help me!

Which lesson plan & record book should I order for school??? My classy side is fighting with my kiddish instincts.... again! Please vote and help me out here! My theme is geometric design - chevron, triangles, squares, stripes, polka dots etc. in bright colors which perfectly fits the chevron planner! The belly of one of the sock monkeys IS chevron...and the monkeys are SO adorable. In case you didn't know, I adore and collect sock monkeys. But black and white chevron is more age appropriate for a 5th and 6th grade teacher...yet it is SO important not to be too grown-up and stuffy....OK, see why I need help?! Thanks! They are the same price by the way.

southern rose sunset dolphin cruise

We cruised with the dolphins last night. It was awesome; even were privileged to see a baby dolphin swimming alongside its mother! What a cutie-pa-tootie! It was so worth it; a great outing that kids and adults alike enjoyed! Since food and drinks were welcomed, we lugged on ice chests of grub and had a great cousin time!

 

 

outside my window...

Outside my window...swirls of oppressive humidity are lingering under gloomy clouds and grey rain drops.

I am thinking... that it's time to shower!

I am thankful... that we had an amazing evening with the Schneider family last night.

In the kitchen... the remnants of cake crumbs, frosting dabs, and decorating tools are littering the countertops.

I am wearing... my workout clothes! Yay! That means I did exercise today. 

I am creating... a geometrically designed classroom.

I am going... on a dolphin cruise with my cousins this evening.

I am reading...3 books at a time!

I am hoping... that Daniel can get caught up with his work.

I am looking forward to... going to see my grandparents in MS next week! 

I am learning… that I have a HUGE problem of being LATE.

Around the house...ripening peaches, guns, fabric waiting to be sewed.

One of my favourite things... finding cloud pictures with my hubby.

word of the day!

bushwa \BOOSH-wah, -waw\ , noun:

 rubbishy nonsense; baloney; bull: You'll hear a lot of boring bushwa about his mechanical skill.

Isn't BUSHWA just such a fun word to roll over the tongue?! I'm going to try to firmly incorporate it into my vocabulary today so that I won't forget about this choice word and say boring things like, "That's just a bunch of baloney!" when I could elaborately proclaim, "Please cut out the bushwa and tell me what you really mean!"

 Maybe no one else likes words, vocabulary etc. like I do.....Y'all are probably saying to yourselves, "Sure wish she wouldn't post about such drab bushwa...."

BTW, I have the complete opposite of bushwa rising in the oven....BREAD!

Happy Saturday!

grow a garden in your book!

 

Awww....a green thumb at last! I can effortlessly grow these bookmark sprouts in my book!

Such a super fun birthday gift... THANKS, Rhonda!

 

 

Check out all the other amazing novelties at http://fredandfriends.com/! Their humor is my humor. LOVE it.

thinkn' beach

With some birthday $, I bought this gorgeous, chevron, roll-up beach mat at Walmart the other day! I think I am in love. But, I have never owned or tried out a beach mat at the beach. It seems like a really good idea and the fabric looks as if it will repel sand and water, which would be amazing! I abhor getting all sandy when I am laying out trying to get a freckle. Hopefully soon, I can try it out for real at the ocean one of these days! What is your favorite beach accessory? Do y'all all have beach mats, and love them? Or dislike them? Should I have saved the $15 I spent on this and applied it to a beach lounge chair instead? While we are on the subject of beachy apparatuses, I'll share a pic of this towel and bag I am coveting...

{And, BTW, I didn't write anything about FOOD! But my love of cupcakes is apparent!}

Marco's and the Ninja Turtle!

 Here I am fixing to type about FOOD again! But our worlds really do revolve around food if you think about it. We have jobs to earn money to be able to buy food to stay alive! Without food, we would all wither away and life would cease. Anyway, Aunt Sue was so kind as to let us take her Mazda CX-7 {I think that's what she has!} down to Goodwill to pick up the large green La-Z-Boy that was sitting waiting patiently to be permanently adopted into the Daniel Faircloth family. This chair definitely has some character! When I pulled up around back and told the guy that I was there to pick up the green La-Z-Boy, he said, "Oh, that ninja turtle green one?!" "Yes, sir! That would be the one!" I think it was originally a somewhat dark hunterish green, but over time, the areas that have been sat upon the most have evolved into a glowing green patina! Chair on board, it was time for lunch! Neither of us had tried Marco's which was right handy on 9 Mile Road beside Tokyo. They offered buffet for $5.99 and we took them up on it! It reminded me the most of Mellow Mushroom pizza! Chewy, crispy crust with fresh toppings such as feta and tomatoes! I'll post the link to their website below. If you had a hankering to try something that wasn't on the bar, all you had to do was mention it, and it was soon out there swirling steam. The White Cheezy was my favorite! It is a small buffet, only 6 pizzas out a time which means they are always bringing out new ones! There's no salad bar either but who wants to be a rabbit when there's cheesy pizza around?!

http://www.marcospizza.com/

thriving on birthday thrifting!

 Life gets in the way of keeping my resolution of blogging every day. As you know, Roxie and I are birthday twins. We had postponed our celebration until after the wedding, so finally on Thursday, we and Anne set out to celebrate in Pensacola with some good ole secondhand snooping! We were on our way too early to stop at Dixie's since they open at 10. Next stop was "Miles of Art" which is in the old Miles Furniture store across from La-Z-Boy on Bayou Blvd. We had to wait on them to open too! Such a strange feeling for me to experience... But once we got inside, it was well worth the wait!!! That place is a HUGE treasure land! Booth after booth of unique novelties, gorgeous art, and expensive antiques kept us enthralled for almost 2 hours! The most beautiful painting I have ever seen hung there; a monstrous 6' x 4' canvas of green dappled sea water with a vivid sea turtle swimming by. I want to go back to just stand and gaze again at all of its beautiful $2,100 self. But for now, I am thrilled with my $4 juice box purse similar to the one pictured below that I ended up with! Daniel does NOT appreciate its recycled beauty and has forbidden me to carry it in his presence, so I will happily go green when I am without him!

  We dined at "The Cactus Flower Café." It was raining a good drizzle by then, definitely a "Seattle" day. I was wishing I was wearing cute rain boots! We had a good girly lunch; Anne and Roxie both had the special which was a sandwich and a cup of tortilla soup. I had a mango shrimp salad and a different kind of soup that I can't remember the name of. Next on the agenda was the Teen Challenge thrift store on 9th Ave. I found a beautiful hardcover copy of "Marley and Me" for $1.00, a paperback "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan" for $.59, and a frosted stemmed sundae cup for $1.00  that exactly matches the one I had broken! Now I have a set of 12 again! The Miracle Box thrift store on Davis really made me smile! I found an almost new pair of black Gianni Bini leather wedges for $4.99!! They are a touch too narrow but I've been reading some great tutorials on how to stretch them. I also fell in love with a British flag coffee mug that was only $.49. After a quick Target run, we were back to business at the Goodwill on 9 Mile Rd. I spied a green leather La-Z-Boy chair for only $34.99 but it appeared to have a broken back. {Later, after discussing this chair with Daniel and Dad, I realized that it probably just wasn't hooked properly on one side in the back. Wade and Rhonda checked it out on Saturday, confirmed my suspicion, and purchased it for us! Yay!} I did make Daniel smile with the rolling office chair I found for $3.99 that will enable him to sit in style in his deer stand. The Teen Challenge next door was our last secondhand shop of the day. I netted a Richard Peck book "The Preacher's Funeral," a turquoise measuring cup set, and a tomato red coffee mug all for FREE! This happened because the lady ahead of me in line only wanted to purchase one item for $1.83 which didn't meet the $5 minimum for using a credit card. She told me to add my stuff to hers since she had to pay $5 anyway!  "Thank-you, Ma'am!" I will pay this favor forward some day! On the way home, we savored piled high Burger King cones along with fun and friendship! Twas a thrifty day with friends that was totally a thrill!

TIP OF THE DAY: Even if you don't have an umbrella handy and it's pouring rain, it's not a good idea to put a plastic bag over your head to keep dry because the temporary blindness could result in a nasty bonk on the head from the vehicular door frame. Just sayin'. Not that I would know or anything, but I do have a really sore lump on my head for some reason...

3 Day Military Diet

         I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!

  Ok, enough self congratulating! But I am pleased to proclaim that I actually decided to do this diet and amazingly stuck with it for the entire 3 days! I followed it exactly except that I didn't realize that the tea wasn't supposed to be sweet tea on Day 1. You are supposed to be able to lose up to 8 pounds. I was thrilled to drop 4! {Normally I GAIN weight when I try to diet!} My sis Mel did some research on this diet and found info insisting that it is a fad diet and not used by the military at all. Who knows?! All I know is that I was very hungry for 3 days and that I did lose 4 pounds! I'll post the link to the website where I got this info from so in case you want to put yourself through this, you will have all the data you need. http://blessedmommy.hubpages.com/hub/Lose-Up-To-10-Pounds-In-3-Days-On-The-3-Day-Diet I am considering going through the agony again like they recommend after 4 days of normal eating have passed in order to reverse the porking up I've done lately. We shall see. It was tremendously satisfying to EAT today while Roxie, Anne, and I were in Pensacola celebrating our birthdays. We had a terrific time! {I shall blog about it tomorrow as Danl is waiting on the 'puter.}

3 Day Diet

DAY 1:
Breakfast--1/2 Grapefruit, 1 Slice of Toast, 2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter, and Coffee or Tea
Lunch--1/2 Cup of Tuna, 1 Slice of Toast, and Coffee or Tea (any brew, as long as it's caffeinated)
Dinner--3 ounces of any type of meat, 1 Cup of Green Beans, 1/2 Banana, 1 Small Apple, and 1 Cup of Vanilla Ice Cream (YUM)!!!
Tips to Try:

• Warm the apple and/or banana and eat them over the ice cream. Delicious!
• Cook the green beans with the meat or simmer them in the broth. Mmmm :)

DAY 2:
Breakfast--1 egg, 1 Slice of Toast, and 1/2 Banana
Lunch--1 Cup of Cottage Cheese (Or 1 Slice of Cheddar Cheese), 1 Hard Boiled Egg, and 5 Saltine Crackers
Dinner--2 Hot Dogs, (no buns), 1 Cup of Broccoli, 1/2 Cup of Carrots, 1/2 Banana, and 1/2 Cup of Vanilla Ice Cream


DAY 3:
Breakfast--5 Saltine Crackers, 1 Slice of Cheddar Cheese, and 1 Small Apple
Lunch-1 Hard-Boiled Egg, and 1 Slice of Toast
Dinner--1 Cup of Tuna, 1/2 of a Banana, and 1 Cup of Vanilla Ice Cream

and the winner is........!

 I am thrilled to announce that the winner of The Happiness Project is..........

 TIFFANY FRIESEN!!!

AND, {SURPRISE!} MARILYN SCHNEIDER!!!

   Since I was able to secure 2 books for the price that I had expected to pay for one, I decided to make it twice as fun and draw out 2 winners! The books are on their way, so keep on eye on your mailbox, Tiff!  Mom, I will hand deliver yours! Both are used, hardcover copies so hopefully they will be in as good of condition as they are supposed to be! Happy reading! And thanks to everyone for entering this drawing. I loved learning about the books that have made you happy! I've made many additions to my reading bucket list from your recommendations!

 

white daisy junction!

  Check out my friend Jill's awesome Etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhiteDaisyJunction?ref=top_trail

She has a super fun selection of vintage and modern handmade items! I'm in love with this adorable dachshund!




The drawing for the winner of the Happiness Project will be held this evening at some point after the sun goes down to give time for any late commenters! I will post the winner tomorrow morning! {Or tonight if I am inspired and have the opportunity!}

reenactment

Habits are safer than rules; you don't have to watch them.  And you don't have to keep them, either.  They keep you.  ~Frank Crane

   The above quotation is my inspiration quote for this "Healthy Habits" month of July! It is becoming easier...{I think!} to keep {some} of my aspirations! I do know that our bed has been properly bedecked in its wrappings of coverlets more days in a row than ever before! The hardest things to win stars for so far has been keeping my feathers unruffled and cleaning up the house and kitchen daily. Gonna keep on keepin' on though!

   Now a few thoughts about the reception or "reenactment" as Danl called it! It was a splendid affair! Approximately 225 people attended, giving a small and cozy feeling to the event. We all were adorned once more in our wedding garments, except for Jacob, who wasn't able to wear his wedding britches due to the hole that somehow now adorns one knee much to Rhonda's dismay and despair. Nathan and Shawna stood in for attendants instead of Taylor and Drea. The short service consisted of an opening song, "I sing the Mighty Power of God" by John William Eicher, a few words of welcome by Dad, a song about love that I didn't know by a quartet {Shane, Tyson, Seth, Troy}, some thoughts on honoring God and each other from Uncle Carlos, "Sunshine in my Soul" and "Locked in the Bottom of my Heart" by a large group of couples, a congregational song, "Oh God, Our Help" led by Steve, and closing thoughts and prayer by Mike. Then we went down to eat brisket sandwiches on HOMEMADE buns with HOMEMADE BBQ sauce, lettuce salads, sweet salads, pasta salads, potato salads, fruit cobblers, and Bluebell ice cream cups! We wiped our faces on the beautiful light aqua napkins that Dad laboriously matched to a scrap of Katie's dress. Some people had to use a grey napkin. Rhonda and I arranged the bouquets. We weren't sure if they turned out according to our vision or if we even had a vision, but they at least they were interesting! The colors of the blooms were primarily dark purple, hot pink, lime green, and white. It was Katie's mom's birthday, so we had Roxie and Jeremy put a candle in her cobbler since they were serving bride's table. A small and mostly insignificant detail here that I just thought I'd mention is that my 8 year old wedding shoes sort of gave out on me... I had to remove that bottom pieces from both heels lest they come out mid stride down the aisle and render me helpless and prone to stumble and fall. So I just plunked around with open heels! On the sad side, it was exactly a year to the day that Uncle Kale passed away. We had a special bouquet in his memory on display, then sent it home with Aunt Donna. We all miss him so much!!

{TOMORROW is the DAY to draw a WINNER for the HAPPINESS giveaway!!}

rain

It rains, and rains, and rains...

Grey shadows.

Drip drops falling, falling, ever falling.

Outside and down my face.

 

Then Someone says,

"You can stand under my umbrella."

Warm, Safe, Dry.

Always and forever loved.

 

The sun will shine again,

The rivulets down my cheeks will cease

...until then,

I'm gonna stand under His umbrella.

 

sharnjean

7.07.13

 

 

happy b'day, america! {& happiness project!}

    Happy Belated Birthday, America! We celebrated by staying home, sleeping in, smoking venison, watching the neighbors' fireworks from our front porch, and being extremely lazy!!! It was good. The dogs enjoyed hanging out in the house since the weather was so blah. I did spend some time pondering on my happiness project...and decided to start! Now is now! July will be "Healthy Habits" month. I printed out Gretchen's blank resolution chart and filled it in with the following 10 resolutions, many are the same ones I was aspiring to in January. I hope I will do better with actually visibly charting my progress. My bestie Jill started her happiness project back in January. She says it is really helping her! You go, Jill! She told me that I am trying to do way too much this month, that I should start smaller, but I just couldn't decide which things to leave off my chart. Really, they are all quite piddly things that "normal" people probably do every day without even realizing it! Oh well, I have to be ME! And these things are HARD for me!

~ God first. {Have some quiet time of devotions before getting online etc.}

~ Move it! {Do some form of exercise no matter how short! Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!}

~ Make the bed.

~ Scan the news. {Just a quick look at the headlines on ABC, NE, & CNN goes a long way to feeling "with it."}

~ G'morning, Kitchen! G'nite, House! {Do the dishes, straighten up the house before bed.}

~ Post on my blog. {It's so much more fun to stay current.}

~ Sleep 8. {Get my beauty sleep! lol }

~ Drink 6. {Drinking the recommended 8 glasses of water is basically unattainable for me so I'm trying for 6.}

~ No ruffled feathers. {Be on time instead of always late!}

~ Tackle a nagging task. {Big or small, it feels so good!}

THERE! You have it! This is what I am trying to focus on during July. Already, it is amazing how much happier I feel when I do these little things and can put a star on my chart! Hopefully by doing these things every day, they will soon become healthy habits! Already today I have tackled a nagging task, {cleaned off my desk} slept 8 hours, had my God time, scanned the news, am blogging, and am fixing to make the bed with a happy smile on my face! Then, I need to get over to my mom's to help her make all the BBQ sauce for the reception Sunday night. {We girls helped her bake all the buns on Wednesday!! Wow! That was a project! 10 batches of dough!} My feathers are getting slightly ruffled though because I really wanted to have been at Mom's long ago already...

BTW, only 4 more days until I draw out the name of the winner of the Happiness Project book! So if you haven't commented, go to the "giveaway happiness" post and get your comment typed in!

{not} too much birthday!

How I loved my Monte Cristo sandwich at Cheddars today! Thanks, Aunt Sue, for the scrummy birthday lunch!! I'd always had a hankering to try one of these novel sandwiches, and today was the day! It exceeded my expectations! It's a strange sammie, no doubt! It consists of ham, turkey, and cheese between slices of bread dipped in a pancake-like batter and deep-fried served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a raspberry jam dipping sauce...Think fried donut with raspberry filling, but somehow still a ham sandwich! The marvelous blending of sweet and salty is unparalleled! I highly recommend it if you end up at Cheddars! Aunt Sue and I had a splendid day. I got my allergy shots, we browsed Bed, Bath, and Beyond, ate birthday lunch, shopped Target, and ended up with $.50 Burger King cones! Once home, I buckled down and blanched our annual two bushels of zipper peas! Now they are resting {pea}cefully in the freezer. Zip, zip, hooray! That done, going to Piggly at 9:00 seemed a wonderful idea! It was blissful to browse in a practically people-less place.

disability

Quote for the day....