When John and I were dating we worked at a Christian camp together in Michigan. He was a archery instructor and I was a counselor. The counselors got together and sang. This morning this song is playing in my head that we use to sing a lot:

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the holy one
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ His son
And now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks
Give thanks
Happy Thanksgiving!

Teenagers!!!!

If you know my teenage boys you know which one this tee shirt belongs to. In the words of Darla "give me strength." When they were little and would not sleep at night I use to say God made them cute so you don't kill them. Now I say to them you are going to meet Jesus today if you keep it up. To which they reply in a smart tone that they already know Him. Why did I teach them how to talk!

John's money saving tip

We stayed home today from church so John could rest. He had yesterday off but spent most of the time fixing the hot tub. It is nice to have it up and working again. It has been a couple months since John has had a Sat. off. This morning while John and I were sitting on the porch drinking coffee Chris came out. I noticed that his pants are getting to short again. I told Chris we needed to get him new pants soon. John said we could do that or just get him better underwear:) This is John's money saving tip. Embrace the new style let your underwear show.

Check out Darla's new money saving blog site:
http://www.centsofit.com/

My husband has a way with words. We were laying in bed last night when he started rubbing his arm on my leg. Then he said "oh no, you shaved your legs ,now how can I scratch my arm?" Isn't that lovely?

Yes, I am still alive. We have been busy playing:) The boys go back to school on Monday which makes me sad. I think they are ready to go back. Well, at least Michael is. I have a bunch of pictures for my blog but some how lost my battery charger so I can't put them on. I hate it when I lose things. It is driving me crazy. So, as soon as I find it I will post some pictures. John is playing his video game right now. Big shocker huh. I got to go out for ice cream with one of my friends. I don't even think John realized I went. We were gone for a couple hours. It was fun. Then I got to talk to Darla on the phone. I do love to talk on the phone with my friends. I have had a very nice evening. I will try to post more soon. Notice the word try. I know I am not the best blogger. Bear with me. I will usually post once Darla gets on my case. I love ya Darla.

Chris and I had fun making orange chicken. It turned out delicious. Not the most low in fat meal :0) But it tasted sooo good. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:Chicken-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2" cubes)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour1 eggs (beaten)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Oil (for frying)

Orange Sauce-1 ½ cups water

2 tablespoons orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon orange zest (grated)

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon ginger root (minced)

½ teaspoon garlic (minced)

2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in egg mixture and shake in flour mixture to coat. Deep fry chicken in batches at 375 degrees in a deep fryer (or use a wok) until completely cooked.

Step 2: Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil.Step 3: Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired add red pepper flakes and garnish with green onions. Enjoy.

Darla put some wonderful pictures of her back yard on her blog. I thought I would show you what my backyard looks like.This is the view from my kitchen window. It was raining when I took the pictures but I think they still turned out all right. It is still a work in progress. I love all our trees. Beyond the trees you see is more woods. The boys like to play back there.

The boys finished their summer driving course today. They still need a lot of practice but are doing really well. I am going to look into some more driving classes for them. John and I still are not comfortable with teaching them. I am so glad they are done with their classes. I am looking forward to sleeping in a bit. I have been getting up with John at five and then waking the boys up at six. Their classes were from 7:20-12:50. By the time I got them off ,cleaned the house ,and took care of Joy I was tired. The summer has flown by which makes me sad. I love having my boys home with me. John is going to try and get a few days off before school starts back so we can go do some fun things with the boys.

I have been keeping busy. My parents are coming on Friday from Alabama. I am so looking forward to their visit. I had to put my dog Pepper down. She started going to the bathroom every where and didn't act like she was feeling well. I have had her since she was a puppy. She was thirteen years old. I will miss her. She was the best dog I ever had. On a happier note, dad and Ruth had us over for our anniversary and our birthdays. We had a great time:) Thank you so much dad and Ruth. Today I went grocery shopping, made a bunch of phone calls, and went and picked up the boys report cards. They did well!

Our Getaway

I have had some stomach trouble lately. I just started feeling better. Here are some pictures of the resort John and I stayed at. We had a great time. It was very relaxing. We had our own private beach. Everyone else stayed near the pool. There were only two chairs down by the beach so it was perfect. We got a 25 minute massage every day and two meals included in our stay. Hey Ruth, I loved the movie Hairspray (I don't usually like musicals). I also really enjoyed Over Her Dead Body. The Bucket List was just ok.

Today is my 39th birthday. John has been saying happy 29th to me:) You got to love him. I am watching Joy this week so we didn't go out today. I am also fighting sickness. My throat has been sore. I am praying it will go away. John and I are going away this weekend for our 18th anniversary. I really don't want to get sick. John went out tonight and brought me home three movies to watch and a feast to eat. He bought light cheddar cheese, port wine cheese, turkey sausage,fancy crackers, chicken, mash potatoes, stuff to make berry smoothies,eclairs for desert,and candles to put around the room. The movies he picked out are Over Her Dead Body(a comedy),Hairspray,and The Bucket List(not sure what is about but I love surprises). All movies he probably wouldn't like but knew I would. I hope you have a nice evening. I know I will.

Things I have enjoyed lately:

I found this recipe on someones blog. It is delicious.

Yummy Jerk Chicken

1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 1/2 lbs chicken pieces

Mix the marinade ingredients into a bowl and then pour over the chicken pieces. Allow this to marinate for a minimum of one hour or overnight. Grill your meat until it is done.

I really enjoyed this movie.

I don't have a picture but Chris made some wonderful pizza the other night. I was worn out from cleaning. It is so nice he is able to make some meals without any help:)

This is how my table looks when I am working on coupon deals. Yes, it does eventually get cleaned up. Not always right away though:) I clean houses but don't always feel like cleaning my own. Right now I am living in a construction zone. It is driving me crazy. The kitchen is coming along nicely. John has been sanding and fixing the walls. Here is a picture of what the wall looked like before. I will post pictures of the finished product. Hopefully soon:)

No more rental finally!

We finally got a new car. It has been a long day. John got off from work at noon to go car shopping. After a month of waiting on the insurance to kick in. Just yesterday our lease holder got the money. Today at 6:00 our car rental coverage was up (we had 30 days of coverage with our insurance). So we had to get the new car today. We got the rental back about ten minutes before it closed. We ended up leasing again. We were very happy with our lease before. We also really liked the Corolla so we ended up with another one. I love the red! It is a 2009 model. I actually wanted a 2008 but they didn't have any. We looked at used ones but there wasn't a whole lot of savings in buying used. We ended up getting the car for four thousand less than the actual value. So it was really great deal. Now I am exhausted. I am going to veg and watch American Idol.

We have been busy lately. I took down all the wall paper in the kitchen and scraped off the popcorn ceiling. I will post pictures when it is all painted and pretty. Christopher turned fifteen April 26th and got his learner's permit. The boys are getting so big. I took Chris shopping for shoes yesterday. He wears a size 12! John only wears a 10 1/2. I took some pictures of the boys yesterday. I love the way they turned out.

Car issues

You know it has been a while since you posted when you have to sign in to your account because it doesn't remember you. We have been dealing with car issues. Michael who is learning how to drive totaled our car and the car he hit. I know it was an accident but ouch on the cost. John and I were both in the car with him when he had the accident. No one was hurt. God was definitely watching over us. Needless to say John and I will not be teaching him. Hopefully he will be attending a driving course at his school this summer along with Chris. Chris turns 15 this Saturday and will be getting his learner's permit. Please pray for us:) Today I asked the insurance lady when the time comes how much will it cost to add the boys on our policy. She then proceeded to laugh at me and ask me if I really wanted to know. I guess the money I saved not having to buy all kinds of clothes for a girl will instead be spent on insurance. Now we have to decide whether to buy a new or used car or to lease one. The car we were driving was a lease vehicle and fortunately we did buy the gap insurance. Please leave a comment and let me know your opinion on a good car to buy or lease.

I got spoiled when the boys had spring break. We slept in until at least 8:30 everyday. I also had no cleaning jobs. We had a great time on spring break. We got to visit friends, watch movies, and go to the mall. I wish it could have lasted forever:)(though I would probably weigh a ton if it lasted forever) I love having the boys home. So real life has struck. We are up again at 5:00 in the morning and getting back into the groove.

Some new art for my walls

I found this picture that looks like an old sign in Kirklands and fell in love with it. Of course I got it on sale too. Half price it was $40.00 ! I know it was a splurge but I love it. It is hard to tell from the pictures but it is quit large.I found the little metal cross to put in my hallway at Old Time Pottery. The cross was on sale for $5.00.

For my mom

Mom, the first is a picture I did a while back. The bird one is one I was working on today. I am not quite finished with it.

Haven't forgotten I have a blog. I just haven't been in a blogging mood lately. Today was a very nice day. I got up at 5:00 to make lunches and got everyone on their way for the day. I went back to sleep after they left. I got to sleep till 9:00. It was very nice. I decided to go buy some jeans today. I was excited because they sell my favorite Rider jeans at Walmart or so I thought. I hate when they change things. I tried on about 20 pairs. Finally I found some I like. They are a little long so hopefully they will shrink a bit. They only had one pair in the store. So if they shrink a bit and I love them I will be going to other Walmarts to find them. I also found a cute pair of shoes. I have to go back and exchange them though. I picked up one shoe in a size 7 and one in a size 7 1/2. I tried on both sizes and some how got them mixed up. I am not big on clothes and shopping but there are certain things I love. I love my one pair of Riders that fit perfectly(they were a bargain deal at a thrift store), my big baggy robe (which I am in mourning over, I can't find it, I don't know how I lost my robe),and my flip flops from Old Navy (they have to be Old Navy they are the only ones I found that don't hurt between my toes). Yep I should be on the cover of Vogue! I did buy a new purse at a thrift store a few days ago. It still had the tags on it. I thought it was a bargain for $5.00. After a hard day of shopping I stopped and got a sub at Subway to bring home. Since I have been home I have playing on the computer and watching tv while eating my sub. Life is good. One more thing John put new panels in my kitchen cabinet doors. The people who lived here before us cut out the panels and replaced them with chicken wire. Not really my taste so I am so glad John fixed them.

We have been feeling better lately. Yesterday Michael drove down to the Cumberland Farms. I told him as a reward he could get a slurpee and any snack he wanted from the store. You know he picked a big bag of donuts. That's my boy! Today he drove to and from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Yes, we were in traffic and everything and I lived to tell the tale. He is doing so well. I am very proud of him.

I cleaned a house today. I didn't go to Bible study. I knew I couldn't handle doing both. When I came home I crashed. I slept for about three hours. I know my body is fighting sickness. Michael stayed home today. Please pray he gets better soon. He is still running a fever. He really doesn't want to miss school. It is hard to make up the work. Chris is still doing fine. John still has a cough. He went to work the whole time he was sick. He is such a hard worker. I really appreciate that about him.

Things have been busy around here. John was sick for about three weeks and is just now starting to get over it. Michael is not feeling well today. So far Chris and I are fine so far. I will post more soon.

Another reason I love my new house. I have always wanted my children to be able to play with neighborhood kids. Unfortunately it wasn't safe in our old neighborhood. They never even got to ride their bikes where we use to live. Here they are living it up. They ride their bikes,go to friends houses,play basketball (we have a cement drive way, I was excited about that,I love basketball),and the newest thing building forts. We have woods behind our house. Doesn't this look like fun?

I love this outfit!

Fishing Fun!

We had a great day today. I took the boys fishing. They had the day off from school. It was a little over cast. Just a gorgeous day to fish. We stopped at the produce stand on the way to the lake and bought cane poles and bait. We also bought chocolate milk, bananas and cinnamon buns to eat. You know the breakfast of champions:) They didn't catch any fish but had a lot of fun trying. As you can see I am really enjoying my new camera.