Cup holder!! Sorry if this offends. I found this picture online. It cracked me up! Yes, I am still up!

Pretty Puppy

I am still up and thought I would try Picasa for uploading my pictures.

Happy puppy with her bling!




My $7.00 treasures from Walmart.


Resting


Stump burning and dinner.




Flowers from my sweetie!



I can't sleep so I thought I would blog. We get up at 5:00 every morning and this morning after everyone left I fell back a sleep. Now I know I can't let that happen again. It is now 10:45 and I can't sleep. Tomorrow will not be fun getting up. We have had our ups and downs lately. The boys are enjoying school and are doing well. The house is still not sold yet. We were told the other day it will take a month more. Please continue to pray for the sale of the house. We still have a buyer so praise the Lord! John's work is going well. I have been cleaning houses and taking care of Joy. I do love my schedule. Tonight John took me to Walmart. I got a real bargain on some craft stuff. All of it for $7.00. We have enjoyed talking about what we will do to the house when we get the money. It is fun to dream. In November we hope to go to see my parents. They have moved from Mexico to Alabama. Their new house sounds so nice. I can't wait to see it.

Check out Ben and Gina's blog. Gina had her baby!

Just remember........if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
This just cracked me up!

John took Friday off so we could have another family day. We had a great time! We went to this bakery(Bruno's gourmet kitchen) that we heard wonderful things about. It was good. We then went to some yard sales. I found some prizes for my Sunday school class. I also found a cute cabinet for my bathroom. As you can see from the pictures of the bathroom I am not done painting it yet. The boys found a tiny pool table. Chris had a lot of fun playing with John. Today we FINISHED fixing the list of items on our old house from the inspection. I am soooo happy about getting it done. Now we have to get the FHA inspection done. It should be no problem passing it. We are not sure when the new date for closing is yet. Our realtor said it would only be slightly delayed. Our original closing date was Sept. 9th. We are definitely feeling much less pressure and stress. Soon when we get money from the sale of the old house we will be able to focus on our new house and get things done in it. Life is good.

We had a great day!

We had a great time today. We went to DeLeon Springs and ate breakfast at the Sugar Mill. John and the boys cooked the pancakes while I sat back and watched. We swam for a while. On the way home we stopped at a few thrift stores. I found a light weight blanket for my bed for $1.99. Then for lunch we ate at ElPotro.

We were told yesterday that the buyer for our home is going through a new lender. That means it will take longer to close. At first I was a little upset but it does give us extra time to get things done that are on the inspector's list. Also timing wise we still would have had to make the extra payment with the earlier closing date. I have not heard yet when the closing will be. So, more waiting. Hopefully all this will work out this time. Please pray that we will not get discouraged. The boys got their schedules yesterday. They ended up in the same p.e. class. I thought that was cool. They were excited about it. They will catch the school bus at 5:57 am. That means they will have to get up at 5:00 am. I told them I would drive them in the morning but they want to ride the bus. I got them a few new clothes for school yesterday. It is so nice to not have to buy uniforms. They were so exspensive. I am fortunate too that my boys are easily pleased with clothes. They don't have to have the brand names. I do try to find brand names at thrift stores and Ross. I think we are all set for school. I will take some pictures of them on their first day before they leave for school. Tomorrow John is going to take the day off so we can go to the springs and play. We are very excited about having a family day of fun. Thank you for all your prayers.

I felt like my old self today. I got up early and went and cleaned a house. We are still trying to work through all the house selling stuff. Please continue to pray for us. Tomorrow John , the boys, and his dad will go work on the old house. That means me all alone in this house. It will be nice to get things cleaned up around here without anyone in the way.

Michael's Birthday pictures

Here are some pictures from Michael's birthday. They are out of order. As you can see we had a great time. The picture of John on his back is when he was resting up before the party:) Chris made the birthday cake for Michael.

How do you like my new look? Please leave a comment. I can't decide if I liked it better before. I was trying to go for a more cheerful look.

I am feeling so much better today. Thank you for your sweet comments. Today Michael is 16 years old. I can't believe how time has flown by. I am so very proud of him. He is turning into a wonderful young man. I will post some birthday pictures later. Tonight we are taking him to Walmart to pick out a bike. I am making him lasagna. Grandpa and grandma will come over later for some cake. It should be a nice evening.

I have been under the weather since Sunday night. My fever broke this morning. Now all I need is for the stomach ache to go away. We got the list of repairs that needs to be done on our old house. The inspector was real tough on us. John got a bunch done last Saturday. On Sunday we also got some done. We have until the 17th to complete the list. John tried to go to the house after work yesterday but ended up be called back to work for some problem. We are a bit overwhelmed. John told me he wished he had gotten sick so he could take a break. Poor guy. I told him let me get better then he can get sick and I will take care of him. I think he is going to try to take a few days off. He really needs to.

Merry Christmas

I had to have some fun today. The news is so depressing. Life can be depressing. So, the boys and I (including Nathan) made cupcakes and decorated them. While watching Christmas movies. I love Christmas it always puts me in a good mood.We had a great time today. Nathan even put on his Christmas hat! When John and I were first married and having a hard time we would have little Christmas parties. It didn't matter what time of year. We would set up a small tree, listen to Christmas music, and eat snack food. It does put you in a better mood.

THE WELL IS FIXED !!

Check out the link below. I am so thankful all went well. John and I pulled the well. His dad helped put it back in. Thank you so much dad!

Check out our well pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/sparkdoc/BrendleSWell02

Reasons why I love my house

I needed to remind myself. I am thankful for my new home. We will be pulling the well tomorrow. I will take pictures of the project. It should be interesting. Isn't my house nice! The area is so quiet! I love all the big trees.

Life has been a bit rough around here lately. The people who were going to buy our home backed out. We do have another buyer though. We will not close on the house till Sept. 9th. So, that means no vacation like we hoped. We are trying to make the best of it and are very thankful that we have another buyer. We have had to make the double payment. We know that God knows our needs and is in control. Last night I went to take a bath and had no water. We have discovered we have well problems. We are not sure yet how to fix it. We do have water now but have to shut the breaker off after we use it to keep the motor from running all the time and burning up. Sorry to sound so pathetic. Please pray for us.

Today I had a lot of fun. I spent the day at Evelyn's. We played Settler's of Cattan. She beat me two games to one. When I got home John was home. He needed to run to the office. So, I rode with him. After the office we had a date. We ate at El Potro. They have a very nice Mexican buffet there. Then we walked around Walmart. The Walmart here is better than the one in Orlando. It is not near as crowded. We hope to close on our house on the 3oth. God is definitely teaching us patience. On Wednesdays I will be taking care of a handicapped man. He is 32 years old and has schizophrenia. (John had to Google the spelling of that there is no way I would know how to spell it) He also has some learning disabilities. He is on medication and functions very well. He can read, count money, bowl, clean , and order things from a menu. I am sure he can do more than this. This is just what I observed. When he has an off day he will stay home with his mom. His mom is a real sweet heart(I think she may be a Christian). He is also very nice. Two days out of the month we will be at his house with his mom. Those two days he cleans and I supervise. The other two days we will go bowling, to the movies, shopping, or the library. I think this will be a very nice job. I think my schedule is full enough now. I will be working 14-16 hours a week. One day out of the week I will clean a house (I only have two cleaning jobs now Darla moved and so did Pat) ,one day I have Joy for five hours, one day I will take care of Ron for four hours, and one day I have Bible study. One of the cleaning jobs I can do after the Bible study. The cleaning jobs are every other week so it works out nice to have just one a week. I love that I can get my work done before the kids get home. God is good! I have not enrolled the kids in school yet. I am waiting for my new driver's license to come in the mail. In order to get my homestead exemption I need a driver's license with the correct address. To enroll the kids I either need a copy of the deed or homestead. I need to apply for homestead for next year any way. I decided to go with that. It costs to get a copy of your deed any way. Please pray for us that all of this will work out soon. It would be wonderful to close on the house and get the kids enrolled. After we close on the house we will go to visit Darla and Henry in Tenn. for a vacation. I can't wait. We are so ready!

Tonight we tore down the mini bar between our kitchen and living room. We will need to replace the tile under the bar. I am very pleased with my new table I found. I have always dreamed of big Thanksgiving meals with plenty of room to sit. I am so excited.

Sorry for not posting in a while. John's dad is great he got my laptop up and running. Thank you dad! We did not close today like we hoped. They want an extension till the 30th. I hate waiting. We have bought a few new things for the living room. John picked out the mirror over the tv stand(the mirror is gold colored not white). I picked out the picture over the sofa. I found the chairs and the end table at a thrift store. I found a dinning room table today that we will pick up tomorrow. I will post pictures of it soon. It is still a work in progress. Just ignore the extra junk you see in the pictures. I realized after I took the pictures there was stuff next to the chair. Oh well, I am tired I had a house cleaning job today. John is still working the long hours at least till Wed. One of the foreman decided he didn't want to be a foreman. So John is finishing his job that is way behind. That has been a bummer. We are enjoying the peace and quiet of

our new neighborhood. I am so thankful. I love my new house.

We have had a fun couple of days. Tuesday night John, the kids and I went to the mall to walk around. We also went to World Market where I found some real nice curtains for the french doors. We ended the evening with watching Fly Boys. It was a pretty good movie. Yesterday we spent with John's parents. We had a blast. They came over for lunch. Then we played a game of Settler's of Catan. Which I won. That's always fun. We watched some tv on their projector and ate nachos for dinner.The evening ended with a soak in the hot tub. I have to say I feel like a spoiled rich girl when I soak in the hot tub. I am so glad John was able to fix the hot tub so easily. It had a few bad electrical connections. We have a very pretty view from the tub. In one direction is a bunch of beautiful trees. If you look the other way there is a fountain that lights up at night. Can you tell we are loving it here. The peace and quiet is so wonderful. The closing on the other house is still a go for July 16th. It would be so wonderful if it all went smooth. We don't have to make our first payment on this house till Aug.6th. That means if all goes well we won't have to make a double payment at all. Thank you for all your prayers. They mean so much to us.

I don't function well in a mess! I have been working hard on unpacking. I am sorry I don't have any pictures of the house yet but will take some soon. My wireless router isn't working for some reason. So I am sitting at the desk working on this. I have gotten so spoiled with the lap top. This morning I had to use dial up to go online to pay my bills. Three hours later it was done. I am so glad John got the dsl working. I am sure I will love the house when we get it fixed up but right now it is a little overwhelming. We keep finding things that need to be fixed. John tried to hook up the washing machine tonight and was not able to because of a problem with the pipes. To quote a Friends line "I need to get out of the bitter barn and play in the hay". I am really enjoying the peace and quiet. The kids love being able to play in the neighborhood.
Some great news we got is we have a buyer for our house! They want to close on July 16th. Please pray that all goes well.

We now own two homes. Don't we sound rich? I wish. I still haven't heard anything about the offer from the couple. Hopefully we will hear soon. I am dying of curiosity. The closing went well. We will be getting three hundred dollars back. That is nice. Every little bit helps. Also our mortgage payments were fifty dollars less than we expected. That was a nice surprise. We appreciate all your encouragement and your prayers. Thank you!

Today we close on the house at 5:00. Last night my realtor called and said that the people that came by yesterday are preparing an offer. The realtor said it would be a unique offer. I asked her what that meant. She said she would just have to wait and see. She didn't know what it meant either. So, we are playing the waiting game on that. I will post as soon as I know something. I am very excited about getting an offer. Oh, I forgot to say the realtor said it would be our full asking price.

A family came and looked at the house today. The husband and son were sold on it. The wife was a little hesitant. She thought it was smaller than the place they looked at before. The realtor was quick to point out that it had more square footage. On the way out I overheard them talking about the paper work. Oh, I hope the house sells. It would take so much pressure off of John and I. The closing costs were higher than we expected. We know God knows our needs. Please pray that all works out. Closing day is tomorrow. I will have Joy till late Saturday night. John might have to work on Saturday. I am glad we planned to move on the 23rd instead of this weekend. I will be so glad to get past the next couple of weeks.

I am going stir crazy. Tonight I did get out of the house. I couldn't take it any longer. It had been five days since I left the house. Even the kids who don't usually want to shop went with me while John watched Joy. We went to Target. My goal was to get chocolate and energy drinks for John. I found chocolate on sale! On the way home we stopped at the video store. I rented Breach. It was not very good but we enjoyed the chocolate very much. I still have John's shed to pack. Maybe he will help me tackle that this weekend. Friday is the closing. I can't wait to get that over with. Please continue to pray for the sale of our house.

I can't wait to move! It is not even 10:00 in the morning and they have their music blasting. Wait, now it is stopped. I thought it might have stopped earlier but no they were just picking out another song. Nice, it is quiet now. I feel sorry for the people in my neighborhood. Children run up and down the street with no parents watching them. Across the street the house that was rented out has fourteen children and three adults. It is three families. How sad is that. I have talked to some of my neighbors but to be honest some of them just scare me. Sorry to sound so depressing but it just saddens me at times.
On a lighter note John is done with his job. I am so happy! He will get Saturday off. Things are going well with Joy. Last night I gave her a bath. She is content watching Friends right now. Yes. I have warped her. Friends never gets old! The kids have been playing video games most of the day. Maybe today I will get more physical work done. Yesterday I did make a lot of phone calls and did some paper work.

Things worked out well with the survey paper. I talked to the title company this morning it is not a problem. She received our fax and it looks like we are a go for closing on Friday at 5:00. Yesterday was fun but I think I ate to many bad foods. Today I will behave so I can feel better. It is wonderful to see how the Lord is working things out. On Sunday our realtor ran an ad in the paper. Hopefully that will generate some more people coming out to see the house. We haven't had anyone looking for about two weeks. Hopefully once they work out the property tax issue people won't be so leery about buying. It is terrible I just don't feel motivated to do anything today. I need to tackle John's shed but am afraid. John is a wonderful husband but when it comes to keeping things clean he is lacking. He told me he uses up all his organizational skills at work. You got to love him! Well, I really should try to accomplish some yard work,packing,and the dreaded painting. Now I am stalling. Gotta go!

I am sitting here on my sofa. For breakfast John got me cinnamon rolls. Right now I have pizza and a diet Pepsi. I just order the Queen on pay per view. Today is my birthday that's why I am so spoiled. Life is grand!

Today was pleasant. I got a little house work done and took time to get some rest. I just got a email that my title company sent with a form to sign. It was sent on Wed. but was delayed for some reason. It was an agreement for a surveyor to come to our new house. Hopefully if I fax it on Monday it will be able to get done in time for closing on Friday. I tried to call the Title office but it was closed today so I sent an email back. I will call them first thing Monday morning. Please pray this all works out.

Today was a very productive day. More painting got done. I brought Joy home with me today. I will have her till the 16th. I plan to get some rest tomorrow. I have been going strong all week. We plan on staying home on Sunday. I am not comfortable taking Joy to church yet. Besides, we need to stay home and get some rest. John will hopefully be done with his job by Monday. He will have to go back to it a few more times to do the punch list. At least he won't be working ten hour days and Saturdays. I am hoping that tomorrow will be the last Saturday for a while. That will be sooo nice!

We got a lot accomplished today. I am very pleased. The boys have been such good workers(Nathan included)! Tomorrow I will try my hand at removing wallpaper. All the paperwork is in order for the closing on June 15th. Please continue to pray for the sale of our home. On Sunday Coldwell Banker will have a listing of our house in the paper. I will get Joy tomorrow. I will be watching her for a little over a week. While I have Joy I will finish the packing and do some painting on this house. I am thankful that God has given me the strength and good health to get things done.

Painting,painting,and more painting

So I hate popcorn ceilings. Painting them in particular. The new ceilings are cathedral ones.(living room only thankfully).The other ceilings are popcorn ceilings though. My arms feel like they are going to fall off. Dawn, Rebekah, and Elizabeth came over and helped me paint. It was very nice of them. I will keep painting the rest of the week. I will post some pictures of the house soon.

Restful Day:)

Today was a nice restful day. I had a great time playing Phase 10 with Evelyn. Jonathan and Michael both passed their drug and alcohol course they had to take before they get their learner's permit. I will have Michael wait to get his learner's permit till we move to Seminole county. In the mean time he can study more. I am looking forward to sitting in the main service at church. During the summer the Sunday school teachers take a break. John is on his way home from work with chocolate! Tomorrow afternoon we will probably just veg. I am ready to spend the rest of the weekend with John.

Today I cleaned Pat's house. After that I came home and packed a bunch more boxes. Tomorrow Michael goes to the drug and alcohol course required to get your learners permit. Johnathan is taking the class too. That means I get to spend the day playing board games with Evelyn. I worked hard today so that I can take a break tomorrow. John has to work tomorrow. His job is scheduled to be finished June 11th. I will be so glad when he is done. Things should slow down some. Hopefully he won't have to do so much overtime. The money is nice but I sure miss him. We will be closing on the new house June 15th. The week after that I will go in and paint the house. Then that next weekend we will move in. John's boss told him to take a week off after his job finishes so he can get the new house ready. We have some projects to do there. Please continue to pray for the sale of our home. That it is for now. I am going to veg and watch a movie.

I have to brag on my boys. They did a wonderful job in helping me clean today. Some girls some day will be lucky to have them. We got more boxes today so I packed everything but the bare essentials in my kitchen. The mound of boxes is getting very high. No lookers at the house today but hopefully soon. I think it will really help once we get our stuff out. Thanks so much for all your prayers.