Harvest Moon

We spent the day on the road today. Over an hour to Fentress County, then an hour back to Cookeville. Refueled got a quick snack then an hour back to Fentress County and over an hour back to Cookeville.  Over 4 hours of driving and we never got more than fifty miles from home. Glad that is over.
Brookelynn has left us today to spend a couple of nights with Ansley. Those two girls don't get many opportunities to spend time together. Thank goodness for fall break.
The Harvest Moon looks really peaceful tonight. I must be getting old to find the moon an interesting sight.

A Productive Friday

Not only did my dad spend an entire day (Monday) of his time to take our bounce house to Alabama, but he volunteered to make the same trip all over again yesterday (Thursday) to pick it up.
Yep, that's my Daddy.  God picked him just for me because He knew just what kind of dad that I would need. Phyllis told me that they were worn out after two trips in one week and I can imagine they are.
This morning, after the kids were safely delivered to school, Stroker and I began our busy day. Let's see if I can remember most of the things that we accomplished today.

• We emptied the enclosed trailer and Stroker swept it out.
• I stripped Devin's bed and washed everything.
• I swept and swiffered Devin's room.
• I cleaned the sliding mirror closet doors in Devin's room.
• Hung new curtains in Devin's room...Wow it must officially be "DEVIN DAY".
• We took my vehicle for an oil change.
• We took Strokers truck to Nissan for a costly brake job.
• I hung a new curtain rod and curtain in the laundry area.
• Got ALL the laundry in the house caught up.
• Stroker and I  had a lunch date at O'Charley's
• I organized my desk.
• We went to dinner at Rib City and it was not good.
• We all screamed for ice cream. So we went out for ice cream cones.

Today was the last day of school for Devin and Brookelynn. They are officially on a two week Fall Break.
Brookelynn asked me if we planned to go anywhere during the break. I asked her if she had forgotten the trip to the Bahamas or the trip to Destin that we have already taken this year.

Oh yeah...how could I forget. I downloaded the Instagram app. on the iPhone. I found several people that I know that already have photo streams. You can follow me there at Pictures_Worth_1000 or just check back here because it will probably be the same photos. LOL

Fall 2012 Has Arrived

Did I mention that last Saturday was the first day of Fall?

Dash celebrated 2 on Sunday. We attended a cow party at his house. It reminded me of Brookelynn's cow birthday party when she turned 2. The weather was beautiful all day on Sunday. It was a perfect day for a backyard party.  John Casen was quite the dare devil. He spent the biggest part of the day going up and down the slide. I believe just about everybody at the party tried out the slide at some point of the day.

Jett enjoyed his piece of cake and ice cream.

 I started the second book in the Hunger Games triligy this week. Catching Fire. It's a good book; however, I just can'f find the time to sit down and devote serious time to reading this week.

Devin went for an IQ test on Monday evening. It was pretty intense. The entire test was about three and a half hours long. When he finally got back home around 8:30, we all jumped in the car and headed to El Tapatio for a late dinner.
Daddy delivered a bounce house to Alabama for me and we sure do appreciate him doing that for us. The entire trip takes a full day and the drive will absolutely wear you out. I always thank God for my daddy. Not everybody gets to have a dad for thirty six years of there life like I have.

Tonight after church, Sterl and Debi joined us for dinner at Cracker Barrel. It turned into another late night (late in our book). It was almost 9:30 when we got back home. We still had showers, blogging and preparations for tomorrow before we could head to bed.

With the weather cooling down and Fall officially began last weekend, Stroker has decided that it is time to set his coffee station back up. This is the last thing he grabs before heading out the door each morning.

iPhone 5 is here

We have put off "smart-phones" for years...literally.  We could possible be the last family on earth still relying on dumb-phones. To be completely honest, my mindset has been that every month I defeat the system by not paying extra $$$ for the fansy smancy phones.
Of course I want the internet at my fingertips, of course I want my email the minute someone sends it, and of course I want to post on my blog while I am on-the-go.  Well, that last one is a bit of a stretch. It's enough work to sit at the computer and post.
Anyway, although all those technology advances would make my life easier too, I have faught the temptations of the costly committment. Until yesterday. Yesterday, the iPhone 5 arrived and Verizon sucked us in by making the iPhone4 FREE.
My thoughts started racing, my lips started moving,  my mouth started speaking and before I realized what had happened, Stroker and I were in the car on our way to the Verizon store.
We were quickly shot down when we found out that we could not use my $50 credit toward the rediculous $30 per phone upgrade fee. We decided to just leave the store and put off the smart phone revolution a little while longer. After all, we had waited this long, why not put it off another year or two.
Between the Verizon door and the car door something came over me and said "go ahead". I know I am not supposed to listen to that voice, but I did. So here we are...Stroker and I are part of the smart phone world.

I am really having mixed emotions about the decision. I love the tools and features but still can't drown out that other voice in my head that keeps telling me how unnecessary these tools really are. I dread the higher bill already. I have always been the type that wants to prove to the world that bigger doesn't mean better. The oversized houses, BMW's, Louis Vuitton bags are not the signs of being successful.
True success (to me) is buying a vehicle without taking out a loan, owning a home without a monthly mortgage payment and feeling good about a $20 purse from TJ Maxx. Those are my goals in life. Not having the latest and greatest gadget.
Wait!...there is that little voice again reminding me that the additional $70 per month/ $840 per year mobile phone bill is only going to push my goal farther away.

Mid Week Ramblings

Wednesday night after church, the pastor stopped Devin to ask if he could do a I.Q. test on him. Devin said okay, but as soon as we got in the car, Devin was proclaiming that he does not want to take this test. We will see how that pans out.
We went to visit my mom this evening after gymnastics. She is feeling a bit better. The antibiotics are beginning to clear out all the chest congestion. We were at her house until around 8pm. Evenings seem to go by so quickly, and now that it is getting dark earlier and earlier every day, it seems like no time till we have every light in the house on and we are getting ready for bed. Mom said that she feels like she is sitting up half the night when it gets dark so early.

My Problem of the Day...

Birthdays and Rainy Days

We had solid rain for over 24 hours on Monday and part of Tuesday. Well, it wasn't solid, because rain is a liquid but you know what I mean. It was constantly falling. There was flooding all over town. My little rednecks even got out in that mess and played. They looked as if they belonged on an episode of "Honey Boo Boo".

Before the rain set in on Monday, we had a nice sunny weekend. Although Stroker's Birthday was Sunday, it somehow seems that Brookelynn has received all the gifts. Just how does that happen?
Well, from the time we remodeled the master bathroom, we have had the intentions of putting in a TV. I want to watch the news and weather as I brush my teeth and comb my hair of the mornings and Stroker likes to keep up with ESPN while he shaves. We already had the cable outlets installed when we were remodeling so we decided to go ahead and take Brookelynn's 19" TV and move it to our bathroom. Don't think for a minute that Brookelynn got the shaft on this deal. She now has a new 32" TV in her bedroom.

Once I get started on something, I keep finding more "improvments" to make. The new TV ended up on Brooke's chest-of-drawers instead of on the wall like her smaller one, but then the furniture looked misplaced with that big TV so we wound up rearranging the entire bedroom (Maleigha...I know what you are thinking). Rearranging the bedroom revealed several scuffs on the walls so I proceeded to touch up the paint in Brooke's room. Eventually, I felt that I had done enough and we proceeded to hang the new bathroom TV.

Brookelynn also had a chorus concert at school last night that we attended. It somehow managed to consume our entire Tuesday evening. Beside's being at school all evening, there was homework, quick dinner, showers and off to bed.  As for Devin, he keeps his gray walls scuff free and there is only one position that the furniture will fit. Devin likes to spend his evenings skateboarding around Cane Creek Park.

First School Dance

We knew that inevitably the time would come that there would be school dances and that boys would ask Brooke to go. That time has arrived. Apparently her daddy taught her to "just say no". When Dalton Distefano (sounds like a character off Days of our Lives) asked Brookelynn to the homecoming dance, she politely declined. So, he asked Brooke's friend Treasure and she accepted. Brookelynn did want to join her friends at the dance and decided a week ago what she would wear.

When I got out my camera this evening, she didn't want to give me a good pose and started out being silly.

 Eventually, she decided that I was not giving up...so she might as well give me what I wanted.

 And here is the reason that we do not waste time on pageants...

With beauty like this, it just wouldn't be fair to the other contestants.

Welcoming Fall 2012

So inspired lately…. and yet feeling un-inspired when it comes to blog posting.
I guess I’m in a rut. I’m sorry for all the negligence.
I’m a little intimidated by the idea of sharing *too much*. Our lives, beautiful as they are, belong to us. These everyday moments are precious. I’ve not ever come close to sharing them all… just enough.
Enough for you to gather that we love God, love life, and love one another.
There are only a handful of you that can log in and read my blog posts these days. This blog is, in a very big way, a journal of sorts, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that I want my journal all over the Internet.
And even though I don’t want to share it ALL…. I want to share LOTS of the good stuff. because it’s a testimony to how wonderful our God is and what big and beautiful things he can accomplish in everyday moments.

Here are a few snapshots from the Hayes House over the last 10 days.

Dash enjoying the bounce house while Jett plays t-ball at his game.

I busted Devin and Brookelynn getting along with each other and spending quality time together.

 The reaction I got when they busted me taking photos.

"Drop the bat!...Drop the bat!" is all I could hear.

 Brookelynn and I planted mums in the flower pots, planted pansies in the window baskets and trimmed up the nandina shrubs to get ready for fall. 

Here is the front door lettering that I was posting about last week.

I didn't mean to fall behind with our "Happenings", time just got away. My intentions are to get back on track with my postings. We will see how that goes.

Labor Day Weekend

The weather forecast this weekend has been terrible. Not what you hope for on a long 3 day holiday weekend; but we have to take what we get. I hoped (prayed) for good weather and God graced us by holding off the rain until tonight after 6:00.  Our business that we had scheduled for the weekend got nervous about the forecast and cancelled early, but we wound up with blue skies for 95% of the weekend.
Brookelynn and I headed to Cane Creek Park yesterday for a walk around the lake. We ended up right in the middle of the "Mud Run". Those people looked as if they were having a good time, but I cannot imagine having to take part in such a mess. In one section of the race, the participants had to trudge across a section of the lake. The air smelled disgusting and if you looked into the water, you could see why. A large half decomposed fish was floating beside the track. Brookelynn enjoyed watching the action while we walked along the dry, paved trail.
Later yesterday afternoon, we went to my sisters and played with Matasia, Zander, and John Casen for about an hour. Paradise came over to our house around 3:30 while Mildred and Nan headed to KY to play Bingo. Stroker kicked back and watched the first Michigan game of the season. I watched a couple of good chic flicks about romance, love and all that other mushy stuff.
Today we had our church Labor Day picnic. That is where we were when the rain finally set in. We ate good and had fellowship time with our church family before we gave in to the rain and called it a day.
Brookelynn has a friend over tonight for a sleep over. Lucky for us, it is a friend that likes to go to bed around 10pm