Roadside chairs

Before




During (nice thumb!)



After


Oh so cute!!

Owls

Before


After


I like them a plain color however they either need to go bold or the wall does. Thinking about it as the bath was to be purple and in an effort to not go too dark I went way too light. Hum. To repaint or not to repaint...

Spelling Bee...

Angela made it to the school wide spelling bee for her middle school.
She was one of 20 students out of the roughly 675 students in the school
who made the cut.
I took time off to go and watch and wouldn't you know it, I left my
phone in the car, so NO pictures!! She was normal Angela on stage with
a nice yellow number 14 hung around her neck :)
She made it to the 4th or 5th round (I would have been out LONG before
then, let me tell you!) and was one of about 10 students left... then
the word came: Acquired - or some form there-of. Now the rules are a
bit strict, once a letter is uttered, it can not be taken back and you
could see it register as Angela muttered A... Q... (awh, crap!) - yep,
missed that pescky C in there! Bummer.
Her best friend Gracie was down to 1 of 5 students left and was given
the word fuedal. Yes, you are reading that correctly - not futile -
which, by the way, she spelled perfectly! I would have missed that one
for sure as well.
All in all a very entertaining morning in a middle school cafeteria. :)

WHOOOO???

This is who came to watch me hot tub tonight :)  I was sitting in the tub thinking "is that an owl?" I had been in for a bit and kept hearing him call, so I switched positions (and kept the bubblers off) and watched for him.  Had it not been for a couple of mocking birds giving him heck, I would have never found him!
I hollered in the house for Liz to bring them camera and see how close she could get to him... he was actually in a neighbors tree one house over, but had a very nice view towards us and apparently towoards the street and houses to the west of us.  He stayed there hooting on occassion to a buddy in the trees to the north.  When he finally took off, I would guess his wingspan was close to 6' - BIG guy!

More Christmas

Look - proof that I DO exist!  I'm not always behind the camera.  Thanks to David and Laura for the fun Texmas ornaments for the tree!  I got some nice LARGE silver stars and silver pine cones to put these with one year for a down home Christmas feel ;)  should make for a pretty tree.

I also got a new iPad and the security system I have been wanting for a while now.  Two of the four cameras are in operation much to Butch's delight - he's constantly flipping the TV over to see it!  ha!

 Christmas Dinner all set and ready to go!

(left to right: Liz, Sally, Butch, Me, Dad and Angela - mom is taking the picture)

 Looks like Lizzie is getting into the good stuff... she's not, it's the sparkling cider they so love during the holidays!  ha!

Christmas 2012

This Christmas was a "stay at home" Christmas and I'm afraid I took it way too much to heart.  I don't think I left the house with the exceptions of two outings.  Really.  I read and puttered around the house and read some more.  I managed to finish two books and get well into the third and if all goes as planned tonight, I may just make it all the way through book three and start into book FOUR!
I know, I know... get out of the house.  Nope.. thanks, enjoying my time at home sleeping in and being a total bum!!

Oh, and we discovered, or should I say, rediscovered puzzles.  Butch was even caught in the act.  I think I'm the only one who didn't sit down and really work on the puzzle :)

Traditions carry on and each child gets to open ONE present on Christmas Eve.  Angela got a neat air brush set from Grandma - she has had such fun with this!!

 Liz chose to open one from her friend (yes, just friend; and no, not gay!) Alec

The tree after Santa came to visit

 Angie was the first up... tried out her bike - varrroooom!!!

 Liz loved the cute light up bag that grandma gave each of them!

 Grandma got a nice new back scratcher... ah, nothing beats a good back scratch!!

 The last few pics of Elizabet were of her trying to get her new ipod out of the box - it was taped into a shoe box with little jingle bells inside... then she finally got it untaped off the bottom to discover it was GREEN!!

 Black Friday shopping WITH kids puts a damper on giving for Christmas, so Grandma wrapped the headphone box - to the headphones Angie has been using since she got them "early for Christmas" - hahaha - love it!

 It's a Dr. Who Christmas at our house!

 Playing push the dummy with Grandpa.  My camera was horrible against the light - I hope someone shares their pictures with me so I can get a good one going.  I'll try to photoshop these two - once I get photo shop loaded back on this computer!

 How we REALLY spent our vacation :)

 Pretty full moon right after Christmas!

Bye Bye Blackbird

Butch is unfamiliar with blackbird ribbons through the sky.  Apparently northern Florida coastal areas never witness them

To be honest I don't think we've been in their flight pattern really well until this year.  and that's saying a lot as we've been here ELEVEN years now.
can you believe it?  Two more and this will be the LONGEST I have lived in one spot since 15. 
Wow there's a weird statement. 4 years old and 13 year is my longevity for a single location. 
Yep, built for a nomadic life.

Elizabeth's Christmas Concert

Yes that is her with her hair across her face. Glad I didn't remember the good camera! Wouldn't have done any good. Sigh.


We did get a good photo with Santa, however.


And this goes to show you're NEVER too old for Santa :)

Christmas!

The house is all lit up!





Burr. Georgia version if icicles...ha!!

OMG, I'm dead....

Donna Marie Autrey

Obituary WINSTON-SALEM — Mrs. Donna Marie Robbins Autrey, 57, passed away Wednesday, June 27, 2007. A graveside service will be conducted 2 p.m. Sunday, July 1, at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens by Brother Paul Autry. She was born June 6, 1950, in Forsyth Co., to the late Herman Louis and Patsy Smith Robbins. Donna was a very loving wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, and aunt. She loved singing, riding motorcycles, and horses. But most of all she loved her family dearly. OK, so it's not me, but I was doing a search and wondering just what people would find under my name - shocking to see I had an obituary to the "T" on my maiden name!! Great news, I'm still alive - bad news, a lot of folks I wouldn't have suspected to be dead at our age are dead.  Sad, I found out Tim Foster (from Missouri in the late 80s) has passed away - 10 days after his 47th birthday... that's just not right.

debate, debate, debate....

YOUR VACATION:            India's Golden Triangle $1,569.00 per person, twin occupancy

DEPARTURE DATE:           21-Jan-2013          

VACATION START DATE:               22-Jan-2013          

ROOM TYPES:  ROOM 1 - SINGLE ROOM RATE

1 ADULT  $1,569.00 + $820.00 = $2,389.00             

                               

YOUR SELECTED HOTELS                               

Delhi: Park Plaza New Delhi Hari Nagar

Agra: Hotel Clarks Shiraz

Jaipur: Clarks Amer

Delhi: Park Plaza New Delhi Hari Nagar   (Included)

               

DEPARTURE DATE:           21-Jan-2013

RETURN DATE:  30-Jan-2013

DEPARTING FROM:         Atlanta, GA

AIR TAXES/FEES:  $1,443.00

 

YOUR PACKAGE PRICE:  $4,051.00

 

So….the only depressing thing (besides the actual price) is the fact that there is an eight HUNDRED single surcharge for this trip…yes, HUNDRED… almost a thousand dollars just because I will go solo.  Really – I need someone to go with me…

 

                                                               

 

 

Christmas is starting to take shape

I found a tree finally!! I got a nice one at Hobby Lobby - love that store...

 Fluff girls, FLUFF!!!

 almost there!!!

TA DA - full height up and ready.... 

 Lights and no stars...

 Angela she SO wanted to put on the star....

 PRETTY with the LARGE red balls from Italy that I picked up on our last trip

 Not sure why this one looks so yellow, but it's a pretty tree!

Liz looking through the "delicate" box of ornaments.