A Day On The Lake

One of the women that Junior works with was telling him about a fishing tournament that is coming up in April. It is a family tournament, where the kids do the fishing. There will be trophies up for grabs, and I know my kids would love to win one. The only problem is that you have to have a boat.

When Junior told this lady that we didn't have a boat, she offered him the use of her pontoon for that day. She said she trusts him, and knows that he will take good care of it. It's nothing like Fractional Sailing, but I am sure the kids and I will enjoy a day out on the lake. I told Junior my only condition is that he has to wear a life jacket the entire time he is on the boat.

You see, he doesn't know how to swim. I grew up in the water, and consider myself an excellent swimmer. If I happen to fall overboard, I can get back on the boat myself. If Junior goes over, he would drown. Of course, the kids would have on life jackets, too. That is the only way I will feel safe.

I just hope we can catch enough fish to win a trophy for the kids.

Carvings

The last time we went fishing, I noticed this tree.

How romantic is that! I have never before seen a tree with initials carved into it. I always thought this was something that only happened in the movies. It made me wonder who RS and BA are, and how their initials ended up on this tree. Were they on a date, when suddenly one of them whipped out a knife and carved his, or her, endearment into this tree? Is this the markings of someone who loves another from afar? There are so many possibilities, and I am certain I will never know the truth. This kind of makes it even more romantic for me.

I wanted to see if any other trees held initials, and almost fell over when I saw this:

Do you see the JW? Those are my initials! The funny thing is, as you can tell, whoever did this was too lazy to actually carve the initials into the tree. They used a red magic marker!

The RW wasn't there when I found it. Ryan carved his own initials into this tree.

I kept looking around at the trees, hoping to find something else. I thought maybe I would find a carving by ted murphy or something.

No such luck. But I did find something even better:

Can you see the "I heart M"? This was Brandi's attempt to carve I Heart Mom.

How sweet is she?

An Awesome Weekend

I love weekends spent with family.

Yesterday we did the fun day at Junior's work, and then the girls and I had dinner and played games with my mom and Colleen, my sister. While we were at Colleens we video chatted with my sister Tami, and I finally got to see baby Jake, who, by the way, is a cutie!

Then today we took the kids fishing. We all caught something, except Junior, who spent the day making sure Brandi was catching fish. Catfish were biting like crazy, and they were huge, at least to us. The one in the picture was my first fish. I think by the end of the day I had three, one of which I let Brandi reel in. She was so proud of herself landing a big fish.

We have a busy night tomorrow, too. We are going to my dad's church for some Fall fun and games. This weekend is going to be busy, too. We have lots of trick or treating planned. The past few years a local church has had a small carnival on Halloween, and I am hoping they are doing the same this year. I want the kids to ride the rides for a while before it gets dark, and then we are going to do the door to door thing.

Fun!!!

Fishing With Mom

Yesterday morning, we went fishing with my mom. Junior came, too, but ended up napping in the van most of the time. That didn't matter to us, though. We had a great time. The weather was perfect...not too hot with a nice breeze. AS you can see, the girls were happy to be fishing, and the fish were biting.

Ryan likes to fish on the bottom of the lake, and it wasn't long before he caught a pretty good sized fish. I wish this picture came out better, but you can see the size of the fish.

A little while later, Kasi caught a big one, too.

Here is where my heart melted just a little. Ryan hooked another fish, and when he was sure it was on the line good, he handed his fishing poll to Brandi and let her reel it in. She was excited to catch a big fish, too. I was proud that Ryan loves his sister enough to do that for her.

My mom and I were catching the little ones, but we didn't care. It's fun to catch fish after fish. I think I ended up with 12, and mom had 6, or maybe it was five. I don't remember numbers, but I do know that I caught way more than she did!

All in all it was a great few hours.

I Got Bit!

Okay, no laughing! Seriously, promise me you won't laugh! Okay...did you promise?

Friday, Brandi and I were relaxing on my float. We had our arms and heads on the float...the rest of our bodies were hanging in the water.

All of a sudden, something in the water bit my neck! Junior said it was a fish. I have never been bitten before. I started screaming, and ran to shore, with Brandi about two feet ahead of me. As soon as i said something bit me, she took off!

By the time we made it to shore, we were laughing, but man, did that hurt!
You can kind of see it in the picture above, or you can really see it here:Nice, right? lol!

Ready To Go

We just finished getting everything we need for our camping trip. I am glad we were able to finish shopping this week...I like being prepared. The only thing now is the food, and we need to wait to do that. I am getting so excited!

Junior is looking forward to fishing all night. Last time we went here, the catfish bit better after dark. Ryan caught a huge one, and Kasi and Brandi both want to catch on this year. I'm hoping they do, although Brandi has a tendency to get bored and lay her rod down. We have lost several to the fish that way.

I might have to tape the rod to her hand this time! lol!

We Went Fishing

We left the house this morning around nine thirty, and headed for the lake. After about three hours, I was ready to head home. It was nice when we got there, but after a while it got HOT! Of course, I got yet another sunburn. One of these days I will but some sunblock.

I put up some pictures from today on my picture blog. Go check them out.

Fishing, The Kid Way

Brandi convinced Junior to let her go under the bridge to fish with Ryan. He fixed her up an old winnie the pooh fishing pole so it would be easier to cast. They were down there for about an hour, and they had a ball. Ryan caught a little fish, and Brandi caught something bigger: Kasi. As you can see, Kasi is not in the picture, because she was keeping away from Brandi's hook.

We Caught Fish!

I took today off from all this computer craziness, and we went fishing. We went to a lake we hadn't been to in a while, Lake Cherokee. The ducks were friendly, and the fish were biting. I posted all the pictures here if you want to check them out. It was wonderful spending the day with my little family.

Last night Junior and Ryan went to their normal fishing spot on Lake Blalock, and Ryan caught the first catfish of the year. Of course, because I wasn't there, I have no picture to show you. I really need to get Junior in the habit of taking the camera when they go. Not my new pretty purple one...the old one. I don't want mine accidentally ending up in the lake. I know how those two can be!

Everglades Fishing

Have you ever been Everglades Fishing? My family loves to fish, but I don't think we've ever been Everglades fishing. I think it might be scary to go Everglades fishing, because there are gators in the Everglades, right? And that might make Everglades fishing a little too dangerous for me. Of course, my husband might be excited to go Everglades fishing, because he likes a challenge. I wouldn't let him take the kids Everglades fishing. He could go with his friends, though. I wouldn't worry about them Everglade fishing, because they can handle themselves. Of course, if they start drinking there's no telling what could happen while they are Everglades fishing. Luckily Junior stopped drinking years ago, so maybe he would be the lookout if they go Everglade's fishing. You know, he could be the one responsible for spotting the gators before they make a meal out of them. That would be one very funny Everglades fishing trip. I better make sure they pack the video camera!

Swings, Fish And Ducks

We had such a great day today as a family. We went to the lake, and hubby fished while the kids played on the playground. Ryan fished a little, but it was kinda cold and the fish just weren't biting. The ducks came over, so the kids threw some crackers out. I got one of them to eat right out of my hand. Brandi tried, too, but ran and screamed when it got too close. I asked her how it was supposed to eat out of her hand if she ran away, and she just laughed. Silly girl!

I Am Such A Schmuck

My doctors appointment wasn't today. It's on the 15th. I have no idea why I thought it was today. I'm just glad I checked the card to see what time the appointment was and realized that it said wednesday, not friday. Hubby took today off and everything. So hopefully when the kids get home, if it's not raining, we are going to go fishing. Hubby went two nights this week, and caught two big catfish, both over 5 pounds. I want to catch a big fish, so maybe I'll get lucky tonight. (not THAT kind of lucky...I mean catch a fish! lol)

My Biggest Bass Ever

I wanted to go fishing this morning, so off we went. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I figured I'd just be sitting on the bank anyway. So we're sitting there for a couple of hours, and not even a nibble. The kids are catching little ones, but that was about it. So Junior decides to go in the woods to the other side and see if the fish are biting over there. After a few minutes, I reel my line in and cast where I want to. Junior had been telling me to cast in one spot all morning, and I wanted to try something different. And guess what?

This is my fish! Isn't it a pretty bass?! I caught it all by myself. As I'm reeling it in, I'm yelling for Junior to get his butt back out of the woods, because once I get it on shore, I don't like touching it. Once Junior gets it off the hook, I 'll throw it back in, which I did, but I don't like having to get it off the hook myself.

This is Brandi's fish. She caught a bunch. So did Ryan. After the first 5 fish, we stop counting. They probably caught about 10 or so combined. All in all it was a very relaxing and fun morning.I spoke to Colleen and me and Boo are going to go to Wal-Mart with her and Carson in a little while, so I need to go get in the shower. Until next time....

Home, Safe And Sound

What a great weekend! We all had so much fun. We ended up going to Lake Greenwood State Park. I actually found time to write while there, so I will share it.Saturday12:30 pmWe arrived around 7:30 a.m. after driving for a couple of hours. We sent up the tents. Our campsite was pretty far from the water, but we had good shade and it was right across form the bathroom. Junior's friend lent us the big tent, and we slept in there. Colleen and Mike lent us the small one, and we used it for storage. We loaded up the car for fishing and went to the lake. Brandi caught the first fish. She and I walked down to check out the beach. It was okay. No lifeguard, so it was "swim at your own risk". I am a good swimmer so I wasn't concerned. After fishing for a while, we went back to camp for lunch. That's where I am right now. Sitting in the tent, listening to the rain, and wanting to take a nap.8:30 pmI took a nap. The rain stopped so we took the kids swimming. As we were getting ready to go, Junior was looking for cup to pour ice and soda in. I didn't bring any. So this is for you, Jeff Foxworthy...You might be a redneck if you cut the top off a pepsi bottle to make it a cup!Junior did, and used it the rest of the day. The kids had fun swimming. I waded in up to my knees. While I did have my bathing suit on, the shorts I was wearing were not coming off. It was a HUGE step for me to take my shirt off. Baby steps.........Anyway, we came back to camp for supper around 6:30. I grilled hot dogs. Yummy! Junior and Ryan just left to go fishing again. Brandi wanted to go to bed, so me and the girls stayed behind. I'm sitting here in the peace and quiet. It's wonderful! Listening to the birds, watching the squirrels play. Hoping there are no spiders in the tent!!!!Sunday7 amI've been up a while. It's a beautiful morning. The kids and Junior are still sleeping. The guys didn't get back last night until almost midnight. Ryan caught about a 2lb. catfish. GO RY!!Today we have a few things we want to try and do. Fish, of course, swim, go shopping for groceries to make supper, try to change camp sites.I really can't remember the last time I've felt so relaxed. We have no schedule ~ no obligations! It's great. 5 pmI'm grilling burgers for supper. We switched camp sites. We moved to one right on the water. I've shed my "I'm too fat, no one will ever see me in a bathing suit" mentality, and have had a wonderful day with the kids!!! We swam in the lake, fished, and just hung out. Me and the kids sat in the water, and Junior would cast out his line. He would reel it in until it was directly in front of us, like maybe 3 inches, and catch fish! I had one fish swim right between my legs! It was pretty cool! I'm excited to night fish tonight. Since I can put Brandi down and not have to leave the site to fish, I get to try to hook "the big one".10 pmI'm in the tent, waiting for Brandi to fall asleep so I can go back to fishing. We made s'mores a little while ago. The kids had fun. I really don't like marshmallows, so I didn't eat any, but everyone else loved them!As soon as supper was done it started pouring! It only lasted a little while, but we all got soaked. Me and the kids ended up walking to the showers while it rained. I'm not sure where we got wetter ~ the walk over or the actual shower!Monday6:30 amI'm the only one up again. I don't mind, it gives me a chance to sit, appreciate the beauty around me, and be thankful for the 2 days we have spent here. I will say I wasn't sure about the tent. The first night was horrible. Last night was better. I slept straight through. I guess swimming the lake was hard work. Ryan and I swam up and down the shore a few times, and it was hard work. The boats don't care that their wakes throw water in your face and mouth. It can really wear a girl out!I guess I need to get everyone up so we can head home. Lots to do....So that was our vacation. I added pictures too. Junior and I both ended up catching pretty good sized cat fish last night. My memory stick was full so I didn't take any pictures. We both hooked huge fish that snapped our lines. I can't wait until we are able to go back!Now it's back to civilization. I need to get up and cook supper and start the laundry. Maybe tomorrow......

One Fish, Two Fish...

We are having severe thunderstorms right now, and this is the third time I am trying to write. The power keeps flickering, and I keep loosing what I've written. If it happens again, I'll quit trying. You won't know that because this will all be gone, but I'm sure I'll be complaining about it tomorrow.Anyway, today we went on our weekly fishing trip. The funniest thing happened, and I was without my camera. Figures.For those of you who don't fish, everyone who does is after "THE BIG ONE". To catch the big one, you need to fish on the bottom of the lake, and not use a bobber. It's all about watching your rod, and feeling the fish. So I'm bottom fishing, and every time I cast out, BAM, I get a hit. I just couldn't hook the fish. Believe me when I say I tried really hard. I ended up extremely frustrated and stopped fishing. I was just sitting there, listening to my ipod, minding my own business. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Junior messing with my rod. He hands it back to me and it has two hooks on it. They are sharing one worm. He said I might catch one by doubling my chances. He thought he was being pretty funny. So I cast out. As soon as the worm hits the water, I get hit. I jerk the rod. Yes, I finally hooked a fish! I start to reel in. My line goes left, then right, then left again. I'm yelling, I finally got the big one! I finally get my line to shore. It's not a big one. It was two little ones. I had hooked a fish on each hook! Neither one was bigger than my palm, but fighting me and each other made them feel huge. I guess I didn't set the big fish record, but I'm sure there aren't many people who can catch two fish at one time!As for the rest of my day, I started cutting my grass. I didn't finish. Grumpy called and said his grass needed to be cut, so off we went, figuring two mowers would get it done faster. We still didn't get home til 3, then the kids swam for an hour. I did to. A little after 4 the storms started. The first passed so we went fishing. On the way home around 9, another storm started. Our power flicked a bunch of times. and poor Brandi was convinced she was going to die. But we survived.I need to be at work around 8 in the morning, so I guess I should go get some things together. I'll be back tomorrow, God willing.

Weekend Recap

This entry might be a little long, so go, get a snack and drink, and don't say that I didn't warn you!Let me start by saying that my dad LOVES peanut butter cookies with kisses on top. It was requested that I make some to bring for Father's Day. Friday night, I buy the stuff, planning to bake that night. I get home, fix supper, Junior goes to work, I get ready to start, no eggs. Now, for a normal person, they would just run to the store and get some eggs. Not me. One of the few times I've wished I had a license. So anyway, I figure I'd get eggs Sat, and bake that night. I was at the stand early that day, and didn't leave til after 8. We still had to run to wal-mart to find gifts, eat supper, and then go bake. So I decided to cheat. I bought 3 tubes of the slice and bake. We ended up not getting home til almost 11, and I didn't feel like doing it then. I asked Kasi if the cookie dough got put in the fridge. She said yes. I said "are you sure?" to which she replied, "yes". So we go to bed. I get up around 8 Sunday morning. The kids have planned breakfast in bed for Junior. I preheat the oven, open the fridge, no cookie dough. I wake Kasi and ask her where she put it. She looks at me and says, "it's still in the trunk!". I took a deep breath, didn't beat the crap out of her like I wanted to, just told her to go to her room. I know. I should have put the groceries away myself, then I would have noticed the missing cookie dough. But they do it all the time, and we've never had a problem. So now I have to wake Junior to take me to the store. We go to Ingles and pay twice as much for cookie dough, and now I'm wondering how I'm gonna bake them, let them cool, and get them to my dad. Since we were already out, I suggest going to Hardee's and getting biscuits. Good idea. Everyone's happy. The kids will do breakfast in bed next year. We left Kasi and Ryan home, so Junior, Brandi, and I go in to order. We get it to go. Spend $16.31. Now, I hate eggs. I will not eat them. I will not eat anything that touches the. They are slimy and gross. So I order myself a bacon and cheese biscuit. Before I go on, let me say that I have worked fast food. I know people make mistakes. BUT, while the girl was bagging our food, I saw the grill lady put a biscuit "up top" and say, "bacon and egg biscuit". The cashier puts it in my bag. I say, "excuse me, that should be a bacon and cheese, not bacon and egg". She takes the biscuit out, hands it back to the grill lady, saying it should be a b&c not a b&e. The grill lady replies, "oh yeah. It is b&c. I just said the wrong thing.". Again. I have worked the grill and have done that myself. Said one thing when I meant another. I didn't question it. That was my Mistake. We get the bag home, and you'll never guess what kind of biscuit I had. Yup, bacon and egg. Now I'm pissed. I call up there and tell the manager the whole story. I knew it was wrong, tried to get them to fix it, all of it. So the manager tells me to come back, she will replace the biscuit, and refund my whole order since I saw the mistake, pointed it out, and they still messed up. She said she just had to check with the other manager on duty. So the other one gets on the phone and asks, "can I help you?". I had to go through the whole thing again and am getting more and more mad. She says, "bring the wrong one back and I'll correct it." I say I tried to correct it while I was there and that I was still not happy. I told her to hold on and I put Junior on the phone. He says,and I quote, "I'm coming back up there, you'll replace the biscuit, and refund my money since you have already #%$@ed up my Father's Day." Now, for those of you who know my husband, he has a horrible mouth. I was surprised that was all he said. The manager hung up on him. I say, good for her. He was out of line. Anyway, he goes back and they have a new biscuit, a refund, and an apology waiting. The grill lady especially. They all kissed up to him. The manager apologized for hanging up on him, and said it was the best thing for her to have done in that situation. He agreed and apologized to her. All was happy. You can't beat free breakfast for Father's Day. By the time we get home, I have to rush, rush, rush to get everything done. The cookies never set right because I used peanut butter filled kisses. Those are the BOMB, by the way. I had to hem the shorts I wanted to wear. Get 3 kids bathed and dressed, plus Junior and Myself showered. In hindsight, I don't know why I bothered to shower. I was SWEATING by the time we left my dads. We made it there by 2, but couldn't stay long. We had other commitments, and Junior wanted to spend the day with the kids. We saw Grumpy for a little bit, and were supposed to meet up to fish that evening, but Grumpy never showed. Anyway, my dad's wife planned a scavenger hunt for the kids in the woods across from their house. It was a really fun idea, but it was rough hauling my fat ass through the woods for 100 miles. Okay, maybe it wasn't 100 miles, but by the end it sure did feel like it! My wonderful brother sabotaged (is that spelled right?) us and we couldn't find our last thing. The kids had fun though, and that's the important part. I put pictures of my "team" above.For those of you not related on my side, you probably don't know the kids in some of the pictures. I didn't realize at the time that I only took pictures of the girls! Anyway, Elaine has two daughters, Stefanie and Janice. Stefanie is married to Nick, and they have 2 kids, Brian and Emily. Janice is married to Steve, they have Olivia and are expecting their son in November. Julia and Ben are Steve's kids from his first marriage. Kasi loves Julia. They are a few years apart but get along well. After we left my dad's, we just spent the day as a family. We ended up fishing. We planned to stay and night fish, but Brandi got a little scared once it got dark. Then the snakes came out. Let me say I am not afraid of snakes, but I don't want one sneaking up on me in the dark. Brandi SCREAMED and ran for the car when we saw one in the water. At this point is was after 10 and I was ready to go. We packed up, and as we were leaving we saw a black snake in the road. Nicole, you would have loved it! (ha ha)My kids tasted their first root beer float. YUMMY! Jean and Del gave Junior some money for Father's Day, so it was nice to just be out and do things as a family for a day and not have to worry about every cent. So that was how we spent our weekend!Today I had the day off again. Del made the comment that he can't afford me every day. I told him I would help for nothing, but he won't let me. I was dressed and ready to go this afternoon when he called and said he wasn't going to open today. So I just put my bathiing suit back on and got back in the pool. That's where we have been all day. I should have been cleaning my house, but I can do that later! I guess that's it. I hope I didn't bore you. Have a great evening!

Happy Thoughts

I need a big favor. Brandi decided she wanted Bear to be her new cat. If you read me regularly, you know Bear was demoted to outside cat a couple of days ago cause he refuses to use the litter box. So Brandi guilted me into bringing him back in the house. She doesn't want him to get hit and die. How can I argue with that? So we bring him in. He's not the same kitten. He just lays around and has no energy. Kinda like he hasn't been eating. So I force some milk in him and he ate a little food. My child asks me if he is going to die. I say that I hope not and I will do everything I can to not let that happen. She says if he does die, she never, ever wants another kitten for the rest of her life. Please people, think happy thoughts, and pray this kittie turns around. I can not deal with another dead cat.On to happy things. I was up at 7:30 this morning cutting the grass. Then we went food shopping. I found some good meat deals. Food Lion marks down their meat on Sunday mornings. We saved a lot of money. Then we went fishing with my mom. The one time I forget my camera Junior catches a 4 pound catfish. It was big. The rest of us didn't catch much. The fish weren't biting. The kids caught a bunch of turtles. Junior caught a pretty big one as well. I mentioned wanting to go to church, and he says he has to think about it. So tonight while you pray for Bear, pray for my husband too. I'm not sure why he is so against going, although I think it would be a good guess to say it is something from his childhood. We all know how happy that was for him. I am sitting here now waiting for the dryer to buzz so I can do another load of laundry. Being at the stand all day I have no time to do housework. I forgot how hard it is to do it all. Junior and Ryan are still at the lake. Mom bought me and the girls home. I hear the dryer so I guess there are other things I need to do besides sitting here. I will work tomorrow after Faith leaves, so I'll write more tomorrow night. Sweet Dreams!

Another Beautiful Day

What a great day we had today! My mom, Colleen, and Carson came over around noon and we swam, then had a little cook out. My chicken was the BOMB! It was fun to see Carson in the pool. He was a little hesitant at first cause it was really cold, but after a while, he had a ball! When Colleen left, we went fishing. It's so funny to watch my mom catch fish. She gets so excited. We stayed til about 7. Grumpy came and me and the kids left with my mom. Junior stayed to fish with his dad. We were gonna stay, but Boo was tired and we saw a snake. Normally I'm not scared, but some water snakes will bite and you can't see them coming in the dark. When we got back I let the kids swim a little. Hopefully we will make it an early night. While we were cooking out, Colleen came in to get something and noticed ants in my kitchen. They are everywhere. Junior will need to get some bug spray or something. So that sums up my day. I'll be back in the morning.

Preparing For The Day

I'm getting ready to start my day and thought I'd write real quick. Colleen called this morning and wants to come over and get in the pool with Carson. FUN! Later this afternoon my gang and my mom are going fishing. I'm planning to cook some good stuff for lunch, BBQ chicken with pineapples, canteloupe, and fresh corn on the cob. YUMMY! So it's going to be a busy day. Hopefully I'll get a chance to sit back at the computer later. Either way, enjoy the rest of this beautiful weekend!

And So It Goes

I had fun yesterday. I can't get enough of Carson. Every single person we passed in Wal-Mart smiled at him and commented on how cute he is. He is just a little ray of sunshine. We ended up going back to Colleen's house after we went shopping and watched Idol again from the other night. (Blake really was amazing) It was nice to spend time with Mom and Colleen.This morning me and my gang went fishing for the first time this year. Brandi caught the first fish and I was mad that I forgot my camera. Kasi ended up catching 3 and Ryan had 2. Brandi just had the one, but she caught it all by herself. We only stayed about an hour, cause it was windy and Junior saw a snake in the water. I've been working outside since we got home. Junior is working on the roof, and me and the kids cleaned up all the crap he's been throwing down. I was cutting the grass until my ipod died. I'm recharging it now, so I figured I would write while it does. Then I gotta go finish the grass. Hubby and I are still doing well on WW. He no longer tells me when he gets on the scale. I guess I was a little, oh whats the word, pissed that he is losing faster than me. But it's all good.I have so much to do to be ready for Kasi's parties this weekend. I haven't even decided what to serve to all the girls coming. Any ideas?? I need cake ideas too, if anyones got any.Until next time.......