Basking in the glow....

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I'm so thankful that everything turned out so well and that my cat scan turned out to be normal!  As a cancer survivor, you are constantly "dodging bullets"!  I'm still trying to get used to this life of being in the "cross hairs" all the time. 

Lately, I haven't felt very strong...physically or emotionally.  It seems that every little thing can set me off into a tearful mess!  There are a number of things going on in my life right now that are causing major stress and the thought that I might have to deal with liver cancer, was just the straw that broke the camel's back!

Thankfully, God heard the prayers of my family and friends and granted me mercy once again!  I will never understand this love that He has for me, or His willingness to hear me and answer me.  Many times, God's answers to me are NO!  For whatever reason, He chose to allow this cup to pass from me!  I know there will be times to come in the future where I will be faced with this again and I can only hope that each victory that I'm allowed to have will make me stronger in order to face the future...whatever it may hold.

I felt so good today that I made a pan of pumpkin bars!  It made the entire house smell like the season of Fall....of Thanksgiving....and of family!  I also exchanged out all of our reading books that are displayed in baskets on the floor of our living room.  I brought out all of the Halloween and Thanksgiving books.  While we were eating our pumpkin bars, I read aloud to the kids!  We read, "Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt"!  We had so much fun trying to guess where the little black cat was hiding!  Olivia guessed correctly!  She was so happy!  In the back of the book are lots of Halloween facts, pumpkin facts, riddles and jokes!  For once, everyone was in a good mood and no one went to bed angry, upset or worried.

Tomorrow we have two soccer games and some house cleaning to do...not to mention all the laundry that was left over from our bout with head lice!  I'm still checking their hair twice a day.  Today, the school called AGAIN to say that Amelia was scratching her head a lot.  The school secretary told Dan that she spotted a nit.  When I got home from work....I searched that child's head with a fine toothed comb and a magnifying glass!  I saw nothing!  NO NITS!  The only thing I saw was some flakes in one area where her scalp is very dry.  It's probably from being treated with the lice medicine twice and then from all the other crap (Listerine, mayo & coconut) that we've been using.  No wonder she itches! 

Amelia has a book report to work on this weekend and I have some projects to finish.  Hopefully, now that my mind is clear, I will be able to get some things done and to relax some.

Thank you again for all of your prayers.  You will never know how much they meant to me!

Sweather!

"Sweather" is my new term for "sweater weather"!  This is my new favorite word!  Does anybody know who we contact to have it added to Webster's??

Although it will warm up considerably as the sun comes up....I'm thankful for this rare natural air conditioning. 

Dear Lord,

Thank you for this break in the hot weather!  I know that I spend a lot of time complaining about how hot it is here in Florida.  Forgive me for those times when I take the warmth of your sun and the beauty of your ocean for granted.  Please be with those that are unable to protect themselves from this cold!  Thank you for all that you provide.  Amen.

October - My favorite month!

I love October!  Don't you?  This is my absolute favorite time of year!  Here in Florida, we don't get much of a fall and our winter only lasts about two weeks....but that doesn't usually start until February.  Still, the weather here in Jacksonville has been THE BEST these past few days!  I'm not kidding....they've been the "open all the windows" kind of days!  This morning, it was 51 degrees outside!  Nathan and Amelia whined about needing a jacket to go to school.  My little Olivia, who is just like her momma, said she didn't need a coat!

On Saturday, the girls played outside ALL DAY!  They built a fort, played on the swing set, chased the cats, picked pecans and tried to hide from the fire ants!  I aired out the house by opening all the windows!  It felt so good!  I watched the cats chase butterflies and lounge in the shade of the trees.  Dan brought out the hammock from the garage and took a nap!  I ran around the house, cleaning, folding laundry, changing beds, put beef stew in the crock pot and enjoyed the energy that the cooler weather brought!  The kids decided they wanted to have a "camp out", so my hubby put up the tent and made popcorn.  Olivia came in the house about 10:00pm complaining of being scared....but the rest of them slept outside all night!  I enjoyed the cool weather from the comfort of my bed (I'm not really a camper).

October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month.  A dear friend has sent me some wonderful hand made items to give away in honor of this special month!  You'll be hearing more about that in the days to come!  I must admit though, I'm tired of the pink and all the talk about "awareness".  I think, for the most part, everyone is "aware" of breast cancer.  Heck, most people have been personally affected by it...either themselves or someone they know!  I think we should begin to move away from the "awareness" aspect of the disease and start doing more for research or helping those with the disease to cope better on a daily basis.  I've got lots of ideas I'd love to pass by you...stay tuned!

We also celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary this month!  I love the rosary!  Sometimes, as I sit and ponder all the evil in the world today, I begin to realize more and more that one of the greatest weapons we have against the enemy is the rosary!  This is from "The Secret of the Rosary" by St. Louis De Monfort....from The Seventeenth Rose...."The heretics, all of whom are children of the devil and clearly bear the sign of God's reprobation, have a horror of the Hail Mary.  They still say the Our Father but never the Hail Mary; they would rather wear a poisonous snake around their necks than wear a scapular or carry a rosary".  All the more reason to make saying the rosary a part of our daily prayer time! 

There are lots of other Feast Days this month.....St. Francis of Assisi (4th), St. Faustina (5th),  St. Gerard (16th) and Blessed John Paul II (22nd) just to name a few!  Why not take a few minutes each day and read about each Saint, ask for their protection and favor!

Enjoy your October!

Finally, some relief!

Now THIS is what I'm talkin' about!!!!!

Autumn/Fall Thematic Unit

If you're looking for something fun and different to do with your kids, check out this seasonal thematic unit with SchoolExpress!  I've been a subscriber to their newsletter for over a year and I love it!

Last year, we did a quick unit on Pumpkins!  The kids seemed to enjoy it and we learned some interesting facts that we didn't know.  As a matter of fact, after learning more about pumpkin vines, we realized that we had some growing in our backyard!  Apparently, after carving our pumpkins several years ago, Dan had thrown out all the seeds and "guts".  Fast forward to last year....some of those seeds had sprouted!  Imagine that!  We never got any pumpkins out of it....but it inspired us to plant and nurture some of our seeds THIS year!

Anyway, check out this FREE Autumn/Fall thematic unit by clicking here!  Be sure to download it by 10/1/11!  And don't forget to sign up for the SchoolExpress newsletter (you can do that by clicking HERE)!

Enjoy!

***Just so you know, SchoolExpress did not ask me to review this item or promote their services in ANY way!  I'm simply sharing this with you because I LOVE this company and the services they offer!**

Looking ahead to October

I have begun planning our calendar for the month of October. I had no idea it was such a busy month! I'm sure you already know about Columbus Day and Halloween, but I bet you didn't know about these special days....

OCTOBER

1st-7th Get Organized Week (Ok, this is a joke, right? How have I lived for 45 years and I never knew that there was an entire week dedicated to this!!)

2nd International Frugal Fun Day (Frugal? Did someone say Frugal? Have fun "on the cheap"...now that's a day to celebrate!)

5th National Fire Prevention and National Apple Betty Day (I'm not sure what Smokey The Bear has in common with apples and buttered crumbs...but when butter is involved...who really cares!)

10th National Angel Food Cake Day (Is there, by any chance, a National Chocolate Cake Day? I only ask because I don't think angel food cake is worth an ENTIRE day!)

11th National Sausage Pizza Day (Now...this is right up my alley!)

15th National Grouch Day (Excuse me...did anyone consult my husband when scheduling this?)

16th National Dictionary Day (I think honoring Noah Webster is a fantasticalous idea! Wait! That may not be a word...I should look it up!)

20th National Brandied Fruit Day (When do we start?)

21st National Reptile Awareness Day (Um, ok...I live in Florida, I'm already quite aware!!)

23rd National Mole Day (that's as in molecule.....Chemistry anyone?)

24th National Bologna Day (here's another holiday that I've missed out on for too many years! Guess what we're going to have for lunch on this day? Go ahead, guess!)

25th National Greasy Food Day (Why am I not surprised!)

29th National Oatmeal Day (Finally! Something healthy!)

After looking at this list (and there were many others that I didn't mention), America is clearly obsessed with food! I've always known that our portion sizes are out of control. This was confirmed for me when Dan and I traveled to Rome in 2007. I'll grant you that most of the places we dined served "family style", but, the ones that didn't served much smaller portions than we're used to.

I'm not exactly sure why this October Planning post turned out to be mostly about food. Perhaps it's because I'm really hungry right now! Either way, I'd like to know what your plans are for the upcoming month. Please share!

Shhhhh, we're pretending!

In honor of the Autumn Equinox this week, I decided that in spite of the weather here in North Florida (90 degrees) we are going to pretend it's Fall!

The very first thing I did was to print off the free Autumn/Fall thematic Unit from SchooExpress.com.  I will have to tweak it somewhat so that the girls can enjoy it too.  Since we had several errands to run today, I used the time in the car to discuss the difference between the Autumn/Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice.

The next thing I did was to get out some fall decorations.  I need something visual to tell me it's fall because unfortunately, the weather is NOT going to tell me!  Since our yard is overflowing with acorns, I asked the girls to go and find as many as they could.  All I needed was a new candle and here's what we came up with....

The candle is a little big, but when it burns down some, I think it will be perfect.  You might recall that my decorations last year looked something like this....

Yes, it's there, amongst all the homework disaster from last year.  Below is an up close shot.

Not very appealing is it?  I like the one we put together today much, much better!  Don't you?

Next, I browsed through a cookbook I bought while in Tennessee.  I chose Taco Stew!  It was pretty simple.  Here is the recipe.  I doubled it.

Taco Stew

1 lb ground beef
1 med. onion, chopped
1 can (10.75 oz) tomato soup
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn
1 can (15 oz) chili beans
1 can (16 oz) tomatoes with chiles
1 pkg. (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix
1 cup water

In a skillet, brown beef and onion; drain fat and rinse.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring mixture to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips or corn bread and shredded Monterrey jack cheese.

Fresh, homemade cornbread....yummmm!

And this is what was left...

So how are you celebrating the beginning of Fall?

Please join The Idea Room for the Link round up.!!!

Can you say P.U.M.P.K.I.N. ?????

What can I say? I just love pumpkin! I love everything about this time of year (except the weather here in Florida)! I love to fill the pantry with goodies that I can whip up whenever the need arises. I'm also usually counting down the months until I can get a Pumpkin Spice or Eggnog Latte at Starbucks! Here's what's lurking in my pantry already.....

Can I just say that I really, really enjoy World Market! I found one of these cookie mixes there and I found another one at Hobby Lobby!

Can you just smell the pumpkin pancakes & muffins?

These Fright Bites are corn tortilla chips in the shapes of ghosts, bats and pumpkins...how fun! And of course, Halloween pasta!