I Won!

I'm so excited I won a spot in Shimelle's class "Journal your Christmas"! I love to visit Rhonna's blog and I have to admit I hardly ever enter comments to "win" prizes on blogs, I'm really pessimistic when it comes to winning prizes and things but I really wanted to take Shimelle's Class so I entered on Rhonna's Blog and won!

I'm actually done with the "Holiday's in Hand" class I didn't blog about every single day because most of the day's were preparation but my plan was to combine the "Holiday's in Hand" class with my "December Daily" Album inspired by Ali Edwards design. So now that I'm taking Shimelle's class I think I'll combine that also and custom make this album for me and to my liking! I will be posting pictures soon!

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Holiday Projects

Just saw that Jessica Sprague is starting a Holiday Class and best of all its *free*! She says you don't need to know photoshop or Elements! I just signed up, thought I would share with my bloggers!

Holiday's in Hand




Also I'm working on Ali Edward's book . . .Its a December Daily Album basically you start your foundation of your book now and you have 25 pages or more so that when Dec. 1st rolls around you can easily add photo's and journal the whole month of December as a way to stop and remember the Holidays!

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Halloween Happenings

I have three things I wanted to blog about: My Spooktacular Crop, My trip to Venice, Italy and Halloween so before I get too far behind I'll just start with the most recent and work my way back . . .

We had a really fun Halloween with lots of friends coming over and going trick or treating with us! We rented some semi-scary movies ate junk food and stayed up late! Here's some pictures . . .

Here's some random pictures of our Halloween Decorating!



My oldest (soon to be 13) decided this was the year he would quit dressing up and would stay home and hand out candy I don't get it, because I still dress up every year! Hopefully he'll change his mind by the time next year rolls around. Below is my daughter and youngest son.





Here's Me in my costume, I bought this cape and mask in Venice, Italy. It came with an authentic certificate because alot of times mask are shipped in and are not made locally anymore.

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ScrapTime

Went to Cathy's office on Sunday to scrapbook, this is our second month to do this and I'm really enjoying it. We have lots of room, kitchen, bathroom what more could you want! We crop from 10 to 6, Summer asked me when I was leaving "How can you scrapbook all day"? Well let me tell you its easy . . . the time flies by! Here's some layouts I created!




Lauri, noticed my nephew was carrying a Wal-Mart bag as his Easter Basket, we got a good laugh out of it and we came up with this journaling . . .

"You might be a redneck if you carry a Wal-Mart bag as your Easter Basket"! Knowing Jacob he probably thought the bag could hold more eggs then his basket!

Its on a tag that you pull out from the side behind the picture.

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Glitter Cups

Last week I made these Halloween Glitter Cups so I thought I would post a tutorial on how to make them. I know its not Rocket Science but I've always wanted to do a tutorial! I originally found this blog, Over the Tipsy Top Design on glitter cups, I thought they were so cool and decided to try making my own.

On there blog they use sonic cups, I love sonic but we don't have any sonics in Florida, so I'm using a Styrofoam cup from Chick-fil-a. You have to use a Styrofoam cup because any other kind will sweat and ruin your hard work. You can used just one color of glitter but I decided to mix it up and use several colors.

Ok, so your gonna need a Styrofoam cup, modge podge, sponge applicators, and some fine glitter. I used the Martha Stewart glitter in Halloween Colors.

First Step apply a thin coat of Modge Podge on your cup, I wanted to do the orange and red on top and black on bottom, but you can do one color all over if you want. I actually should of done the bottom first and the top second, it would of made it easier, but ya live and learn!



Second Step is to apply your glitter, let dry for a few hours, then re-apply modge podge and glitter a second time! Let dry over night then you can spray with a gloss sealer/finisher. Just make sure its a gloss finish.







Now noticed I left the top rim unglittered, this is if you plan on drinking out of it,but for cup I'm not going to worry about it because I'm filling my cup with candy to give as a gift.

The next step is to Decorate! This is the fun part you can let your imagination go wild and don't be afraid to used a glue gun on here either.

I made a tag to put on mine . . . .


and finished off with some Halloween Ribbon and filled it with halloween candy. You can do these cups for birthdays,graduations,Easter . . . I've got so many more ideas on ways to decorate them, can't wait to make some more!






I was playing around and tried to give my picture some spooky effects!

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The Cure for the Common Life

"The Cure for the Common Life" by Max Lucado

"God gave you... a zone, a region, a life precinct in which you were made to dwell. He tailored the curves of your life to fit an empty space in His jigsaw puzzle. And life makes sweet sense when you find your spot. Look back over your life. What have you consistently done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness.You have one. A divine spark. An uncommon call to an uncommon life.Don’t worry about skills you don’t have. Don’t covet strengths others have. Just extract your uniqueness. And do so to . . . make a big deal out of God. Everything comes from Him . . . and exists for Him. We exist to exhibit God, to display His glory.We serve as canvases for His brush stroke, papers for His pen, soil for His seeds, glimpses of His image.Sweet spot. You have one... You can do something in a manner that no one else can.And when you find it and do it, another sweet spot is discovered..."

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Wall Art

Here's the most recent canvas I made to hang in my scrapbooking studio . . . Used the Tim Holtz Grungeboard Letters on it.

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Happy Fall Yall

So I decided to try and get in the "Fall Spirit" by making these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins I got the recipe from Margie's Blog you can get the recipe here but in her original recipe she forgot to add the pumpkin, so you need to add 4 cups of can pumpkin to the above recipe. Now in this recipe she says it makes a million muffins, she's not joking people do yourself a favor and 1/2 the recipe! I didn't do this when I made them and I have a TON of muffins, I ended up wrapping them in cellophane bags, tying ribbon to them, adding a tag and sending them to a bunch of the teachers at the kids school. Everyone said they were delicious! I sent them to the guys at work and I still have muffins!

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Did you eat your Frog?

Catchy title right? This all stems from the fact that I consider myself the "Queen of Procrastination", but they say the first step to getting better is admitting the problem and believe me I know I have a problem. I've been on a long journey to try to help myself with this problem and that led me to this book titled "Eat that Frog" , 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time!



Here's a short introduction to the book Preface

The Truth about frogs
Mark Twain once said,that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that its probably the worst thing you'll have to do all day!

Your frog is your most biggest task, its the one your most likely to procrastinate on, even dread. Yet its also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and create positive results immediately!

Then today I found an iPhone app (that's where I took the above information) for my iphone entitled "Eat that Frog", I swear there's an iPhone app for everything now!

So my biggest frog I need to swallow everyday that I KNOW is going to have the biggest impact on my life is exercising, so I'm just going to swallow that frog first thing in the morning and get it over with! What's your frog? I challenge you to think about your frogs and Eat them right way each day!

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No Excuses!

Ok, my friends you all tell me I need to teach you how to digital scrapbook or hybrid scrapbook. There's tons of resources available to get you all started and teach you the basics of digital scrapbooking! Here's one of my favorite Digital Scrapbook Teacher's and here's a link to one of her free how to video tutorials! Its super simple, she gives you a pre-made page to start with all you have to do is add a photo and some journaling! Here's my layout I used taking her class.

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Big Brother Fans Only!

Ok, so if you don't know what the heck the Big Brother show is or you know but thinks its a waste of time then you need to close out this post . . . . This post is not for you! I have to ramble a bit about the show and my feelings about the players, my husband is sick of hearing about it!


First of all let me address the fact that there's a big difference between being a TV only viewers of the show and being a live feeds viewers. But if you don't want to spend the money on the live feeds or you don't have time then you must stay updated via the BBDish Blog


There's major rumors that there is going to be a endurance competition tonight,I'm hoping so!



* I really don't like Jeff and Jordan's attitude and the way they have been playing the game these past two weeks, Let me say I still like them as a couple and still like them as people and I still want them to at least go to the final 3. But as of right now I'm rooting for Michelle to win, now let me insert a disclaimer that I am subject to change my mind about that between now and the finale.


* Yes, Michelle is quirky and she doesn't have "people skills" but I think she is genuinely a good person and from the tidbits I have heard she comes from a rough childhood. She has been loyal to her alliance with Jeff and Jordan but because she doesn't express herself very well there always questioning her loyalty.

* Jeff and Jordan have done nothing but make fun of and bad mouth Michelle this past week. I think she really likes Jeff and Jordan and I think her feelings will be hurt when she watches the show and see's the stuff they have said. Jeff has been all over Michelle for being nice to Russell, but Jeff is not thinking ahead to the Jury house, You have to be nice sometimes to people you dislike in this game.

*I think Jeff was using the excuse that Russell and Michelle had a final two so he could backdoor Russell. Because I don't get it if they all had a final four then after that they were supposed to duke it out then why wasn't it ok for Michelle to have a final two with Russell, Its obvious that Jeff and Jordan have a final two!

*Natalie and Kevin's plan is to take Jeff out regardless that they promised him and Jordan they wouldn't!

*As of today Jordan's and Jeff's plan is to take Natalie to the final 3 with them!
Jeff and Jordan are hoping Michelle wins the HOH tonight so she can't play next week and they can evict her! Wrong move! Although on the live feeds there were questioning whether Natalie is being truthful to them and thinking she might win and backdoor Jeff. Its about time they open there eyes!

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I'm Baaaaaack

I don't know if I should feel honored or ashamed. I haven't posted in so long and while I was at the Fried Green Tomato Crop I had so many people comment about why I haven't posted lately on my blog. So with that said I feel honored that you all care enough or should I say are nosy enough (I say that with an evil laugh) to come read my blog!

So with those mixed emotions I'm going to BLOG now!

I had a wonderful long weekend. I went to the Hilltop Memories "Fried Green Tomato Crop" in Sebring, FL. I went up a day early and met Becky there. We went out for dinner Thursday night then Friday morning we did some shopping and then we headed out to the Henscratch Winery . As far as Winery's goes this was a little different then the ones I've been to before because is a self guided tour. But we still enjoyed it and we got to pick our own Muscadines and Scuppernongs. After the winery we headed back to the hotel to the Crop.

I didn't get as much scrapbooking done as I would of liked to but it was just nice to get away and have fun with my scrapping buddies. We made lots of memories and had lots of laughs! As always the Crop rocked, the food was excellent, the company even better! We played a game Teri introduced to us where her and Linda passed out rolls of toilet paper and we were supposed to tear off what we "needed" that's all they would tell us. Well I thought I would play smart and wrap it around me,several times! Turned out not to be such a smart move, because after everyone had there toilet paper they announced that for every little sheet we had to stand and state a fact about ourselves! Needless to say I had come up with a whole lot of facts! I ended up telling way more then I wanted to, but it was fun because we got to learn alot about everyone!

If you all know me you know one of my guilty summer pleasures is watching the Big Brother Show . . . Well wouldn't you know the weekend I'm away the house gets turned upside down! But the hotel had WIFI and in between socializing and scrapbooking I tried to watch the live feeds on my computer and stay updated hanging out on the BBDish Blog . Here's a brief summary for those of you who watch of what when down A new sheriff in town

When I got home Sunday evening Jerry and the kids had the house cleaned and the laundry done and they had a big surprise for me in the back yard. They had been working there tails off all weekend working on the backyard putting in mulch and putting up a stone border all the way around the yard. But the kids let me know Jerry did let them take a break and took them them to a Monster Truck Show Saturday night.

I'm posting pictures in a slideshow here of the projects I finished. One was a "Home" book done with a kit downloaded from the House of Three. Now this kit I started on my Savannah Scrapbooking Train Trip but I didn't like the colors I was going to go with so I totally re-did it. The other project was a little mini book I had promised J.J. I would make for him.

"My Home Album"

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"JJ's Album"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

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What are your Rocks???

I found this story about rocks over at Jana Wilson's Blog and I loved it so much I thought I would post it here on my blog . . .

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high powered overachievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"


Everyone in the class said, "Yes."

Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"


"No!" the class shouted.

Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!"

"No," the speaker replied, "That's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all." What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Your children; Your loved ones; Your education; Your dreams; A worthy cause; Teaching or mentoring others; Doing things that you love; Time for yourself; Your health; Your significant other? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you'll fill your life with little things you worry about that don't really matter, and you'll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks). So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the 'big rocks' in my life? Then, put those in your jar first."

Posted by Stephen C. Ehrmann to the POD listserv, August 21, 2000, Ehrmann@tltgroup.org

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Love this Letter!

Dear IRS,

I’m sorry to inform you that I’m not going to be able to pay the taxes owed on April 15th, but all is not lost.

I paid these taxes:

accounts receivable tax,
building permit tax,
CDL tax,
corporate income tax,
dog license tax,
federal income tax,
unemployment tax,
gas tax,
hunting license tax,
fishing license tax,
waterfowl stamp tax,
inheritance tax,
inventory tax,
liquor tax,
luxury tax,
Medicare tax,
city tax,
school and county property tax up to 33% the last four years.
Real estate tax,
Social Security tax,
road use tax,
toll road tax,
state and city sales tax,
recreational vehicle tax,
sales franchise tax,
state unemployment tax,
federal excise tax,
telephone tax,
telephone federal state and local surcharge tax,
telephone minimum usage surcharge tax,
telephone state and local tax,
utility tax,
vehicle tax,
registration tax,
capital gains tax,
lease severance tax,
oil and gas assessment tax,
Colorado property tax,
Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Mexico sales tax

and many more I can’t recall and I’ve run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15th, just know that it was an honest mistake.

Please treat me the same as the way you’ve treated Congressmen Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, ex-congressman Tom Daschle and, of course, your boss, Timothy Geithner.

No penalties, no interest.

PS, I’ll make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett, Wichita Falls.

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Trip Back Home

I went back home to Mobile to get things in order for my grandmother. She had fallen and broke her arm, but was doing good . . . We arranged for her to go to a daycare facility to give my grandpa a break (she has Alzheimer's) and she and my grandfather are going to have meals delivered. Physically she's very healthy, especially since she's going to be turning 86 soon. But Mentally she's getting worse. These arrangements will hold out for the time being, but she's going to need a lot more care on down the road. I cut her hair for her and styled it. She was the best customer! Had a wonderful drama-free visit with her. Although she's so sneaky, my new nickname for her is "sticky-fingers". The reason why is because if you leave ANYTHING laying out she will take it and hide it. After talking with the director of the Alzheimer's daycare facility this is very normal behavior for people stricken with Alzheimer's. One morning while I was there I was at her back porch knocking on her glass doors trying to get her to answer, I didn't see her inside. And it was getting rather chili. I had my laptop and a binder filled with paperwork concerning her so I laid it down on her porch table, so I could go back around to the front and get my jacket out of my car, when I came back my stuff was gone and she was no where to be found! She had came outside got my laptop and binder took it inside and hid it! You can't confront her or ask her about it because she won't remember . . . So me and my grandfather took turns occupying her while the other would go search. We found everything, in various places/drawers under clothes. But you can't get mad because in her mind its her stuff.


PS For anyone wondering why I didn't come see them while I was in town, I would of loved too but it was a very rushed trip. I was only there for a short time and had to get alot done!

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Valentines Wrap Up!

I had an awesome Valentine's Day . . . actually we celebrated Valentines day Friday the 13th because Jerry had to fly out to New Orleans on Saturday (I'll elaborate on that in a min.). Me and the kids were up late Thursday night making gifts and filling out valentine cards for school the next day. JJ didn't tell me till the day of that he had to decorate a valentine box for school and they were gonna have a contest to see who's was the best. So we worked really hard on this metal lunch pail for him. He was so excited he said "Mama I feel it in my soul, I'm gonna win!"
Well, he didn't win, but he seemed ok about it said that the prize was no big deal just a chocolate heart! But I found out later his teacher thought the pail was so nice she assumed we had bought it! He didn't tell her he MADE it, ok so "we" made it but still! LOL








So my day (Friday) started out with me waking the kids up with there valentine gifts, I got Summer earrings and the boys I got them techdecks. Then later on in the day Jerry surprised me with these beautiful flowers . . . .



Then that night we went to Ruth Chris's Steak house to eat and before we left he got me some more gifts . . . . some earrings and a gold and diamond bangle bracelet. But he never leaves Summer out either he had one of those Vermont teddy Bear's delivered to her and he got her some earrings too! She's gonna be hard pressed to ever find a guy that treats her as good as her Daddy does!





So Jerry was supposed to be in New Orleans for appointments on Sunday and Monday, but because we've been going back and forth trying to figure out what to do with my grandmother he offered to go ahead a day and have a sit down talk with my grandpa and lay it all out for him on what's got to be done for my grandmother. The only flight he could get into New Orleans was 5AM so after taking me out the night before he had to get up before dawn catch a plane to New Orleans drive to Miss. (3 hours) and meet with my grandpa. It turns out my grandpa seems to be on the same page as us. But I told Jerry that out of all the things he gave me for Valentines that was the sweetest gift! It meant a lot to me!

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Long Weekend

Ok, so on Thursday Cathy picked me up and we headed up to Oleana State park to Hilltop Memories to there annual Winter Retreat. Most stayed at the park in cabins (no heat) which is nice if you like that sorta of thing, but I prefer a hotel :-) Now don't get me wrong I can camp with the best of them but I don't like to combine my hobbies (camping and scrapbooking). Did a lot of socializing but got a lot of scrapping done too, some of you might be amazed at this!

So while I was off in the woods scrapping Jerry and the kids flew up north to River Ranch and met his buddy Dean and his family there. From what I hear they had a really good time, they went to a car show and a Rodeo. JJ caught a huge catfish and wouldn't ya know no one got a picture. Jerry said Tre was excellent at shooting the bow and arrow's, they nicknamed him Robin Hood. Summer became a real cowgirl, rode a horse and even went two-stepping! I hate I missed it, Jerry promised he would take me!
Jerry took this picture out the side window of his plane

Pictures of Jerry and the kid's trip to River Ranch

Pictures of me on my Hilltop Winter Retreat

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This Weekend

Had a nice weekend, on Saturday I took the boys to an indoor skate park called Ramp48, it was really cool, they boys had a blast!
Its basically just this huge warehouse building with different ramps and rails for jumping and grinding on your skates or skateboard. They had a snack bar and game area, I let them skate for over three hours and they still didn't want to leave. On Wednesdays they have a bible study there for the kids and if you go you can skate for free, I told the boys I would take them if they went to the bible study! :-) Hey, whatever works right?

So Saturday night me and Jerry went out on our weekly date night, I planned the whole thing and I must say we had a great night! Went and saw that Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino, it was an awesome movie and surprisingly it was quite funny too. I think its one of his best films to date! Afterward went across the parking lot to Champs (sports bar) and watched the UFC fight on there big screens. I must say I much rather go sit at sports bar and have someone serve me food and drinks rather then pay the $60 to watch the fight at home and make my own drinks! Also so much more exciting watching it with a bunch of people drinking and having a good time!

Sunday Jerry took the boys to the hanger to work on his plane . . .





Me and Summer had a nice quit day around the house, she played with her girlfriend next door and I cleaned out my scrap room! Oh I also made some homemade chicken Tortilla Soup out of my new favorite recipe book,HungryGirl another awesome recipe, I'm 4-0 so far all these recipes are turning out great! Everyone loved it and had seconds, Jerry took the last of it to work with him today.

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A Day of Rest

Well Jerry went to river ranch this weekend with some buddies, it was a last minute thing, but I'm glad he decided to go, he came back just a little while ago and he had a really good time, Its in the middle of no where, he called it Redneck Heaven. They basically just camped out rode mud buggies and sat by the campfire. He described it like a hunting camp, so they really didn't "camp out" they had a bed in a house like on stillts. Jerry's the guy on the left end. You can click the picture to see it larger.


Today I spent most of the day in bed, still sick with whatever this is . . . but I watched a really good movie on showtime called "Bonneville",It apparently came out last year but I don't remember hearing about it. It was so good a real tear jerker, but of course it doesn't take much to make me cry. It was about a women (Jessica Lang) who's husband dies and her and her two best friends, Joann Allen, and Kathy Bates take a road trip to disperse of his ashes. It was definitely one of those films that would be fun to see with your girlfriends. But I did manage to make it out of bed to make a chopped salad recipe out of my new favorite cook book!




Its called Hungry Girl Recipes she has a newsletter that you can subscribe to that offers tips and tricks to eating healthy. But this book is awesome! Anyways I made the Buffalo Chicken Choppity Chop on page 31 It was awesome and used only 5 ingredients! I'm not sure I can post the recipe, not sure if its legal? But if you want the recipe just email me! I was craving buffalo wings, and this hit the spot! Even the kids loved it, I'm thinking it would be good to make the night before and put in there lunches. Here's a picture of it but mine didn't look like this, I think mine looked better actually because I chopped my ingredients really fine.



Me and Jerry are going on our "date night" tonight because he wasn't here last night, which is usually when we go. I think we're gonna go to our old faithful, Bonefish Grill, we always leave there happy :-)

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Print your Blog!

I remember growing up my grandmother used to write in her diary every night, she had a tons of books saved and I loved when she would call me into her bedroom and pull out a diary from the previous year and tell me what we did, where we went, who I was dating at the time! She raised me from the age of 13 so we were very close, she now has Alzheimer's and isn't doing well, So now those diaries are even more precious. I've tried to keep a diary every night but I fail over and over again, but I found this site blogworld where you can print your blog, you can edit it pick a cover picture and everything! Blogs being the modern day diary's I think this is the perfect way to preserve them!

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Stuart

The kids got invited to my friend Yvonne's house for a play date, so I went with Jerry on the bike to Stuart part work part play. We decided to go to the historical downtown district for lunch but wasn't sure where to go so we happened upon this restaurant called the Oyster Bar and Seafood Cafe http://www.riverwalkcafeandoysterbar.com/index.html
The name appealed to me since I love oysters so we chanced it, and let me just say the food was absolutely wonderful.
They had oysters from four different regions to choose from, now I've eaten oysters in a lot of places but I've never been able to choose from which region I wanted my oysters from. I couldn't decide so per Jerry's suggestion I got three of each kind! I had the best salad I've ever eaten, Jerry had some awesome Lobster chowder. Anyways if your ever in Stuart make a point to go here, oh yeah and the service was excellent they even gave us our dessert on the house!



I also wanted to add that Stuart is a fun day trip because in there historical downtown district there all kinds of little shops you can walk around and visit, after lunch we walked to a nearby Fudge/Candy shop and got some to go goodies for the kids!

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