From the mouths of babes.

Second grade humor. I picked Brandon up today from the start of his second week back to school. HeÂ’s so excited about all the things they will be learning this year.

Brandon: Mom how do you say wait in cursive.

Me: What?

Brandon: How do you say wait in cursive.....

Me: Trying not to laugh out loud. Brandon cursive is the way you write the word not the way you say it. Wait is said the same in cursive and in print.

Brandon: Oh! Mom are you laughing at me?

Me: No baby I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing with you.

Brandon: Mom?

Me: Yes son?

Brandon: I'm not laughing.

Me: Well son I am... You are just too cute!

............................................................................................................................

Last week I overheard my nephew Matt talking to his mother ....

Matt.... Mom, I'm never brushing my teeth again.

JoAnn...Why, Matt?

Matt...Cause I want to loose my teeth just like Brandon!

Now how cute is that! Matt started his first day of kindergarten this week! Woo Hoo Matt!

Lillie means...

I snagged this from my friend Patti.

LILLIE
L	is for	Lively
I	is for	Innocent
L	is for	Luscious
L	is for	Lively
I	is for	Ideal
E	is for	Earnest

What Does Your Name Mean?

OK I don't have a clue why it is posting this way I know there is a huge space above for some reason in preview mode it looks the way I intended it to look and once it is posted it gets all weird.

My minds been too full....

I've had too many distractions to post here of late. I don't have much to say today but I did want to share some pictures from my morning trip to Maymont Park. The weather was beautiful with a nice breeze and lots of shade along the way to cool us down when we needed it. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed seeing the sights today........
The Italian gardens are still teaming with color and butterflies. This is the location of many local weddings in our area. It is so easy to see why.



The butterflies and the dragonflies danced from place to place. I was mesmerized by them. I only wish they would have sat still long enough that I may have snapped pictures of all the varieties that I had seen.

I was surprised to see the roses flourishing at this late summer date. The final weekend of summer but you certainly can't tell it by the beautiful flowers in bloom here.



The ponds were full of muck yet the flowers on the lily pads didn't seem to mind it much.









The waterfall looked lovely today and this last pond looked surprisingly pristine. I could have taken a nap at that spot.


Can you find the rainbow from one of the pictures of the falls?

Time to say goodbye...

It's time to say goodbye to our kittens. I have placed an ad in the paper for the kittens to find good homes. Today is day 2 of the ad and not a single call yet. If I don't receive any calls from Sundays ad I will place fliers up on Monday. I have successfully convinced Bob to let us keep the Runt. Jackie and I are arguing on the name. She has named her, Wobbly headed BaBa and I'm sorry to say I've slipped and called her BaBa a few times now. She hates Runtie, the name I gave her. I know it is anything but imaginative but it suits her. She is still a bit smaller than the others but has taken on the role of instigator. She starts most of the rough play. I'm so glad to see she is fine I really did have some concerns that she may not make it. She is so rambunctious that I was unable to get her to sit still long enough for me to take a decent picture of her. So below with the aid of my hand to attempt to stop her movement for a millisecond is BaBa/Runtie.

I would like to try and get a picture of her next to at least one of the others to show the difference in size but I just wasn't able to catch a single one that wasn't out of focus so for now this will have to do. So if any of you want some beautiful loving kittens to take home contact me and we can arrange it. Well I'm off to make a flyer in case I get little or no response to the ad in the paper.


Update: Two of the precious babies have left the nest. JC is missing them a bit but I think somewhat relieved. Today a single man called wanting to see them. I told him I thought it was odd a man looking for a cat... we both laughed and in hind sight I hope he didn't take that out of context. I hope he will come by to give a good home to one of the boys.

Bitter sweet

After stopping in to one of my regular reads, Does This Mean I'm a Grown UP?, Cativa has a wonderful sense of humor and a great blogging style. If you are a parent you can certainly relate to what she blogs about. The current post pictures what I feared my summer would be like. Fortunately it turned out to be very different. Brandon begins classes on Monday, Aug. 28, the day I thought I would be looking forward to before summer vacation began, has turned out to be the day I wish were further away. I had dreaded the long summer days with kids screaming and constantly yelling Mom, mommy or some derivation of... It was not the kaos I remember from previous summers. We have fallen into a very lazy summer routine. Though I have remained with my early rising and they have slept in late... Jackie especially who even now at this late hour of 1pm has still not emerged from her room. Some of you may seem shocked! I'm not concerned. I would however be concerned for my life if I woke her before she woke herself. The transition to school will be tougher on her than on anyone else in this house.
We had our moments of kaos but thankfully they were brief. We had moments of craziness like the one pictured below with Brandon and his cousin Matt, he lives next door, put on their last years Halloween costumes and jumped on the swings. As if the summer were not hot enough.


So, with some bitterness I approach the return of school. Soon I know I will be rejoicing in my return to some quiet days alone. Time to study without interruptions from the kids. Time to get my house in order... or not. I'm shocked that my baby is entering the 2nd grade and how one moment he says things with wisdom well surpassing his 7 years and a few moments later see him as my baby doing something that reminds me he is still a little boy. I cherish these moments and look forward to coming back to this post and others like it to bring back this feeling I have right now.

A little secret...

OK I haven't said anything here yet but I've gone back to school. Real Estate school that is. I never knew just how tough it would be. I began some months ago researching the field to see if it would be a career that would truly afford me some flexibility. I've been looking for something for years but have not found anything that would allow me the flexibility that I need in working with nursing care for Nickie. As I've said before the nurses aren't always dependable and for obvious reasons if a nurse doesn't come in then I can't be at the office. This explains why working from home has worked the best for me.... but I'm sick of being home with no adult interaction and we have long since needed the benefits of a second income. Working at home for Bob's painting company doesn't bring in extra money. Though it does keep him from paying someone else to do the work. I will have to continue to do some of the things for him that I've always done like, ick, the bookkeeping which as we speak I'm dreadfully behind in. I have my second quiz tonight and it covers chapters 1-6 and 11. I've taken and retaken the practice quizzes and tests and I think I have to step back and relax.

It's kind of funny to me that I consider this an option for me. I never considered myself a salesperson yet I'm such a people person, chatter if you will that I believe it may actually suit me well. I'm enjoying the classes so far, I've had only 3 so far and I'm sure to change my mind as it gets even more difficult. I would ask that my friends say a special prayer for me to get through this and the subsequent licensing exams.

I have to admit I've enjoyed the dressing up for class. I have had the most laid back attire all these years working from home and it sure does make me feel special to dress professionally again. I'm not used to the heels and I'm thankful that while I'm wearing them we are seated most of the time. It had to be a man that designed heels. Stupid man! I know they make ya look good but they make me hurt! I know enough complaining already.

A bit remiss....

I meant to blog about last weekends watermelon festival in downtown Cary town. First it was hotter than hell. Although it was packed I heard from many that they stayed away because of the extreme heat. It was somewhere in the lower 100's at some point the breeze did find its way there and hot moving air is certainly better than hot still air.

This performer was a hit with the crowd and with Bob and I. I was sorry that Brandon didn't want to come along on this day as we saw Ronald and I was able to snap a picture of him shaking the hand of an employee of his.




Then there was the architecture of the old theater in town... The Byrd theater I think it is still called.


As well as some interesting shops along the way.

home/land search ... cont

We spent another long day on Friday searching for a new home or the land to build one on and though we haven't found one yet we did see a vacant home. I didn't see a for sale or lease sign anywhere but there were no signs of life within.



I was also fortunate to find these two beauties all on the same road trip.

cha cha cha changes!

Bob and I have decided that it is time to make the leap and find either the perfect house with a few acres in the country or find the perfect land and either build or have a modular house ordered and placed on that land. Its a daunting task. We have such very special needs for a house that we have not had the luxury to have fulfilled up to this point. Nickie's very special needs being in a wheelchair makes buying an existing house very difficult. Very few of them already have accessibility issues taken into consideration and I'm looking to make this our last move, we hope anyway, to be one that requires lots of work to make it suitable. We know that a ranch style house is the most logical choice but we aren't limiting our search. I'm worried about this task. There are so many things to consider and I don't want to make the wrong choice.

It seems that the counties that have land that is well not affordable but say more affordable than others most likely have the crummy school districts. The ones with the good school districts have land that is untouchable by the average person. We have decided we no longer want to live in a subdivision. There are pros and cons to both the neighborhoods and the country. I long to have some distance between me and my next door neighbor. I don't want to be bound by codes that say what I can do with my own house and yard and yet I can see why those codes are often necessary. Bob has been toying with the idea of having some chickens maybe some goats, just a few mind you. He was thinking about a pig or two that is till we saw a program on TV last night called something like, The dirtiest jobs. The guy had to spend a day on a pig farm. Now that is one dirty job. I even had second thoughts about never eating one again. Though I'm sure I will get over that eventually.


Today we took a long drive to view some of the properties that our agent sent us. The house above, circa 1900, is on 7 acres on a quiet country corner. I'm not sure yet what I think other than it is interesting. I'm not sure it would suit our needs but....


right down the road I saw these great old buildings....


















The brick building was once a post office and right in the mud just a couple steps from where I stood taking the picture of the post office were some butterflies basking in the mud. Now just how much beauty can one take?

yet another online test.... somebody stop me!

the Idiot Savant (38% dark, 50% spontaneous, 47% vulgar)

your humor style: VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT You like things silly, immediate, and, above all, outrageous. Ixne on the subtle word play, more testicles on fire, please. People like you are the most likely to RECEIVE internet forwards--and also the most likely to save them in a special folder entitled 'HOLY SHIT'. Because it's so easily appreciated, and often wacky and physical, your sense of humor never ceases to amuse your friends. Most realize that there's a sly intelligence and a knowing wink to your tastes. Your sense of humor could be called 'anti-pretentious'--but paradoxically enough, that indicates you're smarter than most. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Johnny Knoxville - Jimmy Kimmel AND FINALLY -- after you rate my test with a sweet, sweet '5' -- you must take this test next: The Genghis Khan Genetic Fitness Test. It's not mine, but it rocks.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on dark You scored higher than 99% on spontaneous You scored higher than 99% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating