Happy New Year!

Looking forward to a wonderful New Year in 2009!

Please pray for two sick kids, Ashley Adams and Stellan at My Charming Kids.

Transending: Words on women and strength

This beautiful piece by Kelly Corrigan brought many of us at work to tears. What a beautiful piece about friends and friendship. I wish I could tell my friends so eloquently what they mean to me.

Not Me Monday!

Yikes! It's time for Not Me Monday! Honesty and admitting these things is supposed to be good for the soul, right?!

I did not give my 4 year old daughter a sippy cup of milk after lunch and get her to fall asleep so I could have a much needed 2 hour nap. She was being so noisy and pestering me!

I did not cave and let my daughters sleep together last night. It usually would have been a school night, but no school til January 6. I had to keep going upstairs to get them quiet and stop pestering each other but they eventually fell asleep. No more of that!

I did not, yet again, get a candy bar when I went to the drug store by myself -- the king sized Reeses cups no less. I have to stop! I bought a treadmill last week and have yet to get on it. I gained 1.4 pounds in Weight Watchers last week. Shows where those candy bars are going! We are off to Florida in April and this is not helping get ready.

I did not hit my snooze button for an hour this morning 'cause I didn't want to get up!

I did not volunteer our home to be a kennel for my friend's kittens. She fosters cats/kittens until they find a home and she's going to Tennessee for the holidays. These 2-3 kittens will be an addition to our 5 cats and 2 dogs. I LOVE cats/kittens and we can get our fill of kittens and then give them back!

I did not add 4 new blogs to read everyday when I get to work. People amaze and inspire me on a daily basis, including MckMama!

Go read more Not Me Monday posts to see that I am not the only one needing to confess!

Things that make me happy and excited

I was reading a favorite blog this morning, Bluebirdbaby, and she had a beautiful post of what makes her happy and excited. At the end she said "What about you?" So here we go, things that make me happy and excited:

- my girls and my mom
- my friends (where would I be without them!)
- my dog and cats (I'd adopt more if I could)
- my job and supervisor - she's great!
- my new treadmill that will hopefully help me lose 20 pounds before spring break
- excited about going to Sanibel Island in April. It's my favorite place!
- I really want to paint the bedrooms and family room - maybe a Christmas present to the house? Motivation is lacking.
- trying to figure out if I can redesign my blog myself (html is my life)
- When Ginny actually eats her dinner without aggravating Nana and we all get up from the table together. Nothing makes me happier these days!

How about you? Leave a comment so I can go and see what you think of!

Not Me Monday!

I'm a day behind admitting to things I really shouldn't do on another Not Me Monday! Thanks for reminding me, LucieP!

Read other tales of Not Me Monday! at My Charming Kids.

I did not buy a candy bar several times this past week when I was able to go to the store by myself. After all, if the girls were with me, they'd want a candy bar too. Sugar/chocolate isn't good for kids, is it!?

I did not stay up several nights later than I should trying to get our Christmas card done. It turned out super and now I just have to pick them up from Wolf Camera and get them in the mail.



I did not again start thinking about wanting to give birth to a child. I have two absolutely wonderful adopted daughters! I'm not feeling that craving of feeling a life growing inside of me! After all, I'm almost 44! Shesh!

I am not considering getting my fourth tattoo for my 44th birthday at the end of this month. They are addictive!

I think that is enough for this Monday! Have a great week!

Not Me Monday!

Can't believe it's Monday again! Not Me Monday's have changed my day!

I did not drag my daughters all over Atlanta on Sunday doing returns and exchanges. Well, I did have to get the 2 ceiling fans credited to my credit card, get Ginny's haircut, get a new remote control for the TV, see if the public library had Ginny's school book and pick up the dog's medicine. We were gone all afternoon! Whew!

I did not get all of the Christmas decorations up over the weekend like I promised. Almost done, but not quite. I love Tinsel on the tree and it is done!

I did not run back to bed Saturday morning at 8:00 am after I got my 4 year old settled in front of the TV and leave her to my mom while I slept another 2 hours. I did remember to thank my mom!

I did not covet the beautiful family that I met this weekend through my daughter. She went to the Children's Healthcare parade and then spent the night Saturday with her new friend Nia. Her family is beautiful. Her mom, Bonnie, and husband, Rene, are foster parents. She spent an hour with me on Sunday telling me about their many former blessings and current ones. Beautiful family!

See other not so perfect moms with their Not Me Mondays on My Charming Kids!

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On another more important note, please pray for Ashley Adams as she is battling another illness. The poor little girl; her mom and family are so tired and worried.

Rebel For A Cause Raffle

My Charming Kids is using the Rebel For a Cause Raffle as a way to raise support for String of Pearls, No Hands But Ours and The Elison Project. Go to the site to contribute to 3 fantastic organizations and the opportunity to win an amazing prize package. For $10 a ticket you can win a Canon Digital Rebel XSi price package.

New Recipes

A blog favorite of mine Flip Flops & Applesauce pointed me to a new site for family recipes called Favorite Family Recipes (makes sense!). The Balsamic Asparagus Chicken especially caught my eye. Yum! Thank you, Chrissie!

Not Me Monday!

I love Mondays because of MckMama!

I did not eat too much for Thanksgiving... and again on Thanksgiving night.

I did not spend too much money when I took the girls to IKEA on Friday. I did return $250 of it the next day though! I REALLY wanted that new comforter. :-(

I did not already overspend on my Christmas budget after only two shopping trips. Guess I need to look at what I bought versus my list.


I did not let Juliana pick out her own Nintendo DS game for Christmas, buy it, and then tell her she can have it in 24 days. Torture for an 11 year old.

I did not have Ginny with me when I returned one of the two baby dolls I bought, and when she saw it and got upset, I did not tell her that I was returning it because Santa was going to be bringing her one just like her friend, Sophia's babydoll.

Joining a Book Club

I am joining the Sound Mind, Sound Mom Book Club being done my SimpleMom.net. It's a wonderful web site! I figure I should be able to find time to read 6 books in a year and they look like good reading. I can use all the help I can get. Want to join me?

Not Me Monday!

I did NOT finish my daughters breakfast bar when she got out of the car and headed into school since I was starving and still had to get on the train to work. More great Not Me Monday stories at My Charming Kids.

Sasha Rodin visits Atlanta

Sasha Rodin is a wonderful man who helped me adopt Juliana 9.5 years ago. He was back in town to visit and update friends on his ministry of finding homes for children living in Russian orphanages. Juliana hasn't seen him in about 9 years, so it made it a double blessing.

Halloween Fun

The girls had a great time trick or treating. Candy galore! Ginny was Ariel and Juliana a gangster/mobster. All of us tried on the red hair, but it only worked for Ginny.

Juliana carved her own pumpkin and it turned out great! Ginny had help. The thought of Ginny using a carving tool is not a fun one.

I found out about Stephanie and Christian Nielson after a fundraiser at Lisa Leonard Designs. Please keep the Nielson's in your prayers as they recover from an airplane crash in August 2008. Periodic updates on how they are doing are here. Christian is recovering at home and Stephanie is still in the hospital. I read her entire blog oldest to most recent. She is an amazing woman and mother and such a beautiful family! Healing hugs to her.

Not Me Monday!

One of my favorite blogs My Charming Kids recently had a posting about what she did NOT do. What fun that post was! I replied....

When I was finally by myself in the car...
I DID NOT reach into the back seat and grab my four year old's half eaten cookie and then eat it.
And then I DID NOT reach back there again and grab the half eaten bag of Cracker Jacks and finish that off too.
She didn't even realize they were gone. :-)

MckMama said that she is going to make it a weekly posting of what she recently did NOT do during the week. I think that is a fabulous idea! Very fun!

I did NOT read all 134 replies while I was at work. :-)

Gwinnett County Fair

We had a great time at the fair this weekend - except for my sunburn. We went with Kelly, Sophia, Barbara, Michelle, and Linda.

The funnel cake was fantastics. We also ate lunch there ($18.50 for the 3 of us!) which consisted of hotdogs, fantastic french fries, and sodas. The lemonade came later.

We got there early and were able to watch the livestock program, pet some sheep and watch the black Angus be bathed and groomed.

The girls had a blast and Juliana won a gold fish. She was over the moon! So now Juliana has a gold fish added to her 3 hermit crabs.

Sitting next to the flowers decorating the livestock area.

Ginny turned 4!

Ginny turned 4 and we celebrated all week. First she celebrated with her Kindercare friends, then she celebrated with family and then she celebrated with friends, too. Hope she doesn't get used to that!

Got her a fabulous Barbie cake from Brusters. They did an amazing job.

Memorial Day visit in Ohio

We traveled to Ohio to see my best friend, Koby. We celebrated Tyler's birthday and saw Ryan play flag football. The boys have gotten so big since I saw them last year. The four kids are still great friends even if they do only see each other once a year! And Ginny LOVES Ryan. You can tell in this picture. We sure do miss them!

My Habit Focus for June

Simplemom.net gave me the great idea of having a habit focus each month. You can change anything if you work on it for 30 days, right? My habit focus for June is to get in bed by 10:30. With Ginny fighting going to bed and me piddle-diddling around, it will be quite difficult to do every night, but I'll give it a shot. SimpleMom.net is a great Blog!

Ginny is growing up!

Ginny loves having her nails painted and having her picture taken. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

Juliana and I had a great time during spring break in April. We visited Zoo Atlanta and the Yellow River Game Ranch. Here's a couple of pics.

Easter Sunday

Where I am

Praising God today for all of the many blessings He gives us without us knowing.

Rush of Fools - Undo
Rich Mullins - Hold Me Jesus

Big Day on Thursday!

Something happened at birth or poor nutrition in Guatemala and her enamel isn't what it is supposed to be on some of her teeth, so Ginny got 4 fillings in her molars. What a trooper! She was cute being loopy! She was alternating happy, then sad. Drove me nuts!

Juliana got the Fall 2007 Citizenship Award at school! She continues to amaze me with her progress in her first year of public school (4th grade).

Playing in the snow

It snowed in Atlanta for the second time this year on Saturday. The girls LOVED it! They came in rosy cheeked several times and had to thaw Ginny's fingers every time she came in. She didn't know to knock the snow off her mittens after she finished making a snowball. :-)

Juliana and Nana had a snowball fight. They both have quite a good throwing arm! Then Juliana got me!

My new blog!

This is my first post to my new blog. Who knows how frequently I will post, but it's a fun way to start!