Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed. -Linda Wooten

Sadly, with Reggie being stationed in Georgia his presence was missed today, but he was in my thoughts. The kids spoiled me as usual, pink roses, and a charm to add to my pandora bracelet. We’ll finish the day off with a cookout. I am blessed!!

• While we are celebrating Mother’s Day today, my girlfriend, and her family are mourning the loss of their beloved father. I pray for strength for her and her family during this difficult time. RIP Mr. Lyons, you were a wonderful man, and loved by many…
• Working on completing Week 2 of Promoting & Preserving Health. Six more weeks remaining.
• Keith has made some progress on the building of our new back deck. I am anxious for it to be completed. I found a wicker chair, and matching small wicker table, and I am looking forward to adding them out there.
• Which reminds me, I finally found an antique sideboard for the diningroom and is supposed to be delivered tomorrow….[hopefully]. So excited! Sadly, my diningroom is still in disarray though…must finish painting those diningroom chairs. Someday.
• Thoughts on being a mother: “It’s about more than blood. It’s about love. It’s about the varying contexts of love that help us define it; evolving our understanding of what love is; an understanding that continues to evolve to this day.” -Brian Kessler 
• I have spent too many hours searching for garden ideas on Pinterest today. Oh how I love Pinterest. If only I had the ‘time’ for all the great projects that I find posted…

Hoping each of you had a lovely Mother’s Day. Until next time, here’s to a beautiful week ahead of us…

-Jenny

 Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.  -Charles M. Crowe

We are blessed today in so many ways, but mostly because the five of us are all under one roof together…

Reggie heads out bright and early tomorrow morning enroute to his first assignment in Georgia.  So very proud of him…so sad to let him go, again. Thinking early Fall may be a wonderful time to sight see the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia, and spend time with our soldier.

• Stumbled onto this quote this morning, and quite frankly, I chuckled, and love it. What do you mean you don’t believe in homosexuality? It’s not like the Easter Bunny, your belief isn’t necessary. -Lea DeLaria
• Business name dot com purchased.
• An initial [small] business order placed at Vistaprint.
• Oliver has a facebook page

This is a busy week filled with work, two seminars [one an all day, and the other a half day], lunch with a dear friend, and of course the dreaded homework assignments…on top of working on the business plans, and finding the time to be attentive to my dear family.

I hope your Easter has been a beautiful one, and I hope your week is filled with blessings. Until next time…

-Jenny

I belong to a number of the for sale facebook pages, but there is one in particular that I really like. They all meet once a week at noon in the parking lot of a closed business, and today, my husband and I went to our first one to meet up with two different women. It was amazing, they have signs on their vehicles with their names on it, everything is packaged up and labeled, it was pretty awesome. I was amazed at the number of sellers, and buyers!

I bought this adorable Yankee Candle tart burner for practically pennies!

of course, I had to run into Yankee Candle to purchase a few tarts…

I also picked up this great little jar, along with some very nice blouses for work

A great experience, and I loved the safety of meeting with so many other people publically.

We had lunch with our daughter, grocery shopping, and finally…a visit to drool over some Pandora charms…

Yep, just one today…I typically buy everything in pairs, but we have spent a pretty good amount of money this week, so decided I will wait until next week to purchase its pair. I already have two of these spacers, but I am trying to add more color to my bracelet, and I love this design, and of course, the pink.

Back to work tomorrow. This week has truly flown by. Did not get everything accomplished I hoped for, but overall it was a very productive week.

I don’t usually spend my money on lottery tickets, or the scratch off’s. Every once in awhile I’ll purchase and won’t for a year or so. Well, the jackpot is huge, and I have visions of living the ‘beautiful life’ with my family, and some very, very special friends, so…megamillion tickets have been purchased. I told a friend the first thing I would do would be to rent a jet and fly my family, and close friends to Paris for one heck of a party, once back home I’d begin searching for a very private, and isolated island where I would build a house similiar to Gene Simmons homes design, along with homes for the kids, my parents, and siblings. Hey…we can all dream. And honestly, I would love to live that beautiful life…atleast for a few days.

On that note, the night is moving forward at record speed, so until next time, here’s to a beautiful weekend ahead of each of us!

-Jenny

I am pleased to share that I have completed a course and I am officially a Certified Instructor to teach the Certified Residential Medication Aide (CRMA) course. This has been quite the process, and from the initial thought of wanting to become an Instructor, to the completetion of the instructor course represents over six months. I found out that it is truly who you know.

What’s next?

• more instructor training…it’ll all be on my business website in due time.

The great thing is I am right on schedule for my plans/goals. So excited about this journey. I will be sharing my business website shortly.

Can you guess who is home?!

Yep, my darling soldier, who just spent 6 months away from home, between basic training, and training school…arrived home yesterday, threw his belongings in the front hallway, and even dressed from his luggage this morning on his way to report to the recruiters office. Ahhh, how some things never change. He is home for two weeks participating in the Hometown Recruitment program. So happy to have him home, even though it is for a very short time. Don’t like not having all three kids nearby, can’t even imagine making the decision to move away from my children…ahhh, that is a sore subject of mine, and I may begin talking harshly about their biological [father] so I will just stop there…thankfully they have been blessed with a wonderful [step] father… but honestly, I would just as soon have them still living at home…making messes, and bickering, and eating my Special K cereal, and all of the fruit at one setting….

Yesterday was ‘one of those days’. Driving home from my class I was pulled over by a state trooper reminding me the speed limit, and telling me to slow down. I will not tell you how fast I was going. I will just tell you that it was fast enough that I could have been handcuffed. Happy he found me charming. Lord, my husband would have killed me! and I don’t even want to think about what could have happened to my nursing license [gulp], must remember to be mindful, and pay better attention…

I had mentioned to my husband that on my way home I was going to stop and get a hair ‘trim’, and my eye brows waxed. Well, from the photo above you can tell that I got one hell of a hair ‘cut’. I knew I was in trouble when I told her the exact placement of my bangs that I prefer and a few minutes later she asked me if my hair ‘bounces up after it dries’? What, really, did a hair stylist seriously just ask me that question? I mean, we all know that wet hair and dry hair do not equal the same length…right?! I should have listened to my gut, but no, I didn’t. Note to self: Listen to gut, voice that I am not feeling comfortable and am worried that you are going to cut me bald! Ahhh. By time I realized the shortness it was just too late. I bought a big bag of chocolates on the way home. Had heartburn for the first time in years due to eating too many.

Because the teenager in me has snuck out [again], I figured it would be a great idea to pull my bedroom back together. I have filled two trash bags of clothes to donate, and haven’t come close to doing any real damage. I even found clothes that I had forgotten about.

Well friends, on that note, I truly have not gotten much accomplished, and my bed is still covered in clothing, and clothes hangers, so I am going to run along and attempt to get a few more things accomplished. Until next time…

-Jenny

Fly free and happy beyond birthdays and across forever, and we’ll meet now and then when we wish, in the midst of the one celebration that never can end. -Richard Bach

22 years ago today I arrived at the hospital at 0700 to be induced, as my son was two weeks overdue. During labor Reggie was in distress, and we are very lucky to have him, and very lucky that there were no medical issues related to his distress. At 5:40pm he was placed in my arms and I recall my thoughts of how absolutely beautiful, and perfect he was. Twenty-two years later, I still think he is beautiful, and perfect, and regardless of his age, he will forever be my ‘baby’. I love you, Reggie…to eternity, and back…

You all know that I have been battling against time for sometime now, and unfortunately I’ve been loosing the battle. Amazing how truly quickly life passes us. Wish I could travel back in time, and hold this guy for just a few more minutes in my arms…

This’n That:

• After battling with a toothache that began this weekend , this morning I visited the dentist, and pray that the filling holds, and I do not have to return for a root canal as he suspects could possibly happen. So frustrating. So discouraging.
• Working on creating our menu for February, and have found a few new crock pot recipes to try; Chicken and Vegetables with Pineapple, Sloppy Joes, Turkey with Stuffing.
• I finally printed out the forms necessary to request a passport, now to get this process completed. Walgreens tomorrow after work for a passport photo is the plan.

Other than the dentist, creating our menu for February and printing out the application for a passport, Oliver, and I took a two hour nap together today, which means, now I really need to put my nose in the books before it gets any later. Until next time, take care friends!

-Jenny

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas
which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
-Ada V. Hendricks

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas. 

-Jenny