Live Oak Brady Bunch

Household Helpers.....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:47:00 +0000

I always try to find something ingenious to post under this title. Today I thought I would share some neat uses I found for everyday vegetable oil. It's not just your Mother's cooking oil anymore!

Now this one I had never heard of. Use plain 'ol vegetable oil to help remove a splinter. Soak the area in some vegetable oil for a few minutes. It will help soften the skin giving you a better chance to get that pesky splinter out with your handy dandy tweezers!
Did you ever have a stack of glasses that seemed to be super-glued together? Well just pour a little veg oil around the rim of the bottom glass and watch how easily they will come apart.
Moisten that cracked skin on your feet. At night before you go to bed, rub some veg oil on your feet and put on a pair of socks. You will be pleasantly surprised when you wake up how soft your footsies are!
Furniture polish. You can make your own polish with veg oil. Mix 1/2 cup of vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of veg oil and add mixture to a spray bottle. Use it as you would pledge!
Remove pesky stickers. If you need to remove a label from a glass jar or just a sticker in general. Soak the sticker in veg oil for a few minutes and watch it miraculously slide off.

Hope some of these ideas work for you. I know I'm going to have fun trying them out myself.

Take a chill pill.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Being the mother of a toddler I can relate to and understand the many frustrations of other Mother's when it comes to raising a child. I myself have had frustrating days when I felt like punching out a window or such. But, I must say I have never acted upon those frustrations. Apparently there was a particular Mother in Ohio that still needs to learn the art of restraint. A 24 year old woman who was going through the drive-through of a Toledo McDonald's became highly agitated when she was told that they were out of chicken mcnuggets. Now most people would take that information with a grain of salt and probably drive only 100 or so yards to another fast food restaurant and purchase her food there. All I can say is that that was not good enough for this particular person. Her reaction was to punch out the drive-thru window! Ouch! Well I guess not only did she not get her McNuggets she probably didn't get her fries or toy with that happy meal either!

An old softie.........

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:58:00 +0000

Doesn't it always seem to be the case that when the kids want something and the Mom is on the verge of agreeing that it's the Dad that always put the brakes on? Friends of ours have had kittens for a couple of months now and I and the girls have been contemplating bringing one of them home as a new addition to our house. Of course John would hear none of it! Well FINALLY the girls managed to convince him last week to let them bring home one of the cats. And yes he would hear NONE of their wishes to allow the poor kitty to come into the house. The other day John and I were out shopping when low and behold all of a sudden John decides that he and Adam need to go to the pet store to buy Mr. Mittens (yes that's his name!) a collar! I immediately suspected that someone switched out my hubby with an altar ego somewhere between Books A Million and Target but went along anyway surely thinking this was either some sort of joke or attack of amnesia coming on. I could not believe my eyes as my Husband searched throughout Petco and I mean everywhere in the store until he finally found the cat collars! I myself had already given up 10 minutes prior. I stood there why he and little man decided that the perfect collar was an orange Harley Davidson with a black bell. Really?! Well here's the latest........the cat had that darn collar on for all of 2 days before he ditched it somewhere between the house and the woods. I of course am not going in search of it. Then tonight after I got home from playing chauffeur Mom you would not believe what I found waiting for me in the living room. Yep, you guessed it my "No animals allowed in the house whatsoever!" hubby sitting on the love seat (hmm that could be it) watching ESPN with the cat! I'm telling you my life gets weirder all the time!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:22:00 +0000

Well the holidays are officially behind us. I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed holiday season. Our family as usual enjoyed time with family and friends and of course gifts and food. However, as fun a festive as the holiday are, let us never forget the true reason for the season, our Lord and Savior's birth.

It seems as though most were planning on using cold hard cash as their method of choice for buying this year. I know that is one rule that our household sticks to during the holiday season. As I have said before there is nothing like waking up on the 26th knowing that you won't be expecting a huge credit card bill the next month!

Of course, with this being January 3rd I was wondering if anyone has declared the ever yearly popular New Year's Resolution. I really haven't declared any for myself this year although I suppose that I intend on canning more during the spring garden so I guess I'll call that mine. So, what if any is your resolution? I have listed some classic ones that seem to make the list every year or you can write in your own.

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:16:00 +0000

On our way to Wildwood to pick up Jake and Meggie!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Dec28_001|The sweetest little guy I know!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:22:00 +0000

At Newberry sitting on some very old looking bleachers! Wish I weighed 40 pounds lighter!

Thankful for our simple life.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:31:00 +0000

My Husband and I decided to sneak away for a quick weekend getaway to central Florida this weekend. Oh the excitement of some alone time without the kids!(Love you guys and gals) It never fails though that when we're on our way out of town it doesn't take very long for me at least to want to turn around and head out of dodge as quick as our 4 wheels will carry us! As I am glancing around during the drive I can honestly say that I have seen probably at least 1000 homes that look identical to one another! It makes me wonder if they have a button they push so their house either does one of the "chirps" or maybe makes the porch light flash on and off so they make sure they don't pull into the wrong driveway! I guess you could say that there is a convenience to city life. It seems that on every street corner there is either a gas station, grocery store, pharmacy, wally world, mall, movie theather, etc. to just name a few. Not to mention every conceivable restaurant you could think of! But, along with the convenience comes the added benefit of being able to shake hands with your neighbor through your bedroom window!! :o) No this ex city girl desires nothing of city life. Give me 10 acres out in the middle of nowhere where my nearest neighbor is more than a stone's throw away, where at night I can hear the crickets and their annoying musical that they put on but I love it anyway! Plus the added bonus of the natural alarm called the roosters at 5am in the morning! Lord let me never take for granted the beautiful painting you have gifted me right outside my front door! How beautiful being a redneck and country bumpkin can be!

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:14:00 +0000

Well it seems as Black Friday was too much of draw for most this year! I myself was one of the few that did not get up during the pre-dawn hours to fight the mad crowds of shoppers looking for the must have deal of the season! My f/i/l actually got up at 2:30am in order to get himself a new battery charger! I actually did go shopping that day but didn't walk into the local Wally World until 11am and behold the items I was interested in were still there!(Hint Hint for those of you die-hard Black Friday shoppers)

I have blogged earlier about cutting back this Holiday season. We are not participating in the annual gift giving exchange with the family. I think the money would be more wisely used for possibly a local charity that helps the less fortunate during this time of year or in our case put it towards our Church's Lottie Moon Christmas offering this year. However, regardless of the amount we spend we do have one important rule that we are faithful in keeping. We DO NOT put our Christmas on credit! It is a wonderful feeling knowing that when you wake up on the 26th you won't be expecting a huge bill at the beginning of the month! So, what are you going to use this year? Cash or Credit?

Thanksgiving blessings......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Yesterday was a wonderful time sharing the day with family and friends. We had an absolutely delicious dinner followed by the taking of family photos. I thought I would share a slideshow of some of our family. Hope you enjoy!

A few home remedies......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Thought I would pass along these neat home remedies that I saw in a newspaper article recently.

Got gas problems? Take one tsp of olive oil on an empty stomach each morning. It helps to prevent gas.
Tummy hurt? Mix 1/2 tsp of baking soda with 4 oz of warm water and send it down the hatch. You burp almost instantaneously.
Got bloating issues? Take the juice of 1/2 of a lemon and mix it into 1 cup of hot water.
Blocked up? Take 2 tsps of apple cider vinegar twice daily and mix it with 8 ozs of water.
Heartburn problems? Before you eat, mix the juice of 1/2 lemon along with a pinch of salt and add it into 8oz of water and drink. After you eat you can also try 1 tsp of honey to take care of that heartburn as well.

Hope one or all of these help if you have those dreaded digestive problems!

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Well, it looks as if the classic Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life" won as the favorite Christmas movie.

This week I thought I would throw out a poll regarding probably one of the most anticipated days of the year. I'm not talking about Turkey Day or even Christmas, I'm talking about you guessed it......Black Friday! So, are you going to brave the pushing, shoving, name calling, kicking, biting (hopefully not!) crowds that are associated with what they say is the busiest shopping day of the year? I admit that I too have participated in this holiday tradition. Not the pushing and shoving or even biting part but I have gotten up at a ridiculous time of the morning with way not enough sleep only to arrive seeing that 1000 other people got up even earlier than I did! All for the sake of a $5.00 mini chopper! Ok well maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration but I did score a nice shop vac for the hubby last year for only $20 so I guess there is some savings to it. I myself haven't decided if I am going to brave the early morning rush hour this year. I am really cutting back on my shopping this year not only due to the economy but something just doesn't seem right about it to me anymore. Like I said in a previous post it seems that more and more generations are relying on the amount of "stuff" that they have. I personally think it would be wonderful to get back to the basics of what Christmas truly means. The celebration of our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus! I wonder when it was that we allowed the world to turn it into a free for all? Hmmm, anyway I hope you enjoy and participate in this week's poll.

Mondays.....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Well, here I am again on a Monday waiting on the repairman for my washer! Twice in one month, how lucky can I be! I was just able to knock out Mount Fullbright of laundry from the last time of being without a washer for over a week!

I guess it doesn't help matters that I couldn't sleep last night (must have been that 3 hour nap) so I did the next best thing......clean. You would think with 5 kids I wouldn't have to worry about these things. I'm seriously thinking about bring back Eva Braun for a return visit. After waiting all weekend for the kids to get their chores done (miracles do happen don't they?), I had finally had enough of seeing the hurricane a clutter around my living room and decided to tackle it at 11pm. Three hours later I put quite a dent into it. Cleaned off the top of the TV, swept the living room, rearranged the dining room table, picked up the clutter off of the end tables, dusted, and even got in another episode of Law & Order. Whew! Finally went to bed around 2am, listened to Meg's Ipod for about 30 minutes (still can't seem to find mine), and finally drifted off to la-la land.

With all that I did last night and early this morning you would think that I would be able to sleep in! Nope! Was wide awake at 6:30a after 4 hours of sleep so now I can say my hutch is clean, my bedroom has been straighted up, the clothes that are multiplying by the second in my bathroom have been shoved, kicked, and thrown into the corner so the repair guy can get to the washer! I am now enjoying my THIRD episode of Dora the Explorer that is after watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Special Agent Oso. Now if only I can talk the Hubby to start putting up Christmas decorations my crazy life will be absolutely perfect! :o)

So that's how they're made!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:00 +0000

Ever wonder how a pumpkin pie is made? Well thanks to my s/i/l Becky you finally have the answer! :o)

Keep it Going!!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:57:00 +0000

With their victory last night against Williston, the Lady Dogs are now 6-0 for the season! Even though the game started at a slow pace the Lady Dogs soon picked up tempo with some good passing and crosses. Our Meg even had her first assist for the season! Their next game is against Wakulla on Tuesday. Way to go Ladies!

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Well it seems that most everyone has jumped on the 2% milk bandwagon myself included. My mind tells me that it's better than whole milk and let's face it, I have never been able to get over the skim milk taste or non-taste!

With the holidays upon us already (I am finding it harder and harder NOT to put up my tree!). I thought I would enter the movie vault with this week's question. What is your favorite holiday movie? Do you prefer the classics? Or do you like the comedies?

Proud Assignment

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Last Wednesday Jacob was given a very proud task by the NJROTC at Suwannee High School. He along with a cadet and fellow band member were asked to jointly play taps at the local Veterans Day Memorial service. What a huge honor! Of course he was trying to make it out like it wasn't a "big deal" or anything. But, he didn't have a choice as to whether or not I was going. Even Mamaw came to watch him play. I don't think he liked the fact that I brought my camera though! It was a great morning. Speeches, memorials, a 21 gun salute, and of course taps played military style by echoing off of one another. Jacob truly understood how thankful the veterans were when one older gentleman from the local DAV came up and firmly shook Jacob's hand looking him square in the face and said, "Thank you, you did a wonderful job.". It was then that I think Jake realized how big of a deal it really was. I have included a video shot by a local reporter of the 21 gun salute followed by Jacob and Jenna playing taps. I hope you enjoy.

Household Helpers..........

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:00 +0000

Here are some more household helpers to add to your filing cabinet. Some are quite unique but simple as well!

Soap wrappers - Don't throw away that soap wrapper! Place in your dresser drawer to add a nice clean refreshing smell to your clothes!
If you find some scratches on your wood furniture, try rubbing it with a shelled walnut. You see the scratches disappear right before your eyes!
Tired of your buttons coming off? Dab a little clear nail polish on the threads. This will harden them and make it harder for the threads to break.
Are you tired of your fingers being the target when nailing something? Try holding the nail with a wooden clothespin. Even if you miss your finger won't be the target!
If you have trouble with your shoelaces coming untied. Try rubbing a candle on the shoelace making it less slippery so the knots won't come undone.
Eggshells make great glass bottle cleaners. Crumble up an eggshell and put it in whatever bottle you are trying to clean. Add some detergent and warm water and shake vigorously then rinse with water.

Hope these work for you! I intend on trying them out around my house as well!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:54:00 +0000

Enjoying this lovely fall weather on a quick trip to Lake City. Isn't it wonderful!

No sympathy here....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:51:00 +0000

You know we had a wonderful weekend just getting away for a few days and visiting with family. But isn't it always the case that the minute you get home harsh reality sets back in? We arrived home around 7:30p and all seemed good. The four "teens" were spending the night at their respective grandparent's homes and the only one we had with us was again "little man". All was good until about 9:30p. I was in the living room catching up on email and such when I started hearing the "noises". I got up to investigate where and who they were coming from when I discovered that dear hubby was hugging the porcelain thrown and a garbage can all at the same time. Not wanting to interrupt a good thing I walked back into our bedroom and decided to wait it out with Adam on the bed. That's when I started hearing the other "noises". I turned to see Adam just sitting there giggling uncontrollably. It seems that he thought the noises that Daddy was making in the bathroom were the funniest he had ever heard! How can you scold a cute little 3 year old sitting there belly laughing while at the same time try and hide a smile yourself because he looks so cute?! Well, it seems that dear hubby heard our entire conversation amongst the waves of nausea. I will have to give him credit, he saw through the agony and was able to kid with Adam as well about his "sick" sense of humor!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:29:00 +0000

This past Saturday the Hubby and I decided to take a quick weekend trip. Our first stop was at "Mule Days" in Calvary, GA. Now for those of you that may never have been there it is a huge flea market/craft fair located in a "don't blink or you'll miss it" town located just over the Fl/GA line north of Tallahassee. I was shocked at the number of people that came to this middle of nowhere place all for the sake of celebrating mules! And when I say mules I mean mules! I have never seen so many in my life! I thoroughly enjoyed all of the vendors and little man especially enjoyed the homemade ice cream. On our "hike" around the venue, we came up on the edge of you guessed it a cotton field. Although Adam really didn't understand or maybe just didn't care what it was, he at least stopped long enough for me to take his pic with his "buddy" for the day! Dad looked like he was enjoying himself too! Our next stop was to see John's brother Grady and his family in Alabama. Even though it was for only one night we had a wonderful time catching up! I even got my s/i/l Kathy on the Blogger bandwagon! She is now the proud owner of her own blog called Feasting at the King's Table. If you have a chance stop by and drop her a comment welcoming her to the world wide web of blogging!

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Ok, well everyone must have read the same article I did for last week's question or Google must have been onfire with everybody trying to find out the answer! If you chose Wendy's you were correct. Most Professional Chef's actually prefer Wendy's as the favorite fast food restaurant.

This week I thought I would ask a question about one of the staples of the fridge.......milk. When buying groceries and reaching the dairy section, what milk do you reach for? Is it whole, 2%, or skim milk?

Only a woman can relate......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:14:00 +0000

My s/i/l Kathy sent me this in an email and I just had to share! This is a story that one part or another has surely happened to all of the women out there and I knew you all would enjoy it! Please share your comments about your bathroom horror!

Ain't this the truth.!!!

When you visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn , you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.

You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would
turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR! ), yank down your pants, and assume ' The Stance.'

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold 'The Stance.'

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more.

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse.. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail .

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet.. 'Occupied!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious,tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of
course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, 'You just don't KNOW
what kind of diseases you could get..'

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors,so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.

You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, 'Here, you just might need this.'

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, 'What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?'

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

How thoughtful.....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:12:00 +0000

Wouldn't we all be blessed if ours Husbands were as thoughtful as this one? :o)