Live Oak Brady Bunch

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)

Isn't this the truth!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Yuck!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Well here I am again still trying to recover from my washer being out of commission for over a week. Why is it that when you purchase an extended warranty that they fail to tell you "Oh we'll repair it but it will only take an act of congress for the repairman to get there."! I figured out how to remedy this situation. I have decided that the next time this scenario occurs (which with the model washer we have it seems is going to be a common occurrence) I am going to load up every hamper and laundry bag, haul them up to Badcock, and ask the first person I see where the loaner washers are for me to use!

Forget me not......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:53:00 +0000

I remember growing up that my Dad rarely gave money to those standing outside stores, or soliciting at traffic lights because he was unsure of their sincerity. So, you can imagine that I took notice when he would freely give a donation to one certain group every year outside of the grocery store we frequented. They were the Disabled Veterans Association raising money for disabled vets by way of taking donations and in return giving you a homemade "forget me not" which was their way of honoring those fallen comrades. My Dad would proudly display his forget me not on the visor of our car forbiding anyone to remove it until he replaced it with a new one. Even the "old" ones were given a special place in his roll-top desk. These forget me nots have brought on a new meaning to me. My Dad has been gone now almost 4 years and I made a promise to continue his proud support of what I feel is a very noble cause. I still have the very last forget me not that he purchased nearly 5 years ago and it will forever proudly be displayed in my own vehicle no matter how faded it gets. This year I proudly donated my money and walked away with that very special token that has become so special to my heart. If you happen to walk out of a store and see one of our veterans please reach into your pocket and be willing to give a little something to help support the Disabled Veterans Associations' efforts to raise money for the care and support of our hero's. Personally I will be passing my new forget me not on to the next generation in our family. My son Jacob started driving this year and I will be giving him his very first forget me not in his Pop's honor. Hopefully everytime he sees it he will remember what all of our American Serviceman past and present have and are still doing for him so he can live freely. Plus, as long as he has that forget me not attached to his visor, he will always have a part of his Pop riding along with him.

Is it that time already?

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Well it looks that it's that time of year again. I was perusing around walmart when much to my dismay there they were putting out the Christmas candy already. Didn't we just do this? An entire year could not have almost gone by. I honestly don't know if I'm ready for this Holiday season. I am already turning gray much quicker than I would like to. Now throw another Black Friday into the mix and I'll have to take permanent stock in Clairol! Seriously, have any of you actually just stood back during the start of a Black Friday and just watched the action? Monday Night Raw has got nothing on the little blue haired ladies at Wally World. I remember seeing two of them get into a knock-down drag out over a can opener. Well ok maybe not a knock-down drag out but it was as close as they could muster with their walkers and canes. If I bought every item that Adam has now famously declared "I wanna buy that!" while watching the commercial on TV, our family would be below the poverty level and living in a cardboard box somewhere but at least would have one heck of a toy chest! This year I think my family along with most others need to go back to basics. When did just getting together with family and friends sharing a fresh baked fruit cake or confection become inadequate? Ok so I would probably agree that fruit cakes should be outlawed in all 50 states but it's the thought that counts huh? How about if we all try and make at least one homemade gift this year? I don't mean recycling the painted pinecone your 3rd grader brings home from school either! I have listed a few sites that have some great ideas for homemade gifts that you and your family can make together this year. Hey, post a comment and give everyone some ideas or let us know what you're planning on making.

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:21:00 +0000

Well just like those tests from chemistry in high school, I squeaked by with a passing grade! Whoo Hoo!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:58:00 +0000

I am sitting in the eye doctors waiting to get the infamous yearly eye exam. I wonder if my age will finally catch up to me this year?!

Go Lady Dogs!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Well as you can see from my previous mobile posts the Varsity and JV Lady Dogs took on Gainesville High this evening in the openers to both seasons at Langford Stadium. I would like to give a shout out to Coach Ross and all of the JV team for a GREAT 7-0 JV win!

I must say this being our first foray into regular season varsity soccer I was quite nervous. I would just like to say the varsity girls held their ground throughout the entire game and pulled it out with a 2-0 win! Kudos to goalie Autumn for some awesome goaltending and also a big great job to Shannon on scoring on two penalty kicks! Meg got to see some playing time which was great especially since they are still trying to slowly get her back up to speed! Overall it was a great presentation of teamwork and perseverance. Go Lady Dogs!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Game just ended and ....... WE WON!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:02:00 +0000

We are at the opening game for the Lady Dogs varsity soccer team. GO Lady Dogs!

Never too old to graduate.....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:34:00 +0000

For the past 2 months my Mom has been dealing with some serious medical issues. Who knew that the tremendous back pain that she had been dealing with was actually a serious case of osteomyelitis of the spine that would require an 8 week course of IV antibiotics. Her venture started with a 3 1/2 week stay as an inpatient and because of the lovely Medicare laws it ended up with another 4 1/2 week stay at a skilled nursing facility. My Mom would be the first to admit that she actually began to like her long "vacation". I will say she plays a mean round of bingo! :o) Just ask Adam, he raked up a quite large collection of quarters from his Mamaw! Well, all good things must come to an end and hence last Friday was her "Graduation Day". I knew nothing of what was about to happen as we walked towards the exit on her way home. Neither of us knew that all of the Department Heads had gathered at the front entrance along with balloons to sing their "going away" song. Mom got to have the center of attention for one last time and I know she enjoyed every moment of it! I would like to send a big thank you to everyone at Surrey Place for their wonderful care they provided to our family!

Question of the week......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Well, it looks like the SEC was the choice as best college conference. GO GATORS!! This week's question go off in a totally different direction. I was reading an article in a magazine recently where they were interviewing professional chefs about certain subjects. One of those subjects was what most chefs choice of fast food restaurant was. I was quite surprised about who the majority winner was. Now here's the question for you.........which one do you think it was?

Faith and Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:18:00 +0000

The other night was the preseason classic for the High School Lady Bulldogs soccer season. The whole gang went including Mamaw to watch not only our number 21 Meg have her first playing time as a high schooler, but to enjoy seeing all of the Lady Bulldogs take on the Fort White Lady Indians. It was great seeing each team display great teamwork and sportsmanship during the game but the greatest display came after a scary moment right before half time. If you have ever watched soccer then you know that traditionally during a free kick the team defending usually sets up a "wall" which consists of 4 players to try and block the opponents attempt to score on goal. Our Lady Dogs had their wall in play and when the shot was taken they attempted to increase their chance of a successful block by timing a jump in the air at which the ball hit one of our players square in a the throat. She immediately fell to the ground in obvious pain and the coaches were immediately at her side. It became apparent that every precaution was being taken when emergency services were called to assist. I am proudest of what happened next. After several minutes both teams were sent to their respective sidelines. You know in today's society when all you hear about is people wanting to take prayer out of schools, saying that you can't mention God in the classroom, and insisting that "religion" should be separate from schools. These two teams at that moment didn't care about what the fools of this world say. After just a few moments the Fort White Lady Indians came walking across the field as a team and when they got to our sideline I clearly heard one of them ask our girls "Would you like to pray with us?". Without hesitation our girls as a team joined hands together and immediately began praying for their teammate laying on the ground being attended to by paramedics. To me, that is the greatest example of sportsmanship and teamwork that you could ever see.

Happy Birthday Day-Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Well today we had another birthday in our house. This time "Day-Day" as Adam affectionately calls Damien turned 16!! Whoo-Hoo! We now have 2 16 year olds, a 14 year old, a 13 year old, and a 3 year old all under the same roof! The girls and I "slaved" away in the kitchen making Damien a homemade from scratch (thought I had a cake mix in the cabinet) cake and Adam proudly presented it too him with John's help for a rousing rendition of the birthday song. Hope you had a great birthday Day-Day!! :o)

Happy Pumpkin.........

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:41:00 +0000

One thing that Adam has been absolutely dying to do is carve a pumpkin. I have been telling him for several weeks that we would get one and that he and Daddy could carve it together. Well, today I finally gave in and home we came with our prize pumpkin and a brand new carving book with tools! Now all I had to survive was the 4 hour wait for Daddy to get home from work! I must admit Adam even caved in during the last 30 minutes and threw Daddy under the bus and was trying to find ANYONE that would go outside and carve his pumpkin with him! Poor John didn't even get through the front door when the little tornado flew into him a breakneck speed and ushered him back down the front steps to show off his trophy sitting on the golf cart. For the next 40 minutes or so Daddy and his "bud" went to putting on a carving show that even a pro would be impressed with. Before they started Adam insisted that he wanted a "happy" pumpkin. Luckily for Daddy the pattern he picked out happened to be the easiest one in the book!

A boy and his favorites.....

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Well you know we all have our favorite thing that we prefer or enjoy but it all seems to be multiplied by 100 when you are only 3. My "little man" has two things that he absolutely loves more than an ice cream cup from DQ and that's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and trains. You can imagine his absolute excitement when more than a week ago he started seeing the "commercial". You know those things we parents call money traps. It seems that about every 30 seconds I keep hearing that now all to familiar phrase, "I wanna buy that!" howling from Adam's mouth what seems to be at least 1000 times daily. Well, the commercial that about put him over the top was the one advertising a special presentation of a new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse called the "Choo Choo Express" being shown on this Sunday. Yep you guessed it. Every day this week and I mean every day ALL DAY this week it seems that every time I turned around there it was again that lovely 30 second tidbit that only succeeded in recharging Adam's utter out of control excitement. Have you tried to tell a 3 year old lately that the show they're advertising is still 4 days away?! Welcome to my world. Well, today finally came and the show that has been my nemesis all week actually turned out to be a pretty good thing. I didn't have to ask, ok maybe yell 10 times for him to get into the bathtub. He actually went streaking across the living room running to the bathroom. There was no bribery involved in him getting dressed for bed. He actually dragged his little sofa out into the living room all by himself along with his Thomas pillow and blanket. He even made his little "bed" right smack in front of the TV patiently waiting the last 3 minutes before show time! Hmmmm, kudos to me for remembering to record it! I know a good thing when I see it!! :o)

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

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:54:00 +0000

Well having a household with 7 people living in it means that having cleaning products readily available is a no-brainer. But, like everyone knows sometimes your best intentions fly out the window and you find yourself with a load of dishes in the sink with no detergent to wash them with. Just the other day I was looking through a magazine while waiting in the Doctor's office (I seem to be there a lot lately!) when I came across a nifty article that suggested some common sense substitutes for certain cleaning products when your first choice has mysteriously disappeared.

For the disappearing dishwashing liquid? Use laundry detergent. A teaspoonful of liquid laundry detergent works just as well as your tried and true dawn!
I don't know about you but it seems I go through a gallon of stain remover a week! Ok well maybe not quite that much but it sure seems like it! If you find yourself reaching for that old friend during laundry duty only to find him AWOL reach into your medicine cabinet and call-out your backup with the old hydrogen peroxide. It will work similarly to color safe bleach and can be applied directly to most of your fabrics.
Ok now I know all of you housewives spend at least 5 hours a week polishing all of that silver in your house right? Ok well maybe not quite that but if you DO find yourself all ready for rubbing duty with nothing to work with go ahead and grab the toothpaste. Regular old plain non-gel toothpaste will rid your silver of that tarnish just as well.

Hopefully you won't find yourself in a bind but in case you do maybe one of these might be your answer!

Question of the week.......

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Ok, since we are full blown into college football right now I thought I would do a college themed question this week. Well since by now most of you know that I live in Florida and am a full blown Florida Gator fan you all pretty well know what my answer is but..........who do you think has the best conference in college football?

Go Bulldogs!!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Well, we just got back from watching not only Meg but our friends' daughter Hanna play in the annual green and white game for Suwannee High School soccer. Yep, that's right Meg is playing High School soccer! Her playing for High School is great in itself but the real miracle is that she's able to play at all after her nasty injury last year. So far so good with the ankle. She's had some soreness with it but of course tonight when I asked her how it felt after the game it was "great". I think her getting to play on the varsity squad had something to do with that!! Go Meg we love you and are so very proud of you!!

noreply@blogger.com (Danell) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Well we are in Gainesville again today for our weekly visit. I wonder if my hubby would mind a side trip to the mall?