Happy Birthday Honey!

Today is my sweet husband's birthday! If anyone deserves a great day, it is him! He is so kind and thoughtful! Here's to a great day Rich!

First Day of School

Today is Ben's first day of 6th grade! This is hard to believe! For all of you it may be hard to believe that we are starting school already. We are on a wonderful calendar at St. John's! They call it a balanced calendar. We start now, but we get two weeks off in October, almost three weeks off at Christmas, and two weeks off in March. It is really nice. The only drawback is starting school in JULY! I find it hard to believe that my boy is already in sixth grade! It just doesn't seem possible. He is growing so very fast. He is very proud of his messenger style backpack. I guess they are the thing this year.

Not only does it feel odd that Ben is already in sixth grade, but it also feels odd to be sitting here typing this while he is at school. This is the first year since kindergarten that he has went off to school without me! I am not teaching. It actually feels great! I am excited. This morning is a bit strange, but all in all it is a good feeling. I am hoping to concentrate on my jewelry business and make that my occupation. I would appreciate all of your prayers as I embark upon this new chapter in my life! In honor of my first day as a free woman, I am posting some new jewelry in my shoebox! Check it out. I have to do some editing first, so give me a few hours!

Happy first day of school to all of you hitting the books today!

Facebook

Just like blogging, I put off going to facebook. I know how much time I already spend at this silly computer. Wow, it is fun. I knew this would happen! I have jewelry to make! I cannot be playing on the computer! YIKES!

Garden Update

The garden is finally doing it's job. Today I should be able to pick about 5 zucchini. The tomatoes are plentiful. They just need to become red! I have spent the week canning. I have canned jam. I made raspberry, blueberry, and peach. I also canned bread and butter pickles. I used a mix for the pickles. I am not sure that I will do that again. I think I will use my own ingredients this time. Anyone have a good bread and butter pickle recipe? Please do share if you have one!

Today I will pick beans, AGAIN! I think they are almost finished tough. I might just plant two more rows after we pull these up. I haven't decided for sure. This week we will have a huge pot of beans. Ben will be so excited! LOL!

Something to Cha-Cha About

The picture is of one of my creations. It is called a cha-cha bracelet. I think it is named that because the beads swing and swish like the beads on a dress of a woman doing the cha-cha-cha. Anyway, the owner and store manger of Ozzie's, where I first started selling my jewelry, just arrived back from the AtlantaMart. This is a HUGE market where you go to shop for wholesale merchandise. They both to some of my cha-cha bracelets to wear with their outfits while there. They mentioned that many people stopped them and wanted to know where they had purchased them! They even have calling cards from people that want to buy them from me! Woo Hoo!

Lovely Anniversary

Eleven years goes by so quickly. I can remember our wedding day as if it were yesterday. We had such a wonderful time. The music was out of this world! The reception seemed to be fun for everyone. Most importantly, I married Prince Charming! After 11 years he is still making our life a "Happily Ever After!"

We had a lovely day today. We were served breakfast in bed. I thought for a moment that I was at the Grand Floridian! Ben brought us fresh fruit, toast, and milk. It was so sweet. What a doll he is. He is always so very thoughtful. He made us both a nice card. I love that boy! He has been taking good notes from his daddy!

Rich and I exchanged cards. We had decided that we were not going to give gifts this year. Last year's Disney trip was enough for two years! We did go for dinner though. We went to P. F. Chang's. It is SOOOOOO wonderful! If you haven't been there, you must! The lettuce wraps were suggested to us by everyone so we got them tonight. They are very good. Rich had a key
lime pie martini that was out of this world. It was so great. Thanks to our mom's and dad and our Fairy Godmother, we didn't have to worry about what we spent on dinner. It was fantastic.

After 11 years, I am still as in love with my husband as I was the first day we got together! He is so kind, understanding, thoughtful, and patient. I thank God for him and this wonderful day!

I Just Am Not Very Patient

So, I read up on my zucchini problem. I found that I have male blooms, not female. However, the male blooms tend to show themselves first and the the female blooms come out later. This can take a few weeks. Tonight I went out and picked green beans and there, I saw them, tiny little girl zucchini blooms! Yeah. As fast as they grow we will probably have some big zucchini on Saturday! Thanks for the concern! Beer batter, here comes some zucchini!

Zucchini Blues

My zucchini plants are beautiful! There are five large plants. They look so healthy! They have a million blooms on them. Okay, maybe about 12 per plant. Here is the problem, the blooms grow, open, and fall off. There is no fruit behind the blooms. I read that I might only have male blooms. Where are the girls? Or, that I might have a pollination problem. So, why are bees always around when you don't want them there or never around when you do? I am so confused! I just want some zucchini! Has anyone ever had this happen? Do I just need to be more patient? Help me out here!

The Newsest Thing I Love Is.....

Meeting up with old friends! This is my friend Heather. We had some great times in high school and college together. She is one of the most amazing people I know! She is always up for a challenge. She is not afraid to try something new. She has always taught me to step a bit outside of my box. I love that about her!

While on my way to St. Louis I stopped to visit her in Belleville. It was such a nice day! We both love our beads. We had intended to play, but I just looked and looked at her stuff. I look forward to the day when she can come and look through my stuff! It was fun.

Heather has her own cross-stitch company. It is fresh and funky and a lot of fun! You can check her things out at http://www.monsterbubbles.com/. She also has a new book out. You can check that out at her site too!

Heather, I thank God for your friendship. You are a blessing!

Yes it is!

This is a picture of my family. Seriously! This isn't even all of them. Yesterday we attended the Wernsman Family Reunion. It was a really nice day. I haven't seen many of these people since my Uncle Charlie died several years ago. It was so good to enjoy visiting with them! I wish my brother could have been there!

There was a photographer there who took our pictures. This picture includes my aunts and uncles, cousins, second cousins, even third cousins. My dad had 13 brothers and sister originally. Four of them have passed away, including my dad. It was an emotional day seeing all of them yesterday. My Uncle Dale reminds me so much of my dad. Tears immediately sprung into my eyes.

I would like to thank my cousin Ronnie and his wife Kim for hosting all of us at their beautiful home. Actually, Ben called it their estate! It was so lovely. What a beautiful place they have! Thanks so much guys!

I thank God for my family.