Hunting a little treasure on a Monday!

Webster. Webster. Webster. From now on, when I say Webster, you say treasures. Let's try it.

I say, "Webster." You say, "Treasures."

Webster has it all. Plants, veggies, furniture, antiques, collectibles,linens, golf balls and clubs, honey and jam, hats, socks, jewelry, bread and bagels, kittens, books and comic books, they were even cleaning and whitening teeth.

Popsaroo, BubbaLou, Mums, and I loaded up in the car today and went off down the interstate to Webster. A grand flea market full of treasures for us to find. Popsaroo and BubbaLou went in one direction. Mums and I went in another direction.

Mums and I looked at all sorts of treasures in the hot, hot, hot sun. We trudged along picking things up and seeking the special treasures that we were meant to find. Did I mention it was hot? By the time we had our hands full and realized that we should have brought a cart to place our treasures in, we were about to have a heat stroke. We found some ice cold bottled water and tried to check in with Popsaroo and BubbaLou. We couldn't get a signal. Now how is that even possible??

Finally, leaving Mums in a cool spot, I went out with the cell phone trying to find a spot with a signal. Emergency calls only. Hmmm. Walked a little further over and finally found a hot spot. I got a hold of BubbaLou as she demands..."Where are you, I am hot and ready to go."

OK, it had only been an hour and a half. There is no way it was time to go. She must be thirsty.

After we finally found each other and they were sitting with us in our cool spot, we tried to reason with them. It really had not been that long and they just needed some water. Somehow, Mums and I coaxed them to carry our heavy packages to the car as we swung through a way we had not been to look on the way out. We snagged an extra hour of treasure hunting with this tactic. I got a big sack of kettle corn on the way out as a peace offering for giving us more time. It was well received!

A few of my treasures....

my cake plate and server-pretty!my Pyrex refrigerator bowls with lids

my Pyrex double casserole dish

Pyrex is my weakness and if you cut me a good deal, then it is MINE!

Mums got a bedspread or is it a tablecloth. We are not really sure right now. She also got a pig spoon rest, and a basket of fruit that is ceramic and it stands like a plate. She bought it so the guys who ran the booth wouldn't use it as target practice later this evening. BubbaLou got all sorts of odds and ends; jewelry, body glitter, boxing glove punching pens(don't ask) and some sort of glass jewel for good luck. Popsaroo found some comics and a pocket knife(ooh, and I really hope BubbaLou doesn't cut her finger off with his new knife.) We had a great day at the flea market. Well, at least Mums and I did. Popsaroo and BubbaLou deny any pleasure since it was so hot. Next time we will leave them at home!

My Chewie Action Shot!

Chewie in Action

Star Wars Weekends at Disney Hollywood Studios 2009....I was there!

Momsaroo, I made you a surprise!

BubbaLou called me on the way home from work the other day and she was excited to tell me that she was making me a gift. She said that I could use it often. Then she asked me where I kept the hammer. Hmmm. "Get Popsaroo if your going to get the hammer, you need an adult for the hammer" I said. My interest was peaked. This is what I got when I got home, in a gift bag and everything!

Guess she wants me to mop more often!

Happy New Year 2009

This past year has had a lot of bumps, and I am looking forward to many good things in 2009. I am going to make sure I eat black-eyed peas tomorrow-We are need of as much luck and as many blessings as we can get this new year. We have a had a year of Murphy's Law and I have just about had enough! We have had plenty of good laughs and joy in our hearts as well.


So, in an effort to look back at 2008 to laugh and find the joy, I have picked through my blog posts for highlights....

Friday, January 25, 2008

Too much JOY in her heart

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Something Great!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

A Seahorse and a lawyer


Saturday, April 12, 2008

High Tea

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Music Appreciation-the 80's

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A stained glass beauty

Sunday, August 3, 2008

So they loaded up the truck...

Monday, September 8, 2008

BubbaLou for President!


Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Chalk Artist meets New Turtle

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Lucky Lizards!


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Marshmallows

May your family be blessed this new year!

Cookies and Home

BubbaLou had a brownie party to attend not to long ago, and I needed to send cookies for her to decorate. I was short on time and planned to run by Publix and pick up some sugar cookies from their bakery. This turned out to be the one and only time Publix let me down, they didn't have any made. In their defense, they offered to make me some but it would take about twenty minutes. I couldn't wait, I figured I would just pick up some of those Pillsbury sugar cookies-you know, the ones that are already cut and you just have to plop them on the cookie sheet. I picked up 3 packs since they were on sale and headed home. Popsaroo had tagged along, so I asked him on the way home, "Have you by any chance seen my cookie sheets?"
"Yeah, they are in the back yard, " he said.
"In the back yard?!"
"Yeah, we were using them as home plate." He said this like this was an everyday occurrence to have your wife's cookie sheets out in the back yard for softball practice!
"What am I supposed to make cookies on?" I asked. I knew at that point what the answer was, Mum's cookie sheets!

I took those cookies over to Mum's house and baked them up and sent BubbaLou off to her Brownie party just in the nick of time. She had fun decorating them with her friend, Bubbles who had fun decorating the cookies that she brought(I don't know the story behind her cookies.)

Now, I am still without cookie sheets. I am not bringing those things back in the house! So, I was looking in the fridge this morning, and noticed that one of the packets of Pillsbury cookies was not lying just right, so I picked it up, and it was EMPTY, except for one unbaked cookie! BubbaLou and Popsaroo(I don't think either one of them was in it alone) had eaten up a whole package of cookie dough! c'est la vie....I popped the last one in my mouth and laughed!

It's Christmas time...

Christmas time has come to our wee family's house. I have been working hard the last week to get our decorations up and boxes put away. Our tree this year is not Fat Charley, but Ereth Sappy, named after Ereth the Porcupine from the book Poppy. Ereth is sappy, we got sap all over us on the way home, and Ereth is prickly-but not dry. Mums, BubbaLou, and I decided on his name on the way home from finding him.

We thought that finding a new tree would be a chore. I mean, we all came to have a special place in our hearts for Fat Charley. It turned out to be really easy and quick. BubbaLou picked him out in about five minutes and bonded with him right away.

We got Ereth home and couldn't find the stand. So he stood out on the carport in a bucket of water until Popsaroo got home and found the stand. We stood him up, buckled him in, and filled up his water trough. Then we didn't get back to him except to water him for a couple of days-we were busy celebrating BubbaLou's birthday.

Finally, we got around to decorating him. I have a strange sort of theme, I don't really have one. I have a mix of ornaments that I painted when Popsaroo and I got married back almost 19 years ago, most of them or assorted little woodland critters. I also have a collection of ornaments that I have found in antique stores and at yard sales and then I have ones that have been given to me.

The santas on the bell is one that I painted after Popsaroo and I got married. The vintage angel is one of four instrument playing angels(I even have the original box) I found at an estate sale-I think.

The Mary and baby Jesus are part of an entire Nativity set that is hanging around the tree. I got them from our Global Impact Conference at Church. A missionary was selling these as part of World Crafts. The money goes to help support the women that made them.

This was one of my finds last year at a Christmas store or sorts. Every thing was on sale and it was just exciting:) He is my Irish Leprechaun Santa.

What usually happens when you uncover your real past to strangers? You show, for instance, to your neighbor a photograph of the old farmhouse where you were born. When you look at it you can smell the clover in the fields, you hear the cows lowing, you know that your mother is weeding in the garden yonder. You see yourself and Jack-two big, freckled boys, leaning from that attic window at night planning your lives out in the world, full of fighting and glory...

...All of these things are in that photograph for you. But your neighbor sees in it only a common frame house and barn that need repair badly....

~Some Old-Time Christmases

by Rebecca Harding Davis

Family Meeting

BubbaLou called a family meeting the other day. She made sure that both Popsaroo and I were both seated before she would tell us what it was about. She had her music stand in the living room with construction paper posters. She had graphs and everything. She announced that she was going to discuss "Going Green" and " Eating Better." It was classic!

She had a couple of graphs that showed that Momsaroo and BubbaLou were doing pretty good when it came to eating right and going green. Popsaroo, not so good. She lectured him a bit and asked him ways he could improve. He needed some suggestions so she provided them.

I will have to let you know how her next poster presentation goes. You never know, we may just see some improvements. Well, maybe not until after Christmas on the "Eating Better" one, cause right now, I am on the Santa diet! I just got my season stash of Bob's Christmas Candy canes! They are all mine! No one else likes peppermint except me and Santa! Hahaha, I mean, HoHoHoHo!

~Momsaroo, why do you like Peppermint?~

~BubbaLou

Happy Birthday BubbaLou!

BubbaLou is 9 years young! I can't believe it. Popsaroo and I spent the first 9 years of our marriage with a twinkle in our eye, the second 9 years we have had the most wonderful little girl we could have ever imagined!

BubbaLou is full of personality and spice! We always look forward to celebrating her birthday with gusto. What other way could their possibly be when you have a BubbaLou???

This year we started off with a present or two leading up to her birthday. We like to have birthday week in our family! She made out with a Taylor Swift CD and an Idog named Icey.
She was thrilled!

Since school must go on whether it is your birthday or not, we celebrated with cupcakes during lunch. Mmmm...vanilla! We even slipped one to her best friend that isn't in her class. The other kids were so jealous! Hey, there are perks when you are friends with BubbaLou!

After school, we went to Mum's for a cookies and cocoa sidewalk gala. I brought the cookie and Mum's made the cocoa-spicy! We had to cut it down a few times because BubbaLou and her two taste testers where running around saying, "My throat is burning..." It had a dash of cayenne pepper in it.

We wanted to keep the gala simple-no gifts. Mum's had a great idea- the kids could bring food donations for the homeless and she could fill her basket to take to church. BubbaLou was all for it. She delivered her flyer invitations Sunday afternoon(nothing like last minute)-almost everyone came. She ended up collecting two grocery bags full of food! She was quite impressed with her friends food cans!

BubbaLou's Party Hints

Party hint Number 1 - Have the party guests blow up the balloons!

Party hint Number 2 - Include chocolate, whipped cream, and marshmallows:)

Party hint Number 3 - Have lots of napkins, you are gonna need them!

After the party when all the sugar had peaked and the meltdown was taking over, it was necessary for Popsaroo and me to take BubbaLou to a steakhouse for a birthday steak and some version of a cow-poke birthday song to be loudly sung to her in front of lots of strangers. She loved it! It is one of the things she has wanted to do for a long time.

Her final gift was the Littlest Petshop -she has been wanting one so bad!!!!

Believe it or not, she doesn't know what to ask Santa for. She is going to ask for Santa to bring her a surprise, just like she has every single year she has been willing to talk to him!

Happy Birthday BubbaLou-you live in a zoo!

Thank you God for my BubbaLou!

Growing up

BubbaLou is growing up! Once upon a time, she wasn't this tall, she was a wee babe that walked around theme parks that had rides for the little people. She is spoiled! I admit it. It is not all children that get to know theme parks like Disney, Universal, and Busch Gardens like the back of their hand.

Being an only child has its advantages when you live only a hop, a skip, and a jump away from Orlando. We rotate the seasonal and annual passes for the parks and enjoy just about every minute of it. We occassionaly take advantage of the hotels in the area-wait, maybe they take advantage of us. Hmmmm. Anyhoo, most times, we just drive up for the day or afternoon. Popsaroo has even been known to pick her up from school on Fridays(while I am at work) and take her to ride some roller-coasters. I think he is the biggest kid-maybe she isn't an only child.

Last Christmas, we went up to Universal for the afternoon. We had spent the morning with Mums and Mummy Iris, but decided to venture out and about. I know it is a little different, but it was better than sitting around with nothing to do. It was very Christmasy. They were playing carols that included Jesus and they were wishing people a Merry Christmas. We totally enjoyed it. The employees, though working on Christmas seemed to enjoy it too. Popsaroo and BubbaLou horsed around and it made for a not so bloated, sleepy afternoon. It also distracted my mind, because I was missing my Santa. They make me laugh, they are a good team!

Humor helps us to think out of the box. The average child laughs about 400 times per day, the average adult laughs only 15 times per day. What happened to the other 385 laughs?Anonymous

Lucky Lizards!

I have decided that I never have my camera when I need it. I had it in my purse yesterday and forgot I had it. I didn't really need it at the yard sale that we went to on the way to BubbaLou's softball game, but I could have used it later. I missed out on some good shots, like BubbaLou hitting the ball and getting to first base and when she stepped down on home triumphantly as she scored a run! I loved the look on her face-all smiles:)

I changed purses this morning and left the camera at home. I wished I had it, because we could have gotten some great pics of the last supper musical dramatization. BubbaLou noticed the men dressed in the funny looking costumes(biblical dress) right away as we walked into the worship center this morning. We were looking forward to the Lord's supper, I mean, who doesn't get excited to sup with the Lord in rememberance for all that he is, and all that he has done? But the costumes were creating even more excitement for us.

BubbaLou marched into the worship center and led me to a seat in the nose bleed section. She settled down with her bag of goodies-a book, a journal, and her rubber lizard. The rubber lizard was her Saturday treasure from the yard sale, and her new best friend-Ray. BubbaLou happily led Ray through song and prayer, and he looked on while we partook of the Lord's Supper. Soon, church was over and we all filed out and headed to the car.

Reenactment

We went home for a bite of lunch and then headed over to Mums. BubbaLou took Ray outside in search of her friends and soon got busy. Not wanting to leave her lizard in the grass, she placed him on the bumper of Mum's van.

Mum's had church business, so she took off and said she would see us later. The next thing I know, BubbaLou is coming through the door in a panic. Ray is gone. Once I finally had the story straight, I assured her that I would drive down the road to see if we could find Ray-the lizard. Her two buddies were all about going with us to hunt for Ray. Everyone loaded up, and off we went-down the road in the subdivision, down the highway, and finally turned into the church parking lot. Guess who was still on the back of the bumper?...Ray! Cheers! Ray had gone to church again. I don't know if rubber lizard can be lucky, but I think BubbaLou is blessed.

I thought, "I wish I had my camera!"

Psalms 127:3

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a real blessing.

Bloggy Christmas Ornaments

My bloggy friend Kate has issued forth an invitation to participate in a bloggy Christmas of sorts! Announcing!!!

The Accidental Travelers

first annual

Great Ornament Exchange!

The best part, is that you are invited and real ornaments and new friends are involved! It sounds like a great way to celebrate the season and encourage our bloggy friends with Good Tidings! You know me, all about the encouragement! Just hop on over to her site and sign up! While you are there, read some of her posts, like her wonderful post election post!

Speaking of post election, I am so glad the election is over and I only want to hear good positive things from all Americans! :) I have very good friends who range from the center on out to left and the right and they are all good Americans! I am proud of all their votes! So I am ready to celebrate the Season of our Lord's birth!

Cause no matter who ya are,

the Good Lord has plans

and He is in control-

whether you believe it, or not!

BubbaLou Wisdom

"Momsaroo, your vote could make all the difference in the election!"

It has been fun teaching BubbaLou about voting and what our freedom allows. She has been learning about voting in school and even got to cast her own vote. She was quite pleased with it. She has picked a candidate and is quite open about her choice. I however, have had a much tougher time deciding. I followed her advice, and cast my vote. To tell you the truth, I voted along with BubbaLou's choice.

This morning in the car, we had a good conversation about Democracy and how our leaders were elected. Mind you, it will require much more teaching and reinforcement before she gets the whole popular and electoral college concepts. What is so neat, is that she brings up these topics in such interesting ways.

See, BubbaLou has been listening to a book with a mean owl. His name is Mr. Arkaxe and he has informed Poppy's family of mice, that he is ruler. He will protect them from porcupines, but they must ask permission to travel and move from place to place, or they get eaten. So, BubbaLou brings up Mr. Arkaxe and refers to him being like the President.

"No,"I say, " Mr. Arkaxe was a dictator. He used power and intimidation to rule over the mice. The mice didn't get a vote. They were just told what they could do or Mr. Arkaxe got a mouse lunch. That is what is so wonderful about a Democracy, we each get a vote. We can have our say, our freedom. We can vote for the person that we each think will represent our interests the best."

This conversation then led into the whole popular vote and electoral vote thing and I sorta lost her. But this is one more reason why it is so important to read to your child. You just never know what they will walk away with!

Recommended listening-it is fantastic as the audio book. We checked it out from the local library.

Poppy by Avi

Fall Festival Fun!

Mum's is a Saint! If you only knew the kindness and loveliness of her heart, especially when many children regularly run amok in her house, you would completely agree. She looks forward to her church's Fall Festival, and so do we! BubbaLou has brought home many a fish from this festival before, and they live quite a long time. I think those fish must be blessed!

They didn't have fish that we found this year, but they did have fish bowls. BubbaLou tried her hand at this game for quite a while. She walked away with much candy for her efforts.

She also fished for toys and candy. She did this one a couple of times. BubbaLou is a great fisher girl!

The ball rolling through all these nails got her another five pieces of candy. Plus, it had an added bonus of reminding her that Jesus loves her!She tried her hand at darts and was actually pretty good aiming for the bulls eye on the ground.

She flung hula hoops around unsuspecting pumpkins. How fun is that?

She even got to meet a couple of horses. She took Lady for a ride and gave Georgia a pet. Georgia was being mischievous-she has a lot of personality!
Last, but not least, BubbaLou competed in the Pie Eating Contest. Really it was a dig the five gummie worms out of the pie with your mouth contest. She was a mess!

The Candy Crew

Costumes, costumes, silly costumes!

Candy, Candy, Candy. Q: Why did the witches' team lose the baseball game?

A: Their bats flew away

Don't be alarmed, they are play acting-especially the one with her eyes closed!
These are what you called drama spooks!


by BubbaLou

Q: What did the little ghost have in his rock collection?

A: Tombstones

The Great Pumpkin Hunt '08

We have had a pumpkin tradition since BubbaLou has been around. We started during her first October, she was ten months old and had just started walking. She loved playing with the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. We have gone every year, usually to one of the pumpkin patches sponsored by one of the Methodist churches in the area. We have gone early in the season and we have gone late. We usually find a pumpkin that is just right for carving.
This year, we were very late, we had been too busy. We should never be so late finding a pumpkin, but somehow, we let it slip through the cracks. So, October 30th, we started the Great Pumpkin Hunt. We were sorely disappointed. We couldn't find a pumpkin. At least, not one that was just right. It is hard to see in the pics, but the pumpkin patch was bare for the exceptions of pumpkins that were too bumpy, too green, too crooked, and were either too large or too tiny. We went to several patches, some were completely shut down and the rest were slim pickings.

BubbaLou, she has high standards. She didn't want to settle for what we were finding but we had to stop for the night. I encouraged her and said that Publix had Cinderella pumpkins and maybe we could stop by real quick and pick one up. She replied, "Momsaroo, I don't like Princesses! " Plus, she didn't want to lower her standards of buying one at the supermarket-it wasn't as fun or outside, she would rather do without. Except, that just as we were getting home, she decided that she would like to get one from the store. I told her that the next day, I would stop by the store and pick one up while she was at school and after Mum's cataract surgery.

Mum's and I spent 3 hours at the eye doctors the next day for the cataract surgery that wasn't. Turns out, it was just the prep exam for the cataract surgery. So after doing lunch at Mimi's, Mums and I headed to the neighborhood Publix in search of a pumpkin. Chuckling, I had to share the comment BubbaLou had made about the Princesses with Mums. We were relieved to find that not only did Publix have Cinderella pumpkins to choose from, they had painted pumpkins. They even had one with a cat. I figured this would work into our very tight schedule for the day, who knew if we even had time to carve one. If all else failed, I knew we could turn it around and carve the back.

BubbaLou turned out to be pleased, considered carving the back, but then opted to just enjoy the cat and go play with her friends instead. So, the Great Pumpkin Hunt ended and a happy child we have!

Q: What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?

A: Squash

BubbaLou's brush with Spooky Fame

Living with Popsaroo and BubbaLou is always a treat(-get it, trick or treat?) They are always finding things to do that are a tad bit, odd. This is one of the fun things about our family, you just never know what to expect from day to day.

Popsaroo and BubbaLou ventured off and met GhostHunters one day while I was at work. BubbaLou was a bit star-struck according to Popsaroo. See, Steve and Tango are her favorite Ghosthunters. I have to admit, we get a kick out of that show. People can really let their imagination get the best of them sometimes and it is fun to watch the Ghosthunters methodically debunk a lot of spooky ghosts.

This summer, when we went to Savannah, Georgia, we went on ghost tour. We got to go into the Sorrel Weed House, where the Ghosthunters actually got an audio recording. Oooooh, spooky. Especially when the desk that I had my back to, had a door that kept hitting me in the rear end after I shut it-and it was hard to close. So, I turned around and took a picture.

See the spooky orb? This is the only picture out of all the pictures I took that had an orb. It is probably dust, but I did get a good story out of it! That is the door on the desk that kept popping open and hitting me in the rear. Imaginations are an awful powerful thing! Oh, yeah, did I tell you that I tried to debunk this? I tried multiple times in similar lighting conditions and with shiny furniture to see if this was a trick of the flash. Nope. So the mystery continues.

Have a spooky, creepy, silly imagination Halloween!

P.S. I do not talk to ghosts!

A Savannah gravestone in the Colonial Park Cemetary.

Turtle Encounter

We have had the pleasure of sharing our land with a few turtles over the last 12 years. Turtles come and turtles go, but we have one turtle Lucy, that we see every so often. She has moved her hole all around the yard (we have 3 acres). We never know when she is going to pop up and walk in our path, or is it that we are in her path?

We have found little baby turtles before, no larger than a 50 cent piece. This one was bigger than that, but quite young. We were very excited to meet our new neighbor!

Welcome, Sally, or is it Rick Springfield?

The Chalk Artist meets New Turtle

Happy Spot #5

"Try to be like the turtle -- at ease in your own shell..." - Bill Copeland

Happy Spot #6

A drawing a day keeps the cobwebs away.

~Robert Genn

Have you met the Simpson's?

Happy Spot #4

Popsaroo and BubbaLou took me on the Simpson's ride. Finally! I have been waiting long enough! They tend to go ride it while I am at work, so I was long over due!! The other times we had visited, it was too crowded and the lines to long. It was just right this time! Pretty much, we walked right up, and met the Simpson's. It is sooo fun, it even smells like a baby's butt! I think the Simpson's are up to their necks in soy sauce, but at least they keep you laughing!

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”

~Albert Einstein

October glee

Happy Spot #2

A spooky schoolhouse with the first pumpkins of the season!

Happy Spot #3

Popsaroo's shoulders that hold BubbaLou up high!

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. ~Henry David Thoreau